Educational Project for Montenegro Orphanage

24 May 2007

Amina and I made it to Montenegro and are having a great time. There was a holiday on Monday and Tuesday (Independence Day), so classes started today. It's always great to see how much the kids' English has improved. Every year a different child amazes me. They started coming up to us last night and asking about when classes were going to begin, and their enthusiasm is wonderful. After class today, we went back to the first family and helped with homework and reading. Amina is great partner and wonderful teacher, and don't worry, she's speaking in

American English. The kids are asking about camp and the team, which is nice that they remember us.

Sunday, June 10^th, 2007

The Carnival

I simply must write about yesterday. Nadina and Merima arrived on Friday, which was chaotic, but fun. But Saturday, was truly the best. We woke up around eight, had breakfast and coffee, etc, but it was what happened after lunch that was so awesome. We went to the beach, which was the typical awesome chaos. We all swam with the younger kids and watched the kids continuously run into the water and jumping too early, resulting in many belly flops.

Merima and I then went to the platform in the water that was there last year. It’s seen better days though. Now, one side sinks, which actually makes it more fun, and somehow, there’s a hole in the middle of it. How this happened, I don’t know. Either way, the platform is now somewhat dangerous and of course the kids completely ignore this. Anyway, Merima and I went to the platform and Vlatko, Radosav, Mladen, Rada, Biljena, and a couple of other kids were there. Hanging out on this thing was so fun! We’d all run to one side, where the platform would sink and as the other end rose up, we’d run up to it and in the process push the others off. Every time when Radosav and Vlatko were the final two, they broke out into a folklore dance. It was hysterical. As Merima and I kept falling, she’d say, “please don’t push us, it takes us a half and hour to get back up.” My quote of the day was “please don’t hurt me,” which Mladen responded with, “I don’t understand you,” and into the water I fell.

Last night was the “first annual” carnival in Herceg Novi. Kids from all over Montenegro- and even Slovenia and Italy- came to town in crazy costumes to be a part of a parade and perform a dance for the crowd. The kids had been practicing their dances for weeks and while we lovely every second of them, for the most part, the dances were total disasters.

So, Amina and I are running to meet Nadina and Merima to catch the bus, when we see that the kids are sitting in the Blue Saloon in costume. Of course, we ran in to check things out and to take pictures. They looked awesome!!! Vojo was my personal favorite, dressed as a parrot. Enrique came in second for me dressed in an outfit that made him look like the “Mayor of Munchkin City,” Paoula was a butterfly, but for some reason was also wearing a long blonde wig, which really made her look great (she’s seven). Most of the kindergartners were flowers (Manuela, Slobodan, and Nada), but they were also a caveman (Mujo), a spider (Milan), and a zebra (Nikola). Nermin was dressed as a town crier of sorts from the Renaissance or something. Jasmin was a warrior, Vasilia looked like the Mad-Hatter but in yellow, Danjela went as a belly dancer and even had a veil, and Danica was something only she could be, though I’m not really sure what it was. It was purple and had flowers. Sreten also was from the Renaissance, Spiderman was a pumpkin and for some reason never given, Aco was a Medieval Princess in a pink dress and a cone hat, and there may have been a wand- but I’m not sure. Either way, he looked completely ridiculous and seemed to have absolutely no problem with it. There may have been a meltdown earlier, but I don’t know.

We walked with them to the meeting grounds where all of the 31 groups met. When we got there, we realized that the older kids were participating as well. Each group was assigned a number, which was posted like a banner on a big stick. (I know that the way I wrote that makes it sound really stupid, but it wasn’t).

To make a long story short, our teenagers carried the banners. The parade was supposed to start at six, but it being Montenegro, it started late. The main square of the city had barricades so that there was a clear path for the kids to walk down. There were three “stages” where each group was introduced and did a performance. We were at the first stage, at the bottom of the steps right where the kids made their grand entrances.

When the parade finally began, five men dressed in traditional Montenegrin costumes came down the steps with guns that looked like bassoons. Amina warned me that there was going to be shots fired, but when she said this, I foolishly assumed that it would sound like gun shots, not sound like cannons. It was so unbelievably loud. I honestly thought that I lost some hearing.

