TravelStream™ news feed for member jessteichuz on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jessteichuz en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 19 Apr 2006 08:44:52 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1145450640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1145450640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1145450640/tpod.html Wed, 19 Apr 2006 08:44:52 -0400 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armyansk, Ukraine

here are some pics of my new apartment...
enjoy!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1144912080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1144912080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1144912080/tpod.html Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:14:15 -0400 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armyansk, Ukraine

A Typical Day at School #1

Part I
I really don't want to call this entry, "a typical day at school", because a day at School #1 is never 'typical'. Actually, no day in Ukraine is ever typical. Inconsistency is consistency. If you can accept that, life here becomes much easier to adjust to. Or at least it helps.
Anyway, I began teaching January 11th. For three months, I have been coming to school everyday to work. Up until two weeks ago, I was on a two week rotating schedule, teaching anywhere from three to five 45 minute lessons per day. I was being equally rotated among the four other English teachers so, ideally, I could share my communicative teaching methods with all of them. It was a good way to get to know the students and all the different forms (classes or grades) I would be teaching on a more permanent basis next year.
School begins at 8:30, or rather than is when the second bell rings, indicating the start of the first lesson. I normally get there by 8:10 to have time to gather the necessary materials and do some last minute lesson planning. More often than not, I would take my teaching aids and head over to the class I would be teaching. I was promised my first week that I would have my own classroom, and students would come to me. This ended up being the case, but not for a few months.
During the winter, many of the students were sick with 'grip' (Russian for flu). Many others, I learned consequently, had German measles. These forms would be "quarantined" in their home rooms and teachers would have to come to them. This isn't unusual for Ukrainian schools. Teachers normally go to the students, science and language subjects being the exception. Although some classes are equipped with ample portraits of old Ukrainian and Russian writers and poets... so perhaps literature classes too. Who knows really? So despite the fact that there are two English classrooms-both equipped to the max with maps, flags, and pictures of the English speaking world, not to mention a plethora of English flip charts I've made for subsequent lessons, I often found myself teaching in a barren class with maybe a picture of Taras Sheshanko, the poetlaurette of Ukraine and some spider plants (another favorite classroom accruement).
But, as the saying goes, the only constant in life is change. I returned from IST (Peace Corps jargon for in service training) in Kyiv mid-February. The day I returned my counterpart told me that she was offered a job translating documents at the local factory (it's the economic and political powerhouse of north Crimea) and decided to take it. She had applied more than a year ago and heard nothing until now. We only had one week to straighten everything out before she was to start her new job. She didn't even get a day off from school. She stopped teaching Feb 28th and began her new job March 1st! She needed to get signatures from the school and the school board, in affect granting her permission to take this new job. It was only a paperwork technicality she explained to me, but that didn't make it any less bizarre. Also, the board of education, or really any place of employment apparently, keeps records of your work history. Here, they are responsible for keeping track of your resume, and because that is the case, only their records have any legitimacy regarding employment history. Interesting difference.
Then, that same week (it was a busy one) the English teacher who had kindly agreed to attend the Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony (as is the new custom in Ukraine) and accompanied me back to Crimea, because my counterpart was too sick to come, got sick herself. She has been on indefinite sick leave for the past month. So now we are down to three, including myself.
One is semi-retired and teaches part time. Some of the most fascinating conversations I've had in Ukraine, I've had with her. Her English is pretty good- a successful product of the soviet educational system. Her story is a sad one, like so many of her generation (she is about 65). She is from Donesk, a major industrial city of the Ukrainian east. Born there but of Russian descent. They moved to Crimea after World War II, which in the Post-Soviet world is referred to as the Great Patriotic War. I get the impression that her husband was someone of importance in the Party. He died some years ago, don't know how many exactly, and she has remained in Armyansk, teaching at School #1. I also get the impression that she feels that she is "too big for her britches" here in Armyansk. She thinks that most Armyanskians are bad because they are decedents from prisoners who were moved here to build the city after the war. This is her explanation for why some of our students are so misbehaved in class. Even though she is from the east, she is very much for European integration and thinks whole-heartedly that Ukraine should be in NATO. She supported Yushenko (the current president of Ukraine and continues to support him and his party, despite his seemingly declining support here, especially in the Russian-oriented Ukrainian east and south.
The last teacher is my new counterpart. She teaches part time at School #1 and part-time at a satellite of a Yalta based institute. She is a year older than me and her English is also very good. She lives with her parents, like many Ukrainians are age who aren't married yet. She has a certain confidence and attitude that I cant help but admire. Her dedication to teaching is inspiring. I am very much looking forward to working with her.
And then there is me. I am the only full time English teacher left. Now that my original counterpart has left school, I finally have my own classroom. I've added some maps and pictures of America to the walls. I always have flip charts of newly acquired phrases up as well. Now that the winter is just about over (knock on wood), the students are well again and out of quarantine. All the classes now come to me, although it has taken some getting used to, I think they like their new surroundings. So much visual stimulation, who wouldn't?


