Goodbye, Ukraine

I am no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. I am now a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Those four initials, RPCV, will follow me for the rest of my life. I will forever be an RPCV.

I finished my Peace Corps service in November, 2009. I haven't written about it because I felt like my emotions have been too close to the surface.

Leaving Peace Corps is not quite as simple as it should be. First, there is all the paperwork. They give you two papers that must be filled with signatures. These items range from: closing out your bank account, to getting your final dentist checkup, to receiving your plane ticket home. This is impossible to do in a single day. I started mine very early and thankfully finished very early.

I am happy to say that before I left I was able to go to Lviv, finish my host sister's wedding cloth, and go to her wedding.

Here is a picture of the finished wedding cloth. I had an incredible time finishing it. I had to teach myself hardanger (cut work) for the ends.



Here is a picture of me and my host sister at her wedding. Isn't she beautiful?



Okay, back to the leaving part:

Then there's the process of packing all your belongings. Difficult to do, but then begins the more difficult task of deciding what comes and what goes. You end up with so much STUFF. Thankfully there was a wonderful PCV who took ALL my clothes. You have to remember who gave you what so that you don't accidentally offer it back to the person. You lug the extra stuff to the Peace Corps office to leave for other PCVs. You say goodbye to your friends and colleagues. I ran around asking people about letters of recommendation.

Then it's time.

My final day was spent with my best friend in Ukraine, Maryna. My friend Ira and her helped me do the final packing and cleaning. The night before I'd gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep and I was exhausted. They let me sleep while they cleaned. It was amazing. We hung out, packed, weighed suitcases, repacked them, weighed them again, and finally finished.

Going home, I was traveling with my cat. We went from Kyiv to Moscow, Moscow to New York, and New York to Seattle. My first flight was at 8:30am, so I hired a friend to drive me, Maryna, and Miau Miau to the airport. He came at 3 or 3:30 am and picked us up. We got to the airport, and Maryna waited with me until it was time for my flight. It was really great being with someone special on my last day. We really tried to stay positive. I miss her!

Finally I got on the flight and sat with Miau Miau the whole way home. It was such a long ride. She was fairly scared, so she stayed in her carrier the whole way. She only drank a little bit when we got to New York, and she ate a TINY bit of salmon on the way to New York. Overall it was not so stressful. Traveling with a cat means you have to have the vet check her over, she has to have her vaccinations and have a kitty passport :) Getting her through customs was a breeze. Total cost for kitty: $150.

Since "graduating" I've been living at home. I moved into my parents' house, stayed in Colorado for a month with friends, visited my grandmother and dad's side of the family for a week or two, and have been doing my best to see all my friends. I haven't been working, just living off of parents and Peace Corps funds. I have been going through my belongings, repacking, reducing, recycling, and selling. It's really nice to get rid of things, and amazing how much STUFF I've managed to save up over the years. I am enjoying and also stressing out about this process.

While my Peace Corps adventures have come to a close, my life adventure has not. I am, after all, an ESL professional with a passion for living around the world. This blog has changed from "PC Ukraine" to "Where in the World?" It is no longer simply a chronicle of my journey through Peace Corps, but a journey throughout my career. As such, I changed the format of this blog just slightly, and I hope you will continue on with me. Thank you for all your support.

A fairly normal day in Ukraine (but a bit spendy!)

Today was a really fun day. On the docket for the day: picking up my boots, getting my clothes repaired (oh crap—now I am forgetting my English—do we say “repaired” for clothes?)

My boots are pretty sweet. I found a place that does custom boots. They will make nearly anything you want for a decent price—for me a “decent price” is less than $100. This is one price I absolutely compare with American prices, because I’m planning to take these puppies home with me! So this pair is knee high with the Battlestar Galactica logo stitched into the sides—specifically the phoenix/angel from the logo.


_{The boots in question}

So my friend Maryna and I plan to meet at 11:30 near the tank. Every town in Ukraine as “A Tank” as a monument to some war or victory or historical event. History isn’t my strong suit. We were both late, as usual. I had a baba bag with me—a very large, plastic, zippered bag that the locals carry. It had all my clothes to be repaired in it. I was wearing a pair of black slacks and tennis shoes and my winter coat because the weather didn’t look too bad. Man was I wrong.

While waiting for Maryna, I was happy to spot my favorite lady near the tank. She sells Piroshki. These are amazing. They’re (I think) potato dough with cabbage, potatoes, or meat inside, that are then deep fried. OMG DELICIOUS. I like the potato ones. So I ate that while waiting for Maryna.

It was then I realized that a) I hadn’t called the lady to confirm that I was coming b) I didn’t have her number c) I didn’t have her address. Oh well. We’d been there before and decided to wing it. We knew which marshrutka to take (a marshrutka is like a cross between a van and a short bus), so we waited. While waiting we saw a poster for So You Think You Can Dance, the Ukrainian version (something like Танцюють Всi). Turns out they were performing in Zhytomyr the next day!!!! I LOVE SYTYCD, and even though I had never seen the Ukrainian version, I knew it would be just as good.

So we get on the marshrutka and make our way to the boot lady’s house, only to find out she wasn’t there. Maryna had the woman’s daughter’s number, so we called and the lady said they would be ready on Tuesday. *sigh* So we made our way to the tailor.

Maryna thinks I’m lazy, I think, because I don’t repair small holes that happen in the seams of my clothes. J Whatever. I’d rather have a professional do it. I dropped off a bag of mine that had been splitting open, my jeans that needed to be hemmed, two sweaters with holes in the armpits, a coat whose zipper kept popping open and whose pockets needed mending, a pair of pants that had a hole, and my coat whose liner was literally in tatters. Total price 185 griven (around $20). Not too bad. SPENDY for a Peace Corps budget, but that’s what I get for waiting and having them pile up.

We went to the bazaar and I got one of my favorite foods—galuptsi with carrots. It is usually meat that is wrapped in cooked cabbage leaves, but this kind is basically spiced carrots wrapped in cabbage leaves. DELICIOUS. It was around this time that it REALLY started snowing. BIG FATTIE FLAKES. And the ground was solid mud. I’m in the city, but do we have awesome, mud-free sidewalks here? Nope. So it was snowing really hard and completely muddy. The snow felt a bit like rain, as well. I departed from Maryna and walked to the theatre, where SYTYCD would be performing, and met Tanya. By this time my right foot was COMPLETELY soaked. Blarg.

I found out that not only were there seats available, but there were GOOD seats available! So I bought a ticket—just one, because sadly my friends were unavailable. It is nice to have a friend there when you’re negotiating something like that—I did negotiate the ticket sale myself, but I had a backup translator.

Tanya went with me on the marshrutka home, and I had to walk across this nasty mud field to get to my house. By the time I got home, both shoes were covered in mud, my socks were soaked through with mudwater, and my pants were really wet at the bottom. Lovely. And tomorrow night—I’ll be going to see AWESOME DANCING!!!! WOOT!

One year in Ukraine

Wow. It doesn’t seem like yesterday that I arrived, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been a year.

October 1, 2007 I stepped off that plane into blistering hot heat. We were greeted by a sign in English saying “Welcome to Ukraine,” and we were greeted by friendly smiles from Peace Corps staff, friendly smiles that are still dear to my heart. It was unseasonably warm in Kyiv, and we were all dying while waiting on the bus. We were herded, eyes unseeing, ears unhearing, into our pre-training site. Everything was strange, the faces, the policies, the billboards. It was all novel—the Cyrillic signs, people speaking in an unfamiliar language, people selling things by the side of the road, the cars driving like they were in the Pole Position game, the layouts of the stores, the prices, the inability to communicate.

