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Though Jessica and I have been able to visit the Internat twice while taking classes at THNPU, today was our first official day of work. It was also Miri's first Internat visit as well (tomorrow already marks her one week anniversary in Ukraine!). I can only speak for myself, but I am fairly certain that both Jess and Miri are feeling what I'm feeling right now - multiple conflicting emotions, especially the overwhelming sort.
The three of us met at THNPU, as it is a fairly central location from our host families. Oksana Pysarchuk (our former tutor and an overall delightful girl!) was able to tag along for an hour or so - this is always appreciated as her ability to translate comes in kinda handy... We could hear various sounds of laughter, yelling, and crying as we came around the back corner of the Internat - I turn to Miri and say, "Welcome to chaos." Within minutes, all four of us had been swarmed once again by girls of all ages. I was led to a bench, with girls literally all over me - two on my lap, one on each arm, another climbing up behind me. On the other side of the courtyard, the same scenario was unfolding for both Jess and Miri while Oksana was talking with staff.
The girls were called inside to eat lunch (обід) at 1, which gave us a small window of time to take everything in - nice to relax for a minute or two, at least! We talked with a young girl named Улана (Oolana), who lives nearby. She spends a lot of time at the Internat, playing with the girls, and was a huge help to us today in terms of communication and explanations. Hopefully we will be seeing her often. After their lunch, most of the girls head to their rooms to sleep. We spent the rest of the afternoon outside at the Internat park with some of the older girls, playing volleyball, and dancing - Луба (Luba) was an especially impressive interpretive dancer.
We left to catch our bus back into Ternopil around 3, our heads spinning. The three of us (Oksana had left earlier for class) feel that this week will be quite low key, as we'll familiarize ourself with all of the girls and their needs, as well as the staff and the facilities... Hoping to get a better idea of what the girls need most and how we can best serve them in the weeks ahead.
Showing posts with label impressions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label impressions. Show all posts
6.01.2009
5.21.2009
overwhelmed, to say the least.
Truthfully, I should not be posting anything right now - I should be studying for my Ukrainian test tomorrow morning. But since I'm being truthful and all, I'll admit that I am having an incredibly difficult time focusing on vocabulary and verb conjugation. My head is still spinning, in a variety of ways, from our first Internat experience.
Jessica and I boarded the bus to a small village just outside of Ternopil. Our tutor Oksana (an amazing help!) accompanied us, acting as a translator/mediator between the two of us, Irina (the fourth or fifth Irina that I have met in my two weeks in Ukraine!), and the girls who swarmed around us constantly.
Several girls immediately latched onto the two of us, before we even walked into the courtyard. As we were given an introductory tour, both Jess and I had at least one girl holding our hand or clinging onto one of our arms the entire time. We will be returning tomorrow morning (after we write our tests) for a 'concertka' that they are hosting. We have one final week left of classes at THNPU and will be working at the Internat daily beginning in June.
5.15.2009
purple писанка fingers.
Our hosts at the 'universitat' have been amazingly gracious thus far, going above and beyond in order for us Canadians to fully experience everything that Ukrainian culture has to offer.
The generousity of our host families is obviously communicated (especially through FOOD!), our tutors have made learning a foreign alphabet and new language much easier, and each afternoon, activities are arranged for us once tutorials are completed.
So far, our afternoon activities have included Monday's boat ride and initial tour of the city, Tuesday's aerobics class and physical training (it was bizarre, hilarious, and grueling), Wednesday's pysanka - писанка - instructions, and Thursday's "mystery" concert (of which I will post pictures and video clips later... if I have the patience to load them!).
писанка (pysanka) is a Ukrainian tradition of painting eggs with beeswax, and there are distinctive traditions within each of the regions ('oblasts') throughout Ukraine. On Wednesday afternoon, a local pysanky artist (pysankist?!) came to the universitat to explain and teach us about this craft. I was fascinated by the deeper meanings behind the colourful designs, and am looking forward to this form of arts&crafts each Wednesday this month.
The process of drawing on eggs is extremely delicate, done with beeswax using a bobby pin or other small surface... very time consuming. I don't usually enjoy things that will consume large amounts of my time; I have a tendency to buzz about and accomplish a few different things at once, probably in an order that would not seem logical to anyone else but me.
So - in this typical 'Jen' fashion - I thought it would be much more 'efficient' (read:faster) if I used my finger in aiding the spoon to scoop my little egg out of the jar of dye. Key word there being DYE. It just so happened to be the purple pysanka dye, the darkest of all the dyes. I dyed my pointer finger писанка purple!
Our pysanka instructor thought I was ridiculous... she kept asking me questions (probably along the lines of, 'What were you thinking, you impatient little Canadian?!') but eventually gave up, laughing. I'll just have to slow it down next week and take my sweet time... 'patience is a virtue.'
