Or, the winter is a lie.
I was expecting a cold winter with lots of snowfall starting in October or November. Early flurries and a rapid cooling in mid-autumn seemed to confirm this. However, the first full week of December has come and brought with it highs well above freezing for the next seven days, even though December 1 itself saw heavy, albeit brief, snowfall. I can't say I'm complaining.
Things have been going well, although it's been a bit dull and routine-like. Wake up early on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Guzzle instant coffee. Teach until 2:30. Sleep in a bit on Thursday and Friday (9 AM). Teach until 2:30. Russian lessons on Wednesday. Occasional basketball after school. A sporadically-attended English club on Thursday afternoon. I've punctuated the monotony of my schedule and the gray, joyless weather of the last month in several ways. I worked at a collaborative camp for the volunteers in my province last weekend at a college in Krivoy Rog. It was a hit, and my lesson on Coca-Colonization seemed to be well-liked. We're going to bring the same idea to my school in February, so I've made it a goal to sort out the whats and whens of it with my colleagues by the end of this week. I've been compulsively listening to "The History of Rome" podcast, along with periodically reading and working on stuff for Camp Republic II, next summer.
But all that was a bit of a bore, so I decided to eat contaminated food and enjoy a few rounds of food poisoning to keep myself and my vomiting and evacuation skills in tip-top shape. I hope you enjoyed reading that last sentence (and the following ones) as much as I enjoyed writing it. Something was rotten in the state of our school cafeteria last Wednesday, as both the American teacher and around twenty students in the school suffered similar ailments and were absent from school last Thursday and Friday.
I shan't dwell on the particulars of Ukraine's third assault on my digestive tract, but I am actually thankful it. There's nothing like a little sickness to make you thankful for good health and, barring that, a doctor on call and a support network. Besides, I getting way too cocky, what with my pleasant looking forward to my return to America by Christmas and my presumptuous supposed understanding of Ukraine. The borderland must have felt obliged to take the arrogant American down a notch or two.
If good winds hold, I should be back in Atlanta on December 22, take a short side trip to Colorado on December 31, and return to Europe on January 6. If you're an American at home reading this, I hope to see you during that short time. If you're someone else, then Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. And so on.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Field trip!
Yesterday I went on a field trip with my school's sixth grade. We got on a bus at 5:50AM and drove three hours east to Svyatogorsk, a Russian Orthodox monastery and church complex (lavra) in the neighboring region. The area around the area was the most beautiful area I've seen in Ukraine--no ugly buildings, decrepit roads, or factories there
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| The view of the main church area |
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| Walking toward the cathedrals |
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| I found Taco Bird. He's converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took monastic vows. |
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| Awesome wooden church on one of the hilltops |
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| My counterpart and Zhenya from my 6G class, who asked right before this if it was true this was a "balcony of death" (балкон смерти, balkon smerti) |
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| View of Artem, who has a statue on the neighboring mountain. Never found out who he was beyond "Soviet revolutionary." |
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| View from Zhenya's balcony of death |
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| A war monument? What a shock |
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| More monuments to heroes of the Soviet Union? How original! |
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| Artem was a big guy and had interesting tastes in fashion, apparently |
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| View of the town of Svyatogorsk |
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| Top of Artem's peak, looking down at the lavra |
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| Artem's memorial |
Monday, September 5, 2011
Первый Сентября и Первый звонок
First of September and First Bell
First Bell and Day of Knowledge is what the first day of school (Sept. 1) is known as in Ukraine and, I'm assuming, most of the former USSR. After three months of summer (less for some classes with summer exams), the students and teachers come back to school with, from what I've sensed thus far, similar attitudes--summer's over, we have to work again, and cold weather is just around the corner.
Anyway, the first day of school is not really what you'd call the first day of class. My school had a big ceremony outside on our soccer field. There are several traditions associated with First Bell. One is flowers--each student brings flowers to their teachers. I have dozens of students and got more flowers than I knew what to do with, as well as some that Ukrainian teachers tried [successfully] to pawn off on me. I don't have a vase in my apartment, so the flowers that made it home were placed in a beautiful stadium cup from Turner Field. At any rate, here's a few thousand words to better illustrate the day than my clumsy English (and even clumsier Russian):
So that was my first First Bell ceremony. After the ceremony, which lasted just under two hours, the students have one lesson with their homeroom teachers about Ukraine, which I think is intended to invoke patriotism in them (they talked about national symbols and such). Then they went home. The first few weeks of school are not exactly what you'd call "well-planned." There is still nothing resembling a finalized schedule for any teacher, and they basically go day-to-day for the first few weeks while they figure out when every class should be. Not sure who exactly "they" are, but I've started teaching at last. New and improved! I'll update sometime this month with some stuff from my classes (hopefully).
