The Real Thing

Hello Family and Friends!

I aplogize that this is my first post but I never got around to much during training that did not consist of Ukrainian lessons or lesson planning. But now I will try to post blogs as often as possible, probably once a week. I will try to keep you all updated with pictures and other goodies that will help you feel more informed about my where abouts in the wonderful country of Ukraine!

I have currently moved to my permanent site in Kivertsi from my beautiful training site of Tarascha (in central Ukraine,two hours south of Kiev). Tarascha had a population of about 15,000 with 3 schools. I worked at school number one called gymnasium. I taught the 4th, 6th and 11th forms. They were all dear pupils and it was difficult to leave them. I plan on visiting again in the summer of 2011. I lived with a wonderful host family. Natasha, Olga and Julia all greeted me daily with warm smiles and lots to talk about. They helped my Ukrainian develop all throughout my training experience. I also had a very fun and humorous training group which was made up by Laurent Marshall from New Hampshire, Ashley Greve from Illinois, Egle Vilkelyte from Florida, Peter Narayan from Georgia and the lovely Grace Harter from Washington D.C. We all had a great connection and really bonded like a family. I miss them dearly.

I have arrived at site in Kivertsi, I have been here for a couple days now.Kivertsi has a population of about 13,000 with 5 schools. There is a train station located in the town that can travel all across Europe. I live on the second floor of a house with a married couple named Sasha and Tonia. They are very sweet people and they challenge my Ukrainian skills daily which is good because everyone knows I need much practice.My good friend, Ben from training, lives just up the road in a smaller village so it's nice to have a familiar face in the vacinity. I ventured the school I will be teaching at today. I was greeted by 57 teachers and over 830 pupils. They were all very friendly and showed me a very warm welcome. The entire 11th form conducted a presentation for me in English about Ukraine. I was very impressed to hear they had memorized their speeches and took the time to do such a thing for me. I was very appreciative. They also gave me a hand stitched towel along with the sacred bread that is only given to honored guests that come to the country. I do not think that my welcome could have gone any better, I am very excited to continue working with all the faculty and students.

On my first day in Kivertsi, I was greeted by another volunteer whom is living in the same town. Her name is Kate Schmidt and she is originally from Illinois. She showed me the town and soon we travelled to Lutsk and met another volunteer there. Melissa Krut works at the university in Lutsk and also welcomed me with open arms. Later that night, we all gathered together in Kivertsi for dinner in which two other volunteers joined. A Community Development volunteer named Terri and another T.E.F.L volunteer named Dominic. It was great to get to meet other volunteers who are close by.

I attended the regional Olympiad on Saturday and helped grade students from around the area in writing, speaking and listening. After the Olympiad, some of the english teachers treated Kate and I to dinner. It was a great chance to get to know the teachers on a more personal level and to introduce myself in a more comfortable setting. The english teachers are very intelligent and I look forward to getting to know them more as time progresses.

Until next time, much love to you all!