Speaking of being informed, after a month of taking an hour bus to the nearest city to check my email, I discovered an internet cafe in my village. I don’t think I’ll get over that for a while. What’s crazy is how most people are unaware of it as well. Generally, the internet is understood to be for playing games and other trivial pursuits. We plan on making a community project to increase awareness about the internet and all the marvelous things you can do with it, especially in the classroom. We are even going to write a grant and try to get internet at the local school.  I found BBC on my shortwave radio last week. Between that and the internet club, it’s a whole new world here in rural Ukraine. The signal isn’t that clear though, and sometimes cuts out, which is heartbreaking, but I’ll take whatever I can get.

In other news, we recently visited the agricultural institute in Nizyhn (the closest city to my village). It was quite the experience. I understood that we would be sitting in on a class and there was a “conference” going on. Well, it turned out we were the conference. We walked into an auditorium and are whisked to the front of the room by the professor and seated on a panel. Flanked by the American flag on one side and a USA map on the other, we listened to our introduction carefully to figure out our next move. “Today we have four representatives from the United States Peace Corps,” the professor said. “They are here to tell you about their organization and their lives in America.” OK, I can handle this. Probably the best part of the conference for me was when they asked what hobbies I had. Among other things, I said I liked jogging. The teacher, who was translating, took about five minutes to explain my hobbies. She asked her students to raise their hands if they liked to jog. They all chuckled and no one raised their hand. She then told me, “I have been to America, and I have seen this, but we do not understand your hobby here.” It was really interesting to speak with Ukrainian students. We are trying to set up a more casual venue sometime in the near future. I’m not sure who’s more excited about this idea—us or them! We both enjoyed getting to know each other and are looking forward to continuing our conversations about history, culture, and society. Don’t forget to check out my column in the latest edition of The Wacoan!

I live in a village of about 5,000 in North Eastern Ukraine. I am really settling in and loving it. I must admit the first few weeks were rough. Adjusting to the cultural differences, a new climate, and the language all at once was a challenge. It’s already funny now looking back at it. I am continually learning so much about Ukraine and the Peace Corps it can be overwhelming, but I am so happy to be here.

I taught my first English class last week with a fellow PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) and enjoyed it immensely. It was awesome. Students are accustomed to a heavy emphasis on grammar translation and were quite thrilled to play hangman and matching games with new vocabulary. It was great to see the look of excitement on their faces as we introduced ourselves and gave our first lesson. Students here are very disciplined and work well with strict instructions. Not exactly the typical American classroom! I am certainly thankful for the controlled atomosphere Ukrainian teachers have established. Next week, I am teaching a 9th grade class on the topic of Great Britain. The topics are assigned by the national curriculmn but we have some latitude on how to cover them. I am going to use the Beatles as main part of the lesson and plan on playing a song for them as a listening activity. I am really looking forward to it!

Besides official training activities, I live with a host family that serves as a continuing classroom. I was able to have a genuine conversation with them this week. After receiving a letter from home and translating it for them with the help of a Ukrainian/English dictionary, they posed a great question: Why did you leave your family and friends and move halfway around the world to teach English in Ukraine? I was only too happy to share that my desire to teach English is just a small part of my motivation for joing the Peace Corps. Truly, it’s about promoting world peace through real relationships and cultural exchange. It’s about understanding people thousands of miles away from home, and helping them understand you, too. I’m not sure how much of that i got across in Ukrainian, but it was the start of a beautiful conversation.

Note: For the next year, I will have a monthly column in the Wacoan. Check out the first one in the November edition!