Monday night, we had a very international evening. Natalya and Olgert, my host parents, have friends visiting from Poland, and those friends had invited friends of theirs from Germany to come stay for a few days. This brings the total number of people in the house up to eight, with me being less than half everyone else's age. More interesting is the fact that we all speak a slightly different set of languages, with six languages total between the eight of us. Everything that gets said has to be translated for someone, but we're doing pretty well. The breakdown is as follows:
German man: German, English, French
German woman, German, French, some English
Polish man: Polish, German, Russian
Polish woman: Polish, Russian, some German
Natalya (Ukrainian): Ukrainian, Russian, Polish
Olgert (Ukrainian but of Polish ethnicity): Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, French
John (American): English, rudimentary Ukrainian and Russian
Me: English, Ukrainian, and Russian (and I'm surprised how much Polish I understand)
As you can imagine, it's quite something. Everyone's here until Thursday, when we all leave (our program is going to Kyiv for a few days), and Natalya said she's going to pretty much collapse at that point.
Language classes are going pretty well. I've decided that partway through a grad program in learning how to teach languages is a horrible time to take language classes, as I've spent a year developing opinions how it should Be Done Properly, and while this isn't at all how I would teach grammar, I can tell that it's paying off, at least in how I write. My oral language may be fairly fixed by this point, and I have a few Russianisms that my teacher continues to comment on that I can't seem to shake loose, but the classes really are helpful.
What's most frustrating about the program is that I feel like I primarily speak Ukrainian in class. It isn't like Balaklia where I did basically everything in Ukrainian (except teach, I suppose, although I ended up using a lot more Ukrainian in class by the end than at the beginning). Here, I spend time with the American students, or we're going on trips to museums and everything gets translated (which makes sense, as we have some beginners in the group), or I'm wandering around by myself and can order things in cafes in Ukrainian. But I don't have a social life in Ukrainian, and I miss that. Or perhaps I just miss having a social life in Ukraine. I'm not quite sure how to meet people here. I asked about getting a conversation partner, but that's difficult right now because it's summer vacation and there aren't many students around.
However, I did get to speak Ukrainian this afternoon, and it was directly connected to my thesis! An English professor at the university who I had been introduced to connected me to the head of social programs at the university, who called the head of the teacher recertification institute (for all subjects) for L'viv Oblast, who introduced me to one of the people responsible for running the English recertification program, who said (slightly condensed), "You only have 9 surveys with you? I'll take those now, and can you please bring 35 copies on Monday, as we're getting in a new group of teachers? And would you please speak to the teachers about your life and what you're learning about TESOL and how people teach English as a native language in the U.S?"
Not to mention, I got several surveys turned back in to me today already from other sources and have an interview scheduled for next week! I'm really impressed with people's willingness to be helpful, and it's nice to be going through the university, as that gives me access to contacts I wouldn't otherwise be able to get on my own.
Showing posts with label ivan franko university. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ivan franko university. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
mistaken national identity
Well, the answer to how much of the liturgy I could understand at the Catholic service on Sunday morning is "very little," as the service was in Polish, not Ukrainian. There are enough cognates that I had a slight idea what was going on, but not much.
After that, I met Allie and Vanessa for the opera Natalka Potavka, which was nice, even though the plot was somewhat predictable. Allie had quite the experience before the opera--she had been going to come to church with us, but then ended up at the Greek Catholic church instead of the Roman Catholic church. A very cute (in her words) guy helped her find her way back to the opera theater, and was talking to her in Ukrainian the whole time (Allie speaks some Russian but is a beginner in Ukrainian). At the end, he said something she didn't understand, and she said, "Yes." He then kissed her! I've asked many people for directions over the years in Ukraine, but no one's ever kissed me. :) (Allie said that that was because I actually understand what they're saying...)
However, I did have a funny thing happen last night. I went to L'viv Central Baptist Church for the evening service. The third sermon (there are generally three short sermons at Baptist churches in Ukraine, interspersed with lots of music) was given by a visiting American pastor, who was in charge of a missions trip who would be teaching English to people in L'viv. After the service, I decided to go up and say hello. The visiting pastor was saying hello to some kids in English, so they could practice what they knew how to say. I walked up and said, in what I thought was fluent English, "I appreciated your message. What state are you from?" Very slowly, with a great deal of enunciation, the pastor replied, "I am from the state of Texas." He thought I was a Ukrainian who spoke English! I replied, "I'm from Michigan!" "Really?" he said, and we chatted for a minute or two. I've had people think I'm from all over here, but it's rare that Americans don't recognize me as one of their own!
