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.
Showing posts with label grad school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grad school. Show all posts
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
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.
~*~
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.
~*~
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.
~*~
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.
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.
~*~
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.
~*~
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.
~*~
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.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
grad school can be fun...sort of...
Not original content, but something fascinating from my reading for LLT 895 this week. Please read the following passage and hazard a guess as to the subject matter...I'm curious who can figure it out. (Mom, Kate, and Lisa are not eligible, as they've already been subjected to this.)
The procedure is quite simple. First, you arrange the items in separate piles. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise, you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run, this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then, one never can tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put back into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life.
The whole idea is that while readers can decode each individual sentence, the overall meaning may be confusing.
(x-posted to Facebook)
The procedure is quite simple. First, you arrange the items in separate piles. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise, you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run, this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then, one never can tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put back into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life.
The whole idea is that while readers can decode each individual sentence, the overall meaning may be confusing.
(x-posted to Facebook)
Monday, September 15, 2008
swimming in work, not water (although I could...)
It is payday. And there was much rejoicing, even though I'd rather not lose as much money as I do to withholdings. At least I should get a pretty good tax refund next spring...
I suspect that postings this fall may be infrequent, although it's worth checking back for every now and then. 9 credits of grad school (which aren't actually all that reading-intensive, at least not for a former English major...more project-intensive), a 20 hour/week research job, a 2 hour/week tutoring job for a 5th grade Korean girl, and occasional social things to keep myself from going absolutely batty don't leave a lot of time or energy for blogging. Still, we'll see.
I can't believe how much it's rained the past few days...if this is what Ike does to Michigan, I'd hate to see what it's like down South. Wow. The Red Cedar River is supposed to hit 9 feet by Wednesday, with flood stage at 7 feet.
I suspect that postings this fall may be infrequent, although it's worth checking back for every now and then. 9 credits of grad school (which aren't actually all that reading-intensive, at least not for a former English major...more project-intensive), a 20 hour/week research job, a 2 hour/week tutoring job for a 5th grade Korean girl, and occasional social things to keep myself from going absolutely batty don't leave a lot of time or energy for blogging. Still, we'll see.
I can't believe how much it's rained the past few days...if this is what Ike does to Michigan, I'd hate to see what it's like down South. Wow. The Red Cedar River is supposed to hit 9 feet by Wednesday, with flood stage at 7 feet.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
settling in
Random little bits:
I found a frame for one of my oddly-dimensioned pictures from Ukraine. Granted, it has no glass, no back, no hook, and is the wrong color, but the dimensions are right. And all of those other things can be fixed.
Fruits Basket rocks. Both the manga and the anime. Yay for roommate bonding and Kyo-hugging. (What do you mean, he's just a stuffed toy? That's just what you think...)
I had tofu for supper. I don't think I'd ever had tofu before. While it doesn't make the top 10 list of best foods I've ever had in my life, it was pretty good.
As I start a new phase of life as a grad student at MSU, I'm going to try to become more organized, eat healthier, and exercise more. We'll see how this goes, but I'm hopeful. I mean, it has to be easier to make lifestyle changes when you're making other lifestyle changes, right? (That sentence apparently doesn't make as much sense typed out as it did in my head.)
I found a frame for one of my oddly-dimensioned pictures from Ukraine. Granted, it has no glass, no back, no hook, and is the wrong color, but the dimensions are right. And all of those other things can be fixed.
Fruits Basket rocks. Both the manga and the anime. Yay for roommate bonding and Kyo-hugging. (What do you mean, he's just a stuffed toy? That's just what you think...)
I had tofu for supper. I don't think I'd ever had tofu before. While it doesn't make the top 10 list of best foods I've ever had in my life, it was pretty good.
As I start a new phase of life as a grad student at MSU, I'm going to try to become more organized, eat healthier, and exercise more. We'll see how this goes, but I'm hopeful. I mean, it has to be easier to make lifestyle changes when you're making other lifestyle changes, right? (That sentence apparently doesn't make as much sense typed out as it did in my head.)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
oops, getting behind on posting
Oh, wow...it's been a week already since my last post! Let's see...what is there of note to mention?
