I can't take credit for that quote (so you can't censor me for it!), nor can I claim it was originally about Peace Corps, and a further nor to the idea of using it to describe Peace Corps being mine. Actually, we do work sometimes...
I know I posted that ridiculously-long post about what I do during the day, but looking at my day-to-day schedule is unduly unfair to me. Shame on myself. Now we're going to look at what I do on a project-to-project basis, and not only will it be a much shorter post than the summer schedule one, but it will make me look like a better Peace Corps volunteer, too.
6th grade textbook:
The textbook I used this year for the 6th grade class was the bane of my existence. Just so people (read: government censors) don't assume I'm defaming the most popular textbook series in Georgia, I'll clarify here that this is not the same textbook as everyone else uses. It is, in fact, worse. Never in my life have I seen a book that can use up 2/3 of its pages teaching nothing. Rather than whine about it (or in addition to whining about it), a group of us is writing new 5th and 6th grade textbooks. I'm one of the lucky workers on the 6th grade book, as I have ample motivation to pilot a new book this year. Unlike the volunteers who are writing the 5th grade book, we 6th grade-level functionaries have accomplished a grand total of nothing so far, save for outlining. This is probably due to all three of us having scheduled America visits this summer... as soon as one member got back from the US, the second left, and he gets back this Friday, after which we will have about 4 weeks to write the book in its entirety before I leave. Oops.
Writing Olympics handbook:
Since you either read or purposely skipped the Writing Olympics entry from earlier in this blog, I'll leave out the main project description here. It suffices to say that Writing Olympics is currently dependent on the memory of the previous year's director, who guides the current director with sample emails and files and such, offering tips and reminders on occasion. After the overachieving Azerbaijan Writing Olympics committee created a 52-page handbook, last year's Georgia director suggested that it might serve us well to follow suit, though more along the tree-saving lines of 20 pages. So she and I are putting that together now, though just like the above project, it has only made it to the outline stage so far (I sense a theme...). In deference to the Azerbaijan committee, I should mention that their project turns out a lot more complicated than ours, since the Embassy pretty much takes care of the awards ceremony for us.
Writing Olympics anthology printing:
This is the last step in the part of this project that involved a grant... and I can't close out the grant and deliver the final report until this gets done. I've got all the files and stuff, so now we just need the permission of all three (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) country directors, and we're set to go! I will heave a giant sigh of relief when this book gets printed. Special thanks to the overachievers in Azerbaijan for designing the whole thing.
Computer classes:
You may have noticed in my summer schedule post that these classes didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. WELL, I'm going to try the main idea again in September, but in the meantime I'm using some of the flexibility that working in Georgia necessitates, namely that I'm teaching a grand total of two students, both during the time in which I'd slotted for the teachers' class. Special thanks to the six teachers who signed up for the class and never showed up, by the way. Flexibility has actually come in handy every day of this class. First day, the school computer room was being used for computer tests, so I had to move to the English classroom. That, and only one student came. Second day, the computer room was available, but I realized that it's not easy for me to teach computers that are powered by Kubuntu (not a typo, I know what Ubuntu is), some Linux derivative. Third day, the school was locked, not to mention that another student appeared and asked to join the in-session class, so I took them both back to my house where my host sister and I did some team teaching. Same for the fourth day. But now, they can both use Microsoft Word and also make mix CDs of their favorite B-level American pop music.
SELF Camp:
Since this camp (formerly Girls' Sports Camp) got completely funded a couple weeks ago, all there is to do with this is make sure I have the curriculum all straightened out before I leave, since I'll probably be going straight from the airport to the camp site. I cross my fingers as tightly as I can that all the campers come regardless of our repeated date changes-- at least the Samtredia one will be there, since there's only one, I have her phone number, and I have the means to phone-stalk her until she agrees to go, despite the fact that none of her friends will be there.
Imereti Reads:
Some volunteers in Kutaisi and Baghdati are running this one, but us Samtredia mignons are duly participating. It consists of creating a reading incentives program in our region (Imereti) to get kids to read more Georgian and Russian books, and to encourage them to join and use their local libraries. Chilluns who read a certain amount by the end of the school year-- as demonstrated by how many book reports they've turned in-- will be invited to an ice cream party in May.
English book donation:
This is partially my role in the Imereti Reads project, but I'll separate it here since it'll happen regardless of the success level of the former. We're working to attain a donation of 20,000 books (one crate) from an organization in the US, and those books will be split among Imereti volunteers, with perhaps some sharing to the school libraries of volunteers who help us cart these things around. The application is due in August, so we'll see how that goes. Our local library in Samtredia informed me that if I give them books, they'll give them away, so the first item of business is to figure out a place to put these things. Also to contemplate why any library with 0 English books would want to keep it that way in the presence of an offer of 4,000 free English books.
That's about it, I think. I loaded my summer with secondary projects so I wouldn't be bored, and yet here I am with ample time to write a blog entry about my secondary projects. 20 days til I leave for the US.
*any inconsistencies in time and number countdown are to be blamed on the fact that I wrote this post over a week before I published it
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