Union Day 2

Here are the promised pictures from "Mystery Night." Sometime in the future, I'll write about how that worked (on my ESL blog). If you're truly interested, check in on that one. Overall, Mystery Night was a success!

Vaidim made this slide to set the mood. I LOVED it! I was the spelling consultant for "mystery."

John scratching his head, frantically searching for the right answer in his alibi.

Becky and Melissa, trying to sound like they were innocent...

Dr. Fant, telling his side of the story.

Semi-group shot.

Vaidim and Slavik, manning the media station. Bless them...I'm microphone simple, and they had to explain things quite a few times.

Of course, the Americans were convicted of the crime and had to pay the price! The price was a rendition of "I'm a little tea pot" (complete with motions) and a valiant attempt at repeating an exceedingly hard-to-pronounce Russian word. Such good sports!

Classroom Day 2: Melissa's and Pamela's group were very avid learners- they took notes the whole time!

Group shot. You can see Pamela in the red, Dr. Fant (brown coat), Cassie (black shirt), and John (blue shirt).

A copy of our extremely professional-looking lesson plan!

Team A eating blenee for lunch.

Posing in front of the opera house.

Evening theme 2: American holidays

Post-holiday visiting, hanging out.

Evening program 3 will be Coffeehouse night. The team is doing a fantastic job, and I haven't heard one single complaint about the crazy schedule or the colds that are popping up! Couldn't ask for more!

Union Day 1

Today was the Union group's first day in the classrooms. I went with one of the teams, and boy, did we have adventures! They were such troopers, though, and just rolled with the punches.

We were scheduled to have 3 classes today. When we showed up, the administration had decided to combine two English classes. Problem: too many students + teeny tiny space. So, they asked us to divide into two groups. Thankfully, we'd experienced this two weeks ago with the Auburn group, SO I'd prepped the Union group during planning last night, encouraging them to bring extra supplies. Good thing! I split off and went with Cassie and Pamela, while Mrs. Linda and Elizabeth (co-worker from Kiev) stayed with John and Melissa. They did a fantastic job of conquering the nerves that accompany that first lesson, showing great flexibility in being split up, and in thinking on their feet! Our lesson was on sports, and we got some great mileage out of it. Tonight, we'll be hosting our first English Club of the week: Mystery Night. I'll try to get some pictures to post for tomorrow.

Pamela and Cassie leading a game of Hangman- you wouldn't believe how intense Ukrainian Hangman players can become!

Pamela, Nastia, and Cassie after The Great Crazy Class Split 2010.

Our team.

John, rocking it out with the vocabulary words.

Some of our materials/flashcards. I LOVE hearing Cassie say "pom poms" in her Michigander accent!

The students picked their own team names. Yes, this is what they picked. Ha!

Melissa working with her group.

A sort of aerial shot of the classroom. For our third class, we had WAAAY more people than would actually fit comfortably. We squeezed and scrunched and made it work. Go team!

Mrs. Linda visiting with some of the professors. They love her. Who wouldn't?

Oh, Hangman, what a lifesaver you are!

Union has arrived!

Union is here! They arrived last night and have done a great job adapting so far. We'll start working in the classes tomorrow and have a busy schedule this week! I'll try to do a good job of keeping everybody posted about the week.

Palm Sunday service at church. They were so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Team Transport! (l-r) Nick, Becky, Kevin, and Kayleigh.

Team Cooperative: (l-r) Cassie, John, Pamela, and Melissa

They're all bright and enthusiastic and have fantastic attitudes. Please pray for stamina to make it through this hectic week!

Candid...Action...Whatever we should call these...

Mrs. Linda accompanied me to my regularly-scheduled Transport College class. She very kindly took pictures of me when I wasn't looking. So, here are some action shots of me!

I am- at this moment- predicting comments made in reference to my mouth being open. I WAS teaching, so I have a reason. :)

Action shot of weather vocabulary.

Margarita and me...the vitamin d-deficient, hasn't-seen-the-sun-in-5-months me.

After that, I helped Mrs. Linda with a project she was helping with: Flat Stanley. We needed to take pictures of Flat Stanley in Ukraine so that he could be sent back to his creator in Louisiana.

Mrs. Linda explaining the concept of Flat Stanley.

The guys posing with Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley and the train to Kharkov.

Flat Stanley and the bus to Ognivka.

Post for Page (she'll know why!)

This post is in honor of Page (others will most definitely sympathize).

Here's a little factoid about Ukrainian (and Slavic, in general) culture: personal space does not exist. They laugh in the face of personal space.

I've written in the past about how crowded the buses are. Personal space is just not an issue. You can be spooning a stranger on a crowded bus, and no one will even give it the first thought. It's a very overwhelming experience for Americans, because we have almost no frame of reference for it. The same goes with lines in the store; people crowd you. This is mostly because cutting in line is all the rage- you have to guard your territory. They do not mess around. For Americans, particularly those from the South (where public transportation is a rarity), this contributes to culture shock.

Ukrainians just don't understand our issue with it. They make fun of us for the panic-stricken looks that we assume when we're being crushed and can no longer breathe. It's a harsh, harsh world.

Any way, I was watching a movie today and noticed the name "Pasha" in the opening credits. I knew there would be a Slavic man, because "Pasha" is the diminutive name for "Pavel", which means "Paul". Sure enough, the bad guy was Russian mafia. The best part of the whole thing was when the Russian mafia guy was closing in on an American character, and the American said, "Dude, please. A little personal space?"

I nearly died laughing. Personal space = biggest joke of the Slavic world.