Part II

So okay...now that you have the background. I can describe my 'typical' day with more clarity. I hope. I get to school, it's only a 10-minute walk, and as I approach school, I am inundated with numerous morning greetings- Hello! Good Morning! Dobre Otra! Zsdratszhitche! How do you do? What is your name? Sometimes even "My name is Sasha"! After I enter the building, I go to the key closet. This is where the ladies in charge of the keys sit and work. There is also a phone there. That phone and the one in the director's office are the only phones in the entire school. I sign out my key after more morning greetings with the maintenance ladies (janitors really, but they are all women and it is considered a woman's profession here) who are in charge of the keys. They relentlessly clean the school- mopping and sweeping-all day. Then I go to the maintenance closet down the hall and wash my boots off in the sink. Ukrainians are meticulous about having clean shoes. My counterpart says that this is because the people who have to clean the floor want to do as little work as possible because they earn so little money so there is no incentive to want to work. It is also a cultural thing of always looking very put together and very clean. Even if you haven't showered in a week, your clothes will appear clean. Including your shoes. So I clean my shoes and head to the teacher's room down the hall. I hang my jacket there, I can hang it in my room, but this gives me an excuse to go and talk to the other teachers. I don't want to isolate myself more than I already am being a foreigner, an American, and one of 3 English teachers. I hang my coat, chat a little, and check the schedule to make sure there are no changes. Always wishful thinking, but recently, my schedule as remained more consistent after my CP (counterpart) spoke to the vice principal, or Zavuch as the position is called in Russian.
I then head upstairs; my classroom is on the third floor, the last classroom on the right side of the hall. Unlike most schools in Ukraine, there is one central staircase in the middle of the building. This gives the school a central meeting place. Sometimes it gets a little crowded during breaks, but I like the communal feel of it. So I go up the stairs to my classroom, unpack my bag, and straighten the mess of my desk that has inevitably been left a mess from my last lesson. I get my materials and flip charts ready for my upcoming lesson and then wait for my students to come.
When I first started teaching here, the other English teachers were in the room with me while I taught because in affect, I was teaching their class. Now that I'm more on my own, I teach by myself often and I like it much better. I don't feel as much pressure. The kids don't behave as well, because many of them don't consider me a 'real' teacher, but it's a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. The students frequently don't understand me, but we work together, and eventually we work it out. I don't like to speak Russian in class for numerous reasons. I don't want the students to speak to me in Russian, which inevitably happens, it's good practice for them to try to find the English word. Often they will ask me in Russian and I will answer in English. They know that I can understand them, but I try to keep their understanding of my knowledge of Russian fuzzy. Tricky I know, but helpful. Our language barrier, some of it falsely created on my part, is helpful in developing creative thinking. I like to think so at least. I challenge them to think outside the box, which may not sound very revolutionary, but when all other lessons focus on memorization, repetition, and conformity, here they get a chance to think for themselves in some sort of creative capacity.
Now, I am teaching one class of 4th formers. They are 9 and 10 years old. They are adorable and make me very happy, not only because their enthusiasm for learning is more genuine than any other class, but also because these kids were born in an independent, post-soviet Ukraine, where change and progress grow as they do. I teach several classes of 5th form. These kids are a bit more rambunctious, but still cute so its hard for me to get annoyed by them. Their English is better than most of the 9th and 11th formers I also teach. I teach a class of 7th formers. Their English isn't bad either, not great, but again better than their older peers. As the forms grow older however, their behavior gets worse. I think it's just the age- 13,14,15. They don't want to pay attention, they just want to talk on their cell phones (which they all have) or to each other and often they write notes back and forth. Like any teenager, any where in the world. The 8th form is by far my biggest challenge. They can understand much, but they have no conversational ability because everything built up to where they are was based on grammar technicalities and memorizations. No practical use whatsoever. This is where my job comes in, but their behavior is horrible and I am not respected at all as a teacher. This makes my task extremely difficult at times. The 9th form is a good group, their English isn't very good either, but they are better behaved and easier to handle than the 8th form. My counterpart tells me that sometimes you just have to sit them down and make them do assignments from the book- translations, readings, questions, ect. But I am stubborn and want to try the fun communicative approaches to learning with them. Besides that's what they do with the other English teachers and I want my classes to be different and interesting to them, otherwise why I am here?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1144790820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1144790820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1144790820/tpod.html Thu, 13 Apr 2006 04:54:43 -0400 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Tel Aviv, Israel

On vacation visiting Carrie in Israel...

