November and December

My life after L'viv was back to normal. I had class at 8am on Monday, and the classes continued on with their lessons. I created a lot of vocabulary and grammar PowerPoints for my classes. I use the examples in their books, and make them put the verb in the correct tense. The verb is given, as otherwise it would be almost impossible. 

The students learned about different verb tenses, the difference between formal and informal invitations, passive voice, and different famous works of literature. I got to teach my first lesson by myself. That week, most of the English teachers were out sick, and Ukraine doesn't do substitutes like WS/FCS does. The only non-sick, full-time English teacher needed to be somewhere else, and needed her classes covered. The first class was pretty easy, as all I needed to do was give them a test. The second class was a bit out of control, but as they were playing a game, it made a lot of sense. I created a game like Catchphrase, where they were broken into teams, and had to get their teammates to guess the word or phrase. They could say anything (except for a word on the card) and they could charade it, as well. I created a board for the game, and they rolled a die to proceed. Each square had a symbol, and that symbol corresponded to a Catchphrase card. The first team to finish wins. 

One of the groups learned all about advertising, so I got to show some of my favorite TV adds. It was hard to remember what adds I'd liked, as some of them I hadn't seen in years. Plus, I haven't watched regular old TV with commercials in years, thanks to Netflix and being able to watch the shows a day or so later on the network webpage. One of the groups learned all about rules - dos and don'ts - so I went to Jackson Library's webpage and found their rules. The rules for academic libraries are different than the rules here. For instance, Jackson Library allows patrons to eat and drink in the library, as long as it's not in the archives, special collections, or SuperLab. And as long as you are respectful and clean up after yourself. 

My RM was here, and she talked with me and A about what was going on, checking my schedule and stuff like that. We had lunch together, and we talked about my Winter Holiday plans. As we are now allowed more freedom in our travels around the country, I would be able to visit Kyiv. 

The new Safety and Security Manager came to the Oblast to check out the Safety and Security situation of the Volunteers. A PC doctor came with him, so we could get out flu shots. Otherwise we would be required to go to Kyiv, just for that. 

I was "Matched" twice via World Wise Schools Correspondence Match, and I am still in the process of communicating with my Matches and figuring out how to get the pen-pal exchange working. 

The last few weeks in November were dedicated to Demo lessons. I was asked to teach several classes solo so my colleague could watch these lessons. I learned the value of my tablet, as I was able to look up words to find their translation into Ukrainian, when we found a new word. Which was pretty often. I sort of wanted to go to the Demo lessons, but they were held in Ukrainian, so I wouldn't have gotten much out of them. My colleague held a Demo lesson, as well. 

N teaches two subjects - English and Handicrafts. Her Demo was for Handicrafts. She had us create a piece of jewelry out of a leaf and modeling clay. It was a lot of fun, if a bit messy, as we had to mix paint into the modeling clay with our fingers. Once you we had the paint worked into the modeling clay, we pressed the leaf into the clay, taking an imprint. Then we had to work a small hole into the modeling-clay leaf, so we could attach the imprint to a cord and wear it. It looked really cool. While our leaves were drying, N talked to the Demo class about the history and use of jewelry made from modeling clay. It can be really expensive, and has been worn by royals. Impressive stuff. N wears a lot of jewelry that she's made. Or she displays what she's made in her classroom. It always looks awesome. I keep thinking “Etsy” but I'm not sure Ukraine does that.

N's Demo lesson.
From left to right: Yevgenia Victorvich (dance and choreography), me, Anya Sergeiïvna (computers, math, and typing). 

My English Club is working, a bit. I have only one form, the ninth formers. The students are required to attend the Club, but most of them don't want to be there. They spend most of the Club arguing with themselves or with me about the rules or the scores. There are a lot of sore losers in my English Club. They barely behave, and are only at my club because it keeps them from doing something else. I guess I'm the lesser of two evils. Some do behave. Some are clearly happy to be there. But the combination of those who don't want to be there and those who misbehave, keeps the students who want to be there from learning as much as they could. I noticed the other week that, as long as my colleague was in the room, they sort of behaved. As so as she left, they pretended they didn't know anything and stopped listening to me at all. Wonderful English Club, no? 

Over the week before St. Nicholas Day, my school got a New Year Tree in. After hammering it into the tree stand, the 11th formers trimmed it. Now, my school is a uniform school, and the male students wear suits. Now, imagine an 11th former up on a ladder, hanging lights on a tree, in a suit! On Friday, 18 December, my school had a St. Nicholas Day celebration. I have no idea what happened, but it was beautiful. The students and N put a lot of effort into the costumes for the celebration. They all sang and danced, with the various forms doing remarkable dances. They only had a few weeks to prepare, which made it even more impressive. 

The 11th Formers decorate the school's New Year Tree.