(Note: Slava also laughed at me. But then she pulled out these magical lemon ('lay-mohn') salts, scrubbing my hands, and all that is still left of the purple pysanka dye is along the edges of my fingernail.) Also, Jessica had her camera... when I'm able, I'll add pictures of our писанка creations as well as my dyed finger.
PaPa! (bye)
The generousity of our host families is obviously communicated (especially through FOOD!), our tutors have made learning a foreign alphabet and new language much easier, and each afternoon, activities are arranged for us once tutorials are completed.
So far, our afternoon activities have included Monday's boat ride and initial tour of the city, Tuesday's aerobics class and physical training (it was bizarre, hilarious, and grueling), Wednesday's pysanka - писанка - instructions, and Thursday's "mystery" concert (of which I will post pictures and video clips later... if I have the patience to load them!).
писанка (pysanka) is a Ukrainian tradition of painting eggs with beeswax, and there are distinctive traditions within each of the regions ('oblasts') throughout Ukraine. On Wednesday afternoon, a local pysanky artist (pysankist?!) came to the universitat to explain and teach us about this craft. I was fascinated by the deeper meanings behind the colourful designs, and am looking forward to this form of arts&crafts each Wednesday this month.
The process of drawing on eggs is extremely delicate, done with beeswax using a bobby pin or other small surface... very time consuming. I don't usually enjoy things that will consume large amounts of my time; I have a tendency to buzz about and accomplish a few different things at once, probably in an order that would not seem logical to anyone else but me.
So - in this typical 'Jen' fashion - I thought it would be much more 'efficient' (read:faster) if I used my finger in aiding the spoon to scoop my little egg out of the jar of dye. Key word there being DYE. It just so happened to be the purple pysanka dye, the darkest of all the dyes. I dyed my pointer finger писанка purple!
Our pysanka instructor thought I was ridiculous... she kept asking me questions (probably along the lines of, 'What were you thinking, you impatient little Canadian?!') but eventually gave up, laughing. I'll just have to slow it down next week and take my sweet time... 'patience is a virtue.'
(Note: Slava also laughed at me. But then she pulled out these magical lemon ('lay-mohn') salts, scrubbing my hands, and all that is still left of the purple pysanka dye is along the edges of my fingernail.) Also, Jessica had her camera... when I'm able, I'll add pictures of our писанка creations as well as my dyed finger.
PaPa! (bye)
5.12.2009
Ternopil, day III.
Pryvit! (Prih VEET!)
This is Ukrainian for "hi," and we have officially started our language classes at Ternopil's Pedagogical University.
Yesterday, Ira (Iryna) met me at Slava's in order to help me out with Ternopil's bus system... she is a professor at the university, so it was convenient for her to show me the ropes. The ride to the university (or 'universitat') is about 25 minutes, and to ride any bus it costs H 1, 50 (one and a half hrivnya... equal to about 30 cents or so Canadian?).
At 12, we met with the rest of the professors and staff who are involved with us Canadians, as well as our tutors. After announcements and orientation, we had a larrrrrge lunch in the cafeteria and our tutors spent the rest of the afternoon with us, showing us the sights of Ternopil.
One highlight was a boat ride around Ternopil's man made lake... it was H 6 (6 hrivnya, or about a buck Cdn!)... If any of you know the Lonely Island hit song, "I'm On A Boat" well, I was enjoying myself... wearing my flippie floppies while you all be flippin' copies. Haha (Carly, I know you're reading this). We also went downtown, where there are plenty of shops, bars, cafes, etc. as well as a theater. The churches here are incredibly beautiful, from what I've seen so far - it is quite a different landscape than those back home.
Olga, one of our tutors, took the bus home with us and helped us find our apartments (they all look the same!). Ira had written my address down for me, but as my luck would have it, I left it at home. In my room. On my dresser. Thankfully, she had been on the bus already earlier that morning so she remembered where I had gotten on... and I arrived home to Slava with no problems at all, along with Jessica.
Slava's sister was visiting with her grandson, I think that his name is Nazarycik (they each called him something different... so it's kinda hard to play the name game just yet). He's four, and we're buddies now... He looooves soccer, and found a small toy soccer ball that I had packed, which provided us with a solid two or three hours of entertainment.
Another favourite of his was my note for the day (aka the 96 Notes Project). Today I opened a card from Trevor, and it featured Mr. Rogers... Nazarycik kept asking "Tato? Tato?" From what I've gathered this far, 'Tato' is the Ukrainian word for father. I pressed the buttons on the outside of the card, and Mr. Rogers says things like "If you are a human being, you are fancy too" and "Where ever you are in the world, know that you are very special."
