Summer Intensive: Day 1 (half-way through)

Well, it's half way through the first day of the summer intensive. Alexandra and I are co-teaching a class at the upper intermediate level. We have five adult students in our class. I was very nervous, to say the least, about being a teacher. Like Rachel was saying, having my knowledge of the English language as an ultimate authority in a classroom setting was/is a daunting experience. I know how to speak, but the rules and reasons often escape or evade me.
But, day one is over - at least for my classroom experience. Days are split up into sections. In the morning, students have a more traditional classroom experience with lectures, assignments, and so on. After lunch, more inter-active group sessions are run. And then sometimes there will also be evening activities. Alexandra and I have taught our first lesson, with Chelsea graciously aiding us. We were very prepared (we spent about four hours preparing one lesson plan, and then had an experienced teacher look it over), and the time went much quicker and smoother than I had anticipated. Now, this afternoon, while the rest of our team assists with the group activities, Alexandra and I get to prepare tomorrow's lesson plan. Goody.
Tomorrow will be an excellent and challenging day for me. Usually Alexandra and I co-teach the class. But another teacher, an Ukranian woman, will be gone tomorrow, so Alexandra will substitute for her class and I will fly solo (well, along with some of our teammates as helpers) in the class. I'm looking forward to it, but, again, am nervous, as today I relied heavily on Alexandra's knowledge of the technical construction of the English language.
But this has been a great trip. God has been so faithful, proving Himself so even when we doubt or are fearful. He is truly a God we can depend upon and trust. We on Team Ukraine are very grateful to Him.
Thank you all, heartily, for your prayers.

With love from Ukraine,
Joshua

Day Two at DCU!

Yesterday was a whirlwind! As Barbie said, we got off the train early in the morning and went right into training. We had a seminar in "Survival Russian" and got to put our pronunciation training from Alexandra to the test. We also learned some interesting things about Ukrainian culture, and got a clearer idea of what our English classes would look like. It was a great introduction to what our life's going to be like for the next month. We also had our first experiences with Ukrainian food (we were all a little nervous about this but it's turned out to be absolutely delicious!) and we were introduced to our neighbors (Russian mafia on one side and a beer factory on the other side...kindof ironic :))

Even though yesterday was a great day, today was even better. Having a solid eight hours of sleep in a real bed gave me a fresher mind to really soak in all the training we got today and a cheerier disposition for engaging with the rest of the new friends we made today. We met a team from Grace Church in Minnessota. They will be our primary partners for the first two week term of the Summer English Intensive and they will be in charge of our afternoon activities. We're very excited to get to know them better and take advantage of all their knowledge and experience (This is their 8th time coming here!)

I'm gradually beginning to feel prepared for classes but it's still a little intimidating to know that in two days we'll actually be standing in front of a class full of students fully trusting our English-teaching abilities. So, to add on a prayer request to what Barbie's already mentioned I'd ask for grace, peace and confidence going into the classroom, that we would really be able to communicate effectively with our students, and that God would make us humble enough to not be afraid to take risks and make mistakes.

Paka!
Rachel

We've finally arrived!!!

So after 3 looooong days of traveling, we're finally in Donetsk!!! :0) We left on Tuesday in the late afternoon and took a 10 hour flight to London. From there we had an 18 hour layover where we learned to live in an airport. Kind of got a small taste of how Tom Hanks felt in The Terminal. It wasn't too bad. We pretty much took over a random terminal until our next flight. That flight was to Kyiv and it was only 3 hours. We were completely exhausted by then but we still had to meet up with a Missionary at the train station. His name's Allen and he's a really interesting guy. We had to ride the train to Donetsk, so that was another 12 hours. And it was overnight so it was a completely new experience. We went to a Ukranian supermarket and stocked up on bread, water, dried fruit, and bananas for the ride. So we all changed into fresh clothes and went into one tiny room and had dinner. The bathrooms in the train were a completely traumatizing experince. It's a miracle that we didn't fall down. Our team is extremely amazing at being flexible. We've gotten about 12 hours of sleep over the past 3 days, but we got here at 7:00 a.m. and we were ready for training at 9!


After our training today they took us downtown and we got to hangout and walk around all the beautiful parks. We wore matching shirts (not touristy at all) and handed out flyers about the english program at the school. Overall, it was a good day for us, but we're ready to SLEEP! Continue to pray for us as we begin classes on Monday. We need God's grace and mercy. <3

Our "Soviet" picture: