28 October
2013: Long Update
As I got so
far behind, here is an update about what I’ve done since 22 October 2013.
23 October 2013
On
Wednesday, I got up, got dressed, had breakfast, and walked to class. There, we
went over what we’d learned the previous day (the verbs of motion), and learned
a new motion/directional case. I can now say where I am, where I am going to,
and where I am coming from. We practiced asking and answering in where we were
and where we were going, before having to guess from context “coming from.” We
also learned how to say that we were going to a person’s house, as well as at a
person’s house. After our short break, we went back into Russian, where we made
and performed complicated skits, using as many cases and verbs of motion as we
could. Even though that doesn’t sound like it could possibly take up four
hours, it did!
After that,
decided on our schedule for the next day, as we were going into Kyiv to get our
documents. We decided on where we wanted to go, and then we had a lunch break.
Do to the complex Thursday schedule, our Tech session was Wednesday, so we had
a long break between Russian and Tech. We all had lunch, there were 2
individual tutorings, and M and I went over our Tech Session Co-facilitation,
which was on Teaching Grammar. For the PC, teaching grammar is quite simple –
teach how it works, not why. Don’t teach the complicated rules, or even the
simple ones. After that we touched on Thursday’s x/c topic – group dynamics –
and went over our tech schedule. We might not be teaching, but we will be busy.
After that, I walked back to my host-family’s flat, had dinner, and worked
through a lot of home task.
24 October 2013: Kyiv
On
Thursday, the cluster went into Kyiv. We took the marshutka taxi to Kyiv, and
the metro to Kreshatyk. There, we walked to see the President’s House (and
where he meets important people), where we took some pictures. From there, we
walked back to Independence Square, and to the restaurant where we were having
lunch. I have a decent borshch and some potato and onion vareniki for lunch. After
lunch, we walked to St. Sophie’s and St. Michael’s Cathedrals. We went into St.
Michael’s, as St. Sophie’s charges. St. Michaels is smaller than Notre Dame de
Paris, but it is covered with gilt. Where Notre Dame de Paris is stone gothic
with flying buttresses, St. Michael’s is gold turrets and gilt icons. No
photography is allowed inside, so I wasn’t able to get pictures. After that, we
walked around the Cathedral, and saw an amazing view of the Dnypro from the top
of the hill. We also saw the funicular, which descends near to the River. From
there, we walked to St. Andrew’s Church (where we took some pictures; it
charged entrance fee), and walked down St. Andrew’s “spoosk,” which is a very steep descent down a large road, where
people sell real Ukrainian souvenirs. It’s awesome. From there, we walked to a
Metro station, and took the Metro to the station where the PC was picking us up
to take us to registration. 
We got
registered – I verified my name and date of birth, before signing the temporary
residency permit – and promptly handed our permits and passports back to the
PC, who are getting the next part of registration started. After that, the PC
drove us to the Obukhiv bus stop, and we took the marshrutka back. We then went
shopping, for biscuits and tea to have for our Personal Health day. I got some
biscuits and some cheese for lunch, and walked back to my host-family’s flat,
where I had dinner and did my home task.
25 October 2013: PHD and X/C
(Our PDH was on STIs, first aid, and mental
health. Please take under advisement)
Friday was
our second personal health day. First, our cluster had some Russian, where we
played a “where + case” game: “I’m walking from ___x___ to ___y___ because…” We
also went over our short text about “where + case” that we’d written Wednesday.
After that, we had a short break before we had the first half of our PDH. The
first half was on sexual health and STIs. We got to put a condom on fake
genetalia. At least we didn’t put condoms on bananas… (which the doctor
brought, along with sweets; one of my friends wondered if she could eat the
banana before the session, or if we were going to use it…). After that, we had
lunch and went back in for first aid (what would we do in these scenarios) and
mental health. For mental health, we discussed what is stressing us, and how we
are dealing with it. Most of our stressors are things that we can’t do anything
about – site placement, our counterpart liking us, etc – while some of it is
possible to do something about – group dynamics. We then talked about some good
coping strategies (and some not so good ones), before the doctor had to leave.
Then, we
had a X/C session, where we talked about who we are (how do you identify in
certain categories) and how we can support our cluster/have our cluster support
us. We also talked about group dynamics, and how it is very hard to have good
group dynamics when you are together most of the time. On a non-teaching,
non-tech day, we are still together for almost 5 hours. On a tech day, we can
be together for 8. As clusters, we went over how we can help support each
other. After that, Obukhov 2 left, and we cleaned the flat. Then, we went over
our schedule for the next week. After, I walked back to my host-family’s flat,
had dinner, did some home task, and hung-out with my host family.
