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| Walking South on Sovietskya Street at Sunset |
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| Gives new meaning to socks standing up on their own! (The wash froze on the balcony today) |
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| Not what you think! (I am making homemade lemon extract...I can't buy extracts here!) |
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Untitled
Monday, November 7, 2011
It's been a While...
It has been some time since I have posted, but I will blame that on the fact that nothing much is happening these days and sometimes that old adage "No News is Good News" is appropriate. Like now.
I am sailing through my days with working at the lyceum, doing domestic chores, running my 4 clubs, and lesson planning. It sounds like a lot but it's not, really. I also am attempting to set into motion a few projects that I have been working on and hope to see come to pass by the time the summer begins.
The first project I started back in June was to try to convince my community library that they needed to come into the 21st century with the idea that they could have a place that the residents of the city could come and enjoy, much like our American libraries. The idea that we could apply for some grants for computer equipment appealed to the director, so I did a lot of research on this wonderful American-Ukrainian organization called Bibliomist. They offer grants of all kinds for libraries to take advantage of, with one of them being a grant to get 10 computers, a few printers and scanners and some webcams for free for any library who fits the criteria. They had to do a lot of work to apply for this grant...making sure the space they would provide for the equipment was in compliance with the grants specifications, make sure they had a "tech" person on hand, and at least 3 volunteers who would hold classes or just help folks learn how to use the internet and/or computers. It was a lot of work and effort but I am really happy to announce that they have completed the work and sent in the grant papers. Now we wait for some (hopefully) good news!
My other project with the library involves getting them some free English literature books. They are excited that one day they may be able to offer their patrons a collection of English books to read, as they have told me that all the young people ask for them. I was really suprised at this! Anyway, there are many free resources for second hand books from America, but the shipping, of course, is not free. I am working with the librarian at the youth library to bring these books here but there is no money and so I am attempting to get some grant money to cover the costs of shipping. It costs $100 for a 35 lb.box of books from this one organization, who would like to be in partnership with the library to keep the shipments up indefinately. I am going to try for a partnership grant, which gets donations from different sources from the USA. It will be posted on the Peace Corps website so I'll post that here if this grant gets approved.
I have also been working with a community partner here in my town and we have been trying to gets some projects off the ground together. We have an old and ugly electrical shed in our yard that he has wanted to paint for the longest time. When we met over the summer he asked me if I wanted to help him, but I told him I would only paint this if he agreed to make it a community project...and also if we could paint a mural or something on it. He liked the idea and we have been working towards this goal. There were many hurdles. First, Dmitry had to get permission to paint this from the "powers that be". We also had to find out what kind of paint to use and talked to a local muralist. My job was trying to recruit the neighbors and my students to help but had absolutely no luck at all. It was a bit disappointing, but I suspect that when we start another project, folks will be more than happy to help. We have had many positive comments for our efforts.
Last weekend the work began, with the help of Dmitry's girlfriend, who just happens to be a painter. I was not able to participate the first day as I had English Club right at the time they wanted to start. This weekend we did a lot more and it was so cold we didn't finish. Here are the unfinished results....
I am sailing through my days with working at the lyceum, doing domestic chores, running my 4 clubs, and lesson planning. It sounds like a lot but it's not, really. I also am attempting to set into motion a few projects that I have been working on and hope to see come to pass by the time the summer begins.
The first project I started back in June was to try to convince my community library that they needed to come into the 21st century with the idea that they could have a place that the residents of the city could come and enjoy, much like our American libraries. The idea that we could apply for some grants for computer equipment appealed to the director, so I did a lot of research on this wonderful American-Ukrainian organization called Bibliomist. They offer grants of all kinds for libraries to take advantage of, with one of them being a grant to get 10 computers, a few printers and scanners and some webcams for free for any library who fits the criteria. They had to do a lot of work to apply for this grant...making sure the space they would provide for the equipment was in compliance with the grants specifications, make sure they had a "tech" person on hand, and at least 3 volunteers who would hold classes or just help folks learn how to use the internet and/or computers. It was a lot of work and effort but I am really happy to announce that they have completed the work and sent in the grant papers. Now we wait for some (hopefully) good news!
My other project with the library involves getting them some free English literature books. They are excited that one day they may be able to offer their patrons a collection of English books to read, as they have told me that all the young people ask for them. I was really suprised at this! Anyway, there are many free resources for second hand books from America, but the shipping, of course, is not free. I am working with the librarian at the youth library to bring these books here but there is no money and so I am attempting to get some grant money to cover the costs of shipping. It costs $100 for a 35 lb.box of books from this one organization, who would like to be in partnership with the library to keep the shipments up indefinately. I am going to try for a partnership grant, which gets donations from different sources from the USA. It will be posted on the Peace Corps website so I'll post that here if this grant gets approved.
I have also been working with a community partner here in my town and we have been trying to gets some projects off the ground together. We have an old and ugly electrical shed in our yard that he has wanted to paint for the longest time. When we met over the summer he asked me if I wanted to help him, but I told him I would only paint this if he agreed to make it a community project...and also if we could paint a mural or something on it. He liked the idea and we have been working towards this goal. There were many hurdles. First, Dmitry had to get permission to paint this from the "powers that be". We also had to find out what kind of paint to use and talked to a local muralist. My job was trying to recruit the neighbors and my students to help but had absolutely no luck at all. It was a bit disappointing, but I suspect that when we start another project, folks will be more than happy to help. We have had many positive comments for our efforts.
Last weekend the work began, with the help of Dmitry's girlfriend, who just happens to be a painter. I was not able to participate the first day as I had English Club right at the time they wanted to start. This weekend we did a lot more and it was so cold we didn't finish. Here are the unfinished results....
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