birthday stories, teaching tales, and why I shouldn't have listened in Sunday School

My birthday celebrations continue...

On Friday, I had a birthday party with Marina (my host mom), her friend Valya, Nelya (my coordinator), Oksana Yaroslavivna (my director), and Luba (my host mom from my week-long visit back in November). It was rather like having a party with the Ukrainian version of the Red Hat Club. They all wished me health, wealth, and a handsome boyfriend, and then we all danced in the middle of the cafe. (My friend Teresa: "I love middle-aged women. I'm going to be one someday!") Then we went to a school dance at my school, where we all decided very quickly that we were too old for all the noise and hung out in the teachers' workroom. Except Valya, who ended up doctoring one of my ninth form girls who apparently threw up due to excessive alcohol consumption.

Saturday: went into Kharkiv and had lunch with Mike, Teresa, and Julianne at a cafe...afterwards, we ran into Nate and Sheila, so we went to the Irish Pub. Everyone else had their alcoholic beverage of choice and I had some rather tasty chocolate ice cream. Teresa gave me a gorgeous cashmere/silk blend scarf in shades of red and pink. I wore it to school today. :)

Sunday: a package from Mama Luda (my host mom from training) arrived in the mail...a bath towel, an umbrella, and a Snickers bar; plus a birthday card and little Bible verse cards from Shelly, a PCV friend near Lviv. I'm still waiting for my parents' present (which should arrive this week), so my birthday keeps going.

Teaching notes: it's Control week (sort of like mid-terms), so I have the joy of writing and administering tests. Not sure which is more depressing, the amount of notebooks I took away from the 9th formers peeking in them or the glimpse I caught of the tests as they handed them in.

Olia, one of my 5th formers, was not happy when she got her test back last Friday and walked out muttering in Ukrainian, "I don't like English." She's a sweetie, and when the co-teacher and I asked her why, she said that she didn't like learning new words. But today, apparently life was better, and she told me, "I like English!" (in Ukrainian) as she left.

I know too many Sunday School songs. At least, I know too many that come to mind with the specific grammatical construction I want to teach my students, and then I have to rewrite them to make them school-appropriate. Dad, be proud of my rewrites. :)

Original:

I'm gonna sing, sing, sing
I'm gonna shout, shout, shout
I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna shout
Praise the Lord!
When those gates swing open wide
I'll be sittin' at Jesus' side
I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna shout
Praise the Lord!

Modified version (used to teach "going to" as future tense"):

I'm going to sing, sing, sing
I'm going to shout, shout, shout
I'm going to sing, I'm going to shout
Hooray!
When my lessons will be done
I'll be having lots of fun
I'm going to sing, I'm going to shout
Hooray!

I feel I've done the original a disservice. But I can't see it being approved by Peace Corps... :)