A few years ago, I got my dad a Christmas ornament-sort-of hanging that featured a cowboy hat and said, “All My Heroes Are Cowboys.” Now I’m wondering if it might be possible to find one here that reads, “All My Heroes Are Cossacks.”
Last night, I went to yet another concert-show, a cultural showcase of Ukrainian splendor. This one featured Cossacks, old and modern music, singing, and dancing. Nothing too unusual for a show in Ukraine, but this was a particularly good one.
Right?
At one point, I found myself thinking, ’Well, I guess I’ve been in Ukraine for long enough that I’m getting used to this. I haven’t even taken a picture yet. Okay, so I’m adjusting. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad show.’
Shortly after, as you’re no doubt anticipating, I was taking pictures. And videos. And clapping enthusiastically, obviously in an appropriately rhythmic fashion.
So, maybe it’s something you never get over. People here, too, seem to be pretty taken with celebrating their own culture, so I’m in good company.
Other reasons to celebrate, in the past few months, have included a salo festival, a Lutsk production of Carmen, some successful completions of service by fellow PCVs, some travels, some visits with family, and some writing.
1. Salo festival. Salo’s pig fat, so there’s that. I don’t eat it—no, that’s not something that’s changed!—but it’s a point of controversy among PCVs. Is it totally disgusting and worth avoiding, or is it delicious and worth appreciating? Or, is it something that you ought to eat to be polite, but no more than is necessary? Salo is served in a variety of forms, at a variety of temperatures, and with a variety of toppings, additives, and accompaniments. Finally, a festival that celebrates this Ukrainian classic! It was a rainy day, but an opportunity for attendees to sample various kinds of salo, buy lots of meaty products and other souveniers, watch singing, dancing, and music-playing, and even greet several extremely fresh salo... donors? I mean, there were pens of live pigs down one aisle. Very strange.
2. Carmen. Saw her! She sang in Ukrainian, and did quite an excellent job of it. In this show, actually, she was split into four different, colorfully dressed ladies, each of whom took turns with her lines and personality aspects. I’ve never seen the show before, but I’m told there were lots of changes from the original. Still, I enjoyed it.
3. COS. COS stands for Completion of Service, in Peace Corps talk. For me, it means that some of the friends I’ve made over the past year are heading back to the US. Why?! Seriously! Of course, I wish them all the best, but will definitely miss them. I’m looking forward to meeting up with many of them again, but in the meantime, wish them the best with their next adventures. Katie, star of many fine photos and of the nearby town of Rokyni, has already left, and is already missed.
4. Recent travels. One trip took me to a warden training meeting [safety first!] in Lviv, to Komarno to visit family, and then to Horohiv to visit Becky and to see what her town and yoga class are all about. Last week, I headed to Kyiv and then to Chernihiv to meet some new Peace Corps Trainees, to hang out with my dear cluster-mate from training, Laura Ruth, and to visit my host family. Plus, on the way back through Kyiv, I had the chance to visit with Maria, my former tutee and good friend who’s now a university student in the big city. Good times all around! So interesting to be back in Chernihiv, and to see how much more I understand! I also really enjoyed meeting the new PCTs, and wish them all the best as they finish up their final few weeks of training and get ready to head off to their new [as-of-yet-unknown!] sites.
5. Visits. As mentioned above, I had the chance to visit a bit with some Krut family members in early November. On the hour-long bus from Lviv to Komarno, I ended up chatting at great length with a woman who knows my family. Komarno isn’t a big town—I think there are about 5,000 people—so it’s not a surprise that she’d know someone I was planning to visit. It was sort of a surprise to me how curious about everything she was, though! Lots of good practice speaking Ukrainian to start of that part of the trip, certainly. This visit featured lots of delicious goodies—as is always the case! For the first time, though, I had compote [like juice] made from dried apples, and found it excellent and the closest thing to apple cider I’ve had here. It seems odd to me that there’s no apple cider industry, or even production at all, as far as I can tell, because there are lots and lots of apples around. Another first was haluptsi [cabbage rolls] stuffed with mashed potatoes, instead of the usual [for me!] rice, carrots, and onions. This was an excellent discovery, as well, as mashed potatoes make everything better. Well, lots of things, anyway. :) I also had a chance to study English with Ivanka’s daughter Iryna, who is enjoying Disney’s Magic English DVD and book series. “One, two, three, we are happy! One, two, three, we are family!” Indeed! Iryna and I also went with Krystyna on a very leafy walk through a park I’d never been to before, complete with lots of modeling opportunities—mostly for Iryna. I also went boot shopping at the weekly bazaar with Ivanka and Krystyna, contemplated patterns with seamstress Natalia, visited with Hanna, was fed and housed and cared for by Bohdan and Slava, played with a tiny kitten, and saw [totally different from ‘watched’] a pig being gutted. Opportunities!
Also, I had the chance for a short visit with my host family in Chernihiv. They all seem to be doing pretty well, and Ihor is getting so big! I know that this is the standard thing to say about young kids after not having seen them for a while, but it’s true! My host mom, Tamara, has a new Peace Corps Trainee staying with her now, too. I was the first, then Blythe, and now Abby! I’m really grateful to her for continuing to host Americans in need of lots of help and support, because I know that she’ll be able to help! I learned that they thought I was a very good student during training, and that they’re very impressed with my language skills now, too. Of course, I definitely understood a lot more of the conversation over tea than I did on an average day during training, so that was good for my confidence, too!
Now, Halloween’s passed and Thanksgiving is approaching. Several members of my local PCV family will be coming over to my place to celebrate the holiday with lots of eating and hopefully some American football [watching!]. Before then, though,
6. Writing! November is NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, as you may know, and this is the fourth year in a row that I’ve undertaken this challenge. Write a 50,000 word novel in one month, and you, too, can be a winner! Several fellow PCVs are taking on this challenge for the first time this year, including members of a new informal writing group I’ve started, and I wish all of us the best! I’m way behind at the moment, but hey, there’s plenty of November left before I need to start really freaking out. The weather’s just been so nice… and I’ve been traveling… and I added an aerobics class on top of my yoga class…
Hope the weather’s nice where you are, too! Always happy to hear from you…
:)
PS-- new pictures are up, too! :)
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
post 30 october
The more things that happen, the more there is to tell you about. The more delayed the posting, the more things that happen.
Certainly, though, these happenings are more of a combination of minutes than major Events Of Importance. To that end, here are a few of the minutes from the last week or so. :)
Thursday
I didn’t go looking for light, but it found me suddenly, striking down right bright angles in the yellow leaves of white birches lining the long road out of town. Eyes drawn to the right, seeking the source, the sun, unstrung and shaking itself out in the cold, clear air—almost missing the boy on the other side of the street. He’s slowgoing three or four steps, back from school in a lookingnice coat and tooclean clothes for those toodirty shoes. Up the alley, before he turns in, two little low dogs hurry up to confront, sharp barks: the race is on. Down he turns, into the dust, all three chasing each other from every angle, haphazard from habit and escape.
Friday
Halfway between my waist and the sky, my red vinyl bowlingstyle bag perches on the seatback just in front of me. Twenty minutes in and I’m still standing, still pressed in between smells and bodies: cologne, onions, humanity. The woman sitting in front of me is chattering incessantly to her friend, neither of them pausing to listen to the other, but nodding emphatically to show their bonded support. Music from a different world suggests an indie rock escape straight from recharged energizers to my ears on thin green cords, but my eyes know differently. My eyes catch the bumpy landscape through thin, gold-scalloped curtains topping the dustdressed windows, all distressed but cared for. I am awkward and I do not belong and I am in the space belonging to others.
Saturday
Minutes ago while K was talking I looked past her through the window across the courtyard on the roof of the building opposite and there was a giant flare a torch and I said look at that and she said what.
Now she is still talking and I am listening but what I am seeing is a bright white light. I am hearing about love and distance and I am feeling understanding. Now I know why the flare was lit; now I see why such a flame was needed. Perfectly angled in the same spot, the same plot develops with a twist, lifting up from the earth now as a wide white circle. Flamed from within, lifting on heat, the moon starts its easy climb into the obvious sky, full and patient.
