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.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Monday, June 15, 2009
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.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Lutsk
Well, the people in my compartment from Kharkiv to Kyiv thought I was from Western Ukraine, and the people in my compartment from Kyiv to Lutsk thought I was Polish. If the trend of thinking I'm from just west of wherever I'm going keeps up, I will apparently be German if I go visit Jes in Cracow in July.
Lutsk is very nice. Via the recommendation of my trusty guidebook, I booked a single standard room for three nights at the downtown Hotel Ukraina, which cost me in total about $30 less than one night in Kyiv. In addition, both the room and the attached bath are about 3x bigger than my hotel room in Kyiv, plus there's a fridge and a comfortable mattress. As breakfast is included in the deal, I think I lucked out.
I also lucked out with my interview, which was with someone who was not only informative and interesting, but also gave me several books of materials used in teacher recertification. Apparently, I was their second researcher to come through in the past month...the other one is a PhD student at UPenn in Educational Linguistics, who I'd run across a mention of while looking at UPenn's program. I should email her at some point to see what particularly she's interested in (although that will wait until I'm using a computer where the keys don't stick like the dickens).
I wandered around Lutsk a bit yesterday and plan to do so more today, including visiting the town castle. Tomorrow is church in the morning and the opera Carmen in the evening, as I got a 3rd row center aisle seat for about $3.33.
Will post more when not battling keyboards.
Lutsk is very nice. Via the recommendation of my trusty guidebook, I booked a single standard room for three nights at the downtown Hotel Ukraina, which cost me in total about $30 less than one night in Kyiv. In addition, both the room and the attached bath are about 3x bigger than my hotel room in Kyiv, plus there's a fridge and a comfortable mattress. As breakfast is included in the deal, I think I lucked out.
I also lucked out with my interview, which was with someone who was not only informative and interesting, but also gave me several books of materials used in teacher recertification. Apparently, I was their second researcher to come through in the past month...the other one is a PhD student at UPenn in Educational Linguistics, who I'd run across a mention of while looking at UPenn's program. I should email her at some point to see what particularly she's interested in (although that will wait until I'm using a computer where the keys don't stick like the dickens).
I wandered around Lutsk a bit yesterday and plan to do so more today, including visiting the town castle. Tomorrow is church in the morning and the opera Carmen in the evening, as I got a 3rd row center aisle seat for about $3.33.
Will post more when not battling keyboards.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
homemade cough syrup and injured kittens
I had, if not grand, at least moderately good plans for the day--go to church, help Natalia and the kids from the Orthodox Sunday School plant trees, go to the youth group at Andrey's church this evening and hopefully connect with an English teacher who helps out there.
Unfortunately, I woke up with a bad cough, a tight chest, and not much voice, which is likely the result of overworking myself this past semester, giving myself no downtime before coming to Ukraine, and then going more or less full-tilt once I got here. However, being in Peace Corps taught me a bit about slowing down and taking care of myself so I wouldn't get more sick, so I told Nadia I was staying home this morning, gargled, took one of the Fishermen's Friend coughdrops I found a bag of in my computer bag (not sure why), and went back to bed until noon.
The afternoon was spent watching Battlestar Galactica, although the tone is getting darker and I'm going to have to start slowing down on watching it or mixing it with Doctor Who. I'm really enjoying BSG, but I'm finding that there are limits to how much gloom I can take in a sitting. But at the same time, I want to know what happens next! (Although I know a lot of the major spoilers, unfortunately...the series finale was this past spring, after I started playing the board game, and in order to know a bit more about the game, I did some reading on Wikipedia. All the same, it's interesting to watch it all play out.)
But I digress...Nadia dosed me with homemade cough syrup, which was surprisingly effective. It's a combination of butter, honey, wine, and baking soda, and although it's a vile concoction, by the time I finished the small bowl of it she told me to drink, I could breathe easier and wasn't coughing as much. I've also been drinking compote and water all afternoon, so I rather feel like I'm swimming by this point.
