Non-Complacent Orthodoxy

oh, for an air conditioner!

2009-07-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, it's hot here these days. Yesterday was in the 90s and today probably is as well. We all sweltered through church this morning, helped out by two fans and open windows. I left the house this morning in my new red heels, but a combination of hot, sticky weather and the fact that the shoes are new led to discomfort and a blister, and I was back in my flipflops by the time the service started. Sigh...

One of the things that makes me the happiest about being here this time is that I'm finally able to help around the house without being told to sit down and relax because I'm company. I helped Nadia with canning Friday night (it takes very little language skill to chop cucumbers and apples, and no, they weren't together), and yesterday I helped clean the dog kennel, wash chalk off of the house, and bag onions. Yesterday's tasks were all done as a way of getting Valera (age 12), whose tasks they actually were, to do them, as otherwise he's quite willing to sit and talk to me instead of doing what he's supposed to.

As romance is in the air around here with Vitaly and Katya's engagement, Valera seems to have decided to do likewise and informed me this afternoon that I am his fiancee. I pointed out that a) he hadn't actually proposed, b) I live in the U.S. and he lives in Ukraine, and c) I'm 14 years older than him. He seemed moderately deterred, especially when he realized that he doesn't speak English in addition to all the other problems, but I suspect I haven't heard the last of this. Nadia laughed and laughed when I told her, and said, "And he hasn't even wanted to go to the playground to play soccer since you got here!" So much for summer romance...instead, I have a hyperactive, inquisitive, Ukrainian 12-year-old with a crush on me!

home (not in the U.S., but still home)

2009-07-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

I'm as happy as a lark.

L'viv, despite its beauty and claims to be more European than the rest of Ukraine (while at the same time being more Ukrainian than the rest of Ukraine), is not home. Home, whenever I am in Ukraine, is Balaklia and most of all, the Yukhymets family. It's being lifted off the ground in a hug, bags and all, by Viktor when I arrived. It's telling Nadia stories about my adventures in L'viv until she's helpless from laughter and tells me I need to write a book. It's lying on my back in an inflatable boat on the pond out back on a hot summer afternoon (I opted not to swim, much to Valera's utter bafflement, due to my unfamiliarity with the pond and the fact that at no point was I going to be able to touch the bottom). It's sitting on a bench under a pear tree eating fresh pears and being interrogated on various topics by Valera. It's looking at my pictures of the summer and showing off my new shoes to Vlada. It's hearing Vitaly's news (more on that below!). It's being taught how to make an origami flower by Ruslan (before breakfast!). It's Nadia telling me that my room up here on the third floor is mine whenever I want it. It's being sunburned and bruised and exhausted but knowing that I love and am loved.

And the family is growing! No, no more kids are being taken in from orphanages...Vitaly's engaged! His fiancee is Katya Vlasova, a former student of mine who goes to the same church as the Kotlar family (until tomorrow, anyway, when she transfers her membership over to ours). They're quite young--Vitaly is 19 and Katya's 17, having just finished school this May, but I think they'll be good for each other and understand that marriage is a life-long committment (although, remembering when Katya was in 8th grade, I feel OLD!). They got engaged this past Monday (apparently it was completely out of the blue as far as Katya was concerned, although Vitaly has been contemplating this for quite some time, I suspect...I wondered if there was something going on there when I was here in May) and the wedding will be sometime this fall, probably in October. I'm sad that I'm not going to be here for the wedding. It's hard, having people I care a lot about in on opposite sides of the world. Wherever I am, I'm missing out on half of everything. But that's the price of having friends and families on both sides of the Atlantic, and I will just have to find a nice wedding gift before I leave.

B1 (!) (?)

2009-07-21T05:12:00.000-07:00

Official result of my Ukrainian exam: B1, which made about much sense to me as it probably does for all of you, so I'll explain.

I got everything right on the reading and listening portions of the test (!), missed 4 out of 50 questions on the grammar portion, and my writing wasn't bad, except that I have problems spelling, as there are several letters that sound the same to me, plus a few grammar mistakes.

Apparently, there are levels A1-A2-B1-B2-C1-C2 available, with A1 the lowest and C2 the highest, except that you basically need to be a native Ukrainian to reach anything at the C levels. B1 is, according to my teacher, quite high for a foreigner and high enough to enter a university here or apply for work. When I asked her how to translate it into terms that would make sense on my resume, she told me that my reading is at an advanced level and my writing's at an intermediate level. I was already at an advanced level of speaking before this summer, so things look good all round.

Now, to just figure out what to do with this accomplishment! (Oh, yeah...write a thesis and transcribe my interviews...)

~*~

The rest of my time in L'viv is likely to go as follows: a) try and ship some English textbooks back for my thesis, b) hang out with Max, a PhD student at MSU who's from L'viv and just got into town this weekend, c) pack, d) closing ceremony for the program tomorrow morning, and e) anything under a) and c) that hasn't gotten done by that point.

final test

2009-07-20T05:07:00.000-07:00

This morning, we had our final test in Ukrainian class. Our grades for the program aren't directly connected to how we do--they're based more on participation and dilligence, as best I understand, but all the same, my brain's pretty much dead. 10 pages or so, composed of 50 multiple-choice grammar questions (ugh), two reading passages and one listening passage with multiple-choice questions, and a writing section where we a) read a passage and wrote short answers to questions and b) wrote a short essay (15-20 sentences). I realized partway through the essay that if I would stop writing complex and compound sentences, I'd finish 15 sentences much more quickly; my thoughts are ahead of my writing ability. We get our results tomorrow.

Other than that, not much else...I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who on my laptop, and I really should start packing, which will not be all that much fun.

(grown-up) little brothers

2009-07-18T05:42:00.000-07:00

This week has contained two particulary amusing exchanges via text message with my "little brothers" here in Ukraine.

The first one was with Vitaly Yukhymets, who finished up his month-long course in video journalism this week. He had an exam on Thursday, and so, like a good big sister, I texted him around 8 pm that night to ask how he did.

At 3:30 Friday morning, my phone went off, letting me know I'd gotten a text (I don't keep it on silent at night because it's also my alarm clock). I looked and Vitaly had answered, "I got a 5!", which is the best grade you can get here. I was very happy for him, but found the timing a bit odd.

Went back to sleep and, around 7:30, woke up and replied, "That's great...why did you text me at 3:30 instead of sleeping?" The response was "I don't know, I couldn't sleep because I was so excited."

Which still begs the question...why wait until that late/early to reply to my text? :)

~*~

My other text message incident comes from Sasha Malko, who was taking an English exam today to enter a MA program and texted me a sentence in Ukrainian, requesting me to translate it for him. Yeah, right!

yeah, not much to say

2009-07-16T05:46:00.001-07:00

Sorry, people, this hasn't been a bloggable week. Stuff's been happening, but it hasn't been blog-appropriate. I'm doing okay, although getting rather weary and stressed. The program finishes up next Wednesday, and then I'm headed back to Balaklia via my friend Svitlana's (she lives between here and Kyiv). I'd like to see the Malkos, but the logistics of that are getting a bit crazy, so we'll see.

On tap for the weekend: Saturday, Ksusha, a former camper of mine from my first summer in Ukraine, is going to be in L'viv on her way to Gdansk, and we're planning to meet up. In the evening, Allie and I have tickets to a jazz concert, which should be good.

red high heels

2009-07-12T07:59:00.001-07:00

Well, I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, and today I finally succumbed...and bought a pair of red high heels. They are neither stilettos nor bright red; they're a muted, darkish red with golden floral designs and moderately thick (although not clunky), not overly tall heels. They're utterly adorable, and the price was quite reasonable.

Ukraine has affected the way I think about fashion. Viktor, one of the professors here, says that the reason that women's fashions here are a bit over-the-top is because for the first time in years, people have a larger selection of goods available, and therefore they want the fanciest things possible. I think that's quite possibly true, and a lot of the clothes here are too ornate/skimpy/something for me to want to wear or look at all good while wearing. But I love the scarves here and am beginning to warm up to the shoes (mostly because flats are now available, even if I did end up buying heels), and in general I think that living in Europe has given me a bit of a fashion sense, at least more than I had a few years ago. (You're all welcome to laugh at this.)

not an overly eventful week

2009-07-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

Random bits from my week, which has been very full of language class and cultural excursions:

~Allie and I saw the President of Austria on Wednesday. He was taking a tour of the main square and we randomly happened to be there. We were surprised at what seemed to us to be a fairly low level of security.
~Natalya, our Ukrainian teacher, went with Vanessa and I to the theatre on Wednesday evening. We saw a play called "The Suede Jacket" which was apparently something of a satire on bureaucratism in post-communist countries. It was a bit hard to follow, but I enjoyed it.
~One of my students in my English class at the Baptist church (which I love teaching) kissed my hand at the end of class on Thursday. As I said to Mom, the student, who is probably a few years younger than me, looks as if his goal in life is to be a poet gone to seed, possibly living in a garret and struggling to pay bills. I was amused.
~Today we went to Shevchenky Hai, which is an open-air folk architecture museum, reminiscent of Greenfield Village (although much smaller). I liked it a lot.

krakow wrap-up

2009-07-07T06:35:00.001-07:00

Final thoughts on Krakow:

~I loved it. And as much as I enjoy being in Ukraine, it was a great break for me, a chance to get away, see somewhere different, and have a change of both pace and scenery.
~I hadn't realized that there is a distinct difference between being post-Soviet and merely post-Communist. Ukraine is the former, Poland is the latter.
~Ice cream in Krakow...yum!
~One of my favorite things to do there was take a book and sit on a bench in the Planty.
~Amber is more gorgeous than I ever realized.
~I want to go back some day.
~I could easily have stayed a day or two more this time, if logistics had permitted.

The trip home left a bit to be desired...I wasn't feeling well, probably because of something I'd eaten, and this time, rather than stamp my passport in my compartment, the border guards took it and didn't bring it back for 20 minutes, which I hadn't expected and was moderately concerned about. But I made it back to L'viv just fine and found out that taxi drivers try to rip you off here when you show up needing a taxi at the train station at 6 a.m. Talked it down to a somewhat normal fare. Then home, another hour of sleep, and I was off to class!

Auschwitz

2009-07-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

I went to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps today. I don't have a lot to say about the details...the article I linked to covers them enough. But the thing that stood out the most to me was that many of the Jews deported there were told that they were being given a chance to start over again and be resettled, and so they brought with them suitcases full of everyday possessions. They didn't know they were headed to the gas chambers. They thought the camp was a place where they could live their lives in some semblance of normalacy, and even as they walked into the gas chambers, they thought they were going to take a shower.

Also, seeing 2 tons of human hair that was cut off of the deceased after they were gassed in order to make it into cloth was unsettling, to say the least.

krakow, day 2 (plus the vegetable store joke, sort of explained)

2009-07-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

The concert last night was definitely worth it. Imagine a dimly lit, ornately decorated Catholic cathedral with stone walls and floors, with classical music being played by a phenomenally talented chamber orchestra. It was one of those evenings I want to remember for a long time.

At the concert, I also met an undergrad in mechanical engineering from U-M who just arrived to study Polish. Her mother and a family friend were there with her, and I hope I was able to help her mom feel better about leaving her in a foreign country for a month, telling a bit about my own life as an example of "yes, she'll be okay...I had a great time and learned a lot".

This morning, I slept in a bit, found an excellent English-language bookstore (I bought two books, at least one of which will be a gift for a certain reader of this blog with the initials RJM), and hung out in the Planty, which is one of my favorite places in Krakow. It's a narrow strip of park with lots of trees and benches that goes all the way around Stare Miesto, or the old part of Krakow. I sat on a bench, people-watched, and started reading one of the books I bought.

At noon, I met up with Jes and her friend Helia, who's from Wales and knew Jes from a year she'd done at Berkley in undergrad. We decided to go to the Wielickza Salt Mine, and although it hadn't been something I was planning on seeing, it was definitely worth it. It was amazing, especially when you realized that almost everything was made out of salt, even the walls and floors. As a nice touch, it was also in the upper 50s temperature-wise, which as it was in the mid-to-upper 80s (I think) above ground, was very nice.

Once we got back to Krakow, we went out to a restaurant with traditional Polish food that Jes knew. Jes got soup; Helia got bigos, which is a traditional dish of pork and sauerkraut; and I got pierogi with a meat filling. Good food, and we were all stuffed by the time we finished, as we got healthy Polish-peasant-farmer-sized portions! After that, we wandered around a bit and stopped at a cafe for coffee and milkshakes. Then I came back to the hostel, and am now writing this for all of you.

~*~~

The joke from an earlier post explained, for those people who don't get it (don't feel bad, it's a cultural thing). It helps to know that a) post-Soviet salespeople are not known for being overly polite, b) at places such as train stations here, you can pay a small amount of money to get your questions about schedules, prices, etc. answered at the information bureau, and c) during the 1990s, often stores would be out of various things, even when it would seem like they would have them. All of those factors play into making the joke humorous, and I'm not sure how to explain it beyond that. I found it utterly hilarious while Vanessa got it but didn't find it funny, and based on your responses, I think it's a really cultural joke, as Tif was the only person to say she got it and she lived in Ukraine.

krakow, day 1

2009-07-04T09:07:00.001-07:00

Krakow (there's at least 4-5 ways to spell it and this is the one I feel like using right now), is fabulous, and I'm so glad to be here, even though I've spent the day walking and my feet absolutely ache.

Last night, I boarded the Polish train from L'viv to Krakow and was pleasantly surprised to find out that a) there are three berths instead of four per cabin, b) there are little cupboards you can put things in, c) you're given a wrapped sweet roll, a bottle of water, and a thing of soap along with your washcloth, and d) the duvet was big and fluffy. Not to mention, the bathroom was a great deal nicer than the ones on Ukrainian trains. However, to give Ukrainian trains the credit that is due them, they have a) more comfortable mattresses, b) larger, softer pillows, c) more head room above your bunk, and d) offer you tea in the morning.

I got to Krakow around 5:30 a.m., hopped a tram (which have a much better system of organization here), and then got to my hostel. I couldn't get a bed yet, because they were all full, so I conked out on a couch for a couple of hours, showered, breakfasted, and headed off to explore the city. Jes had texted me late last night that her plans had suddenly changed and she was going to be out of town today without a chance for me to go with her, so I was on my own. It was lovely. Surprisingly for me, I found myself utterly uninterested in museums and instead did a lot of shopping, both window and actual. I think it's because we've gone to various museums in L'viv. I walked down to Wawel Castle, but it was at least 85 degrees and the line for tickets made me decide that tomorrow would be a much better time to see it, even if not everything will be open.

