A Night at the Moscow Water Circus!

One of the reasons that I love the city of Kharkiv is that there are so many random things to do. I went to the Water Circus show two weekends ago with Byron and Connie, the two Peace Corps Volunteers who live in the city. Byron was treating his Russian tutor and her family to the circus, and he had a few extra tickets so I got to go! I've ridden past the circus building on marshrutka buses, but never been inside. The circus is not quite what you'd imagine from an American point of view - its not inside a big red and white striped tent...

A professional photo of the Kharkiv circus building!

I can't say that I remember the last time that I went to the circus, my family was always more of a science-museum and zoo type. I remember going to a lot of those when I was little, but not circuses. Walking around inside the circus building with all the families and little kids was like being taken back to my childhood.

Vendors selling popcorn and snacks. 

They are also selling assorted light-up toys, masks, balloons and things like bouncy balls. 

So of course I bought some red clown noses for us!

Connie bought some cotton candy!

The water show is a special show that is in town from Moscow, they set up a temporary pool in the middle of the circus ring and performed acts such as synchronized swimming, dancing, acrobatics and animal acts. I think that the circus building hasn't been remodeled since it was built during Soviet times - all the old wooden seats reminded me of the hockey-style stadium seat at the old Yale University swimming pool.

The advertisement in Russian for the Moscow Circus (in water). 

Before the show, kids can pay 20grn to ride the flying cables up to the ceiling...  notice the old wooden stadium seats. 

The old Kiphuth pool at Yale University, also with old wooden stadium seats. 

Byron got us great seats - we were in row 5, in the front and directly across from the stage. We were actually so close that we were in the "splash zone" from the pool! Here are some of my photos from the show... I apologize for the mediocre quality of some of them, the smoke machine made it foggy and therefore some of the photos didn't turn out quite so well.

The opening of the show, featuring the different performers. 

Crazy acrobatics.

Juggling and riding unicycles. 

Bubbles! They did the classic - put a kid inside a giant bubble using a hula hoop.

Swinging acrobatics and an accompanying synchronized swimming show.

This guy swam around the little pool with a huge boa constrictor then performed some stunts with this alligator (or crocodile, I don't really know how to tell the difference). 

If you're interested in going to the Kharkiv circus, I'd recommend it! But only if you like circusy stuff likeme or have small children haha :D You can check out showtimes and more information on their website at http://circus.kharkov.ua/

Riding An American Roller Coaster in Ukraine!

Last week, my boyfriend Stas and I went back to Gorky park in downtown Kharkiv to check out the rides. We were there on opening day, standing in the rain along with thousands of other people because all the rides were free that day. We finally got to ride the American-style roller coaster! It cost 35 UAH (~$4.30) to go on the little roller coaster for about a minute. All the Ukrainians screamed their heads off and I proudly rode the whole ride with my arms up in the air... I guess they're not used to extreme roller coasters at Six Flags :D

By the roller coaster!

Ready to ride. 

But now that the free rides are over (and the weather is colder), hardly anyone was at the park. This was both good and bad - good because you didn't have to wait in line at all for the rides, bad because there is a 4 person minimum for the operators to run the ride. Since there was only 2 of us, we couldn't ride some of the rides which we wanted to, and had to settle for the more popular ones that the random other people in the park also wanted to ride. The park has some classic amusement park rides like a little log ride, rotating swings, bumper boats, and stuff like twirly crazy rides that twirl your seats around horizontally while also twirling the whole ride vertically.

I got cotton candy though, so it still felt like a real amusement park : )

We also rode the Ferris wheel. I thought it was going to be like an American-style Ferris wheel, where everyone gets in, then they spin it fast a few times and let everyone stop at the top. I was wrong though, we just went around once... one super slow loop. When we got to the top, I was actually scared a little bit - not because I'm afraid of heights, but because the wind was whistling loudly through the cracks in the plexiglass and I was afraid that we might tip over. But everything was okay, Stas assured me that the Ferris wheel is supposed to be structurally sound because it was designed/built by an Italian guy (as opposed to a Ukrainian).

Inside the little carriage. 

A view of the park from the top.

Overlooking the city!

Gorky park was much better the second time around, and I actually really enjoyed how empty it was... no crazy crowds of screaming kids or people pushing and shoving to get to the front of the "line". If the weather is nice and you have about an hour or two to hang out, you should check out Gorky park! Most of the rides are 25 or 35 UAH, or you can buy a day pass.

This was actually the best part of my day... finding a giant orange! These giant orange stands sell smoothies and ice cream in the summer. 

Traffic Jam: Stop Human Trafficking!

