Analogies and Other Things

      I've thought of two ways of explaining my thoughts on the language lessons. First, I feel like Hannibal Lector has cut open my head. But in a strange twist, he's been trying to cram information into my head instead of choosing the best bits for his dinner plate. The problem is, there just isn't room. Or the information keeps popping out.
     The other analogy is a pond. My mind is like a pond and the information is a rock skipped across the surface. It feels like it takes 15 or 20 times for the information to finally stop and sink in. But I don't want to keep complaining about it. So I'll just leave it there. Yeah, it's tough. That's not going to change. Time to buckle down and just study.
     Anyways, this past week has been mostly normal. I found out that I will have to do some interesting things for my visa requirements. Since I got here in July, I've been here on a tourist's visa. That is good for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period. So in just under 30 days, I'd have to leave a not come back for another 90. The good part is that there is another option. I can be here on a religious visa. That means that since I'm interning with a church here, I can stay for a lot longer. The catch is that I need to leave the country to get it endorsed/completed. So I'm going to Poland. I don't yet know all the details. I'll let you know when I know more.
     Now on to other things. Saturday night I went for a walk to get some night photos of Kiev. I didn't get a lot. But Sasha Onishchenko pointed out that I have four more months. Plenty of time. Three other people tagged along. I announced it on the chat for Walking English.
     Sunday was rainy and cold here. That meant a relaxing afternoon before the evening's activities. Tonight was planned as the reunion party for Liberty Camp. We played games, saw photos and videos from camp. We also ate (like at any good event). But it was also the night for announcing the new Bible study.
     Starting this Thursday, I will be leading a Bible study for the students who were at the camp. I'll give more details after the first meeting. Basically, it's the last piece of the puzzle for my ministry here. I'll be using a study guide on Ecclesiastes from Intervarsity Press. I've heard several people voice interest but I'm not sure how many there will be. Hopefully it's a good number but not a huge crowd. 

     So for concluding, enjoy some photos from Saturday and the reunion party.