I then walked through the old Jewish quarter out to a shopping mall Vanessa and Ally had told me about, where I ate at Pizza Hut (I'm on vacation, and I'm sure Jes will show me some authentic Polish places tomorrow, so I don't feel like I'm slighting myself of the authentic Krakow experience...plus, it was air-conditioned) and bought myself a new dress. Light brown cotton, sleeveless, with gathers/ruffles at the neck and armholes and a built-in sash. It was cute, fit well (apparently, doing the conversion back to American sizes, it's a size smaller than I thought I take...yay for lots of walking!), was decently priced, and I can wear it both now (which will stretch my laundry out) and when I start teaching this fall.

Then I went back to a toy shop I'd visited earlier in the day and found stuffed animals for my honorary nieces and nephew--Breanna and Nathanial Shirley and Rebekah Susan-to-be Herrick (yes, Heather, I'm claiming the title of honorary aunt, or at least "good friend of mommy's"). I figure I'm going to be one of those quirky, well-traveled aunts who give good presents, since I had such a good example (hi, Aunt Rebecca!). :)

Other purchases included pretty bookmarks at a coffee shop/bookstore and a silver and amber pendant with a cameo of a flower in it, which I saw first thing this morning, pondered all day, and went back in the late afternoon to get. Not to mention gingerbread, gelato, and a Polish snack that's sort of like a cross between a bagel and a pretzel.

I'm amused to notice that even though Ukrainian and Polish are fairly similar, when I speak Ukrainian to people they answer in English. I don't know if this is because a) they speak English to everyone who doesn't speak Polish, b) they can tell just by looking at me that I speak English (which is ironic if true, since no one in Ukraine seems to think I'm American), or c) my Ukrainian sounds to them like broken Polish and they figure it'll just be easier if we use English.

My feet just ache. I'm guessing I got in several miles today, what with all the wandering and back-tracking I did. So now I'm back at the hostel, resting up for a concert with the Krakow Chamber Orchestra at one of the cathedrals in town, which will feature Chopin's and Mozart's music. I debated on whether or not I should get a ticket, which, although quite cheap by U.S. standards, was more than I'd pay in Ukraine. Then a little voice inside my head (which sounded exactly like Mom) said, "You're here, you have the opportunity, you have the money, you should go." So, figuring it's a good idea to listen to Mom, I'm going.

ice cream, cute shoes, and jokes

2009-07-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to L'viv Central Baptist Church to help out with their English conversation group. We had a good turnout, about 30 people. Afterwards, an American choir was giving a concert at the church so I stayed for that. I sat with Lena, a woman in her late 40s (?) who's learning English.

Lena said to me, "Do you want some ice cream?"

Slightly confused, but always in favor of ice cream, I said that that would be nice. Lena left and came back a few minutes later with four ice cream bars (the type that come individually wrapped and on a stick). She handed one to me, and since I was pretty sure we weren't supposed to eat ice cream in the church, I held on to it until I saw her stick the other ones in her bag, and so I stuck mine in my bag. The concert was very nice, but I kept thinking about my ice cream, and how it was probably melting, since the temperature had been in the mid-90s for much of the day.

After a bit, Lena whispered to me that our ice cream was melting and therefore we should eat it now. "In church?" I whispered back. She said that it was okay, and we (plus the man behind us, who also got one of the ice cream bars) began to eat our ice cream. The ice cream bars in Lena's bag were still fairly solid, but mine had more or less melted, so I was trying to eat it out of the paper without making too much of a mess of myself.

At this point, Lena saw that I was having problems, and gave me the last (whole) ice cream bar. As I was trying to eat it without drawing attention to myself, I happened to notice a Rather Cute Guy standing near us, who I had noticed was rather cute the first time I had been to church there. Keep in mind, I have never spoken to him and don't expect I ever will, and I don't even think he noticed me last night, but I still was a bit mortified to be a) eating ice cream in church and b) getting it all over my face in the process.

Then, the woman sitting in front of us turned around and chewed me out for eating ice cream in church. Fortunately, I finished it quickly and then could actually start enjoying the concert.

~*~

Am randomly in the mood for a new pair of cute shoes. Unfortunately, the two pairs that I really liked weren't available in my size. Ukraine has discovered flats, which I think is a wonderful innovation, and with the hryvnia currently 7.8/$1.00, they're fairly inexpensive.

~*~

Okay, people, I'm interested in your reaction to a joke. This was in our reading this week (in Ukrainian), and Vanessa and I had very different reactions to it. I'd like you to comment on whether or not you get the joke and whether or not you think it's funny. Vanessa's and my reactions to it will come in a later post.

A man walks into a vegetable shop.
Man: Do you have any potatoes?
Shopkeeper: No, we don't.
Man: Do you have any cabbages?
Shopkeeper: None of those, either.
Man: And I suppose you don't have carrots?
Shopkeeper: Look, friend, this is a vegetable shop, not an information bureau!

travel plans

2009-07-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I've bought my train tickets to and from Kracow (after standing in various lines and being told to find random, out-of-the-way ticket counters, not to mention paying an extra five hryvnia for the privilege of buying a ticket in the "special" waiting room, which was the only place I could by the ticket), and I've booked my hostel (Mom, it's Hostel Yellow, since I know you'll want to Google it), being pleased to notice the Sunday night discount which meant that I'm only paying about $22.50 for two night's stay (my train tickets cost roughly 5x that, which means that for once transport is costing me more than lodging, which is a switch). And that was a horribly long run-on sentence.

But seriously, I'm excited about the opportunity to go to Kracow (Krakow? Crakow? Cracow?). I've heard a lot of good things about it, and getting to see a new country fairly inexpensively is always something I'm up for, not to mention getting to hang out with Jes. She has a friend there from Wales, and the three of us are planning a day trip to some nearby city on Saturday. Sunday, I plan to wander Kracow itself and see Wawel Castle, and on Monday, I'm planning to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, because I think it's going to be worthwhile for me to see, albeit sobering.

~*~

Other facts of random interest:

*It's really warm here, warmer than I'd like, but at least the daily rain seems to have stopped.
*I think our language class is going to watch Everything is Illuminated on Friday. It's in English and Russian, but Natalia told us we'd be talking about it in Ukrainian.
*Hopefully I'm getting a few more interviews set up for next week.
*Really, my brain is too much Kracow-oriented to write about anything else. :)

librarians and Ukrainian roommates

2009-06-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

I've always gotten along well with librarians, going back all the way to my pre-school-aged days, when I couldn't see over the counter but brought my invisible pet dinosaur to Story Hour. My rapport with librarians has gotten me out of study hall in middle school, found me a Quiz Bowl coach in high school, and helped me get a private tour of MSU's Special Collections in undergrad.

So today I found out that this isn't just something that happens to me in the U.S. I had to go to L'viv Post-Graduate Institute today to drop off a stack of questionnaires, and I decided to stop by their library to see if a lesson plan that Nelya and I submitted to a Ukrainian pedagogical journal for English back in fall 2007 ever got published, so I could know whether or not I could put it on my resume. The librarian was very helpful, and found me many, many bound volumes of the journal. Unfortunately, it looks like our lesson plan never got published, but the librarian, who is herself a history teacher and apparently has a lot of things published, assured me that what I should do is submit the same lesson plan to a Kharkiv publisher (instead of Kyiv), because they aren't as backed up. She even gave me the phone number of the publisher and told me to mention her name. I don't actually want to publish anything right now--I just was curious what had happened to our lesson plan, and I'm not even sure if I have the files for it--but I was amazed at how helpful she was.

After that, I told her about my thesis, and she bustled around finding me journals in Ukrainian with articles on Communicative Language Teaching, let me check them out to go make copies, and even told me where the closest copy center was (of course the library wouldn't have a copy machine...). I was pleasantly surprised at how willing she was to be helpful, and she told me to come back again if there was anything I needed. I've experienced this level of helpfulness several times this summer, but usually when I was introduced to the person by someone else who had some level of authority. This was just me going in and asking a question.

~*~

Yesterday, I visited Zhanna, a woman I met at church. Zhanna immigrated to the US in her early 20s and got a degree from Fuller Seminary, but now she's back in Ukraine doing seminars in schools on drug and alcohol abuse. She and I, along with her roommate Vira and their friend Tanya, hung out all afternoon, eating homemade pizza and cherry coffeecake (Lisa, if you remember my blueberry cake that took forever to finish baking, they had the same problem) and talking about life, religion, and randomness. Lots of fun.

I particularly enjoyed watching Zhanna and Vira and realizing that roommates are roommates the world over. (Zhanna told me before we got there, "Vira and I get along well. But sometimes we even argue." I believe I have 3 former roommates and 1 roommate-to-be reading this blog, and I doubt this surprises any of you.) I asked Vira, "Does Zhanna ever mix things up and speak English by mistake?" since I occasionally do so in Ukrainian, particularly when startled. She grinned and said, "Yes, and then I tell her I have no idea what she's saying." Lisa should appreciate that. :)

Kracow this weekend, barring unforseen circumstances (such as no train tickets available when I go buy one tomorrow, which seems unlikely).

the last few days

2009-06-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

Oh, a lot's been going on.

Thursday through Saturday, our group went on a trip to Transcarpathia, which is in southwestern Ukraine. It was part of Hungary and Czecheslovakia at various points, and has a slightly different feel to it than other regions of Ukraine. We stayed in dorms at a camp belonging to IFNU (the university here), which was in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. I loved driving through the mountains...they're absolutely beautiful, and although Balaklia is home for me here in Ukraine, I felt a slight twinge of regret that Peace Corps hadn't placed me there. We visited the cities of Mukachevo and Uzhgorod, complete with a castle and quaint little downtowns. At some point I'll try and post pictures.

Last night, after we got home, John (the other student who's staying with my host family, an ethnomusicologist in his 50s) and I were chatting with Olgert, our host dad, about L'viv history and all the interesting things that have happened on our street. Then, around 10:30 pm, Olgert said, "Let's go over to the President's house. I know the housekeepers there, and they're over there now getting ready for someone to come tomorrow." So John, Olgert, and I walked across the street to the presidential residence, and since the gate was locked, Olgert (who is probably close to 60) climbed over the fence and knocked on the door. The housekeepers, who were getting ready for the head of the safety department for Ukraine to come this morning, were happy to see us, and we had ice cream and tea in the living room (out of cups that I realized were probably used by the president!). John played his guitar, we sang in English and Ukrainian, and Olgert yodeled. (He likes to. Don't ask.) I love my quirky life.

Today Vanessa and I went to L'viv Central Baptist Church, and the pastor mentioned that this afternoon, there would be English conversation. Looking for ways to get to know people (and a bit convicted by the sermon, which talked about different ways to reach out to others), I introduced myself after church and said that I'd love to come. After today's meeting, I am now helping out with a weekly conversation group, am hanging out tomorrow (which is a holiday here, Constitution Day) with a woman I met from the church, and had several people tell me that they were looking forward to trying to speak English with me on Thursday. All of which makes me very happy.

Kyiv, Part 2, Take 2

2009-06-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

Blogger ate my post. Grr. And I don't really have enough time to type it all over again.

In short: Vitaly Yukhymets and I hung out Saturday afternoon, I showed him the main sites of Kyiv, and we had an awesome time. I realized that I miss having friends around, as I don't know many people in L'viv.

Also, I have started talking to the full-time international students here, as they are often in our hallway studying for exams. The ones I have talked to are from China and Serbia, and the weirdness of an American girl and a Chinese guy having Ukrainian as their common language appeals to my sense of quirky.

That was all, really, just expanded a bit. Plus, it rains a lot here. I think Seattle must be a bit like L'viv--in the west, often rainy, and lots of cafes/coffee shops.

Kyiv, part 1

2009-06-22T05:50:00.000-07:00

I have to confess, I wasn't crazy about going to Kyiv for a program trip last week. I've always thought of it as big, noisy, and expensive, and I've been there 15-20 times already. That said, I had a great time.

We arrived Thursday night at the Post-Graduate Institute for Taras Shevchenko National University, where I had stayed a couple of years ago for a Peace Corps function. Group 36 (!) had had their swearing-in ceremony there last week, but unfortunately, they left before we arrived. I would have enjoyed sharing my (and Tif's) horror stories with them to scare them before moving to site (just kidding).

Friday, we spent the day doing things I'd never done before. In the morning, we went to the Kyiv-Percheska Lavra, which is an Orthodox monestery complete with museums, churches, and monks buried in caves, which we got to see. Very interesting. Then we went by the Parliament building, and while we couldn't go inside, we still could take pictures of the outside. (Our professor told the guard on duty that we were a "delegation" and therefore got us a good parking spot.) After lunch, we took a boat cruise a ways down the Dnipro River and back, which was something I'd never had the chance to do before, and I really enjoyed it, particuarly because it came after the Lavra, which we could see quite well. Having been there first meant that I actually knew what I was looking at. After that, we went to Saint Sophia's Church, which dates back to the 11th century. A lovely day, particularly because even though I'd been in Kyiv so many times, I hadn't seen any of the things we saw.

Saturday morning, we went to Petrivka, a big book/CD/DVD market in Kyiv, where I loaded up on English textbooks used in the schools here in order to have them as references for my thesis. The vendors looked at me a little strangely when I asked for books by specific authors and didn't care what grade they were for, as most people would be looking for a book for a specific grade. I also got a movie, Metropolitan Andrey (about a Greek-Orthodox priest) in Ukrainian with English subtitles, and a CD of Ukrainian folk music.

And now the lady at the computer lab tells me I must go, so more later!

languages and research

2009-06-17T05:11:00.000-07:00

Monday night, we had a very international evening. Natalya and Olgert, my host parents, have friends visiting from Poland, and those friends had invited friends of theirs from Germany to come stay for a few days. This brings the total number of people in the house up to eight, with me being less than half everyone else's age. More interesting is the fact that we all speak a slightly different set of languages, with six languages total between the eight of us. Everything that gets said has to be translated for someone, but we're doing pretty well. The breakdown is as follows:

German man: German, English, French
German woman, German, French, some English
Polish man: Polish, German, Russian
Polish woman: Polish, Russian, some German
Natalya (Ukrainian): Ukrainian, Russian, Polish
Olgert (Ukrainian but of Polish ethnicity): Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, French
John (American): English, rudimentary Ukrainian and Russian
Me: English, Ukrainian, and Russian (and I'm surprised how much Polish I understand)

As you can imagine, it's quite something. Everyone's here until Thursday, when we all leave (our program is going to Kyiv for a few days), and Natalya said she's going to pretty much collapse at that point.

