tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15624455485707224702024-03-08T11:19:22.668-05:00me-crane/ Ukrainepost-Peace Corps adventuresMKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-27202867960112169102013-12-15T17:21:00.000-05:002013-12-15T17:32:58.612-05:00December 1: A Day in the Life of the US/Ukraine<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It’s taken me a while to sit down and write about December 1
– my parallel piece for the latest <a href="http://www.adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">A Day in the Life of Ukraine</a> (just imagine –
this is the fourth incarnation of this project!). Still, for all that I may
have going on, I can’t expect anyone else to prioritize what I haven’t
accomplished myself, and I’m so looking forward to reading about this day from
the perspectives of those across Ukraine. And really, as I’ve felt so often over
the past month, the scope of anything I have going on isn’t quite on the same
level as the events in Ukraine…</div>
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Despite an alarm set for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">EARLIER</b>, I got up late on December 1. A reward, clearly, just like
the General Tso’s tofu I’d had for dinner the night before. <br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wprT2XLnNrY/Uq4mDojqxHI/AAAAAAAADig/kuxrG7OxkdI/s1600/2013-Winner-Vertical-Banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wprT2XLnNrY/Uq4mDojqxHI/AAAAAAAADig/kuxrG7OxkdI/s200/2013-Winner-Vertical-Banner.png" width="100" /></a>November 30, for anyone who’s known me over the past seven
years, can bring a mix of struggle and triumph. As the final day of <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">National Novel Writing Month</a>, it’s the day when participants must reach the 50,000 word
minimum goal in the year’s new piece of original writing. In 30 days, that’s
1,667 words per day. This year, with Thanksgiving tucked so neatly into the
final fold of the month, and a seemingly still-new job where I often clock
absurd hours, I woke up on November 30 with nearly 11,000 words still to go.
And when I say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nearly </i>11,000 words, I
mean about 10,700 – there’s very little exaggeration here. The seventh year I’d
participated– and I’d completed (meaning WON!) each of the previous six years…
Options?</div>
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Struggle before triumph, then take-out tofu. And yes, I
slept in on December 1, despite a recently passed resolution to avoid such
behavior. Sleep is healthy, right?</div>
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The morning light was weak, anyway, supporting a slow start,
and I checked email and Facebook on my phone before committing to any major
action.</div>
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And here, the shift.</div>
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I’d been following the news from Ukraine over the past few
weeks since Yanukovich had decided not to sign the agreement with the EU, and shared
a few relevant updates, but today, it seemed, was suddenly very different. I
read of the violence between police and protesters the night before – November 30
– and wondered what to believe. How would this story unravel? It was clear where
the blame would be laid, but whose orders had really set these actions in
motion?</div>
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The story of the tractor being used by protestors to break
through police lines was visually striking and picked up by all kinds of news sources
– but who was driving this tractor? Was it extremists from the opposition party
trying to make their point, or provocateurs, trying to cause further conflict
beyond an overall peaceful protest so that a state of emergency could be declared
and an occupying military presence called in?</div>
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I was overwhelmed by the news, the swirling updates –
realizing how rusty my Ukrainian language skills were, wondering how biased all
English-language news sources were (ranging among those based in Western Europe, Russia, the US, and Ukraine itself), and still blown away that this was the day that had been
chosen for A Day in the Life of Ukraine 4.</div>
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<br /></div>
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One person wrote on our ADITLOU FB page that this might not
just turn out to be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Day but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">THE</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Day in the Life of Ukraine. Totally. I
started to wonder, though, how many people would really be able to take the
time to tell this true story – and how many would feel safe and comfortable doing
so? Students whose scholarships are controlled by the state – would they feel
safe reporting that they attended protests on this day? Citizens who planned
strikes for December 2 – as it seemed many did – would they feel comfortable sharing
that? As Peace Corps Volunteers, we weren’t to discuss political issues, as we
were not in the country on political missions – however, I can imagine that any
PCV reporting on this day would have serious trouble avoiding this topic and
any emotional coloring.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2OjbdIYbyU/Uq4jg5NFKaI/AAAAAAAADiQ/8RRKH-e6t3s/s1600/IMAG5383.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2OjbdIYbyU/Uq4jg5NFKaI/AAAAAAAADiQ/8RRKH-e6t3s/s200/IMAG5383.jpg" width="111" /></a>I spent a little time inviting lots of people to participate
– to like the page, to attend the event – and then stepped back. What would I
even say about this day in Ukraine myself? What stories or pictures could I now
share? Everything I came across seemed so biased. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Europe is perfect, Russia is the worst – sign and we’ll live happily
ever after with Western standards and never have to pay for visas.</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ukrainians don’t understand that Russia
looks out for them and Europe’s promises are a bunch of hot air and empty
wallets.</i> A picture of a Cossack being dragged by two military police
through Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). Which we now call
Euromaidan (European Square). Or we don’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I chatted with a few friends in Ukraine, ended up posting a
link to a <a href="http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/euromaidan-rallies-in-ukraine-live-updates-332341.html" target="_blank">KyivPost page</a> that was regularly updated in English and which I’d
confirmed had fairly accurate information, and stepped away from the screen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As often as I always think of Ukraine and all those I love who live
there, this particular story swallowed my day on December 1, and has been at least front
page news for me for the past month. I had the idea that somehow, everyone knew
about this story right away, too – that people looked up and saw the Ukrainian
flag that always hangs in the window of my apartment and nodded fiercely. When
I got in the car to run some errands and this wasn’t on the top of the news, I
was nearly shocked. When no one in any of the stores I stopped by said anything
about my Ukrainian flag earrings, I had the feeling they were just being
polite.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unreasonable? Maybe. Still, the truth. But what about all
the things going on in the world that I don’t know about? Yeah, there’s that…
all of that. (And now, as I write this, there are certainly many more people aware of this story... and many more stories that have developed in the world of which I am personally unaware. How to keep up?)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, on with the errands…</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hBtSjsQIJ8Y/Uq4l0M3oNqI/AAAAAAAADiY/K27xbzEqDrc/s1600/IMAG5770.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hBtSjsQIJ8Y/Uq4l0M3oNqI/AAAAAAAADiY/K27xbzEqDrc/s320/IMAG5770.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whole Foods: Returning a glass bottle, then looking for
milk, chocolate, in a new glass bottle. Assorted groceries. Flowers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trader Joe’s: Another try for the flowers. New people
starting the next day at the office should be greeted by flowers at their
desks, right? Why so slow to decide on which flowers? They should be the right
flowers. Success: yellow ranunculus. That’s a bold choice. Also pumpkin yogurt.
That’s for me. It just looks like a good idea. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Goodwill: Vases. Certainly helpful. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With all of these items gathered, I stopped by the office – about
two minutes away from Goodwill – to drop off the flowers and vases so I wouldn’t
have to carry them in early the next morning. As I swiped my access card, the
dark quiet turned to fluorescently lit quiet, white noise humming inaudibly.
Air vents slightly waved a few of the colorful hands of our recently Thanksgiving
project in greeting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some scissors,
water, the bright yellow flowers deposited appropriately, and my phone rang.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yw1Pe4CpUrs/Uq4i7QfeulI/AAAAAAAADiE/k_2HnOB7raU/s1600/IMAG5570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yw1Pe4CpUrs/Uq4i7QfeulI/AAAAAAAADiE/k_2HnOB7raU/s320/IMAG5570.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About a minute into this conversation, I realized two
things: 1, I was being asked a question I’d been asked before and hadn’t
answered yet, and 2, I was responding from my office on a Sunday night. Yuck.
What matters? I promised a response by tonight. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where are your priorities? </i>I didn’t say that. I said, “And how are
you?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Home again, I figured out the answer, delivered it. Check.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ready for work tomorrow? More or less. Check-ish.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dinner? Buckwheat, eggs – why not? Let’s really have a
Ukrainian day. Love it. Of course I check the news updates while I eat.
Different time zones allow for translation of recent action, and it’s a full
day to report – spreading wider and Wester.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stepping back, a bit of my own writing for the day – still a
priority, no matter how much was accomplished yesterday, no matter how random
or serious the content .</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I head to sleep, I marvel how this is always the
question: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where are your priorities?</i>
It doesn’t always matter who knows them, but it always matters how you act on them.
In small ways, in big ways. You know I could go on about this, but the Campbell’s
condensed version? Be a hero to your priorities!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="UK" style="mso-ansi-language: UK;">СЛАВА УКРАЇНІ!</span></div>
MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-70306083887527351312013-12-01T13:17:00.001-05:002013-12-01T13:34:52.928-05:00A Day in the Life of Ukraine... Greetings! <br />
<br />
You're right, I'm not in Ukraine at the moment. If I was, I'd be making careful note of everything, because today, December 1, is <a href="http://adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank">A Day in the Life of Ukraine</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
Remember this project? It's the cooperative writing
project, where we ask everyone to tell the true story of his or her day.
It's the fourth time this project has happened-- can you believe it? And can you believe it's today?<br />
<br />
I'm not organizing the project this year, and I didn't pick this day. However, if you follow the news of Ukraine at all, you know that there happens to be a lot going on today.<br />
<br />
I will write about my day, though, and I will reflect on this news. If
you're in Ukraine, please share the story of your Day by following the
instructions <a href="http://adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com/get-involved/" target="_blank">here</a>. Submissions are due by December 7.<br />
<br />
If you're not in Ukraine, I welcome you to share your story or your thoughts here, and we'll likely link to the ADITLOU page. You can email me, message me on Facebook, attach a file to a smoke signal, or just leave me a comment below, and we'll work it on out.<br />
<br />
Be safe, be strong, and tell your story --<br />
<br />
Thank you!<br />
<br />
MelissaMKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-56320083876790165142013-07-17T23:59:00.000-04:002013-07-18T01:02:18.635-04:00Good morning, Ukraine...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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My last morning in Ukraine was a dark one.
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is this an overly dramatic statement? It’s a fact, anyway.
My flight out of Boryspil left at 6 a.m. on July 17, 2012, and my Peace Corps
driver picked me up at my hostel by Maidan Nexalezhnosti<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i>in the center of
Kyiv pretty early. So, it was dark.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As for my mood, I wouldn’t say that was dark. Of course I was excited to be going home, to be seeing my family and friends. Of course. Still, I was leaving the friends I'd made, the relatives I'd gotten to know. I was closing my service without knowing what job I'd be starting next. I had no idea when I'd be back in Ukraine. I had no clear plans for my future. It might be
fair to say I had mixed feelings. Turbulent, even.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xd-Mm3EZCts/Uedy5awG5XI/AAAAAAAADgE/IddKcyV3Yp4/s1600/IMG_8408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xd-Mm3EZCts/Uedy5awG5XI/AAAAAAAADgE/IddKcyV3Yp4/s320/IMG_8408.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't be fooled by the big letters. It's just the Embassy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the months and weeks in advance of July 17, my Close of
Service date, I’d been preparing to say goodbye. When my group—Ukraine 37—began
our Peace Corps service in September of 2009, our group’s COS date had been set
as December 17, 2011. However, when I extended my service to finish the school
year and complete a number of projects, I set my new date as July 17, 2012.
This date wasn’t a surprise at all—I chose it—but the speed with which it appeared
was strangely unexpected.</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VE-I1yhfNXM/Uedy5mX23_I/AAAAAAAADgI/s0AnjwQPKtA/s1600/IMG_8422.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VE-I1yhfNXM/Uedy5mX23_I/AAAAAAAADgI/s0AnjwQPKtA/s320/IMG_8422.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vika demonstrates Peace Corps style.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Physically clearing my apartment of the belongings that I
had accumulated over my three years in Ukraine was a challenge. I enjoyed giving
away special items to Ukrainian and American friends, as well as to my
Ukrainian relatives, and many of my books, clothes, and other household goods
were useful for other Peace Corps Volunteers. Still, it was really amazing to
me how many things I had accumulated, and it was very hard to choose which
items would make the trip back to the US with me. Ultimately, I brought back
hardly any clothing—handwashing in a bucket for three years can be tough on
clothes anyway!—and kept mostly souvenirs and other gifts.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MuvkPhqR3Sg/Uedv1KW_SZI/AAAAAAAADf0/OB5i2nigX_I/s1600/IMG_8173+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MuvkPhqR3Sg/Uedv1KW_SZI/AAAAAAAADf0/OB5i2nigX_I/s200/IMG_8173+(2).jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Irynka's birthday</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, saying goodbye to people was the most difficult
part. I wanted to tell everyone that I’d probably see them again before I left,
because I probably would... right? I visited my relatives in their small town
in Lvivska oblast one last time, and it was extremely difficult to leave.
Still, they know I’ll be back, which made it a little like any other visit. I
wanted to hug everyone extra hard, especially the children, and give some sort
of extra message, but what to say?<span style="mso-ansi-language: UK;"> <span class="hps"><span lang="UK">Щасливо!</span></span></span><span lang="UK"> </span><span class="hps"><span lang="UK" style="mso-ansi-language: UK;">до зустрічі</span></span><span lang="UK"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Bye/Good luck! Until our
next meeting! <span class="hps"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DpUtZd6CRcQ/UedrqaqPRKI/AAAAAAAADfk/1gSNqqb4gaQ/s1600/IMG_7943.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DpUtZd6CRcQ/UedrqaqPRKI/AAAAAAAADfk/1gSNqqb4gaQ/s200/IMG_7943.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camp ACT with Chrystyna!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps"></span>Goodbyes to students and staff at the
universities and at the teacher training institute where I worked came in
stages as the school year ended, and as grades were finished. Film Club at
Window on America and English Teacher Camp brought new rounds of goodbyes, as
did Camp ACT in Shatsk. ACT meant goodbye to a good number of the Volunteers in
the area, as well as university students and friends. More goodbyes in Lutsk to
dear friends with tea parties and hilarious life-size tribute/ thank-you/
goodbye presentations culminated in the final train out of the station with dearest
Vika on board to see me through to Kyiv, waving and waving and waving to
friends on the platform…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps"> </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d9wNuXmA_48/UedqJ2gt76I/AAAAAAAADfI/ghtt-sVw7jQ/s1600/IMG_8262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d9wNuXmA_48/UedqJ2gt76I/AAAAAAAADfI/ghtt-sVw7jQ/s320/IMG_8262.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oksana, Melissa, Anya, and Vika</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">My last full day in Ukraine, July 16, was spent
living it up in Kyiv. Later it was a very sad goodbye-for-now to Vika, my
counterpart, tutor, guide, best friend, sister, and ambassador extraordinare
for Ukraine, again at the train station, and I was left with three PCVs, two of
whom who had come to Kyiv at least partially to say goodbye. Andrea, Andrew,
Laura and I had a dinner that was pretty fancy for a Volunteer budget (I’d just
emptied my Ukrainian bank account!), wandered around and ended up in a 24-hour
coffee shop having hot chocolate—the delicious kind that’s like a melted
chocolate bar you need to eat with a spoon. Excellent. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tQce4E099vg/UedqKlhkYRI/AAAAAAAADfQ/jsSfuCwFWD4/s1600/IMG_8434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tQce4E099vg/UedqKlhkYRI/AAAAAAAADfQ/jsSfuCwFWD4/s320/IMG_8434.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrea, Laura, Andrew... featuring hot chocolate @ Coffee Life</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">Back in the hostel, I had the thought that I’d
just stay awake. Andrew agreed to stay up, and we chatted and faded, chatted
and faded. I was lucky that these three were with me—we’d all done projects
together, and Andrew and Laura were regular guests at my apartment. If anyone
was going to hear me repeatedly point out how weird a situation is, while
bouncing back and forth between exhausted overwhelm and recently ingested
intensely concentrated chocolate, I’m glad it was this crew.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">Finally, I decided that it would be a good
idea to me to sleep for a couple of hours. By a couple, I mean about two. I climbed up in my bunk in the common room and went to sleep at about one and
set my alarm for about three. When the alarm woke me up, I stripped down the bed, as
per hostel rules, then slightly woke up and said goodbye to Laura, as per Laura’s
instructions. Andrew was still up, and he walked me down the four flights of
stairs to the big white boxy vehicle where a Peace Corps driver was waiting.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">I’m not going to say that was the only time
I cried, but that was tough.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">The driver was a good guy, I didn’t have to
talk too much, and it was a smooth ride to the airport. No, I didn’t need help
with my bags. Yes, I would be coming back. He smiled. </span><span class="hps"><span lang="UK" style="mso-ansi-language: UK;">Ми</span></span><span class="shorttext"><span lang="UK" style="mso-ansi-language: UK;"> </span></span><span class="hps"><span lang="UK" style="mso-ansi-language: UK;">чекаємо Вас</span></span>. We are waiting
for you.</div>
MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-17867223551239396152012-12-29T01:20:00.000-05:002012-12-29T01:20:27.869-05:00wishing you happiness, health, success, love, luck, and... and...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QI58BQWWnTQ/UN6KappVL8I/AAAAAAAADds/C-qNDqSNYFA/s1600/IMAG0895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QI58BQWWnTQ/UN6KappVL8I/AAAAAAAADds/C-qNDqSNYFA/s320/IMAG0895.jpg" width="180" /></a>So this is Christmas… in America!</div>
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After nearly three years abroad, what should I be thinking
about at this time—finally spending Christmas in America with my family—? Of
course, I am grateful, glad for the health and many happinesses in my life and
the lives of those dear to me. Still, this season has brought with it an
unusually high number of those moments that I have often felt since my return:
homesickness for Ukraine.</div>
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First, though: good news! I have a job! After the holidays,
I’ll be starting with a company in Herndon, Virginia, that helps public school
systems across the US improve their communication with their
stakeholders—employees, parents, students, and other community members. My job
will be to meet with school district leaders and make sure that they are happy
with the work of the company and getting the most out of the information
gathered. It’s a small company that is part of a slightly larger technology
company, which is exciting, but this division is based in the world of public
education, which is a sector that I care a great deal about. Plus, my first day of work will be Ukrainian Christmas-- January 7! Yes, I did choose that date... lucky indeed!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Another piece of news: it looks like I’ll also be doing a little
teaching <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>via Skype for an online
learning center for international students! The director of this center met me
while I was presenting at TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages) Conferences in Ukraine, and contacted me about a vacancy they had
for an English teacher. So, if it works out with my schedule for my full-time
job, I will be doing that, too. The center is online, but registered in Russia,
and students may be from all over the world. I’d enjoy the opportunity to continue
to teach on my own schedule and to work with international students, so I hope
that the arrangements can be managed.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FKcaeoFZNPs/UN6K5pUio_I/AAAAAAAADd0/ygUCd4JcZEE/s1600/IMG_9025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FKcaeoFZNPs/UN6K5pUio_I/AAAAAAAADd0/ygUCd4JcZEE/s320/IMG_9025.JPG" width="320" /></a>My parents and I spent Christmas with my aunt and uncle,
enjoying vareneky/ pierogies and other goodies on Christmas eve, then waking up
to stuffed stockings and a tree surrounded by presents. Magic! In Ukraine, the
lack of presents on Christmas—transferring all of the presents to New Years—mixed
things up a bit for me. In America, it’s all about Christmas. Christmas also
brought us some snow, finally. I wasn’t looking for much, just a few inches—I certainly
wasn’t angling for anything close to the three feet of snow that fell in parts
of Ukraine a few weeks ago, adding to fears about the coming apocalypse. </div>
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In a few days, I’ll travel to spend New Years with friends
from Peace Corps Ukraine—a mini-reunion! We’ll celebrate our shared past as
we look forward together to the next steps we’ll all be taking in this new year
of adventures ahead. For me, how much will Ukraine play a part in my year
ahead, in my future life? Now, even five months after I’ve left, I can honestly
say that Ukraine is still very much a part of my life, through connections to
friends, family, and even projects. As I move on to new full-time work, I will
continue to value and nurture those connections that matter most, but I know
that my changing schedule will necessarily shift my available time and energy.