Sunday
Sudden upclose quiet following something else dropped, rolling with a forward lean from a coat-padded lap. Sidebeside friends glance and shake their heads with undecided laughs on their quiet-in-the-audience lips. Embarassment flushing the dark, wondering what and where to. Behind, loudbreathing rows of underage camouflage feign interest in a slow scene onstage, waiting for more action from the seductive Carmen and her feisty friends to spice things up a little. Lean back into the velvet insulation of a first-row balcony seat, carefully fingerchecking the secondhand purse that could have done better.
Monday
Waking up on top of the covers, face down, curtain open. There is an order, and this is not it. Foggy seconds recall nothing. Light streams in gray and weak, probing a sidetwisted neck and a crackback groan. Whiteframed window, tapesealed against cold and night. Left fingers clean lefteye corners, deep yawn presses chest to mattress, inflates memory. An hour has passed. Butter now soft on the kitchen radiator. Time to turn the oven on.
Tuesday
This is not the lesson plan. This is something else. This could be learning. Five out of ten are in class. Five out of ten are whispering, a group of two and a group of three. They are too quiet to offer up a clue of language. I have given five minutes. This one is too long. I sit. Take attendance. Offer space, control. Soon I will walk, check their work. They take turns glancing up at me. I look up and down, breathe in patience and optimism. Soon we’ll be able to tell. Who understands?
Certainly, though, these happenings are more of a combination of minutes than major Events Of Importance. To that end, here are a few of the minutes from the last week or so. :)
Thursday
I didn’t go looking for light, but it found me suddenly, striking down right bright angles in the yellow leaves of white birches lining the long road out of town. Eyes drawn to the right, seeking the source, the sun, unstrung and shaking itself out in the cold, clear air—almost missing the boy on the other side of the street. He’s slowgoing three or four steps, back from school in a lookingnice coat and tooclean clothes for those toodirty shoes. Up the alley, before he turns in, two little low dogs hurry up to confront, sharp barks: the race is on. Down he turns, into the dust, all three chasing each other from every angle, haphazard from habit and escape.
Friday
Halfway between my waist and the sky, my red vinyl bowlingstyle bag perches on the seatback just in front of me. Twenty minutes in and I’m still standing, still pressed in between smells and bodies: cologne, onions, humanity. The woman sitting in front of me is chattering incessantly to her friend, neither of them pausing to listen to the other, but nodding emphatically to show their bonded support. Music from a different world suggests an indie rock escape straight from recharged energizers to my ears on thin green cords, but my eyes know differently. My eyes catch the bumpy landscape through thin, gold-scalloped curtains topping the dustdressed windows, all distressed but cared for. I am awkward and I do not belong and I am in the space belonging to others.
Saturday
Minutes ago while K was talking I looked past her through the window across the courtyard on the roof of the building opposite and there was a giant flare a torch and I said look at that and she said what.
Now she is still talking and I am listening but what I am seeing is a bright white light. I am hearing about love and distance and I am feeling understanding. Now I know why the flare was lit; now I see why such a flame was needed. Perfectly angled in the same spot, the same plot develops with a twist, lifting up from the earth now as a wide white circle. Flamed from within, lifting on heat, the moon starts its easy climb into the obvious sky, full and patient.
Sunday
Sudden upclose quiet following something else dropped, rolling with a forward lean from a coat-padded lap. Sidebeside friends glance and shake their heads with undecided laughs on their quiet-in-the-audience lips. Embarassment flushing the dark, wondering what and where to. Behind, loudbreathing rows of underage camouflage feign interest in a slow scene onstage, waiting for more action from the seductive Carmen and her feisty friends to spice things up a little. Lean back into the velvet insulation of a first-row balcony seat, carefully fingerchecking the secondhand purse that could have done better.
Monday
Waking up on top of the covers, face down, curtain open. There is an order, and this is not it. Foggy seconds recall nothing. Light streams in gray and weak, probing a sidetwisted neck and a crackback groan. Whiteframed window, tapesealed against cold and night. Left fingers clean lefteye corners, deep yawn presses chest to mattress, inflates memory. An hour has passed. Butter now soft on the kitchen radiator. Time to turn the oven on.
Tuesday
This is not the lesson plan. This is something else. This could be learning. Five out of ten are in class. Five out of ten are whispering, a group of two and a group of three. They are too quiet to offer up a clue of language. I have given five minutes. This one is too long. I sit. Take attendance. Offer space, control. Soon I will walk, check their work. They take turns glancing up at me. I look up and down, breathe in patience and optimism. Soon we’ll be able to tell. Who understands?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
post 28 september
Now I am writing a blog update!
Success is nearly mine! And yours, too! :)
Here's the outline, to start with--
1. went to a wedding
2. spent a day at Lake Svityaz
3. A visit
4. harvesting potatoes
5. beginning of the new school year
6. Kate's birthday
7. Difference-Makers project
8. my birthday
9. filmwork
10. one year
Okay, so let's go!
1. The wedding I went to, of which you've perhaps already seen pictures, was in early August in Lviv. The groom was Misha [Michael], who is the son of Roman, my dad's cousin. Misha is the brother of Natalia, featured in previous pictures. On Friday, before the wedding, Natalia met me in Lviv and we headed back to Komarno to finish up some last-minute preparations. Really, though, she did that, and I ate pizza. Actually, we ate pizza together, with her husband Andriy, after most of the work was done. That night, I stayed with Bohdan's family, and got to peek in at the massive cake and korovai [wedding bread/cake] baking operation underway. It's a family business, involving a lot of work by a lot of people, and a fragrant, magical summer kitchen, glowing warm and golden in the cool summer night.
The wedding was held on Saturday, August 7, and the day started out with hair-doing at an in-home salon, beading with Bohdan's granddaughter, Iryna, and piling onto a bus. The whole crew from Komarno piled onto a rented bus, then headed into Lviv. First, the wedding, at St. Gregory's, a really pretty-- no, dramatically beautiful!-- church-- no, cathedral!-- in the middle of Lviv. There were definitely many weddings going on there that day, but each had its turn with each stage-- pictures while waiting, ceremony-ing, and after-picturing. Afterward, it was back onto the bus to head to the reception site. This was a big hotel-banquet-event complex with lots and lots of food, in multiple rounds, and in lots of locations-- a chocolate fountain, a mini-hut featuring salo [pig fat] and samohan [home-made-style vodka], plus tables well-spread with lots of offerings. Plus, there were many rounds of entertainment, some professionally run, and some more audience-participatory. It was a really long night, but an entertaining one! The bus to Komarno pulled away after 4 a.m., and it was definitely time to sleep!
2. Lake Svityaz is the largest lake in Ukraine, and it's located in north-western Volyn region. This makes it about 3.5 hours on a mini-bus, more or less. It was more than that one fine August Saturday [the one following the wedding, in fact], when Katie and I decided it was finally time to make the trip. She only has a few months left in Ukraine, and I, well, I just wanted to go. It was one of those trips with lots and lots of stops in between official stops, with lots and lots of people squeezing into an already humid space. When we arrived, though, the breeze was lovely and the water was pleasantly cool. Although our visit was only seven hours long-- approximately equivalent to the time spent in transit there and back-- good times were had. The water turned out not to be as silvery as Katie had been instructed to expect, but pineapple soda and sweetbread with poppy seeds made it all okay. We were amazed by the number of air mattresses that we saw, although their double functions as flotation devices and beach mats made their utility evident.