-Andrew
First Bell and Day of Knowledge is what the first day of school (Sept. 1) is known as in Ukraine and, I'm assuming, most of the former USSR. After three months of summer (less for some classes with summer exams), the students and teachers come back to school with, from what I've sensed thus far, similar attitudes--summer's over, we have to work again, and cold weather is just around the corner.
Anyway, the first day of school is not really what you'd call the first day of class. My school had a big ceremony outside on our soccer field. There are several traditions associated with First Bell. One is flowers--each student brings flowers to their teachers. I have dozens of students and got more flowers than I knew what to do with, as well as some that Ukrainian teachers tried [successfully] to pawn off on me. I don't have a vase in my apartment, so the flowers that made it home were placed in a beautiful stadium cup from Turner Field. At any rate, here's a few thousand words to better illustrate the day than my clumsy English (and even clumsier Russian):
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| Showing the general madness prevailing around the school at 8AM |
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| Everyone and their babushka was there |
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| Ring around the field |
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| The ceremony is special for the 11th graders, for whom it's their last year, and the 1st graders, for whom it's the first year of school |
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| Some of my 11A students are entering the field |
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| And now the first graders...part of the school uniform for little girls is apparently absurdly oversized hair bows |
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| There was all kinds of entertainment there... |
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| Like this group (one of the PE teachers and some random students), who dressed as Cossacks (I think) and did some martial arts moves and dances and poses |
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| I wish I was more attentive, because this dancing team (in blue) came out with the girl in the suitcase. |
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| They were pretty talented, not that you could see that from the mediocre photo work |
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| Something with balloons. I don't really know why, everything was still in Ukrainian at this point and I tend to just zone out when someone's not speaking Russian or English |
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| One of the girl's balloons wouldn't float up because it was tied to some non-helium ones, so she chased it around the field for a good thirty seconds |
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| ...seen here |
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| and away they go |
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| One of the traditions is for an 11th-grade boy to carry around a 1st-grade girl around on his shoulders as she rings a bell to represent the start of school. Not sure how you get picked for this role, but that's Dima from my class |
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| Dima and the little girl, along with Sasha and Zhenya carrying a torch of some kind, paraded around the field |
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| Bringin' it back home |
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| The little kid with the mic in front is Anton, one of my 6th grade students. He sang at Last Bell in May as well, and he has a great voice. |
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| And now the students and their teachers exit. Papa Tolik, the head PE coach, is the teacher in front of Anton in the black suit |
-Andrew
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Summer highlights
I thought I'd include a few photos from all the places I went to this summer on this post. Not too many, but just so y'all can see what I've done. You can see pics from my day camp in Pavlograd below, so I'll avoid repetition by starting with...
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In mid-June, a bunch of volunteers went to Kiev for various meetings and to go to the swearing-in ceremony for Group 41. This is me (ruining the picture I guess) with Avital, Catherine, and Colette |
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Before my parents came to Ukraine, I was in Kiev with Anand and his family, seen here. We never knew why there was confetti all over Kreschatik Street. Some random holiday, probably. |
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I don't have any pictures yet of my parents in Kiev (ahem, Dad), but this is the view from our house in Croatia. |
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I can't imagine any place further from cold Ukrainian winter than balmy, beautiful Dalmatia |
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I split from my family in Croatia and headed to Prague... |
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..where I met my friend Meredith. It was really humid that night, as I recall (and you can probably tell) |
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| Hanging out the second night in Prague with Alex, a pretty cool Canadian dude I met in my hostel |
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| Czech guards |
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| From Prague, I took a train to Munich. This is at the Hofbrauhaus beer hall. My camera never actually made it out of my duffel bag in Germany, so these photos were lifted from Facebook. |
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| Met up with my friend Michael there. Note the background here... |
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| You can see 4 Japanese men, with socks, shorts, and dress shoes, one of whom ordered a glass of wine at a Bavarian beer hall |
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| We found this amusing |
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| Later we went to the English gardens and enjoyed some Bavarian brews in the river (nature's fridge) |
School starts tomorrow here. It was a little strange at first since high school in Georgia started in early August (my senior year began August 1, 2005) and college was already back in by the middle of the month, but I've already gotten used to it. When I say "School starts tomorrow," what I actually mean is "There will be a ceremony tomorrow taking up most of the day and the vice-principal may finally decide the class schedule, then they will have one lesson about Ukraine or something after the ceremony. The schedule likely won't be done until Friday, however, so you won't start teaching until Monday." That works for me, I guess. It will be good to get back into working and teaching, and I'm especially happy to get the students for a whole year this time. This could be my only complete school year in Ukraine, so I plan on making the most of it.
