30 September 2013

30 September 2013

Today, I got up, got dressed, had a breakfast of kasha, and walked to Russian class. Today was a short day, as it was only 4 hours of Russian. I learned some new phrases, and we practiced our Russian. We practiced our tongue twisters, and then worked on how to say “with” someone. We then did an exercise where one of us would read a phrase, question, or word in Russian (or English) and then translate it. The next person had to say (in Russian), “yes, I agree with ______.” It got extremely frustrating for me, as I never got the ones I knew, only the ones I couldn’t remember. We spent about an hour on this game, before having a break.

V. had been to Chernigov over the weekend, so she was able to change some money. Not all of it, but some of it. Another PCT and I doled it up. V told us that banks in Kiev would change our money, but they would charge us a fee to do so. After our break, we went straight into food. We learned many new words, which my host-Mom has been trying to teach me for a week. We went over our new vocabulary, and we then tried to sort the new words into their number and gender – masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural. We got most of them right. We also learned how to say “I like ____,” and “how much is _____?” Both are important phrases, one for talking to our host-family, and one for buying things at a bazaar.

The afternoon was three one-hour tutoring sessions, back-to-back, but I didn’t have one today, so I got to go home after lunch. Another volunteer and I talked during lunch, about our life so far in Ukraine.

After eating, I walked back to my host-Mom’s apartment. After finishing my written homework, I helped her clean the apartment, and them hung out in my room for a bit. Host-Mom made vareniki, but I wasn’t able to help her. She made cabbage-stuffed ones, which were really good. She also made soup. Host-Sister came back from Kiev, and we had soup and vareniki for dinner. After dinner, we had coffee and dessert. I went back over all my new vocab, and hung-out for a bit. Host-Mom, host-sister, and I had tea and more dessert.

The apartment hasn’t had hot water since a week ago Monday. They were supposed to have it back on Saturday, but no worries. It came back today, in the evening. First, barely lukewarm. Then, warmish, but an icky brown color. Finally, warm and clear. I was able to get a shower, and the water was getting warmer every minute of the shower. Host-Mom has been cooking mushrooms since our tea and dessert. PC regs say I can’t eat them, but they do smell very good.

28 and 29 September 2013

28 and 29 September 2013

Yesterday, I got up early, as I needed to take an early bus to Petrovski, the neighboring village where Obukhiv 2 is based. I had a breakfast of Kasha, and left for the bust stop. My cluster and I took bus #4. A current PCV (who was in Obukhiv 1 exactly a year ago, his host family is one of my cluster-mate’s host family) was in town for a few days.

At Obukhiv School number 4, Petrovski, we met Obukhiv 2, and went into the English classroom. There, we had our Tech session, where we went over some success stories and looked for why they were successful. We noticed a trend: in all the stories, the PCV worked closely with the local community to promote their project. After that, we learned about the Peace Corps Niche, which is the overlap of the host country’s national resources and priorities, our site’s community resources and assets, and our own skills and experiences. It’s a small niche, but it works.

Then, we learned about PACA: Participatory Analysis for Community Action. PACA are a set of tools that will help us as teachers, as community members, as Americans in Ukraine, as, well, everything. The four PACA tools that we went over were Needs Assessment and Priority Ranking, Community Mapping, Daily Activity Schedule, and Seasonal Calendar. We read over them, and then explained why they were valuable and how to apply them.

We went over the challenges of being a TEFL in Ukraine, as well as the opportunities. While we came up with more challenges, the opportunities were more important (IMHO). The challenges were things like lack of resources, lack of interest, cultural differences, and trying to do too much as PCVs, and the opportunities were that we can build community capacity, create a spirit of volunteerism, and showing that we are interested in learning and teaching, which in return promotes an interest in learning. We also went over strategies to help us get over some of our challenges. We should work closely with our counterpart and the local hierarchy, promote effective communication, use our tools, and remember that we can’t do everything at once, so we really shouldn’t try. We then gave our week debrief.

Petrovski is a small, cute, agricultural community, with winding roads and farms. One of the PCTs has an outdoor toilet and no internet, and another’s host family has apple and pear trees and a cow. Their school has 3 English teachers, one of whom is also the principal. In comparison, all of Obukhiv 1 have indoor plumbing and internet, and our school has 20 English teachers.

The PCV who is in Group 44 (September 2012, TEFL) spoke for a few minutes. He explained that he runs three clubs – English, Spanish, and adult English. He told us that our needs assessment would help us with our community project – the administration at his school asked him to do a Spanish club, as he majored in Spanish.

He told us that the PC language teaching is the best – you learn enough to survive at your site. Also said that the PC pays for a language tutor, which he highly recommends. He reminded us that the feeling of being overwhelmed is normal, and that the cluster needs to support its members. 

He spoke about English club, and how he does what the students want. He also uses the same topics in his English classes, and he can usually stretch out the material for at least 2 classes, if not three or four. He suggested that we help other PCVs with summer camps, as it gets us away from our site, but doesn’t use any of our vacation days.

He was also in the Russian group, and has experienced very little problems as a result. Some people have asked him why he’s speaking Russian, but he did say that most people know that we are Americans, and therefore won’t judge us too harshly for speaking Russian.

After that, we had a brief break, followed by our X/C session. As we were in Petrovski, Obukhiv 2’s LCF, R., led this lesson. We looked at things that define culture, and then compared the US to Ukraine. The two countries are mostly opposites, which can make for misunderstandings, and difficulty integrating. We need to remember TSCOUT: to use our Tools, to Suspend judgment, to Collect data, to Organize information, to Utilize our resources, and to Test our results. This will help us navigate and integrate into Ukraine.

