Slippery Snowman Slides off the Snowy Skis

I think I’m going to try doing short entries and then backdating some later, probably over the winter break, but again, no promises.

My good friend Katherine was in the states visiting family and she needed someone to substitute for her for her English club on Saturdays at 10am for little kiddies. She emailed me a lesson plan and I made all the materials for it.

Getting to Kherson is usually a pretty east thing for me, busses run about every 30min to the city, it’s pretty cheap to go, and it’s only an hour ride. I knew from the last time that I could get off the bus earlier than the bus station and be right at the giant Library, no problem just have to tell the driver to stop. I saw the giant monument on the river that stands in front of the library and ran to the front of the bus and asked for the next stop.  However the next stop was not so close. Again, no problem I will just walk towards the river and then turn left and I should be able to see it. Wrong. There was a large factory of some sort lurking back there in a kinda sketchy area, luckily it was very much daytime, and I got a little lost. I asked a lady with a kid where the library was just to make sure I was in the right direction. Turns out she gave me directions to the kids’ library, so I looked for a baba instead this time to ask. I found one munching on sunflower seeds and politely asked her.  She laughed at me, called me some cute diminutive name and told me how to get there.  At this point it was 5 till 10 and I was definitely going to be late. It wasn’t too far, but still I was late, I asked the library ladies if I could fill out my form after the lesson and they said yes I dropped my coat off downstairs in the coat check area (cause they make you) and then ran up 3 flights of stairs of which I tripped on. Well, almost tripped, I started to fall but I was running so my legs stayed under me and I kinda tripped up the stairs. There were people behind me, but luckily they didn’t laugh. However I found that as I was panting and sweating coming into the English resource center, it was some of the kids behind me. Yay. Also, to top that off, when I entered, one of the ladies came up to me and said “I’m sorry but your zipper…” yup, my zipper was down. Even with all of that, we still had a good English club. I had only 6 kids instead of the normal 12 so everything went pretty quickly, so I had to improvise a lot of games with the material, but I I did get the kids to laugh and speak English, so I’m going call that a win.

I had to get get home pretty soon after that because one of my 8^th graders wanted to go for a walk and show me some of our natural sights in Gola Pristan. She and 2 of her friends met me at my house at 2ish and we walked to the sanitory, taking some sketch slide behind the fences way. She was super excited to show me all the places she had taken pictures at and to also show me where her favorite hideouts are. She loves nature and to take pictures and to just be outdoors. It was wonderful, really.  It was like when I was that age and I would go exploring through the woods. We looked at old soviet statues, found a gold Lenin and lots of Freedom statues. The best part was when we also went off the path to this tiny broken down building, room, not sure what you would call it, and we all climbed on top of it and looked over the salty lake and our village. We talked about travel and seeing the world, and what she wanted to do after school. It was a really good afternoon. I should have made her try to speak English, but meh, I think it was good just to spend time with her.

First Bell

I know this is super late, but hey, it's something:

The First day of school was on September 1^st. It was a big celebration, called the First Bell. I helped one of the Vice Principles, my “real” counterpart on paper, to decorate the week before. We made posters, cut outs of school like paraphernalia, and a huge balloon arch to hang outside. The day of, I came super early to school to help my counterpart (CP for now on) to set up. It was so exciting; especially to see all the kids come dressed in their best school outfits. All the boys were in suits and the girls were in black and white jumpers or dresses. The littlest ones were really adorable. They wear little white pompoms with ribbons in pig tails in their hair.  There was a big celebration outside in the back courtyard of my school, the Gola Pristan Gymnasium, with dancing and various performances.  I also had to give an introduction speech. I said it first in English and then in Russian. All the kids were excited about hearing me, but I could hear the collective “what is she saying?” when I was speaking in English, but then when I said it in Russian, I then heard a collective “ohhhh.” Besides all the singing and dancing for the celebration, there’s also a tradition of giving flowers to your teachers during a set time in the concert. Unexpectedly I did receive some flowers.  One from a girl that was at my summer camp and then after my speech the 11^th graders gave me a bouquet.   The last step is one of the 1^st graders to set on the shoulders of a man and then walk around the yard, ringing a bell to mark the beginning of classes. When the presentation was finished all the kids went to their classes with their class teachers. Class teachers are kind of like homeroom teachers, except they stay with the same class throughout their school career, from 1^st grade to 11^th grade, and then restart with a new 1^st grade. During the “1^st class” I was invited to a small lunch in with the school principle and a few others where there toasts congratulating each other and well wishes made. I also was asked several times if, in America, we celebrate this holiday, and when I sadly told them no they were very curious about what we did to start the school year. They were a bit disappointed with our lack of celebrations, but very enthusiastic to share their day with me. I look forward to next year’s first bell ( kinda because I want to see if I will get more flowers ; ] )