I'm leaving you (for now) with a video made by the students of my 10A (soon to be 11A) class in our summer camp in June. It's a short tour of Pavlograd and our school, narrated by them and with subtitles. Hope it's illuminating.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Of crazy camps, and evanescent equinoxes
The longest day of the year has mercifully been the coolest in June so far. The wind from the northeast (i.e., Siberia and the never-ending Russian steppes) is wonderful in the summer, not nightmarish as it is in winter.
Peaks are funny things. This day will have the most sunlight of any this year, yet the warmest days are yet to come. Likewise, the sun's nadir is always before Christmas, yet the coldest days come after the New Year, despite the sun's gaining strength every day. I like to think everything in nature and life has lesson that can be drawn from it, so what does this mean for us? Maybe it lets us know that "best" and "worst" are always immensely subjective terms. At 23, I'm probably as close to my physical prime as I'll ever be. Does that mean I always feel the best? Given the allergy situation that seems to blights most Americans in Ukrainian summers, no, not recently. Am I the strongest or most fit I've ever been? Resoundingly, no. I am definitely missing out on exercising due to lack of good places to run and a deficit of good gyms in town. Obviously, no one at 23 is at the wealth or wisdom zenith of their lives, so I won't even touch those. So what does a peak like today or this juncture in my life mean? In my opinion, not much. Age is just a number, and you shouldn't let the weather dictate how you feel or what you do--advice I wish Ukrainians followed from November to March. Similarly, what about our country? A lot of people, in newspapers, on the Internet, and on the streets, are saying that the U.S. is in decline, that our peak strength is past. To be sure, I don't know if the U.S. will be as strong relative to other nations as it was in the 1990s and early 2000s--the USSR had just imploded, and the huge countries of China and India had just entered the modern world. That doesn't mean our best days are behind us.
I was thinking today about the news and how doomsday predictions--about hotspots like Afghanistan or North Korea, about the environment and related catastrophes, and forecasts of famine or war--always get attention in the news. 2012, half the world's species extinct by the year 20XX, unsustainable population growth, etc. ad nauseum. Sure, a lot of these are bad. Sure, a lot of these can mean change or disaster. But what do disasters really mean in the big scheme of things? Take World Wars I & II--probably simultaneously the most devastating and important large-scale event(s) of the last 500 years. They changed so much over the world, and yet, at the end of the day, what happened? The world didn't stop turning. People didn't stop fighting or not fighting. In half the world, you'd be hard pressed to notice much of anything, i.e. Latin America, Africa, etc. Even in the most affected countries--Germany, the USSR, Japan, and China--where the destruction was biblical in scope, what happened? They rebuilt. Their people recovered, in a generation or two. Or look at the Black Death in medieval Europe. People died in thousands. It killed about a third of the population in Europe. I think that the Black Death was, safe to say, the most devastating plague in history. But it still only killed one third of people. Not to slight these deaths or any other, they're all horribly tragic, but at the end of the day, what matters? Life as we know it was never threatened. Civilization survived and even thrived. Life in general, and humans especially, have an amazing ability to adapt. Life goes on.
I wasn't anticipating writing all of that. I think I've had a lot flying around my head recently. At any rate, the camp has been a quasi-organized, quasi-chaotic, generally fun mess of large groups of screaming Ukrainian children and one American attempting to direct their energy into something besides whacking each other with brooms. On that point, it was a resounding success. Did the kids have fun? Yes. Did I? Mostly, I suppose. Did they learn anything? I hope so. Did I learn something? Well, at least my Russian vocabulary expanded.
I have 4 more days of camp with my 10th grade class; we finish on Saturday. Then summer vacation begins...
Peaks are funny things. This day will have the most sunlight of any this year, yet the warmest days are yet to come. Likewise, the sun's nadir is always before Christmas, yet the coldest days come after the New Year, despite the sun's gaining strength every day. I like to think everything in nature and life has lesson that can be drawn from it, so what does this mean for us? Maybe it lets us know that "best" and "worst" are always immensely subjective terms. At 23, I'm probably as close to my physical prime as I'll ever be. Does that mean I always feel the best? Given the allergy situation that seems to blights most Americans in Ukrainian summers, no, not recently. Am I the strongest or most fit I've ever been? Resoundingly, no. I am definitely missing out on exercising due to lack of good places to run and a deficit of good gyms in town. Obviously, no one at 23 is at the wealth or wisdom zenith of their lives, so I won't even touch those. So what does a peak like today or this juncture in my life mean? In my opinion, not much. Age is just a number, and you shouldn't let the weather dictate how you feel or what you do--advice I wish Ukrainians followed from November to March. Similarly, what about our country? A lot of people, in newspapers, on the Internet, and on the streets, are saying that the U.S. is in decline, that our peak strength is past. To be sure, I don't know if the U.S. will be as strong relative to other nations as it was in the 1990s and early 2000s--the USSR had just imploded, and the huge countries of China and India had just entered the modern world. That doesn't mean our best days are behind us.
