Underqualified and Over-zealous

So I've been putting off posting the past few weeks cause I honestly haven't had anything very interesting to report. I was put in a holding pattern because the school didn't set it's official schedule for four weeks. And then there's the matter of my personal schedule, which is a mystery to everybody. For the past six weeks I have been going to school almost everyday filled with uncertainty as to what I'm supposed to do, and what to do to make that uncertainty go away.

The original plan was for me to go to school every-other-day and work a full day. I would observe different classes to get an idea of how Ukrainian schools work, help English teachers in their lessons, plan sports and English clubs, and most importantly, plan games for the kids during the breaks. Later on it was added that I would open the weight room a few times a week for the older kids. Sounds pretty good, but it's all just a theory.

I've more or less accomplished all of the above tasks, but all a little bit different than I imagined, of course. I observed several different subjects, which was very interesting, except my school strictly teaches in Ukrainian. I barely speak Russian and still can't make heads or tails out of Ukrainian, so unfortunately I fell asleep a couple of times during my observations, despite bringing my own work to do. I tried to help the English teachers, and this went more or less to plan, except they also teach the majority of the class in Ukrainian and when given the reins for the class, the teachers often steal them back in Ukrainian as soon as I get started. Then there are my clubs.

I started out by putting up posters announcing my English and American Sports clubs with places to sign up. Of course, over 50 kids signed up for each one. Oh well, I thought, at least they know about it, though I only expected a few kids to show up at each. I planned my first English club on a Wednesday. I watched as all the kids streamed past me out of school while I frantically searched for the key to the room I'd been assigned. When I finally got it together, all that was left were three 5th grade girls and a 5th grade boy. So we had English club. I went over introductions and we practiced with each other, and in my opinion, it was pretty successful for 5th graders.

After reflecting on who came to the club and how to get others involved, it came to my attention that my school's erratic schedule creates major problems for after school clubs. Looking at the schedule I realized that all the older students still had class while I was holding my club. And all the other kids were flying out of school to catch the bus back to town. I was working hard to remedy this when my assistant director informed me that I would no longer lead clubs after school, but instead would be assigned classes that were free throughout the day. Now, this is not ideal to me, since I feel this will lead to a lack of consistency as the free classes will change throughout the year. And it feels a lot less like a club when students are required to come. And it seriously limits who I get to work with. But the upside is I have a definite time and place to lead my club unaffected by the confusing end of day schedule. And I can still treat it like a club despite the fact it screams 'lesson'. Furthermore, I should have more than four at each club, though 4 is honestly a better number than 25.

Sports club has been treated the same way. I now have assigned classes as opposed to willing students after school. But I've been held up by my bike wreck and the Ukrainian postal system. I wanted to first teach kids the wonders of cycling. Unfortunately, the week before my first club I wrecked my bike. I held club anyway but it was rather pointless since I didn't have a bike to demonstrate on or even just ride with the kids. It lasted a whopping 5 minutes. But I was determined to at least make a showing. My next idea was to teach the kids American football with the footballs that had been sent from the States recently. Well, despite being pestered everyday by kids wanting to play, I still have no package after 5 weeks. Luckily, my mom and Diane came to visit bearing frisbees from Half Moon Outfitters. Diane and I taught a group of 6th graders ultimate frisbee which went over rather well. So until I can get a few footballs, the plan is to keep teaching ultimate. And my bike is somewhat fixed so I'm still going to go for rides with the kids after school, though I'm not going to call it club.

The games during breaks have been a blast, though they are complete chaos. I have kids screaming and laughing for a blazing 15 minutes. I just teach them camp style games I've learned and play with them. If it's an older group I'll do team building stuff like the 'lap sit' and 'human knot'. Sometimes I'll go to our 'game room' and all the kids will be there, and other times they don't show. So I'm learning to check the schedule first and go grab the right class as soon as the bell rings. Not sure how much these games fit in with Peace Corps goals but I'm sure having fun doing it. Somebody help me rationalize it!

Just last week I was told to open the weight room for 9th-11th graders. I took Diane down with me (it's in the basement) and it was hilarious. Immediately shirts came off and new maxes were reached on every apparatus. I didn't realize it but most of the kids down there shouldn't have been, as they were supposed to be in class. A teacher came down yelling at them and drove the delinquent boys out. Luckily I didn't get in trouble.