Here are some pictures of Jerusalem.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1142237280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1142237280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1142237280/tpod.html Thu, 13 Apr 2006 03:09:59 -0400 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armyansk, Ukraine

A Typical Day at School #1

Part I
I really don't want to call this entry, "a typical day at school", because a day at School #1 is never 'typical'. Actually, no day in Ukraine is ever typical. Inconsistency is consistency. If you can accept that, life here becomes much easier to adjust to. Or at least it helps.
Anyway, I began teaching January 11th. For three months, I have been coming to school everyday to work. Up until two weeks ago, I was on a two week rotating schedule, teaching anywhere from three to five 45 minute lessons per day. I was being equally rotated among the four other English teachers so, ideally, I could share my communicative teaching methods with all of them. It was a good way to get to know the students and all the different forms (classes or grades) I would be teaching on a more permanent basis next year.
School begins at 8:30, or rather than is when the second bell rings, indicating the start of the first lesson. I normally get there by 8:10 to have time to gather the necessary materials and do some last minute lesson planning. More often than not, I would take my teaching aids and head over to the class I would be teaching. I was promised my first week that I would have my own classroom, and students would come to me. This ended up being the case, but not for a few months.
During the winter, many of the students were sick with 'grip' (Russian for flu). Many others, I learned consequently, had German measles. These forms would be "quarantined" in their home rooms and teachers would have to come to them. This isn't unusual for Ukrainian schools. Teachers normally go to the students, science and language subjects being the exception. Although some classes are equipped with ample portraits of old Ukrainian and Russian writers and poets... so perhaps literature classes too. Who knows really? So despite the fact that there are two English classrooms-both equipped to the max with maps, flags, and pictures of the English speaking world, not to mention a plethora of English flip charts I've made for subsequent lessons, I often found myself teaching in a barren class with maybe a picture of Taras Sheshanko, the poetlaurette of Ukraine and some spider plants (another favorite classroom accruement).
But, as the saying goes, the only constant in life is change. I returned from IST (Peace Corps jargon for in service training) in Kyiv mid-February. The day I returned my counterpart told me that she was offered a job translating documents at the local factory (it's the economic and political powerhouse of north Crimea) and decided to take it. She had applied more than a year ago and heard nothing until now. We only had one week to straighten everything out before she was to start her new job. She didn't even get a day off from school. She stopped teaching Feb 28th and began her new job March 1st! She needed to get signatures from the school and the school board, in affect granting her permission to take this new job. It was only a paperwork technicality she explained to me, but that didn't make it any less bizarre. Also, the board of education, or really any place of employment apparently, keeps records of your work history. Here, they are responsible for keeping track of your resume, and because that is the case, only their records have any legitimacy regarding employment history. Interesting difference.
Then, that same week (it was a busy one) the English teacher who had kindly agreed to attend the Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony (as is the new custom in Ukraine) and accompanied me back to Crimea, because my counterpart was too sick to come, got sick herself. She has been on indefinite sick leave for the past month. So now we are down to three, including myself.
One is semi-retired and teaches part time. Some of the most fascinating conversations I've had in Ukraine, I've had with her. Her English is pretty good- a successful product of the soviet educational system. Her story is a sad one, like so many of her generation (she is about 65). She is from Donesk, a major industrial city of the Ukrainian east. Born there but of Russian descent. They moved to Crimea after World War II, which in the Post-Soviet world is referred to as the Great Patriotic War. I get the impression that her husband was someone of importance in the Party. He died some years ago, don't know how many exactly, and she has remained in Armyansk, teaching at School #1. I also get the impression that she feels that she is "too big for her britches" here in Armyansk. She thinks that most Armyanskians are bad because they are decedents from prisoners who were moved here to build the city after the war. This is her explanation for why some of our students are so misbehaved in class. Even though she is from the east, she is very much for European integration and thinks whole-heartedly that Ukraine should be in NATO. She supported Yushenko (the current president of Ukraine and continues to support him and his party, despite his seemingly declining support here, especially in the Russian-oriented Ukrainian east and south.
The last teacher is my new counterpart. She teaches part time at School #1 and part-time at a satellite of a Yalta based institute. She is a year older than me and her English is also very good. She lives with her parents, like many Ukrainians are age who aren't married yet. She has a certain confidence and attitude that I cant help but admire. Her dedication to teaching is inspiring. I am very much looking forward to working with her.
And then there is me. I am the only full time English teacher left. Now that my original counterpart has left school, I finally have my own classroom. I've added some maps and pictures of America to the walls. I always have flip charts of newly acquired phrases up as well. Now that the winter is just about over (knock on wood), the students are well again and out of quarantine. All the classes now come to me, although it has taken some getting used to, I think they like their new surroundings. So much visual stimulation, who wouldn't?


