All public schools in Prizren operate in two or three shifts (this means that one group of students would attend classes from, say, 7-1 and a second group would attend from 1-7). This vidpo was shot in front of the League of Prizren Elementary School, which is a school in which I have previously conducted observations of student-teachers. The school has been painted on the outside since I left Kosovo 18-odd months ago. Click over to an entry I wrote in April of 2008 to see what the school looked like outside and inside. I wonder if any classroom improvements have been made or if there's only been paint.
Showing posts with label Kosovo education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kosovo education. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Kosovision
At the moment, I'm researching pre-tertiary education in Kosovo and I came across the Kosovision Contest, which piques my interest. Of course, the first question that popped into my mind was, Did all the students' parents give informed consent? I wish I could see more information about what kinds of projects the participating 5th grade classes are producing in order to "voice their opinions about Kosovo's future."
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
No Typhoon. No Internet.
I thought the typhoon was going to breeze through Hiroshima this morning and cancel classes. No such luck. I woke up and it was crystal clear. We haven't had any rain today at all although the wind is blustering about a bit. Lately, I've been mainly just posting photos to K-Blog. I don't have internet at home yet, but I can easily post pictures from my phone. That's why I haven't been giving much commentary lately. Don't worry...that'll change once I get internet set up at home. :)
Kosovo increases wages for university professors by 100 percent
Kosovo increases wages for university professors by 100 percent
Monday, September 21, 2009
I Haven't Forgotten About Kosovo
I love the idea of this, but given the condition of many schools (suspicious structural integrity, no bathrooms, not enough desks, etc), the lack of funds for technology purchases & upkeep, and the rolling blackouts, adding connectivity to schools may not even be a usable service in many areas.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
In the Print Media (Again)
There's a magazine that's put out biweekly by German KFOR. An Albanian version, Dritarja, and a Bosnian version, Prozor, are published. The content for each is identical. In the latest issue, Dritarja/Prozor ran an article about the book donation I gave to the elementary school in April.
The Albanian version:
Libra dhe posterë leximi për shkollën fillore në Palluzhë
„Ne besojmë në fuqinë e librit”
Më 24 prill, nxënësit e shkollës fillore „Sylejman Vokshi” në Palluzhë kishin arsye për të festuar, ngase iniciativës së tyre për krijimin e një biblioteke shkollore, të filluar së bashku me drejtorin e shkollës, i kishte ardhur ndihma edhe nga Amerika e largët.
Kirsten Mashinter, ligjëruese në Fakultetin e Edukimit në Prizren, kishte vendosur ta pasurojë bibliotekën e tyre edhe me libra në gjuhën angleze. Kështu edhe ndodhi. Mbi 250 titujve në gjuhën shqipe iu bashkëngjitën edhe 69 syresh në gjuhën angleze. „Ne besojmë në fuqinë e librit, i cili u ndihmon nxënësve në krijimin e ideve të reja”, tha Kirsten Mashinter gjatë dorëzimit të këtyre librave, posterëve dhe disa fjalorëve për gjuhën angleze, me një vlerë prej mbi 570 dollarësh. „Kjo nuk do të kishte qenë e mundur pa përkrahjen e shokëve, familjes dhe një librarie nga qyteti Reno i shtetit amerikan Nevada”, përshkroi vullnetin e mirë të të afërmëve të saj. „U jemi shumë mirënjohës këtyre njerëzve vullnetmirë nga SHBA-ja, të cilët me këtë donacion përkrahin arsimimin e fëmijëve tanë. Ne ju garantojmë që këto libra do të përdoren maksimalisht nga nxënësit e kësaj shkolle“, falënderoi profesoreshën amerikane Shpend Hoti, drejtori i kësaj shkolle.
The Bosnian version:
Knjige i posteri za školu u Poluži
„Verujemo u moć knjige”
Učenici Osnovne škole „Sulejman Vokši“ u selu Poluža kod Orahovca imali su razloga za slavlje 24. aprila ove godine.
