ukraine_eta

Update. I was promoted from Alternate for Ukraine's ETA to Primary for Latvia's ETA. Below is the initial email from Rachel on Friday: "To follow-up on our conversation: we are hoping to expand the English Teaching Assistant program in Latvia with 2 grantees in the 2012-13 year. As the competition was not open for ETA candidates, we have reviewed the applications of several alternate ETA candidates in the region, including your original application to Ukraine. Based on your linguistic background and academic experience, future objectives and commitment to the program, we would like to ascertain your interest and availability in being considered for one of these ETA grants to Latvia. While the Embassy has already reviewed your application, we would also like to ask that you compose a brief revised statement of purpose to reflect your interest in and ability to teach in Latvia. It’s likely that your placement would be in a Russian-speaking environment, either in Daugavpils or Rezekne, so this is something you may want to consider in making a decision." I redid my statement of purpose and got the official email today. So, pending medical clearance, et.al., I'll be going to Latvia. It's all rather shocking. When I asked Rachel about how common it is for this to happen, she replied "In my position in the past few years, I do this fairly regularly; we’ve opened about 6 new programs, so while not incredibly common, it does happen!" That is all. If you have any contacts in Latvia, let me know. Moving across the world so quickly is a bit daunting!

That's a bit weird, I think. I don't know the way that the Fulbright brain works, though.

Personally, I think it's possible that Ukrainian ETAs and full research grants are probably in different boats when it comes to alternates being promoted. I've had several friends promoted up from alternate for full grants, but I tend to second UkraineETA on our chances for promotion for the ETA. It just seems to me that it would be harder to secure additional funding for an ETA since they have to also secure an additional assitantship at a university. For Full grants, the affiliation is on the recipient, not the Fulbright office. Also, Ukraine has very few spots and is notoriously bureaucratically difficult. It's also different if you're an alternate for a country with a lot of spots to fill. That said, anything can happen and I'm not on the inside with the process of promotion. Maybe I'll be optimisitic tomorrow, but today I'm not. I'm not counting it out entirely, but I'm not hopeful. I'll let you know if anything changes.

Alternate to Ukraine ETA. The email came at 5:12 and was marked as ALT. Bah. Worse than a denial. I'm sick of my life being on hold.

I totally skipped over that post. Thanks for pointing it out. Of course, that means I'll be even twitchier than usual!

I haven't heard anything from Ukraine yet, but am hopeful about next week. I hope they don't seperate out the ETAs and Full grants when they notify. As to Belarus, I believe that the Eastern European committees are seperate, so I don't think geographic proximity is going to be a factor in responses. But I'm just as in the dark as everyone else. We're in the home stretch. Hang in there!

As a recent grad of the KU CREES program with a focus on Ukraine, I thought I'd chime in. A bit of background: I graduated in 2010. I was offered a spot at IU (no funding) and KU (with FLAS, initally as an alternate). I visited both universities. IU was great, but didn't seem committed to trying to help me secure funding first year or second. KU was actively looking for alternate sources. I ended up with FLAS both years during the program. I know very little about IU's program beyond the fact that it is good. The Ukrainian professors at KU are great. The program is small, but well-supported within the department and the school at large. There are several professors outside of CREES (one in Poli Sci, for instance) that are very much active in Ukrainian studies. They even brought Yushenko to the university to speak. Each year, there is also a funded speaker brought that focuses on ukraine. My favorite was Natalie Konenko, who does folk culture studies. Essentially, what I'm trying to say is: Don't discount KU because it doesn't have as good of a reputation as IU. It's a fantastic school. I've known several people who have come into the program with advanced Ukrainian. They usually have one-on-one readings classes with the language professor. I was a beginning student and had a very small class, which was helpful. There is also a decent amount of Ukrainian-speaking students who meet up weekly. Personally, I would have loved to get the funding you've been offered. It allows you to work on your research and it provides more of a solid line on your resume if you're looking for non-academic work after the program. I don't know the pay in comparison to the FLAS. It is more than possible to live comfortably in Lawrence on FLAS funding. I loved my time at KU. Since I'm still in the area, I'm still active with the department. There are monthly movie showings, at least one big event per semester, conferences, study-abroad opportunities, and a great group of students. There is a lot of interdepartmental cooperation among students and staff, too. They do a lot of joint events with the other area studies centers on campus. Also, Lawrence is rad. So yeah, my two cents, hurriedly typed at work. A last note: I loved the Lviv program. Even if you choose IU, you can still come through the KU program. There are students from other universities all of the time. Hope you enjoy wherever you choose!

There is a lady at the farmer's market who sells pizza dough. Her whole-wheat dough is fantastic. The market does operate in the winter, but its indoors and quite a bit smaller. I've never been in the winter. Amy's also has a good meatball grinder and Yellow Sub is great, too. There are meat substitutes everywhere! Local Burger has a fantastic veggie burger, so does The Burger Stand. The Merc sells a lot of different veggie options and we've got a new place Natural Grocers, that also sells natural, veggie options. You can get the Local Burger brand patties at the grocery stores, too. I second Sylas and Maddy's. Orange Leaf has good fro-yo. We've got several thrift stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc) and a few vintage stores, too. Dillon's is open 24 hours. There are three currently in town and they are rebuilding the one on Mass. I would suggest living within walking distance to downtown. Once the Dillons is ready, there will be a nice grocery nearby. Downtown is really the hub of Lawrence. My boyfriend lives within walking distance adn it's great. I live on 23rd, so I can walk to the grocery and laundromat and a few other places, but I wish I was near Mass! Hope this helps! V

I'm not nataliedread, but I am a KU CREES alum (currently waiting on Ukrainian ETA Fulbright notification). I was waitlisted my first year for a FLAS (in Ukrainian) and found out late March that I got the funding. I was waitlisted my second year, too. I ended up getting the FLAS, but, not to freak everyone out, it is possible that you could get it the first but not the second year. It depends on who applies (and what new students they want to entice). That said, I loved my program. Alex Tsiovkh is fantastic as the Ukrainian studies professor and his wife was great for my language training. The program is small, so you get a lot of attention in my experience. Lawrence is rad, too.

A friend of mine was alternate last year and ended up getting the award, so keep positive!

Anyone hear about Ukraine yet? I applied for the ETA and am feeling rather twitchy.