Back to "normal"

My mom always says that "normal" is just a setting on the washing machine. Even my washing machine is devoid of "normal" these days.

However, we are back to as normal as we get. No volunteer teams (it seems like there should be, though). Classes as usual. It's kind of nice to be back in our rhythm.

Our friend, Victoria, came over for a while today. We were helping her work on a project that she'll be presenting at school next week. Her English is fabulous- she hardly needs our help! She copied some pictures for me that she took soon after I arrived here in October. I'm including them now for your amusement:

Sweet Victoria

Favorites. Nataly and Victoria.

Vika. We keep running into her on the street...That's why they call Poltava a 'big village.'

Tea. Of course. What else would you do in Ukraine?

Surprise!

Sorry for not updating much this week. We had a surprise.

We knew about the volunteer team that came last week. We had planned, emailed, done pre-trip legwork. The week went wonderfully, and we were quite pleased by the end of the week. The team went home on Saturday.

Sunday, we went to church. On the way there, we realized that there were Americans joining the service. We greeted them, exchanged some chit chat, etc. and went to our seats. Hannah was reading through the bulletin and realized that there were scheduled events for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. We found that interesting, realizing that the events coincided with our English classes. We made a mental note to ask if we should cancel our classes. During the announcements, we found that the Americans were going to be working in the schools. We found that interesting, considering that 1. we didn't know any Americans were coming and 2. WE work in the schools...we could have helped them, seeing as how we know a lot about the schools.

After the service, we went to ask about our night classes. After a really long, frustrating, lost-in-translation conversation, we learned that we were expected to cancel all of our regularly scheduled classes and go with the teams to their schools. Basically, we'd be doing the same thing this week as we did last week.

Whoa. That was a surprise. Didn't see that coming...

So, we've been busy with a team again this week. And, I now have a sinus infection. I missed Wednesday, due to a 102 F fever. My life is so exciting.

The week in pictures

This week has been kind of a blur, in some ways. The group from Auburn did a wonderful job in the schools this week. We worked in 3 different schools and held 3 nighttime English clubs. Tuesday night, the theme was Hollywood. Several students dressed up (two of them as Batman!), we played Hollywood trivia, watched and discussed movie clips, and the group performed the dance from High School Musical (the original). It was great, and the students loved it. Andrei, one of the pastors here, talked with the students about priorities and fame.

Wednesday night, the theme was Country music (a novelty around here). The group taught the students "Sweet Home Alabama," gave out bandanas (which many of the students wore to school the next day), and taught the Electric Slide. Radik, another pastor, talked about how each of us is special to God.

Thursday, the theme was Coffeehouse. We invited students to the church, and we just spent time sitting at tables, drinking tea/ coffee, and talking. We did the Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle for fun, and Vova spoke to the students. It was a great time of hearing the students and sharing our thoughts about faith and life.

Here are some pictures (including some sights from Kiev) for your enjoyment/amusement/enlightenment:

Alicia teaching the Electric Slide

Allison (wearing glasses) 'sliding' along with some girls

Students 'sliding' along

Allison (a second Allison) visiting with A'lona

Table full of students. Yessssss!

Ira (translator friend from Dnipropetrovsk) and me

Rachel and some of our students. Sveta and Max (on the right) attend our weekly English club and didn't miss a single night this week.

Nathan talking to guys from one school and Justin (far right) talking to another friend from the same school.

Renee, Liera, and Katya (notice Katya's bandana!)

Audio-visual team

Our buddy, Slava. He's a regular at English club.

St. Michael's Cathedral in Kiev

St. Michael's Cathedral in Kiev

Joanna came to hang out with us in Kiev! Me, Joanna, Hannah, and Rachel

Auburn Team update: Group B

Nathan, Morgan, and one of the groups

Matching game led by Nathan

Students participating in activities prepared by the Auburn team

me, Renee, and Margarita

More to come...

Oh, Life in Ukraine

Well, it looks like I'm mostly over the illnesses. I'm still tired and weak, but at least I can leave the house occasionally, which is excellent because a volunteer team from Auburn, AL arrived last night! They'll be working with us this week, teaching in the schools. We're really excited. Rachel is extra excited because...drum roll...her parents surprised her by coming on the trip!

Unpleasant surprises: snow. Again. Friday, the temperature got up to 45, and we were ecstatic, thinking that spring was on the way. The next day, however, snow covered the ground. Sigh...

Second unpleasant surprise: my landlord called EARLY this morning to harass me about talking to my supervisor. He was planning to come right on over (while all three of us were basically still in bed), and I had to do some fast work to make sure that didn't happen. It did not start my day off happily. Grrr...

REALLY good surprises: all kinds of gifts and goodies from home! It was just like Christmas, as Rachel's parents unloaded all kinds of food and gifts. SO good!

