December Update: A final update of 2011 Aims!

Well what a year that was! I'm sure that you've had a fair amount of retrospectivia and nostalgia and so this post will be short on it (after all my stand post is usually heavy laden.) However I will say that this year has been a great year for me, I really feel like I have lived it very fully indeed. I really like the position I find myself in this year.

1.I will give at least a 10% tithe in addition to any other giving I will do.

Already done! This goal has become so much easier as the year has gone on and it's been so great to really purposefully pursue this. Strangely enough I am doing much better with my money this year than I did in previous years and I have still somehow ended up buying a few little gadgets which I didn't really need. I haven't been a perfect steward of God's money but I have been a better one.

2. Making Prayer a stronger habit. 

Certainly seen some real growth here. Only this morning I was discussing prayer with my girlfriend and working out some applications to do. 

3.Use Skype more to chat to people back home/Britain

I have certainly used Skype more since setting this aim and since I started to go out with Charlotte this has not really been an issue at all. However in more recent times I have slightly neglected staying in touch with some friends in favour of a few I stay in contact with more. 

4.  I will improve as an EFL teacher.

I can certainly say that I have improved as a teacher it no longer takes me as long to plan a basic lesson, I can identify areas to work on after lessons. I have taken part in some webinars, I have started taking part in a few eltchats and I have formed a teachers blog.

5. I will improve my Russian.

I have again definitely improved as I recently looked at a university "intermediate" exam and could easily do all but one of the exercises. This is despite several periods of poor efforts in studying. 

6. I will write more songs.

This goal failed amazingly! In the whole year I only actually really wrote one song. I should regret writing this goal down however I really learnt from having it. Sometimes being creative is hard, sometimes goals fail, and it's okay for that. If I hadn't set this goal then I would have chosen something I wanted to do less..and I might have done it but it wouldn't have been what I really wanted. 

7. Host a weekly meal at my flat.

There have certainly been high points and low points with this aim. I am overall please with some of the gatherings I hosted. I think I would have tried similarly had I not set this as a goal but It did prompt me at a time when I was feeling really down to take that step of imitative and organise something and that really did make all the difference on that occasion. 

8. Regular and higher quality blogging.

Well I personally I believe I have grown a lot as a blogger this year, I've set up a second blog for teaching and reached a few landmarks I have also taken part in a free online blogging course from Jeff Goains and i'm preparing a few changes for next year. 

9. I will get involved with some form of charitable work in the Ukraine.

The first few months saw a few visits to an orphanage in Ukraine but after a while unfortunately things stopped. More recently I visited another orphanage and hopefully I will be able to visit the kids there a bit more this year. 

10. I will make a Public video each month.

Well I didn't make a video for every month, mainly due to lack of responses to challenges I set. However I did enjoy editing them together. Would you like some more next year?

Light

I was recently chatting to a friend, who isn't a Christian and she came out with this statement.

"It isn't an accident that all these different faiths celebrate light and bright holidays at this time of year, when it is at it's darkest. It reminds us that even though times in life are bad, even though things seam dark gloomy and hopeless, there is still light."

I Couldn't help but be reminded of a few verses.

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
   the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
   Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ the people living in darkness
   have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
   a light has dawned.”^[a]

 ¹⁷ From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

 ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

¹² When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

 ¹³ The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

   “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Christmas update

This weekend see the arrival of 20 odd members of staff from Donetsk for our School Christmas party. Last years was a great part of the year and I really enjoyed the spend time with the people from Donetsk, go Christmas shopping and sample the delights of Pig Trotter Curry!

However this morning I am attending a free Webinar by the International Teachers Development Institute. Which I am very excited about.

This is of course my last weekend here in the Ukraine before I get to return home to England for Christmas. I am of course very excited about going home and seeing everyone, and some people in particular.

If you are based in England and would like to meet over Christmas please send me a message and I'll do my best.

Why I'm having cold showers for a week

Don't worry my boiler isn't broken, although last winter there was a period when it wouldn't produce hot water on the coldest mornings! No it's something completely different from that.

I've started reading "The Flinch" by Julien Smith. 

