Pirogova

Friends and Family,

Weekend before last we went to a fall festival at the outdoor architectural museum named Pirogova.  Pirogova is a display of the peasant houses, windmills, and wooden churches that made up the Ukrainian villages from the 16th and 17th centuries.  It was founded in 1976 and also has items of peasant life such as furniture, crockery, clothes, and musical instruments.  We went during a special celebration day, so there were a lot of people dressed in traditional clothing and some people playing traditional musical instruments.  The open air museum is divided into time periods and territory.  It was difficult for us to follow because all the signs are in Russian.  It would be a really good tourist move for Ukraine to publish English pamphlets and put at least some signs in English.  You can see from our photos that a lot of the homes were built from mud and straw and some wood.  The rooms were small, but as time went on the houses became larger and larger.  Just like America!  There was also a chapel adorned with the brightly colored tops as all Ukrainian churches of old and new have.  On the hillsides and at the entrance to the museum are the windmills from old, all the different types.  These made for some great photos.  There was an art fair going on as well and we were able to look at Ukrainian arts and crafts and we purchases our first eggs (Pysansky), the beautifully decorated hollowed out eggshells.

Windmill of Pirogova

A little village entrance - the rooms were open but we were not allowed to take photos.  Ken had to duck to get into the rooms.  Dirt floors, wooden furniture, many religious items on the walls.

Like a harpsichord - absolutely beautiful music.  He allowed some people to come up and play.  Note his traditional garb.

Mud and straw construction.  Note the wooden beams - like a log house.

There are sunflowers everywhere.  Also note the thatch roof behind.  That was the most common form of roofing.  Moss is growing on this one.  Also, the roofs are mostly steep to keep the snow from accumulating and crushing.

An older wagon and a trough in the background.

This was a little newer home.  It is bigger and has more of a stucco covering.  The thatch roofs were still used.  This one has a chimney for the oven and fireplace inside.

Entrance to the church

Note the ornate wood work around the door.  Ukrainian architecture is often very simple with a touch of ornate.  Inside the church the glass and art work was exceptionally elaborate, colorful, and covering every inch of space. No photos allowed.

The church from a distance.

Window design of the "newer" homes. 

Thatch for roof making.

I just kept thinking of the time it took to construct this fence.

A mixture of new and old.  I love how the windmills are elevated off the ground - like they are about to starting marching forth.

Traditional Ukrainian singers.  Black, red, and white are traditional Ukrainian colors.

After the hustle and bustle of our week, it was really nice to spend a beautiful day relaxing.  The flowers are still in bloom here, although we can feel the change in the air as fall is approaching.  Cooler nights and brisk mornings.  We are having to wear light jackets on our way to work.  We have been so blessed with the weather since we have been here - enjoying even the two days of blustery wet weather we've had.

We'll be in touch again soon.  Next I think I'll share about some of the food.

All our love,

Kim, Ken, and Angela

Our New Jobs

Dear Friends and Family,

This post is completely dedicated to sharing our work lives with you.  We've taken photos of the school and of our classrooms. You won't see any photos of students because this is an open blog.

Kim speaking here:  We are about to enter our second full week of teaching.  There are similarities and differences in comparing this job to teaching in the US.  For one thing, kids are kids.  It really doesn't matter what nationality you are, kids come in all sizes, shapes, attitude, and behavior.  Parent support follows suit.  Even at this private school, there are parents who fail to show for conferences - or so we've heard.  Class size is definitely a difference.  I have 13 students and Ken has 11.  I have a paraprofessional (aide) to help out and she takes the students to recess and then to their activities (specials) such as languages, PE, art, music, and computer that they have in the afternoons.  I don't have to take the students anywhere except for lunch, and then I eat with them.  I get to teach table manners!  I also get to see the interesting food my Indian and Korean students eat.  Sometimes they even share!   The school subjects are the same:  reading, writing, math, cultural studies (social studies), science, and library.  Even some of the curriculums are the same as I used in the US.  We are held to standards - TSWs (the students will) they are called here, and we have to measure their success by units of study.  The grading system is very different here:  students achieve a P for progressing, a B for mastery, and an A for exceeding mastery.  There is no such thing as failing here.  A student is continuing to progress and can and will be retaught a concept until it is mastered.  If it is not mastered within that school year, they must be held back until they do master it.  This is rare given the small classes and the opportunities for reteaching.  Most students master all the content areas given the right amount of time and attention.

