Ok.... there is not much that I ask for these days ... Yes .. Ok a full paying job might be great, but I understand my journey right now .... and the Kindergarten is it right now. I need to hurry up and learn quickly though, its hard to make "friends" there. You don't really have any time to socialize or get to know someone else.
The fact that I am working for 3 days a week earning not even enough to buy a blouse here in Norway (lol ) and then going to Norskkurs (Norwegian Course) for the other 2 days of the week AND then going to a spouse class (Social Studies) on Saturdays to do my obligation of 50 hours equates to a very FULL week.
Now, like I've said before (I think), the Norwegian Teacher has said that they usually organise it by language. So if you speak English or are very fluent in it then you would do it in English. This is because its VERY IMPORTANT information and we are all expected to join in the class discussions.
In our class we have 3 native English speakers, on and off about 5 Filipinos, 2 Ghanaians, 2 People who speak Russian, 1 who speaks Spanish and 1 who speaks Turkish.
If you wake up early on a Saturday after a full week of activities lasting at least 6 hours, and you come to something that you hope you would learn something... wouldn't you want to learn?
or at least HEAR what the Norway is going on (lol... get it ..??? France?? Norway ??? oh .. never mind!)
Well today was definitely one of those days when you start to wonder .....
While the facilitator is talking and explaining things and looking for people to have a discussion, the 2 Russians decided to have a Russian conversation... across the round table setting.
Seriously... we ALL want to know what happens in Russia .. hows about ya share? huh?
Nope, the discussion goes on in heated debate while the Facilitator is still talking .. in English. Of course it's a little difficult to focus on what is going on here!
The Facilitator sort of looks at them as in "I'm talking here" .. but nothing is really said.
How does one as a teacher/facilitator continue talking while 2 people are having their own little conversation across the table? How about showing some respect people?
After a small pause, the facilitator continues to ... facilitate.
Someone starts to discuss something with the teacher and a murmur starts, first with the Russians and then with the Filipinos. Come on people! We are supposed to be adults here. Can we all SHARE in discussions? The longer the teacher/student discussion went on while I was straining my ears to hear what was going on , the teacher was talking louder and louder, I suppose in the hope that everyone will shut up.
Fat chance. That just made the murmur grow louder and louder.
Worse yet now, all discussions are done and the Russians are still talking away ... in Russian... wow.
I was trying so hard not to look at them, but between them, I would really have expected more. One being a very highly educated person and the other a much older woman, who should know a bit more about respect!
My patience was waning. Thank God for a BREAK!
After Lunch, I noticed that the Ghanaians decided to join us. Of course, this session is supposed to start at 8:30 - the Lunch is at 11 am. How UNFAIR is it that they join us after they get to sleep soundly and still get to sign their name on the list as having attended a 6.5 hr session.
UGH! ... No wonder the people in your country beat the kids....
ok ... that's so not fair .... but that was the level of my disgust.
Oh by the way ... we are talking about someone who's dad used to go to the school to "beat up" the teachers if they "whipped" they kids.... which was a rule of the school .. (albeit it may have been abused), but I mean .. seriously .... what a bad representation of someone from Ghana ...
Anyhoos it gets better.
One of them has a kid with them. Oh cute! ..... she didn't have anyone to take care of her kid while she fulfilled her "obligation" today. But that "cute" very quickly became "cut" ... as in "cut it OUT!"
If I didn't have a headache before from the Russians .... I got one now...
Between the Russians having their conversations across the table, the Filippinos jabbering away in Togalo .. or whatever it is... and the Ghanaian girls shoshoing, I had no space to tolerate the kid.
Now, I've had people tell me that its easier said than done to control your kids, but hear me out before you try to defend your motherhood and especially this particular one.
This kid was an adorable mix of Ghana and obviously red headed Norwegian. He had the eyes of his mother and seemed spunky and ... well .. a normal little boy.
"Mama ... mama ... mama..." The kid's monotone drone was loud enough for everyone to hear.
Now... I don't know .. maybe its the Trini mama in me that impulses me to say "SHHHH" at the VERY first Word.
If I HAVE to bring my kid to a class, then that Kid BETTER stay quiet or I better STAY home. I mean, its not like no one else will be affected... I'm toting the kid to the grocery here...
How about a little " Shh .... play with your crayons??"
nope.
By the last break ... one of the guys in the class had said, "Is it just me, or have you had enough of this kid too?"
