Day 139 – Saturday 1/28/12

It was Saturday again and time to hang out with the kids :)  Each weekend I try to find activites that have something to do with either an American celebrated holiday or recognition day. This being the case, this weekend was easy- GROUNDHOG DAY!  This is a very unique holiday so I thought it was an even better since I would be introducting them to something they had never heard of before…

Kid’s Club turned out to be a bit more difficult than I had thought.  I didn’t think deeply enough about the fact that these little ones are 3-6 years old and have never heard of this silly American holiday… I didn’t think about that I would be introducing a COMPLETELY new idea to them with no common language.  Alas- thanks to Artan, one of the dads, and one of my colleagues from SEE-U, the gap was not so big! I explained to the kids in English the most simple version of the Groundhog tale I could think of and then Artan translated it so at least some of the students knew why they were making ground hogs.  Despite the early panic, things turned out very well. The kids first made ground hogs that popped out of a cup, like it was coming out of a burrow.  Then they each made Groundhog masks to wear.  They turned out pretty cute!!  To close the day they got a book about the Groundhog.  Great day!!

Check out our Groundhogs!!!

 Now English Club did not have the early panic that had filled me with Kid’s Club.   These kids are 7-14 and have all at least started English classes at school.  It makes a big difference for them to be just that much older. They understand more of the language even if they can’t yet produce it fluently.  There are also several kids in the group that like to translate!  Which I might add is an amazing skill to have, and to be their age and already have that skill is very impressive! With this group I started by showing them the Punksatawny, Pennsylvania Groundhog Celebration and weather forecast by Phil! (2011 coverage of course).  The kids really got into it and enjoyed watching the little guy.  We then talked about vocabulary words that have to do with Groundhogs day and they got to write them on their own pieces of paper. THEN came the games!  We played Hot Hog, which is like Musical Chairs only you pass a groundhog, or in this case a Hedgehog (GO HOLMES HEDGEHOGS!!).  We then played Groundhog Burrow; the kids got to toss the Groundhog (hedgehog) into his burrow.  Both of the games were a hit! The kids even wanted to play them more than once!  I know I have said it before, but getting to do these clubs fills a void for me, I am so grateful that I get to spend 2 weekends a month with them!

Hot Hog!!!!

Groundhog Burrow

After clubs, Lizzie and I set off on a mission.  We wanted to find Pizza Burek. We have had burek, several times since getting here but the pizza burek had avaided us to this point.  Not being sure where to get it, we asked the high school students coming to the club at the American Corner, the consensus was a small place not far from where we were.  We got directions and headed off…  down a block, cross the street, up an alley next to Arbi, then go right….  It only took a couple of guess and there it was!  We ordered our two pizza bureks, and sat to enjoy them.  It was delicious, but no more delicious than the other burek types I have tried.   I will get it again, but I won’t wish that every time I get burek for it to be pizza burek.  

Having stayed up too late the night before Lizzie and I went to the store and then directly back to my dorm room to take a nap before our evening plans.  Artan and Linda, two of my colleagues at SEE-U had invited us to go out that evening!  They were so kind to come and pick us up and it was off to the Italian Restaurant in town, Punto Verde.  It was a wonderful evening. Artan and Linda lived in the U.S. for a few years, which made me feel as though I was just out to dinner with friends back home.  Living abroad poses challenges in many different aspects of your life… and maybe challenges is not the best word, but I am going to stick with it for this post- as you read maybe you can choose a different word.  At home you are use to the same routines, same friends, same restaurants, same stores, same almost everything unless you consciously seek out new experiences.  Here everything is new and different – at least at first. This also means figuring out what to do with your weekends and nights.  Now as you can see from my posts that I fill these times with some pretty amazing adventures and new experiences and tonight's dinner was nothing short of the same.  Sitting with two people that could understand when you talked about Target how amazing it really is! It is a comfort to get to talk with people who know pieces of home.  I can’t say that this was the only good thing about Artan and Linda, they are also amazing scholars and people so just getting to talk with them for the evening was special.  It was a very memorable evening!  The only regret about the evening was forgetting to get a picture… guess we were having too much fun talking!  Next time for sure!

Lesson: Many of the things we love and cherish can be found wherever we are!