Njihovoj inicijativi za osnivanje školske biblioteke, koju su pokrenuli zajedno sa školskim direktorom, na ovaj dan je stigla pomoć iz daleke Amerike. Kirsten Mashinter, predavačica na Fakultetu edukacije u Prizrenu, odlučila je da obogati školsku biblioteku sa knjigama na engleskom jeziku, što se i desilo. Pored 250 već postojećih naslova, biblioteci su dodata još 69 naslova sa knjigama na engleskom jeziku. „Mi verujemo u moć knjiga koje deci pomažu u stvaranju novih ideja“, rekla je Kirsten Mashinter prilikom predaje knjiga i postera na engleskom jeziku u vrednosti od 570 dolara. „Ovo ne bi bilo moguće bez pomoći mojih prijatelja, rodbine i jedne knjižare u mestu Reno u saveznoj državi Nevada u SAD“, istakla je ona opisujući pri tome dobru volju njenih poznanika. „Veoma smo zahvalni ovim ljudima dobre volje iz SAD koji svojom donacijom potpomažu obrazovanje naše dece. Mi garantujemo da će ove knjige biti maksimalno iskorišćene od učenika naše škole“, ovim rečima je na kraju Špend Hoti, direktor ove škole, zahvalio američkoj predavačici.
And the translated English version:
Books and reading posters for the elementary school in Palluzha
“We believe in the power of books”
On April 24, 2009, the students of the primary school “Sylejman Vokshi” in Polluzha had one more cause to celebrate. Because their joint initiative with the school director to create their own library has namely got support even from the far USA. Kirsten Mashinter, an English teacher at the Faculty of Education in Prizren decided gladly to enrich their library with English books, which in the mean time lists more than 250 book titles in Albanian language. “We strongly believe in the power of books to help students to create new ideas”, said Kirsten Mashinter by handing over the 69 books and many reading posters worth 570 dollar to the school director. “This wouldn’t be possible without the helpful support of my friends, family and a library from the town Reno/Nevada”, she confirmed the goodwill of her relatives. “We cannot say thank you enough to these generous people from the USA, who support the education of our children. We guarantee that these books will be used at maximum ”, thanked the school director Shpend Hoti the American teacher for her donation.
The Albanian version:
Libra dhe posterë leximi për shkollën fillore në Palluzhë
„Ne besojmë në fuqinë e librit”
Më 24 prill, nxënësit e shkollës fillore „Sylejman Vokshi” në Palluzhë kishin arsye për të festuar, ngase iniciativës së tyre për krijimin e një biblioteke shkollore, të filluar së bashku me drejtorin e shkollës, i kishte ardhur ndihma edhe nga Amerika e largët.
Kirsten Mashinter, ligjëruese në Fakultetin e Edukimit në Prizren, kishte vendosur ta pasurojë bibliotekën e tyre edhe me libra në gjuhën angleze. Kështu edhe ndodhi. Mbi 250 titujve në gjuhën shqipe iu bashkëngjitën edhe 69 syresh në gjuhën angleze. „Ne besojmë në fuqinë e librit, i cili u ndihmon nxënësve në krijimin e ideve të reja”, tha Kirsten Mashinter gjatë dorëzimit të këtyre librave, posterëve dhe disa fjalorëve për gjuhën angleze, me një vlerë prej mbi 570 dollarësh. „Kjo nuk do të kishte qenë e mundur pa përkrahjen e shokëve, familjes dhe një librarie nga qyteti Reno i shtetit amerikan Nevada”, përshkroi vullnetin e mirë të të afërmëve të saj. „U jemi shumë mirënjohës këtyre njerëzve vullnetmirë nga SHBA-ja, të cilët me këtë donacion përkrahin arsimimin e fëmijëve tanë. Ne ju garantojmë që këto libra do të përdoren maksimalisht nga nxënësit e kësaj shkolle“, falënderoi profesoreshën amerikane Shpend Hoti, drejtori i kësaj shkolle.
The Bosnian version:
Knjige i posteri za školu u Poluži
„Verujemo u moć knjige”
Učenici Osnovne škole „Sulejman Vokši“ u selu Poluža kod Orahovca imali su razloga za slavlje 24. aprila ove godine.
