I actually slept on the train!

Arrived in Kyiv at 7:14 this morning. I traveled 2nd class on the train instead of 3rd class this time, and it was decidedly an improvement over 3rd class...the bed was more comfortable, and it was much quieter. For roughly 20 hryven more, it's worth it.

I ran into the mom of the one family who I know who I thought didn't want me teaching their kids on Thursday, and, sort of nervously, I asked her what had happened. ("Nelya Ivaninva said that Oksana Yaroslavivna said that you said that you didn't want me teaching your kids...is this true?) It turns out that there were some miscommunications, they'd had a bad experience with Nelya and thought that we were a package deal, and that they didn't have anything against me. Which makes me feel so much better about the whole situation, as my feelings had been hurt. Relationship restored, and all is good in the world (at least all is good in this situation). I think that God had His hand in the whole situation...although I'm sad I lost two classes, the kids I have now I think will be more inclined to work hard and learn English.

Yesterday was the Day of Health, otherwise known in the US as Field Day. Everyone from 5th form on up walked about a mile or so out into the fields at the edge of town, over a bridge, and ended up at the edge of the woods. Then there were sports competitions and football (US soccer). Each class had its own campfire, and we made kasha, which translates as "porridge", but is really cooked grain with meat and potatoes and peppers and egg and who-knows-what-all-else thrown in there. It was delicious...I asked for the recipe, and everyone told me that it's never as good when you make it at home as opposed to in the woods.

I hung out at the 9b campfire (Nelya's form) for most of the time, chatting with our zavuch (vice-principal), who had to once again rewrite our schedule, as two teachers are going to be gone for recertification courses. She's worked at our school since 1969, and told me that when I go back to the US, I should find a school where I like my coworkers and stay there, rather than hop from school to school.

I also hung out with the 6a form, who shared cookies and lemonade with me and insisted that I try their kasha, which they assured me was the best. They were yelling cheers back and forth with the 6b form about who had the best kasha, so I helped them do some in English. And then they said, "Let's sing in English," so we sang some of the songs that we sing in class. It made me so happy that they wanted to!

The one weird part of the day for me was the gender separation. When the gym teacher told the kids the plans for the day, she said, "Boys play football. Girls cook kasha." I asked Olga Ivanivna, the other English teacher, if the girls were going to play football later. She said no, but that they could play with the boys if they wanted to. Of course, none of them did. It didn't seem fair...girls can play football, and boys should know how to cook kasha as well.

Oh, and we have a supermarket in Balaklia now! "Supermarket", in Ukraine, is a grocery store where you don't have to ask the woman behind the counter for everything but can instead take it off the shelves yourself...basically like a US store. It's very nice, and I'm sure I'll shop there a lot, but I felt a pang of sadness and curiousity as to what the next 20 years will bring to Ukraine. Is the move away from the bazaar to the supermarket an indicator of a culture that interacts with each other less?