It was all novel because it was all new and interesting and WOW this was why we signed up for Peace Corps.

We were given our languages—I was given Russian, and some people rejoiced, while others complained. Our first day of language class—given the letters of our names and asked to make it into our names.

Д Ж У Л И Я

None familiar but that little Y, which wasn't a Y, but an OO. I couldn't spell my own name: Джулия. Overwhelming! Being taught to say “My name is” and ask “What is your name?” Running to the really cute security guard and asking him “Как вас завут?” KAK VAC ZAVOOT? Then giggling like crazy fangirls when he told us, then promptly forgetting because our brains short circuited at having spoken to a really good looking dude in a foreign language.

One year ago. Rumors of who was going where. Whispers of “So and so already knows about her family.” Talk of possibilities. I vaguely remember the presentation. I remember Vova’s funny talk about the Village with Town-like qualities, and Larissa’s talk of Chernigov with bellydancing. I remember being told I would be in Chernigov.

I remember how much luggage I had. WAY more than anyone in our group. A comical amount of luggage. I remember hauling it to the busses. I remember finally getting on our busses. I remember really really really having to pee and everyone filing into an LCF’s apartment to use the bathroom before heading to Chernigov. I wonder what the babushkas in the building thought—20 Americans stomping up the stairs and waiting in a line to go into this little apartment.

I remember getting to Chernigov. My host mother, Alla, was there. She was a large, stern-looking woman. I remember being intimidated and timid and so I stayed on the bus and helped people get their luggage. Finally got to her and felt embarrassed about all my luggage. Proudly said Меня завут Джулия MENYA ZAVOOT JULIA and her saying her name, then having literally nothing else to say other than hello. So I stayed silent. She seemed so serious, and I wondered what she thought of me. I wondered if she was happy to see me, because she didn’t smile. I wondered if she was irritated by my luggage, since we had to STUFF it into the taxi. I wondered if she was weirded out by this stranger living in her home who didn’t speak a lick of the language.


_{My host mother, Alla}

I remember the first meal. Some of the food was good, some was not so great, but there was too much of it. I remember feeling overwhelmed, and wanting to make a good impression, and forcing myself to overeat because I didn’t know how to say no politely. My host sister was shy, but she spoke English, which helped. Perhaps a bit too much. She was 17 and from the village, and only now do I believe I understand who she was in relation to my host mom—I think she was my host mom’s cousin’s daughter.

I remember doing charades to ask when to be woken up. I remember in the morning being walked to my class, which was very close. I remember being taught to say “I have a family. I have a mother. I have a father. I have a sister. Do you have a family?” I was introduced to Yulia, my host mother’s friend’s daughter. Yulia was my age and she couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous I sounded—and I did. “DO YOU HAVE A FAMILY?” sounds pretty funny, no matter how you say it. I remember my host mother asking me something, which sounded like “Do you need a magazine?” And I thought “I don’t need a magazine, I have one.” Later I realized she was asking if I needed to go to the store—the word “Magazine” means “Store” in Russian.

I remember enjoying language classes, and we had so many. I remember feeling frustrated and anxious and not making friends during training. I remember just feeling overwhelmed. I also remember the feelings of giving up near the end. Then came swearing in.

We met our counterparts, we met the US Ambassador.


_{My counterpart, Iryna}

We swore in. I was proud to be an American that day. Taking the oath that all of us take:

I, Julia Johansen, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps of the United States of America, serving Ukraine to the best of my abilities and demonstrating the respect and consideration due its people. So help me God.

This past year has been packed.

I’ve made several lifelong friends—some best friends, both Ukrainian and American. I’ve come to have some favorite Ukrainian foods that I KNOW I will miss back in the US. I’ve learned to live and thrive within my community. I’ve learned that the more you know of a language the more you realize you don’t know. I’ve learned to speak Russian—enough to have conversations, but not enough to be able to tell my landlord properly that the pilot light on my kalonka keeps going out. I got a beautiful Ukrainian cat who is the perfect mixture of ornry and sweet. I have an apartment that I’m only ashamed to show people when it looks like a homeless person has been living here. I’ve settled into good routines. I filled out my first grant. I found great organizations and great people to work with. I’ve found what it is to be a Peace Corps Volunteer.

And you know, I’ve had it so much easier than many PCVs. So much so that I often hesitate to complain about having to take bucket baths in my modern bathroom, or that I have to walk through a small field of mud, or that my apartment feels cold. No one gossips about what I bought, or how much money I spend on shampoo. I, in general, have consistent hot water, I can use the water from my tap, and I even have water after midnight. I can throw my toilet paper in the toilet, and my toilet is in the same room as my bathtub. I have Internet in my apartment. My town sells pesto and hot sauce and bento boxes and bleu cheese.

And yet there is still a need. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer, and this has been one interesting year in my life.

11.16.07 chores

Last night I hung out with my new host family for a while. It's funny and irrational, but there's this part of me that thinks: You shouldn't talk about your other family with this family. What can I say--I'm a one family kinda gal! I'm cheating on one family with another. ah ha haha. I know it's stupid, and I talk about them anyway.

It started snowing last night. It's still snowing. I walked in the deep snow with my host dad. He's a really nice guy and I covet his bag. It's like this tiny little briefcase. Big enough to stick letters and keys and money in and yet smaller than a woman's purse and bigger than a wallet. I covet it. He's a really cool guy. Last night he took me around town to run errands. I needed to get my pants mended, to change some money, go to the internet club, and to the post office.

First we went to get my pants mended. My pants were waaay too long. Seriously. The reason these women wear 10 inch heels is so their pants hems aren't dragging in mud! I'm a shorty and my pants were always getting muddy. So for a mere 12G I was able to get them mended. I never would have found this place on my own. First, it's out in nowhereland. By a big bazaar and around a corner. I think I saw Lady and the Tramp there. Not the movie, the actual dogs. That's how hidden it was. So we rounded this corner in an alley and walked up these dark stairs. Had I been there by myself I would have sworn the building was closed, that no one had ever been there, that it was abandoned. Nope. We walked through the dark, up a few flights of stairs and through a door and BAM, there was light. He asked for a woman and we were led through a hallway, passing open doors filled with women, clothes, and sewing machines. It was awesome.

We finally met the woman and she had me put on my pants-to-be-altered. She marked them with white chalk and I took them off, put on my jeans, and handed my pants to her. She asked me a question about the hem--how I wanted it to look, and I got to bust out with my favorite phrase: Vso ravno. It means everything is the same-or-I don't care. She smiled and told my host dad they'd be done in about 40 minutes. So we went to do other tasks.

We went to attempt to change money. I emphasize attempt. If you come to Ukraine, DON'T FOLD YOUR DOLLARS! Seriously. They have this super fancy checking machine that has stages. The first stage is to put it under this security camera. Then they run it through an auto machine. If it is too folded it won't even pass the first stage. If it's too folded and somehow passes stage one, it won't go through the auto machine. We went to two places. The first took two of my one dollar bills but not my 10. The second place took my other one, but not my 10. I'm going to try ironing it. Grrr. I covet my host dad's brief-purse.

So the next was the post office. You'll be happy to know that, just like in America, they're slow. It's like a slice of home life. We waited and waited. I finally sent something out. A letter to my best gal pal in the US, and one to my language teacher who is leaving our group. It said in Russian: Thank you. You are good teacher. After I get apartment, I want to invite you and your wife to be guests. I will cook!

