I'm reviewing the situation*

Two funny anecdotes from this week about the problems of misperception:

On Tuesday, I was talking with Serhii Danilovitch, the music teacher at school. We were discussing everything from my fast-approaching departure to the European Union. He said to me, "Two years ago, when you came to Balaklia with a lot of luggage [suitcase, duffel, heater, backpack, computer bag, and I don't remember what else], we all thought, 'Oh, she brought all sorts of clothes...the latest in American fashions.' But instead, you had books and a laptop!" I laughed. "Yeah, I brought teaching supplies, because I knew it would be hard to find English books." "Who needs a lot of clothes anyway?" he said. It was funny, because anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to my priorities, books rank much, much higher than clothes...but that's not the stereotype that people here see in American pop culture. So that made me happy, that I've helped break down the idea that all Americans are highly fashion-conscious.

Although I do wonder if some of my girls were actually disappointed that I didn't have all sorts of new fashionable clothes.

The other story goes back to when Brandi was here. I was at school one day, when the secretary came down to the teachers' room and said, "Your landlady's coming by to get the key to your apartment." Land gentry (to use the term that Tif and I coined) in Ukraine can come into your apartment whenever they please...they don't have to give advance notice nor make sure that you're there. The landlady didn't come, and half an hour later, the secretary came back down and said, "You need to go home. The landlady called again and said that there's someone there who won't let her in." Knowing that Brandi was home, I thought that there must have been some sort of communication breakdown, so I headed home. Three-quarters of the way there, I met Brandi coming to school to get me. She had, in fact, told the landlady through gestures and a phrasebook that she and her male companion could come in, but the woman had seemed very upset about something. Brandi had tried to say that I'd be home soon and that she could go get me, but the woman didn't seem to understand anything that she was trying to get across. Brandi thought that perhaps I was getting evicted so that my landlady's son could move into the apartment.

By the time I got to the apartment, the landlady and her companion were gone. The across-the-hall neighbor assured me that I wasn't getting evicted, but I didn't understand what she said about what had actually happened. And therein ended Chapter One.

Yesterday morning, I ran into my friend Natalia at the bazaar. She apparently knows my landlady's family, and said that in fact, it had been my landlady's daughter-in-law who had come to scope out the place because they're moving in at some point after I leave in December. The daughter-in-law had never met me, and therefore assumed that Brandi was me. Apparently she said to Natalia that she was confused, because she thought I knew at least rudimentary Russian/Ukrainian, and she couldn't figure out how on earth I managed to teach the kids at school when I all I could say in Russian was, "I don't understand." I know that Brandi tried to let her know that I was at school, but if she had already made up her mind that Brandi was me, I guess Brandi's talk of school probably confused her all the more.

So there you have it...why you should always make sure of your facts before drawing conclusions!

*Bonus points to whoever knows what musical my post title is from.

Brandi's visit (and a bit about Oleh Y)

Recap of Brandi's visit:

~Saturday: We went up to Kharkiv, went out to lunch at my favorite Italian place, and wandered around the city. In the evening, we stopped by the Yukhemetses' house to celebrate Vlada's birthday (which was Tuesday). Unfortunately, Spunky, the Y's little yappy dog, didn't realize that Brandi is actually fairly harmless, especially to dogs, and bit her on the arm. She's fine, although she ended up with a bit of a nasty-looking bruise.

~Sunday: The two of us, along with a group from our church, went down to Saventsi (about half an hour away) for the ten-year anniversary of the church there. We sang "You Are My All in All" in English and sat through a three and a half hour church service. (When Viktor asked me later why we only sang one song, I told him that we didn't want the service to go any longer!) However, it was a nice service, and encouraging to hear how the church has grown from 22 to 45 members. Which, for a village in eastern Ukraine, is awesome to hear!

~Monday: School was not the best--my 11th form slacked off, and I had tears in both my 7th and 8th form classes. The 7th form girl cried because she didn't want to sit where I told her, and the 8th form girl cried because Oleh Yukhemets had hit her. I don't know who or what started it. That night, Viktor, Nadia, and I all talked with Oleh, and he denied it happening. He's really being difficult lately, and it's frustrating for Viktor and Nadia. Prayers for him and them would be deeply appreciated.

