This post is about Footba--- I mean, Soccer.

Hello, beautiful people! Sarah is here to tell you another story about life in Ukraine. First of all, I started a new class this week, and my new students are AWESOME! They are funny and smart and our discussions are fantastic. We laugh a lot, but not too much :) Yesterday some of my students came to an earlier class. "...Why are you in my early class?" I was pretty confused, but I found out that they were going to the soccer game and wanted more time to prepare. "I'm going toooooo!" I was so pumped, I felt like a REAL Ukrainian who liked the same things as other REAL Ukrainians, like soccer (which I keep calling football on accident, because all of my students call it football...) I went with a new friend, probably the coolest person I've met so far.


The game was actually pretty slow, no one made a goal in the first half, and it didn't look like anything exciting would happen in the second half either. But my friend and I had a great time people-watching, I bought a new scarf to show my support for Dinamo Kiev, and we sat right next to the "fun" section full of people cheering loudly, waving their scarves in the air, and banging on drums. It was awesome. I also heard a LOT of bad words in Russian and Ukrainian... which was fun, I have to admit :) lots more laughing. Then, when we were 3 and a half minutes into stoppage time, FINALLY Kiev scored a goal! It was GLORIOUS!

(Note the fireworks, as well as the scoreboard: Kiev 1, Besiktas 0)

The crowd was COMPLETELY nuts. The cheering went on even as we walked out of the stadium, across the street, to the metro, down the mile-long escalators, and on the train, even all the way to the last stop on the metro there were fans cheering at the top of their lungs and pounding on the sides of the subway car:

"Динамо КИЇВ! Динамо КИЇВ! Біло синій --- самий СИЛЬНИЙ!"

Totally awesome. And then my class was canceled this morning and I got to sleep in :) This is the life! Missing everyone at home, loving my time in Kiev, and looking forward to more adventures. This weekend: The Opera!

Sarah

Vacation? Oh, ok!

It's been a while since I updated, but that's not because I've been busy working --- I was given an unexpected vacation! The school postponed the start date for our next session by a week, giving me a week to explore more of Kiev, as well as to take a looooovely weekend trip to...


...ODESSA! Southern Ukraine, right on the Black Sea, and small enough to walk around in two days. I got tickets on a night train for less than $25 round trip (I love Eastern Europe). Highlights: Watched the sun rise over the sea, went swimming at the beach, spoke a LOT of Russian with some new friends (travelers from Russia), went to a vintage market, took TONS of pictures, and went out for Georgian food (Hachipurri!) I also saw jellyfish for the first time, and learned that the Russian word for jellyfish is "Medusa." This was my favorite "Jellyfish-watching" spot:


Earlier in the week I explored more of Kiev with a new Ukrainian friend. First stop was the Marinksii park, which is full or memorials, statues, and great views of the river Dnipr. Next up was the Lavra, a maze-like construction of churches built on the slop of a giant hill, and finally Mat' Rodina (Mother of the Motherland): An enormous statue to commemorate military heroes. Look, pictures!


And as if that weren't enough, I also bought tickets to an opera for next weekend, went to a book market with my Russian teacher, found new friends at an English conversation club, and made plans to go to a soccer game on Thursday. So much news! But this week I'm back to teaching classes, so that means less time for exploring the city. Plenty of time for that on the weekends, though, and I'm sure my new students will keep me entertained :)

'Til next time!
Sarah

Update update update

Guess what I just did? I just finished teaching a two-week English conversation course. Hurray! It was stressful, but a lot of fun! Next week I'll be giving some individual lessons, and then I start a new two-week course on the 17th. I feel cool.

One of the best things about this week, besides my awesome students, is that I've started taking 1-on-1 Russian lessons --- The group Russian lessons were below my level (ego boost GO). My new teacher is FANTASTIC if only because she is completely hilarious. She speaks a mile a minute, occasionally using French exclamations, and thankfully I understand almost everything she says. She gets REALLY excited whenever she finds something new for me to drool over (like a Russian ballet in town, directions to a good restaurant, or new vocabulary), and she tries to fit as much as possible into our hour-and-a-half lessons ("That's so little time!" she always says). She's got me reading some Bulgakov and some Bunin, brushing up on my reflexive verbs, and she's taking me to a book market tomorrow after class. Super excited.

