Thursday, March 19: after lessons, I will catch a Marshutka (shuttle bus) to Kirovograd. I am planning to have dinner with other volunteers in my oblast at a traditional Ukrainian restaurant.
Friday, March 20: I'll catch a bus from Kirovograd to Kyiv at 7am and I should arrive in Kyiv before 2pm. I'll swap some books at the Peace Corps office and meet up with Molly and Grace.
We'll head to the airport about 4pm to catch our 6:30pm flight to London. It's only about a two hour flight, so we'll quickly find our hotel and find some good food (I'm hoping for Thai!).
Saturday, March 21: Spend the day in London
Sunday, March 22: We'll catch our flight to Marrakech, Morocco. We'll arrive in Marrakech fairly early, so it will be nice to have the day to explore.
Monday, March 23: Molly, Grace, and I will be picked up at 8:30am for hiking in the High Atlas Mountains. This will be a day trip for Molly and Grace, but I will spend the night in the mountains (at the company's cabin in the mountains).
Tuesday, March 24: At 9am, I will explore the High Atlas Mountains on a mountain bike (with a guide). Should be a fun day...and this company even provides all my meals. Hopefully, I'll capture lots of great pictures...we'll see.
Wednesday, March 25-Thursday, March 26: Days of RELAXATION! We will head to Essaouira, a popular tourist city that sits on the Atlantic Ocean. We will be staying at a hotel right on the ocean...and it even has a pool - Whoo Hoo!
We'll make our way back to Marrakech on Thursday and catch our flight back to London on Friday, March 27. Spend one night in London and then back home to Ukraine!
But before I start blogging about my travels outside of Ukraine, I wanted to introduce you to some people I have met along the way (so far).
Here's a picture of Lacey and I at the swearing-in conference (December 9). Lacey is actually from Yakima and we talk fairly often on the phone.
Jessica is my official dancing partner...here we are on the dance floor at a club in Kirovograd. (I made this picture black and white because our faces were sweaty from dancing...ooops!)
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, March 8: I think it should be widely celebrated in the U.S...
Here's a flower my 5th form gave me for this holiday (I also received way more chocolate than I need, an angel figurine, a glowing flower ...ooohhhh, I can hear you saying it..., and roses).
We only have two male teachers at our school, but here they are presenting a toast to the women! Yuri (the physical education teacher) is on the left and Sasha (foreign literature teacher and my Russian language tutor) is on the right.
The students also hosted a concert for the teachers! Ania and Dasha, the two girls singing, are in my 7th grade class. Max and Roma, the two boys standing in the back, MC's of the concert and best friends, are in my 9th grade class. Max took the third place prize in the oblast English Olympiads. These boys have a great sense of humor and make me laugh every lesson with their wit. Love their sense of humor!
Here is Sasha (Alexander is his real name) playing the guitar at the Women's Day concert. He is a student in my 8th grade class. He's also a great dancer!
Oh, Max and Roma again...(probably thinking about what kind of trouble they can cause). There is also a girl from the primary school singing (I don't know her).
Here I am with some of my 9th form students before the concert. I am standing next to Nastia (the student who took the first place prize in the English Olympiads and is going to nationals on Saturday) and Diana is to the left, both of them are competitive dancers.
Olena, my counterpart, is being funny with some students and Sasha's guitar before our school concert...
Here are some pictures of the community concert, held at the Palace of Culture...
One of my 8th form students, Dasha, is very active with the karate team in town. Here she is taking on a few guys (of course she takes them out because it's Women's Day)...
Marina, one of my 10th grade students, was the host of the community-wide concert for Women's Day. She is also involved in the Comedy Club in Novoukrainka and they took first prize in the oblast competition, so she has been preparing to go to nationals with her team.
I don't know any of these boys, but they were just too cute (so small, singing in their suits)...
Some more dancing at the community concert. Sasha, my ex-landlord's daughter, is dancing on the left.