Summer With English!

This summer I also went to a summer camp called, you guessed it, Summer with English. I met other volunteers and hundreds of students from Ukraine, Russia and Poland. We had English clubs everyday and were fed 3 meals, had rooms, and a lot of beach time. At night there was always a concert, or variety show, put on by the kiddies and camp counselors, and a few times we came up with skits or dances on our own, much to the delight of the kids.  

The American Soccer team, i was the goalie of course and got filthy.

me and the asian, all the Ukrainians loved him, he also was the best dancer.

the beach in Zhelzny Port on the Black Sea

Our lovely soviet dormitories

the toilet, bez lid and the shower square

the stage

on International Friends day at camp

preparing for a skit, i was a ukrainian 

one of the little chickas singing 

beware of the jellies, they're everywhere!

MAN THONG

Crimea

Crimea was so beautiful; I had such a great time with my LCF (language teacher from training, Zhenya) and her family. I took a train at 6 in the morning and got there by 11. It sucked. There’s no ac, that’s expected, but I did expect that the window in my pluscart would open, but no. I was sweating my but off and my pluscart neighbor had a 2 yr old crying and jumping around the whole time. When I got in to Simferopol one of the first things I did was buy a fan to try to alleviate the heat some.   Zhenya and her son met me at the train station and then we went to her house where she lives with her parents. Her dad was amazing, he showed me around their garden and told me old war stories of the navy. I got the gist of what he told me but I was lost on most of the details. We had a huge lunch and just sat and talked for hours. Her mom is an English teacher and has a big personality, we got along great. That evening I and we went out to a disc- teka to dance the night away. They had a weird show with 2 large women ballerinas; we even got pulled into to dance with them.

The next morning we attempted to wake up early, failed, but still early enough to make our trip worthwhile. We went to Yalta and saw the Livadia palace, the post WWII house where Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt met to organize the world. We took an elevator through and down the mountain to beaches on the black sea. It was beautiful, the water next to the mountains and all the trees. After we were done exploring Yalta we went to Sevastopol to stay with her kuma (godparent).  The drive along the coastline was breathtaking, even more so because the sun was setting.

Sunday in Sevastopol was a big Navy holiday. Flags and sailors were everywhere. Zhenya’s son sported a sailor outfit too, complete with hat. They had a “war reenactment” with a parade of their battle ships on the water. The city was packed, it was like being at Disney world. After the boat procession, we went to Hersones (not sure of the sp), incredible Greek ruins on cliffs by the sea.  We hiked around and went swimming, although changing in our bathing suits was and venture too. We took turns going into bushes to change and when I went, a man was coming near, so I haphazardly threw my cloths back on and acted like I was taking pictures. So much fun.  Later that day I met up with Andrea! She lives in Sevastopol and we went for gelato and just walked around and talked until she had to go home.we walked by a boat club called “White People Club,” no joke. Apparently it’s not racist, you’re just supposed to wear only white when you go there, but still…   Zhenya dropped her son off at her Kuma’s and we walked around some more touristy places and shops. We also found earrings that her dad was going to pierce our ears with the next day. We stopped at a comic themed café and had a drink. Zhenya flirted with the waiter and got me a sweet menu as a souvenir =) We went back to Simferopol late that evening on a marshutka and stood for the whole 2 hours, in the stairs. I got my ankle stuck once when the driver opened the door. Funny, but definitely embarrassing.

