I was inside a bubble.

This is our pose

Today was a lot of fun. My group and I had a cultural activity and two of our school’s coordinators took us around town. We wandered the streets of Kiev. It was nice to explore other parts of the city other my just my ghetto part. Kiev is actually a pretty city. We ran into Minnie Mouse and we saw a couple of statue people on the street. And we have a signature pose now. I love my group! We have so much fun together. Because we teach at three different schools and we teach at different times, we are only able to see each other on the weekends. But when we get together….I can’t even begin to describe the fun we have.

As we walked around I saw several weddings. We counted 12 brides and admired most of their dresses. One of them was just awful. That is a lot of weddings for just one day.

We went to the water museum. It was pretty boring to me but it had some interesting parts to it. I got to stand inside a bubble! How cool is that?!?! I can check that off my bucket list. It wasn’t on my list before but it is now and I can proudly check it off. And I sat on a giant toilet, again, something that wasn’t on my bucket list but is now. ;) We had a tour guide at the museum and she spoke English. I learned that people waste a ton of water. She said that their water goes through a lot of filtration and I want to know why their tap water is not drinkable.They also had an aquarium. We could only put our hands over the water and let the fish come to us. Our tour guide told us something about couples. She said that if a woman puts her hand over water and fish comes to her then the man knows that she is ready to go fishing. When she told us this, I was expecting her to say that the woman is ready to get married, or something. I was expecting it to be more dramatic than fishing.

We also rode a boat. It was tranquil.  I just sat and watched the beauty that is Kiev while the rest of the girls chatted amongst each other. Before we got on the boat, we were told that we could have free ice cream or free juice. Some of the girls and I asked about it but the lady didn’t speak English but it seemed like we had to pay for it. So the head teacher called one of the school coordinators and she cleared things up and we had our free ice cream and juice. I chose the juice because I hadn’t had it in a long time. I was expecting it to taste differently because everything that resembles something from America has tasted different but this juice tasted like something I would have back home, just not cold. Now that I spent a lot of time talking about my juice, let me tell you the rest of my boat ride. This ride was just what I needed. I have been under a lot of stress since I have been here and when that ride started I felt so peaceful. I didn’t feel a bit of stress and I didn’t worry. If I could I would ride it every day.  It is those little things like riding on a boat that one has to focus on in life instead of all the stress and worry. Life is a lot more enjoyable with that train of thinking.

Kiev, Ukraine

I saw one of my students, Nazar. It was so nice seeing him. He just happens to be one of my favorites. I didn’t think that I would ever see my kids outside of class because Kiev is so large and I live over an hour away from my school. At first I didn’t recognize him. And I don’t think he recognized me but his mom did and she was very friendly.

 Life is good...crazy…but good and that is just the way I like it.

Here's an update

Hello Everybody,

It has been a few days since I updated my blog. I hope those reading it are not bored.

On Saturday, I hung out with the girls and we just relaxed at the Nyvky School. We got to know each other better and just ate junk food. Being away from home and from familiarity as made us bond quickly and it feels like I have known these girls for years. I love each and every single one of them. I can’t imagine being a part of another group of girls to work with.

I can’t help but to have a tinge of jealousy. Their host families take them out and show them around town and do things with them.  My roommate and I haven’t done anything with Galina since we have been here. I am not saying that I am not grateful for Galina and what she has done for me. She has given me a roof over my head and puts food on the table. She paid for my bus rides the first week I was here and she didn’t have to do that. Another thing that I am jealous about is that they can communicate with their host families.  It is hard communicating with my host mom because she doesn’t speak English. She tries to talk to us but we can’t understand her. Though we discovered that she loves animals! She has a cat named Salamandro….I am not sure how it’s spelled, snails, and a ferret named Margo. I am trying to not be so envious of the other girls because I am truly blessed to be here and to be living with Galina.

Life is good. I finally understand Ukrainians when they speak. All they say is, “Blah, blah, blah.” ;) I am just kidding. I feel, however, like I am in a cartoon of Charlie Brown and it’s stuck on replay. ;) I do know how to count up to 10. When I was talking to Galina about breakfast, I tried to imitate what she said and she just laughed at me. She said that it was okay. She always ends up laughing when we try to communicate. J I recited the numbers to her. She said I did a good job and gave me a thumbs up. :D I think she thought I was silly for reciting the numbers to her but also happy to know that I have been trying to learn Russian. I love Galina.