I did have a similar experience once when I was in the Peace Corps. I was at a Kyiv McDonald's, and a woman there (who might have been a native speaker of English...at any rate, she wasn't Ukrainian or Russian) was having trouble ordering (which is sort of amazing, as it's all cognates). I helped her out, and she said something like, "You must be an English teacher" (because I spoke English). "Yes," I replied.
This afternoon I met with a professor from the English department here, and she took some of my surveys to pass out. I'm glad to have made the contact with her, because I've had some down time on my thesis research and I'd like to get started again.
We head to Kyiv Thursday through Sunday, taking a university van for the 7-hour trip rather than taking an overnight train. It'll be interesting to do Kyiv as a tourist, rather than running errands. On Friday we're going to the Percheska Lavra (Cave Monestary), which is somewhere I've never been, as well as some other places. On Saturday, we have a free day, and I'm hoping to meet up with Sasha Malko and Vitaly Yukhymets, although probably not at the same time. The universe might implode with that odd combination.
After that, I met Allie and Vanessa for the opera Natalka Potavka, which was nice, even though the plot was somewhat predictable. Allie had quite the experience before the opera--she had been going to come to church with us, but then ended up at the Greek Catholic church instead of the Roman Catholic church. A very cute (in her words) guy helped her find her way back to the opera theater, and was talking to her in Ukrainian the whole time (Allie speaks some Russian but is a beginner in Ukrainian). At the end, he said something she didn't understand, and she said, "Yes." He then kissed her! I've asked many people for directions over the years in Ukraine, but no one's ever kissed me. :) (Allie said that that was because I actually understand what they're saying...)
However, I did have a funny thing happen last night. I went to L'viv Central Baptist Church for the evening service. The third sermon (there are generally three short sermons at Baptist churches in Ukraine, interspersed with lots of music) was given by a visiting American pastor, who was in charge of a missions trip who would be teaching English to people in L'viv. After the service, I decided to go up and say hello. The visiting pastor was saying hello to some kids in English, so they could practice what they knew how to say. I walked up and said, in what I thought was fluent English, "I appreciated your message. What state are you from?" Very slowly, with a great deal of enunciation, the pastor replied, "I am from the state of Texas." He thought I was a Ukrainian who spoke English! I replied, "I'm from Michigan!" "Really?" he said, and we chatted for a minute or two. I've had people think I'm from all over here, but it's rare that Americans don't recognize me as one of their own!
I did have a similar experience once when I was in the Peace Corps. I was at a Kyiv McDonald's, and a woman there (who might have been a native speaker of English...at any rate, she wasn't Ukrainian or Russian) was having trouble ordering (which is sort of amazing, as it's all cognates). I helped her out, and she said something like, "You must be an English teacher" (because I spoke English). "Yes," I replied.
This afternoon I met with a professor from the English department here, and she took some of my surveys to pass out. I'm glad to have made the contact with her, because I've had some down time on my thesis research and I'd like to get started again.
We head to Kyiv Thursday through Sunday, taking a university van for the 7-hour trip rather than taking an overnight train. It'll be interesting to do Kyiv as a tourist, rather than running errands. On Friday we're going to the Percheska Lavra (Cave Monestary), which is somewhere I've never been, as well as some other places. On Saturday, we have a free day, and I'm hoping to meet up with Sasha Malko and Vitaly Yukhymets, although probably not at the same time. The universe might implode with that odd combination.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
settling in
Well, my first week of classes in L'viv is over. It's different from what I expected...not bad, just taking some getting used to. I'm used to Peace Corps, which crammed as much Ukrainian in our heads as possible, and then sent us off to live on our own--with their support, of course, but we learned how to be self-sufficient fairly quickly. Here, I'm an international student, our language classes go at a much slower pace, I find that I use Ukrainian primarily in class and English much of the rest of the time, and we're given a lot of support...in English. It's weird for me, because for the first month I was here, I was speaking Ukrainian all the time I was awake (except for my interviews), and here, since us students are together a lot, I use English much more. But I'm hoping to get a conversation partner so I can speak Ukrainian more.
Today we went on a bus tour of L'viv with a history professor from the university as our tour guide. It was really interesting...since L'viv was part of Poland and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at various points and didn't come under Soviet control until 1939, it feels so different than out East in Kharkiv or Balaklia. In some ways, it feels like a different country, just with the same language. I'm reminded of my impression from the time Tif and I visited here--the people who built this city took the effort to make things pretty, with great attention to details like wrought-iron balconies and sculptures on the facades of buildings. I also love seeing all the old churches.
On the subject of church, I was hoping to go to the Baptist church here tomorrow, as that would be something that would feel familiar to me. But Vanessa, Ally, and I have tickets to the Ukrainan folk-opera Natalka Poltavka, which starts at noon, so there's no way the Baptist service (which starts at 10 am) would be done by then. So I think I'm going to the Catholic cathedral downtown, which should be a neat experience. I'm interested in seeing how much of the liturgy I can follow, as the last time I went to a liturgical service in Ukraine (which was several years ago), I couldn't understand a thing.
Today we went on a bus tour of L'viv with a history professor from the university as our tour guide. It was really interesting...since L'viv was part of Poland and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at various points and didn't come under Soviet control until 1939, it feels so different than out East in Kharkiv or Balaklia. In some ways, it feels like a different country, just with the same language. I'm reminded of my impression from the time Tif and I visited here--the people who built this city took the effort to make things pretty, with great attention to details like wrought-iron balconies and sculptures on the facades of buildings. I also love seeing all the old churches.
On the subject of church, I was hoping to go to the Baptist church here tomorrow, as that would be something that would feel familiar to me. But Vanessa, Ally, and I have tickets to the Ukrainan folk-opera Natalka Poltavka, which starts at noon, so there's no way the Baptist service (which starts at 10 am) would be done by then. So I think I'm going to the Catholic cathedral downtown, which should be a neat experience. I'm interested in seeing how much of the liturgy I can follow, as the last time I went to a liturgical service in Ukraine (which was several years ago), I couldn't understand a thing.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
good fences make good neighbors, and good neighbors make good water?
Having not had Internet access for several days, I had typed up a blog post detailing some of the amusing highlights of my weekend (Carmen ended up being a Ukrainian musical, not an opera!), but I can't get my flash drive to work in the USB port here at the Internet cafe, so I'll just skip the weekend and go straight to L'viv.
I am living in a gorgeous, shabby old house in an old neighborhood in L'viv. The grandfather of my host dad was a professor at the Polytechnic University in L'viv back when L'viv was still Polish Lwow. The family had to leave the house during WWII, but it wasn't destroyed by the Germans, perhaps because they weren't in the area long enough. After that, the family eventually got the house back, but Nikita Krushchev lived for a while on the first floor, in the days before he was the Premir (which I can't seem to spell right now) of the Soviet Union. When the President of Ukraine or other important political figures are in town, they live across the street from me, which has a great side benefit..unlike the rest of L'viv, we get water all day long! (L'viv has a chronic water shortage, as it's not on a river.)
My host parents are in their late 50s or early 60s. Pan Olgert, my host father, is a retired engineer whose interests include airplanes, architecture, and Jules Verne (he's apparently the secretary of the Jules Verne Society of Ukraine). Pani Natalya ("Pan" and "Pani" are terms of respect used in western Ukraine) is a physician. She's cheerful and chatty, whereas Pan Olgert is quieter. They have a son, Pavel, who's about my age and works as a physician in Poland. I haven't met him yet, but he's supposed to be in town for a few days starting today.
There are only four American students in the program here. One of them, John, is also staying at the same place I am. He's in his mid-forties and interested in the Ukrainian folk instrument, the lyra (lira?). He and his wife, whose area of expertise is textiles and fabric, were here last year, but she didn't come this time. The other two students are women about my age--Ally (Allie?), who's interested in energy politics, and Vanessa, who's interested in folklore. I think it's going to be a fun group.
I am living in a gorgeous, shabby old house in an old neighborhood in L'viv. The grandfather of my host dad was a professor at the Polytechnic University in L'viv back when L'viv was still Polish Lwow. The family had to leave the house during WWII, but it wasn't destroyed by the Germans, perhaps because they weren't in the area long enough. After that, the family eventually got the house back, but Nikita Krushchev lived for a while on the first floor, in the days before he was the Premir (which I can't seem to spell right now) of the Soviet Union. When the President of Ukraine or other important political figures are in town, they live across the street from me, which has a great side benefit..unlike the rest of L'viv, we get water all day long! (L'viv has a chronic water shortage, as it's not on a river.)
My host parents are in their late 50s or early 60s. Pan Olgert, my host father, is a retired engineer whose interests include airplanes, architecture, and Jules Verne (he's apparently the secretary of the Jules Verne Society of Ukraine). Pani Natalya ("Pan" and "Pani" are terms of respect used in western Ukraine) is a physician. She's cheerful and chatty, whereas Pan Olgert is quieter. They have a son, Pavel, who's about my age and works as a physician in Poland. I haven't met him yet, but he's supposed to be in town for a few days starting today.
There are only four American students in the program here. One of them, John, is also staying at the same place I am. He's in his mid-forties and interested in the Ukrainian folk instrument, the lyra (lira?). He and his wife, whose area of expertise is textiles and fabric, were here last year, but she didn't come this time. The other two students are women about my age--Ally (Allie?), who's interested in energy politics, and Vanessa, who's interested in folklore. I think it's going to be a fun group.
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