Life is becoming busier...

I haven't been blogging as much recently because I am becoming more and more consumed by what is happening here. I have been making some friends with interns from other organizations, and there seems to be hope of a social life outside of school here. Last week we went to a 24 hour lounge in a hotel North of where I live. It had a far overpriced bar and hookahs, and it was fun to hang out with the interns from Grameen Bank. One was a young Moroccan who told off-color (to say the least) jokes all night. It was a fun night but I was out later than I planned and the next morning at school was a bit rough.
My speech class is picking up a little bit, we had a first formal presentation, and for the most part it was pretty successful. Some kids are so nervous you almost feel for them, but I have to keep my "teacher mindset" intact when I am grading. It looks like I might be picking up more responsibility in the freshman class as well soon, but not for sure. That would probably be pretty easy because unlike Speech, which I have been planning as we go, the 9th grade class is pretty well choreographed already.
Also, I may get a chance to write for a Dhaka newspaper, The Daily Star. It is not a great publication in English, but it is printed in both Bangla and English and I would have a pretty wide readership if it actually comes through. No guarantees, but my contact will help me make it happen.
I also had my first "Poetry Club" after school on Sunday. It went well, there are a couple kids who seem to have thought about writing before and everyone seems pretty enthusiastic. I was really happy to get five boys in the club out of twelve, it's not usually something that is popular in high school. I put the kabash on the emotional expressions of high school girls early in the hour we have together, saying that poetry was different than simple self expression because this wasn't therapy, and poetry takes some kind of form and discipline.... hopefully it will sink in, I don't want to be reading about high school woes for a year. There first assignment is a classic-- haiku! I want to get them thinking about working within and struggling with constraints to help focus their energies.
It is amazing how fast my first month in Dhaka flew by, only nine more to go. I have the feeling that I will look up in June and it will be over. Paradoxically, the more I do every day the quicker it will fly by. I think I will have plenty to do, especially if I get involved with the newspaper... right now outside of school I am doing the poetry club and basketball club which take up a few hours a week. I am also doing some really interesting reading about literature, I have been enthused by how much I feel like I am learning in an academic sense while I'm here. Books I've been reading include:
Ciardi Himself by John Ciardi
Sound and Sense by Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson.
They are both concerned with how we write and read language, and it has really been interesting to apply to the teaching and reading I do for school daily.