I'm proud of my language skills.

So now I'm at work, in my short pants and ready for my workshop. More about that later.

11.15.07 coat shopping

I went on an adventure the other day. My host sister and I had looked at coats at the big bazaar and on Saturday night my mother called to tell me she had put some money in my account for me to use to buy a coat and boots. So on Sunday my host sister was working and I couldn't find a single person to go with me. I decided to go it on my own.

I knew the direction, and I knew where to catch the bus. I was able to ask the woman standing at the stop which bus went there (I was also able to understand her). It was getting pretty nasty out--my coat was covered in slush, because it was sort of snow-raining or rain-snowing or slushing. Take your pick. I learned that umbrellas are awesome when it snows. Who knew? So I'm waiting for the bus in the slush with my umbrella. I get on the bus and while on the bus I'm able to ask the bus driver if the next stop is mine (it was), and I get off the bus at the big church and bazaar.

I slush my way over to the bazaar, with a vague notion of which way the coat woman was. I pass by the mayo-pizza vendors, stopping to buy a potato perogie. I get into the bazaar and can't find the coat woman. I walk up and down the aisles, looking at the different coat fashions, for about half an hour.


_{The Ukrainian Bazaar in winter}

Ukrainian coats are interesting. Ukrainian women LOVE fur or at least fake fur [They really do love their real fur]. They also love lots of buckles and shineys on their coats. It's great. They also love leather. Leather + fur + sparkley buckles = Ukrainian love. I really love just looking. I did find my way into a different section. I've decided that Ukrainian bazaars are a living thing. A shy living thing. Know how turtles hide their heads and feet and tail? Well the bazaars are a bit like that. Unless you know there's more there you think that's it. Then you wander for a bit--waiting, and the turtle pokes its head out and you find a big pocket of the bazaar you would have sworn wasn't there. Either that or it's fairies messing with me.

So I found the pocket with the coat lady. I bought the coat I'd been eyeing--it was 350 griven, then I found a boot vendor. The bazaar fairies were kind to me that day. Have I explained about Ukrainian boots? They are knee high, covered in buckles and sequins, and have 10 inch stilleto heels. Or at least that's how it looks. Also, the women have stick legs, small feet, and no concept of sore feet. So I happen to find the one pair of short boots with no heels and are big enough to fit me. It was a miracle. A Christmas miracle. They are full of fake fur, so my feet are WARM! And they were only 125g. Awesome.


_{Me with my coat}

I then went over to the yarn booth. At home, buying yarn is a relatively straightforward thing. You do have many options, but in general everything is laid out for you and you can touch and see everything. The yarn booth at the bazaar is different. It's more like a drive through. All the yarn is behind the counter, the woman speaks another language, and it's a gamble. I told her I wanted yarn to go with my coat (which is red and black) and I wanted thick, not thin. This sounds like there were no problems. It took me 20 minutes between her helping other people and me grabbing my dictionary and looking up words. She picked out a somewhat fuzzy black/red yarn. I thought it was too similar and I asked if I should have a different color. She and the other Ukrainian woman were emphatic that THIS was the right color. ХОРОШО horosho, which means "good". So I bought two of them and went on my merry way.

Check and mate.

11.14.07 New Family, New Town

After six weeks, Peace Corps has all its trainees go for a site visit. During this time we meet the family we will live with for one month, we meet our Ukrainian counterpart (the teacher we will work with closely for the next two years), and we get to see our workplace. We are gone from our original site for about a week, we get to bond with one another and then go to our sites, then come back together for a few days and then back on to our sites.

I didn't realize how necessary this was. Mixing it up a little. Training is strange--you are in this small little bubble, you are learning language, you see the same people every day all day, you just need a change of pace. You need to see the friends you left at Orientation, you just need a break. Plus, you get to know where you'll be, and that's really exciting, or nerve wracking, depending on how you look at it.

Site placement is this big "hush hush" event. They keep it "top secret" until we all get together and they reveal it in front of everyone. That said, a handful of people will always know ahead of time--Peace Corps tells current volunteers who is coming to their areas, they have it in their office, etc. Some people are very upset that others know their sites, others, like me, don't care.

So yesterday I got up really early to go over to McDonalds, since that's where the marshrootka to Kyiv is. I was waiting for my friend--we were going to go together, and we were supposed to meet at 8. Well, in the hustle and bustle of packing excitement, host mom excitement, I ended up somehow leaving my house at 7am! I got there 45 minutes early. And waited in the freezing cold. yep, it was a great morning. Did I mention that there was about 4 or 5 inches of snow on the ground? Yeah.

He arrives at 8, as planned, and a few other volunteers came as well. We grabbed some snacks for the road and got in to the marshrootka. They told us to pack lightly, since we would be gone for 8 days and had to transport our own stuff. I was worried about my one bag + laptop bag + plastic bag. I stopped worrying when one volunteer showed up with a suitcase big enough to smuggle a small family across the border. We were all chatting and having fun, then settled in for the trip. Which involves being antisocial and listening to music. For me, it usually involves sleep.

I honestly can't remember if I slept. Yesterday feels a bit blurry. I remember looking at the scenery. Ukraine is full of amazingly bright colors. Blues and greens, reds and oranges. It's really pretty when all the fences are lined up and there is a parade of bright colors that passes you. It's a nice contrast to the snow everywhere. So maybe I slept. Probably I slept. But I don't remember.

We get to Kyiv and get on the metro and take it over to our stop, then transfer to another marshrootka. We end up at our little "soviet era" hotel. A couple of volunteers are on one of the balconies and we all shout greetings to one another. Several volunteers are down in the lobby, along with mail (I had no idea how much it FEELS like mail = love, but it does!), and check in. We get to choose our own roommates, but there are three to a room. I check in and put down Suzy as my roommate, as planned, and go up to the room to drop off my stuff.

The room is small but adequate. There are great big windows, so we got a great view of the snow, and a balcony, three beds, a small end table, a dresser for our clothes, and a bathroom. I staked out a bed and went on the balcony and saw Suzy's group. I shout to her, as I am an American and must let the world know, and run downstairs. The situation is now Social +3 and rising. We choose another girl to room with and all settle our stuff in.

That night we have our dinner and after dinner The Site Placement. Ukraine is a huge country, and we placed all 80something of us all around that country. One friend of mine got Odessa, another ended up in Crimea, and I got my site: Zhytomyr. They placed the rest of the groups, which was really hard to pay attention to, as my body was constantly reminding me that I'd had quite a bit to drink. Funny how ceremonies seem that much longer when you have a pressing need.

So, Zhytomyr. What did I know about Zhytomyr? Nothing. I'm a pretty ignorant person when it comes to world geography/politics/history, etc. Ask me anything about Joss Whedon or Battlestar Galactica, and I'm your gal. Ask me to tell you anything about parts of the world and I really don't know. I did find out many of the LCFs are from Zhytomyr, which is really neat, and our Adopt a Cluster person is about 30 minutes from there, and it's about 2 hours away from Kyiv. Score! The really funny thing is this: before I shipped out for Peace Corps--after I was given my job title and country, I looked up Teacher Trainer blogs online. And I came across one from a guy named Daniel. Sure enough, I have his old site. How ironic is that?

We received a piece of paper telling us a little bit: the name of the institute we'd be working at, the name of the person we'd be working with, the approximate population, etc. Suzy's was <5,000. Mine was 100,000-500,000. Or how I like to say it: it's 100,000 give or take 400,000.