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     You've probably noticed that I'm not updating nearly as much as I did in the beginning. That's mainly because most things have become routine and I don't want to be writing about the same things over and over. Don't worry, I'll still keep updating. But it's not going to be a day-by-day update with endless details. I want to do it at least bi-weekly. As of this point, updates are mostly as I feel inspired. And because a lot of the time I get back to my apartment late, I don't want to be typing updates until 2 in the morning.
     Now, the actual update. This was a good weekend. Friday night, we had another Walking English group. It started out with just me and one of the guys from camp. He is a new believer and really loves being involved in the the English groups. He also started coming to church regularly.
     The plan for the night was to meet and go to an art gallery and then walk around a local art-park. I had looked up the website of the art gallery before hand. It was advertising a display of late Soviet-era Ukrainian artists and their works. Sounds interesting right? Probably some protest works and historical photos? Yeah, not really. There was one half of a wall with historical pictures from a political rally. That was good. There were also a few paintings that showed a lot of talent. However, almost all of the rest was confusing, eclectic, or unintelligible dribble requiring brain-bleach afterward. A little strong on the description? Not really. I don't really care much for modern "art." I'm more of a simple photography and painting guy. Scenery, history, portraits. Fortunately, we didn't spend a lot of time there.
     We met up with a few more people and went to have some dinner at a restaurant not too far from Maidan. The nightlife in the center of Kiev is an interesting sight. Musicians, performers, advertisers, sellers, and sightseers were everywhere. They made it hard to walk and talk at the same time. But some of the scenery was worth the trouble. St. Andrew's Church sits at the top of a hill overlooking the Dnipr River. At night it is lit up from all around and shines brightly for the whole city to see. We also saw a film production company working in part of the art-park we walked through. That night, I didn't end up getting back to my apartment until well after midnight.
     Saturday was a bit quieter. I went out to do some shopping and met up with one of the students from camp to help choose a pair of headphones. That was about it. The rest of the day, I basically studied and relaxed.
     Sunday was a bit more busy. After church, I went to watch some of the Ultimate Championship of Ukraine. It's the national championships for Ultimate Frisbee. Several people from Big City are in Frisbee teams and they were playing there. I got to watch one game before I had to leave. Watching the game instead of playing it myself is a little weird. Since it's a sport that I play, I liked seeing how different it is than in the States.
     David and his family were on vacation this weekend. So I had the task of leading the English club Sunday night. The night was planned to be shorter than normal because of plans for later. I got there early to set up and prepare. Overall, I think it went well. It's not really that hard doing what I had to. I basically welcomed them and gave them a rundown of what would be happening that night. The reunion party for the Big City Church retreat was going to start at 6:30 so we had to finish earlier than usual. My group (the intermediate to advanced) finished earlier than I had planned so I let them ask me questions until we had to finish. Jon Eide led the beginner to intermediate group in another room. Since we were working on a truncated schedule, there wasn't much extra for me to do other than introductions, announcements, and concluding remarks. David makes it look easy. But he's had a lot more experience than I have.
     The rest of the evening was a lot of fun. I don't exactly understand the reason for it, but the church decided to have a reunion party for the people who went to the retreat last month. It was mainly a time to see the photos and videos from the weekend that everyone else took. We also got to see the videos from the challenges. It was a good time to be with the group from the retreat again. Obviously not everyone could be there. But it was good to see some other views that I hadn't seen while I was there.
     So that brings us up to now. Today, I've been working on studying and homework from the Russian lesson yesterday. The lesson really wrung me out in the difficulty sector. I must not have been as ready as I thought because my brain shut down about half-way through. I still have a great deal of difficulty distinguishing individual words in spoken Russian. That means what little translating I can do, on the fly, is useless because I miss 80% of the words spoken when I finally hear a word I do know. And when my brain is dead from focusing so hard, I'm about as useful as sand in the desert.
     I know that learning the language is important. I want to be able to understand it and speak it. But when someone asks me a question in Russian, my mind goes blank while I try to figure out exactly what they said. I'd put my knowledge on par with a 2 year-old child. Probably less. Plus, my recall of vocabulary isn't the greatest. The good news is that I can understand a whole lot more than I could just a month ago. My vocabulary is probably four times what it was this summer and my comprehension of written Russian is constantly improving.
     The problem seems to be in figuring out exactly what someone has said. Native speakers of any language speak very fast. Not everyone realizes that they need to slow down when speaking to someone who hasn't grown up with the language. I'm guilty of this at times I keep reminding myself to slow down and enunciate every syllable. I'll just have to keep asking people to slow down and repeat what they said a lot.
     Alright, time for me to head out to English Club. Last week we had almost 45 people. Any guesses on attendance tonight?

Wednesday (Edited 11/15/15)

