That’s it, folks! The Ukrainian language course in Lviv is officially over, and so my time in Lviv has ended. I’m looking back to the time of my life!
Graduation day
On Friday, we had our ‘exam’ — my classmates and I jointly narrated a cartoon without dialogue. During our graduation ceremony soon after, some students showed off their musical skills, followed by diploma handouts and many kind words.
I had a short interview afterwards for use in a future promo-video. The interviewer (whom I didn’t know) said she actually read my blog (thanks, if you’re reading this!). I felt I didn’t answer her questions very well because even after six weeks and writing my blog, I still don’t have prepared answers to the most basic questions like “Why do you learn Ukrainian?”, “Why do you write a blog?” or “What do you love about Ukraine?”. I just do because it feels right. Or perhaps because it feels that Ukraine is embodying Europe’s soul and future (better than Europe itself, in some ways) — but I didn’t think of saying this during the interview.
In the evening many of us dined together — at 20:00 because even after the graduation and six weeks of intense teaching, some of our teachers still had their private classes to teach. They truly are an industrious people.
On the road back to the Netherlands
And then on Saturday, I would start my journey back. The evening before I left Lviv, there were three nightly air raid alerts — and I had to try sleeping on the ground for the first time due to crowdedness in the shelter. So, my plan to leave by 05:00 was postponed to 09:00 because I needed to recover sleep before embarking on my journey.
Crossing the border between Ukraine and Poland took over 5 hours, much more than the 1,5 hours in the opposite direction. I was starting and stopping my car so often I got a warning about the car battery voltage getting low. (Let’s get Ukraine in Schengen and the EU asap, please!)
I stayed over in a hotel in Katowice, Poland. I was pleasantly surprised by the novelty of many buildings. It’s very clear that Poland is booming economically — something I hope Ukraine will experience soon as well.
The next day I would resume the journey at 09:00 and expected to be home at 18:00 — it turned out to be 22:00 in reality, though. One reason was a serious accident on a German highway near Baustelle. People were stepping out of their cars and enjoying the sun. I don’t know how they could manage — my car external temperature sensor was showing 43 degrees! The congestion took so long that many people (including I) would eventually (after 75 minutes) turn around and drive in the opposite direction to find a way off the highway.
My return to the Netherlands took two days and took longer than expected. During all my time on the road, I would often try some Ukrainian podcast lessons — but I couldn’t concentrate and would quickly switch back to music, including Ukrainian pop music. Here are some examples — I tried to select some songs that may sound a bit novel to Western European ears!
Reflection: learning the Ukrainian language
So, let’s review the past six weeks. My primary goal for going in the first place was to learn the Ukrainian language. I must conclude I had severely underestimated the complexity of the Ukrainian language. It’s a beautiful language, but she’s quite headstrong.
I’d say I’ve achieved a very brittle A2 level — still slow and with errors. It’s better than where I started, better than teachers expected, less than what I hoped for, and less than I need to achieve all my goals (conversing with people, watching TV series). I think I’m close to achieving my original goals but not just yet.
I’m calling it a success, though — for the simple reason that I’ve learned a lot and I’m still motivated to continue learning! Credit goes to the School of Ukrainian Language and Culture for this as well — they offer a very rich course and have very talented teachers. I’ll resume my learning digitally — and I would like to return next year in-person again!
Reflection: discovering Ukrainian culture and country
Having been in Ukraine, I can definitely say it lived up to my hopes — and then some. Parks and buildings can be beautiful, the culture is richer than expected, the people are nice and industrious, many facilities are modern — some are more modern than in the Netherlands, even. Ukraine has so much to offer!
Reflection: the Ukrainian people
I admire the Ukrainian people I’ve come to know. They are very ‘awake’ — they fully realise the power dynamics in their own country, the impact of the war, the extent of their own influence and duties. Our teachers are very young and work very hard. One of them (age under 25) said that she grew up never knowing stability — the rough economic period after independence in 1991, the revolutions (2004, 2014), the war (2014, 2022). Despite the hardships, they persevere and stay true to what is important to them in life. The Ukrainian people don’t break apart — they unify and build their nation.
Note: Around the time of writing (22/23 July), we learn that the Ukrainian parliament and Zelenskyy have rushed through a bill that undermines their anti-corruption agencies. (The Yaroslav Hrytsak mentioned in the linked article actually give us two lectures!). I was deeply disappointed and surprised to hear this — are even the ‘good guys’ doing this sort of shit now? But to my great contentment, the Ukrainian people don’t tolerate it. One of the course organisers actually went to protests immediately upon hearing this. This truly captures what I learned about the Ukrainian people — their words and their deeds are very closely aligned. If they don’t agree, they’ll resist in word and deed. And that is one virtue many others, including myself, could learn something from.
Reflection: making new friends
I cannot express how happy and grateful I am for having met so many interesting people. No conference or networking event can compete with a language learning course like this. I got to know the course students, who are from all walks of like — from bureaucrats at the UN or USA, to former soldiers who fought at the front near Bachmut, to artistic directors, to polyglots from all directions. I got to know Julie’s family — after teaching her Dutch for a few years already. I got to know many course organisers, teachers and tutors — all great people!
In conclusion
This has been an amazing journey — being here was the time of my life. I wish to continue my language learning digitally, and return next year to Lviv to meet many of these people again. I even jokingly-not-entirely-jokingly looked up what it takes to obtain residence permits. I’m also looking into personal and professional opportunities to help more and defeat the adversaries. So, I’ll definitely be back in Ukraine — but who knows for what reasons!
I expect this blog post to be the last one for a long while. Thank you for joining me on this journey remotely all this time!
Слава Україні! 🇺🇦
P.S. I added some extra photos to the previous article.
Thanks to your blog I learned a Lot about Ukraine I didn’t know, including your selection of Ukrain pop music. Thanks for all that… and welkome home!