It's been strangely warm here, the last few days. There has been no snow to speak of. And while there was a period where the temperature never broke freezing, it had been warming up the last few days. I am wearing my warm winter coat, but it has been too warm occasionally. It is nice to have, though, especially during the two to three weeks when the temperature didn't break freezing. My boots have also been helpful. I learned that after I didn't wear them and fell. Don't worry, I'm fine! Just a little fall. 

Now, I mentioned my holiday trip. Well, my parents are coming to Ukraine, so I needed to get permission to go to Kyiv. I also needed to buy a lot of train tickets, as that is how you travel across Ukraine. I can order them online, but I had trouble buying the last few tickets. I had to go to the Vokzal to buy them. T went with me, to translate. It took longer to make sure he knew which trains I needed than it took to order the tickets. I left with the tickets bought and paid for, plus printed. Convenient. 

A wants me to create a powerpoint about Christmas, to tell the students how Christmas is different in the U.S. than here. Including the date. Works for me. 

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.

Hotel California and Bazaars and Tchaikovsky

11 June 2015

Music

I’d forgotten just how much my students love to sing (and dance, when not required). I’m sitting and watching the final dress of the Summer Camp final presentation, and I’m kicking myself for not bringing along the Tom Chapin or Raffi CDs. Or at least ripping them. Any chance you can DropBox them to me? [kidding!] :)

Hotel California

Each act gets musical clips (“Timber,” the Captain America Theme, etc). The fifth formers are singing along to Hotel California – as they are talking about how they want to go to California. Side note, the 8th formers were kinda-sorta line dancing (they were from the Cowboy day) to “Timber.” Wow. Just. Wow. Easy to dance to, yes...

After-party

The English department had a lot of help putting on the summer camp, from a lot of teachers, most of whom don’t speak English. They did an amazing job, as the camp went beautifully. The teachers who helped were given certificates as thanks.

After the program, the teachers gathered in A’s classroom for a party. Champagne was passed around, and we toasted to the team. After a few minutes and several toasts, the teachers had to go back to their classrooms. In Ukraine, you can’t leave poured alcohol. An extra glass of champagne had been poured, so one of the English teachers had to drink it. He joked that he was going to “end up dead drunk” because of the extra champagne (granted, it was 11am).

Birthday Party

After lunch, one of the teachers passed around ice cream and coffee because the day before (Thursday) had been her birthday. The coffee was the standard 3b1 that is ubiquitous around Ukraine (3b1 means that the package has instant coffee, powdered milk, and sugar; it comes in basically every single combination of how much of what, and how much caffeine). The ice cream was… tasty. No, really. The ice cream was strawberry and vanilla. It was in a heart-shaped pie-tin, and the top was decorated in roses. Strawberry ice cream roses. There was a thick layer of strawberry over a thin layer of vanilla. You slice it like a cake. I haven’t had ice cream in Ukraine. No, that’s not quite true. At the end of the Transition to Service Conference, the PC gave us ice cream (in mid-December) and coffee. Our CPs put their ice cream in their coffee (as long as the ice cream is vanilla and the coffee espresso). It’s very good.

Secondary Project

I got a few minutes to talk to A about next school year, and she said that there was some interest in the students for reading English language materials, but no materials for them to read. She also said that the teachers are hoping that I will restart my English club for teachers, as they are eager to learn. They are also interested in reading in English.

15 June 2015

Instant Oatmeal

I was at one of the stores near my flat, and I made a discovery – packets of instant oatmeal. I had always assumed that instant oatmeal was a very American thing. It tastes pretty good, and has dried fruit in it. It comes in the standard flavors of strawberry, mixed berries, raspberry, and apple, as well as pineapple and… mushroom! There’s a fungus among us. But, hey, all I’ll need is a packet of this, a bowl (and spoon) and some hot water for the next few weeks – they are doing repairs to the school kitchen and they aren’t going to be feeding the teachers. Or I can bring a few packets along when I travel to camps.

Bazaar

On Sunday, I went to the bazaar with A, where I was looking primarily for shorts. I wasn’t successful, as the only options were distressed, or over-the-knee, or Daisy Dukes. Or some combination thereof. I should have packed mine, but I didn’t see anyone wearing shorts in Paris in summer, so I assumed that shorts were a no-go in Europe, like other parts of the world. Big mistake.

While I struck out on the shorts, I was able to find cherries and strawberries. The bazaar has two main sections, the market and the village. Most of the market section are pretty well established, and sell everything not food, from wallpaper to lightbulbs to watch battries, to French presses (but no Le Monde) to mobile phones to…. you get the idea. After wandering through that section, one ends up at the bus station, where the villagers sell their products.