After that, Obukhiv 1 took Bus 4 back. My host-sister and I had lunch – soup! She was making a salad

for dinner, which is very interesting, yet very good. It is a cold salad, and it has sea legs, cucumber, cooked rice, canned corn, something else, and mayonnaise. I had a relatively lazy afternoon, which was nice. Host-Mom was out most of the day picking mushrooms – she returned with enough to fill the bathtub as she washed them! Host-sister went to a concert in Kiev, and returned early this morning. Host-Mom and I had dinner (more soup, mashed potatoes, and sausage), and she started cleaning and processing the mushrooms. She was still processing them when I went to bed.

This morning I was able to sleep in until close to 1030. Won’t be able to do that until next Sunday… I got up and dressed and went into the amazing smelling kitchen. Breakfast today was a little.. unusual, but it was very good. Host-Mom told me to wait a few minutes, as she finished cooking some mushrooms, and then sliced up 3 small potatoes and fried them. That was about half of breakfast. She then gave me 2 stuffed peppers. The peppers came from her garden, and were stuffed with rice and beef, with a cheese sauce. They were quite lovely. I also had coffee. A bit after breakfast, host-Mom left to go somewhere, and I was able to finish some TCF assignments, mainly copy a community map into my TEFL workbook. I also read a few chapters in our main textbook, More Than a Native Speaker, which is about how we are wanted to be more than just a native speaker – we are wanted to teach and explain our culture.

Host-sister got up, and I had coffee with her as she had breakfast. She started working on translation homework, and I started reading over this weeks vocabulary for LCF class. The next-door neighbor came over, and we had tea. After that, I was able to video chat with my parents, which was awesome. I was also able to help Dad find the apartment complex, the school, and the store. After that, host-sister and I went to the grocery store, where I bought a weeks worth of lunches. When we got back to the apartment, host-sister went back out, and I started a budget, to help me figure out my PC allowance. When host-sister came back, we had dinner – more of those awesome stuffed peppers and cold salad. We had tea and chatted over dessert, which was a Turkish dessert called Halva. It’s a mixture of sunflower paste and other mixed nuts. It’s very good. Host-Mom came home, and started getting ready for tomorrow. I was able to finish my chat with my parents, and iron some clothes for next week.

I had a very nice, relaxing couple of days, which is very important, as I have a busy week scheduled.

27 September 2013

27 September 2013

Today I got up and had a breakfast of Kasha. Host-Mom and I left at about the same time – her to her job, and me to Russian. There, we learned another tongue-twister (about Count Pato playing the lottery), and practiced it for a long time. After that, we went on to reading Cyrillic cursive. It is required by law that all Ukrainian students write in cursive, not block. We had to try to say several words written in cursive. After fumbling over the letters, we went on to safety phrases. There are only a few for now, but they are important ones. Stop it! Who’s there? I’m calling the police. I won’t let you in. We practiced them a bit, and then drew most of our Community Map.

Earlier in the week, we had to go out and find important parts of our community. We marked their locations, and reported back to the class. We combined each other’s maps and created our map. We were only to finish about half of the map, as we planned extensively first. We can finish it on Monday. After that, we read and answered questions that we had learned previously. We had to conjugate some words on the fly while speaking. We took a quick break.

All of us had asked V. if she could exchange some money for us. Note – if you ever want to exchange money, you need Ukrainian documents, and the bills have to be perfect and new. V. exchanged some of it, and we split it up among us. V is going back to Chernigov this weekend, and thinks she will be able to exchange the rest, so myself and another bowed out of “now,” which meant that we didn’t have to try to split money 5 ways, with about a third of it still in USD! Earlier in the week, I’d bought a strawberry flavored milk product that I didn’t know what it was. I tried it during the break. Turned out it was drinkable yogurt! Think Yoplait, only thinner, stronger flavor, less sweet, and fresher-tasting. It was awesome!

After our break, we had a listening exercise, where he had to pick out the important information about PCV John and his families, both American and Ukrainian. We listened to it several times, filling in information. After listening to the script one last time, we answered questions about the text, and said what information was given in the script, but not questioned.

After our listening exercise, we learned the question words. Now we can asked qestions including who, what, when, where, why, and how. We also learned how to say “o’clock” which is important, as we need to talk to our families about when we want breakfast and dinner. We practiced asking and answering questions about hobbies, conjugating the verbs for the tenses. After that, we had lunch, wrote down our schedule for next week, and went across the hall to S.’s apt and our Tech Session.

The first thing we did was to go over the various popular methods of teaching a language: Grammar translation, Audio-Lingual, Direct, Total physical response, and the new Communicative Approach (CA). All of the various methods have their advantages, and their disadvantages. The CA is what PC Ukraine uses to teach English. It is a method that focuses on communication above and beyond all else, as well as being a student-centered approach to learning a language. Like all things, it has its disadvantages, but they are far fewer than other methods. The CA was developed specifically to help teach communication between two languages, and is a blending of the advantages of many other styles: vocab taught by translation, pronunciation taught by repetition, target language spoken exclusive of vocab, and miming is used to teach simple words. Group work and creativity are stressed.

After that, we went over what we are going to do tomorrow, and how we are going to go about doing them. Then, we went over our Tech Session schedule for the upcoming week, and decided who was going to take the community map with them, so we could bring it with us to Obukhiv 2. We also got a thumb drive’s worth of manuals to use.

After class, I went back to my host-Mom’s apartment, where I did most of my homework for the weekend. Still have to visit the apartment of another PCT. I also filled in the answers in my PC UA PTS TEFL manual, as I had gotten the answers but not collated them before. I finished my community map for my Emergency locator form (ELF), and took a picture of if to upload with my ELF. I also edited, processed, and uploaded the pictures I took at the hotel in Chernigov on day one. I edited a blog post, and added a picture from day one to the post.

I spent some time online, waiting for my host-Mom to come home. The granddaughter (who will now be called my host-sister for clarity’s sake) was here from Kyiv, but she had to go to something downtown. Both host-Mom and host-sister were home at around the same time, about 8pm. Host-Mom had bags of vegetables picked from her garden. As soon as host-sister got back, host-Mom served us soup for dinner, berating me soundly in Russian for not eating earlier in the evening. After dinner, I had a bucket bath. It was colder than earlier in the week, as the apartment building doesn’t have heat yet. Still, a chilly air bucket bath is better than no shower. Host-Sister needed to do some translations for homework, so she used the computer in my room.