3. Andy came to visit at the end of his European summer adventure series, and it was a great opportunity to show him places that I've already been, as well as to explore some new spots together. To avoid repetition, I'll just mention a few of the newer finds. A favorite new spot was the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra, or Cave Monastery. There's a whole campus of green and white and gold buildings, plus, of course, caves. To enter the caves, you should be dressed modestly, which means having your head covered, if you're a woman. Carrying a lighted candle, proceed underground with a crowd of other people, press into the narrow corridors, and pay your respects to a number of icons, as well as the bodies of many saints. This is, needless to say, a very holy place for the Orthodox church. In Kyiv, we also explored the campus of St. Sophia's and visited a gallery exhibit of a world photojournalism contest. Other "new" bits included celebrating Lutsk City Day-- in fact, the 925th anniversary of this fine city-- with a variety of concerts and festivities, touring the tunnels below the Church of Saints Peter and Paul [beside the Lutsk casle], and celebrating Independence Day in Lviv. Lviv is usually referred to as the capital of Western Ukraine, or sometimes as the capital of Ukrainian culture, and it was a great place to be on August 24th. Many people wore traditional clothing, especially embroidered shirts-- vishyvankas-- and there were all kinds of celebrations underway: an international dance concert series [EthnoWhirl]; an independent film festival [KinoLev], which featured the films of Fellini translated into Ukrainian for the first time; laser, lights, and music shows on the front of the Opera Theater; lots of good food... a special vendor of deruni (potato pancakes) [and other stuff!] on market square, tasty super-melty-thick hot chocolate, super-green spinachy soup, nachos... yum. It was really great to be able to share all of these parts of my life here with Andy, and I'm so glad he was able to come-- especially at such a festive time!
4. I got to help harvesting potatoes! Lida, with whom Katie lives, asked if we'd be interested in helping, and Jonathan and I said yes! So, Katie, Jonathan, Lida and I spent a few hours-- the sessions split by rain-- harvesting potatoes, which turns out to be pretty difficult. We agreed that all PCVs should take advantage of such an opportunity to learn how much work is involved in this staple food. Not hacking apart too many potatoes with the hoe was the major challenge, but balancing all of those bags on a bicycle to get them back into the storage cellar wasn't too easy. Lida fed us well, though, and we had a good time.
5. So, school started! September 1, the Day of Knowledge, is the first day of school every year in Ukraine. At this point, I'm teaching masters' students in Applied Linguistics at Volyn National University, third-year journalism students at the Humanities University, and teachers at the Teacher Recertification Institute. So, much the same as last year, but with variations. For example, during the first four weeks, I was able to teach Creative Writing three times a week to a class of fifth-year specialist students-- hooray! I'll probably work with some other classes, too, on an as-assigned or as-possible basis.
6. A few days after the start of school, it was Kate's birthday-- she's a PCV in a nearby town, not to be confused with Katie, a PCV in another nearby town. Kate's birthday meant a weekend get-together, featuring trips to the Golden Dragon, Madagascar, and Versailles. The Golden Dragon, a fine Chinese restaurant with a Russian-language menu, has pretty good food, and a dance floor just waiting for the lights to go down and the music to come up. Live music, that is, appears just after you've finished your fried rice, and begs you to get down with all those ladies-- really, it was only women dancing most of the time-- and to sing along-- "and Venus was her name." A few steps down the street [my street, actually], and it was onto the next international adventure: Madagascar, an African-styled restaurant, without quite the volume, but with better art. Then the next night, it was time for a bunch of Americans to have a big time in Versailles-- a local dance club. It was Kate's birthday, and such was her wish. Lots of loud music, mirrored pillars, and vanilla-smelling fog machines set the scene for a late night of ridiculous dancing. Exhausting, silly, and checked off the list!
7. The Difference-Makers Project is the one I've mentioned before, funded by a SPA grant from USAID. The goal of this project is to encourage students to become stronger leaders and to plan and carry out community improvement/ development projects. Applications, interviews, summer meeting, and another planning meeting all led up to the biggest step: a fall retreat at Lake Svityaz. Yes, the same Lake Svityaz that Katie and I visited a month earlier, but this time, we brought along a dozen friends. PCVs Katie and Jonathan joined my colleage Vika and I in facilitating this retreat from 9-11 September at Hart, a camp owned by my university. It's right on the lake, and has its own meeting, dining, and housing facilities, and we were all pretty impressed by how nice it was. Although it's three-plus hours away from Lutsk, it was the perfect place to go to work on leadership development and project planning and to have fun [games, secret buddies, morning yoga, and more!]. It seems like everyone had a good time, and the students' project proposals sound quite do-able. Now, students will carry out their projects, with the support of monthly meetings, group members, and hopefully the rest of the community!
8. Then it was my birthday! I woke up to a drizzly day at Lake Svityaz, but was surprised by a big sign, an immediate gift, a special "yoga song" [happy birthday!], and cake and balloons at breakfast! I really hadn't intended to plan this retreat for my birthday, but that's just how it had to be. As it turned out, it was a really nice way to spend the day, with a bunch of really nice people! Plus, I got lots of good wishes, through texts and calls, before I even got back to Lutsk. It was really strange, but sort of cool, to realize that all of these greetings were coming from people I didn't know a year ago. Of course, those people I did know sent greetings and goodies, too, and, even as I write this, some birthday treats are still incoming! Katie's birthday was the 12th, so we decided to celebrate together by inviting friends into town the following weekend to watch a football match and hang out in the city. Unfortunately, the football match ended up being on the wrong day [not that I was wrong about the date; the date was just wrong!], but we had a really good time with some really good people, and even got to play bananagrams! :)
9. A few weeks ago, one of the Peace Corps staff members who I really like, Tamara, asked me if I'd be willing to work on a project with someone she knows. At a meeting in Kyiv the week before that, she'd heard me declare, "I love proofreading!" and so she had a follow-up request. Luckily, I do love proofreading, so it was fine! The project turned out to involve a short film about the Black Sea Fleet and its involvement in the Ukrainian independence movement, and my job was to proofread and help to improve the English subtitles. Okay! This past Sunday, the filmmaker invited me to Kyiv to a showing of this film, held at the university observatory, and including lots of dignitaries. Pretty cool stuff, and the film was good, too! In fact, it won an award at the independent film festival in Lviv that I mentioned earlier-- KinoLev-- but I didn't see it there.
10. Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my group's arrival in Ukraine! It's sort of surprising, but I can definitely account for the time! Sometimes I feel like I've been here forever, but this doesn't mean that I'm bored or that it's easy. There are constantly new challenges and opportunities, and I have no doubt that this will continue during the remainder of my time here. I'm hoping to do a better job blogging and sharing these adventures with you-- consider it my new year [in Ukraine]'s resolution!
Hope all is well with you, and again, please feel free to send me any questions you have! I'm sorry for the condensing-- condensation??-- above, but I'm always happy to tell you more, and I'm always happy to hear from you!
:)
Success is nearly mine! And yours, too! :)
Here's the outline, to start with--
1. went to a wedding
2. spent a day at Lake Svityaz
3. A visit
4. harvesting potatoes
5. beginning of the new school year
6. Kate's birthday
7. Difference-Makers project
8. my birthday
9. filmwork
10. one year
Okay, so let's go!
1. The wedding I went to, of which you've perhaps already seen pictures, was in early August in Lviv. The groom was Misha [Michael], who is the son of Roman, my dad's cousin. Misha is the brother of Natalia, featured in previous pictures. On Friday, before the wedding, Natalia met me in Lviv and we headed back to Komarno to finish up some last-minute preparations. Really, though, she did that, and I ate pizza. Actually, we ate pizza together, with her husband Andriy, after most of the work was done. That night, I stayed with Bohdan's family, and got to peek in at the massive cake and korovai [wedding bread/cake] baking operation underway. It's a family business, involving a lot of work by a lot of people, and a fragrant, magical summer kitchen, glowing warm and golden in the cool summer night.
The wedding was held on Saturday, August 7, and the day started out with hair-doing at an in-home salon, beading with Bohdan's granddaughter, Iryna, and piling onto a bus. The whole crew from Komarno piled onto a rented bus, then headed into Lviv. First, the wedding, at St. Gregory's, a really pretty-- no, dramatically beautiful!-- church-- no, cathedral!-- in the middle of Lviv. There were definitely many weddings going on there that day, but each had its turn with each stage-- pictures while waiting, ceremony-ing, and after-picturing. Afterward, it was back onto the bus to head to the reception site. This was a big hotel-banquet-event complex with lots and lots of food, in multiple rounds, and in lots of locations-- a chocolate fountain, a mini-hut featuring salo [pig fat] and samohan [home-made-style vodka], plus tables well-spread with lots of offerings. Plus, there were many rounds of entertainment, some professionally run, and some more audience-participatory. It was a really long night, but an entertaining one! The bus to Komarno pulled away after 4 a.m., and it was definitely time to sleep!
