Video update

Here is a short update with a video of some of the kids playing on the airplane.



Video by Heather.

Just when I think I've gotten to know my town really well I discover something new about it. There is a park near the school where I work that has an old Soviet passenger airplane parked in it. The people who I've asked have told me that it had some kind of a problem while it was flying and had to make an emergency landing. Everyone was okay and the plane was in tact, but it was left where it stood and a park was built around it. The inside of the plane was converted into a museum for a while, but that was closed a year or two ago. The inside of the plane is completely empty now.

I first went to see the plane about three weeks ago and I went back again just last weekend. Unfortunately, on my second visit I discovered that a fire was started in the plane and it was partly destroyed. The front half is in tact, but the rear is laying on the ground, now only partly connected. Some of the kids in the park had discovered that if they ran back and forth on the tail wing they could make it rock back and forth and they were having a great time doing this, sort of like a teeter-totter. It didn't seem safe to me, but none of the Ukrainian adults that were around seemed phased by it.

This may be because Ukrainian playgrounds are often different from playgrounds in the states. If I was a kid I would definitely rather play in a Ukrainian playground. If I was a parent, I would never allow it. In America, the things you have at a playground are pretty standard. I imagine this is partly because these toys have been tested again and again to make sure no one will get sued. This is not the case in Ukraine. Playgrounds are often unique and I don't think the same stringent safety standards exist in Ukraine like we have in America. Anyway, that's enough about playgrounds.

The latest with me is summer planning. Right now there are all kinds of things I am going to do this summer, the only problem is that I don't have firm dates for any of them. The good thing is that this isn't as big a problem as you would think because I live in Ukraine. When the Peace Corps staff told me during training that America was a "planning" culture and Ukraine was not I really didn't understand what they meant. None of us did because we were without a reference point. Now I understand. Even when I do make specific plans with someone to do something I understand that it isn't for sure and the times, dates, location, and really anything at all related to the event is subject to change. The only trick is to understand this in advance and then you don't get stressed out.

So, here are my plans for the summer: I am going to spend a week or two at a summer camp doing fun things with kids and teaching them English. My brother Avery is coming to visit me in my town and we will go to Poland to meet up with my Mom. Afterwards it is possible that she will come to Ukraine or I will go with her to France. I will travel to Crimea to visit my friend Martin. I will hold my own summer camp for a week or two to play games and help some of the kids in my town with their English. I'm taking a trip to Turkey for a week. I'm finishing and submitting a grant. I'm going to get a hot water heater (I hope). I will get some new books for the students and teachers at my university. If I have time (ha!) I will visit Lviv and Odessa. I think that will be enough for the two months that I have off. I will let you know how these things play out as they occur, but I think it will be a good time. Until then, do pobachennya!

Pictures by Heather.

The first semester

Time is starting to move quickly, it's hard to believe that I have been in Ukraine for almost six months. The combination of work and travel are keeping me busy. I spend most of the week teaching classes and tutoring students. On the weekend I often travel to see friends or they come to see me. I also fit in there working on side projects like the grant I'm writing, helping teachers and students with proofreading or other things, writing exams, and teaching extra classes. When I have a weekend to myself I usually spend it catching up on work, but today I am spending it updating my blog.

Last weekend was Easter in Ukriane and one of the things I enjoy most about living here is enjoying the Ukrainian traditions. I did this on Easter by getting up at 2 AM so I could go to the church to have eggs and bread blessed along with all the other Ukrainians in the village. At first it was a little strange since there are no street lights, but when I got to the church all the people were gathered around and waiting with their painted eggs and bread. The church is very beautiful too! After this I went home to sleep until 8 AM when I got up to "breakfast" with some Ukrainian friends. Breakfast is in quotes because in Ukraine the foods that you eat for breakfast are not necessarily different from those that you eat at lunch or dinner. But the food for Easter was really spectacular! It is a tradition that for holidays like Easter families cook as many different types of dishes that they can. The table was completely full with all different types of food. In fact, it was more than full. The table wasn't big enough and plates had to be stacked on plates, with more plates waiting with deserts for later! Of course your host wants you to try everything, but this means you can't take more than two bites of any one dish because otherwise you will not have room for the others! The greatest compliment you can give to your host in Ukraine is if you say you think the table might collapse. I didn't really understand until I saw it for myself and truthfully, I was a bit concerned that this could really happen.

After breakfast, we went to another friend's house who had a birthday on the same day. Of course, they had just as many dishes on their table and we were expected to start eating all over again! I had some because it was just too delicious, but I had to bow out early and went to play soccer with the kids. This was a good idea, not just because I was completely stuffed, but because the vodka had been flowing this entire time too - since 9 o'clock in the morning! I can't drink like a Ukrainian man, it just isn't possible. When I'm offered one shot too many I usually just smile say no, "ya ne ookraiyeenetz." This means "I am not a Ukrainian man" and it usually draws a laugh and they let me off the hook. If not, I turn my glass upside down, bring it to the kitchen, or fill it with water. Sometimes several, or all of these methods are necessary.