The villagers, the home gardeners, the farmers have set up shop here. You can find various types of fresh meat, raw milk, in season fruits and vegetables, cheese, beans, etc… If it is in season, or can be cold-stored, you can buy it from a villager at the bazaar. Last year, I helped A buy a rooster. A dead and plucked rooster. A was saying that her mother wanted her to buy the rooster, but that she was horrible at choosing them, so I got to choose. I chose well, as she told me that her mother thought I’d found a great rooster. Not bad for a city girl. There were babushkas selling milk in water bottles, so I think it was very fresh, non-homogenized, raw milk.

We wandered around, A asking prices. We saw someone selling cherries, and I was able to get about 200 grams. The cherries looked like someone crossed a sour cherry and a Bing cherry, and taste like neither. Small, and perfect color mixture of sour and Bing, they really don’t look like much. They are really good, though. They are ubiquitous around Ukraine at this time of year, as the babushkas sell them near the stores, which don’t sell them. Yeah, the grocery stores don't seem to sell strawberries or cherries... They are sweet, but not super-sweet.

The strawberries are much the same. They look like the Quebecois torpedoes: small, light red, and not “American” sweet. They are sweet, but not in the too much so way that the huge dark red ones can be. They also aren’t watery. I got 200 grams of them and ate the whole bag in one sitting, as soon as I got back from the bazaar. Tasty.

The babushkas sell them near ATB. I’ll have to remember that the next time I walk up there.

Transliteration

How many possible variants of Tchaïkovsky are there? I’ll give you a hint: that’s the French one (the English one takes the umlaut off the ‘i’). Because the Cyrillic letters have different sounds than the English ones (the French variant is closer phonetically), a name can and will be transliterated in to many possible versions, all being right. The same issue arrives when going in the other direction.

I have two type D visitors visas for Ukraine. They were issued to the same person. They were issued by the same government. My middle name was transliterated differently on them. On the first one, they simply translated it, and gave me the Ukrainian equivalent. The new visa transliterated it. Now I know how Tchaïkovsky feels every time someone writes his name…

Aladdin, Fish Soup, and Alcohol.

07 June

Sunday barely gets a footnote. I did go to the little tiny “prodyucti” in the apartment complex, but no where else. I spent the day going over the materials I brought from the US, and thinking about ideas for lessons. As I didn’t have a copy of the text book, most of my ideas are for clubs.

08 June

My first day at the summer camp. I didn’t really do much, just sat and watched the 10th formers create their Aladdin costumes, and then watch the final production. The theme of the day was Walt Disney, and all of the forms put together some sort of little skit, based on one of the films or cartoons. I was able to get lunch at the school, and I stopped to get dinner on the way home. As I’m still without a refrigerator, I have to buy cheese and apples, as they will stay good between lunch and dinner.

09 June

I learned that I would be getting internet at my flat on Wednesday, and that I needed to stay there – not come to school – so that I would be there when the internet person came.

Tuesday started when I read the morning presentation to the school. It was about fairy tales, and had lots of information about them. It talked about what fairy tales were, and how they came to be. Tuesday was a bit less hectic than Monday, so the English teachers and I were able to have a coffee break while the students were preparing their final presentation. After their presentation, we had lunch, and I watched as the teachers wrote up the day in Ukrainian.

10 June: A day in anecdotes. 

Internet

Apparently, Macs and Ukraine’s PPPoE internet just do not get along with each other. At least, that’s the conclusion the internet guy came up with after 75min of trying. He even plugged my baby in to the main router for the building! Nothing.

He gave me two options:

            1. He takes my computer to his work, and his boss fixes (tries to fix) whatever the problem is. He’d bring it back by 7pm.

            2. The school tech facilitator (who came by to make sure the guy didn’t try to rip me off or something) and I go and I buy a wifi router.

While the router had a higher upfront cost (but no more per month), I’d have internet in about 30min, and I would be able to use wifi for the year.

As I’d wanted wifi to begin with (the school techfac wanted to find one online for cheaper than in the stores), I went with the router. We went and I bought it, they got it plugged in, named the network, password protected it, and I was logged in in under 10min. He even showed me how to hard reset it (hint: you unplug it).

I was given a ride to the school in time for lunch. The camp was over for the day, but I got to help a bit with the writing up of the day.

Fish Soup.
Yes. you read that right: fish soup.

For 20g a week, I can get lunch at the canteen. It’s two courses (soup and meat, and a drink), 6 days a week.

The main course is a meat of some sort (cutlet (it’s ground meat reshaped in to a ballish shape, but not a meatball; no sauce), a meatball (which has rice in it), or chicken), with a starch (mashed potatoes, plain noodles, rice, or kasha (buckwheat porridge)), and a salad of some sort (Wednesday’s was sliced cucumber, Thursday’s was sliced pickles). Everything varies by day.