The school grounds are very attractive.  It is an older building that has been added on to.  They redid the lobby this year and it is very attractive.  Kyiv International School has nearly 750 students and about 150 staff.   The school is under 24-hour security with guards at each entrance.  There is a preschool, elementary school, middle school and secondary school.  We have two gyms, a track, and a swimming pool (currently under construction).  We have a dramatorium with a small stage and theater seating.

Playground in front of school

Front walkway to school

Front of school

School buses

Side View - school is surrounded by parks

walkway connecting elementary building to secondary

Back of school - note new red track, not lined yet.  Big bare wall on building now holds a large Coca Cola electric score panel - donated by Coca Cola (student family)

We are the Kozaks - our colors are red and black

As mentioned, the entrance to the school was given a facelift this summer.  The high schoolers are calling in the 5-star hotel look.  I don't know if I'd go that far!  My classroom is on the second floor in the main building.  I am right next to the dramatorium and just down the hall from the cafeteria.  Full service cafeteria with lots of good choices - salads, soups, meat dishes, pasta, rice, etc.  I usually eat soup and salad for $2 a day.  Their servings are small, which I enjoy.  Ukraine does not have a problem with obesity.

Second floor outside my classroom - Note the plants - these grow from the first floor up through an open section of  the floor.

View of the lobby from the side

View of the lobby from the front

Kim's Classroom

Flip side of Kim's classroom - note the beautiful wood floors.

Our rug area - an oddly shaped room, but the brown cinder block walls and wood floor give it a cozy feeling.

My paraprofessional, Olga

I work with four other 7-year-old teachers.  They have been pretty helpful, in particular a teacher named Betty who is a second-year teacher here.  Ken works with three other 10-year-old teachers who have been super helpful to him.

Ken's room is up on the third floor, somewhat above mine. He has a balcony which is nice, with doors that swing open to let in a breeze.  He doesn't have tables in his room which is too bad - he has these uncomfortable desks that are not really conducive to team work.  But he works around that!

Classrooms are small, but they work when you have only 10-15 students.

These photos were taken before he had his room completely set up.  It looks much more full now!

Overall, the school is a great place to be working.  It has its difficulties - broken printers, struggles in effectively teaching new English learners, etc.  But, the people we work with are great, and we are learning a bunch!

Final note on Angela:  Her school load is really heavy, and she's been doing homework non-stop.  I hope it evens out for her a bit.  She's made some great friends.  She is on the girls soccer team and has participated in a couple of fundraisers to make money for their trip to Bucharest in November.  She is very independent, and is learning more about Kiev than Ken and I know so far.  She is taking Russian and is definitely excelling in that arena as well.  

In our next blog we'll share some photos and information from a recent trip to an architectural "museum" named Pirgova.  Very fun!

All our love - hugs and kisses - we miss you all!

Kim, Ken, and Angela

First Days in Kiev

Hello Friends!  Greetings from Kiev!

Our flight from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Kiev,Ukraine was completely uneventful and we arrived at Boraspol Airport at 3 in the afternoon (that's 1500 hours over here).  We were picked up by our Directors of Instruction for the elementary and the middle schools who drove us to our apartment via a brief drive through of the school.  It was nice to see smiling faces as we exited from customs.  Our apartment is rough looking on the outside but nice inside.  It is quite comfortable and well equipped.

Our apartment building

Our apartment front door entrance.  There are two front doors - one with two locks and then just a normal door.  We on the 8th floor.  The entrance to the building is dark and a bit ominous.  The elevator is old and creaky.  Imagine an old Russian film.

 Front hallway.  Angela is standing by the entrance to the living room.

 Closets in the front hallway

 Living Room - we have cable with 43 English channels. Don't feel too sorry for us!

 Main hallway (just an extension of the front hallway)

 Posing between the two bathroom doors (main hallway).

 One bathroom for the toilet.

 One bathroom for the shower and the washing machine.

 Angela's bedroom.  In the bright light there is a balcony - we have two balconies.  They are enclosed with sliding windows - a very fun place.  The one off the kitchen serves as our laundry drying room.

