Where was I. Oh yes, the end of training. The highlight by far was the talent show, where my cluster performed Ozero Sleez (Lake of Tears), a rap/pop song by the infamous New Z Cool & Qeens, in Ukrainian, with a choreographed dance, I have the video on my camera and will eagerly post it when I have a highspeed connection.
What else happened? Well I passed the LPI, had an intensive day of informative, too informative classes, with a teacher from my new school. They sent Irena, also a first year teacher, to Kyiv for our end of training conference to get some idea of what exactly an American can help them with at school, and also to help me carry my equipment. Oh yes, instead of giving me money to buy stuff when I get to the other side of the country, I was issued a big heater, one of those heavy ones on wheels, a fire extinguisher, and smoke/CO2 alarm. That combined with the many manuals, books, and teaching materials that I have accumulated since arriving in October has inflated bag count from a very manageable and even movable 3 bags + violin to a completely ridiculous 5 bags + violin. The total has to be upward of 100kg. I can learn Ukrainian and the metric system!
On Wednesday was swearing in, don't know why it's called that, since I still refuse to swear. The big names showed up, including the ambassador, but most meaningful was the fact that all of the Kivshovata host families showed up. They are the sweatest people I know, and if all Ukrainians are like them, this is perhaps the kindest country I've been to. It was really nice to hang out with Vitya for a bit longer, we explored the whole building, every single sweet and candy laid out (over $2000 was the official estimate from the host families, who would know since they run stores and sell the stuff), and proceeded to confuse all of the embassy officials there because Vitya was wearing a shirt that said CIA on it. I tried to explain to Vitya what that was, but I don't think he got it.
Wednesday night I left the cluster, really felt like leaving the nest. I was ready to go, but I know in a few more days away from them, it will really hit me that they are more than a kilometer or two away at all times.
Thursday was the first day back in B. Mosty. I forgot how flat it is here. The overnight trains are really nice. I may sleep better on trains than I do in beds. Slavic (new host dad) came to pick us (Irena and I) up so we didn't have to brave the marshrutkas.
Today is Friday, and now I'm off to meet the PE teacher, apparently one of the only other young teachers. He loves basketball, but I'm sure he'll know some soccer players also.
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| From YoYo |
