Teaching kindergarten.

It has been so long since I have written! A lot has happened and we have been quite busy.

I have now ended my third week of teaching kindergarten. This has proven to be a very challenging endeavor. The children do not speak or understand English very well and one speaks Bengali and French but really no English. One girl, I am sure, has been brought into my life to challenge my patience. She is quite bright and can read most any word in front of her but does not understand the meaning of the word she reads. No matter what I say, she smiles and says “ok” but then the opposite of what I have asked of her. She talks out of turn, takes off her shoes and plays with them, gets out of her chair to see what others are doing and then tries to tell them they are wrong, randomly starts singing or making other noises, and takes things off my desk and drops them on the floor. Since the beginning of last week, when we got a new girl in the class, she is now hitting and pinching the new girl and tries to take away whatever the new girl is playing with, even if she doesn’t want to use the toy. It is driving me crazy. I only have a class of five students and I cannot decide if that makes my life easier or harder. If there were more, it would be easier to separate two that are causing trouble but if there were more, there would be more trouble! They jury is still out on whether or not I will like this job. I only have four or five more days before a long winter break.

Another interesting part of working or going to school in Bangladesh is the “Hartals.” I do not know much about what they are, but from what I do understand, it is, basically, when a political party calls a strike. I may not have school on Sunday because a party is calling a hartal and it may include a roadblock.  When the hartals happen a lot of offices, shops, and schools are closed. Next year, 2013, is an election year so we are expecting a lot of hartals, if there are too many days of school off we may have to have school on Saturdays to make up for the lost days.

Here is a link, just in case you would like to know more:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartal

I have already missed two and a half days of school because I have had some stomach trouble. Lucky for me, nothing serious, just a day of vomiting and diarrhea, I empty out and all is better. Last week was the worst, I felt really bad at school, went home and slept, woke and vomited, a lot, slept and vomited. I took the following day off too and slept until noon. The day after that was a hartal so I ended up only working 2 days last week. I have no idea what I ate or drank that made me so sick and I hope I do not eat it again!

Winter Mosquitoes

A few weeks ago, someone told me that the mosquitoes were worse in the winter. I had a hard time believing them because at the time, I had gone two or three days without a bite and it was great. I guess that was calm before the storm. I do not know if the summer and winter mosquitoes are different breeds or if the mosquitoes bulk up for winter but whatever happens, they are very different. These mosquitoes do not rely on stealth to get you, they come in vast numbers, they are huge and it seems they are immune to bug spray. These mosquitoes are more like the Minnesota mosquitoes that I am used to. I can hunt them and kill them, they are more active around dusk and they are annoying. I am covered in bites. At the latest count, I have 25 bites on my left foot / ankle, and about 15 on the right. I have no idea why the left is more popular. There are about a dozen bites spread between both hands and arms. The rest of my family, who wears less bug spray, has only one or two total. I must taste really good. Perhaps being pregnant makes my blood sweeter. My facebook friends have been very helpful in offering suggestions and I am giving each its fair chance. So far, no luck.