Language classes are going pretty well. I've decided that partway through a grad program in learning how to teach languages is a horrible time to take language classes, as I've spent a year developing opinions how it should Be Done Properly, and while this isn't at all how I would teach grammar, I can tell that it's paying off, at least in how I write. My oral language may be fairly fixed by this point, and I have a few Russianisms that my teacher continues to comment on that I can't seem to shake loose, but the classes really are helpful.

What's most frustrating about the program is that I feel like I primarily speak Ukrainian in class. It isn't like Balaklia where I did basically everything in Ukrainian (except teach, I suppose, although I ended up using a lot more Ukrainian in class by the end than at the beginning). Here, I spend time with the American students, or we're going on trips to museums and everything gets translated (which makes sense, as we have some beginners in the group), or I'm wandering around by myself and can order things in cafes in Ukrainian. But I don't have a social life in Ukrainian, and I miss that. Or perhaps I just miss having a social life in Ukraine. I'm not quite sure how to meet people here. I asked about getting a conversation partner, but that's difficult right now because it's summer vacation and there aren't many students around.

However, I did get to speak Ukrainian this afternoon, and it was directly connected to my thesis! An English professor at the university who I had been introduced to connected me to the head of social programs at the university, who called the head of the teacher recertification institute (for all subjects) for L'viv Oblast, who introduced me to one of the people responsible for running the English recertification program, who said (slightly condensed), "You only have 9 surveys with you? I'll take those now, and can you please bring 35 copies on Monday, as we're getting in a new group of teachers? And would you please speak to the teachers about your life and what you're learning about TESOL and how people teach English as a native language in the U.S?"

Not to mention, I got several surveys turned back in to me today already from other sources and have an interview scheduled for next week! I'm really impressed with people's willingness to be helpful, and it's nice to be going through the university, as that gives me access to contacts I wouldn't otherwise be able to get on my own.

mistaken national identity

2009-06-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

Well, the answer to how much of the liturgy I could understand at the Catholic service on Sunday morning is "very little," as the service was in Polish, not Ukrainian. There are enough cognates that I had a slight idea what was going on, but not much.

After that, I met Allie and Vanessa for the opera Natalka Potavka, which was nice, even though the plot was somewhat predictable. Allie had quite the experience before the opera--she had been going to come to church with us, but then ended up at the Greek Catholic church instead of the Roman Catholic church. A very cute (in her words) guy helped her find her way back to the opera theater, and was talking to her in Ukrainian the whole time (Allie speaks some Russian but is a beginner in Ukrainian). At the end, he said something she didn't understand, and she said, "Yes." He then kissed her! I've asked many people for directions over the years in Ukraine, but no one's ever kissed me. :) (Allie said that that was because I actually understand what they're saying...)

However, I did have a funny thing happen last night. I went to L'viv Central Baptist Church for the evening service. The third sermon (there are generally three short sermons at Baptist churches in Ukraine, interspersed with lots of music) was given by a visiting American pastor, who was in charge of a missions trip who would be teaching English to people in L'viv. After the service, I decided to go up and say hello. The visiting pastor was saying hello to some kids in English, so they could practice what they knew how to say. I walked up and said, in what I thought was fluent English, "I appreciated your message. What state are you from?" Very slowly, with a great deal of enunciation, the pastor replied, "I am from the state of Texas." He thought I was a Ukrainian who spoke English! I replied, "I'm from Michigan!" "Really?" he said, and we chatted for a minute or two. I've had people think I'm from all over here, but it's rare that Americans don't recognize me as one of their own!

I did have a similar experience once when I was in the Peace Corps. I was at a Kyiv McDonald's, and a woman there (who might have been a native speaker of English...at any rate, she wasn't Ukrainian or Russian) was having trouble ordering (which is sort of amazing, as it's all cognates). I helped her out, and she said something like, "You must be an English teacher" (because I spoke English). "Yes," I replied.

This afternoon I met with a professor from the English department here, and she took some of my surveys to pass out. I'm glad to have made the contact with her, because I've had some down time on my thesis research and I'd like to get started again.

We head to Kyiv Thursday through Sunday, taking a university van for the 7-hour trip rather than taking an overnight train. It'll be interesting to do Kyiv as a tourist, rather than running errands. On Friday we're going to the Percheska Lavra (Cave Monestary), which is somewhere I've never been, as well as some other places. On Saturday, we have a free day, and I'm hoping to meet up with Sasha Malko and Vitaly Yukhymets, although probably not at the same time. The universe might implode with that odd combination.

settling in

2009-06-13T05:14:00.000-07:00

Well, my first week of classes in L'viv is over. It's different from what I expected...not bad, just taking some getting used to. I'm used to Peace Corps, which crammed as much Ukrainian in our heads as possible, and then sent us off to live on our own--with their support, of course, but we learned how to be self-sufficient fairly quickly. Here, I'm an international student, our language classes go at a much slower pace, I find that I use Ukrainian primarily in class and English much of the rest of the time, and we're given a lot of support...in English. It's weird for me, because for the first month I was here, I was speaking Ukrainian all the time I was awake (except for my interviews), and here, since us students are together a lot, I use English much more. But I'm hoping to get a conversation partner so I can speak Ukrainian more.

Today we went on a bus tour of L'viv with a history professor from the university as our tour guide. It was really interesting...since L'viv was part of Poland and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at various points and didn't come under Soviet control until 1939, it feels so different than out East in Kharkiv or Balaklia. In some ways, it feels like a different country, just with the same language. I'm reminded of my impression from the time Tif and I visited here--the people who built this city took the effort to make things pretty, with great attention to details like wrought-iron balconies and sculptures on the facades of buildings. I also love seeing all the old churches.

On the subject of church, I was hoping to go to the Baptist church here tomorrow, as that would be something that would feel familiar to me. But Vanessa, Ally, and I have tickets to the Ukrainan folk-opera Natalka Poltavka, which starts at noon, so there's no way the Baptist service (which starts at 10 am) would be done by then. So I think I'm going to the Catholic cathedral downtown, which should be a neat experience. I'm interested in seeing how much of the liturgy I can follow, as the last time I went to a liturgical service in Ukraine (which was several years ago), I couldn't understand a thing.

good fences make good neighbors, and good neighbors make good water?

2009-06-10T04:46:00.000-07:00

Having not had Internet access for several days, I had typed up a blog post detailing some of the amusing highlights of my weekend (Carmen ended up being a Ukrainian musical, not an opera!), but I can't get my flash drive to work in the USB port here at the Internet cafe, so I'll just skip the weekend and go straight to L'viv.

I am living in a gorgeous, shabby old house in an old neighborhood in L'viv. The grandfather of my host dad was a professor at the Polytechnic University in L'viv back when L'viv was still Polish Lwow. The family had to leave the house during WWII, but it wasn't destroyed by the Germans, perhaps because they weren't in the area long enough. After that, the family eventually got the house back, but Nikita Krushchev lived for a while on the first floor, in the days before he was the Premir (which I can't seem to spell right now) of the Soviet Union. When the President of Ukraine or other important political figures are in town, they live across the street from me, which has a great side benefit..unlike the rest of L'viv, we get water all day long! (L'viv has a chronic water shortage, as it's not on a river.)

My host parents are in their late 50s or early 60s. Pan Olgert, my host father, is a retired engineer whose interests include airplanes, architecture, and Jules Verne (he's apparently the secretary of the Jules Verne Society of Ukraine). Pani Natalya ("Pan" and "Pani" are terms of respect used in western Ukraine) is a physician. She's cheerful and chatty, whereas Pan Olgert is quieter. They have a son, Pavel, who's about my age and works as a physician in Poland. I haven't met him yet, but he's supposed to be in town for a few days starting today.

There are only four American students in the program here. One of them, John, is also staying at the same place I am. He's in his mid-forties and interested in the Ukrainian folk instrument, the lyra (lira?). He and his wife, whose area of expertise is textiles and fabric, were here last year, but she didn't come this time. The other two students are women about my age--Ally (Allie?), who's interested in energy politics, and Vanessa, who's interested in folklore. I think it's going to be a fun group.

Lutsk

2009-06-06T02:14:00.000-07:00

Well, the people in my compartment from Kharkiv to Kyiv thought I was from Western Ukraine, and the people in my compartment from Kyiv to Lutsk thought I was Polish. If the trend of thinking I'm from just west of wherever I'm going keeps up, I will apparently be German if I go visit Jes in Cracow in July.

Lutsk is very nice. Via the recommendation of my trusty guidebook, I booked a single standard room for three nights at the downtown Hotel Ukraina, which cost me in total about $30 less than one night in Kyiv. In addition, both the room and the attached bath are about 3x bigger than my hotel room in Kyiv, plus there's a fridge and a comfortable mattress. As breakfast is included in the deal, I think I lucked out.

I also lucked out with my interview, which was with someone who was not only informative and interesting, but also gave me several books of materials used in teacher recertification. Apparently, I was their second researcher to come through in the past month...the other one is a PhD student at UPenn in Educational Linguistics, who I'd run across a mention of while looking at UPenn's program. I should email her at some point to see what particularly she's interested in (although that will wait until I'm using a computer where the keys don't stick like the dickens).

I wandered around Lutsk a bit yesterday and plan to do so more today, including visiting the town castle. Tomorrow is church in the morning and the opera Carmen in the evening, as I got a 3rd row center aisle seat for about $3.33.

Will post more when not battling keyboards.

paris when it sizzles, kharkiv when it thunders and lightenings

2009-06-03T23:17:00.000-07:00

Having typed my post title, it occurs to me that I might have used a similar title last summer the night I watched Paris When it Sizzles in a thunderstorm. Oh, well...

Yesterday was my last day in Balaklia, which was primarily spent packing and making arrangements for the next leg of my trip. I'm in Kyiv now, for a lunch date with my friend Tanya and an interview for my project, then off on another train tonight to Lutsk in north-western Ukraine, where I have an interview tomorrow morning and then will just hang out there for the weekend, as I found a decently priced hotel downtown there (I can stay there for three nights for the price of what I spent for one night in Kyiv...). (I also found a church online to visit on Sunday, which amazed Nadia that I was able to accomplish all of this via Internet, and somewhat allayed her worries that I'm headed across the country by myself with heavy luggage. I keep calling her to check in so she doesn't worry quite as much.) Then on to L'viv on Monday.

At least 11 children were sad to see me go yesterday (Yura wasn't around to say goodbye, and when the van pulled away, I saw him brushing Nadia off that no, he didn't intend to. But he wears the t-shirt I brought him a lot, which is enough for me.). Valera told me that he's going to visit me in the U.S. when he's 25 (in 13 years), and then asked me in detail where I would be living, who would open the door when he arrived, and what would happen if I wasn't home when he came, since he thought it unlikely anyone else in my family would speak Ukrainian. Snizhanna told me that she was going to come with Valera, but only if Nadia let her. I am going to miss them all so much.

Then I took the elektrichka to Kharkiv, which was one of those experiences that was just nice, as the scenery was beautiful and the ride brought back memories of when Tif and I used to ride up to Kharkiv for the day. I think that Nadia had expected me to stay in the train station and eat the sandwiches she'd packed, but instead, I went out to dinner at Adriano's (saving the sandwiches for later).

Adriano's is quite possibly one of my all-time favorite restaurants, up there with Sansu in East Lansing. The food is Italian, the decor is nice without being overdone, the prices are reasonable (my meal was roughly $8 USD), and the music is light, jazzy, and European. I got the lasagna with spinach, shrimp, and salmon. I think this is the first time I'd ever been there by myself--it was a popular place for PCVs to hang out, and I think I took pretty much everyone who ever visited me there (Tif, did you go there with me? You're the only person I'm not sure about.)

After dinner, I decided to go find a coffee shop I remembered around the corner, where we often went for dessert afterwards, but it had been replaced by a small casino. Grrr... So I decided to walk down to the next metro stop, but it was farther than I remembered, it was growing dark, and there was lots of thunder and lightening, although no rain (it had rained earlier). I was starting to question my common sense, but I had a rough idea of where I was, so I started heading in the direction of the Universytet metro stop, which I figured was pretty close. Just after a VERY loud crack of thunder, I spotted the huge Lenin statue near the metro. I never thought I'd say this, but I've never been so happy to see Lenin in all of my life. :)

Returning to the train station, I was disgusted to find out that the ticket counter for foreigners now closes at 7:30, instead of staying open until midnight, as I wanted to buy my ticket to Lutsk (which I got without problems in Kyiv this morning). I then, in classic Sal-and-Tif fashion, went to McDonald's for ice cream and clean bathrooms. And by that time, I could board my train.

The train was awesome. They've really spruced up the Kharkiv-Kyiv overnight train, with plushy seats, a control panel for lights, radio, etc. (which also tells you if the toilet is occupied), and clean windows. It felt very luxurious. The conductor was also friendly and helped get my suitcase on and off the train, bless his heart! My traveling companions were two sisters in their 50s and the daughter of one of them, who was about my age. The one woman was a former administrator of education for Kharkivska Oblast, and her daughter is a translator for international students at Karazin University in Kharkiv. They were friendly and I really enjoyed chatting with them. At first, they didn't realize I was a foreigner, but when they asked if I was really trying to read Les Miserables in English--the whole thing! (it's about 2 inches thick)--I explained that I was actually American. They had assumed I was from western Ukraine, which made my night. A lot less people give me odd looks when I talk to them, so hopefully my accent has gotten better.

a multilingual evening and my current love life (completely non-exciting)

2009-06-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, the guests all came and we now have 22 people here (although one or two kids might have been sent off to Grandma's next door to sleep). One of the best parts of the evening included having a conversation in English with Hannes, an older man from Switzerland who is a friend of Valentin's (the friend of Viktor and Nadia who is visiting). Hannes knows some English, and he speaks English better than Russian, so we visited for a bit and he showed me pictures of the Swiss Alps on his digital camera. My other favorite part of the evening was when I played the piano and we sang "How Great Thou Art", and when we came to the chorus, people were singing in English, Russian, and German (and possibly Swiss and Ukrainian).

Less fun was getting accidentally elbowed in the face by Valera during a game of dodgeball. Fortunately, he missed my glasses, but the kid doesn't know how strong he is, and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm a bit black and blue there tomorrow. Sigh.

