2006-12-22 - 3:25 p.m.
So I did six presentations for 12 of the 5th grade classes at my brother's elementary school about my Peace Corps time in Turkmenistan this week. And it was, as you can imagine, fantastical and amazingical. Here are five of my favorite interactions with students during my presentations:
1) Me: "So, does anyone have any questions about Turkmenistan?"
Boy: "Do you want to hear about my family?"
2) Me: "Who has heard of the Soviet Union? Can someone tell me something about them?"
Boy Who Looks and Acts Just Like Me, Except With Less Friends, "Um...well...Germany really hates Russia a lot so they're in a war right now. Yeah, they're fighting these days."
Me: "Well, they did fight back in WWII but I'm not sure that they're fighting anymore. Things are generally peaceful between the two of them."
Boy: "Actually? I think they are at war. I'm not sure you're right."
3) Me: "So in Turkmenistan they would use old Russian textbooks for toilet paper or they had a really cheap toilet paper from Ukraine. You know the brown paper bags from grocery stores? The Ukranian toilet paper is just like that, except crumpled up and in a roll."
Smart Ass Boy From #2: "You're wrong! In Ukraine they use normal toilet paper."
Me: "Well, you're probably right that Ukraine has much of the same kind of toilet paper that we have. However, this toilet paper was made in Ukraine and maybe some of the poorer people in Ukraine used it?"
Boy: "No, I'm pretty sure that toilet paper wasn't Ukranian."
4) Girl: "Hi, I'm Cece! I'm annoying!"
5) I would begin my presentation by introducing myself and my Peace Corps service in Turkmen for about 1 minutes and without fail, while I spoke, about half of the students in every group would yell at me while I spoke in Turkmen, "UM, HELLO!? WE DON'T SPEAK TURKMENISTANI! WE DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU! PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH!" As if I was convinced I walked into a classroom of kids, assumed they spoke some minor Turkic language fluently, and launched into it.
6) A good number of students asked me, "Why don't they ever smile in their pictures?"
Exactly.