In other news, this morning I accidentally poured sour milk in my cereal but ate it anyway because I was running late. I also made cheese ravioli the other night that was NOT cheese ravioli --- they sweeten the cheese so it's like a dessert dumpling. Too bad I had already covered it in tomato sauce, sour cream, and gouda. On the other hand, I have discovered instant buckwheat cereal (Grechka) which has always been my favorite thing, and now I can make it in three minutes. Ta-da!

I stay up way too late! Goodnight!
Sarah

life is good :)

It's the Weekend!! Slava Bogu (Thank God). My schedule during the week is pretty crazy, and I quite literally have no time for myself: I have to get on the metro by 8:45am in order to make it to my 9:30am Russian class. Class goes until 12:45, when I go out to Lunch at a nearby cafeteria, and make it back to school around 2pm. I have to teach class at 5pm, so I plan my lessons from 2-5 and I teach for four hours... making it to the metro just after 9pm and getting home at 10pm for dinner. After dinner I take about an hour to myself (to digest, to plan for the next day, do some homework) before I fall asleep completely exhausted at midnight. Repeat four times, and you have my week.

BUT I don't teach on Fridays! I was totally zoned out in morning class and then came home with J (the new intern from the US, more well-adjusted than the other guy) to plan ahead for our lessons, finally go grocery shopping, and buy her some Ukrainian-appropriate items (stylish boots, large purse to replace her backpack, hairdryer with a European plug, etc.)


Once again fate has re-directed my plans, probably for the better: I was planning to go to a village on the outskirts of Kiev, a tourist spot to view old-style architecture and lifestyles, with some of my classmates today. I overslept and had to miss out, but because of that I got to spend some time with my roommate over brunch and meet our landlady who came to visit. Our landlady is Ol'ga, she is a total sweetheart, and very talkative. She told us all about her feelings on post-soviet life, about her granddaughter in New York, and where to get clean drinking water for 10x cheaper than the grocery store. I also found out that in the tourist village, there is a huge religious festival on Oct. 14th, so my roommates and I will wait until then to visit. Awesome!


On another note, I'm getting a lot better at grocery shopping and making my own food, but it's hard to really get produce here. I have bananas... and apples... I drink a lot of coffee/tea, and eat a lot of sandwiches and eggs. But the restaurants I go to for lunch are fantastic, usually traditional dishes for really cheap. I bought some more complicated ingredients at the store yesterday, so maybe next week I won't be living off of macaroni, omelets and Russian grilled cheese (although they are extremely delicious).

Off to meet a couchsurfer for lunch and go for a walk in the park!

Love,
Sarah

Yeah. Buckets.

Of the Holy variety.

First of all, I love my roommates, even when they speak Italian to eachother and I have no idea what's happening. My roommate Barbara took me around the Kiev Center yesterday, and it was AWESOME. Have some pics to keep you involved while I get into the bizarre explanation of Today's events:


Today was INSANE. My boss told me to show up to class today at 9:30am with the books he sent me (very interesting, both in English, about Russian politics and world culture systems). I assumed that I would have class at 9:30 and that we would use these books. WRONG. I wait in the computer lounge for a while, because I showed up early. Then a woman shows me around the school, telling me where my class is. Once the tour is done, I go to my class, where no one is expecting me and the teacher has no idea what my books are for (This type of disorganization is so Russia, it must be an Eastern European thing). I sit it on the lesson, which turns out to be a test, and the teacher realizes that I understand everything that is happening. She gives me the test, I finish it before the other three students, and the teacher and I have a conversation in Russian about putting me in a higher level. I later find out that this class currently IS the highest level offered, but it was fun and the teacher was very nice, so whatever. Some grammar review is always good. Went out to lunch with my classmates (who were super nice and easy to talk to, all in Russian of course) and then hustled back to school for my 2pm meeting with my boss.

