Stress

Tomorrow will be the start of the second full week of school. I have yet to teach a lesson. I don't know if there's a set schedule (my guess is no) or really what is going on. I was told that I would start teaching tomorrow. I don't know which classes or when. I also realized that I don't have a book or the correct book for 5 of the 7 classes I was told I'd be teaching. With all of the books, I make a plan using some of the exercises in the book but usually also prepare my own activities to dovetail with the theme of the lesson. The books usually don't provide enough or the type of activities we're supposed to be emphasizing. I was also told that I'll have a meeting tomorrow after school to finalize which classes I'll be teaching.

Basically, I have no lessons prepared and don't know if I'll be thrown into teaching tomorrow.

It's stressing me out.

On the bright side, I now have five private lessons scheduled (and that I taught last week). There's a good chance this number will increase as the next few weeks go by, until I hit the ceiling of the number I can handle.

Квас/Kvas

It's a Ukrainian/Russian beverage sold on the streets out of large tanks in the summer. I quite like it. You can also buy it in stores in bottles.

From Wikipedia:

Kvass, kvas, or quass (from Old East Slavic квасъ, kvasŭ, meaning "yeast" or "leaven";^[1] today, in Belarusian: квас, kvas, сиривець, siriviets; Lithuanian: gira; Russian: квас, kvas; in Ukrainian: квас, хлібний квас or сирівець, kvas, khlibnyy kvas or syrivets; Polish kwas chlebowy) is a fermented bread. The colour of the bread used contributes to the colour of the resulting drink. It is classified as a non-alcoholic drink by Russian standards, as the alcohol^[2] Overall, the alcohol content is low (0.05% - 1.0%).^[3] It is often flavoured with fruits or herbs such as strawberries or mint. Kvass is also used for preparing a cold summertime soup called okroshka.^[4] beverage made from black or regular rye content from fermentation is typically less than 1.2%.

It is popular in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, and other Eastern and Central European, where one can see many kvass vendors in the streets.^[5] Kvass is also popular in Harbin^[6] and Xinjiang, areas within China that are influenced by Russian culture. countries as well as in former Soviet states, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.

Kvass is made by the natural fermentation of bread, such as wheat, rye, or barley, and sometimes flavoured using fruit, berries, raisins, or birch sap collected in the early spring. Modern homemade kvass most often uses black or regular rye bread, usually dried, baked into croutons (called suhari), or fried, with the addition of sugar or fruit (e.g. apples or raisins), and with a yeast culture and zakvaska ("kvass fermentation starter").
Commercial kvass, especially less expensive varieties, is occasionally made like many other soft drinks, using sugar, carbonated water, malt extract, and flavourings. Better brands, often made by beer rather than soft drink manufacturers, usually use a variation of the traditional process to brew their products. Kvass is commonly served unfiltered, with the yeast still in it, which adds to its unique flavour as well as its high vitamin B content.
There is only one brewery in the United States that brews a Kvass year round. That is the Beaver Brewing Company in Beaver Falls Pennsylvania. They make it with the addition of raisins and lemons.

Day Off

Where can you earn a day off before you even start work? Ukraine, of course!

I went to school today expecting to teach two classes and was told right after I walked in that I wouldn't start teaching until next week. Something about the schedule being a mess, who knows. I have a number of individual lessons scheduled so I'll still be teaching those on my own.

In honor of my boredom, I spent my morning taking pictures of my landlord's new kitten. Enjoy!

Chillaxin'

 Gargoyle pose?

 Wahhhhhhh

 Emo-kit? This reminds me of a myspace picture. She's got pretty eyes though.

 Curious kit

 Go ahead, climb up my leg

That face!

Old Photos

At the end of the last school year, I tried to take a picture with the students of each of my classes. I should have known better than to think my schedule would be normal. I only got a picture with two of my classes, the 6th form and the 10th.

6th Form cuties.

10th Form. Blame the blurriness on the random boy who took the photo. Also, this is about 1/3 of this class. They like to not show up to class sometimes.

Things I Did Today

I went running, and ended up playing fútbol with some of the middle school boys from my school. This is the second time this has happened and I'm definitely not opposed to it. It feels pretty nice to be back on the field, and part of me is surprised that the boys have embraced my presence so openly. But I'm happy about it.