The other major occurence of the day was that Alosha (5) decided to take one of the kittens, dunk it in water (or possibly hold it under?), and then throw it on the ground next to the dog, who decided to investigate it. We were all sure that the kitten was dead, and all the little kids were mad at Alosha, who was crying when he realized what he'd done (except for Snizhanna, who blamed the dog), but apparently the kitten has come through, thanks to prayers from Ihor and Vlada, although it may be blind now. We're not sure.
My camp counselor skills come in handy here. I've taught a bunch of the kids how to play Duck Duck Goose and the hand-clapping circle game "Down by the Banks of the Hanky-Panky" and how to do thumb wars. It's amazing how much they enjoy it.
Unfortunately, I woke up with a bad cough, a tight chest, and not much voice, which is likely the result of overworking myself this past semester, giving myself no downtime before coming to Ukraine, and then going more or less full-tilt once I got here. However, being in Peace Corps taught me a bit about slowing down and taking care of myself so I wouldn't get more sick, so I told Nadia I was staying home this morning, gargled, took one of the Fishermen's Friend coughdrops I found a bag of in my computer bag (not sure why), and went back to bed until noon.
The afternoon was spent watching Battlestar Galactica, although the tone is getting darker and I'm going to have to start slowing down on watching it or mixing it with Doctor Who. I'm really enjoying BSG, but I'm finding that there are limits to how much gloom I can take in a sitting. But at the same time, I want to know what happens next! (Although I know a lot of the major spoilers, unfortunately...the series finale was this past spring, after I started playing the board game, and in order to know a bit more about the game, I did some reading on Wikipedia. All the same, it's interesting to watch it all play out.)
But I digress...Nadia dosed me with homemade cough syrup, which was surprisingly effective. It's a combination of butter, honey, wine, and baking soda, and although it's a vile concoction, by the time I finished the small bowl of it she told me to drink, I could breathe easier and wasn't coughing as much. I've also been drinking compote and water all afternoon, so I rather feel like I'm swimming by this point.
The other major occurence of the day was that Alosha (5) decided to take one of the kittens, dunk it in water (or possibly hold it under?), and then throw it on the ground next to the dog, who decided to investigate it. We were all sure that the kitten was dead, and all the little kids were mad at Alosha, who was crying when he realized what he'd done (except for Snizhanna, who blamed the dog), but apparently the kitten has come through, thanks to prayers from Ihor and Vlada, although it may be blind now. We're not sure.
My camp counselor skills come in handy here. I've taught a bunch of the kids how to play Duck Duck Goose and the hand-clapping circle game "Down by the Banks of the Hanky-Panky" and how to do thumb wars. It's amazing how much they enjoy it.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
it's a small world and my Ukrainian "twin"
Of particular interest to the Riverview crowd, but the rest of you may find it interesting as well:
Vitaly (19) and Oleh (15) went to a youth conference in Kharkiv today at one of the churches there. The topic translates roughly as "a Biblical look at attitudes between guys and girls". Both of the boys seemed to have a good day, and at any rate, Oleh was much more sociable and less of a brat than he's been since I arrived. (Viktor commented that the boys hadn't heard anything different there from what they hear at home, but somehow the conference seemed to have made more of an impression.)
But what I found the most interesting was that the conference was sponsored by Almaz Church, which is one of the GCM churches in Ukraine. Having attended Riverview, which is a GCM church, in undergrad, I visited the other two GCM churches in Kyiv, City on a Hill and Spring of Hope, whenever I happened to be in the city on a Sunday. I never managed to visit Almaz, primarily because I didn't know where it was and its services were on Saturday nights, which never corresponded with my train schedule, but I knew Eric and Cindy Thomas and several other missionaries who would have been involved to varying extents with the ministry at Almaz.
Basically, it's a fairly small world, at least if you're an evangelical in Ukraine.
