Hey all, just wanted to share this link to the local English language newspaper. Turns out there is a huge protest going on here in Ukraine. This might get very interesting...
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/91316/
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
We've got everything!
Okay, just a quick post. I have no idea why the picture is sideways. The important thing is the bottom line. It roughly translates to "we've got everything from A to backwards r." Made us laugh and thought we should share.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Barcelona
Hello all,
Cassie and I just got back to work after a week break. This schedule is awesome. Seriously, once you get the point of being sick of the kids, we have a break to allow you to regain some sanity. Anyway, we chose to spend our fall break in Barcelona.
Before we left, I forgot the camera on the desk in our apartment in Kyiv. I remembered this fact in the taxi on the way to the airport. Hence, we spent our first day in Barcelona looking for a camera. Here are some pics of the trip:
This is inside the main cathedral in Barcelona. We actually climbed to the top of this and got a few (very uninteresting) pictures of the surrounding city. The amazing thing was that we were standing on the top of the arches you see in the picture. It was a bit sketchy.
Here is a Roman cemetery dating back to the first century. The coolest part was that this was in the middle of the main shopping center.
Here is a picture of some of the gardens that surround the Olympic park. Having been to the Olympic Park in Seoul, this one was actually much better and less ghost-townish.
Can't go to Spain without trying some of the delicious Iberian Ham, unless you are Cassie.
This is the view down the beach at the city center of Tarragona, a little town down the coast from Barcelona with some incredible Roman ruins.
Here is a part of the arena in Tarragona.
This is the Roman Circus in Tarragona.
These are the tunnels under the Circus.
Overall we had a great time in Spain. Our next break sees us back in the US. We will be heading to Savannah, GA to visit Robbie and the rest of Cassie's family over Christmas. Afterwards, we will be heading to San Antonio to visit Monica and Leonard, friends from Yuma. I will post more soon.
Oh, and check this out!
Biggest vending machine EVER.
Cassie and I just got back to work after a week break. This schedule is awesome. Seriously, once you get the point of being sick of the kids, we have a break to allow you to regain some sanity. Anyway, we chose to spend our fall break in Barcelona.
Before we left, I forgot the camera on the desk in our apartment in Kyiv. I remembered this fact in the taxi on the way to the airport. Hence, we spent our first day in Barcelona looking for a camera. Here are some pics of the trip:
This is inside the main cathedral in Barcelona. We actually climbed to the top of this and got a few (very uninteresting) pictures of the surrounding city. The amazing thing was that we were standing on the top of the arches you see in the picture. It was a bit sketchy.
Here is a Roman cemetery dating back to the first century. The coolest part was that this was in the middle of the main shopping center.
Here is a picture of some of the gardens that surround the Olympic park. Having been to the Olympic Park in Seoul, this one was actually much better and less ghost-townish.
Can't go to Spain without trying some of the delicious Iberian Ham, unless you are Cassie.
This is the view down the beach at the city center of Tarragona, a little town down the coast from Barcelona with some incredible Roman ruins.
Here is a part of the arena in Tarragona.
This is the Roman Circus in Tarragona.
These are the tunnels under the Circus.
Overall we had a great time in Spain. Our next break sees us back in the US. We will be heading to Savannah, GA to visit Robbie and the rest of Cassie's family over Christmas. Afterwards, we will be heading to San Antonio to visit Monica and Leonard, friends from Yuma. I will post more soon.
Oh, and check this out!
Biggest vending machine EVER.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Halloween Party
Okay, so here are some pics from the Halloween party.
It turns out Ukraine has a lack of costume shops. Everyone had to get creative. As I had just finished writing a ten page paper for my masters class, I was not on the creative band wagon. Hence we have Cholo and Cholo-ette. And yes, my knuckles do say "THUG LIFE."
Carl was doing tarot card readings, which are much more effective when the person doing them does not have to check the book every time a new card comes up...
Then we had a drinking game suggested by Tomara, one of the secretaries from school. Basically everyone stands on a chair with a shot on the floor in front of them. Then on the word "go" everyone has to take the shot in front of them without using their hands.
Basically, everyone does a nose dive and ends up with a smashed face covered in the alcohol of their choice. Great times...
It turns out Ukraine has a lack of costume shops. Everyone had to get creative. As I had just finished writing a ten page paper for my masters class, I was not on the creative band wagon. Hence we have Cholo and Cholo-ette. And yes, my knuckles do say "THUG LIFE."
