Oh, I'm still kicking.

Ok. I'm now teaching. It's hard.
I salute anyone who is teaching/has taught in their lives. In particular those who tried to teach me(Sorry. Really.).
I came into the Peace Corps for a challenge, true, but I didn't expect it to be tough like it is sometimes.

My students, well, some of them, speak little to no English. In truth, the 7th and 8th graders are stronger students than the 9th and 10th grades. I teach 5 lessons on Monday and Wednesday and 4 on Tuesday and Thursday. I have Fridays off. I have 2 classes with each division of each grade. Make sense? There is a 7A and a 7B, 8A and 8B, etc. But the two divisions are not at the same level, which means I'm planning a lot of lessons. For someone who has never really taught/planned lessons/tried really hard in his life, this is truly a trial by fire.

But the lessons with the 7th and 8th grades are rewarding. They laugh, we do Total Physical Response, they are learning and they are eager to learn. The 10th grade doesn't get it and the 9th grade doesn't care. But, in fairness, the Peace Corps would be dull if all of these kids spoke english as good as I do... (Pun intended?)

Aside from the rigors of teaching are the rigors of my apartment. The little children are trying (most of the time) and I think of what my brother Luke must go through everyday with our little brother Will. I empathize Luke. Really, I do. I taught them UNO to ease my boredom, but I now hide the game to protect my sanity. I have read 8 books since arriving in my new town and in the past week alone, I have completed about 50 crosswords (I'm not kidding. My [4 letter word for existence] is filled with [Baudelaire's boredom?] and a lot of [A clock for no money?]). But it's ok. Really.

It's been -30 celsius here, and that means no school (If it's -24 or less, there is no class). On Monday and Tuesday, I was at home all day. Today, however, it was -23 and there was school. No students, though. In my 5 classes, I had a combined total of 10 kids. Slow day? Well, someone (I don't know who yet) sent me an 11 kilogram package. And, well, the L'viv post office is too lazy to deliver it to me, and thus, I'm here in L'viv to pick up my box or whatever it is. Thanks to whoever sent it, though, thanks a lot. You provided me with an excuse to get out of town for a while.

My assistant principal is determined to learn English. He claims that if I can learn as intricate a language as Ukrainian in 3 months, then her can learn English. I've taught him some body parts (arm, leg, head, etc.) and some school terms. We're taking it slowly. But it's fun. He's my most apt pupil, which is sad.

I have received letters from some of you, and thanks for those. It was clever of you to print out my address and tape it to the envelope. It was also brave of you to attempt to write the cyrillic yourselves. In short, I have received letters. They made it.

Belated December birthdays to Ben and Jackie. And happy January birthdays to Tommy and Luke. Sorry to those whose birthdays I don't know/forgot.

Keep in touch, I'll do the same.