post 21 june

Clearly 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!

So, back in Ukraine. Being back in Ukraine means a few things:

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.
2. I’m in time to take advantage of peak strawberry and cherry seasons.
3. I was out of Ukraine!

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!

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.

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 HERE for Budapest pictures, HERE for Vienna pictures, and HERE for Prague pictures!]

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.


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…
- the municipal concert hall was built with bad acoustics for some reason, so is now used for rock concerts and raves.
- 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.
- the first statue in the city after the fall of Communism was the Little Princess, modeled for by a young boy.
- staying one night in the Presidential suite at the fanciest hotel in town costs the annual salary of an average Hungarian.
- St. Stephen’s isn’t technically a basilica, but a visiting pope declared, “What a nice basilica!” and no one disagreed.
- the top spire of St. Stephen’s is exactly as high as the top point on the Parliament building—equality of church and state!
- 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!

… and plenty more. That tour was very well done, and recommended!
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.


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.
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.


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.
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 All My Friends are Dead.



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.


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.
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.


We started our official exploration of Prague with another free walking tour, in which we learned…
- defenestration (throwing someone out of a window) was surprisingly popular in the history of Prague, occurring at least four notable times.
- the astronomical clock is extremely hard to read, even after an explanation.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- somewhere nearby there are beer baths, a kind of themed spa.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.


- 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.
- 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.
- 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.

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.



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!

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!

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!

Still, my blog’s updated, now, so what more could I ask for?

[It’s a rhetorical question; no one needs to answer…!]

Happy solstice!

:)

post 24 may

It’s summer!!!

Yes, there’s still school, but only for a few days.

So how do I know it’s summer, then?

1. Sidewalks [once thick with ice and piled with snow] are now filled with beer tents and café tables.

2. 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.

3. Almost no one is wearing boots.

4. Mesh has returned. [For men? Women? Yes.]

5. It’s hot.

That, and I can read the calendar.

Before I forget, though, I wanted to tell you that I was on TV recently! The week after Easter, I served as a judge in a “brain ring” game-show type competition at the Lutsk National Technical University. Students had to answer questions about grammar, country studies, and other English-related topics, as well as to present prepared team introductions and projects. 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! Apparently I looked very serious.

So, since the weather has been getting consistently warmer, I decided about two weeks ago that it was time to start running. 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. 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… 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. Lovely. It worked out pretty well for about a week, and then I stretched something in my right foot a little too much. According to the doctor on the phone, “It looks like a strained ligament or tendon. Wrap it up and take it easy for a while.” So, that was that.

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. 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. 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. Plus, whatever works there can be transported to my own area, and elsewhere throughout the country. Plans are already underway for improved teacher training seminars in this area, but they’re mostly in the thinking-of-the-right-acronym stage.

big river

Uzhgorod is a lovely and old city, and I enjoyed the chance to hang out with some of the Volunteers in the area. 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. 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. 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! 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. 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. 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.

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. It was one of those times when I struggled between being a tourist and trying to blend. 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.

an electric-line man pauses to consider his good fortune at finding himself in the Carpathians

Last weekend involved travel again, but of the much closer variety. Our spring Collaborative meeting was held in Rivne, and I was happy to see about 20-odd Volunteers in attendance. Yes, they’re odd, but mostly in a good way. We had a productive meeting, with lots of good ideas for possible ways to address a variety of community needs in the future. The game/ activity bank that we all contributed was greatly appreciated, too, as a good go-to for those working at summer camps. Plus—plus!—I had a really tasty fruit salad at lunch after the meeting… another clue that it’s summer.

Summer means vacation, and also work, but I’m happy to be starting with vacation this year. Soon, my dearest of all sisters will be heading east-ward and we’ll spend a week traveling through Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. Neither of us have ever been to any of these places, but the real treat, for me, is just getting to see my sister! Seeing her in a really cool setting will be a bonus, of course, and I’m definitely looking forward to it!

The rest of the summer, in chronological order, although subject to change, includes a meeting in Kyiv after the big 50^th 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!

I’m pretty excited about this summer, and although it looks pretty busy, I’d rather be doing something useful than just sitting around. If I’m here, I’d rather be productive! There’s a good chance that more of my summer will get filled in with other work or travel. 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.

Other than my sister visiting, I have to say that the thing I’m most excited about this summer is Camp MASCOT. 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. 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. The hosting community, Mykolaiv, has already given 60% of the cost of this camp. Students are also paying a fee to attend this camp. Still, for 100 students [ages 14-22] to spend ten days at such a camp, more funding is needed. If this sounds like the kind of camp you’d like to support, even in a small amount, please click HERE. If you’d like more information, you can definitely ask me, or click HERE. 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! You’re free from the pitch! You may now go about your business!

