To: Gymnasia N. 7

I put together this small presentation to express my gratitude for the teachers and students at Gymnasia N. 7 in Novoukrainka, Ukraine. This video is approximately 20 minutes long. Hope you enjoy seeing the faces of our school!

Love Natalie

Peace Corps Volunteer

(2008-2010)

Drinking Water Without Frogs, Please!

With the first three weeks of school under my belt, I finally feel back into the routine. I'm working with a new group of 4th graders (4th grade is usually the youngest I teach), and after each lesson with them, I'm reminded of how much of an actress I really am in the classroom - their excitement, but limited experience with the English language, make for interesting lessons! I was also shocked at the beginning of the school year with how tall some of my students have become - over ONE summer! It's been great working with the same students for the past two years... I've had the opportunity to watch them grow as a student and person. It will be so difficult when the goodbyes need to occur...

The first day of school (September 1st), our school had a celebration at the Palace of Culture. Below is a picture of three of my 11th grade students, who are welcoming the new 1st grade students and parents (standing in the background).




Here is a picture of Lena and me outside the Palace of Culture - with some of the flowers students gave us to welcome us to school!


After the celebrations, many teachers met at the local restaurant in town, so I joined them. Because Novoukrainka is such a small town, many students were also there. Here I am with Lena, one of my tenth grade students.


On September 2nd, I had some of my first lessons with students! Here are some goofy pictures from my 6th graders... yep, this is how my first day went!



Earlier this month, I went with some teachers to Kirovohrad (the larger city) to purchase some new physical education equipment, as part of the Sports Field Remodel grant we were awarded. Because I am usually on public transportation when we pass the 'Novoukrainka' sign, I asked the teachers to stop, and they graciously agreed so I could take some fun pics!



On September 11th, Novoukrainka celebrated their 'City Day' - sort of like a birthday of the establishment of the city, which occured 256 years ago! As a part of city day, my 7th grade students invited me to their soccer tournament. Here they are, preparing for their 'big' games...


Before the soccer games, a welcoming ceremony and army presentation were held. The army presentation really confused me... I'm not quite sure if the army was trying to recruit new soldiers or only show some of the acts they complete while in service. The presentation started out normal, with the soldiers displaying karate moves on each other. But then, from my perspective, it took a strange twist when soldiers began laying on broken glass bottles with their shirts off and having little kids jump on their stomachs. Or taking live frogs and ripping them apart and then throwing them into the audience! Luckily, I didn't get hit with a frog.


One of my favorite pictures with some of my 7th grade students, waiting for their turn to play, and the Ukrainian flag in the background. It was such a beautiful fall day!


Later in the evening, I met some friends at the Palace of Culture to see the concert and evening festivities to celebrate city day. Too bad I didn't need a haircut because many hairdressers were giving free demonstrations before the concert. Here's Dasha, one of my 9th grade students, taking advantage of a free-updo!



Luda (an English teacher at a different school), Lena, and me after watching the firework show and the beginning of the disco in the street!


Through conversations with other volunteers, there was an amazing grant opportunity brought to my attention through an organization back in the states. After reading the requirements and working with my school director and other teachers at school, we decided to submit two project ideas to see if we could receive funding to improve the water quality and sanitation at our school. Only yesterday, I received word from "Appropriate Projects" (http://www.appropriateprojects.com/) that one of our projects was approved! I'm still waiting to hear about the second project, but here's some more information about the two proposed projects:

The first project, which hasn't been approved at this point, involves remodeling the toilet facility at our school. Our school recently received a donation of new bricks, ceiling material, and other building material to rebuild to bathrooms. Then, with the funding of this grant, we would be able to purchase new toilets and have better sanitation within the toilets for students. See the pictures below for the current conditions:



The second project, which did receive approval and funding, involves making clean drinking water available to students and building handwashing stations in the school corridor to decrease the spread of bacteria among students. The picture below shows a student drinking out of the current "water fountain" - which consists of a tank that must be refilled each day with boiling water. Most students, especially the older students, do not use the tank because the mouth dispenser is broken, forcing students to place their mouth on the tank dispenser. With the funds from Appropriate Projects, we will be able to build two handwashing stations (which will include two new sinks, soap dispensers, and paper towels), as well as purchase and place two Crystal filters on the taps, which will allow the water to be drinkable! This is such an awesome opportunity and I can't even explain what this will mean to my students' health! This is when I can say, 'Wow' about my service...