Yea .... its not just you.
This kid had tapped upon the table and his mother said nothing until I looked back VERY annoyed that she would not stop him. Then it was just a quick , "Nei"....
This kid had gone outside run down the corridor screaming.. while his mother shouted at him ... inside the class ... oh .. did I tell you that the door was closed... but maybe this was a bionic kid and could hear through walls.
This kid had come along the classroom and had tapped and banged on the glass very loudly .... While the mother got up (and I'm not here to help her out ... but she looked MOST amused at all that her son was doing) She called out to her son and got up and walked outside again.
I have to admit .. I was impressed with the kid though. At around 5 years old, he was speaking between English, Norwegian and the mother tongue from Ghana.. There certainly is an advantage for being born in a non English speaking country!
But back to this kid.
This kid had sat down and eaten a burger .. making loud slurping noises while he ate, and no one stopped him.
Now, I don't know about you .. but after 1 1/2 hrs with this kid and his mother I was started to think that this must be one of the most annoying days I've had yet.
There came a point with the talking in a million languages with a kid trying to be heard above everything else that I really couldn't take it anymore. I mean, what was the point of coming here on a Saturday if it was not going to be AT LEAST pleasant enough to LEARN something about Norway?
A Cell phone rang loudly .... and I was aghast to hear the man answer the telephone, speaking normally ... and for him normal is loud ... It was a quick call ... but still ... I'm glad he's got a job now.... maybe he's not as scary....
That was the last straw....
"Ok .... people ...... Between you guys talking in Russian very loudly might I add... you guys talking in Filipino and you guys talking in Ghanaian and your kid ..... sorry to say ... that you cannot seem to control or even keep quiet or SOMETHING... I'm wondering if you appreciate having to wake up on a Saturday morning, or that you respect the teacher in front of you???? So I don't know about you guys ... but I am here to get SOMETHING out of this session other than a feeling of total frustration and disgust of the people that were here ... so if you don't mind .. if yuh wanna talk .... talk quietly or IN ENGLISH so we all can benefit... and if you have no one to take care of yuh kid mama .... I'm sorry to hear ... but you have some work to do in order to show that you understand that you have brought your kid to an adult CLASS and not a kindergarten .... So hows about you control your kid or GO HOME!" I finally Shouted.
.......
There was silence in the class.
....
And then reality must have hit .... because I came back to it! Ah well... if only I did get riled up enough...
There was still all the murmuring in different languages ... and this kid was still talking ... almost incessantly now.
I started closing my eyes and willing myself not to live out what I REALLY wanted to shout to all these people in the class.
The kid was talking louder and louder and it was becoming almost impossible for the teacher to talk..
"Please , please , please! .. I'm sorry that you don't have anyone to take care of your kid but he's obviously not enjoying the class. Perhaps its better if you take him home" The teacher finally said.
"Yes I think so too" the Girl blurted a little too quickly.
She perhaps is another character that I would love to expound on .. .. but I really don't think I'll give her the glory of my typing fingers ... I don't think very highly of her. She seems to be one who is only interested in what money she can get, how else she can whatever she wants and a host of other things including that she likes or wants or needs some attention ... and that one was told to me by someone else. So its not just me.
ok that's enough of that.
She got up and took an enormous amount of time to dress her son and herself. The class was silent and I chose not to look in that direction at all. I honestly felt sorry and embarrassed FOR her. Something I'm pretty sure .. she didn't feel for herself .. but such are people everywhere right?
But then again, maybe this was a "special" kid. Maybe he has ADD or something.... isn't that extremely popular these days? ... Maybe she had issues as a kid and let's her kid express himself ... any and all the time?... How impressive ...
Maybe I'll have a kid like that .. that I can't control, that I lose all luster TO control; that I just couldn't be bothered to try too hard over? Or maybe it was just a bad day for the kid ... or the mom? These things happen ... no kid is perfectly behaved all the time. Perhaps I'm just being hard on the poor girl and her mothering skills... but why is it that it got to other people too?
The class got pretty quiet after that. Everyone paid attention and didn't talk.
Why is it that we have to be prodded like animals, or embarassed for us to behave... like if we are 7 or 8? How can we be made to understand that no matter where we are in life .. what country, we are called to be adults .. first and foremost... which requires a measure of respect ... and that I think and I worry. .. is something I realise Norwegians are not very good at.
Whey yuh say?
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