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.