April 4, 2013

It was another hectic day for me although at least the weather cooperated by offering a gorgeous day of mid-60s temperatures and lots of sunshine. I went first to the American University in Central Asia to observe a class where all the students were young women from Afghanistan who had been offered a scholarship to study here. This class turned out to be a preparation for the TOEFL exam they’ll be taking next Sunday.

Ekaterina was teaching them about parallel structure through numerous exercises projected into a tiny whiteboard, and for someinexplicable reason, she left the reading of the article on the same subject until the end of the class. We discussed my evaluation for just a few minutes as she had another class to teach immediately thereafter.

On my way to pick up lunch before arriving at Lingua, I called Natalia to clarify the issue of the Forum newsletter for the CATEC conference and we agreed that Elvira only needs to submit a brief summary of what articles/photos will be included in that issue so that the grant can be approved for its printing. Natalia indicated that Johanna wanted to meet with me at some point as we have never actually spoken one-on-one.

I picked up some plov and salad and once at Lingua proceeded to print some of the additional pages I need to complete the resource booklet, but ran out of paper in the process. I did write a dedication page 

mentioning Sue Gershenson, the former Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal who helped tremendously in its first printing, and who had lost  her battle with cancer in 2011.

Gulnara, Larissa and Zarina were in the lunch room when I went in to heat up my plov and we talked about my trip to Shymkent. I mentioned to Larissa that Willoughby would be willing to bring her the seeds she’d originally asked me for when she travels to the States this summer. I also clarified that the computer would be available for Willoughby and I to start work on the spring newsletter this Saturday.

Elvira called me to remind me I needed to go back to the AUCA campus to review the budget for our trip South as the embassy had asked for changes to it and explanation for some of the expenses therein. I walked to her office and spent another hour and half modifying the different columns and hoping it would all make sense at the end.

I walked home from the university taking a different route this time. After picking up water, juice and some prepared dishes across the street, I finally made it home. I went to bed very early.