Who is Father Frost?

Give up? Well... he originates from a Russian fairy tale, looks a little bit like Santa Claus, has a granddaughter named Snegurochka (Snow Maiden), and delivers presents on New Year's Eve (I have yet to see him; hence, this photo was snagged from the Internet). Why New Year's Eve and not Christmas? Well, in Soviet times people were not permitted to practice their religion or celebrate religious holidays. But... people used to buy trees anyway and exchange gifts. So the government officially encouraged people to buy "New Year's Trees" and exchange gifts on that day making it non-religious (this is how I understand it). I asked a local how Father Frost managed to get the presents under the tree on December 31 while everyone was waiting to ring in the new year. In her experience, she is now in her 40's, she said that "Ded Moroz", as he is called here, either:
(1) hid the presents under fake snow that was laid under the "New Year's Tree" or
(2) he brought a bag of presents to the house and knocked loudly. As the children ran to open the door or window, Father Frost ran off to deliver presents to other households. So they children never caught a glimpse of him.
No, she had never heard of him coming down a chimney - she said they "don't have chimneys here." This whole scenario begs the question: "Why does Santa Claus deliver presents on Chrismas Eve and not New Year's Eve in America?" The logical answer is that he needs time to get from one continent to the other - that's my answer anyway.

New Year's Eve promises to be interesting as there are supposed to be numerous Father Frost and Snegurochka lookalikes mingling with the mere mortals in Maidan - Independence Square downtown. I'll make sure my digital camera has new batteries...

By the way.... where is our snow? All this talk about Father Frost and Snow Maidens.... we are, up to this point, having the warmest winter in 120 years!!! Crazy! I just saw photos of New Mexico - the amount of snow Santa Fe has gotten was incredible! Who-da-thunk that Kyiv would be less snowy and warmer?

Recycling... and cycling

This week I observed an "open lesson" at the University of Food Technologies. This is like a demonstration lesson that a teacher prepares for their supervisor, but other teachers are welcome to attend. Good idea, huh? I was invited by a teacher who regulary attends my workshops, Galina (far left in photo; notice we are all holding a piece of trash). The theme was recycling and the students had prepared presentations on how to use different pieces of garbage (that was just one part of the lesson). It is always fun to observe teachers and also get a feel for the students they teach.

Another part of the lesson involved the students conducting a survey. The instructor chose me to model the activity in front of the students. The questions got me thinking about recycling and how much more conscious of waste I am here in Ukraine. She asked if I recycled here and in the US. I mentioned that back home we tend to recycle clothes (as in donations to places like Goodwill and shopping at second-hand stores), but we tend to be bad about bringing our own shopping bags with us. Here, each time you buy something, especially at places like the grocery store, they ask you if you want a plastic shopping bag because they charge you for it. Most people say "nyet" and dig in their pockets for a wadded up bag they unfold and fill up. Joe is very good about always bringing an old bag with us so we don't have to buy one. I mean they are pretty cheap, but it's the principle of the thing.

I was also looking for little X-mas boxes to wrap stuff in. When I asked someone where I could find one of those cute X-mas boxes, she said that you "Just take any box." I said that I wanted the cute X-mas boxes... she said just "take any box and glue paper on it - make it." Not a bad idea, but I was certain I could find them ready made.... so last night I made one last attempt at finding these boxes. When I finally did, they were like $1.50 each (I mean these are small earring-sized boxes!). So this morning, I found myself digging through the wrapping paper my mom had used for my birthday presents in October (I guess I knew I'd be needing it...so I saved it!) and reconstituted it for my little x-mas presents. They actually look pretty good.

Another thing they do, it's not exactly recycling but saving energy, is that they don't use electricity unless it's absolutely necessary. In classroooms, they let the natural light come through for as long as possible before turning on the overhead lights. This means I had to change my usual teaching technique of flickering the lights to get the group's attention. You can't really notice the lights... so I have taken to using a little bell one of the teachers gave me.

We went to the ballet last Saturday - Carmen-Suita - it was very entertaining and not too long. I can't even remember the last time I saw a ballet. It was a full house at the Kyiv Opera House. As soon as the performance ended and everyone was piled up on the stairways to the exit, they turned off the lights! We were just near the door when this happened, but I was shocked that no one panicked but just kept plodding toward the door. I guess it isn't unusual.

So, now you are wondering where the cycling reference comes in... am I right? Well, I did a couple of presentations in Pryluky which is a town about 2 hours from Kyiv by car. You get to go through the countryside which is great for me... see the little villages along the way, the "black" soil that Ukraine is famous for (hence the "breadbasket" claim to fame), and you get to see babushkas on bicyles! They all (BA-bush-ka = grandmother) ride around the villages on bikes. It is quite a sight; I wish I could've stopped for a photo. Apparently, the fields are full of "sunflowers" in the summer. I can't wait to see that.

Speaking of babushkas, they are an interesting population here as they represent a generation that has been through so much in the last century. The grandmothers of the future will not have lived through such a time... many of the current babushkas are widows as their husband's may have died in war, and many of them have lost their pensions so you see them selling flowers in the underground shopping areas or begging. Joe always gives his extra change to them. The other day we were in a coffee shop - kind of a fancy one with capuccino and pastries. In a corner table, a babushka sat drinking her coffee. She seemed a bit destitute with no teeth, but the staff were very kind to her. When it came time to pay, she handed the waitress a clear plastic bag full of change. The manager came over, took the bag, escorted the woman back to her table, dumped the change on a tray, and started to count it out for her. She sat there as if she were an aristocrat of sorts, and her accountant was assessing her fortune. It was a very touching sight.

