Perhaps
the few who actually take time to read my newsletters “tomes”
have grown tired of my verbose, thematic ramblings. Therefore, I
have decided on a different frame with which to describe my work
here this month. Possibly because I have not thought of a theme
under which to categorize my October experiences, or possibly because
it just seems like a good idea, in this newsletter I simply want
to narrate a typical week of my life here. However, because several
unusual, atypical events occurred as well, I will include those
anomalies that make every week atypical.
Monday
Although the start of another work week for most people here as
well as at home, Monday signals the beginning of the calmer part
of my week. Usually as soon as I wake up, I head to the UEC. My
day is spent volunteering at the library, meeting with students
who have academic questions, and preparing my C.S. Lewis discussion
for the evening. At four o’clock, not sharp, the “manly
men” from our newly formed church ensemble, “A Joyful
Noise,” gather for a section meeting that usually consists
of singing songs from O Brother Where Are Thou, rather than our
assigned practice. Following these joyful noises, I have just enough
time to walk to the metro and buy some fruit, cookies, or other
snack to serve to my C.S. Lewis book discussion at 7, as well as
grab myself a nutritious hot dog. At 7, or a little after, about
fifteen of us gather and discuss five or six chapters of The Screwtape
Letters for a little over an hour and a half. Usually, after this
class, I hang around pestering the library workers for awhile and
then return home to do my Russian homework for class in the morning
(yes, I still wait until the night before, even as a “mature”
college graduate). One splendid night, several of us decided to
go down to “Art Club 44” which has a free jazz band
on Monday nights. The music was awesome, and we had a wonderful
time eating french fries, laughing, and relaxing for a couple hours
and listening.
Tuesday
Another one of my “calmer” days, Tuesday is the day
I always say I am going to get everything I need to do finished.
Of course, it rarely happens. First thing in the morning, I meet
with my new Russian tutor for an hour. My former tutor, Zhanna,
became ill recently and is no longer able to tutor me, so I had
to seek out another who is a good teacher, although not quite the
“character” that Zhanna is. Again my day is filled with
UEC volunteer work, meeting with students, grading papers, and planning
my classes later in the week. From 6:30 until 9:30 on Tuesday evening
I meet with several adults in two separate groups for English lessons.
Participants in last summer’s LST mission, which entailed
Americans coming over to teach English using the book of Luke, these
students are all at extremely different levels of study. In one
group, we primarily converse about subjects ranging from religion
to cable companies in Kyiv. The later group we use an English grammar
book to guide our study. One of my favorite nights of the month,
however, occurred on a Tuesday night. My birthday present to Dema,
a church member and part of our ensemble was a ticket to the massive
“futbol” game in Kyiv. The Kyiv Dynamo took on those
arrogant English-speaking Britons of Arsenal in a down-to-the-wire,
nail-biting League of Champions match. Joining the other 80,000
fans in the “wave” and the “ole” cheer,
and refraining from speaking English to ensure that I did not get
beaten for association with the enemy, I learned how exciting what
I formerly knew as soccer could be. Tuesday evening, like most other
evenings, I usually spend answering emails, reading, or preparing
classes.
Wednesday
The main event in my day on Wednesday is my first composition class
of the week at the university. Depending how much I have prepared
in advance, sometimes I work at the UEC a little before my class.
Many times, though, I am grading papers, typing out quizzes with
which to torture my students, or copying a worksheet on some grammar
topic like articles. Teaching my university class is always one
of the highlights of my week, although it also has added quite a
bit more work and preparation to my “work week.” After
what I’m sure is an inspiring, world-altering lecture, tired
from these noble exertions, I return home to enjoy my “night
off” for the week. Sometimes I spend it emailing or reading,
but most often we go to the center and watch a movie, or maybe two.
Thursday
Again waking up early for my Russian lesson first thing in the morning,
and sometimes ashamed to say that I neglected my homework assignments
from Tuesday, I begin the hectic part of my schedule. Most of my
day, as usual, is spent at the library, but usually it is focused
on my two different classes on Friday. Thursday night is our weekly
“cell group” meeting at our apartment, and it monopolizes
most of the late afternoon and evening hours. Around four o’clock
in the afternoon, I return home to clean for our guests (I am always
amazed at how dirty I manage to make our apartment in a week’s
time). Shopping for the meal usually commences at 5pm followed by
cooking and preparation from 5:45-7. Eating at 7, our group shares
its blessings, or “un-blessings,” from the past week
in between bites of mashed potatoes, salad, or noodles. We then
worship for about thirty minutes before a discussion of a particular
bible passage. Ending with a group prayer around 9:30, many members
depart to study for an exam or write a paper, while others stick
around for an hour or so washing dishes, drinking tea, continuing
the night’s discussion, or just goofing off. Although I was
shocked when I first arrived and heard that these “cell groups”
meet for almost four hours at a time, and much more if preparation
and cleaning is included, I have discovered how refreshing and re-centering
these meetings can be. For three hours or so, we stop thinking about
all the things we have to do and gather with friends to share about,
worship, and understand God together. Definitely the most atypical
Thursday night I have had is heavily featured in this month’s
photo gallery. Travelling to the UEC after the cell ended, I spent
the entire night, with four of the workers, cleaning every inch
of the building to prepare for the arrival of its owner and the
planned second anniversary celebration the following day. A night
that involved sitting in dirt, scraping it with fingernails, nearly
falling many, many times from high places, dancing at 5am and eating
pizza at 6am will definitely last a long time in my memory.
Friday
The arrival of Friday signals the peak activity of my week. I usually
awake and immediately begin preparing for my two classes this day.
