Six months
have gone by already. The last days of my deployment are being quite intense:
farewell party, last lessons, interview for the local television, goodbye hugs,
presents… so many presents I have to leave with a second suitcase! But who
would complain about that?
I was
invited to give an interview about this conversation group for women that we
just started implementing with Francisca. The first session was about
difficulties encountered with periods, the second session about sexual consent.
We realized that those topics were quite taboo here and wanted to create an
intimate and safe area where women could exchange about their intimate life.
I was sad
to learn that schools were under quarantine for my last week, since it would
prevent me from saying goodbye to the students I taught for a few months. But
they made me the beautiful surprise of coming to my office to have tea with me
and we had a proper goodbye.
This English
class of beginners I teach on Saturday also made me a beautiful surprise on my
last class and offered me a decorated Ukrainian plate to never forget Ukrainian
delicious cuisine.
And at last
but not least, the ones that I want to thank the most, my great colleagues. I
was extremely happy to work by your side on an everyday basis, and to discover
your culture and way of life - that I truly appreciate. Thanks for miming every
word that I did not know (a lot!) and to be patient while explaining me stuff.
Thanks for welcoming me with such opened arms Masha, Sasha, Rusana, Julia,
Svetlana, Irina - and Milan, Tata & Maxime for welcoming me in the Bus! I will never forget this amazing
experience. And many thanks to Veronika and Janika (Mondo) for making all of
this possible!
I would
also like to thank Martin and Kelli for the Video they made of my mission here. You can find a link of the video here if you want to see what my life
looked like in Severodonetsk.
