Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives, and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history,
we need to bring the people of the world together. And when we hear the voices of women, when
we listen to real lives of women from other countries, we connect our cultures without
differences or stereotypes, and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life. That's
what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Irina Timoshenko. Irina
is a Ukrainian girl from Mykolaev. She is a dancer with 11 years of dance experience,
and she enjoys it very much, as well as playing volleyball and acting on the stage. Irina,
how are you today? Hello, I'm fine. I'm glad to talk with you
and have the opportunity to join your project. I'm happy and very honored. And first, I want
to say Slava okrayni. Thank you, Giron Slava.
And I'm very curious about you as a person. So I like this question very much because
it's a good way to begin the conversation. I will say, if your friends could describe
your personality, what would they say about you?
They would say that I'm active, energetic, maybe sometimes loud and friendly.
I like that. And I'm very curious because most people are not so active nowadays. I
don't know. Maybe it's the pandemic or maybe it's too much social media or maybe the social
isolation, especially teenagers who grew up and needed to stay and study at home. But
to you, what motivates you to be a girl who is energetic and active?
I think that if you want to achieve your aim, you must do everything. You must do everything
that you can and you must be energetic. You must use all your opportunities. So this makes
me energetic, I think.
I like that. At the same time, what gives you those aims? Because, you know, a lot of
people nowadays don't really think about their goals and aims. They're distracted by Netflix
or Instagram or anything else, and they don't take time to understand what are their goals
and aims. Is it something your parents give you? Do you have someone who inspired you?
Or you're just born this way that you want to have achievements and you're ambitious
in this life?
I don't have a particular aim, but I know that I want to have a happy life. I want to
be happy. And now I am at 10-4 and next year I will pass the exam. So I know that I have
to study hard in order to pass them. And then I think that it will be more time to think
about my future.
This is so interesting. So to you, how is a happy life or happiness related to achieving
goals and doing ambitious things in life? Just understand the way you think.
I think that the person will have a beautiful future, a happy future, when he will do what
he wants, when the job will not only about money and about their souls. Because when
the person is interested in something and he does it, it is really cool and he will
be happy.
Thank you. And I know you're very interested in dance. I'm curious, what's your favorite
moment or part of dancing? Is it when you have a hard day and you know later you have
training and practice and you think, yes, soon I will have such a great time? Is it
in the middle when you forget all your troubles, you're just so present in the moment, only
feeling your movement and your body? Or is it after you finish and you do a good job
and people upload you or say, wow, you did so great and that validation gives you a smile
or which part is your favorite?
I think the most my favorite part is when I'm dancing and I show the character the dance
and I feel it. And also I like when people applaud and the team with whom I work, dance.
Thank you. That's really, really cool. And to ask again, there is this idea, especially
now after many Ukrainian girls left Ukraine because of the war and people from Western
Europe or North America, they see them and they think, oh my God, this girl looks angry.
This girl looks like she doesn't have much emotion. Is this something that you dealt
with that even if you feel inside, people outside think you're angry?
I don't know. I hear when I am working in our streets, I hear people and they don't
smile because, because for what I didn't know, they are usually smiling when they're
talking, but they're not always angry because in Europe, some people are smiling when they
are working and we don't do it. When we are working, we listen to music, but now we show
our own emotions. But when we are with friends, we do it.
Thank you. And you said that you feel dance deeply. Are you a girl, even if you don't
show it and you only show it to friends, are you a girl who feels all the emotions in a
very strong way? Are you emotional in that all the emotions affect you and your heart
in a deep way? I think that not, that not emotions are deep
for me. No, are deep for my heart. Yes.
