First Days of School

Saturday, Sept 1st ~ School Children's Day

To celebrate the first day of school, Paragova held an outdoor market-fair for the whole weekend. There was pony-riding, live performances of traditional Ukrainian music and dancing, and LOTS of local artisans selling their finest.

The First Day of School is treated like a holiday ("School Children's Day"), and the children come dressed in their finest, the boys in suits, the girls in dresses with large bows in their hair...it is treated more like a celebration than a day we all grew up to dread!

I tried to find out more online, but there wasnt much. I came accross this photograph which shows exactly what most were wearing at Paragova and around town that fateful Saturday. Traditionally the children bring flowers to their teacher, and although our school is international, I was still lucky enough to receive a couple bouquets from the children!

(click on the photo to see the rest of the website)


(On the left you can see one little girl dressed in "First Day" attire)










I didn't get a chance to tour much around the grounds of Paragova (again) as it is very vast, and the highlight of this trip was definately the market. But for 30 cents and a 25 minute marchutka ride, I can go visit this place any weekend. Here are a few nice pictures of the wooden church and the windmill:






Hand-painting Ukrainian eggs






Examples of the finished product (note the large, and intricately designed goose egg)



Some live performances









The artisan and her hand-made Batik scarves





Beautiful Ukrainian dresses for the old and young.






Heather and Joce (with my new winter hat and scarf! courtesy of Paragova Market Fair)




Yes...i splurged and bought this hand-made bowl from the artist himself...for a whole $40! The birds are intricately designed and now house all my bananas and mangos in our kitchen. The artist (Ivan Bobkov) also informed me that this platter was displayed in one of his art shows. He has a website that is under construction if anyone is interested (although it is all in Ukrainian!):


http://www.glek-pottery.narod.ru/








The woven-towel on the right is a beautiful illustration of a boy courting a young girl. When I pointed to it, the woman who had made these broke into song and started to sing about the love story depicted in this woven-towel. She explained that she used a weaving machine to make her items.





Still "with it": When we see sweet, old babushkas in the streets, we are reminded of a different time, so it was surprising and enchanting for us to see one talking on a cell phone. It kind of snaps us back to reality that they are indeed living in present-day Ukraine, and maybe we're the ones who need to get 'with it'.








Getting Ready for MY First Day of School...


Miss Sutherland's grade one class:




That's all for now...I'll be back with some more pictures shortly. It was a beautiful fall day in Kiev....crisp, sunny and blowing leaves. Feels just like Canada!