baby steps

today i took one small step to becoming more sustainable and a part of the ukrainian community.

i walked home from school, all by myself.

remember in elementary school when we were so proud of ourselves that first time our parents let us walk home all by ourselves?
it was the proudest moment of my life. i was a part of the "big kid club." i could do anything. i felt cooler, i felt older, i felt like i could take on the world, and nothing would stop me!

well guess what folks, i am reliving that dream.

today was my first day of teaching...and lets just say it went as well as the first day of teaching should go when you're in a foreign country teaching english to kids who expect to be as great as the last teachers.

so this is how my day went

7am. wake up. i didnt want to shower, BUT i didnt shower the two days before. and my hair was starting to hurt...sooo i dragged my fat butt out of bed to get in the shower.
my cute host mom was already awake making me breakfast. she is so sweet, every night she asks me when i wake up so she can get up and make me food. i tried to tell her i can get my own food, but she insists. she is sooo sweet!
so this was the menu: ( i swear..the food here is WAY too amazing) bread with cheese and butter (the three best things all in one) and some sort of gruel (thats what her russian/english dictionary translated it to be...it was delish...practially cream of wheat) and tea...I LOVE THE TEA HERE I WANT TO DRINK IT 24/7. maybe it's because they dont drink water here...or maybe it's because it's freezing and it totally helps...but I LOVE THE TEA HERE. i cant say that enough. it's not like the nasty tea at home.
maybe i was making it wrong, or maybe it's differerent but...
I LOVE THE TEA HERE.
haha, okay..i'm done being annoying.
for now...

so after breakfast (and getting ready) i packed all my stuff up to go get ready for my first day of teaching!
since i brought so many supplies from home, i decided i was going to just bring my rolling suitcase with me and pack everything to the school in that.

i encountered a few problems with this "amazing" plan:
1. when i walked out of my room with my suitcase, my mom thought i hated her and i was moving out.
i had to explain and show to her that it was for the school. she kinda had a heart attack

2. they dont shovel their snow here. so after a fresh snow, it takes a good 24 hours for the snow to get packed down to "sidewalk material" aka...a sheet of ice that is completely dangerous and i shouldnt be allowed to walk on... so anyways...it had freshly snowed last night..to the point of like...3 inches of new snow (on top of the 2 feet we already had) but i was bound and determined to get to the school. with my suitcase.
so on my journey i went...

at first it wasnt so bad. exited my apartment building, and walked down the road where the cars had made tracks.. then i got to the grocery store (my landmark of where i make an abrupt right hand turn, and can see my school in the distance) at this point i was sweating. three pairs of pants?
two shirts? a sweater..AND my coat?!
not to mention my hat and gloves, too.

i was dying.
even worse, i made the mistake of wearing three pairs of THICK socks and trying to wear my normal shoes (i made the fashionable decision of wearing my rain boots today..awesome outfit..not gunna lie)
have any of you actually TRIED to wear that many socks with your normal shoes? it's the worst idea anyone could ever  have!
my feet were falling asleep. they hurt so bad i couldnt walk anymore. i was ready to throw in the towel and go back home. but no. i could see the school, nothing was going to stop me now. not even my sweaty brow, and my over-used lungs.

at this point in the journey, there was no more "patted down" snow to walk on (or to roll my extremely huge suitcase on) so..i did what any brave american girl would do in this situation.
i cried.
hahaahahaha just kidding, i didnt.
gosh, i'm not that big of a baby you fools!

i picked up that 50 pound red suitcase filled with construction paper and glue, and i carried it all the way through the snow, not setting it down ONCE so it wouldnt get moldy. i was panting. sweating. cursing every child that would use that construction paper. and then, before i knew it, i had made it. the glorious gate with shoveled sidewalks. it was a success.

so long, dramatic story short...i made it to school.

blah blah blah, i get into the school and start unloading my supplies. the school is a ghost town all the time...its kinda creepy. we just have 3 classrooms in the huge building that nobody else uses..it;s strange...i'll make a video of it someday and show you guys.

so i was unloading my trophy of a suitcase that i had carried all that way...(mind you, i had a backpack while carrying it as well)
none of my group had shown up. we were supposed to be teaching in an hour, and nobody had anything planned out. i figured it would be a disaster, and we'd reconvene tomorrow and figure out what we were actually going to do for the rest of the week.

they showed up, we attempted to plan, but honestly we had no idea what to expect..so we just went for it...and we were blind sighted.

i was so excited to start teaching and meet all the kids.
i made a mistake...wanna know what? it was in the sentence "all the kids"
there were two of them. a girl named liza who is 3 and cried the whole time because she was scared of us. and a boy named sasha who is 5 and he growled at us the whole time. they sat there like frozen statues not moving, not talking just crying and or growling

it was awful.
BUT we whipped out the stickers, and they warmed up to us a bit. so that was an interesting experience.
glad it's over.

so then..we waited..and "prepared" from 11-3. at 1 the school serves us lunch

the menu?: pot stickers with only potatoes inside. aka amazing.
soup. of course. bluh.
bread.
pear juice
i think that was it

we had so much organizing of supplies and such, we didnt have time to even go outside....it was a good time though. we chatted, and got to know each other more

not much happened..
oh except i broke a chair. yup. i did. i was the fat girl that broke the kiddie chair.
it was awkward.
i tried to glue it back with elmers glue, it didnt work. dont ever try it. baaaad idea.

then it was time for our 3 hour block. and let me tell you, THREE HOURS IS A REALLY REALLY LONG TIME.

we got our classes (there are only 5 kids..so we do one big class, and the teachers switch off teaching for 30 minutes each.) and then for the first and last bit of class we sing and go over the days of the week and the weather and everything.

none of us had our lesson planned out. i was frantically searching, and i found an ink pad and paper, so guess what we did? i made them make thumb print people of their families. wanna know the best part? the ink was green. i dont know why but it was hilarious to me.

anyways, i wish i could tell more. but i am going to be honest with you and say this " i am being honest when i say my eyes are closed while i am typing this post.

i am going to bed my friends. tomorrow will be interesting, if only you knew what i have in store for tomorrow! :) okay adios.

comment.

okay thanks bye