Have a look at this site.
iloveukraine.com.ua
For those who have the time to view them, there are close to 70,000 photo's of Ukraine sent in by ordinary Ukrainians.
Enjoy!
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Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
First days in school
Last Friday we took our granddaughter to her new school for the first time. For the past three years she has been attending Sadok or kindergarten or preschool and this fall she will be starting grade one.
In order to acclimatize the children to the "real" school they have them attend classes for an hour or so once a week for a couple of months. In this way the children become used to attending classes in the school and also introduces them to a new program as opposed to the play situation in the preschool . The children sat at a proper desk for the first time where they were introduced to their teacher and their classmates. This year there will be 105 first graders starting at this school, divided into four classes. In Kolomaya there are 21 preschools and 10 elementary schools.
Meanwhile the parents (and some grandparents) were given a short introduction to the school, it's programs and achievements. This school has been in existence since 1861 with some famous (at least for Ukraine) graduates. After an overview by the administration we were presented with a short concert with some of the more talented students preforming on musical instruments as well as dancing and singing. We were also presented with a slide show of some of the past excursions outside Ukraine where they attended various competitions.
The program also includes an analysis of the child by a psychologists to determine if the child had any problems and offer advice on how to correct them before the school year begins. They also advised the parents on how to help with homework and any other problems the child may need help with and show them how to make school a fun place to be.
In order to acclimatize the children to the "real" school they have them attend classes for an hour or so once a week for a couple of months. In this way the children become used to attending classes in the school and also introduces them to a new program as opposed to the play situation in the preschool . The children sat at a proper desk for the first time where they were introduced to their teacher and their classmates. This year there will be 105 first graders starting at this school, divided into four classes. In Kolomaya there are 21 preschools and 10 elementary schools.
Meanwhile the parents (and some grandparents) were given a short introduction to the school, it's programs and achievements. This school has been in existence since 1861 with some famous (at least for Ukraine) graduates. After an overview by the administration we were presented with a short concert with some of the more talented students preforming on musical instruments as well as dancing and singing. We were also presented with a slide show of some of the past excursions outside Ukraine where they attended various competitions.
The program also includes an analysis of the child by a psychologists to determine if the child had any problems and offer advice on how to correct them before the school year begins. They also advised the parents on how to help with homework and any other problems the child may need help with and show them how to make school a fun place to be.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Winter Bathing 2012
Yesterday, January 19th. was Водохрещеня (Vodochreschenia) or Jordan and the feast of the Epithany. On this day the waters are blessed and the people believe that the waters are suppose to have curitive powers. This belief is supported by many scholars who claim that the water somehow changes and takes on magical qualities. In the morning we went to church where water was blessed by the priests. This water was than taken home where it is drunk and the people bathed in it in the belief that their ills would be washed away.
These magical properties in the waters are
acquired in many different ways.
These magical properties in the waters are
 |
| in the mt's |
 |
| in a mountain stream |
 |
| getting ready for the dip |
 |
| dunkin |
 |
| thank God I did it! |
Around the country many people went so far as to jumping into the cold water of the rivers and ponds and submersing themselves to get the full effects of the waters powers, but only for a few seconds as the air temp was only around +3. although that didn't seem to bother the bathers as much as it did the bystanders.
 |
| In the river Prut |
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| refreshing |
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| it isn't that cold, really! |
This day marked the end of the winter holidays which began a month earlier with the coming of
St. Mikolai on Dec. 19th. bringing gifts to all the good kids.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Happy New Years
 |
| Taras, Yaroslava and our grandaughter Veronika |
Well I guess it's about time I began writing again. I took too long to write but this summer was extremely busy doing next to nothing and I got lazy. Also we spent a lot of time going to weddings this summer and fall and I wasn't positive that a lot of blogs about the same theme was appropriate.
This winter as almost everywhere else has been quite pleasant and we are finally experiencing our first real frosts and it began to snow so it is starting to feels like winter.
Even though I have said that I wasn't busy this fall I did start building a gazebo and a pizza oven.
I am planning to build the roof in the spring and complete the chimney on the oven although my first experiments have shown that I can cook pizza's even now. I also finally built and installed the windows on the upper floor of the garage so I guess I haven't been that lazy.
2012 is the year that Ukraine along with Poland are to host Euro2012. These are the European football (soccer) competitions with the final to be held in Kyiv so I will be trying to give updates on the preparations and events in Ukraine.
Щасливого Нового Року
і Різдва Христового
та
та
Веселих Свят
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