Last First Bell

The ceremony this year...smaller than last year's

My final semester here in Ukraine has started. I still don't have a schedule, so I've been sort of showing up and finding out what classes I'm teaching that day. From what I understand (which isn't too much), my school's been dealing with a bit of a baby boom. There are more students in the 1st-4th grades than there are in the remainder of the school (5th-11th), and there aren't quite enough teachers to cope with it. I suppose they'll have to increase class size or hire more teachers somehow. But at any rate, the year has started well enough. I've made an effort to remind my kids that I only have 2 months left, and they seem to respond well. I especially like the response of the boys of one eleventh-grade class, who opt to play hooky during all the English classes. To be honest, it's fine by me, because most of the ones that skip were usually disruptive during class when they bothered to show up. It leaves an interesting class dynamic though--eight seventeen-year-old girls and me. My lesson plans have to account for a high volume of giggling.
 September is a significant month. The next Peace Corps Ukraine group, 44, arrives next week. I will take the GRE in less than 2 weeks (in Kiev). Our close-of-service conference, the marker of the twilight of our service, immediately follows my taking of the exam. And last, but certainly not least personally, September 30 will be the second anniversary of my arrival in Ukraine. My, my, we've come a long way. Getting ready for my life after Peace Corps takes up a growing amount of my time, both temporal and mental. I'm none too sure as to what the next step will be, but my ideal scenario goes something like: send off grad school applications, leave Ukraine in late November, travel through India with a few other friends for around 4 weeks, fly back home by way of South Korea in December, be home in plenty of time for Christmas, finally get to see all my family (and the newest member, my cousin-once-removed, born last month!) at the shindig Jessica is planning in south Georgia, and then start some sort of job in Washington. I've always felt at some level as if our capital is where I'm meant to be, and that sentiment has grown stronger lately. In the best case, I'd still have 8 months until I'd start graduate work anyway, so I need to fill that time, and best to do that with a meaningful job in a place I want to be. But not that I'd say no to a good job anywhere, to be honest. If Peace Corps has taught me anything, it's to be...FLEXIBLE!