2. Lake Svityaz is the largest lake in Ukraine, and it's located in north-western Volyn region. This makes it about 3.5 hours on a mini-bus, more or less. It was more than that one fine August Saturday [the one following the wedding, in fact], when Katie and I decided it was finally time to make the trip. She only has a few months left in Ukraine, and I, well, I just wanted to go. It was one of those trips with lots and lots of stops in between official stops, with lots and lots of people squeezing into an already humid space. When we arrived, though, the breeze was lovely and the water was pleasantly cool. Although our visit was only seven hours long-- approximately equivalent to the time spent in transit there and back-- good times were had. The water turned out not to be as silvery as Katie had been instructed to expect, but pineapple soda and sweetbread with poppy seeds made it all okay. We were amazed by the number of air mattresses that we saw, although their double functions as flotation devices and beach mats made their utility evident.
3. Andy came to visit at the end of his European summer adventure series, and it was a great opportunity to show him places that I've already been, as well as to explore some new spots together. To avoid repetition, I'll just mention a few of the newer finds. A favorite new spot was the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra, or Cave Monastery. There's a whole campus of green and white and gold buildings, plus, of course, caves. To enter the caves, you should be dressed modestly, which means having your head covered, if you're a woman. Carrying a lighted candle, proceed underground with a crowd of other people, press into the narrow corridors, and pay your respects to a number of icons, as well as the bodies of many saints. This is, needless to say, a very holy place for the Orthodox church. In Kyiv, we also explored the campus of St. Sophia's and visited a gallery exhibit of a world photojournalism contest. Other "new" bits included celebrating Lutsk City Day-- in fact, the 925th anniversary of this fine city-- with a variety of concerts and festivities, touring the tunnels below the Church of Saints Peter and Paul [beside the Lutsk casle], and celebrating Independence Day in Lviv. Lviv is usually referred to as the capital of Western Ukraine, or sometimes as the capital of Ukrainian culture, and it was a great place to be on August 24th. Many people wore traditional clothing, especially embroidered shirts-- vishyvankas-- and there were all kinds of celebrations underway: an international dance concert series [EthnoWhirl]; an independent film festival [KinoLev], which featured the films of Fellini translated into Ukrainian for the first time; laser, lights, and music shows on the front of the Opera Theater; lots of good food... a special vendor of deruni (potato pancakes) [and other stuff!] on market square, tasty super-melty-thick hot chocolate, super-green spinachy soup, nachos... yum. It was really great to be able to share all of these parts of my life here with Andy, and I'm so glad he was able to come-- especially at such a festive time!
4. I got to help harvesting potatoes! Lida, with whom Katie lives, asked if we'd be interested in helping, and Jonathan and I said yes! So, Katie, Jonathan, Lida and I spent a few hours-- the sessions split by rain-- harvesting potatoes, which turns out to be pretty difficult. We agreed that all PCVs should take advantage of such an opportunity to learn how much work is involved in this staple food. Not hacking apart too many potatoes with the hoe was the major challenge, but balancing all of those bags on a bicycle to get them back into the storage cellar wasn't too easy. Lida fed us well, though, and we had a good time.
5. So, school started! September 1, the Day of Knowledge, is the first day of school every year in Ukraine. At this point, I'm teaching masters' students in Applied Linguistics at Volyn National University, third-year journalism students at the Humanities University, and teachers at the Teacher Recertification Institute. So, much the same as last year, but with variations. For example, during the first four weeks, I was able to teach Creative Writing three times a week to a class of fifth-year specialist students-- hooray! I'll probably work with some other classes, too, on an as-assigned or as-possible basis.
6. A few days after the start of school, it was Kate's birthday-- she's a PCV in a nearby town, not to be confused with Katie, a PCV in another nearby town. Kate's birthday meant a weekend get-together, featuring trips to the Golden Dragon, Madagascar, and Versailles. The Golden Dragon, a fine Chinese restaurant with a Russian-language menu, has pretty good food, and a dance floor just waiting for the lights to go down and the music to come up. Live music, that is, appears just after you've finished your fried rice, and begs you to get down with all those ladies-- really, it was only women dancing most of the time-- and to sing along-- "and Venus was her name." A few steps down the street [my street, actually], and it was onto the next international adventure: Madagascar, an African-styled restaurant, without quite the volume, but with better art. Then the next night, it was time for a bunch of Americans to have a big time in Versailles-- a local dance club. It was Kate's birthday, and such was her wish. Lots of loud music, mirrored pillars, and vanilla-smelling fog machines set the scene for a late night of ridiculous dancing. Exhausting, silly, and checked off the list!
7. The Difference-Makers Project is the one I've mentioned before, funded by a SPA grant from USAID. The goal of this project is to encourage students to become stronger leaders and to plan and carry out community improvement/ development projects. Applications, interviews, summer meeting, and another planning meeting all led up to the biggest step: a fall retreat at Lake Svityaz. Yes, the same Lake Svityaz that Katie and I visited a month earlier, but this time, we brought along a dozen friends. PCVs Katie and Jonathan joined my colleage Vika and I in facilitating this retreat from 9-11 September at Hart, a camp owned by my university. It's right on the lake, and has its own meeting, dining, and housing facilities, and we were all pretty impressed by how nice it was. Although it's three-plus hours away from Lutsk, it was the perfect place to go to work on leadership development and project planning and to have fun [games, secret buddies, morning yoga, and more!]. It seems like everyone had a good time, and the students' project proposals sound quite do-able. Now, students will carry out their projects, with the support of monthly meetings, group members, and hopefully the rest of the community!
8. Then it was my birthday! I woke up to a drizzly day at Lake Svityaz, but was surprised by a big sign, an immediate gift, a special "yoga song" [happy birthday!], and cake and balloons at breakfast! I really hadn't intended to plan this retreat for my birthday, but that's just how it had to be. As it turned out, it was a really nice way to spend the day, with a bunch of really nice people! Plus, I got lots of good wishes, through texts and calls, before I even got back to Lutsk. It was really strange, but sort of cool, to realize that all of these greetings were coming from people I didn't know a year ago. Of course, those people I did know sent greetings and goodies, too, and, even as I write this, some birthday treats are still incoming! Katie's birthday was the 12th, so we decided to celebrate together by inviting friends into town the following weekend to watch a football match and hang out in the city. Unfortunately, the football match ended up being on the wrong day [not that I was wrong about the date; the date was just wrong!], but we had a really good time with some really good people, and even got to play bananagrams! :)
9. A few weeks ago, one of the Peace Corps staff members who I really like, Tamara, asked me if I'd be willing to work on a project with someone she knows. At a meeting in Kyiv the week before that, she'd heard me declare, "I love proofreading!" and so she had a follow-up request. Luckily, I do love proofreading, so it was fine! The project turned out to involve a short film about the Black Sea Fleet and its involvement in the Ukrainian independence movement, and my job was to proofread and help to improve the English subtitles. Okay! This past Sunday, the filmmaker invited me to Kyiv to a showing of this film, held at the university observatory, and including lots of dignitaries. Pretty cool stuff, and the film was good, too! In fact, it won an award at the independent film festival in Lviv that I mentioned earlier-- KinoLev-- but I didn't see it there.
10. Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my group's arrival in Ukraine! It's sort of surprising, but I can definitely account for the time! Sometimes I feel like I've been here forever, but this doesn't mean that I'm bored or that it's easy. There are constantly new challenges and opportunities, and I have no doubt that this will continue during the remainder of my time here. I'm hoping to do a better job blogging and sharing these adventures with you-- consider it my new year [in Ukraine]'s resolution!
Hope all is well with you, and again, please feel free to send me any questions you have! I'm sorry for the condensing-- condensation??-- above, but I'm always happy to tell you more, and I'm always happy to hear from you!
:)
Friday, July 30, 2010
post 30 july
I’m back! After a week or so of relaxing and such around town, I spent most of this past week doing more or less the same thing, but in Odessa!