This month Chris and Lena also started a “Soup Group,”
for Friday lunch where students who have attended “Student
Night” or one of the cell groups and have questions about
one of Chris’s talks or Christianity in general meet to ask
questions and enjoy wholesome soup that Chris has concocted from
whatever ingredients he decided needed to go into the pot. Usually
attending this group (save for the Friday I was asleep after the
cleaning marathon), I leave straight from this warming meal to teach
Composition at ICU. After once again rescuing the young minds from
the deep, despairing pit of ignorance, I try to “grab”
something to eat, which is much more difficult in Kyiv than in Nashville
I have discovered, and head to the Nivky Church apartment for my
next class. Buying some apples, grapes, cookies or all three from
one of the street merchants on the way, I get there a little early
to set up and run through my lecture quickly. From 7:15 to about
9 I lecture and answer questions concerning the relationship of
science and religion, especially as it concerns the philosophy of
science and the creation of the universe and life itself. Usually
attended by about 17 people, some church members and some non-christians,
we then stick around the church for awhile and play ping pong (my
skills are improving drastically), watch a movie, or we even painted
watercolors one week. The Friday after the infamous cleaning session
left me clinging to my last threads of sanity, however. Sleeping
a few hours during the night, then arising to grade papers and prepare
my lecture, and then sleeping a couple more hours, I lectured on
the Heart of Darkness and the use of articles. Having eaten nothing
all day, I nearly fainted after class. Straightaway, though, I had
to head downstairs at the university for a practice session in front
of the university choir class with the ensemble. Growing increasingly
nervous as well as hungry and faint, we rushed over to the center
(I grabbed a bottle of drinkable yogurt and a banana along the way)
barely in time for our inaugural performance. Stomachs churning
for various reasons, we performed for nearly 100 people and shared
with them our “joyful noise.” Soon after we headed over
to our apartment for a bunch of pizza and coke, and then promptly
fell asleep for many an hour.
Saturday
The first part of the month my Saturdays offered not a single free
moment, but now they are a bit more relaxed. Our weekly Frisbee
game has fizzled out with the arrival of rain, snow, and temperatures
below freezing, and I usually enjoy the chance to sleep a little.
At 2, we have our weekly ensemble practice at the church for two
hours, and then transition into the main event of Saturday –
Student Night. Several members of the ensemble are also on the planning
committee for Student Night, and, although we often get a few games
of ping-pong in first, we often assist them in shopping for and
preparing the meal for fifty. Student Night begins with Chris bantering
with students and then giving a short talk about the fundamentals
of Christianity. Next, the swarms of hungry students quickly consume
whatever has been prepared, and then the night’s entertainment
ensues. Usually a movie is shown, but I personally enjoy the game
nights better. Recently the VCR at the church broke, and we played
Pictionary and a game called Signs, which is one of my new favorites,
for almost three hours. Saturday night has also held several abnormalities
in my schedule. One night several of us departed Student Night and
trekked in the freezing cold to a somewhat “nearby”
ice-skating rink for an hour of cold excitement and exertion. Olya
numbered her falls at eight, so I felt good with only four. The
following Saturday night, another of my favorite nights of the month,
Oleg and I went to the theater to a comedy show called “Snow
Show.” Consisting of clowns, slapstick comedy, enormous inflatable
balls, and several musical spoofs, I spent two hours rolling in
my seat. Finally, this past Saturday night, a group of us went over
to Chris’ apartment to celebrate his birthday, and enjoyed
a competitive, never-ending game of phase ten along with pumpkin
bread and smoothies.
Sunday
Probably the most varied day of my week, Sunday has only one really
consistent thing – church. Scheduled at 5pm, which is a welcome
change from the 8am American services for my night owl personality,
I have embarked on various tasks and adventures before and after
church. Typically, Sunday morning consists of sleeping, emailing
or reading until church, and then going to the downtown “food
court” called “Globus” for dinner after church
with my roommate Oleg and Chris and Lena. I have also used the morning
to explore parts of Kyiv I do not get a chance to see at other times
such as Peregova or the bazaar, where I purchased my new Ukrainian
coat and hat visible in the pictures. By far the most exciting day
of my month, however, occurred on one extremely atypical day. Two
members of our cell group, Valya and Oksana, decided this past month
that they wanted to be baptized. Valya asked me to perform her baptism
and Oksana asked one of our cell leaders (and my roommate) Oleg.
A half hour before church we gathered, people from both services
of the church, friends of Oksana and Valya, Christians, and non-Christians
alike and watched these two girls lose their life to receive it
again. Myself no more than an eddy of swirling emotion and anxiety,
I had to repeat the Ukrainian words I had learned for the baptism
over and over again in my head in order to maintain any air of normalcy
or even functionability. As the ceremony began, though, and I listened
to Oksana, with tears in her eyes, tell the audience that she really
owned only one thing, her life, and she wanted to give this to God
– her only and total offering, I was overcome with the Spirit
of God in that place. As Valya told about her christening as a young
child and how she wanted to make a conscious decision to follow
God, to have it be a personal and conscious decision, all I could
do was smile. Extremely humbled to be asked to perform the baptism
and unsure about my ability to do so well, I just stood up and acted,
in the same way I had to at times playing football. There is no
time to think, to try to sort out emotions or anxieties, the situation
is now and it is time to do what you are expected to do. During
the church service, I must admit that my mind wandered as I attempted
to sort out all of my thoughts and feelings about the day. Above
all, a sense of meaning, of happiness, and of true rejoicing, especially
at the sight of those two girls glowing faces, consumed me. It was
definitely an atypical, and unforgettable day in my month.
I hope this
regulated, structured and somewhat information-driven account of
a week in my life has offered some kind of insight into my life
here in Kyiv. Although I have had times of questioning this month,
times of wondering if I was accomplishing anything, and times when
I longed for home, life here continues to bless me in untold ways.
Every day, routine or abnormal, teaches me something new.