Video Challenge 3!

Okay here is your next challenge, 

there are two parts, one easy one not so easy.

Number one: write down your favourite meal to cook preferably with a link to a recipe for this meal.

Number two: Invite at least one person round and cook it for them.

Previous Video Challenges.
Challenge 1. What makes you feel like yourself?
Reward: Picnic video

Challenge 2: Draw a Self-portrait. 

Canadian Thanksgiving

Today I'm going round to my fellow teachers house for Canadian thanksgiving. Whilst my initial reaction is to think of all the wonderful food that I am sure I will soon be thankfully for eating (I'm very interested in trying pumpkin pie!) it has made me think of some more things to be thankful for.

1. I am of course thankful for my girlfriend who continues to amaze me everyday.
2. My great friends who have been such a help and great companions, especially during hard times.
3. My parents for all they have done and all the help they gave when I was growing up.
4. Being born in a very affluent area where I have had more than I need all my life.
5. The opportunity to go to university and study a subject I really enjoyed.
6. My great job that I love, even if it can be hard work.
7. And last but not least for Jesus's sacrifice. I don't think there is anything I can be more thankful for. 

What are you thankful for?

Dnipro Day 2011

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. ]

How does a writer seek inspiration?

I recently wrote about the importance of seeking inspiration for overcoming writers block and I thought perhaps it was time to write a bit about how we should seek this inspiration, and specifically how I seek this inspiration. Of course depending on what you write about [fiction/non-fiction] will determine how useful these things are.

There is a quote I often read online from Stephen King which goes

"There are two things a great writer does, write and read."

 It's true, exposing yourself to different writers will have an impact on you and helps you encounter ideas. Within this there is a two fold element.

The first is to look at what topics they are writing about, is this something you could write about? what topics do they deal with? What perspective do they offer on this? What do you think about this? [Note: don't commit plagiarism. You know where the boundary is I don't need to say anything else.]

The second is language analysis and taking good elements of writing from other writers. Look at what tricks they are using in writing, are they sticking to the grammar rules? How are they breaking them? What Lexis do they use? Are there any words you don't know? How often do you encounter them? Can you work them out from context? How often do they use adjectives and adverbs? etc.

Next look beyond books.

What can you take out of songs, pictures, experiences, dreams?

For me personally I write about my faith, my life in the Ukraine and teaching.

For my faith the biggest sources are prayer and reading the bible. Whenever I am doing these two things I notice that it is much easier to blog. [That is not to say that If i'm not blogging then I'm not praying/reading the bible, though it is quite possible, sometimes I just don't have time.]

My life in the Ukraine is pretty obvious how it is a source of inspiration.

As for teaching sometimes inspiration comes from teaching a lesson and learning something from that, sometimes from a training session, reading a book, reading a blog or just a conversation with a friend. What I've noticed is that teaching seams to inspire me in other areas too. Sometimes I think about how this can be applied to my faith or to my other hobbies.

2011 aims: September update

Well the end of another month and another update on my Aims for 2011 and a reminder that I've been in the Ukraine for over a month!

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

This year there has been a change In our payment method, meaning we now get half our salary in advance and the rest later. As such this has greatly helped with giving as it's much easier to give 10% of a smaller amount.

2. Making Prayer a stronger habit. 

I have definitely noticed an increase in my prayer life which has been great and exciting. However this prayer has been quite self centered so the next step is to increase my prayer for other people. One thing I am going to do for this is to put prayer request and thoughts about the ukraine/dnipro/other countries and people. If you would like me to put something up about you then send me a message.

3.Use skype more to chat to people back home/Britain
Again there has been a definitely increase due to my girlfriend back in the UK. Having said that I have also been able to chat to my brother who has just gone to university and my very good friend ollie (who has finally got round to getting skype!)

4.  I will improve as an EFL teacher.

I am now well underway of my two IH courses and I can see how the reading I did over the summer has helped me grow. In addition I have already published two posts on my new tefl blog and I have a couple of more thoughts on posts to do. I've also added some new TEFL blogs to my personal reading list. I'll post an article linking some of them soon.

5. I will improve my Russian.

Russian has been a real struggle recently, I've had a couple of incidents which have dented ny confidence recently and I have slacked off studying recently. This is mainly due to the fact that I have reached a point where it's become a lot harder. Still I'm determined to push through. I have thus set aside 30 mins at the start of the day to study.

6. I will write more songs.
[this aim is no longer being pursued]

7. Host a weekly meal at my flat.

I have once again started to host meals at my flat with the first of the year happening last week. I hope to do some more soon, I am just weighing up when is best to do them this year, during the week or weekend?

8. Regular and higher quality blogging.

This month I had my third highest amount of page views ever, I set up a second blog and, despite spending a couple of weeks at the start not really blogging, I published 13 posts [there was a period of over a week with no posts!] in addition I redesigned the blog. Came up with some new ideas for series to do, improved the format of my blog posts and have updated the recommend on facebook button and follow on twitter button [why not try them out on the left!]

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

I'm afraid that this goal has been on hold whilst I look at whether I can go back to the orphanage or not. If I can't then I'll have to look at doing something else.

10. I will make a Public video each month.
No video as of yet. I had a few difficulties with having no USB cable to connect the camera...then I discovered that I could use another one! As such the new challenge video should be coming out very soon.

So that's this month!

Overall some pretty good progress but still some areas to improve upon and keep up the effort in. If you have any suggestions for how I can keep my aims please write them.