Winter Retreat

This past weekend was our annual winter retreat. This year we went to Alushta, in Crimea, where we had sharing/reporting sessions as well as time for relaxation and fellowship. Pictured here is the current MCC Former Soviet Union team.

Front row: (l-r) Dasha Dolya, Artem Dolya, Mary Raber, and Stella Toews. Back row: Chiara Ubertino, Ionka Hristozova, Brian Enns, Verena Enns, Laura and me.

Family Visit

From February 8-20 we had guests. My mom, dad, younger brother and sister made the trip to see a glimpse of our life here. For all but mom, it started out with a first commercial airline experience; and that was probably only the beginning of a long list of “firsts” for each of them. The most significant “firsts,” in my opinion, would mainly involve transportation and food. They took their first overnight train rides as well as many trips on packed trolley buses and marshrutkas (fixed-route minibuses). They grudgingly ate their first salo (cured pig fat, which is on the third plate behind the napkins in the photo) and caviar along with more enthusiastically trying a wide variety of traditional Ukrainian cuisines. Laura and I were very impressed with their willingness to try new things.

In total we spent approximately five days in Donetsk, five in Kiev, and four in Yaremche (Western Ukraine). It was a good contrast between industrial Eastern Ukraine, modern Kiev, and the rugged Carpathians. We traveled a lot; that meant everyone had to sleep on the train four nights and, by the end, it seemed like old hat to all of them.

We introduced them to many of the important people in our lives - from our language teacher, Marina, to our DCU friends Nikolai and Yana to our Good Shepherd friends Vladimir and Valentina to our other friends Dima and Valera. We tried to show them some “tourist” sites along with the places where we go regularly, so they can now envision the places we talk about in our conversations and e-mails a little better.

We supported the local economy by buying a lot of souvenirs, including the traditional Ukrainian “stacking family” dolls, soccer jerseys and, Laura’s favorite, wooden bracelets. It is always interesting to see what more “common” grocery store items people take home as souvenirs. This time it was Zhivchik (apple-echinacea flavored soda) and an assortment of interestingly-flavored teas and chocolate bars. I couldn’t convince Jayne that the fish-net stockings that Ukrainian young women wear would make good gifts for her 8^th grade friends (I thought that would make some fun waves at Mt. Lake Christian school), but I guess that’s probably OK.

It was difficult to say our “good byes” at the airport, but we will be seeing them all again relatively soon… they left one day more than six months before our scheduled departure. Now we have to make the shift back from ragamuffin tour guides to semi-qualified service workers.

Dave

Groundhog Day

On Saturday my Upper-Intermediate students came to class and said to me, “Yesterday was the day of the marmot.” “Marmot?” I asked. Marmot? What are they trying to say? “In America,” they said, “it was the day of the marmot.” My mind raced to come up with any English words that might have a similar pronunciation. Many times students use words they’ve looked up in the dictionary or read in a book, and I don’t recognize them right away because they’re mispronounced. When this happens, my mind immediately kicks into fast gear as I try to think of the word as quickly as I can, to limit their humiliation because of my lack of understanding. And then it clicked. Somewhere in the back of my head (probably thanks to PBS’s Kratts’ Kreatures) appeared a picture of a marmot. A groundhog! Yes! It was Groundhog’s Day yesterday! They weren’t mispronouncing anything, their dictionary had just given them a strange translation. Or probably an official one, as opposed to the word “groundhog.” After I finally figured it out, there were smiles all around. We discussed the strange nature of the American groundhog’s role on February 2, and continued with the lesson.

Such scenarios take place almost every class period, and I’ve realized that I’m especially enjoying my students this semester. They’re interesting people, and highly motivated to learn and speak English. And while I’ve enjoyed my students since the beginning of my time here, this semester I’m finally feeling like a real teacher who knows the material backward and forward. Now, after two years of teaching it over and over again, I finally feel like I’ve learned it myself. No wonder it takes students so long to get it all straight.

English grammar does not come easy to a native speaker. We know what sounds right, but not the reason why. As soon as I stepped off the plane, I could tell you what’s right and wrong, but when asked to explain why, I was found buried in the “Grammar Reference” section at the back of the textbook. And students here want and need to know why, because they don’t just learn how to speak English from hearing it spoken by others around them. Not in Donetsk, Ukraine. So, with the help of my fellow teachers, and after reading over it time and again, I’m weaning myself from the Grammar Reference. It’s a good feeling.

The sign that this was all coming together for me came when I realized that as I spoke English at certain times, I would think of the rule for why I used that verb tense at that particular time. i.e., “Oh, I used the past perfect tense there, because the one action happened before another action in the past.” Or “That’s an example of first conditional.” Yikes. These thought patterns brought me to the realization that my fate as an English nerd was forever sealed. I guess that’s not a big surprise anyway. I don’t mind as long as I’m becoming a more competent teacher.

Laura