English Club, Camp OHALOW, America House Tech Camp, Host Family, First Bell, Teaching, Harvest Festival, Teachers' Day, Defenders' Day, and L'viv

June/July/August

After mid-June, I managed to start an English Club for students, which met 3x a week, for about 2 hours. There were a few students from the school, but most went to a village school. With anywhere from 1-8 students, it was very difficult to lesson plan. Therefore, some of my lessons went over a lot better than others.

It was summer, so not much was happening in Olex. I went to K’grad a few times to see my friends (as well as get registered).

My CP and I came up with a great idea for a community project. She was watching some American TV show, and one of the characters was on an Academic Competition of sorts. As I was on the WSFCS Academic Competition Team, it works out perfectly. (side note: after I got back from OHALOW, I really haven’t heard anything about that from her, only that she has teachers involved, but…)

In July, I got registered, which was an exercise in oddness. First, I had to get my documents signed by the big director in K’grad, then find the right person to give my docs to at the Immigration Office for the Oblast, go the bank to pay for the registration documents, return to the Immigration office with the proof-of-payment, and then wait two weeks and go back to K’grad to collect the documents, after which, I would have 12 days to get registered in Olex.

It took all day to get registered in Olex, and most of it was spent either waiting or arguing about what went on my registration papers. It worked eventually, and I got stamped into legal residency in Ukraine.

Camp OHALOW

The last week in July/first week in August was spent at a Sanatorium (health spa) in Volyn Oblast, where Camp OHALOW was being held. OHALOW is a camp for teenagers with HIV-positive diagnoses. Most, if not all, of these campers were born with HIV, and this camp is designed to help reduce the stigma. There were some issues with how the camp was run, but with a few minor changes it would be brilliant. There were several children who had the most improvement, and that was worth the problems. For example, a camper SPAT at a camp councilor on day one, but ran up to the PCVs to make sure he was able to give us a hug before he got on his bus to the train station.

We had some lessons on important topics, as well as let the kids run around playing football (soccer). It was an odd hybrid of a classic summer camp mixed with lessons. The kids were able to go swimming most days, when it was warm.

The Tunnel of Love, in Rivne Oblast, Ukraine. This is a working set of train tracks. 

The view at sunset across the lake

The beach, at sunset.

There's a first time for everything!

CW (another PCV) and I got back to Olex at about 1.30am on Sunday, 09 August, and we were able to get some sleep before she had to head back to K’grad in order to get ready for her work week on Monday. I had 36 hours to do laundry and get ready to leave for Kyiv.

America House Tech Camp

Monday evening, I got on the TGV to Kyiv and arrived in Kyiv around 11pm. Recently, Kyiv built a new, modern, very Western-European entrance to the downtown train station. I’ve been there, once… I followed the crowd off the Zap-Kyiv and ended up at this new entrance. I spent a good 15min trying to figure out if I was in Kyiv, if I was at the right train station, and how I could get to the older entrance I knew, where I could get the Metro to the station I needed to get to. I walked across the station long-ways, and: old entrance found, McDonald’s landmark found, Metro station found.

I took the Metro to the correct stop, walked 85% of the way to the hotel, turned around, and walked back, past the metro station and kept going. Eventually, realizing I was lost, I called CW and asked her to Google Map me into the correct direction. She did, and I wandered back to the hotel. There, I got checked in, and went up to the room. Oddly, I wasn’t given a key…

It’s around midnight and PCV KR is already in the room, and she doesn’t know I’m coming tonight. After a shocked “Are you, like, American?” and “please tell me you’re KR or something?” we laughed and I was able to put my stuff down. We spent some time decompressing (her town also has TGV service, so she’d only gotten in an hour or two before me), we showered and went to bed, as we had to be at the PC office by 8am.

KR had her meeting first, so I got coffee at the café across from HQ. At HQ, we met the most recent batch of PCV Reinstatées and had our meetings with the CD (Country Director).

The CD asked me questions about OHALOW, and wished me a good time in Kyiv. After meeting with the CD, KR and I went back to the hotel for breakfast. Breakfast was a classic continental breakfast, with some Ukrainian twists.