Monday morning Zhenya’s dad wanted to pierce our ears first thing. He got out what he called Turkish needles, vodka, and stale bread. The vodka was used to sterilize the needles and earrings. The bread was to catch the needle behind our ears. He first rubbed our ears really hard between his fingers and then pushed the needle through the ear. Mine hardly bled, but Zhenya’s bled a lot. Don’t worry, we got it on video. It was then time for her class, she is teaching business English for tourism industry. I went to help out and to talk to the young women in English. It was fun, everyone had lots of questions for me as they always do and I hoped I was somewhat helpful. Zhenya was happy that I got one of the shier girls that never talks to speak up and answer questions.  In the evening we went to close by village and met another LCF there who gave us a tour of his village’s landmarks. We first saw an old Muslim castle/compound and then when up to the mountains where priests built a church and living quarters within the mountain side. So beautiful. Lots of old graves and overgrown buildings.

At breakfast before I left the next day, Zhenya’s dad sat me down. Told me how he was so happy to have met me and that he hopes I’ll always remember him, but in case I forget he made me a ring. He makes his own knives so he used some left over material and forged a ring. It’s very simple, but unique and I wear it all the time now. Whenever I call Zhenya now I always say hi to him. It was a awesome trip, it helps me adjust to living here the more close friends I make.

in the summer

I do have another entry for July, however it contains lots of pictures and I have not figured out how to make my pictures show up on other computers...Anyways I thought I’d write something. July started off busy but after a big festival, everything got very quiet.  I’ve spent a few days on a local green tourism farm, getting to know the people, but mostly just enjoying nature and their “master classes.” I also have spent a lot of time with my neighbor and her family.  She helps with my Russian by having me recite poems and memorize new words, but mostly we just talk in English and Russian sprinkled with some Ukrainian. Uber sergick. Her father-in-law is constantly trying to convince me that I will make a good Ukrainian wife and tells everyone that is introduced to me that I am an American volunteer from Florida and that I need a good boyfriend.  Even his son tells me that he admires the work I do with people, but life is not just work and that two years is too much time  to go without a boyfriend, but not to worry, they’ll help. Yea, fun…One time I was talking to a friend on Skype at their house and they saw him and immediately afterward, as if none of our previous conversation had happened, began to praise me on what a good boyfriend he must be. I told them no, just friends and then they argued with me again about how I’m such a good girl and so on. I looked at my neighbor and told her maybe I just should have said yes and she laughed with me and agreed.

Days have been hot, like 107 degrees, seriously. My land lady, proud 60 something-er, walks around in short shorts and with her tank top tied like a bikini top. She has guests over and works with the construction men, and is not bothered at all. Sometimes she even insists that I do the same because it is so hot, and tells me that I can wear my bathing suit around to feel cooler. Luckily my neighbors lent me a fan for the summer, and that seems to have pleased her so that she lets me wear my conservative “hot” clothes. She is also very interested in what I cook, (not very much) and is on me when I enter the kitchen to stare at me, but she’s just concerned and I try to remember this as I make my grilled cheese. She’s very sweet, but I am still excited about living on my own in the fall.

So over all, life is slow, but I am happy to be making good relationships at the green farms and with my neighbors. Next weekend I am going to visit my LCF down in Crimea and hopefully see a close friend! And then the following weekend I leave for a summer camp on the sea for most of August. Tan lines here I come.

Welcome to Naked Harbor

 

The past couple of weeks have been such a whirl wind of experiences that I thought it time to update a bit about what is going on.

