Sports and languages

Hi everyone me & mom went to the Azeri zoo there was owls cats/foxes/cheetahs there were bears and camels too but my favorite thing was Monkeys. The monkey's had a few bananas in their cages. There were only two monkeys but one of the monkeys was crazy. Whenever you took a picture one of the monkey's would punch the cage and run away. There were ducks and swans, too in one cage with a big lake in it. You could only see one part of it through the fence because it was blocked by trees but it was really, really big. My second favorite thing was the swan and ducks. There were bulls and cows and horses and llamas. My third favorite thing was the llamas. Mom's class could only go towards the camels a little bit because the camels spit. They could only go towards the cage a little because they kept putting their fingers through all the other cages. Last Monday I was watching wrestling club and I said to the principal who is the wrestling club teacher "can I watch the wrestling club for a little while" and he said "I'll let you play in wrestling club if your Mom and Dad say it's ok." They said yes so I got to do wrestling club. Now to me wrestling club looks very fun because I get to use the new moves on my brother. We get to play fun games in wrestling and I know most of the kids, too. On Thursdays I get to do aeronautics. I like it because we get to make fun things like rockets and airplanes too. But only sometimes we get to make parachutes. Most of the people in aeronautics are younger then me. I get to be the only one that makes the good stuff because the others always mess up and the teacher makes them do it over again. I get to do French Club, too. I get to take French everyday anyway and I know all of the numbers up to 10,000. I know lots of words in French. I use to have French class in the US and I had a book with all the words in it but I forgot to bring it to Azerbaijan. In soccer me and my best friend Amar get to play and my brother, too. I'm really good at soccer almost everyone says so. There are no girls in soccer. It's on Saturdays so not very many people come. Sebastian who is my class played but he doesn't play anymore. My best friend Amar invited me to his house and I got to sleep over. He let me play his PSP a lot. I'd never played a PSP before. Amar came to my house yesterday. It was fun playing with him. He was scared so we called his Mom and Dad and they came to get him.

I Don't Know What to Write About

I don't know what to write about!!! So, I'm just going to blab on about anything and everything... lalalalalalalalalala! I went to an Azeri Chuckie Cheese's , ladidadidoodeedoodledoop!!!!!! I know over 300 words in Azeri... and I love school. Ummmm, Dad is in Tbilisi, Georgia with the cross country team. He is the male chaperone, nobody else had a 1 year visa. The other day Joshua invited his friend from school over for a sleepover. Which was actually a lot of fun. But, he hasn't really had a sleepover at someone else's house so he wanted to go back home. I'm in the middle of writing a Cinderella fairy tale for my language arts class ( yes it is about a monkey and that will never change!!!!!!!!!!!!) with a really cool teacher, she teaches exactly like Mrs. Kenney! Drama class, which is being taught by Dad , everybody in the 10/11 year old program loves! So, all but one student is in drama, and the other kid is changing to drama after the first quintile (1/5 of our school year) which is pretty cool considering the fact that then finally I won't be the only kid NOT (YES! I SAID I AM MORE MATURE THAN THE TEN YEAR OLDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) goofing around. Well, that's all my puny brain can think of so... See ya!

Aeronautics Class!

In Aeronautics class I traced out airplanes and then I cut them out. We got to put paperclips on the airplanes. After that we got to color our airplanes. We had a competition then to see who's went more far. I enjoyed the aeronautics class. This class is an after school activity. The teacher speaks mostly in Russian and Azeri. I was the only one that didn't speak those languages. One of Mommy's paras was there to translate. That made me very happy. I'm kind of excited for next week.

