Prologue

In Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of My Visit to Novograd-Volynsky, Ukraine

From Ukraine Journal Entries, October 1998

Michael Ostapuk

Estrella Middle School Teacher, Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America

Prologue

Little do I know when I open a letter spring of 1997 all that will transpire afterwards! It is from the United States Information Agency, USIA, and two of its affiliated councils – ACTR/ACCELS. The letter basically asks me to apply along with 300 other US teachers to travel as a teacher ambassador to one of the NIS countries (newly independent states of the former Soviet Union).

I assume I am selected because of my 1996 Russia trip with the Nevada Geographic Alliance, my 1997 published article (“Dragon and the Anchor” in the July-August 1997 Journal of Geography) about my Russia visit, and my National Council for Geographic Education Distinguished Award in 1995, which recognized my long career of teaching geography since 1969.

I decide to apply, and get permission from my principal, superintendent, and governing board of the Cartwright Elementary School District in Phoenix, Arizona where I have been teaching social studies since 1972. If selected by USIA, I will be traveling October of 1998 and will miss about three weeks of school.

Why Ukraine

I complete the lengthy application and wait. Lo and behold, I am one of only 28 teachers selected nationwide. Better yet, my country request for Ukraine is granted! “Ostapuk” is a Ukrainian surname. My grandfather on my father’s side immigrated to the US when he was 18 from somewhere near the present-day border with Poland’s city of Lublin in May 1914 before World War 1 began. His name was Michael Ostapuk, same as mine, and I never knew him. He died in New York City in 1937 when my father was a teen. So here I am going to Ukraine! I am determined, if at all possible, to maybe find some long lost Ostapuk village somewhere. As one teacher at my school, Estrella Middle School, states “Now, that’s a scary thought!

Delaware Rendezvous

USIA flies the 28 of us to the University of Delaware in July 1998 to meet the 70 NIS teachers of English who have traveled half way round the world to meet us. I meet 15 Ukrainian teachers and the 6 US teachers, including myself, who have been picked to go to Ukraine. We all present lesson plan sessions. I do one using my published 1997 article about my Russia experiences of 1996. The Ukrainian teachers are all very pleasant, but there is one in particular, Edward Zinnurov, who is especially nice and easy to talk to. We seem to hit it off, and I hope that we will be matched by USIA.

And that’s exactly what happens! Edward will be my host teacher once I reach Ukraine. Near the end of September I get a letter from USIA naming Edward and his home town of Novograd-Volynsky as my destination from Phoenix, Arizona the morning of October 7. I am told I will fly via Atlanta, Georgia, to Washington, DC and a state-department orientation, then go on to New York City and Vienna, for my final destination of Kyiv, capital city of Ukraine where I will be greeted by Ukrainian officials and Edward.