~*~
This afternoon, I went to a neighboring village with my friend Natalia to visit an English teacher who's a friend of hers to see if she'd be interested in participating in my research. We had tea and cookies with her friend and her friend's cousin, and then we visited the village Orthodox church. Natalia does a lot of work with the children and teens that go to the Orthodox church in Balaklia, and she had wanted the teens from the church in the village to meet me. However, only the priest's daughter showed up, so Natalia, who's been taking a course in Orthodox theology, explained what the different icons represented in the church and why they were arranged the way they are.
It's been great to get in touch with Natalia again. We're a lot alike--if you can imagine a Ukrainian Orthodox version of me (who is also taller and blond, but we're built about the same), that's Natalia. She's a bookworm who lived and worked abroad in Germany for a couple of years and now teaches German and Ukrainian at the local college. She loves to travel, but she also feels deeply at home in Balaklia and enjoys life there. She's active in the local Orthodox church (pretty much the only devout Orthodox person I know personally in Ukraine), and she loves to talk and laugh. (She's also able to talk about history and theology for half an hour straight...yes, we are indeed a lot alike!) We think on the same wavelength, despite coming from different cultures, and hanging out with her is always a lot of fun.
Vitaly (19) and Oleh (15) went to a youth conference in Kharkiv today at one of the churches there. The topic translates roughly as "a Biblical look at attitudes between guys and girls". Both of the boys seemed to have a good day, and at any rate, Oleh was much more sociable and less of a brat than he's been since I arrived. (Viktor commented that the boys hadn't heard anything different there from what they hear at home, but somehow the conference seemed to have made more of an impression.)
But what I found the most interesting was that the conference was sponsored by Almaz Church, which is one of the GCM churches in Ukraine. Having attended Riverview, which is a GCM church, in undergrad, I visited the other two GCM churches in Kyiv, City on a Hill and Spring of Hope, whenever I happened to be in the city on a Sunday. I never managed to visit Almaz, primarily because I didn't know where it was and its services were on Saturday nights, which never corresponded with my train schedule, but I knew Eric and Cindy Thomas and several other missionaries who would have been involved to varying extents with the ministry at Almaz.
Basically, it's a fairly small world, at least if you're an evangelical in Ukraine.
~*~
This afternoon, I went to a neighboring village with my friend Natalia to visit an English teacher who's a friend of hers to see if she'd be interested in participating in my research. We had tea and cookies with her friend and her friend's cousin, and then we visited the village Orthodox church. Natalia does a lot of work with the children and teens that go to the Orthodox church in Balaklia, and she had wanted the teens from the church in the village to meet me. However, only the priest's daughter showed up, so Natalia, who's been taking a course in Orthodox theology, explained what the different icons represented in the church and why they were arranged the way they are.
It's been great to get in touch with Natalia again. We're a lot alike--if you can imagine a Ukrainian Orthodox version of me (who is also taller and blond, but we're built about the same), that's Natalia. She's a bookworm who lived and worked abroad in Germany for a couple of years and now teaches German and Ukrainian at the local college. She loves to travel, but she also feels deeply at home in Balaklia and enjoys life there. She's active in the local Orthodox church (pretty much the only devout Orthodox person I know personally in Ukraine), and she loves to talk and laugh. (She's also able to talk about history and theology for half an hour straight...yes, we are indeed a lot alike!) We think on the same wavelength, despite coming from different cultures, and hanging out with her is always a lot of fun.
Monday, May 18, 2009
the lilacs are in bloom
I could blog and blog, but I had enough other things to do on the computer that it isn't really feasible. However, apparently I may be able to sent up wireless (or some equivelent) through a type of flash drive that uses a phone card. I really don't understand it, but I'm hopeful.