The first group came and Vesko was their leader. I tried calling him to get his attention, but he either didn’t hear me or didn’t want to. Both are very likely. The first group from the home to pass was number four. It was mainly kids from the first and fourth families. When they were announced, we went crazy. Cheering, screaming, clapping. The people around us thought we were crazy and probably couldn’t figure out who we were and why we cared. The first group flew by and for some reason, didn’t dance, which was upsetting. Amina and I went to a rehearsal so we already knew the dance and were very excited to see their dance.

Around this point, I noticed Milenko, Aleksa, and Mladen coming down the steps. Milenko and Aleksa climbed over the railing, but somehow Mladen was left behind. He was trapped on the steps and was very unhappy about it. It was some of my favorite moments, whenever I looked at him, and watched the boredom turn to frustration.

The next group of our kids that went was the kindergartners. They saw us when they were waiting on the steps and all started smiling and waving. There was some confusion among them as to where to stand at the beginning of the dance. We were nervous that they would start pushing each other, but thank God they were tame. Their song was so funny. It went something like, “we drank all of the wine and were up all night until the break of dawn.” Why this was their song, I don’t know, but they looked great, running around like maniacs.

The whole thing took a couple of hours, so the master of ceremonies started cutting the performances short. But we started getting worried that our last group would be cut short, but for some reason, they weren’t. This last group was the teenage girls who had been rehearsing their dance to “Survivor” all week. From now on, every time I hear that song, I’ll think of them. They were the only group in the whole carnival to really have choreography and they were great. Amina and I had seen them rehearse, so it was great to see it all come together. When we were at rehearsal, we started singing along to the song and everyone in the room stared. I don’t know if they were surprised that we knew the words or if they were shocked at how silly we were acting.

We left the carnival after the girls finished and walked around. I didn’t want to take a bus back immediately after the carnival because they would be so ridiculously full, and an enormous pain to get on to, so we waited for awhile. Around ten we decided to brave it and go back. I prepared myself for the chaos and frustration, but as we were walking up to the bus station we started hearing random singing and quickly realized it was a group of Slovenians who happened to be staying at the home. Merima decided that we should ask them for a ride, so they slowed down to wait for their caretakers to ask if we could join them. I kept walking though, knowing that if I slowed my momentum going up that hill, I would fall. When I reached the top of the hill, I saw a bus pulling out of the station and quickly realized it was our kids!!!! I jumped in front of the bus and put my hands in the air and yelled “stop!”. It was like a Christmas miracle. I couldn’t believe it, it was perfect timing. I thought that they had returned when the carnival was over. When we got on the bus, everyone started cheering and shouting our names. They were so excited to see us. It was like everything had changed. Every year I come here and I feel like I have to re-earn my stripes, and on Saturday, I feel like we did that. We stayed for the whole carnival, and they know that. They know that we didn’t go to Herceg Novi to hang out, we went there for them, and half the time, we were more excited than they were.

The bus ride may have been the highlight of my day. Half of the kids were still hyper from all of the excitement and the other half was dead. Danica seemed to be in a different dimension. She was capable of speech, but not movement. She was staring into space and showed no life in her eyes.

12 June 2007

Oh, I can't believe my time here in Montenegro is starting to wind down, which of course is upsetting. It will be really hard to leave his year because five of the kids that I've known for 5 years now have graduated high school and will be leaving the home. It's a hard pill to swallow that it's very likely that when I leave on Wednesday, I'll never see them again. but, I'm not ready to think about that now.

The rain stopped last week, so we are enjoying sunny days again. today is the last day of school, so the kids will be able to start swimming more often. I had one of the kids teach me how to do the butterfly, but then quickly realized that I'm not strong enough to do it. Oh well. at least i have a goal to aspire to for next year.

The kids were so excited to see Merima, and of course when she left, they all started asking when she will come again. I'm so sad to leave, but i know that I'll be back soon.

Got to run, I'm heading out to buy graduation gifts for the teenagers.