That aside, Valera is still as much my buddy as he ever was, and if the kiss on the cheek I got yesterday was any indication, the crush he had on me at age 9 is still extant at age 11 (albeit he also has a crush on a Roma girl named Sophia who went to our church for a short period of time). He loves to ask me questions about anything and everything, all day long, and it's thanks to him that I have gotten much better at conditionals in Ukrainian ("What would you do if...?").

To continue with the Y children's interest in my love life, the other day I was getting ready to go visit Robert, the 40-something PCV in town, for tea, and Ihor (age 7) asked where I was going. "I'm having tea with Robert," I said. "You're going on a DATE!" Ihor crowed. Nadia and I about died laughing, Nadia adding, "I didn't think he even knew what that was!"

Snizhanna (age 6) said to Liza the other day while we were playing dolls, "Miss Sally's going to marry Vitaly (age 19)!" I told her that that was in fact inaccurate, and when I told Nadia, she said, "That's what Snizhanna would like!" Snizhanna loves playing dolls, helping Nadia in the kitchen, and being a girl, and the fact that I am one more girl in a houseful of boys has endeared me to her deeply.

Due to all the extra people, Liza and Vlada are in the room next to mine on the third floor. So far they have thrown toys at me, stolen my key, knocked incessantly on my door, and played what sounded like the accordion. I've been utilizing the "ignore them and they will go away" approach, which is fairly effective. When Valera came upstairs to bug me, they told him to go away. "Miss Sally's sleeping!" And yet they play the accordion!

and then there were 22!

2009-06-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

If evangelicals ever start canonizing people, I nominate Nadia Volodomyrivna Yukhymets for sainthood. There are currently 15 of us living here, and at least seven guests (including small children) are coming to stay for an unspecified number of days (their best friend, who's a missionary in Germany, and friends/family of his). Nadia's been cooking and cleaning all day.

I bought my ticket to leave Balaklia today. Honestly, there isn't a connection. :) The current plan is to head out Wednesday night, do an interview in Kyiv, hang out with/maybe spend the night at my friend Tanya's place (she's a Ukrainian with a penchant for Joss Whedon shows [there, there, Lisa] who I met when she was doing a TB training in Kyiv), and then hopefully head to western Ukraine, assuming I can get an interview scheduled for Friday (or Monday). Not quite sure where I'll be during the weekend, as my plans to visit the Malkos fell through because they'll be out of town for a family wedding. If I don't have any place to go for interviews/visiting, I may pick a city in western Ukraine out of my guidebook and find a relatively inexpensive hotel for a night or two ("relatively inexpensive" = less than $50/night).

Random bits about my research:
*I collected six questionnaires today (that had been distributed earlier during my visit) and did two interviews. With one more questionnaire to get back and one more interview to do tomorrow, that brings my Balaklia total to 13 questionnaires and 6 interviews, which is about half of what I need for a minimum amount of data.
*One teacher I interviewed offered to pass on questionnaires to some of her colleagues, who filled them out and returned them to me by leaving them at the store by my house (which I was told via text message), and then I stopped by to pick them up.
*So far most people I've interviewed have wanted to use English...I don't know if they want the chance to practice speaking or if they feel it's necessary, since they're English teachers (I'm fine with them speaking Ukrainian). One teacher didn't want me to record the interview on my digital recorder because she was worried she'd make mistakes...I felt bad, because her speech was fine.

Valera just came up to tell me that the guests are here...bye for now!

last bell

2009-05-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

The Last Bell ceremony for the end of the school year was yesterday. I watched this year's eleventh formers, dressed in traditional school uniforms from Soviet days (with some of the girls' skirts indecently short, but no harem costumes, Tif), and remembered when they were 8th formers, back when I was brand-new here. Then I taught Nelya the basics of how to use a computer mouse and how to type in Microsoft Word, which made both of us proud that she was learning how to do more with computers.

Later, I visited an English teacher who I had known when I lived here before and who is now on maternity leave. Although it was a social visit, she was interested in my research and is willing to be interviewed. Interesting fact about Ukraine: women can take up to 3 years of paid maternity leave (not full pay, but their job will be there when they get back). Everyone is shocked that we only get 6 weeks.

I spent the night at the Kotlars', which was fun and a change from one set of kids to another. Much to the amusement of her family (and myself), Lilia K. (age 6) has an enormous crush on Yura Yukhymets (age 14/15?). Apparently he bought her ice cream once, and she's utterly besotted. She told me that they're going to get married when she grows up and he'll go to work and she'll stay home and cook and clean. When I asked which church they were going to go to, she thought about it and decided that they would alternate Sundays. Lilia and Natasha walked me home, and they weren't going to come in, but then Lilia started to cry because she wouldn't see Yura, so they stopped in to say hello. Yura walked by and said "Hello, Lil," and she just beamed. (Personally, I think Yura's got a lot of growing up to do before he's ready to be the object of anyone's adoration, much less Lilia's, but perhaps she'll be a good influence. :) )

Lilia reminds me of why I actually do want children at some point (although not 12!). She's a very deep-thinking, loving, little girl, who likes to cuddle and take care of her little brothers. She said to me very seriously at breakfast this morning, "I missed you while you were gone [to America]. Sometimes I looked at your picture and thought about you. I don't want you to leave." Aww...

This afternoon Viktor and I took 6 of the Y kids to the playground at one of the schools in town to get them out of Nadia's hair so she could garden (of the other half, 1 was at a church conference in Kharkiv, 1 helped Nadia, and the other 4 were with their grandmother). We stayed at the playground for about 4 hours. I played football, excuse me, soccer, with the boys and Viktor for a bit, proving once again that I have very little aptitude for sports.

In case you all hadn't picked up on it, I love being in Ukraine again.

productive day :)

2009-05-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

I forgot how things in Ukraine tend to come together at the last minute.

My research was going slowly earlier this week. Part of it was that I was waiting on questionnaires; part of it was that it's the last week of the semester here; part of it was simply that things go more slowly in Ukraine than they do in the U.S. I was starting to feel frustrated and worried that I wasn't being a good researcher--after all, since MSU is funding the majority of the trip, I need to be productive. And yet there wasn't much I could do besides sit and wait.

Well, things have taken off with a vengeance. It started yesterday, when two surveys were returned to me and an interview scheduled for next week, and today kept me hopping for almost 12 hours. I started the day with an interview at a local school, then caught a very packed bus to the center (downtown) to meet up with Robert, the PCV in town, as we were supposed to speak to students at the college and collegium (the latter is a specialized high school in the same building and sharing the same faculty as the college). We spoke with 3rd year college students and 10th form collegium students--both groups did a nice job of speaking English and had good questions for us. I was especially proud of Firyuza, a former student of mine, who's now at the collegium and wants to be a translator. Her teacher mentioned to me that she's one of the best students in her class, which makes me really happy.

After that (which was several hours), Robert and I went to the Palace of Culture, as he had written a PEPFAR grant (he works at the HIV center here) and was trying to set up a concert. The director of the Palace of Culture wanted a translator at the meeting to make sure they had all the details correct, and since languages come more easily for me than they do for Robert, I translated. We had Robert, the director of the Palace of Culture, a musician/sound/lights guy from the P of C, the director of the HIV Center, and I, and I think we got all the details hashed out. I enjoyed translating in a non-school context, which is something I haven't had much chance to do before.

When we finished, it was already mid-afternoon, so Robert and I went to the new pizzeria and had a late lunch. Then we hung out and talked, mostly about his impending Close of Service and what it's like for me, being back here. At 5 I had another interview, which lasted until around 7 p.m. At that point, I came home, had supper, and played dolls with Liza and Snizhanna. A good day all around, and between me and a PCV who emailed me, I've gotten 9 more questionnaires passed out and another interview scheduled for Monday.

Tomorrow: Last Bell ceremony at School #3, helping Nelya learn how to use a computer, a possible interview, a visit to an English teacher I knew when I lived here, and spending the evening at the Kotlars.

Yay for accomplishing stuff!

(Now to post this before my Internet dies again...)

my impressions

2009-05-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

As an American living/working/visiting in Ukraine, a common question I'm asked is "What are your impressions of _______?" It's apparently a literal translation of a question in Ukrainian, since whenever I ask someone to translate it for me (because I can never remember the word in Ukrainian), they say "impressions". So here are some random impressions I've had since arriving in Balaklia:

~There are now two coffee shops and a pizza place that delivers (not that I've been to any of them yet). Be still, my beating heart.
~There is also a second supermarket, twice the size of the first one (which came while I lived here). It offers such delicacies as Brie, which you used to only be able to find in Kharkiv. (I don't actually want Brie, I'm just amazed you can find it here now.)
~I lived here two years and didn't know that a) both the college and the lyceum have dorms and b) the name of the bus stop by the Yukhymetses' house (Sichnya).
~I did a fairly good job of packing clothes for this trip. Packing a non-wrinklable black skirt and a black cardigan was a stroke of genius, as I wear them almost every day. Tif's suggestion of throwing in my long denim skirt for around the house was also an excellent idea.
~That said, the weather here is a bit cooler than I had hoped. It's working, but I should have packed one more long-sleeved shirt.
~Everyone is much more computer/Internet-savvy than they were two years ago. Nadia is quite proficient with the computer now and spends her evenings looking up old friends and relatives on Odnoklassniki.ru, which is basically Classmates.com.
~One should never try and do educational research during the last two weeks of the school year.
~I spent a semester learning about informed consent and confidentiality. It's all a lot more complicated when you're doing research in a culture where these are not concepts that people have spent much time thinking about.
~My former students understand English a lot better than they speak it. I'm amazed at how much they understand.
~12 kids are a lot. But I wouldn't want to be staying anywhere else in town while I'm here on a visit.
~The economic crisis has really hit home here. Everyone talks about it. Nadia said that this month the government hasn't sent them money for raising the kids (for anyone unaware, the Y family is sort of a permanent foster care home, except that the children look at it as their own home and family...they just aren't legally adopted). She's not sure what they're going to do if this continues.
~It's really good to be back. Everyone's made me feel very welcome.

homemade cough syrup and injured kittens

2009-05-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

I had, if not grand, at least moderately good plans for the day--go to church, help Natalia and the kids from the Orthodox Sunday School plant trees, go to the youth group at Andrey's church this evening and hopefully connect with an English teacher who helps out there.

Unfortunately, I woke up with a bad cough, a tight chest, and not much voice, which is likely the result of overworking myself this past semester, giving myself no downtime before coming to Ukraine, and then going more or less full-tilt once I got here. However, being in Peace Corps taught me a bit about slowing down and taking care of myself so I wouldn't get more sick, so I told Nadia I was staying home this morning, gargled, took one of the Fishermen's Friend coughdrops I found a bag of in my computer bag (not sure why), and went back to bed until noon.

The afternoon was spent watching Battlestar Galactica, although the tone is getting darker and I'm going to have to start slowing down on watching it or mixing it with Doctor Who. I'm really enjoying BSG, but I'm finding that there are limits to how much gloom I can take in a sitting. But at the same time, I want to know what happens next! (Although I know a lot of the major spoilers, unfortunately...the series finale was this past spring, after I started playing the board game, and in order to know a bit more about the game, I did some reading on Wikipedia. All the same, it's interesting to watch it all play out.)

But I digress...Nadia dosed me with homemade cough syrup, which was surprisingly effective. It's a combination of butter, honey, wine, and baking soda, and although it's a vile concoction, by the time I finished the small bowl of it she told me to drink, I could breathe easier and wasn't coughing as much. I've also been drinking compote and water all afternoon, so I rather feel like I'm swimming by this point.

The other major occurence of the day was that Alosha (5) decided to take one of the kittens, dunk it in water (or possibly hold it under?), and then throw it on the ground next to the dog, who decided to investigate it. We were all sure that the kitten was dead, and all the little kids were mad at Alosha, who was crying when he realized what he'd done (except for Snizhanna, who blamed the dog), but apparently the kitten has come through, thanks to prayers from Ihor and Vlada, although it may be blind now. We're not sure.

My camp counselor skills come in handy here. I've taught a bunch of the kids how to play Duck Duck Goose and the hand-clapping circle game "Down by the Banks of the Hanky-Panky" and how to do thumb wars. It's amazing how much they enjoy it.

it's a small world and my Ukrainian "twin"

2009-05-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Of particular interest to the Riverview crowd, but the rest of you may find it interesting as well:

Vitaly (19) and Oleh (15) went to a youth conference in Kharkiv today at one of the churches there. The topic translates roughly as "a Biblical look at attitudes between guys and girls". Both of the boys seemed to have a good day, and at any rate, Oleh was much more sociable and less of a brat than he's been since I arrived. (Viktor commented that the boys hadn't heard anything different there from what they hear at home, but somehow the conference seemed to have made more of an impression.)

But what I found the most interesting was that the conference was sponsored by Almaz Church, which is one of the GCM churches in Ukraine. Having attended Riverview, which is a GCM church, in undergrad, I visited the other two GCM churches in Kyiv, City on a Hill and Spring of Hope, whenever I happened to be in the city on a Sunday. I never managed to visit Almaz, primarily because I didn't know where it was and its services were on Saturday nights, which never corresponded with my train schedule, but I knew Eric and Cindy Thomas and several other missionaries who would have been involved to varying extents with the ministry at Almaz.

Basically, it's a fairly small world, at least if you're an evangelical in Ukraine.

~*~

This afternoon, I went to a neighboring village with my friend Natalia to visit an English teacher who's a friend of hers to see if she'd be interested in participating in my research. We had tea and cookies with her friend and her friend's cousin, and then we visited the village Orthodox church. Natalia does a lot of work with the children and teens that go to the Orthodox church in Balaklia, and she had wanted the teens from the church in the village to meet me. However, only the priest's daughter showed up, so Natalia, who's been taking a course in Orthodox theology, explained what the different icons represented in the church and why they were arranged the way they are.

It's been great to get in touch with Natalia again. We're a lot alike--if you can imagine a Ukrainian Orthodox version of me (who is also taller and blond, but we're built about the same), that's Natalia. She's a bookworm who lived and worked abroad in Germany for a couple of years and now teaches German and Ukrainian at the local college. She loves to travel, but she also feels deeply at home in Balaklia and enjoys life there. She's active in the local Orthodox church (pretty much the only devout Orthodox person I know personally in Ukraine), and she loves to talk and laugh. (She's also able to talk about history and theology for half an hour straight...yes, we are indeed a lot alike!) We think on the same wavelength, despite coming from different cultures, and hanging out with her is always a lot of fun.

a typical (?) day

2009-05-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Mom wanted an example of a "typical" day for me here in Ukraine, so I thought I'd give it a try. There's a fair amount of variance, depending on research/socializing/etc., but roughly, weekdays go something like this:

Sometime between 5 and 7 a.m.: I wake up due to a combination of sun and roosters, roll over, and endeavor to go back to sleep until my alarm goes off, usually at 7 or 7:30. I'm fairly successful at this.

