February 16, 2013

Despite my best intentions to arrive at Lingua before their training session on communicative methodology began, I was late by almost ten minutes and both Laila and Olga looked at me as if I had come from outer space when I walked in. It became obvious to me that Zarina hadn’t informed either one of them of my desire to observe their training and it became very awkward in there.

The two trainers were in the process of showing teacher how to use the game “Race to the Board” and among the participants one stood out: Douglas, who had posted a comment on FaceBook indicating he was getting his TEFL certification. We exchanged greetings and that was that. The session continued with the game “Back to the Board” and then a modification of “Taboo”.

During the break, I went to speak to Aigul about the fare for the transportation between Bishkek and Issyk-Kul Lake and found Gulnara standing there talking to her. We discussed the amount Jennifer should budget for it, and then I asked about the training sessions she wants for me to do for the pre-service teachers, many of whom I had seen in the session being ran by Laila and Olga.

Apparently, she hadn’t sent out any official invitations to any teacher in particular even though she had asked me to be ready to begin on Tuesday the 19. When I pointed that out to her, she suggested postponing it by a week or so until she’d a chance to contact other trainers with recommendations for their top students to attend. I don’t have a good feeling about this at all. It seems so disorganized and almost pointless.

The second half of the training session dealt with the presentation of new vocabulary following the same formula Asel had presented during the winter session: Meaning + pronunciation + form. When it was over, I approached Olga to apologize for both being late and for imposing on her session when it was obvious she hadn’t been notified about my coming. She confirmed that Zarina hadn’t said anything to her and that next week there wouldn’t be any classes since it was a national holiday: Man’s Day as if all days weren’t already for their benefit.

I went to the Halal Kitchen and had my usual serving of lagman noodles. Laila was at the bus stop when I got there and we engaged in some small talk then. I caught one of the minibuses to head to the Osh Bazaar where I made sure and buy enough staples and meat to last me for a while.

 I recognized the number 35 bus as one of those that went past my bus stop and I was home in minutes. I still needed milk, water, juice and bread so I dropped my heavy shopping bag at home and went to Narodni to buy the remaining items.

Once back home, it was time for some beauty treatment as I colored my hair and finished doing my nails. I marinated the beef to cook it with red beans tomorrow and ate leftovers for dinner.