Part II

So okay...now that you have the background. I can describe my 'typical' day with more clarity. I hope. I get to school, it's only a 10-minute walk, and as I approach school, I am inundated with numerous morning greetings- Hello! Good Morning! Dobre Otra! Zsdratszhitche! How do you do? What is your name? Sometimes even "My name is Sasha"! After I enter the building, I go to the key closet. This is where the ladies in charge of the keys sit and work. There is also a phone there. That phone and the one in the director's office are the only phones in the entire school. I sign out my key after more morning greetings with the maintenance ladies (janitors really, but they are all women and it is considered a woman's profession here) who are in charge of the keys. They relentlessly clean the school- mopping and sweeping-all day. Then I go to the maintenance closet down the hall and wash my boots off in the sink. Ukrainians are meticulous about having clean shoes. My counterpart says that this is because the people who have to clean the floor want to do as little work as possible because they earn so little money so there is no incentive to want to work. It is also a cultural thing of always looking very put together and very clean. Even if you haven't showered in a week, your clothes will appear clean. Including your shoes. So I clean my shoes and head to the teacher's room down the hall. I hang my jacket there, I can hang it in my room, but this gives me an excuse to go and talk to the other teachers. I don't want to isolate myself more than I already am being a foreigner, an American, and one of 3 English teachers. I hang my coat, chat a little, and check the schedule to make sure there are no changes. Always wishful thinking, but recently, my schedule as remained more consistent after my CP (counterpart) spoke to the vice principal, or Zavuch as the position is called in Russian.
I then head upstairs; my classroom is on the third floor, the last classroom on the right side of the hall. Unlike most schools in Ukraine, there is one central staircase in the middle of the building. This gives the school a central meeting place. Sometimes it gets a little crowded during breaks, but I like the communal feel of it. So I go up the stairs to my classroom, unpack my bag, and straighten the mess of my desk that has inevitably been left a mess from my last lesson. I get my materials and flip charts ready for my upcoming lesson and then wait for my students to come.
When I first started teaching here, the other English teachers were in the room with me while I taught because in affect, I was teaching their class. Now that I'm more on my own, I teach by myself often and I like it much better. I don't feel as much pressure. The kids don't behave as well, because many of them don't consider me a 'real' teacher, but it's a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. The students frequently don't understand me, but we work together, and eventually we work it out. I don't like to speak Russian in class for numerous reasons. I don't want the students to speak to me in Russian, which inevitably happens, it's good practice for them to try to find the English word. Often they will ask me in Russian and I will answer in English. They know that I can understand them, but I try to keep their understanding of my knowledge of Russian fuzzy. Tricky I know, but helpful. Our language barrier, some of it falsely created on my part, is helpful in developing creative thinking. I like to think so at least. I challenge them to think outside the box, which may not sound very revolutionary, but when all other lessons focus on memorization, repetition, and conformity, here they get a chance to think for themselves in some sort of creative capacity.
Now, I am teaching one class of 4th formers. They are 9 and 10 years old. They are adorable and make me very happy, not only because their enthusiasm for learning is more genuine than any other class, but also because these kids were born in an independent, post-soviet Ukraine, where change and progress grow as they do. I teach several classes of 5th form. These kids are a bit more rambunctious, but still cute so its hard for me to get annoyed by them. Their English is better than most of the 9th and 11th formers I also teach. I teach a class of 7th formers. Their English isn't bad either, not great, but again better than their older peers. As the forms grow older however, their behavior gets worse. I think it's just the age- 13,14,15. They don't want to pay attention, they just want to talk on their cell phones (which they all have) or to each other and often they write notes back and forth. Like any teenager, any where in the world. The 8th form is by far my biggest challenge. They can understand much, but they have no conversational ability because everything built up to where they are was based on grammar technicalities and memorizations. No practical use whatsoever. This is where my job comes in, but their behavior is horrible and I am not respected at all as a teacher. This makes my task extremely difficult at times. The 9th form is a good group, their English isn't very good either, but they are better behaved and easier to handle than the 8th form. My counterpart tells me that sometimes you just have to sit them down and make them do assignments from the book- translations, readings, questions, ect. But I am stubborn and want to try the fun communicative approaches to learning with them. Besides that's what they do with the other English teachers and I want my classes to be different and interesting to them, otherwise why I am here?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1142700360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1142700360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1142700360/tpod.html Sat, 18 Mar 2006 12:24:41 -0500 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armyansk, Ukraine