7-8:30ish: My alarm (on my cell phone) goes off. I make my bed, get dressed in nice clothes (if I'm going somewhere) or old clothes (if I'll be around the house for a bit), wash up (there's a sink with hot water on the third floor, where I sleep!), and head downstairs for breakfast. Downstairs is barely organized chaos, with 11 out of 12 children getting ready for school. If I'm going to school that morning, I'm part of the chaos...otherwise, I sit on the couch and keep out of everyone's way until the kids are off to school and then have breakfast. The Y kids are not cheerful early risers, and they are not necessarily on time to school on a regular basis.

Remainder of morning/early afternoon: This varies a lot. I may be around the house, doing my own thing there, or I may be at my old school guest lecturing to some classes. Alternatively, I may go into the center of town to run errands/make more copies of my questionnaires and consent forms/pass out aforementioned documents. This sometimes happens after I've been at school. Hopefully this next week interviews will become a regular part of this segment of the day or the one following it.

Mid-afternoon: Kids come home from school. We have lunch, which took some getting used to, as I think of lunch as something that happens at noon, whereas at the Y house, it's sometime between 2 and 4 p.m. It may or may not involve people actually all eating at the same time.

Mid-afternoon to early evening: A lot of my social visits tend to occur at this time. Alternatively, it's "Big Sister" time, which can involve anything from helping Vlada with English to teaching Vitaly how to play chords with his left hand on the piano to watching the little kids play outside to answering any and all of Valera's innumerable questions. Seriously, he looks at me as a fount of information and I'm never sure what he's going to ask next. If I've reached my limit of big sister-ness, I head up to the 3rd floor (which I and I alone have a key to), watch Battlestar Galactica (thanks to Carl, the Cylon...I've already finished Season 1), and contemplate never having children. Which at times, almost sounds appealing. (And I'm not having 12, regardless, as much as I love them all.)

7:45?: Carmelita, the older kids' serial (i.e., evening soap opera) comes on. It's about a Roma (gypsy) tribe living in Russia, and it has catacombs and guns and affairs and convoluded, improbable plot lines. The kids love it. I'm sort of surprised that they're allowed to watch it, but it appears to be a battle that Viktor and Nadia decided to let the kids win. It's mostly interesting to me for how the Other, in the form of the Roma, is portrayed. Carmelita, the main character, really only looks Roma due to her curly hair and flowing skirts, and her love interest is non-Roma.

After that: The little kids often watch Scooby-Doo dubbed into Ukrainian, and we have supper. Or, if Nadia's been in the garden all day, we eat whatever happens to be cooked at that time. For the first week or so I was here, the younger kids wanted me to play the piano while we sang, but we've gotten out of that habit lately.

9ish: I go upstairs and watch more Battlestar Galactica or read Les Miserables, and sometimes use the Internet.

Sometime between 11 and 12: Devotions and bed.

And there you have it: the fledgling researcher and her typical life. Right now, it's a bit kid-heavy, but I'm hoping that interviews will pick up this coming week. I've got a lot of questionnaires and consent forms passed out, and I'm waiting to hear back on those.

a fairly easy adjustment (except for my feet)

2009-05-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Vitaly and I set up wireless internet on my laptop (via external modem plugged into a USB port...it's 5 hryvnia off of my phone card to connect and then 2 kopecks a minute, so quite reasonable), so I hope to be checking email/blogging more often. As in every day or so. It's interesting for me to realize how much less technology I use in Ukraine, and how quickly I've slipped back into a slower-paced lifestyle.

I will say that I do miss being able to drive places. I'm not used to walking everywhere, and my feet and calves ache fairly regularly. If I have a long way to go (from school to the center, for example, a good 25-30 minute walk), I cheat and take a marshrutka (van), which I would have thought rather extravagant during my PCV days.

Yesterday I went to a neighboring village (via elektrichka) to visit my friends Andrey and Ira and see their new baby girl, Yanna. It was nice, and I think Ira was glad to have company. She said she misses being at work. Interesting fact: in Ukraine, women get 3 years of maternity leave, instead of 6 weeks. They get a (very) small monthly stipend during this time, and their job will be open for them when they come back.

Question for my readers: what do you all want me to post about? So much is going on, that I don't even know where to start. So if you can give me some topics you want to know about, I'd be happy to oblige.

the lilacs are in bloom

2009-05-18T04:19:00.000-07:00

I could blog and blog, but I had enough other things to do on the computer that it isn't really feasible. However, apparently I may be able to sent up wireless (or some equivelent) through a type of flash drive that uses a phone card. I really don't understand it, but I'm hopeful.

~*~

Story for Tif, who remembers Lilia Kotlar at age 3, and her unwillingless to let me go home after I'd visited them:

I went to the Kotlars's church last night (along with Vitaly, Valera, Ruslan, and Liza...we goofed and got there an hour early...), and when Lilia (now age 6) saw me, she ran up to me and gave me a big hug.

"You remember me?" I asked, since the younger Yukhymets kids don't (Snizhanna likes to be reminded of the things that she did to me, like try to take my glasses and bop me on the head).

"You're Miss Sally!" she said, and then cuddled up next to me for the whole service.

At one point, she whispered to me, "Are you here for always?"

"No, I'm just visiting," I told her.

Very seriously, she said, "I'm not letting you go."

I felt loved.

~*~

I ended up spending the night at the Kotlars', and talked and giggled with Natasha (age 17 already!) until 1 a.m. She gave me a backrub to rival Tina's.

~*~

The Y kids really deserve their own blog post. Suffice it to say, I love being a big sister, but I don't want 12 kids of my own. I think my favorite time of the day is in the evening, when Liza and Valera say, "Let's sing," and we all (that is, the younger kids and I...the older ones are too cool for that) sing while I play the piano.

in Balaklia

2009-05-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

In Balaklia, enjoying being the oldest of 13 kids for a couple of weeks. The littlest ones didn't remember me at first and would look at me shyly and run away yesterday morning, but by evening, I was being pelted with leaves, asked to "Watch me! Watch me!", and basically one of the pack again.

This could either be a very long post or a very short one, but I am using the post office internet (we have 3 computers here now, not just 1!), and I'm down to only five minutes, so it will have to be short. Random bits of interest:

*Oleh Y. (15) still knows how to push my buttons and get me sputtering in English in a matter of minutes. He decided to pry into my personal life, hit a nerve on pretty much the first question, and then wouldn't drop it. He plays the piano beautifully, however.
*Vlada Y. (15) is going through what her mother calls a "difficult stage" and has lovely fingernails, one hand black and the other pink. She painted mine for me last night, all light pink.
*I went to school yesterday. My kids are all huge, the teachers are much the same, and Nelya was planning to use an idea that I had used back when I taught (an election scenario).
*The food here is as good as I remembered.
*Saw Robert today and got caught up on his time as a PCV here. A month away from leaving, he has many of the same feelings as I did at the same point.

Kyiv, day 2

2009-05-12T04:44:00.001-07:00

Happiness is:

*Sleeping for 5 hours once I finally got a bed; hanging out in my hotel room, reading, watching Ukrainian TV, and writing in my journal for a few hours (skipped supper because I would have had to actually go somewhere, had snacks); sleeping 9.5 hours more after that. I feel more or less human now.
*Saving 30 hryvnia on a taxi by going outside and asking a taxi driver myself, rather than having the front desk get me one
*Going to a little cafe I remembered from my Peace Corps days for lunch and having soup with shrimp, lemon, and herbs along with focaccia and a raspberry milkshake
*Sending out copies of my survey and consent forms to PCVs willing to distribute them for me
*Knowing that the Yukhymetses will be at the train station with open arms to greet me when I show up at 3:45 in the morning (I offered to take a taxi, but Nadia said, "Of course we'll be there! We've missed you!" which makes me feel very loved.)

On a less cheerful note, Kyiv is warm and muggy. Ugh.

So long and thanks for all the fish

2009-05-11T03:10:00.000-07:00

I have awesome former roomies. Lisa ended up driving me to the bus stop Sunday morning, mostly because she originally had insommnia but then decided to stay up even after it was over to drive me, and Brandi saw me off and gave me a money pouch, as I had forgotten to get mine from Lakeview.

Then a long day/night of travel. I don't like airplane food. It doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't taste good. (@Lisa: I ended up not eating hardly any of the pretzels on the plane for that reason...I want to want to eat them again!)

I made it to Ukraine safe and sound, although 4 hours too early to check into my hotel room. To fill that time, I have a) exchanged money, b) bought a cell phone, c) bought my train ticket to Balaklia tomorrow night, d) called Nadia (who sounded very excited on the phone, e) texted Sasha and Andrey, f) did a lot of window shopping (saw some lovely skirts I'd like to get at the end of the summer, depending on money), g) had lunch at McDonalds, f) gawked at how much prices have gone up in a year and a half (which makes sense with how the hryvnia's dropped), g) paid an outrageous price for Internet, and h) am anxiously waiting to go crash in my hotel room at 2 pm.

I was feeling a bit weird about the whole trip right before we landed, but it feels very natural to be here. Although I'm exhausted and really really just want to sleep right now, or at least be in a prone position. I did doze for a few hours on the flight though. And met a former PCV (before my time) on the plane who runs an English language school in Dnipropetrovsk, is willing to pass out my survey to teachers he knows and said that if I ever wanted a job, I should look him up but I'll probably be overqualified to work at his school, having an actual degree in TESOL.

Wow...jet lag is really kicking in. Time to finish this post and wait 45 more minutes for my room.

off to Ukraine!

2009-05-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

It's been long enough since I've blogged that I almost feel like I've forgotten how. But since I leave for Ukraine tomorrow, I figured it's time to start this up again.

Ukraine, you say? Yes, I'm going back for the summer to do research for my M.A. thesis on communicative language teaching in Ukrainian schools. I'll be in Balaklia for the first month or so, I expect, with possible short trips for data collection, and then will be at Ivan Franko University in L'viv from early June through almost the end of July for Ukrainian language study through the University of Kansas. Then one week at the end, which might be wrapping up data collection, going back to Balaklia, or heading down to the Black Sea...it's a play-it-by-ear week.

I'm excited, albeit a bit nervous tonight. I loved Ukraine and my life there when I was there as a PCV, and leaving was hard. I always thought I'd go back, but a few years later down the line, not a year and a half later. (And I also thought I'd be paying for more of it...being mostly funded is nice.) Ukraine has changed. My friends there have changed. And I've changed, too.

But overall, I think it will be good. I'm looking forward to the chance to do research on a topic I'm interested in (and simply to get to try out all the research techniques I've been learning about this semester). I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends again (I'm staying with the Yukhymetses for the first month! Andrey and Ira just had a baby girl, Yanna!). I'm looking forward to studying Ukrainian again...and simply just to speak it on a regular basis. And I'm looking forward to whatever else God has in store for me. He's provided for me abundantly in so many ways over the last year and a half, and this is at the top of the list.

~*~

For the record, I think I have just finished the busiest semester of my life. Note to self: do not take on a double teaching load in your practicum class, a PhD level research methods course, and a seminar with a lot of reading in which you decide to do a research option all at once. Especially not when planning a trip overseas. To add to that, housing and employment for the fall were both in flux for quite some time, and employment is not yet resolved. I'm sort of looking forward to being on the plane tomorrow, because I won't have things I should be doing.

~*~

Saw the new Star Trek movie with the game night crew and Brandi's family tonight. Greatly enjoyed it, although I'm more familiar with the Next Generation series than the original. We may possibly have been the geekiest group there.

~*~

I should follow Lisa's advice--"Go to bed, Sally." It's 10:30 now, and I need to get up at 4 a.m.

vindication

2009-02-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

I had a really cool thing happen yesterday. Several, actually, including going out for Chinese food for a classmate's birthday, buying an inscribed copy of Madeleine L'Engle's poetry, and having a goofy, low-stress evening hanging out with Lisa as she snarked her way through a video game and I alternately read articles for the lit review I have to write and snarked along with her. Oh, and the random tour bus that was parked in front of our apartment for several hours. We never quite figured out why.

But the thing that made me decide to blog wasn't any of those things. I've been on http://www.vkontake.ru/ for a couple of weeks now--it's an equivalent to Facebook for Russian/Ukrainian speakers. Another RPCV had let me know about it, and I've enjoyed seeing what some of the people I knew in Ukraine are up to. Well, yesterday, I had a friend request from Firyuza, one of my former students.

Firyuza was one of the best students I've taught. She was one of the very few people I could count on to do their homework, and she was a regular at my English clubs. Her family moved into my apartment building partway through my time in Balaklia, and she and I would often walk home together, having simple conversations in English and playing word games like "I Spy" and "Think of a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word" in English. She was also had a quick temper and could be a bit moody--I remember an "open lesson" for the rayon teachers where I gave both her and another student the same high mark. She felt that she'd done better than the other student and that my grades should have reflected that, told me I could go ahead and give her a failing grade, and stormed off. Nelya and I didn't always agree about her--Firyuza is Tajikistani, and Nelya felt that she often showed "uncultured" characteristics of Tajik village people (Nelya spent several years in Tajkistan), but no one could argue that she wasn't a good student. (Firuyza's family are Muslims, the only ones I knew in Balaklia. Interestingly enough, her brother, Faridun, was friends with Vitaly Yukhymets, which made me wonder if it was because they both weren't Orthodox.)

Anyhow, when I looked at Firyuza's profile, I saw that after she finished 9th form last spring, she had transferred to the junior college in Balaklia and is now studying to be a translator (I assume of English, although it might also be German). I'm beyond thrilled. I loved my time in Ukraine and occasionally felt like I was making some small differences in regard to how people perceived Americans, but I was never sure if I made any difference as an English teacher. I figured at best, maybe some of my kids would realize that there were different ways to teach, that my educational effectiveness had more to do with helping them see English as fun than with actually learning anything. And now I found out that one of my students has decided to go into a language-related professon. As I said, I'm thrilled. It's a tiny vindication that yes, I probably helped inspire someone. And that makes all the days when I got so frustrated with the kids who didn't care worthwhile.

