To start off today's post, I need you to watch this video:
Do you know who this group is? Straight No Chaser started off as a group of college guys singing together at Indiana University. This video is from one of their original concerts with over 13 MILLION views (let me reiterate that...13,000,000!). They graduated from college and somehow became popular again over a decade later when one of the guys posted the video on YoutTube. Instant fame, overnight.
I am the proud owner of one of their cds (that's right, I actually own the cd--with cover and all!) and used to listen to the songs on repeat as I drove around the city of Norman in my red (or sometimes blue) Toyota Corolla. That cd was permanently in my cd player the entire month of December. I had to transfer some of the music onto my ipod in order to be able to listen to it as I walk around the streets of K-grad. It's simply not Christmas without some Straight No Chaser (isn't their name funny too?)
Today, I'm off to do five English clubs. I plan on showing some of the more advanced classes this song and having them try to understand the funny parts of it. I'm about to enjoy a bowl of veggie chili before I have to jet off to work for the day. I know I keep mentioning the fact that I am so so so excited for this weekend with friends coming to K-grad, but I don't think I've told you why they're coming. Today's video is a big clue. That's all I'm saying. Happy Tuesday :)
Since arriving in Ukraine almost 9 months ago, one of my favorite activities to do is people watch. No matter where you are, what time of day it is, or what the weather is, I usually have one fun experience people watching every day.
One thing that is different here in Ukraine is the fact that people don't wear sunglasses during the winter. In fact, they stopped wearing sunglasses a couple months ago. I, however, still wear mine. Maybe just to stick out, maybe to people watch, maybe just because I like to watch people's reactions of seeing me in sunglasses. Nonetheless, I enjoy wearing them on days where it's sunny and they are needed. I wouldn't want extra wrinkles after all... :)
Today I wore my sunglasses while walking to the post office. I noticed more people stare at my entire outfit today than I have in sometime. For one thing, I wasn't wearing my giant winter jacket complete with fur trim. Why is that? Because it was FIFTY degrees here today. Instead, I wore my North Face fleece (without fur) and got the oddest looks for it. I also stuck out because I'm not going to wear 4" stilettos for my trek to the grocery store. If I know I'm going to walk a lot, I wear my tennis shoes, which most females don't even own here. Needless to say, I got some unbelievably long stares today...all of which I could secretly stare back at thanks to my sunglasses.
My sunglasses have also come in handy a few times on marshrutka rides. I don't think I wrote about the time that I was sitting on a marshrutka, minding my own business, when a lady got on with a cowl neck jacket on. What was nestled right under her chin in the cowl neck jacket? A rat. An honest to goodness, live, decently large rat. I couldn't help but stare as she found her seat. And just because I couldn't help myself, I stood up earlier than my stop so that I could turn around and look at her again and make sure that I wasn't seeing things. It was real, I promise.
If only my sunglasses had a secret camera attached to them. Oh, the things I could show y'all...
There is the more recent adventure that just happened last weekend. I was on my marshrutka ride from Rivne to Kiev (a four hour ride) after our Thanksgiving day hoopla. There was an older babushka on the ride too. I drew a picture to help you visualize this experience...which is key to the story.
So, this is a marshrutka, typical for longer rides (as opposed to the ones I ride around town). I am the "L," the babushka is the "B," and there is a sliding van door by the seat in front of me. Also key for the story background.
We were probably 30 minutes outside of Kiev when I was awoken from my slumber (thanks to the sunglasses) by the babushka yelling and carrying on about something. The driver (a younger guy...probably in his 30s) was yelling right back to her, completely unafraid of whatever she was saying. She spoke Ukrainian so I didn't catch the whole conversation, but in my mind, it went something like this:
Baba: "It's really hot on here. Open the windows."
Driver: "We're flying down the interstate. I'm not opening the windows. Take of your full-on winter parka and fur hat, and maybe you'll cool off."
