I'm officially an English teacher now!

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated-- the internet cafe has been down the past few days, and I've been busy with lesson planning and sleeping. But I finally have some time, and miraculously, the internet cafe is open and has power and is rather fast!

I have 4 classes- Upper Intermediate 1, Advanced 1, Upper-Intermediate 2, and Advanced 4. My students range from around 13 - 40. I have about 8 students in each class. The students are great! They all have very different backgrounds. There are a few Koreans, a Japanese, ethnic Kyrgyz, Turks, and ethnic Russians. They are all very willing to learn and they seem motivated to do their work and learn English. I feel still a little bit out of my element, but every day I feel more and more confident as I get to know my students and have a feel for their abilities. I have a Russian student who is a linguistics major! I really like it, and I'm glad to finally have something to occupy my time. I was getting bored of playing Snood for hours on end every afternoon while the other teachers were working.

Yesterday I went out to dinner with 2 British teachers, Mike and Evan, Evan's Turkmen girlfriend Selbi, and a group of Dutch artists who are in town doing a performance Saturday which involves changing a public space in downtown Bishkek. We went to a great Chinese restaurant and shared about 10 dishes of food. It was great and ended up costing less than $5 a person!

I spilled soup all over my cell phone and the buttons stopped working for a few hours, so I was dreading buying a new one and losing my 5 year old wonderful orange Finnish Nokia brick. Luckily the keys started working again and it's been fine ever since.

On the walk back home from the Chinese restaurant, I somehow wasn't watching where I was going and I stepped right into one of the water gutters that run down the side of all the roads. There were street lights around so I have NO idea how I didn't see it, but I really hurt my ankle and I scratched my purple boots and severly bruised my dignity. At least it wasn't an open manhole!

On Saturday Evan, Mike, and I are going to see the performance of the Dutch artists. They're keeping secret exactly what they'll be doing, but it involves changing public spaces at the fountains in Ala-Too Square downtown. It should be interesting! I may also venture out to a bazaar for the first time. Some teachers went yesterday and got winter clothes, but it was rainy and cold and was more a stay-in-bed-and-watch-movies kind of day.

We're also in the beginning stages of plannig a Halloween/drink Absinthe party, so that's something to look forward to!

Happy October! The weather is crisp and the leaves are falling and it rains more often- it's wonderful wonderful weather! I'm looking forward to winter.