Last week, Taia and I were coming home from school and it was down pouring like no other! We got on the trolley bus which takes us from the Metro to a stop close to our flat (apartment). At one of the stops, the driver opened the door, people got on and then the driver said something over the intercom. Whatever he said made those people get back off. But there were still several people on the bus and then he repeated whatever he said louder and everyone else got off so Taia and I followed suit. We were about four stops away from our flat and he kicked us off and it wasn’t even late. It was about 7:30 so there was no reason for him to end his route. Of all the days to kick people off the bus, it had to be a rainy day, really?!? I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Man, oh man, oh man. School has got me going crazy. To work at my school, one needs to have a go with the flow attitude because things are constantly changing and you don’t even know until it’s happening. Let me tell you what is going on in my school. My roommate Taia and I were assigned to work with kindergarten level children for 3 hours a day for 5 days a week. Within the first week our hours were cut down to just two hours a day. And all this time we didn’t know who our kids were and if we were getting more. The kids kept changing on us. But we were able to make things work. We got into work on Monday to find out that we had to teach a Basic Reading level, which is one step above the kindergarten level. We were brought two kids and we didn’t have anything prepared but again we did the best we could on such short notice. Then on Tuesday, we were expecting to do the same thing we didn’t yesterday. We found out that the reading group is only MWF so that was a relief. Then we found out that we were only teaching for one hour, which was nice, though it meant that we had to redo our schedule again, which we have done so many times already. Then we changed our schedule again today to accommodate the Basic Reading children (which we assigned to Taia and I took over the other group all together) and get them on a rotation with the kinder kids. We had it all work out until the kinder kids parents came by after an hour of teaching throwing everything we planned out of the window.  I thought that the one hour teaching was a special treat for us only to find out that it is a daily thing, which meant that once again, my hours were dropped from 15 hours a week, to 10 hours a week, and now to 5 hours a week. And I am supposed to have a minimum of 15 hours a week. So I called my head teacher and luckily she was with the main school coordinator and she found out that I will still have my 10 hours but I will just have two groups of children for one hour each. I was really worried about losing my hours. I have the least amount of hours out of all the girls.  I am the one of the few who came to actually teach the children and I feel like I am not really teaching. But I know that things will get better and everything will work out. Things are always rough at first.

I am thankful for my time at Discovery Elementary. Not just because it gave me teaching experience but because when I worked there, I never had a set schedule. It changed about 80 billion times in one year. The constant change doesn’t make me happy but at least I am used to it. It helps me to just stay calm when I could have easily have lost it (a skill developed over the four years at Discovery).

As frustrating as things are, I am grateful for the children that I work with. They are just as adorable as children can be. They just bring a smile to my face and they warm my heart. I have only known them for just a couple of weeks, but I fell in love with them the moment I met them.  They are so precious and I don’t know if I would have been able to handle everything if it weren’t for this group of children. They give me something to look forward to and I can just relax around them.

First day of school....and a drunk Ukrainian on the trolleybus

Well today was an interesting day. School began. Our classes are split between a primary level and an elementary level. My roommate and I teach the primary level which is pretty basic and it is pretty much just play with speaking thrown in every second. And Hanna, another teacher at our school teaches the elementary level. This level is more like something you see in a normal classroom with a table and a work book. The kids came along and I didn’t feel ready. But the second I put on my teacher’s hat on it was game on! It felt in my zone even though kids weren’t really participating but I am used to it. My roommate however struggled with it because she never taught before. I remember when I felt that way. It was a discouraging time when I first started working in special education and frequently question myself and my purpose here. But now I don’t and I am sure that Taia will come to the same realization as I did. You don’t have to be perfect and things don’t have to go perfectly to love the kids. The best way to teach is to love. And things will get better. And just because you have to make sure the kids are learning something doesn’t mean that you can’t learn too.