Should I change the name of this blog? Should I start a different blog? All
this remains to be seen.</div>
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For now, wishing you and your family happinesss, health,
success, love, luck (what else am I missing?!)…. and all the best!</div>
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:) </div>
MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-89118013548039900452012-11-24T15:45:00.000-05:002012-11-24T15:59:05.327-05:00Giving (informative? entertaining?) thanksBefore I say anything else: The <a href="http://aditlou3.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">A Day in the Life of Ukraine 3</a> project site is now available for your viewing pleasure! Congratulations to Andrew and Logan-- it looks great! Thanks to all who participated by writing about your day on November 1-- now the world can read all about your experiences <a href="http://aditlou3.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>! <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rZyZqwMbziM/ULEvqUb8GoI/AAAAAAAADdE/aRG8tX2i4zo/s1600/IMAG0594.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rZyZqwMbziM/ULEvqUb8GoI/AAAAAAAADdE/aRG8tX2i4zo/s320/IMAG0594.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust (homemade, back in the land of cream cheese!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yesterday was Thanksgiving-- hooray!!-- and it was my first in the United States since 2008. This, and my writing for National Novel Writing Month, got me thinking about Thanksgivings I spent in Ukraine.<br />
<br />
In a rare double-post, shared with my <a href="http://nowjustwrite.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">justwrite blog</a>-- where I normally post freewrites and rough drafts of creative work, but am this month posting daily excerpts of my Nano novel progress-- here's a bit of that memory from November 2009...<br />
<br />
----<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
My first Thanksgiving in Ukraine, I lived with a host
family. Still, I came back from
language classes—I think we had the afternoon off?—with a plan. While other
Americans planned for a big gathering in a pizza place in the city, I decided
on a different route. I stopped by a grocery store and a stationery stall and
got some supplies, then headed back to the apartment. My host mom and sister
were both still at work and the university, respectively, so I had some time to
prepare.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Luckily, I’d already been living in this apartment in
Chernihiv for about two months by the time Thanksgiving arrived, so I was at
least somewhat ready to deal with the challenges of the kitchen. I had no
illusions about cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner by the time Tamara and Ira
returned home, so I decided on a few modest side dishes and some… what would I
call them if someone were to ask? Informative and entertaining decorations.
That’s if someone were to ask in English, you understand. Or at least that’s
how I’d be answering in English, were I to understand the question in the first
place. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ahem.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I chose to make mashed potatoes (probably my favorite dish on
the traditional Thankgiving table and on nearly any table upon which it appears,
plus easy enough to make with one of the cheapest and most readily available
ingredients in Ukraine), but while I was thinking about my choice for a second
dish, Tamara made it. That is, the night before Thanksgiving, while abnormal
percentages of Americans were eating pizza and going out to bars, my host mom
made lots and lots of pumpkin kasha—pumpkin puree mixed up with some sort of
grain (rice, I think it probably was). To be clear, I’m not complaining about
this development at all; pumpkin kasha should be
celebrated, whenever and however it appears. Still, the amount of pumpkin kasha—because
Tamara knew that I loved it—made it ridiculous for me to think about making
multiple dishes the next day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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So, I scrubbed, peeled, cut, boiled, and mashed potatoes and
planned the informative and entertaining decorations that would adorn the
cabinets in the kitchen/ dining room. I’m not sure exactly what I had in mind,
but what I ended up with was vastly beyond what I had imagined. It’s hard to
say whether I was bursting with pride or slightly embarrassed, lest anyone
should see my display, but it was impossible to turn back. I kept thinking that
someone would show up while I was still preparing and I could sheepishly look
excited about inviting whoever it was into my odd style of celebration, but
time kept passing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Eventually, I decided that my decorations were informative
and entertaining enough. I cleaned up, ate my mashed potatoes, pumpkin kasha,
and hardboiled egg. Happy Thanksgiving to me! Still no one came home. I washed
my dishes and went to my room to do my homework.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Some time later, Tamara rang the doorbell—it was our custom
to deadbolt the door on the inside if someone was at home, necessitating the
person inside to be alert for those returning. I let her in, we exchanged
greetings, and I returned to my room. I had decided abruptly that I wanted the kitchen Thanksgiving theme-pieces to be a surprise.
So, I kept my head down at my desk, staring through notes that read “whatever
whatever whatever you know you’re not even reading this so why even bother
pretending oh come on” as I listened to Tamara head to the living room, her
bedroom, and switch to home-clothes, then back to the fridge in the hallway to
gather a few dinner items. Then, in the kitchen, she switched on the light. I
held my breath a little.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O, Melissochka,
dyakoyou za pyuree!</i>” she called. She was thanking me for the puree, the
mashed potatoes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No problem, I told her. But did she see the decorations? Was
she informed? Was she entertained?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No comment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is, she made no comment. She didn’t answer my questions
by saying “no comment,” especially because I didn’t ask these questions aloud.
I thought this prudent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I heard her fussing in the kitchen, putting together her
meal, and setting it down on the table. Would she never look up at the cabinets
where this display was fully prepared to inform and entertain her? I heard her
sit down on the bench, which meant she was below and facing away from the
cabinet, and turn on the television.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not right to be frustrated in a situation where no one
knows that you have expectations for them. Right? Certainly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I watched my homework for a while, flipped a few pages
around.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At some point, the dishes clattered into the sink, the television
was turned off, and I heard Tamara laugh with sudden surprise.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh, Melissa, what is it?” she called out to me at last, in Ukrainian.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only word for what I did was ‘scampered’. I scampered
from my room to the kitchen like an elementary school kid, proud and pleased
and ready to show off my efforts to my somewhat bewildered but definitely
amused host mother.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The display, in classic cut-out construction paper shapes,
incorporated various elements of Thanksgiving into a smorgasboard of
explanation. There were parts about history, bits about contemporary
celebration of the holiday, and a plenty of the ingredients that make this
occasion so deliciously fulfilling. The topper was the hand-turkeys, also in classic
elementary style, that I had made for each member of my host family, with a
note on top thanking each for a specific attribute. “Tamara, thank you for your
generosity!” I thanked Tamara, her daughters Ira and Vika, and grandson Ihor,
so four slightly confused looking turkeys marched across the bottom of the
cabinets, bearing what they hoped were correctly constructed Ukrainian notes of
gratitude. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, yes, all of this was in Ukrainian. You see? It took a
long time. None of these little leaves or pumpkins or other display shapes took
long to cut out or stick up on the cabinet doors, but the construction of the
actual words and phrases took much longer. Listing the ingredients of a
Thanksgiving feast, while perhaps superfluous, was the easiest task, requiring
simple recopying from my textbook or the dictionary. I even knew some of the
words already! Potato? <span class="hps"><span lang="UK" style="mso-ansi-language: UK;">Картопля</span></span>!<span class="hps"><span style="mso-ansi-language: UK;"> </span>Corn? </span><span class="hps"><span lang="UK" style="mso-ansi-language: UK;">Кукурудза</span>! Bam! Of course, writing out these words meant using my
gorgeous elementary block print handwriting, but hey, sticking with the theme.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">Plus, my host mom was proud, and that’s what
it was all about. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">I mean, she was entertained and informed,
and that’s what it was all about.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">When Ira, my host sister came home,
Tamara showed off this display to her on my behalf. What did Ira think? She
definitely raised her eyebrows, but she didn’t stick out her tongue or anything
behind Tamara’s back, so I think that was a success. Yeah, I may have the
language skills of a child, but I’m older. So!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tS4OnemsYZ0/ULEtlC6miMI/AAAAAAAADc8/6bPyjAiJeuo/s1600/DSC02710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tS4OnemsYZ0/ULEtlC6miMI/AAAAAAAADc8/6bPyjAiJeuo/s320/DSC02710.JPG" width="320" /></a><span class="hps">The next night, when Vika and Ihor came over
to visit, Tamara knocked on my door, and the whole family came in to deliver a
present to me. A present? For Thanksgiving, it was explained to me. They didn’t
know it was a holiday, really, but they wanted me to have a present. It was a
small furry blue bag with a smiling flower on it and chocolates inside.
Awesome. Then we all made hand turkeys together, and they wrote notes on
theirs, thanking me for something I meant to them. I had to use my dictionary
to figure out what they appreciated, but it was clearly well worth the effort.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hps">This was my first Thanksgiving in Ukraine,
and while it wasn’t anything like any Thanksgiving I’d ever had before or will
again, the opportunity to share this wonderful holiday with such an accepting
and loving family is one I’ll never forget.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-49559653790412138352012-11-11T13:18:00.000-05:002012-11-15T12:17:37.876-05:001 November: A Ukrainian's Day in the USA<i>Today's post comes from a guest blogger, Oksana Chugai, a colleague who is an English teacher in Kyiv. You'll recall [or read in the <a href="http://mecrane-ukraine.blogspot.com/2012/11/1-november-day-in-life-of-us-of-a.html" target="_blank">preceding post</a>] that November 1 was the third <a href="http://adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">A Day in the Life of Ukraine</a> project and because I wasn't in Ukraine, I celebrated by writing about A Day in the Life of the USA. Since Oksana was also in the US on November 1, she decided to do the same. Thank you, Oksana!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>(As the results from ADITLOU3 become available, Andrew and Logan will post them <a href="http://aditlou3.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>! Stay tuned!)</i><br />
----<br />
<br />
It's the third time I participate in this project. As a TESOL-Ukraine member, I received invitations from ETRC (Kyiv Mohyla Academy) and personally from Melissa Krut. I think, this project is very important because it gives a glimpse of one day in the life of many different people. When I read the submissions of others, I was amazed how much I learned not only about others, but about myself as well. Now I am in<br />
Washington DC and I am going to describe my day in Claremont, CA, where I spent six weeks as a participant of TEA Program (IREX).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WeInIXaZ31M/UKUiaRd4SYI/AAAAAAAADcs/gQ0poRAnVZU/s1600/November_1+TEA+Fellows.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WeInIXaZ31M/UKUiaRd4SYI/AAAAAAAADcs/gQ0poRAnVZU/s320/November_1+TEA+Fellows.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oksana, second from left, and other TEA Fellows, on 1 Nov.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>One Day in the Life Of Ukraine [in the USA!]<br />Oksana Chugai</b><br />
<br />
It is chilly in the morning, but roses are in bloom, the trees are green in Claremont, California. We usually walk to the university instead of taking a hotel shuttle - we chat, plan our day, at the same time we admire the front yards of the cottages on the way which are fully decorated for Halloween. Our usual company - Monica from Romania, Nadia from Kazakhstan, Ximena from Ecuador, Natalia from Ukraine. There are twenty-one participants in our group - we are called TEA-Fellows. We all are teachers of English in different countries all over the world. To study here, in Claremont Graduate University, we went through a tough competition. Today I have other thoughts on my mind - I present my "Onion Project" which is one of the assignments of TLCC Class, which means "Teaching Language in Cultural Context". The task is to "unpeel the onion" - to take one layer after another to analyze the system of education in the USA in comparison with the systems of education of our home countries. <br />
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Now we are in the university. We enter the building, which reminds me of a maze, because it has several entrances and even different names. We worked three hours, as usual. My "Onion Project" was at least unusual, because I invited the Fellows for a virtual lunch in a popular spot "Square Onion". I was not going to unpeel the onion - I was going to cut it to start from the very core. The teacher or educator is in the core of the system of education, so I was going to concentrate on the influences of school, region, culture on the educator. Then I focused my investigation on classroom management, planning and assessment in the USA and Ukraine. To conclude, I presented influences of the educators on school, region and culture. I chose my favourite pictures - the classroom of my partner teacher at Montclair High School, the library, the contract between a student, her or his parents and a teacher, creative works of students in Honors Class...<br />
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It was challenging to be in the classroom and not to participate. It is especially challenging when you are in a foreign country in a class with students you don't know and you are supposed to collaborate with a teacher you meet for the first time. But we, teachers and students, in spite of all the differences, are basically the same. During six weeks we, Fellows, took interviews in school, studied Yearbooks, explored different areas of school life. We helped each other by sharing information, sometimes teasing, sometimes scolding. That is why I managed to complete my "Onion Project" - it is something I will bring to my home country. It is the evidence that eight weeks spent in the USA were not just my holidays.<br />
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After class we go to the cafeteria on campus to have lunch. It is our favourite spot - in spite of being crowded, it is always open and friendly, it is usually full of teasing smells. Students use bicycles or skateboards to move round the campus, so there are plenty of them near the entrance. What I love about this cafeteria is choice - it is not obligatory to eat soup or meat, you just choose what you want, go to your table and enjoy your meal. Then you take something else. And then more - students are always hungry!<br />
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After lunch I say good-bye to my friends and go to the library. It is my favourite place on campus - it is a huge space for everyone. You may sit anywhere, or even lie comfortably on a sofa, putting your shoes nearby.<br />
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What I usually do - because of the lack of time I scan the books I need and save the articles or thesis as PDF documents. As a postgraduate student, I should use this opportunity to get as much as possible from my stay here. Now it is time to return home, which is the DoubleTree Hotel.<br />
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It was a bit unusual first not to see many people in the streets, but now I do not worry - people go jogging, they walk with their dogs, and shops are still open.<br />
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It is getting dark. I hurry back to the hotel, all the streets now familiar and full of memories. In the lobby I ask for a chocolate chip cookie - they are delicious here, not too sweet, warm and soft. I drink a cup of coffee, eat my cookie and look at the palm trees which become darker and darker. Somewhere nearby I hear voices of TEA-Fellows, chatting and laughing. When we speak with each other, we speak English, but when we Skype, we speak different languages - Spanish, Russian, French, and lots of others. Then I go to the swimming pool and cool water gives me energy to continue my day. It is nearly over - Thursday, the first of November. We are planning the next weekend here, but we are thinking about our families, our students, colleagues left at home. Soon it will be over, we return to our home countries and live our usual lives. But this day we will never forget.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C1nm8nLGjxQ/UKUh2kPmIlI/AAAAAAAADck/OzTeKrf6Z3k/s1600/TEA+Fellows+TLCC+Class.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C1nm8nLGjxQ/UKUh2kPmIlI/AAAAAAAADck/OzTeKrf6Z3k/s400/TEA+Fellows+TLCC+Class.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TEA Fellows- TLCC class<br />
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MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-32303056136857173622012-11-02T00:58:00.000-04:002012-11-14T13:22:31.306-05:001 November: A Day in the Life of the US of A<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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In case you missed it… All across Ukraine, people are about
to sit down and do exactly what I’m about to do: describe what happened on
November 1. This is part of a project called A Day in the Life of Ukraine, and
while it’s the third of such cooperative writing events, it’s the first for which
I am neither in charge nor in Ukraine. So, here I am, writing about my own day
in the United States of America! If you spent November 1 in Ukraine, I <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">strongly</b> encourage you to participate
in <a href="http://aditlou3.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">ADITLOU3</a> (you can find out all about how to get involved <a href="http://aditlou3.wordpress.com/about/get-involved/" target="_blank">HERE</a>), but if you
spent the day in the US, I invite you to share your day as a response to my
post below, and we’ll celebrate ADITLOUSA together! <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:)</span></span></div>
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The start of November 1, according to the clock, found me on
the couch with my netbook perched on my lap. Was I completing some important piece
of work? No, I was finishing reading last year’s book. Arrow key down, down,
down, and an hour later, I rolled into the dark and wrapped myself in the hope
of sleep.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2vdrdCXxWs8/UJNRX7_oghI/AAAAAAAADb4/i1nMCRhX8mQ/s1600/nano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2vdrdCXxWs8/UJNRX7_oghI/AAAAAAAADb4/i1nMCRhX8mQ/s1600/nano.jpg" /></a></div>
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For those who know me well, the pairing of ‘November 1’ and ‘last
year’s book’ leads to a simple conclusion: <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a>. National Novel Writing
Month is an annual contest to write a 50,000-word novella within the month of
November, and I’ve successfully ‘won’ this contest for the past five years.