~*~
Story for Tif, who remembers Lilia Kotlar at age 3, and her unwillingless to let me go home after I'd visited them:
I went to the Kotlars's church last night (along with Vitaly, Valera, Ruslan, and Liza...we goofed and got there an hour early...), and when Lilia (now age 6) saw me, she ran up to me and gave me a big hug.
"You remember me?" I asked, since the younger Yukhymets kids don't (Snizhanna likes to be reminded of the things that she did to me, like try to take my glasses and bop me on the head).
"You're Miss Sally!" she said, and then cuddled up next to me for the whole service.
At one point, she whispered to me, "Are you here for always?"
"No, I'm just visiting," I told her.
Very seriously, she said, "I'm not letting you go."
I felt loved.
~*~
I ended up spending the night at the Kotlars', and talked and giggled with Natasha (age 17 already!) until 1 a.m. She gave me a backrub to rival Tina's.
~*~
The Y kids really deserve their own blog post. Suffice it to say, I love being a big sister, but I don't want 12 kids of my own. I think my favorite time of the day is in the evening, when Liza and Valera say, "Let's sing," and we all (that is, the younger kids and I...the older ones are too cool for that) sing while I play the piano.
~*~
Story for Tif, who remembers Lilia Kotlar at age 3, and her unwillingless to let me go home after I'd visited them:
I went to the Kotlars's church last night (along with Vitaly, Valera, Ruslan, and Liza...we goofed and got there an hour early...), and when Lilia (now age 6) saw me, she ran up to me and gave me a big hug.
"You remember me?" I asked, since the younger Yukhymets kids don't (Snizhanna likes to be reminded of the things that she did to me, like try to take my glasses and bop me on the head).
"You're Miss Sally!" she said, and then cuddled up next to me for the whole service.
At one point, she whispered to me, "Are you here for always?"
"No, I'm just visiting," I told her.
Very seriously, she said, "I'm not letting you go."
I felt loved.
~*~
I ended up spending the night at the Kotlars', and talked and giggled with Natasha (age 17 already!) until 1 a.m. She gave me a backrub to rival Tina's.
~*~
The Y kids really deserve their own blog post. Suffice it to say, I love being a big sister, but I don't want 12 kids of my own. I think my favorite time of the day is in the evening, when Liza and Valera say, "Let's sing," and we all (that is, the younger kids and I...the older ones are too cool for that) sing while I play the piano.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
the unanswerable question
Yesterday I went to a 4th of July barbeque hosted by a woman from First Wesleyan Church in Ypsilanti, where I've been attending this summer. She had also invited the new pastor and his wife, so since out of all the people I didn't know there, they were the ones I had the most connection to, I sat with them.
Knowing that I'm only here for the summer, Pastor Brent asked, "So where do you normally live?"
I started to laugh, as this is currently an unanswerable question. I don't "normally" live anywhere. Lakeview? Well, that's where I lived right before moving here, but it was only for a few months and not where I'll be for the forseeable future. The Lansing area? That'll be the answer in a couple of months, but I haven't lived there in close to three years. Ukraine? Oddly enough, it almost feels like the right answer, except that as far as I know, I'm not going to be living there again.
So I tried to explain the past few years of my life to Pastor Brent, who then said, "Oh, you're a vagabond."
"Well, sort of..." I replied, "except that I put down roots wherever I live..."
Knowing that I'm only here for the summer, Pastor Brent asked, "So where do you normally live?"
I started to laugh, as this is currently an unanswerable question. I don't "normally" live anywhere. Lakeview? Well, that's where I lived right before moving here, but it was only for a few months and not where I'll be for the forseeable future. The Lansing area? That'll be the answer in a couple of months, but I haven't lived there in close to three years. Ukraine? Oddly enough, it almost feels like the right answer, except that as far as I know, I'm not going to be living there again.
So I tried to explain the past few years of my life to Pastor Brent, who then said, "Oh, you're a vagabond."
"Well, sort of..." I replied, "except that I put down roots wherever I live..."