Last weekend, my dad came to Crimea to visit me. It was a quick trip,and a bit surreal, but fabulous!

With our guide, we hit some of most important sites to see in eastern Crimea in one day. We saw Sevastopal, Bataclava, Chersonis, and Backhchisarai. We visited an ancient monestary that was literally built into the side of a mountain in Chafut-Kale, home to the Karaim Jews in the 14th century. We drove by natural cave cities, Tatar refugee camps, and snakeholes used by both the Russian and German armies durring World War II. We saw where the battles of Bataclava and Inkerman where fought during the Crimean War, now home to wineries and summer resorts. It was an exhausting, but fasintating trip.

For anyone reading this out there, I highly recommond our guide, Eugene. He was prompt, his english is great, and he is a walking encyclopdea of crimea.

I've posted his info here:

Eugene Glibin
ApartmentsInCrimea.com
Sevastopol, Ukraine
cell phone +38(050)6696635
telephone +38(0692)476178
www.apartmentsincrimea.com

Enjoy the pics!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140438300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140438300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140438300/tpod.html Wed, 22 Feb 2006 08:53:12 -0500 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armyansk, Ukraine

just some pics
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140616200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140616200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140616200/tpod.html Wed, 22 Feb 2006 08:51:26 -0500 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armyansk, Ukraine

Serving in the Peace Corps can be a truly humbling experience. I just
watched from my kitchen window, on the top floor of my fifth floor
soviet bloc apartment, a few people rummage through the garbage
dumpsters. I've watched this scene a few times since coming to
Armyansk- a few people- mostly older men and women sad to say- go
through the garbage. I'm not really sure what they are looking for in
particular, people here rarely throw something away that isn't
completely soiled/ruined/broken beyond repair. But today, a man, who
thought his female companion had had enough, restrained her from
continuing her search and her increasing hostile demeanor with a
fellow garbage hunter. He tried to guide her away, but the woman, who
apparently had more vigor than I would've given her credit, slapped
the man in the face. Then (as the man stood stunned) she charged back
to the dumpster, continued to dig, and had some more words with her
adversary. The man pulled himself together and grabbed the woman. He
dragged her away, not without struggle, but was successful this time
around. Then a minute later maybe, a teenage boy emerged, grabbed some
plastic bags that were leaning on the dumpsters, threw them over his
soldier, and followed the man and woman whom had since disappeared
behind the next building.

Just wanted to share that, no serious insights to be had today...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140616080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140616080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1140616080/tpod.html Wed, 22 Feb 2006 08:50:24 -0500 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armyansk, Ukraine

This weekend, the enormity and difficulty of my task here finally
sunk in. One year, two peace corps trainings, and five host families
later, this is realized. You get to experience what it's like to
really live in a developing country, not just as a tourist passing by,
but as an actual member of a community, and if your lucky, a family as
well. On a good day, you'll be so immersed in your work and new life
that the fact you are a foreigner wont really cross your mind, and you
wont notice if it crosses anyone else's.