On June 13^th I left Oster and said my goodbyes to my host family. My host mom had me leave my winter coats so that I’d have more room for all my PC books and papers and so that I would have to visit to come pick them up before winter sets in. They were so good to me, loving, and they fed me (very important). My host mom is worried that I might lose weight and become small Cassi because I don’t know how to cook for myself. I told her that I agree; weight loss plan here I come.

My Luggage to site, plus one more big blue bag with my emergency kit in it.

My host sisters saying goodbye =(

As soon as we got to our dormitories in Kyiv, we received our language test results…I got intermediate-mid, which means I am at where the PC wants me at, so YAY! I didn’t fail. After that we checked in, had lunch and then to site placement announcements. I am in region 2 (only means something to PC) and in the south in the Kherson oblast in a smallish city called Hola Prystan, which translated means Naked Harbor =) The YD coordinator came up to me and told me that I will love my new site because of the marine life and nature, so I guess the site placement interviews do actually mean something cause that’s kinda what I requested. L’andrea is in my same region, so yay I’m not alone (even if she is 7 hours away by train)! None of my group members are near me, but it’s ok.

The next day we met our counterparts. Mine is a 25yr old single woman who is very bubbly and excited to speak English with me. She is an English teacher at the Gymnasium (same thing as a school, all grades) and she just wants to do everything with me.  The rest of the day and the next were full of meetings and seminars and spending some quality time with other volunteers.

Swearing in day, we had to make it to a theater in the center of kyiv, luckily I had my counterpart. It was hot outside and inside, but still full of excitement. We had some great guest speakers and speeches by some fellow PCVs. When we swore it, everyone was silent and smiling.

Me and my ginge after swearing in.

The next step was an overnight train ride to Kherson, the biggest city near my site and the capitol of my oblast. It was 13 hours long and a lot of it was spent sleeping and the rest was my counterpart asking me things in English and then practicing some small Russian phrases with me. It was kinda strange, one because it was my first time on a train, two because we had a plutscart which is four seats (PC bought them all 5 suitcases) kinda bunk bed style that is open to the rest of the train car. It was new, but all was ok, didn’t bother me enough not to sleep. As soon as we got into Kherson, some current PCVs met us with maps and toilet paper and I was whisked away a car in which we crammed my luggage into. I think it took like 30-40min to get to Hola Prystan, but not really sure, a lot happened that day, or at least I experienced a lot of emotions. We went to the Gymnasium first, said hi to the director and them was driven to my house I’m at now with a land lady. I had like 6 people talking at me and not sure what anyone said, but I paid rent, remembered to get my land lady to sign a form that I paid, was told to sit and rest 6 times, and then told to shower, sleep and then to unpack. I slept for about an hour, and then took a wonderful outside shower. My neighbor invited me over for tea and to meet her family. She’s an English teacher too, but she’s on maternity leave with a 5 month. She also has a 7 yr old who I spend a lot of time with playing games and legos. We’re besties. She also has a large extended family who has brought me in as one of their own, they regularly force feed me borsch and tea and I love every minute of it.

Welcome to Hola Prystan

My room

My outdoor shower=)

My bestie!

Me and some of my neighbor’s family members

From there, the last week has been full of meetings, tours, and getting acquainted with the town. I’ve gotten to see some of Naked Harbor’s beautiful nature and have fallen in love with the city. The symbol of the city is a lily and I got to see why on a boat tour in one of the delta rivers, the Chika. Lily pads were everywhere with blossoms and frogs, it was magical looking. We also have a small beach area; it’s small, but with brackish water and sand. Makes me feel at home.  I meet with directors of green tourism locations and they want me to help them write grants and to help translate some information into English to improve their areas. I’m nervous about this, but excited to make a difference, hopefully I can.

6 days left in Oster!