Nazarycik runs to get his grandmother and Slava, and all three of them admire the card of my 'tato' ... Mr. Rogers.
I tried to explain that no, this was not my tato! But gave up after they seemed to like this idea, and that I couldn't argue in Ukrainian yet anyways.
Anyways - I must sign off, it is about 2:10 here in Ternopil and we are supposed to meet our tutors at 2:15. I will post more as I am able... again, thanks for your thoughts and prayers, they are hugely appreciated. Much love!
This is Ukrainian for "hi," and we have officially started our language classes at Ternopil's Pedagogical University.
Yesterday, Ira (Iryna) met me at Slava's in order to help me out with Ternopil's bus system... she is a professor at the university, so it was convenient for her to show me the ropes. The ride to the university (or 'universitat') is about 25 minutes, and to ride any bus it costs H 1, 50 (one and a half hrivnya... equal to about 30 cents or so Canadian?).
At 12, we met with the rest of the professors and staff who are involved with us Canadians, as well as our tutors. After announcements and orientation, we had a larrrrrge lunch in the cafeteria and our tutors spent the rest of the afternoon with us, showing us the sights of Ternopil.
One highlight was a boat ride around Ternopil's man made lake... it was H 6 (6 hrivnya, or about a buck Cdn!)... If any of you know the Lonely Island hit song, "I'm On A Boat" well, I was enjoying myself... wearing my flippie floppies while you all be flippin' copies. Haha (Carly, I know you're reading this). We also went downtown, where there are plenty of shops, bars, cafes, etc. as well as a theater. The churches here are incredibly beautiful, from what I've seen so far - it is quite a different landscape than those back home.
Olga, one of our tutors, took the bus home with us and helped us find our apartments (they all look the same!). Ira had written my address down for me, but as my luck would have it, I left it at home. In my room. On my dresser. Thankfully, she had been on the bus already earlier that morning so she remembered where I had gotten on... and I arrived home to Slava with no problems at all, along with Jessica.
Slava's sister was visiting with her grandson, I think that his name is Nazarycik (they each called him something different... so it's kinda hard to play the name game just yet). He's four, and we're buddies now... He looooves soccer, and found a small toy soccer ball that I had packed, which provided us with a solid two or three hours of entertainment.
Another favourite of his was my note for the day (aka the 96 Notes Project). Today I opened a card from Trevor, and it featured Mr. Rogers... Nazarycik kept asking "Tato? Tato?" From what I've gathered this far, 'Tato' is the Ukrainian word for father. I pressed the buttons on the outside of the card, and Mr. Rogers says things like "If you are a human being, you are fancy too" and "Where ever you are in the world, know that you are very special."
Nazarycik runs to get his grandmother and Slava, and all three of them admire the card of my 'tato' ... Mr. Rogers.
I tried to explain that no, this was not my tato! But gave up after they seemed to like this idea, and that I couldn't argue in Ukrainian yet anyways.
Anyways - I must sign off, it is about 2:10 here in Ternopil and we are supposed to meet our tutors at 2:15. I will post more as I am able... again, thanks for your thoughts and prayers, they are hugely appreciated. Much love!
5.10.2009
arrived alive!
Hi all - this is a quick update... I have arrived safe and sound in Ternopil, Ukraine and am exhausted. I am unsure as to how reliable the Internet is here in my apartment, so blogs and updates will most likely come in random spurts (just a heads up!).
Jessica and I survived a nine hour flight from Toronto to Vienna, and managed to reunite with Ruby at the airport before our departure! We also spent the first half hour or so unpacking and repacking our baggage, until it was under 23 kgs (I fully believed that I was packing pretty lightly for three months. Nope.). Anyways, we managed to survive the parental goodbyes, I was too excited to be all that sentimental (I mean that in the best possible way, Mom & Dad!) Turns out the girl beside me on my flight (Kristina) was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine - she was friendly and gave me good advice about who/what to watch out for.
We had a few hours in Vienna before flying on to Lviv, but sadly didn't manage to get out of the airport... The plane to Lviv was tiny and only about half full, giving us plenty of sleeping room (hallelujah! - it was much needed rest).
I was nervous about going through customs in Lviv, mainly because all of the security gaurds/officers were scary, stern, solemn Soviet fellows (kinda intimidating). Turns out it wasn't a problem at all; as soon as we collected our baggage we were met by Olena, who will be our language professor as of tomorrow, along with two of her students (who spoke wonderful English - a relief by that point).
Originally we were supposed to be taking a train from Lviv the rest of the way into Ternopil, but Olena had managed to rent a bus as she was collecting some students from Saskatchewan as well. It was dead silent the entire trip - all 8 (I think) of us were passed out, sound asleep. Our host families then met us at a central station in Ternopil.
