December 1

I remember feeling like December was so far away about two months ago, and now I can't believe it's here.

My village has had a couple very weak, almost invisible snow flurries but nothing significant. Then during my lesson with the 6th formers, it started snowing pretty heavily which sent them into giggles and screams of "New Years is coming!" (usually their favorite holiday). Another student was convinced that because we had been talking about holidays during our lesson, that we caused it to snow. It's hard to be miserable about winter with all that cuteness flying around.

World AIDS Day! Molodets to my school for having information sessions with the older forms about this issue, especially since it tends not to be talked about here.

It was my landlady's birthday and she had a feast for her friends. She spent literally the entire day cooking because there was so much food, it was incredible. I always wonder how Ukrainians afford to do this, both with time and money, but it's tradition. It was nice to spend the evening with her and her friends and eat too much food and drink in her honor, and she looked so happy.

On an unrelated note, teaching is the same ups and downs and starts and stalls as always. The main difference is I'm better at brushing things off when they go wrong, and I (usually) don't let it ruin my entire day. I just try and focus on the times when I feel like I'm making a very small change in someone's mindset. For example, I have a student in my 11th form who was a bit of a pain last year and doesn't really know English at all. He's one of the students who has been told since he was in 2nd form that he's stupid and lazy, so why would he bother to try? While he still doesn't really know English, he has a much more positive attitude towards me. Today, my 11th formers played Hangman in pairs, and he didn't have a partner so I went to where he sits in the back and played with him. I think it helped that I started with a word he knows (stupid, because he thinks it's funny sometimes to call other people or himself stupid, to which I always say, "No, Dima, you're not stupid.") Once he figured it out, he thought it was hilarious and was so excited to play. It's probably the most animated I've seen him. Anyway, I try to make little things like that happen everyday.