End of the Year Happenings

Just to keep you on your toes, I'll quickly show these Easter photos about two months late.  My friend Inna gave me these photos (I was too shy to take photos at church) but here, everybody is circled around the church while the Priest comes and blesses us, our baskets, and the contents of it. If you have forgotten, here's my post from last year about Easter in Ukraine.

Easter Service - 12:30 - 6 a.m.
Around 4:30 waiting for our baskets to get blessed!

Thanks to Inna for the photos!

Well, I'm finished with the 2011-2012 Semester! No more school for a while...kind of. Actually, every school in Ukraine is required to do 14 days of "Summer Camp" after Last Bell, so for the next 3 weeks the Lyceum will have "lessons". These lessons aren't mandatory, but all the students seem to enjoy them so they come and hang out. (Personally, I don't think their parents are ready for them to be at home all, so they tell them to go! I know Kathy and Dirk would have taken up that offer!) The students participate in games and challenges, with a little bit of learning and actual school stuff mixed in. I plan scavenger hunts, play lots of English games, and throw the Frisbee and Football around. It's actually pretty fun and breakfast and lunch is free, so I'm not one to complain.

Here are some of the events that led up to Last Bell --

Kolky Lyceum hosted our Oblast-wide (read: State) English Meeting. This was a pretty big deal because all of the administration from Volyn come (my Oblast) and different teachers present about their schools, and what they're doing to promote democracy through English education. My Director gave a little speech about our school (in Ukrainian of course), my Counterparts spoke about our international partnerships, including Poland and Germany, and I spoke about some of the projects our English faculty has done together outside of the classroom. I've posted about some of them, but they include 'Operation Respect', 'GLOW/TOBE Day Camps', 'Kolky Community Clean-Up', etc.

Volyn English teachers come to Kolky Lyceum!

Mr. Benjamin presenting about some of Kolky Lyceum's projects

The English program we put on for the Teachers!

Mr. Benjamin was Prince Roman - the founder of Kolky!
(Get it? The American is the founder. Irony.)

Prince Roman learning about how Kolky has changed throughout the years,
and how Kolky Lyceum follows democratic principles.

10th Formers reciting a poem

Some of the 7th Form girls singing a traditional Ukrainian song, in English.

My 10th Formers being awesome.

Everybody singing "We Are the World"

The last week of school, we give final grades based on students marks throughout the Semester and we evaluate the "Big 4" (Comprehension of Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking). To evaluate the 10th Former's Speaking skills, I had them teach a lesson. It was about anything they wanted, as long as they taught us something (about Ducks, or Rap Music, or dessert...anything) and only spoke in English. They split themselves up into 2 groups and each group gave a 45 minute lesson.

Tuesday's Group chose to teach about motivation. The title of the lesson "You Can Do It!" and it was absolutely fantastic. We learned about setting goals, dreaming big, and about people throughout the world who started with nothing but achieved their dreams. The facilitated communicative activities with the whole class to practice what we had learned. Wednesday's group taught about subcultures! We learned about Punk, Goth, Hippies, Metal-heads, and Hip-Hoppers! They dressed up like each one and even had us create our own subcultures! I was blown away with everybody's creativity and ability to give such amazing lessons.

"You Can Do It" Lesson

Anastasia Serhivna participating with the teachers for the day

Roma and Dima presenting their own "Sub-Culture"
The girls on the left presented about hip-hop, punk, and hippie subcultures for their open lesson.

Finally, the holiday of Last Bell - the last day of school! You saw photos from the 11th Formers last bell, but now it's time for everybody's last day. At Last Bell, students get awards for the year, we hear a few speeches, teachers are given flowers, the "last bell" rings, then we go home! Everybody loves this day. I was proud to present 3 awards to students who participated, and won the Creative Writing Contest. Misha and Liza won 1st place in all Volyn Obast, and Alina, from my 10th form, won all of Ukraine! Also, my 10th Formers, Roma, won our Regional English Olympiad so he and I got awards!

Look how small some of our band members are!

