APO Convention Begins Early!

On the 21st or 22nd, I found myself  in the Kuwait International Airport on my way to Spain via Dubai. A coworker and I had just finished eating in the food court (actually he was eating, I was watching people and keeping myself amused). As we were walking toward the check in counters, I noticed the shirt of one of the oncoming people: -PO.... I couldn´t help it, I stopped and asked him if he was a brother.

Not only was he an APO - Philippines, but he was there with a large number of the Kuwait Alumni Chapter of APO- Philippines! I was now under obligation to meet all of those who were there, even the little APO baby that accompanied them! We talked for a few minutes, they took pictures they are supposed to email me (if I didn´t accicently delete them from my account when I cleaned out the inordinate amount of Spam), and they gave me a ballcap from one of the APO-Phillipines´ National Convetion.

This was a very great precursor to the events that are yet to come! I am ready to meet old friends, possibly make some new ones, and just have a good time relaxing and not thinking about the job that I have to go back to way too soon. 

Strange Teaching Day

It started out fairly normal considering everyone thinks of me as temporary site lead, but I don't really have much of the authority I would truly need in order to get anything done. It is a role I held before, however, so many of the students were sure that I was going to take it once again.

Early in the morning, around 5:00am, I hear my roommate fumbling around in anticipation of his early morning cup of coffee. He leaves, and I feel I can sneak in just a few more minutes rest before I finally get up, but it is not to be! Around 6:00am, my roommate returns, turns on the light, and continues on with whatever it is he feels needs to be done. I was not ready for the brightness, and grumble to myself.
I go to the office, pour a cup of coffee, taste it, dump the rest of the carafe, and make a fresh pot. This seems to be the routine I have gotten myself into somehow. I then sit down at the computer to see if I have gotten any emails. The Internet doesn't work!

Of all the problems I could be having, this seems like a minor one. However, as much as it can get monotonous, the routine is what keeps things around here going, sane. I decide to take my coffee back to my room to see if the Internet is working there. Fortunately, it is.

The first part of the day went off without a hitch. The first period after lunch, my students were taken by the British mentors for Aviation class. I managed to actually accomplish a lot during this time, which surprises me to no end! Then the final class period arrived! Eager to get back into the classroom, I entered with a smile and an enthusiastic 'hello'. My students were ready to work, so we dived right in. Then it happened! My student started a conversation, and it all went downhill after that (or rather much better if truth be told).

S1: Teacher! I don't know what is wrong, but my lips are dry and hurt.
S2: You need lipstick!
Me: What color lipstick do you need?
S1: Red!

I then went on to explain that what he wanted was chap stick, but the "damage" was done!

One of our vocabulary words this unit is "maneuver". Apparently this is pronounced "manure" in Dari. This combined with the difficulty of some of the Pashto speakers to say the 'v' has led to some mistakes that needed to be addressed. This led to the interesting idea of words sounding the same in English as in Dari and having an unfortunate correlation! Aside from "manure"

Dari:                                                     English
go                                                         stool (human feces)
care                                                      penis
mar-me                                                bullet  (I just thought this was an interesting one)

Now I know why all my students found it so funny when I told them "I don't care" so often.... (We have an understanding.)  Furthermore, did you know that in Dari the Teacher takes the test and the student gives it? How is that for confusing?!