Finally Here!!

Well I finally made it to Ukraine! I took a 2 and 1/2 hour flight from Denver to Chicago, had a 3 hour layover at the Chicago airport, then got on an 8 hour flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, had another 3 hour layover in Germany, THEN got on a 2 hour flight from Frankfurt to Kiev! And so here I am :) Besides having to completely repack my luggage to avoid paying a $200 'overweight' fee, and besides the Polish man who sat by me on the way to Frankfurt, who kept asking me to stay at his cabin with him and to let him buy me a drink.....the trip was fairly uneventful and safe. 


I got really lucky with my living situation! I get to room with another girl from my group, Kaitlin. So it's nice to not just be with my host family. My family consists of my host mom, Anastasia, and her daughter Polina, who's 3 and 1/2. She's the most adorable girl, but she only knows Russian so it's hard to understand her when she wants to play.

I'm really tired now....I don't think I've slept for more than 30 minutes at a time over the past 24 hours, so I'm going to sleep. But first, I'll show you pictures of everything so far :)

 At the Kiev airport, waiting to be picked up by the ILP bus......

 The head ILP coordinator and our bus that picked us up!!

 Polina, my new host sister :) She immediately found my water bottle and became enthralled with it. She filled it up with water and kept shaking it around, going "svist, svist, svist"

 Our room :) and my roommate Kaitlin

 The room used to be Polina's, but she and her mom now share a room so they could give it to us. Now we get the jungle gym!

 The dining/living room. The apartment is pretty small, but very cute, modern, and well decorated!

 The kitchen!

 Bathroom! I still don't know what the 'other' toilet is......

 Polina and Kaitlin :)

 The view of Kiev, right outside our window!

 The living room. I love the bookcase that goes around the entry!

 Me & Polina. Look at that cute belly :)

Haha Polina again :-) She loves taking pictures on my laptop.

Training

As part of being a volunteer teacher with ILP (International Language Programs), you have to attend a "pre-departure training". So last week, I flew back to Provo one last time to learn all about how to teach and survive in Ukraine. What I got out of it was: boy, do I have a lot to learn!


Their teaching method seems very effective. Basically, we teach by 'total immersion', which means I only speak English to the kids and they're only allowed to speak English in the classroom, no matter how little they know. There are 2 groups of kids I will be teaching: 'Primary' (ages 4-8) and 'Elementary' (ages 7-15), depending on their skill level. In the school I'll be teaching at, "Kiev 2", I'll be teaching both age groups. There will be 3 teachers, and the kids will rotate through our 'activities' throughout the day. That means we'll each prepare 2 lessons a day, that we'll give 3 times each, as the kids rotate through twice. 


The 6 teaching areas we teach are: Arts & Crafts, Games, Gym, Kitchen, Drama, and Shop. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG! You see, if I were teaching Arts & Crafts, and I wanted to say, make a handprint turkey with the kids, I wouldn't just give them the materials do make it and let them have at it.....no no no. The trick is, you have to TALK about EVERYTHING.....and GET THEM TO TALK, TOO. 


For example, for the feathers, I could ask "What else has feathers besides turkeys? Are they light or heavy? Is this soft or hard? What color is it? Why don't people have feathers? How does it feel? Where does it go? How does it compare to another object? Where is it in relation to another object?.....etc." The more the kids speak, the better. The goal is to get every kid in the room to talk at least once/minute. Even if it means they're just repeating everything you say, they're still speaking, so therefore they're learning.


Now this is harder than you think! In fact, the person training us said that we should be so good at teaching English before we leave, that if we had just a plastic bag, we could get the children to talk about it for the entire lesson.


So, clearly, I have a LOT of work ahead of me during the next week and a half as I prepare....and a LOT of school supplies to buy! I'm bringing 2 big suitcases, one of which will be just school supplies, with everything from construction paper, glue, kids books, and play-doh to marshmallows, kool-aid, kids' cookbooks, and buttons. So my work is definitely set out for me......only 11 more days! Can't wait <3

Why Ukraine, Now?

Rachel, Me, and Michelle on my birthday!

I can't really say one exact reason why I decided to live in Ukraine for 5 and 1/2 months. I love college life! I love BYU. I love my roommates, Rachel and Michelle. I love my calling as Relief Society President in my ward at BYU. I love my classes (well, all but American Heritage....) I love my job as a CNA at a nursing home. I love my life now.....so why would I want to leave all that and move across the world to one of the poorest countries, and be surrounded by people speaking a completely foreign language to me?

I think I just felt like now is my time. I've always known I would travel the world. In high school, I begged my parents to let me be a foreign exchange student in Spain, but that was too expensive....instead, we got our own foreign exchange student, Paulina, from Sweden. Seeing her adjust and learn from this new culture made me want to travel the world even more!

Beautiful Ukraine

And so, when I saw this opportunity to not only live in Ukraine, but to teach English to young kids, I knew I had to go. Now is the time in my life to take these kind of opportunities when they're presented to me.


I'm not quite sure what this experience will teach me, if it will help me realize what I want to do as a career; if it will help me better prepare for marriage; if it will help me become a better mother; if it will help me be more selfless and charitable; if it will help me be more independent and self-sufficient; or if it will be a way for God to show me my weaknesses and make me stronger.....but I know I will grow from this.


And so, in 26 days, I will be on my looooong flight over to Kiev, Ukraine. I will have my suitcase of school supplies for the children in one hand, and my Russian-English dictionary in the other. I'll have an appetite for adventure, and an eagerness to teach and be taught. Here it goes.... <3