Last week of training.

I honestly don’t understand how training is already coming to a close.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday we had Thanksgiving as a BIG group at our LCF’s house. We had all of the host moms there, as well as a few other invited guests. Having about 20 people there, along with puppies, cats, and rabbits made it a great time. My cranberry sauce was a winner too, which made me super happy. After we ate, we played music together. I love my cluster, and I am glad I was able to spend 2.5 months (and hopefully more) with them.

Permanent Site

I have learned one more piece of information towards my permanent site. I found out today that I and three of the girls from my cluster are going to Region 5, which is northwest Ukraine. It includes L’vivs’ka oblast, Volyns’ka oblast, Rivnenska oblast, and Zhytomyrs’ka oblast. Below is a picture to give you an idea where I will be. We have met our Regional Manager before, and I really like her. She is in charge of the World Wise Schools program, which I think is VERY important. We meet with her next Thursday to find out specifically where we are and what schools we work with and who our counterpart is. I’m excited for more information since this is really what I’ve wanted to know since I found out I was going to Ukraine.

 

 

LPI

Our language proficiency interview is next Tuesday. We have an interviewer speak with us in Ukrainian for 15 minutes and then give us our level. I’m really not worried since I am to the point where I can talk without thinking much about what I am trying to say. Sure it isn’t perfect, but perfection will come later.

 

Oh ya, it is going to be my 24th birthday on Sunday. Weird.

 

Until next time,

Jake

 

Ukraine-EU Trade Disagreement

Being a PCT, I am not allowed to express a political opinion on this. So instead, I will fill you in with some articles (if you are interested enough to read, most of this is happening an hour from where I live currently), and a live stream of the main square of Kiev. Some are comparing this Sunday to the Orange Revolution that happened in Ukraine a decade ago. We will see what happens, only time can tell.

BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25050202

The Economist:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2013/11/ukraine-and-eu-0

Live Stream of Kyiv:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDqHdoeRQAo&feature=share&list=PLdgysfdHs0fZmYMii8wzJUbMWjauC1esm

Brick face

Long time no talk blog friends.

Language

Language is going well. I am a bit behind on flash cards (because we are rapidly zipping through chapters as training closes). LUCKILY, we had a day off today so I could catch up (in theory). PCTs get one day of leave during training, and we all chose today to have a catch up/ relax day. Well worth it. We have our LPI (Language Placement Interview) in two weeks, and all we are really doing now is preparing for that. I’m not too stressed about it, but I would like to do as well as I can.

Teaching

After PCT University, I have really only been teaching 4th and 5th formers, and I LOVE IT. Working with little kids is a lot of fun, and they try so hard to learn English, which is very nice. And it makes my job easy. We sang “Baby Shark” and I played saxophone. Videos at the bottom of this post. (VIDEOS WILL BE ADDED AS SOON AS THEY UPLOAD)

This week we had 4 english clubs (One for 4th formers, one for 8th formers, and 2 for 5th formers) since it is English Week at our school. Our theme is holidays, and my holiday is Christmas. Having 4th formers sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” is possibly the best thing ever. At the beginning of class, the 4th formers also put on a short play for us in English, and it was great!

Site Placement Interview

I don’t want to talk much about this because anything I say will be speculation, and will probably be wrong. Two weeks ago I had my Site Placement Interview, and it went really well. They seemed interesting in my economics background as well as my music background. We find out in a few weeks where we are placed, and I REALLY WANT TO KNOW.

That’s all I can think of for now.

-Jake

університет

I just got back from PST University in Chernihiv (in the same hotel we had Arrival Retreat), and I am really happy I was able to be reunited with my 48 friends from Group 46. PST University is a 3 day conference where we get technical training on teaching English from PC staff and current volunteers. I learned a bit (including sitting in on a lecture about the political and economic climate of Ukraine, which is SUPER interesting), but I think the best part of this event was that everyone was reunited with each other. Compared to Arrival Retreat, everything seemed different. The city outside the hotel wasn’t scary (we didn’t even leave the first time), seeing my fellow volunteers was like reuniting with old friends, and the staff were familiar and friendly. It was nice to see how far my perspective has gone in just 6 weeks. After PST University, my cluster went shopping in a mall in Chernihiv. I went to an awesome cafe called “чашка”, which means cup. While I was sitting there drinking coffee and studying Ukrainian, I realized how things something like that is so central to me.