I was thinking today about the news and how doomsday predictions--about hotspots like Afghanistan or North Korea, about the environment and related catastrophes, and forecasts of famine or war--always get attention in the news. 2012, half the world's species extinct by the year 20XX, unsustainable population growth, etc. ad nauseum. Sure, a lot of these are bad. Sure, a lot of these can mean change or disaster. But what do disasters really mean in the big scheme of things? Take World Wars I & II--probably simultaneously the most devastating and important large-scale event(s) of the last 500 years. They changed so much over the world, and yet, at the end of the day, what happened? The world didn't stop turning. People didn't stop fighting or not fighting. In half the world, you'd be hard pressed to notice much of anything, i.e. Latin America, Africa, etc. Even in the most affected countries--Germany, the USSR, Japan, and China--where the destruction was biblical in scope, what happened? They rebuilt. Their people recovered, in a generation or two. Or look at the Black Death in medieval Europe. People died in thousands. It killed about a third of the population in Europe. I think that the Black Death was, safe to say, the most devastating plague in history. But it still only killed one third of people. Not to slight these deaths or any other, they're all horribly tragic, but at the end of the day, what matters? Life as we know it was never threatened. Civilization survived and even thrived. Life in general, and humans especially, have an amazing ability to adapt. Life goes on.
I wasn't anticipating writing all of that. I think I've had a lot flying around my head recently. At any rate, the camp has been a quasi-organized, quasi-chaotic, generally fun mess of large groups of screaming Ukrainian children and one American attempting to direct their energy into something besides whacking each other with brooms. On that point, it was a resounding success. Did the kids have fun? Yes. Did I? Mostly, I suppose. Did they learn anything? I hope so. Did I learn something? Well, at least my Russian vocabulary expanded.
I have 4 more days of camp with my 10th grade class; we finish on Saturday. Then summer vacation begins...
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
NBA playoffs
So this is obviously unconnected to Ukraine or Peace Corps or my current life. Just thought I'd share something American-sports related.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=wilbon/110530
I understand the sentiments behind this article, but I simply don't see how LeBron is single-handedly responsible for the NBA's boost this season. Granted, his prima donna antics have generated some interest and plenty of haters (can't say that I'm a fan). And I think the Heat are the team America loves to hate for these playoffs. But I think the major factor driving the NBA's boost this season is the new competitive nature. The last 2 finals had the same 2 dominant teams play each other, Los Angeles and Boston. That's great and interesting if you're from California or Massachusetts, or if you're a bandwagoner like one of my college roommates (he was from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and his favorite pro teams were the Yankees, the Colts, and the Lakers). But it's kinda boring when even though your team makes the playoffs, no one thinks they have a snowball's chance in hell (and they don't...Atlanta).
But this year, the mighty Lakers fell in humiliating fashion, in the end to Phil Jackson's distinguished career and possibly Kobe's. Everyone brakes to gawk at a car accident. The Celtics were out early as well, opening the door for new teams, and a new level of competitiveness. Basketball leagues are always, I think, more likely to be top-heavy than other leagues because the teams are smaller--it's easier to get a lineup of superstars and have a dynasty. But now we have a multi-polar world in the NBA. And I think that's what is driving the boost in ratings.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=wilbon/110530
I understand the sentiments behind this article, but I simply don't see how LeBron is single-handedly responsible for the NBA's boost this season. Granted, his prima donna antics have generated some interest and plenty of haters (can't say that I'm a fan). And I think the Heat are the team America loves to hate for these playoffs. But I think the major factor driving the NBA's boost this season is the new competitive nature. The last 2 finals had the same 2 dominant teams play each other, Los Angeles and Boston. That's great and interesting if you're from California or Massachusetts, or if you're a bandwagoner like one of my college roommates (he was from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and his favorite pro teams were the Yankees, the Colts, and the Lakers). But it's kinda boring when even though your team makes the playoffs, no one thinks they have a snowball's chance in hell (and they don't...Atlanta).