3 days until my LPI =language proficiency interview! so nervous and so so excited to learn my new site in 6 days! packing and saying goodbye to my host family is going to be hard. 

summer camp is over, thank goodness. I would go play/teach my kiddies and then go play with the other group's kids. We taught about not smoking, healthy teeth and staying active, and then we just played a bunch of games, including soccer! the boys loved it when i played with them and the girls all giggled when i talked to them about boys. 

lots of language review and family time and preparing!

love you and miss you all

 

Easter

I know this is late, but it's still really cool. This was at 3 am Easter morning. We gathered around the church with baskets of food that had candles and then the priests waleked around and splashed us in the face and blessed our food. this is the one good pic i got.

Adventures in Chernigov

tak, so, lots has been going on, and not alot of blogging, but it is what it is with limited internet access in ukraine. my friend in my city/group keeps a blog pretty regularly and talks about me so here it is if your intrested:

something frosty.

somethingfrosty.blogspot.com


Last Saturday I went to Chernigov all by lonesome to get out of Oster to a bigger city and to see my dear friend Andrea. I was successful in getting there, in a two hour marshutka bus ride. I put my brick face on and my ipod headphones in my ears. I got off in the city center and met Andrea with lots of reunion hugs. We then went to a library where they had the Twilight series in Ukrainian! and just relaxed. some of her group mates met us and they worked on thier seminar plan and I played on the internet (wifi!!!!) on my ipod. It was nice just to sit and talk with someone who knows me relly well. Later, we walked around the city and I marveled at the traffic lights and noted thier lack of chickens and horses in th street. We went shopping in a huge bazaar and made purchases. I got some pretty awesome sun glasses with bling, some tennis shoes (knock offs i'm sure), and we found a Columbia store! It seemed legit, I bought some socks, but thats about all I could afford. We also ate at this pretty awsome outdoor cafe. I had some asperagus with cheese at the end and Andrea ordered potatoes and lovely salo. When it was time to go, she took me to the bus stop and I bought my ticket for the way home. It took us about 20 minutes to figure out where the platform for the bus was. I asked the cashier, but instead of saying it slower, she just yelled at me louder, so I went to the hot dog girl and got a much softer answer. While waiting, this tiny little babushka comes up to me and grabs my hand and is like devi, devii,  or give me give me. I was surprised, but gave her like 20 kopecks. I then watched her circle around the room and other people just shooed her away. and then she came to me again, and I turned her away. Getting on the bus, I just sat in any seat, because thats how it works in Oster, but apperenly not in Chernigov. ipod on, brick face ready, this little girl ( like maybe 10 yrs) starts talking to me about numbers, something in Ukrainian ( not that if it was Russian I would have understood) and I had no idea. I told her I didnt understand, but then one of the other passengers turned around and spoke english and helped me out. I was in the wrong seat, and thus sat in the right one after that. I made it home safetly, did some homework and went to bed.

Yesterday (saturday) was a field trip day for my group. We went to our link group first in Kozolets at 730 in the morning and then after our tech session we went to Chernigov. We got on the first bus that said chernivgov and waited for the driver to pay him. While waiting I noticed another bus come and go wich Chernivgov also written on it. When the driver got back on, I went and asked if we were going to the right place, and the answer was no. I got the group off and we called our teacher to find out what to do since we had missed our bus. We got into a van taxi thing and got dropped off at a bridge on the highway (dont worry, everyone does this) and then walked down to the under pass and basically hitched a ride in another taxi to chernivgov, did the whole hand out thing and everything. We did get there though, pretty fast and just in time because the boys had hair ct appts.They got the the canadian aparently,  ( not my ginge, he just shaved it all off) and we went and got Lydia a hair straitener. We had all these plans for site seeing and have great day, however it was cold and started to rain. I didnt wear a jacket and I only brought a scarf. We did eat at a traditonal restaurant though, it was themed Australia, but served nothing resembling the outback. Still raining, we made our way to the train station and did our train lesson. We did not go to any cool places, it was freezing and we were all wet. Lydia and I did buy our big Ukrainian bags though.

