Awkward Moments in Teaching

September 13-14, 2007

So far, there has been very little that has been bad or even annoying about teaching in the small Kazak Village of Chamalgon. There is one thing I can say against it however, and that is that it is impossible to have any sort of social life. We PCVs stand out as being the only Americans in village of 13,000 people, and working as teachers makes our presence even more noticeable. Things are further complicated by the fact that the village is so small, that there is no room to separate our teacher lives and our home lives. We carry around our teacher identities when we are at home, and we carry around our home identities into the classroom. You cannot go out and party because you are a teacher, and if you do go out and dance, classroom discipline becomes difficult because now they know you as a friend. A prime example of this Chamalgon Catch-22 occurred last weekend. On Saturday night, a fellow PCV named Robert and I went to the local discotech. As you all well know, I had enjoyed the wild times to be had at the local disco, but Robert had yet to enjoy the privilege so I went along. Unfortunately, it was even less fun than it had been the previous time. As bad as it was, things did not truly get awkward until I begin making my presentations on Wednesday. The first class that I made my presentation to was 11 B, many of whom I had met on Saturday. It was very strange and a bit uncomfortable to introduce myself to the class as Mr. Clark, when they all knew me as McKenzie and had seen me dancing. The experience really made me realize how closely we are watched here, and why I cannot really go out and have a good time while living here. I wish that it did not have to be this way, but until I figure out something else, I guess this near monastic lifestyle. Things might be looking up though, one of the staff told me I’ll probably be working at a teacher’s college down south near the big city of Shinkent, so hopefully I can go there on some weekends for some near anonymity and an old fashioned good time.