Somehow, however, I hadn’t managed to read last year’s text the whole way
through since completing it. There were plenty of reasons why I’d been busy—extending
my Peace Corps service in Ukraine, returning home to the US, catching up with
friends and family, job hunting—but now there was simply no excuse: I had to
read through the old book before starting the new one. </div>
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Sleep did not come easily, however. The anxiety of preparing
to write a new extended piece of writing, the added pressure of advertising it
as the sixth such venture, and the realization that being unemployed may offer
the most perfect opportunity I’ll ever have for such an undertaking… Just
unnecessary.</div>
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Morning came when the doorbell rang and my dad let in the
guy who was collecting the radon detector test. Speaking of anxiety—do you know
what radon is, and would you know it if you saw it, or smelled it? Let’s not
even think about it. Instead, I laid in bed and picked up my phone to read
emails—some of which were from friends in Ukraine. Since Ukraine is ahead of
the US in time zones, it’s nice to get notes from friends who are already in
the middle of their day while I’m just getting up.</div>
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Just as I finished my morning yoga, my dad was calling through
my door that he was on his way into town and would see me later. This left me
time for a leisurely bowl of cereal and milk, coffee from our espresso machine,
and planning for the day.</div>
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Part of my idea for my NaNo novel involves writing (well,
yeah…)—the concept of being a writer, and I think I’m going to try to use this
month to focus more than I normally do on thinking about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and actually doing something about </i>being a writer. So, I decided
that I’d do a little work on some past writing today, in finishing up part of a
past project—scanning the originals of a few zines that my friends and I
collaborated on over the past year in order to be able to share and archive
them more cooperatively.</div>
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As I did this, I thought about the wonders of having an
easily accessible scanner/ printer/ copier, multiple computers, wireless
internet… so many things I hope I’ve never taken for granted, but I know I
appreciate even more now—knowing that I don’t have to run out in the rain to reload
internet at a kiosk or head to an internet café to try to print something at an
unreasonable hour, surrounded by boys playing Counter-Strike…</div>
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No Counter-Strike for me today, but an hour of Wii Fitness
in the basement. When combined with Netflix and the Blu-ray player, this means
that I magically ran for about ten miles in a small space, my distance was unexplainably
calculated, and I simultaneously watched an episode of Sherlock Holmes—played
by Jeremy Brett, my favorite—on the same screen.</div>
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After a quick shower, I drove the five or so miles into
downtown Gettysburg to meet with Mary, who’s the co-chair at the <a href="http://www.icpj-gettysburg.org/index.html" target="_blank">InterfaithCenter for Peace and Justice</a>. I volunteered to help them with anything they
might need, and at the moment, this means making a short promotional video for
an upcoming community fundraising event—sort of a version of Heifer International
for local nonprofits.</div>
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Mary liked the script, liked the video I’ve put together,
hooray. The only problem is that all of the suggestions that have been sent in
have made it too long, so we need to trim it down. The final product can only
be one minute and fifty seconds long! Think about how much you could say about
your favorite organization in such little time, then add pictures and video
that may or may not be available, and wrap it all up in HD, and you’re done!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">romanesco broccoli</td></tr>
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Back home, I heated up some leftover macaroni and cheese and
romanesco broccoli (it’s amazing looking!) for dinner and chatted with my dad,
who had just come back from his day of errands and exploits. He’s retired, but
he always has something to do or somewhere to be. Today’s highlight was seeing
a movie with two other retired friends, generally a weekly outing that involves
films that other family members might not always appreciate. This time, though,
the wife of one of his friends came along, and she had a great time, too.</div>
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Before I left the house again, I prepared for my next adventure:
kids’ club at Manos Unidas. Basically, about a month ago, I made the same offer
to the Literacy Council that I made to the Interfaith Center for Peace and
Justice—I volunteered to help with anything they might need. For the last
month, this has mainly meant spending quality, hopefully language-useful time
with kids whose parents are taking ESL classes two evenings per week at a center
downtown. I caught up with the ‘diary’ we keep for our sessions, made some
lovely alphabet pages for an upcoming project, and headed out the door.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J is for jumping, which makes fuzzy photos</td></tr>
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At Manos Unidas, my two regular attendees, who are brother
and sister, showed up just late enough for me to wonder if they were coming.
After a quick discussion about the seriousness of Hurricane Sandy, which caused
us to miss our normal Monday evening session, we made a plan for an alphabet
scavenger hunt. First, we made a list of all of the letters of the alphabet.
Then, we divided responsibilities: Little brother, who is in kindergarten,
would carry the notebook, and big sister, who is in third grade, would write,
and all three of us would look for things that stared with each letter of the
alphabet. Off we headed, two blocks down to the middle of town, around the ‘square’
(actually a circle) (yes, Ukraine, it is ‘the center!’), and back to our
ultimate destination: the library. Along the way, we laughed quite a bit and
saw plenty of possible letters, such as ‘adult’ and ‘jumping’ and even a toy ‘zebra’
in a store window. We got stuck on K, but when we mentioned this to a man and
his wife who were strolling by, they pointed out ‘kids’! We even met a big dog,
but though his owner assured us that he was very friendly and big sister and I were
happy to pet him, little brother was still pretty overwhelmed by the sheer size
of the dog—and his teeth! The extended nature of our walk left us only a short
time in the library, which was a little disappointing, but so it goes. We
hurried back to Manos Unidas and left in good spirits. In departing, their
father told me that they might not be there on Monday, due to parent-teacher
conferences. Big sister called out, “So, come if we come, okay? Bye!”</div>
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Back home, I gave my mom the lovely book I picked out for her
from the children’s section of the library—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://design.org/blog/zeal-zebras-and-other-creature-group-illustrations-woop" target="_blank">A Zeal of Zebras</a></i>—and she revealed that she’d gotten me frozen soft pretzels
from the grocery store. Wonderful. She often asks what I might want from the
grocery store, and it’s sometimes hard to think of something. When she sent a
text earlier today, though, I was specific, and my specificity had been
rewarded! So, I heated up a soft pretzel for my dad, who was downstairs watching
a show, and one for myself. While I was microwaving these delicacies just
right, my mom’s mom called, too, just to check in and make sure all was well,
post-Hurricane Sandy—there are many such calls these days, with so many family
members around the New York/ New Jersey area. Then, I sat down to talk to my mom
about my day and her day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since she
leaves early in the morning to go to work and I stay up late at night to look
for work, we have different schedules, but it’s nice to catch up and hear the
stories floating around in our different environments and experiences. </div>
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A little later, it was time to troll through the regular job
sites I normally check for updates. I know I should have just started writing
this sooner, but it’s routine. Who knows when I’ll find that amazing job?
Better keep looking. Plus, once I finish writing this, it’ll be time to start
writing this year’s novel! So, maybe I should tell you more about my day… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ah, and it’s already tomorrow.</div>
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Thanks for reading—and remember, you’re welcome to share
your November 1 experiences! Let me know, or post below!</div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, I did just post something a few days ago. Can you
believe it?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>1. writing</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While getting my thoughts in order for National Novel
Writing Month—and at many other times of the year, honestly—I wonder why I’m
not writing more. I drift into the writing-ready zone, which means always being
prepared to write down blips of lines from the radio, bolts of inspired thought
from space, and questions that mostly don’t need to be answered. This zone
involves unusual sleeping patterns, bursts of inspiration-driven output, and
waking up suddenly to find I’ve fallen asleep on or under my laptop or
notebook. While in this writing-ready zone, I derive great benefit from tasks
like lawn-mowing and leaf-raking—basically anything that involves hyphenation,
it seems. Dishwashing will do, in a pinch, but it’s low on the list, no matter
what zone I’m in.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V7tFMSQABV0/UI4JC-xWIfI/AAAAAAAADbU/KtiIVZ99EdA/s1600/IMAG0323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V7tFMSQABV0/UI4JC-xWIfI/AAAAAAAADbU/KtiIVZ99EdA/s320/IMAG0323.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this place matters! write it down! take a picture!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What am I doing? Getting ready. Sharpening up. Flexing.
Opening for inspiration. It’s impossible to know where ideas will come from,
which of those that arrive will take hold, and which of those will grow. So, I take pictures of everything that sparks. My
notebook is full of NPR, the general public, and my literarification [?!] of
normal life. A few from this weekend:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- Tuesdays only? Jeez
Manetti!</i> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- Everyone who used to
love me has a baby now</i></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- The Nutmeg Trial</i> </i></i><div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- I worry about my
clothing/ one gettingdressed at a time</i> </i></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- Silver swan on an
orange Suburban, corner turn to lose a wheel</i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Talk about talking
about nothing,” she said, doing just that.</i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- They should’ve
trimmed their sails and taken half a loaf// It became a lightning rod for the
tea party</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- “Your branzino wasn’t
smiling,” she reminded him gently. She was the kind of vegetarian you would
want to be friends with, although you would occasionally feel a flash of what
another species of vegetarian would undoubtedly press onto you as guilt—as in
the absurdity of ordering a fish to be slaughtered for your consumption, only
for you to complain about <span class="uficommentbody">the difficulties presented
by its too-many bones in the dimly lit cabaret. She would never point this out
to you, hence your ability to remain friends.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I like this place, this zone. I realize that I have time to
wallow in it because I’m not working, and I certainly have mixed feelings about
that. Still, I’m applying, and I might as well apply myself while I do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDUGLR92vus/UI4Jq1gZlAI/AAAAAAAADbc/Ob5p0Le0XwM/s1600/IMAG0380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDUGLR92vus/UI4Jq1gZlAI/AAAAAAAADbc/Ob5p0Le0XwM/s320/IMAG0380.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Halloween costumes?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>2. trick-or-treat</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trick-or-treaters came tonight! Although it’s not Halloween,
neighborhoods across America set their official trick-or-treat night for
convenience of scheduling. Tonight we had dozens of kids of all ages ringing
the doorbell between 6 and 8 to claim their candy. Although some wore jackets
on top, all of them had some costume—except one kid, who wore basically a
hoodie and a scary look. What was he? A murderer. Luckily he was just in it for
the candy. I was the official door greeter at our house, so I got to ask “And
who are you tonight?” and encourage them to say “Trick or treat” if they
forgot. Traditions, you know! At several points, kids responded to the question
of who they were by telling me their first name. “And who are you tonight?” “I’m
Logan.” “Um, are you a pirate, Logan?” “Yeah, a pirate.” “Great.” The other
challenge was for those who forgot the key words of the evening. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plenty of kids offered up “Please?”, “Thank
you?”, or even “Go Steelers?” before arriving successfully at “Trick or treat!”
Good times.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>3. storm</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I write this, nearly everyone on the east coast of the US
is bracing for Hurricane Sandy to hit and to bring wind, rain, and snow,
followed by power outages, flooding, and all sorts of disruption. The rain
started here tonight, halfway through trick-or-treating (luckily, we managed to
give away almost all of the candy—no one needs to be stuck with extra bags of
chocolate peanut butter candy!). Warnings have been sounded, schools and
government offices have announced closures, public transportation in DC and NYC
are shut down, and people are preparing—buying water, nonperishable food items,
batteries, etc. It’s amazing to live in a place in which information is so
widely available, even as weather is such a fickle force. No doubt the rain
will continue, but hopefully the impact of the rest of the storm will not be as
severe as many fear.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>4. surprise</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Something to shock and amaze: My friend Baltimore Andrew
(because this is now his name on this site) works with a woman from Ukraine. I
learned this last week and was surprised and excited. Very cool, etc. No, he
didn’t know where she was from, but she spoke Russian, etc. There was a lot of
etc., mostly on my part, perhaps, owing to his impersonation of her. It must be
said that in my experience, Baltimore Andrew generally uses one voice to
represent all women, no matter their age or background. To hear him impersonate
Sophie, though, was truly an experience in loving stereotype, and I realized
that I would need to meet her in person before I had any idea what she actually
sounded like or where she was really from. So! I met her this week, and guess
where she was born. No? Come on, guess! Just one guess. Okay? Yes! She was born
in Lutsk—possibly when it was part of Poland!?—many years ago, and left when she
was very young. More on her story when I have a chance to meet with her again,
but just amazing indeed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stay warm and dry!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:) </div>
MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-8240893438374449452012-10-25T01:01:00.002-04:002012-10-25T01:19:24.159-04:00reconnection, anticipation, and other good things<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYknOQw6Yes/UIjE8Q93BhI/AAAAAAAADaw/vaGLr2gO6Ek/s1600/IMAG0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYknOQw6Yes/UIjE8Q93BhI/AAAAAAAADaw/vaGLr2gO6Ek/s320/IMAG0002.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cooking vareneky for a friend's family</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the last week or two, lucky as I am, I’ve been catching
up with friends I haven’t seen for some time. These include a friend from
Ukraine—through the wonder of Skype—but also real, live, in-person American
friends who I’ve not met up with in three, four, or—gasp!—six years. It’s
amazing to discover that these people a) still exist in such fully realized
forms, b) want to see me at all, and c) are happy to chat with me and exchange
extended pleasantries. As rude as that first point may seem, I think most of
us, when pressed, would probably admit that there’s only some much room in our
brains for so many active social guests. When we don’t see people regularly, we
tend to seat them in the far-back tables of our minds, promising to return and
chat soon. Is this an awkward image? Anyway, I’m glad to see these friends are
doing well: coaching, parenting, writing, teaching, going to the dacha, and
sharing their laughter with me. Love love love.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
November is rapidly approaching, and for the sixth year in a
row, this means one major thing to me: NaNoWriMo! Before focusing on that,
though, here’s THIS! The first day of November has been chosen by Andrew and
Logan to be the ADITLOU3—the third A Day In The Life of Ukraine cooperative
writing project! If you’re in Ukraine on November 1, write about your day, and
share it! You can find out all about it on the site <a href="http://aditlou3.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>. Yes, loyal reader,
you remember correctly: This is the project that I started last December, and
that Andrew and I co-produced last spring. (Check the links on the right of
this page for results from those ventures.) Of course, this is the first ADITLOU in which my D won't be in U, so I’ll have to make do. I’ve decided to
post a parallel Day here on this site about my November 1 in the US, and if you’re
interested, you can post your Day as a response here, too! I was reading a
Ukrainian colleague’s comment on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/460617283961037/" target="_blank">ADITLOU3 Facebook event page</a> that she was
sorry she couldn’t participate because she would be in America, and it made me
smile a little. With the chance to travel to America, she was disappointed to
miss this writing project! Surely we can provide an opportunity. So, November
1, if you’re in Ukraine, write about your day <a href="http://aditlou3.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>. If you’re in America or
somewhere else, you’re welcome to post your day in response to my day on this
page. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, yes—NaNoWriMo! For those of you who don’t know, November
is <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">National Novel Writing Month</a>! If you’ve been waiting for the chance to write
a novel, now is the perfect time, as you’ll have an entire world full of energy
and a technological and social network at your disposal to encourage your
progress. Take a look at the site <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">HERE</a>, get inspired, and sign on up! If you
can write 50,000 words in 30 days—that’s 1,667 words per day—you can win! If I
can meet this challenge, it will be the sixth time I’ve won NaNoWriMo. I’m
taking nothing for granted, though, and am looking forward to an energizing month
full of rapidfire progress tempered with heartbreaking frustration, snapped
suddenly by inspiration and soothed into meltingly rich language… In a rough draft
where the movement is always forward, there’s not too much worry about perfect
sense-making, so the magic generally carries through all month.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-omMOSYT430A/UIjG8kM-PfI/AAAAAAAADa4/874-g03Mm7Q/s1600/IMAG0243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-omMOSYT430A/UIjG8kM-PfI/AAAAAAAADa4/874-g03Mm7Q/s320/IMAG0243.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">field trip to the library!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the real world, I’m still job-searching. I’m
overqualified and underqualified, in the wrong place and at the wrong time for
plenty of positions. Happily, in general, I’m really at the right place and at
the right time, because I’m at home with parents who support me and aren’t
pushing me out the door in an uncertain direction. While I search and continue
to apply, I’ve been volunteering at two local organizations. For the Adams
County Literacy Council, I’ve volunteered to be an ESL tutor for a woman from
Ukraine (!), but my main work is basically a kids’ club twice a week during
evening adult ESL classes. The kids are a bit out of my typical age range, but
we generally have a pretty good time, and it’s something useful I can do. I’ve
also been helping with the Interfaith Center for Peace and Justice, mainly with
written materials and a promotional video for an upcoming community fundraising
event. So, good things!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hope you’ve been well, and that your Halloween costume is
coming together splendidly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:) </div>
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<![endif]-->MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-82681386410251844122012-09-30T10:38:00.000-04:002012-10-01T00:16:34.718-04:00Toward progressWell!<br />
<br />
As my father is fond of saying, that's a deep subject.<br />
<br />
In this case, the subject is plenty deep and certainly full of both literal and metaphorical depth of field... the kind of field I might be out standing in, or even outstanding in if such a field offered the opportunity for growth.<br />
<br />
Ahem.<br />
<br />
I'm not in Ukraine anymore, friends.<br />
<br />
This leads us to new subjects and new opportunities for conversation. I've been hemming and hawing about how best to catch you up about the rapidly paced developments of my last several months of Peace Corps service, the exciting adventures of projects, the ridiculously sad goodbyes, the wonderfully warm yet air-conditioned welcome of the US and those I love here, and the ongoing adjustments ever since. Did that sentence cover it? Great.<br />
<br />
Having boldly leapt from Word directly to the Blogger publishing screen in an effort to forestall any further stalling, I am sending out this message to you before the macaroni-and-cheese water boils and before the Trader Joe's spinach and feta pies are done in the oven. I am sitting at the counter in my parents' kitchen in Gettysburg-- the counter that holds the toaster, the espresso maker, the electric kettle [yes, чайник]-- on a high stool and apparently pretending to be at some sort of coffee bar where people need to type fast because there are caffeinated deadlines in the air. My feet are not touching the ground! This must get done right away!<br />
<br />
Whether it's a ridiculous idea or not is beside or below the point: it's working. See how much I've already written?<br />
<br />
So, here's the idea. I'm going to rework this site a bit to be able to continue to use it as a place to continue our conversation. No, I'm no longer in Ukraine, but for the rest of my life, my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer will continue to shape who I am and the decisions I make. The term is not "former" PCV, but Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.<br />
<br />
As such, I welcome your questions and comments and wonderings, and I look forward to our continuing together!<br />
<br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="uk"><span class="hps">До</span> <span class="hps">зустрічі!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="uk"><span class="hps">:) </span></span>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-1826190367568016922012-04-22T16:15:00.001-04:002012-04-22T16:16:31.223-04:00post 22 april<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The cue to write this blog post came
about twenty minutes ago, when I looked up to the sound of thunder and shouting
and saw a dozen or so [make it ten or so—everything's metric here] kids playing football
[by which I mean soccer] with a basketball.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As spring ripens and the end of the
semester shows up ahead of schedule—making room nation-wide for the Euro-2012
Football Championships—I’m increasingly sensitive to these scenes. The odd
combinations, the unexpected signs and the big and little changes—these moments
and pictures seem especially important to remember. A green car full of
balloons parked at a playground. Twins trying to lift each other up to monkey
bars neither is tall enough to reach.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My mom visited recently, and we had
an excellent time. The best part was spending time with her, of course, and with
friends and relatives who brightened the whole trip. It was also a chance,
though, to see this world with different eyes, to take a step back and
appreciate what’s here. Lots of photos, discussions about observations, and
reflections resulted.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yes, I’m growing more contemplative
as my time remaining grows shorter. I’m keenly aware that April 15 was my last
Easter in Ukraine, that I won’t be around to celebrate Ukrainian Independence
Day or American Thanksgiving, and that at this time next year, I probably won’t
be able to buy peanut butter halva.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I still have work to do here. I have
a few more classes, with teachers and students, a final exam to give in Country
Studies, two more Writing Beyond Reality seminars, an English Teacher Camp to
plan and carry out, and Camp ACT to help swing into motion. I’ll visit friends,
run in the second 10-K of my life, and welcome my dad when he visits in late
May. I’ll celebrate the excitement of Euro-2012 as the madness envelops
Ukraine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">However, I need to be thinking
ahead, too. So, I am looking for one job while doing another. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I've put off the job search for some
time, have vaguely browsed on occasion or clicked on links that appeared in
front of me. Now, finding I am somewhat overqualified for some positions and
vastly underqualified for others, I am running out of combinations to search.