After a very good breakfast, we took the bus to America House, where we got the tour and lunch.

After lunch, the camp started. the PCVs gave powerpoints about their home states, and the students had to create their own 51st state. While the camp was very interesting, there were some things which could be changed. Such as the 2+ hour session on a computer program the students then didn’t get to use. The language level was low, so my group wasn’t very interested, as they didn’t really understand what we were doing. It is kinda difficult to want to create a national anthem in a language you don’t speak…

On Wednesday and Thursday, KR and KF and I got breakfast at the hotel before heading to HQ to talk to the PC HQ staff. I got to talk to a lot of people. I was often asked if I was lost, as there are so few PCVs wandering around. Everyday, we had lunch at American House before the camp started.

On Tuesday, we all met a non-reinstatée for milkshakes (delicious) before grabbing a burger at McDs. A large chocolate milkshake or two (not me) requires real food for a late dinner.

On Wednesday, we went to the Roshen Store, and decided that we were too tired to go anywhere else, and went to back to the hotel to watch a movie. We split up, acquired pizza and drinks, and decided on a movie.

On Thursday, I met my host-sister, and spent the weekend with my host-family. I got to visit their garden and went to the neighbor’s 6-year olds b-day party. There was a shot glass on my plate. There was a lot of vodka (or wine), and a lot of fun. I got to relax and hang out with my host-family. I returned to Olex on Monday, 17 August.

Vokzal Oleksandriya at sunset

I had a few more English Clubs before the Teacher Workdays started up. Most notably the day that two students showed up and I’d prepared a board game (4+) and so… We watched a movie and I would pause it occasionally to ask them questions about the plot.

My colleges planned their classes and went over the new books. The Ministry of Education decreed that all 11th formers must take Independent Testing in English, so there was a rush to figure out how to get them extra hours in English.

01 September 2015

First Bell

The first say of school. At 8am, the First Bell Ceremony began. There was a lot of singing, and the 5th Formers were ceremonially brought into the school. The were given certificates. An 11th Former ceremoniously rang the First Bell of the new school year.

I got to wear my Vyshyvanka, which is the national blouse of Ukraine. I kept getting compliments.

Me in the Vyshyvanka

Me with my colleagues on First Bell.
From left to right: Anatoliyi Mikhailovich Paschenko (English), Iryna Anatolyiïvna (English and History), Tatyana Leonidivna (mathematics), me, Anastasia Juriyiïvna (English and Handicrafts), Angelika Mikhailivina Grusha, (English) and Dmitri Ivanovich (physical education). Image taken by Oleksandr Ivanovich (physics and technology)

We made up my schedule that week, with who I was working with when. We ordered new textbooks (Pearson’s English Choices), and collected money. The books come with audio supplements and grammar practice.

 I set up a PC Correspondence with a teacher back in WSNC, but I haven’t heard back from them yet. (edit - on 04 November, I got an email that I been "matched" with not one, but two, teachers back in the US. One with the expected teacher, and another in AZ - whom I happen to know, so I don't know how coincidental that is...) 

I have been able to help, a bit, with vocabulary. I create powerpoints (ppt) with the definition or synonym of a word and a picture, and my students have to guess the vocabulary word. I have also been able to help a bit with grammar, by creating ppts with the important grammar point missing – usually the verb.

I was able to create a game for the 6th Formers one day, but I don’t get enough time to really run games in class, so, ppts it is for now. The teachers want me to give presentations on the vocabulary and topics, and I’m working on making it more interactive.

I’ve had only a few English Clubs, the entirety of September and October, with only the 9th Formers. I’m hoping to do mainly games, but it is very hard, with a completely variable number of students, as well as their English level. They have a pretty low level, which makes communicating with them difficult. And they have a tendency to talk over me, which gets very annoying when I’m trying to run a game of some sorts.

28 September

The Harvest Festival was Monday. I was awesome. Had I remembered my warmer jacket, it would have been a lot better. The various Forms were given a vegetable and they had to introduce that veggie. They had to sing, dance, perform a skit, tell stories, and histories about the veggie. They were in costumes. Someone needs to tell them about the Rose Parade, as most of their costumes were made or embellished with their vegetable. I was cold because I had forgotten my warmer jacket, and was standing outside for a while.