     After Sunday's post, I think I should update a little on what's going on. Things are going better now but I wasn't having a very good Sunday/Monday. On Thursday of last week, I got a huge language lesson that needed a lot of work and studying. There was about twice the normal amount of new material. With the activities from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I didn't have a lot of time left to study. So Monday I was having a hard time focusing and being motivated. I got about half-way done with the lesson and realized I should cancel that afternoon's lesson. I didn't want to waste the tutor's and my time.
     I felt a lot better after I canceled the lesson. I know I should have focused and studied more over the weekend but that's far in the past now. Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better now. I feel like I'm more ready for the lesson tomorrow. And I don't feel as tired, mentally or physically, either. Ultimately, I think I just need to learn when to say no. Or at least limit my time at each activity. That way I can give an appropriate amount of time to each thing that needs my attention.
     That's the lesson I learned over the weekend. I know which priorities are important. Being with people, ministering, and teaching are all important. But my studies are also important. I can shift the commitments and better allocate time that I spend on each activity.
     OK, now that that's out of the way, I can move on to the part I want to talk about today. Food and cars. Yeah, probably not what you were thinking of but there's a process to that psychosis.
     For the last six years living in Maryland, I got to be good at cooking things in the microwave. I only used the stove or oven when I felt the need to. And that wasn't too often. Everything else was leftovers or frozen food. But now that I'm here, that has changed. I'm slowly learning to cook real food. I've almost perfected my "gourmet" grilled-cheese sandwiches. Pasta and rice are also easy and good meals. However, it's time that I branch out though and experiment a little.
     Last week I tried making fried rice. I think, for a first attempt, it turned out well. It was a little dry and needed soy sauce but I liked it. I still need to find a store that sells soy sauce. Most of the grocery stores near me only sell more traditional Ukrainian foods. About the only international food they have are some imported fruit and Italian olive oil. That definitely will be something I'll revisit.
     So as part of my education in real cooking, I'd like to try some new recipes. It has to be cooked on a stove top because I don't have an oven. And the only other requirements are that it's easy and tastes good. If you've got some ideas you'd like to suggest, post it in the comments. I'm planning on eventually trying my hand at borscht but for now I'll stick with something familiar.
     Now switching tracks, cars. I'm a bit of a car nut. I can't tell you from memory who won the 1975 24 Hours of LeMans (it was Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell in a Mirage GR8) but I know the difference between a GT-40 and a Porsche 917. Jeeps tend to hold more sway for my interest but pretty much anything with wheels is interesting to me. That said, cars here are almost a totally different subject than back home.
     The variety is amazing, to say the least. Just ignore the USDM stuff for now. Since this is Europe, there is a large variety of BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, and Volvos along with a smattering of Porsche and Mercedes. Add in the Asian brands Mitsubishi, Subaru, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai, and Kia to round out the familiarity. However, that's roughly where the similarity ends. Most of these manufacturers have models they only sell here. Until I got here, I had no idea that manufacturers had such a wide range of offerings.
     And since this is Europe, French manufacturers Renault, Fiat, Citroen, and Peugeot are common. Most examples I've seen are newer models (mid 2000's and on). There are also a large contingent of Skoda, Seat, and Opel cars. Daewoo, Datsun, Daihatsu round out the different brands. That is, except for one "brand" that I'm lumping under Soviet-era automotive wheels.
     AvtoVAZ vehicles are about as common as dirt. Lada is the colloquial name for a number of Soviet-era vehicles. Most are based on 1960's Fiat designs that were modified to handle the atrocious roads that were so prevalent throughout the Soviet Union. Other than rust issues, they will last for decades. Personally, I'm partial to the twin-headlight VAZ-2106 although I'm not certain I'd want to own one. I like the classic styling but 75hp isn't enough for me.
     The interesting part is that since this is Europe, they get all sorts of interesting cars we don't in the States. Some are simply renamed for the US market but the majority of the interesting stuff stays on this side of the pond. Yes, the sticklers among you might quibble that Datsun, Renault, and Daewoo were sold in the US. Many models of cars are marketed around the world under different names and brands. So what looks like a Chevy in the US might be a Daewoo here.
     (EDIT, 11/15/15) I found this article today and thought it might be interesting. I know it's from Russia and not Ukraine but bear with me. The markets in both countries were basically identical for cars up to about 1992. After, it didn't change much. So most of what you'll see there is very similar to here. Basically, reference the article for pictures of what cars are here. I don't want to walk around the city just taking pictures of cars.
     OK, let's pause for a minute. I'm starting to get too convoluted with my writing. This is what I mean to say. Since I grew up in the States, I have one set of cars that I've seen almost all of my life. In college I started watching the British TV show Top Gear. That introduced me European cars and led the way for learning more about the worldwide automotive market. Now that I'm somewhere that has a different population of cars, I get excited about seeing something different. It also keeps me wondering why we don't get more of these in the US.
     Speaking of the US, domestic products like Jeep Wranglers, have made it to this side of the Atlantic for years. I've also seen Hummers, Dodge Calibers, Mustangs, Camaros, and even a large contingent of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The muscle cars seem to be a more popular import. But I have even seen a Chrysler minivan and a police-spec Crown Victoria.
     So, do you see the reason I posted about food and cars? For my mind, it's a little creative redirection. After the last week and the weekend, I needed something to refocus my mind. Think of it like a vacation for my mind. Plus it gives me a chance to tell you a little bit more about what life is like here.
     OK, that's all for now. I've got to get back to studying. There's a lot that needs to be memorized before tomorrow. There is also a Liberty meeting tonight at 7:30 that I'll be at too. I'll talk to you later.

Saturday Fun and Sunday English

     Saturday marked two interesting and new experiences I had here; a flea market/yard sale and a birthday party.
     Kiev Christian Academy (KCA) is the local English school that mostly serves the missionary community. Saturday, they had a yard sale/flea market. In a lot of ways, it was identical to the ones we have in the States. But the cultural differences of Ukraine make it an interesting experience. Arguing over price can be financially vicious. Low-balling is the name of the game. Most of the sellers were American families with a few Korean families too. Between the flea market and the party, I went over to the Eide's house for lunch.

