Today was packed with learning about Ukrainian culture and seeing the sights of Kyiv. In the morning, we went to the IREX office and had a lesson from our host, Iryna. She taught us about the history, politics, economics, and culture of Ukraine. My favorite part was learning about the culture. For example, here’s a clip of her telling us about how the view of personal space is very different from what we know in America:
Here’s a question of the day for you about Ukrainian culture. Take a guess what you think might be correct, based on what we learned today:
Which of the following would Loki be LEAST likely to do if she were Ukrainian?
- a) Stand very close to the person in front of her when waiting in line
- b) Complain about how much she gets paid
- c) Give a long story about how she is doing when asked “how are you?”
- d) Move to a new city for a fresh start
- e) Live with her parents through college and beyond
After our morning lesson, we went to lunch and then hit the town for a tour of important sites in Kyiv. We visited several Orthodox churches, and since it is the day after Easter, it’s still considered a holiday. Bells were ringing, and the colors were magnificent:
One of our favorite stops was a very interesting park, decorated in a most unusual way. Check it out:
Our day ended with a meal even more filling than yesterday’s! This one included perogies (little dumplings stuffed with potatoes and cheese and other delicious things) and an apple strudel dessert with ice cream. It was a very full day… and meal! Below are a few more of my favorite photos from today, from beautiful to quirky…
Categories: Ukraine
Innovation on Earth 
hmm…. is it B? i’m guessing that it’s B.
p.s. cool photos and videos!
I think I’ll wait a little while to reveal the correct answer, to give others a chance to guess. Anna — any ideas for how I can get others to look at the blog? Thanks for following!
your welcome!
hmm…… maybe you can try to post big videos on YouTube to try to get other people’s attention?
or you could try to post something really cool on something like Yahoo.com, or Acer MSN.com that people will definately see when they go on the computer!
that’s usually how i notice things.
OR, you could put up a funny commercial or comic strip that might go like this:
Person 1 (P1): Hey, what are you doing?
Person 2 (P2): Hi, I’m just reading this really cool blog i found!
P1: A blog? What’s it about?
P2: It’s about a social studies teacher named Ms. Krakauer who literally travels the whole world!
P1: (Looks shocked) Now THIS i got to see!
P2: She traveled to many places, including Scotland, Singapore, and Mali! She’s in Ukraine right now.
P1: Holy moly! That’s so cool!
P2: The only sad part is that there isn’t that many people looking at her blog.
P1: WHAT???!!! Are you kidding me?!
P2: I’m not kidding you.
P1: Holy moly!!! A great blog like this DESERVES a lot of followers!
P2: I know!!! So…
P1 and P2: SO COME AND READ THE BLOG OF MS. KRAKAUER!!!! JUST GO TO…
http://www.InnovationOnEarth.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!!!!!!!!!!!
it’s just an idea. but i hope it’s helpful!
😀
oh, i almost forgot, and you could post something to catch people’s attention on the Innovation Academy Charter School website!
Perogies! Is that what they called them? We call them pyrohyr (or puddahara if you’re my little kids and have pronunciation problems!) in our family, because Babcha didn’t like the Polish word “perogies”. 😉
Love the buildings and carousel.
Thanks for your comments! Yes, I think “perogies” is the word I learned in Poland on a previous trip 🙂
Sara, I’m loving the visuals and descriptions of what you are experiencing. Are you using your Bloggie to record the videos?
Thanks! So far, I’ve been using my other camera, but I might play around with the bloggie later 🙂
Sara, your great grandmother, Rose, origianlly from Russia, made pirogies whenver we would visit her in Brooklyn, NY in the 1950’s. They were filled with meat or potatos and I loved them. I can still picture the dining room and the wonderful anticipation of dinner.
Wonderful and inforamtive blog.
Cool site, and you could try to make another video like the 1st one in your cool videos section, that was COOL! Hop you are having a terrific vacation
-Nate L
it is rather difficullt to hear the first video and what she is saying. Is she speaking english
-Nate
Thanks for your comments, Nate. Yes, she is speaking English. It makes it kind of tricky because it’s a video, and because it’s out of context. But she was talking about her trip to America and watching everyone stand in line in the U.S. in a very orderly way. In Ukraine and Russia, people tend to stand very close to each other.
It’s B. Because most people dont say ten paragraphs explaining how they are doing lol.