I was still wearing my heavy down jacket and was quite comfortable. Maybe the baba was sick. Maybe she didn't want to take off her jacket. All that I know is that I'm thanking my lucky stars I wasn't sitting in the seat in front of me. The baba was sweating profusely and kept dabbing her face with an incredibly old and gross looking rag. Now would also probably be a good time to mention that this was a BIG baba. She squashed the poor girl sitting next to her in the two-seater. Again, thankful it wasn't me.
So, as we're flying down the interstate going at least 60 mph, she leans across the man sitting in front of me to OPEN THE VAN DOOR. That's right. It SLAMS open and the driver turns around to see what was going on. He then proceeds to slam on the breaks so that the door will shut. She starts yelling at him for shutting the door...and I'm sitting there wishing that I had another PCV with me just to witness this whole situation. Don't worry, it gets better.
After the driver yells at her to sit down and gives her a good verbal lashing, we approach Kiev. We start dropping people off at various stops along the way, and soon our once full marshrutka is half full. Or half empty? :) Anywho, the seat in front of me is now open, as well as the triple-seater in front of the baba. She was too large to maneuver around to the row of three seats, so she chose the single seater in front of me. It's high traffic time in Kiev as we're heading towards the bus station, when out of nowhere our driver has to slam on the breaks (a common occurrence here). Apparently, the old baba was not ready for him to slam on the breaks, because she goes FLYING forward. I'm not sure whether the aisle seat on the triple-seater is supposed to lift forward (for people to be able to pass by), or whether her brut force knocked the bolts loose, but regardless, the seat moved forward and the baba ended up in the floor.
The driver didn't know what was happening as the baba started screaming and cussing and crying for someone to help her up. The two closest people to the baba were myself and the tiny girl who was her old seat mate. Luckily, two men jumped up from the back of the marshrutka to help her into her seat. This was by far one of the weirdest marshrutka experiences I've had in my time here, and I'm certain it's not going to be my last. As soon as we parked at the bus station, I hightailed it out of there.
During my adventures today (all with sunglasses), I went to Kishenya, a GIANT supermarket I had yet to visit. Holy. Cow. This is the motherload of all stores. I think I spent an hour just walking around, then I decided to get a cart and start loading up. I bought myself a little Christmas tree for 30 griev (less than $4)...and a shower curtain! A hot pink, polka dot shower curtain. I also bought some hangers which I can now use thanks to the fact that my landlady cleaned out a piece of furniture in the back room with hanging space. They even have books in there, including the Harry Potter's in Russian. I really want to buy them before I leave...it's one of my goals to read the first one sometime while I'm here (in Russian).
Tomorrow I've got English clubs back to back, but first my landlady will come to collect rent money in the morning. I can't begin to express to you how excited I am to have some friends visit this weekend. And the week after that, we get our new volunteers in K-grad. And then it's Christmas. And then it's my birthday. And then it's New Years!
I've decided for every post I make in December, to do a random part of a movie or TV show clip that I enjoy and makes me laugh. What shall be the first one I share with you...none other than one of my favorite movies of all time :)
Remember how I spent my Saturday being a domesticated 50's housewife? I'm thinking about creating a weekly blog title that involves that phrase...any suggestions?
I got to skype with my dad yesterday and hear some of the big thunder that was happening in Norman. Pretty crappy weather, eh, Oklahoma? After skyping, I got ready to go out to Winston Churchill's bar/pub--Kirovograd's newest American style eatery. We went there on opening night (Thursday) and tried the onion rings which were pretty stellar for Ukrainian "bar food!" Last night we tried the Greek salad (not quite as good as the authentic Greek salad I had in Athens) and some mozzarella-ish fried cheese sticks. I think the onion rings are still my fave. And BTW, if you had told me a year ago that I would be eating onion rings (and not just the fried batter), I would have laughed in your face. That's how far my eating habits have come.
