Fall Feelings

Fall is here.  I don't know how, but it somehow managed to sneak up on me.  The weather is cooler and the leaves of the trees have almost completely changed.  I honestly didn't notice until today.  It might be because before today the temperature had been in the low 70's.( If you'll refer back to my posts from this time last year, you will see that this is strange for Ukraine.) It also could be because this past month has been the busiest month I have experienced so far in Ukraine.  School started back with a bang.  A big one, actually.  My schedule is full and so are my days.  Not that I'm complaining.  I love to be busy.  It makes me feel fulfilled.  Like both of my beloved parents, I thrive under pressure.  I perform at my best when I'm knocking out one task after the other.  Nothing gives me greater satisfaction then being able to check things off of my multiple to-do lists.  (And yes, I do know how sad/weird this fact is.  Stop judging me.)

So, what have I been busy with you ask?  Well, here's a little taste of my weekly schedule.  I am co-teaching 15 hours of English a week with three of the English teachers.  I work with every grade.  I also have three clubs a week, two English clubs for younger students and one sports/game club for older students (because the older students would rather take a bath with their Baba then study English outside of school).  On top of the lesson planning for classes and activity planning for clubs, I have also been working on a grant for the past month that I actually just finished today.  It turns out that the word grant is actually a synonym for "most frustrating and time consuming thing ever".  Weird, huh?  Honestly, it really wasn't that bad.  The hard part for me was having to depend on my Ukrainian colleagues to provide me with the information that I needed for the grant.  If you know me, you know that I'm not much of a "sit around and wait" kind of gal, so waiting for my counterpart and director to give me answers was not my idea of a good time. 

 You might be asking what the grant is for.  Hold your horses.  I'm getting to that part.  The grant is for English resources for my school.  Textbooks, flashcards, a laptop..you know all the things that American students take for granted.  My poor Uker kids currently learn out of books that have such inaccuracies as that "maths" is a word and that all the cool kids "go in for sport".  They also appear to have the same artwork as all of the "Fun with Dick and Jane" books that are grandparents tried to pawn off on us while telling us how much our parents loved them as children.  Catch my drift?  Also, the teachers have almost zero resources to use for teaching.  Any resources that they do have, they have had to purchase themselves and as I'm sure you can imagine, Ukrainian teachers aren't exactly rolling in the dough.  The cool thing about the grant is that it will be put online so that all my friends and family can donate to it.  Actually, the entire grant actually depends on the generosity of all of my loved ones back home (hint, hint).  There are still a few steps before the grant goes online, but don't worry because I'll be sure to keep you updated on that.  

So, what else?  Two weeks ago I went to a camp with some of my lady volunteer friends and some of our students.  The camp is called GLOW or Girls Leading Our World.  It teaches girls about leadership and about how awesome it is to be a girl.  We played games and had lessons on things like healthy relationships and body image.  I learned a lot not only from the students, but also from my fellow volunteers.  The weekend was full of girl power and desperately made me miss the days when the Spice Girls were in.  

Jesse is back after a month at home.  Peace Corps allowed him to go home for one month in order to be with his family after the loss of Will.  I haven't seen him yet, but I am going to this weekend.  We are meeting up in Kiev with other volunteers to go curling.  Yes, you heard me right.  Curling or as I like to call it, ice shuffle board.  I am looking forward to being reunited with my beloved and making up for the month and half that we have been apart.  

Also, I'm going to Turkey at the end of month.  Now before my grandparents and other loved ones start flipping out, I'm going with three other girls and we have been told that it is completely safe even with all the horrendous things that are going on in Syria.  If it starts to look bad, Peace Corps won't let us go.  So, stop your worrying Mimi.  

That's all for now, friends.  Of course I will leave you with some photos from the past month.  Be sure to be on the look out for my next post which will be all about my grant.  Be sure to invite your wallets to read it, too.  

Love to you all.

Some of my sweet 4th graders were super stoked about First Bell.

Me with my counterpart and her class on the first day of school.

Olga, me and our director 

Tea party at my apartment with some of my 11th grade girls.

Olga and I on our way to GLOW with two of our students.

GLOW volunteers and the Olga's

A portrait of your's truly done by one of my 2nd grade classes.

Some of my 7th grade students performing at a ceremony on Teacher's Day.
They sang "You are Beautiful" by Christina Aguleira.
And they did rhythmic gymnastics.