Carl was doing tarot card readings, which are much more effective when the person doing them does not have to check the book every time a new card comes up...
Then we had a drinking game suggested by Tomara, one of the secretaries from school. Basically everyone stands on a chair with a shot on the floor in front of them. Then on the word "go" everyone has to take the shot in front of them without using their hands.
Basically, everyone does a nose dive and ends up with a smashed face covered in the alcohol of their choice. Great times...
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Quick Post
Hey all, just wanted to update the site with some news of what we are up to.
First off we had a Halloween party last night and it was a great time. Pictures should get passed around this week and I should have them up by the end of the week. Trust me, it was a good time...
Up next I have a parental advisory notice. The following video is a commercial from Latvia (or some other former Soviet republic). It is shown on the local television and is a classic. Enjoy, but be warned...
Finally, I just wanted to mention that we are heading out to Barcelona next week. We are both really excited. We will also have some pictures from that soon.
Cheers,
Chris
First off we had a Halloween party last night and it was a great time. Pictures should get passed around this week and I should have them up by the end of the week. Trust me, it was a good time...
Up next I have a parental advisory notice. The following video is a commercial from Latvia (or some other former Soviet republic). It is shown on the local television and is a classic. Enjoy, but be warned...
Finally, I just wanted to mention that we are heading out to Barcelona next week. We are both really excited. We will also have some pictures from that soon.
Cheers,
Chris
Sunday, September 26, 2010
A Night with the Saudi's
Hello all, just wanted to update with a story of the adventure we had this week. It turns out that one of my students is the son of the Saudi ambassador to Ukraine. On September 23rd the Saudi's have a national holiday celebrating the birth of their country. My student invited Cassie and I to the celebration at the President hotel, here in Kyiv. We accepted the invite and went down to the hotel.
Upon arrival, we had to turn in our invites and get in line. We could not see what was at the front of the line, but it there was a great deal of waiting. Finally, we came around a corner to see my student and his father dressed in the ceremonial garb of the Saudi royal family. Yes, I teach a prince...
We spent the night eating great food and rubbing elbows with the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Germany, Georgia, Russia, and many other foreign entities. It was a bit odd, but very fun.
Here are some pictures from the evening...
Cassie and I with the prince
Naif and his dad giving a speech in Arabic and Ukrainian ( I have no idea what was said)
Cassie and I
Upon arrival, we had to turn in our invites and get in line. We could not see what was at the front of the line, but it there was a great deal of waiting. Finally, we came around a corner to see my student and his father dressed in the ceremonial garb of the Saudi royal family. Yes, I teach a prince...
We spent the night eating great food and rubbing elbows with the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Germany, Georgia, Russia, and many other foreign entities. It was a bit odd, but very fun.
Here are some pictures from the evening...
Cassie and I with the prince
Naif and his dad giving a speech in Arabic and Ukrainian ( I have no idea what was said)
Cassie and I
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Borscht and Vodka Party
Last weekend, after I returned from camp (which was quite a pain), we went over to one of our friend's house for a Borscht and Vodka party. Basically, the receptionist from work volunteered to hang out with us for the day, drink vodka, and teach us how to make borscht.
A good time was had by all, Cassie and I left early as I had too much of a good time and was a bit tipsier than the rest of the participants...
Cassie and Adam (one of the secondary history teachers at KIS)
Many drinks in
Tomara (our receptionist) and Zac (9 year old teacher I worked with last year)
A good time was had by all, Cassie and I left early as I had too much of a good time and was a bit tipsier than the rest of the participants...
Cassie and Adam (one of the secondary history teachers at KIS)
Many drinks in
Tomara (our receptionist) and Zac (9 year old teacher I worked with last year)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Apartment Issues
Hi, I am back with a bit of a funny story...
Last June we had a series of issues with our apartment. First our internet would not work, so we had to contact the internet provider who would only talk with the person whose name was on the title of the apartment. After a long series of phone calls our landlord got it figured out for us. But to get her to do anything we had to contact SASHA.
SASHA's name is all in capitals because that is how important the guy is. He is our "administrative assistant" at the school. Which basically means that if you need something done, you call him. Part of the reason why he gets things done is that he has "connections" both in the government (SASHA was one of the engineers who capped Chernobyl- for that he has been named a national hero in Ukraine) and with others in the waste management and import/export fields.
