Weekend away

It seems strange to check my e-mail this morning and find an inbox full of Easter greetings – for Easter as well as Christmas, Ukrainians observe the old Orthodox calendar and this year won’t be celebrating Easter until May 1. So there were few celebrations this weekend, even among the expatriate community. An Australian friend said one advantage of celebrating Easter later is that your friends back home can buy Easter stuff on sale and send it to you in time for your celebrations. I’m sure the weather will be nicer for celebrations and Easter egg hunts later anyway. I did end up making “Paska,” Russian Easter bread, which has been a tradition in our family for years before we came to Ukraine. I’ll have to compare my recipe with others … paska is a must for any Ukrainian Easter celebration.

This weekend was actually Dave and my weekend “away.” Living here on campus is quite handy for getting to class quickly and running back home when we forget something, but like any campus, it feels like a bubble - insulated from the workings of the outside world. We were tired of the bubble feeling and wanted to take a trip of some sort, but because of other responsibilities and schedule conflicts, we couldn’t leave town for long enough to make it worth our time. So we were happy when some sympathetic American friends (who have lived at DCU in the past and can relate) invited us over on Saturday and overnight. We ate calzones, watched movies, met “Carrots” (their bunny), went to church with them Sunday and came back home, refreshed from our mini-trip. On the way home we stopped by the local arena to check the event schedule and were surprised to find a basketball game in progress (soccer is usually the norm). We walked in, sat down and enjoyed the game (no tickets, no programs, hardly anyone there). Turkey played a team from Moscow – the players looked like teenagers … maybe junior national games? Basketball is not too popular here, hence the empty stadium, but we enjoyed ourselves and might go back later today to watch more of the tournament.

Laura

New English Class

Next week my DCU English class comes to an end and my Saturday English classes begin. This semester has been fun so far, but a challenge. My DCU Upper-Intermediate students have a good grasp of written English – they can read and understand theological texts, and really the point of the class is to continue building their reading skills so they can read English theological materials for their other classes. What has surprised me is that not matter how complex their reading assignments are, when it comes time to talk they struggle to put together even simple sentences. So I’ve tried to incorporate conversation practice into my classes, even though it’s not specifically part of the curriculum.

My class this semester was energetic, talkative (in Russian) and easily bored - a bigger challenge than my first group of students who sat quietly and did whatever I told them to. This semester I had to get creative to teach my students, which was good for me. Teaching is new for me and it’s good for me to be forced to make class more interesting. They learn better and we all have more fun when I teach with more variety.

I’m now preparing for a Pre-Intermediate group on Saturday mornings. These students come from the community, and as a rule are quite motivated to learn the language. (Last module Dave had a student who did pages of extra homework every week, just to learn the material better.) I’m looking forward to a group that is excited to learn English and also looking for a class in which conversation is a must!

Laura

Klahs

I had my tenth and final Saturday English class last weekend. They took their final for the first hour and then watched "October Sky" while I graded their tests. I baked brownies and served them with tea for a sort of celebration. While some of them were apprehensive about eating something that I had prepared (totally unjustified), I had the same feeling about grading their exams. Throughout the module, the majority of the class was quite motivated while some of the students did not take the class as seriously as I would have liked. To my surprise, there was a pretty good "bell curve." I would even venture to say that the students demonstrated having learned something. What a pleasant result for forfeiting my Saturday mornings to teach.

"October Sky" is your typical, feel-good American movie and I was a bit nervous that the students wouldn't like it. I have read a few Russian novels and heard about many Russian movies. I have come to the conclusion that most don't have a happy ending. I went to class wondering if they would appreciate the movie, or would even understand what was going on (we left the English subtitles on for their benefit). They seemed to understand and some of them even got a little teary at the end. Two of the students even said that the movie was "klahs" (which I think is the Russian equivalent of "cool").

-Dave

Coaching Basketball

Last Friday, I finally got over to Good Shepherd Center to coach a little basketball. The center is an orphanage in Makeevka, where our fellow MCC worker, Andrew Geddert, works. Andrew has been trying to get me to do it for several weeks now, but I have always felt like I had too much to do and I didn't want to make the trip. We usually allow around 1.5 hours for the trip even though it is probably less than 10 miles. Andrew was persistent and I finally (reluctantly) agreed to go.

For the first 1.5 hours, we taught a lay-ups and ball handling to a group of 8 boys, ranging from 12-15 years of age. For the last 1.5 hours we did the same thing for a group of 6 girls from the same age range. Even though the skill level was not quite what I was used to coaching in Arizona, it was still really fun and I hope they learned something. It reminded me how much I love interacting with youth and coaching basketball.