God is not a Republican or a Democrat

2008-11-03T18:42:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, the pastor at my church read a list of things that won't change regardless of who wins the election tomorrow, and they really stuck with me, enough that I emailed him to ask for the list. Don't get me wrong--I strongly believe that everyone should vote (unless you find yourself completely unable to support any of the candidates, and I can respect that), and I gave my own absentee ballot a lot of thought before filling it out (I originally assumed I'd be bipartisan, but it ended up tripartisan due to having spent so much time trying to find out anything about one of the third-party candidates for one of the more local elections that I ended up filling in his bubble by mistake...oops). But these are the things that will not change, no matter who will be in the White House, the Senate, the House, or lots of other places:

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

(I'm not sure who originally wrote this, as my pastor got it from someone else, so I suppose good old Anonymous gets the credit.)

The essentials of our faith won't change, regardless of who wins. And I, political junkie that I have become, have to keep reminding myself that as important as I believe the election to be tomorrow, the eternal issues aren't at stake. All the fear that I've heard from people on both sides is pointless, because in the end, God wins. And He's not a Republican or a Democrat.

I've read a lot online about the election during the past few months, and I consider myself to be a decently informed voter. But I find myself voting with humility, with the knowledge that, in fact, I could be wrong in my choices of candidates, but the belief that God's will shall prevail regardless, even though it may not seem that way to everyone on Wednesday morning. I'm reminded of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, in which he urges for "firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right." We don't see the big picture. But God does.

I have friends and acquaintances who are devout Christians on both ends of the political spectrum (yay for being a moderate independent!), and I don't believe that belonging to one party or the other is "more Christian"--both parties have issues where Christians can support them, and both fail miserably in this regard with other issues. So tomorrow, vote thoughtfully, prayerfully, and with humility, trusting God that His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. And then, whoever wins, support them with your prayers throughout the next four years. They've got a tough road ahead of them.

[x-posted to Facebook]

grad school can be fun...sort of...

2008-10-12T17:57:00.001-07:00

Not original content, but something fascinating from my reading for LLT 895 this week. Please read the following passage and hazard a guess as to the subject matter...I'm curious who can figure it out. (Mom, Kate, and Lisa are not eligible, as they've already been subjected to this.)

The procedure is quite simple. First, you arrange the items in separate piles. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise, you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run, this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then, one never can tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put back into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life.

The whole idea is that while readers can decode each individual sentence, the overall meaning may be confusing.

(x-posted to Facebook)

swimming in work, not water (although I could...)

2008-09-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

It is payday. And there was much rejoicing, even though I'd rather not lose as much money as I do to withholdings. At least I should get a pretty good tax refund next spring...

I suspect that postings this fall may be infrequent, although it's worth checking back for every now and then. 9 credits of grad school (which aren't actually all that reading-intensive, at least not for a former English major...more project-intensive), a 20 hour/week research job, a 2 hour/week tutoring job for a 5th grade Korean girl, and occasional social things to keep myself from going absolutely batty don't leave a lot of time or energy for blogging. Still, we'll see.

I can't believe how much it's rained the past few days...if this is what Ike does to Michigan, I'd hate to see what it's like down South. Wow. The Red Cedar River is supposed to hit 9 feet by Wednesday, with flood stage at 7 feet.

settling in

2008-08-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Random little bits:

I found a frame for one of my oddly-dimensioned pictures from Ukraine. Granted, it has no glass, no back, no hook, and is the wrong color, but the dimensions are right. And all of those other things can be fixed.

Fruits Basket rocks. Both the manga and the anime. Yay for roommate bonding and Kyo-hugging. (What do you mean, he's just a stuffed toy? That's just what you think...)

I had tofu for supper. I don't think I'd ever had tofu before. While it doesn't make the top 10 list of best foods I've ever had in my life, it was pretty good.

As I start a new phase of life as a grad student at MSU, I'm going to try to become more organized, eat healthier, and exercise more. We'll see how this goes, but I'm hopeful. I mean, it has to be easier to make lifestyle changes when you're making other lifestyle changes, right? (That sentence apparently doesn't make as much sense typed out as it did in my head.)

Literature Map

2008-07-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

This one's primarily for Lisa: the Literature Map. You type in the name of an author, and it shows you what authors are the most similar, thereby giving you (hopefully) recommendations for new authors.

So Charlotte Bronte shows up the closest to Jane Austen. I'll accept that, even if Bronte had a low regard for Austen's work. However, how on earth did Daphne Du Maurier (author of Rebecca) end up the closest to L. M. Montgomery? Granted, Wilder, Alcott, and L'Engle are close by, but still...

I'd love to know the criteria they're using. For example, Madeleine L'Engle and Dorothy L. Sayers show up next to each other. Okay, I get it. They both deal with theological issues in their fiction (which is often genre fiction, although different genres), and they both have a good grasp of diction. But L'Engle also shows up near Edna St. Vincent Millay, and the only thing I know that they have in common is that I like them both. Probably not what it's based on.

ETA:

So "God" showed up on the map, and I clicked on it, just to see who would be on His map. The list had Jesus next to Him (so far so good), and then a baffling variety of names around them. They included Drew Carey, Joseph Smith, the Holy Spirit, Arthur C. Clarke (of 2001: A Space Odessey fame), Tim LaHaye, Gary Paulsen (Hatchet), Saint Paul, Satan, and Einstein. Wow...

ETA2: Apparently the point is not so much that the authors are similar as that people who will like one will also like the other. It still seems massively flawed to me.

apparently after 7 months, I've slipped back into the habit of driving

2008-07-14T18:26:00.001-07:00

Tonight was the Townie Street Party to kick off the Ann Arbor Art Fairs (have I mentioned how much I love the fact that there's always something going on in Ann Arbor? because I do), so various local businesses/services had booths set up. At the Ann Arbor Transit Authority (AATA) booth, the woman asked me, "So are you a mass transit user?"

Yes, ironically, since my car died yesterday when I was up in Lakeview for the Behrenwald reunion and it's going to be up there at least throughout this week so it can be fixed. I'm going to be dependent on my bike and the bus system (which fortunately is doable in A2). It's just sort of annoying, although better that my car die in Lakeview than on a major freeway between here and Lakeview. I biked home from work today (Mom having dropped me off this morning on her way home, as she had driven me down here last night so I could be to work today), and found it to be mighty tiring. I think I'll just plan to bike to the bus stop on the other side of Central Campus that goes past my work, bus up there and back, and then bike home.

The woman was giving out buttons that read "Dump the Pump--RIDE TRANSIT," so I took one. Maybe I'll even wear it this week.

Sigh...

little random bits from this week

2008-07-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I can't get through the first day of 3.5-5 Year Olds without having at least one child scream for his/her mother for at least 35 minutes. And this one kicked, too...if I have any bruises tomorrow, I'll know where they came from. Other than that, classes have been going well, though.

~*~

Having nothing else to do tonight, I found myself taking various quizzes about politics and religion (two separate categories, not quizzes that dealt with both) on Selectsmart.com. It's been entertaining...apparently either I'm Wesleyan/Methodist (yes) or an Orthodox Quaker (huh?). But my favorite result came from a quiz entitled "Political Roots," where my first place result was a four way tie between Anarchist, Christian/Social Conservative, Liberal Socialist, and Social Democratic. I didn't know it was possible to be all of those things at once. The quiz was written by a Canadian, I believe, so perhaps politics are different up there. At least it confirms that my political opinions don't fit nicely into any party.

~*~

I have four different NPR stations on my pre-sets for my car radio (jazz and blues from Ypsilanti, classical from East Lansing, Michigan Radio from Ann Arbor, and Michigan Radio from Detroit). Does this make me insufferably elitist, or just really lucky to be living in a place where that's an option? :)

~*~

As I drive to work each morning, I drive over a spot on Plymouth Road where it looks like the Latin word "via," meaning "way" (as in "Via Dolorosa" or "Way of Sorrows"), is written with tar on the pavement. It may be a sheer coincidence where tar was spilled at some point, but I'd like to think that a group of Classics students from U-M (which has a very good Classics department) decided to label the road appropriately at some point. It makes me happy each time I go to work.

the unanswerable question

2008-07-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to a 4th of July barbeque hosted by a woman from First Wesleyan Church in Ypsilanti, where I've been attending this summer. She had also invited the new pastor and his wife, so since out of all the people I didn't know there, they were the ones I had the most connection to, I sat with them.

Knowing that I'm only here for the summer, Pastor Brent asked, "So where do you normally live?"

I started to laugh, as this is currently an unanswerable question. I don't "normally" live anywhere. Lakeview? Well, that's where I lived right before moving here, but it was only for a few months and not where I'll be for the forseeable future. The Lansing area? That'll be the answer in a couple of months, but I haven't lived there in close to three years. Ukraine? Oddly enough, it almost feels like the right answer, except that as far as I know, I'm not going to be living there again.

So I tried to explain the past few years of my life to Pastor Brent, who then said, "Oh, you're a vagabond."

"Well, sort of..." I replied, "except that I put down roots wherever I live..."

"He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat"

2008-07-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

Warning: mild rant ahead.

I went to the Ann Arbor 4th of July parade this morning, primarily because it seemed like something moderately interesting to do. I'm sure I didn't find it nearly as cool as all the little kids around me did, but it was fun to see an American parade again (Balaklia did lots of holiday celebrations, but I don't remember any parades). The floats were very generous with their candy and other goodies; even as an adult, I ended up with a few Tootsie Rolls, a bag of baby carrots (from some health-food float), and a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds from a political candidate, which amused me.

The floats were varied and random--everything from fire engines to preschools to old-fashioned bicycles to "Save the Monarch Butterflies". And a LOT of political candidates. You could tell that it was an election year, and the various candidates gave out candy in such copious amounts it was as if they expected the toddlers to vote. However, when the Washtenaw County Republican float came out (most of the Democratic candidates had their own separate floats, but Republicans appear to be enough of a minority that they consolidated), the people around me started to boo. I heard a parent tell her child, "We don't want any of John McCain's candy." And I came away from the parade with a bad taste in my mouth that had nothing to do with candy.

Now first off, let me say that I'm a political independent and don't feel that I align up completely with either party. I think that there are areas where both major parties do a good job, and areas where they fail miserably. If I apply my understanding of the Bible to current political issues, I can't come up with a completely Republican or completely Democratic platform. I think that both presidential candidates this year are decent options, and although I've got some preferences, I'm still undecided who I'll vote for in November (plus I hate jumping on anyone's bandwagon too early, because you never know what new information will come out later, making you look really stupid if you decide to switch sides). And if I'd been at a parade where the people watching were conservatives and were booing a Democratic float and refusing to accept candy handed out by Obama supporters, I'd have been just as annoyed.

All of that said, I was disgusted at the people around me at the parade. I understand that people have strong political feelings, and that's legitimate. However, I thought that their behavior set a poor example for the children that were there. If you don't like a float that goes by, it's perfectly acceptable not to clap. But to boo them is in bad taste. Do we want our children to grow up thinking that it's okay to badmouth people we disagree with? And while the politicians are handing out candy to get their name out and get parents to vote for them, it's not going to make a kid turn Republican just because he accepted candy from a McCain supporter. Honestly, if they wanted to help the Democratic cause, those people should have gotten more candy from the Republicans, because then there would have been less of it for the politicians to give to those undecided people who might be swayed by it. :) (Yes, I am my father's daughter, and this is how my mind works.)

So, a happy 4th of July to all my readers, and a wish for a country where people can disagree respectfully and set a good example for small children. Herein endeth the rant.

paris when it sizzles, ann arbor when it thunders

2008-07-02T19:45:00.001-07:00

As it was raining all evening and there were no free concerts courtesy of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival (I assume so, at least, as there was thunder and lightening), I decided to watch the Audrey Hepburn movie, Paris When It Sizzles. Not one of Hepburn's best (nor worst...that goes to Robin and Marian), but there was a quote in it that I found delightful.

"Actually, depravity can be terribly boring if you don't smoke or drink."

Reminds me of some social functions with Peace Corps where I came to pretty much the same conclusion. :)

social justice refrigerator

2008-06-19T09:35:00.001-07:00

This deserves its own post.

While cleaning off my coffee table, I decided to hang Alan and Tina's wedding invitation on my refrigerator so I didn't misplace it.

Tina, you should be glad to hear that I used my "Stop Human Trafficking" and "10 tips for going green" magnets. (Granted, it was either those or a couple of magnets for EMU and U-M libraries or my Cyrillic alphabet magnets, but I thought you'd approve of my choice.)

Although I'm not trying to equate marriage and human trafficking...

summer vacation

2008-06-19T09:22:00.001-07:00

Apparently going on vacation for a week is good for me. After spending a week with Tif in North Carolina, I got back last night. This morning, I woke up bright and fairly chipper, went for a bike ride, and have since been working at cleaning my apartment, as a) it needed it and b) Liz, Cary, and Jeff are coming over on Sunday for food before outdoor Shakespeare in the Arb. I haven't been this productive in a while (outside of work, that is, as I spent 7 weeks being productive at work and doing not-so-much when I got home). I have about a week and a half left before I go back for summer semester, and between hanging out with multiple friends in the greater Ann Arbor and Lansing, perhaps starting up again on scrapbooking, and going up home for a few days, it's going to go very quickly, I suspect.

Oh, and I realized today that the Ann Arbor Summer Festival is going on, and there are free concerts every night. Yay!

North Carolina was a lot of fun, even though Fayetteville itself seems to primarily be composed of sand, pine trees, and strip malls. Apparently George Washington went through the area once and commented that he was unimpressed, or something like that. But the downtown is nice, and we drove up to the Raleigh-Durham area via rural highways one day and went to the beach at Fort Fisher another day. It was fun and relaxing.

almost done with the first semester

2008-06-05T18:57:00.001-07:00

I'm exhausted (and judging by how difficult that was to type correctly, I'm really exhausted).

But I survived one end-of-the-semester party yesterday (10 kids, about 8 parents, and 4 or 5 younger siblings, complete with lots of snacks, all in a fairly small classroom). Tomorrow I have three more end-of-the-semester parties (all of which will be smaller), a scavenger hunt with the English Language Program that I've been the planning person for all semester, and a pizza party afterwards. It's supposed to be over 90 degrees. I get even more tired just thinking about it.

But then, I only have to go in on Monday and Tuesday to do wrap-up stuff, and then I'm off to North Carolina to visit Tif for a week.

~*~

I got this email from Reina's mom this week (Reina was the child who cried for over half an hour the first day of class):

Dear Sally,

Thank you for your efforts to teach my daughter .
She does not speak English very well, but she loves to attend your class.

After she arrives back at home, she said that she had a good time.
She seems to be happy,while She is doing homework.
We are looking forward to your next lesson.

