Indigo Frames: Ivan'ky,

After a few days of teaching and a few days of sickness, I was able to gather enough strength to travel to Ivan'ky. Ivan'ky is a small village to the east and home to my dear friend, Meredith. Meredith has been in Ukraine for over a year now. She is hilarious and full of great classroom ideas. Meredith held a seminar for English teachers in her region so Caitlin, Niza, and myself showed up to help. We got to meet about 20 teachers who were eager to hear about new techniques. They were talkative, interactive, and interesting. We all shared ideas, thoughts, and stories about our students.

Two other volunteers, Pete and Sara, showed up for the rest of weekend. We got all caught up with each other over Disney movies and big breakfasts. We went to a dinner party with some of Meredith's friends. All in all, it was a great weekend.

Looks like Spring is arriving quickly. The snow and ice are melting. The streets are rivers but my layers have lessened. My host family is growing grape vines in our kitchen so, hopefully, soon we will transplant them outside. I'm a happy girl!

For everyone here, we must find a balance between our old and current lives.
Meredith's balance can be found on her fridge.

Niza and Caitlin showing the teachers a game where students describe words to each other. One student can see the word while the other can not.

Meredith being awesome and helping everyone out.

The teachers had to describe the words on each other's backs without saying the actual word.

To the only male teachers, we gave 'toilet paper' and 'glitter'.
Who won't want to describe those things?

After the seminar with the teachers, Meredith's 6th and 7th formers showed up to attend the Living Library.

Each volunteer sat a different table to talk about a different topic: our states, travel or art.
The kids got to ask us questions, look at photos, and tell us about themselves too.