For now, I'm bowled over by Boolean, AND OR I will look more later.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Still, I don't want to think about
leaving Ukraine. So, let's leave that leaving alone for now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">For now, peanut butter halva,
training for a race, and taking lots and lots of pictures.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">:) </span></div>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-23693186142975621722012-04-02T14:52:00.010-04:002012-04-02T15:47:03.227-04:00post 2 aprilHi there! What's happening where you are? Here, it's been sort of...<br /><br />Women's Day<br />Writing Beyond Reality- three seminars in Lutsk, two in Rivne<br />School 10 visit<br />The International Creative Writing Contest<br />TESOL-Ukraine Conference in Kamianets-Podilsky<br />Visit to Chernivtsi<br />PDM in Lviv<br />Week of the Faculty, featuring the Country Studies Showdown and Spring Film Fest<br />MYN<br />Semester wrapping up<br />Summer planning- camps, visits, race<br /><br />So, unfortunately, this is going to be a bunch of little blurbs. I realize that the truth comes through in details, but it's at least an effort to get caught up. Pictures of lots of the details can be found in albums I've posted online.<br /><br />1. Yesterday, the sun was shining. For part of the day. Also, it rained. And hailed. And snowed. What? Come on, March. Let's wrap this up gracefully. Remember, you've got Women's Day!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PIlJhhLJ-EM/T3n6aAMNUcI/AAAAAAAADX8/Rqrlwklwb7w/s1600/IMG_4999.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PIlJhhLJ-EM/T3n6aAMNUcI/AAAAAAAADX8/Rqrlwklwb7w/s320/IMG_4999.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726883725813043650" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">thanks to my first-year students :)</span><br /></div><br />2. One of the biggest successes of this time period has been Writing Beyond Reality. No doubt you recall, loyal reader, that a superfine crew carried out this seminar series in the fall in Mykolaiv. This spring we brought a similar series to both Lutsk and Rivne-- my site and Andrew's. Although the main goals are certainly to encourage writing and to enhance the teaching of writing, working with people I love is definitely an overwhelming bonus. I spent the fall traveling to Mykolaiv regularly, and although I wish no one had to travel very far, I'm so glad to have friends travel all across the country to work with me here. Writing Beyond Reality has taken the form of three seminars for teachers in Rivne, and one teacher seminar and three teacher/adult/student seminars in Lutsk. With one seminar remaining, we've worked through the writing process, considered various genres, and explored new methods of generating material, and now we're heading into revision, publication, and performance.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-66omHBtd8sI/T3n3DHsY3gI/AAAAAAAADXY/VFqR76CKyDc/s1600/IMG_5522.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-66omHBtd8sI/T3n3DHsY3gI/AAAAAAAADXY/VFqR76CKyDc/s320/IMG_5522.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726880034155191810" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">anya and iea, a well-balanced peer review</span><br /></div><br />3. On the request of a teacher I met at the Teacher Recertification Institute, I visited Lutsk School 10 one afternoon. Although I don't usually spend much time in schools, it was fun to chat with the kids who were gathered for the occasion. These were mostly 6th and 7th graders, and they had lots and lots of questions and lots and lots of energy. I was even presented with some lovely gifts-- chocolates, a book, and a small basket filled with handmade beaded flowers!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P6sjC_U9GdQ/T3n35EsbNyI/AAAAAAAADXk/It7anMQYFYE/s1600/IMG_4929.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P6sjC_U9GdQ/T3n35EsbNyI/AAAAAAAADXk/It7anMQYFYE/s320/IMG_4929.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726880961062975266" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">School 10 visit</span><br /></div><br />4. The International Creative Writing Contest-- last year's International Writing Olympics-- took place in late February, and while school and regional winners have been chosen, the national and international rounds of competition are still to come. It's a strange shift this year to step back from the national coordinator position and to be disconnected from a lot of the decision-making and mechanics. Still, I'm just happy to see that it's still going on, and hope it continues to continue for years to come! I'll share the link to the results once they're available.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h9AHi9kjrm4/T3n5QiOB8II/AAAAAAAADXw/BuMag7f7TLA/s1600/IMG_5052.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h9AHi9kjrm4/T3n5QiOB8II/AAAAAAAADXw/BuMag7f7TLA/s320/IMG_5052.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726882463637172354" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">PCV presenters allaboard for TESOL</span><br /></div><br />5. This year's TESOL [Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages]-Ukraine Conference was held on March 15 and 16 in Kamianets-Podilsky, a beautiful and ancient town in the... well, south/west/central part of Ukraine (as if that's much help in looking at a map!). I was lucky to be one of six PCVs whose trip was supported by the US Embassy-- it's a win-win: they get quality presentations given by native speakers, and we get to share our ideas, meet new people, and explore a new place! This is the third year I've participated in the TESOL-Ukraine Conference, and it occurs to me that they're getting farther and farther away from my site [Rivne, Zhytomyr, K-P]. Maybe someone on the organizing committee believes I should be increasingly competent in traveling? Well, success, anyway! We stayed in a nice hotel, ate good food [although who knew that asking for a Caesar salad without meat would remove the chicken but not the ham?], and even went on an English-language tour of the old town. Lots of interesting information on that tour-- including the Turkish turret attached to the Catholic church, the bullet in the left eye of a golden statue of Mary, and , even though we only saw the castle from the outside [and that's some castle!].<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VO_LGpflAnw/T3n6a2wLyDI/AAAAAAAADYI/xZD3mkW-tPc/s1600/IMG_5135.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VO_LGpflAnw/T3n6a2wLyDI/AAAAAAAADYI/xZD3mkW-tPc/s320/IMG_5135.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726883740459452466" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">the aforementioned 'some castle'</span><br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"></div><br />6. Then, I visited Chernivtsi, courtesy of friends Michelle and Megan. What an amazing city! It reminds me of Lviv, but has its own distinct style. Cultures have collided in and around this city throughout history, and it's very cool to see the different flavors and how they've been preserved. As with many cities, there are dark sides to the history of Chernivtsi, with a Jewish ghetto and various occupations. Still, there is a great deal of pride here. The university where Michelle works is actually a UNESCO World Cultural site! Imagine working in a castle...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rsq8Ap96nEg/T3n7vW9xARI/AAAAAAAADYU/XF5pFaMPZKA/s1600/IMG_5170.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rsq8Ap96nEg/T3n7vW9xARI/AAAAAAAADYU/XF5pFaMPZKA/s320/IMG_5170.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726885192215363858" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Michelle, pleased, with university/castle</span><br /></div><br />7. New PCVs and their counterparts are now receiving joint trainings on Project Development and Management, and my most excellent colleague and dear friend Vika and I were invited to to to Lviv and deliver these trainings to those in Lvivska oblast. It was two half-days of training, two days of travel, tasty dinner and a hotel stay, and a lot of rush! Still, with the sessions held at Lviv Polytechnical University-- another lovely building!-- and a follow-up press conference to spread the good word about Peace Corps, it was definitely time well spent.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FFOJVVIkfPA/T3n8sxOw85I/AAAAAAAADYg/9Cn5rqWxKdE/s1600/IMG_5435.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FFOJVVIkfPA/T3n8sxOw85I/AAAAAAAADYg/9Cn5rqWxKdE/s320/IMG_5435.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726886247238005650" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">my counterpart (Vika), my regional manager (Oksana), and my president (Ben)</span><br /></div><br />8. Last week was the Week of the Faculty-- the designated time to celebrate the College of Romance Germanic Philology at Volyn National University. Plus, this year marked the 50th anniversary of RGP, so the celebrations were especially special. On Monday, after we had some joint planning sessions, the first-year students held a Country Studies Showdown, and on Wednesday, the big event was the Spring Film Festival! (Yes, there were other events, too-- Tuesday was a phonetics contest featuring second-year students and Thursday's event was a series of dramatic scenes put on by fourth-year students.) Although there were only two new entries for the film festival, we showed the fall films, too. Excellently enough, although one of the films was my independent project, the other film submitted was a collaborative work by the teachers of Applied Linguistics! Very cool.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VzWEtqjEKBM/T3n_WCEDUtI/AAAAAAAADYw/Rx_qJIVaKVA/s1600/IMG_5574.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VzWEtqjEKBM/T3n_WCEDUtI/AAAAAAAADYw/Rx_qJIVaKVA/s320/IMG_5574.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726889155154367186" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">film fest audience</span><br /></div><br />9. Saturday was the annual Meet Your Neighbors meeting for PCVs in Volynska and Rivnenska oblasts, and it was definitely a point of reflection. As an extendee, I really felt the pull between wanting to jump in and be really active and the need to let other people have their chance and run the discussions. I definitely don't regret extending, but there are some points at which I wonder exactly where else I ought to be.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hfX8ETaaj8w/T3oB0TnOaXI/AAAAAAAADY8/qGkA-vg6YY4/s1600/IMG_5628.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hfX8ETaaj8w/T3oB0TnOaXI/AAAAAAAADY8/qGkA-vg6YY4/s320/IMG_5628.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726891874284628338" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">April 2</span><br /></div><br />So, the semester's coming to an early close-- to allow for Euro-2012 adventures, and spring's making way for a visit from my mom, a visit from my dad, a camp for teachers, and a camp for pupils. Plus, May 5 will be another 'Day in the Life of Ukraine' project, May 19 will be the second time I've ever attempted to run a 10K race-- and hopefully the second time I finish one!-- and plenty more dates will have significance as they draw near. True, it did snow this weekend, and not just on April Fool's Day, but I have at least tentative confidence that spring is somewhere nearby.<br /><br />:)MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-67099703148725323912012-02-05T11:50:00.003-05:002012-02-05T12:04:20.551-05:00post 5 february<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> 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mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">If you had to guess what it was that finally prompted me to write this blog entry, which of the following would you choose?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">a) A successful return from a mostly successful trip from Moldova</p> <p class="MsoNormal">b) My apartment being flooded while I was away</p> <p class="MsoNormal">c) The beginning of a new semester of classes at the university</p> <p class="MsoNormal">d) Supercold temperatures prompting week-long school closures</p> <p class="MsoNormal">e) Running out of internet and being unable to activate a new round of service</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I mean, really, all of those things led up to it, but now it’s the fact that all of my recent picture uploading, job searching, and actual work have left me with only dregs of internet—probably barely enough to post this entry, should I finish it tonight.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In fact, no rush. I think I’ll work out for a bit and watch an episode or two of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The West Wing</i>, and then I’ll be back. Just kidding. Right? <span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);" class="" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Link" class="gl_link" border="0" /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">First, though, it's finished! A Day in the Life of Ukraine! Take a look <a href="http://adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/selections/">HERE </a>to see the map, click the links, and read the stories! You'll see 111 entries, submitted from all over Ukraine-- teachers, students, Peace Corps Volunteers, and more-- all telling the story of December 13, 2011. Enjoy! Woooooo!!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">MOLDOVA!</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">So I went on an adventure trip to Moldova! Although your first question most certainly will be, ‘And did you sample any Moldovan wine?’, it seems likely that your second question will be ‘Why? After all the nice things you just got done saying about Ukraine, why run away now?’ Fair enough.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In fact, the trip to Moldova was designed to… extend my stay in Ukraine! Due to changes in Ukrainian laws, foreigners living in Ukraine need to go through a new process to obtain visas. For me, and for the other 16 or so extendees of Group 37, this means that we have to go to a Ukrainian embassy—yes, outside of Ukraine—to apply for a new D-1 visa, then return to Ukraine and begin the regional registration process. So, about 26 of us in this situation gathered in Kyiv, then piled on a bus and headed to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The outcome of our trip was general success. We all left Moldova with D-1 visas. Hurrah! The process, though, was a little rough. When the expectation of a 12-hour trip turned into the reality of a 22-hour trip, however, some stress was admittedly experienced. The basic problem was that the diplomatic discussions and agreements hadn’t trickled down to the staff at the border crossing, and so they were concerned to find so many people with expired visas attempting to leave the country. As a result, they didn’t want to let us cross the border. Catch-22ish indeed. We wouldn’t be trying to leave the country if we didn’t have expired visas. What can you do, kick us out? As we discovered, some time between our 3:30 a.m. arrival and our noonish departure from, they could make us wait. And wait. Finally, the agreed-upon solution, negotiated by some elsewhere-but-important upper-level entities and our fearless guide/ PC staff member Sasha, was to interview each of us and to have us sign documents acknowledging that we were wrong to have expired visas and that this was our official warning never to do it again. Okay!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The rest of the trip, including our actual time in Moldova, was fine. I’m used to seeing lots of wide open spaces in Ukraine, but the countryside in Moldova seemed even more wide and open. Orchards, vineyards, and fields stretched expansively, covering the distance to Chisinau. Chisinau itself was a fine city, not too big, but nice for a day or so of walking around in. We drank bubble tea, ate nachos, saw the biggest bazaar, took pictures, and went souvenir shopping. Many of the souvenirs were similar to those we might find in Ukraine, and I had to laugh when one vendor suggested that we might like to buy some pysanky. “We live in Ukraine,” I told her. She laughed. To be sure, we made a strange group—speaking English to each other, half of us speaking Ukrainian, half of us speaking Russian, none of us really sure about the bright-colored bills and their values. In Moldova, people speak either Russian or Moldovan—which is actually Romanian, but just called Moldovan in official documents. It was sort of surprising to realize how much I could understand of what people were saying, but a good boost. However, the fact that their largest cell phone company seems to be called Moldcell--? I'm not sure I can support that. I have allergies, you know.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The trip back was an expected and uneventful 12 hours, and landed us in Kyiv for more information about the visa registration process. On the date they were issued, our visas were good for 45 days. So, within the remaining time, we need go to through a slightly complicated regional registration process, with the help of our regional managers, local counterparts, landlords, and multiple governmental offices. There’s some stress and nervousness involved in this process, but hopefully all will be well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">FLOOD!</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">When I came back to Lutsk, I found that my apartment had recently been flooded. Pipes, hoses, or othersuch had conspired to flood my apartment with hot water while I was in Moldova. The building staff became aware of the situation due to its effects on the two floors below. My floors had mostly dried, but I found wet papers, clothes, and very clean shoes. A high-water mark can be found a few inches above the floor throughout my apartment, and I immediately commenced an open-window/ space heater campaign to try to dry it all out. Unfortunately, the next step was the rippling of the floor in my living room and bedroom—the two rooms with hard-wood floors. Now parts of the living room floor show gentle swells, but the bedroom floor has a sort of mid-Atlantic ridge running from door to window. The building staff have been wonderful, super kind and understanding, and have comforted me to no end by repeatedly telling me I’m not to blame. This is the only good thing to come out of this experience—to know that people I don’t really know very well were willing to step up and support me when I was in a bad situation. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">SUPERCOLD!</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I can only say this so many ways: it’s been supercold this past week. Yes, there was a little more snow today on top of the ice and snow already, but the cold itself has been the real problem. Schools were closed for the week. News reports suggested that more than 100 people died as a result of the weather. Forecasts in the negative degrees forced me to realize, as my friend Andrew pointed out, ‘The closer you get to -40, Celsius and Fahrenheit are almost the same.’ Brrr. Seeing your breath is one thing. Seeing your breath freeze on your scarf in front of your face is another. Feeling your nose hairs frozen solid when you rush out to get the mail is another. Still, should be up to 0 soon, so maybe we’ll all be able to stop camping out in our kitchens and by our space heathers. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">NEW SEMESTER!</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Not too much to report in the new semester just yet, but lots of plans for good things to come! Writing Beyond Reality is coming to Lutsk (and Rivne! Andrew!), a spring film fest is in the works, a Valentine’s Day goodies-and-crafts fair is happening next week… I’m teaching master’s students in Applied Linguistics and first-year Ap Ling students in Country Studies. I think it’ll be a quick semester, not just because it’s my last (oh no!) but because the schedule is squished to make sure the summer is clear for Euro-2012, the big soccer championship to be held in Ukraine and Poland this summer. Woo!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For some schools and universities, this means more Saturday classes, or, as in ours, longer days. Normally there are 6 ‘lines’, or class slots. This semester, there are 7. So, for those lucky enough to have a 7<sup>th</sup> line, this class starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 7:20. There’s only one of those on my schedule for now, thankfully. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">AND…</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">We’re also now working on Camp ACT—Action, Creativity, and Teamwork! It’s a regional camp for students entering grades 8-11, and will be held [hopefully!] in Shatsk in early July. We’ve already built our staff—half American and half Ukrainian—and they are indeed, as Vitalik pointed out, a dudical crew. There’s a lot of great energy and plenty of good ideas—and I’m especially excited that almost all of the Ukrainian staff members are students from my university, many of whom I’ve worked with on previous projects. This may actually be my favorite thing about this camp so far, but I have a suspicion I’ll continue to like it more and more.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">So, until I run out of internet again… <span style="font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style="mso-char-type: symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" >:)</span></span></p>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-23077127601285652862012-01-12T13:15:00.005-05:002012-01-12T13:38:04.998-05:00post 12 januaryHi there! <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">When last we spoke [read: I wrote and you read], it was A Day in the Life of Ukraine. Since then, there have been many such days, but most are not quite as capitalized.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Regarding the Day in the Life of Ukraine project, though, about 200 entries were received from people all over the country. School pupils, university students, teachers, Peace Corps Volunteers, and others sent in their views on the day. You can see a map of where these entries came from—at least those with identified locations—if you peek <a href="http://adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com/">HERE</a>. Updates are there as received. All entries have now been read through and sorted, and those chosen for online publication will be seeing their work on the site soon! If you’re curious about how pieces were chosen, I can tell you. Many of the pieces received were not written in direct response to the task, and those will not be online. That is, many authors chose to write about their understanding of and/or love for Ukraine in general, or the happenings of an average day. Those pieces selected focused on the 13<sup>th</sup> of December, and/or offered an interesting perspective on daily life in Ukraine. Stay tuned!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">On a personal note—aren’t all of these notes personal?—the project offered me an exciting opportunity to connect with people all over Ukraine. Some were people I’d met through professional conferences or even in camps, but most were people I’ve never met or ever had previous contact with. I’m struck by the amazingness of communication, assisted, of course, by modern technology. I was so pleased to receive so many entries on a project that I set up personally, and hope those involved have enjoyed the opportunity. The positive comments were just great to read, and I’m especially pleased by the connections made. :)<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GDcyXIjvQSQ/Tw8kXIH-FNI/AAAAAAAADWE/MNcGiGjnKXY/s1600/IMG_4490.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GDcyXIjvQSQ/Tw8kXIH-FNI/AAAAAAAADWE/MNcGiGjnKXY/s320/IMG_4490.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696812033383470290" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Secret Santas: Revealed!</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The Secret Santa project ended up including about 35 people from the College of Romance Germanic Philology at VNU. General success, with a few mix-ups, and hopefully the practice will continue!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">What else?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Christmas came, twice! American Christmas brought three wise friends traveling great distances across the country [iea, Sally, and Nathaniel]—and two from across town [Terry and Vika]. We celebrated with a tasty vegetarian feast of quiche and macaroni and cheese and cookies and chocolate sausage—yum!