Tuesday, I had fish soup. But not the way you’re thinking. In Ukraine, they make soup from canned fish. Think bone-in sardines. Chop some potatoes, grate some carrots, add some (chicken) bouillon, add a can of sardines, and boom, soup! It was a bit salty, but otherwise quite good, if one can get over the texture of sardines in one’s soup.

The meat Tuesday was… well, it was as if the chef had heard of fried chicken and waffles, but had assumed it was one thing. There were two, thin, waffle-like crusts, with some ground chicken stuffed in the middle. It tasted like fried chicken…

Pickle Soup

Yep. Pickles in the soup. Those tasty Ukrainian pickles, cooked in a soup. Chop some potatoes, grate some carrots, add some (chicken) bouillon, add some pickles, and boom, soup!

11 June 2015: A day in anecdotes. 

Laundry

Ukraine is called the “Posh Corps” by other volunteers, because we really are posh. We are issued heaters, fire extinguishers, CO and CO2 detectors, and we have to have electricity. We do not have to have running water, or central heating. Most of us do, as only the farthest villages lack central heating. Some volunteers have ‘dry’ sinks, and have to get water from wells. Some have to burn wood in the winter. Volunteers like myself, those in flats, have electricity and running water (I have a hot water heater and a washing machine).

Now, my Director is incredibly well traveled, to many countries. She has been to the US many times, and each time adjusts her flat and/or the school to what she saw in the US, such as grounded power outlets, and a mounted showerhead. At the school, there is a washing machine and a dryer, that any teacher/employee can use (you just have to supply your own detergent).

I carried a small load of clothes down to school, and got them started before the morning presentation. I set a mental timer, and headed back to the presentation. Due to the fact that I was helping some students, I lost track of time. My laundry was moved to the dryer (someone else needed the machine), and that is where the story starts.

My laundry didn’t dry. It got nice and hot, but it was still soaking wet, after a go round. One of the cleaning crew unplugged and replugged the dryer, just to check, then restarted it for half an hour. Still soaking wet. I emptied the water out (while most American dryers vent to the outside, this one collects the water in a reservoir), restarted it and it was still damp. But, hey, my clothes were mostly dry when I took them back to the flat, instead of soaking wet and needing to be line dried.

Birthday party

I’ve been in Ukraine 11 days and I’ve already been pressured to drink. Well, pressured is too strong a word. Cajoled to drink. Encouraged to drink. And told that, culturally, Ukrainians “eat, sleep, work hard, and drink a lot.”

It was one of the English teacher’s birthdays, and Ukrainians, like the Irish, will... you can finish that one. A small group of us (the English department, the director, and a friend) went to her classroom and took turns toasting her on her birthday. A bottle of champagne and cognac were part of this celebration. My minor victory was that I managed to keep my glass from getting refilled. Which is easier said than done, as you have to keep an eye on it and on who is pouring. You don’t have to worry about anything other than what you are drinking, though, but just that you might have an endlessly full glass. The “never put down your drink” rule is in effect, but only in order to not get refilled.

During the celebration, I was politely chinking plastic cups and smiling, the director started wondering why I was sipping my drink. I replied that I like to savour my drinks – which is true. Her answer was that I didn’t have to, as there was a lot to drink. Which led to the cultural note. My director added that she had once brought a bottle of that specific brand of Ukrainian cognac to the US, and it had gone over quite well, so… Which it should have - if it is the same cognac I had during the New Year's party when I was here earlier, it is quite good cognac. 

Coffee

Side note: I learned that it is possible to get and make real coffee (non-instant), as one of the teachers mentioned that he doesn’t drink the instant stuff any more. I am going to look into this. I wonder if he was talking about a French press?

(note: he was talking about Turkish-style coffee - where the grounds are spooned into the cup and hot/boiling water added to them)

Onboarding, Language Refreshers, Swearing In, and TGVs. Oh my!

03 June – Training

Roommate number 2 and I decided to skip breakfast, as the day before’s had been inedible. We stopped at the café across the street from PCHQ, and got a French-style breakfast of coffee and croissants. We then had a two hour safety and security refresher, where our SSM (Safety and Security Manager) went over all of the vitally important rules and regs. Our SSM is very good, with over 50 years of military and law enforcement experience. He’s the reason why we don’t worry.

After that, we had a brief break, before we were “onboarded.” It was an elaborate ceremony, involving the Ukrainian National Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner, a Ukrainian tradition of greeting visitors with bread and salt, and speeches about why we are so important to Ukraine. Our new CD (Country Director) then told us that we couldn’t be sworn-in as PCVs, but that we could be “onboarded.” He gave us “airline tickets” to our “destination” (site) in Peace Corps Ukraine. When you scan the barcode, it says “WelcometoPCUkraine.” The staff of PC Ukraine is all Ukrainian (except for the top three positions), and they had a lot of amazing things to say to us. One staff member told us about how we, PCVs, are a symbol hope for Ukraine. He said that, when we were evacuated, the Ukrainian people were wondering what America knew. Then Crimea happened. Then over a year happens. And now, here we are. There are 15 PCVs in Ukraine right now, a 50% increase from 31 May, when there had been 10.

