time flies by

September 21, 2008
11 ½ months down, 15 to go! Very rarely do I think about how much time I have left, other than when people ask me how long I will be in Ukraine, but as my 1 year ‘anniversary’ in Ukraine approaches, its very strange to sit back and think about what I have been up to.
The new school year started 3 weeks ago, and while there have been the usual bumps in the road; no idea what my schedule is, students who think they are to cool for school, different English skill levels, it has been a pretty good beginning. During the past 3 weeks I have also been able to go to Kyiv for and Environmental Working group I am part of, which basically just tries to spread environmental education across Ukraine.
Also, there have been some big celebrations in Lugansk. Ukrainian independence day was on the 24th of August, and then Miner’s Day the 29th of August, and then Lugansk Day, the 19-21st of September. All of those basically consist of lots of speeches, parades, and then on Friday/Saturday night a big concert in the central square (with a background of the Russian theatre and ‘Uncle Lenin’ watching over in the back. I have been able to see 2 fairly big names of Ukrainian pop culture, Tina Karol and Verka Serduchka. Tina Karol is just another good looking pop diva, while Verka Serduchka is a man, who dresses like a woman, with fake breasts, make-up, and giant star on top of his head. Its kind of funny when people refer to him as him, her, it. For a country that is extremely homophobic, they love this singer.
I was able to go and watch Serduchka’s concert last night with a couple of my students, so it was interesting to see them outside of the classroom. Next week I will be going to another volunteer’s site for big softball tournament, so that should be fun.

Nothing huge to report, but I love hearing from all of you. Take care!
With love,
Seth