Appropriate Projects is completing many projects world wide - please check out their website (http://www.appropriateprojects.com/) or even my personal project page at: http://appropriateprojects.com/node/364. Exciting stuff!


Last weekend was the Day of Kirovohrad - and my going-away part with other oblast volunteers. I couldn't have asked for a better send off... such great volunteers, kind words, and a lot of laughs wrapped up my time with them.






We celebrated at the nicest restaurant in Kirovohrad (and possibly one of the fanciest restaurants in Ukraine). We could only afford desserts and cocktails - but it was so delicious! I'll miss these amazing volunteers!


I'm not quite sure when I'll be returning home, but I'll update my blog when I have a better idea. This past month has been a great beginning to my transition of leaving Ukraine and re-entering the states. Peace Corps warns that 'reverse culture shock' (or reentry back to the states) will more than likely be more difficult of a transition than the initial 'culture shock' I experienced when I first moved to Ukraine. Not quite sure if I'm ready for this transition, but with supportive people both in Ukraine and back in the states, I'm ready for the next step.

Thanks for following,
Natalie

"Bringing an International Dimension to Education"

As Gymnasia N. 7 seeks to expand its connections with the world, we have been working on an application to work with a company called "Global Gateway" which seeks to 'bring an international dimension to education'. Our school will be linked with other schools around the world to learn more about how students study in other countries, and of course about their local traditions, customs, and general lifestyle. Lena and I (pictured below) have been working on the application process and will be submitting our final paperwork by the end of this week!

One component of the application process is to submit a short video to introduce the school. With a two-day deadline, Lena, students, and I worked quickly to finish a presentation. I wanted to share it with you!

For teachers who are interested in connecting with schools around the world, visit: http://www.globalgateway.org.uk/ AND, of course, the World Wise School program for teachers in the states (through Peace Corps) at: http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/

Best wishes!

Last Week of Summer Vacay...

Summer has officially ended... time to pull out the 'professional' clothes, plan lessons each day, and spend more time with students! FINALLY! I had a fabulous summer, but I'm definitely ready to get back into the routine of school. In preparation for school, I've been at school nearly every weekday to meet with teachers, work on grant projects, and catch up on the latest happenings in each others' lives.

We had a county meeting for all English teachers the week before classes started. Here are two teachers I work closely with everyday, both are named Lena:

After the English teachers' meeting, Lynae and I decided it was time for a mini-party together. We made our way to the 'hoppin' restaurant in town and consumed as much junk food as we could for five hours... there weren't any other customers, so there wasn't any social pressure for us to stop ;)

We also attended the regional meeting for all teachers - which was a packed event! It was great to honor so many teachers for the work they accomplished the previous year...

Here's a picture of me with some of my students. All three danced during the regional meeting.

The Novoukrainka District Educational Department recognized my contributions to increasing technological trainings to teachers throughout the region!

After the meeting, I started taking pictures with many of my friends who were also in attendance...

Including the other Peace Corps volunteers in our region (both came this past June... otherwise I've been the only volunteer in the region throughout my service): Lynae (from Whidbey Island, near Seattle) and Julia (originally from CA, but a recent Portland State graduate)

With the school year underway, I know the remainder of my time here will zoom by! Sasha, the young girl from the family who also owns the apartment I live in, will be attending college this year (even though she is only 15 years old). I will certainly miss having her as a student - but I will see her on the weekends, so all is well.

One of the things I'm looking forward to when I return home is the opportunity to travel within the U.S. - there are so  many places I haven't had a chance to see! Beginning with a visit to my sister, Mallory, and her husband, Jessy, who recently moved to Georgia state. I'm looking forward to the transition back home and catching up with family and friends.

Hope all is well,
Love Nat
P.S. If you know of any open job positions that you think I would be a good fit for, please send them my way via email: natbrusseau@gmail.com. Thank you for your continued support throughout my Peace Corps service!

Ambassadors Of Peace (Ukrainian News Article)

Printed Thursday, August 19 by the Kyiv Post
Mark Rachkevych

Ukraine is home to the world's largest contingency of U.S. Peace Corps volunteers.

They are jokingly referred to as the "Posh Corps," but they also could be called ambassadors of peace. They carry cell phones, have running water in their homes and a McDonald's restaurant is usually not far away.

They're U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in Ukraine, lucky enough perhaps not to dig irrigation ditches like counterparts do in less fortunate parts of the globe. Ukraine is hosting a Peace Corps contingent that is more than 300-members strong, the world's largest group among 74 countries where the U.S. sponsored volunteers are serving.