I now have a family that has adopted me. They live on my street and invite me over every weekend. The husband (Volva, pictured below) likes to show me music on his cell phone, the wife (Oksana, picture coming soon) enjoys trying to domesticate me by teaching me how to cook traditional Ukrainian dishes, and the two sons (Bogdan and Dima) try to beat me at cards...but, usually they are not successful (insert evil laugh here). Volva was proud to show me this huge turkey, so I had to get a picture.
These are some pictures I took at the end of January during my counterpart's 50th birthday party. Here is Olena with the director of our school.
Many people presented Olena with presents, songs, artwork, and flowers.
Here are the English teachers reading a poem to Olena. Tania is the woman in the middle with the striped shirt, she is my Ukrainian language tutor. Then, directly to the right is Aloyna (she won first place in the Oblast English Teacher's competition and just returned from nationals this week. I think she's happy that it is finally over because it requires so much preparation and time away from home.). Then, Olena, in the white shirt is next...I don't see her very often because she has a light teaching load to spend time with her young daughter. Directly to the left of Tania is Olya, who is a wonderful woman and has invited me to her home many times (and fed me, which is an added bonus!). The last woman is Natasha, who mostly teachers German.
We only have two male teachers at our school, but here they are presenting a toast to the women! Yuri (the physical education teacher) is on the left and Sasha (foreign literature teacher and my Russian language tutor) is on the right.
The students also hosted a concert for the teachers! Ania and Dasha, the two girls singing, are in my 7th grade class. Max and Roma, the two boys standing in the back, MC's of the concert and best friends, are in my 9th grade class. Max took the third place prize in the oblast English Olympiads. These boys have a great sense of humor and make me laugh every lesson with their wit. Love their sense of humor!
Here is Sasha (Alexander is his real name) playing the guitar at the Women's Day concert. He is a student in my 8th grade class. He's also a great dancer!
Oh, Max and Roma again...(probably thinking about what kind of trouble they can cause). There is also a girl from the primary school singing (I don't know her).
Here I am with some of my 9th form students before the concert. I am standing next to Nastia (the student who took the first place prize in the English Olympiads and is going to nationals on Saturday) and Diana is to the left, both of them are competitive dancers.
Olena, my counterpart, is being funny with some students and Sasha's guitar before our school concert...
Here are some pictures of the community concert, held at the Palace of Culture...
One of my 8th form students, Dasha, is very active with the karate team in town. Here she is taking on a few guys (of course she takes them out because it's Women's Day)...
Marina, one of my 10th grade students, was the host of the community-wide concert for Women's Day. She is also involved in the Comedy Club in Novoukrainka and they took first prize in the oblast competition, so she has been preparing to go to nationals with her team.
I don't know any of these boys, but they were just too cute (so small, singing in their suits)...
Some more dancing at the community concert. Sasha, my ex-landlord's daughter, is dancing on the left.
I now have a family that has adopted me. They live on my street and invite me over every weekend. The husband (Volva, pictured below) likes to show me music on his cell phone, the wife (Oksana, picture coming soon) enjoys trying to domesticate me by teaching me how to cook traditional Ukrainian dishes, and the two sons (Bogdan and Dima) try to beat me at cards...but, usually they are not successful (insert evil laugh here). Volva was proud to show me this huge turkey, so I had to get a picture.
These are some pictures I took at the end of January during my counterpart's 50th birthday party. Here is Olena with the director of our school.
Many people presented Olena with presents, songs, artwork, and flowers.
Here are the English teachers reading a poem to Olena. Tania is the woman in the middle with the striped shirt, she is my Ukrainian language tutor. Then, directly to the right is Aloyna (she won first place in the Oblast English Teacher's competition and just returned from nationals this week. I think she's happy that it is finally over because it requires so much preparation and time away from home.). Then, Olena, in the white shirt is next...I don't see her very often because she has a light teaching load to spend time with her young daughter. Directly to the left of Tania is Olya, who is a wonderful woman and has invited me to her home many times (and fed me, which is an added bonus!). The last woman is Natasha, who mostly teachers German.
Well, there you have it...an introduction to the people in my world! This was a long blog entry, so if you made it this far, I'm impressed! Take care.
With love,
Nat
1 comment:
Natalie,
I love reading your blog! Have l'amusement au Maroc and London! Can't wait to see more pix.
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