Chapter 14 – Company Picnic

One weekend after I returned from my holiday with Darren we had a company picnic in the forest. Same drill as all other picnics in forests, sashlik, salads, etc. However this party, being still on working hours (we believed we were going to have a teacher’s seminar or have some sort of training which never happened) , there was no alcohol except what Ron, the new Canadian native speaker brought for himself.

We so met at work, piled into the hired bus and went to the Alps – the little versions of them here in Kharkov. We found a nice spot and settled in for a lovely day of relaxing. Two of the teachers brought their own little ones and we watched as the little boys ran around and played King of the Forest while the big boys worked on creating the monster fired needed for the BBQ. We played group communication games (all except Ron who would have none of that) and some people played volleyball.

Finally we ate, mingled and talked and then ate some more. Kate, the director, brought out the guitar and we sang a few songs first in English then in Russian. I believe I can say everyone had a great time, even Ron with beer in hand. Then about 5pm I left the picnic early with one of the 20 Julias to go and do some Irish dancing. Very Lord of the Dance. We made our way to the very opposite side of the city. It was my first time but Julia was more advanced. Unfortunately there were a lot of students that day so I didn’t get so much one-on-one time with the teacher but had to try and keep pace with the advanced students and pretend like I knew what I was doing. It was awesome fun! Very, very hard work though and I was sore later that day, though not as sore as I imagined I would be the next day. However I opted out to join them again on Sunday and rather stayed in my new apartment and rested. It was a nice weekend full of activity and good times.

*Note: It may be worth noting that Ron did not last long in his post here. His constant demands to have the school office run like a company back in Canada were fruitless except to precipitate his sacking. He was an interesting man but not suited for the life he chose to try living in Ukraine. I wish him all the best in his future plans to move to Mexico and hope he made it back to Canada safely.