Njihovoj inicijativi za osnivanje školske biblioteke, koju su pokrenuli zajedno sa školskim direktorom, na ovaj dan je stigla pomoć iz daleke Amerike. Kirsten Mashinter, predavačica na Fakultetu edukacije u Prizrenu, odlučila je da obogati školsku biblioteku sa knjigama na engleskom jeziku, što se i desilo. Pored 250 već postojećih naslova, biblioteci su dodata još 69 naslova sa knjigama na engleskom jeziku. „Mi verujemo u moć knjiga koje deci pomažu u stvaranju novih ideja“, rekla je Kirsten Mashinter prilikom predaje knjiga i postera na engleskom jeziku u vrednosti od 570 dolara. „Ovo ne bi bilo moguće bez pomoći mojih prijatelja, rodbine i jedne knjižare u mestu Reno u saveznoj državi Nevada u SAD“, istakla je ona opisujući pri tome dobru volju njenih poznanika. „Veoma smo zahvalni ovim ljudima dobre volje iz SAD koji svojom donacijom potpomažu obrazovanje naše dece. Mi garantujemo da će ove knjige biti maksimalno iskorišćene od učenika naše škole“, ovim rečima je na kraju Špend Hoti, direktor ove škole, zahvalio američkoj predavačici.
And the translated English version:
Books and reading posters for the elementary school in Palluzha
“We believe in the power of books”
On April 24, 2009, the students of the primary school “Sylejman Vokshi” in Polluzha had one more cause to celebrate. Because their joint initiative with the school director to create their own library has namely got support even from the far USA. Kirsten Mashinter, an English teacher at the Faculty of Education in Prizren decided gladly to enrich their library with English books, which in the mean time lists more than 250 book titles in Albanian language. “We strongly believe in the power of books to help students to create new ideas”, said Kirsten Mashinter by handing over the 69 books and many reading posters worth 570 dollar to the school director. “This wouldn’t be possible without the helpful support of my friends, family and a library from the town Reno/Nevada”, she confirmed the goodwill of her relatives. “We cannot say thank you enough to these generous people from the USA, who support the education of our children. We guarantee that these books will be used at maximum ”, thanked the school director Shpend Hoti the American teacher for her donation.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Inequality in Kosovar Education
Interested in the qualitiy of education the various Kosovar ethnic groups have access to? The OSCE recent published this document:
Kosovo non-majority communities within the primary and secondary educational systems
It also gives a great overview of the Kosovar educational system. Very definitely worth at least a skim if the topics of inequality in education or minority education hold any interest for you.
Kosovo non-majority communities within the primary and secondary educational systems
It also gives a great overview of the Kosovar educational system. Very definitely worth at least a skim if the topics of inequality in education or minority education hold any interest for you.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Pictures from an Elementary School
Today's elementary school visit was good. This is the same school that I was at last week to donate the children's books. All of the kids were very happy to see me. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the second shift of kids, grades 1-5, started. Since my student was teaching the older, first shift of students (grades 6-9), I wasn't able to do any hobnobbing with the younger set. I managed to go to each class today for one of their English lessons. It was great.
This is the 6th grade class. The room is tiny. I was standing at the very back.
Students were able to immediately use Crayola markers I gave to the school.
If I had views like these from my classrooms, I wouldn't be spending much time paying attention!
This is the library in action. The principal pulls out a bunch of books and places them on a desk in his office. Between classes, students come in, sift through the piles, and choose books to check out.
Washoe County Library donated a handful of old "Read" posters that they were no longer using. The school's principal put one up in each of the classrooms. Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Kirsten Eats Flija
On Monday, I went out to a small village to observe one of my university students doing her practise teaching. I observed three classes: one eighth grade class, one fourth grade, and one third grade. These photos are from the third grade class.
In this photo, students are huddled around a group of tables trying to identify pieces of clothing that were hand drawn by the teacher onto slips of paper. Resources are scarce. Where a US-based teacher might be able to print something off the internet using a color printer, or maybe the teacher might be able to run down to the Parent/Teacher Aids store to buy flash cards, a Kosovo teacher doesn't have the same luxury. This particular teacher doesn't have internet, doesn't have a computer, and doesn't have the money to buy flash cards (which, incidentally, aren't even available).