26 September 2013

26 September 2013

Today I had to get up even earlier than usual, as we had a meeting with at the local school at 8am. We all had to be dressed very professionally, as teachers are looked at as authority figures and need to dress as such. No overalls accepted. I had a breakfast of what I think was Kasha made with rice instead of oats. It was very good. Host-Mom left shortly before I did, as she was going to work. I added some finishing touches, and walked briskly to the meeting spot – just outside the TCF’s apartment. From there, we walked to the school. It’s a 5-10 minute walk.

There, we were met by 2 students, who took us on a tour of their school. We got to go into some of the classrooms, and even talked to the students of one English class. After our tour, we got to meet with some of the administration and some English teachers. We learned a lot about the education culture and system in Obukhiv. The teachers want us to set up an English club for their students, and want us to help them find/make/get some materials to teach English grammar. We learned about the requirements for students, teachers, parents, about how much the school costs, what types of schools and classes there are in Obukhiv, what types of career pathways there are at the various schools, and the tests needed to get into University.

We learned that the culture of education is very different in Ukraine. The grading scale means that a student can’t fail and be held back, because building blocks are what matters. There are no final exams every year. The students have to clean their classrooms, and make posters for the school. 90% of all students have had the same classmates their entire educational career. There is a very good vocational program, where a student who doesn’t want to go to University can start earlier than in the US, as they finish secondary school and have career training when they graduate. We learned that teachers are held responsible for what happens to students when they are at school – if a teacher lets a student out of class, and the student gets hurt, the teacher is responsible. Teachers have many responsibilities, more so than it seems in the US. There is a much more hierarchical structure to doing anything, even a field trip to the local museums. There are no set number of lessons a week for teachers. The norm is 18, but that number can go way up.

There are private schools in Ukraine, but they aren’t private in the way that I think of private – there isn’t really a tuition cost, but the books and resources will be more expensive. All schools are state run. Secondary education is compulsory, but where you take it is up to you – regular school, specialized school (basically a magnet school), or vocational school.

As secondary education PCVs, we will have 5th through 11th form (5th grade through 11th), with option of teaching some primary school. As said earlier, we will need to look very professional to be treated as teachers by our students. Education is a very female dominated section, so there are very few male teachers. Teachers aren’t well paid; they get about $150 USD a month.

After our meeting, debrief, and technical session, we walked back to V.’s, where we had a very short break, and then an hour of Russian. We went over today, tomorrow, and yesterday, and some minor conjugations for past tense. We also learned how to say “with so-and-so.” After that, we practiced trilling our Cyrillic “R”s. V. said that I was the best of the group, but I know I have a lot of room to improve. We then learned some more agreements and disagreements, as well as polite phrases to say in Russian.

We had a 40minute break for lunch. The whole group was hungry, as our school and technical sessions had gone over, and we were almost an hour late for lunch. During lunch, we talked about what we had learned, what happened at our host-families this week, and practiced trilling those Rs.

 After lunch, we went over our numbers, and practiced saying how old people were. We went over the Datum and nomative cases, which use different pronouns, which are different from possessive pronouns. We presented the paragraph we wrote about our American families, and were asked questions about each other’s families. After that, we started on conjugations. There two normal conjugations, each with two subsets, which depends on the infinitive, and the verb stem. There are exceptions to some of the rules, and we need to memorize some of the most common irregular verbs. We then wrote down some of them, and learned a few more rules. Class was over.

I had tutoring, but I was the second one, so I staying V.’s kitchen and was able to do not quite half of my homework. I wrote almost a full page of short and simple sentences about a family tree V. gave me. Each PCT has a different one. I also got about half of my hobby verbs conjugated. Most of them follow the patterns, which makes them easy to conjugate.

During my tutoring, V. taught me how to ask to be taught to hand wash some clothes, and to cook. We also went over some cultural things, and then worked on my pronunciation. We went over a list of Russian/Ukrainian/English cognates for jobs and hobbies. Then we worked on the hobbies themselves, and finally I had to conjugate the verbs. I’m not good at conjugating without writing, so it took me a bit. Some of the words were long and complicated in their infinitive, and (of course) those were the ones that had an odd root stem and conjugation. However, the verbs that I had already conjugated and written down, I did a good job on.

After tutoring, I walked back to the apartment, and was practically handed borsch. I was able to change into less formal clothes and get out the rest of my homework while the Ukrainian borsch heated. I finished my homework, and spent some time online, before I put in the rest of the information on a very complicated PC locator form. They want exact geographic coordinates, as well as very good directions. I drew my part of a community map that my cluster will be drawing tomorrow as a class. We all had to find something in our community, and draw it on the map. As well as where we live, and how to get to V.’s apartment from there.

25 September 2013

25 September 2013

I woke up this morning warm, as I put an extra layer on before bed. Breakfast was Kasha, which host-Mom made and had left on the stove for me. She left around the time I got up. I had a very relaxed breakfast, and left with plenty of time to get to class. I wore my sneakers, which don’t look very professional, but everyone takes their shoes off at V.’s apartment, so it isn’t as bad an idea as in the US – wearing brown Gor-tex cross-trainers with black dress pants… We all got to class, where we went back over all the phrases we learned in the last few days. Then we were put into groups, where we made up a dialogue using the phrases we’d learned in the last few days. Then, V. had us take turns using our phrases with everyone. We learned a new one, “teaching English in Ukraine,” as we aren’t supposed to answer “PCV” to “what’s your profession?” We also learned “how many languages do you speak?” and how to say that we are learning Russian.

