Just a quick update, as I haven't had time to post lately.
On Wednesday, 16 October, the whole cluster went to Kyiv. We went to the PC office, and saw some cool sights. I took lots of pics. I will post some later. Kyiv is an interesting city, as it is both ancient (it's probably older than recognizable Paris), but incredibly young (it was completely rebuilt during the Soviet times). Some streets look Parisian. Some look like the stereotypical "Soviet" streets seen in movies. Some are an interesting mix. The metro is an interesting mix, as the “Tube” itself looks very western Europe, but the platforms are not. There is a metro map that clearly shows where you are, and where the next stops are (including linking stops) on the wall over every set of tracks, only going in the direction the train is going. It would be much harder to get lost on the Kyiv metro, without a map, than it would the Parisian Metro, even taking into account the language barrier.
On Thursday, 17 October, I thought my second-ever class, and was observed for the first time. We also saw part of a "Miss Ukraine" contest being held at School #5. I got a halfway decent pic that I can upload. It was fascinating, even though it was held in Ukrainian. There were 5 contestants, who had to talk about their region, sing a song (traditional or not), do a dance. We had to leave before it was over, unfortunately, as we had a lot to do.
On Friday, 18 October, we went to Petrovski, where we had our safety and security workshop, with SP, the head of PC security, who will have a combined 40 years in the military and law enforcement next year. He's a qualified sniper, a lawyer, was a combat engineer, former special forces, former militzia (police), is taking classes to become a licensed psychologist, and can speak about 5 languages fluently. After our SASW, the cluster helped clean up V's flat for the rotation LCF. After that, I added money to my mobile, and went back to my host-family's flat, where I had dinner, and spent several hours doing my homework and watching "everyone dances." If you count travel, a few breaks, lunch, dinner, and homework, then my day started at 830am, and ended at about 1130pm. If not, then my day ended at about 5pm.
Today, 19 October, I had a 9am Link tech session, followed by a week debrief, and a X/C session, which was on Ukrainian history. I was the only one who recognized Brezhnev, but I couldn't recognize the national poet. After our X/C session, we went to a museum in Obukhiv, where our tour guide was a former journalist, who also made many (all) of the clay figurines on display. I got many pictures, and I will post some later. I also had a community project meeting, where we decided who's doing what. After that, I was able to plan my Tuesday lesson – I’m teaching the double (gulp!). However, it’s a review unit (pronouns), and the authentic text for this textbook is… Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles. So, I get to “teach” a section of Hound. It’s still a double lesson, so I need to have 90 minute to plan for.
No comments:
Post a Comment