 

     The birthday party was for a member of the Liberty team. She was a student last year but volunteered for planning and organizing the camp this year. We met at a restaurant called Mafia for sushi. Afterward, we walked around part of the city; near the Motherland statue and then finished off the night with tea at a little retro (meaning lots of Soviet antiques) restaurant.

     This is a new game I learned at the party. I guess it's a way of learning how to use chopsticks. The goal of the game is to build the tower by touching the pieces with just the chopsticks. The name is (I think) called Japan Towers. Or something like that. If you can read Japanese, you might be able to get some more info here.

     And one other fun, interesting fact. Apparently, the numbers 2 and 3 are unlucky in Ukraine. In my apartment building, the 13th floor exists but there are no second or third floors. Even the electronic floor indicator skips those numbers. But the pause between 1 and 4 is conveniently timed to the same amount of time to pass two floors. :) (EDIT: It was pointed out to me that this paragraph doesn't sound like a joke so I'm making this clear. THIS IS A JOKE.)

     In reality, the number 13, like in the US, is unlucky in Ukraine. They just don't mind putting it in apartment buildings. Two and three are just plain old numbers. There is a gym that takes up the 2nd and 3rd floors in the building and it has a separated entrance.

      OK, Sunday. It was a cold, rainy, dreary day today. I guess I was feeling like it a little bit too. After yesterday's festivities, I still haven't caught up on rest. Hopefully I'll finish this before midnight (failed that) and be able to get a decent amount of sleep. For Sunday, I had a big surprise at English Club. I got there 15 minutes early. David had called before I left and said he was running a little late. So I and Yuri had to entertain a rapidly growing group until he arrived. By the time he did arrive, we were looking at a crowd of almost 20 people. By the time we started the actual lesson, we had 23 people plus one very young (around 2 years old) "student." But despite the numbers, it went well. 

     I'm surprised at the massive jump in numbers. But thanks to the flexibility we've all learned, we didn't have a problem. Roll with the changes and all that. In my intermediate/advanced group, there were eleven or twelve.

     Just a quick final note, I'd like to make a prayer request. I can feel like my mind and body are more tired than normal. When I get tired, I can get snippy and sarcastic. I don't want that to happen now. A) it wouldn't show a Christian example and B) it makes for bad interactions, especially when I need to say something in Russian. The language learning seems to have hit a wall. Or I'm just on the part of the Bell Curve that's close to vertical. I just have to spend more time on it. But for now, I'm off to bed. Have a good week.

Tuesday English

     Before I get to details of the English club, I've gotta say I'm ready for the weekend. Is it too early to be thinking about that? I think it's a combination of bad sleep last night and a few emails I've received recently. Basically, I'm just tired and ready to think about something else.
      OK, now that that's out of the way, English. The Sunday and Tuesday English clubs follow the same basic format. I outlined that in detail in the last post. The basics are greetings, games, lesson, singing, and closing announcements. However, for some reason I haven't figured out yet, the Tuesday group is over three times the size of Sunday's group. However, we do have more teachers to help. David Pervis is the main teacher and handles the beginner group. His boss Jon Eide is also there to help along with two other Americans.
     Last night we had, by my count, 31 students. This time, I led the intermediate group with the help of Jon Eide. We had the same article and vocabulary as Sunday so the familiarity helped for me. But it's still a lot of work explaining every vocabulary word and then reading the article for them. My group had about 11 students. I think they were lower intermediate. All of them had basic English skills but still needed some prompting for what they wanted to say.
     Overall, the evening went well. For having as many people as we did, it hasn't been that hard to transition to a larger group. We'll start running out of space if we have much more than 35 people show up next time. When we divide into the different skill levels, it's not as cramped. But having everyone in one room gets tight. And since this was only the first night after the summer break, we probably were down on numbers. I expect to have more next week.
     Switching gears, I had a thought after writing that first paragraph. Maybe this tiredness is my observation from a few posts back coming to fruition. I had a mostly easy July/August and now things will start getting difficult. I had to deal with my debit card being put on hold because of a "suspicious" transaction. It was actually just me buying groceries. My schedule is heating up too. Almost all of my evenings have something planned. English club, a soon-to-start Bible study, more Walking English meetings, Liberty meetings, language lessons and so on.
     I think I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. Give me a few days and I'll have adjusted.

