Friday, November 30, 2012

A Graduation to Remember

A simple graduation ceremony for 14 young Afghan officers whose next step is to move on to pilot training. I am not fond of such things for the most part, but they were my students, and I am very happy to see them moving on in their careers. Being the military, what should be a 15 minute operation takes at least an hour because we need to hear speeches from both the American and the Afghan Colonels. My boredom was far surpassing any interest one could really have listening to a speech in a language one does not understand, when a little excitement pepped up every one's day.

One of our students who unfortunately was unable to pass the exam was very frustrated and decided that he had had enough! During the Afghan Colonel's speech, he stood up to air his grievances. As soon as he stood, I knew there would be trouble of some sort. He had been speaking to me just before the ceremony about how his English was better than that of most of the students who had graduated. He was sure that the previous graduates had cheated, and the head of our organization had something against him personally, which is why he didn't graduate. He state he was going to burn his uniform in front of the Parliament building in Kabul with the media in attendance. Yes, I knew he was angry, but I didn't think he would try to do something during the ceremony. Perhaps I should have sat with him. Maybe I could have done a better job calming him down during our discussion. Unfortunately, none of this was the case, and my student of nine or so months wrote himself a one-way ticket back to Kabul to face whatever disciplinary measures the Afghan military leadership wishes to dish out.

Fortunately, the trouble was limited. He stood and started to say whatever he needed to say (in Dari of course). The leadership attempted to reason with him and get him to sit down. I instructed another teacher to get closer to an exit, and one could hear the clicks of safeties and holster latches being undone. One of the American leaders rushed over and escorted the student out. On the way, the student tore off the patch of our organization, which is worn on the left sleeve, and his Afghan military uniform top. The buttons flew in multiple directions as they separated from the uniform, and he threw the shirt to the floor. A civilian helicopter pilot instructor picked up three buttons and put them in his pocket.

The graduation continued on mostly as planned. I congratulated my students on their achievements, had many pictures taken with them (none with a camera of my own), and indulged in the cake and pop (soda). It was a happy time for them, but for me, an air of sadness, and perhaps guilt, tainted the celebration. I just hope the "what if I had...." doesn't stick around too much longer.
 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

A Day of Teaching.....

It has been a long couple of weeks! We have been in the midst of preparing for the ALCPT, and the students are really inundating me with grammar questions no matter how much I try to focus on their listening which is the true area in which they need help.

Today, during my lesson, I was asked about eggs, chickens, furtile, and all this. I decided to do something that is usually very helpful when teaching, but also something I tend to be very bad at: drawing! Hopefully you will actually get to see the drawing, as I took a picture of it with one of my student's phones (I just need to figure out how to upload it here).
Erratic vs. irritate and the process of chicken growth all in one!

In addition to the drain being caused by trying to figure out questions like '"Why do we say the police are" but 'the army is'?" GRRRRRRRR... I know the answer to the latter but not the former, so I went online to look, and every website that claimed to have the answer is blocked! I have yet to crack the code the military uses in blocking websites, but I do know that it doesn't currently make any sense at all!!

Outside of the academics, I have to deal with the friendly British officers. These two are quite nice and very laid back. I am hoping that this will allow me more ability to relax and learn just how to not be stressed all the time. It seems that while people tend to discribe me as being laid back, this is not generally the case. I tend to worry and stress over things that have nothing to do with me. This is definitely not a good thing, so here is to hoping.

I am not sure what tomorrow will bring in the terms of test results for my students. There are a number of them that I know have the ability to pass, but they always seem to do things to keep themselves from that goal. I hope they don't do that this time. Once again, I will keep my fingures crossed that I will be able to kick a number of them out of here and get others in to teach!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Thanksgiving review

Now that it is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I think I may have digested things enough to be able to finally write about them. The meal, while taking place in large hall with more than 500 people, was actually quite good. I sat with two other teachers and the military staff here: 2 US Air Force personnel and 2 British Royal Air Force officers.
The smorgasbord they served consisted of turkey and some large cut of beaf which was carved in front of each person who chose one of these main dishes. We also had the options of honey glazed ham, baked lobster tails, green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, baked mac & cheese, glazed sweet potatoes, collard greens, cornbread dressing, corn on the cob, gravey, rolls, carrot cake, peach cobbler, and various cakes and pies. They also offered egg nog and ice cream. No, I didn't take everything, and yes, I was soooo fulll!
After our managing to scarf down our fill of food and comiserate about not being able to be home with family, we came back to the office and generally passed out. We accomplised nothing for the rest of the day. Then it was back to business as usual on Saturday and today. The students are really worried about the upcoming test and are really focusing on grammar. For some reason they have decidedd that of all the teachers, I am the one to ask. I am not sure how I managed to be voted this dubious honor, but I do my best to live up to their expectations while making sure they are the ones that come up with the ideas as much as possible. It is such a thin line to walk!
I am loooking forward to my trip out of here! It should be coming up soon! I like the people, I even like the area, but spending more than six months without time away is enough to make me crazy!!! I am also looking toward March when I will be leaving here. What will I do next? Where will I go? Where will I work? I have pretty much mapped out my April - first part of June, but it gets a bit fuzzy after that. I have applied many places, both in and out of the country, so I guess I just have to wait and see what happens! GRRRR......