Hope all your business is going well, and that summer is shining brightly upon you, too!

post 9 may

It’s Victory Day!

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

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

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

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

Still, a few points:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

:)

post 21 april

So, it’s not tomorrow. Or at least, it was tomorrow at one point, but not when I thought I’d be finishing that ambitious last-posted blog entry... But, it’s today!

Ahem.

One more item from the first weekend in April—and it’s not the fact that I spent so much time on public transportation that I found myself taking pictures of Kyiv’s surprisingly lovely metro stops: Ukraine’s national International Writing Olympics winners were announced! For your viewing pleasure, these winners’ names, photos, and essays are all available now HERE. In the meantime, here’s a picture at a metro stop.

Pillar of the community.

April 4-8 was the week of our faculty, which here means more like the week of our college—Germano-Romance Philology—within Volyn National University. Concerts and all kinds of events—but not a lot of classes!—filled this week. I gave a seminar on writing as a process, which was mysteriously transformed from a working session for teachers to a lecture-hall presentation for students. No problem, just a little unexpected. The major event of this week, though, was Miss РГФ, or Miss Germano-Romance Philology. The six contestants sang, danced, answered questions, and celebrated traditional Ukrainian style, with interludes by other student performers—comedians, breakdancers, and more. I've taught Vika, the winner, a student from our department—Applied Linguistics—, and she’s a nice person, too, which never hurts.

Vika, in red, the moment before crowning glory.

Unfortunately, I missed the final concert of this epic week in order to undertake an epic journey south to Mykolaiv. This involved a bus to Lviv [3.5 hours], a train to Odesa [about 13 hours], and a marshrutka [min-bus] to Mykolaiv [2.5 hours]. There, I met the directors and staff of MASCOT, an excellent camp where I’ll be working this summer. That is, I’ll be working there if it’s fully funded! This funding comes from the community [which has already given 60% of the cost] as well as from donations from kind and generous people who believe in the mission of the camp—promoting leadership, personal development, and community action through creative means—and who believe in the people of the camp—a staff of volunteers, half Ukrainian and half American, and 100 student participants from across Ukraine, ages 14-22. I’m really excited about this camp, and have been working with one group on developing the curriculum for a series of lessons on Social Integrity--!! Should you feel moved to donate [it’s a Partnership grant, where people all over the world are the partners!]—the place to go is HERE. The community has already contributed $7686.17, and the requested donation amount is $5,022.74. I’ve been checking on this page, hoping to see the remaining total going down, but it’s just down to $5,000.00, and I know exactly when the change happened, because I’m the one who donated $22.74. I’m also planning to donate half of the month of August to spend working on these goals with this staff and some lucky, lucky students. :)

Anyway, you can easily tell that I’m excited about this project, if only because I took such a long trip for only a four-hour meeting, then headed straight [sort of straight, if you count missing a train] back to Lutsk!

Fellow PCV and TESOL conference presenter Michelle contemplates the contrasting scenery of Zhytomyr.

The following week found me headed to Zhytomyr, a city about two hours west of Kyiv, for the annual TESOL- Ukraine Conference. I attended this conference (stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in Rivne last year, and had a much easier time getting there. Transportation adventures aside, I was glad to take part in this conference, as it meant the chance to hang out with a few fine PCVs I know, to meet Ukrainian colleagues, and to talk about creative writing, among other things! My workshop was entitled “The Case for Creative Writing,” and it was great to see a big room full of people excited about the topic. I met several teachers who had worked with their students on the International Writing Olympics, so it was really cool to hear their thoughts about the contest and creative writing in general. The organizer of the conference was very friendly, and although we’d corresponded via email, upon meeting me, she said, “Oh, when I saw you, I thought you were a real Ukrainian girl!” This definitely made me feel a little bit like Pinnochio, as if I’m waiting to wake up one day with no strings, no longer made of wood, and able to speak Ukrainian flawlessly. Still, it was a pleasant sort of compliment, I’d say. As a bonus to this adventure, the grant we applied for was funded, and the Embassy was able to fund the travel, lodging, and registration for six PCVs! This definitely made a difference, and we’re very grateful to Alyona S. for all of her help. She’s a super contact, and has helped with the IWO project, too!

PCV and presenter Andrew indicates both how much Alyona helped us and the cleverly named hotel in which we stayed.