SASHA can be very heavy handed when dealing with others. He leaned very hard on our landlord and got her to help us out. The very next week we lost hot water and our washing machine broke. We contacted our landlord (who had pleaded with us to contact her first, before going to SASHA). She said she would replace the washing machine on Monday and install a water heater so we could take hot showers.
Monday came, no washer. We called her, she said Wednesday.
Wednesday came, no washer.
We did this for a week. Then I called SASHA. Within 24 hours we had a washing machine and the landlord promised that she would install a water heater over the summer so next year the rolling hot water outages would not effect us as much.
We got back from the States in July, no water heater. I mentioned it to SASHA then, but he was busy with getting the school together and told me to come see him the first week of school.
Yesterday, I went to see SASHA. He saw me and asked me if our landlord had contacted us. I told him no. His response was "what a lazy girl!"
He then grabbed his cell phone, dialed her number, placed the phone to my ear and told me to say "Hi, how are you? Where is my water heater?" I did so.
Then he grabbed the phone and said in Russian "I have the same question." Then he hung up. He said that the water heater should be in soon and walked away.
Low and behold, the landlord has called twice and is coming over on Monday to take some measurements. That is why I love SASHA.
Last June we had a series of issues with our apartment. First our internet would not work, so we had to contact the internet provider who would only talk with the person whose name was on the title of the apartment. After a long series of phone calls our landlord got it figured out for us. But to get her to do anything we had to contact SASHA.
SASHA's name is all in capitals because that is how important the guy is. He is our "administrative assistant" at the school. Which basically means that if you need something done, you call him. Part of the reason why he gets things done is that he has "connections" both in the government (SASHA was one of the engineers who capped Chernobyl- for that he has been named a national hero in Ukraine) and with others in the waste management and import/export fields.
SASHA can be very heavy handed when dealing with others. He leaned very hard on our landlord and got her to help us out. The very next week we lost hot water and our washing machine broke. We contacted our landlord (who had pleaded with us to contact her first, before going to SASHA). She said she would replace the washing machine on Monday and install a water heater so we could take hot showers.
Monday came, no washer. We called her, she said Wednesday.
Wednesday came, no washer.
We did this for a week. Then I called SASHA. Within 24 hours we had a washing machine and the landlord promised that she would install a water heater over the summer so next year the rolling hot water outages would not effect us as much.
We got back from the States in July, no water heater. I mentioned it to SASHA then, but he was busy with getting the school together and told me to come see him the first week of school.
Yesterday, I went to see SASHA. He saw me and asked me if our landlord had contacted us. I told him no. His response was "what a lazy girl!"
He then grabbed his cell phone, dialed her number, placed the phone to my ear and told me to say "Hi, how are you? Where is my water heater?" I did so.
Then he grabbed the phone and said in Russian "I have the same question." Then he hung up. He said that the water heater should be in soon and walked away.
Low and behold, the landlord has called twice and is coming over on Monday to take some measurements. That is why I love SASHA.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The first week is in the books
As I promised before, I will try to update this site more often. So here I am, one week later putting out another post. I do not have any pictures to add, so I will try to keep it short.
First: my first masters’ class is officially over. It was one of those deals where I did not have to turn in the final project to pass the course. I did turn it in and am expecting a 4.0 for the course. My next class starts on September 2nd. This one will actually be very useful. It is titled: Engagement Strategies and Classroom Management. These two things are the bread and butter of teaching middle school, so I am excited about the course.
Next: we are done with our first week of school (the kids did not start till Thursday). My classes are very interesting. I was told on Wednesday that I would be teaching an additional section of science, but my class would be all students that have native languages other than English. It was a bit of a surprise, but I knew most of the kids from last year and that makes the whole thing much easier.
I had been warned again and again that the eighth graders at our school were a terrible bunch. I was prepared to have issues from the first day. But teaching 13 rich kids is much easier than teaching a class of 30 students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Plus, I am very good at picking out the problem kids ( I once was one ) and squashing them as soon as possible.