The children that we worked with are just too adorable! Taia and I worked with three boys and two girls. Two boys are named Nikita so I just referred to them and the blonde Nikita and the brown haired Nikita. Another boy named Denis who is from New York but moved to Ukraine when he was two so he lost all his English and his family wants him to learn it again for when they move back to the States. The two girls are name Lisa and Dasha. Dasha was very talkative but Lisa was super shy. At the end I got her to say a few words but that was after 2 ½ hours with her. Taia and split the groups into smaller groups. We each taught the three different things and rotated between the two groups. I taught them arts and crafts, kitchen, and games. Taia taught them drama, gym, and shop. Taia felt that the three hours was the longest three hours of her life but I felt like it wasn’t long enough!

The day ended by Taia and me getting on the wrong bus. We usually take 46 to and from the Metro but because it was dark and accidently got on the 46K. So we got off and wait for about 20 minutes for 46 to arrive. When we got on it this man started talking to me. I told him I didn’t understand which in Russian is: yani pany Myo (of course this isn’t how you really spell it, I am just doing it phonetically). I thought he would stop when I told him I didn’t know what he was saying but he just laughed and continued talking. Then when there was more room he came closer and started talking to Taia as if she would understand him. But he just laughed at us and looked for someone who spoke English. He succeeded in finding a man and he was cute to boot! This man leaned into to Taia and said that he was a “very stupid man”. I didn’t hear this but she started laughing and then the drunken man started laughing. And the drunken man spoke to another man and then he started laughing. We were all just laughing. The English speaking man was talking to me. He couldn’t speak very well but I was just happy to understand him. And I told him that I was very happy that he was on the bus and he just chuckled at me. And he said something to the drunken man about my smile. I don’t know what that was all about. When he got off the bus he said bye and wished us good luck. I didn’t want him to get off the bus. I even told him that. I reached my hand out to him and said “Don’t go! Stay until we get off!” I was tempted to just get off at his stop but it was dark and I don’t want to wander the streets of Kiev in the dark. So this man just continued to harass us for two more stops and got off at our stop. So Taia and I walked as quickly as we could so the man wouldn’t follow us. And thinking back on it, I should have had the man tell the drunk to leave us alone but I was so confused about what was happening and we were all laughing so hard that I couldn’t think straight. And I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss my stop. I want to be able to see that young man again and just talk about tonight and just laugh our heads off.
I am sure that it won’t be my only experience with a drunken Ukrainian. I just hope that I have a cute, non-drunk Ukrainian man to help me the next time.

Comfort through the Church and through laughter

Since I have been here a question has crossed my mind a time or two. Does Heavenly Father know where I am since I am half way across the world? Well, today my question was answered. He is fully aware of where I am, of what I am doing, and how I am feeling.

Today, I went to church at the Kyiv International branch for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I have never felt this much relief in my life. I felt the Spirit so strongly and I think it was because I was seeking it out that he made himself more noticeable to me. This week has been an adjustment and it has taken a lot out of me, that when I walked up to the church I almost lost it. I didn’t lose it until I got up to the podium and shared my testimony.

I am so grateful to have the church and to have something to look forward to every week where I will understand everyone and they understand me and I can share my thoughts. And they smile back! I can make eye contact and smile and they will do it back to me. I know that this is silly but I struggle with this because I am such a smiley person. And I know that this is something that I will laugh about down the road that I stressed about the whole non-smiling thing.

I feel so comfortable being at church and the stress I felt this week just lifted off my shoulders. And a reassurance that everything is going to be okay came over me. I just have to give the Lord a chance.

A funny story: On my way back from church I have to take a marshrutka (which is a mini yellow bus) to the Metro and then take a trolleybus. Well, on the bus I got on at the back and let me tell you that the force of the stops and goes are really felt back there when you have to stand. I was losing my balance left and right! I made an older gentleman’s day, though. I really enjoyed watching me try to regain my balance or re-figure my footing so I didn’t lose it. After a long period of laughing, he gave up his seat for me, how sweet. But he was laughing the whole time. I didn’t know exactly was he was saying but I knew what it was about. I couldn’t help but laugh at myself too. I must have looked ridiculous and I buried my red face into my arm. And this was also a huge relief to see a Ukrainian laugh. They are all so serious here!