FIRST BELL
First bell is the first bell of the school year. All the students gather, and the director welcomes everyone to a brand new school year. It was interesting to be a part of. This is the first "First Bell" that I was able to take part in. Usually, no classes commence because everyone is just pumped to see everyone after the long summer.
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| My counterpart and her 11th form girls |
SCHOOL, TEACHING
Luckily, I get to keep the same students that I have been teaching from the previous school year. So they were excited as I was to see them at first bell. I've also been trying to implement more songs, and different teaching methods in the classroom. They have been received very well. Recently, I scored a green ukulele, and introduced it to my students. It was a great acquisition being that it is the first instrument that I learned to play, and its native to Hawaii. They thought it was cute, and didn't know that it was an actual instrument, just some little toy, but I showed them. It's been getting a lot of use in the classroom.
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| Me, green Ukulele, and 10th grade students |
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| Those 10th grade girls love to pose! |
So, also being in this part of the world, we get to travel to a lot of places. I have already been to Budapest, Hungary last year. Now, I get to add Stockholm, Sweden, and Krakow, Poland to the list. Both were beautiful cities, full of life and culture.
Stockholm is spelled I-K-E-A! Everything was so magical there. Everywhere I turned, my breath was taken away at the beauty that surrounded me. We also couch surfed with a cool Swedish guy named, Tomas. We cooked our Ukrainian borscht for him, and he loved it. Nothing gets me going more that cultural exchange!
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| Crew Love |
Now Krakow....one word sums up this trip, WET! It was such an amazing city. Albeit, I also was with, probably, the best travel companions I have ever traveled with. We just came off spending time at my site for Christmas, to the next UP-and-COMING city in Europe. It was just so historical, and moving, but also beautiful, and peaceful. It was one of those experiences which I knew that I was in a place that hadn't even reached it potential yet. Also, ZAPIKANKAs are probably one of the best street food that I've ever tasted.
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| Zapikanka |
Besides the castles, and old architecture, you can't forget that Krakow was home to the world's worst display of inhumanity, the Aushwitz concentration camp, Jewish Ghetto, but it was also home to the Schindler factory.
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| Outside of Schindler's Factory |
UKRAINE
Halloween - So, also, I've been making my way around Ukraine. On Halloween, I got to visit Kharkiv, a city in Northeastern Ukraine, bordering Russia. It is home to the largest Red Square in all of Europe, if I'm not mistaken. I've seen it, from all the red squares I've seen so far, this is definitely the largest. We, PCVs, also commenced and celebrated Halloween together. Here are some photos:
Kgrad Kristmas - We are all bummed not being home with our families during the holidays, so our group of friends decided to get together and celebrate. Since my, and Rob's, site is in central Ukraine, everyone came to us. It was a long 4 day celebration with our closest group. We got a tree, Christmas stockings, ugly Christmas sweaters, and gift exchanges (Yankee swap, and Secret Santa). Probably, one of the best Christmases I have had in a while. I surely felt the Christmas spirit.
Odessa Mama - One of the most cultured things a person can do is attend a ballet show of "The Nutcracker," and I got to do just that. Not only did I watch the Nutcracker, I got to see one of the greatest ballet companies, the Moscow ballet company, perform it. It was an experience, and I do feel more pretentiously cultured because of it.
This sums up the ending of 2011...thanks for looking. DAVAI!
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