After we presented our “families,” we had a break for a snack. After that, we got to present our homework, our host family, to the cluster. We then took turns making up names and professions for pictures of family vocab, and names and relations for job vocab. After we did that, we paired up, got a picture of a family, and had to describe the people in it.  We needed names, relations, and jobs. After that, we learned some hobbies, and we practiced them by saying that we liked or didn’t like them. We were given homework, and then we broke for lunch. After lunch, there were three individual tutoring hours, so I was done. One PCT and I went to the supermarket while the other 3 had lunch. I bought lunches for the rest of the week, and returned to V.’s to put them in her fridge. We’re required to supply our own lunch, and V had allocated us some space for us to keep it in her kitchen. I had a quick lunch and returned to my host-Mom’s apartment.

There, I did most of my homework, and updated some things. Host-Mom’s son came over for about 30 seconds to drop off a packet of milk. Much later, host-Mom came home, and started heating dinner. We had Ukrainian Borsch, which differs from its Russian counterpart as it has chicken, but no beans. After dinner, host-Mom made the same cheese, sour cream, and raspberry jam dessert, which we shared with tea, and then went to see her son and grandson. She brought some of the dessert with her. She was back shortly, and I asked her my questions, to finish my homework. She looked over what I’d written, and seemed to like it. When her granddaughter called, she told her to tell me that she was impressed that I could write a paragraph in Russian, as I had had my first Russian lesson less than a week ago. It was a very simple paragraph, but a paragraph nonetheless. Host-Mom and I had some tea, and I discovered what appeared to be a leaking pipe. Host-Mom called her son, who came over and looked at it. They ventured outside to check it out, and it was discovered to be condensation. We finished our tea, and I wore yet another layer to bed, to make sure I would be warm when I woke up.

24 September 2013

24 September 2013

My day started with a nice breakfast of Kasha, and walked to class. The whole link group had a meeting with the Administration, so my cluster met with our TCF and took the bus downtown. I brought lunch me and stuck it in V.’s fridge before we left. I wore my nicest shoes with my skirt, and rubbed a blister before I was halfway to class.

My cluster got to the center, met up with the other cluster, went over our Russian/Ukrainian greetings, and the questions we wanted to ask at the meeting. We were introduced to the mayor’s assistant, the head of Obukhiv’s education department, and the head of safety and security department in the militia. We learned the history of the town, and a lot about the schools. We learned how many schools there are, and that both Ukraine and Obukhiv are committed to educating their students. All schools have a specialty, regular classes, and classes that students can ask to take, but that cost money. State-run schools are free. There are centers that specialize in helping children, with places to play and rooms to study in the same convenient building.

We learned that Obukhiv wants us to help them improve the confidence that their students and educators have with the English language. Speaking in a foreign language is hard, especially to a native speaker.

We were very happy to hear about the level of importance placed on the education system by the Ukrainian government, and how committed Obukhiv is to us. The mayor’s assistant (back when he had more free time) used to take groups of volunteers on trips around the city, building bridges and helping the PCVs with their language and cultural learning.

After the meeting, we talked about when we were going to our school meeting, and where we would meet. We’re meeting S. at her apartment, as it’s a less than 10 minute walk to the school where we will be going, learning, and teaching. We caught the bus back to V.’s apartment, where we had lunch.

After lunch, we practiced my phonetics, and then learned how to expresses disbelief in something. We practiced with our original dialogue (hi, I’m American, NC, WS. You?), adding in things like, “I can’t believe that! Me too.” We also learned how to agree and disagree, and how to say goodbye multiple ways. We practiced our dialogues again, this time adding in “good-bye” at the end.

After that, we learned some jobs, and had to use the jobs in simple sentences, like “this is Bob. He’s a teacher.” We practiced them in pairs, before moving on to family. We learned the important words for how to explain our family to someone else. We also learned how to ask what someone does, and how old they are. We were given homework of asking our host-family questions about themselves, specifically about their family and their ages.

After that, we had to work on the Emergency Locator Form, which is due at some point this week. V. helped us fill out what she knew (the address of our host-family, phone numbers of host-family, contacts names and numbers), and told us that we need to fill it out. There is also a section where we need to draw the town, so that someone who’s never been to Obukhiv can find our apartment, if they can’t call someone. As our community mapping is very similar (and we need to know where other volunteers live), we are planning on working on that later in the week.

The group had been planning to do some shopping before going home, but we stayed late working on the forms. It was almost dark, so we decided to push that off until tomorrow, as we aren’t supposed to be walking alone after dark (especially not use women).

I walked back to host-Mom’s apartment. She was already home, and worried about me. Almost immediately, we had dinner (more soup), and then I did my homework. I spent a lot of time going over the Hobbies section of out language manual. I was able to ask host-Mom about her family, and also her age. I wrote out the names, ages, and professions of her family. We had more a late tea while I was working on my homework, and then dessert.

After a bit, host-Mom told me that she could boil some water if I wanted a shower. They are working on something, so the building doesn’t have hot water this week. I got a bucket shower, with more than enough hot water, which helped to warm me up. There isn’t heat in the building until sometime next month, so it’s a bit chilly. I have woken up cold every morning this week, so I put on an extra layer to sleep in, and woke up warm today.

23 September 2013

23 September 2013

Today, I got up, and got dressed for class. My cluster had a technical session at 9am, so I had to get up in time. Host-Mom made Kasha for me, which tastes exactly like an oat version of cream of wheat. Only a bit lumpier. It’s very good. I learned that host-Mom works during the day, at a factory, so she left before I did. The granddaughter and I left at the same time, me for my cluster, and her for the bus to Kyiv.

Cluster G’s technical sessions are held in the apartment across the hall from V.’s, so we were all there together. We had icebreakers, so we would know each other’s strengths as an educator. I was the only one without teaching “experience” (no solo classroom teaching), but I was the only one with any experience with adults. S., our TCF (technical and cross-cultural facilitator), said that my experience with adults would come in handy, as PC Ukraine is all about sustainability. We went over the TEFL goals, and the objectives within those goals. We went over how our Tech sessions were going to work, and how we were going to learn how to teach.