Easter was a lot of fun, but one of the best trips I took was to visit my host family in Chernihiv last month. I was really looking forward to it, but I didn't realize the impact the trip would have on me. When I was in training, Chernihiv was really the only city I spent any time in. As far as I was concerned, that was Ukraine. Everything I understood about Ukraine was from what I had learned in Chernihiv. Going back was different though. Now I had lived in another city and done a lot of travelling to other cities too. When I saw Chernihiv again it was in a completely different light because I had other things to compare it to. I had so many memories of being in training with 20 or 30 other volunteers there as well as the Peace Corps staff. Now it was just me, alone, with my earliest memories in Ukraine. I remembered how difficult it was to find my way from one place to another, all the times I got lost, the first time I bought food from a Ukrainian at the bazaar, when my host mom took me to school on my first day and on and on. These things are easy for me now and I do them every day, but it was an adjustment that took months and is really still happening. It was great seeing my host family again too, all of their friends came over and we had a big party. I will have to go back and visit them again soon.

These are just some of the highlights of the last few months, I have so much more to write and so little time. I will try to update again soon, but if you want to say hi or hear more about things you can always send me an e-mail. Talk to you soon!

Many of you are probably wondering what happened to me. I know it has been over a month since the last post. I'm doing just fine and am living at my new site which is only about an hour and a half from Kiev. It's nice to be so close, I've already visited a few times and I think I will know the city very well by the time I return to the states. My city is fairly small, about 30,000 people, but I like it very much. It is a historical cities with many museums.

I am working at a pedagogical university training future English teachers. The students are having their winter break right now, but there is still lots for me to do. Right now I am working on preparing lessons for the next semester, editing a textbook on American Studies, and trying to put a grant together so that we can get the money to have this textbook published.

I miss my host family quite a bit and may go back to visit them next month. Some of the things I miss most are my host mom's cooking, having people to speak Ukrainian with, and their very nice apartment.

Cooking for yourself in Ukraine is hard. When I explain to my friends here that I've hardly ever cooked before they are confused and wonder how that could even be possible. Food in Ukraine is very different than in America. It doesn't usually come in boxes, frozen and pre-made, or in just-add-water form. I go to the bazaar and I buy vegetables, flour, spices, etc. and I need to figure out what to do with these things. That isn't so bad by itself, but it takes TIME. Time to try out new recipes, cut and peel vegetables, develop new routines, etc. Even though I spend far more time cooking than I ever did back home I'm looking forward to developing the skill and have already come a long way. I remember when I first got here and how when I peeled vegetables as much of the skin would end up on the floor as in the trash can. Small steps!

You would think it would be easy for me to practice my Ukrainian since I am living in Ukraine. The difficulty is that I work with English teachers who are training future English teachers. Most of the people I talk with speak far better English than I speak Ukrainian and they want to practice their English with me since I am a native speaker and an English teacher. This is great, but it means that about the only time I speak Ukrainian is when I go to the bazaar or the store to buy things. I have a Ukrainian tutor that I spend an hour with every week, but that isn't much time. I think my Ukrainian may be worse now than a month ago when I arrived at site. But that's okay, I'll do my best with it and try to keep in mind that the reason I came here wasn't to learn Ukrainian. My time is focused on teaching, editing books, and writing grants, as it should be.

There are many ways that my host family's apartment is nicer than the one I live in now, but the number one thing I miss is the hot water. I knew when I joined Peace Corps that it would be possible that I would be taking bucket baths, but I pictured myself doing this somewhere in Africa or South America. Taking a bucket bath in Ukraine is a whole different thing! The first time it was pretty scary, but it's something you adjust to and I've done that pretty well. In fact, I've even come up with some ways that it is superior to taking a regular bath or shower. Here's one example:

If your phone rings or someone knocks on your door you can just take a break in the middle and finish later! Since you're in Ukraine and it's cold you only keep the part of your body bear that you're currently washing. That means all you have to do is rinse off, put your shirt the rest of the way on and off you go!

There are others too, but I won't bore you with those here. You can ask me later if you feel like listening to me go on for an hour about all the advantages to a bucket bath.

The other thing I've been busy with is celebrating the many Ukrainian holidays that happen this time of year. Christmas is the big holiday in the states, but here it is the New Year. I celebrated in a Ukrainian home where I learned a tradition they have of writing a wish down on a piece of paper, lighting it on fire, throwing it in your champagne glass, and then drinking it down. Sounds like fun, right? It probably is if you haven't already had a few drinks, hold onto your wish for too long after you light it on fire, burn yourself, and then spill your champagne in your lap. Oops!

In Ukraine they celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January and then just yesterday we celebrated Old New Year. That's all I have time for right now, but I'll try to make the next update quicker than the last one.