This week we get our Language teacher, Natasha, back. For two weeks we had a rotational language teacher, Ira. PC Ukraine switches Ukrainian teachers for all clusters so that we are exposed to new accents and teaching styles. I really think it is genius. I will miss Ira, but am SUPER happy that we get Natasha back. She has been our rock. We also have two new bunnies in our language teacher’s house. Animals appearing out of nowhere no longer surprises me.

This next week I co-teach a 4th and a 5th form class, and I solo teach another 5th form class (5b, my favorite class). I am excited since I love teaching younger kids, and also because the 5th formers are learning hobbies so it gives me an excuse to play my saxophone for them.

On Tuesday we have our Site Placement Interviews, which pretty much determines our future for the next two years. Some people think that PC already has your site chosen even before you get into country, but I hope that this interview has some weight on where I am placed. I’m not so much scared as excited to see where the next part of Peace Corps will take me.

-Jake

 

Hump Week

Week 6. Training is more than half way over, and I cannot believe it.

Yesterday I went to Kiev for the third time in three weeks with a current PCV (who used to lived with my host mom) Dan. We had a very American day and at points in the day I couldn’t even believe this was Peace Corps. We went to a cafe very similar to Starbucks, and then walked through the mall that is under Maidan, or Independence Square. After more walking and exploring, we went to “Butterfly”, which is a huge building that has a bar, bowling, pool, air hockey, skeeball, a theater, an arcade, and a play place. We finished the day with KFC. Kiev has safely become my third favorite city.

I don’t mention her much, but my host mom Natasha is the best. She is one of the “cool moms” and is fb friends with me and always loves having my friends over. She looks after me and I am super lucky to have her.

This week is fall holidays in school, so we don’t teach this week. And next week we don’t teach because we have PST University. The break is nice but I’ll miss teaching the fifth formers. So far I have taught 6 classes, and I really love the younger kids. They seem to know more (or are more willing to speak) and are super cute.

Language is going very well, although I should probably study more. For any PC nominees reading: STUDY LANGUAGE BEFORE YOU LEAVE. I did rosetta stone (Russian) before I left and every day I am happy about my decision.

I think that is all for now. I miss everyone and sometimes will get twinges of nostalgia for home. As soon as I move to site, send me letters. Please.

I’ll end with some more pictures from my most recent excursion to Kiev.

-Jake

P.S. I saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 today, and you should too.

Week 5 update soon, for now… PICTURES!!!

 

 

 

 

Київ

Yesterday was the day. The day where I was reunited with McDonald’s and Nike. The day we went to Kiev. We first went to the Peace Corps main office and met everyone, and then explored the sites of the city.

After only knowing the “town” aspect of Ukraine, I was amazed by the size and quality of Kiev. Words cannot really explain, so here are pictures from the day. It should be known that I met a bear, a scary mickey mouse wanna-be, a minion from Despicable Me, and a smoking panda at Independence Square, and I plan to come back soon to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 since they have a theater and there were posters for it EVERYWHERE. Enjoy.

1 month down, 26 to go.

This time last month, I was taking the GRE in Portland. Then I was frantically getting ready for all of my closest friends and family to come hang out with me one last time before I left for this adventure.  It is weird, I read other blog posts from PCTs taking about how Training goes super slow and super fast all at the same time, and now I completely understand what they meant. 1) I am utterly shocked that it is already Tuesday of week 4 of training, it feels like it was yesterday that I was getting on the plane to DC, but also 2) I am utterly shocked at how long it feels since I was in the US. Training stretched time in weird ways I could never have imagined. I think it also hasn’t hit me that I am living across the globe because we have been so busy and Ukraine is surprisingly not much different from Hillsboro or Eugene. (Or maybe I am just trying to compensate for being away, that is altogether a very probably explanation.)