These two shots show the homemade flash cards. I didn't ask how much time it took her to make these, but it must have taken an evening. All of the figures are hand drawn and hand colored. It's unfortunate that lamination machines are virtually unheard of because after being handled a few times by young kids, these cards won't last.
In this photo, students are huddled around a group of tables trying to identify pieces of clothing that were hand drawn by the teacher onto slips of paper. Resources are scarce. Where a US-based teacher might be able to print something off the internet using a color printer, or maybe the teacher might be able to run down to the Parent/Teacher Aids store to buy flash cards, a Kosovo teacher doesn't have the same luxury. This particular teacher doesn't have internet, doesn't have a computer, and doesn't have the money to buy flash cards (which, incidentally, aren't even available).
These two shots show the homemade flash cards. I didn't ask how much time it took her to make these, but it must have taken an evening. All of the figures are hand drawn and hand colored. It's unfortunate that lamination machines are virtually unheard of because after being handled a few times by young kids, these cards won't last.
After I observed my student, she took me to her house where her mother had made flija (pronounced flee-yuh). Flija is one of those Kosovar dishes that's made at home. It can be bought in shops, but homemade flija is the way to go. It's made outside over hot coals. Imagine a large round pan (and I do mean large...think a 1.5 foot diameter pan...Texas sheetcake large). This pan is laid into a pile of hot coals (in this case, the coals were held in a wheel barrow). In a mixing bowl, flour and water and salt have been mixed to form a batter (slightly runny). Once the pan heats up, a thin layer of batter is poured into the pan, covered with oil, and a large lid is placed on top. After that layer is cooked, another layer is poured in the pan, oiled, and, again, the pan is covered. This process continues for about 2 hours. When everything is completed, you get a large round pan full of layered batter. The taste of flija reminds me of what crepes that have been stacked together would taste like (that is to say, not-too-eggy crepes).
Traditionally, flija is eaten with cheese or jam. In my case, we ate it with cheese that the mother had made, and with peppers pickled and canned by the family in the fall. We also had some homemade yogurt with cucumbers. The yogurt is helpful in calming the tummy when eating a dish that has a lot of oil (but the flija itself didn't taste super oily). Flija is typically made in the summer time.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Kirsten in the News
There was a short article in Sunday's Koha Ditore about the books I brought to Polluzha. It basically just says that I gave books and posters to the school. The principal was very thankful and he will maximize the use of the books. I wish there had been more of a focus on the fact that the director is starting a lending library for his school. However, in this case, I think that any press for him is good press.
Amerikania la dhuron 69 libra shkollës fillore "Sulejman Vokshi" në Plaushë të Rahavecit
RAHAVEC, 25 PRILL- Kirsten Mashinter nga SHBA-ja, ligjëruese e gjuhës angleze në Fakultetin e Edukimit në Prizren, i ka dhuruar të shtunën 69 libra dhe disa posterë në Plaushë të Rahavecit.
Mashinter ka thënë se beson në fuqinë e librit. "Është një gjë e mirë t'u dhurosh nxënësve libra me të cilat ata mund të krijojnë përvoja dhe ide të reja," ka pohuar ligjëruesja amerikane. Ndërkaq drejtori i kësaj shkolle, Shpend Hoti, pasi që ka falënduar miken shfrytëzojnë maksimalisht librat në përvetësimin dhe aftësimin sa më të mirë në gjuhën angleze.
Amerikania la dhuron 69 libra shkollës fillore "Sulejman Vokshi" në Plaushë të Rahavecit
RAHAVEC, 25 PRILL- Kirsten Mashinter nga SHBA-ja, ligjëruese e gjuhës angleze në Fakultetin e Edukimit në Prizren, i ka dhuruar të shtunën 69 libra dhe disa posterë në Plaushë të Rahavecit.