We were told what books we would need to read, most of which are available electronically. The other one was given to us – Not Only a Native Speaker. We were told that teachers in Ukraine get little help, supply-wise, as they have to print/copy teaching materials on their own money.

We went over the practical lesson, which S explained as the classes she would teach, how many classes we all needed to teach, and then let us choose the classes we wanted. I’m helping co-teach the “teaching vocabulary,” “teaching grammar,” and “teaching NEST/NNEST (native English speaking teacher/non-native English speaking teacher)” units. We also learned that Ukraine uses British English, so we will have to remember that as we teach.

We then talked about our Administrative meeting, tomorrow. We would meet at S.’s apartment, and take the bus to the center stop. As this was an official meeting, we had to dress formally and professionally. We will also have a school visit on Thursday, and our C/X-Tech session will be at Obukhiv 2 on Saturday.

After our technical session, we went across the hall to V.’s apartment, where we had our Russian class. We worked on phonetic sounds for a long time. We also learned how to ask “how are you doing?” in Russian, and how to answer. After that, we put together what we needed to say at the Admin meeting. We needed to say where we are from (North is a complicated word in Russian), what our major was (I chose French instead of Global Studies, as GS was very hard to pronounce in Russian), and that we are currently PCVs in Ukraine.

We broke for lunch, and then went back to our practicing. We had community mapping that afternoon, so we spent some time learning how to ask for directions. We practiced the words a lot, as after we finished, we went out and asked Ukrainians where something was. I learned where a bank, a pharmacy, and an internet café are (all in the same area, about a 10-15 min walk from V.’s apartment. After we had our locations, it started to rain, so V called us and told us to not worry about meeting back up as a cluster and debriefing, but that we were done for the day. I stopped at the supermarket on the way home, and bought some lunch for tomorrow.

Once back at my host-apartment, I put my groceries in the fridge, changed into comfortable clothes, and waited for host-Mom to come home from her job. I asked yesterday, and learned that her routine is to cook dinner when she gets home, so I waited. We had soup for dinner, along with some bread. After dinner, the granddaughter called, so host-Mom and her chatted for a bit. Host-mom then handed me the phone, and the granddaughter and I chatted. She asked about my Russian homework, and said that she’d text the next-door neighbor, to see if she wanted to help me with my Russian.

Host-mom made a dessert of some kind, by mixing raspberry jam with farmers cheese and sour cream. Tastes excellent. We had tea with our cheese. The next-door neighbor came over, and I spent a long time working on my pronunciation and new words. She left to practice the piano, and I was able to ask host-Mom some questions, learn when my breakfast would be ready, and read a bit before bed.

22 September 2013

22 September 2013

Today I got to sleep in, which was very cool. The granddaughter and I got up around the same time, and we had soup for breakfast. The very good clear broth soup from yesterday, with potatoes, shell macaroni, carrots, dill, and chunks of meat. After breakfast, the next-door neighbors came over for tea, and she and her daughter chatted with the granddaughter in Russian. They asked me questions, and I was able to learn a few new words. I’m keeping my important words and phrases in a little notebook that I keep in my purse. The daughter of the next-door neighbor spent a few hours helping me with my Russian studying, so I was able to learn a lot of phrases and words from my manuals.

She hung out for most of the afternoon, helping me with my Russian. The granddaughter went to a tutoring session, and she returned shortly after the next-door neighbor left, who left shortly after host-Mom came home.

Host-Mom was out for most of the day, collecting mushrooms. She came back at about 430 in the afternoon, with a huge amount of mushrooms. I had to move the bucket of mushrooms out of the bathtub to take a shower. The granddaughter, host-Mom and I had a dinner of a ground meat and garlic ball and mashed potatoes. I had a slice of homemade pickle with dinner. Very good, just past the half-sour phase.

After dinner and my shower, the granddaughter and I did our homework (me – Russian, her the geography of the UK), while host-Mom cooked. She had some sort of sweet dough, which she kneeded and made into Pirogue and Virogue. Pirogue is Easter bread, with apples, sugar, and ground poppy seeds, wrapped together inside the loaf. Virogue is a small round pastry with a sweet cheese in the center. Kinda like a cheese Danish, only less sweet, and with more cheese of a different type. They were all very good. We all had a late tea with some of these sweets. During late tea, there was a pot of mushrooms boiling on the stove – host-Mom cans them. According to PC regs, I’m not allowed to eat wild mushrooms, so I won’t be able to try them.

21 September 2013

21 September 2013

Today, I got up and had a very quiet breakfast, as host-Mom doesn’t speak much English. But, I enjoyed my oatmeal, and host-Mom and I communicated with gestures and occasional words in either English or Russian. I also had coffee. After breakfast, host-Mom walked me over to my LCF’s apartment, where we had our first X/C (Cross-Cultural) session. The 5 of us talked about the differences between our lives in the US and our new lives in Ukraine. Some members of my cluser have a very large family, some have a very small family. Everyone enjoyed their first days in the home-stay, enjoyed trying new food (borsch for me, yesterday), and are looking forwards to more learning. We also learned some new words, went over our first Russian words, and practiced more Russian.

V gave us some language manuals, to help us learn Russian. It’s going to be somewhat self-directed, as it is very hard to become proficient in any language with just immersion and 11 weeks of intensive study. We have a conjugation dictionary for common verbs, a glossary of more than 2000 words, a glossary of English/Russian cognates, basic Russian grammar rules, intro to pronunciation, scripts for audio sessions, as well as 3 textbook-like manuals that have vocab, practice, and exercises. I haven’t seen language manuals like that since I took the 2000-level French classes! Love language manuals, though, love them. The cluster went over our manuals, and learned what we needed for Monday. We also learned our broad calendar for the next 11 weeks, which V will give us on a flash drive soon. After we had our language and X/C session, we set our schedule for the week (Wow! Am I busy, and this isn’t the busiest week by a long stretch), and went to buy mobile phones.

