Story time...

Story time from Ukraine (in no particular order):

1. On our last night before flying out of Kyiv, the church we partnered with sponsored a festival/ time in a local park. We had invited all of our new friends to join us. We had dropped them off at a metro station after camp and then spent the afternoon sight-seeing before heading to the park. At the park, about 14 of our 20-somthing campers showed up! It was such a great time of visitng and talking about events/ decisions that took place at camp. Following the time in the park, all of the Americans and all of the Ukrainians went to McDonald's for dinner. While at McDonald's, two more campers arrived to visit. After a little while, their story came out. These two guys were from Lutsk, a town several hours and a long train ride away from Kyiv. They had decided that morning when dropped off at the metro that they wanted to reunite with everyone that night, but since they had no where to go in Kyiv, they spend the day walking around. We were so excited that they had come to visit...then we found out the rest of the story. In waiting and coming to visit us that night, they had missed the last train to Lutsk until morning. They were planning on walking around Kyiv for the rest of the night until the next day's train.

2. Learning campers names was difficult at first. Here's why: 2 Valyas, 3 Tanyas, 2 Yulias, 2 Lubas, 3 Sashas, and 2 Sergeis. Gee whiz! The funny part is that one Tanya and one Yulia lived in my room with me and the other Tanya and the other Yulia were in my class!

3. I'm not athletic. Or coordinated for that matter. And, I really hate camp games. Mostly because of the aforementioned reasons. Well... One bright, sunshiny day in Voron'kov, Ukraine, I was suckered into playing multi-faceted, highly physical camp games. I was actually doing well and holding my own for the first few rounds of running, jumping, balancing. Then came the "dribble the soccer ball around this pre-defined area while racing the other teams." May I point out that soccer is second nature to Europeans? This was a walk in the park for them. Not so for the American. I start out and am doing pretty well for the first 5 steps. Then, like a flash of lightening, the world turned upside down. My life flashed before my eyes, and after an eternity bound in a split second, I found myself not standing anymore but rather lying flat on my back as other teams raced by me trying not to laugh. I'm not even sure how it happened...

More to come.

Back home

We're back! It will probably take me several days of updating to come anywhere close to filling everyone in on the happenings, but I'll give it my best shot. Today, I'll just hit some highlights:

1. We were able to see 8 of our new Ukrainian friends experience a life change. It's worth all the lowlights (which I will expand upon later... get ready. It's funny.).

Zhenya, Judy Manna, Llosha

2. Amiee and I were able to see and room with two of our precious friends from last year's camp, Tanya and Svieta!

Tanya, Valya (new friend), Svieta, me

3. Classes went wonderfully, and as expected, deviated from the lesson plans right from the very first lesson.

Amiee and Rachel and their really fabulous class...I think Luke (Manna) is sitting on the end of the bench there.

4. All s'mores ingredients arrived safely and intact at camp. The s'mores were a big huge hit!

Me, Elizabeth, and the piles of s'mores. This was probably right before we were stampeded...

5. Our friend that learned English since last year was at camp, and we were able to talk to and hang out with him ALL week!

Mesha and me. His sign says "Free Hugs," by the way.

6. We made fast new friends/ family with the Manna family and Elizabeth who live and work in Kyiv.

Elizabeth and Erin (not to be confused with Erin Elizabeth, which is, in fact, my full name). I love her. So much.

Our beloved Manna family/ "daily Manna": Mike, Luke, Judy, Katya, me, Amiee, and Sammy. We miss them dearly!

7. We worked for the second year with our dear Natasha and her husband, Pastor Sergei.

Anyone remember a picture very much like this one from last year? Amiee, Natasha, me.

Natasha and Sergei rockin' out in the chapel... this is what they do when everyone has left.

8. Ryan now has a new best friend and BROTHER!

Vitalik, Ryan, Rachel

9. We got to see 14 of our new friends even after camp. They came to visit with us our last night in the country!

Just a very few of our precious ones...they just kept jumping in the picture.

10. No one got sick, and our adrenaline held out until the plane rides home! Amazing what a body can handle...

Amiee, Rachel, Ryan, me, and Katie. Let's give it up for Ryan who took cold showers all week. Just ignore his ridiculously wrinkled shirt...

Much more to come. Thank you for your prayers!

Dasvedanya!

That's my English-rigged spelling of a Russian word (which means "goodbye," by the way). We leave tomorrow morning at 11:30. We're all packed and weighed and tagged and ready to roll. I've already written about my dislike of airports, so I'll spare you that. Hopefully, there will be no difficulties with luggage weight issues or transport of luggage from one aircraft to another; we'd REALLY love our luggage to arrive at the same time as we do. In tact. And with nothing exploded inside. Mind you, we've sealed basically everything in ziplock bags, but occasionally, things still explode.

We're excited about seeing our Ukrainian friends and meeting new ones. I won't be able to update while we're gone, but you can bet your britches that there will be many a picture and story once we get home. We get home on the 28th...give me a day to recover from jet lag, and I'll be up and running again.

Amiee and me tackling the shopping list!

Thank you for your prayers; can't wait to tell you the stories when we return!

Countdown

Our "countdown":

- 1 soccer ball
- 2 pairs of scrapbooking scissors
- 3 lbs. of colored gimp and accompanying keychains
- 450 water balloons
- 2 packages of 100-ct. notecards and envelopes
- 50 people signed up for camp
- 60 hours until arrival at the airport
- 5 really excited ESL teachers!

Thanks for your prayers!

T-minus 5 days

Ukraine: Round 1 commences in five days. It's just around the corner!