Today, I got up and started cleaning...again. I finally cleaned my fridge as best as I could because it needed to be plugged back in! I ended up having to throw away a few questionable things that didn't feel cool enough. No Ukrainian would have thrown them away, but I have enough stomach problems as it is...don't need to contribute to the situation.
After the fridge was on and barely running again, it was time to start cooking. I was having a few friends over for dinner to celebrate Phil's birthday (which is actually tomorrow). On the menu included:
If I do say so myself, they all turned out pretty amazing. I forgot to take a picture of the cornbread, but it's the same cornbread recipe I've made the whole time I've lived in K-grad. It's a dependable recipe that never fluctuates which I LOVE. And, the brownies were topped off with some REESE'S PIECES from the good ol' US of A. {Sidenote: Reese's Pieces are always welcome in care packages...they cannot be found here and will more than likely be devoured in one sitting by yours truly.}
Phil with his pan-o-brownies
I followed all of the recipes to a T, minus the veggie chili one. Green and red peppers are a) expensive right now and b) not very good anyway because it's not their season, so I opted not to put them in. I also haven't been able to find cumin at stores here. I had a pack of Williams Chili seasoning from home that made this recipe finger-licking good (in Russian: palchicki-obleejesh). They have black beans here but I didn't leave enough time to soak them and cook them, etc. etc. Whoops. I also got to feed this southern meal to my sweet Ukrainian friend and neighbor, Yana, who promised me it wasn't too spicy for her! I did add a little Cholula hot sauce to it :) She loved the cornbread and chili topped with cheese. And for dessert, I warmed the brownies and served with ice cream (just like my dad would want!). Ukrainians do not understand the concept of serving something hot (brownie) with something cold (ice cream). I tried teaching my host family about this concept...or even simply cake and ice cream together. They didn't understand the goodness that they are missing out on! But Yana was a trooper and tried it out :) I sent some brownies and the ice cream home with her to have her parents try it out too. We'll see if they think the crazy American next door is teaching their daughter silly ways of life :)
I'm going to post this and go read some. My Kindle is still one of the best things and most used items I have here with me in Ukraine (kudos to Mitchell and fam for knowing that it would be a good investment!). However, my one major complaint is that I can't ever remember the title of the book I'm reading. I'm a visual person and normally visualize a book by the cover and can "picture" the title of the book that way. But, with the Kindle, I may only read the title of the book once when I download it and open it. Currently, I'm reading a book called Come Back to Me, by Melissa Foster. Pretty good read thus far, and I got it on the Kindle daily sale for $0.99 I think.
It's been a good weekend. Shopping, cleaning, cooking, reading, Christmas music listening, defrosting the fridge, etc. And I'm even more excited for next weekend when friends come visit in K-grad! And to top it off, mom texted me a little bit ago and informed me that the Target One Section has Silly Putty in it right now. "How many do you want?" Thanks, mom! Ukrainian kids are fascinated by Silly Putty. Pretty sure adults are too come to think of it...
I am alive and decently well (sinus infection) right now and feel utterly HORRIBLE for how I've been slacking on blogging. I was gone for a week on my Eastern Mediterranean cruise with Mitchell...then he came to Kirovograd for a week...then we went to Kiev for a day and a half...then I took him to the airport and I headed to Rivne (northwest Ukraine) to celebrate Thanksgiving #2 with other PCVs. I have been home now for a few days and in full swing with all 10 of my English clubs...and now am battling this sinus infection to top things off :) BUT, every activity in the past month was so, so, SO fun and I can't believe how absolutely lucky and blessed I am to have gotten to see 6 countries in the last month-ish. Pretty amazing, right? And how lucky I am to have had my FIRST (and hopefully not last!) visitor!