After that, we had lunch – we walked across the street to that café and got sandwiches – and met with the PCR Coordinator, who told us what was different for PCRVs. Then we broke into smaller groups and met with our RMs about even more policies and procedures, specifically what we have to and who we have to notify when we are going to be away from our sites after midnight. We learned a bit about grants, as PCRV have less time in country, they don’t have much opportunity to find and create grants. After that, we all had warden training. Wardens are part of the “phone tree” – their job is to keep tabs on PCVs in country and to make sure that correct information is given to PCVs. As there are so few PCVs in country, we all have to have some preliminary training, in case we become wardens in the future.

Then, a bit early, we were done for the day. We trooped into the PC Lounge, where we decided what we were going to do for dinner. We asked an RM, and he was able to direct us to a very small market, where we were able to buy things for dinner. I found out that there was a refrigerator in the room, so I was able to buy enough food for more than one dinner. We ate dinner and all hung out for several hours, talking about everything and nothing.

04 June – Language Refresher and Field Trip

I decided to try breakfast at the hotel, because my group was saying that they managed to get edible food from the restaurant for breakfast. Roommate number 2 and I wandered into the restaurant and found the boys already there, being ignored by the hostess/chef. We all ordered coffee, and decided not to tempt fate with the awful breakfast, planning to stop at the café. After a few minutes, the hostess/chef leaned over my shoulder and asked if he could make the girls omelettes. We nodded and he eventually brought us omelettes. As he was completely ignoring the boys, we shared our breakfast.

At the PC, we had our context update, where we learned all about the changes to Ukraine since Maiden. There have been a lot of good changes to Ukraine. We learned about Ukraine from the Ukrainian perspective and the American perspective.

After that, we had a brief break and had a language refresher. I was able to pull a lot of vocabulary into the session that I thought I had forgotten. After that session, the group went to lunch with our language teachers. We walked over to a small restaurant, which had a “biznes lunch” – a plat/prix fixée lunch. We had to order in our language, and ask some questions. We all got the same thing – borshch and cutlet. We got three courses – salad, soup, and main – and they were all very good. The chef decided to give us a treat – dessert – which was very nice of him.

After lunch, we went to the downtown ticket office, where you can order train tickets. It is a lot more convenient than the station itself. After that, we wandered back to the office, and waited to learn about the afternoon meeting – who was supposed to be in it. The TEFL volunteers didn’t have to go to it, so we wandered back to our hotel, to get ready to go for a long walk downtown.

After a nice break, three of us went for a walk. We walked downtown, down to Maiden. We got to see the changes to the square, and the proposed monument. We went to the Roshen store, bought some candy, and went back to the hotel. We stopped at a small food market, where we got dinner, and then hung out for the rest of the night.

05 June – RMs and Travel

Friday was another breakfast at the café across the street, I hung out in the lounge with the rest of the group, taking advantage of the wifi. After a while, we went to our language resource meeting, where we talked about the resources available to us. After that, we met with our RMs, to go over how we were going to get to our sites the next day. We were given important documents, policies and procedures. After that, we went to the small grocery store and bought lunch, before wandering back to the lounge to eat it. After lunch, we waited for our ‘surprise.’ We had been told that the office had a surprise for us, and to bring a jacket. Our surprise was a boat trip on the Dnieper.

(above picture copyright: Peace Corps Ukraine)

The whole staff was on the boat with us, and we were told that the CD was going to give a short speech, and the we would be able to eat snacks. The CD started with a joke – “if you get seasick, raise your left hand” – before adding “and if you want to stay in Peace Corps, raise your right hand” as we had been cleared to be sworn in. Just like last time, I was sworn in by the CD. After our small ceremony, we had our boat trip up the Dnieper. It was really cool, and I got lots of pictures of riverbank Kyiv.

After the boat trip, we decided to go on another long walk through Kyiv. 4 of us walked down to a museum in downtown Kyiv, which was showing Boarderline art (Boarderline. Ukrainian Art 1985-2004"). It was very edgy and, in fairness, creepy. It was fascinating as it showed the art processes of around the fall of communism in Ukraine. It was a very unique museum. After that, we split up into small groups, and I went back to the hotel for dinner. The other PCV and I stopped at a small market to pick up what we needed for dinner. We had dinner at the hotel, talking about everything and nothing, before decided that we had to get ready to leave in the morning.