But on a bad day, you'll feel more out of place than a Sox fan at
Yankee Stadium. When the bad days hit, they hit hard. Loneliness,
boredom, and the existential questions "who am I and why I am here?"
pop in and out of your head constantly. You remind yourself you
aren't James B. Stockdale- you're a Peace Corps Volunteer up for
(mis)adventures, some cross-cultural exchanges, and even a hand at
sustainable development. That today was terrible for you because you
couldn't communicate with your host family and you feel as though
you've offended them…again, or something fell through at school, or
you just really missed having Sunday brunch with good friends while
reading the *current paper- doesn't really matter in the long run. In
one day, this is all of course mentally exhausting, but, if you are
able to let go and allow yourself foresight into the bigger picture,
this one bad day, in the scope of your life and the lives around you,
wont matter much. Advice that is much easier said than done.
You may think that it doesn't matter that you are here. Your students
don't appreciate the work you put in preparing their lessons and your
host family barely makes conversation. But, despite all this, the
fact that you're here does matter very much to someone somewhere.
Perhaps you can't see that now, but after this whole experience is
over, I bet you will. This is at least what I say to myself.
So to anyone who thought that these two years in Peace Corps could
serve as a paid vacation by the US government, a time to catch up on
some reading, or as Stewie (from Family Guy) describes it, a time to
"teach English for a while, but really, learn more about myself,"is
utterly mistaken. I am not saying it cannot be a mixture of these
things, but a relaxing vacation it certainly isn't.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1137054180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1137054180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1137054180/tpod.html Mon, 20 Feb 2006 07:43:38 -0500 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armiansk, Ukraine

Stroll in the Park…

Today I went to the park. I have been walking past it for the past two weeks (I cant believe I can say “a few weeks ago already”…!) but because it is sort of hidden and there are always such few people around, it almost seems forbidden to venture in.

Which of course makes we want to see it even more.

I am always up for an adventure and today was no exception. I quickly walked across the icey street into the desolate park. It’s early january and it had snowed last night so there were a few inches of snow on the ground. This part of the park gets so few visitors that by the time I got there pas 1pm, my footsteps on the path were fresh in the snow. I walked down the path towards a big monument and stared a while, taking the scene in bit by bit.

I’ve never seen a monument quiet like this one, and since making it a habbit of living in the former Soviet Union, I have seen my fair share of soviet, propaganda-driven memorials. This one seemed a bit more dilapitated and it struck me as quite a contradiction.

It’s a big one with lots going on. What catches the eye first is a very tall, standing statue of a soldier (maybe 12 ft or higher) looking solemnly ahead. To his left is a stone carving of soldiers with guns and flags advancing towards battle. To the left of that is a wall with about 10 plaques, one missing (!), reading 30-40 names each. The years 1941 and 1945 are written in cracked red paint on both sides of the plaque wall. Bellow all of this are three stone rectangels on the ground, almost like a raised grave- now all covered in show, but their outlines visable. One has a big, five-pinted soviet red star on top, the other has just an outline of where one formly was, and one has overgrown weeds popping out from the snow that covers it, weeds that pretty much strangle the entire monument.

I tried to imagine what it had first looked like when it was built, soon after WWII, otherwise known here as the Great Patriotic War, sixty-one years ago- when the USSR could rejoice in the prestige of victory and its new powerful position in the world.

But now, you read the names on the plaques and you see traces of flowers left at the foot of the monument before the snow fell, and you cant help but think that these soldiers fought so bravely and sacrifised so much for a society that no longer exists. This monument honors those who died for a country that can no longer honor them without facing major controversy, for a socialist cause that is out of fashion, in a region that is torn between two countries simultaneously running in different directions. For those that fought for independence and fighting still for democracy and for a truly free market economy, what monument, if any, will they resurrect for them? In less than a century will you be able to visit it, and think it an anachronism for a ideolgies and poltical systems long spent?

I thought of this for several minutes, but then it started to get cold so I walked on. I walked behind the monument, following sled trails and the sounds of kids playing in the sno. I found a big hill where a grandfather pushed his grandson on a sled. Where some older kids were snowboarding- when I walked passed them, they shouted “good morning!” the faithful greeting of adolescents no matter what the real time is- I replied and said good morning back.

I turned and looked at my new home- I saw a skyline of soviet bloc housing, a few smokestacks, the hotel in town with its antennas and satillites scattered on the roof, and the very tall, leafles trees that surrounded it all. The sun was trying to break through the clouds but it was no use, it began to flurry again. I got reminded of the cold again so I continued to walk through the park, to the center of town, and eventually to my new home where I knew a hot cup of tea was waiting for me.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1136543160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1136543160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jessteichuz/pc_ukraine/1136543160/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jan 2006 04:13:54 -0500 Peace Corps Part II: Ukraine

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Armiansk, Ukraine

assorted pics...enjoy!
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