My room has already gotten comments from students and teachers who remembered it from last year. The best compliment I received was that the room “looks like a real science classroom.” The kids I have are an interesting bunch. None of them have actually performed or designed an experiment. So I am sort of “in the weeds,” and starting from ground zero. So on Friday, I had the kids carry out an experiment. I love teaching science…
Cassie’s week has been a struggle. Her classroom was supposed to be built over the summer. However, in Ukraine, summer is the time everyone takes their vacation. Thus Cassie was not able to get into her room till Wednesday afternoon. At that point in time, there was insulation everywhere, no power, and no desks. These problems were not worked out till the afternoon of our second day of school. She has been a ball of stress…
I will update again very soon. Hope all is well with all of you out there…
First: my first masters’ class is officially over. It was one of those deals where I did not have to turn in the final project to pass the course. I did turn it in and am expecting a 4.0 for the course. My next class starts on September 2nd. This one will actually be very useful. It is titled: Engagement Strategies and Classroom Management. These two things are the bread and butter of teaching middle school, so I am excited about the course.
Next: we are done with our first week of school (the kids did not start till Thursday). My classes are very interesting. I was told on Wednesday that I would be teaching an additional section of science, but my class would be all students that have native languages other than English. It was a bit of a surprise, but I knew most of the kids from last year and that makes the whole thing much easier.
I had been warned again and again that the eighth graders at our school were a terrible bunch. I was prepared to have issues from the first day. But teaching 13 rich kids is much easier than teaching a class of 30 students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Plus, I am very good at picking out the problem kids ( I once was one ) and squashing them as soon as possible.
My room has already gotten comments from students and teachers who remembered it from last year. The best compliment I received was that the room “looks like a real science classroom.” The kids I have are an interesting bunch. None of them have actually performed or designed an experiment. So I am sort of “in the weeds,” and starting from ground zero. So on Friday, I had the kids carry out an experiment. I love teaching science…
Cassie’s week has been a struggle. Her classroom was supposed to be built over the summer. However, in Ukraine, summer is the time everyone takes their vacation. Thus Cassie was not able to get into her room till Wednesday afternoon. At that point in time, there was insulation everywhere, no power, and no desks. These problems were not worked out till the afternoon of our second day of school. She has been a ball of stress…
I will update again very soon. Hope all is well with all of you out there…
Saturday, August 21, 2010
August 2010
New things are upon us: we returned to the U.S. for the first time in a year, I started a master’s program, we visited Prague and Slovakia for the first time, and the new school year is fast approaching.
I know, I know… I have not made a post in months. I am terrible at keeping up on this and all communication in general. I understand if no one reads this. But I am going to make an honest attempt to start this thing back up and keep it up to date. My current plans are get a post up every two weeks. We shall see if this works out. Right now, I want to share pictures from the summer…
One of the first stops we made while home was Comerica Park to see the Tigers play. 
After that we spent a week with Cassie's mom, her sister, her sister-in-law, and nephew. I am not a good influence on children...
Shortly after that we went down to see my Grandparents, Aunt Jan and her family. On the way we had a "Jumbo Slice" at a local Chicago pizza place (the dollar is there to give some idea of size).We then went to visit my Uncle Bill and Aunt Sue in Pentwater. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day...
Overall it was a great trip to the States. Three weeks sped by insanely fast! Next year we are thinking about doing four weeks back in the States before we go back home.
When we finaly got back to Ukraine, it was way too hot. This summer was a crazy one for temperature. The daily highs here were in the 100s, that is closer to AZ weather than anything that most people have ever experienced here. Fortunately we were only here a week before we traveled to the Czech Republic and Slovakia (we like to visit all the old Soviet republics as they were during the good old days...).
Prague was great, but was full of tourists. The last thing anyone wants to do while touring is deal with tourists...
The best way to get over the mass of tourists is to drink some of the local beer. Eastern Europe is great for many things, but the fact that 1 liter of beer costs less than a dollar makes it completely awesome... Oh yeah... Cassie drinks beer now!
No matter where you go, somethings always remain the same...After Prague we rented a car and drove to the Low Tatras in Slovakia.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I now roll large. That's a Beemer parked outside our cottage in the mountains...The main thrust of our time in Slovakia was hiking and just having a relaxing time before we traveled back home. Here are some random pictures of the mountains...
The trip was great. I hiked my butt off (seriously, my calves now have clefts in them). It was a resounding success.
Up next, we have the chaos of a new school year. I got into my room this week only to discover that last year's teacher lost her keys and no new keys had been made. So I was issued a master key by Sasha (our school's Godfather) and told that if I lost it he would kill me and put my head on a pike on the roof of the school. I am not sure if he was joking or not.