At the phone store, we met Obukhiv 2, who were also there to buy mobiles. The other 9 PCTs bought the same inexpensive, dual-SIM Nokia, because the PC uses Life :) and non-urban Ukraine does not. As we have a chance of being placed in non-urban Ukraine, most PCTs buy a dual-SIM phone and a Life :) SIM-card to start, and then buy the SIM-card of whichever mobile provider is the best on site. I brought an unlocked GSM phone, which I hoped meant that I could just buy a SIM card, and use my phone. I showed the dealer my phone and asked if I could buy a SIM card. He asked Obukhiv 2’s LCF R*, who asked me about the phone. “Unlocked” translated, because the dealer nodded and said he could do it. He went to get the phones and SIM cards for all of us (9 Nokias and 10 Crazy Day Life :) SIM-Cards), and told us that it would be a bit of a wait, but that we could buy the phones and SIM-cards together. Most of both clusters followed V to the supermarket, and bought some things, both for us and for our host-family.

This store looked like a small Walmart. It was two levels, with food on the top level, and not-food on the bottom level. Most of us bought toiletries that we knew we would need to buy here. Next, the group went upstairs, where we bought lunch for Monday (my cluster has “supply your own” lunch as V’s apt), checked out, and went back to wait for our phones.

Buying the SIM card was insanely easy. Even without much language, the dealer, his assistant, and I were able to explain that I needed just the SIM card, and how to connect it. V helped translate. The SIM card came pre-loaded with 40 UAH on it, which is the Crazy Day Life :) plan’s tariff. I’ll have to put more UAH on it when I finish or when the month is up. Activating the SIM card was as easy as calling a number, pressing “2” for English, and staying on the line for 15 seconds. No fuss, no mess.

I got the numbers of two members of Obukhiv 2 before they had to catch the bus back, and they got my number. V also got the numbers of her cluster. After my cluster all bought their phones, we went back to V’s apt, where we collected our manuals and went back to our host-families, knowing that we would have a free day on Sunday (tomorrow). I walked back to the supermarket, where I was met by my host-Mom’s granddaughter, and her friend. We walked back to the apartment together.

There, host-Mom gave us tea/late lunch/early dinner of mashed potatoes and a very garlic-y meat patty of sorts. It was very good. I was given a small bowl of what appeared to be the Ukrainian variant of Pasta fasul: a clear broth, with potatoes, carrots, shell macaroni, and lots of dill. The granddaughter, her friend, and I chatted a bit, all of us learning new words, while we had tea/coffee and cookies.

After that, I repaired a torn sweater, and studied my Russian. The granddaughter used the computer in my room for her homework (a Ukrainian-to-Italian translation), while I studied more Russian, updated my blog, checked email, etc. While we were working, host-Mom gave us both an apple, thinking we hadn’t had enough dinner. It was a very good apple. The granddaughter took a study break, and I was able to video-chat my parents, which was awesome! We talked about my week, and how that has been. After I finished that, the granddaughter finished her study break and the her translation. It’s very late here, even with nothing on for tomorrow. It’s a +7 hour time change, and I’m still a bit jet-lagged: 10am feels like the crack of dawn for me. Hope that changes soon!

*Name redacted.

20 September 2013

20 September 2013

Today I met my host family for the first time. After a more than three hour bus ride from Chernihiv. The day started with breakfast. Note to self – never cook eggs sunny side up; they jiggle! Then we had our departure logistical meeting, followed by a skit about what to expect with a host family. We were told that most of the families are experienced, and that we are living with them to learn via immersion the language and culture that we are studying. We learned that there might be customs that we (Americans) consider odd, but that are the norm in whichever region we are sent to. This could be the shower, breakfast, carrying luggage, bathroom etiquette, anything really.

After our host family meeting, we had our security meeting, where we heard from the Safety and security officer. We were given tips as to how to mitigate our standing out in a crowd. As well as what we need to do in the event of a situation. After that, we had our Admin intro, where we signed lots of forms that none of us could read. They were for our registration and bank accounts, both of which are necessary in Ukraine. We were told how to change money (if we need to; either direction), and that we would need to fill-out more paperwork in a few weeks to get our bank cards.

After a lunch of soup and pan-fried chicken, we departed to our host communities. There were three groups – the Chernihiv group, the near-Chernihiv group, and the near-Kyiv group. I am in the near-Kyiv group, in a town called Obukhiv. We had a long bus ride, as 4 clusters were on the same bus. We even got pulled over by the Militia (Police), but we don’t know why! Nothing happened; the driver had a long conversation with the local gendarme, and all was good. Eventually, we arrived in Obukhiv, where we met out host families.

My host family is my host-Mom, and any children, children-in-law, and grandchildren who happen to be over. She reminds me a lot of my grandmothers, which is very good. I love spending time with my grandmothers. We went to the apartment, where I was able to unpack, give them their PC money, and their gifts. Host-Mom mimed taking a shot with the shot glass, and thought the spice cookies were spices, at first. She was very excited to learn that they were cookies! With the help of the granddaughter, I was able to explain the Old Salem Coffeepot on the shot glass, and Old Salem. Winston cigarettes are popular here, so she had (indirectly) heard of W-S (her son smokes Winston Lites; small world). On a side note, I asked one of the LCFs (Language and Cross-Cultural Facilitators) about my gifts, and he said that the bag would be too much. All of my stuff made it through in one piece, except for the Velcro strip the holds my computer cord together, but that could have broken at any time. I also found my charger and battery for my point-and-shoot (no need to mail me one!). The TSA didn’t open any of my bags. One PST had her backpack opened in such a way that they busted the zipper; it came out on the carrousel in Kyiv held together with TSA tape.