Weird Hours and things going on

We've been sort of quiet this week. We've been busy trying to settle in and find a schedule and rhythm that works for us. We aren't quite there but we are moving in that direction. For me and my little Kindergarten class it has been an eventful week. Three children were sick this week and 2 threw up while they were at school. (Just loving that mess.) On Tuesday, one child cried most of the day, one asked me "who the boss was" and when I said, "I am", she informed me that "oh no, I am". We has a little discussion. Then after lunch as we were lining up for PE one of my children just turned around, unprovoked and punched another kid in the mouth, knocking one of his teeth out. That was a day for the books. We survived and had a very good day on Wednesday. Thursday, however, was not. Many children got to spend 5 minutes in time out over the course of the day and the paras where going insane right along with me. I sent a note home to the children's parents asking for help in reminding their children of the rules and then put our behavior policy and consequences down on paper for them to see. We had been asked to do that. Well, Friday morning was off to a good start. I was talking to parents as they came in and was in the middle of a conversation when a Mother stepped right in and said, "I need to talk to you." I told her that I knew that. Could she please let me finish my conversation. To her that was apparently not OK. She began yelling at me and making quit a scene. I asked her to please step into another room so we could at least be alone to have the conversation and she continued to yell but followed me. She proceeded to tell me that her child was perfect and that his being in time out the day before was unacceptable, that he had awards from both the 3 year old class and the 4 year old class for being the best. She told me that I was a horrible teacher that her child was not interested in school or engaged in school and that he was NOT to be put in time out. She continued to yell and wouldn't really let me get a word in edgewise. I told her we should probably go talk with the principal and that would she please wait. She followed me into the hallway continuing to yell. I asked her to stop being rude and to stop yelling while I found the principal. We visited the principal and he was awesome. Not because he took my side but because he really listened to her, suggested that no one was perfect and that this was a big change for the children from Preschool to the academic world, etc. He supported me completely and yet helped her to talk more calmly. She continued to say that I was a problem. She was a teacher and she could come and show me how things should be done. She explained that her sons previous teacher Miss Olga walked on water (and she does) and that Miss Olga was who I should model myself after. Once the mother left, I cried of course. I simply wasn't prepared for that attack. I went to talk with Miss Olga and she told me that virtually the identical thing had happened with her and this parent two years before. She said it took about 3 months for the mother to settle down and be more respectful towards her. She said that the mother was a rude person and that finally they just sent her to talk to the principal every time she had an issue (which apparently was a lot).

I learned a lot on Friday. The principal was awesome. He didn't tell me I was right but he was very encouraging to me. He checked on me at lunch and then at the all-school assembly on Friday he had a cheer for me as part of a skit for Student Council. I'm the student council advisor now. The principal is a strong personality and kind of stern most of the time but his kindness on Friday was beyond words. I learned that this is how Azeri women interact a lot. It's not unusual for Azeri women to yell at each other in passion. I wasn't really having an issue with what the mother was saying, She had every right to feel the way she was feeling. My issue was more with how she interrupted and how rude she was. I also thought about things all day and realized that I wasn't very nice to her either and so when she came in that afternoon to pick up her son I apologized to her for my behavior that morning. She accepted my apology. I told her that her son had been great that day and she said, "I know" and left. I was thankful for her willingness to accept my apology and very happy that it was Friday.

I have three paras now. Two of the paras worked with this mother for the last two years and they were scared about the days events. Finally at about 3:50, school gets out at 3:30, the paras asked if they could ask me a question. They of course wanted to know what had happened and then very gingerly asked me if she had apologized and I said no, I had. They looked sort of scared. Then at about 4:00 they asked me why I had done that and I told them because it was the right thing to do and that I had been rude, too. They said, "she'll think she won" and I said, "that's OK, I just had to do what I knew was the right thing". It was tough to swallow my pride and apologize but I had spent a lot of time in prayer and knew that was what I needed to do.

Friday night Joshua had his first sleep-over. There is a boy in his class named Amar and he an Joshua just adore each other. The mother asked me if it would be OK and we agreed on the times. When we picked Joshua up Saturday morning he was just glowing and the mother said they'd love to have him again. I was really happy for Joshua. We may have Amar (from Macedonia) over this weekend.