Last week, in addition to general relaxing, I visited my friend Katie in the nearby village of Rokini. There, we ate lots, walked around, stood in the spot with the third-best energy [?] in all of Ukraine, found out how some people there buy milk [an honor system with an unattended table of big glass jars in the sunny center of town: pour milk into your jar, then leave money underneath], and found how some people stay cool [jumping into the water from fences labeled ABSOLUTELY DO NOT JUMP FROM HERE!]. Lots of good veggies in the lunch, as well as right-off-the-bush raspberries at the dacha [small farm lot just outside of town] were especially appreciated.
Also, university application season is upon us! This means that potential students must visit each university [maximum of five] and department [max. of three per university, I think] to which they wish to apply, wait in long lines, and present their documents personally. This means lots of crowds outside most colleges, institutes, and universities during the two weeks of undergraduate application. I believe that the system is mostly designed to fight corruption, but it definitely seems like a challenge in many ways [travel, waiting, crowds, confusion, etc]. Soon, very soon, though, it will be August, and results will be announced. Unlike in the US, students don’t know which—if any!—university they’ll be attending up until a few weeks beforehand.
Clearly it was time to escape—to Odessa! “The Pearl of the Black Sea” is a major destination for Russian and Ukrainian tourists, as well as a smattering of others. Just about everyone I met there spoke Russian, so I had a few challenges, but overall it was a very nice trip! I took a 14-hour overnight train there, which wasn’t the best, but the trip back was pretty nice [about 8+ hours on a train to Kyiv and then a 6-hour marshrutka [mini-bus] back to Lutsk]. There were no trains back directly to Lutsk, in fact, for a few days in a row! Lots and lots of people are traveling, whether for vacation or for applications!
In Odessa, I stayed at a hostel and met some cool people there, but I mostly had my time to myself to choose my own activities. I ended up visiting a few museums, including the Archaeology Museum, the Literature Museum [my favorite!], the Pushkin Museum, and the Eastern and Western Art Museum [although the Western side was closed]. I also saw some well-known sites, namely the Black Sea [certainly], the Potemkin steps—which have had lots of names, but were given this name for their appearance in the movie The Battleship Potemkin, lots of statues, the City Garden, and the bridge where sweethearts hang padlocks to symbolize their love [throwing away the key, of course]. I also went to the beautiful Odessa Opera Theater for a concert one evening, and then to the Odessa Russian Drama Theater for a dramatic musical production of a Gogol story the next evening. A few hours spent at the beach, some good food, a lot of walking and relaxing in parks, the biggest bazaar I’ve ever been to, and lots of street musicians—including players of gold-painted cooking-pot drums, undergound flutes, bagpipes, and some apparently South Americans dressed up as Northern-style Native Americans and performing.
The weather was sunny the whole time I was there, and only occasionally too hot to move around too far too fast. Plus, the regular breeze was cooling, although it didn’t bring that overly salty smell I’m sometimes used to experiencing around beaches. It may have been that the city just seemed too European to allow too many Ocean City-type connections, but there was definitely some overlap in other ways. Can you imagine how many people were wearing sailor hats? Like the captain kind, often aided by blue and white-themed clothes? Fashion is very much in fashion here. Also, frappucinnos are on their way in, although the one I had was soo creamy it was hard to really conceptualize. I mean this in the most delicious and complimentary way. :)
I’m back in town for now, having passed some lovely fields of sunflowers on the trip back from Kyiv earlier today. The weather is cooler at the moment, which is a fine way to welcome August, in my opinion. I’ll work on posting some pictures soon, but up next is getting ready for a cousin’s wedding, planning the next session of the Difference-Makers’ Project, studying more Ukrainian, practicing cursive Cyrillic, maybe making pickles, and preparing for the arrival of an eagerly anticipated guest! :)
Hope your summer is swimming along pleasantly!
Last week, in addition to general relaxing, I visited my friend Katie in the nearby village of Rokini. There, we ate lots, walked around, stood in the spot with the third-best energy [?] in all of Ukraine, found out how some people there buy milk [an honor system with an unattended table of big glass jars in the sunny center of town: pour milk into your jar, then leave money underneath], and found how some people stay cool [jumping into the water from fences labeled ABSOLUTELY DO NOT JUMP FROM HERE!]. Lots of good veggies in the lunch, as well as right-off-the-bush raspberries at the dacha [small farm lot just outside of town] were especially appreciated.
Also, university application season is upon us! This means that potential students must visit each university [maximum of five] and department [max. of three per university, I think] to which they wish to apply, wait in long lines, and present their documents personally. This means lots of crowds outside most colleges, institutes, and universities during the two weeks of undergraduate application. I believe that the system is mostly designed to fight corruption, but it definitely seems like a challenge in many ways [travel, waiting, crowds, confusion, etc]. Soon, very soon, though, it will be August, and results will be announced. Unlike in the US, students don’t know which—if any!—university they’ll be attending up until a few weeks beforehand.
Clearly it was time to escape—to Odessa! “The Pearl of the Black Sea” is a major destination for Russian and Ukrainian tourists, as well as a smattering of others. Just about everyone I met there spoke Russian, so I had a few challenges, but overall it was a very nice trip! I took a 14-hour overnight train there, which wasn’t the best, but the trip back was pretty nice [about 8+ hours on a train to Kyiv and then a 6-hour marshrutka [mini-bus] back to Lutsk]. There were no trains back directly to Lutsk, in fact, for a few days in a row! Lots and lots of people are traveling, whether for vacation or for applications!
In Odessa, I stayed at a hostel and met some cool people there, but I mostly had my time to myself to choose my own activities. I ended up visiting a few museums, including the Archaeology Museum, the Literature Museum [my favorite!], the Pushkin Museum, and the Eastern and Western Art Museum [although the Western side was closed]. I also saw some well-known sites, namely the Black Sea [certainly], the Potemkin steps—which have had lots of names, but were given this name for their appearance in the movie The Battleship Potemkin, lots of statues, the City Garden, and the bridge where sweethearts hang padlocks to symbolize their love [throwing away the key, of course]. I also went to the beautiful Odessa Opera Theater for a concert one evening, and then to the Odessa Russian Drama Theater for a dramatic musical production of a Gogol story the next evening. A few hours spent at the beach, some good food, a lot of walking and relaxing in parks, the biggest bazaar I’ve ever been to, and lots of street musicians—including players of gold-painted cooking-pot drums, undergound flutes, bagpipes, and some apparently South Americans dressed up as Northern-style Native Americans and performing.
The weather was sunny the whole time I was there, and only occasionally too hot to move around too far too fast. Plus, the regular breeze was cooling, although it didn’t bring that overly salty smell I’m sometimes used to experiencing around beaches. It may have been that the city just seemed too European to allow too many Ocean City-type connections, but there was definitely some overlap in other ways. Can you imagine how many people were wearing sailor hats? Like the captain kind, often aided by blue and white-themed clothes? Fashion is very much in fashion here. Also, frappucinnos are on their way in, although the one I had was soo creamy it was hard to really conceptualize. I mean this in the most delicious and complimentary way. :)
I’m back in town for now, having passed some lovely fields of sunflowers on the trip back from Kyiv earlier today. The weather is cooler at the moment, which is a fine way to welcome August, in my opinion. I’ll work on posting some pictures soon, but up next is getting ready for a cousin’s wedding, planning the next session of the Difference-Makers’ Project, studying more Ukrainian, practicing cursive Cyrillic, maybe making pickles, and preparing for the arrival of an eagerly anticipated guest! :)
Hope your summer is swimming along pleasantly!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
post 13 july
In the meantime, I went to a night in the castle, did random stuff, and took part in Ukrainian language camp!