After school (Brandi stayed home and raided my bookshelves), we went over to the Y's to visit and do laundry. We played Uno and Go Fish with the kids. The kids, especially Oleh, really tried to use the English they know (I'm learning how you can be both disappointed in and proud of a kid all in the same day).

Yesterday and today, I've taught and Brandi's done her own thing during the day, and tonight we head up to Kharkiv and from there to Kyiv. If you think of us tomorrow, please pray, as Brandi begins her 33 hour bus ride back to Germany and I take the GRE!

massive update

Um. Yeah. I haven't posted in almost two weeks.

Would it help if I told you that I was at COS Conference and didn't have computer access, and then when I got back to Balaklia, I was trying to get ready for school and Brandi's visit, and now school's started and Brandi's actually here?

Yeah, I didn't think so. You're a tough audience, you guys.

[This blog post was interrupted by a conversation between Brandi and I about who would play me in a movie in which, similar to Joan of Arc, I heard crackers and peanut butter calling my name, led France (or maybe Ukraine) into battle, was burned at the stake, and was eventually canonized as a saint. My options were Angelina Jolie and Drew Barrymore. I voted for the latter. I'm sure it'll be a box office hit.]

So anyhow...when I last posted, I was in the charming city of Uzhgorod, on the Ukrainian/Hungarian/Slovakian border. While there, I went to an evening worship session of a conference about Messianic Judaism, complete with lots of dancing and songs in Hebrew. The next morning, I went to the Methodist church. I met an American missionary (from Traverse City...small world!), who told me that the church has two services--the morning service, which I attended, was geared more towards "recovering Orthodox", with an accapella choir, while the evening service had a lot of young people and was more charismatic in nature, which I hadn't expected from a Methodist church.

COS Conference...wow. I don't even know where to begin. Out of the 116 people who left Chicago to come to Ukraine (115 made it, we left one in Frankfurt when she lost her passport), 74 are still here. I saw people I hadn't seen since our swearing-in ceremony. We sat through all sorts of sessions on finishing up our service here and looking ahead to post-PC life (does it exist?), hung out past midnight talking, and tried to realize that our time here is coming to a close.

One of my favorite experiences from COS Conference was riding a chair lift up a mountain and back, 40 minutes each way. At the top, we got off and walked around, enjoying the view of more mountains with little villages tucked into the valleys. However, it started off less than wonderfully--Mona, the girl I was in the chair with, and I couldn't get our lap bar down for almost five minutes, so we were each trying to pull it down with one hand while holding on tight with the other. Fortunately, we finally got it down and then were able to properly appreciate the mountain beneath us without worrying that we'd fall out and make its personal (painful) acquaintance.

From the conference, I spent an afternoon in L'viv (as beautiful as ever), took a 22-hour train ride back to Kharkiv, and arrived home in Balaklia on Friday evening, just in time to go to the First Bell ceremony the next day celebrating the beginning of school. At First Bell, the students always give the teachers flowers, and at the end of the day, I had 28 roses and 7 chrysanthemums. Seriously. I doubt I'll ever get 28 roses on one day again!

School has been a bit topsy-turvey this week. Our zavuch, or assistant principal, decided to step down from her role that she's had for the last umpteen years and go back to only being a physics teacher. (She's seemed happier this week than I've ever seen her...just smiling and smiling...) The administration's known this all summer, but they hadn't found anyone to take over her responsibilities...such as making the class schedule for the school. So on Monday morning, we didn't have a schedule past that day nor anyone in charge of making it. However, by the end of the school day, Olha Ivanivna, who is the other English teacher and also the zavuch in charge of organizing parties and concerts, decided to take on the task for One Year Only, and one of the Ukrainian language/lit teachers took over her position. So we've had a day-by-day schedule for this week only as Olha Ivanivna is learning her new position and trying to do the permanent schedule, which is not computerized, but instead has to be all worked out on paper. And we all keep popping in her office to see what classes we're supposed to be teaching and when. Poor woman. She said today that she hasn't really been sleeping and she sees numbers in front of her eyes all the time.