Mashinter ka thënë se beson në fuqinë e librit. "Është një gjë e mirë t'u dhurosh nxënësve libra me të cilat ata mund të krijojnë përvoja dhe ide të reja," ka pohuar ligjëruesja amerikane. Ndërkaq drejtori i kësaj shkolle, Shpend Hoti, pasi që ka falënduar miken shfrytëzojnë maksimalisht librat në përvetësimin dhe aftësimin sa më të mirë në gjuhën angleze.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Kirsten's Week in Kosovo
Generally, my weeks have a certain routine to them. My schedule is pretty static. However, this last week was a little crazy.
Sunday
I haven't written about it much, but my stay last weekend in Budapest was fantastic (and I highly recommend room 618 at the Sofitel Budapest for its spectacular view of the Danube and castle region). Take Sunday, for example. In the morning, as I was cruising around on foot looking for a place to have coffee, I spied a Tesco sign (Tescos are a chain of supermarkets) that indicated Tesco was only 3km away. I thought for a second and decided it might be nice to bring back some muesli bars, so I started making my way there.
As it turned out, the Tesco is in Arena Park, a large shopping mall complex. I cruised the Tesco, bought a box of bars, found myself some coffee, and stumbled upon the movie theater. I looked to see if there was anything worth seeing and settled on Gran Torino (with Clint Eastwood). I wasn't sure how to tell, and the ticket seller didn't speak English, but thankfully the movie was subtitled in Hungarian and not dubbed. After watching the movie (and feeling rather depressed), I started to walk back towards my hotel. Instead of following my original path, I decided to walk along the tram tracks figuring that they'd lead me towards where I needed to go. About 20 minutes into my walk, I found the cemetary.
The Kerepesi Cemetary is the largest in Budapest (according to my guidebook) and I spent a good 2 1/2 hours wandering around. It was everything a cemetary should be. There was great statuary, tidy graves, areas that were thick with overgrowth and underbrush, old areas, new areas, clean, leafy, empty in parts and teeming in others. I must have wandered around the whole thing, mainly as a result of the fact that I couldn't figure out how to get out and I ended up walking a good portion of the inner perimeter looking for an exit.
After leaving the cemetary, I think I took the longest way possible back to the hotel. I was off the little freebie map the hotel gave me, and I wasn't carrying around my guidebook (I tend to save those for reading in the hotel). I walked, and walked, and walked. And walked some more. After my feet started to really hurt, I ran into the river which immediately oriented me. I went over to a Japanese ramen shop I had seen previously and had a big fat bowl of ramen. (I ate out exactly four times: twice in coffee houses and twice in Japanese restaurants. The rest of the time I self-catered at the hotel.) As I was walking back to the hotel, I was suddenly surrounded by people on bikes. Critical Mass.
I went back to the hotel to dump the box of muesli bars and immediately headed back out to check out the bikes. I've never seen so many bicycles in one place. The place was swarming with them. After truly tiring out my feet, I bought myself some cinnamon ice cream (very good!), went back to the hotel, and crashed.
Monday
After a breakfast of unappetizing deep fried French toast at Gerloczy Kavehaz, I made my way back to the airport and back on to Kosovo. Ferihegy airport is too small for the traffic it receives. Every single space in the departure area was crammed with people. It wasn't a very pleasant way to bid farewell to what had been a fantastic stay.
I was slightly worried about the logistics of returning to Prizren, mostly about getting from the airport to Sllatine. However, it was very easy. I took a cab to the bus stop in Sllatine for three Euros. He offered to take me to Prizren for 25, which was incredibly cheap, but I opted to stick with the bus (total cost to get from airport to Prizren, eight Euros). I got home around 6pm, ate a light dinner, unpacked my stuff, and went to bed.
Tuesday
Tuesday was normal. I had class at the university in the morning and my high school class in the afternoon. I was still pretty tuckered from a weekend of walking, so I took the evening easy by doing nothing.