26 October 2013
On
Saturday, I slept in, and did a lot of home task. I mostly completed a
take-home test, got my glossary up-to-date, and more than half filled out the
progress assessment update that the PC wants us to do. I then edited and
processed my Kyiv photos, and posted some. Then, I got my TEFL organizer
up-to-date, transferring what I did in the last few weeks from my notebook into
it. I remember having lunch, but I’m not sure what or when it was. I spent most
of the day on home task one sort or another. I watched X Factor Ukraine with my
host-family. It is very interesting, even more so that I don’t watch it in the
US. Some of the performers were very good, some not so much. I also got a
chance to have a long video-chat with my parents, which was very nice. I read a
bit before going to bed.
27 October 2013: Cooking (part 2)
Sunday, I
got to sleep even later than usual, as Ukraine went “fell back” from Daylight
Savings Time. After I got up and dressed, I had breakfast, which was a bowl of
green borshch (not ‘standard’ borshch: it has spinach and hard-cooked eggs
instead of beets and cabbage). It was very interesting. After breakfast, I got
to work helping cook. I got to stuff and roll galoupsi. I also made vareniki
dough. The recipe is quite simple: acid whey (to touch), a few cups of flour,
about a teaspoon each of salt and baking soda. That’s it. Mix the flour, baking
soda, and salt mixture by hand. Add whey, mix. Repeat until a sticky doughy
consistency. Kneed whey and flour in bowl. Have water on stove, boiling. Have
stuffing premade (I’d suggest fried cabbage and carrots, or sweet farm cheese
(like, ricotta)). Divide dough in half, roll into snake, about half a meter long.
Cut into pennies, half an inch wide. Flatten. Stuff (teaspoon filling), fold,
pinch. Repeat for remainder of this half of dough. Add to boiling water. Return
to boil. Vareniki float, leave for about 2 minutes. Remove. Butter (sugar if
sweet vareniki). Repeat for second half of dough. Eat.
After that,
I had some potato vareniki, and went with my host-sister to buy food for the
week. After that, I tried to finish my home task, but my host-mother had
friends over, so it was a little loud. My host-sister and I both stayed out of
the way (me in my room; her in the living room). After they left, we both did
our respective home tasks, and had dinner. I had galoupsi. I then made some
tea, grabbed some biscuits, and finished my home-task. I read a bit before
going to bed.
28 October 2013
Today, I
got up, got dressed, had breakfast, and walked down to Russian. Today was a
light day, as I only had 4 hours of Russian, and 30 minutes of pair tutoring.
Today, we wrote, asked, and answered our daily questions, then played a game.
We put post-it notes with a part of a town on them, put some game pieces down,
and had to give each other directions to another location. After that, we had a
break, where we made coffee/tea. After that, we went back to Russian. There, we
had to direct each other blindfolded through an obstacle course. The other team
created the course, the participate blindfolded himself/herself, let P. spin
them around a few time (yes, already blindfolded!) and then the team directed
them through the maze. Touching part of the maze counted as seconds off. It was
a lot of fun, and helped us figure out how to get and to give directions.
After that,
we got a we learned a “new” verb. I put new in quotes because this is a quirk
of Russian – they had a prefix to the verb to emphasize the action, as well as
give it a specific direction. The verb “(to be) going (on foot)” because “to
have left (for) (on foot)” or “to arrive (on foot)” depending on the prefix.
There are more prefixes where those 2 came from… After that, we were given a
snapshot of a cluster-mate’s (fictional) day, and we had to use the “new” verbs
to describe their actions, to a partner. Once we were done with that, we told
another cluster-mate what our previous partner’s sheet said (I had M. He did
blank time, etc. When P. told us to switch I gave my partner M, and she gave me
L. I then told E about L’s fictional day). After that, we got our home-task
assignments, and had lunch.
After
lunch, M and I had 30 minutes of pair tutoring, of which we have to fill about
20 minutes with random conversation. Since speech is the last of the four
skills that I develop in any language, it’s a variant of one of my personal
Hells. P. is a very good teacher, and M a very understanding pair tutor, but it’s
still less than fun. After that, I walked back to my host-family’s flat, were I
did 3+ hours of home task (and didn’t finish) before dinner. Dinner was galupsi
and potato vareniki. After dinner, I helped my host-mom my borshch – I washed
and peeled potatoes, a beet, and a carrot. Then, I went back to my home-task. I
did a few more hours of it (wrote a small text on what’s new in show business, used
two online translators plus my various notes; then wrote two small dialogues
for a take-home test), before writing this massive update. I’m going to read
for a bit before I go to bed.
Tomorrow looks to be along day, tech sessions and Russian. At least I don’t have
90 minutes of teaching, as all schools (not preschools or university) have this
week off.
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