Now, I'm sitting her at 10:30 at night and guess what it going on outside? It seems that delivering of dump trucks of dirt takes place late at night. I don't know why but this is the second time this week that 2 dumps trucks (very HUGE dump trucks) have come to our neighborhood to dump loads of dirt next door to our house. They at about 12:30 am or so (at least that's what happened last time) the tractor comes to work with the dirt and smooth it out and move it around a bit. It's a crack up to say the least. Tonight the tractor is actually out there right now. The streets are full of people until at least midnight. It's very interesting. The Ulrich family is often in bed by 8:30 pm. Guess we haven't really acclimated to Azeri time schedules just yet. I'm OK with that. We love you all.

Today's Soccer Game!!! - September 13, 2008

Today was fun. First, Mom and I went to go pick Joshua up from his friend's house. It took a while because our driver didn't know where the apartment complex was...neither did we. The plan was to have Ammar ( Joshua's friend ) come over to soccer with us. But he changed his mind. So we got to school and soccer started 20 minutes later. When we began the week before I was the oldest by a long shot, well I'm the oldest elementry student in the whole school anyways, but this time my friend John was here! So we start our practice game later and my team was Me, Ibo, Chris, and Salman against John, Kip, Sebastian and Joshua. Our coach played for whatever team had the ball. My team won after my 4 goals and Ibo's goal to put us ahead 5 to 1. The one goal on thier team was made by John... before we had any.

Busy, busy

This week we finished the first full week of school. About Wednesday I told my students about my issues with getting used to my schedule. When I taught at the university, my typical schedule was M,W,F - in the office by 6:00. Teach from 8:00 - 9:20, then 9:30 - 10:50. Then in the office until 3. T,R - in the office about 9:30, there until 3. Sometime I'd have to teach a class on Tuesdays. Now? In the office about 7:30 (no actual office, no classroom to call my own). Class from 8:50-9:40, 9:40-10:30, break and prep from 10:30 - 11:35, class from 11:35 - 12:25, lunch until 1:00, class from 1:00 - 1:50, 1:50 - 2:40, 2:40 - 3:30, various duties and meetings after classes, leave to come home about 5:00. Lots more doing, lots less thinking time.
So, Thursday was open house, so we stayed at school until 9 p.m. Friday came home and collapsed (tired and still all dealing with tummy issues). Saturday was Joshua's birthday! So, to celebrate, we loaded up at 9:00 and went to school. They have a Saturday soccer time from 7-11 year olds, so the boys played from 10-11. Heather and I were in first aid training from 10 - 3:30. The boys played on the computer while we were in the training. At 5:00 we then went over to the school director's house for a big barbeque that was a thank you party to the custodial and maintenance staff for everything they've done to get the faculty homes and the school ready for the year.
Since Joshua didn't have much of a birthday, we spent today (Sunday) doing some things with him. We went to church for the first time here in Baku. After that, Miss Kelly, Joshua's teacher came with us to downtown Baku. We walked around quite a bit, ate at Sunset Cafe (a very American diner), bought a half dozen pirated DVDs for Joshua (they sell for about $3 each at stores all over the place - they're the only English DVDs that can be purchased), took a carriage ride, checked out rug stores, etc. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant here that we were told was really good. (Joshua really likes Mexican) It turned out that there really wasn't much on the menu that I would call Mexican (or even Tex-Mex). The "chips" were more like the spiced cracker bread that you get at Indian restaurant and the salsa was some kind of curry. Joshua seemed to like it, though (he got pizza).
Now we're home, ready to collapse, and in about 7 hours we'll get up to start another week.
Thanks to all who sent ecards, etc. for Joshua. He really enjoyed them.

Our Address

Hello all ~ many of you have asked about our address. Well our address would do you no good. As far as we can tell there is no mail service here. Interesting to say the least. However, things can get delivered to the school so here is the address:

Tim and Heather Ulrich
Baku International School
Darnagul Qasabasi
Str. Ajami Nakchivani
Block 3097
Baku, Azerbaijan, AZ 1108

It looks like it takes about 2 - 3 weeks to get whatever you send.