Wednesday
Another mostly laid back day. My hour-long conversation hour turned into a three hour chit-chat. Then I participated in a viewing of an Obama biopic put out by the Biography Channel that the embassy has had subtitled (we have Albanian and Bosnian versions). For dinner, I went to my favorite Prizren restaurant, Sharri. I ordered the grilled trout as usual. It tasted a little bit off, but it wasn't until I'd finished half of it that I figured out why: bleach. The waiter swore that they don't use bleach to kill the fish, and he couldn't detect the ammonia smell. I refused to eat any more of it and he charged me full price for my dinner. I'm not going back. (Fortunately, I didn't suffer any ill effects from it.)
Thursday
I had the first of four observations I'm doing of my second year students participating in their teaching practicum. I went to a small Bosnian village not too far from Prizren (about 20 minutes by car). It's the only school in the Zhupa Valley in which the language of instruction is Albanian (all of the other schools in the valley teach their kids in Bosnian). The kids were super cute (see previous post). However, I was up there longer than expected and I had to cancel my afternoon classes. My student had come to Prizren to get me by car, and there weren't any busses running that time of day, so I was at his mercy. I didn't mind, though. I talked with him and his mentor teacher a bit about the US school system and teaching methodologies. It was a beautiful day to be out of Prizren.
Friday
The day of the books delivery. :) After I read "One Fish, Two Fish..." to the students, I played volleyball with the older kids and then I was mobbed by a group of younger kids saying things like,
Where are you from?
What's your name?
Nice to meet you!
Eyes! Beautiful!
What's your favorite food?
Not so different from Japanese kids, to tell the truth. It's intimidating to be surrounded by 20 kids. They kept telling me to sit down (I was near a ledge that I could sit on). They were saying this to be polite, but it was a little scary to be looking up at a tight circle of thronging kids. They're pretty excited that I'll be back next week (to observe another one of my students doing his teaching practicum).
I got back to Prizren in the afternoon and ended up going with German KFOR to Gornje Lubinje, a Bosnian village high up in the Zhupa Valley. It was a little surreal. Civilians aren't allowed in the military jeeps due to insurance reasons. However, I knew one of the Albanian translators who was going, so I was invited to tag along. The village was beautiful. It's perched up on the side of a mountain. Even though there's tons of space around the village, the village itself has very small and windy streets.
After being dropped off back home, I decided I had a hankering for the grilled chicken at Te Syla. As I was eating, who else should stop in to eat but the president of the Turkish parliament? He eats grilled meat just like the rest of us.
Saturday
Yesterday, I walked up to Pasha Cherchme (a fountain above Prizren) and slowly wound my way back down into town (about a 4-hour walk). I had a decent pizza at Theranda Cini and then went home and spent the afternoon vegged out in front of the National Georgraphic Channel.
This coming week I have three student observations, so I'll be travelling out to Budakova (60 minutes by bus), Opoje (another 60 minutes), and back to the site of the book delivery, Polluzha. I love to see my students in action. Although I'll be travelling a lot this week, it'll be doing something I enjoy.
Sunday
I haven't written about it much, but my stay last weekend in Budapest was fantastic (and I highly recommend room 618 at the Sofitel Budapest for its spectacular view of the Danube and castle region). Take Sunday, for example. In the morning, as I was cruising around on foot looking for a place to have coffee, I spied a Tesco sign (Tescos are a chain of supermarkets) that indicated Tesco was only 3km away. I thought for a second and decided it might be nice to bring back some muesli bars, so I started making my way there.
As it turned out, the Tesco is in Arena Park, a large shopping mall complex. I cruised the Tesco, bought a box of bars, found myself some coffee, and stumbled upon the movie theater. I looked to see if there was anything worth seeing and settled on Gran Torino (with Clint Eastwood). I wasn't sure how to tell, and the ticket seller didn't speak English, but thankfully the movie was subtitled in Hungarian and not dubbed. After watching the movie (and feeling rather depressed), I started to walk back towards my hotel. Instead of following my original path, I decided to walk along the tram tracks figuring that they'd lead me towards where I needed to go. About 20 minutes into my walk, I found the cemetary.
The Kerepesi Cemetary is the largest in Budapest (according to my guidebook) and I spent a good 2 1/2 hours wandering around. It was everything a cemetary should be. There was great statuary, tidy graves, areas that were thick with overgrowth and underbrush, old areas, new areas, clean, leafy, empty in parts and teeming in others. I must have wandered around the whole thing, mainly as a result of the fact that I couldn't figure out how to get out and I ended up walking a good portion of the inner perimeter looking for an exit.
