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.
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.
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