That's interesting. And I understand it's already 2023. What is it to be a teenage
Ukrainian girl in 2023 nowadays? Are you traditionally Ukrainian, a girl who's always
often wearing vishivanka and singing traditional Ukrainian folk songs, or are you a mix of
many cultures, some Ukrainian, some Hollywood American vibes, a little bit of anime, Japanese
and some K-pop from Korea, and therefore you're a mix of a new culture compared to your
grandmother or mother? How are you as a person? Ukrainian teenagers are not only about
vishivanka and traditional Ukrainian songs and Ukrainian meals. We are a modern country,
we are modern people. And I like watching Netflix where I can see American girls, American
boys, American people, and I like their clothes, maybe something traditional. So I am a
Ukrainian girl and I like to make something new. Thank you. I like your modern way of
thinking. And to ask you even more, how was for you, February 24, that invasion, especially
that you live in Mykolaiv, which is in the east of Ukraine, more close to the Donbas
region? How did you hear about it? Did you believe it's correct? Did you believe it was
true? How did your life change in this year? The life changed a lot, I can say, because
for nine months I didn't live in my house, and now I am in my city, Mykolaiv. It was,
for me, very difficult because now everything is not as worse because we have a war. I have
a war in my city, in my country. I don't have socialize as worse. I don't have a lot of
friends who are with me. So I can't work with them in our city. I can't work with them
in Ukraine because they are in Europe. And also I can't go to school. I can't go dancing
because everything is closed. So I can't visit it because of the war. Thank you. I understand
your situation. It's very difficult. And again, all I can say is slava okrawini. Thank you.
And you said your friends are in Europe. I'm curious. Now that it's almost a year that
the full invasion and big war started, maybe a lot of your friends and their families,
they have a new school, new friends, new life, their parents' new job abroad. Do you think
they will return to Ukraine or they will start a new life abroad and just support Ukraine
from far? What's your opinion? My opinion that great part of my friends will return,
but my friends now finished school, will finish school this year. And maybe they will
study at Europe because before the war, all of us were thinking about education in Europe.
So I think that it can be, but people, my friends will return to Ukraine because they love it and
they want it. I know it because we are talking about this. Thank you. And you said in one year,
maybe you will finish your school, you will need to go to university. Do you think you as well
will study outside of Ukraine in some other part or you will study in Kyiv and like
National Kyiv Muhila Academy or Taras Shevchenko or what will be your dream and plan?
I think I will study in Ukraine. I want to study in Ukraine and I want to study in Ukraine.
I believe that everything will be great and we will go for university, not online, because
from 2020 we have COVID and the most part of the time at school, we were studying online and now
because before we are studying online and I believe that when I will go to the university,
I will go in the building and there I will be studying. Thank you. And you spoke about COVID
and you spoke about the social isolation and now you cannot go to many places because they're
closed, you cannot walk with your friends because they're not in Mikhalaya. Are you an introvert
girl? Is it okay for you to be for a long period alone or do you miss all those activities with
other people? Do you miss the human interactions? I think I like to be among people. I like to
socialize but sometimes for me it is difficult but it is very, it is very glad to be in Mikhalaya
to talk, to have fun with people and when you are sitting always at home, have online lessons,
you are talking with your friends on the phone. It is, it is, I'm not, I'm not happy so I want to
work, I want to visit different places and live in my city. I really wish that for you too,
very, very much. And if so, can you describe how is a day in your life nowadays when it's
Christmas period, when it's more holidays in Mikhalaya, when do you wake up, what do you do
when you have class or when you're on vacation? How is your day that keeps your mental health okay?
Yesterday holidays at my school started and I think that now I will get up at nine o'clock
in order to have a full day. I will practice mathematics, English, I think, what about
holidays? I don't know because we arrived in Mikhalaya for one week ago and we don't have
a usual life as we had. So what about holidays? I don't know how it be but I have my family here,
my brother here and we will play games. I know it and I believe that I will have a great time
and everything will be okay. I really hope that for you as well. And I'm curious, how did you
change as a person from that day, February 24? Some of the girls from Ukraine I interviewed,
they said, oh, maybe I enjoy every day more because I know all my plans can break at any
day because of different situations. Other one, she said, I feel I appreciate life a lot more
and I feel happy to be with family. Another one, she said, I change all my plans now on my aims
because before I used to have different aims but now I want to be more happy. Tell me for you,
how is your perspective and personality changed after the experience of this invasion and war?
I think at first I couldn't believe that this war in Ukraine and the life will not be as
worse but I think that I changed. I changed because at first I started to speak Ukrainian,
I said I started speaking Ukrainian and also I understand that something not at
first. I mean that when I started to read news, I grew up because the war is really difficult
for everyone, for children, for adults. Thank you so much for sharing your life,
your experience, Arina. I wish you success. I wish you a happy life. I wish peace and victory
for Ukraine and please stay strong and keep going. Thank you.