From Zhytomyr, the next stop on my agenda was Ivano-Frankivsk. What, Thursday afternoon in Zhytomyr and Friday morning in Ivano-Frankivsk, you ask? Why, that’s [hasty consultation of Internet resources] at least 450 kilometers, even imagining you go the fastest route available by car! Going by indirect bus, that’s about 500 kilometers! Or 310 miles! No worries, Me-at-the-time tells you. There’s an overnight bus! It’ll never happen, Me-a-few-hours-later shakes my head. Me-now points out, well, we—uhh, I—got there, though, right? Right, I agree. A long, chilly trip, but eventual success. The goal of this trip was attendance at a safety warden meeting, but the definite highlight was having falafel for lunch at a restaurant called Taco Bell. Yes, there were some pickles and a slice of lemon in my falafel, but it was definitely falafel.

Back in Lutsk, our Sunday Window on America English club meeting, in which we discussed Easter traditions, was followed by an invitation from a friend to go see some friends for a vegetarian dinner. Another PCV and I went, and it turned out to be a mini-festival at a Hare Krisha center. Pretty unexpected, I’d say, but the food was good. Definitely a strange mix of traditions all in one day, especially on the Sunday before Easter—Willow Sunday, or, as it’s known elsewhere, Palm Sunday. People everywhere carry willow branches on this day and, after they’re blessed in church, these willows are used to remind friends of the upcoming holiday. The basic tradition is to tap someone with these branches, and to say something to the effect of: “It’s not me who is tapping you, it’s the willow tapping you: Easter is in a week!” Of course, variations exist, especially among those who think their friends are very forgetful, and require more than a simple tap… :)

Easter is definitely on its hippity-hoppity way: fresh white paint covers the curbs and lower trunks of trees, winter trash has been swept away, bushes and trees have been trimmed [but not in a Christmassy sort of way], and everything’s getting a fresh look. There’s a new coat of paint on fences, playground equipment, and public trashcans. Sidewalk bricks are being picked up and turned around and put back down again. Steps are being re-somethinged. Various public works are being done. A nearby courtyard features fresh sand in the playground sandbox.

Growing green! (The back of my building is in the back of this photo.)

Nature seems to have more or less decided on spring, too. Radishes are now available, as are the green leaves of shavel… what’s it called in English? Here’s a picture and here’s a recipe! Gardens are springing up, potatoes are getting planted, and lots of work is being done outside. I can’t say that I’m doing any of this manual labor, but I do appreciate how nice everything looks.

So, this weekend, I’m off to visit relatives for Easter. I know I’ll have more to say when I get back, but for now, I’ll just enjoy being semi-caught-up! Happy Earth Day, Happy Easter, and Happy Spring!

:)

post 18 april

Well, hello there!

Despite what you must admit were a pretty solidly regular set of weekly blog entries, my ambitions were at last overcome by one cavity, two conferences, lots of buses and trains and marshrutkas and taxis, one beauty pageant, a camp staff meeting, a safety training, a Hare Krishna dinner and show, a football match, falafel, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, and, yet again, the International Writing Olympics.

So, now, here I am, ready to catch you up!

April got off to quite a start on the 1^st with a no-time-to-fool-around day in Kyiv. Most notably, I picked up some excellent Writing Olympics prizes from the US Embassy—which turned out to be quite heavy with excellence, in fact, but very, very appreciated. My favorite is a book called America 24/7, every page of which features photos from life in America during one specific week. On the same day, I took part in a conference at Kyiv Aviation University entitled "General and Specialist Translation: Theory, Methodology, Practice." There, I listened to—but didn’t necessarily understand all of—several presentations in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, and presented my own article and ideas—“English to English: American Reflections on Editing Translations in Ukraine.” I guess that title’s pretty self-explanatory. I felt like it wasn’t at all close to the theoretical level of many of the other topics under discussion, but was thanked for the practical suggestions I was able to offer. Next, I had a cavity filled without any anesthesia while my dentist and hygienist watched a football match on TV. If this sounds like some weird metaphor, it’s not. It all worked out fine, actually. I even managed to make a joke with them in Ukrainian, pointing out that without my glasses I could see the матч/ match [match], just not the м’яч/ myach [ball]. Pretty good, right?

Kate and Jay, super-coordinated Volyn superfans.

A few days later, after watching the second half of Catch Me If You Can in English club, a group of us went to a real live football match: Lutsk Volyn vs. Lviv Karpaty [ie, the Carpathians]. Although it was a lovely day without a cloud in the sky, Volyn ended the match without a point on the board. It’s only the beginning of the season, though, and 1- They can only get better, 2- I’ll probably go watch them play again no matter what, and 3- It’s not like I have any great suggestions about how to play soccer. Or football, either.