The past two days I have been helping my landlady and her husband do things around my apartment. More on that later...but I am now the proud new of owner of some hooks and other exciting things (things that will allow me to have a SHOWER as opposed to just a tub!) that will make me MUCH happier at my apartment than I already am :)
I can't believe it's already December...it snowed a little bit on December 1st!! Beautiful, big, wet snowflakes that didn't stick...but still! I was excited to say the least :) I'm still a southern girl at heart who loves the snow. I'll let you know how I feel about it after I live with it for a few months for the first time in my life. The inner {Alabama and Oklahoma} child is still in me that screams, "We need to go make a snowman and go sledding," at the slightest sight of snowfall! After all, it usually only lasted a day or two max. You had to use it before all of the other neighborhood kids did!
In other news, I got a sweet surprise package from my sister-in-law! Featuring: a funny Thanksgiving card, AWESOME design/holiday magazines, some scrapbooking stuff, holiday tic-tacs, a cute little bear that says, "Someone in Derry, NH, loves you!", and an Advent/Countdown-to-Christmas chocolate calendar. Pretty amazing, eh? :)
I have the pleasure of hosting some PCV friends in one week here in K-grad which I'm super stoked about. But, it means I want my apartment to be in tip-top shape...or at least as best shape as it can be! This means that I'm in the works of doing some projects I've been putting off/never started yet...we'll see how many I get done! I'm excited to get to show these friends my city and work...and hopefully can convince them to come back for Christmas/my birthday if they feel so inclined! :)
The next group of volunteers is about to be sworn-in as official Peace Corps Volunteers in two weeks! They've been in training since September and are probably at their maximum level of knowledge retention right about now. Their nerves are on edge about where they'll be living for the next two years (remember, it's a BIG secret). They are nervous about the LPI (language proficiency exam). They are sad to be leaving their training groups and possibly moving to a village where the nearest American is 2 hours away. All of those feelings were mine only six short months ago. I'm excited though because we are getting at least three new volunteers in my city! Maybe four! The more the merrier.
Hope December is starting off on the right foot for you :) I'm excited for the holiday season and all that it entails (Christmas, my birthday, new years--one of Ukraine's biggest holidays, Ukrainian Christmas, and about 128,235 other holidays that Ukraine celebrates in December and January!). My first Thanksgiving away from home was definitely a fun-filled time, and I'm excited to see what Christmas will be like here as well. As much as I would love to go home and celebrate Christmas and my 25th (wow) birthday at home, I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now. Happy weekend!
Do you know what the title of this post is for? I want you to take a stab in the dark with what you think the answer is.
A) The number of kids I had in English clubs today
B) The number of days until Christmas
C) The number of times I sang the ABC's song today
D) The number of flights of stairs I walked up and down today
E) The number of days until my birthday
Okay...so, are you ready? Humor me, and email me your response (because I like getting email) or leave it on here (because it's like an email).
But, I'm going to go ahead and tell you the answer. However, I really am curious what all of you thought :)
So...if you picked answer D, you're right. Yup. 42 flights of stairs were walked by yours truly today. Let me give you a quick play by play, because I'm tired and ready to go to bed. But...I've been slacking on blogging lately and felt a little guilty.
My office has 4 floors. I work on the 3rd floor. Today, I saw an apartment (that I will not be renting) that was on the 5th floor. That's 10 flights of stairs right there. Bam!
up 3--go to work
down 3--get peewee English club from their babushkas and moms on 1st floor
up 3--take peewee English club up to my office
down 3--finish peewee english club/take them back to waiting babas & mamas
up 3--work for 30 minutes
down 3--retrieve my visiting regional manager from 1st floor
up 3--take regional manager to my office
down 3--finished with regional manager meeting
up 5--visit apartment
down 5--leave apartment (that again, I will not be renting)
up 3--back to work
down 1--bathroom on my floor was locked by kids, must go down 1 floor to use different bathroom
up 1--back to work
down 3--leave work (finally)
If I did this everyday, I'd never have to work out! Although let's be realistic...I haven't worked out in at least 1 month. Maybe more...
Sidenote: I didn't count any of the "half flights" of stairs that Ukraine is famous for. IE, leaving my apartment, going into the grocery store, going into my work, etc.