* As of tonight, I officially have my apartment furnished, as Nikki and I hauled the futon upstairs and the couch downstairs. Forget "Two Men and a Truck"--two petite females proved that they're tougher than they look! I now hope to sort of get my living room put together and decorated. My chairs are fascinating and varied--a wooden folding chair, a very nice computer chair, a wooden stool, and a lopsided wicker chair I rescued off of the sidewalk this past weekend.
* I have a library card for the Ann Arbor Library. Besides books and movies, apparently you can check out art prints for a month or two. Maybe I should look into that for decorating.
* Reina, the little girl who just screamed and screamed the first few times in class, is fine now. Today she came in smiling, said "Hello," waved to her mom and said, "Bye-bye," and settled down to her art project. Her mom said that she gets all excited about coming to class. Yay!
* UMBC sent me a letter this week to tell me that I was accepted to the Bilingual Ed/ESOL MA program. I emailed them back in March to say I was withdrawing my application, but apparently some wires got crossed there. However, they apparently weren't going to give me any funding other than loans, so I think I'm much better off at MSU.
* After some emailing around, I have a Ukrainian conversation partner/tutor for the summer! Her name is Svitlana, and she's a student at Eastern Michigan who was originally from Ternopilska Oblast (not far from Celeste, actually). We met for the first time last night, and it was so much fun to be speaking Ukrainian again. With a job transcribing videos of Ukrainian classrooms this fall, I wanted to keep up with my language skills, so this seemed like a great opportunity.
* As of tonight, I officially have my apartment furnished, as Nikki and I hauled the futon upstairs and the couch downstairs. Forget "Two Men and a Truck"--two petite females proved that they're tougher than they look! I now hope to sort of get my living room put together and decorated. My chairs are fascinating and varied--a wooden folding chair, a very nice computer chair, a wooden stool, and a lopsided wicker chair I rescued off of the sidewalk this past weekend.
* I have a library card for the Ann Arbor Library. Besides books and movies, apparently you can check out art prints for a month or two. Maybe I should look into that for decorating.
* Reina, the little girl who just screamed and screamed the first few times in class, is fine now. Today she came in smiling, said "Hello," waved to her mom and said, "Bye-bye," and settled down to her art project. Her mom said that she gets all excited about coming to class. Yay!
* UMBC sent me a letter this week to tell me that I was accepted to the Bilingual Ed/ESOL MA program. I emailed them back in March to say I was withdrawing my application, but apparently some wires got crossed there. However, they apparently weren't going to give me any funding other than loans, so I think I'm much better off at MSU.
* After some emailing around, I have a Ukrainian conversation partner/tutor for the summer! Her name is Svitlana, and she's a student at Eastern Michigan who was originally from Ternopilska Oblast (not far from Celeste, actually). We met for the first time last night, and it was so much fun to be speaking Ukrainian again. With a job transcribing videos of Ukrainian classrooms this fall, I wanted to keep up with my language skills, so this seemed like a great opportunity.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
decision made
Well, today was one of those days where I didn't know whether to be encouraged or discouraged at various points, but it ended well.
Quiz Bowl practice was fun...I'm coaching the varsity team this weekend at a tournament at MSU. I think they're not going to do stupendously well, but they're quite excited about going, between getting to play Quiz Bowl, dress up (it's all girls, so we decided to go dressy as opposed to wearing the team shirts), and get ice cream at Coldstone Creamery (I suggested that they actually eat lunch as well, but they haven't sounded as excited about that).
Then I came home and called 41 different school districts about their summer migrant education programs. Two said that they'd send me applications for a paraprofessional position (thanks to No Child Left Behind, I'm not qualified for a teaching position due to lack of certification, even though I have teaching experience). Several more said that they don't know what their funding's going to look like for the summer, but I can call back in April. Quite a few more said that they either wouldn't have openings or didn't have a summer program. And I left a lot of phone messages for people. It was not an encouraging afternoon, except that I was able to cross a lot of options off my "Plans for Summer" list.
But then I checked my email and found out that I've officially been offered a research assistantship for MSU this fall, 10 hours a week for a professor who wants me to transcribe data in Ukrainian and 10 hours a week for another prof as of yet to be determined. It'll cover tuition, plus a stipend. So I finally made up my mind...I'm going to be a Spartan again! I'm excited; the pieces have really fallen into place here.