 The purple master bedroom!

Our kitchen - small, but very functional.

The weather has alternated between cloudy and cool with a few good rain showers, and sunny and hot, but overall it has been very comfortable.  Kiev is a very green city with hundreds of parks - some large, some small.  There is a park on nearly every block in our neighborhood, most with a playground.  Pets are big here - dogs and cats.  There are, however, packs of "wild" dogs that live all around.  I put "wild" in quotes because they seem pretty mellow to us and other than barking up a storm each morning, they have not been bothersome.

The traffic in Kiev is pretty bad.  There has been a lot of growth.  Further, Kiev is prepping for the 2012 Europe Cup Soccer tournament.  They are building a new stadium and a new terminal in the airport.  The city is getting a major facelift, so there is work going on all over the place.

We walk to school which is about 15 minutes.  We'll take pictures of our walk and post them soon.  We enter the back gates of the school - there is 24-hour security posted.  Crime is not a big issue - property crimes are rising, but it is a relatively safe city.  We have definitely been putting some miles on our feet.  It's good exercise and it just feels wonderful to be outside.  Air quality is good.

We took a boat ride one day and a bus ride another as a brief tour of the city.  There is so much to see and one of our guides said that we could go someplace new every day for a year and still not see all of Kiev.  We certainly have our tourist work cut out for us!

AWWII Memorial and a church

"House" along the Dnipro River

The "Second War" (WWII) memorial to the 100,000 Ukrainians (mostly Jews) murdered from 1941 - 1943 in Kiev.

Ken and our Russian teacher from school - Galina

Another church

Downtown Kiev - Russian Orthodox Church

Near the Presidential Palace

Shopping is interesting.  Just like in the US, there are small shops, big shops, and huge shops.  Everything, of course, is in Russian or Ukrainian.  We make most of our purchases by sounding out the Cyrillic letters and figuring out the product and by looking at the photos.  We also have frequented little produce stands on the street and a bakery vendor.  Yum!  We have been to several restaurants and have not been disappointed yet. We are still at the point and nod stage for the menus (it helps when they have photos).  We also got to visit the US Embassy and the commissary where we purchased good ole' American food (Log Cabin syrup, etc.!)

Our Russian is improving daily.  Galina offers Russian tutoring, and Ken and I will certainly take advantage of this.  Angela will take Russian in school.  Russian is the predominant language in Kiev, although Ukrainian is dominant outside of the city.  They are quite different languages.  We have been advised it is best to learn Russian for what we need.  It's been fun trying to read all the signs to see how quickly we can pick up the Cyrillic alphabet.  Thank heavens we get to teach in English!

We attended church on Sunday at an Assembly of God church in downtown Kiev.  We may check out some other churches as well.  This one, however, has a youth group and quite a few staff members attend, so it may be our best choice.

We are over our jet lag, and we began work today.  We have six days of orientation, and then we get our students next Thursday.  We are thrilled to be here and settling in nicely.  Angela has already had three babysitting jobs, and we are teasing her that she will soon be supporting us!

All our love!

Our Adventures Begin in Kiev: Vacation in Michigan

Our Adventures Begin in Kiev: Vacation in Michigan: "Family, friends, and fun - relaxing in the summer sun and rain of Western Michigan. We are off tomorrow to Kiev, but we wanted to take a fe..."

Vacation in Michigan

Family, friends, and fun - relaxing in the summer sun and rain of Western Michigan.  We are off tomorrow to Kiev, but we wanted to take a few moments to show you some of our adventures while we were here.  We drove Ali to Marquette to get her set up in an apartment.  Marquette is a beautiful city in the Upper Peninsula, situated on Lake Superior.  You'll see a photo of Ali and Ken overlooking the lake during a hike we took.  In Pentwater, in the Western part of the mitten on Lake Michigan, we picked blueberries, went swimming, kayaked down Pentwater River which drops into Pentwater Lake, and went horseback riding.  Our last night here graced us with a beautiful sunset as we watched storm clouds roll in.  Angela and Kim are hoping for some mighty thunder tonight!  Just a little something to shake up our world.

Our next post will be from Kiev, Ukraine after 17 hours of traveling via Chicago and London.  We'll keep you posted!

Love always,

Kim, Ken, and Angela