A New Year

So now that a few of those more depressing entries are out of the way it’ll be cool to talk about what I’ll be doing this coming year. As many of you know I was working at the school here in Keda last year. I taught English to 1^st, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, and 12^th graders. I talked to Peace Corps after school ended about possibly changing things in my site in order to investigate to opportunities for Peace Corps Georgia. See, ever since TLG came many Volunteers in Peace Corps have questioned whether Peace Corps needs to be in schools. If the purpose of Peace Corps should be to get a country to the point it can sustain itself, than TLG is Georgia being sustainable. So I talked with Peace Corps and we decided that we could look into other possibilities.

My first idea was to work straight out of the Educational Resource Center here in Keda. This would mean trying to help the schools in the Keda District raise money for their projects and trying to advance the English cabinets and assist the workers with whatever they may need. I already have done some things like this already, and I’ve been very successful. I also get a great feeling helping schools other than my own.

At the same time another Volunteer told me about an opportunity to work at Batumi University. It’s all new, but it looks like I’ll be helping out in the History department, and doing practicum work for American and British Literature. I was also just approached to possibly lead my own class on essay writing. This will possibly be three days a week and will be a great opportunity for me to really hone many of my skills and will also be a big challenge and change. I do sometimes wonder if I’m completely qualified in fields like History that can be so specialized, but I am here to help and I’m sure I’ll find a place amongst the faculty.

I will also be continuing my English teaching for 1^st graders in Keda twice a week. So it looks like I’ll have 3 jobs 5 days a week! I sure hope I’m not going to be over-committing myself (something I have a tendency to do) and then letting many people down all at once. It will be REALLY hard, but I think this coming year will be really good if I can stay motivated and get my work done. It can be extremely rewarding for me, the students, and the faculty. This will also be good experience for me in general and what I want to do when I finish Peace Corps; whether that be teaching or graduate school.

So wish me luck tomorrow with my first day of school, and I’ll keep you updated with everything that’s going on. Hopefully I won’t be too busy and will be able to continue keeping my blog current.