Cassie on the other hand does not have a room. The school was supposed to have a new wing put on it over the summer. Cassie was supposed to have one of the new rooms that was to be added. It has not been finished yet. There is a 50/50 chance it will not be ready by the time school starts. Needless to say, Cassie is stressed...
As I said earlier, I am going to do my best to update this thing at least twice a month. I understand if you do not believe me and I already see a problem with this plan, as I will be away at middle school camp in two weeks. Arggh!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
February 28th Update
Hey all, I have some pictures and a video to share with you.
First up, the tale of “The Curl Marxists”
One of the guys we work with is from Canada. He is the traveling black sheep of his family. He has worked everywhere. It turns out that his brother stayed home in Canada and helped his parents with their farm and was a genuine nice guy. Already my friend, Ryan, looks like a tool, right? Well, then his brother pulls a trump card: he becomes a national hero as an Olympic athlete. Granted, the “sport” he participates in is curling, but still the guy is an Olympic athlete.
Right after Christmas break I received an email from Ryan about a curling tournament here in Kyiv. He is all geeked about doing it, just to show his parents that he is a good son too. So Cassie and I agreed to be part of his team (having never curled an end in our lives). A week later Ryan finds out that his brother has thwarted his chances at ever being the good son, and has arranged it so Ryan can come back and watch him curl at the Olympics; this made Ryan unavailable for the local tournament. Cassie and I were still excited about curling so we put our own team together. The pool of potential players was drastically reduced by the fact that the tournament was to occur on the first Saturday of our February Break. Thus we ended up with five players, none of which had ever curled before.
So we went to the tournament and actually did very well. We won the first game 1-0. And we lost the next game on the tie breaker. The third, and final, game came down to a judging mistake and we lost. This put us in 5th place, not too bad for a bunch of Americans who had never played before. We also got an invite to the next tournament…
Here are some pictures:
Oh, and our friend Ryan was further cast aside by his family when his brother won Gold at the Olympics…
After our curling match, Cassie and I used the rest of our time off to travel to Bukovel in Western Ukraine to go skiing. We had planned this trip with another family who works with us. Going in I was unsure if I could even ski. It had been 12 years since I had last tried and in the time between I had too many knee surgeries to count…
Needless to say I was nervous…
We booked this trip through an English speaking travel agent that happens to be located in the front entry of our building. We simply told them what we wanted, they booked it and we were able to pay them cash. The total for airfare, a transfer, and 4 nights in a lodge at the ski resort was under 700 dollars, not bad.
When we arrived, Cassie and I rented equipment and bought our passes. 4 days of lift tickets for 25 bucks per person was a huge deal. The very first night I discovered that I could ski. It all came back to me, like riding a bike. We did very well for ourselves. Cassie got comfortable towards the end and was able to take some of the intermediate runs. I did a few black runs, but did not fall once during the whole ski trip. I was very pleased…
We are already thinking that we might go back next February.
Here are some pictures from the resort…
Here are some pictures from the resort…
And a few videos of Cassie and our friend Carl skiing. Carl is a 38 year old Texan, who had never skiied or snowboarded. His kids wanted to learn to snowboard so he rented the equipment and took lessons with them. The kids (teenagers) gave up quickly, Carl worked his butt off and was actually pretty good.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
February Update 1
February-Madness...