We had a break and then met with our regional manager. She's an amazing woman and very funny. There are people who say things to you like: tell me if you have any problems, but the real feeling is that you wouldn't bother. Then there are people who tell you to report any problems and go on to say things like "if there is a problem with food, with family, with site, with X, with Y" and they really let you know that they want things to go well. This woman is the second kind. Which I really appreciate. You want to know that the person you'll be reporting to for the next few years really cares. I lucked out.

So during the meeting we met all the people who will be in our region--I think there are 10 or 12 of us. Thankfully I really like the people there. We also found out who our host families are going to be: names, ages, and pets. So my family consists of a mom and dad, both early 40s, and a 19 year old daughter and 17 year old son. Totally sweet.

The meetings were finally over and we were able to relax. One of the volunteers had contacted me earlier and mentioned she was having a Firefly withdrawal. Firefly is the name of one of the best tv shows ever made, and I'm a big fan. So I brought both the tv show and the movie that was made about it: Serenity. So we're downstairs waiting for one of our friends to get back. I start having a conversation about Star Trek with one of the gals, and we're geeking out chatting about Klingons and Next Generation and I invite her to watch Serenity with us.

We head up to my room and it's cold. Really cold. I set up my laptop and get the movie ready. My friend comes back with two beers for sharing, and we all huddle around the room. We are decked out with blankets and coats and flip off the lights and watch Serenity together. Really, this was a moment of perfect happiness for me. I've felt a bit isolated and like I haven't fit in, and this was a moment when I was doing what I loved and people were doing it with me because they wanted to hang out with me. It was really amazing. Plus, I got to do one of my other favorite things: introduce my favorite tv shows to new people. Three people in the room had never seen Firefly. It was awesome. When it was finished, B and I watched an episode of Angel. It was such a great night.

Sadly, sleep wasn't so amazing. Our room was FREEZING. I slept with my coat on. My warm winter coat and scarf. I had my cuddle blanket with me and I slept with it over my head. I woke up in the morning exhausted, yet in good spirits because I really like the gals I shared a room with. We were deciding on showers. We then decided we'd rather stay in our warm clothes than get undressed and take a maybe-warm shower.

I've learned a few things about myself since coming to Ukraine. First, I learned that I'd rather be stinky than be cold. Really. If I had to take a freezing cold bucket bath, I'd limit my bathing to once a week. Probably. Second, I learned that if you sleep in the clothes you're going to wear the next day it builds up heat and you can be warm throughout the day. I'd rather keep on the shirt I wore to bed last night than change into a freezing cold new shirt. It's a strategy. If I'm going to wear this long sleeved shirt under my sweater, I'll wear it at night in a freezing cold place. It's an excellent strategy. I also have learned that I enjoy comfort. I was listening to other people's stories, and while they're fascinating, I am so thankful that I don't have an "interesting" life, full of outhouses and bucket baths.

One of the women who currently lives in Chernigov with me is going to be living in Zhytomyr as well. She's studying Russian as well, and she's an older volunteer. I suggested to her that we have dinner parties in Zhytomyr, and her response was an enthusiastic YES! I also asked her if she were interested in studying Russian together, and again, a YES!

After having felt so left out of things in Chernigov, it was really nice to have my invitation accepted enthusiastically. When we left to go to Zhytomyr we started talking, and we were having similar experiences within Chernigov, and it was really nice to bond that way. I'm really happy that she's going to be in the same city with me. I'm really happy about it--she's very nice and kind, and has a very interesting life. Plus, she's totally interested in having Sunday brunches and doing trips to Kyiv, etc. I'm really excited.

So we get into Zhytomyr and I'm greeted by a beautiful young woman and a man. First I'm confused--I wonder if she's my counterpart or host family. She's my host sister and the man is my host father. Things are a little overwhelming and I forget all my manners--like saying that it's very nice to meet you. We're waiting for the other woman's people to meet her, so we're waiting around and unsure of what's happening, then her counterpart shows up and we hug goodbye.

Peace Corps Trainees get really nervous about host families. And it's natural. What's this family going to be like? Will they like me? Will they be nice? Where will I be living. It's easy to forget that they have the EXACT same thing going on. They get butterflies and nervous--will the volunteer like us, will she like our cooking, will she like our house, will she be nice and talk to us? It's just as stressful for them as it is for us. I am happy to say that I am really happy with my host family and where I'll be staying. It's one thing to feel like a guest and another thing to feel like family. Feeling like a guest means you feel apart. You are honored, but you are separate. I want something closer.

When I came into the house I was given a small tour. There is a really large living room with a tv in it, my bedroom has a desk and a computer and big comfortable hide-a-bed chair and large wardrobe. The walls are a bright cheery yellow, with small geometric designs on them. There is a large window and green and white curtains. The floors are hardwood with rugs over them. There is a washing machine in the bathroom along with a shower/tub. There is a toilet room, and the mother/father's room. The kitchen is near the front door. It's really nice. The mother was talking really fast in Russian and the daughter was translating. You could tell she was excited nervous and was trying to make a good impression. She was showing me where things were in the kitchen--honey, cooking things, dishes, etc. Then she did the thing that made me feel very included. She had me help set the table and put things on the table. She included me. It felt really nice. Then she said I was family. I don't think I could have asked for a nicer new family to stay with.


_{My Ukrainian family!}

For dinner I had borsch (they'd had some borsch already), and we all ate potatoes and cucumbers and bread. I told them I love to try everything even though I don't enjoy all foods. So I tried all her food and really enjoyed it! We had some wine and shots of vodka. Apparently it's a Ukrainian tradition to have every third toast to be for women. So the father and the brother stood up and toasted to the women, orating nicely. It was really great. After food I brought out my atlas and was showing about Washington. We were talking about differences in America. Apparently Daniel had been to or was from Florida and said that crocodiles/alligators weren't so scary, etc. I said that that was normal for him, but I live in Washington where these don't live and they're very scary to me. I feel like part of my "job" here is to show the diversity of America. They asked me if it was a tradition that Americans don't talk while they eat. I told her it might be true in some houses, but in my house in America we always talk and eat. "How was your day? How was work?"

I grabbed my laptop and started showing pictures. I showed pictures of Chernigov and the mother said "you should take pictures of more pretty things." This was in response to taking pictures of "normal" or "not so pretty" things, like the route I walk to work. I thought I gave an excellent answer. I told her that I wanted to show my friends and family things they can't see in a book. I want to show them my every day life. I want them to feel like they are there. And sure enough, after all the pictures the daughter told me that the mother had said that even though she had never been to Chernigiv she felt like she had been. I told her that was exactly what I wanted.

The room I'm staying in here is the brother's old room. While I live here he's living with his grandmother, who lives close. He's currently a student. The mother said he is enjoying his independence! The daughter sleeps in the living room, and the parents in the other bedroom. I've really learned a lot about Ukrainians in the six weeks I've been here. I've learned that if you are in their inner circle, they will share everything with you. Even their last piece of bread. It's a true "we" culture, and they take care of people. Of course, it's also expected that this be reciprocated, so getting things for the family or giving gifts, or buying food to share is a great way to give back. Chocolates or wine, or small gifts really go a long way. I love buying flowers--it makes me feel like I'm giving to everyone. I've also learned that Ukrainians are very tidy. Their spaces tend to be smaller, so it's usual for someone to sleep in the living room or to get beds that turn into chairs/couches. Because of this, it's essential to keep things tidy--because everyone shares space. Along those lines, everything has multiple uses. Chairs are also storage spaces, knives are potato and carrot peelers, that Hugo Boss plastic bag is used for carrying things to work, etc. I've also learned that Americans generate a LOT of trash. In a Ukrainian home there may be one garbage can (or two--one in the bathroom for toilet paper) and it's SMALL. It's about the size we'd use as a bathroom trash can. Bedrooms don't have trash cans. I also found that I generated as much (if not more) trash than the entire family combined. And I have no idea how.

