Lviv is totally different to Kiev. It has a different feel and a different look. I guess this shouldn’t really be a surprise as it is much further West and has had many different rulers in the past. The Russians, Poles and Austro-Hungarians all had a say in its development!

This could be anywhere in central Europe. The terracotta roof tiles resembles most cities; cafe bars and street performers hint at Prague; the opera house hints at Vienna. Ukrainian is more dominant than Russian. There seem to be more tourists, but these are either from other parts of Ukraine or Russian groups.

We feasted on a great Georgian Banquet and sampled the local brew. Brewed since 1715, allegedly started up by a Brit called Robert Doms. The beer hall was next door to the local brewery which allegedly used to pipe the beer directly in. This was one of the only bars we found. Most locals tend to have a carry out on the street – cheaper and more sociable! The inevitable Irish bar wanted to sell your Dutch and Belgian stuff at five or six times the price of the local, tastier, brew!

There are a couple of great view points too. A central clock tower on the town hall, and a view point slightly more out of town, a bit of a trek up to an old fortification. The clock towers, well church towers are one of the give aways as to where you are. The golden domes giving a distinctly orthodox feel to the tradition. The insides of the churches were something else. An extreme demonstration of splendour! Not really a fan of that, but I guess in that tradition is it meant to point towards something more glorious? (Could the money be spent elsewhere?).

I’ve travelled a fair bit around Eastern Europe (yea, not as much as you Phil!), and I’ve really enjoyed seeing new places, new cultures, different currencies and languages. Places like Hungary, Poland and the Baltic States were quite accessible 5 years ago, even more so these days with the onset of the EU and dreaded Euro! But I found Kiev to be on another level. This country is very much in its infancy as a new country, in a way starting at 2004 rather than the same time as its other former Soviet colleagues. (Read the book mentioned below for more!).

The first thing you notice is the lack of spoken English. Now, fair enough, why would there be? Ukrainian and Russian being dominant. Other places have developed a tourist industry, so there are English signs, English speaking bar maids, shop keepers etc… You do have taxi drivers speaking a bit, to inform you of their special tourist rates!! With a country which has battled corruption for so long, I guess there is plenty to sort out with the locals before you worry about tourists…

It lacks tourist prices, which is great… your wee plastic metro tokens costing 5p, crazy buses taken you anywhere for 150 Hryvna. You get about 10 of them for your £1…

You notice that there are no drains. You notice the litter. You notice the crumbling soviet blocks of flats and the 4WD BMWs with tinted windows… You notice a people who are very private when in public – a hangover from those days of communism and corruption. A language which seems very abrupt even rude when used in shops, bars etc.

The influence of Russian culture is evident, especially with the fashions in Kiev. Black leather jackets for the men, knee high boots and heels for the women. You notice how beautiful the women are too! And how thin… which given the amount of root vegetables they eat is surprising!

The language is a huge barrier. Russian being hard to hear let alone read. But having said this the differences are what makes the place, any places. You hope that progress doesn’t mean standardisation (with the history of communism were this was evident you really hope not). Westernisation doesn’t necessarily mean better. Although there are the inevitable fast food outlets and Irish bars…

When travelling I do like to read travel writing or something relevant to where I am… even better when it covers both aims and includes football!

Behind The Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football is not an almanac! In a way it isn’t really a football book. Football is thread that pulls together politics, corruption, terrorism, wars and the collapse of communism amongst other things… It’s a fascinating look at how football has been developed or more than likely hindered in former Eastern European countries… Just finished a chapter on Serbia, and most notably Arkan! That’ll give you some indication of where the author is going… It also gives you a clearer understanding of how football and wider culture has had so many factors influence it since these countries have become “independent”.

When in Ukraine – An Orange Revolution is a must read! It is amazing in this day and age of freedom of speech and democracy how blinkered/filtered/limited our media is, even in the free West! This book gives a detailed and interesting account of the history of Ukraine, with an in depth focus on the more recent years and the ongoing battle for true independence.

