Cherkasy School #3

Chekasy School #3

Yesterday was a surprisingly amazing day probably one of the most surprising of my life.. I say that because Alex told me we had a meeting with a director of a school but I figured it was to find another orphanage to work in to fill my day as I had asked for more work We went to a large beautiful school and walked in to the directors office filled with sunshine, plants and the director had this lovely welcoming smile, twinkling eyes and wrapped my hand in her two hands. I felt like an old friend coming home. We then sat down at a table with one of her teachers translating. She welcomed me, told me about the school and what they planned for me. By the way, sidenote, I was dressed in playground clothes. Just a shirt I wear for sports, jeans, tennis and some silly socks. I wasn’t expecting any of this. They were in lovely dresses..professional. I apologized profusely for my way too casual outfit explaining what I thought I was doing today. They just repeated that it was amazing to have a native American speaker there at the school, an amazing opportunity for the children and for their school. Photos around. (I tried to primp) Turns out they wanted me to speak to a class of high school students about myself and then the students would ask me questions. Then the same thing with some middle school students. (Can you imagine…I’m in playground clothes and acting as this speaker from American…ouch!)
So I entered a room and about 40 students immediately rose until Queen Joyce sat down. After I spoke we had Q&A.I explained to them my casual dress and also about m roots. Is it true Americans eat only fast food? Do teenagers there just sit around doing nothing after school? Do you watch TV all night? What are some traditions from your country? What is this Halloween? (perfect questions for the top lover of Halloween) Do you like your new president? (I tried to get some feedback on this but they were hesitant to offer an opinion. Are there hip hop teenage dance groups? (By the way, when I was wandering the town on Sunday came across a group of boys and girls practicing dance steps) What are some traditions in your family? What do you think of Chekasy? Ukraine? And on they went. I was speaking at an almost normal clip and it would be interesting to know how much they understood. I tried to explain that with the size of the United States no one person can represent life, customs of all but that the spirit of freedom, independence is in our bones. For me it was so surprising to be welcomed …a total stranger…put before the kids. Would we do that with someone from a foreign land? At the end they presented me with a welcome gift, a traditional plaque to protect my home. Hard to absorb it all.
After the big kids, we took a tour of the school…they have a museum to celebrate the history of the school, a hall with paintings by their art teacher of the culture of Ukraine, and then on to the next level. About 70 students. We had the same format but the questions were cuter. You have a cat…why don’t you like dogs? One would like a pen pal in the US. But then one about fast food….the president too. They all wear uniforms so both groups asked me what I thought of uniforms and sighed when I said public school kids don’t wear uniforms. Truly, amazing. And there’s more!!!
I went to the cafeteria for lunch with the assistant principal, a lovely warm woman and lunch was amazing. Potatoes in a pot..like stew with cheese broiled on top in the cutest little pots with lids, a cabbage salad. The students who came in later all stared at me. By the way, when they are done with lunch they have to show the staff their plates and if they don’t eat enough they sit back down. Looked like potatoes and cabbage and beets.
And then, can you believe this, I went to another room where the English teachers greeted me with tea, chocolate and biscuits. Can you believe it?..I told them I felt like a queen being treated so regally. We had a wonderful chat. Again, they were so happy to have a chance to practice their English with a native speaker. And I’m just pinching myself to make sure I’m awake…how did I get so lucky. I am hoping that they take me up on my offer to come back and talk to them each day, or the kids or grade papers. I’d love to come back to that first class and ask them questions about their life. Truely a great school.
I left floating on air. It was so lovely to be welcomed with such warmth just because I speak English!!  So there you have it. It’s why traveling this way is so good for me. I so like getting little glimpses into life, meeting people. If I just walked around this town, I’d never really get it. Now, I have a small window open to life here. Okay, enjoy all that fast food and TV. There is one Mcdonalds here. i'll have to drop by. :)))