Wartime. Stories of our Colleagues: преподавательница YC Аня Пилипенко

Кроме того, что мы обожаем обучать людей английскому, мы в Yappi Corporate и сами не упускаем шанс узнать что-то новое. Какие уроки можно выучить во время войны, – рассказывает наша преподавательница Аня Пилипенко.

 

Life During Wartime, Pt. II: викладачка YC Аня Пилипенко

 

My name is Hanna Pylypenko, I am an English and Chinese teacher. And before all this madness started I had been very much happy with my life and how things had been going.

I had a lot of cool classes with the people I loved teaching to. As a hobby I was also having psychotherapy sessions with the ones who needed it. Educating and inspiring people have always been my calling. Little had I known before the war that I myself would soon need psychological help to digest everything that would be going on next. 

Last year I found myself tired of a big city, so I moved from Kyiv to Irpin. It used to be such a peaceful town with numerous beautiful parks and lots of happy smiling people. I’d always considered myself to be absolutely lucky to live there. Finally, I found my place. 

But all this joyful life was ruined at 5 am Feb 24 when me and my boyfriend woke up with the sounds of a missile whistling above our building. We didn’t sleep that day any more. After that it was all surreal. We fled to a village in Kyiv region, but didn’t really escape shelling and explosions. Long story short, 6 days without heating, electricity, proper connection, powerful explosions close enough for walls to tremble, and we were on the move again.

 

Life During Wartime, Pt. II: викладачка YC Аня Пилипенко - 2

Photo made in a village called Kolonshchyna, Kyiv region, trying to romanticize the absence of electricity in the house

 

We were driving across a corn field to Zhytomyr road and had little oil enough only for a 20 or 30 kilometer ride. What we saw there was utterly the most terrifying scene ever, empty cars with broken windows and doors with numerous holes in them, destroyed tanks and their debris all over the road. While we were driving there, every second was just about looking left and right expecting some shooting and bombing from the woods around.

But we made it, we survived, and even learned a few things on the way:

  • dirty hair for the whole week is not that scary;
  • having a lot of clothes is overrated;
  • 5th day bread can be tasty;
  • 6 hours queueing near the petrol station is just a piece of cake.

These and other insights made these 3 weeks quite useful in realizing how wonderful our lives had been before.

And one more positive thing, during these 3 weeks I managed to meet almost all of my friends from Central and Western Ukraine. They hosted and are hosting us while we are trying to figure out what to do with our lives next.

So far I am happy to be alive and patiently waiting for the victory which undoubtedly is coming. Glory to Ukraine!

  • calling – призвание
  • digest – переварить
  • sounds of a missile whistling above our building – звуки свиста ракеты над нашим домом
  • flee (we fled) – бежать
  • shelling and explosions – обстрелы и взрывы
  • on the move – в пути
  • utterly – абсолютно
  • debris – обломки
  • queue – стоять в очереди
  • a piece of cake – легко, как конфету у ребенка отобрать
  • host – принимать у себя дома, приютить
  • undoubtedly – несомненно
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