Just a typical trip to the grocery store...

I finally had to bite the bullet and go to the grocery store today. I just went on Saturday, so I was hoping to make my supplies last for at least a few more days. No such luck. So, I packed up my reusable grocery bag (if you don't take your own, you have to buy a bag there. And, you bag your own groceries, fyi), gathered up all the trash in the apartment (there's a dumpster near the store, so I never go to the store without taking the trash out...which happens every other day or so), and headed out. The good news is that the temperature is up to 37, the snow is melting, and the sun is starting to shine. The bad news is that it's EXTREMELY muddy.

I arrived at the store, grabbed my basket, and froze. Two men with ladders were blocking my way. The only way into the main part of the store is through a teeny, tiny turnstile, and the ladders were wedged in between the bars of the stile. I stood there for a second, feeling dumb and awkward and trying to figure out how to get in. I looked around, trying to catch the eye of someone who might offer advice or sympathy and got nothing. While I was rooted to my spot, pontificating, the men casually finished whatever they were doing and moved the ladders. I dashed through as quickly as possible before they noticed that they'd may my way more convenient.

I went about my business and headed to the check out line. Whilst standing in the checkout line, unloading my items onto the counter, Ladder Man comes and stands behind me. I realized that he was looking at me expectantly. He didn't say anything- he just stood there, making a face that said, "You're in the way, missy." I shuffle a few inches forward, and he shuffles behind me. The lady in front of me was paying, so I didn't really have anywhere else to go. I shuffle two or so more inches, and Ladder Man nudges me further with his ladder, until he has it in exactly the spot he wanted (blocking all of the customers standing behind him by effectively creating a barrier). There I was- jammed between Paying Lady and Ladder Man with no way of moving forward or backward.

The crazy part was that NO ONE found this situation remotely out-of-the-ordinary. Really, folks?

I live an unusual life.

Great Stories from Auburn 2010

We had a great week with Auburn Group 2010. They were fantastic in the classrooms and did a stand-up job in the evening programs (Mardi Gras, Game Night, and Coffee House/Conversation Night). The students loved spending time with them, and they have done a lot of path-paving for future groups and projects. There were some great stories from this week, that I'd like to share:

1. There were 7 project participants who were returning folks from last year. This goes a long way with the students: continuity. Steve, Renee, Rachel, Allison, Courtney, Rachel, and Priscilla all came last year and then again this year. They ran into many students and faculty who remembered them and were excited to see them.

Melanie, Courtney, Rachel, Allison, and Priscilla

2. Micah joined us this year; his brother, Nathan, was here last year and the guys loved him. Micah also became extremely beloved and has quite a following of boys. It was neat for them to see a family that loves Ukraine.

Micah and Andrei

3. Rachel (Kauffman) came with the group last year. Over the past year, she developed a Facebook friendship with Dasha. They've kept in touch and were able to spend some quality time together this week.

Rachel, Dasha, and Lesya

4. Like Micah, Josh followed in his brother's, Justin, footsteps. He wasn't originally planning to come, but because of a last-minute cancellation, he willingly stepped up and filled the position. He spent gobs of time talking to new Ukrainian friends and investing in them.

Josh, talking with Vitaly and Ivan.

5. The new folks on the trip- Austin, Josh, Micah, Brian, Hannah, and Melanie- did a great job jumping in and adapting to the classroom setting. They were all very encouraged by the story of Sergei. Sergei met Micah's brother, Nathan, last year and came to every event that we held. Since that week, Sergei has become incredibly involved in the church and its activities. This week, he tagged along to many of our classes and post-class activities, just because.

Sergei, hanging out with Austin.

6. "Is that boy Ukrainian?" From day 1, I had Ukrainians talking to me about Brian- asking if he was Ukrainian. He just has that Ukrainian guy look, and he plunged into Ukrainian culture headfirst, including eating salo (pig fat). He was a huge hit, and they loved him.

Brian playing a violent game of Rock, Paper, Scissors with Pushkin.

7. Rachel returned! Rachel served here for 4 months last year and made plenty of relationship of her own. The Ukrainians were THRILLED to see her again. So was I!

Nastia, Rachel, and Maya

8. I'm so pleased with the outcomes of this week. Thanks for keeping up with our progress!

Rays, Rachel, and Erin- reunited.

Auburn Day 4

For Auburn Day 4, I tagged along with Rachel's group to the Agrarian College. Rachel and her group were fantastic; they hadn't used the Transportation lesson yet, so I got to participate in that lesson yet again. I'm SO a pro at transportation now.

Rachel preparing the Jeopardy board; such flashbacks to the zillions of times we played this game last year.

Hannah (far left) and Priscilla (middle) with the girls they worked with in class #1.

Team Agrarian College: Mike, Nastia, Rachel, Hannah, Brian, and Priscilla.

Hannah, winning the crowd over with pictures and stories about her family.

Our evening program wasn't thematic or overly structured but was totally fantastic. We had "rotating conversation coffee house" night. Or something along those lines. We were able to spend a lot of time getting to know the students. It was great.

Tanya, Rachel, and Ira. Friends.

Allison (far left) and Courtney (orange scarf) hanging out after English club #3.

Josh spending time with Ivan and Vitaly.

Priscilla visiting with new friends.

Rachel (the other Rachel), Dasha, and Lesya.

Brian skillfully working the crowd (with Nastia's help, of course).

Miss Renee with her new friends.

Me and Maya being ourselves.

Our team: East Central Ukraine. Woo hoo!