May Wrap-Up

While initially I felt like this month was creeping by, towards the end it seemed to speed up. And now that everything is said and done, it doesn't feel quite so eventful or momentous as I thought it would. But here's what happened:

Victory Day
Ukraine celebrates May 9th as the end of World War II, called the Great Patronymic War here. My school had that Wednesday off from lessons and I attended the Memorial Service in the center of my village, where the war monuments are. It was a fairly short service, about 30 minutes, where government leaders made speeches, veterans were honored, and flowers placed on the memorials.

Then there was a concert in my village's Cultural Building.

11th Form Last Bell
This was a shortened version of the official Last Bell, which ends the school year for all students. Thanks to Ukraine co-hosting Euro 2012 this summer, the 11th form students had to have their exams and graduation ceremony finish up much earlier than usual.

Last Week of School/Last Bell
A lot of my classes ended up canceled, so I barely taught. This was really only disappointing in that I didn't get to do one last fun lesson with my students before summer. Otherwise, I didn't really care much. Also, my school held a traditional Pioneer's Day. I had no idea what this was other than what my kids kept telling me: that they were going to the soccer fields to have some kind of contest eating buckwheat. I was really confused until I showed up and realized it was basically like a picnic/field day. The 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th forms camp out in the fields and make food, play football and have contests. Then, each class brings a sample of the buckwheat concoction they made to the jury and a winner is chosen. It's a pretty cute and relaxing day. I ended up sitting with the 7th form, who are some of my favorite students and my counterpart is the class leader for that form.