Then I went out for a walk and ended up hitting around a badminton with another group of kids, one kid told me a scary story, and they all tried to convince me to go to the disco tech with them (I declined).

Ohio State's football season starts today. I'm not going to lie, I miss being in Columbus and watching games. Thinking about that also makes me crave a slice of pizza and a beer.

I guess I'm trading football for fútbol this fall.

First Day of School

The first day of school in Ukraine is always September 1st, which is actually a holiday called День знань (den znan), the Day of Knowledge. The first day of school looks a lot like the last. All the kids line up according to form and speeches by the directors and important officials are made, some doves and balloons were released, and a child sang. Then, the students were dismissed to their "first lesson" which really is just a meeting with their lead teacher and then they went home. My school was also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the opening of the school, so there was a concert in our House of Culture building. It was mostly a commemoration of former and present teachers at the school, along with a performance group singing traditional Ukrainian songs. It lasted three hours, and most of the kids left early (well, of the ones who actually showed up).

I'm fairly certain I will be teaching the 5th, 6th, 7th,  9th, and 11th forms, and possibly helping out with the 2nd form (the first year they start learning English). I'm pretty happy with this schedule. Last year, I taught the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th forms so I'm keeping a good portion of the kids I've worked with before. I won't be teaching my least favorite classes from last year, now 8a and 8b, though I may try to do a club for the few kids who are interested in learning. I think I'll be co-teaching the 9a and 9b classes with my other English teacher, which will be nice. The only other hiccups right now are new books were ordered for a few of the classes but they haven't arrived yet so the students don't have books, and there's not a set schedule yet of when I will be teaching all of these classes. I'll probably just have to ask everyday what I'll be teaching the next day and go with the flow.

Summer Recap: July/Early August

My parents arrived in Kyiv at the end of June. We spent a week seeing the sights, such as St. Michael's, St. Sophia's, Podil and eating delicious food. Then we went to my village for a week. In typical Ukrainian fashion, there was a welcome dinner and a tour of my school, our museum, the orphanage, and the statues. We mostly just hung out and walked around.

 Independence Square on Constitution Day, June 28th

 My village's cemetery

 A memorial to the victims of the famine in the cemetery

 In Dnipropetrovsk

 Couples put locks on the bridge in Dnipropetrovsk (we saw this in Odessa also)

 National writer and hero Taras Shevchenko... personally, I find him kinda creepy looking

 A church in Dnipropetrovsk

Then the last week of their trip, we went to Odessa. Odessa is famous in Ukraine, especially because it's by the Black Sea.

 Lioness and cubs statue in the City Garden in Odessa

 The Opera and Ballet Theater in Odessa

 Fountain near the Theater

 A museum in Odessa

 Pushkin!

 Potemkin, at the top of the Potemkin Stairs (which were under construction when we were there)

 The infamous Odessa port

 I couldn't resist: a kit in a flower pot!

  Catherine the Great

I put my parents on a train back to Kyiv for their flight home, and I traveled to the city of Sergeevka. I spent the next three weeks working at Camp Bereg, an English language international friendship camp with about 35 students, other PCVs, and a group of international volunteers. 

It was... interesting. I guess it was one of my first real experiences working at something run by Ukrainians. It was a bit unorganized and there was no communication but... what are ya gonna do, ya know? It was fine. We went swimming in the Black Sea almost everyday, which I loved, had English lessons, sports, crafts, and competitions. The food was atrocious. I got to spend time with other Americans (win!), saw dolphins and jellyfish, slept on the roof, moved out of a moldy sanatorium into the "Shore House" (a house supposedly built for the former Moldovan president during Soviet times, but is now being turned into a hotel... it had bidets) and then back into the sanatorium, and played with puppies and kittens.

 You never know what you'll find in the street

 Shannon and one of the kittens living on the porch of the Shore House

 Black Sea

 Camping on the beach

 Picking up jellyfish. They really are very squishy.

 Me attempting a jumping picture with Yuri Haharin, the first man in space

 Nothing says communism like an "Our Garden" sign

 Kiddos at camp. The girl on the left always looked like that.

 Piñata time

 Found art sculpture 

 Bessarabia Festival. Construction courtesy of orphan labor.

Some campers and counselors singing on stage