Art and story-telling

Today’s session of the GABFEST Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was announced as a free-topic session as we planned to talk about various things in one day. The session was attended by our PCV friend Mr. Andrew Bader; we used this opportunity to motivate the Club members to talk about Dnipropetrovsk city and DOUNB Library news.
To start the session we made a visit to the Library’s Art Department to see the exhibition of the Petrykivka paintings by students of the children’s painting school. During the visit the Club members were to remember the facts about the painting school select the most impressive work and describe it to our American guest. Only several club members were able to complete this challenging task in decent English. Our guest was very much impressed by the new s that Petrykivka painting was included in the UNESCO   Cultural Heritage list.
 
As a musical surprise the colleague from another department presented to the group a musical parody number of a Ukrainian New-Year pop hit by Andrij Danilko. This musical greeting inaugurated the beginning of real winter in Dnipropetrovsk – today we had the first snow. The task for the club members was to translate the song lyrics for Andrew, present the performer and explain why he is so popular as a comedian and a singer.

The second part of the session was dedicated to Andrew’s story-telling. He shared with us his impressions about travelling in Northern Europe. The Club members were very pleased to listen to an educated American English and funny facts about travelling in Ukraine and abroad.
The final event of today’s agenda was re-election of the Club’s President. The President’s place is still vacant, but we can congratulate Helen and Oleg who were elected as Club’s Vice-Presidents.
The session was visited by numerous new-comers and had a very positive effect on them.
Number of participants – 23persons.

Marina Klepach, the Gabfest Club newcomer:

“The first visit to the WOA Centre greatly impressed me. The session of the Gabfest Club incorporated a visit to the Petrykivka painting exhibition.

This 2-in- 1 cultural event motivates me to expand both English language skills and cultural knowledge“.

 

Christmas celebration

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club was dedicated to the celebration of Christmas in the USA. The session was visited by our PCV Mr. Andrew.
The session started with listening to Xmas music - to create the appropriate atmosphere. “Last Xmas” song very popular in Europe was not known to Mr. Andrew. The Oleg Skrypka’s video “Schedryk” was introduced and explained to our American friend. He was surprised to find out that this Ukrainian folk song arranged by Ukrainian composer Leontovych became the world famous “Carol of the Bells”.
The Club members asked numerous questions about Xmas traditions and foods in the United States. They also had to explain a lot of things to Andrew about Ukrainian Xmas traditions: the different date issue, the traditional food, folk ritual of Carols’ singing and others.
The second half of the session was arranged as a Xmas tea party with an array of Xmas treats – from western ginger breads to local chocolates and cookies. The highlight of the menu was carrot cake baked by our friend Andrew. The Club’s ladies liked the cake very much and noted down the recipe.  The accompaniment of world known Christmas Carols made the tea ceremony most enjoyable.
The session was a success and inspired wonderful Xmas feelings!

 

For International Day of People with Disability

Today’s session of the GABFEST speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the International Day of Persons with Disabilities which is celebrated globally on December, 3.  This year’s theme is: “Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive society and development for all”. A major focus of the Day is practical and concrete action to include disability in all aspects of development, as well as to further the participation of persons with disabilities in social life and development on the basis of equality.
At the WOA premises a collection of relevant posters was showcased. The posters tell about the life of disabled people in the USA.
 
The session started with the demonstration of a Ukrainian weekly TV program for disabled people. The club members practiced their interpreting skills - they rendered the program’s content into English for our American visitor- Mr. Andrew from PCV.
Mr. Andrew presented a slideshow about arrangements for disabled people in the USA. The club members were able to compare the arrangements for disabled people in Ukraine and USA.
The next challenging task was to tell their own stories about communicating with and helping disabled people. Some stories were very dramatic and impressed the audience.
Today’s session helped to promote Ukrainian public awareness about obstacles in implementing disability-sensitive policies. Certain progress in this matter in Ukraine was also highlighted.
Number of participants – 25 persons.

 

PCV friends and foreign guest

Today’s session of the Gabfest speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) started with a surprise visit of several foreign guests. Our PCV friends Brandon and Andrew paid a visit to the Club.
 A guest from Holland – Meindrt - was directed to our club by a friend to meet the English-speaking Ukrainian community. Meindrt surprised the group with his wearing a traditional Ukrainian shirt. He shared his method of learning English with the Club. We spent the session asking questions about our Dutch visitor’s native area and found several Dutch geographical names repeated in American geography. American club members added some curious facts about American Harlem – a neighborhood in New York city. Some time was dedicated to Meindrt’s volunteering project in one of the local schools.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the questions of foreigners about Ukraine. We explained them the symbolism of the city’s coat of arms and its modern logo. We told the history of the city’s names: original and modern. Recent tourist projects in Dnipropetrovsk area were introduced: industrial tourism and folk art tours to Petrykivka. Some other unique touristic objects were presented to the guests, among them Kodak Cossack fortress, pine woods in Novomoskovsk area, Rocket Park in Dnipropetrovsk.
The big group of new comers had a chance to introduce themselves to the regular club members. 
The session was funny and educational both for Ukrainian and the foreign guests.
Number of participants – 31.