—as well as crafty goodness, stockings, music, and general delight. Some health worries and travel concerns forced changes in our original Createmas plans, but all was well, all was bright.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mXudxSbv17E/Tw8lgcFs7wI/AAAAAAAADWU/6Hjiat4WGs4/s1600/IMG_4491.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mXudxSbv17E/Tw8lgcFs7wI/AAAAAAAADWU/6Hjiat4WGs4/s320/IMG_4491.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696813292873117442" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">The stockings were hung by the шафа (shafa) with care...</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Before Christmas 2 came New Years, and two fine friends [Andrew and Laura] traveled my way again [where ‘my way’ means I don’t move at all!]. We made nature burgers, pizzas [some more artistically topped than others], resolutions, and lots of celebratory midnight noise. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Good people, good times. I’m lucky to have such excellent people in my life—people who know me and support me, people who do good things, and people I’m happy to learn from. To my friends!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Also, to my family! For Christmas 2! I made it to Komarno for Christmas Eve dinner—a tasty, meat-free meal… with fish. [Yes, fish is meat, although some may choose to disregard this fact.] When Bohdan came to pick me up, he said that it was like welcoming his own daughter home for Christmas. To my family! I spent the weekend listening to carols, playing with the kids, visiting other relatives, and eating lots and lots. This is what holidays are for: vareneky/ pierogies, sweet pampushky/ doughnuts, and good times together. On Sunday, Bohdan’s daughter and granddaughter—Ivanka and Irynka—and I went into Lviv to see some of the sights of the season. A light snow was falling, hot wine and pampushky were sold on the market square, manger scenes and a giant tree were ready for all kinds of photos, and decorations and music brought the magical holiday city to life. Lovely!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z3itJSOZ8U4/Tw8mtiLd8FI/AAAAAAAADWk/mlGNJuf7hKU/s1600/IMG_4598.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z3itJSOZ8U4/Tw8mtiLd8FI/AAAAAAAADWk/mlGNJuf7hKU/s320/IMG_4598.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696814617357840466" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Christmas eve dinner starts with honey on bread for a sweet year ahead!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">You’ll note that I was excited about ‘a light snow’—because that’s really all we’ve had this year. I am knocking on wood right NOW. I’ve been wearing my fall boots, putting off getting the boots I wore last winter stitched up. It’s been a bit slippery on occasion, but there have been no occasions on which I couldn’t see the ground through the snow. I guess it averages out—my first winter here was super-snowy—but it really doesn’t do much toward painting a picture of the ‘hardships’ endured in Peace Corps…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Other than holidays… I was a judge at the oblast [state] English Olympiad, where I graded listening and reading tasks, written essays, and speeches for 11<sup>th</sup> form students. A serious task, with some very well prepared students, and some interesting questions. If you had to give up one sense, what would it be? If you could have one super-sense, which would you choose? [As my follow-up question, I got to ask how you’d use this super-power to help others.]</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I made fudge, with varying degrees of success and consistency. No microwave, no candy thermometer, no [or minimal] problems.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I taught a cookie-making class. At my friend Oksana’s school—Family Academy Plai—it was a master class for moms and other holiday chefs. We made brownie cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and gingersnaps. It was an interesting experience, a balance between me trying to use vocabulary I don’t really know well in Ukrainian, my friend Oksana translating occasionally, and a bit of cross-culturalculinary surprise. ‘Are these cookies okay for kids to eat?’ ‘Will these chocolate pieces melt in the oven, or will they still be there?’ ‘Do you have to press the dough flat, or how do the cookies spread out?’</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ctmiNkuJW0/Tw8n6MCUwfI/AAAAAAAADW0/RGeKtM6CcD8/s1600/IMG_4647.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ctmiNkuJW0/Tw8n6MCUwfI/AAAAAAAADW0/RGeKtM6CcD8/s320/IMG_4647.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696815934263837170" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">The sweet life- pampushky in Lviv!</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Things are generally going well, and I’m doing my best to keep them heading that way. New Years is, of course, a time to make resolutions, and I’ve made a list that I’m checking more than twice. Although I can’t imagine not being in Ukraine at this time next year, nor do I really have any idea where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing seven months from now, I’m working hard to stay focused on the things that matter. Honestly, sometimes it breaks my heart to think of leaving Ukraine, but I know that my work here is not to do things myself, but to encourage others to do for themselves and each other. No matter what my position or where I am, I think this will always be my task, and I need to start looking toward what that position will look like, while keeping my head in the game, my eye on the ball, and other similar metaphors of the ‘do what you’re doing and do it well’ variety.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Be well!</p>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-22389372240968762062011-12-13T16:59:00.002-05:002011-12-13T17:19:52.001-05:00post 13 december<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> 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name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Although I may sound like a broken record if you’ve just read the preceding entry, I’ve just returned from Kyiv and Mykolaiv after a seminar in the Writing Beyond Reality series this weekend. Still, perhaps sadly, this is the last time you’ll be reading such an announcement. This seminar, the fourth, was focused on publication—through the creation of actual books, zines, sound design projects, and also through performance—and was the last in our series. I’m sad to see this seminar end, but I’m excited about what we were able to accomplish. Of three teachers who attended regularly, one said she now starts her class with freewriting activities and her students get upset if they think they won’t get the chance, another gave her students writing assignments [from the booklet I created as an International Writing Olympics prize last year] and then asked them to create zines—they were awesome!--, and a third asked exactly when we might be having the seminar in Lutsk to find out if she could possibly attend. Note: it’s a long trip. Seeing the writing that participants created, as well as listening to their shifting ideas about publication and writing in general, made all the travel and planning worthwhile. Plus, super-pleased to be able to work with such excellent PCVs in this project! It’s my hope that we’ll be having a similar series in Lutsk this spring, so stay tuned! <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>(http://writingbeyondreality.wordpress.com)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let’s see…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I finished Nanowrimo! Yeah! For the fifth year in a row, I was somehow able to complete a 50,000+ word novella within the month of November. This year’s book, tentatively titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">In Print</i>, takes place mainly in a book café in Lviv, and explores the space between fiction and reality. It needs some editing, some revising, and some what??-ing, but I’m happy to share with whoever wants to read. <span style="font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings">:)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Jonathan, my first and most fabulous site mate, has finished his service and left Ukraine. I wish him all good things, and will miss his good conversation, excellent taste in music, love of secondhand shopping, sense of humor, and all around let’s-do-something-ness. Sad to see him go, but glad we had two good years here together. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Having finished Nanowrimo, plus watching many of my fellow Group 37 PCVs vanish off into the great western world, I’ve been thinking about the future. So many options! Teaching at FCPS again? An MFA, either in poetry or even fiction? MA in TESOL? Peace Corps Response? Foreign Service? Having realized recently that I took the GRE more than 5 years ago—shock and yarrrr—another reevaluation is in order. Still, lots of possibilities. Got a great opportunity that you’d like to tell me about? I’d be delighted to hear. <span style="font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings">:)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">We now have a Secret Santa project going on at the university! Over 30 people have signed up to participate, most without ever having heard of such a thing. It’s funny to figure out what things that are normal in the US are fresh and interesting in Ukraine. We have two weeks to do two nice things for our secret friends before the big reveal on December 23. Yes, I realize that’s just days before American Christmas, not Ukrainian Christmas, but hey, there are exams and New Years and vacation days in between! No discrimination intended! </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The last thing, the big deal of the day: Today’s A Day in the Life of Ukraine! You, clever reader, have noted the additional capitalization here, and you remember my previous post, perhaps, too! Yes, it’s an event. I’m really excited about this project—a cooperative writing project in which people all across Ukraine document the day they experience today, 13/12/11 , as Ukrainians write the date. Hits on the website (<a href="http://adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com/">http://adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com</a>) are already over 1200, the Facebook page and Facebook and VKontakte events have gotten some attention, and I’ve already started receiving entries at <a href="mailto:adayinthelifeofukraine@gmail.com">adayinthelifeofukraine@gmail.com</a>. If you’re in Ukraine today and you want to participate, there’s still time! Entries are due on December 19! Check the website for more details. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">It’s amazing how such a busy month can be summarized into just a few short points. Still, those are the main ones, so I’ll…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Oh! We had Thanksgiving, too!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">And the teacher seminar in Chortkiv was successful! </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">And the Brain Ring was odd but fun!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">And the film festival was great! </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Okay, yes, I guess I forgot a few things.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Volunteers in Lutsk joined me and two of my best Ukrainian friends at my place for a vegetarian American Ukrainian fusion Thanksgiving spectacular, featuring lentil burgers and wrapping up with Fanta floats! Saturday was Thanksgiving 2 in Kivertsi, organized by Ben and Val, and attended by 17 PCVs! Too much food, but a warm and happy place to be. Thanksgiving 3, on Sunday, was a mini-celebration, at Window on America Community English Club, and featured a PowerPoint on Thanksgiving traditions, a roasted chicken, and lots of sweets. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The film festival was a great success, even after nearly 40 minutes of technical delay. It was pretty frustrating, completely unexpected, and barely preventable… but next time will be better! The waiting crowd was patient and kind, and we played a little Simon Says to keep everyone awake and happy. When the four films were shown, the audience was appropriately appreciative, and they helped to select the Peoples’ Choice Award winner. Congratulations to ‘The Lost Thing,’ and thanks to the creators of ‘Keep the Secret’, ‘Just the Beginning,’ and ‘To Winter’. Many students—and even teachers!—expressed their support for a spring film festival, and I’ll be very happy to help to make that happen!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Okay, that’s basically it. Really, this time. Happy Saint Andrew’s Day!</p><p class="MsoNormal">:)<br /></p>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-89706264322063470852011-11-14T15:02:00.002-05:002011-11-14T15:05:10.303-05:00post 14 novemberAh, travel. How much I like being in many places, and how excited I am for the invention of teleportation so I can get to all of them more quickly and efficiently!<br /><br />Spent last weekend in Mykolaiv for the third seminar in the Writing Beyond Reality series. Good stuff. This time we moved on from just working with our five chosen genres—fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction, and essays—into a wider variety of mini-lessons and onward into publishing. We had fun with found writing, slam poetry, a character support group, exploded moments, prose poetry, flash fiction, and more, plus zines, performance, blogging and other digital media, sound art, and bookmaking. The hope is that we—and all participants!—will make their own individual publication projects, as well as contributing to a group anthology.<br /><br />Traveling between Kyiv and Mykolaiv in coupe instead of platskart was surprisingly exciting. Having a closed-in cabin instead of open sleeping shelves was a luxury, even being on the top bunk. Quality traveling companions always improve every trip, of course—here’s looking at you, Andrew and iea, plus Shannon and Jason!<br /><br />I just got back early yesterday morning from Kyiv again, having spent three days in Chernihiv on Adopt-A-Cluster activities. This was a chance to meet with a group of Peace Corps Trainees, as well as members of their link clusters, and share my experiences with them. I co-taught a lesson on teaching vocabulary, then led another session on teaching writing. Good times. I think they may have thought I was a little ridiculous with how excited I was to be talking about writing, but hey. Peace Corps Volunteers are a little odd in general, and yes, I am excited about talking about writing! Another activity I got to take part in was a city-wide scavenger hunt. Despite the cold weather—big lovely snowflakes in the morning, but nothing but wet on the ground—the misty, intermittent rain, and the unexpectedly complicated instructions, we muddled through. Where is the 13th cannon? Where is the cheapest place for a man to get a haircut? For a woman to get a haircut? Where is the oldest church in Chernihiv? What’s playing at the philharmonic? The children’s theater? Who is the cut-off man? So many opportunities to gain confidence in asking for help… so much time to build up anticipation of the sweet, sweet hot chocolate to follow. Not all made it through, but those who did were richly rewarded with tiny cups of thick, melty goodness. Mmmmm…. melty goodness…<br /><br />The deadline for the film fest entries has passed, and we have just four and a half entries [one might be on its way tomorrow, but we’ll see]. Still, it’s really cool to see the work that each team put into their story and production. Vika and I finished our film, too, and it looks pretty good. Will it—or any other films—be available online? Maybe, but you’ll have to wait until after the film festival! It looks now like we’ll have the showing on November 23, but we’ll see. Have to wedge this event between one Ukrainian holiday and one American holiday: Students’ Day—November 17—and Thanksgiving—November 24.<br /><br />In other news… Newvember is going fairly well. I’ve been doing my best to fit in 30+ minutes of Something Active each day, plus morning yoga, and cutting out extra treats. Hard to tell if there’s much of a difference in how I look, but I feel pretty good. Plus, I’m sure my neighbors across the courtyard find it very entertaining when I’m doing the Bollywood Dance Workout in front of my living room window at night. Showtime!<br /><br />Nanowrimo is… progressing. At this moment, I have 15,382 words, so I’m behind, but I’m pushing on! To those of you out there engaged in the same challenge, my writers-in-arms, I say: goooooooo! I mean, GO!, not something gooey, you understand. Why is it so hard to write that? Goooooh?<br /><br />Next up is A Day in the Life of Ukraine. If you live in Ukraine, you can participate! If you know someone who lives in Ukraine, tell him or her to participate! The more, the merrier, and the better representation of the many ways in which people in Ukraine live their lives today—well, not today, but 13/12/11… December 13, 2011. Join in!<br /><br />This week there’s a brain ring contest where I’ll be a judge, a teacher seminar in the town of Chortkiv, in Ternopilska oblast, and lots of other excitement, including actual classes with actual students! Imagine!<br /><br />Also, this week brings the end of Peace Corps service to many of the members of my group—PC Ukraine Group 37. It’s really strange to imagine what things will be like without 81 of the 98 people left in our group—17 of us are extending. Best wishes too all of those on their way out over the next month—between November 17 and December 17. Congratulations on what you’ve already accomplished, and good luck on all you’re going to accomplish in your next steps in life. Щасливо вам!MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-75333074152581405722011-10-31T15:14:00.003-04:002011-10-31T15:28:36.454-04:00post 31 octoberI have some bad habits. <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I don’t mean to say that I’m the only one, or that my habits are worse than your habits. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been looking forward to November since, well, slightly after last November. November, as many of us know, is Nanowrimo—National Novel Writing Month, a fabulous writing-motivating opportunity/ challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in one month. You can read more about it—and sign up!—at <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/">nanowrimo.org</a>, but for now, I’ll just say that I’ve done it for four years, and I’ve finished each year. This year, I’m doing it again.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Nanowrimo is a great chance to be completely self-indulgent and offer myself oodles of time to enjoy my favorite hobby: creative writing. I realize that I need to do other things, too, of course. Over the past four Novembers/ Nanowrimos, I’ve taught full-time, planned and carried out two National Honor Society induction ceremonies and two Thanksgiving Dinner Drives, spent a week in Yemen, gone through Peace Corps training, and lived and worked in Ukraine. Easy-peasy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Still, November also signals the official slide into winter. The colder weather, the holidays, and the general business offer the perfect opportunities to slack off in other areas. I stop working out as much. I treat myself with snacks, sweets, extra sleep, or other bonuses just because “I’ve been working so hard” or “It’s really miserable weather” or “I miss everyone” or other totally valid excuses.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am also terrible at keeping up with real news. Yes, I read email, Facebook, VKontakte, but <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m missing those NPR-fueled commutes and drives around town. Excuses? I have no time. I don’t understand the situation/ story/ conflict/ whatever fully. I don’t have a TV or radio. Excuses.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Still, excuses they are, so I’m embarking on two challenges this month: NANOWRIMO and NEWVEMBER!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In addition to working toward the 50,000-word goal for Nanowrimo (that’s only 1,667 words per day, friend!), I am pledging to make a new effort in maintaining healthy and useful habits.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Each day, I will make a conscious effort to do one healthy activity for at least 30 minutes, in addition to regular morning yoga. This could be running, a cardio DVD, or even Bollywood dance. Also, each time I turn on my computer, I will read the news on my new iGoogle page and listen to the NPR hourly news. Plus, I will avoid all “treats” that aren’t really treats—food and laziness offered as comfort in place of actual encouragement. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">So, now you know!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In other news…</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KpfntkokwSY/Tq72PXKxQpI/AAAAAAAADVs/iyIliNQqBfc/s1600/IMG_3931.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KpfntkokwSY/Tq72PXKxQpI/AAAAAAAADVs/iyIliNQqBfc/s320/IMG_3931.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669739724683690642" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in; text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Calibri;" ><span style=""><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">made out of salo, Euro 2012 fever, and a lot of... eww</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;" ><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> - </span></span></span>This year’s most unintentionally scary Halloween weekend activity was the annual Lutsk salo festival. Yes, that’s right, salo is pig fat, a popular Ukrainian dish/ delicacy/ garnish, and this festival was, well, not for me.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;" ><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> - </span></span></span>I always forget how good beets are here. That’s all on that.</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;" ><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> - </span></span></span>Here’s the next big thing I’m working on: A Day in the Life of Ukraine! On December 13, 2011, everyone living in Ukraine is invited to write about his or her day. These stories will be submitted, and the best and most interesting pieces will be compiled in an online and hopefully print format. The goal is to encourage greater understanding of Ukraine and Ukrainians, both among Ukrainians and abroad. Ukraine is a diverse country with many types of division, and the hope is that sharing stories will help people see each other as individuals and not labels. Sound good? If you want to get involved, or if you’re in Ukraine, and you want to write, let me know! Check out the soon-to-be-more-developed site: <a href="http://adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com/">adayinthelifeofukraine.wordpress.com</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Happy almost-November!</p><p class="MsoNormal">:)<br /></p>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-50647709764308368372011-10-21T16:20:00.003-04:002011-10-23T09:21:06.147-04:00post 21 octoberOkay, now I’m really getting caught up. To the minute. More or less.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 4: </span>Vika gets married! Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Yushak!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xwIrhKnqDl0/TqLTsz4_EJI/AAAAAAAADRI/hqw6GvE0deA/s1600/IMG_3006.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xwIrhKnqDl0/TqLTsz4_EJI/AAAAAAAADRI/hqw6GvE0deA/s320/IMG_3006.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666324047982432402" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 10:</span> Birthday challenge shenanza! A film-, secondhand-, and vareneky-making-challenge!<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kMeug_ZEFjk/TqLdsPqBKWI/AAAAAAAADSQ/nvobVXv8VGU/s1600/IMG_3179.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kMeug_ZEFjk/TqLdsPqBKWI/AAAAAAAADSQ/nvobVXv8VGU/s320/IMG_3179.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666335033372256610" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qOcYT1CwCEo/TqLdsbg6GTI/AAAAAAAADSc/ViTnMNFd72M/s1600/IMG_3199.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qOcYT1CwCEo/TqLdsbg6GTI/AAAAAAAADSc/ViTnMNFd72M/s320/IMG_3199.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666335036555270450" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DNrS3QIBzYI/TqLRiPJQoGI/AAAAAAAADQ4/1RUCp4UdOn0/s1600/IMG_3213.