He was hanging outside some artist's collectiv
The view from where we stayed
The back view
This picture doesn't do the night justice
Mangup-Kale!
Outer wall
Ruins
Oh, just hanging out
Benches
Precarious stairs
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Pictures On My Camera I Forgot I Had Pt. 2
The second installment of summer pictures! All of these are from Bachisaray, mostly just the area around the hostel we stayed at and from when we explored Mangup-Kale, an ancient cave city.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
First Bell 2012
Happy First Bell! And may the odds be ever in your favor.
Pat yourself on the back if you got that Hunger Games reference.
I know I've mentioned this before, but September first always marks the first day of school (also known as First Bell and The Day of Knowledge. I don't know why it has so many names), even when it falls on a weekend day. So yesterday my school held its First Bell Ceremony. I have to admit, it was a little lackluster this year. I don't know if that was because my director wasn't there because she's been in the hospital, or because the microphone only half-worked, or because there was no singing and no dancing. I did, however, get a nice bouquet of yellow roses from a student. I'm quite fond of this Ukrainian tradition of giving flowers at celebrations. We did have the normal speeches welcoming parents and students back, the welcoming of the new first form into the secondary school, and the moving of the tenth form into the top dog position of eleventh form. Then this little girl rang the ceremonial bell with one of the eleventh formers carrying her.
And in case you're silly enough to wonder if I know my schedule yet, that's a negative. I may or may be teaching Monday. I'll find out Monday.
Pat yourself on the back if you got that Hunger Games reference.
I know I've mentioned this before, but September first always marks the first day of school (also known as First Bell and The Day of Knowledge. I don't know why it has so many names), even when it falls on a weekend day. So yesterday my school held its First Bell Ceremony. I have to admit, it was a little lackluster this year. I don't know if that was because my director wasn't there because she's been in the hospital, or because the microphone only half-worked, or because there was no singing and no dancing. I did, however, get a nice bouquet of yellow roses from a student. I'm quite fond of this Ukrainian tradition of giving flowers at celebrations. We did have the normal speeches welcoming parents and students back, the welcoming of the new first form into the secondary school, and the moving of the tenth form into the top dog position of eleventh form. Then this little girl rang the ceremonial bell with one of the eleventh formers carrying her.
And in case you're silly enough to wonder if I know my schedule yet, that's a negative. I may or may be teaching Monday. I'll find out Monday.
Pictures On My Camera I Forgot I Had Pt. 1
As it turns out, I did use my camera this summer! And then I promptly forgot that I had these photos. So here they are. These are all from my time in Odesa and Bachisaray.
The Potemkin Steps in Odesa
The Twelfth Chair in Odesa
From here onwards are pictures from the Khan's Palace in Bachisaray
Clearly this is the place for posed pictures
Pretty flower
The Fountain of Tears
Rose garden
A weird tree growing on a wall
Cool doodles
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Summer in Two Week Increments
First two weeks of June: see this post.
Last two weeks of June:
My friend Lisa and her roommate in Alaska came to visit! I met them at the airport in Odesa, and we explored the city and went to the beach a few times. It was nice to have someone from back home come experience Ukraine and get a better idea of what it's like to live here. From Odesa, we went to Crimea and the city of Bachisaray, which is a smaller town that has a lot of fun cultural spots, including a Khan's palace, a Tartar artists' collective, and lost of yummy Tartar food to eat. We also climbed Mangup-Kale, which is an ancient cave town not too far from Bachisaray. From there, we traveled to Yalta for a day to swim with jelly fish, ride a cable car, explore some more, and eat more food. Then we went to Kyiv and saw pretty much everything there is to see there, and ate at a fake French bakery more than once.
First two weeks of July:
I was at home. Hanging out, running, and other miscellaneous, non-exciting things.
Last two weeks of July:
I traveled to my friend Shannon's site in Khersons'ka Oblast, and so did our friend Jordan. We completed Peace Corps pre-service training together back in the beginning of our service, and we decided to do a circuit of visiting everyone's site. We mostly just talked, hung out, cooked food together, watched lots of movies and television, and explored. Then we moseyed on over to my site and did the same. Then we went to Jordan's site in Kirovograds'ka Oblast. Repeat the above mentioned activities, plus an evening of barbecue and a bar outing.
First two weeks of August:
Shannon decided to come back to my site to hang out, instead of being alone and intensely bored by herself at her site. Again, we mostly did the same things as before, and it was nice to have the company.
