With a weekend free and need to be in Kyiv on Tuesday for a week long convention, I took up the opportunity to visit my PST community / family / pets / cluster mates in good old Koz town.
While it took a little longer then expected to get from Myrhorod to Kyiv (typical Ukraine), a good slice or I guess burger & fries of American fast food made everything ok. Though I can't believe they upped the Express Kyiv-Kozelets marshrutka by 2 UAH! Of course when I finally got home to Kozelets there was a massive amount of food ready to go - I should have known not to have eaten, however I ate again (and probably enough for two people). It was fun to be able to communicate and understand more - the dictionary was not actually at the table.
So my real mom and Ukrainian mom have this Facebook / google translate friendship going. So one of the conversations around the table was how my real mom informed Natasha that she wanted to see pictures of where I lived during PST (because the few that I took of my room and backyard didn't suffice). My rebuttal was how I thought it'd be awkward to just walk around the house taking pictures while Natasha or Zhenya would be sitting watching TV or something. In the semi quoted / translated words of Natasha, "You should have taken pictures, I will clean the entire house today, and then we will take pictures". I gave Natasha the reigns of my camera after showing her how to use it and here are the results. Unfortunately the kitchen was neglected to be paparazzied, maybe next time.
my personal favorite
The cellar where all the food is kept for winter
Now that everyone should be happy, we can continue. The first night in Koz happened to be yet another disco park event. For some reason I got contracted into being the photographer for the event - but I did get free admission to the disco!
It was fun to hang with the Koz group and host brothers, sisters, friends, etc... I managed to make my rounds to both Mary-Kathryn's and Kym's host families and of course got some good food out of it before they had to leave on Sunday.
The Kozelets vs Oster game unfortunately was won by Oster.
It was an all around good trip and I can't wait to come visit again.
So the with only a few days left here in Kozelets we as a cluster decided we had to do some sort of farewell fiesta. We decided to combine some of our great new loves - шашлик'ing + річка'ing + and пікнік'ing (all conveniently turned into verbs thanks to the English language). It turned out to be one of my favorite days spent in Koz town.
We'll start with the families
Maria's
Mine
Kym's
Anne's
Mary-Kathryn's
Left overs
Mary-Kathryn's excellent drawing & coloring inside the lines gift
So the Summer Camp & Community Project we've been planning for quite some time now is now finished (at least at my school), and I have to say I'm happy with how it turned out.
Day 1 (5/30)
Sports Day
Anne began the day with a lesson on sportsmanship regarding the qualities of a good athlete / teammate. The class really seemed to enjoy applying what they've learned on a simple maze teams had to maneuver. Certain members of each team were blind, couldn't use their feet, speak, touch. Kym took a pretty funny video that hopefully I'll get to put up eventually.
The second part of the lesson Anne and myself taught. We taught the kids how to play Human Knot and Capture the Flag. It was fun to get the class outside to do some activities on such a nice day.
Human Knot went over fine and making it a competition between genders fueled their desire to win.
Capture the Flag was apparently a new game to them - which was a fun surprise. While we thought we explained the rules well enough, we found out they weren't in depth enough... ha. The students began to throw the flag from teammate to teammate. While i thought it was rather clever - It took a few rounds to find out what else we needed to explain.
some played with backpacks on... I don't know why
Day 2 (5/31)
Health Day
The second day of camp was dedicated to a topic we had to cover - health. As well as having a photo-shoot apparently as well.
oh Lyuda... so mysterious
we were very prepared
I go to solo teach for the first time on Nutrition (Claire I know you're so proud). It actually ended up probably being my favorite lesson. I explained the effects of healthy and unhealthy eating had the kids create diets and posters regarding situations and why it's important to eat healthy.
The second part of the day was on Positive decision making that Anne and Maria taught. The lesson was set up well in it's ability to push the students English ability. Some of the answers were rather sophisticated - which was funny / surprising from a class that chose to avoid speaking English for the most part during the 8 Weeks we taught there.
final photo with the 8th formers
Day 3 (6/2)
Volunteerism Seminar
The final day of camp was the implementation of our community project - which was on volunteerism and civil duty.
While the room we had to teach in that day was like being inside a microwave - the powerpoint Kym made was spot on.
We had the kids make maracas out of recycled bottles that we painted white. We had the kids fill them with rice and paint on them. These will later be donated to the toddlers at the social service center to play with along with school supplies and resources we fundraised.
before
and their painting...
and still painting...
after
Couple of the favorites
Final Day (6/8)
Community Project Implementation
The final part of our project was to drop off the maracas and 300 dollars worth of school supplies we fundraised for to the kids at the Social Services Center. I think they liked them.
Apologies for the old school soviet black and white - I had the wrong setting on my camera.
WIth only a week left in Kozelets, I can't believe it's almost over - it's this mixed feeling of sadness and excitement for what is next to come.
But I will say our garden is growing - which is really what is important!!
Stay tuned for my permanent site placement and Swearing in Ceremony in Kyiv - 4 Day Вечірка!
So my real mom and Ukrainian mom have this Facebook / google translate friendship going. So one of the conversations around the table was how my real mom informed Natasha that she wanted to see pictures of where I lived during PST (because the few that I took of my room and backyard didn't suffice). My rebuttal was how I thought it'd be awkward to just walk around the house taking pictures while Natasha or Zhenya would be sitting watching TV or something. In the semi quoted / translated words of Natasha, "You should have taken pictures, I will clean the entire house today, and then we will take pictures". I gave Natasha the reigns of my camera after showing her how to use it and here are the results. Unfortunately the kitchen was neglected to be paparazzied, maybe next time. 