Another sidenote: I don't really know if any of the other answer choices are correct or not. You can let me know how many days til Christmas and my birthday though. And there's a very, very good chance I sang the ABC's song at least 42 times today.
My brother took the day off from work yesterday to do some things around the house. The northeast had been blanketed by an early snowstorm before all of the leaves had fallen, which meant a lot of people had big branches down. This means that Jeremy gets to use his chainsaw and ax and go to town cleaning up the yard. Also on his agenda yesterday was to talk to his dear sister (me) about placement of the chandelier I found for Jeremy and Tina the last time I was up in New England. We won't say how long ago that was {cough cough, January 2011}.
I found this chandelier at Homegoods or TJ Maxx or some place like that for an incredibly good price. I realized I don't have a picture of just the chandelier, whoops. But, I loved it...and could picture it in their dining room. The only thing to do now was sell Jeremy and Tina on it :) We were figuring that the junction lighting box would have to move, which is why this project has been put off and put off. But, with Thanksgiving quickly approaching and Jeremy and Tina hosting it for the first time this year, they needed to check this item off of the to-do list. This is where I come in.
Thank goodness for Skype. The amazing world of technology never ceases to amaze me while I'm 5500 miles away from home. Jeremy set up the phone on a table in the living room so that I could see him hold the the chandelier up in the dining room. Hysterical. I snapped some of these pictures on my phone as he worked away...enjoy :)
P.S. Sorry they're not very good quality...he was on his iphone and I was on my iphone. But, it got the job done!
How's this for placement?
goofing off with one of the pieces of the chandelier he had to remove :)
I've been in bed since Wednesday evening feeling achy and pretty blah. Sore throat, headaches on and off, no strength. After my absolutely wonderful trip to Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany, I came back and taught two full days of English clubs on Tuesday and Wednesday. By the last club on Wednesday evening, I was incredibly weak and wanted to curl up in bed at 6 pm. I think I went to bed at 9:30 pm and slept for 12 hours that night. It reminded me of my old studio days; our project would be due on Monday, class was over at 5:30 pm, I was home by 6:00 pm and usually in bed by 7:00 pm (sometimes earlier). I would then sleep until the next morning around 9 or 10 am (that's around 15 hours of sleep folks). I can remember the first time Stephanie and Allison (two of my old roomies) witnessed this phenomenon...they thought something was wrong with me! Nope, just sleep deprived!
I am bummed to be staying in this weekend though because I was supposed to go visit my host family for the first time since training! What's even better was that my old LCF (Russian teacher) Zhenya is on rotation in Oster (the village I trained in) as well as my TCF (technical teacher) Lyuda. And, most of the Kozolets group (our link cluster) would be there as well! But, it just wasn't in the cards. Instead, I've been in bed watching an embarrassing number of episodes of the Real Housewives of Orange County. It's a guilty pleasure that makes me feel like I'm back at home in Oklahoma laying in my nice, comfy {big} bed.
This morning when I woke up and pulled my laptop into bed with me, I opened up facebook to be bombarded with status' about my friends playing and hearing Christmas music back in the states. As I sat in bed, I began to hear what sounded like caroling music. At first, I wondered if I was really that sick and my mind was just playing tricks on me. Then, I just figured my upstairs neighbor was playing their tv a little loud. When I finally got out of bed, I went to my kitchen to make hot tea and heard the singing very loudly then. As I looked out my kitchen window, I was quite surprised to see what was before me.
The caroling that I had been hearing was actually a funeral going on. I stood in awe as I wondered who had passed away--it was a little old babushka as best as I could tell. The singing went on for two hours as more and more people placed flowers on their beloved. This was literally happening in the entrance way to my apartment, and I can only wonder who passed away. I didn't recognize many of the people at the funeral. Only two or three other babushkas who sit on the benches and watch as I go to work, always saying something to me in very fast Russian that I can't understand. Definitely a new experience for me here in Ukraine.