I'm living with an older woman named Slava - who speaks absolutely NO English... I guess this just means I'll have to work harder at learning Ukrainian?! I was picked up by her son Igor (? not entirely sure if that is actually his name) and his wife Ira, who teaches at the pedagogical university where our language classes will be held. It was a relief/comfort to be able to speak English with Ira... she acted as translator between Slava and I, and as overwhelmed as I am right now, that aid in the language barrier is something that I am incredibly thankful for.
Not going to lie - I lost it once I started unpacking here... Just started bawling. I can't communicate with Slava, I'm thirsty, I can't call home just yet, and I have no idea where I am or how to figure out this language as the alphabet is entirely new/foreign to me. And, I already missed Jessica... I'm thankful that we have our own host families, as we will each have our own individual, unique experiences over the next few months - but I just needed a hug at that point, and I'm pretty sure that I would have scared Slava and company if I had asked for one. I cannot WAIT to shower and sleep, I'm a dirtbag after all this travel and am smart enough to realize the beauty of sleep... Good night!
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Side note #1: I am now 7 hours ahead of y'all back in Ontario ... and will probably be getting a phone in the next few days. Will keep you posted.
Side note #2: I managed to collect more than 96 notes... more than one note per day that I'm abroad. Yes, Jesse, the 'Jump Rope for Heart theory' came through... thanks to Steve Boesveld on having faith in my notes. Ha.
Side note #3: Your thoughts and prayers are INCREDIBLY, undeniably, overwhelmingly appreciated! I am grateful and blessed to have so many awesome people encouraging me in this crazy adventure. You all mean the world to me, thanks for the support this far!
Jessica and I survived a nine hour flight from Toronto to Vienna, and managed to reunite with Ruby at the airport before our departure! We also spent the first half hour or so unpacking and repacking our baggage, until it was under 23 kgs (I fully believed that I was packing pretty lightly for three months. Nope.). Anyways, we managed to survive the parental goodbyes, I was too excited to be all that sentimental (I mean that in the best possible way, Mom & Dad!) Turns out the girl beside me on my flight (Kristina) was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine - she was friendly and gave me good advice about who/what to watch out for.
We had a few hours in Vienna before flying on to Lviv, but sadly didn't manage to get out of the airport... The plane to Lviv was tiny and only about half full, giving us plenty of sleeping room (hallelujah! - it was much needed rest).
I was nervous about going through customs in Lviv, mainly because all of the security gaurds/officers were scary, stern, solemn Soviet fellows (kinda intimidating). Turns out it wasn't a problem at all; as soon as we collected our baggage we were met by Olena, who will be our language professor as of tomorrow, along with two of her students (who spoke wonderful English - a relief by that point).
Originally we were supposed to be taking a train from Lviv the rest of the way into Ternopil, but Olena had managed to rent a bus as she was collecting some students from Saskatchewan as well. It was dead silent the entire trip - all 8 (I think) of us were passed out, sound asleep. Our host families then met us at a central station in Ternopil.
I'm living with an older woman named Slava - who speaks absolutely NO English... I guess this just means I'll have to work harder at learning Ukrainian?! I was picked up by her son Igor (? not entirely sure if that is actually his name) and his wife Ira, who teaches at the pedagogical university where our language classes will be held. It was a relief/comfort to be able to speak English with Ira... she acted as translator between Slava and I, and as overwhelmed as I am right now, that aid in the language barrier is something that I am incredibly thankful for.
Not going to lie - I lost it once I started unpacking here... Just started bawling. I can't communicate with Slava, I'm thirsty, I can't call home just yet, and I have no idea where I am or how to figure out this language as the alphabet is entirely new/foreign to me. And, I already missed Jessica... I'm thankful that we have our own host families, as we will each have our own individual, unique experiences over the next few months - but I just needed a hug at that point, and I'm pretty sure that I would have scared Slava and company if I had asked for one. I cannot WAIT to shower and sleep, I'm a dirtbag after all this travel and am smart enough to realize the beauty of sleep... Good night!
----------
Side note #1: I am now 7 hours ahead of y'all back in Ontario ... and will probably be getting a phone in the next few days. Will keep you posted.
Side note #2: I managed to collect more than 96 notes... more than one note per day that I'm abroad. Yes, Jesse, the 'Jump Rope for Heart theory' came through... thanks to Steve Boesveld on having faith in my notes. Ha.
Side note #3: Your thoughts and prayers are INCREDIBLY, undeniably, overwhelmingly appreciated! I am grateful and blessed to have so many awesome people encouraging me in this crazy adventure. You all mean the world to me, thanks for the support this far!
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