10.12.07 I'm culturally sensitive and appropriate!

You have no idea how relieved I am to know that the posts I'd bookmarked for public entry in my other blog were approved! The director even remarked that my writing was very interesting!

Trying to talk about differences without sounding like you are making judgments is more difficult than you would think. Take the salo. It's literally a slice of pig fat you eat on bread. When you describe it, what words would you use? Whatever you thought about it, however much you are turning up your face at it right now, be aware it is "Ukrainian Narcotic." They love it and can't get enough of it. I tried it and didn't think it was bad.

Thankfully I've had the experiences of being an ESL teacher, and I've had the opposite experience: telling students to try something and they turn their face up at it. They judge it before they try it, they refuse to try it, they make faces. And here I am telling them about a wonderful thing! I wonder how they describe what I was talking about.

More about Ukraine!

First thing is first: When you enter the home, TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES! Really. This means always wearing your best socks. Unless you're in school, you will constantly be taking your shoes off. And since you wash your socks and undies by hand, make sure you don't get white. Nothing says "gross!" like dingy white (now grey) socks. Second: WASH YOUR HANDS! My host mom is constantly motioning for me to wash my hands. Ha ha! I've beat her at her own game and so far have had my hands washed by the time she's said it to me. Thirdly: if you're visiting, BRING A GIFT! Btw, it's okay to leave the price tag on here! I was giving my host mom a small dessert and, while walking, I was starting to tear off the price tag and my host sister looked at me strange and said "what are you doing?" Well, duh! It's rude to give a gift with the price tag on. Not here. In the US I've received gifts with the tags on and the person noticed, grabbed it out of my hand after I'd seen the price, pulled off the price tag and handed it back to me. Okay, to be fair, I've done that as well. Here, apparently not a big deal. Oh, and lastly: remember that if there's a trash can in the bathroom, put your used paper in there. I've probably mentioned it a few times already and will probably mention it a few times more, but it would be really embarrassing to forget and have the toilet back up and have someone talking in loud Ukrainian or Russian about your bathroom business. I'm not speaking from experience. I swear. Really.

Today: Today was a great day. I went to bed WAAAY too late last night. I was writing a huge long email to friends and had to read a lot of pages for my homework. I woke up in the middle of the night because my door was squeaking open. I swear I would kill for some beeswax and WD40. Really. Okay, not really. So I got up and threw a sock over the top of the door and it shut tight. Ah. My host mom, in the morning after I pantomimed the squeaky door (by the way I will TOTALLY PWN AT TIME'S UP when I finish my two year stint here), she said "JULIA" and walked me into my room and locked the door from the inside. Okay okay, but I only like to lock my door if I really need people to stay out. Is that strange? So I've now sacrificed a nowgrey sock to the door gods.

Breakfast was big, as usual. And dinner-like, as usual. I don't think most cultures have such clearly defined parameters for "breakfast food" as in the United States. Really. Don't believe me? Try serving cold cereal to your guests for dinner. Or pancakes and eggs and sausage for lunch. From what I've seen, most cultures don't delineate specifically "breakfast food." Of course I come from the one culture that does, and I wonder if I'll ever get used to it after 30 years of specific breakfast foods.

After breakfast, on to language. Yesterday we started learning how to use the present tense! Hooray! (I'm still hung up on wanting past tense!) So now instead of "Julia to wash" and pointing at the dishes, I can say "I wash" and point at the dishes. Rules! Also I can say "I study Russian!" and "I speak little Russian" (Ya gavaryou tchoot-tchoot Pa-Russky). I feel like a pro. And during language class I was able to match all the correct endings with the correct subjects. SCORE!

Today we started our unit on food. We activated prior knowledge and named all the foods we could. We got a lot, actually! We also got a lot of homework! Yai yai! After our lesson I had a tutoring session. I asked about some words. I'm such a language teacher--I'm constantly saying "that ending means that word is an adjective, right?" and things to that effect. For me, knowledge of the language is as important as learning phrases. Well, for my longer term goal. Of course I want to know how to say things like "Repeat please", but I do want to understand the cogs and inner workings of a language as well--it's the language teacher in me. I got a Russian magazine called "Good advice". My teacher helped me read through part of it. We looked at the recipe section and through the index. I'm really excited about the words I can recognize. Even later today when I heard people speaking out of context and I was able to connect that with meaning, it was so exciting!

After the lesson I made my way to the bazaar. I found my host mom's booth--she sells shirts and jackets, and I took oodles of pictures of the "Ukrainski fashion" for my "Amerikanski padrooga". I was able to ask them if I could take pictures ("Harasho?" and pointing at the camera) and able to indicate that in the US we don't bling out our jeans and don't usually wear runway model boots. So yeah, most of my pictures from the bazaar are of jeans butts (they were laid out and folded, not on people!) and boots. I got some great pictures of the bazaar as well--some booths and a great shot of the church overlooking the bazaar.

I also relearned the sneaky way of taking pictures. Looking like you're "Just holding" the camera down by your waist, but you're serruptitiously snapping pictures with your thumb. It's not that I'm trying to be all Cloak and Dagger, but people look at you strangely enough just because you're American, so having them not stare MORE is a good thing.

In the center I found a woman selling magazines outside. I bought a Russian Cosmo and told her I speak a little Russian and that I'm studying Russian. I saw she had a Harry Potter and was going to buy it but she said no and showed me that it was in Ukrainian! Good save!

I found a bookstore and blew my personal wad on a bigger Russian/English dictionary and a Russian Harry Potter. 45G!!! Wow. That's not a lot US, but it's a LOT here. But it's the one Russian book I really wanted to buy. My Russian Cosmo, Good Advice, Fantastic Four comic, and my Harry Potter are really all the Russian reading materials I need.

After the bookstore I went into the 2 Geese cafe. I bought some food and sat and internetted for over an hour. Did I mention I love the internet? I love WiFi. I like internet cafes, but I LOVE being able to use MY computer with its English default language that I can read all the warnings and 404 pages and understand all the menus. I really do.

I bought a Life :) card, but apparently it doesn't work! Argh. My host sister wants to go to the center with me tomorrow to talk to the boy who sold it to me. Okay okay. She was looking through my Cosmo and found a sample of this "untinted" foundation. Apparently "untinted" in Russia means you have quite the tan. After she smeared it on my face I smeared it on hers. It was very girlie. I'm having a lot of fun bonding with her. Apparently I translate the same to teenagers. All my teenage "friends" regardless of country end up mock punching me. What's up with that? It's fun and cute.

It was really nice to be able to talk to my host mom a little. I can REALLY see an improvement i my Russian. The first day I wasn't able to say ANYTHING to her, and today I was able to ask her if we were going to make borsch on Sunday (okay, I said "tomorrow tomorrow" for "the day after tomorrow", but still--communication!). I was also able to say "I wash" when she took my dish. hooray me!

Tomorrow is Chirnihiv's 75th birthday of being made the capital of this oblast. There are going to be lots of festivities in town. I'm pretty excited about it. It should be lots of fun.

My life has invaded my dreams!