The night in the castle was like a lock-in of some medieval sort, with various musical, dance, and artistic performances. Food [salo (ie, fat!), pickles, honey kvass], crafts [glass painting, straw, wreaths], demonstrations [blacksmiths, fire-dancers], and all kinds of fun were packed into the walls of Lubart’s Castle in downtown-ish Lutsk, and hundreds of guests stayed from 9 pm Sunday to 4:30 am Monday to celebrate… history, I guess, but also Sunday [Children’s Day], the day off on Monday [Constitution Day], and the upcoming Ivan Kupala Day [combo of John the Baptist + ancient fertility festival]. It was a long night, with a ninety minute walk home afterward, as the buses weren’t running yet, but I enjoyed it and hope to go again next year… It’s a yearly event, so maybe you’ll be there next year, too! :)
Random stuff? Of course! More concerts, tutoring, English language class appearances, the return of film club [John Wayne in “The Searchers” on the Fourth of July, the arrival of a new volunteer in Lutsk [Terry, who will work at the City Council]… Also, the fruits and veggies are in full, delightful array. Strawberries have come and gone, but plenty of blueberries and raspberries are around, plus peaches and watermelon are appearing. Green beans, peas, zuchinni and kabachok [like summer squash] are now alongside beets, carrots, onions, garlic… Mmmm. I’ve made some attempts at jam, not all of which seem to have the perfect consistency, but hey. It’s a start.
Also, the Difference-Makers Project is underway! Selected students attended an orientation session, and are now on their way to matching their values, concerns they see in the community, and personal talents and skills. Hopefully, their project ideas are percolating, as the next session will deal more with project planning, as well as continuing to develop leadership skills. Finally, in September, participants will gather for a retreat at Lake Svityaz and present their project ideas to each other for final analysis. Plus, they’ll apply for funding from a participant-funded pool, if necessary. Then, projects will commence, with support from all involved. That’s the plan, anyway! :)
Last week was Ukrainian Language Refresher! About fifty Peace Corps Volunteers attended this camp at a nearby sanitarium [in Ukraine, this is more like just a health resort without any sort of concerning connotations!], which was about one hour east of Lutsk—lucky me! We were put in teams, did all kinds of camp activities—organizing morning warm-ups and afternoon games; developing team songs, emblems, mottos, and songs, etc]—and took small group classes, chose sessions to attend [various specific grammar skills, reading, writing, speaking, listening, etc], and took part in different interest clubs, like crafts, conserving, dancing, singing, games, etc. I guess there’s a lot of “etc” in this paragraph, but it’s true—it was a busy time, from optional morning aerobics to evening films in Ukrainian and on-duty team evening patrols. It was really nice to see lots of other volunteers I haven’t seen in a while, and I was glad to have some inspiration to improve my language skills! Unlike many other volunteers, I don’t live with a host family, so my interaction is automatically less, and I’ll have to work harder to progress. Overall, though, I understood a lot and felt pretty good.
Now, it’s back to meeting with English conversation partners, working on my own Ukrainian lessons, and going to yoga! Plus, I’m trying to make watermelon jam, make a paint-less stencil on the living room wall, read everything available, avoid the occasionally overwhelming heat, and plan some summer travel, among other challenges. Oh, and I’m making banana bread, thanks to the generous gift of a breadpan from a Ukrainian friend. The only downside is that I have to grind my own cloves at this point, as I haven’t found them anywhere… So, the banana bread just has a more interesting texture at this point. :)
Happy summer!
The night in the castle was like a lock-in of some medieval sort, with various musical, dance, and artistic performances. Food [salo (ie, fat!), pickles, honey kvass], crafts [glass painting, straw, wreaths], demonstrations [blacksmiths, fire-dancers], and all kinds of fun were packed into the walls of Lubart’s Castle in downtown-ish Lutsk, and hundreds of guests stayed from 9 pm Sunday to 4:30 am Monday to celebrate… history, I guess, but also Sunday [Children’s Day], the day off on Monday [Constitution Day], and the upcoming Ivan Kupala Day [combo of John the Baptist + ancient fertility festival]. It was a long night, with a ninety minute walk home afterward, as the buses weren’t running yet, but I enjoyed it and hope to go again next year… It’s a yearly event, so maybe you’ll be there next year, too! :)
Random stuff? Of course! More concerts, tutoring, English language class appearances, the return of film club [John Wayne in “The Searchers” on the Fourth of July, the arrival of a new volunteer in Lutsk [Terry, who will work at the City Council]… Also, the fruits and veggies are in full, delightful array. Strawberries have come and gone, but plenty of blueberries and raspberries are around, plus peaches and watermelon are appearing. Green beans, peas, zuchinni and kabachok [like summer squash] are now alongside beets, carrots, onions, garlic… Mmmm. I’ve made some attempts at jam, not all of which seem to have the perfect consistency, but hey. It’s a start.
Also, the Difference-Makers Project is underway! Selected students attended an orientation session, and are now on their way to matching their values, concerns they see in the community, and personal talents and skills. Hopefully, their project ideas are percolating, as the next session will deal more with project planning, as well as continuing to develop leadership skills. Finally, in September, participants will gather for a retreat at Lake Svityaz and present their project ideas to each other for final analysis. Plus, they’ll apply for funding from a participant-funded pool, if necessary. Then, projects will commence, with support from all involved. That’s the plan, anyway! :)
Last week was Ukrainian Language Refresher! About fifty Peace Corps Volunteers attended this camp at a nearby sanitarium [in Ukraine, this is more like just a health resort without any sort of concerning connotations!], which was about one hour east of Lutsk—lucky me! We were put in teams, did all kinds of camp activities—organizing morning warm-ups and afternoon games; developing team songs, emblems, mottos, and songs, etc]—and took small group classes, chose sessions to attend [various specific grammar skills, reading, writing, speaking, listening, etc], and took part in different interest clubs, like crafts, conserving, dancing, singing, games, etc. I guess there’s a lot of “etc” in this paragraph, but it’s true—it was a busy time, from optional morning aerobics to evening films in Ukrainian and on-duty team evening patrols. It was really nice to see lots of other volunteers I haven’t seen in a while, and I was glad to have some inspiration to improve my language skills! Unlike many other volunteers, I don’t live with a host family, so my interaction is automatically less, and I’ll have to work harder to progress. Overall, though, I understood a lot and felt pretty good.
Now, it’s back to meeting with English conversation partners, working on my own Ukrainian lessons, and going to yoga! Plus, I’m trying to make watermelon jam, make a paint-less stencil on the living room wall, read everything available, avoid the occasionally overwhelming heat, and plan some summer travel, among other challenges. Oh, and I’m making banana bread, thanks to the generous gift of a breadpan from a Ukrainian friend. The only downside is that I have to grind my own cloves at this point, as I haven’t found them anywhere… So, the banana bread just has a more interesting texture at this point. :)
Happy summer!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
post and pictures 15 june
So, the school year’s wrapping up, it’s warmer, and there are all kinds of fresh fruits and veggies to be had! Clearly, the perfect time to stay inside and finally give you an update! :)
My last class to finish up was Political Linguistics, which was an interesting challenge. I also wrapped up the English class for Journalism students at the Humanities University, and maybe I’ll be seeing them again next year.
I took part in a WELL seminar [English language and leadership] in nearby Volodymyr-Volynsky, and was one of the advisors of the Ancient Greeks! Colorful ribbons told us who was on each team, and spirits were indeed high as the members of each ancient civilization represented learned more about their culture, music, leadership, and project planning. Plus, of course, there was a competition. And pizza!
Also in May, I spent another weekend in Lviv, opening the second bank account for our grant funding [thanks, USAID!], as well as exploring, and going to a rock festival! I’d been thinking of going to this festival, but delayed past the point where the 40 UAH [$5] tickets were available. So, I just made a hostel reservation for Friday night, and not Saturday [the night of the concert]. When I got into Lviv on Friday, it was already dark, and I ended up in the wrong hostel. They’re about a half block away from each other, and neither is well-marked, we’ll say. Anyway, the guy working at the desk at the wrong hostel told me that they had an extra bed for Saturday night still available, and his buddy had a couple of 40 tickets that he couldn’t use. So, yes? Yes! However, when I checked in there the next morning, the 40 tickets were gone. Luckily, there were still 90 UAH tickets, which I decided was okay [about $11], and much better than the 250 UAH tickets that remained an hour later! So, I had an adventure. It was basically just a really long concert, and all of the bands spoke in English in their between-song chats, except for the last band- Okean Elzy. Well, they were the only ones from Ukraine, so that makes sense. It was sunny and hot, then rainy, then sunny again, then chilly at night, but some good music and a new experience.