01 October

Teachers’ Day was Sunday, 04 October, so the school had a party on Thursday, 01 October. We went to a local restaurant, where there as a lot of food, a lot of toasts, and a lot of whatever alcohol various people brought. There was a lot of dancing, and some games played involving those dancing. Dancing games are not really fair when one of the dancers playing is the school choreography/dance instructor.

14 October

Defenders' Day. 

Defenders’ Day was Wednesday, so there was no school. I went with my CP to the football stadium, where the various schools had put on some sort of representation of Tartar Village life. The had created a skit of sorts, as well as cooked some sort of grits-like dish. There was a processional, lots of singing, lots of dancing, a blessing, and then the mayor went around and judged the schools. There was also some sort of military competition, where the boys from various schools (including ours) stripped and rebuilt rifles, push-up competitions, strength competitions, and a shooting competition. After A’s sister’s school had been judged we all went to the café with crepes and had a late lunch.

Not much happened in October, until Fall Break.

Fall Break: L’viv (pictures in Google Plus album and a Facebook album)

I took an overnight train there Sunday night, arriving around noon on Monday, where I met KR and SM at the train station. We went to our airbnb, got the keys, dropped off our stuff, and went to lunch. Lunch was the sushi place next to airbnb - shared party platter, salmon with cream cheese, salmon with avocado and cucumber, fried tofu roll. I also had noodles with muscles.

After lunch, we wandered Rynok Square, and went to the L'viv Coffee Company. There was an underground tour – complete with miner’s helmets. I ordered coffee L'viv-Style, which was Turkish-style coffee (hot water poured over coffee grounds) and came with a house-made orangey liquor and a lemon slice. We went through the “Chocolate Museum” which was a bit misnamed – it’s really just a large store attached to the L’viv Homemade Chocolate Company. We also visited countless souvenir and vyshyvanka stores, as well as many bookstores, and a souvenir store, which sold homemade vyshyvanka and embroidered coats. Dinner was at an Uzbek restaurant. SM and I shared a fried cheese roll thingy (Khachtapouri), and I had mutton soup with potatoes and carrots. We stopped at a very nice grocery store, where you could get things less common in Ukraine (I got a bag of Turkish Delight) and then a local prodyukti and got eggs and brioche (they were sickle shaped and we fried them the next morning with the eggs) to have for breakfast.

After breakfast, we went to Craft Bazaar, where there were mostly homemade arts and crafts, some printed souvenir t-shirts and sweatshirts. After that, we decided that, since it was such a nice day, we would walk up to the High Castle. It’s simply the ruins of what used to be a castle, but if you keep going up, up, up, you can get a 360° panoramic view of Lviv. By “up, up, up,” I mean 237 stairs from the bottom. After that, we walked back to Rynok Square, where we went to Blackwood Coffee and Burgers. There I had a beef burger and shared fried cheese. We thought it was going to be cheese fries, but it was verb-noun, not adjective-noun. It was good anyway. After that, we went to Her Majesty's, where we had the best hot chocolate in the world. It tasted like liquid brownies, with bits of caramelized sugar in chocolate, eaten with a spoon. It’s basically melted chocolate with added sugar and butter, and delicious. I would get an espresso Americano or something next time to cut the sweetness a bit. After that, we went back to the souvenir store with the homemade vyshyvankas and embroidered coats, as SM wanted to buy a coat. It was a perfect fit and looked wonderful on her. We went back to the airbnb so KR could change (meeting with a religious leader), and SM could pack to catch her train. While KR was meeting with her religious leader, I went back to Blackwood Coffee and Burgers for coffee, as I knew it had wifi. I had coffee and a chocolate cookie The coffee was meh, but it was maybe the best chocolate cookie ever. After her meeting, KR and I wandered around the Square, spoking the wheel looking for dinner. We ended up at a Strudel place. I had a chicken, mushroom, and cheese strudel, with tomato tapenade and a garlic and onion dip (the dip was much better with the strudel than the tapenade), and we shared a pot of fruit tea. The place was packed, so we had dinner with teacher from Kharkiv, who invited us to share her table and chatted with us. She gave us directions and the password to the local speakeasy! She also gave us directions to a café called House of Legends. More on them later. After thanking her, we went back to the airbnb, stopping on the way at L'viv Croissants, where we bought Chocolate Croissants for breakfast.