After I unpacked, I had dinner with the family. I had a Georgian rice dish, with beef and raisons. It was very good, although I apparently missed that I was supposed to put salsa on it… I also tried borsch for the first time – very good. We all had a small glass of red wine with dinner. Ukrainians eat borsch first, then the rest of dinner. While host-Mom and (grand)daughter and I had dinner, a daughter-in-law and another granddaughter arrived, to meet the American. Host-Mom’s son also came over. Everyone had dinner, and shared a very good chocolate and meringue cake, along with coffee or tea. This coffee was the first instant coffee I’ve had that didn’t really taste instant. I asked, and it’s from Moscow. After dessert, I got out my photo album, and we looked over it, trying to figure out the correct translations for words. All of this is good, as host-Mom doesn’t speak much (any) English.

My host-family has wifi and an Ethernet computer, from which I was able to send an email. I was told that I could Skype on the wifi, if I had a webcam, and wanted to, which is very nice. They even have a washing machine, but the PC told us to learn how to hand-wash our clothes, in case our site doesn’t have a washing machine. I was also able to get a shower. Same as the hotel, there isn’t a mounted shower head, but there was hot water, and it could also be warm water, instead of really hot (the hotel’s water was either hot or cold, but never warm). All in all, today was a good day.

19 September 2013

19 September 2013

I didn’t feel that well this morning, so I didn’t have much breakfast, which looked really good (eggs, ham, cheese, granola, yogurt). Then the whole group when to our first meeting which was a welcome meeting, talk about money, a talk from the Country Director (who gave us his tips for survival in the Peace Corps and gave us some things to remember).

After that, I had my medical meeting, where I signed some forms, gave one of the PCMOs (Peace Corps Medical Officer) my information, and got the Typhoid vaccine. Then I got my medical kit, which will fit no where in any of my suitcases. It’s huge, and very well stocked. I had well over an hour before the next meetings – our money and our photos for our official papers – and lunch, so I tried to nap. Never fell asleep, but felt rested afterwards. We got our money (for our first month, a cell phone, and for our host family). We also got a picture taken, so that we could have our registration pushed along. Lunch was good, some sort of cabbage soup and a beet salad. I ate some of the soup, which was very good.

After lunch, the group learning Russian went to their “All PST in a Nutshell” meeting, where we heard from the DMO, learned the expectations about TEFL, and key policies enforced by PC. The DMO (Director of Management and Operations), Dan Chang, is in charge of administrative operations (bank accounts, ATMs, direct deposits, making sure we get our equipment, making sure the medical department is well stocked, renting facilities for training, and working with computers). Our TELF (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) coordinator, T*., is responsible for the Russian speaking half of Ukraine, and helping to identity sites for future PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers), and make sure that they meet the PC standards. She also makes sure that we understand the purpose and goals of PC TELF Ukraine.

We learned how PC Ukraine plans to teach us what we need to know – Language (Russian), how to be a TEFL teacher – in 11 weeks! Basically, hands-on (host family), internships, planning lessons, starting English clubs at the local schools, and co-teaching or team teaching. We learned that we will be linked to another cluster, and that we will be taking public transport to that cluster 2x/month. We also learned the key points necessary to be a PCV – no drugs, respect the rules on alcohol, stay safe, blog safety, confidentiality protection, politics, leave time, and what the PC are doing in response to the rape scandal.

After a quick break (run up to the room, put down some things, run back), our cluster (5 PCTs) headed to our Russian class, taught by V*. We learned some important things about the language, went over the alphabet many times, learned key words and phrases, and practiced them.

After our Russian class, we had our Cluster announcements, where we were told where we were going, and how the clusters would be linked. A cluster has language classes in cluster, but cross-cultural and technical training with our link cluster, in one of our towns. Each link has 1 Ukrainian group and 1 Russian group.

We will be meeting our host families tomorrow. Their English levels will vary family to family. We are told to remember that they are excited to meet us, that they are welcoming us into their homes, and (hopefully) into their hearts. We learned that we have a long bus ride to our town, which is situated directly between Chernihiv and Kyiv.

Next was dinner. A sliced fresh tomato and half a raw bell pepper was the first course, followed by chicken and what the table thought was barley. The chicken was a little bland, but otherwise dinner was very good.

After dinner, we had an optional session – “Introduction to Ukrainian Mentality” – where we learned about important years in Ukrainian history, and how that effects the Ukrainian people today. Ukraine is both ancient (Kyiv celebrated it’s 1530^th anniversary this year) and brand new (it’s been independent for 22 years). We learned about the revolutions, the famines, the wars, the purges, Chernobyl, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the rocky road to independence.

We were told that we are not supposed to be guests in our host families house, but family. We need to help them do chores, and help in the garden. We will meet them tomorrow.

*Name redacted.

*Name redacted

18 September 2013

18 September 2013

I woke up around 9am yesterday (17 September), and haven’t slept since. After cramming my things into two small carry-ons, my roommate and I checked out of the hotel room. I had volunteered to be a team leader, so I had to make sure that everyone had checked out, took and collated their tip money for the bellmen and the drivers, and made sure we were all there. Then, we broke into two buses, and drove from Georgetown, DC, to Washington Dulles Airport, where we waited in line to check in.

We flew Lufthansa, which I can say nothing bad about (more about that later). German efficiency is true, as Lufthansa got all almost 50 of us checked in, as well as other passengers who were in between members of the big group in line, in record time. After checking in (both bags under the weight limit – yay!) and getting my tickets, I went through security. I got both the body scanner and the pat down. The TSA were fully polite and professional. My mouthguard got caught on the security scanner, but I explained what it was and was let through.

Next came waiting. It was close to 130pm in Dulles, and the flight to Frankfurt didn’t board until 530, which meant 4 hours of waiting. I got a large, late, lunch, not expecting to be fed on the flight. I called my parents. Eventually, the group boarded the plane. The flight was packed. Every seat was filled. We had in-flight entertainment. I watched Oblivion, which was better than I expected. Didn’t manage to sleep, though, as the flight was long and boring.

