May 13: Dnipropetrovsk Day 1
Saturday, May 16th, 2009- It seems no matter how thick the curtains or my eye mask are, the morning light in Ukraine taps me on the shoulder at 5:45 a.m. So it was this morning. I had tea (2.50 uah) served by the conductor in a glass with a metal holder, a granola bar, and a banana. I arrived in Dnipropetrovsk at 7 a.m. and Valentyna from the secondary school of foreign languages was there to greet me. With her was Oleksander and his 7-year old daughter Ann, who is a student of Valentyna’s. We climbed into Oleksander’s fairly new Subaru and headed for the hotel.
- The Hotel Dnipropetrovsk
- After ultra modern Kyiv, the hotel felt like a step backwards into Soviet Russia. Valentyna went with me to check in at the hotel. We went first to the “administrator’s” window. She gave me a registration card to fill out. Then we went to the other window to check in. She asked to see my passport; I asked if she need the original or a copy and she answered, “either one” (все равно). Since I didn’t see a currency exchange but I did see signs for Visa and Mastercard, I decided to go ahead and pay with a credit card, especially since the sum was over 1000 gryvnias ($164). The strange thing was, she started to swipe the card before even telling me what the total was! I had to ask for the breakdown. She said it included 3 Ѕ nights (I wanted a late checkout Sat. night before the train), and 4 breakfasts (today, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday). I said, “I’ve already had breakfast, can I not take breakfast today?” She said no (не получается). I was too tired to fight about it so I signed.
- Valentyna said I had to get the key from the attendant on the floor where my room was. I got the key and then asked if I had to give the key back to her every time I leave (уезжаю) the hotel. She said yes because there is only one key! I realized I’d better be careful it. [On the other hand, I may have been using the word for checkout, in which case it’s possible that I didn’t have to leave it each time. But maybe Valentyna didn’t know I was using it incorrectly.]
- The room itself was a pleasant surprise. There were many amenities such as a stocked refrigerator, a bathrobe, slippers, a shower cap, shampoo and conditioner, a dental kit, (all marked with the hotel name) and wallpaper that doesn’t make me want to gag. The toilet seat was sealed with a strip of paper that in Russian and English said it had been sanitized. The toilet paper was soft and white and replaced before it ran out. The water in the shower was hot. The only drawback to the room is there is exactly one electrical outlet in the room (over the bed) and 2 mirrors—one in the bathroom and one in the foyer of the room. I suppose next time I should pack an extension cord for my hair dryer and flat iron, or be happy that the lamp above the electrical outlet had a shiny metal finish that doubles as a hazy mirror in a pinch.
- Valentyna said she, Ann, and Oleksander would wait 45 minutes for me to have breakfast and shower, then take me on a little tour. I went into the breakfast room, looked at the menu, and asked for the plate of vegetables and cheese. That’s when the server explained I couldn’t just order vegetables and cheese; I had to order one of the complete menu sets—either “firmovii” (house special), continental, or English (eggs and bacon). Although I joke in the States about being decisionally challenged [having a hard time making choices], because I’m American I get very frustrated when I have no choice. [On the other hand, maybe choices are hard because being part Russian I’m just not used to it!]
- I went ahead and chose the house special: the basket of white and black bread (Ukrainian black bread is the best!!); the plate of cucumber, vegetables, and cheese; two mini croissants filled with jam; juice (again no choice, they just brought me grape juice); two frankfurters topped lovingly with mayonnaise; and butter with mashed potatoes (well, the mashed potatoes were so yellow it seemed like there was more butter than potatoes, but maybe they were just Yukon gold potatoes). I also got yogurt but decided to take that out and let Ann eat it. I had officially eaten more calories before 9 a.m. than some people eat all day.
- City Tour #1
- Around 8:30 a.m. we piled in the car and drove to Taras Shevchenko Park. I found out on my second tour that the bridge we crossed into the park was actually a pedestrian bridge, but some cars drive on it anyway. I had thought that bridge was a bit narrow for cars…It was a bit chilly so we didn’t walk around, but we saw the monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko and the church of St. Nikolai. Then we drove on to the Monument to Glory, with the Soviet hammer and scythe clearly marked on the side and flowers at the base of the monument in honor of Victory Day. We stopped at the Museum of History to see ancient statues outside (from 6th century B.C.), a monument to the founder of the history (an ethnologist who lived in the 1800s). We also saw military equipment including tanks, rockets, and the famous “Katjusha” (Little Katie). It was hard at first to understand what Little Katie did. On the second tour I found out it was a very fast rocket launcher. We also saw a building built in honor of the 30th anniversary of Victory Day (1975), which contains a “diorama” about World War II. It wasn’t open.
- We drove on towards the school. The closer we got to the school, the less paved the roads got. I said it would be okay to walk instead of trying to drive over roads only a Range Rover should handle. But he said he could get me in front of the school, and he did.