After breakfast, we went back to the crafts bazaar, as I wanted to buy a hoodie. Hoodie acquired, we went to a local electronic store, as KR was working on a SPA grant, and wanted to check the pricing in-store. We struck out, and had a further complication of the employees not understanding her. After that, we wandered back towards the square, where we walked past another fancy grocery store. We went in, and KR found some of the things she had been looking for. We then wandered the Square looking for lunch. We went to House of Legends first, but they had a very unhelpful staff, and very dangerous stairs – Blarney Castle and les Tours de Notre Dame had safer stairs then this restaurant/café. Instead, we ended up at the Opera House Restaurant and Museum. We had trouble finding it, as the signage outside the Opera House said “museum” not “restaurant." It turns out the restaurant is in the museum. Our waiter was dressed like a character in Moulin Rouge, there were museum artifacts on the walls, and… an AC/DC concert on the TVs. Which one doesn’t belong? I went for two apps (potato chips with garlic and onion dipping sauce and fried chicken and cheese) and had hot chocolate.

KR and I met FC, who had taken the train in that morning. The three of us went on a tour of the Pharmacy Museum. It was very interesting to see the history of the apothecaries and pharmacies. Occasionally, one of us would point something out and say, “that’s poisonous” or “that acid really shouldn’t have been in a clear glass container.”

After the Pharamacy Museum, we went to L'viv Coffee Company for coffee, where I ordered After-Meals Coffee, which came with a brandy on the side. It was an espresso Americano and a very good brandy. KR and I then took the stairs up to the top of the Clock Tower, where we were able to see most of L’viv from the center of the Square. it was 103 stairs to the entrance to the tower, and 294 more from there. We took lots of pictures and descended the dangerously narrow stairs back to ground level. After that, we went to L'viv Homemade Chocolate, where we got hot chocolate. The company offered a cup of melted chocolate and you could add various things to it, but we weren’t so sure, as if we wanted that, we would just go to Her Majesty’s where there would be more and better for less. We were feeling too tired for much more, so we stopped at McDs on our way back for double cheeseburgers with fries, then L'viv Croissants for breakfast. We watched a movie.

We had our croissants for breakfast, and then went back to wander the square one more time. We went through the bazaar on our way there. We saw someone selling pretzels, so we got one for later. We had to hand over the keys, so we went back to the airbnb, finished packing, and handed over the keys, before KR walked to her bus stop. I met FC for lunch. We went to the Centaur Café, as it had been intriguing us for a while. I had smoked varenyky with fried bacon bits, creme brûlée, and a Viennese Coffee. After lunch, we had a few minutes, where I showed FC the shop where SM bought her coat, and then I had to go get my bus. I stopped at L'viv Croissants, where I bought a sandwich for the train.

I took a very crowded trolley to the vokzal, where I waited in line for 30 minutes. It took me 30 seconds for my ticket to be printed. I found the platform and got on the train, as it was originating in L’viv, it was already on the platform. I waited for my compartment-mates, talked to KR about something at her site, and then prepared to spend the 14.5 hours listening to music. I ate my sandwich for dinner.

The only eventful part of my train ride was that I changed seats so two people traveling together (I think mother and daughter) could be in the same compartment. It was really a no-brainer, although my compartment-mate though I only spoke English and had trouble explaining the situation. I ended up with a right-side top bunk. Never getting one of them intentionally - I felt like I was going to roll off constantly. I also had weird not-quite-dreams about ending up in Zaporizhzhia - which is part of the buffer zone and having to explain to my RM how I ended up being in Zaporizhzhia...

I wasn’t able to sleep on the train, so I was very tired by the time I got to Olex at 630am. There were no taxis to be had, so I had to walk the 30ish minutes back to my flat. I was very cold, as there had been a hard frost that night. I made it back to my flat, emailed home, changed in to PJs, and set an alarm. I managed to get some sleep.