In economy class, there was a pillow, blanket, and bag with headphones waiting in every seat. The flight attendants took the headphones back, but we didn’t have to pay for them. My two-pronged adapted worked like a charm, so I could use my good headphones.

Food. Lufthansa feeds their economy class. First, we got a small package of beer crackers, and then an offered beverage. Of any sort. I had a real German Pilsner, which I shared with the PCT next to me (the flight attendant gave me the whole can). Next, a few hours later, came dinner. The vegetarian option was all that was left: pasta with zucchini and red sauce, Caesar salad, rosemary herb roll (with butter), a slice of cheddar, and a piece of tiramisu. Coffee and tea were offered with dessert. Shortly before landing, they brought around breakfast: a blueberry muffin, a oat and honey granola bar, a fruit cup, and coffee. Side note: Almost lost one of my new hair scrunchies on the flight, but found it just in time.

After we arrived in Frankfurt, we disembarked the plane, and started to wait. We had 30 minutes of free wifi, through T-Mobile’s Mobile Hotspots, but mine gave out with more than 13 minutes left. When I tried to log on again, it told me to log on with my T-Mobile account. Was able to email my parents, grandparents, and update my Facebook status before it died. No one else had problems with the wifi.  

The flight to Kyiv – 950am local, 350am home – was not as packed as the one to Frankfurt, but I couldn’t sleep, either. The flight felt like it took forever, instead of the few hours it really took. We arrived in Kyiv, disembarked the plane, and found our way to the passport and customs control. I was stamped in without any questions, and the stamp was placed so that it covered part of the visa.

As we waited for our luggage, we were met by various members of PC Ukraine, who took our Peace Corps passports, loaded our checked baggage onto a truck, and directed us to two buses. This was around 2pm local, or 7am home. We then took a 2+ hour drive to Chernihiv. Along the way, we were told that we would have to meet with medical, be told our language, assigned to a cluster, and given a room number.

I was assigned to Cluster G, and am to be learning Russian, as well as some Ukrainian. Once we got to the hotel, my two roommates and I hiked up to our room (7^th floor), put our carry-ons down, and trucked downstairs to unload the truck. We then put our luggage in a locked storeroom, where we could get to it, if we needed to between now and when we go to our host families.

The next few hours were spent with some minor amounts of free WiFi, so I was able to email the parents and grandparents, update my Google Calendar, and check my email and Facebook. The WiFi cut out just before dinner (at 7pm), which was downstairs in the hotel’s dining room. First, we performed a traditional welcoming and hospitality ceremony, which was tearing off a piece of traditional bread and dipping it in salt, both of which are symbols of hospitality in Ukraine. Much like the Moravian teapot is in W-S.

Dinner was very good, but I wasn’t very hungry, and didn’t eat much. It was some sort of cabbage salad (which smelled a bit like coleslaw), some white or rye bread, and a chicken breast with cheese and rice. It was all very good. A fellow Trainee and I spent some time talking after the rest of the table finished (I was eating slowly).

One of the language and cross-cultural teachers gave us two tips for picking up Ukrainian or Russian quickly. 1 – practice with a person, and 2 – make vocabulary flashcards. He gave us some flashcards to start with.

Once back in the 7^th floor room, my roommates and I braved the shower (there wasn’t a mounted bracket for the shower head, you turn it on in the sink, and have to hold the head while getting a shower). I was the last one, and the first one to discover the secret of the hot water – the taps were mislabled, and there wasn’t much water pressure, so you had to duck and stoop to have any water pressure. Also, adding any cold water made the shower a very cold (ambient water temperature) shower. But, a mostly hot shower goes a long way…

16 September 2013

16 September 2013

After a shooting at the Navy Yard, I said a tearful goodbye to my parents in the lobby of a Holiday Inn in Georgetown, DC. We took the George Washington Parkway in, which allowed us to bypass I-66. I checked in, wandered around, met my roommate, had lunch, and then had to print a document that the PC (Peace Corps) wanted me to sign in person. Eventually, I emailed to the front desk, who printed it for me, and then waited in line for registration. After registration, we had staging, which was a cross between icebreakers and a meeting.

We learned that the PC uses immersion and will pay for a tutor when at site. We learned that any travel reimbursements would be to our American bank account, in a few weeks. We learned that we were getting money for incidentals in Washington, and that we had to tip the housekeepers, concierge, and bus drivers. We learned that we would be met by PC Ukraine, who would take our passports to start the registration process. We learned the Ukraine has the lowest ET (early termination) rates, and that integration makes life more bearable.

After our Staging, another PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) and I had lunch in the hotel restaurant/bar. It was pretty good, for hotel food. After dinner, I called my parents, chatted for a bit, and then got my last American shower. I passed some time online before going to sleep.

T-1

T-1: Tomorrow, I start my US Staging. I spent yesterday in the District with my parents, visiting the Monuments and Memorials. My fifth grade field trip was to DC, in March of 2001. I haven't seen some of the newer ones (MLK, WWII, Korea), and I didn't really remember some of the ones I saw. I remember that it was dark and pouring rain the day when we went to the Vietnam Wall and the F. D. Roosevelt memorial, so there wasn't much to see. We did the whole walk around, seeing the Constitution Gardens, the Vietnam Memorial Wall, the Lincoln Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the Korean Memorial, the brand new Martin Luther King, Jr, Memorial, the F.D. Roosevelt Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the White House, a World War I Memorial (the Second Division), and a few other smaller memorial statues. We also saw the bridge into Arlington, the Carillon, the flag at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the Marine Memorial.

T-3

T-3. My first day of staging is Monday, at a Holiday Inn in Georgetown, DC. I've family in the DC area, so the family and I drove up. Spending my last days pre-PC with family, and maybe touristing in the District.

T-10

T-10: Still have to pack. Got my staging/first few days there info. We will be Training in the Chernihiv (Чернігів) region (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernihiv), which is about 2 hours from Kyiv (Київ) by bus.