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Volunteering

Today’s session of the Gabfest speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) had an American guest – our friend Peace Corp volunteer Mr. Andrew.
Due to the arrival of several new persons the ESC session started with the introductions. After that all the participants were given the opportunity to communicate in English. The Ukrainian club members again asked questions about the Peace Corp. activities and motivation of the USA volunteers. Mr. Andrew asked questions about traditions of volunteering and charity in Ukraine. At first the Ukrainians were puzzled – they did not consider themselves engaged into charity. But the Club’s moderator reminded them about little acts they do since school childhood, but do not realize it is charity. At school many of us donated to such organizations as Red Cross, DOSAAF (Soviet society of support for Army and Navy), Fire-fighting Support Organization, etc. In everyday life of Ukrainians there is a tradition to donate money to friends and colleagues in case of sudden illness or death in the family, not to mention religious donations and volunteering. Once these examples were mentioned the majority of the group confirmed that they do it on a regular basis. But volunteering traditions are in the stage of emerging in the modern society and PCVs set a good example.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the topic “November Ethnic celebrations in the USA”. We touched upon Hindu celebration Divali, Muslim holiday Muharram, and Jewish Hanukkah. But the most curious conversation was about Native Americans’ celebration – Pow -Wow .We have introduced this ethnic event to the group, examined the portraits of Pow -Wow participants in ethnic dress. But the funniest activity was to create an Indian name for the Club members taking into consideration their personality. Mr. Andrew was the judge and selected as winners the following names:
Song of the River - for Nadia who likes to sing and to swim Morning Ray- for Ludmilla who is an early riser and likes nature Beautiful Rose – for Ludmilla who is an elegant lady.
The public vote created one more category of created names- the funny ones- where the following names became winners:
Friendly Giraffe – for Sergey who is tall and good-natured Smile of a dead Chicken- for Vlada who is an optimist, but catches cold often Herring’s Smile – for Anna who loves pickled herring and all water activities.
The session was funny and educational.
Number of participants – 29.

Farewell and Easter Session

Today’s session of the Gabfest Speaking Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk) started with the Peace Corp. Farewell Tea Ceremony of our friends Kathryn, Patrick and Samantha. Their term of service in Ukraine has come to an end. They have come to say good-bye to the Gabfest Club which was an important part of their life in Dnipropetrovsk.
Kathryn was kind enough to bake a huge assortment of vegetarian cookies for the club members. The cookies were delicious and the conversation was very enjoyable. The Americans shared their plans for the future – about staying with friends and families in the US, about further employment and study aspirations. The club members enquired about the news from other American volunteers who had been visiting the club on a regular basis. It was fun to learn that some volunteers found their soul mates in Ukraine – some people are getting married, some people are moving in together… The group photo with our American friends at the library entrance steps was the highlight of the farewell ceremony.
 
The second part of the session was dedicated to the forth coming holidays in Ukraine - the Orthodox Palm Sunday and Easter Week. One of the youngest club members Sasha (aged 10) prepared a slide presentation “My pilgrimage to the Holy Land” – Israel. The focus of today’s presentation was on Easter and the city of Jerusalem. 
Sasha commented his photos and answered questions about his impressions of the worship places in the Eternal City. He presented Jerusalem as the city of 3 religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The English equivalents of religious names enriched the vocabulary of club members irrespective of their faith.
The session was both funny and educational.
The number of participants – 26 persons.
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New Year’s Resolutions

Today’s session of the GABFEST club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was very special – as a surprise we had many American guests.
Our Peace Corp friends introduced   to the club a new comer – Alex – who will be teaching at one of the local schools. The club members asked him many questions about his home town Boston and suggested numerous places in Ukraine for him to see.
PCV volunteer Brandon shared with us facts about his projects in Volnogorsk high school. The girls, Sam and Kathryn, told us about their New Year celebration in Ukraine.
The PC volunteers used the opportunity to demonstrate to the club members the differences in accents in different states – North Carolina, Massachusetts and California. The topic of favorite American foods was also touched upon.
The official topic of the session was “New Year’s Resolutions”. This American tradition was introduced to the club members. A New Year's resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit.
A key element to a New Year's resolution that sets it apart from other resolutions is that it is made in anticipation of the New Year and new beginnings. People committing themselves to a New Year's resolution generally plan to do so for the whole following year. The club members were offered several images with most popular New Year’s resolutions. They ranged from short and funny to more complicated ones. The club members commented on the funny American New Year resolutions and practiced to formulate their own resolutions about New Year’s trips.
Our volunteer Mr. Joseph had a chance to say good-bye to the club members and tell them about his forthcoming trip abroad.
The session was very educational and proved to be very informative especially for the numerous newcomers.
The number of visitors –38 persons.
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Ukraine in the English language literature

Today’s session of the GABFEST speaking Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was full of different activities and events.