My last few posts have been about the great things that I’ve been surrounded with since I’ve been here, so for this post I think I’ll share a few of my challenges. I’ll get these out now so I can talk about more positives later. (Disclaimer: I am not whining, I am simply stating these to let you know that I am a real person with real challenges, and also it will help me to see them written out.)

1) Simplifying my language

Being an English teacher to students who only have limited English skills is tough. Being an English teacher to students who only have limited English skills and you don’t know their levels (we are student teachers moving between different classes during training) is even tougher. Being an English teacher to students who only have limited English skills and you don’t know their levels AND you just spent the past five years of your life trying to gain a more mature vocabulary in order to write concise economic research papers is VERY TOUGH. I have found myself wanting to use words such as “quantify” and “qualify” to my students, and they are learning “because” and “that is why”.

2) Dead people

In Kozelets, I have seen two dead bodies already. When someone dies, they put their body in an open casket in the back of a extremely decorated truck and drive them to the church or cemetery. I have been here for a month and have seen two of them.

3) Not taking care of all the animals

Kozelets has stray animals. A lot of them. I really feel bad for them since I am used to assuming they are someone’s animal and will soon die if not brought back to their owner. I keep having to remind myself that most of them are stays/wild. It is just so hard when you have a stray puppy or kitten following you and you know that ignoring it almost guarantees its death in the winter. So it goes.

4) The schedule of PCT

I completely understand that we should be highly trained for when we move to site, and that 3 months is probably the maximum time that makes sense for training for a 2 year job, but there is still just so much to do. I like being busy, but sometimes I have flashbacks to when I was a music major. If any of you knew me then, you know exactly what I mean. Although I am excited to see how far I have grown as a teacher and a speaker of Ukrainian after training, the present is a little stressful.

Well, that is all for now. I go to Kiev with my cluster on Wednesday, so expect a blog post after that.

Also if anyone wants to hear about anything in particular in my posts, just comment on this post, or message me on Facebook and let me know!

 

-J

Week 3 already??

We have been in Ukraine for about 3 weeks now, and yet it feels as though we have been here for hours. We are so busy learning Ukrainian, teaching, and trying to figure out what is going on around us, time just slips by.

Last week, we had one day in the school where it was 0 degrees Celsius, which really got me worried for this winter. So far so good though; after that day it has been sunny and (by Oregon standards) pretty warm.

So far everything has been great in Kozelets, I love my town, my host mom, my cluster mates, my TCF, and my LCF. There have been small instances of nostalgia for home, but that happens no matter where you go if you change your surroundings.

On Tuesday I taught my first class, a group of 5th formers (graders). They were so full of energy that it put me on a teaching high. Tomorrow I teach 8th formers, and I hope I can get as much energy out of them.

Next week we are probably starting English Club (with 5th formers). I’m not sure what exactly we are doing for it yet, but apparently the groups are very creative, so it will be along the lines of music, dancing, acting, etc, aka my life. We also are about to begin planning for our community project for the town. I have a feeling PCT will start moving even faster.

Next week we get to go to Kiev, which I am super excited about. I feel that it will give me even an greater view into the country of Ukraine.

That’s all for now.

UKRAINE’S ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT WITH THE EU: ACCEPTABLE COMPROMISES AND SHARED HYPOCRISIES

Not about me, but very pertinent concerning the near future for Ukraine.

Current Politics in Ukraine

David R. Marples

This paper will examine the prospects for Ukraine signing the Association Agreement with the EU and provide an assessment of the potential pitfalls and advantages of potential cooperation, as well as the responses of the leadership of the Russian Federation, which has made great efforts to persuade Ukraine to commit itself to the more closely intertwined Customs Union. It will also analyze the political and economic situation in Ukraine and offer some perspectives of the likely impact on them of the association with the Europeans.

Early Steps

Ukraine entered a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU in 1998, and in May 2009, It joined the Eastern Partnership Project, an initiative of Poland and Sweden that also encompassed six of the EU border states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. Ironically, aside from Moldova, all of them were founding states of the Soviet Union in December…

View original post 3,093 more words