Sunny September...

The weather has been beautiful here in Kaçanik.  It has been in the low to mid-80s and super sunny and dry. However, with the sun comes a lack of rain, which brings water issues.  Since I came back to Kosovo in August, it has only rained a few times.  The water goes out in my apartment every evening around dinner time.  Sometimes, it goes out around 5 pm and comes back on for a while at around 9 pm.  Sometimes it goes out in the early afternoon and never comes back on.  I even had a 48-hour period where the water did not come back on at all.  Most of the time, however, the water comes back on in the morning around 6:30 am.  Fortunately, there is water in the morning every day now, so I refill all my bottles. 

People here tell me that the weather is changing.  It is hotter and drier in the summer.  The winters are warmer and there is less snow.  That being said, I am hoping that the rain in the forecast for this weekend actually happens.

Along with water outages, the power has been going out in the morning.  Saturday and Sunday, it went out for several hours each day, and this morning it was out while I was getting ready for school.  On the weekend, I just go for a walk while it is out, but this morning I had to get ready.  Fortunately, I had just made my cup of coffee before it went out. 

School has been going pretty well.  The biggest problem is keeping students off their cell phones.  Last week, I subbed for the other English teacher and had 12 sections of 10th grade classes.  It was a lot of fun talking with the students and they did get on their cell phones.  There was only one class that was challenging.

Whenever, I go for walk I always see students and many stop and talk -- in English of course.

I am still trying to purchase the things for the English Lab that I got funded.  But my co-teacher hasn't been available.  I think that the students wil like the new technology once we get it.

Back to Being Busy...

The last week of school was mostly relaxing, but I did have a chance to attend a workshop hosted by Gjethi as part of a Water Conservation Grant from a Swiss Group on Thursday.  The project will involve students from 2 or 3 schools in both Ferizaj and Kaçanik.  It was hosted at UDA and included lunch.

Saturday, our Peace Kosovo Book Club met at the New Born Brew Cafe in Prishtina.  It is a great meeting place and a nice cafe with an American vibe.  Before our 1 pm meet up, Danny, Mae, Christian, Ryan, and I went to Baba Ghanoush for lunch.  It is a favorite vegetarian/vegan restaurant that everyone seems to like.  We talked about the books and enjoyed drinks at the New Born before heading to a Korean While we were at the Korean place, a storm rolled in and the wind kept blowing the door of the restaurant open.  So they would keep locking it an,d then when customers showed up, they would have to unlock the door to let them in.

After the Korean place, some people started to head home, but most of us headed toward the Newborn Monument, and when it started raining hard, we ended up at a coffee shop.  Spending the day with fellow volunteers is always relaxing and comforting.

So I'm now two days into my last school year.  It has already been interesting.  My co-teacher and I have the same students as last year.  They are in the 11th grade and half attend school in the morning shift (8:30 to 1:30) and half attend school in the afternoon shift (2:00 to 7:00).  This year I teach in the morning on Monday and Tuesday.  I teach in the afternoon on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  On Monday, I start at 8:30 and on Friday, I end at 7 pm.  This will greatly limit my ability to do much travels on the weekend.

I have enjoyed seeing students and meeting the new 10th graders.  On Monday, my co-teacher was late and missed the first hour.  He had to go with his son to his new school, which was in Lipjan, about 30 miles away.  He must have thought he would make it to class on time, because he didn't let me know ahead of time.  Fortunately, I knew what to do, and I headed to class.  The students were great, and we talked for a bit.  The classroom was very hot and eventually we decided to go outside.  We saw the director and he gave me a key to the room that will eventually be the English lab, and it was much cooler.  We had the students' first and second hours.  Third hour, I subbed for the other English teacher.  He was absent on the first day of school.  

I got the schedule from my co-teacher last week, but the schedule has changed.  Monday, we were suppose to have two classes, but now we have three.  Tuesday, we were supposed to have six classes and now we have five.  Today, we combined two smaller classes and we ended up with only three classes.  This is a temporary happening because they have yet to hire a replacement teacher.  Once the replacement teachers start, we will be back to five classes on Tuesday.

As I sat on the balcony, I noticed that the leaves on the trees on the hillside were starting to turn.  The weather is still warm during the day, but the nights and mornings have a fall feeling.  I think, however; that the summer has been very dry and that is why they are starting to change.

Beautiful blue skies day as school starts

Cows grazing along the railroad track at the edge of Kaçanik

The new Kaçanik sign was lit when I arrived back from Prishtina

My crocheted poncho is almost done

Fillo stuffed with three fillings: potato pea, Mexican bean, and Sweet potato;

Ready for freezing

The grouop photo from the Water Conservation Workshop