Now, they've changed my whole schedule so that I work everyday, but only the second half. This is a little better honestly, as it provides more consistency, especially since the schedule is set to repeat every week, a phenomenon which didn't exist with the previous one. There are two major downsides to this schedule though. First, I have been spending the days I had free working with other schools and organizations, which will be greatly marginalized since I only have a few hours in the morning to do such work now. Second, I will be dependent on my bike to get to school since the last bus going to school leaves at 7:30 am. My bike has proven itself rather untrustworthy. Otherwise I'll have to take a taxi which will get expensive if I have to do it everyday, which is possible in the depths of winter. We'll see how this works for now.

Unfortunately I often find myself improvising in situations I'm not so qualified to be in. I wish I knew better how to teach English, how to organize a workout, the finer points of healthy lifestyles. Instead I'm making it all up as I go, which makes me question my effectiveness. And it's hard enough to gain credibility without speaking the language. It kicks up a notch when you look like you have no idea what your doing, because you don't.

But I'm still idealistic and uncompromising like always. I'm taking the cards that are continually being dealt and doing the best I can with them. And like in poker, bluffing can be the road to success.

Meet Belo!

So Belo wins! Alright, the name comes from a shortened form of the street I live on named Belousova. Basically it's a mean hill with trolley tracks and tons of potholes which make it impossible to get any momentum going. And I have to ride some portion of this hill to go anywhere. Luckily I live halfway up it. I like the name too because Belo means handsome man I believe in Portuguese, and it's close to 'Velo' or French for bicycle, and also the beginning of the word for bike in Russian, 'velosiped'. And the Russian letter for 'V' is a B, so an ignorant American would pronounce it Belo instead of Velo if written in Russian. So the name hits many different levels, if you use a lot of imagination. Plus, it was the name of the emcee at the last circus I went to, and that can't help but bring back good memories (Steph, I belobrate a little everyday!) Furthermore, Belousova Street has claimed Belo for the time being as I had a crash going down the hill trying to cross the trolley tracks. After I myself am repaired I will set to fixing up my beloved though hateful Belo.

The other name in question was after my favorite street to ride in town which follows a ridgeline, and is named after the local communist hero, Artyom. So there was good reason for that name as well, though I think Belo fits more perfectly. For those of you interested, here is the list of names of my other bikes you may have met:

Ginny- the handpainted green single-speed Kmart bike

Lump- the goofy frankenstein blue and silver Del Sol

Cliff- the new black carbon fiber Jamis

Comment with your guesses as to the origins of these names!

The story of (insert bike's name here)

I had the initial tune up done on my bike by my counterpart’s father. Of course he did all the work and I didn’t get to touch it. Then on my way to the train station one day my rear wheel fell apart to the point that I melted the hub from the friction of the disjointed parts. Then I drug my bike back to my apartment and wore a hole in the tire since the back wheel wouldn’t role.

So I bought a new wheel without a coaster brake hub, an 8 speed freewheel since I couldn’t find a single at the time, a set of caliper brakes, and new pedals. Of course to start with I didn’t even have a screwdriver to take off the original wheel. Then I needed to drill holes to attach the new brakes, but didn’t have a drill. Then I couldn’t get the new pedals to fit. Well, I got the left one to fit, but the right one wouldn’t budge.

So I called the handicrafts teacher at school who has already done a ton of work on my apartment, and the next day he brought over a drill and some other tools. Tried out the new wheel but the axle was too wide. So we took off a spacer, manhandled the frame and got it to fit. Then we drilled the frame and got the brakes installed. So far so good, except I still couldn’t get the right pedal on.

So he told me to come to his parents’ house the next day and we would try to rethread the crank. I went over and we worked on it with no luck. In the meantime, he handed me a tin of grease and told me if I didn’t grease and adjust all the bearings we would just have to go through all of this again. Didn’t have to tell me twice.

So I spent the next several hours figuring out how to take apart my bike without a stand or the proper tools. At one point we technically made a tool. And I used several odd combinations of tools to get the job done, including a chisel and ball peen hammer to tighten a lock ring. Mike Goodman’s words repeated in my head, “any mechanic can work on a good bike. The poor bikes separate the men from the boys.” I know I’m not there yet, but this bike is putting me on the fast track to being able to fix anything.

It felt so good to have blackened hands and busted knuckles again. I know my bike now; every bearing has been inspected, packed with grease, and adjusted by my hands; I found the new nut to tighten the seat back to the springs; I tied the brake housing to the frame with a cut up rubber band; I decided where I wanted the brake levers; I know how we rethreaded the bolt on the right pedal so it would fit; I chose the drop bars and angled them perfectly. All this to Ukrainians’ dismay, as it just really isn’t proper to do what I’ve done to a bike.