I traveled home and was inspired to hunt down the campus tv and vcr to watch a videotape of the team I coached in AZ. Those of you who know me well know that this is a part of my life that has been very important to me the last 2+ years. Needless to say, it is something that I have really missed this last winter. During the season, I emailed the head coach regularly to check up on the team and he was kind enough to reply and even send me a tape of one of the games. I received it over 3 weeks ago, but put off watching it. I was scared that it would give me an unnecessarily strong dose of homesickness.

Homesickness is something that Laura and I have been dealing with a lot recently. It happens at expected times (watching a video of my basketball team) and unexpected times (seeing a Taco Bell ad during the Super Bowl). And we respond in different ways at different times. Sometimes I want to talk the ears off of anyone who will listen, while other times I just want to sit quietly and space out. I rarely get to the point where I want to catch a bus to the airport and fly home, but it is still rather difficult.

People said that the "honeymoon" would wear off after a few months and maybe it has. However, negative as this posting may sound, we're enjoying ourselves and we think we are listening to our call to serve others. We are finding countless ways to be entertained (and to entertain)... when you don't know the language there is no end to the adventures or the laughs.

-Dave

International Women's Day

On Tuesday we experienced our second national holiday of the year (after New Years), International Women’s Day. Some have told us it is the second biggest holiday of the year after New Years, and it seems to be true. March 8 is Mother’s Day, Valentines Day and more all in one day – a day for all women. Women and girls of all ages receive gifts (candy, flowers, perfume, etc.) from the men in their lives and families gather for celebrations and feasts (which women have spent days preparing). Many schools and businesses were open on Saturday, then took Monday and Tuesday off for the holiday. DCU had classes on Monday, and that morning I was surprised to find a collection of gifts on my desk – chocolate, a pen, a tea towel, greeting cards – all from my fellow women colleagues in the English department. Apparently women give other women gifts on women’s day, too. I probably should’ve seen it coming last week when I went to the book market to buy some thank-you cards, and all I could find were a few birthday cards among racks full of Women’s Day cards. Next year I’ll know better.

So Dave and I enjoyed a day of relaxing on Tuesday – we experienced bowling in Ukraine for the first time, at a hotel with several other American families, then went out to eat at a Turkish restaurant. Each of us filled our traditional Ukrainian roles for the day – I made a pancake breakfast and Dave presented me with a bouquet of tulips and a box of chocolates. He had been told by our Russian teacher, Marina, in no uncertain terms, that he was to buy a gift for me, or else. So on Monday he enjoyed a “women’s day” shopping trip to the market with several other DCU husbands, where they each chose gifts for the women in their lives and helped him pick out his tulips. The vendor Dave purchased them from had grown them in his basement – planted and timed perfectly to be ready just in time for the big day on March 8, when flower prices are at least tripled. While at the market Dave wisely also chose a gift for Marina, which was well-received today at our language lesson.

Laura

Education (Sweeping Generalizations)

When I was teaching math in Arizona, I was often frustrated with the increased importance of standardized testing and the “No Child Left Behind” act. At the same time I was frustrated with students in my class who had been promoted through their previous classes without learning any of the material that was foundational to being in my class. It seemed as though I was always thinking about the conflict: “Are we spoon-feeding them material that they have to memorize?” or “Are we teaching them to think for themselves?” I leaned toward teaching them to think for themselves, and I thought that distancing myself from the American education system would enable me to forget about the whole situation for a while.

However, the conflict seems to have followed me. In church and public settings it seems like people are always standing up and reciting long poems and chapters of the Bible from memory. It is amazing how much they are able to memorize. In talking to my students and other teachers here, I have found that the Ukrainian (and Russian) educational system has placed much of its emphasis on memorization. Trying to get my students to say what they think about a text is often like pulling teeth. Teachers who assign large written assignments also complain about plagiarism. Students give the argument: “Why should we analyze material that was written by experts? They can obviously say it better than we can.”

I have read that the former governmental system valued uniformity and discouraged thinking for one’s self. Reading censored history and related materials for almost 75 years probably caused people to focus on memorization and not on analysis. I am amazed at how many poems people have tucked away in their memory banks. I wish I had a better memory, I can hardly remember the password to my email account. At the same time, I am glad that my educational background stressed the importance of thinking for myself. And the conflict lives on.

-Dave