Another blog with other teachers

http://booneteafamily.blogspot.com/
We are like a family although we are just colleagues from different countries that shared the experience of learning in Boone, NC, USA.

First Day Back @ SCH.

I had a wonderful time at school today. Everybody was glad to see me. 11D had made A REAL BIG CAKE for me! It was delicious. So, we ate the cake, drank tea and wrote and discussed the USA and the most popular prejudices and stereotypes about it. Time went really fast with them.
The next class was 11E who greeted me with a big Fazer chocolate and asked me to promise that I won't ever leave them again. This is a hard promise to keep but I'll try. They only have 1.5 years here, so it might be doable.
11B greeted me in the corridor and
I was glad to see my 10E, who unfortunately had to take a test today, and thus we couldn't discuss things. Maybe tomorrow. We'll use the thinking maps that I've learned so much about.

My 10B came to greet me and meet me. They want to travel somewhere in the spring. We have to discuss that.
Talking about travelling 11E was sure that I'm going to join them in whatever journey they are going to take this year... I hope I'll be able to!

Ah, yes. And my own 10B in my Business English lesson.
We learned that ICT stands for I SEE TEA!
And they came up with their own creative idea how to memorize an abbreviation "AGM" (Using the lincs strategy that I had learned about but I didn't say a word)
Now AGM stands for the Annual General Meeting of ANGRY GARBAGE MEN! 
I loved it!
I used the tickets out of the door thing with the abbreviations and I would like to think it worked quite well. But of course my BE group is so small - it's easy to experiment with them.

In Estonian I liked the word "mittetähenduslik hinne" which is very hard to translate but was meant to mean kind of small and insignificant assignments given in class....

So, I'm looking forward to being out of my comfort zone. There is just SO much to do!
I'm glad to be back and see everybody again! :)

Wonderful time - ASU

We had so many good moments at ASU!



Let's give a big cheer to Holiday Inn Express, College of Education Building at ASU campus, all the lecturers/friends and TEA-fellows!
I miss y'all!

Home (bitter)Sweet Home

I have perhaps never faced something as hard in my life as was parting with my international friends on Nov 10 in Washington DC. Kristel has been really diligent in recording our life in "Our Nation's Capital" as well as the last days in Boone, NC.
I think I was just too sad to even think about writing anything.
Every end is a new beginning. End is a comma, not a full stop. There are going to be good times ahead. We'll definitely communicate with most members of the TEA-fellows group either by skype, by email or on FB. Some of them are really hard to part with, though. Especially if you are not sure that you are going to see them again. They have changed me and have changed my life and there are some that I honestly and deeply love.

So, unfortunately the first night at home is a little bittersweet.
The kind of night when you start questioning things that you have learned and discovered. But I promised not to doubt in myself and I'm going to keep that promise.

Washington DC was fun and sad. Fun, because we could spend a lot of time together preparing for the cultural evening, dancing and laughing, talking afterwards and sharing-sharing-sharing materials.

This is the Estonia group + 1 lady from Kasakhstan

at our farewell lunch in Washington Hotel, DC.

That's the day when we had done our microteaching presentations, handed in lesson plans, learned about the small grants for the TEA alumni (who we now are) and were looking forward to some food and a free afternoon together. 

I'm an official alumnus of Appalachian State University program and I also received certificates from IREX (who is doing the fund-raising, funding and organising the program) and from the Department of State that finances it. 

I promised to put these certificates on my wall...

in Facebook...

We had a terribly long flight but I'm happy to report that I'm really and truly not frighetened of flying anymore. Only the air-conditioning on the plane was something that I loathed. Due to that I have now sore throat and a persistant and nagging cough.

Although we had a delay in Frankfurt, everything went well and I'm happy to be back at home where my daughter was eagerly waiting for me. One of my best friends ever had prepared me some out-of-this-world delicious supper and another friend had left this in my fridge:

 Well, I think today may be just one of such emergencies:

I'm missing my new international family SO MUCH IT HURTS!

But in our life we have to face many challenges and this will not be my last trip to the US. I think these weeks just went too quickly to even understand what was happening. I have learned so much and I've made many great friends. I love y'all!
Let's not think of it as an END OF A FAIRY-TALE, let's think about it as a new chapter or a storyline emerging...

This poem by my Grandma has helped me a lot in these past few days.

I’d like to be a maple tree -

A broad and majestic plant

with roots that go so deep

and spirit that’s kindred to mine.

