finally... we post.

we appologize... its been a lot harder to post than we anticipated. although the internet cafe is close to home, we've been too busy and tired to make the walk and when we do, we barely have enough time to reply to emails.

life in Baryshivka is good. we have grown to love our host family and couldn't have asked for a better placement. we have daily play arguments with our babushka as we try to convince her that there is in fact such a thing as too much protein in a meal. ie. last night's serving of chicken soup, the chicken leg, and the liver on the table. the food is delicious though, so we can't  complain much. she has said outright that she needs to fatten keith up. it is amusing. as for our host-mom, she is as patient as patient can be. she helps us with our homework and this morning she spent 10 minutes trying to show us what a spiderweb was in russian. this weekend the married couple who lived with our family last year is coming to visit. i look forward to meeting them and learning about where they are and what they're doing now.

language.... little by little we have learned how to get around the community and ask people if they like cheese. considering how little time we've been here we have covered a lot of material. this does not take away from the fact that outside the classroom walls i still feel like a 2 year old trying to get what they want by pointing, grunting, and making faces. that being said, we are much more comfortable in our community and can have basic discussions with people who are willing to slow down their speech... as our host mom says "Чут чут, Чут чут" which means a little by little.

teaching... we started teaching last week!! keith and i have each taught 4 classes now. each class went well and we've each had high and low points in our lessons.... all for the betterment we hope. next week is a methodological training week so we wont teach but the following week we start on our "regular" schedules for training. i wish i had more time to write on this but im running out of time at the internet cafe.

will write more later!! send us your home address if you would like a post card!!