Classes...

The third day of classes, and already I feel like I've been doing this for weeks. It's hard to believe that it was just two short days ago when I was sitting in the classroom, nervously waiting for our students arrive. The first day, I didn't feel very useful, at least, not at the beginning of the day. ... I was assisting Alexandra and Joshua (my team leaders), but Alexandra was so on top of things that there really wasn't much for me to do. I did get to help with a few things though, and I do think I did a good job despite my fears. It's kind of nice having more than one person in the classroom; that way we have two different perspectives and can come up with different ways to explain the more difficult concepts.

Since that was orientation day, there weren't as many activities in the afternoon, and the day was therefore shorter. At one point, when I was helping with crafts, I noticed this one man fiddling with his and asked if he needed help. He replied that he wanted to learn English, so I ended up just sitting there and talking to him until the end of the 'craft' session. We had a very good discussion, and it's amazing how well we can comunicate with so few words. I'm learning more Russin, and he's learning more English, and it's been really neat to watch - although I must admit, they are learning much quicker than I!

The morning class that I help teach is composed of adults (mostly in their late 20's,/early 30's) in the Upper English intensive course. I got to do a lot more yesterday in the class, and already I'm becoming connected with our students. Some of the younger students have already become close friends. There is this one girl in particular, Natalya, (age 20) who is quite a chatter-box. Man, I love her. She probably has the best English of anyone in the school, but rushed through the placement test and is still in intermediate. The best way to describe her would probably be a Russian rapper/hip-hop dancer/tom-boy who talks a mile a minute. Andrey, on the other hand, is quite the charmer, and kind of reminds me of Vitaly, even though they don't look the same. Today, he brought in сало (salo), a traditional Ukranian dish that he wanted us all to try. It's probably the closest thing to sushi I will ever try... it's basically cured, salty pork (that looks & tastes raw) that you eat with brown bread and garlic. Definitly not the best of the foods I've tasted here, but it's the thought that counts...