06 June – Olexandryia

There is TGV service to Olexandriya. Ukraine is in the process of investing in high-speed rail between cities. While Olexandriya is not a large city, it sits along the route of several much larger cities. Therefore, TGV service.

I had the 7.15am train from Kyiv Saturday morning, so the PC driver met me and my roommate (who had the 6.44am train to her town) at 6am to take us to the Vokzal (that’s Russian or Ukrainian for train station). The driver put my bags on the train, wished me a pleasant journey, and I was alone. The hotel had given us a takeaway breakfast, but no coffee. No coffee and a 5.15am wake up call are not a good combination.

The train ride was long and boring, if a bit scary, as I wasn’t sure where exactly where my stop was. I got a text from one of the volunteers the hotel had put omelettes on the menu, which is really good, as they are the only edible things coming out of the kitchen. The good news about the 7.15am train was that I arrived in Olexandriya before 11am.

I had my two large and heavy bags with me, and I was having trouble with the one that doesn’t stand upright on its own. I dragged it down off the train, and just before I could panic about not being able to get my second bag, a familiar face popped out, grabbed my big, red bag, and hauled it off the train as if it weighed nothing. A second later my counterpart (CP) was giving me a hug and we were waiting for the train to leave so we could cross the tracks and go to the flat. My director met us at the car, as I am living in her apartment. It is a beautiful apartment. I have a lot of American-style amenities, and it is a very short walk to the school.

After dropping my stuff off, we went to the school, where we had lunch, and went over the lesson from the day. My school is midway through an English summer camp, and they make plans and go over everything at the end of the lessons. All instruction is given in Ukrainian, so occasionally one of the teachers would pause, and ask me how to say something in English, as they needed to use English on parts of the form.

After that, my CP and I went back to my flat, and made plans for the late afternoon to go shopping. We were planning to go to a wifi café and then shopping, but I decided to go to the café early. I’m glad I did, as I was able to chat with my parents, and let them know that I was safely in Olexandriya. After that, I spent sometime online, before calling my CP and making plans to go shopping. I needed some basic supplies, and food for dinner.

After dinner, I got a shower, and then watched a movie while writing up my week.

I am thinking about changing the format a bit, and instead of writing down my day long-form, to instead have little anecdotes about my day - the odd (yet tasty) soup at my school, my troubles getting internet, that sort of thing - probably several per day. 

Peace Corps Round Two: 31 May – 02 June

May 31 – 01 June

My day started very well – I got up, I had breakfast with my family, and I finished packing for Ukraine. I weighed my bags, and I sat down to have a brief breather to charge my mp3 player for my flights. By happenstance, Dad checked my flight status, and we found out that my flight to Newark (the first leg) had be canceled. No notification, no rebooking info, nor where I should look to find that info.

I called the Peace Corps (PC) duty officer, who told me to call the travel agency, where I sat on hold for almost half an hour. I talked with the travel agency, and the person there was able to book me on a Lufthansa flight (direct) from Charlotte to Munich. Which meant that we had to leave right then to drive to Charlotte, as my original flight had been scheduled to depart from Greensboro!

So we drove to Charlotte and got me checked in. A hug and kiss later, and I waited for more than a half-hour in the TSA line, before getting through to my gate for my flight. I waited at the gate, and enjoyed the free Charlotte wifi to contact family and post a Facebook status update (which had become OBE when my flight was canceled).

After a while, the flight boarded, and we got underway to Munich. We had a tale-wind, so we landed about a half an hour earlier than planned. I had an aisle seat and no one sitting next to me, as the flight was not full. Unfortunately, the woman sitting in my row had her screen on full brightness for the entire flight, which made it even harder to sleep.

We landed in Munich, and I took advantage of the free wifi to let my parents know that, yes, the plane had landed safely. Originally, I was supposed to go through German passport control, but I just followed the signs to my gate and didn’t have to. You have to love Lufthansa – when I checked my email in Munich, I had an email telling me that my gate had changed, and that I needed to go directly to my new gate. I had checked the departures board, so I was sitting at the right gate. But, hey, notification, even if minor (the gate was the same terminal, just a different number), is very important. United 0, Lufthansa 1.

On my flight to Kyiv, I sat next to a woman from Kyiv, who had spent the last 10 years teaching Russian to uni students in Texas. Small world, huh? Upon arrival in Kyiv, we disembarqued and made our way through passport control, and on to the baggage claim. The term used in Ukraine is “oversized luggage.” Both of my bags made it, and nothing appears to have been broken or removed.

From there, it was a quick walk passed customs, and to the main arrivals area, where Peace Corps Ukraine was waiting for me. I met my PST training manager, who I hadn’t seen in 15 months, as well as other PC Ukraine people. We took a PC van to the hotel (PC policy means no more hostels in Kyiv), which is very nice. I would recommend it to anyone in staying in Kyiv. I don’t know what a room costs, though. Thanks to T-Mobile, I was able to send a text upon arrival, which I did as I didn’t know if there would be internet at the hotel or PC post.