It's all about why we've been programmed to not take risks or opportunities because we might "Harm ourselves" in doing so, when really it's all very safe!

As a Homework assignment he set the task of Jumping into a Cold shower for a week [there's no harm to anyone and according to him your body will acclimatise.] I've just done it for the first time and I can safely say it was the quickest shower I've ever had! I did try to stay in longer to see if I would acclimatise and by the end it wasn't as bad as the start but it still hurt!

I guess there are 6 more days to go so we'll have to see how it goes.

The really interesting thing will be whether this will help me take more risks in other areas.  

My Aims for 2012

In all honesty I have had a hard time pinning down my Aims for this year, This isn't because I haven't know what I've wanted to do in fact there have been some goals that I have been certain that I wanted to do. Unfortunately I fell in to the trap of planning.

It is without doubt easier to plan what you should do than to start doing it. In fact the longer you plan the better excuse you have for it not happening "well the plans aren't ready yet."

However:

 A good plan violently executed is better than the perfect plan.

Inspired by a post this morning which has helped refine my thinking I decided to drop some of my many many aims and instead focus on a few constant aim. A few mile posts for the year and also to have an experimental aim each month. Something to give a go at.

Thus I'll be open to any options during the year and yet committed to the long haul too.

So without further ado here are my mileposts.

1. To write an ebook 
2. To write another album of 12 songs, 1 a month
3. Complete a half marathon in the Summer
4. Change job
5. To buy only 10 new things this year*

*this doesn't include replacing broken things, or expendables such as food or toiletries. It is luxury things such as a new guitar/computer etc all the things I don't need but want. In some ways the exceptions should make this very easy, however I like the number 10

These are my long term goals.
Each month I will:

1. Improve my Russian via completing my Russian course book, attending a Russian discussion club once a week and spending an hour studying a week.
2. Improve my Teaching Via completing my two IH courses, continuing blogging and the 30 goals challenges.
3. Improve my writing via continuing the two blogs, writing an ebook on teaching dyslexic students English as a foreign language. 
4. Write 2 songs a month
5. Follow my Asics training schedule. [so I can complete my half marathon aim]
6. Fast 1 a week [starting with a once a month, then twice etc]
7. Complete daily bible in a year readings via YouVersion. 
8. Host a party [and find a reason for hosting a party.]
9. [This space is open in case there is a goal I wish to add later. Perhaps an experimental goal.

So finally all I have is my experiment for the month.

I will meditate [Using some guidelines set out in celebration of disciplines] each morning. 


So in total I have 9 goals for each month (one changing each month) and some long term achievements to aim for.

note: I will add more details on how I will complete my goals soon. 

Ukrainian Orphanages

I recently visited an orphanage just outside a town in Ukraine called Zelenodolsk. It was a great experience and so amazing that despite giving so little the kids seamed so grateful. What was especially powerful was the obvious history the people I went with had with the kids and the difference I could see that it made.

On our car journey I learnt a bit more about the difficulties that Orphans in Ukraine face. 

Whilst I had been aware that there were a lot of orphans in Ukraine and that many of them were there not just because their parents had died but also for reasons such as abuse at home and that there were a far greater number of orphans in Ukraine than in Britain. However I hadn't realised the challenges they face whilst they are in the Orphanages or once they've left. 

The first thing I heard was a story about how a director of an orphanage who would sell on the gifts that the kids were given. It didn't just happen once, this occurred on regular occasions. This is not to say it is a universal thing and the guys commented that since they have come more regularly they have noticed this has stopped [and a change of director didn't harm either.]

This reflected another point they made that orphans can be treated by many people as inferior just because they don't have parents. 

The final point was that at age 16, having had poor education, few possessions often having no family and few friends they are "kicked out" of the orphanages and left to it. No support, no help and usually no job. As such many of them "sink to the bottom" as one person put it. They turn to crime, drink, prostitution and that's just if they are lucky! I even heard of Orphans who were taken to Turkey, killed and then harvested for their organs.

Fortunately there are people who are at work helping these Children out here. I'll tell you more about some of them in the future.