Home Stretch

Hey there!

I know, I know. It's been forever since I've posted anything. Sorry! Summer camp has been crazy! Crazy fun, but also crazy.

Anyway... First off, it's a lot different from the first half of the program. Instead of teaching little kids, I've been teaching kids that are anywhere from 10-17 years old. Sometimes it's difficult trying to plan a lesson for such a broad range of English knowledge, but I love it! I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the younger kids, but I think I enjoy teaching true older kids more. They're knowledge of English makes it a lot easier to communicate with them.

There's one kid, Lyova, who was here last session, and is here again. Oh my goodness. He's so smart! During one of the lessons, I had the kids design something using only paper, tape, and string, that was strong enough to support my MCAT flashcards. With the oldest group, that turned into 'quiz miss Tia for the first 10 minutes.' Now despite my best intentions, I haven't studied as much as I thought I would, so I struggled a bit. However, I was amazed at Lyova's knowledge- especially in chemistry. A couple of kids pulled gen chem questions, and, despite the terms being in another language, he almost immediately knew the correct definition. And he's 15!!!!!

There's another girl, Margo, who's an amazing dancer! She won the dance off in the first session, and also won miss of the camp. There's also a girl named Dasha. She's also super smart! She was in my group last session, and was our candidate for camp president. She's a lot of fun. Then there's Max. he was camp president last year, and is... Quite  the character. i don't really know how to describe him, except as a younger version of Alex Cole(my best friend) during our freshman year in college. :P he's a total spaz.

Sorry I can't post any pics right now... I promise I'll try to add them soon though! I've been having some technology problems - my computer decided that it no longer likes functioning, and I didn't get internet on my phone until a couple of days ago. :P but oh well- I have it now, and life is good. :)

I absolutely love teaching the kids here at camp, and am so sad that I only have one more week teaching! The time has flown by! This time next week I'll be packing everything up for our big vacation, and then I'll be back in Kiev for two weeks before spending my last three weeks abroad shadowing doctors in Spain.  I know I still have over a month here after ILP ends, but it still feels like the home stretch. I love these kids, these teachers, these people, and this country so much! I'm definitely making a trip back someday!

Paca! (bye)!