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DNrS3QIBzYI/TqLRiPJQoGI/AAAAAAAADQ4/1RUCp4UdOn0/s320/IMG_3213.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666321667296632930" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 11:</span> Birthday! Mine!<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h_8bXmjJE7w/TqLZ14jj3_I/AAAAAAAADSA/Lvs6_IRImmI/s1600/IMG_3233.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h_8bXmjJE7w/TqLZ14jj3_I/AAAAAAAADSA/Lvs6_IRImmI/s320/IMG_3233.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666330800923336690" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BRkpsYCqiMQ/TqLZ1IKUUlI/AAAAAAAADRo/vsvNrSMX1Vg/s1600/IMG_3232.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BRkpsYCqiMQ/TqLZ1IKUUlI/AAAAAAAADRo/vsvNrSMX1Vg/s320/IMG_3232.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666330787932557906" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J6Eb4W-Boqw/TqLZ1fWvG3I/AAAAAAAADR4/fQ65zEm_0OE/s1600/IMG_3256.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J6Eb4W-Boqw/TqLZ1fWvG3I/AAAAAAAADR4/fQ65zEm_0OE/s320/IMG_3256.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666330794158660466" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 12:</span> Happy fifth birthday, Window on America Center in Lutsk! Hooray, libraries! And America!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 14:</span> finished translation editing for university album<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 17:</span> Window on America Conference in Lviv<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 18:</span> ran in—and finished!—10K race in Kyiv, starting and ending in Independence Square<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3su7weUnNgE/TqLVbnVJc_I/AAAAAAAADRY/wGXYQiBoE8A/s1600/MrunningKyiv.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3su7weUnNgE/TqLVbnVJc_I/AAAAAAAADRY/wGXYQiBoE8A/s320/MrunningKyiv.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666325951576372210" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 19:</span> passed dental and physical exams, and therefore cleared for extension of service!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 23:</span> first Writing Beyond Reality seminar—for teachers—in Mykolaiv<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mRcM1J73Q4c/TqQFgTywATI/AAAAAAAADS4/4ZDD8rjphMk/s1600/IMG_3344.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mRcM1J73Q4c/TqQFgTywATI/AAAAAAAADS4/4ZDD8rjphMk/s320/IMG_3344.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666660283766014258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">September 27:</span> organized an Activities Fair at the university to connect students and community organizations<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZuceTPSwuq8/TqQG2TEav_I/AAAAAAAADTI/ky0uAb63GSk/s1600/IMG_3371.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZuceTPSwuq8/TqQG2TEav_I/AAAAAAAADTI/ky0uAb63GSk/s320/IMG_3371.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666661761040433138" border="0" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UWf1FlIf9TA/TqQG2qCGuDI/AAAAAAAADTU/-fLjSnkAqoM/s1600/IMG_3377.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UWf1FlIf9TA/TqQG2qCGuDI/AAAAAAAADTU/-fLjSnkAqoM/s320/IMG_3377.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666661767204747314" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">S</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">eptember 29-Oct 1:</span> visit to Kryvyi Rih, including seminars for students and teachers and celebrations of Teachers’ Day with students from this summer’s InterCamp in Crimea<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vnQwjC4yVnE/TqQJNcELN2I/AAAAAAAADTk/pbs4A-DVQDY/s1600/IMG_3391.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vnQwjC4yVnE/TqQJNcELN2I/AAAAAAAADTk/pbs4A-DVQDY/s320/IMG_3391.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666664357615581026" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">October 5-7:</span> US Interagency Conference on English Language Learning in Kyiv<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DquTXIY9r1k/TqQLxKoFxlI/AAAAAAAADT0/esi3PYUnqg0/s1600/IMG_3442.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DquTXIY9r1k/TqQLxKoFxlI/AAAAAAAADT0/esi3PYUnqg0/s320/IMG_3442.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666667170432927314" border="0" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JCMhlfCtma0/TqQLxQe4ktI/AAAAAAAADUE/6MKOTzDd-8s/s1600/IMG_3469.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JCMhlfCtma0/TqQLxQe4ktI/AAAAAAAADUE/6MKOTzDd-8s/s320/IMG_3469.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666667172004926162" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">October 8-9:</span> second Writing Beyond Reality seminar—for teachers and students—in Mykolaiv<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjJPpT810Sg/TqQN27oh_MI/AAAAAAAADUQ/mvWrfxbt714/s1600/IMG_3482.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjJPpT810Sg/TqQN27oh_MI/AAAAAAAADUQ/mvWrfxbt714/s320/IMG_3482.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666669468510715074" border="0" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MiTEGyOP9wQ/TqQN3IJtuSI/AAAAAAAADUg/fiDLj0uwppk/s1600/IMG_3514.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MiTEGyOP9wQ/TqQN3IJtuSI/AAAAAAAADUg/fiDLj0uwppk/s320/IMG_3514.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666669471871121698" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">October 15-16:</span> The Difference-Makers Project retreat, an opportunity for VNU students to develop their own community projects, practice English, grow as leaders, and have fun<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8oViQqRBvhg/TqQUMWqdjSI/AAAAAAAADVI/e1V6GjPG4RU/s1600/IMG_3604.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8oViQqRBvhg/TqQUMWqdjSI/AAAAAAAADVI/e1V6GjPG4RU/s320/IMG_3604.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666676433613589794" border="0" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3doEy2SwZ38/TqQUMZvKDZI/AAAAAAAADU0/jge_KMDoZXY/s1600/IMG_3559.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3doEy2SwZ38/TqQUMZvKDZI/AAAAAAAADU0/jge_KMDoZXY/s320/IMG_3559.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666676434438589842" border="0" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cVSe8rNme64/TqQUMGYIihI/AAAAAAAADUs/0bb12c-wtHs/s1600/IMG_3549.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cVSe8rNme64/TqQUMGYIihI/AAAAAAAADUs/0bb12c-wtHs/s320/IMG_3549.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666676429241747986" border="0" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9wmuaJ4JMDw/TqQUPWwCRPI/AAAAAAAADVQ/nxttL-ZLGjo/s1600/IMG_3659.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9wmuaJ4JMDw/TqQUPWwCRPI/AAAAAAAADVQ/nxttL-ZLGjo/s320/IMG_3659.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666676485176575218" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">October 21:</span> abruptly decided to update blog in the most efficient way possible, bypassing nearly everything and hoping for questions<br /><br />:)MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-39632890967591656062011-09-25T16:24:00.001-04:002011-09-25T16:25:53.038-04:00post 25 september- catchup, volume 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> 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Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">I’m typing this on September 25, but I wrote it down on September 17…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Okay! Now I’m getting caught up! I have eight and a half hours left on this train, and I’ve got no escape.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">First, rewind to summer. When last we spoke, I had finished Ukrainian language refresher [right? I’ll just check…] and had officially registered for a race in Kyiv in far-off September [ie, tomorrow [ie, last week]].</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">This brings us to the beginning of August, as I’m barely making the train to Odesa on my way to MASCOT in Mykolaiv. I can easily say that this camp was one of the highlights of both my summer and my Peace Corps service. My rainbow-colored camp bracelet reads “MASCOT CAMP – A PARADISE FOR CREATIVITY AND TEAMWORK” and this is as good a description as any. My two weeks at this camp were an immersion experience in celebrating creativity, embracing the unusual, and exploring possibilities. Our staff—half Ukrainian and half American—spent a few days bonding and preparing (read: creating obstacle courses in a swimming pool, thwacking open watermelons with swords, clearing up curriculum, gettin’ rhythm, making posters, playing games, painstakingly bringing bead-animals to life (shout-out to SALLY!), and just generally getting excited. Finally, the campers arrived: the champions of a competitive application process, aged 14-22, from all over Ukraine, willing to risk all normalcy to have a good time, meet new people, and most likely learn something along the way.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Campers were organized into teams, like homeroom classes—the families of our camp. Along with always-positive Anya, I was lucky enough to be a leader of the splendidly named Mysterious Macho Moose team. And let me tell you—Moose team is red hot! Moose team is red hot! Moose team is R-E-D red H-O-T hot—we can’t help but what we’ve got—we’re red hot! We’re red hot!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Ahem.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">MASCOT was an exciting blur of team activities, classes (International Studies, Social Integrity, and Creative Dimensions, plus electives and a project-management track), theme days, challenges, bizarre costumes, eggs, and watermelon. Puppets, UNO, American slang [word], Harry Potter in 3-D, songs and cheers for every occasion…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Above all, the people. Campers and staff drawn to this oddly wonderful festival of energy and excitement <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>continually proved themselves worthy of the opportunity. A few near and dear in particular appeared, inspiring and firing up as only kindred spirits can. To those fellow inhabitants of the newly discovered planet TACAH, greetings and thanks! This energy is with me today…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">My next stop on the summer schedule was another long train trip [long is a relative descriptor] to Uzhgorod. Here, at the English Language Refresher Camp, PCVs worked with teachers for a week full of methodology, active skills, passive skills, and elective lessons. Although a higher turnout was hoped for, the participants were eager and active. In addition to teaching Methodology (a curriculum written by my friend Michelle and I), I had the chance to create and teach lessons on the writing process, common errors and pronunciation problems, and reading for pleasure, as well as facilitating daily roundtable cross-cultural discussions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The bonus of this camp, too—in addition to the beauty of the area, Mrs. Greenwich’s pizza pie and coffee café—was the time spent with another fine crew. Those who eat endless cheese sandwiches and watermelon together, catch up on YouTube sharing with the benefit of highspeed WiFi together, and support each others’ knitting, ketchup, and unexpected singing habits together are bound to be happy together.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">After a seemingly needlessly long trip back—although just long enough, I suppose—there were a few brief days to unpack before leaving again. However, the shape of those days changed abruptly when my friend Kate decided to go back home to the US early. She had a job offer in her field of choice in the university she graduated from, including a decent salary, room and board, and full tuition in the graduate program she’d been hoping to attend. Lucky girl! Still, we’d both been away and had only returned on Saturday—and her train to Kyiv left on Sunday at noon. Exhausted from travel, sad to see her go, and excited for her new opportunity, I joined her in Kivertsi after returning from Uzhgorod. I had intended to help, but mostly I just sat and chatted while she ran around doing things. I saw her off at the train station on Sunday along with a few of her friends, students, and colleagues. Kate! You’re missed!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Missing Kate was made even more poignant by the trip two days later to our group’s Close of Service Conference. Held in the Carpathians, this gathering is intended to be both a celebration of our service in Ukraine and an opportunity to prepare to return home and to move on. However, I’ve applied to extend my time in Ukraine until next summer, so this was a strange experience. Luckily, my friend Laura, who is also extending, was my roommate, so we had plenty of time to chat and reflect on the oddness of saying goodbye without leaving. This was the final official gathering for our group, but with so many people—now 98 members of Group 37 still in-country—I’m pretty sure I saw some people for the first time ever. I really enjoyed the chance to see many friends I hadn’t seen since Swearing-In. We all laughed at the absurdity of giving brief and meaningful answers to the question, “So, what’ve you been up to for the last two years?” I was asked to give a seminar on writing resumes and cover letters, which out to be pretty fun, and we had many other informative presentations—on possible future jobs, especially—as well as lots of opportunities for reflection. Mesh Night, Ukraine’s Next Top Runway Idol, and a celebration of Independence Day balanced out the serious aspects, as did the beautiful setting and lodging, the pool and bar, and, for some, the actual appearance of the rumored-to-exist bacon-wrapped steak at our final celebration dinner. I had some sort of veggie ragout, not bad… but we all had ice cream sundaes, with chocolate syrup and nuts on top! Maybe that doesn’t sound too amazing, but it was unexpectedly wonderful.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The trip back to Lviv from Slavske, although longer than expected, had the added bonus of offering extra time with a wildly large group of PCVs. We happily spoke English openly, opened almost every window in the train car [usually a no-no, due to the common Ukrainian aversion to drafts—or, as Americans call it, cross-ventilation] and played the dictionary game—where the joke that I had worked for a time writing dictionaries was taken to be true… maybe a clue to a future career path?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">From Lviv, I headed to Komarno to spend the weekend with relatives. Unfortunately, it was the only time I got to see them all summer, but they were as welcoming and wonderful as ever. We ate watermelon, played in the playground, learned UNO (sort of), and had a late night picnic in the garden with fresh corn on the cob and other goodies. On Sunday, Bogdan and Hanna and I went to Sambir, where my dad’s cousin Ivan lives. We spent the day with Ivan and his wife Lesya, eating lots and strolling through the city. It was the perfect day to visit Sambir, as it was a holiday, and everyone was dressed up in finery, attending church, and/or just generally looking pleased.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal">[Still on the train, we’re stopped at a station now, and I’m watching a pair of women out the window struggling to pick up four big boxes full of apples that tumbled from a handcart—men wander by with strings of dried fish, grannies with baskets full of bags of apples, a man with a rolling rack of magazines, an elektrychka on its way away on one side and another arriving on the other—noticing how I’m not taking any pictures because everything seems normal--]</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In an effort to meet up with my friend Matt, who’s a PCV in Sambir, I was suggested to tell him we could meet by the church. “Which one?” he wisely asked. “The blue one.” At the blue church, when we arrived, literally hundreds of people were thronged on the street, around the grounds, and inside. With Hanna taking my elbow, I was led around and through and inside and out, drank holy water, and took a few discreet pictures. One of my favorite scenes, however, went unphotographed. In a side courtyard of the church, about seven priests were arranged at various intervals to listen to confessions from lines of waiting faithful. No anonymous confessionals for these individuals, and I was led to wonder about the scene, but with little time to do so. Away we went again, more food, more visiting, and, finally, sleep in my own bed after several more hours on buses.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">So, then school started! At our university, the start felt a little halting, as some difficulties led to us receiving a piecemeal schedule, a few days at a time, with regular changes up to the time of this writing [and this typing]. Still, start it did, with a colorful chalk welcome gracing the asphalt in front of the main university building. This was the first activity of the year for the newly named IN Project and I’m looking forward to more of them with these excellent students and teachers. We’ve since created a wall of dreams (I want to swim with dolphins… We want to be best friends forever… I want to surprise the whole world…) and held meet-and-greet sessions for students. We’ve just started English Club, too, with more activities already in the works.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">And then, Vika got married!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">[stay tuned!]</p><p class="MsoNormal">:)<br /></p>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-85978249472973016422011-09-16T14:34:00.000-04:002011-09-16T14:35:37.608-04:00post 16 septemberEven as I begin to write this, I know it won't be enough.<br /><br />I have this dream of getting caught up with you, my once and future reader, but how? I lost you somewhere in the second half of summer, and my efforts to wrap up the summer in simple statistics are just not quite sufficient.<br /><br />Ah, but when will this magical clarification and enumeration of all things worthy of your fascination take place? Not now, as I'm heading to bed early tonight. I need to be up at 4 to catch the first bus to Lviv. There, I'll take part in a very small portion of a conference for Window on America librarians. Next, it's onto a train to Kyiv, where I'll arrive at midnight, sleep for a hopefully sufficient number of hours, jump up eagerly out of bed, and run in a the longest race of my life. There's a marathon, too, but to me, a 10K is marathon enough. Having survived the race, I'll spend the next day in Kyiv, getting the medical and dental exams that will make up the last step of my extension-of-service approval process.<br /><br />Yes, extension. Can you believe it? We have so much to talk about.<br /><br />Dear reader, you're very important to me, and I'm going to make an effort to get back on track. Therefore, while I'm on track tomorrow-- the 11 hours or so between Lviv and Kyiv-- I'm going to write to you. Maybe not the whole time, no, and you might not get this message directly, as I'll be writing IN A Real Notebook, not on my notebook (the Ukrainian term for a laptop). I'm working on getting back into the practice of Real Notebooks again, too, thanks to some shinyfine inspiration and the desire to spend more time doing the things I love, especially writing.<br /><br />And I had a birthday! And there's a new school year! And I have to go to sleep right now!<br /><br />:)MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-70454620142540730282011-09-07T15:14:00.001-04:002011-09-07T15:16:08.586-04:00post 7 september<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> 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mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Summer by the numbers</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">An effort started at a coffeeshop in Uzhgorod in late August and vaguely completed at home in Lutsk in early September…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Camps that I worked at: 3</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Camps/ conferences that I attended as a participant: 2</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Trains I took: 15</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bus rides that lasted at least 1.5 hours: 15</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Countries I spent time in: 5</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Cities/ towns in which I spent more than two hours: 15</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Cities/ towns which I had never previously visited: 5</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Beds I slept in, not including overnight trains: 12</p> <p class="MsoNormal">New VKontakte friends: all of them (80)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of watermelons eaten in August: more than any Ukrainian would believe is appropriate</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of eggs eaten: Ask Sally, the President of Eggs</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of new planets I discovered I was from: 1</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of iced coffees: 3</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times my off button was pushed: 11</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times my on button was pushed: 12</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of days away: 56</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of those days spent working, at camps, at meetings, or traveling for those reasons: 44</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of lesson/seminar plans written: 15+</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times introduced myself to Andrew Cartwright: 9</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times I heard a bad pop song: 50000000000000000</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of books I read: 9.75</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times I was threatened with court proceedings with damages of 1 hryvnia: 1</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of songs I sang and/or helped to write with revised lyrics: 3</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of new original movies I helped to inspire or create: 3 </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bodies of water [natural or manmade] in which I swam: 2</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times I was elected prime minister: 0</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times I appointed myself prime minister or time minister: 2</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of movies I saw in a theatre in 3D: 1</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of grilled cheese sandwiches I cooked, for myself or others: 35</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of grilled cheese sandwiches I ate: 8</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of weddings I was invited to: 1</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Blog posts written: 2.5</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of bagels eaten: 4.5</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times I ate potatoes served as a topping for potatoes: 1</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of animals I made out of beads: 2.7</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of pictures/videos taken that survived earlystage deletion: 1945</p> <p class="MsoNormal">How far I ran: so far, so far away</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of earlyish mornings I ran: 29</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of times the Ukrainian fear of drafts came up in conversation: 6+</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of jars of spaghetti sauce canned: 9</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of said jars which have inexplicably popped their tops: 2</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of other group 37 PCVs who are extending, in addition to me: 16</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of dear friends who left Ukraine early: 1</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of potentially fruitful creative partnerships formed and named: 1</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of Ukrainian-to-English translated files edited: 17</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of idea picnics held: 3</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Number of days between starting and finishing this list: 21</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Any other numbers you’d like to know? Ask!