Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Jim’

We Know Not What to Do … Our Eyes are on You! (April Update)

Posted in Jim Ehrhard, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 15, 2014|

Pray for UkraineWe Know Not What to Do … Our Eyes are on You! (April Update)

Amazing things have happened in Ukraine since our last update – both good and bad!  To begin with, the revolution in Ukraine made an amazing, maybe even miraculous, turn around the day after we sent out our last update.  Then I told you about the brave Ukrainians who had been surrounded by the government forces and seemed to be on the verge of being overrun at any moment.  The government had closed the metro and all roads coming into Kiev and had placed sandbags and military vehicles and machine guns at the roadblocks.  More and more Special Forces were being brought into Kiev coming off buses with automatic weapons and with the permission to use them.  The protesters were surrounded on three sides by the government forces.  Things seemed pretty hopeless for the anti-government forces. (more…)

Read Full Post »

The Crisis in Ukraine (February 2014 Update)

Posted in Jim Ehrhard, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 1, 2014|

The Crisis in Ukraine (February 2014 Update)

The Crisis in Ukraine began at the end of November 2013.  Then the president suddenly changed his mind and dropped our Tear for Ukraineagreement to enter the European Union and began to pursue money from Russia (Russia had been pressuring Ukraine by long delays from Ukrainian exports at the borders).  Thousands of people came to protest this decision and the government responded with harsh violence against unarmed protesters.  This brought more people into the streets – nearly 1 million for one protest.  People stayed in the main square protesting around the clock for the entire month of December in below freezing temperatures! (more…)

Read Full Post »

Posted in Jim Ehrhard, tagged , , , , on June 5, 2013|

“June Has Me Seeing Red! … Okay, Red Berries” (June 2013 Update)

Working with Students in CT1

The names of months in Ukraine continue to be very interesting to me!  June is called Червень or “Red” because it is the month when all the red berries come out.  It is a wonderful time for sweet, fresh fruits after the winter months.  It’s also a beautiful time of year when the weather is warm and the flowers are in full bloom.

For me, it also means getting ready to return home for a summer break!  And I’m ready!  (Okay, not really… I still have a lot to do before we can leave).  After teaching the entire month, having some commitment every weekend in May, we are very tired (maybe “red eyes”) and looking forward to some summer rest. (more…)

Read Full Post »

“April Flowers Bring May … Grass?” (May 2013 Update)

Posted in Jim Ehrhard, tagged , , , , , on May 2, 2013|

“April Flowers Bring May … Grass?” (May 2013 Update)

Kiev-BotanicalGarden-1280

Okay.  I know that sounds strange to most American.  We all know that “April Showers bring May Flowers.”  But in the Ukrainian calendar (as well as most Eastern European countries), the first budding of flowers is in April (beautiful cherry and apricot blossoms).  That gives way to the coming of green grass everywhere by May.  So April is Квітень (“flowers”) and May is appropriately named Травень or “Grass.”  For us, it means the cold is gone for this year and the flowers and warm weather have returned!

April and May are also times of high pollen co
unt.  So I have been battling sinus infections much of the month.  But that seems a small price to pay for some warm weather! (more…)

Read Full Post »

“Golden!” (October 2012 Update)

Posted in Jim Ehrhard, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 28, 2012|

Image

I’m continuing to work on my Russian and I am making some progress.  My understanding is greatly improving.  Depending on the conversation, I usually understand most of what I hear (depending on the context and the speaker).  That’s a big improvement. Speaking in Russian, however, is another story.  I can carry on conversations, but only with a lot of hesitating and stopping to correct myself and trying again.  Getting case endings right is really difficult.  It seems like, the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know! (more…)

Read Full Post »