on wednesday, i had a lesson with a class that i'm having a really difficult time connecting with. the students aren't really sharp, and i simply don't feel well in their lessons. to counteract this, i've been trying to employ some different methods. this week, our theme was "sports," and i decided to teach them a little bit about baseball. while we were talking about it, i got the bright idea to play kickball... which seemed to be, in my mind, just like baseball... except with feet. the weather was perfect, it was the end of the day, and it seemed like the perfect idea. i told two boys to go find a ball, and as soon as they came back we headed outside. little did i realize that these students have literally NO concept of baseball, kickball, or any game involving bases. the boys in the class were eager to learn and helped me in explaining the game to the whole class. finally, i rolled the first "pitch" (with a soccer ball) to start the game. the student kicked it hard and far into the outfield. the girls, who i had physically placed in the outfield (five feet away from each other), simply stood there and looked at me: failure #1. then, i explained that if you catch the ball, the kicker is automatically out. during one "inning," the ball kept pop-flying to the same student, and each time he let it bounce just in front of him before "catching" it: failure #2. then, i explained that if you touch the base with the ball, the runner is out. after a student kicked the ball toward second and began running toward first, another student grabbed the ball and touched the third base and yelled "out!" to the player at first: failure #3.
besides these failures and my constant yelling to "look alive! don't be so lazy! girls, you're beautiful but you have to move!," i had a few small successes. i taught them, "jump! shake your booty, jump! jump! shake your booty!" and "let's go! let's go! l-e-t-s g-o!" and i was so happy to hear them yell, "run! go! go! go!" instead of the slovak equivalent.
after the game of pseudo-kickball, i went up to the bilingual section to join my friend val and her drama club. this year marks the twentieth anniversary of the french-bilingual section, so they are preparing a lot of different events to commemorate it. val's drama club is dancing, and she asked if i'd join. one of my student's dad's is a professional choreographer, and he is the one teaching us. he is about 50, looks like a gray-haired penguin, is incredibly nice and is the best, straight, male dancer i've ever seen. he's excellent. my coordination and dancing abilities, however, are not excellent. nor is my slovak, so his directions seemed like jibberish. i knew i had to move, but i didn't know how. imagine all of the students, young and beautiful and coordinated, and then me, awkward and clumsy and confused. it was a riot. i left sweaty, happily humiliated, and with a semi-twisted knee (there was a particularly fancy, twisting move on the floor which got the best of me).
and then on wednesday evening, i went to an exhibition by my friends from keks design. they had gone around flats and other buildings in kosice to look for furniture from the 70's and 80's as the subject of the exhibition. without doubt, this was my favorite exhibition that i've seen while in kosice. it was original, well organized and thought provoking (not to mention uniquely beautiful).
beyond this, i've been spending my days studying for the GRE. i have to take an "english subject" exam, which covers everything in the world of english... a world i have been noticeably distant from in the last year. wish me luck.
all for now. send me an email, a postcard or just a simple line to let me know how life is back home. i miss it.
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