Bulletin 1: Greetings to all
I would like to describe a bit about our upcoming trip to Ukraine.
I would also like to invite you to check out my website, www.linda-gray.com. Currently, it has information for my students about writing papers, and so on, graced with lovely photos taken by none other than David himself.
However, very shortly I will begin a periodic bulletin about (and eventually from) Ukraine on that website. Please log in and let me know what you think.
For those of you who may not have heard, last April I received a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach in Ukraine [not "the" Ukraine: Ukraine] for Spring semester, 2007. This is a wonderful honor and of course a learning opportunity for me.
I will be teaching at the Dnipropetrovsk National University, and living in Dnipropetrovsk, a city of about one million people on the (you guessed it) Dniper River (spellings vary, Ukrainian, Russian, but you get the idea). I will teach history, historical method, and memoir as literature and history. The river passes by Kiev, capital of Ukraine, north of us, and downstream travels by the Crimean Peninsula, and enters the Black Sea not far from
Odessa. Yalta is also not far from where we will be.
The Black Sea is where Moscow politicians and bureaucrats go to get some sun during the winter. Gorbachev was there when a coup pushed him out of office. If you are going to be deposed, I suppose it's nice to be on a beach when it happens.
David is coming with me, and will be "telecommuting" to Stone Environmental, where he is a partner. He is already scouting out possibilities for marketing Stone's work in Ukraine, where much US aid money is being sent to help the fledgling democracy rebuild.
We leave Calais the last week of January, and will be home in late June (David) or mid-July (Linda). I expect to visit my French sister Cathie and her husband in Paris on the way. I also hope to visit my French mother, now in her 80s, who lives in the Vallee d'Aoste, in the northern Italian Alps either in January, or later in the year.
We plan to rent our house. Dutch, our border collie, will be well attended to, but we are not quite sure how.
We are shipping boxes of gifts and books to Ukraine. I expect to ship a box
of clothing. But, our modus operandus is to take little, and buy what we
need there. City living in Ukraine is quite vibrant, with many shops and
even designer boutiques. We will rent an apartment in the city -- my
wonderful contacy, Lyudmyla Baysara, has been a great help in getting us
situated and helping answer questions. She is even looking for apartments
for us!
Once we are in Europe, there are direct flights from Vienna to our city, and
we hope to take that route, arriving on or about February 1. I have never
been to Vienna, so a day or two there is de rigeur.
So much for the logistics. I have been studying Ukraine history and current
events with great interest. I am fascinated to see first hand how this
country of two major language groups and many religions manages to construct
a sense of national identity and a government which works. Their task is a
very difficult one, and the road to their goal has a few bumps.
That's the news for now. Next bulletin -- a thumbnail sketch of Ukraine
today.
Best,
Linda
I would also like to invite you to check out my website, www.linda-gray.com. Currently, it has information for my students about writing papers, and so on, graced with lovely photos taken by none other than David himself.
However, very shortly I will begin a periodic bulletin about (and eventually from) Ukraine on that website. Please log in and let me know what you think.
For those of you who may not have heard, last April I received a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach in Ukraine [not "the" Ukraine: Ukraine] for Spring semester, 2007. This is a wonderful honor and of course a learning opportunity for me.
I will be teaching at the Dnipropetrovsk National University, and living in Dnipropetrovsk, a city of about one million people on the (you guessed it) Dniper River (spellings vary, Ukrainian, Russian, but you get the idea). I will teach history, historical method, and memoir as literature and history. The river passes by Kiev, capital of Ukraine, north of us, and downstream travels by the Crimean Peninsula, and enters the Black Sea not far from
Odessa. Yalta is also not far from where we will be.
The Black Sea is where Moscow politicians and bureaucrats go to get some sun during the winter. Gorbachev was there when a coup pushed him out of office. If you are going to be deposed, I suppose it's nice to be on a beach when it happens.
David is coming with me, and will be "telecommuting" to Stone Environmental, where he is a partner. He is already scouting out possibilities for marketing Stone's work in Ukraine, where much US aid money is being sent to help the fledgling democracy rebuild.
We leave Calais the last week of January, and will be home in late June (David) or mid-July (Linda). I expect to visit my French sister Cathie and her husband in Paris on the way. I also hope to visit my French mother, now in her 80s, who lives in the Vallee d'Aoste, in the northern Italian Alps either in January, or later in the year.
We plan to rent our house. Dutch, our border collie, will be well attended to, but we are not quite sure how.
We are shipping boxes of gifts and books to Ukraine. I expect to ship a box
of clothing. But, our modus operandus is to take little, and buy what we
need there. City living in Ukraine is quite vibrant, with many shops and
even designer boutiques. We will rent an apartment in the city -- my
wonderful contacy, Lyudmyla Baysara, has been a great help in getting us
situated and helping answer questions. She is even looking for apartments
for us!
Once we are in Europe, there are direct flights from Vienna to our city, and
we hope to take that route, arriving on or about February 1. I have never
been to Vienna, so a day or two there is de rigeur.
So much for the logistics. I have been studying Ukraine history and current
events with great interest. I am fascinated to see first hand how this
country of two major language groups and many religions manages to construct
a sense of national identity and a government which works. Their task is a
very difficult one, and the road to their goal has a few bumps.
That's the news for now. Next bulletin -- a thumbnail sketch of Ukraine
today.
Best,
Linda
Ukraine Journal
Saturday, December 30, 2006