Well the Christmas season is upon us... although I'm not the best at being a holiday "participant" , I'd like to say Happy Holidays! May you recycle something and give to a person less-fortunate! Thank you for the warm wishes you have sent us... they are much appreciated!

Art 'n' Architecture

So Ukraine, Kyiv especially, is full of artists. As this week was a business-as-usual type of week, I decided to dig into my photo files and post some of the arty pix I have taken. The first one (green wall) was taken in Kyiv on a little street called "Andriyvsky Uzviz". It's full of crafts and arty things, modern as well as traditional (see Ukraininan embroidered fabric). I went to an artists' sale over the weekend and saw some really cool modern art. Most of it was the kind of stuff you hang on the wall, but there were some especially beautiful handmade weavings (see Valentina showing off her wares).


Thankfully, the Christmas buzz is not too intense here as the Orthodox Christmas is January 7.

One of the absolute "coolest" architectural attractions is the building I've included. Although it was built 1900-03, it is incredibly fantastic and creative with rhinos, frogs, fish, and mermaids adorning the tops and side of the building. It is called "House with Chimeras" - chimera meaning fanciful creature (new vocabulary for me!). Apparently, it was made with a lot of cement promoting its benefits back in the day.

Finally, my ode to "Madonna" - a billboard in Kyiv. I can't say I'm a true Madonna fan. But... I am finding her latest hit and a particular oldie of hers hard to keep out of my head. We hear them on European VH1. I even went to "youtube" and found a couple of the videos. Click if you dare... don't worry - nobody's watching....
*Jump
*Bad Girl

P.S. Speaking of art (ha, ha), my teacher development workshop was videotaped this morning. A professional from Ukrainian Channel 5 was hired - Anatoli - to record our training for distribution to more remote Ukrainian schools. I hope it turned out - unfortunately he only brought 60 minutes worth of tape, and the workshop was 90! We'll see how it turns out. Keep watching "you tube"....

Crimea: A True Melting Pot

We are back in Kyiv after five (5) days in "The Autonomous Republic of Crimea" (no rain!). I gave workshops at the Crimean University for the Humanities in Yalta, and the Crimean In-Service Teacher Training Institute, in Simferopol (Sim-fe-RO-pol). This region is particularly unique because it was historically part of Russia, then part of the Soviet Union, and only became part of Ukraine as a country upon independence in 1991. It is truly a melting pot with Russian, Ukrainian, Tatar, Armenian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Turkish, Greek, and other peoples that have settled there over the years, the common language being Russian. At the Ethnographic Museum in Simferopol, you can see a display of hundreds of wooden figures representing all the peoples of the area (the couple in the foreground are Ukrainians).

First stop was Yalta. Yalta, on the Black Sea, is historically a Russian resort area and still is; we saw a poster of Putin frolicking with dolphins. It is small and charming, the pizzeria "Capri" was a memorable highlight due to the fact that the waitresses give customer service! They even saved a table for us near the door as they knew we wanted to be away from the smokers. Yalta doesn't have a beach - they claim it is their French Riviera - but there are charming sights along the boardwalk and toward the mountains that were snow-capped for our visit. The university provided some great student-guides who translated for us and even accompanied us to the famous "Livadia Palace". Even though Joe wasn't feeling 100%, he had to come along and see the 'round table' where Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin divided up the world after WWII at the Yalta Conference. It had also been a summer home for Czar Nicholas and his family before they were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918 during the Russian Revoution. Seeing pictures and items of theirs was a bit sad and creepy.

We had flown into the airport in Simferopol. You have to take a 90-minute taxi ride to and from Yalta. Our plane was of "medium-size" and although it looked pretty old, the flight was quite smooth. The coolest thing about Simferopol is that it is a real city. There is not a tourist in sight! And you really see all sorts of people. The Tatars (Originally from Central Asia) lived in the area for hundreds of years but were forced out after WWII - deported en-masse by Stalin to places like Siberia. Over the past few years, they have been returning and trying to re-establish residence. Anecdotally, I heard that many of them are just "reclaiming bits of land" and starting to build their small brick houses. Sounds like it may be a type of "squatting", and they say it is posing problems for the local government.

The city looks a bit industrial, but the people were friendly, tried to speak English when they could, and pretended to understand my Russian. The food was super-cheap, plentiful, and good. I presented at a "school" - which here means primary and secondary together. Teachers from all over the region were going through in-service trainings that they receive only every five (5) years. This means that there was a lot of variation in their language ability, but because of my previous experience with village teachers, I think I was able to deliver the workshop a lot more effectively. My guides here were two teachers shown in the picture in front of "School #25". They accompanied us to the Ethnographic Museum.

Crimea is an interesting place. I still don't know exactly why they call it "Autonomous Republic" when it is, in fact, part of Ukraine. Maybe the name is just a holdover fromt the past. Anyhow - Simferopol gets my vote as "Best Real City" and Yalta gets the "Best Student Guides" award.