The PC gave us a snack (a bottle of water, a candy bar, a pack of peanuts, a juice box, and a banana. I was so tired I ate the banana for dinner. The hotel has wifi, so I was able to let everyone else know that I was safely in Ukraine. A few hours later, PCV 4 of 5 arrived, and we all crashed out early. Except PCV5 – who arrived around midnight local time.

We (my roommates and I) all crashed out early, as we were really tired.



02 June

The hotel offers breakfast, as part of the room price. It was basically inedible. I hope for better tomorrow.

Today was the start of training. The 5 of us spent the day in training. We got to the meet the new Country Director, and talk to the Medical Officers. We learned all about admin, and our stipends while in-country. We got new phones instead of cash to buy them. It looks like it wouldn’t stand a sharp look, but it seems to work. I simply put the SIM in another phone, and will be using that. I might not even have to buy another SIM, as the plan they started us with has unlimited free MTC to MTC calls.

After lunch (an expensive, but good Italian place – I was able to get dinner out of it as well), we met with our “Lead Specialists” (the lovely people who are in charge of us from a professional perspective), who gave us details as to what we would be doing. As I am an English teacher, my summer role is a bit different than my usual teaching. I was also able to meet with my Regional Manager, who gave me information about my site, and what I would have to do to get officially registered in Ukraine.

After our busy day, we went back to the hotel, where I was able to call my counterpart at my school, and we were able to talk for a bit. She seems to be really happy that I’m returning.

Well, what do you say we get started?

There is a Ukrainian tradition that states that a person will return to wherever they have left things. While this is usually physical objects, this can also mean unfinished business. As I left Ukraine in late February 2014, my counterpart (A), told me that I had to return, as I had left a lot of things in my apartment. That weekend, the official evacuation order was given, and I was home before the next week was out. Home, in this case, being Winston-Salem.

I started talks with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), where I had been accepted into the Library and Information Studies (LIS) program in 2013. I turned them down after I received my invitation to go to Ukraine. I called my contact, the amazing Lee Shiflett, and he got me the forms needed to become a student for Fall 2014. I spent the end of the 2013-2014 academic year substitute teaching off and on for WS/FCS. I spent a few weeks in July with my grandparents, and then started school in the fall.

I was offered a Graduate Assistantship from the LIS Department, and I started work in August. I started classes a week after I started my GA work. I took six classes over the two semesters. If anyone is interested in what I did in my first year of Grad School, please see http://meganpbennett.blogspot.com/ which documents what I did for assignments.

After the Peace Corps evacuated us, we were given a window, during which we would be able to go straight back to Ukraine. That window passed before Ukraine settled down enough, and the Peace Corps post closed. Everyone hoped that the post would reopen in time for the Volunteers to return before the 2014-2015 school year began, but the post did not reopen until November, a year-to-the-day that the EuroMaiden protests broke out.

We were asked if we wanted to return, and when we could leave, but everything was nebulous, with nothing concrete. In April, just shy of two years after my original, life-changing Invitation email and about a year from the ending of our holding window, the Peace Corps announced that Volunteers could go back, starting in late May.

After careful thought, and talking to many people, I asked to return to Ukraine, as of June 01. I learned that I would be going back to my school, the one I left in 2014. I will be helping with a summer camp, the first my school has done, during at least some of the summer. I will be teaching English, and hoping to run an English club for the students and instructors. I will be remaining a continuing student at UNCG, by taking online classes during the school year. I look forward to returning to my city, my region, and my school, and to reconnect with people I met while I was there.

Situation Update

For those of you who are not following the situation in Ukraine:
http://www.kyivpost.com/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ukraine-opposition-urges-continued-cease-fire/2014/01/23/dee9c4e6-848b-11e3-a273-6ffd9cf9f4ba_story.html
http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/visuel/2014/01/23/la-semaine-ou-kiev-s-est-embrasee_4353592_3214.html (in French, but the photos are very informative)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25905031 (and other BBC stories)

As a PCV, I am not allowed to publicly express my opinion on matters of government. Especially, on the "situation." Due to the increase in violence in Kyiv and major cities in Ukraine, the PC have upped our alert status. We are not allowed to leave our sites until, a) the alert is lifted, or b) we are told to gather in preparation for evacuation. I would like for option a to be chosen, as would every single PCV I am in contact with. None of us want to leave. We all want to be here. We all want to teach here.

