Working

I started working with my participants this week. The larger group is twenty professors and instructors from a handful of universities in Baghdad. I'm working with a small six literature professors. For the first time in decades, my literature background is not considered a deficit but an asset in the TESOL world. My participants are happy to find a kindred spirit, and we'll spend the next weeks discussing methods of teaching literature (within a CALLA framework), and developing new lesson plans.

They are bussed in every day at noon, through the west gate into the green zone, going through multiple checkpoints and pat downs along the way. It's dangerous for them, as anyone working with Americans here is likely to be targeted. A bomb could be detonated on their bus, or an IED along the route, or a suicide bomber at the west gate. This is the sort of thing that happens semi-regularly here. These are brave people, with a hunger for learning. They are also devout Muslims who are grateful to have been born Muslim, but are tolerant and respectful of other religions. In other words, they are like the majority of Muslims around the world, and not like the handful of bullies, nutjobs, and fanatics who make life miserable for the rest in the name of religion.

I spend the morning preparing, and am ready for them when their bus arrives at the compound at 12:30. We spend the afternoon together, with a tea break, and they leave at 4:30. Then the hard part starts. A long evening here in the compound with little to do. We started PS90, an exercise routine, but the first routine we did was plyometrics, and my thighs are still on fire four days later. So exercise, reading, music, sloooow internet, and conversation with my fellow inmnates. House arrest.