post 21 march

The Volyn crew invites you to celebrate 5-0 years of Peace Corps. :)

It might not surprise you to know that the shockingly high temperatures I posted about last week--look, Mom: no gloves!--were replaced with more reasonable [?] seasonable [?] temperatures. This means that the promising spring mud froze up and that Thursday and Friday mornings offered new snow. Odd.

Now, though, since the vernal equinox was yesterday, spring is truly about to arrive. THIS IS AN ENGRAVED INVITATION TO DO SO. Really, spring. Was it something I said?

Last Sunday’s community English club found several PCVs at the Window on America library facilitating discussion on popular music. It’s great when we have the freedom to choose our own topics and activities, and this one seemed to go over very well. Talking about the differences between rap and hip-hop, bluegrass and pop country, and a request to identify an indie band that’s popular enough to be known in Ukraine prompted interesting discussions. Jonathan did an excellent job as DJ and facilitator of this meeting, and even Slavik—an older gentleman mainly interested in history, it usually seems— commented that he had learned something and enjoyed himself.

I had a sort-of breakthrough this week, too, in coming to terms with the adjective повний [povnee], which means full or complete. I generally knew this word already, but multiple appearances in rapid succession made me consider it more closely. The first was when I was buying a train ticket to Kyiv, with the cashier asking me if I’d like a student ticket or a full [povnee] ticket. I laughed, then told her I’d like a povnee ticket. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a povnee ticket, but I’ll take the I-don’t-know-how-old-you-might-be compliment anyway. The second appearance was while I was walking to yoga with a lady who often rides the same morning bus I do. We don’t really have very in-depth discussions, generally, for a variety of reasons (it’s 6:30 a.m., I don’t even know her name, etc.), but we were talking about shashlik [shish-kebab] and I said that I was a vegetarian. “Повна вегетеріанка?” Yes, a full vegetarian. Less than an hour later, I heard our teacher tell us to take three povnee breaths, and I suddenly realized that what he says at the beginning and the end meditation segments of every single session is “deep breathing.” This must be it, right? I mean, he says something like “po-indyhennya” and I always knew it was something about style of breathing, but now I think it’s povnee dehennya--deep breaths… right? Confirmation from an outside source has been sought, but not attained. “Maybe you’re right, Melissa, but maybe it’s…” So much for povnee understanding. :)

On Saturday I worked as the official announcer at spelling bees for each of two different age levels at a local language school. This may be the job that I was born to do. Reading aloud clearly in English, being asked for impromptu definitions and sentences, and having an audience hang on my every word… Maybe it’s too much of an ego trip, yes, but I enjoyed it. I was impressed by how many words both groups knew—from waist-high and up through elementary in the first group and middle/ high school or so in the second group. One memorable moment came in the second group when a girl was asked to spell “beach” and she quite innocently spelled another similar-sounding but never-before-seen-in-a-spelling-bee word. “Would you like to hear it in a sentence?” I asked. She did. And respelled the right word. And it was hilarious for everyone in the age group. It may be noted that the younger age group got past this word without a hitch. Overall, I enjoyed the chance to replace my last spelling bee memory with a positive one… L-E-P-O-A-R-D…

This weekend also brought another positive in the form of a goodie bag from Rokyni. Tatyana, my friend Katie’s former counterpart, sent her husband into the city to bring me a lot of potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, and a jar of jam, a jar of cherries, and a jar of her fabulous pickles. Katie’s back in America, but Tatyana and her family keep giving. I’m hoping I’ll be able to do something nice for them sometime soon, too. Those pickles are soo good. I’ve recently been informed that there’s a difference between pickles and marinated cucumbers and these may actually be marinated cucumbers, but anyway, they’re delicious. Recipe? Take cucumbers, add some water, some oil, some horseradish shavings, and some magic, as far as I can tell. I’ll try to get some more specifics, as pickles have been the most commented-upon subject I’ve written about recently.

Finally, last week was the oblast-level judging for the International Writing Olympics. In Volynska oblast, 11 schools and 235 students participated! For added publicity, here are our winners—all currently under review in the national judging stage.

- 6th- Ruslan Zhylovetz, School #4, Kivertsi
- 7th- Iryna Dmytruk, School #4, Kivertsi
- 8th- Andriy Baboryga, School #14, Lutsk
- 9th- Viktoria Hut, School #14, Lutsk
- 10th- Iryna Duka, Volyn Boarding Lyceum, Vyshkiv
- 11th- Olena Yermakova, School #18, Lutsk
- university 1- Sasha Borodych, Romance-Germanic Philology Dept, Volyn National Univ
- university 2- Natalia Jostuyk, International Relations Dept, Volyn National Univ
- university 3- Chrystyna Hubska, Romance-Germanic Philology Dept, Volyn National Univ
- university 4- Oksana Lytvyn, Romance-Germanic Philology Dept, Volyn National Univ

This week means spring break for many schools here, but not universities. Still, the upcoming weekend trip to Mount Hoverla, the highest mountain in the Carpathians, and in all of Ukraine, promises to be a good mini-break.

Hope spring has sprung where you are, and you’re catching some breaks, too.

:)