I’d like to be its leaves that are green -

they’re my youth so tender and sweet.

I’d like to bear its blossoms

and feel the dawn in the spring.

In the autumn – crowned colorful bright -

its leaves are golden and red.

They’re my feelings, each hue of which

sings a different tune.

In strong winds I’d fly away with

a withered and sallow leaf

over fields and faded meadows

over waters shallow and deep.

In the snowdrifts and icy blizzards

I’d sway as a branch so bare.

I’d be strong and over my lips

no sigh would ever come clear.

SuperSonic weekend

The Fall Festival at the elementary school was fun. I spent my weekend with Brenda and Chris, their kids Tucker and Aniah and their superSonic dog. Attended a baby shower (the baby is due on our Independence Day), went to Primitive Baptist Church, ate oysters for the first time.

I was absolutely and horribly tired Friday evening, however, the tiredness somehow disappeared when I got to my hosts' house near Sparta - they live on Pioneer Ridge Road. I should have gotten a picture of that. The house is actually quite new but it kind of blends into the landscape as if it had been there for centuries.

I loved playing games with the kids and I had a lot of fun because Chris has wonderful sense of humor. They complimented me on my English language. It's always nice to hear things like that. I learned a new expression: "to run a joke into the ground" - I think I do that a lot...

The gift "cake" made of diapers.

Brenda took me to a Baby Shower in Sparta on Saturday. The people were all very nice and the snacks were good. I liked the gifts and decorations - they were lovely. Baby showers make me wonder if Estonians are a bit superstitious - I didn't even want to tell people I'm pregnant until there was only a couple of months left but they have a Baby Shower here when the baby boy is due on Feb 24.

After getting back from Baby Shower they drove me around and took me to the shore of the New River. I've mentioned it in my very first post about the US here. The weird thing about the New River is that it's one of the oldest rivers in the world. I wish I had had time and opportunity to travel in a boat on the river... I'd like to see that bridge across the New River.

I have officially been to five states in the US now: Washington DC (taxation without representation), North Carolina (First in Fight), Georgia (well I spent about 2 hours at the Atlanta airport), Illinois (Chicago) and

VIRGINIA

I absolutely adore the landscape here near Sparta - it's hilly. Sometimes it reminds me of 

Östersund, Sweden or Alsfeld, Germany - the places that I've really loved...

I wouldn't mind having a house here with the view of the valley and mountains!

Today in the morning we went to the Primitive Baptist Church near Sparta. I sort of liked it but after about 1.5 hours the sermon was getting a bit tedious because the guy who was speaking was really old and monotonous. However, the songs were nice and the fact that the sermon ended by everyone shaking hands with everybody else in the room and saying "Bless you" was really heart-warming. I think I'm totally blessed for the next week. At least I hope so.

The evening was sensational because I ate OYSTERS for the first time in my life. I got them out of the shell and I even tried a raw one with some hot sauce. The cooked ones were really delicious. I met a lot of nice people with whom I will hopefully communicate via FB or maybe Skype.

Time for bed now. Tomorrow I have to be at school again and teach. 

There will be a post about the school-life as well ... SOON.

Fall Festival @ Sparta Elementary

I'm having a great time at Alleghany High School. Lucas is an absolutely wonderful teacher! I'm learning a lot from him and I'm learning quite a bit by just reflecting on what I do in class and why.
I enjoyed today's Fall Festival at Sparta Elementary School, where his daughter goes to. The day was just a little tiresome as it started already at about 6 (I had to get up, have a shower and pack my stuff) but all in all it was really OK.
I had my first chance to teach somebody here - I did the beginning of the poetry lesson by giving them words to write a beginning of a story with and read the Estonian poem out loud.
The most curious feedback about what Estonian sounds like was like Chinese and Italian combined and of course several of the kids told me that it sounds like one long word or sentence.  It was really interesting.
I took quite a lot of pictures today but I have no strength left to find and upload them, so you'll have to wait for the next time I write.
I'm going to a BABY SHOWER tomorrow, to CHURCH on Sunday and am probably going to dress up for HALLOWEEN on Monday. IT'S GOING TO BE A BUSY TIME! :D
But I enjoy being busy and everybody knows I like to TALK a lot. *it means that all the sales people in Sparta, NC know where I come from and what I'm doing in Sparta. :)

This is SPARTA

Meeting with partner teachers. Lunch at Dining Hall. Work on Planning. Ride to Alleghany County. Sparta High School with a Trojan sports team. Alleghany Inn. Black Cat and Mirrors. Talk/Chat with Aida, Kristel, Pablo, Ingrid, Kristjan and others.