Quiz Bowl practice was fun...I'm coaching the varsity team this weekend at a tournament at MSU. I think they're not going to do stupendously well, but they're quite excited about going, between getting to play Quiz Bowl, dress up (it's all girls, so we decided to go dressy as opposed to wearing the team shirts), and get ice cream at Coldstone Creamery (I suggested that they actually eat lunch as well, but they haven't sounded as excited about that).
Then I came home and called 41 different school districts about their summer migrant education programs. Two said that they'd send me applications for a paraprofessional position (thanks to No Child Left Behind, I'm not qualified for a teaching position due to lack of certification, even though I have teaching experience). Several more said that they don't know what their funding's going to look like for the summer, but I can call back in April. Quite a few more said that they either wouldn't have openings or didn't have a summer program. And I left a lot of phone messages for people. It was not an encouraging afternoon, except that I was able to cross a lot of options off my "Plans for Summer" list.
But then I checked my email and found out that I've officially been offered a research assistantship for MSU this fall, 10 hours a week for a professor who wants me to transcribe data in Ukrainian and 10 hours a week for another prof as of yet to be determined. It'll cover tuition, plus a stipend. So I finally made up my mind...I'm going to be a Spartan again! I'm excited; the pieces have really fallen into place here.
Monday, March 3, 2008
nadiya yea (there is hope)
I'm posting from my house!!! The roads were icy today and I didn't really feel like driving into town to use the library (which may or may not be open) to email in my newspaper article, so after much trial and error, Dad and I managed to hook my laptop up to our dial-up connection. It's not the fastest connection, but it's faster on my computer than my parents', and I can access Blogger and don't have to deal with flash drives.
In other news, I'm tired of winter, have been rearranging my room a bit, don't know what I'm doing or where I'm living this summer (but it's probably not here, as my primary source of income around here ends when school gets out, and I'd relocate sooner if I found something better), and there's a chance that if I go to MSU this fall, I could get a job transcribing data in Ukrainian for a professor in the department I'd be in.
In other news, I'm tired of winter, have been rearranging my room a bit, don't know what I'm doing or where I'm living this summer (but it's probably not here, as my primary source of income around here ends when school gets out, and I'd relocate sooner if I found something better), and there's a chance that if I go to MSU this fall, I could get a job transcribing data in Ukrainian for a professor in the department I'd be in.
Friday, February 22, 2008
"you had the world's smallest nail stuck in your tire..."
Yesterday was a day I don't need to repeat again any time soon.
It started out with me packing my car for a trip to East Lansing to visit the MA TESOL program.
Then, I got a mile away from my house and decided, "Oh, I'll just take this extra half mile of dirt road to get me to the highway, which will be cleared, rather than go on snowy paved roads for several miles." This started well, and I was within an eighth of a mile of my goal, when the sheet of ice that I was driving on became problematic. I slid and spun off into the snowbank...and got a flat tire in the process.
Thank goodness for cell phones, random strangers driving by, and fathers.
Close to two hours later, I was on my way again. I got to MSU only about 20 minutes later than I needed to be there (I'd originally scheduled plenty of time beforehand to do random things). I sat in on a class, had an interview for a TA position, and had a very good conversation with Professor Ron Dorr, who I'd had for Religion and American Literature and was one of the two best professors I had at MSU.
Then I went back to my car, intending to head to Quiz Bowl practice and see people. However, to my utter dismay, I discovered that in my rush to not be quite-as-late when I showed up, I had inadvertently locked my keys in the car.
Called H&H Mobile, got it taken care of, and eventually made it to Quiz Bowl practice. Then I went to Tina and Lisa's, where I'm staying this weekend, exhausted after a stressful day. Within ten minutes of arriving, Tina had a pillow, a cup of tea, and a back rub for me. Bless her heart!
Although, as my mom said, no car trouble and a bad interview would have been much worse.
~*~
I'd forgotten how much I love the Lansing area and the MSU campus. I don't know for sure what I'm doing this fall yet, but it's been great to be back here for a few days.
It started out with me packing my car for a trip to East Lansing to visit the MA TESOL program.
Then, I got a mile away from my house and decided, "Oh, I'll just take this extra half mile of dirt road to get me to the highway, which will be cleared, rather than go on snowy paved roads for several miles." This started well, and I was within an eighth of a mile of my goal, when the sheet of ice that I was driving on became problematic. I slid and spun off into the snowbank...and got a flat tire in the process.