I’ve uploaded some photos of my time in Kyiv and Lviv…. there’ll be more to follow
(photos and comment)!

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games on Wii.  Could this be used in conjunction with a project looking ahead to Beijing?  Plenty of PE, Literacy, Env. Studies stuff in there?

Any ideas?

Have been thinking about the use of this blog, obviously it hasn’t been that busy, so I think I’ll try to use this more as a vehicle for thoughts, plans and records, rather than just ICT use.

With regard to ICT use, Team ICT from the council recently visited to film some of the things that we’ve been up to in school.  This gave me a good chance to see what exactly is going on.  Unfortunately, one of the key players has gone and become a mother, rather than hang around for to talk to a video camera.  Shocking, I know.  So I had to appear a bit more than planned.  It was exciting to see the nursery and what they are up to, using drum machines and a talking book.  The number of teachers who regularly blog with their class has doubled, happy days.  I also spoke about using a Wii, Buzz, Dance Mats and the blog.  We’ve had more and more parents commenting now which is excellent, especially in an area where there aren’t an abundance of computers at home.

Be interesting to hear what educational games people have been using on the Wii…

I have had my missives concluded, but it didn’t hurt a bit… well not yet anyhow!

Trying to source some quality wooden furniture at quality prices! Any ideas?

Apparently stewardesses is the longest word you type with just your left hand!

The Big Bang Theory is quite funny, even though it is American. Like the IT Crowd, but funny!

Been listening plenty to whatever you want by lovers electric. Quality Aussie female led indie pop with a hint of Howling Bells and a Sleeper / Elastica influence!

Could that be the name of the sequel to Jumper (“The Movie”)? It’s so set up for a sequel, no hint of trying to disguise it. Pretty decent movie until it got all sentimental and gushy at the end! Just a hint of Star Wars:

Saw the other Tommy Lee Jones movie, the one I thought I was going to see in the first place. Felt it was pretty decent, if slow at times – is that a fashion for the new style action film? Bit of a fade to the end. One comment would be regarding letting a police officer carrying a gas cannister take away your motor? Are they standard issue? This guy was great though. Such a focus. Quality haircut enforced fear!

Well, what a week for Welsh sport. I wanted to wait for the weekend to ensure yet another false dawn could be postponed for at least another fortnight.

The egg chasers will obviously get the biggest press, having beaten an imploding England side and a Scottish team with as much ambition as something without much ambition! Their forwards must be so gutted, as they work so hard only for the backs to mess things up – every time!
Anyway, enough about Rugby. Matt Thomas stunt double James Hook pops over for a try:

Football on the other hand is more surprising and should take more plaudits! The “senior” team defeated Norway 3-0… yes, John Carew did play and yes he then went on to score a hat trick this weekend against New-weareabigteamanddeservetrophieseventhoughwecan’tdefend -castle! What was even more remarkable about this victory was the fact we were missing our senior players, the ones who are in the premier league. Bale, Collins, Gabbidon and Bellamy were all absent. They guys who were playing spend a lot of time warming benches, but did a great job. We’ve praised Joe Ledley before, this time we’ll have a big up to Chris Gunter.

Gunter is one of the many Spurs defensive signings of late. He can play at right or left back – which will be interesing when Bale returns. Unlike Hutton he is good at defending rather than just charging forward like a mad yen. And he is still young!

Which leads us onto the biggest result of the week, the Under 21s winning 4-0 away in Malta, in a competitive fixture, securing their spot at the top of a group featuring France! This is without all the Under 21 players who were playing for the seniors! The likes of Ched Evans (Norwich) and Sam Vokes (Bournemouth) returned home to bang in more goals at the weekend! Hopefully these guys can kick on to make an impact for their clubs and then eventually for the seniors. Toshack always said he was building for the future. I think he’s been true to his word!