Vladyslav, Donetsk region, 16.04.22

Good day, dear colleagues!!! I am Vladyslav [...], a history teacher from [...]. Before the 29th of March, 2022, I was in [...], and I personally experienced a month of war. In my first memoir, I want to describe my personal life as of the 24th of February, 2022. I was on the trolleybus with my colleagues on my way to work at school. One of my colleagues, when she got on the trolleybus at one of the stops, said that other schools have started working remotely, and the students and parents were already informed about it yesterday evening. One of my colleagues started texting and calling our director to ask about a further course of action. The director told us to get off the trolleybus and go home as we would work remotely on the 24th and the 25th of February. At first. I got off the bus and started walking home. While on my way, I was calling my parents, colleagues, and close friends. After walking for 1-2 kilometers, I remembered that I should go to school and get my diplomas and attestation papers. Still, I did not even think about the work registry book because I did not imagine there would be big-scale military actions. I called the director and asked if she was at school. The director told me she was in school and asked what it was that I wanted. I told her that I wanted to pick up my documents. I was standing at the bus stop for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, I was on the phone with some of my acquaintances and colleagues. When I arrived at school, I quickly picked up the folder with the documents, and I met a few more colleagues at school who also came to pick up personal belongings and documents. Then I left to catch the bus home. On my way home, I saw long lines of people in front of the ATMs. I went to the grocery store near my house as I wanted to buy potatoes, carrots, and onions. It was after 10 in the morning. There were many people at the supermarket, and some shelves were already empty or almost empty. The products which I needed were still there. Most people were buying grains, flour, sausages, meat, and eggs, but these kinds of produce were running out. I grabbed as many potatoes, carrots, and onions as I could handle and walked to the cashier. I was carrying everything in my hands because there were no available baskets. There were long lines at the cashiers, and I had to stand in the queue for 40-50 minutes. I got home after the supermarket. The first thing I did was that I cooked soup for myself. I decided not to give online lessons because there were loud explosions, and I was afraid I could get injured. I have discussed with my colleagues that I would not teach in their student groups (класах), so the group curators have texted their students in the group chats that the history teacher would not give lessons today. After I finished making the soup and ate it, I was sitting or lying in my bed observing the explosions nearby the building where I used to live. In the afternoon of the 24th of February 2022, I was on the phone, scrolled my social media feed (Facebook), and texted with my colleagues from school and other historians from our city and other cities in Ukraine about the situation in [...]. I was sharing my emotions, but I was convinced, as was the majority of Mariupol residents, that nothing would happen and that the shelling would only be in the city's suburban areas. I lived in a suburb in a five-story building not far from [...] side. Most of my female colleagues were very disturbed by the powerful bombings. Still, they were even more nervous when we had been hearing explosions for an entire day, and the metallurgist from the Illich plant was told about the temporary pausing of the production for two weeks. All of us then understood that there was going to be something serious. I was trying to support everyone through phone calls and texts on social media. I was watching the local news reports by [...] TV through Facebook, where they were broadcasting a speech by the city mayor [...], who said that the situation in the city is difficult, but it is under control. There was electricity, gas, wi-fi, and mobile data, so the people were living like the civilized ones until the 2nd of March, 2022. All of this was interrupted due to the military actions. It was after the 24th and the 25 of February that the information about a school break was announced on the 28th of February. The administration of our educational institution was silent about it in the Viber chat, referring to the official information coming up from the City Department of Education. They had to wait for the directives [from above]. By the evening of the 25th of February, if I am not mistaken, the director had published the official order about the school break in the teacher's chat.