Keira's Kindergarten

So, on August 24, 2017, I made my "salsa confession" on the blog, and you haven't heard from me since.  Did you think something had happened to me??

At the end of August, I was sitting in an airport with my family when my husband read the aforementioned blog.  We were flying home from vacation, and we hadn't had internet for over a week, so he and I were trying to catch up on all of our emails.  I knew he had read it when I heard him verbally make some kind of noise and look down the bench at me with eyes and mouth wide open.  He soon shared the blog with Kylie and the other two olders, and they all said, "I can't believe you didn't tell us!!"

Well, we've come full-circle twice since then.  Today, I made my second batch of salsa since vacation, and I haven't had any complainers yet, but of course, I haven't used cinnamon again either.


When we came  home from vacation, time was short, and we still hadn't chosen a school for Keira.  I wanted her some place for Kindergarten where she could learn the local language, but not be so immersed that she teared up every day.

We first went to a new school in our neighborhood that advertised that classes would be taught in English.  I knew she would still pick up language from all the children who do NOT speak English













The school looked great, clean, and new, but they said it was going to be just a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade campus this year, and Keira needed to be 6 to attend.  She was still 4 at the time.

BUT...the head master said he had a partner school that taught Kindergarten in English.  It was further away, but we decided to go for a tour anyway.

Rainbow colors on the outside.  Plus!

 Meeting room where all morning activites take place:  Pink carpet with Tom & Jerry.  Plus!

Science room:  pink carpet with fairies. Plus!



 Art room:  Pink carpet with Tom & Jerry.  Plus!

 

Reading room:  Green Carpet with Shaun the Sheep.  Plus!

English room:  Blue carpet with Tom & Jerry pictures.  Plus!
Nurse's station in the back ?? Questionable??

Cafeteria. Clean.  Plus!

Television Room.  Pink carpet with Tom & Jerry.  Plus!

Weekly breakfast menu.  Check out the bread!  Definitely not a win for Keira.  She doesn't like bread.  To date, she has only had orange juice for breakfast, but breakfast, lunch, and the uniform are included with tuition, so they are there if she ever changes her mind.

 Weekly lunch menu.  She still only eats on "chicken and rice" days, but it doesn't seem to bother her as much as it does her teachers.  When they see her not eating, they sometimes give her a little packaged cake to eat.

Lovely!

Her "playground."  Yikes!

It's a small plot across the street from the school.  I think she's only gone there once.  NOT a plus :)

 

 So, this is her school. 

First day after school ice cream treat.

 

She cried every day for over a month when I dropped her off, but every day I picked her up, she said she had a good day, so we kept trucking along.

She is learning the language, and comes home with new words all the time.   

Happy girl at pick-up time!

Funny story:  I went to her school two days before Thanksgiving to tell them that she would be absent that day (because, of course, they don't celebrate that holiday here).  I asked the teacher if she knew English, and she said, "If you go slow."  So instead, I just told her everything in Kurdish.  Here's the conversation:

Me: Keira won't come to school on Thursday.
Her: She is not coming next week?
Me:  No, not next week.  She won't be here in two days.
Her:  She's missing two days?
Me:  No, on Thursday, she won't come to school because we have an American holiday.
Her:  Last week?
Me:  No,  not today, but the next day.
Her:  Okay.  Would you like her writing assignments?
Me:  Yes.  Thank you.

As we leave, I said, "Keira, what class does she teach?"
Keira:  She's my English teacher.

WOW!

I'm pretty sure that Keira will most definitely learn the language, because I'm not sure about the English she's getting.  The best English she gets every day is while they wait for their parents to come.  They put on cartoons in English for all the kids to watch.  Ahhh! Education!

Testing with a Side of Revenge

It was 109 degrees on the day we went to test Sarah* (a relative of Jasmine,* my neighbor).  Sarah* was at her uncle's house.

Everyone in the family (which seems to be many people in my neighborhood) had been using the uncle's house as a meeting place lately because Jasmine's* mother had been attacked by a stranger, and she was healing there.

We have been told many people visit her at night, and this house certainly had a big enough sitting room to hold a lot of people.

I took a picture from my corner of the room just to show how far it was across and to tell you another story.

We sat in the room with Jasmine*, two of her daughters, her injured mother, her uncle, and a male cousin.  We talked for a long time.  The male cousin (who was older than I) quizzed me on my language.  The injured mother kept saying, "She will learn."  And he kept saying, "She speaks well.  I just want to see what she knows."  (I could actually understand all of this).

He would test me on different objects in the room, and then when he found something I didn't know (like a "cigarette lighter"), he would proceed to teach me, and he seemed to enjoy that.

The family really seemed to like him, even though he seemed big and gruff, and I grew to like him, too.

Jennifer* asked about the framed gun over the fireplace and asked if it had been his grandmother's.  (She meant to say "grandfather," but I know all too well about making mistakes).  They laughed and said, "No, they had bought it."

But then the cousin got up and went to the corner and picked up what looked similar to a Tommy Gun, and said it was his.  Can you see it leaning on the orange pillow?

He said it was for "Daesh." (the Arabic word for ‘a group of bigots who impose their will on others.'  They use that name because it delegitimizes "the organization" and because it is an insult or swearword in its own right).

Then a younger man entered the room, and we all stood up for some reason.  He greeted the other men and then sat down.  Then 7 more men entered the room, and no one stood up.  (We asked later and found out that the younger man was considered a guest (even though he's married to a lady in the family) and the others weren't considered guests).  I don't know what determines all of this.

All of the women (there were more there by now) went to the kitchen when the men arrived, and they beckoned me and Jennifer* to come in the kitchen as well, but Jasmine* was sitting by her injured mom, and she wasn't leaving, so we stayed with our friend.

