Winding down

One month left of school, and then it's off for summer. Between trying to find projects to keep myself busy I'm gonna try to do some travelling, both within Azerbaijan and to neighboring countries as time and funds allow. So far my top picks are Russia, Georgia, Uzbekistan or Turkey, with the Baltics and Balkans falling short behind due to the distance from AZ and the relative uselessness of my current language skills in any of those countries. My main problems will be getting a ticket and a visa to said countries, especially Russia, whose love of beauracracy is trumped only by their suspicion of foreigners, making legal entry into the country the international equivalent of a trip to the DMV. I'm sure it'll all work out, and right now I'm just trying to drag myself through the last month of school before I start planning my escape from, as I was told today by a local English teacher I met, "The hottest place in Azerbaijan". I told him I was from Alabama and he could bring on the heat all he wants...he was not impressed. We shall see.

My last month of school is wearing on my last nerve. Problems with my counterparts are compounded by kids who are well aware that summer break is only a few weeks away and have all but zoned out of class for the remainder of the year. You can't blame them really, we all know we were the same way when we were in school. I think every kid in every school in the world has an internal clock telling them the exact time when they no longer have to go to school anymore, like some Pavlovian response built up over years of going to school and suddenly stopping once they weather gets hot. As soon as the rainy season ends here, the kids just lose it, like the one synapse left in their brain that was keeping them tethered to the happenings of the classroom just snapped loose and started waving in the breeze, leaving them struck with a legendary case of ADHD. To make matters worse, half my classes feature magic disappearing counterparts, who start the lesson with me and then leave it midway, officially dooming the class to failure becase there is no way the kids are going to listen to the American with an Azeri teacher around to keep them in line. An unfortunate lack of any type of standardized punishment here means that kids don't respond to anything except physical violence, and the kids know I'm not going to hit them so they just go nuts as soon as I'm alone with them. I just keep telling myself that there's only a month left, and after that I'm going to be free to do what I want till the next school year starts. It doesn't make the days any easier or shorter, but I keep telling myself anyways...