Hello all. We are back. I have some pictures to share from the Holiday season here in Ukraine and some other updates. The pictures will be at the bottom of this post, so if you want to skip my random musings, please scroll down…
If you are friends with me on Facebook, you have probably already read about my new career as an acolyte for Bobby Knight. I am the head coach of the middle school boys basketball team at Kyiv International School. My kids are very talented but we have lost 3 games due to horrible officiating. Seriously, my Korean center gets called for personal fouls when he is on the bench (it happened once while he was waiting to get subbed in, crouching below the scorer’s table…). I spend most games running up and down the sidelines yelling at the refs and getting technical fouls… The local league here is very competitive and helps us warm up for the CEESA tournament in Riga, Latvia in the first week of March. Because the local league is so hotly contested it makes each game a bit of a grudge match (the High School teams regularly break out into bench clearing brawls --- this is very normal for Kyiv and Ukraine… free speech is allowed, but one must realize that if you say something someone else does not like, you get your ass kicked. The local government and the parliament often break out in fist fights. And the heavyweight champion of the world Vladimir Klitschko has twice knocked out the Mayor of Kyiv because he does not approve of the Mayor’s policies. As I write this post, it is the runoff election day, we have been told not to go downtown today or tomorrow due to the fact that they are projecting riots no matter who wins the presidency here.) I am having a great time…
Vacations…
We only have two weeks before we get our first spring break. Yes, I did say first spring break. We have the last week in February off and then the first week in April too. This is a definite perk of this job. Most of our co-workers are headed to the beaches in Egypt over this first break (it is dirt cheap and beautiful). Cassie and I are headed to the Carpathian Mountains to go skiing. We are getting 5 days of an all inclusive resort stay, 5 days of lift tickets, rentals, and a flight from Kyiv to the resort for $300 a person. We are very excited, the only question mark is my knee as I have not been since my first knee surgery (11 years ago), but I have been able to play basketball and hockey here with my brace, so skiing should not be that bad…
Over the April break we will be heading to Scotland to visit our friends Tom and Alister. We love Glasgow and cannot wait to have a few of the comforts of the West.
After April we have two months of four day work weeks due to Ukrainian holidays. Over one of those long weekends we will be traveling to Berlin to see “the National,” one of our favorite bands from NYC play.
Everything is really good for us here and we are excited for what comes next. By the way we will be back in the States for most of the month of July. We hope to see as many people that we can while we are home, so keep an eye out for us…
Pictures…
These are both from Christmas night in Kyiv (Ukrainian Orthodox Christman falls on January 7th).
Talk to you all later,
Hello all. We are back. I have some pictures to share from the Holiday season here in Ukraine and some other updates. The pictures will be at the bottom of this post, so if you want to skip my random musings, please scroll down…
If you are friends with me on Facebook, you have probably already read about my new career as an acolyte for Bobby Knight. I am the head coach of the middle school boys basketball team at Kyiv International School. My kids are very talented but we have lost 3 games due to horrible officiating. Seriously, my Korean center gets called for personal fouls when he is on the bench (it happened once while he was waiting to get subbed in, crouching below the scorer’s table…). I spend most games running up and down the sidelines yelling at the refs and getting technical fouls… The local league here is very competitive and helps us warm up for the CEESA tournament in Riga, Latvia in the first week of March. Because the local league is so hotly contested it makes each game a bit of a grudge match (the High School teams regularly break out into bench clearing brawls --- this is very normal for Kyiv and Ukraine… free speech is allowed, but one must realize that if you say something someone else does not like, you get your ass kicked. The local government and the parliament often break out in fist fights. And the heavyweight champion of the world Vladimir Klitschko has twice knocked out the Mayor of Kyiv because he does not approve of the Mayor’s policies. As I write this post, it is the runoff election day, we have been told not to go downtown today or tomorrow due to the fact that they are projecting riots no matter who wins the presidency here.) I am having a great time…
Vacations…
We only have two weeks before we get our first spring break. Yes, I did say first spring break. We have the last week in February off and then the first week in April too. This is a definite perk of this job. Most of our co-workers are headed to the beaches in Egypt over this first break (it is dirt cheap and beautiful). Cassie and I are headed to the Carpathian Mountains to go skiing. We are getting 5 days of an all inclusive resort stay, 5 days of lift tickets, rentals, and a flight from Kyiv to the resort for $300 a person. We are very excited, the only question mark is my knee as I have not been since my first knee surgery (11 years ago), but I have been able to play basketball and hockey here with my brace, so skiing should not be that bad…
Over the April break we will be heading to Scotland to visit our friends Tom and Alister. We love Glasgow and cannot wait to have a few of the comforts of the West.
After April we have two months of four day work weeks due to Ukrainian holidays. Over one of those long weekends we will be traveling to Berlin to see “the National,” one of our favorite bands from NYC play.
Everything is really good for us here and we are excited for what comes next. By the way we will be back in the States for most of the month of July. We hope to see as many people that we can while we are home, so keep an eye out for us…
Pictures…
These are both from Christmas night in Kyiv (Ukrainian Orthodox Christman falls on January 7th).
Talk to you all later,
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Si vis pacem, para bellum
This is an awesome video. Read this and then watch. It is very cool.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum"
(If you want peace, prepare for war)
This video shows the winner of " Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about £75,000.