Last weekend, I worked with a few Ukrainian friends to organize a counter human trafficking project called "Traffic Jam". The 3 Ukrainian organizers - Alla, Platon and Vova are students who participated in Camp CACTUS last summer - a leadership camp in Ternopil, focused on organizing community and social development projects. They did most of the work planning the project such as recruiting participants, making the seminar schedule, and all I did was help them find trainers and a place to hold the seminar. We organized a 2-day seminar as a training of trainers about human trafficking at the American Center in downtown Kharkiv.

Traffic Jam Seminar participants and organizers!

The group of 3 students was granted a mini-grant from CACTUS to fund the seminar. CACTUS is a camp organized by Peace Corps Volunteers but it is also funded in part by FLEX grants - my friend Roma wrote a grant last year, and he was granted funding for the camp. FLEX stands for Future Leaders Exchange, and its a very well-known program here because they offer full scholarships to 9th-11th grade Ukrainian students to study in America for 1 school year.

We started the seminar with this self-assessment exercise: "my opinion about the topic counter human trafficking", and we were excited to see that most of our participants were interested and wanted to know more about the topic.

We played "Lions and Trees", an American-style icebreaker where people basically just run away crazily from lions and toward trees. 

Our first trainer was a lady from the Kharkiv ministry of human rights and human trafficking. She gave a very long and thorough presentation in Ukrainian. I'm only pointing that fact out (that she spoke Ukrainian) because most people speak pretty clean Russian in Kharkiv. Kharkiv is very close to the Russian border and a lot of people who live in Kharkiv either have Russian roots or travel frequently to Russia.

After some technical difficulties, we finally got the projector to work. 

The participants divided into groups to brainstorm how human trafficking affects peoples lives - not just the lives of victims but their families and others as well.

The second trainer that we had was a former police officer. It was interesting to hear his point of view, from someone who has experience with trying to catch traffickers and other criminals. He also asked me to compare the American justice system with the Ukrainian system - like how our police can ask someone to wear a wire and secretly record conversations, which hold up in court as evidence. Apparently this isn't legal in Ukraine, and he thought that our system worked much more effectively than Ukraine's. However, the conversation started to get over my level of Russian knowledge (since these are specific legal and police terms that I didn't know) and it got heated really fast when he made some statements that contradicted with our participants point of view and they were shocked.

The third trainer that we had was phenomenal... his name was Ivan Budko and he was a charismatic and enthusiastic young man who came to train our participants on public speaking. His training was by far the best training that I've ever seen done by a Ukrainian - it was super professional and yet active and engaging with the communicative method.  This topic is unusual for professional development in Ukraine, even though its become almost an expected topic at American professional development seminars. Just like Americans, many Ukrainians are terrified of giving public speeches. Not very many of our participants had experience with public speaking, and I think that they learned a lot of techniques from our trainer like how to relax before giving a presentation, preparing your speech to fit your audience, scanning the room and eye contact (a big one for Ukrainians!), how to use appropriate hand gestures, and how to capture your audience by doing small things like adjusting your emotions and the volume of your voice. If you'd like to invite him as a trainer to your next seminar or conference, you can find out more information on his website at http://ivanbudko.com/ (which is in Russian but he speaks English fluently).

Ivan explaining the breakdown of a public presentation into its components; 20-60-20 by percentages of warm-up/introduction, main body and conclusion/call to action. 

Warming up by making funny humming noises with vowels. 

We ended the seminar by asking the participants to practice giving short presentations using my "527" powerpoint slides. This was the presentation from when I conducted a "527" seminar in fall 2011 as part of the Gender and Development's nationwide counter trafficking awareness project - where Peace Corps Volunteers from every oblast participated in training Ukrainians and filming public service announcement videos. The goal of the 2-day Traffic Jam seminar was to train our participants well enough that they would be able to go back to their schools and communities and conduct human trafficking lessons on their own. I brought 2 of my 11th form students with me to the seminar, Dasha and Vitaly, and we will conduct a counter human trafficking lesson for the 8th graders in our school. Dasha attended Camp H.E.A.L. with me last summer, so she already has had some lessons about human trafficking and she also participated in the 527 awareness campaign that we did on the beaches of Sergeevka, Odesska Oblast : )

Vitaly and his partner presenting about the education levels of trafficking victims... over half of them have a university or college education - these are the people most likely to search for jobs outside of Ukraine. 

Dasha presenting about 527 - the national hotline where Ukrainians can call to check if job/travel/study abroad opportunities are legitimate or not. 

Overall, the seminar went really well and I was very impressed with the initiative and project design skills of these young Ukrainian leaders! If you'd like, you can check out our VK page at http://vk.com/trafficjamproject (but its all in Russian).

with Vitaly and Dasha between the American and Ukrainian flag :D

The 23rd of August: Celebrating Kharkov City Day and Liberation Day!