Saturday, May 24, 2008
from the mouths of little children...
Yeah, I'm not that good about doing regular updates. Part of it is that my life just doesn't seem that exciting to me right now, and also, moving to Ann Arbor has been more of an adjustment than I realized it would be (it seems like the last six months or so have been nothing but major adjustments...this is wearying). I like my job a lot, but moving to a city where I don't know a lot of people (however, *wave* to Cary!) and I won't be here long enough to build long-term friendships has been challenging. But I have Ukrainian conversation time with Svitlana, think I may have found a church (two, actually) for the summer, and generally run up my phone bill. So I'm hanging in there.
And as I said, I really enjoy my job. The kids say the funniest things. Kay, one of my 4-year-olds, has a very stubborn streak to her...as well as a misunderstanding of reflexive pronouns. Last week, we were learning about feelings, and she said, "I angry." "Why are you angry?" I asked. "I angry because Daddy help me on monkey bars and I do it yourself!!!" She's very big on the phrase "I do it yourself."
Also from Ryan in the same class: "Who that?" (looking at the mailbox for a child who hadn't yet joined the class). "That's Mia," I said. "She's going to be the new girl." "Why we need new girl?" he asked.
My kids really are what keep me going some days. No matter how tired or drained or lonely I get, teaching them cheers me up!
And as I said, I really enjoy my job. The kids say the funniest things. Kay, one of my 4-year-olds, has a very stubborn streak to her...as well as a misunderstanding of reflexive pronouns. Last week, we were learning about feelings, and she said, "I angry." "Why are you angry?" I asked. "I angry because Daddy help me on monkey bars and I do it yourself!!!" She's very big on the phrase "I do it yourself."
Also from Ryan in the same class: "Who that?" (looking at the mailbox for a child who hadn't yet joined the class). "That's Mia," I said. "She's going to be the new girl." "Why we need new girl?" he asked.
My kids really are what keep me going some days. No matter how tired or drained or lonely I get, teaching them cheers me up!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
subbing and shoes
Subbed two days for high school English this week. It was better than science because 1) we watched a movie with a plot (granted, it was Signs, which I was not all that impressed with, but it was at least a plot), and 2) the classes that didn't watch a movie were working in the library, so I could read books. However, I had my first student use profanity while talking to me. Not swearing at me, per se, but using profanity to describe the project she was working on.
Me: Excuse me, but that language isn't necessary.
Student: Well, you don't have to be snotty about it.
I left her teacher a lovely note. Also, I described one student as "goodnaturedly unproductive." He thought that was a good phrase for me to use.
Tonight one of the women from church who's about my age had a bunch of people--family members, friends, and church women--over for a clothes and accessories swap. Unfortunately, most people had brought clothes that weren't my size, but I still did pretty well. I got two summer tops, a pair of earrings, a really pretty cross necklace (blue stones and sterling silver), and three pairs of shoes. The shoes made me pretty thrilled, which amuses me, as I never used to be a shoe person (and I'm still not, for the most part). I have a pair of black clogs, a pair of brown clogs, and a pair of clunky brown leather lace-up shoes that I'm quite pleased with.
Me: Excuse me, but that language isn't necessary.
Student: Well, you don't have to be snotty about it.
I left her teacher a lovely note. Also, I described one student as "goodnaturedly unproductive." He thought that was a good phrase for me to use.
Tonight one of the women from church who's about my age had a bunch of people--family members, friends, and church women--over for a clothes and accessories swap. Unfortunately, most people had brought clothes that weren't my size, but I still did pretty well. I got two summer tops, a pair of earrings, a really pretty cross necklace (blue stones and sterling silver), and three pairs of shoes. The shoes made me pretty thrilled, which amuses me, as I never used to be a shoe person (and I'm still not, for the most part). I have a pair of black clogs, a pair of brown clogs, and a pair of clunky brown leather lace-up shoes that I'm quite pleased with.
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