We had one last hard-core planning/ training meeting this last weekend. Rachel, Amiee, Ryan, and Katie are doing a GREAT job getting ready. They all earn "E" for exceeding expectations. Bless their hearts, I made each teaching pair choose a part of a lesson and teach the rest of us. They felt silly but did fabulously.

Katie and Ryan discuss (animatedly) lessons for the Beginners.

Rachel and Amiee work out the final kinks for the Intermediates.

This week, I had the privilege of speaking to the WMU ladies at a local Baptist church this week. It is such a blessing to meet those who are so dedicated to prayer. I was able to share the story of my journey to Ukraine and was encouraged with their commitments to pray for me. It's so humbling when people take the time and effort to pray and encourage me.

Brad came through and visited this weekend. He came in perfectly good health and left with a wasp sting that swelled his entire right forearm, a bump on the side of his head (courtesy of a rather vicious water bottle), crushed fingers from makeshift furniture repair, and various and sundry other injuries. In the gaps between injuries, he accompanied Amiee and me to training and sat in as the only male representative in the WMU meeting. He deserves some kind of commendation, I think.

Dad trying to fix Brad's arm. You can't see, but we're in an exam room with really bright green trim and multi-colored tiles.

Brad got confused about what kind of steroids he was taking for the sting...

Lunch with Chris!

I had lunch with my friend, Chris, today. Chris and I both went to Ukraine last year, although we were doing different jobs. He loved it so much that he went back this summer for three weeks. He got back this past weekend, so we had lunch today!

Me, Chris, and Amiee in Kiev in 2007

It was so good to hear about what he was able to do and stories about some of our Ukrainian friends that we met last year. One story he told me was about a guy he befriended last summer who spoke no English. After this friend spent time with those from our church, he felt that he needed to pursue training in ministry AND learn to speak English so he can work with us this year. So, friend started seminary in Kiev and began English lessons. When Chris was reunited with him this summer, he found that friend had one year of training in youth ministry under his belt and could converse with Chris IN ENGLISH! Neat, huh?

It was so good to talk to Chris...it was so encouraging and got me even more excited about going.

Oh, how I'd love to disapparate...

I hate airports. I do. Flying used to be such a fun thing: the excitement of different airports, the various and sundry folk you can bump into in airports, the movies on the places, the snacks, the tiny Coke cans that European airlines sometimes serve. It was all so grand.

Not any more.

I hate it that airport workers can almost never be friendly. You have to ration your carry-on toiletries. You now have to pay for your checked luggage. You can only take 50 lbs in one suitcase. Please let me just say that it boggles my mind when I look at my two teeny suitcases and my growing list of items I'd like to take with me for the next two years. Gee whiz... I guess one positive thing resulting from Tornado Trauma 2008 is that I can totally live with way less stuff than I thought I could. Cell phone and pillow only, anyone?

Back to flying: I have terrible misfortunes when traveling. Key cities in which disaster has struck: Johannesburg, South Africa; Paris, France; London, England; Charlotte, North Carolina. Those are just the places where I've been traumatized. For some reason, I look like a trouble maker to airport security. If anyone will be pulled aside and security wanded/ patted down/ interrogated, it will probably be me.

If only there was another way...

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July! Especially to Kari and Trey (http://www.jkmassonfrance.blogspot.com/). I'm fairly certain that your celebration will be a little more limited.

I'm still ironing out the kinks of the lesson plans. Here's what I'm finding:

One major difference in writing lesson plans for ESL camp in Ukraine and writing lesson plans for high schoolers or middle schoolers in the States is that my Ukrainian students actually WANT to be in my class. More than that, they WANT to learn the finer points of English. I finally have an enthusiastic class rather than a captive audience on which to impart my intense fascination with the minutiae of the English language!

One major difference that causes me to squirm a little bit, though, is that they want to learn ALL the little details. Now, I know a lot about English, but I’ve found that I begin to question my knowledge and capability when focused students inquire relentlessly. That’s when I start to fidget and sweat and forget my present progressives, past participles, adverbial clauses and wish that I was teaching colors and items you find on a menu.

But…I’m going in armed with scores of idioms and advanced vocabulary words. This year, I’ve decided to take the game “Apples to Apples” (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/74) to use in teaching vocabulary. I’m not sure if it will work well or not, but I’ll try it.

With advanced classes, I try to incorporate a lot of discussion opportunity. The camp leaders have given us daily themes to talk about:
Day 1: friendship
Day 2: family
Day 3: dating
Day 4: career
Day 5: making the right choice for my life

I love to hear what the students have to say about their lives and the people that influence them. I take pictures of my family and friends to class and talk about my life to get the ball rolling (ha…another idiom. Yesssss.). Theoretically, they’ll get excited about discussion. Here’s hoping! I’ll totally let you know. Don’t worry.

VERY small sampling of the pictures I'll be taking:

Mom and me...and my diploma!

My sister, Amiee, and me

College roommates: Kirby, Molly, Amanda, and me

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone for the idiom help! I got so many responses that I decided to plan in about 30 minutes of idiom-ing for each lesson. Here are some of my favorites that I got in feedback:

1. piece of cake
2. give me a break
3. I'm burning up
4. catch a cold
5. runny nose
6. scoot over
7. eating out
8. eating in
9. My feet are killing me.
10. I'm over it... (that was Kirby, of course. Thanks, Kirby!).

Thanks again. If there are any more that you think of, I'm still taking suggestions!

Disgruntled musings to come: airline restrictions on everything. Feel free to join in...