Sincerely,

Tamami I.
(Reina's mam)

We've come a long way. And Reina's learned a lot of English in just six weeks.

~*~

Link of interest, particularly for Mom: Strange Maps.

from the mouths of little children...

2008-05-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm not that good about doing regular updates. Part of it is that my life just doesn't seem that exciting to me right now, and also, moving to Ann Arbor has been more of an adjustment than I realized it would be (it seems like the last six months or so have been nothing but major adjustments...this is wearying). I like my job a lot, but moving to a city where I don't know a lot of people (however, *wave* to Cary!) and I won't be here long enough to build long-term friendships has been challenging. But I have Ukrainian conversation time with Svitlana, think I may have found a church (two, actually) for the summer, and generally run up my phone bill. So I'm hanging in there.

And as I said, I really enjoy my job. The kids say the funniest things. Kay, one of my 4-year-olds, has a very stubborn streak to her...as well as a misunderstanding of reflexive pronouns. Last week, we were learning about feelings, and she said, "I angry." "Why are you angry?" I asked. "I angry because Daddy help me on monkey bars and I do it yourself!!!" She's very big on the phrase "I do it yourself."

Also from Ryan in the same class: "Who that?" (looking at the mailbox for a child who hadn't yet joined the class). "That's Mia," I said. "She's going to be the new girl." "Why we need new girl?" he asked.

My kids really are what keep me going some days. No matter how tired or drained or lonely I get, teaching them cheers me up!

oops, getting behind on posting

2008-05-14T19:30:00.001-07:00

Oh, wow...it's been a week already since my last post! Let's see...what is there of note to mention?

* As of tonight, I officially have my apartment furnished, as Nikki and I hauled the futon upstairs and the couch downstairs. Forget "Two Men and a Truck"--two petite females proved that they're tougher than they look! I now hope to sort of get my living room put together and decorated. My chairs are fascinating and varied--a wooden folding chair, a very nice computer chair, a wooden stool, and a lopsided wicker chair I rescued off of the sidewalk this past weekend.

* I have a library card for the Ann Arbor Library. Besides books and movies, apparently you can check out art prints for a month or two. Maybe I should look into that for decorating.

* Reina, the little girl who just screamed and screamed the first few times in class, is fine now. Today she came in smiling, said "Hello," waved to her mom and said, "Bye-bye," and settled down to her art project. Her mom said that she gets all excited about coming to class. Yay!

* UMBC sent me a letter this week to tell me that I was accepted to the Bilingual Ed/ESOL MA program. I emailed them back in March to say I was withdrawing my application, but apparently some wires got crossed there. However, they apparently weren't going to give me any funding other than loans, so I think I'm much better off at MSU.

* After some emailing around, I have a Ukrainian conversation partner/tutor for the summer! Her name is Svitlana, and she's a student at Eastern Michigan who was originally from Ternopilska Oblast (not far from Celeste, actually). We met for the first time last night, and it was so much fun to be speaking Ukrainian again. With a job transcribing videos of Ukrainian classrooms this fall, I wanted to keep up with my language skills, so this seemed like a great opportunity.

shrug your shoulders and laugh...it beats the alternatives!

2008-05-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

"Today was...interesting," I said to my mom on the phone tonight.

"Someone threw up?" she asked.

"Among other things," I answered. Apparently when you've worked in schools as long as she has, you just understand this stuff inherently.

So yes, I had a child throw up in class today (all over her Mother's Day card, which while it was unfortunate for the card, did make clean-up easier, as throwing away the card removed most of the mess). This was the same class where kids who had had indoor recess today at school still couldn't go outside due to rain so I had lots of antsy little boys, the electricity went off for a few seconds, and when it came back on, it set off the security alarm for the building, which the police had to come reset.

And did I mention that there was a parent in class today who had been concerned that her daughter was developmentally delayed and too young for the class and wanted to come observe? Of all the days to come... Fortunately, she seemed to be understanding about the chaos and see that in fact, her daughter was just fine. (She left right after the policeman...I don't know if her curiousity was satisfied or if she just couldn't take it anymore.)

Never a dull moment with this job.

the toughest job you'll ever love (no, not preschool)

2008-05-06T18:20:00.001-07:00

I've taken to going for a walk most evenings, now that I've moved to Ann Arbor, a combination of wanting to get in better shape and become more familiar with the city. It's a beautiful place to be, especially in the spring. I walked for about 40 minutes tonight (partly because I wasn't quite sure where I was in relation to other things, as I kept finding intersections where both streets were labeled "South Something-or-other."

U of M's campus is lovely, especially the older buildings, many of which are Gothic in style. It reminds me a bit of my (quite possibly erroneous) conception of Oxford as an undergraduate fond of the works of Dorothy L. Sayers and C. S. Lewis, although I'm under the impression that Oxford has less "green space".

As I was walking by the Michigan Union tonight, I happened to notice a tall, thin, rectangular monument in the corner of a flower bed. Going over to read it, I found out that it commemorated the speech that John F. Kennedy made on the steps of the Michigan Union in 1960, campaigning for President, where he first mentioned the idea for the Peace Corps.

How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world? On your willingness to do that, not merely to serve one year or two years in the service, but on your willingness to contribute part of your life to this country, I think will depend the answer whether a free society can compete. I think it can! And I think Americans are willing to contribute. But the effort must be far greater than we have ever made in the past.

be not dismayed, whate'er betide--God will take care of you

2008-05-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

I feel richly blessed with furniture tonight (and exhausted from moving it). The guy in the apartment above me moved out today, and he told me that I could have any of the furniture he left behind. So I have a couch (still up there, until I dispose of the futon I had), a table, a coffee table, a TV with DVD player built in, a stool, a computer desk chair, and a really, really nice mattress and box springs. Nikki, the girl across the hall, helped me move it all downstairs.

So, for having picked a place more or less at random off of Craigslist, this apartment has worked out to be a really good deal. Not overly expensive, good neighborhood, and now, lots of furniture for free.

Teaching...it's a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it. I have two classes of 2 to 3 1/2-year-olds, who come with a parent, one class of 3 1/2 to 5-year-olds, and one class of 4 1/2 to 6-year-olds. I'm sure I'll have lots of good teaching stories this summer, but tonight I'm too tired for them. As I said to Mom on the phone, I didn't go for a walk tonight, but I think I still got my exercise in.

home sweet apartment

2008-05-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

I think the last post should have ended, "And when my life gets sort of settled, I'll try and start blogging again more regularly." As it turned out, I spent close to a week and a half (minus the weekend) living in a motel before moving into my apartment for the summer on Wednesday. Wednesday was also my first actual teaching day, with four classes; as well, I had horrible allergies. I basically managed to get the bed made and call Mom and Tif before falling asleep.

My apartment is great. It's part of a huge old brick house that's been turned into a bunch of apartments, largely populated by grad and law students. It's a little shabby in a good sort of way, with wood floors and detail around the doorways. The apartment itself is pretty small. It's got the same amount of rooms as my place in Ukraine--living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, but the rooms are smaller. But it's big enough for me (although sorely lacking in counter space in the kitchen). The girl I'm subletting from left me her furniture (which I can keep after I move out), and I'm inheiriting several other items from the guy upstairs who's moving out, so it should be pretty cozy once I get things organized.

This was originally going to be a much longer post including a section on teaching, but since both Tif and Melissa called me during the composition, I think it's time to close for now.

hi from the other side of the state

2008-04-22T05:42:00.001-07:00

My fortune cookie last night said, "You will make many changes before settling down happily." Considering how much my life has changed since December, I'd like to know how many more changes I have to make. Can I count any of the previous ones retroactively? :) At least I know I'll settle down at some point.

For any readers who haven't heard, I moved to Ann Arbor this past weekend to teach ESL preschool for U of M (yeah, I now work for the "other school") for the summer. It's all happened pretty fast--I emailed them my interview last Sunday, got called for an interview on Monday, drove down to Ann Arbor to interview on Wednesday, got the job on Thursday, helped coach the LHS Quiz Bowl team at the state tournament Friday and Saturday (we didn't win either of our games, but I think the kids had fun), moved to Ann Arbor on Sunday, and started orientation for work yesterday. Whew!

I'm excited about the job (ESL! little kids! Cary! real pay checks! not subbing!), and I look forward to a summer in Ann Arbor. It's supposed to have the most bookstores per capita of any city in the US...

And now that I don't see as many people as often, I might start blogging again more regularly.

ah-choo!

2008-03-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

I think I'm getting sick, if a stuffed-up nose, lots of sneezing, and general weariness without cause are any indications. This probably means that I've got whatever my dad's had for the last week, so I may have the pleasure of being sick and nonproductive for quite some time, as it seems to stick with you. I certainly hope not.

Fun kid moment of the day: For March is Reading Month, I read We're Going on a Bear Hunt to my mom's preschool class. Stuffed-up as I am, I ended up sneezing, and one little girl said, "You can't do that at my school." Well, then...

Other than that, not much is going on. Today's book of choice is A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar about the mathematician John Nash (no, I haven't seen the movie yet, although we have it). The math is going waaay over my head, but Nash's life itself is interesting. Although I think he's better in a book than he would have been in person.

I've updated my resume and sent it off to a couple of places for summer work, one which already told me that they filled all their openings but I could send it anyway in case someone decided not to accept the position, and the other one, a long shot that isn't sure if they'll have a position or not (but wow, would it be a neat place to work!). So we'll see what happens...I keep looking for jobs.

Barack Obama on Ukraine

2008-03-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

I've been on a voracious reading kick lately, primarily non-fiction. The last couple of days I've been reading Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, which contains his views on American politics. It's been a good read, and probably deserves its own post with my reactions to it, but that will have to wait until I've processed my thoughts a bit more.

However, there was a hilarious passage about a trip he took to Ukraine as a senator in 2005 that I want to share with you. At least, hilarious to anyone who's been in Ukraine for any length of time... (I should also mention that a meal he had in Russia consisted of borscht, vodka, potato stew, and a "deeply troubling fish Jell-O mold." I didn't know that kholodets had a fish version...)

And in a quiet, residential neighborhood of Kiev, we received a tour of the Ukraine's version of the Centers for Disease Control, a modest three-story facility that looked like a high school science lab. At one point during our tour, after seeing windows open for lack of air-conditioning and metal strips crudely bolted to door jambs to keep out mice, we were guided to a small freezer secured by nothing more than a seal of string. A middle-aged woman in a lab coat and surgical mask pulled a few test tubes from the freezer, waving them around a foot from my face and saying something in Ukrainian.
"That is anthrax," the translator explained, pointing to the vial in the woman's right hand. "That one," he said, pointing to the one in the left hand, "is the plague."
I looked behind me and noticed Lugar [another senator] standing toward the back of the room.
"You don't want a closer look, Dick?" I asked, taking a few steps back myself.
"Been there, done that," he said with a smile.

theology in the classroom

2008-03-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

My best quote from subbing this week is sort of an inverse of last week's "churchy" comment, and comes from one of my Quiz Bowl kids, a freshman who is reminiscent of Oleh Yukhymets in several ways, not least being the ability to know what buttons to push to drive me crazy quickly.

I was subbing for a science class on Wednesday, when I had to get after the student in question for reading when he was supposed to be doing something else (yes, Pot, meet Kettle). I confiscated his book, and was reading my own book, when he complained that it wasn't fair that I got to read when he didn't.

"Your job is to do your review sheet," I said. "My job is to make sure that you do that."

"Our job," he said, "is to praise the Almighty."

*snort*

And how could I argue with that?

Never a dull moment, subbing...

flannery o'connor quote

2008-03-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

In honor of Flannery O'Connor's birthday (thank you, Writer's Almanac on NPR), a quote from one of her letters that Professor Dorr read to my Religion in American Literature class during my undergrad days.

Flannery O’Connor to Alfred Corn, May 30, 1962:

"As a freshman in college you are bombarded with new ideas, or rather pieces of ideas, new frames of reference, an activation of the intellectual life which is only beginning, but which is already running ahead of your lived experience. After a year of this, you think you cannot believe. You are just beginning to realize how difficult it is to have faith and the measure of a commitment to it, but you are too young to decide you don’t have faith just because you feel you can’t believe. About the only way we know whether we believe or not is by what we do, and I think from your letter that you will not take the path of least resistance in this matter and simply decide that you have lost your faith and that there is nothing you can do about it. […] If you want your faith, you have to work for it. […] For every book you read that is anti-Christian, make it your business to read one that presents the other side of the picture. […] Don’t think that you have to abandon reason to be a Christian. […] To find out about faith, you have to go to the people who have it and you have to go to the most intelligent ones if you are going to stand up intellectually to agnostics and the general run of pagans that you are going to find in the majority of people around you. […] Even in the life of a Christian, faith rises and falls like the tides of an invisible sea. It’s there, even when he can’t see it or feel it, if he wants it to be there. You realize, I think, that it is more valuable, more mysterious, altogether more immense than anything you can learn or decide upon in college. Learn what you can, but cultivate Christian skepticism. It will keep you free—not free to do anything you please, but free to be formed by something larger than your own intellect or the intellects of those around you."

churchy?

2008-03-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

Latest story from Sal's days as a substitute teacher:

Today, I subbed for a high school math teacher. First hour was a class full of students who were all taking Algebra 1. For the second time. So they were rather less than enthused about the subject, and I had to keep getting after them.

Fifteen minutes or so into class, one girl in the front row pipes up, "Do you go to church?"

Me, bewildered: "Yes, why?"

Girl, snottily: "You seem like one of those really churchy people."

Me: ...

Still not sure if it was the cross necklace or the request for polite behavior that did it.

It makes me sad, though, that she associated Christianity with someone telling her to behave. I just finished reading unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons (they're connected to Barna, a group which researches issues connected to Christianity), which talks about some of the assumptions that nonChristians in their teens and twenties think about Christians--that they're judgmental, anti-homosexual, hypocritical, too political and sheltered, among other things. Some of this is because that the Christian message is, in fact, difficult to accept (sin and things like that are never popular), but more of it is because as Christians, we really are acting this way a lot of the time. The book really made me think about how I come across to people, and I would hope that people wouldn't associate those characteristics with me.

So it makes me sad that this girl probably looked at me and thought, "Oh, another one of those Christians" today.

decision made

2008-03-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, today was one of those days where I didn't know whether to be encouraged or discouraged at various points, but it ended well.

Quiz Bowl practice was fun...I'm coaching the varsity team this weekend at a tournament at MSU. I think they're not going to do stupendously well, but they're quite excited about going, between getting to play Quiz Bowl, dress up (it's all girls, so we decided to go dressy as opposed to wearing the team shirts), and get ice cream at Coldstone Creamery (I suggested that they actually eat lunch as well, but they haven't sounded as excited about that).