Today, another day in Chernivgov. I went bymyself again. There was a picnic some of the PST groups in Cher. planned. There were lots of volunteers and some hostfamilies, LCFS, and students. We had a huge spread of food. It was so nice. It was in this woodsy park on a hill that over looked some body of water. Andrea was there and lots of others that I had met in the first few days of training. I was there for like 5ish hours i think, mybe more, we just chilled and threw some balls around, including my deflated rugby ball. I Think the seal is broken, it wont hold air :[  No troubles traveling  this time, the weather was awesome, warm and sunny, all went well.

snow, snow, go away

Where to start...so many little incidents and stories...
This is for my mom: Sometime within the first week, I was in my room and the cat came in and then went under my bed and started to growl. I inspected and there was a fresh fish and the cat was going at it. I thought to myself, this can't be normal..and worked up the nerve to go ask my host sister. She was "OMG" (in Russian of course) and the dad came and threw the cat out and cleaned up the mess. I learned later that the cat got the fish from what was to be our dinner that night. Yum Yum.

Apparently the snow has not stopped, and it flurries or rains randomly during the days. I got soaked one afternoon after language class, and the next day before I left, my host mom forced an umbrella in to my hand as I left for the day. Even with all the snow though, it is the time of year to start a garden. Yesterday I helped my host mom out with the garden, raking and cleaning. Then we planted tulips, for Easter I think, and she told me that later we would plant all sorts of vegetables, and the only one I caught on to was tomatoe, so I assume she was also listing other veggies that we were going to grow. I also helped one of my Host sisters with English homework while they helped me to prepare for my teaching lesson.

That brings us to today. I taught my first lesson today to a class of 6 formers (grade?) with one of my fellow PC trainees. I was nervous, the kids were nervous, but it turned out good. I forgot almost all my Russian commands, but luckily I had lots of visuals and my counterpart speaks pretty good Russian because he took some in college. The main teacher made a point at the end to come up to the front of the classroom and thank us for the lesson and to tell us that we did such a great job, fantastic. She said even though the kids were shy at first, that they really got into the lesson and learned what we were there to teach them.
Our TCF (tech teacher) debriefed us afterward and gave some helpful hints and suggestions. All in all, I think we did a pretty good job. I have to learn to not take over all the time though, in other words, to not be a control freak. But I'm learning.

Things are still going good here, I make it a point to speak a little more Russian everyday to my wonderful host family. Me and the other PCV get along good and work well together. I love my teachers, even when there's frustrataion on either side and can tell I'm already starting to grow, or something sappy like that.
Cas

"With the right attitude, you are doomed to suceed"- Irena

So, I'm learning Russian, I'm pretty terrible. I keep slipping french in accidently. My host family is fantasic, we moslty use gestures to communicate and my host mom really wants me to learn the names of things. One of my host sisers knows some english so when she's around it's a big help. It's finally starting to warm up, no snow since the first day. Feels like i've been here so long already and its only been a week. We met th mayor, gave a sort-of memorized speech in botched Russian to introduce ourselves, but all is ok. One day at a time.
Miss you all.

I'm here!

I made it safetly, confused and all. The pilot announced my birthday over the loud speaker and then the other volunteers sang happy birthday, very sweet. The flight attendants brought me a rose and a good bag from first class. It was a long stressful day and I'm glad to be grounded. We have a dinner thingy tonight, so more fun to ensue.
love and miss you all

Scattered Brain

Hello all (really, just some)
I leave for the airport in 4 hours, just have my carry on to finish packing. I'm sure there's way too much crap, but hey, there always is. I'm scared that I'm going to be the slow one in the group and never catch up on the language, but so excited to make this change and to be there. I'm gonna miss everyone and be lonely at times, but I will build up my support system as fast as possible by forcing people to be my friends (it works, trust me.)
I turn 25 tomorrow, on the plane to the Ukraine, I'm sure I will always remember this birthday and what it marks, kinda awesome.
So, yup, that's all for now, I think.
Love and will miss you all!