United Nations of Toastmasters Winter Carnival 2012
Wish you were here…
On my question where you would be able to meet so many representatives of different nations and nationalities in Kyiv on Saturday evening, February 11, 2012, you could hardly have any idea. Anyway, when I opened the door of Boom Boom Room Club, it seemed as if I jumped from the cold frosty evening into the warm and friendly atmosphere of the World Youth Festival.
Winter Carnival has become traditional in Kyiv Toastmasters community. But the fabulous event of 2012 was developed by the team of officers under the guidance of the Area Governor Kateryna Zarubina. Toastmasters clubs supported this idea and despite the time limit for thorough preparation each club presented various nations. Bright national clothes of Scotland and India, Ukraine and Estonia, Greece and Germany, the USA and France, Georgia and Japan created the spirit of true friendship. Each participant had a unique chance to “smell the air” of the whole globe where people are different, where languages are different as well as customs, traditions and festivals of each country. But there was something special that united Toastmasters. And this “special” was great desire to move forward and enrich one’s inner world. Masters of this ceremony were Olena Noskova and Mikhaylo Galimurza who played jokes inspiring the audience.
I’m not going to describe in details the whole event. But I should confess that three hours and a half had flown in a moment. We applauded Santa Clause from Japan (Victor Fursov), who never missed the opportunity to polish his public speaking skills. There was burst of laugh during the competition, conducted by Tetyana Kiselyova (Top Talkers) and volunteers from different clubs. It appeared to be not an easy task to move paper ships with the help of fans, and only the men with quick hands coped with this unusual task.
I looked with excitement at Dmytro Kuziak (Chamber Toastmasters Club). Recently he won the second place at the Inner Club Speech Contest, and at the carnival he performed the role of a very hospitable Georgian guy, speaking English with the brilliant Georgian accent. I’m not sure that Dmytro was strong enough in cooking but his “hachapuri” were super delicious.
It was not a secret that members of Toastmasters community could perform any role. They showed their talents during the competition in fashion design, and in 20 minutes two teams of “designers” demonstrated their T-shirts “art masterpieces”. Two top-models on the podium – Jenia Poluektova and Victor Polyakov were so natural and self-confident that it was impossible to choose the best one among them.
A “new concept” in French fashion design was shown by members of EBA Toastmasters Club (Svitlana Nesterenko, Oksana Tykha and Anna Naleskina). At first, girls encouraged volunteers ladies to put some staff of clothes on their men-models, and then put it off. It was very exciting, I should say.
During the winter carnival I discovered something extraordinary and new for myself, in particular:
– Svitlana Stavska (Dnipro Hills) was not only a great public speaker but also a jazz singer;
– Petro Zaliznyak flew from Italy to Kyiv in order not to miss the event and he shared his idea of establishing Toastmasters club at the University where he had been studying at the moment;
– Art-Talkers members (Elena Toktarova, Jasson Cammarano and Marina Nikolaeva) performed classical “Dance of little swans” in a humorous manner and showed a typical example of the Estonian tardiness;
– Liliya Mochalova’s singing (Dnipro Hills) was so inspiring and enthusiastic that the girls from other clubs ran to the stage and began to dance like the so-called “sexy back up”;
– tender and cute Area Governor Kateryna Zarubina gave a professional master-class in dancing, and no one could stop representatives of “united nations” who had been dancing “Sirtaki” for 15 minutes and finished it being wet to the skin;
– there was a lot of laugh during the competition when guys tried to throw apples into the packages and girls helped them;
– it was not an easy task to name the winner of the competition who had been pronouncing correctly the word “Belissimo” with 7 or even 8 candies in his/her mouth;
– the audience welcomed four brave guys from Top Talkers (Oleh Pokidko, Oleksandr Kosenko, Igor Chernikov and Oleksandr Andrienko) who performed the song “Bandito, Gangsterito”
The final accord was made by Toast Crackers members, who delivered a special ceremony of invitation to Toastmasters. The Club represented India and prepared the lively and vivid picture of an Indian village with its old traditions. The costumes were superb, the performance and the songs were very natural, well prepared and well practiced. That’s why the audience applauded four brilliant actors – Timur Berezhnoy, Kristina Bilous, Sergiy Grebenyuk, and Yuriy Stetsenko.
…Time passed very quickly. Those who participated in the traditional Winter Carnival left Boom Boom Room in a high spirit. So did I.
Lyudmyla Povaliy,
Art-Talkers Toastmasters club
ACS, CL
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