Dnipro day has been a slight highlight for me after my amazing experience last year. Being the first Ukrainian Public holiday I experienced I was taken aback last year by the difference between the UK and here.
As such I was looking forward to Dnipro's "day of the city" [the actually name of the day rather than my haphazard renaming of the day.] and yet this year I actually missed the day itself. Instead I was relaxing at a Dacha just outside the city.
However the day before still shared some of the celebrations so I shall share my experience from then.
Waking up early things immediately seamed different. Even from my flat I could hear more noise outside from the nearby globa park where celebrations were in full flow.
Globa Park
The Children's train had been redecorated, the fountains were belting water out full power, the central area was a mass of people writing messages in chalk about the city and there were many marketing symbols wondering around handing out free things.
I didn't hang around there too long however I did end up bumping into several friends whilst I was there which was a nice surprise especially as many of them I hadn't seen since I arrived back.
Fireworks
In the evening I made my way down to the embankment and witnessed the amazing firework display that I had seen last year. Bellow I have included a video.
I wish I could write more but unfortunately I missed all the concerts in the centre of town [mainly due to being too tired, being away at the Dacha and having been warned of the vast amounts of Alcohol that some would be drinking. ]
View Larger Map
After a long time worrying about all the possible problems coming back to the Ukraine I have actually managed to get back to Dnipropetrovsk with relative easy. The main highlights of the journey include:
The metal detector mysteriously going of as I walked through it despite taking all metal items out of my pockets/belts off etc.
Bumping into a student of the school in the train station who was getting the same train
Meeting a Brazilian English teacher [ricky] in McDonnalds
Buying a train ticket in Kyiv on my own...in Russian, with someone who spoke no English, then forgetting the word for 11 so I could say what time I wanted my train for and yet I knew exactly what I was being asked!
Actually achieving the amazing feat of getting some sleep on the overnight train, despite being far too tall for the sets and being scrunched up the whole journey.
So all in all a rather successful journey. This post is making up for the one I happened to miss on Monday [I was travelling, I'm sorry] and has some details of the posts to come. I have the idea for the first of the short films and songs [it's an old song to start things off] and also Friday's post is and introduction to a new topic covering two combine interests. Teaching English and Christianity [what can the church learn from teaching English]
Also you may notice that there is now a page with my Aims for 2011 pinned to it. This has a link to the original article and links to all post relating to the new years aims [except the aim of regular blogging...I won't link to every blog article I write!] take a look and keep asking me how I am doing on each task or suggest ideas for each one.
For the last few years I have written a list in private of about 10-20 things I want to achieve in the coming year. Most of these have previously revolved around getting a job/new job and moving out of home etc. However this year I actually HAVE a job [that I love] and I have moved out of my old home...so this years list is going to be slightly different!
I have decided to post it on to my blog after reading this article on sucessful new years resolutions and in addition I will post a monthly update on progress so people can ask me/offer help on achieving these goals. SO without further ado. [the words in Red have been added since the original publication]
1.I will give at least a 10% tithe in addition to any other giving I will do.
I have been horrifically bad at tithing in the past. However after reading Blue like jazz I was struck by how important it is to give a tithe. As such I will stick to it this year.
2.Making Prayer a stronger habit.
Traditionally I have included such spiritual things as "try and read the whole bible in a year" or just read more of it. However, upon reading the advice in the article linked above [not to repeat the same resolution year after year] I have decided to change it a bit and focus on Prayer this year. Every Friday morning I will go on a prayer walk around Dnipro, I will seek to join a Prayer group. If you want me to pray with you [over the phone/face to fact/other] then ask and I would be more than happy to. [other ideas]
3.Use skype more to chat to people back home/Britain
I have a constant fear when I see someone on skype that they are actually too busy to chat and so end up not having the guts to ring them but send a message instead. I'd much rather actually chat, so that is what I will do.
4. I will improve as an EFL teacher.
This shall partially by passing my young learners course but also by continuing to try and post about TEFL and doing some proper research into each post. Admittedly just teaching should lead to this occurring without much effort but I will invest effort as well so that it isn't left to chance. I will continue to read "language tasks for English teachers" by Scott Thornbury, Once I have finished then I will move on to another book and I will also invite and pursue more observations and feedback on my own teaching insuring I am observed at least once a month preferably more.
5.I will improve my Russian.
Like the 3 Aim this too should occur without intentional effort but again I want to put effort in as well. As such I am setting myself the task of spending an hour twice a week studying Russian [Monday and Wednesday evening at 6-7] and recapping the new words I have learnt that week. I will also do a post with the new words that I have learnt this week to help reinforce their meaning and to perhaps teach some new words. Aiming for at least 5 new words.
6. I will write more songs.
After a hiatus of about 3 years I feel it's time to write some songs again. I will aim to write one a month and publish them on this very blog. Sound quality may be poor but still it will be an attempt at something! Please be kind on them.
7. Host a weekly meal at my flat.
I have hosted a couple of meals at my flat and though it isn't the biggest I want to continue this. There have been occasions when other people have hosted a meal and If this continues then I wouldn't object but instead seek to host a weekly gathering of some sort.
8. Regular and higher quality blogging.
The last while in the Ukraine has taught me a few things about blogging. It's hard to do regularly and it's hard to keep the quality high when you do it frequently. So it may appear like I am trying to have my cake and eat it [and expression that I have always personally found to be very strange. If I have a cake of course I want to eat it...unless it had mushrooms or something but then what cake has mushrooms? If it did indeed have mushrooms then I probably wouldn't want this cake anyway and thus I would neither want the cake or eat it.] When in actually fact I am instead committing to reduce the number of posts to two [with a possible 3] each week [I'm thinking Monday and Friday morning] and then insure that when a post is finished it is given a proper edit to avoid simple mistakes.
9. I will get involved with some form of charitable work in the Ukraine.
One of the things that I feel is serverly lacking in my currently life in the Ukraine is that I am not involved with any groups that are really in contact with and help the less well off. As such I am going to seek out some groups or organisation who do and get involved with them. If there are none then I guess I will just have to look at either setting something up or similar.
10. I will make a Public video each month.
Over the last year I have started to make and send a few video's about, mostly as a form of communication with my friend Steve, but some have also been general videos like this one about a Mr Cameron. As such I'm going to try and make a little video [even if it's just an update on things in the Ukraine] each month for people (note this won't count for the music task as well.)
So those are my Aims for 2011 as I said at the start, ask me how they are going and I will do an update each month.
