Intro

Educators on the Edge

 

Introduction    

July 1, 2013 came and went.  That was the day I (Katrina) was hoping to officially begin this blog site because it signified that we (Jay and Katrina) had one month left in South Carolina to prepare for our move to Kiev, Ukraine.  On August 1 we will arrive in the capital city of "Kyiv" and begin a new phase in our lives and our careers as international educators.

So I'm only one day late as I'm writing this.  My good intention yesterday was interupted by the fact that I have never blogged before, and I didn't even know where to begin.  Thank goodness our daughter, Nicole, and her family are visiting us this week.  Nicole helped me navigate the internet to look at some ideas for blogging and then find a blogger publishing site that seemed simple enough for me to use.  Unfortunately, I was not prepared with a name for our site, and I wanted to make sure it was creative, meaningful, and easy to remember.  We all (me, Jay, Nicole, and Jonathon) spent time brainstorming, researching, and debating several ideas as we went about the rest of the day.  We finally settled on something at about 8:00 last night.

Educators on the Edge seems to be a fitting title for several reasons.  First of all, according to the Lonely Planet Ukraine travel book, the word Ukraine means 'land on the edge'.  The book goes on to explain that Ukraine is "a country creeping slowly towards the edge of change and modernity", and "that after two decades of independence [from the former Soviet Union], Ukraine is edging long-term toward where it aspires to be..."  Like this vast Eurasian country, Jay and I have found ourselves on the edge of change many times during our thirty years of marriage, and we are aspiring to become world travelers and life-long learners; always looking for our next adventure.  As a friend and former colleague from Tioga County stated when we asked her for a reference, "What are you two doing now?", I guess we have developed that reputation. In addition, we wanted the title of our blog to not only highlight our experiences in Kyiv, but to also include information about the other places we hope to visit while living overseas.  I think that "Educators on the Edge" will cover anything and everything we find ourselves doing over the next year (or two).

 

Getting Ready to Go

Today is July 30.  Today is the day I will finally post my first blog.

Our passports, complete with visa stamps, returned to us yesterday in the mail from the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, DC.  We are packed and ready to go!  There are six suitcases lined up in the hallway upstairs, plus our two carry-ons.  We fly out of Myrtle Beach tomorrow afternoon and arrive in Kyiv on Thursday afternoon. We will have a five hour layover in Munich.  The time difference between the US east coast and Ukraine is about seven hours right now.  It will change to six this winter.

(I was hoping to insert some pictures here, but I was unable to figure out how to move my photos to this site.  I will spend more time trying to figure it out later or get some help when I get to Kyiv!)

Even though we were hired back in December (2012) and we knew we were moving to Ukraine this summer, it seemed like everything we needed to do had to happen in these last few weeks!  We sold our cars, got our house ready to rent, and took care of a lot of little, but important, items, like banking, utilities, insurance, electronics, and packing.  There were a few unexpected issues as well, like having to replace our heating/cooling units after they died over the 4th of July while we had a houseful of visitors! However, we have also been spending time getting together with different groups of friends (church, school, trivia) here at the beach to say good-bye.  I think we just know a lot of people who are looking for an excuse to have a party ;)  But we really do appreciate their thoughfulness and it is nice to know we will be missed.

(Again, I have some pictures with some of our friends to post here!)

                         A real Ukrainian honey pot from new friends Nancy and Dick Lane.
                         They bought it on their last mission trip to Ukraine and gave it to us
                         when they came over to share pictures and stories.
                     

                              A going away card from Rebels Without a Clue, our trivia team

                                         Flowers from my friend Seth Wood and his family

                                          "The Three Teaching Amigos"  We started together at
                                          St. James Middle five years ago.

                                          My new teaching buddy in 2012-13, Shelly

                                                         We will miss Rick and Toni

                                                   Nick, Janet, and me.  Party at Quigley's!

I will post something again as soon as we arrive in Ukraine and/or I have access to the internet and the time to sit down and write.