I hope to take advantage of my time at home this weekend by blogging about some of my traveling experiences. I am super excited to have my first guest from the states here in Ukraine in just a short time...Mitchell will be making his way over to Eastern Europe come Nov. 20! Much love, Lyd :)
howdy yall... i am on my handy dandy kindle in my hotel room in karpatz, poland. this is a beautiful ski village resort... google it! as the charm of aspen village with the beautiful mountains all around. the trees are changing colors now too which makes for sme pretty scenery. i have one of my sweet pcv friends along wth me on the trip. kym and i are both having a great time thus far. we go to dresden, germany tomorrow. one day we will go to prague. and another day we will go to a giant indoor waterpark. i cant remember what other cities we go to...theyre all in a new foreign language to me!
perhaps the besst money kym and i spent thus far was around seven dollars each. wht did we find you ask? we walked into a convenience store and were greeted by the following american treats (none of which are available in ukraine!!!!!): cheetos, cinnamon toast crunch, and wasabi peanuts. we looked like kids in a candy store. we had a few of the high school age ukrainian girls from my center with us who must have thought we were freaks for being so excited over food. as we quickly opened our bags outside of the store to share with the girls, oneof them informed us, 'You know this food is not very healthy.'kym and i looked at each other and died laughing at what has been one of the funniest moments of the trip. we are well aware of how unhealthy this food is...but it truly was like christmas morning when youre five years old. seven months is a long time to not see some of your favorite things...so we indulged :)and believe it or not, my stomach now hurts from eating someof my american treats. sigh. totally wort it though :)
let me backtrack a little and tell you what we havedone the past few days. on saturday we toured around lviv...seeing all sorts of things i remember from my previous trip there seven years ago. it was a VERY cold day and makes me terrified for when winter ctually gets here. in the late morning on saturay... we were walking through the central square. the opera houseis located there along with a statue devoted shevchenko. while we wandered along...kym and i both saw a person sitting by the statue that looked vaguely like a pcv friend of ours. we both looked...and stared...and tried to figure out if it was indeed james genovese. as we stared at him from about twenty five feet away...he looked up and saw us just as we had decided that it was NOT him. lo and behold...we were wrong. hugs and alughter insued as we all said what are you doing here! he was meeting other pcvs in a bit and they would eventually go to poland later that day. as we chatte...one of the other pcvs arrived. small world.
later that day in lviv...we werecutting thru the center of town again and i spotted one of my other pcv friends, stephanie! she was with a few other pcvs who would be stying in lviv touring around for a ew days. i couldnt believe we ran into so many pcvs that day. what are the odds!
we are about to have our discoteco...so i better change clothes and get ready to dance the nght away. tootles from poland!!!
This morning, I awoke a bit earlier than normal for my first English club with my PeeWees (as I've dubbed them). Four kids showed up...5 and 6 year olds....2 girls, 2 boys. 3 of the kids participate very actively...while one of them still has not said one word to me the two times I've met with her. With time...
I started off with two ABC's videos I found on youtube. They associate a letter of the alphabet with an animal or an object that the kids are usually familiar with. It's split up into two parts for the first half and second half of the alphabet. Here's the first part.
The kids were loving it. Excited. Remembering things. I realized how important is it to start kids off learning a second language early because they can still learn how new letters and sounds are made. They had a few hiccups along the way, but overall were doing very well. Even the little girl who won't speak was watching the videos and mouthing/barely singing the words. However, if I looked at her, she immediately stopped; I had to steal glances out of the corner of my eye. Ah, the tricks of the trade :)
One thing I've noticed with Ukrainians speaking english is that it;s hard for most people to say an English word that ends with the letter "t." They often end up making it sound like "ch" which is a familiar letter for them (Ч in Russian/Ukrainian). So, in the second part of the video, the thing associated with the letter "R" is one of these cute little guys:
I'll let you use your imagination for how the kids pronounced rabbit. Needless to say, I had to stifle a laugh and quickly start the video again while they screamed their newly made up word with glee.