Do as they do, right?

It was the first time I'd been in a room with this many local men.  None of the women spoke at all except the injured mother.  And in this particular case, one loud man took over the conversation.  He was talking about killing someone.  He was angry.  He said someone was crazy.  He talked about a large sum of money.  He was pointing his finger and aiming at people and hitting the ground with it.  I basically had no idea what was going on, but everyone else was kind of snickering.

He had crazy eyes, and my feelings about him were confirmed when the big cousin across the room, mouthed to us that that man was "crazy."  Crazy enough (pun intended), the word for "crazy" in this country is very close to a cuss word in English.  As a matter of fact, many of the cuss words we have in English are used in everyday speech here as normal words.  It really catches me off-guard when they are used or when I have to use them!!

After all of his ranting, he got up, walked over to the fireplace, and picked up a belt with several clips/rounds of bullets attached to it.  He belted it to his waist.  Then he picked up the gun, and walked out.

No one said anything.

Wasn't this the other man's gun?

I thought we might have some Independence Day fireworks or something.

Then another man that had followed him out, came back and belted to his waist another set of clips that I hadn't seen sitting in the fireplace.

Then someone came back in to report that the crazy man had slipped and fallen as he had left the house, and everyone laughed.

I'm pretty sure laughing at a crazy man with a gun is not a good thing, people!

Anyway, after 2 1/2 hours of this "testing visit," I was exhausted.  We had already mentioned to Jasmine* that we needed to leave, and she said she would come with us.

But we waited for her to make the first move.

Because that's what you do.

It wasn't happening.

After 20 minutes, I texted Doug, and wrote, "Call me."

He got the message thankfully, and he did call.

I said, "Did you need me?"

He said, "Of course I need you."

I got off the phone and looked at Jasmine* and said, "My husband needs me."

And there you have it.  She got up.

Jennifer* and I were hosting a local family at her house that night and we both needed to cook our dishes.

Here comes another late night.

Yep!  4am!


*Names changed

English Testing for Camp

The English center, at which Doug teaches, is hosting an English camp for 50 children ages 8-13 in a couple of weeks.

It is the job of the teachers to sign up the children, test them and collect their money.  Since it's mostly mothers at home with their children, Jennifer* and I have been going to houses of neighbors we want to connect with to inquire whether they would like their children tested so they can attend.

We first asked Jasmine* about testing her 9 year old daughter "Z."  She told us we could come on a Tuesday at 4, so we did.

We visited for a while, and then I watched Jennifer* give the oral test.  It was a very simple way to see whether she knew her colors, could recognize letters, say the ABC's, could answer easy questions in English, like "What is your name?"  "How old are you?"  etc.

"Z" tested at level Zero, but that is normal for the kids in my neighborhood.  They start having English classes in Kindergarten, but having teachers who don't know English very well, it makes it hard for them to progress very far.

"Z" could say most of her colors and sing her ABC's, but when we asked what a shirt, a door, an eye, etc. were, she couldn't say the word in English.

I know from the day she came over and watched me make salsa, that she does know "banana," "orange," and "apple," because those are the things she could identify on my counter, but she can't say much else.

We were offered drinks, but we declined out of respect for them.  Jasmine* then informed us that none of the girls in the house were fasting at that time.  One is pregnant, and the others are dealing with female things, and the laws for fasting don't allow them to take part in fasting during that time.

They started drinking juice, so we had a little as well.

Then Jasmine* made a call for us to another mother (her cousin) who said we could come in two days to test her daughter.  Then after 1 1/2 hours had passed, we left and walked over to the house next to mine.

The brother and sister of my landlord (and part-owners of the chicken butchery) live there.  The rooms that side up to our house are my landlord's sister and the three kids she has taken in.  Then there is a kitchen built onto the front porch, and on the other side of that are a few more rooms where my landlord's brother, his wife "Beautiful," (that's what her name means) and their three kids live.

We sat in the sister's house, thinking we were going to ask about testing the son and daughter of "Beautiful" (because those are the two kids we know), but the sister also wanted us to test two of the kids she has taken in.  However, they needed to talk to the brother for permission to attend the camp, so they asked if we would return the next night at 9pm.

Sure.

We were offered drinks, which we turned down out of respect, and they were very appreciative and said we were good people.

While we visited, "Beautiful" went to wake up one of her children.

It was 6pm!

We had a very good visit, and returned the next night at 9pm to see if they were committed. 

They were, but they said they had to wait to pay until they got OUR rent money on the first of July.

Testing was funny.  We had to keep reminding moms, aunts, cousins, and siblings to be quiet and not help the person being tested.  When Jennifer* would say, "How old are you?" in English, you could hear a whisper across the room, "Taminet chenda?" (which means the same thing) so the student would understand the question.  I wish I could have taken a picture of all of the huddled around that piece of paper.

All four kids that were tested scored a Zero, but again, that's normal.

While we were there, they got a facetime call from another sister that lives in America.  It was her idea to build the house next to the butchery that I live in and use it for additional income.  They handed the phone to us to visit with her and her children since we speak English.  This happens a lot.

One time in a taxi, the driver found out we spoke English, so he called his brother on the phone, handed the phone to Doug cold turkey, and told Doug to talk.  I guess they think we will be instant friends and have tons to talk about if we both speak English.

The visit with Beautiful and her sister-in-law was good, and I was glad for these relationships.  Doug usually only deals with the landlord, but it is nice to have a relationship with the ladies over there as well.  I actually knocked on their gate two days later because I was having a problem with the electricity and Doug wasn't home.  I was glad we had already established a connection.

*names changed