The end of May is the end of school for students in Ukraine, and although I work at the university level, I was able to experience some of the pomp and circumstance of graduation, as well. Maria, my friend and tutee, graduated from 11th form this year [students in Ukraine don’t go to 12th grade, because it doesn’t exist here!], and I had the opportunity to attend the Last Bell ceremony, as well as the graduation/ concert/ prom/ etc. shenanza! The Last Bell is a ceremony in which the whole school gathers together to celebrate the end of school, and to honor the graduating class. In some schools, this means that the graduating guys wear suits and the girls wear the black or brown dresses, white aprons, long white socks, and big white hair-bows of Soviet times. In Maria’s school, Gymnasium # 4, younger students wear their every-day burgundy blazers, and graduates wear vyshyvankas, traditional embroidered Ukrainian shirts. This ceremony took place on the big grand steps leading down to the park, with various classes of younger students arranged on the steps, gazing down adoringly [perhaps!] at the graduates. The second event I attended was held at the city’s drama theater, and featured lots of fancy prom-type clothes. Though the basic idea was the same, it wasn’t really too much like any graduation I’ve ever been to. Each class entered the stage, each 11th-form teacher danced, various songs and dances were performed, and each individual student received a personalized set of comments from the school director as he passed out the diplomas. One of the parts that really stood out to me, though, beyond all the waltzing and general fanciness, was the fanfare music played for each student as he or she stepped up to the stage, and then as he or she returned to sit down. For the first set of diplomas, when Maria received hers, the fanfare music was “Born in the USA.” Awesome. After this event, students pose for more pictures, then head out with their own individual classes to celebrate with dinner and dancing at a local restaurant. The last part of the tradition has graduates gathering to symbolically meet the sunrise together at a bridge.
In late May, I also had the chance to take part in a picnic for kids who live in orphanages and for people with disabilities. We took two big buses out to a very nice church-owned site, about an hour away, and the weather was beautiful. There were lots of relay races and games, a group-prepared meal, and even a concert at the end. It was fun to meet some new people, and totally excellent to see them get really really excited. :)
The beginning of June means strawberries, and I’ve been enjoying them ever since they appeared. The price is now down to about $1 per kilogram [2.2 pounds], and they’re available in buckets and baskets in every market. Cherries are good, too, as are new “young” veggies, including potatoes, carrots, cucumbers… mmm.
And, after much anticipation, my dad came to visit! He was in Ukraine 32 years ago, but many of the people he met still remembered his visit. I met him at the airport in Lviv with a group of family members, and we went straight to Komarno. We spent a few days there, visiting several houses full of relatives, eating lots and lots of good food, touring the town and its churches, and trying to clear up some genealogical questions. Dad even got to do some fishing. Unfortunately, the fish didn’t speak English, so it was a little challenging to talk them into getting caught. After Komarno, we came to Lutsk, and he got to visit my university, see the castle and other sights, and meet a few friends. Here, he got to try real Ukrainian pizza, too! Then, it was back to Lviv, where we had real Ukrainian Mexican-ish food. I was delighted, and although Dad was a little surprised to find cabbage in his vegetable fajitas, the actual corn chips and refried beans were all that I could have asked for! Cousin Khrystyna and her daughter Olya joined us on Thursday in Lviv, and we toured around a bit, including some places I hadn’t been before. Dad was excited about the Arsenal Museum, and the amazing number of cool churches to stop into [it was really hot outside, and they were really beautiful, as well as pleasantly chilled inside]. I really liked a little café where we had coffee, hidden deep under the Museum of Ideas. Plus, the mayor of Lviv was just outside for a conference. I never would have known it was him if Olya hadn’t pointed him out, but now I have his picture. Maybe I should put it on a flashcard or something. Friday was Dad’s last day in Ukraine, and a surprise contingent of family members met us at the airport to say goodbye to him, and to make sure I got back to Lutsk okay. It was a busy, tiring week, but so nice to be able to spend time with Dad and to share with him a little of what it’s like over here. The family here was so thrilled to see him, too, and can’t wait for him to come back again, along with everyone else in the family!
Now, the rest of the summer has begun. There’s lots of time to read, walk around, sleep in, and eat strawberries, which is great, but I’m also figuring out how to fill some of that time. I’m going to be attending Peace Corps’ Language Refresher Camp in July, maybe working at a scout camp, planning and holding some sessions for the [grant-funded] Difference-Makers Project, probably doing some tutoring, restarting film club, volunteering at a local language school’s summer camp, and maybe doing some traveling inside and outside of Ukraine. Everyone I’ve met here has told me that summer in Ukraine is wonderful, and thus far, I’m inclined to agree. :)
-- Here are the just-added pictures, and you'll note that they're in a second album! And-- and!!-- there are actually captions with the pictures! If you know how slow my internet can be, you can imagine how long it took, but I'm working on it! :)
- Lesiya Ukrainka is the most solid member of the English club
- student seminar in Volodymyr-Volynsky, getting excited about projects
- ancient Greece, represent
- group work
- another group of teachers at the recertification institute
- Stare Misto [old city] Rock Festival in Stadium Ukraine in Lviv
- one of the highlights: almost soft-pretzels of delight, sold by the pack on strings
- Okean Elzy [not that you can tell] performing
- lettuce Ukraine in Lviv
- the last bell of Gymnasium # 4—graduating 11th-formers wear embroidered shirts, the rest of the school listens to how wonderful the graduates are J
- sashes and big hair bows for girls are a must at some schools
- there’s a lot of dancing and fancy-dressing involved in the graduation/ concert/ prom/ pre-party celebration
- Maria, in blue, right in the middle J
- relay race at a picnic for kids, including those with disabilities and those who live in orphanages
- teamwork
- intensity in motion
- success
- it’s not butter that’s getting wedged into these about-to-be-baked potatoes, it’s salo [ie, fat!]
- green onions do a picnic make
- Komarno
- looking over pictures with family in Komarno
- one of many family portraits
- fisherguys, Dad and Roman
- work of the season, in gardens and in fields, in all weather
- castle-climbing
- in front of the opera theater in Lviv
- Lviv book market, plus pins and random memorabilia
- advertisement- true, if the borsch is without meat!
My last class to finish up was Political Linguistics, which was an interesting challenge. I also wrapped up the English class for Journalism students at the Humanities University, and maybe I’ll be seeing them again next year.
I took part in a WELL seminar [English language and leadership] in nearby Volodymyr-Volynsky, and was one of the advisors of the Ancient Greeks! Colorful ribbons told us who was on each team, and spirits were indeed high as the members of each ancient civilization represented learned more about their culture, music, leadership, and project planning. Plus, of course, there was a competition. And pizza!
Also in May, I spent another weekend in Lviv, opening the second bank account for our grant funding [thanks, USAID!], as well as exploring, and going to a rock festival! I’d been thinking of going to this festival, but delayed past the point where the 40 UAH [$5] tickets were available. So, I just made a hostel reservation for Friday night, and not Saturday [the night of the concert]. When I got into Lviv on Friday, it was already dark, and I ended up in the wrong hostel. They’re about a half block away from each other, and neither is well-marked, we’ll say. Anyway, the guy working at the desk at the wrong hostel told me that they had an extra bed for Saturday night still available, and his buddy had a couple of 40 tickets that he couldn’t use. So, yes? Yes! However, when I checked in there the next morning, the 40 tickets were gone. Luckily, there were still 90 UAH tickets, which I decided was okay [about $11], and much better than the 250 UAH tickets that remained an hour later! So, I had an adventure. It was basically just a really long concert, and all of the bands spoke in English in their between-song chats, except for the last band- Okean Elzy. Well, they were the only ones from Ukraine, so that makes sense. It was sunny and hot, then rainy, then sunny again, then chilly at night, but some good music and a new experience.