Public Transportation is a contact sport

After more than a week of being sick, I ventured forth today for 2 hours to teach a class with Hannah (unfortunately, Rachel is now sick...). The teaching wasn't the tiring part. At least it wasn't the bulk of the exhaustion. The real problem was transportation. Thankfully, on the way to the school, I was able to snag a seat. On the way home, though, we had to stand.

Standing constitutes maintaining balance, tensing muscles, fighting for hand-holds, surreptitiously edging/ pushing people out of the way, and fighting like a football player to get to the doors.

I'm totally wiped out.

The best remedy for being sick? Sleep

...but the universe works against me every time.

I haven't slept well at night since I got sick. Something about not being able to breathe, constantly coughing/sneezing, and sweating/having the chills from the fever seem to prevent me from actually sleeping. Ergo, my best opportunity to sleep occurs during the day.

The problem is that I have too many people who like me enough to make sure I'm alive. Thus, without fail, when I have gotten to sleep, the phone rings or I get a text message or my cell phone vibrates or the doorbell rings. Hannah and Rachel did a great job deterring visitors earlier in the week. But then, my landlord discovered that I'm sick. So, this morning, the doorbell rang in the way that only the landlord rings it. It woke me up out of a really good sleep. I could hear poor Hannah trying to deal with him, so I just got on up and went out there. I had to do some fast talking (ha! It was in Russian, so there was nothing fast about it.) to convince him that I did not need a doctor or medicine.

I just want to sleep...

Flu shot? I laugh in the face of the flu shot!

Before I left home, I got a flu shot. Amanda Pennington was there to witness it. I've gotten a flu shot for the past 4 or 5 years and have successfully avoided the flu.

Ukrainian flu, however, does not take kindly to the flu shot. In fact, it looks on the flu shot and says, "I laugh in the face of the flu shot. Take that, Erin!"

I'm sick with the flu. I'm a little grumpy about it.

It's not normally my style, but...

My reading materials around this place are a little slim. Correction: my reading materials in ENGLISH are a little slim. However, my supervisor's wife, the lovely Mrs. Linda, graciously supplies me with whatever reading material she has available.

Right after I arrived here, she sent me home with mountains of books. Among these books was a series of six books (I have since learned that there is a seventh! I'm currently scheming to acquire it from the States...), entitled The Russians by Michael Philips and Judith Pella. This series is a kind of Christian-romance-historical-fiction. Normally, this is SO not my style. At all. However, when the pickin's are slim, I'll read whatever.

I started to read these books at the end of January. Even with the 16 classes per week, I've finished all six books, Rachel has finished five, and Hannah has finished four. We just keep passing them. We're somewhat addicted.

Why?

Because: these books are set in tsarist-pre-revolution Russia and follow the lives of several families whose stories are intertwined. I've always been somewhat fascinated by the Romanovs and the events leading up to the rise of Communism, and these books take that information and couch it in interesting storylines. The stories are especially interesting to those of us in Ukraine, because of the Slavic culture presented in the stories.

With the danger of sounding like "Reading Rainbow," I would highly recommend these books to anyone interested in the history of Russia/USSR, anyone who likes a good and twisting story, or anyone planning to visit/live in Slavic countries.

Happy reading!

For Jaclyn...

Dearest darlingest Jaclyn,

In response to your questions about what ESL sites I often use, I am dedicating this post to you. Rachel, Hannah, and I teach approx. 16 classes a week, all different levels. We take a lot of ideas and materials from these sites and adapt them for the level with which we're working:

1. http://esl.about.com/od/englishlessonplans/English_Lesson_Plans_for_ESL_EFL_Classes.htm
This has a lot of good activities/ grammar information. It has many dialogues for practice, as well.

2. http://www.eslsite.com/
I love the game ideas on this site. They can be very easily adapted for almost any level.

3. http://iteslj.org/questions/
This site has lots of discussion topics and question prompts. It can easily be adapted for different levels, as well.

4. http://edhelper.com/crossword_free.htm
We use online crossword puzzlemakers to make puzzles to review vocabulary words/ concepts. You can have students work in team or individually.

We FREQUENTLY use tic-tac-toe as a competition: divide the team in two. Ask each team a question from the lesson. When they answer correctly, let them choose where to put their x or o. Surprisingly, this is a big hit.

Hangman is also a crowd-pleaser. When we teach vocabulary, we often play Hangman (in teams) to review. Once they have the word, have them orally define.

We also play BINGO, Charades, and Jeopardy. All are big hits. BINGO and Jeopardy require a bit of preparation, but the BINGO cards and the Jeopardy can be reused.

I'll try to update you on other activities we use that seem to be effective. In fact, I'm just going to start blogging about it: www.erininukraineesl.blogspot.com. Hope this helps you some!

Love,
Erin