The Day of "The Defenders of the Motherland"

Well we made it to Luhansk and back... while there we learned from our new friend and seminar participant, Arteyom, that today was "Defenders of the Motherland Day", formerly "Soviet Army Day". Apparently, it's like father's day except that all men receive presents from their mom's and wives or girlfriends. Considering we took a photo by a tank while on a short tour of the city center, I thought it would be appropriate!

The teachers were great and all workshops went well. It helps that the people in Luhansk are quite friendly. As Joe said, "If Kyiv is New York City, Luhansk is like Allentown, Pennsylvania". Meaning it is more industrial, not as glamorous, but with un-pretentious real people. The organizer at the university, the head of the Philology Department, arranged a few tours on the univesity campus. On the first day, we visited the Science Department and got a tour of the animal museum. Not only was our guide, Sergiy, an actual scientist and professional taxidermist, but we also got to see all the animals native to Ukraine. Bats, birds, giant prairie dogs, foxes, weasels, deer, and giant boars. Admittedly, seeing the animals "live" is always best, but I have to say the collection and his passion for it was impressive. When asked which were his favorites, Sergiy said, "the scavengers" (the organizer translated it from Russian for me!).

Another treat was a trip to the campus observatory. We saw some old telescopes, one giant one that is actually part of an observatory. We climbed through a narrow and ever-so-steep staircase to see where they "observe the stars and planets" 35 days a year - the number of days the weather is clear enough for viewing. Then we went to a mini-planetarium where the lady (actually a lecturer in Astronomy) turned out the lights and pointed out constellation after constellation with a laser pointer. All I could see was black... maybe a few stars after about 10 minutes, but we enjoyed the retro presentation.

Speaking of retro, while in Luhansk I happened to run into my workout pal Cindy. Just thought I'd throw that in there. So the 35-seater plane took us safely to the Russian border and back. It was an experience, not to mention we endured the "coldest day of the year" so far- 5 degrees Fahrenheit and minus 10 wind chill. Brrrrr!

Chornobyl and Churches

Ukraine is full of really beautiful things... and some tragic stories. The small but arty Chornobyl (Chernobyl) Museum is in our neighborhood, and we recently got around to seeing it. Although most of the text was in Russian and/or Ukrainian, it was very moving. You could see hundreds of pictures of what looked like plant workers, and other walls full of children's pictures. We could only imagine what all those head-shots (looking like school photos) could mean. Hundreds of names of villages that just don't exist anymore were hanging from the ceiling. Very eerie. According to wikipedia, the Chornobyl disaster "was an accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986 at 01:23 a.m., consisting of an explosion at the plant and subsequent radioactive contamination of the surrounding geographic area." The accident was not released by the Soviet government for some time, so the real effects are still unknown. Apparently, there was not systematic study of what the radiation actually did to people. We've talked with some people who were students at the time. They were in Kyiv, and while many people left, they stayed. They say they didn't suffer any ill effects except severe sore throats for months.

As an aside, we couldn't find the museum right off. I asked a guy in Russian if he knew where it was. He said he didn't know (in Russian, of course) - another older man on the street must've overheard because he said "I know" (again, in Russian, of course). At which point, I was obligated to try to understand his explanation. Luckily it wasn't hard, "Go strait, turn right, go 50 meters, and it's on the right." We found it! Damn, I'm fluent!

On other outings, we have visited some amazing churches (disclaimer: most of these pictures were taken in warmer months and all are orthodox churches). One is viewable from my university, and others are easy to walk to. The religion is Eastern Orthodox, which split from the catholic church some 1500 years ago. I've been inside some of them... lots of candles and colorful saints and holy water. If you are a woman, you're supposed to wear a head scarf. I'm not sure how they are different from Catholics - I just know that they are. One thing I noticed is that they do the 'sign of the cross' the opposite way I learned in church school. I noticed as it was always hard for me to remember: top, right, left, center (or is it left right?). Anyhow, we learned to reach first.

