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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Reverse culture shock, so far

Here I am, back in the US for most of Christmas break. I know this time will be good to give me some perspective on my time/ministry thus far in Ukraine, and also to recharge and take a break. At the same time, I am reminded of little details from everyday life that I have forgotten. Here are some little things so far:

*There is no time difference between my family and I, but a 7 hour difference between my friends in Kiev and I.

*I understand everything that is spoken around me. It's nice to have the comprehension, but not when it includes swear words. I got used to not hearing swear words except on the TV shows I'd watch.

*When I text on my Ukraine phone, I've accidentally sent messages sooner than I wanted, or typed the wrong words...thinking it was still like my US phone. Now that I've mostly gotten the hang of my Ukraine phone, and the prediction mode, I am trying to text on my US phone while applying the "rules" of my Ukraine phone. I type things like "hi0there" instead of "hi there", or switch between lowercase and uppercase instead of choosing the next predicted word.

*No adapter is needed for my computer charger.

*Tap water is drinkable!

*I tried to hug my dad's dishwasher, and he said, "No, you may not take that back with you!"

*It wasn't until I finally made it back to my house that I tried to flush the toilet as though I was in Ukraine (pressing the button on top instead of using the handle).

*The light switches in my house are lower than the ones in my apartment/classroom. I keep hitting the thermostat instead of the light switch.

*I've enjoyed listening to 860AM because occasionally it is in Russian (sometimes French, sometimes Spanish too).

*Not everyone wants to hear all my stories from Ukraine. Last night, I could think of a story that somewhat related to anything anyone said--I kept myself from telling every story that came to mind.

*People dress so much more casually here when they go out in public than in Ukraine.

*I feel like I've outgrown this place.

*One day a woman waved at me from inside her car. I didn't know her, and was confused, wondering why this stranger was waving and smiling at me. Then I realized I was in a small town on the Eastern Shore, and everyone waves to each other or says hi in passing. I've conditioned myself not to smile at strangers.

*It'd be nice to have a sign that I could wear that would answer people's most basic questions without me having to repeat the answers multiple times.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

He's set my feet upon the rock....

Every Sunday in church, the words to the songs are put on the screen, so we can follow along. This has been great for me, so I can practice reading Russian at a fast enough pace, and make sure I pronounce letters correctly. I can recognize commonly-used "Christian" words/phrases, and identify adjectives and verbs. Comprehension is another thing, unless I know the song in English (even then, the words aren't always literally translated).

Today the first few songs WEREN'T on the screen, which reminded me of trying to sing along to Hillsong Ukraine CDs in my car when I didn't know the words. I found myself trying to anticipate what would come next--words or particular endings to the words. Then I started trying to read the lips of those on the worship team, and listen to what people were singing around me. It worked....not very well....I was basically mumbling the entire time.

However, later the words were back on the screen, and we sang "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." I was able to read every single word correctly, and didn't get lost in longer words (mostly because they weren't there). I was excited.

When I read in Russian, I have this tendency when I see a long/complicated-looking word for my eyes to jump back and forth within the word. They sort of gravitate toward the part that I think will be hard to say, and I miss the first few letters and/or syllables. In those times, I sound like a kindergartner (that word looks really funny) because I am slowly sounding out the words syllable by syllable. :)

Below are the lyrics in Russian. I would transliterate them for you, but it is late here (11pm) and I am being picked up at 3:45am to go to the airport to visit America. I will be in the US for Christmas (Dec 25) and New Year's, and then back to Ukraine in time for "Christmas-Christmas" on the 7th as Pastor Vova said.

Иисус! Ты любовь моя
Иисус! Не оставлю я Тебя
Из темноты Ты забрал меня,
Дал опору и теперь знаю я.

В тебе я нуждаюсь
Я люблю Тебя! Навеки будь со мной.
Спаситель, мой лучший Друг!
Прославлять Тебя я буду вновь и вновь.

Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Jesus, I will never let you go
You’ve taken me from the miry clay
You've set my feet upon the Rock, and now i know

I love you, I need you,
Though my world may fall, I’ll never let you go
My Saviour, my closest friend,
I will worship you until the very end

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Months of the Year

In learning the language and culture here in Ukraine, it's important to learn the months of the year.

Here you can see how the Russian names for the months are very similar to ours in English or Spanish.

*Январь (yan-var)
January
*Февраль (Fev-ral)
February
*Март (Mart)
March
*Апрель (Apryel)
April
*Май (Mai)
May
*Июнь (ee-yoon)
June
*Июль (ee-yool)
July
*Август (Avgust)
August
*Сентябрь (Sen-tyabr)
September
*Октябрь (Ok-tyabr)
October
*Ноябрь (Noyabr)
November
*Декабрь (Dekabr)
December

One of my struggles in attempting to read signs around here is that they are primarily in Ukrainian. I can recognize some Ukrainian words here and there, mostly if they are similar to Russian, English, or Spanish words, or if I've seen them in other contexts and people have told me what they mean.

Many (if not all) of my receipts that write out the name of the month use Ukrainian. This makes it difficult to recognize the date I paid a bill, or bought something at the store, unless the month is represented by a number. What is interesting is that the names of the months in Ukrainian have meanings! Here they are:

January: Січень (Sichen')
month of cutting (chopping wood, or biting frost)

February: Лютий (Liutyi)
cruel or frosty

March: Березень (Berezen')
month of the bereza (birch)

April: Квітень (Kviten')
month of flowering

May: Травень (Traven')
month of grass

June: Червень (Cherven’)
red month, meaning month when berries ripe and become red

July: Липень (Lypen')
month of the lipa (linden tree)

August: Серпень (Serpen')
month of the sickle

September: Вересень (Veresen’)
month of heather

October: Жовтень (Zhovten')
yellow month

November: Листопад (Lystopad)
falling leaves

December: Грудень (Hruden')
month of frozen clods

Isn't that interesting? They are so fitting for what happens in those months!

*Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_months

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Quarantine and Field Retreat

Quarantine
As mentioned in previous posts, Ukraine closed schools and forbade large public gatherings for three weeks as a quarantine against swine flu. Public transport and roads seemed a little less congested, and so many people wore masks, believing it was wholly effective at preventing the spread of the virus. I learned how to say "swine flu" in Russian, which of course does not help me in every day life, but it is nice to know more of the language!

This quarantine included KCA, unfortunately, and we also had to shut down school as we know it for those 3 weeks. At first, I couldn't fathom not seeing my students for 3 weeks--how would we keep on track academically (how would they remember anything), or how would they be able to teach themselves the material? Not to mention, what would I do for three weeks when the focus of my ministry here in Ukraine is to my students?

Various alternate plans were devised...Plan B: have students complete a week's worth of assignments at home. Plan C: have high school students gather in a few apartments in Podil for most of their classes. Plan D: create a rotation of classes on the Left Bank, in various apartments scattered within a mile radius or so, in which teachers changed places and the grades stayed together.

We finally followed Plan D, which required learning a different routine in order to navigate between the apartments, and having my students focus on the schoolwork at hand rather than anything distracting in their home environment. As I've learned within the past year or so, "the key to missions is flexibility," and this certainly still holds true in my experiences. I've had to trust that God would work out the school schedule, and in this entire quarantine situation, for His glory.

During the quarantine, we had 11 people over for "fajita night". This is Lisa and I (with Robyn behind us) making tortillas. Lisa is a fellow KCA teacher.

Once we returned to a regular schedule, I was glad to see my students again, and be a bit more settled. I am still in the process of catching up on grading--a task which seems never ending.

CIS Field Retreat
During the week of Thanksgiving, I joined missionary families and other volunteers from across Ukraine, Russia, and central Asia. Most of these missionaries I had already met during their visits to Kiev, and we spent time together at meals, in worship, and at some meetings. On Thanksgiving day, we cooked a traditional American meal, and enjoyed leftovers the next morning for breakfast.

I spent time with the MKs, whether it was doing math homework, finding strange objects by old abandoned buildings, or playing on the playground. One of the girls that was there was Vica, our translator/teammate from last summer--we were roommates the whole week!!! I was excited to see her!

During our devotion times together, we were challenged to be fully present wherever we are and to be aware of God's presence and to allow God to shape us into who He intends us to be. Sometimes we cannot see what God is doing in the lives of people around us, but seeds have been planted and God is still at work. Just because things aren't changing, or God's not answering our prayers the way we'd imagined, on our timetable does not mean that God is not making things happen. We may not see that any of our work has been fruitful, but who knows? God makes things grow in His time, and has a purpose.


The entire CIS team--my family away from home. Shortly after this photo was taken (and at least 5 others just like it), we discovered that the creamed corn had burned.

Other stories:
*When there is heavy traffic, it is often much faster to get out of the bus and walk. The other night, there were traffic jams all across the city, and not just in my part of the city. It turned out the president of Brazil was visiting.
*More photos can be found on my Facebook page, or via the links on the right hand side of my blog site

Prayer Requests
*Health of the students and teachers--sickness is going around the 9th grade especially
*Energy and strength and patience to teach these last few weeks before Christmas break
*Safe travels when I travel to the US for (western) Christmas
*God's continued guidance in my life
*Raising the last bit of financial support: To contribute, visit http://web.nazarene.org/goto/ukrainejh.

Praises
*My friends here at both church and school
*The quarantine is over! I have been healthy thus far in the school year.
*Your support and encouragement

In Christ,
Jessica

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Traffic Jam Stories

Traffic, especially around "rush hour" (I'm not sure exactly what time it is, maybe around 6 or 7--I don't really have a sense of time here), can be horrendous. Quite often, it is much faster to get off the 6K bus at an earlier stop and walk home a more direct way than to wait for it to reach the end of the line at Lukyanivska metro.

After school today, I decided to go to church to pick up my mail and then go home. I boarded the 6K at school as usual, but knowing that it wouldn't continue past the church, I changed to bus 18 and planned to take it as close to the church as I could.

However, there was a LOT of traffic tonight, so I resigned myself to getting off at Lukyanivska, figuring it would be faster--but wetter (it was "misting")--to walk to church rather than sit in the traffic.

I got to church, went upstairs and grabbed my card, and then left again. As I left, I thought, it would be really funny if I saw "my" bus again. I had noted when I got on that it was bus #2626, so I knew to look for that.


Sure enough, by the time I was across the road from the theater and next to the little park, I saw my bus! In the time it had taken me to walk nearly a half mile (0.79 km), the bus had only made it 0.2 miles (0.32 km).

In other photos, the following is a presidential campaign poster. I think it's for someone named Arseniy...aha, Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Wikipedia is quite helpful for finding this basic information).

Zee tells me that this poster is a play on the "H1N1" virus, and that it says 'the wars against the virus of corruption will be won'. Instead of H1N1, it says "Yu-1 Ya-1" for Yulia Tymoshenko (current PM) and Viktor Yanukovich (last election's runner-up), both of whom are running in this election. Clever, eh?

*Later Update*
This traffic was not just troublesome in my part of the city, but all across--it took my roommate's family 2-3 hours to get home. Turns out the president of BRAZIL was visiting. Thank you, Mr. (?) President for causing lots of traffic jams. However, welcome to Ukraine.