Pickle salad! It sounds sort of strange, and in fact may be, but it’s also sort of delicious. Pickle salad mainly contains, shockingly enough, pickles, usually cubed, although it may also feature small cubes of apples, too. [This next sentence, however hard I try, will not contain quite as many commas as that last one, so don’t worry, if, in fact, you were considering worrying, that is.] This ingredient/ combo is dressed with a bit of oil, and maybe salt, and that’s it! Vika’s friend Yulia, who works across the hall from us, sometimes makes this, and I’m always surprised by how good it is.
The 50th anniversary of Peace Corps! Maybe this item should have been listed before pickle salad, but hey, it’s going on all year. March 1st marked the official beginning of the celebration, with Peace Corps Volunteers and staff members around the world scrambling to show how stunningly their country or department can celebrate. In Ukraine—where this year also marks 20 years of Peace Corps involvement—celebrations include special projects, a photo contest, a PSA contest, an essay contest, and a documentary film, to name a few. Facebook profile pictures are switched for the month, plans for a summer celebration at the next Swearing-In ceremony are set, and Peace Corps will even be one of the featured cultures/ exhibits at this summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC.
I got to read two books this weekend! That’s pretty straightforward. These books were Salman Rushdie’s Fury and Anne Lamott’s All New People. Sort of opposite books, they are, which is fine. Two books in one weekend, though? Must be…
Several days off! Friday wasn’t a working day, as we had a Meet Your Neighbor meeting for all of the PCVs in Volynska oblast. Instead of teaching, then, I went to yoga, went out for breakfast, had a meeting, went out for pizza, hung out with friends, and went out for dinner! The rest of the weekend involved some fine houseguests, Bananagrams and other marvels, banana bread and other baked goods, and plenty of relaxation with friends.
International Women’s Day! is the reason for the rest of the long holiday weekend. Celebrated on March 8 in many countries around the world, this is a holiday taken seriously in Ukraine, if completely ignored in the US. In fact, this is the 100th birthday of International Women’s Day. Here, men give ladies of all ages flowers, chocolates, and other goodies, including greeting cards that wish the recipient “a sea of flowers” and other such sentiments. Since this official-day-off holiday is on a Tuesday this year, schools and many businesses are closed today [Monday], as well. Some schools—including my university— will likely reschedule the Monday classes for an upcoming Saturday.
Sunshine! There’s a lot of melting going on—resulting in big puddles and quite a bit of mud—but there’s still snow around, and icy conditions most mornings and evenings. Will the temperature continue to improve? Hard to say. Yesterday it was suddenly snowing two or three times during the day. The bright sunshine is really amazing, though, and I often feel compelled to take pictures of light, even though they never quite do justice to the real scenes I’ve seen. [a few of these on album 3 here, a few on FB]
IWO school-level judging is finished! Within my college [Romance-Germanic Philology] of Volyn National University, 140 students participated in the International Writing Olympics. As the judges read through the essays, we regularly shared aloud entertaining bits that we encountered, and in general, we were pretty pleased with the results. Now, our four winners [one per grade] will move on to oblast-level judging. I wish I could share some of the questions and responses with you, but I’ll have to wait. The contest is currently going on in eleven different Peace Corps countries, and each has its own schedule. Because our country is so large, I think we’ve been the first to hold our local-level competition. Still, I think we’ve got a good system in place to keep everything in order. The international organizer joked that in his country, Armenia, he would have no trouble contacting any participants through friends and relatives of his own host family. Not so in Ukraine, even if your host family is Peace Corps.
Random time! Because of the days off, I’ve had the chance to work on my taxes, spend more time looking for a literary agent, make and post a list of books I’ve read in Ukraine, do some good ol’ bucket laundry, and work on summer plans. I’ve been able to stare out my fabulous window and observe entertaining scenes, such as a group of teenage boys who are just now throwing what appears to be a cell phone up high into the air, back and forth among each other. I can only wonder whose phone it is, and why this is happening. I’ve had the chance to consider philosophical correspondence with a new practicing-English penpal and try to develop an answer about what it means to be a spiritual person but not a religious person, and how one ought to cultivate a soul that might or might not exist.
Overcoming! Over the past few days, two few different somewhat unpleasant situations have arisen, due to personality conflicts, over-reliance on bureaucracy, and unclear expectations. I can’t say that either of them has been resolved, unfortunately, but I can say that I’m not losing too much sleep, either. We can only do our best to offer help, and when it’s happily accepted, even with some necessary modifications, that’s when a volunteer—or anyone—feels useful. When unrealistic expectations or petty squabbles are thrown up as blocks that prevent productive work, though, it’s hard to remember that we’re all coming from different angles, and that change happens slowly. I’m working, as always, on patience and flexibility. It helps that I have such good…
Friends! They’re grrrrrrrreat!
-- Kate, always ready to sing you happier--
Happy Women’s Day!
:)
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