For those of you that have extra space in a box or a desire to send us stuff, we need spices (they are pretty expensive here ~ Dad you know what we need. We use it on EVERYTHING), lighter (like the ones you use on fireplaces), Splenda (I like it the best), 3" 3 ring binders, pee chee folders with brad and pockets, and ink pens (like cheap Bic - all they have here is a sort of felt tip pen). I'll let you know if we think of anything else.

Thanks for thinking about us.

Today was an interesting day at school. First thing this morning and new student came to class. It was very funny. His parents apologized for his not starting on time they had just flown in on Sunday. Adam, their son was wearing a Washington Huskies t-shirt. They said they were from Seattle. What a small world? We chatted about Seattle and all that was going on there. It was very fun to talk to them.

The boys in my class were wild animals today. For some of them it was a very difficult day. They were constantly in trouble. Their last period of the day was music and 3 of them got sent to the principal. Apparently it was NOT a good experience for them. Please pray for them and for the entire class. They need to learn to listen, follow instructions, raise their hands and share. Apparently they didn't have to do that much last year. They are a darling group. We just have some basic rules we need to learn and life will be much better.

Love you all!

What's Heather been up to lately?

It's been a lot of fun adjusting to our new surroundings. I love the driving as insane as it is. There aren't very many rules for driving. It's survival of the most daring and that may be as close to racing cars as I get. However, today our one way road turned into a two-way road without warning. I guess you truly can do anything, anytime you want here when it comes to driving.

I'm loving my class. I'm supposed to have twenty-five students. Thursday I had eleven, Friday I had thirteen, and today I had sixteen. One additional student let me know that they would be on vacation for this entire week. So far I can account for seventeen of the twenty-five. I have Serbian, Indian, Russian, Azeri, Turkish, English (UK), American (that I know of) students in my class. I'm just now getting information sheets back from the parents so I'll know more when they are all returned. The children are full of hugs for me and being silly. They cannot for the life of them raise their hands before they speak. Two young men in my class crack me up. They raise their hands but then yell Mrs. Heather or teacher at me, over and over and over. It's hard not to laugh when they do that.

I have two wonderful para-professionals (para pros). Shabnam is Azeri and Sevendj is Russian. They are just a delight to work with. Shabnam helped out with the 4 year old class last year so she knows most of the children in our class and more importantly knows the ins and outs of the school. Sevendj is amazing, too. She comes highly recommended from the school in Kazakhstan. and she's doing well. She asked me last week if she was being too strict. I told her that she was doing just fine. She seemed to be worried about that. She said we were taught to be strict and I again reassured her that she was doing great.

I think everyone is still trying to figure out where they fit in and figure everyone else out at the same time. I know I'm still figuring people out and sometimes that is difficult for me to try and figure out if they are serious, stressed, preoccupied, etc. It makes things just a little more confusing. The boys seem to be adjusting pretty well but at bed time we tend to have emotional break downs from one or both of them. I'm sure part of that is because they are tired but I just can't help but think that some if it has to do with the adjustments. Tim and I are still having issues with diarrhea. The food is good, our bodies just aren't sure about it yet.

I am truly enjoying the more laid back pace of life. It's really good to be with our family all the time. I get to see the boys several times each day and I really love that. It's fun to hear the boys come home each night having learned some of another language. Jonathon is taking Azeri and Joshua is continuing with French. They both have their language classes 5 days a week. They both should be pretty fluent when the year is done, I would think.

I wish you all a very Happy Labor Day and we will post more soon.

Joshua's vacation

On vacation I went to Grandmas house it was FUN I swam alot I cook at my Grandmas house sometimes. Mimis and pas house [2 grandma and 1 grand pa] I played lots.

Today in general

Today I had a lot of fun. I played basketball with my new friends, Ziya and John. Also today we had electives for the first time. Everybody in the ten and eleven year old class, except for Sophia, was in Drama! Which Dad teaches!!!!!