The past couple weeks have been interesting in my school, as well as in my town. I met my host family and had dinner with them, and they were really nice, they all spoke English very well. They also had a cute dog that I got to play with, which made me miss my puppy.
In one of the fifth grade classes there is a particularly mean looking boy, who never smiles and he picks on everyone. I noticed one day in class that he was pulling on his ear lobe with both hands and I didn't realize what he was doing until I saw a pin in his hand. He was trying to pierce his ears! He isn't one of my students so I I haven't seen him recently, but I just saw him a few days ago and he now has earings in his ears.
There is no discrimination at my school. These kids are just mean to everybody.
I feel like I'm not really "making a difference" with some of these kids, I just feel like maybe they're too young to appreciate or understand why I'm here and what I'm doing. There are constant fights going on, and a lot of disruptive kids. This school is an alternative school for kids, because where other schools have failed them, this school won't turn anyone away. The kids that I get in my small groups of five-eight students are very well behaved though, and they love me. One of the teachers said I was famous at the school, "like Britney Spears." I didn't really appreciate being compared to Britney Spears, but it was a sweet idea.
In one of my sixth grade groups they were learning professions, so I asked them what they want to be when they grow up. All the girls said stuff like actress, singer, dancer, all the usual things little girls say. Then we got to the two boys. The first boy said, in English, that he wants to be a computer hacker. I started laughing, and made him pick something else because that's illegal. The other boy when it was his turn, said that he wants to be a murderer. I told him that that's not good, and to pick something else. Then he tells me that he wants to be in the army forever so that he can kill people. I was freaked out, as I'm sure anyone would be when a child is telling you he wants to kill people. So I talked to his teacher, who had a talk with him, and apparently he thought it was funny, and he was just joking. All the girls call this boy crazy and nuts, and he's very quite, and my teacher said, "those are sometimes the ones who are the most disturbed."
I get called horrible names by kids who don't know the meaning of these words, they hear them on TV. I get called "sexy lady" at least twice a day by little kids. I've tried explaining that they can't say these things to people, but they never listen.
When I was walking through the halls at school the other day, there was a bird in the school. All the doors and windows are open, and it's not uncommon to see a bird flying through the school. I guess I walked into it's flight path and scared it or something, cause the little piece of bamba that was in it's mouth came shooting at me, and hit me right between the eyes.
When I got to school on Monday, it was just a normal day, I was sitting in the teacher's room waiting for the bell to ring, when the principal came in and had a meeting with the tachers. I didn't understand what was being said, so one of the teachers filled me in. Sunday after school a few kids had gotten into a fight. Two fifth graders and a sixth grader. Someone had taught the sixth grader that if you pull apart scissors you can use them as a weapon, so he that's what he did. He stabbed both of the fifth graders. Apparently a teacher saw and called the police. Needless to say this boy is no longer at the school. This morning, though, the teachers went on strike against violence in the schools, and school didn't start until ten this morning. In one of my groups we talked about the situation, and they thought that is was fun that they didn't have school this morning. And fights were still breaking out during classes. Obviously they didn't get the message. We talked about how this is a serious issue, and it's scary, and then they understood. My groups of kids are very well behaved though.
I got a break from Ashkelon for the weekend, and went out to Arad with my roommates and the whole group, to visit two friends also from the program. Arad is a beautiful place, in the middle of the desert on a hill, so you can see the surrounding desert. In the distance on a clear day you can see a little sliver of the Dead Sea. We went on walks through part of the desert, to a lookout point and saw the sunset, bright pink and orange, it was amazing. Arad helped restore some appreciation for this country. Coming from Ashkelon where there is garbage everywhere, people just throw their trash on the streets, and the sidewalks are covered in dog poop, it smells, and it's just filthy. I'm also living in the poor neighborhood, though. One of my roommates likes to say, "Just because you're poor doesn't mean you have to be dirty." I can't even express how filthy it really is. But Arad was beautiful and clean, and it made me feel better.