Wow. What a day. Hold on...I need you to say that like I thought it in my head. Please refer to the following video:
Only one of my favorite movies ever: Home Alone 2, Lost in New York. If you haven't watched this movie before, I really don't know if we can be friends... :)
So, today was my FIRST day of true, honest-to-goodness, English clubs (of which I still have no clue how to run). We're going to ignore that last little part in parentheses though. I'm going to give you a quick run-through of each group that I had today...and then I need to prep for my peewee class (5 year olds) that I meet with tomorrow morning at 8:30 am.
Group 1: Most advanced group I have. 3 students in their 20's who are yearning for more English time. They go to English clubs at the library and are so interested in learning the language. My goal with them? To teach them phrases and sayings that we use every day without even realizing it. Today I explained what the difference between "skimming the surface" and going "in depth" about a topic/idea/book/whatever is. This also brought up topics/words such as appropriate, the difference between mad vs. crazy, and perhaps the most funny that I quickly had to correct them on: the phrase "I'm pissed." I'll let you use your imagination on the last example.
Group 2: six 8 year olds who are in 3rd form. They are PRECIOUS. I love them already and I only spent 45 minutes with them today. The hopefully now know the words and colors for some of these guys:
The 8 year olds have an amazing brain. I had a picture slideshow of about 15 images and would call on each kid individually. They got to where they knew which slide was coming next only after going through the images 2 or 3 times! So, I had to put it on random to trick them! Also, they're adorable when they say turtle. "TU" is hard for them say...so it comes out "tyortull." Absolutely adorable.
Group 3: This group of adults started off as a group of five, but we are switching it next week to a group of 3 and a group of 2. The group of 2 have had English classes a while ago (10 years or more) but simply haven't practiced in many years. They are far past beginner status,, but need help remembering sentence structure. The group of 3 is a bit more advanced--able to carry on a full conversation in English. They simply need practice speaking. Their main goal will be to develop confidence when speaking...because I know they know the words, they just depend on Russian still! Also, the group of 3 has watched some tv shows and movies before (in English). We may watch a 20 minute tv show in English each week and then discuss it. My suggestion? Friends (duh). It's actually incredibly popular over here and they loved this idea. So. Excited :)
Group 4: Staff from the center for creative youth (where I work) beginner class. 8 or so ladies (and two of their daughters) who have taken a few English classes many years ago. They know the typical phrases: hello, my name is ____, I live in Kirovograd, I have a mother, father, sister, brother, etc. We're starting at the beginning with them--the alphabet and pronunciations. They have the information already somewhere in their heads...they simply have to find it again!
That was my day! I fully didn't mean for this to be so long. In fact, I planned on writing about my cooking adventure on Sunday night and a little discovery I made. But, I'm too lazy to upload pictures of my cooking right now. So, that will hopefully be in tomorrow's blog. Or maybe Thursdays :)
Also, I should probably let you know that I am going to be on a blog sabbatical for a bit. Why? Because I'm going on a TRIP :) :) :) My first trip out of the country during my Peace Corps service. Fall break is the last week of October (next week) and I will be going with my work on a trip to Germany, Poland, and Czech Republic. One of my PC best friends, Kym, is getting to come on the trip too. On our bucket list for Ukraine (which btw, after typing that, I think I should make an actual bucket list for Ukraine) is to go to as many castles/fortresses as we can in Ukraine and in the countries surrounding it. We've already been to three:
Belgorad, Odessa Oblast
Kamyanets-Podilskyii, Khmelnytskyi Oblast
Another castle near Kamyanets-Podilskyii that I should probably learn the name to, Khmelnytskyi Oblast
So, while on our Eastern European adventure...the thing that sealed the deal was: another castle! I'm stoked. I have no clue what internet availability will be, but if I have time to upload a picture, I will do my best :) Happy Tuesday!