Brandi arrived at 3:45 on Tuesday morning after traveling 48 hours by bus and train from Germany through Poland to Kyiv and then to Balaklia. We've had a good time catching up on each other's lives and discussing the pros and cons of our respective apartments--she has hot water, but I have high speed Internet; I have a lot more space, but she has hot water, etc. She's come to school with me and gotten acquainted with my kids. I have my 11A form 5 times a week (in hopes of getting them ready for exams), so today and yesterday I sent them out in the hall in small groups of 2-3 students to practice talking with a native speaker. I was a little worried, but apparently they spoke English (even the ones I didn't think knew how!) and were polite. Yay!

the beginnings of the GRE saga, plus a lot of other stuff

Happiness is seven new CDs of music--one of a Ukrainian rock group "Jeremiah's Tears" that I bought in L'viv, three country/oldies mixes from Tif, and three of Ukrainian/Russian Christian music that I got from my neighbors in the dorm at DCU. I'm still uploading the latter group into iTunes, mostly because it takes a while to get the Russian and Ukrainian song info typed up correctly (yes, I am a stickler for properness and like it to be in the correct alphabet; yes, I have a little cheat sheet for what the computer keys become when I put the Ukrainian settings on; no, I can't type as fast in Ukrainian as I can in English...not yet, anyway, but I've gotten much better at it). Currently I'm listening to a choir from Kyiv singing hymns in Russian (the current one is "We praise Thee, O God"); I'm excited because I've known pretty much every song they've sung so far, but a teensy bit sad that they're in Russian and not Ukrainian and I know the Ukrainian versions better. Guess I'll have to break out my Russian hymnal and practice.

Please keep the Yukhemets family in your prayers--I called Nadia this afternoon to see if I could go over and do laundry and she told me that Viktor is taking Valera to Kyiv for a couple weeks for treatment on his eyes (he doesn't see well but neither does he like to wear his glasses). So both prayers for them traveling and for Nadia with the other nine kids at home. And Nadia suggested that another day--any other day--might be better for me to come over. :)

~*~

Update on where I'm at these days, life-wise:

Basically, I'll be around Balaklia (as far I know) until the last week of August, when I head out west for COS (Close of Service) Conference for PC, where I'll get to see everyone who's left from Group 29 and get info about finishing up my time here.

I start teaching at the beginning of September, which is also going to be a busy month, company-wise, as Brandi's coming to visit me for a week or so, plus another friend from college might be visiting (more on that later if it actually works out).

My official COS date is December 13, and I assume I'll be coming home around that time, give or take a few days either way for the best deal on plane tickets (PC offers either a ticket to your home airport--Grand Rapids, not Lakeview!--or money for you to get your own ticket; it's usually more cost-effective to take the latter) and if Jason and I can time it so I could fly into Chicago when he's on his way back to Michigan from grad school in Wisconsin and drive back together (tickets are much cheaper into O'Hare than into any Michigan airports).

Then, I have Christmas and adjusting-back-into-US-life time, which will probably involve trying to spend time with lots of people and finding a car and learning how to drive in Michigan winters all over again. My current plan is to live with my parents for a few months and substitute teach (one could say I'll be joining the family business, almost). After that, I'm looking into going to grad school for my Master's in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), most likely back at MSU.

So where does that leave me right now? Studying for the GRE, which I'm hoping to take in Kyiv in September. I took a practice test yesterday before I started reviewing, just to give me a sense of where I am, and, to no one's surprise (I expect), my verbal score was pretty high and my math score was not bad, but fairly mediocre, because I haven't even though about most math beyond the absolute basics since senior year of high school, and definitely not since statistics class in my first semester of college. So that's August's major plan: study for the GRE (in between neighbor kids coming over to play cards, which keeps happening).