My Future Plans and My Russian Babies!

My FCE Babies!

My English in Mind 4 Babies!

My English in Mind 2 Babies!

My More! 3 Babies!

The Formidable Teacher Shayla a.k.a. "The Boss"

Lately I have been questioning what to do with my future and have been as wishy-washy as the Atlantic Ocean during a hurricane concerning the matter (I feel it is made up expressions such as this that makes people miss me...hehehehe)! I now feel confident that I want to be a high school teacher. So eventually I will have to go back to school and get certified but in the meantime I have been pondering how long I should prolong this inevitability. I still don't really know. My options are stay in Russia another year, go to another country to teach English, or go back to school next year. I just don't know how I feel about going back to scary America where I will have to pay for housing, bills, school, and work a crappy part time job. Whereas, teaching abroad pays for my housing, I put at least half of my pay check in savings, and it is a rewarding and interesting experience. It seems obvious that I should continue teaching abroad for a few years, but there are draw backs. I feel isolated because I don't speak the language and the population doesn't speak English, thus my ocean of possible friends gets narrowed down to a puddle.....and let's just say that the TEFL industry tends to attract some odd ducks, who then all flock together and seem to lack a certain amount of depth, maturity, and intellect. I know it is as harsh condemnation but it is true. Fortunately, I have found a few exceptions, who are doing this as a short term experience like myself.......see it is the lifers that you have to watch out for! So those are the challenges posed against me. Last week I officially decided that I would have a great year in Russia, but that I am going to stay in America next year. As stated previously, I am wishy-washy. I had a really great week last week and I felt like I was really accomplishing things with my Russian babies (my term of endearment for my students.....they love it:). This along with getting paid this week and realizing how much money I save here, made me realize that I should do this for another year to save up some money and learn a new language and all that jazz. I am still undecided whether to stay in Russia or relocate, regardless I will definitely change what city I teach in and if I do stay in Russia I would like to try living in St. Petersburg since it is the culture capital of Russia and has so many museums that I would love to see. If I continue to have more great weeks with my little Russian delights like I did this week then I will definitely stay in Russia.

This week my babies were so great! During three different classes my students asked if they could have their picture taken with me. There are so cute and I was surprised because they are not at a cute age......they are 13 year old punks that are in bands and give each other piercings on the weekend (I am not even kidding ......this is a true story). So I brought my camera in and took their picture too. The best part of my week was Wednesday, the day that I teach my newly acquired adult beginner level students. I only teach them once a week and this was my second time doing so. On Monday and Fridays, a Russian teacher teaches them English in Russian......so I am their weekly exposure to a native speaker. They surprisingly liked me and it was refreshing to teach well-behaved adults for a change. And I draw a lot of my enthusiasm from them so we have a good time trying to communicate with each other because I speak zero Russian and they speak about 10 English words. It is a lot of fun. So after I taught them for the second time, at the end of class they all gather round and start interrogating me in "Renglish". One of the students is 21 years old and she speaks the most English and she had me write down my Skype name and e-mail so that she could talk to me. She asked if I had any Russian friends and I said no because the only Russians that I know that speak English are my teenagers.....and I do not want to be their friends outside of class. So she comes up to me and gives me a big hug and says "Now you have one Russian friend". They are so funny and so excited to learn English and I love them. Well on Friday this girl, Julia, Skype chatted me and tried to communicate with me. I understood about half but she has invited me to meet her friends and hang out with her next weekend. It sounds like fun, but it seems kind of weird to hang out with your student. The other teachers who teach adults do it all the time. The thing to consider is that they pay for English school on top of their other school so we don't really give them grades unless they care......they are supposed to want to be there. So hanging out with your student isn't as bad because it isn't a conflict of interest because you aren't giving them anything to gain......just more time to practice English. But it still seems strange to me so I don't know, but it was refreshing to meet someone my age who is Russian and wants to hang out. Each day here, the sense of humor and characters of my students makes my day. I hope to perpetuate my luck into this week!