Peace Corps volunteers Michael Walter (left) and Margaret Hankamp look on as fellow volunteer Kate Schimmer speaks at a swearing-in ceremony on June 17 in Kyiv. (Oleksiy Boyko)

The largest batch of them, 72 in total, recently came to Kyiv after 11 weeks of intensive in-country cross-cultural and language training. This group consists of community and youth development volunteers. They are now deployed to various parts of Ukraine, where they weill spend the next two years integrating into their assigned communities.

These volunteers work primarily with non-governmental organizations with municipal governments and businesses. They work with secondary schools, technical schools and agencies involved in sports and youth to promote healthy lifestyles, civic activity, environmental awareness, information technology and entrepreneurship skills.

Kate Schimmer, 23, an American volunteer, is a biomedical engineering graduate of New Orleans' Tulane University. She will teach computer design, safe Internet usage and business computer skills in Solotvyn, a village of 4,000 people in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

Schimmer's group is part of an effort to help bring the two nations closer together and achieve better understanding. The U.S.-Ukraine partnership began when U.S. President George Bush Sr. signed a bilateral agreement with Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk in 1992.

The Peace Corps' original inspiration came from U.S President John F. Kennedy, who called on Americans to support his "New Frontier" slogan of greater social and economic progress worldwide.

In 1960, as a U.S. senator and presidential candidate, Kennedy made a stop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was greeted by more than 10,000 people at the state university there. Kennedy challenged them: How many of them, he asked, would be willing to serve their country and the cause of peace by living and working in the developing world?

From that inspiration, Kennedy started a federal government agency in 1961 (http://www.peacecorps.gov/), devoted to world peace and economic development. Not everyone has welcomed the program and, in fact, some nations have banned Peace Corps volunteers.

U.S. President John F. Kennedy hands a pen to his brother-in-law, R. Sargent Shriver, after signing legislation at the White House giving the Peace Corps permanent status on Sept. 22, 1961. Nearly 200,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps since, serving in 139 countries, making a difference every day. (AP Photo)

On Christmas Day in 2002, the Russian Foregin Ministry stopped renewing and providing visas to U.S. Peace Corps volunteers. The Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the Soviet KGB spy agency, accused some of the volunteers of spying.

"Among them are persons who were collecting information on the social, political and economic situation in Russian regions, on officials of governmental bodies and departments, on the course of elections and so on," FSB head Nikolai Patrushev said then.

The U.S. Embassy in Russia dismissed the charges as "groundless."

The relationship is different and far more fruitful in welcoming Ukraine.

Since 1992, some 2,300 volunteers have served in more than 1,200 communities as teachers, management consultants, environmentalists and youth development specialists. More than 1 million Ukrainian citizens have received training in 18 years. Some volunteers even return to Ukraine to stay behind to keep working.

This group has volunteer from small towns like Skowhegan, Maine and large cities like New York City. The younger ones, like Schimmer, are mostly recent graduates taking two years off before entering graduate school or the corporate world, while others are retired - the oldest is 79 - who are seeking an encore career.

"We're not here to take jobs away," said Douglass Teschner, the Peace Corps Ukraine country director, a former volunteer in Morocco. "Our teachers work side by side with Ukrainian teachers and jointly develop more progressive English teaching skills. We strengthen the Education Ministry's curriculum with native speakers while developing the long-term capacity of teachers."

Only about a third of applicants are accepted as volunteers. More drop out during training.

In Ukraine, volunteers receive a monthly living allowance of Hr 1,372 paid for by U.S. taxpayers. It's enough to live on, but more importantly, they don't live much better than many Ukrainians in the midst. Additionally, they often live with host families who accelerate the language and cultural learning process. Expenses related to home stay are also paid for by the U.S. government.

Unlike in the 1990s and early 2000s when Ukraine volunteers were mostly sent to urban cetners, today the vast majority get send to underdeveloped rural towns. "Volunteers are most needed in the rural areas because rural residents don't have the same advantages as those living in larger cities, plus they can make a bigger difference there," said Iryna Byelayeva of the Family, Youth and Sports Ministry, one of the three governmental bodies involved with providing volunteers with work sites.

The receptiveness of Byelayeva's and other ministries has kept the demand high for volunteers.

"I get shivers down my spine every time I meet volunteers. Their can-do attitude and belief in their work makes me want to drop everything and join them," Byelayevna said. "The Americans see opportunity and solutions to problems where we see obstacles."