The official topic of the session was “Ukraine in the English language literature”. The Club’s speaker T. Gavryliuk   presented modern fiction books where Ukraine and Ukrainians were mentioned and described – J.Safran Foer’s “Everything Illuminated” and M. Lewicka’s “The short history of tractors in Ukrainian”. Both books are funny in black humor style and portray Ukrainian immigrants and post-Soviet Ukraine in rather controversial sarcastic manner.

In Australia Ukraine appeared in a book of a different genre. The Sydney-based writer with Ukrainian roots John Hughes had success in 2004 with a family memoir, The Idea of Home, which went on to win several important literary awards. “The Idea of Home: Autobiographical Essays” won both the National Biography Award and the NSW Premier's Award for Non Fiction.

The National Biography Award, established in Australia in 1996, is awarded for the best published work of biographical or autobiographical writing by an Australian. It aims "to encourage the highest standards of writing biography and autobiography and to promote public interest in those genres".

Its administration was taken over by the State Library of New South Wales in 1998.

For today’s session John Hughes was kind enough to participate in a video conference with the Ukrainian audience. He told us about the history of the book’s creation. The club members asked him numerous questions about his Ukrainian family and his life in Australia.

 The club member Ksenia has read to Mr.Hughes an English translation of a classical Ukrainian poem by Taras Shevchenko. This poem is the quintessence of the Ukrainian “Idea of home”. Mrs. Ludmilla has read the same poem in its original version – “Садок вишневий коло хати…». The Australian author has highly appreciated the translated poem and the sound of Ukrainian language he remembers since childhood.

The Club thanks the writer for an enjoyable conversation and looks forward to receive a gift from the Australian publisher “Giramondo”. The owner of this publishing house, Dr. Ivor Indyk, is a professor of literature, a formidable critic, a publisher of important books and an arbiter of Australian letters, someone who knows, and is known by, everybody in the Australian literary world. As a child of foreigners in Australia, Dr. Indyk has developed an ear for the nuances of language and special interest in migrant voices.

In the second part of the session we talked to our American friends. The PCV team shared with us information about their numerous projects in Dnipropetrovsk and other interesting things. Mr. Joseph took great interest in a collection of Ukrainian classical authors translated into English which were on display during the session.

The session was very educational and has a great success with the Club members.

Participants – 31 persons.
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U.S. Presidential Elections

Today many excited club members of the GABFEST speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) came for the presentation on U.S. Presidential Elections by PCVs Brandon Platt and Samantha Sachs.
As an introduction to the topic the club-members were offered  a selection of center's books on democracy, elections and voting procedures.
The phenomenon of American  editorial cartoons was introduced to the audience and several  samples were analyzed in detail.
The participants discussed the difference between the Republicans and Democrats parties. It was interesting to see the debates videos and the promo campaigns advertising. We spoke about the history and advertisements of political campaigns.
People spoke, debated and discussed the topic. Everyone was very happy and energetic!

Marina R.: We discussed the difference between advertising and propaganda and lots of different facts from history. The Americans were so open for communication, and inspired us to ask questions, to communicate with them more. We had a great time just to talk to them, discuss lots of  other things not related to the Presidential Elections. They said they’re going to do another session, like we had today, the only problem was for us to choose the next topic for the future discussion. So for now we’re just looking forward to it to have a great time talking to American native speakers to enhance cultural exchange and friendship between Americans and Ukrainians!

We couldn’t have a big photo of all the club members today, because our group was too big, but anyway we’re all happy to gather for today’s discussion.
The number of visitors – 48 persons.
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Peace Corp. friends

Today’s session at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk was was planned as a free topic session. It turned out to be a success as we had  a group of foreign visitors.

Our Peace Corp. friend Patrick  has introduced his colleague Chris who works in Poltava oblast. The Club members had the opportunity to introduce themselves to the foreign guests and to ask them questions.

Chris was asked about his life and activities in the Ukrainian province.

Patrick was asked about his trips to Donetsk during the Football championship and his impressions of the event.

Another pleasant surprise was a visit from our Australian friends Irina and Eric Kneller. They have told us about their trips since our last meeting. Mr.Kneller initiated a conversation about the places of interest in Ukraine. Each club member was asked to recommend a tourist attraction for a foreigner in Ukraine.

The most interesting recommendations included:

-        To visit a workplace of an average Ukrainian

-        To visit  Khortiza island in Zaporozhje – the capital of Kossaks

-        To visit wine and cognac  factories in Odessa and Crimean Riviera.

The new comers today had a wonderful opportunity to listen to different variants of the English language – American and Australian.

The number of participants – 23 persons.
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