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Armenian |
 Downers Grove • Illinois |
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December 03 Journal |
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| The weekends offer a different kind of opportunity to reflect and relate with the Armenian teachers. During the week we are busy teaching our classes and they are busy observing, learning, and participating in a number of classes. At night the times are often taken up with the mundane chores that all teachers have to do. The fun of the weekend is that there is time to do more and talk more about each others lives.
After a busy day at South High School the Armenians were invited to join the teachers they worked with during the day for some refreshments at a local restaurant. With plays and other activities going on that evening the time proved short but valuable. Good friends sharing good ideas seems to be a cultural universal. Ruben and Mr. Hector headed off that evening for a Christmas Party and a few hours at a local bookstore. Armineh and Ms. Vincent stayed longer and enjoyed the company of many South High staff. On Saturday the day was spent in a variety activities. Searching for new and varied experiences Mrs. Hector suggested a day at the Kane County Fairgrounds where all kinds of strange things can be purchased. Ruben had an interesting day and picked up a few "necessities" from the trip. That evening we had dinner early and went home to rest. The discussions over coffee that we have at this time are often quite revealing. Two men of similar ages who lived through the world events of the sixties and seventies from totally different perspectives. Each has learned a great deal about the others views and the exchange has created a wonderful dialogue about communism and democracy. To sit and talk with people that less than ten years ago we viewed as "enemies" is truly a mark of the changing world we live in. Sunday marks our day with the Armenian Church. Ms. Merilos and Ms. Redell will report on this remarkable day in the near future. For their second full day at South our visitors were scheduled to work in the library. The purpose of the day was to add to their knowledge of the Internet, learn some new tricks, and locate sites that will be useful to the staff and students at their school in Armenia. I escorted them to the library where we were greeted by the library staff. Introductions were made and Ruben and Armineh were treated to a breakfast prepared by the staff. There was time for some conversation during breakfast and then it was time to work.
Both Ruben and Armineh went to the Internet first and looked for sites that would be useful to them. They received a lot of help and encouragement from the librarians and finished the morning with addresses of useful sites and instructions for finding more. Ruben also spent some time working with Tim Elliott so he could se up his own web page. This page will be linked to Ruben's school home page in Armenia. Ruben was genuinely excited about doing this and was very thankful to Tim for his help. Tim and Ruben made a lot of progress during the morning. The library had a special program going on that day during the lunch periods. It is called Lunch and Lyrics, and it is an ongoing program at South which allows staff and students to read original works of poetry and other writings to an audience in the library. Both Ruben and Armineh enjoyed the presentations and were impressed by the talents of both students and staff. After their own lunch, Ruben and Armineh finished their own lunch they finished the day online. Ruben also spent some more time working in his web page. At the end of the day they both agreed it was time well spent.
Contributed by Ms. Redell |
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