I didn't feel very happy in the morning. It was quite hard to hide that and be all smiling and happy because I didn't like the fact that I have to spend 7-8 days away from my friends. Me and Kristel are the only ones who have to go on our internships alone - all the others have the company of other TEA-fellows.

We met our partner teachers in the Student Union building and listened to interesting lecture by Sarah as well as heard about the educational systems of other countries. I loved the presentation by Thailand. Angsana told us that they have to wear a different "uniform" each day. I remember that Tuesday is the pink or purple day because these are the colours of their province and on Friday they have to wear their national costume. Jahan also told that in their country teachers have to wear the national costume with embroidery in the front. I was surprised to hear how many countries have school uniforms. Turkmenistan, Thailand, Jordan, Argentina and I think many others but my mind was wandering a bit during the presentations because I was thinking about the lesson planning session. I did all the talking about Estonia (I wasn't particularly happy about it, because I hadn't prepared as well as I would have wanted) and Kristel was my silent moral support.

During the lunch in the Great Dining Hall we had a conversation about education and countries with my partner teacher Lucas and Kristel's partner teacher Ethel. I learned new things there as well. AND I ate the corn dog for the first time! It was like an Estonian "viineripirukas" but on a stick.

The work on planning didn't take us very long because Lucas wanted to leave early in order to get to Sparta. But we talked about what he does in the classroom and what I would like to do there. I'm a bit worried about the poetry lessons but I'm sure I'll learn a lot from him.

I decided to use my grandmother's poem about the Maple Tree as a basis because I just couldn't find a better poem that has been translated into English and would have the right theme to be able to start talking about Estonia.

The ride to Alleghany county was beautiful! The nature is still wonderful with its many colours and the hills - I just love the hills here so much! 

We talked a lot about my country and things I could do while I'm here and also Lucas told me a bit about the countryside and his family. The 1.5-hour drive went so quickly!

We arrived in Sparta just in time for the Halloween storytelling evening in the library. SPARTA is really a very small town with only 2000 or so people and I wasn't really expecting much of the storytelling evening for kids in the library BUT I was amazed at how good the lady was who did the storytelling. She told altogether about 3 stories and they were really ACTED out and she included children in the storytelling and the kids absolutely loved it! I met Lucas' grandmother and his three kids as well. They were really cute!

Sparta High School is the place I have to go to at 7.30 tomorrow. It's a rural high school which means that a lot of the kids come not from the town of Sparta but from all over the Alleghany county. I think it will be a really interesting experience teaching here. Tomorrow I will only observe the classes but already from Thursday I'll take part in teaching as well. So, wish me luck!

Alleghany Inn is supposed to be a hotel but it feels more like a motel. It has two floors and every room has a different entrance. Mine is on the first floor. It's really weird to step outside from your ROOM. But I only have to spend a couple of nights here. Then there is homestay for two nights I think and then HALLOWEEN and trick-or-treating which should be a lot of fun!

I'm a bit scared of the room as it has like HUGE mirrors and I don't like mirrors. There used to be a time when I only had one small mirror in my apartment in Estonia. I'm not very keen on the fact that it's there and it's enormous.

There is a black cat outside my door who wants to be petted. I liked the cat. It reminded me of home. I think I miss my cat as much as I miss my family and Estonian food. 

Why Estonian food - because I'm really tired of the buns, bagels, muffins, toast, sandwiches etc. A regular Estonian potato salad with black bread would make me really happy.

I had dinner ALONE at JB's which is practically next to the hotel. The sad thing is that I don't get any breakfast here - so I should go to the fast food place and eat there in the morning I guess. But it's late and I think I need the sleep after today's excitement.

Que sueñes con los angelitos mes amigos!

Kristel wrote about today as well here - you can see some pics of me there as well.

Aaaand ... TOUCHDOWN

Poetry, songs, beautiful weather, parade, tailgating, adopting streets, American football and freebies. Last couple of days has seen it all.

It's Saturday and I'm sitting in the lobby again - near the fireplace where I really enjoy being. There have been only a few nights when I haven't been here during the evening. Past two evenings have been wonderful with lots of people and much laughter. I love laughing. It makes you feel safe and loved.

