Perpetual Change

Notes from a Rainy Spring

So trying to catch up on all my 'house keeping' tasks the last two weeks, I have let my blogging flood slow to a trickle, but I have compiled the rest of my old notes, so I will do my best to free up the flood gates. Here is one that was penned in entirety somewhere back around May...

Here at the orphanage, I have continued my work with youth that I started many years ago. I have been working on elements of the Youth Development project for over 10 years. At first, I felt a bit phony putting “specialist” on my business cards (it was the best translation for project coordinator), but now I feel comfortable speaking as a peer with teachers who have been teaching for many times 10 years. And yet we all continue to learn. As I mentioned, Ukraine has been very good for my piano playing. It has also taught me a few other things.

I have learned the word for father, priest, pope in Italian and Ukrainian. The word in Italian for Pope means father (but with the accent on a different syllable), the Ukrainians use the same word from Italian. They also use the familiar form of you when speaking to God – a form that many do not use as adults when they speak to their parents; I find this somewhat peculiar; most of them, that I have brought it up with, have never noticed it at all. They also regularly refer to Mary as the “Birther of God”; I know we say Mother of God; it almost sounds like without her there would be no God.

I have learned what pig slop is. They really do eat about anything, but it is cooked into a stew for them!

I have come to understand that orienteering is a dying art, surely to go the way of beekeeping and flag signaling. But, as in “Johnny Get Your Gun,” you never know when you might need something like Morse Code. Will there be anyone left to understand you?

I have learned that if you run fast enough, when there is no wind, a kite will fly.

I know now that raising kids is a lot like playing chess. I had to calm myself down a bit yesterday, by reassuring myself that I am bigger and smarter than them, but it is much better if I use the smarter part.

It is amazing to me, how hard it is to tell genius and idiocy apart. The super intelligent seem to be the most likely to play dumb or bored.

It is also amazing to see how kids learn. I guess previously I never had long enough contact with students on one particular subject. I have seen some of the boys make real progress in their studies. One boy of 14, Bohdan, who came in December, and didn’t know the alphabet or multiplication tables when he arrived, now can say simple sentences in English. A volunteer's progress during training with the language must be quite a remarkable process to watch. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing known of learning disabilities here, and I think a few of the boys may have them. Their teachers just think that they aren’t able.

I have also learned many new words. I, now, know how to say: to fib, to annoy, jealousy, broom, mop, dustpan, to sweep, barn, respect each other, kneel – command form (a punishment when they don’t behave during prayer), to goof off (I know several ways to say this), to bug someone (surprisingly, they also use a verb form of the noun “bug”, but they use a word that specifically refers to mosquitoes).

A request: Does anyone have old tapes of educational TV, like Sesame Street? We could take them off your hands? What ages is Sesame Street rated for?

After the rain passed, Bohdan and two other boys pasteuring the village cows.

Labels: old notes

posted by jjs @ 2:00 PM