--- with plans to finish tomorrow... :)

post 29 march: ooh la-hover-la-la!

This week brought a few miscellaneous items, one small story, and one big story.

Miscellaneous:

- This morning, I saw a graffiti-ed message on a meat-selling kiosk/ trailer/ tiny shop. It wasn’t the fact that there was graffiti that surprised me, as this is sometimes the case. It was the fact that the message was in English and, more than that, used a word that most Ukrainians have never heard of. “Go vegan!” This is a country where vegetarians are often interrogated and also assumed to eat fish [which isn’t meat, as it’s explained], and I’ve found myself explaining what a vegan is and what a vegetarian is many times. Although this sign came in the form of graffiti, which is, of course, disrespectful and illegal, I couldn’t help but get a little thrill from seeing the message.

- Another new sign of the season is the appearance of lines of tiny multi-colored plastic cones, one in front of the university and one in the center. Upon long-term study, these lines turn out to be courses used by weaving kids on skates. Summer is coming!

- I love carrot-apple salad. My host mom used to make it, and now Kate makes it. Shred apples, shred carrots, and serve. Raisins [or, if you live in the land of supermarket bounty, craisins] are optional, as is a little oil. [This may be the land of milk and honey, but we don’t have everything else!]

One small story:

- Last week I had a sort-of lesson/ hang-out session with a 2 ½ -year old. Artemchik [i.e., little Artem] is on his way to learning English at a local language school. He knows the numbers from one to ten in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, can identify a watch versus a clock, and knows all kinds of other things to say, among others, “broken chair,” “fruit”, “vegetable”, “calculator”, “glitter”, various animal names, and my favorite, “not yet”, which is not yet used correctly in all situations, but which was pretty entertaining as an answer to a variety of queries. He’s picking up language quickly from his regular tutors/ hang-out crew, and they’re interested in having me spend some time with him so he can pick up some special native-speaker vibes. We’ll see. That’s pretty far out of my area of expertise, but of course I’m trying to be flexible and helpful. Really, though, he’s so small! Luckily, he’s really cute and well-mannered, and he’s even more fascinated than I am by the school’s old-fashioned green typewriter.

One big story:

- This weekend, I went on a big trip to Mount Hoverla, the highest point in all of Ukraine. Hoverla is located in the Carpathians, in the southern part of western Ukraine, almost at the border with Romania. This hike was coordinated by Eco Mercy, an NGO, and organized for Volunteers by Catherine Duchok, the PCV who works with Eco Mercy.

The adventure started with an afternoon bus ride to Lviv for a crew of four, then dinner and mingling in the city with lots of other spontaneously appearing PCVs. At the train station, I felt like almost every American I know in this country was gathered. It was like a strange dream in which you keep turning corners in a strange maze and seeing people you know. Catharine’s Mickey Mouse/ Ukrainian flag/ American flag combo-on-a-stick was the gathering point, and we all picked up our tickets and headed to our special train, reserved for this occasion. Two entire train cars were dedicated to the Peace Corps Volunteers taking part, as well as a few other international volunteers.

Our hotel on wheels arrived around 4:30 a.m., and we were allowed to sleep until about 6, when it was time to get ready and head out to buses and leave by 7. These crowded buses took us to the start of the park, where we got checked in and excited, then back onto the buses to the start of the on-foot portion of the trip. This was a single-lane road, more or less, and fairly easy going. The trees were tall and beautiful, the roadside stream carved its way through snow, and all seemed well. I had been told by friends that this would not be a difficult hike, and that the most difficult part would be waiting for all the people in front of me to move. A water break, some pictures, the appearance of snow, and progress, aided and entertained by my friend Rebecca, of the fair city of Frederick, Maryland.

Finally, as the road grew steeper, we arrived at a resort of sorts, where many people were gathered, souvenirs were being sold, and patient thumb-wrestling was going on. We were shuffled into groups, sort of, and then headed up by twos, sort of, onto the trail—at last! The trail was a somewhat invisible path through woods, helped by tree roots and hindered by ice and snow. This was somewhat difficult, but not unreasonable. Still, we mushed onward. Time passed. Eventually, we were almost out of the literal woods, but hardly out of the figurative woods. Above, we saw a steep expanse of snow and ice, punctuated by protrusions of low, scraggly bushes. Now, after a brief respite at the waiting area, we went marching one by one [hoorah! hoorah!] up the steep incline. I spent a long time looking at Jonathan’s shoes, marveling that he was wearing sneakers on such an expedition. Behind me, Ben was probably marveling that I was wearing totally the wrong boots for such an expedition. Truly, I did not pack my bags to Ukraine with this climb in mind [“Make sure you bring plenty of professional clothing; appearance counts!”].

Beside our single-file line, as we stuck our feet into the footholds planted by those before us, a random assortment of rushers [not Russian] hurried up at their own pace. This included a group of police cadets on some sort of training adventure. Good for them, fine, but really, we needed to keep our own morale up—couldn’t they do this somewhere else? Still, there it was: the ridge that marked our triumph! We were almost at the top! Burning legs threatened to cramp up, but still managed to crest to the flat landing… and then a sudden crestfallen realization… This seeming plateau was simply the lower summit, a foyer to the real summit, which lay ahead, swirling in snow and icy distance. Come on! So, we did the only thing we could do. We had a picnic.

After our picnic, it was decided—by our guide, and our semi-reluctant selves—that we would try to go up to the top. We crossed the comfortably semi-flat field that led to the base of this summit, and started the climb up the rocky, icy, pathless way. The wind was intense and the snow was hitting my face. At a certain point, it became clear that my shoes and my ski pole-less self were not adequately prepared for this situation. When those ahead in my group were turned back—the summit was too icy for anyone but professionals—I turned back, too, after a few oh-man-I’m-really-far-up-here pictures.

Then, suddenly, I was at the edge of the steep and snowy slope, with full realization of the challenge of descending this expanse suddenly descending on me. “Come on,” said Rebecca. “We can go with Abby and Margot—they have sticks! We’ll all go together.” “I don’t know,” I said. “I think I’ll just wait.” What? Wait for what? Summer?

Going down was really stressful, with a bunch of slips and two big falls. Suffice it to say that I was—and still am—extremely grateful to be helped by so many people. Our crew of four made it a good part of the way together, and Margot stuck by me until we finally got to the woods. I give her credit for stopping me from sitting and sliding when it seemed like we were soooo close to the bottom. “I’m not letting you do that,” she said. “We’ve seen how that worked out for you before.” Truly, it was an ugly sight. On the second big fall, with no way to stop myself, I was saved by Terry, who miraculously appeared from nowhere. I’m sure he would have done the same for anyone, but it was nice that it was someone I know well, from Lutsk, who rescued me. He’s from Colorado—as so many of my friends here seem to be—and has climbed many mountains that completely dwarf this one, and here, seemed very comfortable and able to think about things like taking pictures and rescuing tumbling climbers.

So, back into the woods—with a surprisingly delicious hardboiled egg reward [thanks, Rebecca!]—, down the mountain—with only one more fall—, past the hotel, and back on the road with Shannon and Rebecca. Pleasant conversation made the seemingly endless road and the somewhat unpleasant rain much more bearable. Back onto the bus at the bottom, back to the train to change into warm clothes, and then to dinner in a little café in town. I was so excited to have borscht without meat! Possibly this was simply due to the fact that it’s now Lent, and many people aren’t supposed to eat meat, but I took it as a personal reward for my efforts and survival. After dinner, we got back onto the train, chatted, wondered about how sore we would be in the morning, and fell asleep, exhausted, soon after the train took off.

After only a few hours of sleep, the lights came on and the conductor walked through the aisle to wake us up. I checked the time: it was 3:10. What? We were supposed to get into Lviv around 6. What? There must be some mistake. Let’s go back to sleep. Slowly, we collectively realized that: a) we were actually close to Lviv, and b) the time had changed. What a horrible time for us to spring forward! [The time change here was two weeks later than in the US.] We arrived at the train station in Lviv a little after 5, then waited for the city buses to start running so our sleepy crew could get on the first bus to Lutsk. Yawn.

Was it an adventure? Yes. Was it beautiful there? Yes. Did I fear for my life at times? Yes. Am I glad I went? Yes. Would I go again? Hmm…

I will say that one of the things I definitely took from the experience was the need to accept help from others, and to work together. So often I feel that I want to do something totally on my own, and that it’ll be better if I accomplish whatever it is independently. Still, it turns out that I am not an expert mountain climber [shocker!], and I really would have been foolish to go it alone at any stage of this trip. We can’t all be the best at everything all the time, and there’s no shame in asking for help. There’s no shame in accepting help, either, especially when it’s absolutely necessary for your survival. Will I be able to take this lesson to heart in other ventures? I hope so. Really, heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped me so much this weekend: Rebecca, Margot, Abby, Terry, Shannon… Thanks to them, I’m not still sitting on that way-high picnic ground waiting for summer!

:)

post 21 march

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

:)