After leaving the cemetary, I think I took the longest way possible back to the hotel. I was off the little freebie map the hotel gave me, and I wasn't carrying around my guidebook (I tend to save those for reading in the hotel). I walked, and walked, and walked. And walked some more. After my feet started to really hurt, I ran into the river which immediately oriented me. I went over to a Japanese ramen shop I had seen previously and had a big fat bowl of ramen. (I ate out exactly four times: twice in coffee houses and twice in Japanese restaurants. The rest of the time I self-catered at the hotel.) As I was walking back to the hotel, I was suddenly surrounded by people on bikes. Critical Mass.
I went back to the hotel to dump the box of muesli bars and immediately headed back out to check out the bikes. I've never seen so many bicycles in one place. The place was swarming with them. After truly tiring out my feet, I bought myself some cinnamon ice cream (very good!), went back to the hotel, and crashed.
Monday
After a breakfast of unappetizing deep fried French toast at Gerloczy Kavehaz, I made my way back to the airport and back on to Kosovo. Ferihegy airport is too small for the traffic it receives. Every single space in the departure area was crammed with people. It wasn't a very pleasant way to bid farewell to what had been a fantastic stay.
I was slightly worried about the logistics of returning to Prizren, mostly about getting from the airport to Sllatine. However, it was very easy. I took a cab to the bus stop in Sllatine for three Euros. He offered to take me to Prizren for 25, which was incredibly cheap, but I opted to stick with the bus (total cost to get from airport to Prizren, eight Euros). I got home around 6pm, ate a light dinner, unpacked my stuff, and went to bed.
Tuesday
Tuesday was normal. I had class at the university in the morning and my high school class in the afternoon. I was still pretty tuckered from a weekend of walking, so I took the evening easy by doing nothing.
Wednesday
Another mostly laid back day. My hour-long conversation hour turned into a three hour chit-chat. Then I participated in a viewing of an Obama biopic put out by the Biography Channel that the embassy has had subtitled (we have Albanian and Bosnian versions). For dinner, I went to my favorite Prizren restaurant, Sharri. I ordered the grilled trout as usual. It tasted a little bit off, but it wasn't until I'd finished half of it that I figured out why: bleach. The waiter swore that they don't use bleach to kill the fish, and he couldn't detect the ammonia smell. I refused to eat any more of it and he charged me full price for my dinner. I'm not going back. (Fortunately, I didn't suffer any ill effects from it.)
Thursday
I had the first of four observations I'm doing of my second year students participating in their teaching practicum. I went to a small Bosnian village not too far from Prizren (about 20 minutes by car). It's the only school in the Zhupa Valley in which the language of instruction is Albanian (all of the other schools in the valley teach their kids in Bosnian). The kids were super cute (see previous post). However, I was up there longer than expected and I had to cancel my afternoon classes. My student had come to Prizren to get me by car, and there weren't any busses running that time of day, so I was at his mercy. I didn't mind, though. I talked with him and his mentor teacher a bit about the US school system and teaching methodologies. It was a beautiful day to be out of Prizren.
Friday
The day of the books delivery. :) After I read "One Fish, Two Fish..." to the students, I played volleyball with the older kids and then I was mobbed by a group of younger kids saying things like,
Where are you from?
What's your name?
Nice to meet you!
Eyes! Beautiful!
What's your favorite food?
Not so different from Japanese kids, to tell the truth. It's intimidating to be surrounded by 20 kids. They kept telling me to sit down (I was near a ledge that I could sit on). They were saying this to be polite, but it was a little scary to be looking up at a tight circle of thronging kids. They're pretty excited that I'll be back next week (to observe another one of my students doing his teaching practicum).
I got back to Prizren in the afternoon and ended up going with German KFOR to Gornje Lubinje, a Bosnian village high up in the Zhupa Valley. It was a little surreal. Civilians aren't allowed in the military jeeps due to insurance reasons. However, I knew one of the Albanian translators who was going, so I was invited to tag along. The village was beautiful. It's perched up on the side of a mountain. Even though there's tons of space around the village, the village itself has very small and windy streets.
