For My Mom

My mom was interested in learning more about my tutoring job and the associated travel to and from tutoring. I am going to attempt to answer some of her questions on the blog with the expectation/hope that others are interested too!

There are a few families in our branch/congregation at church that are American or English speaking. One such family is Korean. The Korean family is here for the dad’s work and the mom, Sare (pronounced like Sarah, only with an “ee” ending: Sar-ee), is actually just a year older than me. They have two small children and it has been fun to visit with her a little bit. She served a mission in Los Angeles, so she can easily communicate with the Americans here. Oddly enough, there is a small but seemingly strong Korean community here. Most (or all) of the ethnic Koreans in KZ and Uzbekistan are descendants of Koreans who were essentially banished/deported from far east Russia to one of those two countries (KZ and UB) between 1937 and 1939. I did some quick research on it and it seems a governor of Almaty defied Soviet sanctions and somewhat enabled the Koreans to keep their language as there was a Korean language newspaper and Korean theatre in operation. But I digress! Sare knows other Korean families that are here in KZ for business. One such family was interested in hiring the new Americans (us) to tutor their sons in English. I was introduced to them and a deal was struck. Their sons “S.Y.” and “S.J.” attend AIS, the international school that Chris attended his last year or two here. I tutor the boys to help strengthen their English skills, mostly in writing.

We met the family our first Friday here in KZ and I started tutoring the following Monday! Our trip to meet them was the only time we’d been in that specific area of the city, and we didn’t even ride the bus, so I naturally wanted Chris to go with me to my first lesson. He refused!! I had to ride the bus by myself, and I will be honest, I was a little nervous about it. Obviously, I survived! I have had a few odd experiences on the bus but for the most part it has been “smooth sailing”.

On Riding the Bus:
My first experience with a packed bus was with Chris and Addie. I was given a seat because of Addie, so I didn’t really get to truly experience the “sardines in the bus” (it seems this baby comes with privileges… whenever I walk on the bus with her a seat is given to me, regardless of how full the bus is already). I return home in the evenings, and the bus is usually quite crowded. That has been quite the experience as I have sometimes had great difficulty moving just 3 feet to the door! I carry a large shoulder bag with my supplies in it, which means I have to navigate more than just myself through the crowd of people.
This past Monday Chris went into the city to take care of some business and I met him before my lesson to pass Addie on to him. He anticipated that he would walk around the area and meet me after my lesson, so I took the diaper bag. I guess he didn’t find much to look at or do, so he ended up going home, which meant I had to carry a lot more home than I am used to. The ride home was especially packed and when I moved closer to the door in preparation for my stop, I had to actually hold my bag on my head (before I moved a woman sitting down had been holding my bag—a courtesy that seems to be quite commonly offered). I know I looked a little odd as I exchanged a few smiles and laughs with some of those immediately around me.
Last week I observed something new, and a little unusual, while on the bus. I was on my way to tutoring and noticed a distinct smell in the air. It became pretty obvious to me that the man standing next to me was drunk. In the course of the trip, a girl ended up between us and after a little while she began yelling at the man. We live in KZ. The people don’t generally speak English here so I had no idea what she was yelling. The guy was definitely on the defensive and spoke back to her. We were near the door, which is where the conductor happened to be at the time (the conductor is a man or woman who rides the bus and makes sure people pay before they exit, they are usually pretty young—probably my age). The conductor then got into the “discussion” and got in the face of the drunk man, who continued to be on the defensive. At the next stop the conductor grabbed the guy and pushed him outside and even kicked him (it seemed to be more of a gesture than to actually injure, though there was a little force behind the kick). At that same stop a guy got on the bus who was even more drunk than the last! He had a seat, so he sat talking loudly, mostly to himself, the rest of the time I was on the bus until just before my stop. The conductor approached the man and began fussing at him. I’m not sure, but I think he kicked him off the bus at my stop.

The Family:
The boys are really good kids! “S.Y.” is older and is about 13, with “S.J.” being 9. I have been really impressed with their abilities. My main challenges are finding appropriate resources for them and keeping “S.J.” under control! =) At this point I think I will just start using grammar resources I find online for native-English speakers of their age because the ESL/TEOFL resources aren’t advanced enough. I think having appropriate resources will/does help “S.J.” focus more. He is such a funny little boy! Easily distracted, he often starts talking about school and other things completely unrelated to our lesson! It seems that letting him ramble for a minute often works better than trying to immediately get him back to the lesson, so I am getting a lot more peeks into the life of a nine year old than I am accustomed to! The family treats me really well and always offers me something to drink and often some kind of snack too. I have tried rice “cakes” that are nothing like what an American would picture (they were very simple, thin, crisp, and good!), Korean chocolate pies (like little moon pies, but different), and most interesting of all: corn tea! For a second I thought the tea might be green tea, so I inquired and learned it was made from corn, by the mom. I was pretty impressed. It tasted something like popcorn—that may not sound very yummy, but it actually was pretty good (of course this is also coming from the girl who loved/craved air-popped, buttery, salty popcorn while pregnant).

On Leaving My Family (for a few hours):
I previously mentioned that I am out of the house (and away from my baby) for the lessons for about 9 hours a week. It’s probably more like 10 if you give adequate time for travel. It is a little weird to leave Chris behind in a country that is quite foreign to me (especially when it comes to language!), but it is probably most weird to leave Addie. The change in time zones (10 hour difference) caused some changes in milk supply and that accompanied with being away from Addie for 3+ hours at a time three times a week left me a little nervous. In the end, all has worked out quite well. My body has adjusted well to the time zones and we have gotten a better schedule for feeding Addie… which means she continues to chunk up! I have found that I really look forward to getting off the bus and returning home (and I really love it when Chris meets me at the stop). Seeing Chris and Addie is the only thing on my mind and it has been really fun, revealing, and thought-provoking to realize how much joy I feel upon seeing them and also how much anticipation I feel until I do see them.