At my meeting I ask my boss about the books, which he thanks me for and takes away. I guess they weren't for me... I miss those books. Anyway, I meet another American intern who lives in Chicago --- the first thing he wanted to talk about was that he can't believe Americans elected Obama as president, since Chicago politicians are "the worst, the most corrupt" in America. "And a black man? C'mon!" I've never met anyone like this guy.


So this meeting with my boss was our orientation for teaching... which I realized, began in three hours. "Oh, ok, you want me to teach a class today? Cool. What? Two classes? Okay. Back-to-back? Wow, alright. How long? 2 hours? Each? Bring it Oooon!" So anyway, my boss basically told us that we should talk about travel (because it's interesting!), so I look through some teaching resources and find a few good worksheets. I plan some exercises. Not knowing anything about my students, and only having taught children in the past, I realized soon enough that perhaps these were a little juvenile, but my first class liked it. My second class had some troubles... but I think we can get through it. I love my students, they are all SUPER interesting, all adults except for two law students (which are not like any law students in America --- think more along the lines of Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, minus five years).


At 10:30pm I finally got home so I could eat some dinner, forgot how to speak Russian because I was so exhausted and had been speaking English all evening, and knew I had to write about it. This sounds like I had a crummy day, I realize this, but actually it was really awesome. I was so happy, all day long. Everyone here is incredibly nice, people smile (UKRAINIANS SMILE!), I made some new friends, my coworkers are AMAZING, I made a great dinner with the few ingredients I had (eggs in olive-oil and sour-cream macaroni&cheese with fried kielbasa), and plenty of people asked me to spend time with them outside of work! So cool! I have a list of people in my phone that I can call whenever I have free time, which is the BEST because when I finally do have free time, I'm not going to want to sit in my apartment by myself.

Oh, and I want to take a trip to Odessa before it gets to cold.

Love you all, I had a great day (...seriously, it was great!)

Sarah

Packing and Bubbles

Hello, all!

It's hard to believe that in two days, I'll be in Kiev... Seriously, it's still kind of hard for me to believe that. Maybe that's why it's so hard to make myself pack? I've told myself that I can pack a little more for this trip than I have in the past, since this time I'll have a home-base to keep all of my things (and I won't be traveling to 5 more countries afterwards). Unfortunately, as soon as I give myself the option of packing more than the bare necessities, I have a hard time keeping my extraneous outfits and personal things down to a manageable size. I spent all evening stressing about it, but eventually I was able to close my suitcase (once I sat on it... and tilted it slightly to one side).

Whoa, so I've got my tickets, my bags are packed, and I fly out on Friday. How do I feel about that? I checked in with myself a few days ago, as I was preparing to leave St. Olaf (where I had been working on my Fulbright application, woo!) and I started to feel like I wasn't mentally prepared for this trip. For two weeks I had been reconnecting with all of my friends, trying to spend as much time with everyone before I left, I even had a farewell concert with my beloved band, Dirty Petrov and the Gentillionaires. I was having a blast! How could I leave? I am excited about Ukraine, but honestly, it's going to be a rough transition. This isn't study abroad: I won't have a host mother to take care of me, and there won't be any Oles living down the street ...I am out of the bubble! That beautiful, comfortable, friend-filled bubble with the nation's #1 college cafeteria. It's a little scary, yeah --- but you know what? It's time to grow up a little, and to distance myself from that surreal hill-top life.

Hurray for being a big girl --- Here is Gogol Bordello, singing about growing up (sort of...)

I'll write my next update from Kiev!

Sarah

I can has an Apartment?

I have an Address in Kiev! Apparently I'll have my own room living in an apartment with two Italian interns --- OMGmylifeisawesome. We also have a washer/dryer, microwave, and internet. I'm all set. Here it is on Yandex street view:


ул. Михаила Ломоносова, 24
Киев, город Киев, Украина


Woooooo!!!
Sarah

My Life: An Outline

Lots of people have been getting confused about where I am going, when, for how long, and just generally asking me for clarification on all of my plans.... SO I thought I would make a nice little outline for reference. Here's what I am working towards for the next year or so:

1. Kiev, Ukraine

• Accepted
• Leaving on September 23rd, returning to USA on December 2oth
• Teaching English and taking Russian language lessons as an unpaid internship
  

2. Georgia (the country, not the state in southern USA)

• Applying, not yet accepted.
• Would be leaving in January, returning to USA in June, possibly going back to Georgia in September until December 22nd.
• Teaching English and getting paid!