She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.
She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.
In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine , resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.
Kseniya Simonova says:
"I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."
Please take time out to see this amazing piece of art.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=vOhf3OvRXKg#t=00
"Si vis pacem, para bellum"
(If you want peace, prepare for war)
This video shows the winner of " Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about £75,000.
She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.
She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.
In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine , resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.
Kseniya Simonova says:
"I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."
Please take time out to see this amazing piece of art.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=vOhf3OvRXKg#t=00
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
And.. We're Back
I know it has been awhile. I am sorry. I just find that I always have something else to do. I have some pictures to share from our trip over the holidays so please enjoy. I have tried not to repeat any of the ones I shared on Facebook (that album can be found by clicking here)
Looking down and then up the Spanish Steps
Here are two pictures from the ruins of the Forum in Rome
The Colosseum in Rome
A line of people begging to pay too much money for something they really do not need...
Yes, they limit the number of people inside the store to make it seem like some place you need to be. I was at the register with my credit card in hand before I realised what simple psychology had done to me. Fortunately, my time in the former Soviet Bloc has hardened me and I was able to escape and spend my hard earned money on things I really need like: Marlboros, Levis, and Hershey's Chocolate. Damn you capitalism!
Here we are in front of the Colosseum.
There was a Calder exhibit in Rome while we were there. Only worth mentioning as Grand Rapids has one of Calder's sculptures right downtown. Wasn't one of the nicknames of GR "the Calder city"?
Here is a repeat from facebook, but it is a pretty good shot of us.
Outside of St. Peter's Basilica the day before Christmas. It was being set up for Midnight Mass...
Some shots from the top of St. Peter's Basilica
One of the halls in the Vatican Museum. This was amazing...
This is a garden in the Vatican. The Swiss Guard were practicing while we were there.
Part of the Vatican Collection included a massive amount of Egyptian artifacts.
Here is another hallway in the Vatican Museum.
Here is the booze selection from the Vatican snack bar.
You are not supposed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel. I took this one, but as you can see, photos taken from waist level don't turn out well. However you can still make out the famous scene of God reaching out to Adam. This was amazing, made all the more so by meeting my boss and her kids there...
Here is a picture of the main square in Florence.
Here is the same square at night.
Here is the New Year's celebration from Florence.
Here are some pictures of some tower in Pisa.
Venice was our absolute favorite place on this trip. Here are a bunch of pictures from there.
Okay, so that is all I have for now. Please comment if you would like. I will add more soon...
Oh yeah... Because JibJab is kinda funny:
Looking down and then up the Spanish Steps
Here are two pictures from the ruins of the Forum in Rome
The Colosseum in Rome
A line of people begging to pay too much money for something they really do not need...
Yes, they limit the number of people inside the store to make it seem like some place you need to be. I was at the register with my credit card in hand before I realised what simple psychology had done to me. Fortunately, my time in the former Soviet Bloc has hardened me and I was able to escape and spend my hard earned money on things I really need like: Marlboros, Levis, and Hershey's Chocolate. Damn you capitalism!Here we are in front of the Colosseum.
There was a Calder exhibit in Rome while we were there. Only worth mentioning as Grand Rapids has one of Calder's sculptures right downtown. Wasn't one of the nicknames of GR "the Calder city"?
Here is a repeat from facebook, but it is a pretty good shot of us.
Outside of St. Peter's Basilica the day before Christmas. It was being set up for Midnight Mass...
Some shots from the top of St. Peter's Basilica
One of the halls in the Vatican Museum. This was amazing...
This is a garden in the Vatican. The Swiss Guard were practicing while we were there.
Part of the Vatican Collection included a massive amount of Egyptian artifacts.
Here is another hallway in the Vatican Museum.
Here is the booze selection from the Vatican snack bar.
You are not supposed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel. I took this one, but as you can see, photos taken from waist level don't turn out well. However you can still make out the famous scene of God reaching out to Adam. This was amazing, made all the more so by meeting my boss and her kids there...
Here is a picture of the main square in Florence.
Here is the same square at night.
Here is the New Year's celebration from Florence.
Here are some pictures of some tower in Pisa.
Venice was our absolute favorite place on this trip. Here are a bunch of pictures from there.
Okay, so that is all I have for now. Please comment if you would like. I will add more soon...
Oh yeah... Because JibJab is kinda funny:
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