Kolky Lyceum's administrators and our local Priest

Our "linika" (line meeting) where my best bud Roma is getting an award for having perfect marks!
(Also, do you notice our new doors!? Look at the photos from the previous post!)

4th Formers moving to the big school...and singing about it!

Ringing the Last Bell!

After Last Bell, I headed down to L'viv to celebrate the start of Summer with some PCV friends. We ate some good food, saw a movie in a movie theater, and danced the night away. Ukraine is hosting EURO 2012 soon, so we will avoid L'viv for the month of June. Everything will be not within this PCV's budget! 

Tommy and Ben in 3D. You have to have glasses to see it.

It's beginning to look a lot like EURO 2012 in L'viv!

Summer is here and life is good! I'm headed to Kyiv for Group 43's Swearing-In Ceremony and a VAC Meeting. I'll be there for 5 days, so send me and e-mail if you want to Skype and we'll figure out a time!

Spring in Kolky

It seems the decent Spring weather, summer camp co-directing, and general hooliganism at school has kept me away for a while. A break this long in blogging is not a habit I'd like to keep, so don't blog write me off just yet.

I left off with Easter, which feels like it was last weekend, but in reality it was about a month ago (for us on the Orthodox Calendar at least). I had such a fantastic celebration -- going to church at 12 a.m., standing there for the better part of 6 hours, getting my basket blessed, feasting like a madman at Easter breakfast...and Easter lunch and picking at leftovers for the better part of a week. Easter breaks lent (duh) and in Ukraine, that means business. People eat, and eat, and eat (and drink) to celebrate Easter. Anastasia Serhivna (one of my Counterparts and English teaching colleagues) invited me to breakfast at her house with her family. This breakfast isn't the typical ham and cheese egg-bake that I'm accustom to (shout-out to SOV!) but rather, fresh sausage, mashed potatoes, every delicious Ukrainian dish, cutlets, meat jello (yes, meat jello) just to name a few. And of course, no Easter breakfast would be complete without cognac and wine, I suppose. I'm trying to get the photos that my friend took at church, so when I do, I'll be sure to publish them.

In other news, Camp ACT planning is going so well. It's a lot of work to create a camp from scratch, but the entire Camp ACT Team is fantastic and working so hard to make everything perfect. In August, we were just a bunch of friends saying..."What if...?" and now it's a reality! I'm Co-Directing with my good friend - and link-mate in Pre-Service Training - Egle. She is amazingly organized and definitely the person you want leading a camp with you. We had a Staff Meeting in Lutsk where we chose our 75 Campers (from about 200 applications) and I'm so happy that the 4 students I gave applications to are IN! A lot more has to be done, but ACT is in a really good place right now and I know that in 2 months time, our investments will pay off. I'm also thrilled that we've raised about 60% of our funds and I want to thank all of you for your donations. I means so much to me that my friends and family are helping me with this project -- I've continuously humbled by your support. If you'd like, and are able, follow this link 1.usa.gov/DonateCampACT to support Action, Creativity, and Teamwork in Ukraine!

School is wrapping up and all of the students are definitely in summer mode. The 11th Formers, our graduates, had their last bell on Friday and graduation yesterday. The ceremony was the typical Ukrainian fanfare -- lots of singing, speeches, and flowers. The parents invited me to the after party, and we danced and ate and drank until the wee hours of the morning. We eventually made it to the bridge in Kolky to see the sun rise (an awesome school tradition), but it was kinda cloudy, so everybody just sort of left when it got light. A few of the boys dared me to jump in the river, and after some slight protest from the parents, the 5 of us walked to the bank and took a cool dip. I went swimming for the first time in the Styr (this year) on Friday because it was beautiful and warm. Today's 6 a.m. dip was a bit chilly but awesome, nonetheless.

And what sort of son would I be without wishing the best, hardest working, most beautiful Mom in the world a Happy Mothers Day. Every year, Mom always gets to pick out a hanging basket of flowers for Mothers Day after church. This one is waiting for you in August in Kolky!