On August 23rd, 1943, the Soviet Army liberated the city of Kharkov from German soldiers. The city had been occupied since the fall of 1941. Kharkov now commemorates this date as its "День Города" (city day) and the Day of Liberation. If you've never been to Kharkov (also spelled as Kharkiv in the Ukrainian style), it is my favorite city in Ukraine! It is known for being the "first capital of Ukraine" and also 2nd largest city in the country, after Kyiv. Its a bustling city of about 1.5 million people, most of which are university students. Kharkov is also one out of only three cities with subway systems in Ukraine and was a host city during the EuroCup 2012 football championship. You can read more about the city of Kharkov here on Wikipedia. Here are some photos from the military celebrations (you can read the original article here).

Militiamen place wreaths in honor of all veterans at the Memorial of Glory in Kharkov.

Children place red carnations around the memorial.

The flame burns in remembrance of all those who gave their lives for the country during the "Great Patriotic War" (WWII).

Decorated veterans visit the memorial in honor of their fellow soldiers.

This year, the city of Kharkov celebrated with the grand opening of "Gorky Park" - the first amusement park of its kind in Ukraine. This park was reconstructed this past year, with the walkways re-paved, flower beds re-planted and the addition of theme park attractions like roller coasters and the biggest Ferris wheel in Ukraine at 55 meters tall. This park will probably become known as the "Disneyland of Ukraine" with family friendly entertainment, rides, and prices of 35 UAH for adults and 15 UAH for children (per ride/attraction).

The opening ceremonies at Gorky Park included a lot of familiar cartoon characters like Cheburashka and friendly actors on stilts (source). 

In honor of the grand opening, all rides at the park were free of charge all day... this meant that thousands of Ukrainians flocked to the park because they couldn't believe that it was actually free. The park officially opened at 10am, and I joined the swarming masses around 11am with Erika, a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, and a few of my Ukrainian friends.

Walking down the park, just inside the main entrance. 

Pirates "Barbados" ride. 

A castle-shaped cafe in the center of the park. 

The "Haunted House", opening in September 2012.

Our timing was unfortunate, for it started raining almost immediately and the lines for all of the rides were already ridiculous... the park builders hadn't planned for any sort of barriers to regulate crowd control into a single line. As someone who has studied the process flow of systems (like the flow of people waiting in line to be served at a bank), this drove me crazy. If you've ever been to Disneyland, Disneyworld, or Six Flags then you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about - usually you have to walk through what feels like miles of snaking metal barriers just to get to the front of each ride where you actually step on or into the seats for the ride. This was a huge cultural moment because Ukrainians aren't used to actually waiting in lines - they tend to just push their way to the front of a crowd and whomever gets their first gets served first, plus they like to "save" spaces for their friends and let anyone and their mother cut in the line.

The Американские горки (roller coaster) that everyone was eagerly waiting to ride... notice that people seem to just be swarmed around the base of the roller coaster without forming any sort of determinable line.  

We walked to the end of the roller coaster line, which took over 4 minutes of walking from the entrance to the roller coaster - what I estimated to be probably about a 4 or 5 hour wait. .After waiting about 30 minutes and moving only about 25 yards in line, we decided to leave because the roller coaster had been shut down due to thunder. After that, I took a few photos with the mascots and we left the park to seek shelter from the rain.

Bugs Bunny!

Making my best "duck face" with Donald.

Erika with Masha, Darina and Anya in front of the Ferris Wheel. 

An interesting totem pole, near some sort of Indian-themed ride. 

About an hour after we left the park, the sun came back out. We decided to just walk around the city center instead of dealing with the crowds and crazy lines at Gorky Park. There was a small arts and crafts market near the Opera house, where I bought a traditional Ukrainian flower wreath headband as a souvenir! We also checked out the new monument in Constitutional Square, near the "Исторический музей" (historical museum) metro station.

Darina and I in a bed of flowers near the Держпром (Derzhprom) office buildings. 

Erika and I wearing traditional Ukrainian flower wreath headbands near the art market. 

with the new statue in Constitutional Square, near the Historical Museum.

A closer look at my handmade traditional Ukrainian wreath headband. 

After walking around all day, we were too tired to hang out in the city center for the Kharkov City day celebrations - a free concert featuring "Gems", "Disco Crash", Vera Brezhnev, "Boney M" and Liz Mitchell, "Okean Elzy" and several other artists, parades and fireworks show. So here are some photos of the concert in Freedom Square and fireworks! You can read more about the festivities here.  These photos also help capture the immense size of Freedom Square... it is famous for being the 2nd largest square in Eastern Europe and the 12th largest open air square in the world.

Boom!

View of Freedom Square from Sumskaya Street, with the main stage at the far end and the Derzhprom buildings outlined in lights behind it.... so many people!