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">More developed stories to follow.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Hope you’re well!</p><p class="MsoNormal">:)<br /></p>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-54201043957862893872011-07-09T14:08:00.004-04:002011-07-09T14:24:10.185-04:00post 9 july<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <div style="border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Greetings from the lovely world that is Ukraine in summer! [It’s a lovely world in other seasons, too, of course, but with somewhat different features. <span style="font-family:Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;mso-char-type:symbol; mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" >:)</span></span>]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">I spent most of the past two weeks away from the computer and close to the sea—a pretty good trade, I’d say. Intercamp, a summer camp run by a woman who served as a national judge for the International Writing Olympics, turned out to be an excellent time. I had the idea that it would be pretty nice to be in Crimea and to work with Maryna, but my vague expectations were happily exceeded.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">As a bonus, my friend Kate was also chosen to be on the staff for this shift of Intercamp, and so we took the long trip to Crimea [about 24 train hours to Simferopol, then about 2 bus hours to Zaozernoe, on the western coast] together. Kate and I will spend most of the rest of the summer on different adventures, so it was nice to be able to hang out and work together at this camp. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">We were met at the bus stop by several campers who immediately picked up our bags and started chatting with us. “Kate, how is the weather in Lutsk?” one asked. Entering our camp, Edelweis [unexpected name, eh?], I had the idea that we were on a small and pleasant island. Apricot trees and flowers filled a large courtyard, each room had its own porch, and everything was open and airy. When a bus full of campers arrived from Kryvyi Rih [the city where Maryna’s language school is located], Kate and I found ourselves with two excellent roommates: Caroline and Polina.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Although the weather was warm on the first day, drizzle and clouds arrived the next day. Too cool for a swim, we decided to play beach games instead. “What a big, dark cloud!” we each commented at least once. “Oh, it’s raining a little!” we all noticed. And we played on anyway. “Let me see your funky chicken! What’s that you say?” Suddenly, the rain arrived in an impressively intense form. No time to be impressed, though, as all of us were huddled under the few big beach canopies set up, alternately laughing and screaming wildly as the wind and rain came harder and faster. Finally, as there was no sign that conditions were likely to change, it was decided that we’d run for it! And away we went—wet, muddy, laughing, shoeless, whatever! We all made it back successfully, though, so no worries. The rest of the afternoon was spent snug in our rooms watching movies in small discussion groups. No one got sick, and we all had an exciting story to tell. Plus, we had the hope that it couldn’t possibly get any worse.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Don’t let that dramatic pause fool you. It didn’t get any worse. It got much, much better. Although it was a little cool for the first few days, no more major storms interrupted our days. We spent plenty of time at the beach—swimming, playing volleyball [or having a meeting of the “We’re Not Good At Volleyball Club”], making friendship bracelets, and, one night, having a dramatic Olympics-style competition, complete with a toga-clad deity presiding.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Another benefit of the cool weather was the opportunity it offered for early morning running. Yes, once again, I decided to make an effort. The perfect situation presented itself: an outside neighborhood full of people I would never see again, a variety of new routes to explore, and a group of friends to whom I could force myself to be accountable. The result: eight successful runs on eight successive days along eight different routes! Maybe if there were more seaside routes in Lutsk I could be more successful running here… Only one spill on a rocky route, but otherwise I was pretty proud that I was able to follow through. Coincidentally, they’ve just announced a new Kyiv Marathon/ 10K event in September. Can it be done? One thing at a time! <span style="font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family: Arial;mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" >:)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">The theme of the camp was cinema, and we worked in small groups to study various aspects of film and to create our own films. Each group chose and studied an existing film as a starting point, then branched off and made changes for our own adaptations. My team, Chicken Productions, produced <i>Crazy Eddie: The Remix</i>, in connection with <i>Edward Scissorhands</i>. Our version featured Edward Spoonfork Hands, excellent music (MIA, Peter, Bjorn & John, and Tom Tom Club, among others), and a dramatic surprise ending. Hopefully I’ll be able to post this film online soon so you can appreciate it, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I really enjoyed working with this group, from developing our screenplay together, blocking out the scenes, filming, creating original sound effects… <span style="mso-ansi-language:UK" lang="UK">Молодці</span>, Chicken Productions!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><span style="mso-ansi-language: UK" lang="UK"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">The youngest group, the Bossy Sharks, made <i>Over the Gate</i>, an adaptation of <i>Over the Hedge</i>, Kate’s group made <i>Camp Alone: Return of the Robbers</i>, Emily’s group did a version of <i>The Goonies</i> [the original of which I still haven’t seen], and the Spanish group, working with Nicolas, made <i>Voluntario del Amor</i> [Volunteer of Love]. On the last night, we had the InterFest film festival, with a red carpet and everything. Very cool.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Other happenings at camp included a day trip to nearby Yevpatoria, home of lovely buildings and a busy boardwalk, plus an unexpected dance show by our campers, much to the entertainment of tourists and costumed performers alike. Emily taught the kids three different dances throughout camp, and <i>Thriller</i> was the perfect show for a downtown showoff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Another feature of camp was a daily morning newspaper, and I was happy to have the chance to work as the editor. With a few fine staff members and an assortment of contributors, we chose pictures and put together interviews, film reviews, reports on events, puzzles, announcements, horoscopes, weather forecasts, and even the dollar/ hryvnia exchange rate. Even though this project involved mostly late-night and early-morning compilation, working with such a lovely staff and a benevolent production manager made it worth the effort. Each morning, after my run and shower, I’d share our materials with Maryna on our front-porch office, we’d put the paper together, and head off to breakfast. Such a lovely way to start the day!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">So, leaving was sad. The fact that it took me 34 hours of by-myself travel to get back didn’t really help. Still, now I have lots more friends on VKontakte [“in contact”—the Russian/ Ukrainian Facebook], and I have hopes of visiting Kryvyi Rih sometime this fall to do some workshops at Maryna’s university and some lessons or other events at the language school, Interclas. In the meantime, I have some excellent new friends, memories, and penpals. <span style="font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family: Arial;mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" >:)<br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">The rest of the week saw a visit by Terry’s son and daughter-in-law, another visit by two of Kate’s friends, and a special visit by Doug Teschner, Peace Corps Ukraine’s director. He only had two hours, so we had pizza at Felichita’s and saw the castle. That’s a pretty small nutshell to put Lutsk into, but so it went. Afterward, Kate and I showed her guests the artist’s house, and we were lucky enough to meet the artist himself, as well as his friend and self-appointed promoter. The artist, Kolya [short for Mykola, or Nicholas], is a sculptor, and his house and yard are filled with his hand-made works. The story, and apparently the truth, as we were informed, is that personal tragedy—the death of his son [and the death of his wife?]—broke his heart and led him to create countless original works, in memorial and otherwise. Kolya turned out to be a really nice guy, and his friend took our picture together. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">In just a few days, I’m off to another camp—this time, as a camper. This is the only camp this summer at which my English language skills won’t be prized. How much Ukrainian can I muster after weeks of speaking almost only English, and listening to mostly English and some Russian? Tune in next time to find out!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">In the meantime, eat a melon. I just had half of one this morning—<span style="mso-ansi-language:UK" lang="UK">диня</span>, almost like honeydew, and super tasty. Other fruits are available, of course, but this is my top pick of the moment. Apples and cherries are growing around my building, and apricot trees lined the streets in Crimea [each time the train stopped, the platform was flooded with vendors raising high their buckets of apricots and strings of smoked fish]. It’s still early for watermelon, I’m told by cautious eat-only-what’s-natural friends, but there are plenty of other treats to enjoy for now.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;">Enjoy now! :)</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">PS- having some trouble with adding pictures today-- check FB album here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.238614582835001.73878.100000593846334&l=ab5a7d692f Actually, I'm wondering-- how many of you look at the pictures on my Picasa albums? I'm trying to decide if posting pictures in three different places is really that useful. Please let me know! :)<br /><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" ></span><span style=" font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;mso-char-type:symbol; mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;font-size:12.0pt;" ><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings;" ></span></span></p> </div>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-84501726185977588862011-06-21T16:44:00.016-04:002011-06-21T17:37:49.924-04:00post 21 juneClearly the longest day of the year is an excellent time to get caught up with my blog… Happy summer solstice, all! I celebrated with friends, empanadas, Indian food, potato salad, lots of cherries, and Bananagrams!<br /><br />So, back in Ukraine. Being back in Ukraine means a few things:<br /><br />1. I need to remember to turn around when I hear a car even vaguely behind me, even if I’m walking on a sidewalk.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-glOYXYTK9y8/TgEFX3fz2tI/AAAAAAAADPg/pPsOSXiG5Wc/s1600/IMG_1020.JPG"><br /></a>2. I’m in time to take advantage of peak strawberry and cherry seasons.<br />3. I was out of Ukraine!<br /><br />In the most excellent purely-for-pleasure vacation in recent memory, I met up with my sister and spent a little over a week traveling with her through Budapest, Vienna and Prague. Lovely!<br /><br />Yes, I did get back about a week ago, but really—if I had started to type up a blog entry right when I got back, I probably would have listed every single detail about what we did, where we went, and, most importantly, what we ate. Here, with the benefit of a week of reflection, I’m able to offer you the highlights.<br /><br />Since this blog is mainly focused on my time in Ukraine, though, I’ve decided just to add a few trip pictures here, then give you the links to my Facebook albums. So many pictures!! [Click <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.226981763998283.71474.100000593846334&l=e3288cc010">HERE </a>for Budapest pictures, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.227147290648397.71603.100000593846334&l=fa232fc0b2">HERE </a>for Vienna pictures, and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.227513723945087.71738.100000593846334&l=966c619a38">HERE </a>for Prague pictures!]<br /><br />The first site on our admittedly and pleasantly vague itinerary was Budapest. I took the train from Lviv, Angelica flew in, from, well, America, and we met at our very own super amazing apartment. Because Angelica made all of the arrangements for our hostels, with some consultation, I was mostly unaware of where we’d be staying. In Budapest, it turned out that we had an apartment right beside St. Stephen’s Basilica, one of the most recognizable and central sights in the city. Plus, it had window seats! Stellar! Highly recommended—Pal’s Hostel—should you find yourself in this lovely city.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-glOYXYTK9y8/TgEFX3fz2tI/AAAAAAAADPg/pPsOSXiG5Wc/s1600/IMG_1020.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-glOYXYTK9y8/TgEFX3fz2tI/AAAAAAAADPg/pPsOSXiG5Wc/s320/IMG_1020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620779717527591634" border="0" /></a><br />During our time in Budapest, our priorities were to go on a walking tour and maybe to the baths. Pretty do-able, and, in fact, we accomplished both of these items. On our first evening, we went out for gelato and a little stroll, which ended up ranging all over Pest, across the Chain Bridge and up through Buda. The free walking tour we took the next day led us basically along this same track, but with lots more information. We had an excellent pair of guides, who told us that…<br />- the municipal concert hall was built with bad acoustics for some reason, so is now used for rock concerts and raves.<br />- the giant statue of Victory overlooking the river was put there by Communist “liberators”, and when Communism ended in Budapest, the statue was symbolically cleansed: she was wrapped in white, dabbled in red, and uncovered after three days.<br />- the first statue in the city after the fall of Communism was the Little Princess, modeled for by a young boy.<br />- staying one night in the Presidential suite at the fanciest hotel in town costs the annual salary of an average Hungarian.<br />- St. Stephen’s isn’t technically a basilica, but a visiting pope declared, “What a nice basilica!” and no one disagreed.<br />- the top spire of St. Stephen’s is exactly as high as the top point on the Parliament building—equality of church and state!<br />- a popular evening event is the silent rave held in a park near the Parliament building—no music is audible to passers-by, but all participants have their own headphones!<br /><br />… and plenty more. That tour was very well done, and recommended!<br />Some of the highlights in Budapest include: afternoons and evenings of music, parts of various folk and modern festivals enjoyed by hundreds of very chill folks drinking up and dancing and having a lovely time; gelato at a place that shapes your scoops into rose petals; bagels and iced coffee drinks; the central market, a big market hall with souvenirs, produce, and lunch options; the largest synagogue in the country, with beautiful windows, a distinctive willow sculpture/ memorial, and a memorial courtyard crowded with names of those who were in the Jewish ghetto; hummus and falafel; Tex-Mex; fish pedicures [which we did not get, and Angelica seems to regret missing out on]; and, of course, the baths.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8sKXBVf6iu8/TgEGI05dugI/AAAAAAAADPo/9ewoZXa5fKk/s1600/IMG_1232.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8sKXBVf6iu8/TgEGI05dugI/AAAAAAAADPo/9ewoZXa5fKk/s320/IMG_1232.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620780558643476994" border="0" /></a><br />The baths deserve their own separate paragraph. Budapest is known for the quality of its water, apparently, and even water at public fountains is safe to drink. There are a variety of spas and pools throughout the area, including those with play areas for kids or fancy therapeutic treatment centers. We chose Szechenyi Baths, mainly for the range of options it offered, but probably also because its buildings are all painted a distinctive mustard yellow that reminded us of Hanover Shoe Farms’ barns… Not from Adams/ York Counties in Pennsylvania? Never mind. Anyway, this experience was pretty extensive, starting with magic magnetic watch-like wristbands to be used to lock and unlock our lockers. Out into the central area, we found three main pools, one for laps and two for vague water enjoyment. The waterfalls, bubble columns, and “lazy river” features were a big hit with Angelica. I was more impressed with the smaller, warmer pools located inside. The hottest of these was too hot to get into, but most of them were very pleasantly warm, about 38 degrees Celsius. Afterward, I decided to try the sauna, which was really hot, and opted out of the super-cold after-dip pool. There was a really nice atmosphere there, with people lounging all about, and everyone behaving nicely. On reflection, I don’t think there were many children there, but whatever the reason, it was pretty quiet and enjoyable.<br />After a few days in Budapest, we boarded the RailJet [okay, it seemed really futuristic to me, but maybe it’s just simply modern…] to Vienna. There, we also had our own private apartment, not too far from the train station, and we started our exploration with a big shopping street that we eventually decided to call “Earring Street.” Everything was there—H&M, Starbucks, McDonalds, Claire’s… even a free water fountain! We discovered the MQ, the Museum Quarter’s very cool complex made up of multiple museums and home to various events, festivals, performances, and artists in residence. I was very favorably impressed by this concept and site, as well as by their giant bright-colored artsy lounge chairs.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ywIl6Yedtpw/TgEG5M6FtYI/AAAAAAAADPw/_PaIZKPVFDY/s1600/IMG_1338.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ywIl6Yedtpw/TgEG5M6FtYI/AAAAAAAADPw/_PaIZKPVFDY/s320/IMG_1338.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620781389722269058" border="0" /></a><br />The two goals set out by Angelica for her time in Vienna were to have schnitzel and apple strudel, and these were both successfully accomplished. The schnitzel was chicken, and it was served at an Indian restaurant, but it was in Vienna, so I’d imagine it was pretty authentic. To match her apple strudel, I had Sacher torte, a chocolate cake glazed in apricot jam and then sealed with dark chocolate, named for the Hotel Sacher in Vienna. Authentic and tasty. Plus, in Vienna, each coffee was always served on a small silver platter with a glass of water. Stellar idea.<br />Other highlights of Vienna included: Stefansdome, St. Stephens’ in the middle of the city; the Hapsburg Palace grounds; more gelato; spinach pizza; ring trams around the central district of the city; earrings; a folk music singalong; the MQ bookstore, featuring [at least to me] the seemingly definitive book on IKEA as well as a small children’s style book with a dinosaur on the cover titled <span style="font-style: italic;">All My Friends are Dead</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G10KHpMqxWQ/TgEMc2M0W_I/AAAAAAAADQc/Tx9i5W9tq5U/s1600/IMG_1454.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G10KHpMqxWQ/TgEMc2M0W_I/AAAAAAAADQc/Tx9i5W9tq5U/s320/IMG_1454.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620787499660237810" border="0" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g_KRtrrZDpo/TgEH67GZiJI/AAAAAAAADP8/EeL7hHjBDXM/s1600/DSCN1147.JPG"><br /></a><br />To me, the best part of Vienna, though, were the Hunterwasser House and Museum. Hunterwasser was a really cool artist and architect with lots of philosophical notions, such as the value of balancing nature in close integration with buildings, the importance of the spiral as an image of life and death, and the belief that “The straight line does not belong to man”, meaning that only God is perfect and man ought to avoid any pretense toward such perfection. The Hunterwasser House is a regular building—regular in that people live there—but looks like a display exhibit in some sort of giant gallery. The colors and shapes are whimsical, the straight lines are few, and the trees and greenery are right in the middle of it all. Because people live in the building, it’s not open to tours, but there are plenty of videos and photos for sale, as well as a complete museum just down the street. Where the house façade includes a whole range of colors, the museum faces the street mainly in black and white, but includes the same childish and fanciful design. In fact, Hunterwasser designed several sites in the city, including the incineration plant, as well as at numerous locations around the world. I really enjoyed the chance to see such color and nature and philosophy integrated into an already beautiful, Old World city.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g_KRtrrZDpo/TgEH67GZiJI/AAAAAAAADP8/EeL7hHjBDXM/s1600/DSCN1147.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g_KRtrrZDpo/TgEH67GZiJI/AAAAAAAADP8/EeL7hHjBDXM/s320/DSCN1147.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620782518813427858" border="0" /></a><br />Our final destination was Prague, and it took a slightly longer train trip to get there… maybe because we weren’t traveling by RailJet! After getting a bit turned around on our way to the hostel, we finally arrived and were met by an enthusiastic older woman. She immediately had suggestions for everything we were to do, drew dots and squiggles and wrote in additional information on our map, and made us tea, all before showing us to our rooms. There, we had a separate upstairs suite, almost a loft style, under big, beautiful skylights.<br />On our first evening, we made a cursory excursion into the city center, taking lots of nighttime pictures of the big church on the square—the one that looks like the Disney castle—and the clock tower. We had Italian for dinner—again, pleasantly!—and I found myself ordering spaghetti. At home in the US, I’ve never ordered spaghetti—it’s something so simple that you ought to just make it at home and spend your dinner-out credit on something more exotic. The just-right sauce and fresh basil on this spaghetti, though, were nothing like anything I’ve had in Ukraine, and I was pleased with my choice.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PCXY1V36mJ8/TgEIohBr8nI/AAAAAAAADQE/csgMQFEPe9Q/s1600/IMG_1579.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PCXY1V36mJ8/TgEIohBr8nI/AAAAAAAADQE/csgMQFEPe9Q/s320/IMG_1579.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620783302088323698" border="0" /></a><br />We started our official exploration of Prague with another free walking tour, in which we learned…<br />- defenestration (throwing someone out of a window) was surprisingly popular in the history of Prague, occurring at least four notable times.<br />- the astronomical clock is extremely hard to read, even after an explanation.<br />- on the hill overlooking the river, where the world’s largest statue of Stalin used to stand [apparently the same size as Jesus in Rio], there is now a giant metronome, representing the fluctuating positives and negatives in the history of the city and country.<br />- in one church, where the monks weren’t very good at handling money legally, apparently, a two-towered design was scrapped halfway through the building process when it was determined that there was only enough money to build one tower<br />- in the same church, there’s a legend: In the front of the church, there’s a beautiful statue of Mary, holding the body of Jesus in her arms. Many years ago, people would bring Mary gifts in hopes of her intercession on their behalf in various matters. At one time, a priceless pearl necklace was given to Mary as an offering. A thief entering the church saw the necklace and decided to steal it. He reached out for it, but, having it in his hand, found that he could not move: the statue of Mary had grabbed his wrist to stop him from taking the necklace. He screamed and yelled and could not free himself. Finally, the monks heard him and came running. They were amazed at the miracle, but could do nothing to free the man. Finally, the thief’s hand had to be cut off in order to free him from the statue’s grip. Today, that withered hand is hanging high on a back wall of the church as a warning to future thieves.