Last night I didn't just fall asleep. "Fall" is too gentle of a word. It was more like I was bitch-slapped asleep. I started dreaming while I was still aware of my physical presence. I could feel what position I was sleeping in, I could feel my pillow, I was aware of the time, but I started dreaming other people were in the room. I dreamed Cindy and E and Larissa were in the room and we were having another Russian lesson in my room! In my dream I was actually laying on some of the Russian papers with phrases written on them (Like "otkooda vwieu") and they were talking to me in Russian and expecting a reply. In my dream/real life I tried to answer but was too exhausted. (I really wouldn't be surprised if I really did try to answer irl) I was also thinking to myself "Why are we having a language lesson this late!?"

The dream then morphed into a great one. I dreamed I was in Ukraine and met this great guy. We were speaking in Russian and I found out he was an ex-pat and had been living in Ukraine for the past few years. He really liked me and as we were talking I asked if he liked the show "Friends" and he said "No, I prefer Stargate." He then proceeded to show me his stargate tattoo! I practically flipped out in my dream.

Back to reality. I went to bed at 8pm and woke up just before 9am. I only woke up once in the night to use the bathroom. Amazing and rested I was! My host sister made me breakfast (The host families agree to make breakfast and dinner for us) and I washed all our dishes. She and I watched some music videos together (her: Enrique Iglacias is so good looking!) We also were looking out the window and giggled together at the two guys looking out their window in the apartment down the way who weren't wearing their shirts. She walked me down to the bazaar to buy some toothpaste (pasta) and some other things. Her shoes are amazing.

After we finished with our purchases (she helped me pick out an appropriate Ukrainian hair scrunchie. It's very blinged out with the sparkles) I went on to the center of town.

My frustration today: I lost the back of my phone! How the heck does that happen?

The center is about a mile and a half from my house. It was a nice walk and I started noticing different businesses and trying to memorize where things are in my community. I met up with Cindy at McDonalds (it's the only McDonalds here in Chirnihiv, so it's a great recognizable landmark). We started searching around for the internet cafe, and spent a good half hour looking for the sushi place, which we knew to be near the internet cafe. We stopped in a restaurant and bought some food and then found the library and studied for a while. I think I know my numbers. I at least can recognize them. I can produce about 80% of them.

When we got to the library a woman stopped us. Apparently you can't take your bags upstairs in the library, so there's a bag check at the front. I had to take out all my study materials and leave my bag. The great thing was that the lady had a piece of paper already prepared in English that had that rule as well as things like "Unfortunately you cannot check out materials because you do not have documents"

Upstairs there are all kinds of card catalogs and paintings on the wall and tons of desks/tables. We went to a room filled with tables and chairs. Great place for studying! Apparently in Ukraine it's not cool to study at a cafe or restaurant. It's kind of weird. I met a few Ukrainian students (I needed them to write "21" in Ukrainian for me). They spoke some English and Andrew introduced himself. They were history students!

Cindy left while I was studying and went to the internet cafe. I stayed for another half hour? and made my way over to the internet cafe as well. She was in line for internet. The internet cafe we went to has 26 computers. You give them XXX Grivnyas (their dollars) and they give you a receipt with a number on it. You go to that computer and when you are finished you hand the operator the receipt and she gives you money back. I gave her 20 grivnyas. Apparently it was only .70 or so an hour (that would be $.14US. Awesome.

I spent a good three hours in that internet cafe. I emailed my friends and family, I chatted with my best friend Selene, and spent a good two hours reading blogs. It was great. It totally recharged me. Remember the smoker analogy? Well, I got my full pack in and was able to leisurely smoke it. Ahhhh. That's what it felt like to me--slipping into a warm bath and not having any pressures. My host mom called when I had almost finished up and I had the guy next to me talk to her. I bought her some flowers on the way home--3Grivnyas ($.60US) and bought a ton of baby pears for only 2.5Grivnyas ($.50US). I waited for the bus and experienced my first EEK moment. I knew where my bus stop was and tried to get off, but the bus took off and I was like "what?" I got off at the one down the corner, but it's very frustrating not to be able to say "WAIT! It's my stop!" when you need to say "wait! It's my stop!"

Got home and gave the flowers to my host mom (I swear to you that if they're always that cheap I'm buying fresh flowers for myself every week in my apartment). She made me a great soup with potatoes and carrots and onions in it and flavored with dill. Mid eating that she brought me a plate of seasoned rice, two hot dogs and a tomato. While eating that she brought out a purple dish. It was very pretty--it looked like frosting or sour cream on the top which was purple from beets, there was a design in the top made of carrots, and a beet flower in the top. I told her I'd try a tiny bit (tchoot-tchoot) and in it was chicken and sour cream and maybe rice? Some was hard to identify. I told her it was so-so and thanked her for it.

When you eat in a Ukrainian home, understand that an empty plate means "Please give me more." So if you're done eating, leave food on your plate. Trust me.

My host mom and I then chatted for a bit. By chatted I mean drew pictures and looked up words in the dictionary. I read her my paragraph about my family. Here is my paragraph:

This is my family. I have a mother. Her name is Deana. I have a father. His name is Joel. My father is a carpenter. His hobby is repairing radios. My mother is a librarian. Her hobby is church.

Nice job, me! I asked my host mom about her family, and we figured out both our families between the dictionary and pictures, and she helped me with Russian spelling of names. Then into my room for studying and writing of blog. And now you're up to date.

10.06.07

I'm trying very hard to keep up with my journaling. It's Sunday night and I'm writing Saturday's entry. Not too bad. So far I've only gone a full day without writing.

We were given a task to complete yesterday. We had to go on our own to School Number 1 by 8:30. I totally had it planned out and was going to walk in the morning, but my host dad insisted on going with me. First I thought he just wanted to leave at the same time and he was on his way to work, but nope, he totally went with me. That was cool, though, because I already knew how to get there, so it just reconfirmed what I already knew.

Met everyone at 8:30am and started our Technical Training at 9am. We learned about what we're going to be doing in and for Ukraine.

As a teacher trainer, these will be my tasks:

--travel to schools outside the Oblast Center in order to conduct techer-training events.
--Conduct one day teaching seminars at Institute on English Language and on active teaching using communicative TEFL methods.
--Development of scopel sequence of teacher recertification seminars.
--Continue professional development and support of PC secondary school TEFL volunteers; peer technical support during site visits.
--Organizing/facilitating summer TEFL camps for teachers/students
--Participating in the development of English Olympiad materials
--Organization and facilitation of English clubs for teachers
--Development of teaching materials (visuals, cards, audio, video materials)
--Grading
--Classroom management
--Teaching in Ukrainian Schools
--Secondary Community projects

Our ultimate goals will be to:
--Work effectively within a Ukrainian educational environment demonstrating ability to implement current teaching methodoogies and techniques
--Use teaching skills to positively influence educational community development

During these three months we will end up doing about 10 lesson plans, teaching about 10 classes, and additionally teach three classes to our peers. I'm signed up to teach Lesson Planning, Extra Curricular Activities, and PDM intro (I have no clue what that is). We also have 4-5 hours of language training five days a week and homework every day (which I love! seriously!). It's pretty intense--like being back in school.

While we were in our lesson, I noticed my socks were getting wet. This is a "slipper society". Because it is so muddy during the wet times and the streets are not pristinely paved, your shoes get dirty and so every house you immediately take off your shoes. I thought I had spilled my water, so I looked around and noticed that the floor was REALLY wet. I looked behind my chair and between the carpets I saw a river of water in the hallway. Apparently this is one of the negatives of having a first floor apartment in Ukraine--when people flush toilet paper it can back up the systems, and it screws over the people in the lower floors. So her plumbing was backed up and we had to relocate.

