Mountain Aires

So two weeks ago I went on the most amazing ski vacation and Im just now getting around to updating about it.

I went to a mountain chalet with my 8th graders as a chaperone. According to the PE teachers I was a "guard" which is a funny word for them to use because my classes are usually complete chaos. Now I was initialy dreading the trip because as I saw it, I was going to be locked in a mountain hut with 40 14 year olds. In addition I have what can best be described as animosity towards about 80% of my students, mainly for making my life a stressfull hell. In the day time we skied (I found out im actually very good at skiing), had snowball fights, played hours of Skip-Bo, Monopoly and cards, and goofed around. Then every evening I went and got completely drunk on home made wiskey with all other teachers in the true Bulgarian way. Anyways long story short, I had a great week rediscovering why im here, why was reminded exactly why I chose to join PC. I came back to earth and realized that my kids are just that: Kids. And most importantly I realized that I am really accomplishing things here, even if it doesnt always feel like that. By the eighth day everyone was physically exhausted and ready to come home. I am already looking forward to next year when im going with all my classes for 3 weeks.

Groups Photo


A few of the little mountain terrors.


The Bunny hill where I learned to ski, and fell quite a bit in the proccess.


Beautifull Rila Mountain

A turn to negative town

So its the end of the semester. Half way through the year, and time for me to give my first official "permanent record" grades.

I was on my way to flunking half of the 12th grade, when the the kind little secretary told me that I basically couldnt. Here in Bulgaria EVERYONE passes regardless of what you know or how you did. Regardless of if you ever came to class (even once) or ever even started the first sentence of a homework.

You see in an effort to make sure that all these post-commy era single children (little emperors as I call them) never have to do anything they don't want to, it is completely unheard of to fail a class. Esspecially 12th graders. So in my abundant grace and mercy I offered them all the chance to get 6s (As) even those little worms who played on their cell phones all class and never lifted a piggy finger. Redemption was in the form of essays, and to my great surprise I recieved over 60 of them int he past week. The breakdown was as follows:

60% Strait cut and paste off the Internet. These are the easiest to spot, as their english improves light years, to the point where its obvious no 18yo ESL student wrote it.

Actual EX: In music there are a variety of instruments that display the color of harmonies, when they are played in an orchestra or a band. The ranges of their sounds spans from the lowest pitch of a contrabass to the highest pitch of a piccolo. Moreover their classification derives by the group or section to which they belong.

20% Lets copy from eachother. These I just don't understand. Do you really think that I will mistake two copies that I read an hour apart as originals when the only thing differant about them is the handwriting?

20% Oh! A blessed 20% are actual original efforts. By this point I dont care about spelling, grammar, voice or formating. The only thing that matters is that they didnt cheat.

So as it stands right now, out of 118 12th graders im only failing 2. If this were any place other than Bulgaria (where the entire educational system is a barely functioning laughable excuse for a clown college) at least 80 would have failed. But if there is one thing im learning here, it is that there are something that are just beyond your control, so give them up.

So yeah, Im pretty sure that im getting more out of my Peace Corps service than anyone here. The old me would have felt bad, but you know what? Its not my fault.