Love you Momma!

Below are other random photos from the past month or so! 

With my students at an English Seminar in Lutsk

Parts of the Body Game with the 7th Form

Spring is here! Apple trees in bloom

My bird friend, chirping outside his birdhouse in my front yard! Can you spot him?

Excursion to the Partisans Glory Monument and Museum
on Victory Day (May 9th!)

Old Soviet Metals...then I was told not to take photos

The two teachers who I celebrated Victory Day with!

BBQ after our excursion

Sasha grilling up the salo (pork back fat!)

11th Formers Last Bell

Well wishes from the 1st Form...

...and flowers of course!

Ira and Bohdan ringing their Last Bell

Some of the 11th Formers singing to the teachers at Graduation

Preparing...

Easter in Ukraine. If you don't remember this post last year, I absolutely loved Easter 2011. The traditions, the food, the happiness is all so uniquely wonderful...nothing that I'd ever experienced before. This year, I'm aware that Easter is a huge deal, and I know a little bit about what to expect which is bittersweet. The surprise of the holiday is taken away this year, but I am able to prepare myself and be ready for what's to come. That means this week has been a whole lot of Easter preparations for everybody around Kolky. 

First, not really associated with Easter but rather the time of the year, I went with my 10th Formers on Wednesday to plant trees in the forest...or at least they told me it would be a forest in 40 years. Quite the manual labor field trip students in the States aren't accustom to, but my kids seemed to enjoyed themselves...and the mid-week break from lessons.

1km line of seedlings(?) saplings (?)

A soon to be tree

Sophie and Dima working away

Roma digging, Karina planting!

In my birthday package, my family sent two Easter Egg dyeing kits, so I brought them to school on Wednesday after I was finished in the forest. Of course, Ukraine is known for their beautiful hand-painted eggs, Pysankys, but I wanted to show a little of my culture to some of my students. They really loved dyeing their eggs and had a fun time. Kolky doesn't seem to have white eggs, so the hint of brown make for some colors of eggs even I hadn't seen!

Natalia Vasylivna and Anastasia Serhivna (in the very back)
dyeing eggs with the 7A Form

Two Moms stopped me in street and asked me how I made such beautiful colors. My "arts and crafts" vocabulary isn't quite up to par, but I explained to them how I got the kits and briefly about the dyeing process. They were intrigued and proud that their daughters would have the most colorful eggs in her baskets come Sunday. 

Mr. Benjamin and some of the 7th Formers
(Note: My class consists of one boy - "Wolf" as he prefers to be called)

My Ukrainian "Waste not, Want not" mentality kicked in after the dyeing party so I took home the dye and made my own eggs. Trading eggs with friends and family is a fun Easter tradition, so this year I'm prepared when people stop by my house over the next few days! 

The eggs I dyed

Happy Easter! Христос Воскрес!

On Friday, I had an Easter Egg hunt for both of my 5th Form classes, as well as my 6th and 7th Form classes. My friend Val shared her awesome idea, so I used it for my students. I hid 32 paper eggs all around the classroom with one word on the back of each. After finding the eggs, the students listened to the poem I read, and had to put their eggs in order to form the poem! It was a fun activity, and even better for me to see 12 kids racing around a classroom in their first-ever Easter Egg Hunt. Pure joy I tell you!

The week of preparation is coming to an end as I get ready for when people bring me food. Friday afternoon and Saturday morning were devoted to baking banana bread. Banana bread is quite foreign and such a oddity here, but once people try it, they really love it so I thought it would be fun food to share. Lent is a time when Ukrainians take on a strict Vegan diet, so lots of treats are made for and eaten on Easter.

Banana Bread for Easter!

I'm going to rest and relax this afternoon, because I'll go to church for mass really early tomorrow morning - probably around 1:30/2 a.m. After church and the blessing of the baskets, I'll come home, nap, and the eat some of my blessed food! I'll probably also host my Counterparts when they bring over a feast, but at least I'll be able to bring some of my own dished to the table. Last year I was so caught off guard, but not this time around. 