Then I came home and called 41 different school districts about their summer migrant education programs. Two said that they'd send me applications for a paraprofessional position (thanks to No Child Left Behind, I'm not qualified for a teaching position due to lack of certification, even though I have teaching experience). Several more said that they don't know what their funding's going to look like for the summer, but I can call back in April. Quite a few more said that they either wouldn't have openings or didn't have a summer program. And I left a lot of phone messages for people. It was not an encouraging afternoon, except that I was able to cross a lot of options off my "Plans for Summer" list.

But then I checked my email and found out that I've officially been offered a research assistantship for MSU this fall, 10 hours a week for a professor who wants me to transcribe data in Ukrainian and 10 hours a week for another prof as of yet to be determined. It'll cover tuition, plus a stipend. So I finally made up my mind...I'm going to be a Spartan again! I'm excited; the pieces have really fallen into place here.

subbing and shoes

2008-03-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Subbed two days for high school English this week. It was better than science because 1) we watched a movie with a plot (granted, it was Signs, which I was not all that impressed with, but it was at least a plot), and 2) the classes that didn't watch a movie were working in the library, so I could read books. However, I had my first student use profanity while talking to me. Not swearing at me, per se, but using profanity to describe the project she was working on.

Me: Excuse me, but that language isn't necessary.
Student: Well, you don't have to be snotty about it.

I left her teacher a lovely note. Also, I described one student as "goodnaturedly unproductive." He thought that was a good phrase for me to use.

Tonight one of the women from church who's about my age had a bunch of people--family members, friends, and church women--over for a clothes and accessories swap. Unfortunately, most people had brought clothes that weren't my size, but I still did pretty well. I got two summer tops, a pair of earrings, a really pretty cross necklace (blue stones and sterling silver), and three pairs of shoes. The shoes made me pretty thrilled, which amuses me, as I never used to be a shoe person (and I'm still not, for the most part). I have a pair of black clogs, a pair of brown clogs, and a pair of clunky brown leather lace-up shoes that I'm quite pleased with.

Frank McCourt, Jesse Stuart, and Me

2008-03-14T09:24:00.001-07:00

I spent three days this week subbing for a science teacher at the high school I graduated from. It was three days of showing videos five class periods a day, often the same videos for each class. I read a lot of books this week. I also found out the difference between light and dark meat.

Random thoughts from the week:

1. I felt a repeated urge to give many of the boys I taught haircuts. I'm sorry, but the long, shaggy look is not one I particularly care for.
2. It really bothers me to hear the kids say, "Oh, I don't have a big vocabulary. I'm from Lakeview," as if being from Lakeview is an excuse for ignorance. I replied, "Well, I'm also from Lakeview," and they mumbled something about being slackers. Aargh. No, we don't have the best economic situation. No, we don't have all the resources that larger, "better" schools have. But that's no excuse. You can't blame your lack of motivation simply on your location or your resources.
3. I didn't realize how much I enjoy coaching my Quiz Bowl kids until I subbed at the high school level. Part of it is yes, that they are more academic in nature. Another part of it is that, unlike subbing for younger grades, teens are more stand-offish with a sub, and therefore it's a lot harder to connect with the kids I was subbing for than it's been with elementary-age kids, who mostly interact with subs pretty well, or with my Quiz Bowlers, who know me.

Two of the (many) books I read this week were Frank McCourt's memoir Teacher Man, which chronicles his teaching career in New York City during the latter part of the 20th century, and Jesse Stuart's The Thread That Runs So True, about his years as a teacher and administrator in rural Kentucky during the '20s and '30s. Both were good reads and gave me hope that it is possible to teach high schoolers effectively, even though that's not necessarily the easiest age group for me to work with. What really stuck out to me in both of them is that to reach high schoolers (or any age group), you have to be creative, rather than hum-drum. That may sound obvious, but I recommend both books as ways of showing how to be creative effectively.

That's the problem with subbing. There is no way to show 15 class periods of videos effectively!

nadiya yea (there is hope)

2008-03-03T11:04:00.001-08:00

I'm posting from my house!!! The roads were icy today and I didn't really feel like driving into town to use the library (which may or may not be open) to email in my newspaper article, so after much trial and error, Dad and I managed to hook my laptop up to our dial-up connection. It's not the fastest connection, but it's faster on my computer than my parents', and I can access Blogger and don't have to deal with flash drives.

In other news, I'm tired of winter, have been rearranging my room a bit, don't know what I'm doing or where I'm living this summer (but it's probably not here, as my primary source of income around here ends when school gets out, and I'd relocate sooner if I found something better), and there's a chance that if I go to MSU this fall, I could get a job transcribing data in Ukrainian for a professor in the department I'd be in.

for your interest/amusement/something to do

2008-02-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

The rest of my time in Lansing was much less uneventful, thank goodness. This week I've been substitute teaching, and today the Quiz Bowl team I'm coaching has a match up to Chippewa Hills, so I'm driving up there in a bit. I get to drive the JV team home, so that should be...um...exciting. Hopefully not too much so.

Since I don't seem to have particularly interesting posts these days, mostly due to the lack of Blogger access at home/lots of thinking going on in my head that's not so postable/my suspicion that maybe you aren't all dying to hear of my adventures with rolled fondant in cake decorating class (so much fun!), here's a survey to entertain you all.

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
Supervisor for MSU summer cleaning crew, TEFL teacher with Peace Corps, reporter for the Lakeview Area News, substitute teacher

There is no B). I don't know why.

C) Places I have lived:
Lakeview, MI; East Lansing, MI; Zgurivka, Ukraine; Balaklia, Ukraine

D) TV Shows that I watch:
1. LOST
2. right now, that's it

E) People who e-mail me (semi-regularly):
1. Jason
2. Tif
3. Facebook :)

F) Four of my favorite foods:
1. fettuccine alfredo
2. homemade bread
3. blueberry pie with graham cracker crust
4. plov (homesick for UA alert!)

G) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Milwaukee
2. Balaklia
3. any place with warmer weather and no snow
4. East Lansing/although here's not that bad

H) Four friends that I think will respond: meh. Feel free to, or not, as it suits you.

I) Things I am looking forward to:
1. the weekend after this one (Jason visiting/my birthday)
2. spring!!!
3. grad school

"you had the world's smallest nail stuck in your tire..."

2008-02-22T19:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a day I don't need to repeat again any time soon.

It started out with me packing my car for a trip to East Lansing to visit the MA TESOL program.

Then, I got a mile away from my house and decided, "Oh, I'll just take this extra half mile of dirt road to get me to the highway, which will be cleared, rather than go on snowy paved roads for several miles." This started well, and I was within an eighth of a mile of my goal, when the sheet of ice that I was driving on became problematic. I slid and spun off into the snowbank...and got a flat tire in the process.

Thank goodness for cell phones, random strangers driving by, and fathers.

Close to two hours later, I was on my way again. I got to MSU only about 20 minutes later than I needed to be there (I'd originally scheduled plenty of time beforehand to do random things). I sat in on a class, had an interview for a TA position, and had a very good conversation with Professor Ron Dorr, who I'd had for Religion and American Literature and was one of the two best professors I had at MSU.

Then I went back to my car, intending to head to Quiz Bowl practice and see people. However, to my utter dismay, I discovered that in my rush to not be quite-as-late when I showed up, I had inadvertently locked my keys in the car.

Called H&H Mobile, got it taken care of, and eventually made it to Quiz Bowl practice. Then I went to Tina and Lisa's, where I'm staying this weekend, exhausted after a stressful day. Within ten minutes of arriving, Tina had a pillow, a cup of tea, and a back rub for me. Bless her heart!

Although, as my mom said, no car trouble and a bad interview would have been much worse.

~*~

I'd forgotten how much I love the Lansing area and the MSU campus. I don't know for sure what I'm doing this fall yet, but it's been great to be back here for a few days.

Movie Review: Juno

2008-02-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night, a fifteen-year-old friend and I drove to Mount Pleasant to see Juno, a comedy about a sixteen-year-old girl who finds herself pregnant. We both really enjoyed the movie, and it's stuck with me enough over the past week to do a quick review.

What really impressed me about the movie (besides the superb acting jobs, witty dialogue, and catchy soundtrack) was how affirming the movie was of the value of life ("sanctity of life" is a stretch, but I'll take what I can get). Christianity Today's review talks of it's "implicitly pro-life—not 'anti-choice,' but certainly pro-life—sensibilities," and that sums it up about right. The eponymous heroine of Juno considers aborting her baby, but seeing a classmate (who I think was ESL) picketing outside the abortion clinic who tells her, "Your baby has fingernails!" changes her mind...when she goes inside, all she can notice are everyone's fingernails, and she leaves in a hurry.

Juno's not cut out to be a teen mom, though, she decides, and so she gives the baby up for adoption. The adoptive parents are human through and through, and there are several twists and turns before the story ends, showing that though people are flawed, good can come out of difficult situations.

Apart from enjoying the movie myself, I felt that it did a good job of promoting a pro-life message to a secular culture. Although staunchly pro-life myself, I'm a realist, and I don't see legislation changing anything on the highly polarized issue of abortion until people see it as unthinkable. Juno doesn't present abortion as unthinkable, but it shows life--and adoption--as a better option. To quote Christianity Today again, "Life is life, and deserves to be nurtured, even—if not especially—when everything around it is broken."

Plus, the movie opened up a good discussion about abortion, temptation, and adoption on the way home, which is always a good plus.

Rating: **** (out of 5)

very quick post

2008-02-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

Moving to a warmer climate at some point is really tempting right now. We've spent the last few days in the single to negative digits, with wind chills well below zero. I visited some of my friends from high school this weekend down in Grand Rapids (hi, Heather!), only to end up there a bit longer than I'd expected due to not being able to get back home. However, there were a lot worse places that I could have ended up, as we ordered pizza and played Wii bowling, Dance Dance Revolution, and Settlers of Catan, which is like a cross between Risk and Monopoly. I'd played it once in college, but finally understood how it works this time and had a LOT of fun.

brrr

2008-01-31T08:33:00.001-08:00

It's cold here in Michigan.

The job search continues, with various amusing suggestions from friends and acquaintances--everything from teaching at a Bible college in Kentucky to becoming a sports writer for the local paper. I've submitted my paperwork to sub at local schools, have two days scheduled next week to sub at the Christian school connected to my parents' church (my church, I suppose, now that I'm living here again), and another potential job that I'm not going into details about here because the family consensus was that one of my readers would think it highly entertaining if they found out in some other fashion. (Yes, it's legal.)

On the grad school front, I found out yesterday that I've been accepted to MSU's MATESOL program for the fall. I'm not making any decisions yet, as I haven't heard from UMBC and won't find out if I have a TA position at MSU until March, but it's great to know! I'm hoping to visit the department next month when I'm down for some Quiz Bowl stuff, so that should be good.

I've recently found Ukrainian-themed scrapbook paper online, so I hope to start working on my Peace Corps scrapbook soon. Maybe that will help organize all the piles of stuff I have around my desk.

On the subject of Ukraine, here's a good article about evangelicalism in Ukraine from Christianity Today.

Also on the subject of Ukraine, I made the mistake of listening to some of my Russian hymns last night and I got really really homesick. I guess it's part of the readjustment process, but it stinks. If I don't listen to my music and watch my DVDs (which I can't do right now because my disk drive won't open), I'll forget my language. But when I do, I just really start to remember how much I loved Ukraine and how much I miss it.

It's really cold these days. At least here, I don't have to walk everywhere like I would in Ukraine.

not-a-post

2008-01-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

This is not a real post. That would involve having more time. But I wanted to let you all know that the Farm Service Agency job didn't work out, so it looks like I'll be subbing unless something else comes up.

At some point, I may post about living a counter-cultural lifestyle, as several books I've been reading and an on-going discussion I've been having have been related to that topic. So my question to you, faithful readers: how would you define living counter-culturally? In what ways do you think you do so, and in what ways would you like to?

ps The Texas hill country is beautiful, even in January. And I ate ice cream outside in 60 degree weather on Sunday!

Take that, Michigan winters!

howdy, y'all

2008-01-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

Quick update from Austin, Texas, where we're all busy with pre-wedding stuff:

~It's great to be with Melissa and Liz. We had a trip down Quote Book Memory Lane yesterday afternoon, and already have several new entries, i.e. "Sally now comes with hair care products" (Melissa).
~The job interview went well as far as the person I was interviewing with said he thought I'd be a good person for the job, but the problem is that while it's a temporary position, they're hoping to extend it past the point where I'd be heading off for grad school. So it's possible but unlikely that I'll get it. Let's hear it for subbing!
~I'm breaking in my new shoes for the wedding today, having realized that that was smarter than waiting until Saturday. Ow...
~Texas trees are a lot shorter than Michigan ones. And a lot less stuff is built out of wood.

For LiveJournal Readers

2008-01-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of my friend Liz, this blog now has an RSS feed for LiveJournal for anyone who wants to follow along with me that way. http://syndicated.livejournal.com/bookaholicgirl2/profile

That's all, really. Oh, and I have a job interview for a technical assistant position at the Farm Service Agency down to Stanton on Thursday. Here's hoping!

First Post!

2008-01-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome, readers! Some of you may know me from my Sal In Ukraine days...some of you may be new readers, and I'm happy to meet all of you. I'm an almost-twenty-five-year-old, former English major from Michigan State University, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine), politically a swing voter (I'm quite conservative on some issues and liberal on others, so I end up testing as a moderate, but I'm not sure I am), daughter, friend, girlfriend, and evangelical Christian in the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition with a bit of Baptist and Bible churches thrown in. Oh, and hopeless bookworm. I currently am having trouble accessing Blogger on my home computer, so updates will be sort of irregular and dependent on how much else I need to get done on the library computers when I'm here.

Amusing bits from moving back home to a small town in mid-Michigan:

I called the township clerk the other day to get an absentee ballot, as I'll be out of town on the day of the primaries, due to being a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding down in Texas. He asked for my name and address, and then said, "Who do you belong to?"

"Well, actually, I'm an independent..."

He laughed. "No, I was asking whose daughter you are!"

"Oh, I'm Charlie and Mary's girl."

Nice to be home in so many ways. Also nice that my dress alterations for Melissa's wedding cost me a grand total of $6. When I was in a wedding a couple of years ago and did my alterations down in Lansing, they cost me $40.