Thank goodness for cell phones, random strangers driving by, and fathers.
Close to two hours later, I was on my way again. I got to MSU only about 20 minutes later than I needed to be there (I'd originally scheduled plenty of time beforehand to do random things). I sat in on a class, had an interview for a TA position, and had a very good conversation with Professor Ron Dorr, who I'd had for Religion and American Literature and was one of the two best professors I had at MSU.
Then I went back to my car, intending to head to Quiz Bowl practice and see people. However, to my utter dismay, I discovered that in my rush to not be quite-as-late when I showed up, I had inadvertently locked my keys in the car.
Called H&H Mobile, got it taken care of, and eventually made it to Quiz Bowl practice. Then I went to Tina and Lisa's, where I'm staying this weekend, exhausted after a stressful day. Within ten minutes of arriving, Tina had a pillow, a cup of tea, and a back rub for me. Bless her heart!
Although, as my mom said, no car trouble and a bad interview would have been much worse.
~*~
I'd forgotten how much I love the Lansing area and the MSU campus. I don't know for sure what I'm doing this fall yet, but it's been great to be back here for a few days.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
brrr
It's cold here in Michigan.
The job search continues, with various amusing suggestions from friends and acquaintances--everything from teaching at a Bible college in Kentucky to becoming a sports writer for the local paper. I've submitted my paperwork to sub at local schools, have two days scheduled next week to sub at the Christian school connected to my parents' church (my church, I suppose, now that I'm living here again), and another potential job that I'm not going into details about here because the family consensus was that one of my readers would think it highly entertaining if they found out in some other fashion. (Yes, it's legal.)
On the grad school front, I found out yesterday that I've been accepted to MSU's MATESOL program for the fall. I'm not making any decisions yet, as I haven't heard from UMBC and won't find out if I have a TA position at MSU until March, but it's great to know! I'm hoping to visit the department next month when I'm down for some Quiz Bowl stuff, so that should be good.
I've recently found Ukrainian-themed scrapbook paper online, so I hope to start working on my Peace Corps scrapbook soon. Maybe that will help organize all the piles of stuff I have around my desk.
On the subject of Ukraine, here's a good article about evangelicalism in Ukraine from Christianity Today.
Also on the subject of Ukraine, I made the mistake of listening to some of my Russian hymns last night and I got really really homesick. I guess it's part of the readjustment process, but it stinks. If I don't listen to my music and watch my DVDs (which I can't do right now because my disk drive won't open), I'll forget my language. But when I do, I just really start to remember how much I loved Ukraine and how much I miss it.
It's really cold these days. At least here, I don't have to walk everywhere like I would in Ukraine.
The job search continues, with various amusing suggestions from friends and acquaintances--everything from teaching at a Bible college in Kentucky to becoming a sports writer for the local paper. I've submitted my paperwork to sub at local schools, have two days scheduled next week to sub at the Christian school connected to my parents' church (my church, I suppose, now that I'm living here again), and another potential job that I'm not going into details about here because the family consensus was that one of my readers would think it highly entertaining if they found out in some other fashion. (Yes, it's legal.)
On the grad school front, I found out yesterday that I've been accepted to MSU's MATESOL program for the fall. I'm not making any decisions yet, as I haven't heard from UMBC and won't find out if I have a TA position at MSU until March, but it's great to know! I'm hoping to visit the department next month when I'm down for some Quiz Bowl stuff, so that should be good.
I've recently found Ukrainian-themed scrapbook paper online, so I hope to start working on my Peace Corps scrapbook soon. Maybe that will help organize all the piles of stuff I have around my desk.
On the subject of Ukraine, here's a good article about evangelicalism in Ukraine from Christianity Today.
Also on the subject of Ukraine, I made the mistake of listening to some of my Russian hymns last night and I got really really homesick. I guess it's part of the readjustment process, but it stinks. If I don't listen to my music and watch my DVDs (which I can't do right now because my disk drive won't open), I'll forget my language. But when I do, I just really start to remember how much I loved Ukraine and how much I miss it.
It's really cold these days. At least here, I don't have to walk everywhere like I would in Ukraine.
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