14 June 2007

As I wrote earlier, the kindergarteners loved all of the songs we taught them, and began to sing them even when we were not around. and while Amina and I were very proud of this, I'm pretty sure that the caretakers might be getting a little tired of hearing about the "Brooklyn bridge." We're hoping to have a "review session" with them when we get back in late July, and then have the kids perform our songs for the team.
Our classes with the first family (second and third graders) were consistently fun, and an adventure. They loved drawing and coloring and it was amazing to see them grow with the language. After the first couple classes, we realized that we had a couple of students who were very gifted with the language, one of which, i am sure has a photographic memory, but it takes longer to feel out those who need more help. Once we figured out who these people were, and how to help them with the language, they came out of their shell and no longer relied on the children with louder voices and more confidence with both the language and themselves.

The second group was of third and fourth grade boys, who consistently amazed me. They even asked for homework! Who would have thought? These guys were more advanced in the language, so we were able to teach more complex words and phrases. One day, they learned, "I go to school," then a couple of days later, one of the boys came up to me, and when I asked where he was going, he looked at me, thought for a second, and said, "I go to school." I was so proud, I didn't expect an English answer.

What we figured out, of course at the end of the program, that if this were to continue, we should break the group in half, and have the 3rd grade and the 4th grade separate. While it was great to have them together, because they were able to help each other out, it would have been nicer with a smaller group. We discovered this, because one day, the 4th graders had to go to school early, and our class was only the 3rd graders. But, an amazing thing happened. We had class as usual, but then the next day, the 3rd graders (who were always confident and interested) became even more confident and interested, and some of them even ended up being our best students.

With this group, we also taught words and watched movies ("A night at the Museum" and "Pirates of the Caribbean"). I know that they often watch movies in English, but during these movies, whenever they saw or heard, for example a boat or monkey (words we taught them) they would yell out the word in English during the film to show that they remembered them. Because they learned words from the movie, they actually listened to the movie, instead of just reading the subtitles.

15 June 2007

We did not have formal classes with the teenagers, rather Amina and I would separate and I would talk to them. Usually one would emerge as leader and help translate for the other kids; it was strange too, it wasn't always the oldest one. There is one girl, Kristina, who is 13 and she would translate for the older kids. Also, when the older kids would sit and talk to me in English, others would come over and want to know what we were talking about. In fact, one boy told Amina that he was going to practice his English every day, so next year, he will be able to talk to me.
I told you that I was going out to buy gifts for the graduates. There were five of them- Rada, Sneza, Marina, Nebojsa, and Malden. I've known them since they were in the 8th grade and cannot believe that they are already high school graduates. I bought them little things- necklaces for the girls, a t-shirt, football, etc. and made cards for them. We invited them up to our room after dinner and they were all so confused. They actually thought that they were in trouble! I told them that they were there because I wanted to tell them how proud I was of them and that I wanted to give them something for their achievements. To be honest, I thought they were going to make fun of me for being such a dork, but what happened was so incredibly special to all of us, and it bonded the seven of us somehow. I can't really say what it was, maybe it was because they finally began to understand just how much I care about them, or as Amina pointed out later, they probably never get true individual recognition for their achievements or have someone sit them down and tell them how wonderful they all are. We asked Nebojsa if the shirt fit, and his response was that it didn't matter whether the shirt fit or not. You always hear that it's the thought that counts, and that was the first time, I've ever actually seen that.

18 June 2007

Early last week, we found out that the kids were all going to Lovcen (the second highest peak in Montenegro, and the burial site for Njegos a famous Montenegrin king) on Friday. We freaked out because of classes and what were we going to do in Bijela for five days without the kids? The kids and caretakers kept asking us if we were going, but we assumed we weren't and then tried finding a hotel to no avail. Then, on Thursday Milenko told us that we were going with them for the weekend. We were so excited! I finally get to go to Lovcen! Our time there was great! The kids were so excited to show us everything, and what's more important, was that they did it in English. They know words about the beach, but now we were able to talk about the mountain, going hiking, picking mushrooms, etc. (This was actually one of our classes with the younger children, but the older ones just asked how to say things.) When someone would see a tree, they'd point and yell, "tree!", etc. They were able to show us around, and we were able to learn about their history and culture as well.

20 June 2007

Saying goodbye is never easy, but this year wasn't so bad. I was at peace. I knew that when we left we would be seeing them again, and I didn't want to be sad, I wanted to remember smiling and laughing. I knew that the kids were sad, but didn't want to make it worse. We hugged, we kissed, and told them that we'd see them in July, which they're all so excited for. they kept asking about camp and the team.