I also decided to look up tomorrow's verses from the Orthodox Liturgical Calendar, so I'd be prepared and know what was going on at least during the readings. John 20: 19-25 Jesus Appearing to the Disciples - I guess in all our busyness before Easter, it's good to stop and think about how unprepared everybody was for the events leading up to the empty tomb and how still, we can dye the eggs, make the bread, fast for lent, do it all, but never will we be prepared for the gift that was give to us that Easter morning.

GLOW and TOBE Seminar!

A few Saturdays ago, my school and I hosted GLOW and TOBE Day Camps for my students. 4 of my closest friends made the trek to Kolky to help me put them on. What a fantastic day was had by all!

GLOW stands for Girls Leading Our World and TOBE, Teaching Our Boys Excellence. In the morning, Val organized the GLOW portion for the girls. Together with Grace and Lauren assisted by my 10th formers Kate and Sophie, they spoke about what it means to be a strong woman, making up a Girls Bill of Right, and talking about healthy relationships. Over 30 girls came to GLOW and did so great! The PCVs said their English was outstanding and they were empowered and motivated!

Tommy and I, assisted by my 10th former Roma, taught the boys about what it means to work as a team, qualities of an ideal leader, and how better to expess our feelings through words. I had 12 Boys give up the most beautiful, warm March Saturday to be inside speaking English and writing feeling poems. But in reality, they were really into all of the lessons and had a blast hanging out in a more causal and relaxed setting with Mr. Benjamin, Senor Tommy, and Roma.

...people too!

Drawing the "Ideal Leader"

Presenting our leaders

Roma helping out at the TOBE Seminar

Crossing the River

Tommy and Roma pulling away stones!

Flipping the Mat

The girls GLOWing

The Girls playing "Electric Train"

Writing their "I Am..." poems

After lunch, Val and I spoke about stereotypes and how limiting they can be. We discussed what being a "real" Ukrainian man and woman means and how none of us fit into the stereotypical boxes. We also talked about the influences that create these stereotypes and why they can be harmful. In small groups, the students created dialogues acting out situations, first as "stereotypical men and women" and then as empowered individuals. We all really enjoying how funny the skits were, but the messages really stuck and opened a lot of minds to the real problem that creating stereotypes can cause.

Discussing Sterotypes

Explaining the task to teams

Acting out Stereotype Dialogues...with a slap in the face!
You GLOW girl!

Everybody getting into the dialogues

The GLOW Facilitators
(L-R) Lauren, Val, Kate (10th Form), Sophie (10th Form), Grace

Ready, Set, GLOW!

The PCVs with some of the Kolky's English teachers

At the end of the day, I was just so happy. Happy to know that I have 4 amazing friends who would give up their weekend just to come help me put on a Seminar for my students. Happy to have a supportive school who went above and way beyond their hosting responsibilities providing us with the space, teachers, food for 50 and a celebratory after camp meal for staff. And happy to have open-minded and motivated students who want to learn about these things to make their lives and world better.

A lot of days here in Kolky sort of get blended together, all amazing, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then there are those special days that also sort of get blended together as the "really good ones". However, this day truly stands out and will be remembered for a lifetime. 

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I posted a bunch of photos on Facebook and even without an account you can view them HERE. Check out what the start of year two in Kolky has looked like me. Yes, many of the pictures include snow and ice, but that is all changing soon. Even though I was the April Fool waking up to snow last Sunday, I feel Spring in the air more and more every day. Classes are going well, but there seems to be a buzz throughout school of wrapping-up and winding-down. I'm busy with preparations for Camp ACT, a Summer Camp I'm the Co-Director for this July. We've just kicked off our fundraising campaign, so if you feel inclined and are able to donate, be my guest and do that here--> Donate to Camp ACT! 

I'm so excited for things to come because this experience just keeps getting better and better. If the GLOW and TOBE Day Camps are any indication of what my last 8 months will look like, I can hardly wait!