After all our tech training we had a cross cultural breakdown. We have an hour each week to chat with the LCFs--Language/Culture Facilitators. We talk about what's happened in the last week, we ask questions, and they try to explain. Having someone break down culture is awesome. Being able to ask questions without offending is really great. We covered bathroom etiquette, housekeeping, food, etc. A few things that popped out were: apparently Americans drink a LOT of water. One of the ladies said that Americans laugh at Ukrainians for not drinking any water and Ukrainians laugh at Americans for drinking too much water. Their philosophy is that they get enough liquids from their soups (because borsch is practically manditory every day!) and so they don't drink water during meals at all. Another thing they said was that my earrings would have to go. They didn't exactly say that, but really, I have to take out my earrings. Big sigh. No zero gauge stretching these next two years. They also said that after 3 days someone staying in their house becomes family or "that weird person living in the house." heh. One way to distinguish between guest and "family" is--who does the guest's dishes? If the family insists on doing the guest's dishes, then the person is a guest. If they let the person do their own dishes, that person is family. Needless to say, that night I insisted on doing my own dishes.

After all that, my language group decided to meet at 3pm for a picnic with our families. There were about 15 there: T&M and their host mom and host brother, E with her host mom and host sister, Cindy with her host mom and host brother, me and my host mom and Larissa, our language teacher. E, Cindy and I all brought desserts. We walked for about half an hour through the forest and finally came to this really great area with fires burning. These two guys had left a fire burning unattended, but it was set up okay--on vodka bottles. What a great use of glass! The moms laid out the tablecloth and food and we all hung out and ate and toasted and drank. It was finally my turn. After all the "eat eat eat eat eat"s from host moms, I pointed to our desserts and said to the host moms "eat eat eat eat" (pronounced "yest"). ha ha ha It was really funny and they all laughed.

After food we played some games to help with our Russian. We had to stand in a circle and introduce the person to our left, us, and the person to our right, then the person to our right would introduce us, then themself, then the person to their right, etc. We also were randomly given names, we had to find the people and ask where they were from, what their hobbies were, and what their occupation was. I've decided that kids are a lot of fun to learn language with, because somehow they have infinite patience, can repeat the same thing over and over, and aren't hung up on understanding every word you're saying if you slip into English.

After all the games, we walked home. I'm starting to figure out Chirnihiv. There's basically one main street and a few minor streets, then some footpaths. It makes it easier to navigate, and I'm connecting dots, as it were.

When we got home I did some homework--copying some of the verbs I'm learning into my notebook, recopying the notes I took in class, then I about split my head open with my yawning. I was EXHAUSTED. I went into the bedroom and made the bed, then laid down and started reading my homework. When I finished that I was plumb tuckered out and I went to sleep at the crazy hour of 8pm. All the insomnia was finally catching up with me and it kicked my butt.

10.04.07 First day in school

First day back in school

Last night I went to bed a little early and woke up around 4am. I kept hearing these noises. At first I thought they were the heater--a sort of metallic thwanging. I opened up the door to my balcony in my room and it was rain.

It was just light enough to make out the silhouettes. The city I'm from is huge and you can't but see hundreds or thousands of lights when you look outside. Outside of my apartment there were 40. Yes, I counted. The sound was rain hitting the metal roof. I was pretty wide awake, but really didn't want to be up at 4am, so I plugged in my iPod and earphones and put in Battlestar Galactica OST, which I often listen to before bed. I was able to fall asleep.

I got up at 8am and got dressed, hung out a bit, then my host mother, Ala, made me breakfast. I had a tomato-garlic-vinaegrette salad, cheese blintzes which were amazing!, tea with sugar, and was full. I was chided for drinking water with my meal, but I was uncertain why, regardless of how many words she used. Through her pantomimes I think she was saying that drinking water with this food would bloat my stomach?

Off to school!

We were a tiny bit late, but thankfully I wasn't the last person there. X and Cindy were already there, and we were waiting on Tom and Mary. We chatted about host moms and our host dads and the food and our rooms until they showed up. Then on to the lesson!

My studying paid off and I did pretty well on the reading! We did a lot of practicing phrases like "how are you?" "What do you do?" "Where are you from" and we even got to practice with one of the host families on the phone! It was a little scary and yet fun!

Then off to the market! We all went outside and were so happy to have Larissa, our trainer with us. We went in some local Ukrainian stores. They are so filled with sausages and desserts and liquors! We made our way to the bus, and I'm glad she was with us, because they were very different than the busses I'm used to. First, they are very tiny and are more like a van. The number appears on the side and the front on a yellow card. People squish in (Cindy and I wonder how long before we'll be able to squish as efficiently, because we're not so good at it) and pass their money up to the front and a lady gives change. There is no buzzer or bell, you simply wait until the next stop and get off at the right place.

We ate at a cafeteria style restaurant. For just about $4US I got a sausage, a tomato/cucumber/cheese salad, a bowl of mushroom rice and a coke lite. I split the sausage with Cindy, who split her chicken/egg patty with me. Yum!

Then off to the stationary store! I bought more school supplies. The store people are very nice. I was surprised that index cards seem to be unheard of, and that the paper type of choice is graph paper! Seriously--finding a regular college-lined notebook is difficult. I also bought rechargable batteries. Now I need to buy the charging unit, which is about $20.

Back to our teacher's house. We took the bus again and landed back by her house. Her house is right by a local market, and outside there are many babushkas selling potatoes and fresh veggies and fruits. At her house we were given our textbooks and homework. Did I mention I love homework? I really do--chances to practice in a controlled setting. She also gave me my second key of the day.

Ukrainian keys are wild. I've never seen anything like them. They remind me more of big toothed saws than of keys, and if I were to collect something new I think I would collect Ukrainian keys. To lock our apartment door from the outside, you must first open the door. Once it is open, you trip the double lock from the inside--they're two long pieces of metal bent near the ends, that when unlocked face up and down. When you pull them together toward the middle, they spring forward and lock. Once you've tripped the lock, you insert the key. No turning, just shove it in. Shoving it in springs the locks back, and with the key still in the door, you close it and then remove the key. Done! Door is successfully locked.

Vasa, my host father, picked me up and walked with me to our apartment. He tried to initiate some conversation with me, but my Russian is so poor that he and I ended up awkwardly smiling, but knowing that the other wanted to talk but couldn't. Same in the apartment. He showed me some pictures of his family--his brother and his mother. I showed him some pictures on my camera of my parents, but it's sad how few pictures I have of them! Mom--send more pictures soon!

When Ala got home she made me dinner. An awesome potato/pasta soup flavored with dill, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs with an extra dab of mayo on them, slices of pork fat to eat on your bread, blintzes, and cole slaw. Seriously. I had a little bit of wine with my food, and while I was eating, my host mom's other daughter, her son-in-law, and her two grandchildren showed up.

The family was really nice. Ala's son in law spoke a tiny bit of English, and he was very jovial and friendly. He shook my hand and introduced himself, and joked with me most of the evening. Joking can be hard to do when you don't really speak the language, so I totally give him props for making me feel included. One granddaughter was maybe months/a year old (how old are kids when they usually start to walk?), and the other was 7. I gave the 7 year old some Pop Rocks and a candy necklace. The daughter also talked to me a bit. Very nice family.

