...in a little pond

Not to say that I'm a big fish, by any means... but Tses is a tiny village. Living in a small place like Tses, and living on the school grounds, reminds me in a lot of ways of living in Grinnell. It definitely is not a big city where you can get lost in the crowd- in fact, it's pretty apparent that anything I do is noticed by at least someone.

I know most of the secondary school students (from my school) by sight, and for sure all of the students from my school and our sister primary school, Nowak, know me. And while I know our teachers and some of the Nowak teachers, there aren’t so many other adults in the community who I’ve really gotten to know yet. So walking around the village here feels a little like walking around the town of Grinnell – you know and recognize everyone from the college, while you might recognize but don’t really know those who are actually from town.

For instance, yesterday I walked down to the shops to get an apple and just to move around a little. (more the latter, since buying fresh fruit in Tses is a little iffy.) A handful of primary school learners came sprinting out of a field to say hi and accompany on my walk, screaming “Ms. Sachi! Ms. Sachi, good afternoon!” They can be pretty cute when they try.

Since this was a group I hadn’t met before, I was peppered with the normal series of questions: am I a China? am I an India? am I a Germany? (those seem to be the only 3 other cultures learners here know, and conveniently apparently I look like I could potentially belong to any of them?) how old am I, am I married, do I have children yet, why do I not have children yet, why would I leave America to live in Tses?

Answering these questions has become a part of my daily routine, even at my school where hypothetically the learners should all know me by now. I think it’s just so unusual for them to have someone new come in that they’re really intrigued by nearly anything I have to say about… well, anything. Simultaneously really nice (when's the last time you had a dozen children sprint up to you just to walk a few steps and touch your skin?) and a little worrisome, since I have to watch everything I say because someone is always listening!