the end of the game

My students graduated last Wednesday. I took a lot of pictures, but I probably won't get them on my site until July. The ceremony was very quaint and included a lot of awards for all the best students. After that there was a concert in honor of the graduating class. There were many skits, some of which were very funny, some very sentimental and touching, but all represented the hard-work of all involved. Each class performed their own sort of tribute to the graduates. The teachers all became the unexpected participants of a skit in which all the teachers were arrested and put on trial for the torture of the 11-grade students, included me. The teachers played along, each in turn saying something in their defense. That we did it for their good made no difference; that we gave them (in many cases undeserved) good grades, made no difference. They were inconsolable and unreasonable. But we humored them, and our reward was conviction and a tiny bag of dried bread crusts, I suppose for food as we rot in prison. In my defense I merely said, "I don't even know why I'm here on trial. I demand a translator!" Svetlana (my counterpart) was the home teacher of the 11th grade, and had been since they were babies in the 5th grade. She delivered a moving tribute to them, saying how she would always love them and miss them, calling them all by name and saying something about each of them. The girls were all crying, and some of the boys were teary. Fat lot of good it did her! She was convicted too! After that, the students left the school to while the time away until the party that night where they would all get drunk, and their mothers (and one father, because they were probably working) had a party with Svetlana. For six hours we sat in the classroom and made toasts to their children until they were lit enough to burst into song, which could be heard for 200 meters away from the school. I finally couldn't stand the noise anymore and I left, but they stayed for two more hours. I played frisbee instead with some of my younger kids, who were walking around the village. School is over! Except for the 9th and 11th graders (yes, the graduates aren't done with school), because they have exams the first week of June, and until then they have to take a class a day in each of Russian, Russian Literature, Kazakh, and the class of their choice. Some students chose to take the English exam, which is necessary for some if they want to study language at a university. To show you another example of how liberal the school system here is, some of the 11-graders essentially failed, and their "last chance" is to somehow get a 3 (approximately a C) on the exam in order not to get held back. Good luck to them. I wish them all the best. And pray that they never aspire to come to any American or European Institution.