December 2002 Newsletter

Dear friends,
    How are you?
   What has been going on with me and how have I been
feeling?  Well I really like it here, I don't think I
could, or would really want to, live here the rest of
my life, but everything feels really right here.  I
love my job, I'm not a perfect teacher, but part of
the enjoyment is seeing myself improve and wanting to
improve more.  Improve in what ways? Well mostly in
the areas of organization and planning, but also in
the areas of responsibility and working hard and
accepting people as my superiors even if they aren't
perfect either.  My students are all really great
people, some are more interested in interacting with
me and talking and sharing their ideas, while others
sit there quietly hoping I don't call on them, and
with some when I do call on them, they get painfully
embarrassed and turn red and look like they will cry.
It makes me want to cry for them!  I remember when I
was studying Spanish I could never carry on a
conversation like some of my students can and I
remember that terrible nervousness when I was called
on to speak in Spanish.  A cultural trait of Czechs is
that they are very modest, if I need to speak with a
stranger and I ask in Czech if they speak English they
will say no and walk away OR they will say, "a little"
then I end up hearing these eloquent sentences come
from this person who can only speak "very badly".
Another part of this attitude is parents, instead of
saying things like an American parent might such as,
"You can do it, you're the best!"  The Czech parent
will say, "You're no better than anyone else."  This
is very typical.

Since I last wrote I went for 5 days to the mountains
with some students and another teacher.  It was a fun
time, but also strange because we stayed in our rooms
a lot and the kids we're entertaining eachother, after
a couple days the kids warmed up and got brave, and I
got brave and I hung out in their rooms and played a
game one afternoon and then the last night I took
everyone outside and played "flashlight tag"  they
loved it and people passing by stared at us, probably
wondering 'what in the world are they doing' because
this kind of activity is not normal for them, when I
told the kids what we were going to do one girl said,
"outside? but it is dark!" I said exactly and they
laughed.  I know that this time with the students and
the other teacher, Renata, was important but it mostly
was laying down a foundation of trust and comfort,
beginning to build relationships.

Also it was great trying and succeding in playing
cards with Renata's 5 year old daughter, who only
knows about 5 words in English.  I love being able to
put into use the Czech that I know.  I study
sporadically, I'm trying to spend about 20 mins every
night, but this doesn't always happen.  I have a
couple of books I'm using and two of the problems is
time and the other is that all day I am speaking
English, I don't have much opportunity to practice
with someone, which would be very beneficial.

Last week was interesting.  The last two weeks prior
were short weeks, so it was a bit tiring to come back
to a full week, I went to bed early and took naps to
try and recuperate.  My teammate Sarah and I will
sometimes share ideas for class and she was sent a
Reader's Digest (They often have excellent articles
for discussion) and she found an article about a woman
who lost all of her senses for awhile after an
accident.
So I used this article in a few classes, mostly my
junior and senior year conversation classes (17-19
year olds).  The class topic was "the 5 senses" and I
had them listen to "What a Wonderful World" by Louis
Armstrong  and write down when a sense was mentioned.
Then we read the article and the woman talks about
asking "why me, why this, why now" and being angry at
God, then she came to believe that God weeps with us
in our adversity.  We discussed this and most of them
are atheist and so I asked "well what is out there?
does it feel for you or not care?"  Most, if not all
had never heard the idea that God cares for them, some
thought this was a very funny idea.  One girl,
Michalea gave out a huge laugh when I asked the
question, not out of disrespect but it was such a
surprising and strange idea for her.  Some said things
like, "why should God or whatever is there care about
me, I am only me." 

Also a class has invited me to go to a Christmas
party, I am very excited about this.  I have been so
impatient and anxious to spend time with students out
of class and I was praying about it last week, that I
would calm down about it and then I walk into class
and first thing, they ask me to this celebration.
Cool.
I am actually finishing this letter now as I am
waiting impatiently for the time to pass so that I can
go to this Christmas party, which is tonight.  I guess
mostly it is a party thrown by the two senior classes
but other students are going, although I've been told
it's a rather small place, kind of like a restaurant.
I may be the only teacher going and I think my seniors
are excited that I'm going but other students will
probably be surprised to see me there.  I hope that I
can talk to a few and get to know them, but I plan on
only staying a little while and then leaving when
students start getting drunk.  That is how it is here.
As I mentioned in one letter last year, this is the
land of beer.  I will be gratefully and happily
surprised if I discover that some of my students don't
drink.  Also in one class today, Jan Ostry, was making
comments (not for the first time) that he uses too
much drugs.  He knows I disapprove but what more can I
do?  Not much.

I am supposed to turn in the tentative final grades
for first semester, on Monday!  My weekend is full
with christmas celebrations, church, buying christmas
presents, getting packed, I don't know how I'll do it.
Some of my students don't come to class, don't turn
in work, and for all I still haven't given them a one
on one oral assessment so my grade is not complete.
Does this make sense?  well, I am just trying to say
that it is stress time for
"Priya-the-teacher". Me, stressed, can be scary. Pray.

I am getting on a plane next week, and coming to
California!  I am experiencing a strange mix of
excitment, apprehension, nervousness and relief (maybe
more).  I think because I am so comfortable here and
enjoy so much of what is here, this will make it hard
to be home, no matter how much I love people at home
and care about them, I will be experiencing culture
shock.  I know many of you may not understand culture
shock, I didn't before I came overseas, but I would be
happy to talk about it if you're interested.
Hopefully since it is only 3 weeks I can just enjoy it
like a vacation, but it's strange to be on vacation in
my hometown.  I am relieved to have a break from
working but very very sad to miss classes with my
students, because of the tickets I was able to get I
am reluctantly taking an extra week off school (my
school has been so good to me and kind in letting me
do this).  But one of my senior classes is going to
email me during the break so I think that will help me
still feel connected to them.
In closing, if I don't get a chance to see you while
I'm home (but hopefully I will see many of you) I hope
you have a very blessed Merry Christmas. 
Happy Birthday Jesus!

Prayer Requests
-For my students.
-For patience in forming and building relationships
with students.
-For my relationships with students and fellow
teachers, may we be open to each other and find common
ground.
-For humbleness, some of my students think I am so
great and I need to remember that it isn't me, but
Christ in me, who loves them and they are attracted
to.
-For safe travels for me and my teammate Sarah.
-For a good time of spiritual and emotional refueling
over Christmas break.
-For my Emotional and Spiritual well being throughout
the year.
-For creativity and energy in planning lessons, and
energy for grading.  And my stress, may it be
non-existent.

With Love,
Priya
P.S. It is below freezing here (-10C, about 20F) and
everyday there is frost on the grass but it hasn't
snowed in the city yet, maybe outside of the city though.