The Peace Corps is part of what U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls "smart power," an attempt to revive a positive view of American's staning in the world. Consequently, the Peace Corps is getting more attention in President Barack Obama's administration - and more cash. On June 30, its budget was upped by 11.5 percent in 2011, to $446 million.

"I see the Peace Corps mission as a ver important element of 'smart power'," said James Pettit, former deputy chief of mission of the United States in Ukraine. "I consider each volunteer an individual ambassador of the U.S."

Staying Put
When Bostonian Daniel Burke taught conversational English and American Studies in Sumy in 1997-1999, Leonid Kuchma was president and Pavlo Lazarenko was prime minister.

Thirteen years later, Burke teaches 6th and 7th graders language arts, reading and cultural studies at the U.S. State Department-funded Kyiv International School. "Back then we stuck out more, many [Ukrainians] never met foreigners, let alone Americans," Burke said. "Culturally it was about telling them that not everyone lived like the people shown on the Dynasty show. Government officials wanted to meet me; radio and TV stations wanted to interview us."

Volunteers who did business consulting have entered the private sector. They include Rich Caproni (1996-1998), who is the chief financial officer of the Viasat satellite TV service company in Kyiv.

Courtney Zukoski consulted and taught in Simferopol and Zaporizhya in 1996-1998. She is now the director of academic and corporate social responsibility programs for Microsoft Ukraine.

Zukoski, a Virginian, said she volunteered for the long term benefits that no multinational corporation could offer her after earning a Masters of Business Administration.

"I wanted hands-on regional business experience, foreign language skills, and a launching pad for continued international career opportunities, als the while having the opportunity to do something good for the world."

In the non-profit world, Joseph Bednarek now is the educations programs manager and director of the International Research and Exchanges Board, which provides leadership and innovative programs to improve the quality of education.

Bednarek, from Indiana, taught English in Chervonohrad of Lviv Oblast in 1999-2001 after graduating from Georgetown University. Afterwards, he went to graduate school in Harvard but returned to Ukraine in 2007 after graduating because he wanted to "be a part of whatever was coming out of the Orange Revolution."

One highly visible former volunteer in Ukraine is Jorge Zukoski, who served from 1996-1998 and is currently chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, a business association.

The returned volunteers the Kyiv Post spoke with said many choose to work in Ukraine because they believe Ukraine is changing and can continue to change for the better.

Bednarek and Courtney Zukoski, Jorge Zukoski's wife, said Ukraine feels like Europe, and that Ukrainians feel their country is a part of Europe.

"I think that mentality and, of course, the actual geographic proximity, helps to make Ukraine not feel as remote as other countries where volunteers have served, and thus makes living and working here for many years a much more attractive proposition," Bednarek said.



This article can be found online at: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/79099/

Life with Lena, trip #2

Traveling with Lena has been full of adventures, interesting conversations, and a chance to get to know Lena on a new level. Just a reminder, Lena is my counterpart - or the person in my community whom I work with most closely. I am so thankful to have an awesome counterpart that I get along with so well...

View from our hotel... I absolutely loved being at the foot of the mountains.


Another Peace Corps volunteer, Sarah, also came with us! Such a great group to travel with!

One morning, Sarah and I went for a hike. Because of the hot and humid weather, we started our hike at 5am to try and beat the heat. This was our goal:

On our hike, we came across this HUGE spider! So glad Sarah noticed it on the path before we walked through its web...

On our way back to the hotel after the hike, we came across this sweet puppy. Made me miss the family pups from home so much...

Sarah and I had to check out the local disco club scene...

We also made our way to the spa for a fabulous treatment! We had facials, massages, and an exfoliation... and of course, lots of laughs!

We spent a lot of time at the beach! Swimming, reading, sleeping... it was so relaxing. Every day, Sarah and I would swim about 20 minutes to the rope that seperated the swimming area from the sea... we would sit, jump, and relax on that rope for hours, just talking about life. It was a great chance to connect!

We were so happy to find Doritoes! And even Nacho Cheese flavor... yum, what a treat to have a taste from home!

As the summer is ending, it reminds me that I have such little time left in Ukraine. I really can't believe how fast the time has flown by! Tomorrow, I'm headed off to Camp Big Bang for a few days to see friends, students, and colleagues. It will only be a short trip because I have so much work to complete at school (sports field remodel and new English textbooks). I started going back to school on a daily basis a few days ago, so it will be nice to have this little break before school starts again in full-swing. Summer #2 has been amazing... but I'm looking forward to seeing students once again.

Wishing you a happy summer and smooth transition to autumn!

Love Nat