Skiing in the Carpathian Mountains!

Over winter break, I had the opportunity to go skiing with Kharkov Gymnasium No. 82. My friend Whitney used to work as a Peace Corps Volunteer there, but she already finished her service and went home so her counterpart Svetlana invited me and another PCV to travel with the students instead. We spent about 6 days skiing at Bukovel, a ski resort in the Ivanko-Frankivska Obast (in western Ukraine), skiing during the day and teaching English lessons in the evenings. It was really beautiful out there, it was almost like being in a whole different country! I had never been skiing before but I loved it, it was awesome :)

Me with a bunch of the students on the ski slopes!

The Kharkiv - Ivano Frankivsk train has been cancelled recently, due to construction and repairs of the railroads... so we traveled through Kyiv. Many of the students had never been to Kyiv before so they really enjoyed walking around Independence Square and seeing some of the main sights downtown. We also saw the "national" Christmas tree of Ukraine, the one located in the Maidan  (Independence Square).

Olya and Nika, two adorable girls from 6th grade. 

Everyone by the Christmas tree.  And a panda photobombing. 

Ty (another PCV) with Illyaz, Marina and Julia. 

We actually stayed in a small town called Yarmche, about 45 min from Bukovel. I roomed with 6 girls, ranging from 5th grade to 11th grade. We had an apartment with 2 rooms and a kitchen. At first I was really nervous to go skiing, because I've heard from so many friends who have gotten skiing-related injuries from falling and whatnot. But after I actually tried it, I found that it wasn't that bad... kind of a cross between the balance of surfing and the coordination of ice skating.

with Darina and Liza. 

Riding the ski lift with Olya!

so many people!

Ty and I taught lessons focused on healthy lifestyles in English. Svetlana and the students wanted to film a series of social advertisements, so we taught topics such as anti-smoking, anti-drinking, the environment, sports, music, leadership, diversity, etc. I felt a little like a Peace Corps LCF (language facilitator) because I was teaching groups of kids and using the strips of paper method that is the signature of many LCF's :)

Maxim and Vadim (7th grade)

Matching American slang words. 

The girls on the couch. 

Olya, Dima and Sasha. 

Ty working with the students on their rap. 

We also celebrated Christmas on January 7th by cooking shashlik (like shish kabobs). Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on the orthodox date because most of them of Eastern Orthodox. Children walk around the neighborhoods, dressed in interesting costumes and singing Christmas carols. However, I was told that this is only a tradition in western Ukraine and its not so popular in eastern Ukraine.

with Ira and Anya, two university students who are alumni of Gymnasium 82.

Bros!

Nika, Elvira, Olya and Julia. 

Konstantine, Sergey, Marina and Ty. 

The carolers!

I had a ton of fun hanging out in western Ukraine, especially since Kharkiv didn't really get any snow until last week (and now its already -20 degrees C). I walked around the ski resort with the kids and we bought tons of souvenirs :)

near the ice skating rink with Julia and Liza. 

Sasha, Julia, me and Liza. 

Liza, Julia, me and Dina. 

A huge ice-sculpture advertisement with the girls. 

After we got back from the trip, the kids put together a video slideshow of photos and videos from the trip...   enjoy!! I was very thankful to have the opportunity to go on this trip and I hope that I'll see these kids around in the future, they were a ton of fun to be with and they all loved learning English :P

Merry Christmas from Ukraine! С Рождеством!

So I have now officially spent my first Christmas in Ukraine! Classes ended at my school last Friday on Christmas Eve, and the kids were all so excited to begin the holiday season... I taught a 4th form class all 3 verses to Jingle Bells! And after they learned the english words, they sang the Russian version of the song to me!

Then they sang a Ukrainian New Year's song about a Christmas tree to me and demonstrated the dance to it :)

A bunch of kids stopped me in the hallway to take a picture in between classes.

  In Ukraine, they have a really intense holiday season. They celebrate New Years as Americans would celebrate Christmas, with a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and lights and exchanging presents. The Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, used in Europe and North America. Therefore the Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on January 7, 13 days later than the Catholic world and then they celebrate the Old New Year on January 13th. Russia and Ukraine officially switched to the western calendar after the 1917 Revolution. My school held a New Year's party in their auditorium on Friday and invited me to sit with all the parents in the back.

Several teachers put on a short play for the kids.

All the children dress up as if it was Halloween!

My little town also put up a big Christmas tree in the central plaza and had a little celebration on Christmas Eve. They sang a few of the same traditional Ukrainian Christmas carols and walked around the tree.

Cultural Moment: This is the first time that I have seen Christmas lights strung on a tree vertically instead of spiraled around the tree.

All the kids linked hands and walked around the tree.

For Christmas day, I traveled to meet up with a few other Peace Corps volunteers in Kharkiv. It was interesting to make new friends and hang out in the big city! We went to a pizza parlor for Christmas dinner, which was nice because it was American food :)

They served ice cubes!!! This is the first time that I've even seen ice cubes here!

My neighbor Alison! She only lives about 30 minutes away from my town.

Yes, this is a dog wearing a tracksuit. Dogs get cold too!

On Sunday, we walked around downtown Kharkiv and did a little bit of sightseeing. We walked down Pushinska Street, known for its famous shops and restaurants. This is one of the famous statues in Kharkiv.

This is a GIANT thermometer, hanging on the side of the building! Seeing a 3 story tall thermometer was almost the best part of my day... though of course it was in Celsius and not Fahrenheit haha.

We also passed the famous Philarmonic Theater along our journey, which also had a really cool monument of four musicians in front of it.

I am dwarfed by the statues!

Two of the other PCV's in my region, Ty and Tiago, stopped to conquer the last remaining bit of snow on the ground.

We also walked by Kharkiv's Dolphin Aquarium! We didn't pay the admission fee to go inside but the outside reminded me a lot of the Georgia Aquarium. i was sad that all the fountains were turned off for the winter, but I'm sure that place will be really cool to visit in the summer. And apparently you can pay to swim with the dolphins too, which would be really awesome!

You guessed it... Dolphin is a cognate.

Rawr!

What an awesome blowfish.

And now for the best part of the day.... we went to the Shevchenkov Park and saw the big Christmas tree in the city center, then went ice skating! I haven't gone ice skating for a few years, and certainly haven't been to an outdoor ice skating rink in forever! I always wanted to go ice skating in Centennial Olympic Park (in Atlanta) but never had the chance to go.

Alison being a superstar :)

Our Ukrainian friend Vadym.

I love ice skating!

Alison and her sitemate Tiago.

Ty showing off his skating skills.

The big Christmas tree reminds me of the one in Atlantic Station (in Atlanta) and the big one in Macy's Square in San Francisco! This plaza was filled with lots of holiday festivities, including some amusement park rides and GIANT Russian dolls. If we had more time, I was going to go take a ride on a llama. 

Gotta love the artsy-fartsy angle!

Little kids are so adorable on the baby roller-coasters.

A baby pony, I was too busy debating whether or not to go have a llama ride to remember to take a picture of it.

Look how big those Russian dolls are!

So now that American Christmas is over... the Ukrainian New Years Holiday is coming soon and I am traveling back to Kyiv to visit my host family for New Years next weekend! I can't wait to see Mama Sveta and maybe tour some of the holiday festivities in Kyiv, I have heard they also have a huge Christmas tree on display in Independence Square :)