I feel like I don’t have to fight my bike anymore. I wanted my own bike; a little piece of me. I have that now, and relish the independence it brings. If it breaks, I know it’s my fault, and I welcome the challenge to fix it. Here’s me asserting my control. It’s really kind of sad that I place so much significance on two wheels. But if I can keep control over this one thing, then maybe I can deal with the lack of control on the rest of my life. So now I’m off to tighten the bottom bracket that comes loose every couple of days since I don’t have the right tools to tighten it, and I’ll probably have to tighten the headset again at some point this weekend…

Americana in Donetska

Last Friday I got a text message from my friend Maxim inviting me to the opening ceremony of the new, state of the art Donbass Arena built in Donetsk. I had heard rumors of the show planned to christen it, including the supposed appearance of either Beyonce or Madonna. So I cancelled the other plans I had made and got excited for a show that was purported to be on the scale of an Olympic opening ceremony.

The show was set to begin at 8pm, and we were planning to leave at 6pm. Now, my UGA, Saturday in Athens mind was a little uncomfortable with this schedule, considering we live an hour’s drive from Donetsk. But we arrived in Donetsk at 7, parked in one of those lots that only a person from Donetsk would know about, walked at the appropriate pace while eating sunflower seeds, squeezed through the gates, and arrived at our seats precisely at 8. Needless to say I was impressed.

The stadium is an international affair. The signage around the building is bilingual, English and Russian. Of course, a modern stadium being the American invention that it is, most of the words are simply transliterated, as English words such as ‘arena’ and ‘grand show’ have made their way into the Russian language. The PA announcements were in Russian and British English, which made me grin at times. I can’t decide who butchers the language more, Brits or Southerners. The background music was mundane American ‘80s music.

The show also was polluted with English globalization. The opening number was Queen’s ‘We will rock you’ capped off with ‘We are the champions’. Beyonce of course sang in English, but it was painful to watch her feeble attempts to interact with a Russian speaking Ukrainian crowd with no translation the same as she would a crowd of teenage girls in Atlanta. Needless to say there were some awkward silent moments that were almost as painful as watching an overconfident opening act at the Georgia Theater.

The crowd was dressed in their glamorous post Soviet style. Not uncommon was the leopard print evening gown, and it was a different experience hearing the deafening click of stiletto heels on the concrete stairs of the stadium. The crowd was not left wanting as pop singers danced on the emblematic coal bins representing the entire premise behind the stadium, mining, the region’s strongest industry. Dima Bilan, winner of Eurovision put on a rather powerful performance simply standing in the middle of the pitch. It was pretty awesome to see a guy command an audience without the prop of a stage and distracting pyro. Still not sure if he was actually singing or using a backtrack, but at times that verdict was still out for Beyonce.

The major parties in the Ukrainian government took full advantage of the internationally viewed spectacle, constantly remarking that Ukraine had achieved the best stadium in Europe. And from what I saw they very well could be right. There were moments reminiscent of Bush getting booed at major public events on national television towards the end of his tenure as President. But the polite Ukrainian crowd spared their president’s dignity as they gave him a rather modest, but void of boos, round of applause as he was introduced, despite his single digit approval ratings. However, Yuschenko was rather overshadowed as his rival and probable winner of the upcoming January election Yanukovich received deafening applause before giving his speech in the center of the pitch. Of note was the fact that Yuschenko addressed the crowd in Ukrainian and Yanukovich spoke Russian, but with a heavy Ukrainian dialect.

I was a little upset with myself at how much I enjoyed the Beyonce concert. You gotta hand it to the girl, she’s hot, got a ridiculous voice, and 10 years of music I’ve danced to. I was displeased that I couldn’t get one of her songs out of my head as we walked to McDonald’s after the show, which lasted 3 hours with the full Beyonce concert. So Anna and I sang the Alexander Rybok Eurovision winning tune ‘Fairytale’ which quickly displaced Beyonce. You have to hear the song to understand.

All this combined for a kind of weird experience. I would have never paid a dime to see Beyonce in America. But I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see my compatriot in Ukraine as the country asserted its presence on the global stage. But it was strange to see how much that assertion came at the expense of American and British influence. But Ukraine has showed, with time, it’s well poised to compete with the best of them for its place in the international spotlight.

Well, enough with all the pageantry, I’m ready to watch Shaktar win one for the home crowd.