The Celebration of Spring! (Wednesday, April 28)

So, I posted the updates on what Mom and did during her visit. I also posted the trip to Lviv, which was a detour on the way back to Chernivtsi from Kyiv after dropping her off. We returned to Chernivtsi on Monday, and this is my posting for Wednesday of that week.

Two interesting things happened today: I had an interesting discussion with my first class, and then I visited a Ukrainian school with one of my grad students.

A few days ago one of my students, Anna, emailed me and asked if I would like to go to her godmother’s school with her to see the 3rd graders performance celebrating spring. Mykola had told me that spring is usually celebrated on the 15th of March. Not this year…this year it was celebrated on April 28th, or at least at this school it was.

I was so glad I had decided to go with Anna. I showed up for my 4th year students’ class, and only 5 students were there. I think when they know they have an assignment due, they don’t come. I expressed my concern about the recent drop in attendance to Mykola this morning and he said that bc my class is an elective, my grades really aren’t going to affect much. So we decided that I would assign grades to the students who came to class consistently and who took the exams and wrote the papers. Then students whose attendance and/or submission of graded materials was sporadic wouldn’t receive a grade and thus they do not get credit for the course.

I also was told that “next Wednesday will be a Monday,” meaning that after the May Day holiday (more on that later), Monday classes will meet on Wednesday and Wednesday classes won’t meet next week. Just like that; I get a week off. The university calendar is always subject to change, I’ve learned. Flexibility is the name of the game. So, I met with my 4th year students and changed the syllabus once again.

In my 4th year class, we had a discussion about Ukraine and America bc the students who showed up were once again unprepared to make presentations. The point of the presentations was to jumpstart a discussion about Ukraine for me and America for them. I have realized we can do that without formal presentations so that is what we did, again. I learned that one of my students works for the state-owned TV station. Victoria, the weather reporter who is also in this class, works for a private TV station. So today, my student who works at the state-owned station told me about her job. The state pays for her education and she has to work there for 3 years. I asked her if she wanted to continue this as a career. I thought of my friend Ainsley Earhardt who is a broadcaster for Fox News in NYC. She has a great job, so I figured this young woman was also happy to have a job as an on-air broadcaster as well. Not true.

She is frustrated. Initially she did research about what to say in her reports, but got tired of always being told what to say and what not to say, so now she just reads someone else’s report. She says there is no element of journalism to what she does but she wishes there was. The students told me that free speech and free press do not exist in Ukraine. She is looking forward to putting 2 more years in and then getting out. She was pretty fired up talking about her frustrations. This was eye-opening for me. I asked them what they do when they really want objective information. They said they go to various sources, including some international sources, and piece the story together for themselves.

They told me that they didn’t want me to think that everything was so bad. I assured them that I didn't, and they mentioned to me that their generation really, really wants to change things, but it will take time. Sometimes the young people show a tempered optimism, which is great, and sometimes they seem so hardened by their lives. I really enjoyed talking to the students today. I also asked them about the upcoming WWII Victory Day on May 9th, about May Day on May 1st, and about the Bukovina Football season. I hope to go to a match before I leave.

Then, I went downstairs to meet Anna. We took a taxi to her godmother’s school and it was nice to see a different part of Chernivtsi. The taxi driver seemed amazed that I was from America. It wasn’t the first time that I sensed that kind of amazement today.

We arrived at the school just as the children were walking into the small auditorium that had a small stage in it. Anna and I sat on the third row behind the children. We watched the play, which said goodbye to Winter (played by a girl in a white dress) and welcomed Spring (played by a girl in a green dress). Ceremonial bread was passed from Winter to Spring, and songs were sung and dances danced. The arrival of spring is certainly something to celebrate around here! After the winter I just experienced, I can know why, too.

Spring is on the left and Winter is on the right.

The passing of traditional bread.

These little boys each represent a month of Spring.

Check out these ringlets!!!

They changed and did a dance to "Livin' La Vida Loca." I couldn't figure out the connection. I just googled the song...did that thing really come out in 1999?!?

The children were sweet and adorable. Anna translated for me so I could follow what was going on. They did dances, sang songs, and had lines memorized.

Afterwards, they asked me to be in their photos (as you can see above), and some parents wanted to have their children’s photo taken with me. I think having an American there was a novelty. They passed around a small piece of bread that was shaped like a bird (they do impressive things with bread around here) and gave me the flowers from the show. All this kindness was so unexpected! I ended up giving a lot of the flowers away to the little girls in the show.

Then Anna asked if I wanted to have coffee upstairs in their canteen, so I said sure. Then she asked if I wanted lunch, so I said sure. They brought us a generous lunch of chicken and buckwheat, a popular side in Ukraine. My favorite part was the beetroot salad. I know that one day this fall when I am sitting in my office thinking about what to have for lunch I will think fondly back on this day with Anna and that good beetroot salad. It has to be healthy, too, right? Then, suddenly, they brought out more food…dessert, and lots of it. I tried a cheese biscuit, and part of an apple biscuit. Then they opened a mammoth box of chocolates. The chocolates were filled with rum. When we were finished they packaged up all those desserts and half the box of chocolates and gave it to me. Wow.

Here is the school canteen, or lunchroom. We gave the ladies who work here the remaining Furman Junior Paladin Club t-shirts. They were thrilled to be able to give them to their children. Thanks Ron Smith, FU's baseball coach, for giving me so many!!

Then we took a tour of the school, which I enjoyed. Here, all the grades go to school together, from the time they are 6 years old until they graduate. Also, the teacher to whom each student is assigned to that first year stays with them for 4 years. After 4th grade, that group gets a new teacher. It provides consistency for the children and the parents. I asked Anna to ask her godmother if she, as the teacher, got to know the students’ families well, and she said of course! I can see attributes and drawbacks to our system and to their’s, but thought that kind of relationship that develops between teacher, student, and family could be special.

They showed me the teachers’ workroom, where 60 teachers share the space.

Then we looked at the wall of notable alumni and I saw Valentina, my language teacher!

After, while Anna and I waited for the marshrutka, I saw this monument to Ukrainian soldiers who fought in the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, which gave the US cause to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Here is the Church of the Immacuate Conception:

Anna and I took a marshrutka back to town, where we tried to look for stamps. Both places were closed, but she said she would try to get some later that day for me.

Today was such an unexpected delight. Anna, her godmother, and the other teachers, parents, and students were so warm and welcoming. They made me feel that my being there was special for them. I hope they know just how special it was for ME to be there to witness those precious children, celebrating the arrival of a new season, and to gain some insight into the lives of the people of this community. This day will certainly be one of the more lasting memories I have of my time here.

When Anna and I were waiting for the marshrutka, I received a call from Natalia. I need to be registered with the Ukrainian government and I need to pay for Ukrainian health insurance, a formality if you stay in the country as long as I am. Mykola and the International Relations office are supposed to help me with this.

I stopped by the minimarket on the way back, and then walked back to the flat. I had coffee and also walked to the market on vul Ruska later.

Here is the little bread bird they gave me:

What a great day!!