I find it very interesting to be in Ukraine, as this country takes her steps. Ukraine is a very young country, with several very powerful countries wanting it to ally with them. Ukraine is a crossroads country - a former USSR country, tucked in between the EU and Russia. I find it even more interesting, as I have always had a fascination with the Irish Uprising and the "Troubles." There are similarities between Ireland and Ukraine. They are both countries that earn their "friendly and hospitable" reputation. Countries that are very young countries as far as independence goes (I am older than Ukraine, by a few months), yet both with histories that stretch back to pre-Greco-Roman times. They are both countries that have suffered famines, yet come out even stronger. The further similarities will remain unsaid on a public forum.

I hope that anyone following this event keeps Ukraine and her amazing people in your thoughts throughout this troubling time.

One Massively Long Update; or, January in Olexandriya.

One massively long update; or, what I did for most of January.
My last update was on 30 December, so I’m going to try to cover what I learned and did in a quick format.

On New Year’s Eve, I had a meeting at school, to celebrate. In Ukraine, New Year’s is a much larger celebration, spent with family and friends. It was a lunch party, my meeting, complete with cognac. There were toasts (a shot equaled a toast), and lots of traditions going around. When you clink glasses in a toast, you are supposed to clink lastly with a man, as that will give you good luck and prosperity in the New Year. The entire staff was given a bottle of champagne and a large bag of chocolates. It was an amazing look into traditions and life in Ukraine.

Just after midnight, here, the fireworks, gunshots, and other explosives rang in the New Year.

Very early the next morning I was able to converse with a group of good friends at a New Year’s party in WS. I think most of you read this blog. It was really nice to see and talk with you at the annual New Year’s Party. Wish I could have been there.

On Orthodox Christmas (07 January), I watched a Nativity play put on by the Pentecostal church. It was a very interesting take on the traditional play – it involved time travel. I was invited by a friend of A’s, who always invites her to events. After the play, there was an after-party in the Sunday School room. Sodas, tea, and biscuits, and talking to friends and people you know.

My primary assignment – TEFL – started the next day, when I met with the three students competing in the English Olympiad. They have speaking, reading, listening, and writing components.

That Friday, 10 January, I got up at a very early hour in order to catch a 6.40 bus to Kirovograd, the capital city in Kirovograd Oblast. In Kirovograd, the group of teachers and I met the director of a gymnasium with which we are being merged. We watched some of the auditions for the school – dancing, multiplication tables, violin, singing – and met with some of the English teachers. We watched a written entrance test for English. After a bit, A and I left to go get some coffee and meet with the head of English teacher’s licences. If you want to be legally allowed to teach English in the Oblast (equivalent to the state), you need to talk to her. She wanted to meet me. A and I talked with her for about half an hour, before we needed to head back to the gymnasium. Special note, pizza restaurants in Ukraine have really good espresso drinks.

That weekend, I met up with another PCV, and we talked for a while. While we were chatting, a young man walked up to us and asked for our help. He was taking a test in English, and had a few questions about his review material. That’s Goal 3 of the TEFL plan – helping the community in which you are sited. I made more borshch over the weekend. Still really need to look for spices.

Classes started back up on Monday, 13 January 2014. I’m teaching forms 6-11, not including 7th. I’m trying to wrangle the new choreography schedule (the Kirovograd Gymnasium specializes in dance) to have many clubs. I want a conversation/culture class for the 9th -11th forms, and a regular English club for the lower forms. The teachers and admin want me to teach them to speak English. I want to try to get a Russian tutor, and I might have someone for that. I’ve been planning each lesson the night before, as A and I try to co-plan the best we can. Also, I only have a few lessons’ worth of copied textbook.

On Tuesday, 14 January 2014, it was Old New Year. There was wheat sprinkled all over the floor of the Gymnasium, as it is for a happy and prosperous New Year. In some parts of Ukraine, a man needs to “first-foot” (be the first person to enter your house/flat in the New Year), and sprinkle wheat on everything, as that a good sign that you will have a happy and prosperous New Year. The wheat can not be cleaned up until more than 24 hours have passed, or it is bad luck for the forthcoming year.

The students are very interesting. In each class, there are very high level students (one of the 6th formers can translate for me), and some very low level students (in the same class, some of my students have trouble telling me their names). As the Gymnasium is a mixture of town and village students, they have had differing amounts of English at their previous school.

The students are also very happy to be in class. I am reminded that they have hometask that I haven’t collected, and they seem to be trying to out-compete each other in every one of the four skills – reading, writing, speaking, and listening.


After my first official week teaching, I went to the bazaar on Sunday, where I bought a chef’s knife, and a drying rack, so I can do laundry in the flat. I spent the afternoon cooking borshch, which was much better after I found and bought spices at ATB. A went with me, and helped me identify ground pepper, bay leaves, etc, which really help when cooking. Today was a day of hugs, so I was randomly hugged by students and staff. I think it has something to do with good karma.