3. Concordia Language Villages

• A real job that I do in the Summer, June-July
  
• Teaching Russian and being a camp counselor

4. Fulbright in Russia

• Applying, not yet accepted.
• Would be leaving September 2012, returning June 2013.
• Teaching conversational English and American culture in Russian Universities, possibly taking advanced Russian lessons and volunteering with younger kids/orphans.

5. Graduate School

• Applying eventually, once I get my GRE scores back and finish with my other applications
• Looking into about a million different schools with Slavic Language programs
• Start date dependent on Georgia/Fulbright results... also dependent on program acceptance.

So, there's the outline! Doesn't my life have the potential to be really exciting, although very low-income? I'll keep you all updated. For now, we're focusing on Ukraine, and being the cool teacher. I'll save that explanation yet again for another post, so that I have something to post about before I leave (25 days!)

Sarah

Preparations

Ok, so I leave for Kiev in exactly one month today. I am kind of ahead of myself right now, because I feel like I should be leaving, like, tomorrow. Unfortunately I'll just have to wait, and in the meantime I'm trying to get even more excited about it. If I haven't already showed up at your front door and shoved this website in your face, here is the link to the school I'll be at, Nova Mova International Language School: www.learnrussiankiev.com (...that's the site for learning Russian, anyway. The English school page is all in Russian, so I figured you'd rather see this one. It's the same school, just a different language section. They also have Ukrainian, Italian, and Portugese!)


Other preparations include looking at pictures of Kiev (see photo above), thinking about Kiev, talking to people who have been to Kiev, staring at maps of Kiev, and sending emails back and forth to my boss in Kiev. Pretty soon I'll have a photo and a biography on the English school website, so that students can see who their teacher will be --- How cool is that?? I wrote it the other day, in Russian and English. I'm going to be the cool teacher. I'll probably expand on that more in another post.

Anyway, I know you're all bored with reading about the stuff that happens BEFORE I actually get to Ukraine, so I'm trying to contain myself and not write a silly post every day just to say "OMG IM SO EXCITED YAAAAAAY!!!" Please forgive me for any such posts... it's hard to resist.

A final note on preparation: Today I'm having Beef Stroganoff for dinner. Score.

До встречи!
Sarah

New Trip, New Blog!

"Hey, what's this? Sarah Chao has another blog? Where is she going now? Well, as long as I don't have to keep track of seventeen bajillion cities like last time, I guess I'll check it out."

Yes! The rumors are true! I've been in the US of A for far too long (7 months?) and it's time to get the heck out of Dodge. Where to this time? Well, if you've managed to remain ignorant up to this point, past the website URL and around the big fat title, I'm going to UKRAINE! I'll be living in the capitol city of Kiev, the third largest Russian-speaking city in the WORLD.

"What? Where the heck is that?"

Well, I'll show you:



There she is, the Beautiful Black sea and her surrounding countries. The peach-colored area is Russia, by the way. Do you see Kiev? In that big Orange country labeled Ukraine? Yeah. I'm going there.

"But why? I thought you wanted to be in Russia, so why Ukraine?"

Why not? Ukrainians still speak Russian, and I wouldn't mind picking up some Ukrainian either. I'm going for a teaching internship, where I'll be teaching English and Learning Russian at the NovaMova language school.

"When do you leave? How long will you be gone? Why don't you love me anymore??"

Calm down! I leave on September 23rd, and I'll be back before you know it (i.e. December 20th). Don't worry, I still love you all, and I'll be back for Christmas. In the meantime, wish me luck! Send me mail! Wire me money! I'll spend as much time with as many people as I can before I leave in a month.

Borsch and Shii forever,
Sarah