Last two weeks of August:
Me hanging out by myself in my house, thinking about what I need to do to get my life in order for when I leave Ukraine in less than four months. This mostly entails me thinking about all the stuff I've accumulated and how I need to get rid of some of it (I actually haven't accumulated that much, but still) and looking up potential job information. August 15 was the first day teachers were supposed to head back into school and start preparing. I didn't do this. There's really nothing for me to do if I go in, besides be seen, and I think I only need one week of that, so I'm going in starting tomorrow. I probably won't end up doing anything but reading or studying Ukrainian, and then going home.
Last two weeks of June:
My friend Lisa and her roommate in Alaska came to visit! I met them at the airport in Odesa, and we explored the city and went to the beach a few times. It was nice to have someone from back home come experience Ukraine and get a better idea of what it's like to live here. From Odesa, we went to Crimea and the city of Bachisaray, which is a smaller town that has a lot of fun cultural spots, including a Khan's palace, a Tartar artists' collective, and lost of yummy Tartar food to eat. We also climbed Mangup-Kale, which is an ancient cave town not too far from Bachisaray. From there, we traveled to Yalta for a day to swim with jelly fish, ride a cable car, explore some more, and eat more food. Then we went to Kyiv and saw pretty much everything there is to see there, and ate at a fake French bakery more than once.
First two weeks of July:
I was at home. Hanging out, running, and other miscellaneous, non-exciting things.
Last two weeks of July:
I traveled to my friend Shannon's site in Khersons'ka Oblast, and so did our friend Jordan. We completed Peace Corps pre-service training together back in the beginning of our service, and we decided to do a circuit of visiting everyone's site. We mostly just talked, hung out, cooked food together, watched lots of movies and television, and explored. Then we moseyed on over to my site and did the same. Then we went to Jordan's site in Kirovograds'ka Oblast. Repeat the above mentioned activities, plus an evening of barbecue and a bar outing.
First two weeks of August:
Shannon decided to come back to my site to hang out, instead of being alone and intensely bored by herself at her site. Again, we mostly did the same things as before, and it was nice to have the company.
Last two weeks of August:
Me hanging out by myself in my house, thinking about what I need to do to get my life in order for when I leave Ukraine in less than four months. This mostly entails me thinking about all the stuff I've accumulated and how I need to get rid of some of it (I actually haven't accumulated that much, but still) and looking up potential job information. August 15 was the first day teachers were supposed to head back into school and start preparing. I didn't do this. There's really nothing for me to do if I go in, besides be seen, and I think I only need one week of that, so I'm going in starting tomorrow. I probably won't end up doing anything but reading or studying Ukrainian, and then going home.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Sometimes
Sometimes I realize how super weird/super cool my life is when I do
something ordinary like say hello to a group of kids in three languages.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Reading
I'm back from my trip with friends and I've been enjoying catching up on some reading. So I figured I'd share some of my favorite articles. At first, I thought they were all unrelated but after I thought about it, they're all connected in certain ways.
The 'Busy' Trap
Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day... I can't help but wonder whether all this historic exhaustion isn't a way of covering up the fact that most of what we do doesn't matter.
Redefining Success and Celebrating the Unremarkable
"In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another - which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality - we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement," he told the students and parents.
"You make a lot of money or have athletic success. That's a very, very narrow definition. What about being compassionate and living a life of integrity?"
How do we go back to the idea that ordinary can be extraordinary? How do we teach our children - and remind ourselves - that life doesn't have to be all about public recognition and prizes, but can be more about our relationships and special moments?
Vacation Sabotage - Don't Let It Happen to You!
Oh Glory by the wonderful Hayley Williams
The 'Busy' Trap
Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day... I can't help but wonder whether all this historic exhaustion isn't a way of covering up the fact that most of what we do doesn't matter.
Redefining Success and Celebrating the Unremarkable
"In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another - which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality - we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement," he told the students and parents.
"You make a lot of money or have athletic success. That's a very, very narrow definition. What about being compassionate and living a life of integrity?"
How do we go back to the idea that ordinary can be extraordinary? How do we teach our children - and remind ourselves - that life doesn't have to be all about public recognition and prizes, but can be more about our relationships and special moments?
Vacation Sabotage - Don't Let It Happen to You!
Oh Glory by the wonderful Hayley Williams
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