Work hard, play hard?

The birthday came and went... Joe's that is. We didn't fly to New York like last year, but hey, we ate at a Georgian restaurant! The name of it is Mimino - it's supposed to have some kind of theme based on an old Soviet flick, so the waitresses dress up as airline stewardesses. Interesting! The staff at my work presented him with a CD of Ukrainian folk music - we are listening right now (there's that music theme again!). As you can see from our jackets, it's starting to cool down. Not too bad yet, but we are expecting a cold front next week. I hope it's not too serious as one of my teachers' sons, Sergei, is going to meet us to take us on a tour of the Lavra Cave Monastery.

Yesterday, I observed some classes at the Slavonic University downtown. The students were great and had lots of good questions for me: "Do you like the desert?" "What do you think of the people in your country?" "Who is your favorite movie star?" "What are the students like where you're from?" Some were even AFI fans and said, "Please tell your husband that we like his son's band very much!" It is great to get a feel for what the teachers do by visiting their classes. It gives a more complete picture. That was enjoyable and I hope to do more soon.

I'm really getting into more of a groove with my job, and think I'm getting a feel for what teachers like and benefit from. Historically, a presentation - like a teacher training session - meant that the presenter presents, i.e. reads something or monologues along while the participants listen and/or take notes. Well, up front, I let the audiences know that the workshop/presentation will be "interactive" and a "demonstration". The audiences have adapted quite well and seem to enjoy being active (even after a long day of teaching).

Next week we'll begin our first meeting of the Conversation Club. We are hoping some native speakers show up as we invited US Embassy personnel. Ukrainians seem to have a good time no matter what... so I'm not worried. Our discussion topic is "hobbies".

Speaking of hobbies... I haven't quilted or oil painted, but I do have a flute and a beginning flute book. AND... I'm going to receive some books on beginning Russian soon...thanks Mom! (it doesn't mean I've completely given up on Ukrainian) However, just for the record, we found "The Practice" on Slovenian TV (part of our satellite package). All Ukrainian, Russian, and Italian stations DUB the English language programs!!! It seems that only smaller countries, like Slovenia actually keep the programs in the original languague adding subtitles. It was great watching James Spader be so subversive every Wednesday night (I have been a fan since "Tuff Turf"). Anyhow, our CNN and BBC (our only English language stations aside from E!) went on the fritz, so we got our receiver replaced. Well, lo and behold... we now have BBC and Panamanian TV in our repertoire, but still no CNN and no Slovenian TV - which means no Spader! Not to mention they were also showing great US documentaries every week like: Supersize Me!, Capturing the Friedmans, and this coming week was to be Farenheit 911. So our entertainment has been quashed for a while.

I will keep you posted on the 'play hard' front...
Here's some evidence of the 'work hard' aspect - teacher training workshops: Workshop 2, Presentation at the Pedagogical University, Workshop 3, & Workshop 4 respectively - all in Kyiv. Until Lviv...