On Thursday was the Read Aloud Day in Estonia. I talked to Piret in the morning (Estonian morning) and she told me that she's about to read something and then I had an idea: we should also celebrate the day by reading poetry in our own languages. Finally, I managed to get together about 8 people in the evening and we read poetry and translated it and discussed it. I absolutely loved that evening as it showed how close we have become to one another.
The poem that I read was written by my grandmother before I was born but it has always so-to-say "spoken" to me. You can read the Estonian version of it here and I translated it to English later (I was pretty satisfied with my translation - it can be seen under the notes on my FB page).

 The Poetry Evening in the Lobby of Holiday Inn Express in Boone

Rinna, me, Soythip, Margaret, Jahan, Kristel, Aida and Pablo taking the picture
Countries: Cambodia, Estonia, Thai, Turkmenistan, Argentina and Guatemala

As I already mentioned - I loved that evening. And next evening we had Songs Night as part of the series of Cultural Nights. Every country had to play a song in their language and talk about it and share dance moves or something else. We were joined by Hugo from Argentina and two more ladies from Turkmenistan.
We decided to play:

Ruja - Teisel pool vett

I feel that this is one of the most powerful songs in Estonian language and also it has a story behind it that can be told to people. I still get goosebumps just by listening to it.

Kristel played a song by V2gilased that was more like folk music. 

Saturday started beautifully with no clouds in the sky but frost on the ground. Later on in the day it got warmer.

While waiting for the Homecoming 2011 parade we took a lot of pictures and shopped a bit (I got a book by Neil Gaiman from a second-hand bookstore).

The parade was GREAT! They have a real sense of community here. Everybody was out there looking, participating.

Beginning of the parade. The same orchestra played at the Homecoming Football match as well.

After the parade we went tailgating. Which means that we got some free food and a lot of freebies including sunglasses and a T-shirt.

Approaching the gate.

Football was powerful. I liked the way the WHOLE TOWN was wearing the colours - Black and Yellow!

A picture from the stadium as well.

You can read more about the Appalachian State Mountaineers here. They have a mascot called Yosef who used to have a pipe in the seventies but now "it's not politically correct anymore" as one of the guys told me during the parade. They crowned the Homecoming King and Queen during the game and the cheerleaders were great. I loved the game although I didn't understand much. Should have done some private learning about American Football before I went to the game...

The day has been so long and I'm really tired. I hope I'll have some time to blog tomorrow or some other day soon. I have so many good memories of today. And of course - OUR team won! :)

Take care!

Gangsta's Paradise - Chicago

Finally we got some time off from studies and could make plans to travel. Several people from our group decided to go to New York but I got an invitation from an old classmate (we were good friends in elementary school) to come to Chicago, where she's been living for the past 11 years. Of course, I decided to go there. Who wouldn't? It's an offer you couldn't refuse!

We took a bus to Charlotte with Pablo and Kristel and had a great time there as well. It was warm but a little windy. Went to Starbucks of course and to some Irish pub.

What happens next?
My fish and chips - REGULAR plate is in the foreground.

Charlotte is not a big city  about the size of Tallinn but it is a financial centre of North Carolina and is also called Hornet's Nest (due to some historical stuff) and also Queen's City because it was named after the wife of one of the Geogres who ruled England.

I liked the square with the statutes of the founders and many other things BUT I didn't like the feeling of being constantly threatened by almost-homeless people. A guy talked to me near the place where we had lunch and said that I shouldn't be afraid of black people - they just find me cute.... Aww. It would have been a nice compliment but the guy wasn't exactly the Romeo. Grrr.

At about 7pm Pablo and Kristel saw me off at the bus stop and went to find their bus station. I got on the bus and drove to the airport. I had to spend the whole night there which was not one of my favourite experiences because they were building downstairs and vacuuming upstairs. Which means, I didn't get much sleep. I read a book by Bill Bryson about small-town America, which I liked very much. At times I wondered outside to take pictures of the moon.

Can you see the wolf in the sky? I could. That was kinda spooky because it was full moon.

Finally it was 4am and I got through security and at 6.30 am I boarded a plane and went to Atlanta, where we had a stopover, and then quickly through that Matrix kind of airport with people thronging and hustling-bustling I got to the right gate and onwards to Chicago.

Kristiina, my classmate, picked me up and drove me to the lakeside where I got my first pictures of Chicago.

Lake Michigan and Chicago cityscape

Kristiina lives next to Estonian house, which meant that in the first evening there I could go to sauna and drink some Estonian beer. (In Estonia I actually don't drink much beer but it tasted like home in Chicago).