<br />- somewhere nearby there are beer baths, a kind of themed spa.<br />- on the Charles Bridge, there’s a stature of a particular saint with five stars above his head, and here’s his story: This priest was the queen’s confessor, and when the king demanded to know his wife’s secrets, the priest refused to betray the sanctity of confession. The priest was tortured, but still would not tell. Finally, the king had the priest thrown off of the bridge and into the river, where he drowned. As he went under the water, five stars appeared in the water, a sign, and this martyrdom made him the patron saint of womens’ secrets.<br />- there’s a “Little Venice” on the castle side of the river, although the term “Devil’s Channel” was also used, and seems much less flattering.<br />- the Prague Castle is made up of many different styles of architecture, as everyone who was there seems to have wanted to leave his or her mark.<br />- the President of the Czech Republic works in the castle. Maybe he once stole a pen at a document signing, or maybe the pen was a gift. Only YouTube knows.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nIVtwN2VWKI/TgELYOdQXiI/AAAAAAAADQQ/az7u-elwEVQ/s1600/DSCN1479.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nIVtwN2VWKI/TgELYOdQXiI/AAAAAAAADQQ/az7u-elwEVQ/s320/DSCN1479.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620786320760659490" border="0" /></a><br />- the large gothic church that is the most recognizable part of the castle was built over a period of 500 years! In the façade of the church, the last part finished, both the king who ordered the start of building as well as the suit-and-tie architects who finally finished the work can be seen.<br />- there was only one source of water in the castle in ancient times, and it was a very well-guarded well… only a little tampering could have caused a great deal of trouble for the residents, and the country.<br />- one of the more eccentric Hapsburgs spent much of his time and fortune in collecting art, mainly Mona Lisas, in the hope that eventually he would acquire the real thing. In what may well have been a tour guide-added touch, he was scrutinizing these Mona Lisas when someone presented him with a document that he signed without reading. In a country where religion was fiercely divisive, he apparently unconsciously signed allowing religious freedom for all.<br /><br />In Prague, we also lunched and sipped at a brewery in a monastery, enjoyed the pleasures of Bohemia Bagels (with real Philly cream cheese!), took in the memorial to victims of Communism, rode the funicular, watched the changing of the guard at the castle, shopped, watched the astronomical clock at the top of the hour, took a coffee cruise on the river, and went to a beer tasting. Oddly enough, our brewmeister turned out to be a girl named Nicole from near Chicago. The whole group gathered for the 5 pm tasting that day turned out to be just Angelica and I, and so we had a casual and fun time. Plus, Nicole recommended a place nearby that served fried cheese, her favorite food in Prague, and so we followed our tasting with a cheese steak—like, a steak of cheese. It was delicious. We also tried trdelnik, a cinnamon-sugar pastry made by rolling dough around a wood or metal cylinder and then cooking it to golden crispy chewiness. Unusual and tasty.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tclt64YsZ_0/TgEOBBYomUI/AAAAAAAADQo/tvgvsjsBEpk/s1600/IMG_1839.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tclt64YsZ_0/TgEOBBYomUI/AAAAAAAADQo/tvgvsjsBEpk/s320/IMG_1839.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620789220649507138" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Needless to say, I was sad to see Angelica go on Saturday morning, but my train was not until Saturday night, so I spent the rest of the day wandering through the city and picking up a few more bagels for the road. I also saw a street market, the metronome up close, the royal gardens behind the castle, and the Dancing House, a building that looks like, well, it’s dancing. Plus, I managed to get a kilo of lentils to bring back to Ukraine! There was no peanut butter to be found in the grocery store I stopped in on the way out of town, but hey, lentils!<br /><br />So, there’s that! A wonderful trip, lots of pictures, lots of things to think about on the long way back. I do love Ukraine, and I love the work I do here, but it was really nice to get away and to not have to think about any of the many things I ought to be doing. Spending time with my sister was especially excellent, as it’s been a really long time since we’ve spent more than a day or two together. Special thanks to her and her husband for their birthday present to me—they paid for all of our hostels on the trip! Thanks to our parents, too, who donated to the travel fund—being a Peace Corps Volunteer does not mean making money!<br /><br />A few days in Lutsk, a meeting last weekend in Kyiv [pretty good for a meeting, and a great night out in the middle of it with smart and intriguing people], English club, editing of students’ masters’ theses, lots of work, interviewing students for MASCOT, and, in a few more days, off to Crimea for ten days of work at a camp there! Go go go!<br /><br />Still, my blog’s updated, now, so what more could I ask for?<br /><br />[It’s a rhetorical question; no one needs to answer…!]<br /><br />Happy solstice!<br /><br />:)MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-90269296659086133522011-05-24T14:44:00.005-04:002011-05-24T15:03:15.916-04:00post 24 may<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yCc-o41vA5U/TdwAAFEj3DI/AAAAAAAADPQ/yxyUJ_GFPJQ/s1600/IMG_0922.jpg"><br /></a>It’s summer!!!<div style="border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext .75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Yes, there’s still school, but only for a few days.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">So how do I know it’s summer, then?</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sidewalks [once thick with ice and piled with snow] are now filled with beer tents and café tables.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Kvass [a super-cheap fermented drink of vaguely indescribable taste] is now available on tap—it’s available in a [eww!] unnatural bottled form year-round.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Almost no one is wearing boots.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Mesh has returned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>[For men? Women? Yes.]</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It’s hot.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">That, and I can read the calendar.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Before I forget, though, I wanted to tell you that I was on TV recently!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The week after Easter, I served as a judge in a “brain ring” game-show type competition at the Lutsk National Technical University.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Students had to answer questions about grammar, country studies, and other English-related topics, as well as to present prepared team introductions and projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I knew that there was a camera, but it wasn’t until a week or so ago that I learned that I had appeared on TV!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Apparently I looked very serious.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">So, since the weather has been getting consistently warmer, I decided about two weeks ago that it was time to start running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I’ve never been much of a runner, and have run in a total of three races in my life—two 5Ks and a one-mile fun run!—but the idea of being a runner has tremendous romantic appeal to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Relying only upon yourself, the feeling of freedom, wind in your face, your own music playing in your own little world as you head off into the scenery…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I was running outside of the city, along a lazy, quiet road that cut through fields and past cows, once looping down into a village where an old man was already fishing at 8 in the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Lovely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It worked out pretty well for about a week, and then I stretched something in my right foot a little too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>According to the doctor on the phone, “It looks like a strained ligament or tendon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Wrap it up and take it easy for a while.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So, that was that.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;">At the end of The Week of Running, I took a trip down to Uzhgorod for a planning meeting to prepare for the English Language Refresher Camp, a summer camp for English teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Modeled on our own Ukrainian- and Russian-Language Refreshers, run by Peace Corps staff, this will be a chance for teachers to spend time in an English-rich environment, and to study both teaching methodology and English language skills in a positive—and hopefully fun!—summer camp environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I’m looking forward to this camp, as it’s a great chance for me to work with teachers, which is theoretically my primary job assignment in Ukraine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Plus, whatever works there can be transported to my own area, and elsewhere throughout the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Plans are already underway for improved teacher training seminars in this area, but they’re mostly in the thinking-of-the-right-acronym stage.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JowbA5THXN0/Tdv_J-GNYWI/AAAAAAAADPE/F0JKm_3opv8/s1600/IMG_0882.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JowbA5THXN0/Tdv_J-GNYWI/AAAAAAAADPE/F0JKm_3opv8/s320/IMG_0882.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610358307573031266" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">big river</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Uzhgorod is a lovely and old city, and I enjoyed the chance to hang out with some of the Volunteers in the area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After our meeting, we took a marshrutka out of town to a lovely park by a river, and hiked up the big hill nearby to find the castle on top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As you can see from my pictures, it’s more like a collection of walls, doors, and windows than a solid castle at this point, but it was quite lovely and a great photo op for several wedding parties, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Our hiking group came back downhill [1.5 hours total, not the 20 minute jaunt we’d been told to expect!] to find that shashlyk [bbq meat kebabs] and potatoes [basically thrown whole and uncovered into the coals] were ready, so we enjoyed ourselves until it was time to catch the last bus into town and enjoy ourselves there some more!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Unfortunately, I had a very early train to catch on Sunday morning, so I only got in one day of sightseeing, but I’m looking forward to returning in a few months and seeing more of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Plus, I’m excited to return to my favorite café of the city—a pizza shop and coffee house with a funky literary style that we eenie-meanie-miney-mo decided to visit for morning coffee on Saturday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was only the third day that they’d been open, but many things—including the fact that our waitress surprisingly spoke perfect English—made it clear that they already had a good thing going on.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">On the way back, my train—a six-hour elektrychka—passed through a lovely part of the Carpathians, with rolling hills and green green greenness everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was one of those times when I struggled between being a tourist and trying to blend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Eventually, though, I had to take a few pictures, and I was pleased to see that a lady sitting across from me later took her own camera out and snapped a few shots, too.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yCc-o41vA5U/TdwAAFEj3DI/AAAAAAAADPQ/yxyUJ_GFPJQ/s1600/IMG_0922.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yCc-o41vA5U/TdwAAFEj3DI/AAAAAAAADPQ/yxyUJ_GFPJQ/s320/IMG_0922.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610359237158100018" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">an electric-line man pauses to consider his good fortune at finding himself in the Carpathians</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Last weekend involved travel again, but of the much closer variety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Our spring Collaborative meeting was held in Rivne, and I was happy to see about 20-odd Volunteers in attendance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Yes, they’re odd, but mostly in a good way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We had a productive meeting, with lots of good ideas for possible ways to address a variety of community needs in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The game/ activity bank that we all contributed was greatly appreciated, too, as a good go-to for those working at summer camps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Plus—plus!—I had a really tasty fruit salad at lunch after the meeting… another clue that it’s summer. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Summer means vacation, and also work, but I’m happy to be starting with vacation this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Soon, my dearest of all sisters will be heading east-ward and we’ll spend a week traveling through Budapest, Vienna, and Prague.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Neither of us have ever been to any of these places, but the real treat, for me, is just getting to see my sister!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Seeing her in a really cool setting will be a bonus, of course, and I’m definitely looking forward to it!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">The rest of the summer, in chronological order, although subject to change, includes a meeting in Kyiv after the big 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Peace Corps party, ten days working at a film-themed summer camp for students in Crimea, a few days at Ukrainian Language Refresher, about two weeks at Camp MASCOT—a creativity and social-change-focused camp in Mykolaiv, one week at the teacher camp in Uzhgorod, a few days in Slavske, in the Carpathians, for our group 37 Close-of-Service Conference… and then school starts!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">I’m pretty excited about this summer, and although it looks pretty busy, I’d rather be doing something useful than just sitting around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If I’m here, I’d rather be productive!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There’s a good chance that more of my summer will get filled in with other work or travel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Of course, I still need to block in a few “eating watermelon and not worrying at all about anything else” days here and there, but I have no doubt those will happen.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Other than my sister visiting, I have to say that the thing I’m most excited about this summer is Camp MASCOT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For those of you who’ve heard me talk about it repeatedly already, I’m sorry, but it’s a camp in need of support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As I already said, it’s a camp designed to help students see creativity as a venue for social change, and to develop their own motivation and leadership skills to take back to their own communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The hosting community, Mykolaiv, has already given 60% of the cost of this camp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Students are also paying a fee to attend this camp. </span>Still, for 100 students [ages 14-22] to spend ten days at such a camp, more funding is needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If this sounds like the kind of camp you’d like to support, even in a small amount, please click <a href="https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=343-233">HERE</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If you’d like more information, you can definitely ask me, or click <a href="http://www.iocoalition.org/MASCOT-2011-Ukraine.php">HERE</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If this camp isn't fully funded, it simply won't happen, and that would be more than disappointing to more than just me. Okay, that’s all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You’re free from the pitch!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You may now go about your business!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Hope all your business is going well, and that summer is shining brightly upon you, too!</p> </div>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562445548570722470.post-72064080429692899242011-05-09T14:29:00.007-04:002011-05-09T14:54:56.753-04:00post 9 may<span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" >It’s Victory Day!</span><div style="border-width: medium medium 0.75pt; border-style: none none solid; -moz-border-right-colors: none; -moz-border-bottom-colors: none; -moz-border-left-colors: none; -moz-border-image: none; padding: 0in 0in 1pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;color:-moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">In addition to an actual national celebration, this day also refers to personal victories accomplished today, such as writing a new blog entry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Not quite on the same scale, I understand, but here you are… New pictures in Picasa and on Facebook, too! :)</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">I got my hair cut last week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Just a trim, but all the pre-Peace Corps highlights are gone now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Luckily, there are plenty of other highlights in my life.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">One such highlight was the announcement of the international winners of the International <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ubdzFD5CQM/Tcg4GtP-p0I/AAAAAAAADLk/7LwPJKeMRzw/s1600/IMG_0684.jpg"><br /></a>Writing Olympics: Of ten categories entered, Ukrainian students took either first, second, or third place in eight categories, including four first-place honors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Hooray!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You can read an article about this <a href="http://www.kyivpost.com/news/guide/guidenews/detail/103037/">HERE</a>!<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">When last we spoke/ wrote/ read, it was almost Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Because this is how time works, it’s not Easter anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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 <a href="http://katemarieschmidt.blogspot.com/2011/04/put-another-hole-in-your-belt.html">HERE</a>. Yes, a lot of food was eaten and a lot of people were visited.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">Still, a few points:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">- 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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I did, too.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;">- We saw a baby hedgehog!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Kate saw it scuttling across the street one evening, and my cousin Olya scooped it up in her scarf to pose for photos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Awesome!</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9aBOVQsm4Eg/Tcg06YTgyRI/AAAAAAAADLE/UYXkr-uxDVU/s1600/IMG_0420.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9aBOVQsm4Eg/Tcg06YTgyRI/AAAAAAAADLE/UYXkr-uxDVU/s320/IMG_0420.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604787913823930642" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;">- 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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Eugenia said she hadn’t made these in years, but hers were way prettier than mine anyway. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">- Lots and lots of baking went on in the summer kitchen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This time there were dozens and dozens of cakes being made, but also, most importantly, lots and lots of paschas—special Easter breads.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;">- We brought Easter gifts to each family we visited, and Hanna’s family, with four very well-behaved kids, got water guns and bubbles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One of my favorite scenes from this whole trip was the kids using their own bubbles for target practice.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-19JXJeL_zMc/Tcg171-EgJI/AAAAAAAADLM/SrJOh0eeeKc/s1600/IMG_0536.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-19JXJeL_zMc/Tcg171-EgJI/AAAAAAAADLM/SrJOh0eeeKc/s320/IMG_0536.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604789038478557330" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">- 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. <span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-">:)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;">The next holiday after Easter was Labor Day, which means a four-day weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Saturday, however, was the WELL Seminar in Lutsk, which brought 18 Peace Corps Volunteers to my university.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was a beautiful day, both inside and out, and a lovely weekend to have lots of visitors in town.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wzkwQI03dEc/Tcg21O4tJMI/AAAAAAAADLY/bmicqapQnDQ/s1600/IMG_0779.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wzkwQI03dEc/Tcg21O4tJMI/AAAAAAAADLY/bmicqapQnDQ/s320/IMG_0779.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604790024419484866" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">Some of the very fine PCVs who helped out with WELL in Lutsk.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Although it was a little chillier this weekend, another holiday [Victory Day, May 9], made it a good weekend for visiting, too!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Well done, Felichita, well done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;">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!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My masters’ students are taking their exams, and there are only a few more sessions of Country Studies and Journalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Still, plenty to do all the time, somehow!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;font-size:100%;" > </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ubdzFD5CQM/Tcg4GtP-p0I/AAAAAAAADLk/7LwPJKeMRzw/s1600/IMG_0684.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ubdzFD5CQM/Tcg4GtP-p0I/AAAAAAAADLk/7LwPJKeMRzw/s320/IMG_0684.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604791424139568962" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size:100%;">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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It’s enough to make me want to take a trip somewhere new soon!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It’s a bit far, but hey, it’s spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All things are possible.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .75pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">:)</span><br /></span></p></div><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:12pt;" ></span>MKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02486362394161266882noreply@blogger.com1