After being dropped off back home, I decided I had a hankering for the grilled chicken at Te Syla. As I was eating, who else should stop in to eat but the president of the Turkish parliament? He eats grilled meat just like the rest of us.
Saturday
Yesterday, I walked up to Pasha Cherchme (a fountain above Prizren) and slowly wound my way back down into town (about a 4-hour walk). I had a decent pizza at Theranda Cini and then went home and spent the afternoon vegged out in front of the National Georgraphic Channel.
This coming week I have three student observations, so I'll be travelling out to Budakova (60 minutes by bus), Opoje (another 60 minutes), and back to the site of the book delivery, Polluzha. I love to see my students in action. Although I'll be travelling a lot this week, it'll be doing something I enjoy.
Friday, April 24, 2009
This One Has a Little Star
Late last year I met an elementary school principal from a small village in the Rahovec region (about an hour from Prizren by bus). He was trying to get a lending library started at his school, which I thought was a fantastic idea. In Kosovo, elementary schools just don't have libraries, much less ones with books that students can take home with them. He mentioned trying to acquire English books to support students' English studies, which begin in the third grade, and I thought, Bingo! That's my next project!
Fast forward to February: I briefly returned to Reno for a mid-year break. I had a goal: I wanted to raise some cash and buy some books to bring back to this school principal. In a matter of days, I had raised nearly $600 and Washoe County Library agreed to give me a few posters.
With the $570 that I raised, I was able to buy exactly 69 books. I worked with the US Embassy in Pristina to get the books and posters to Kosovo (FYI, one can send things media mail to APO addresses). The books arrived in late February. I went to the embassy in March to pick them up. The books sat in my living room for 6 weeks while I made arrangements for this very special Kirsten delivery. And today I gave them the books. The director was extremely happy and the kids in the 8th grade were very excited by my interactive reading of "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish." To be honest, I was afraid that the kids would be too old to have fun with the story, but we had a blast.
The school director and I take a look at Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
Here's me during a brief moment in front of the class. Mostly, I walked from student to student and we read "One Fish, Two Fish..." together.
I really have to thank my dad, my aunt, my mom, Ken, Turi, Betsy & Brenda for helping me make this happen. It helps me to have people who are always so willing to help me turn my ideas into actuality.
More Shiny Kids
This time, the faces are from a kindergarten class I visited in a Bosnian village school about 15km outside of Prizren. Very, very cute.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Student Photography
Yesterday I posted a ppt of the work students of mine selected for a photo exhibit we did last June. I'm working on retooling the powerpoint to make it so that you don't need a running commentary from me to explain it. Hopefully I'll be able to get that up later today.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Friday, April 03, 2009
Jetlag? What Jetlag?
Is there any better way to overcome jetlag than by going out to an elementary school full of happy, cheerful, laughing children? Talk about a way to infuse myself with energy (although, admittedly, I'm starting to feel a bit sleepy now that I'm home). I took the bus out to Gexhe this morning to observe one of my university students doing his teaching practise. Gexhe is a small town about 40 minutes by bus from Prizren. I had two options this morning: go on the 6-something bus or go on the 8:10 am bus. I chose the 8:10. Whenever I observe my students teaching, I always take photos. Of course, I give my students copies of the pictures, which they all seem to really appreciate. Today I observed three classes of grade six.
A few shots from this morning:
The backpacks of the 'cool' kids.
The view from one of the classroom windows (the lower half of the pane is frosted).
Students at their desks.
Each of the classrooms had one or two plants.
As I was leaving the school, the last group of students ran outside to say goodbye.
A few shots from this morning:
My student assisting some of his students with a reading.
The lone coat on the coat rack.
The backpacks of the 'cool' kids.
The view from one of the classroom windows (the lower half of the pane is frosted). 
Students at their desks.
Each of the classrooms had one or two plants.One student watches two others read a dialog.
As I was leaving the school, the last group of students ran outside to say goodbye.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
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