A Very Cold Winter!

We've made it through our last winter in Ukraine, but it wasn't easy! These pictures are from Heather's village during the snowiest part of the winter.


Most shopping in the village (and sometimes in the city too) is done at the bazaar.

The bazaar is only two or three days a week so you need to plan your meals.

Ukrainians eat a lot of canned goods during the winter. Prices of fruits and vegetables drop dramatically in the summer and most people take advantage of this by canning summer foods to eat all year round.

Dried goods are another option.


It is still surprising to me the number of people in Ukraine that get around like this.

The ice froze straight to the branches this day. It was very beautiful, but it didn't last long. Heather took advantage of the moment and snapped this picture.

This is in front of heather's apartment. This is the area where the chickens are usually running around. That is a well in the center, but unfortunately it is pretty polluted.

Heather's apartment building.

It snowed a whole bunch!

Heather's apartment is heated by a wood fire stove. It was an extremely cold winter, even by Ukrainian standards. That meant we got to split lots of logs. Even with the fire it could still get pretty cold. Especially at night because after you go to sleep the fire goes out pretty quick. It's not practical to get up every half hour to throw another log on. The best solution at night is lots and lots of blankets.

We needed lots of kindling for starting fires too. This was not exactly what I imagined when I first thought of doing Peace Corps, but they did tell me to be ready for anything.



Thanks to Heather for the use of these pictures.