Then on to studying. I almost know the entire Russian alphabet, but I still pause on a few of the letters! ИЙУ always get me, and sometimes EЁ get me too. Grrr. I know, be easy on myself.

To study, I wrote out the alphabet three times. I also rewrote the conversations from class, and the vocabulary words. I got my host sister to record on my camera the conversations so I could listen and repeat a few times. I also practiced reading out loud.

I want to succeed, and I know that if I keep studying hard I can do it.

10.03.07 On My Way to Chirnihiv

We packed up and left Kyiv today. Packed all our things back in bags and finished our pre-training. I'm going to be in a big city with internet! Hooray!

Our bus left at 2:45 (though it broke down before getting to us, delaying our leave by an hour or two). We all stood around and hung out, played Mad Libs, and bs-ed until the groups left. Our bus was late, so we went to the store. I bought a bottle of Georgian semi-sweet wine (my favorite!) for my host family, and I bought some yummy milk chocolate for myself.

The store was great! There were a lot more American brands than I thought. It seemed like a regular grocery store except with different brands and you couldn't read the signs. They sold everything from liquor to fruit to Tide with bleach. The Ukrainian dollar is about 5.05 per US$1. Candy bars were ukrainian $3-$6, and the good wine was anywhere from Ukrainian $40-120.

We waited more and I had to use the bathroom. I'd heard about the "squatty" toilet in the main building, and I had to go pretty bad, so I decided to try it out. Thankfully I had two ladies with me to walk me through it.

First, I rolled up my pants legs, then walked into the stall. In order to get in, you open the door and walk up two stairs onto a platform with a porcelain sink in it with porcelain sides to step on. You are supposed to face the door, so you stand on the porcelain, face the door, pull down your pants to your knees, squat down and hold your pants out of the way. I was concerned about my hair fallin in it because my hair is really long, but I think I got through it okay. After wiping you throw the toilet paper in the trash and then flush. Success!

Finally got on the bus and loaded my many suitcases (I have THE most luggage from anyone in our group!). I immediately fell asleep on the bus. I woke up when we stopped, and I looked out the window. There were trees everywhere, and everything had an orange and brown color to it. Then you realized it was because of the autumn trees. Leaves were everywhere and to my right was a sort of tree park, and the trees seemed to go on forever. We were in a very old style village, and the host families were there to greet their volunteers. Everything felt like a Hans Christian Anderson story--it was absolutely gorgeous.

10.01.07 First Impressions

So I spent Saturday night packing until 3:30am. We had to be downstairs at 8am with our luggage, and I didn't totally finish packing things up until 7:50am. Thankfully I made it down to the lobby in time. Thankfully also, one of my group members only had one check in baggage, so she let me "use" her and she offered to check in one of my bags. Thank you, Kelly!

Went out to breakfast with Emily, my roommate. Well, we searched. We did stop in at Walgreens to pick up some shoe insoles for me, since I apparently ate through my old ones. Got some snackies for the road as well.

On the way back to the hotel we passed a vendor. Score! I ordered a breakfast sandwich and a kielbasa. I didn't plan to eat them all, and in fact, gave half of my breakfast to another volunteer. The vendor's name was Muhammad. Very nice man and I think he probably undercharged us.

We got on the bus and headed for the airport--JFK in NYC. It was my first trip to NY and I got a bunch of pictures from the bus. My first time seeing the Statue of Liberty! MFI (my first impression) of the Statue of Liberty: It's VERY green! Also it must be really cool to be able to see that daily, the way in Seattle we see Mt. Rainier or the Space Needle daily. Something touristy for tourists, but an integral part of daily life for residents.

MFI of NY: The apartments are JUST like the Cosby show! Shoved up against one another, different colors, yards pressed up and gardens in the back. I think it would really create a cool sense of community. Also, I didn't realize people actually play handball! ha ha. I felt like I was watching a movie.

We got to the airport and it was a fiasco. We were split into groups of about six, complete with a group leader. My group got split up and Kelly and I were the last two to catch up. Got in the most massive line. Thankfully there was beautiful eye candy and German arm porn! This guy had the greatest arms and no sleeves. I had a little line crush going on!

At the front of the line the woman made me check in my carry on. GRRR!! $105 later and three trips back and forth and I finally have my boarding pass. Another line. Take off shoes, coats, belt, pull out laptop, oops, left a coke in there, drink it quickly, walk through metal detector, oops, left on my belt, finally success. Redress and repack and on my way.

Flying from New York to Frankfurt takes a long time. It takes several conversations, a book, naps, stretches, and even then you've still got a few hours left! My seat mate was Keith and we chatted about movies and tv shows and books. He is a big heavy metal fan and we had fun talking about everything. I was wearing long johns under my pants, and where I was sitting didn't get much air. I was so uncomfortable and sweating so much that I got up and changed out of them. I finally got a little sleep, but spent most of that time reading someone else's copy of Stardust.

Touchdown in Frankfurt! All the pilots threw down the football and did a dance. We got there late, but thankfully in plenty of time for the plane trip to Kyiv. MFI of Frankfurt: The men are delicious. I went to McDonalds in the airport (fast familiar food), and holy cow they have McRib! I got that, a coke, and a box of water. Seriously--a box of water. $9 and went back down and waited. We boarded and saw the most awesome posters.

The posters were four pictures, two repeated. There was a picture of Mars by a picture of the moon by the same picture of the moon by the same picture of Mars. The first said Madness, the second Romance, the third Romance, the fourth Madness. One had a woman's heel and a jalapeno with the captions: pain pleasure pleasure pain. Tattoos and henna: traditional trendy trendy traditional. They were amazing.

MFI of Ukraine: WOW! You could immediately tell the women residents by their SUPER pointy high heeled shoes. The woman who checked me in looked like a model--smoothed back hair with a rhinestone headband, glitter eyeshadow, mascara. Gorgeous.

The Ukrainian airport had a Heinekin machine instead of a Coke machine! Seriously! We got outside and it was SO HOT! We were greeted by Peace Corps people and they were so friendly and helped us out to our bus. We walked up these TALL stairs and onto a burning hot bus, which thankfully had curtains. I sat next to one of my favorite people: Anastacia. We were given instructions and walk around money and headed over to the compound for our training.

We were given a room with a roommate. My roomate is another teacher trainer. Very nice person and although we have little in common we're getting along really well. We had a Ukrainian greeting ceremony and dinner, a small orientation ceremony then went to bed.

MFI of our rooms: very practical. Small beds, very warm wool blankets, tiny bathroom. Everything in the bathroom is very tall. The toilet paper was unexpected--it is unbleached brown paper with no roll. It's just rolled up but no cardboard tube through it. The shower is very small and missing a small part of the door. I took a shower and it, apparently, takes a dexterity check of 12 to successfully take a shower. I think I rolled an 11.

Taking a shower in this building takes a few steps. Because the room is very small, you have to decide where to undress because there's not really enough room to do it in the bathroom. First step complete. Then the question is: where do you put the shampoo/soap. I ended up putting them on the sink ledge. Check. The third involves a combination of soaping up while balancing the hand held shower nozzle on the water control, then putting the soap down and grabbing the shower and turning it back on and rinsing off. I think half my water got on the floor and I completely blame my lack of dexterity.

Dinner consisted of a sort of chicken omelete--a thin piece of chicken cooked in an egg. It was very tasty. We also had cucumbers and tomatoes and a carrot/apple/strawberry juice.

I relaxed in the room and watched a few episodes of Weeds until I was falling asleep too much to follow the episode and I went to sleep.