First English Club

     Sunday, the 6th of September, marked the first meeting of the Liberty English club. David had given me a little preview of how it would work last Wednesday but this was the first time I had done it. I think it turned out well.
     The night started off with greetings and a get-to-know-you game. Then we rolled into a word game. The students had to think of words beginning with a certain letter for five different categories. Unique answers gained points while the same answers from different teams would cancel out points. After that, we split up into the groups for discussion and vocabulary. That part of the night starts with vocabulary. David prepared ahead of time a story from an article and chose certain words or phrases that might by new or tricky. Like at camp, they would try to figure out the word and, if they couldn't, I'd explain what it means. After that, I read the article. That was so they got an idea of what it should sound like. I then had each person in my group read a different paragraph to help with their individual reading and comprehension. We finished off with questions.
      Since this is a ministry of the church, we want to see these people eventually become Christians and join the church. So some of the questions can have a spiritual aspect for them to consider. It's not always overt. In this lesson we talked about a man who stepped out of his own life to help a woman in need. A few of the questions asked why a person would do that. One of the students in my group isn't a believer and definitely attributed her hypothetical actions in a similar situation to appeasing karma.
     We had fourteen people in total, including me and David. Nine were students and three were members of Big City. The Big City people joined in to learn as well as help guide the students. Everybody could speak English to one degree or another; some better than others. But we had enough that we could divide into an intermediate and advanced group for the vocabulary and discussion. I also met several new people who I had not seen before. I believe they were friends of regular attendees.
     After the discussion, we came back together to sing a few songs (1960's classics). John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads is a popular favorite. David had to leave a little after 7PM but I stayed until after 8PM to play games with them. For a first time, I think it went well. There is obviously going to be a lot of getting used to it. But for a first foray into the world of English clubs in Ukraine, I enjoyed it. It felt a lot like camp. I'm also wondering if my observation from the last post is an indication of how the next few meetings will go. If so, then I'll be telling about some of my failures, or at least difficulties, in the coming weeks.
     Alright, have a good week and I'll talk to you soon.
    

It's been a while...

...since I've written here. It's been a busy week. And things are just starting too. As a preview, Sunday and Tuesday are the first official English club meetings I will be attending. I'm not leading the whole group, just a small part of it. But we're diving in this week. We'll also extend an invitation to the Tuesday group for an English Bible study sometime during the week. Details on that to follow soon.
     This week was busy for a variety of reasons. Wednesday and Saturday were walking English. Monday and Thursday were language lessons. I also had some shopping to do on Thursday after getting done with the lesson. On top of all that was studying for the lessons. That's going OK. I wish I was making better progress. But I'm glad with the progress I am making. Already, only one month in, I can recognize more words than I could before I came.
     Wednesday, after lunch, I had a meeting with David Pervis to preview the English club meetings and to help prepare me for what I'll be involved with. We got to talk and pray about the meetings and the students.
     I've also had a request to include some spiritual lessons that I'm learning. I can't say for certain what lessons I'm learning right now. Perseverance, persistence, courage, reliance... definitely all of the above. A while ago I talked about small victories. They aren't mine but rather God's. He's the one giving me strength and perseverance and courage. I need to keep relying on Him.
     Actually, now that I've typed through that last part, I can tell something I have experienced and learned. In a macrocosm of my experience here, things start out easy, then progress to more difficult. The first month here has seemed to go smoothly and well. The first time I rode the marshrutka by myself it went well. Camp started out well. But then after a little experience, new challenges came my way. The marshrutkas were packed with people and didn't stop when and where I wanted. I had to interact and shop and travel and live without knowing all the words I needed. And at camp, I learned that preparation, even in simple exercises, is important.
     All that to say, God didn't dump me in the deep end and say "swim." I've gotten to test the waters and feel my way though things, with lots of guidance, before the tough parts happen. I was really surprised to notice that trend. But now that I've noticed it, I see it almost everywhere. Transportation, language, shopping. I guess that's all for now. I'll keep you updated on what I learn.
     Along those lines, I do have one prayer request. Courage. By nature, I'm not bold or confident. I'm heavily reliant on experience to boost my confidence. The pool of experience is growing. But I'm constantly running into new things that require me to step out of my comfort zone and be bold. So it'd be great to have a little more courage for when I'm scared.
     Thanks for reading and following along in this.