To my surprise American and other English speaking evangelicals have made a mark here. Many Ukrainians go to non-denominational churches headed up by Americans, Australians, and other imports. Some of the churches offer "free English classes" and "conversation practice with native speakers" (and bible classes). I have been invited 'to church' on about 4 or 5 different occasions. My first question is always, "Oh an Orthodox church? Is that what you mean?" and they say, "No it's a different kind of church... very interesting and not boring - they sing nice songs there." Personally, I have nothing against religion, but I believe it's extremely personal. Joe was talking to a teacher from the Eastern part of Ukraine. Apparently, a very conservative branch has started a following which forbids reading Newsweek or National Geographic as they are too liberal. Hmmmm... I'm just a reporter here, just observing. I have really never been overseas and seen people embrace something like this so wholeheartedly. It makes you think.
Speaking of Eastern Ukraine (closer to the Russian border), we have tickets to fly to Luhansk (Lugansk in Russian) on Sunday. I'll be giving a week's worth of seminars/workshops as it is a high priority area for the US Embassy. We have found a picture of the hotel on the Internet. Needless to say, it's somewhat industrial over there, and they speak almost exclusively.... Russian. Yay - I'll get to practice more. When we asked at the travel agency about flights to Luhansk, the agent said, "Oh it is very problem." I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "There is very small plane, and there is only one flight per day." She forgot to mention that there's also a beef about gas prices and flights have been cancelled left and right due to no gas for the planes. Good reason to cancel, I guess. But to make a long story short, Joe and I are both confirmed on a round trip flight. A 90-minute plane ride versus a 15-hour train ride. I guess it's worth it.

No Time for Bad Habits

Kyiv has a reputation of being decadent in some ways. There are English language magazines targeting foreign businessmen advertising all kinds of fancy restaurants, discos, and casinos. Not being "rich" and not being businessmen, we don't embrace these activities. Not to mention, it's 7 degrees outside, Fahrenheit that is, with a wind chill of minus 2, how much trouble can you really get into? Finally winter is here and we are adapting to our environment. Not having a car, we have to walk everywhere, so whether or not our shoes have good tread becomes a major issue. Also, deep slushy puddles are an obstacle, so the pair of shoes that most prevents cold water from soaking your socks is favored. Although it’s chilly, we have managed to build a daily/weekly routine.

I continue to exercise in my own way. When I first got here, I discovered that gyms were way too expensive to join not to mention too far from my neighborhood. I heard about some exercise classes, but they, again, were not in a convenient location. So in desperate need of an exercise regime, I came up with this back in November last year: Walk along the river 4 mornings a week (you can see my walking path being overtaken by a car which often happens unexpectedly), and exercise with Cindy. Cindy Crawford that is… the coordinator at my Resource Center at the University gave me a copy (and I mean 'copy') of an exercise video circa 1990. The quality is not bad and neither are the exercises, but what makes this tape unique is the voiceover of a man translating all the instructions into Russian. I guess it helps me with the numbers :) in addition to making me more fit.

Speaking of Russian, or should I say speaking Russian, has become more of a reality as every Thursday evening I’m taking a Russian class. There are usually only two or three other people in the class, an American English teacher, a British lawyer, and a Portuguese manager; our teacher, Larisa, is good and she is helping me so much with Russian pronunciation (which to me is the hardest thing after learning the alphabet). When an “o” is unstressed, it sounds like an “a”, and sometimes the “g-sound” is really a “v-sound” – make sense? Anyhow, I’m feeling more confident and look forward to my trip to Luhansk (on the Russian border) later this month to try out a few of my phrases.

As for work, I’m still leading our English conversation group at the Resource Center twice a month. Also, I’m continuing with numerous training projects. Recently, I conducted workshops at the Kyiv teacher in-service training for primary and secondary school teachers. They were a lot of fun and very eager to participate in the “communicative” demonstrations. Next week I will return for two more trainigs, plus I'll be giving a workshop at the Polytechnic university, finishing up a Business Communication seminar at the Resource Center, and giving another workshop on "Error Correction". It will be a busy, but I look forward to it.

With regard to our free-time activities, I’m sad to report that “Spader” is off the air. Our Wednesday night dose of “The Practice” is no longer. However, we were treated to an excellent interview with Gene Wilder on BBC. Gene is really worth watching – he’s always been one of our favorites and we had just been wondering about him. Great interview – something I can’t imagine seeing in the U.S. due to his strong opinions that don’t agree with the current political administration. I love living overseas. I feel that I get such a better view of the world. We can even watch Al-jazeera in English on our satellite transmission. Occasionally, we go to the movies when there is an original language (not dubbed) English language film (check out the cool TEATR). Last one we saw was "Paris, Je t'aime" - interesting collection of short films depicting 20 arrondissments (sp?) in Paris.