- Visit to the Secondary School of Foreign Languages
- Upon entering the school, I was greeted by a few 10th graders and two teachers. The students described some of the things I saw in the school. We went up to Valentyna’s classroom. It was large, clean, with new cabinets, a computer with internet access (donated by Ukrainian Americans from Buffalo), a pristine chalkboard and chalk.
- I had my talk about technology. The take home message for sure was that the desire, use, and issues around technology are pretty much the same in the U.S. and Ukraine. Parents and a few grandparents use technology. The students don’t use technology quite as often (maybe once a day), but there were students who were concerned that technology was destroying the language and even people’s personalities as they don’t read enough and expand their mind. When I talked about students in L.A. not using technology for a week, they too thought they would go crazy. The students were familiar with every technology (including Mac) except Twitter, Facebook, and Craiglist. The dangerous side of technology (murder, bullying) hasn’t reached Ukraine, and I hope it doesn’t. Students use the internet for homework, but don’t get in trouble with their teachers if they copy things from the Internet. I taught them the world plagiarism and said if they go to a foreign country to study English they better be aware of this issue. I also taught them the words “dot” and “at” because they were saying “tochka” and “cobachka”. They didn’t have smart boards in the classroom but it sounded pretty cool to them. The best part was when we started talking about emoticons, and they knew emoticons I didn’t. They started drawing them on the board for me. My favorite is the rose: @}- – – –
- For the 9th graders, I was concerned they wouldn’t have questions to ask. To get them started talking, I had them go around the room and say their name and their favorite word in English. My fears were unfounded; in fact, they raced through lunch to come back and have time for more questions. One student asked how I felt about my own hometown, then proceeded proudly to tell the story of the history of Dnipropetrovsk. I felt bad for not taking more pride in L.A. or Philly after that, and I also saw how similar Dnipropetrovsk and Philly are. Both are connected historically to 1776 (Dnipropetrovsk was founded by Catherine the Great in that year), both have a major river and bridges across the river, both have major performing arts centers and shopping malls. It was hard to stop the questions from coming, but for me that was a nice change. And they were intelligent albeit surprising questions. One major issue at the moment is the impending independent exams, a kind of final exam in all subjects that will determine whether students graduate. A student asked, if the book says one thing and the internet says another, how do we get the right answer on the test? I said the real question is, if the book says one thing and the internet says another, how do you analyze critically which information is right? As for how such differences affect a test, if it is a well written test the number of problems like that should be small enough not to affect the outcome.
- I can’t seem to show it through documentation of our interaction, so I’ll just have to tell you how impressed I was with these students’ English level, energy, and intellect. As much as the morning at the hotel depressed me, so the morning with these students impressed me and gave me hope for the future of Dnipropetrovsk and Ukraine.
- After the questions and answers, Valentyna took me to the canteen for lunch. I had salat Olivier (the delicious mayo-based one with eggs and pickles and ham and peas), beet salad, and piroshki (mini-pie) stuffed with cabbage (kapusta). Valentyna said she had never met an American who liked beets; I had to remind her I lived in Ukraine for two years and learned to love them then. I also saw a bread that looked a lot like a bagel. I remembered something similar in Ukraine that was actually sweet. I ended up just buying it and trying it. It was soft like the Ukrainian nonbagel bread, but it wasn’t as sweet. It reminded me of Turkish bread simit.
- At my request, after lunch we stopped in briefly at a few classrooms so I could see how English is taught there. (I am, after all, here on a mission to find a dissertation topic). Valentyna said they try to conduct classes in English, though occasionally they may also use Ukrainian. Sure enough, in the two classes I observed I only heard English, except when one student couldn’t remember a word and there was some negotiation (and I couldn’t tell if that negotiation was in Russian or Ukrainian). In the third class, a 5th grade group, my entrance became another question and answer session as young boys in suits raised their hands eagerly, stood up, and asked me questions about reading. Of course, being a grad student I don’t read much for pleasure, and what I read would be of no interest to 10 year old boys who want sci-fi and adventure stories.
- At least I understood that my Russian textbook was right: Russia (and Ukraine) are the most well-read countries in the world. I also understood that to conduct ethnographic research in a Ukrainian classroom, I will have to choose the class very carefully to make sure my presence is not a complete disruption of all activity.
- By the time it was time for me to give my pronunciation workshop to teachers, I was dragging. I think the overnight transits were catching up to me. I got through the workshop fine and enjoyed the present (a ceramic dish and bell of Dnipropetrovsk). But I asked Valenytna if I could skip the Skype session they were having with a school in New Mexico and head back to the hotel. It took 20 minutes for Oleksander to come, then another 10 minutes to track down Ann. They took me to the hotel with another teacher.
- I got to the hotel about 4:30-5 p.m., went up to the room and straight to bed. Oleg, the professor whom I knew from his days as a visiting scholar at Penn, called me awake at 7:30 p.m. to invite me to dinner with him and another visitor, if I could be ready in 5 minutes. I was exhausted and had already had 3 square meals, so I apologized and said I needed to catch up on my sleep. And I went back to sleep for the rest of the night.
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