An Akron teacher is currently in Ukraine, and he told 19 News it was his love for his Ukrainian students that’s kept him there.
“Thirteen in South Korea, three in Saudi Arabia, two in the UAE, one in China, and then when I got to be 60 years old, nobody wanted to hire me, because of ageism, except for Ukraine,” explained Merzweiler.He also spent three months teaching English in Ukraine in 2019 and now he’s been back since April of 2021.“It wasn’t until really, about a week to 10 days before the invasion, that I could see the fear in people’s eyes,” Merzweiler said.
Russian troops have not invaded Dnipro yet, but it could be the next target. Merzweiler says oddly enough, he’s not really afraid. “You know, I should be for some reason it’s just not registering with me,” the teacher said. “I’m pretty much living my daily life. I go to my favorite coffee shop in the morning. One of the very few is as open I work on my science fiction novel. I keep a cheery attitude towards everybody helped keep up the local morale and you know; I just keep hoping for a miracle that Vladimir Putin falls over dead, or he sees the light and I go back to work.
As far as what Merzweilers doing to prepare, he’s stocked up on water, canned food, and found the nearest bomb shelter. “I’ll have to say I was getting pretty cynical about life but the courage of Zelenskyy and just the way the Ukrainians have been willing to fight for their freedom has really just been inspiring,” the English teacher said.Copyright 2022 WOIO. All rights reserved.
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