And the Cheese Stands Alone....

I meant to post this last week......

I really have been feelin so drained from everything. I really can't wait for the school year to be over! I need a damn long vacation.

That being said, I'll explain why.....I feel like I'm at a crossroads. I'm in between what I think I should do as a PC volunteer here, and what the school wants me to do. Two conflictin things which is really buggin the shit out of me! The school really wants this "mobile computer lab" (just say laptops damnit) but I dont see anyway we can get them. But I decided to put my thoughts about it aside and just try to get the shit done. All last week I tried to get up with the Bulgarian lady helpin me (Irina) but she was blowin me off. She was supposed to meet with my principal to talk to her about a program with the town that gave away laptops to teachers. I wanted to know if the program was still goin on and if we could apply. If not, maybe we could ask if the town could give us a small donation or grant. She made a big deal about having to speak with the principal to get this info, and told me she would do it. You think that happened? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I waited a week and finally asked her if she spoke to the principal. She tells me no. I say well can we meet with her today? Irina: Well Im busy but you can talk to her if you want. Here go the BS. If that was the case I would have BEEN done that. So anyway, I TRY to talk to her, and honestly I thought I was doin a good job, til she SHUT ME DOWN. She told me after like 5 minutes to come back and talk to her when Irina is with me so she can translate!

So this week yesterday I finally got Irina to sit down with the 2 of us so I could ask them some questions about the project (which at this point I am doin alone). At no point in time did she offer to help with anything as I was detailing what I wanted to do and how I was gonna go about it. I have to write a project proposal, go to the PC office to ask for help, shop around on the net for suitable grants, apply for the grants, and I was thinkin that I could try to get some American companies to give grants too. AGAIN, at no point in this whole explanation did Irina offer a single shred of help or even regard for the magnitude of the project.

I almost feel like having a volunteer for the school means they need something physical to show for it. The last volunteer that was here got them white boards for each classroom, and a radio/loud speaker system (which they use to play bad Bulgarian music and hip-hop with curse words during the breaks between class). So they want me to I suppose have something to show for my service at their school. I offered to to a life skills course since the kids dont learn about sex-ed, finances, manners (which these little critters need), leadership skills etc. But NO, the school was against me doing that. Then I wanted to do a class on gender issues in Bulgaria, and leadership courses for the girls. I was thinkin we could do a sweet 16 or something cute like that. AGAIN, SHOT DOWN. Whatevs.......

But on a good note, the second half of my 10G class came with their homework. I was VERY happy and this class was so much better than the first. I put stickers on their homework (eat your hearts out first group) and we did a fun activity at the end of class. Those little angels......