post 9 may

It’s Victory Day!

In addition to an actual national celebration, this day also refers to personal victories accomplished today, such as writing a new blog entry. Not quite on the same scale, I understand, but here you are… New pictures in Picasa and on Facebook, too! :)

I got my hair cut last week. Just a trim, but all the pre-Peace Corps highlights are gone now. Luckily, there are plenty of other highlights in my life.

One such highlight was the announcement of the international winners of the International
Writing Olympics: Of ten categories entered, Ukrainian students took either first, second, or third place in eight categories, including four first-place honors. Hooray! You can read an article about this HERE!

When last we spoke/ wrote/ read, it was almost Easter. Because this is how time works, it’s not Easter anymore. While I had an excellent Easter, I feel a little silly writing a blog entry about it, as my friend Kate has already posted a very fine play-by-play version on her blog HERE. Yes, a lot of food was eaten and a lot of people were visited.

Still, a few points:

- My friend Kate came with me to visit relatives in and near Komarno, and, as you can tell by her blog, she had a great time. I did, too.

- We saw a baby hedgehog! Kate saw it scuttling across the street one evening, and my cousin Olya scooped it up in her scarf to pose for photos. Awesome!

- We made simple but pretty good pysanky with Krystyna’s family, including the “regular” stylus sort as well as by another method: using a matchstick dipped into a shallow pan of melted wax as a brush of sorts. Eugenia said she hadn’t made these in years, but hers were way prettier than mine anyway.

- Lots and lots of baking went on in the summer kitchen. For as little time as I spend there, since I’m just in the way when I’m there, it’s filled with good energy and good smells all the time. This time there were dozens and dozens of cakes being made, but also, most importantly, lots and lots of paschas—special Easter breads.

- We brought Easter gifts to each family we visited, and Hanna’s family, with four very well-behaved kids, got water guns and bubbles. One of my favorite scenes from this whole trip was the kids using their own bubbles for target practice.

- Another Easter surprise came to the same house: Hanna’s daughter-in-law, who was what might be called very pregnant [and who answered “I just hope it’s soon!” to the question of whether she wanted a boy or a girl], gave birth to a baby boy late that evening, only a few hours after we saw her. :)

The next holiday after Easter was Labor Day, which means a four-day weekend. Sunday was also “Easter for the dead,” with people bringing food and flowers to cemeteries and celebrating with their relatives and the rest of the community. The Saturday, however, was the WELL Seminar in Lutsk, which brought 18 Peace Corps Volunteers to my university. About eighty students from the area attended this Workshop for English Language and Leadership, an all-day seminar with teams, lessons on music, international studies, leadership, and project planning. It was a beautiful day, both inside and out, and a lovely weekend to have lots of visitors in town.

Some of the very fine PCVs who helped out with WELL in Lutsk.

Just this past weekend was the final WELL seminar of the season—there were 12 throughout western Ukraine, reaching about 700 students—in Volodymyr-Volynsky. Although it was a little chillier this weekend, another holiday [Victory Day, May 9], made it a good weekend for visiting, too! My friend Rebecca, who’s from Frederick, too, made the long trip to Lutsk and was rewarded by—actually, we were both rewarded by!—a really delicious dinner at my favorite pizza place here, which surprisingly started with supersmooth spinach soup, then grilled vegetable pizza, then homemade ice cream thick and blended with several kinds of ground nuts in an amazingly smooth texture. Well done, Felichita, well done. The good impression of Lutsk was hopefully cemented by the festivities in the center, the lovely weather, all the bridal parties getting their pictures taken in the castle, a really interesting exhibit at the rarely open in-castle art gallery, and more good food and friends!

Somewhat caught up now, I can add that the school year is winding down—as might be evident from the number of holidays we’re having! My masters’ students are taking their exams, and there are only a few more sessions of Country Studies and Journalism. Still, plenty to do all the time, somehow!

Looking forward to slightly warmer weather, but the sky is definitely a spring sky now, and there’s no turning back from the lovely greening that’s underway. It’s enough to make me want to take a trip somewhere new soon! Clearly a set-up—I’m going to Uzhgorod, in the south-west corner of Ukraine, this coming weekend, for a meeting to plan the curriculum for a summer workshop/ camp for English teachers. It’s a bit far, but hey, it’s spring. All things are possible.

:)