TEAching English: 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.