Some Things Just Feel Right

St. Anthony's Church with caves underground!

I think this week, for the first time, it really felt like I was in Ukraine. I was walking alone to catch the bus after a day of site seeing with Peace Corps and I looked around at all the street signs and realized a could read some and that I could decide how to get where I wanted to go and what I was going to do. There have been days where we have free time and I have gone into the city but this was different because I had no purpose, I could walk fast or slow, wander the tunnels under the streets, or stop and it. All I did was stop in a store and buy a kilo of chocolate and it was the right decision because the chocolate I like was on sale! It got better because right when I walked out my bus pulled up AND one of the English teachers from the school we work at was on the bus with her husband! We talked most of the way back except the times we were interrupted by a man who wanted to try to speak some English, Russian, and Ukrainian with me until Ana, the teacher, explained that I speak English, a little Ukrainian, and no Russian. She and her husband then invited me to return the Chernihiv after we all changed to visit "Halloween" and the Hollywood mall. This changed to going to a cafe to visit a friend which actually turned out to be a bar with its own bold Halloween festivities.

English Club Week 1 - "Ring, String, and Raise"

This week we taught the 9th form as well as the 7th form and it was a bit harder because the grammar is more complex. We were working to explain it to ourselves let alone a Ukrainian only using English. We were then told just to make examples and not even try to explain it, which reminded me of my our high school grammar experiences. We also had our second English Club this week and went with the theme Seasons as it had snowed for the first time this past week. I made a Simon says action game with Fall words that turned out surprisingly well. We are hanging strong with attendance being around 10 and filled with a bunch of lovely 6th form girls. Last week I used a game a stole from my mom where everyone holds onto a string tied to  ring and together try to raise it with an object on the ring, my goal was to have the students only use English words to raise the ring and when the spoke Ukrainian I would shake my string and ask if that's what they had told me to do because I couldn't understand when they spoke Ukrainian. The German teacher quickly identified this as a team work game with and English language twist.

We head of to Kiev this week and then a visit to our permanent sites! Wish me luck!

Shout out to my moms Third Grade class in Thayne, Wyoming - here's the money you requested!

There is also a 500, 100, and a 20 UAH

Any other requests are welcome! I've got all kinds of stories to so post a question or email me directly!