But this year, the mighty Lakers fell in humiliating fashion, in the end to Phil Jackson's distinguished career and possibly Kobe's. Everyone brakes to gawk at a car accident. The Celtics were out early as well, opening the door for new teams, and a new level of competitiveness. Basketball leagues are always, I think, more likely to be top-heavy than other leagues because the teams are smaller--it's easier to get a lineup of superstars and have a dynasty. But now we have a multi-polar world in the NBA. And I think that's what is driving the boost in ratings.
Наша Школьная Жизнь
Or, Our School Life.
So I've made an entry devoted to my work here teaching English. I've added photos from School No. 9 in Vasylkiv and School No. 1 in Pavlograd, ranging from October to this morning. Without further ado...
School No. 9 in Vasylkiv, with our 10B class. I'm on the left, next to Avital and Colette.
10B, same day
Showing my driver's license to the students
Observing a lesson in Vasylkiv
Courtney and I with 2 of our best 10B students, Anya and Alina
More 10B students from Vasylkiv in one of our demo lessons.
A demo lesson in Vasylkiv with a younger class, 6th or 7th grade I think
School No. 9's direktor, on the left; Larissa, Peace Corps staff and our trainer; and School No. 3's direktor (I think)
On a school field trip over winter break to Dnepropetrovsk, at a McDonald's. We went to see a children's production of Alice in Wonderland on ice in Russian. Several 5th grade classes from different schools went. Yelena Ivanovna, my counterpart and English teacher at School No. 1 in Pavlograd is on the left in the brown jacket, with her homeroom class and our 5A class in tow.
The front of School No. 1 (my current workplace in Pavlograd) in the dead of winter on a rare sunny day. It looks almost completely different now with leaves on the trees and so forth.
Some of the 10A students at School No. 1 at a Christmas party/my welcome party, shortly before winter break.
The Christmas "pageant" in my school. One of my 10A students, Kristina, is Snegurochka, the granddaughter and companion of Ded Moroz (Russian Santa Claus).
Ded Moroz, Snegurochka, and me
10A at a lesson in March. We started the double-header lesson with learning the old folk song "Oh! Susanna," which they thought was awesome (especially with the harmonica and banjo mp3 I played for them)
"Shto?? What is your banjo?!" (just kidding, they knew what a banjo was)
I still haven't mastered teacherly writing on a chalkboard. And probably never will.
The chapter we were on was weather, which is how "Oh! Susanna" tied into it (somewhat vaguely and strenuously). Here Roma and Kostya give their best impersonations of weathermen.
And now it's Zhenya's turn.
...and now Masha's turn.
Then Sasha got a try.
The better part of the 10A class. With yours truly, nash amerikanyets!
And last we have my 5G class at our English day camp this morning. Today was music today, so I helped them ("helped" being generous giving my complete lack of vocalist talents) learn 4 English songs--"Jingle Bells," "Hakuna Matata," "Oh! Susanna," and last but not least, "You Are My Sunshine." The last has enormous personal importance to me, because Mom used to sing it to me when she rocked me when I was a baby.
That concludes this for the day, mainly because that's basically all the photos and the only video I have from school. As you can see, I am greatly enjoying my work here, and the school is happy to have me as well. I wish I had some more photos of my colleagues here in Pavlograd, but that will come I suppose. I went with about 15 teachers on Friday to an old Soviet Pioneers (basically Communist Party Boy and Girl Scouts) camp to grill out and drink. It was great fun, but as usual, I didn't have a camera. I'll be making a photo and video blog of my apartment and neighborhood soon, so look back for that in a week or two.
So I've made an entry devoted to my work here teaching English. I've added photos from School No. 9 in Vasylkiv and School No. 1 in Pavlograd, ranging from October to this morning. Without further ado...
And last we have my 5G class at our English day camp this morning. Today was music today, so I helped them ("helped" being generous giving my complete lack of vocalist talents) learn 4 English songs--"Jingle Bells," "Hakuna Matata," "Oh! Susanna," and last but not least, "You Are My Sunshine." The last has enormous personal importance to me, because Mom used to sing it to me when she rocked me when I was a baby.
That concludes this for the day, mainly because that's basically all the photos and the only video I have from school. As you can see, I am greatly enjoying my work here, and the school is happy to have me as well. I wish I had some more photos of my colleagues here in Pavlograd, but that will come I suppose. I went with about 15 teachers on Friday to an old Soviet Pioneers (basically Communist Party Boy and Girl Scouts) camp to grill out and drink. It was great fun, but as usual, I didn't have a camera. I'll be making a photo and video blog of my apartment and neighborhood soon, so look back for that in a week or two.
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