Next day was the busiest. We went to the Willis Tower - one of the highest skyscrapers in the world.

At the top there are like glass boxes where you can look down on the town. Uhh. Scary!

The evening came too soon. Last place we visited was the Navy Pier and also saw fireworks and went up on the Ferris Wheel, which I liked A LOT.

Chicago at night

The trip was over too soon of course, but I really would like to go back someday because I absolutely adored the place and I didn't have the chance to visit so many places :(

The trip back went without a hitch and I am back at Boone with my friends and we are sharing our first impressions of the greatest cities in the world. 

Once upon a time in America

I've been there in the US for about exactly 3 weeks now.
I like this place a lot. I think it is mainly due to the wonderful Appalachian State University and its professors and lecturers who have all been amazing but also thanks to the great friends I've found among the members of our group of 22 teachers from 10 countries.

If you asked me, which of the things I've enjoyed most so far, I'd say that the hike that we had on Sunday. The weather was wonderful and we hiked on Boone Fork Loop Trail. Here you can read some more about it in a blog of someone who likes to hike on that trail a lot and here is the short Animoto video that Kristel made about the hike:


I haven't had time to sort my images and make a similar one but I'd like to. Pablo wrote about the hike too.

Here are the people that we hiked with - 6 are TEA-fellows and Sarah (her daughter and her friend) is one of the staff who looks after us here in the Appalachian.

Jahan, Margaret and me - on the rocks. :)

The colours were breathtaking and the weather great.

A short pause for a snack - on the rocks :)

I think Americans really love hiking and camping. I've seen that in so many movies and TV-series. You know when father takes his son camping and fishing in the mountains or forests somewhere. There were a lot of people out hiking, having a picnic or a barbecue and also camping in tents or caravans.
Most recently I saw exactly similar camping grounds in  the Vampire Diaries - so I think if you believe anything there is in the movies, I have to keep an eye out for werewolves in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains...

I'd love to write more but my lunch-break will end soon. 

So I have to continue later with my observations on the US life and stuff.

Excellent thoughts about education

Watauga County

One way of describing the geography in and around Watauga County is OLD. One of the ancient sites here is Grandfather Mountain which is one of the oldest peaks in the Blue Ridge section of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Geologists believe that it's millions of years old. The height of the mountain ranges between 2,500  and 5964 feet above sea level.
Another old and interesting site is the New River which is one of the oldest rivers in the world along with the Nile.The New River eventually flows into the Ohio River and from there runs into the Mississipi River and out into the Gulf of Mexico.
=> I haven't been to neither of these sites yet, but we are going up the Grandfather Mountain this Sunday and I cannot wait to see it. The nature here in Boone, NC is absolutely stunning and at the moment the leaves are turning red and yellow and it's really beautiful.

Some more information from "A short history of Watauga County " by M.C. Hardy

The Cherokee were the native ppl whom early Europeans met in western North Carolina. The Cherokee used the area for hunting and traveled through the country. One of the Cherokee paths across the Blue Ridge is the Old Buffalo Trail. It is possible that the Old Buffalo Trail brought some of the first hunters, explorers and settlers into the area.
Starting in 1838 the Cherokee were forcibly removed from this part of the country and even after the removal of the Cherokee the future Watauga county was still a wild place. It was in 1849 that an act was passed that established a new county by the name of Watauga County.

Creeks and streams flow from many of the mountains and knobs, creating valleys.
Crab Orchard Creek
Clarks Creek
Baird Creek
Wildcat Creek
New Years Creek
Sims Creek
Boone Fork
Winkler Creek
Elk Creek
Cobb Creek
Meat Camp Creek
Riddle Fork
=> I love the names of the creeks...
You can often see signs that say "adopt a creek" - I would like to have a "baby creek" at home :)
I haven't really figured out what that exactly means, though.

Enough history for today.

Class teacher

I wonder why the first thing that people talk about when you're going to be a class teacher is: POOR BABY! Now you won't have any free time at all. For some reason most of them fail to mention how much fun it can be! Today was a classic example of the good times that can be had at school. I had wonderful time with my own 10B at the 10th-graders' party that was held at our school. I didn't even realize that school can be such a fun place. Hope to bottle up that feeling and keep it safe for the times I really need it.

We would definitely need to work on that team spirit of ours as the attendance of the class 10B was somewhat below average. But I really believe that it didn't hinder us in any way and we were great! Great big thanks to all those who attended the event and hopefully we'll have a lot of fun in the years to come.