off to Ukraine!

It's been long enough since I've blogged that I almost feel like I've forgotten how. But since I leave for Ukraine tomorrow, I figured it's time to start this up again.

Ukraine, you say? Yes, I'm going back for the summer to do research for my M.A. thesis on communicative language teaching in Ukrainian schools. I'll be in Balaklia for the first month or so, I expect, with possible short trips for data collection, and then will be at Ivan Franko University in L'viv from early June through almost the end of July for Ukrainian language study through the University of Kansas. Then one week at the end, which might be wrapping up data collection, going back to Balaklia, or heading down to the Black Sea...it's a play-it-by-ear week.

I'm excited, albeit a bit nervous tonight. I loved Ukraine and my life there when I was there as a PCV, and leaving was hard. I always thought I'd go back, but a few years later down the line, not a year and a half later. (And I also thought I'd be paying for more of it...being mostly funded is nice.) Ukraine has changed. My friends there have changed. And I've changed, too.

But overall, I think it will be good. I'm looking forward to the chance to do research on a topic I'm interested in (and simply to get to try out all the research techniques I've been learning about this semester). I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends again (I'm staying with the Yukhymetses for the first month! Andrey and Ira just had a baby girl, Yanna!). I'm looking forward to studying Ukrainian again...and simply just to speak it on a regular basis. And I'm looking forward to whatever else God has in store for me. He's provided for me abundantly in so many ways over the last year and a half, and this is at the top of the list.

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For the record, I think I have just finished the busiest semester of my life. Note to self: do not take on a double teaching load in your practicum class, a PhD level research methods course, and a seminar with a lot of reading in which you decide to do a research option all at once. Especially not when planning a trip overseas. To add to that, housing and employment for the fall were both in flux for quite some time, and employment is not yet resolved. I'm sort of looking forward to being on the plane tomorrow, because I won't have things I should be doing.

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Saw the new Star Trek movie with the game night crew and Brandi's family tonight. Greatly enjoyed it, although I'm more familiar with the Next Generation series than the original. We may possibly have been the geekiest group there.

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I should follow Lisa's advice--"Go to bed, Sally." It's 10:30 now, and I need to get up at 4 a.m.