The end of May is the end of school for students in Ukraine, and although I work at the university level, I was able to experience some of the pomp and circumstance of graduation, as well. Maria, my friend and tutee, graduated from 11th form this year [students in Ukraine don’t go to 12th grade, because it doesn’t exist here!], and I had the opportunity to attend the Last Bell ceremony, as well as the graduation/ concert/ prom/ etc. shenanza! The Last Bell is a ceremony in which the whole school gathers together to celebrate the end of school, and to honor the graduating class. In some schools, this means that the graduating guys wear suits and the girls wear the black or brown dresses, white aprons, long white socks, and big white hair-bows of Soviet times. In Maria’s school, Gymnasium # 4, younger students wear their every-day burgundy blazers, and graduates wear vyshyvankas, traditional embroidered Ukrainian shirts. This ceremony took place on the big grand steps leading down to the park, with various classes of younger students arranged on the steps, gazing down adoringly [perhaps!] at the graduates. The second event I attended was held at the city’s drama theater, and featured lots of fancy prom-type clothes. Though the basic idea was the same, it wasn’t really too much like any graduation I’ve ever been to. Each class entered the stage, each 11th-form teacher danced, various songs and dances were performed, and each individual student received a personalized set of comments from the school director as he passed out the diplomas. One of the parts that really stood out to me, though, beyond all the waltzing and general fanciness, was the fanfare music played for each student as he or she stepped up to the stage, and then as he or she returned to sit down. For the first set of diplomas, when Maria received hers, the fanfare music was “Born in the USA.” Awesome. After this event, students pose for more pictures, then head out with their own individual classes to celebrate with dinner and dancing at a local restaurant. The last part of the tradition has graduates gathering to symbolically meet the sunrise together at a bridge.
In late May, I also had the chance to take part in a picnic for kids who live in orphanages and for people with disabilities. We took two big buses out to a very nice church-owned site, about an hour away, and the weather was beautiful. There were lots of relay races and games, a group-prepared meal, and even a concert at the end. It was fun to meet some new people, and totally excellent to see them get really really excited. :)
The beginning of June means strawberries, and I’ve been enjoying them ever since they appeared. The price is now down to about $1 per kilogram [2.2 pounds], and they’re available in buckets and baskets in every market. Cherries are good, too, as are new “young” veggies, including potatoes, carrots, cucumbers… mmm.
And, after much anticipation, my dad came to visit! He was in Ukraine 32 years ago, but many of the people he met still remembered his visit. I met him at the airport in Lviv with a group of family members, and we went straight to Komarno. We spent a few days there, visiting several houses full of relatives, eating lots and lots of good food, touring the town and its churches, and trying to clear up some genealogical questions. Dad even got to do some fishing. Unfortunately, the fish didn’t speak English, so it was a little challenging to talk them into getting caught. After Komarno, we came to Lutsk, and he got to visit my university, see the castle and other sights, and meet a few friends. Here, he got to try real Ukrainian pizza, too! Then, it was back to Lviv, where we had real Ukrainian Mexican-ish food. I was delighted, and although Dad was a little surprised to find cabbage in his vegetable fajitas, the actual corn chips and refried beans were all that I could have asked for! Cousin Khrystyna and her daughter Olya joined us on Thursday in Lviv, and we toured around a bit, including some places I hadn’t been before. Dad was excited about the Arsenal Museum, and the amazing number of cool churches to stop into [it was really hot outside, and they were really beautiful, as well as pleasantly chilled inside]. I really liked a little café where we had coffee, hidden deep under the Museum of Ideas. Plus, the mayor of Lviv was just outside for a conference. I never would have known it was him if Olya hadn’t pointed him out, but now I have his picture. Maybe I should put it on a flashcard or something. Friday was Dad’s last day in Ukraine, and a surprise contingent of family members met us at the airport to say goodbye to him, and to make sure I got back to Lutsk okay. It was a busy, tiring week, but so nice to be able to spend time with Dad and to share with him a little of what it’s like over here. The family here was so thrilled to see him, too, and can’t wait for him to come back again, along with everyone else in the family!
Now, the rest of the summer has begun. There’s lots of time to read, walk around, sleep in, and eat strawberries, which is great, but I’m also figuring out how to fill some of that time. I’m going to be attending Peace Corps’ Language Refresher Camp in July, maybe working at a scout camp, planning and holding some sessions for the [grant-funded] Difference-Makers Project, probably doing some tutoring, restarting film club, volunteering at a local language school’s summer camp, and maybe doing some traveling inside and outside of Ukraine. Everyone I’ve met here has told me that summer in Ukraine is wonderful, and thus far, I’m inclined to agree. :)
-- Here are the just-added pictures, and you'll note that they're in a second album! And-- and!!-- there are actually captions with the pictures! If you know how slow my internet can be, you can imagine how long it took, but I'm working on it! :)
- Lesiya Ukrainka is the most solid member of the English club
- student seminar in Volodymyr-Volynsky, getting excited about projects
- ancient Greece, represent
- group work
- another group of teachers at the recertification institute
- Stare Misto [old city] Rock Festival in Stadium Ukraine in Lviv
- one of the highlights: almost soft-pretzels of delight, sold by the pack on strings
- Okean Elzy [not that you can tell] performing
- lettuce Ukraine in Lviv
- the last bell of Gymnasium # 4—graduating 11th-formers wear embroidered shirts, the rest of the school listens to how wonderful the graduates are J
- sashes and big hair bows for girls are a must at some schools
- there’s a lot of dancing and fancy-dressing involved in the graduation/ concert/ prom/ pre-party celebration
- Maria, in blue, right in the middle J
- relay race at a picnic for kids, including those with disabilities and those who live in orphanages
- teamwork
- intensity in motion
- success
- it’s not butter that’s getting wedged into these about-to-be-baked potatoes, it’s salo [ie, fat!]
- green onions do a picnic make
- Komarno
- looking over pictures with family in Komarno
- one of many family portraits
- fisherguys, Dad and Roman
- work of the season, in gardens and in fields, in all weather
- castle-climbing
- in front of the opera theater in Lviv
- Lviv book market, plus pins and random memorabilia
- advertisement- true, if the borsch is without meat!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
post and pictures 4 may
Just spent a lovely holiday weekend exploring in and near Lviv with family and friends. What, you didn’t have a holiday? Here it was Labor Day, and since the holiday fell on the weekend, Monday and Tuesday are both days off, too. :)
On Saturday morning, my friends Vika and Jonathan and I took a bus down to Lviv and met with my cousins Yurko and Olya. Yurko graduated last year from Lviv Polytechnical University, and Olya is in her fourth year at the Academy of the Arts in Lviv, so they both know their way around quite well. After a tasty lunch, we saw Ivano Franko National University and the Lviv Art Gallery, passed through a rich and bright cultural souvenir market [where I couldn’t help asking a woman in an Ohio State sweatshirt if she had gone there… yes, she said she had, and… I spoke English?!], climbed an unexpectedly high clock tower for a city view, and stopped for a drink at a café where a well-known jazz piano player was entertaining himself and others with any song—or part of a song—that came into this mind. Next, it was a secondhand book market, with books in Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, English, German…Yum. Then, up a hill to a park, then up some flights of stairs, then up to another path and more stairs, and we were at the High Castle. Well, it used to be a castle, and now it’s just a really high lookout on the city. We also passed by a puppet theater, stopped into the pharmacy museum, and carefully made our selections from a handmade chocolate shop… Yum, again! Then, back to Komarno for a short family visit and some sleep.
On Sunday, Yurko and Olya’s mom, Khrystyna, played the tourguide role, and we visited the church where her husband, Father Ihor, was having a service, passed a bicycle race through the center, and then headed to a huge forest/ park that serves as a museum of folk architecture. Buildings from different Ukrainian time periods and places have been transported and rebuilt here, including many churches and houses complete with wells, storage buildings, etc. Lots of tourists were taking lots of pictures here [in all of Lviv, really!], as well as couples taking wedding pictures and people dressed in traditional clothing posing in traditional scenes. This park also included a small farm of domestic animals, a pysanky exhibit, and an exhibit of modern paintings and wood carvings. Back near the center of the city, via trambaye [tram], we passed by the arsenal museum [to be saved for next time!] and went into Saint Andrew’s, a huge and ornately decorated church, which was apparently used in the filming of The Three Musketeers. Finally, a tasty lunch/ dinner at Potato House—Greek salad and baked potatoes with cheese and mushrooms on top—and then to the bus station, where I met up with friends and headed back to Lutsk in the middle of the only actual thunderstorm I’ve experienced in Ukraine. Many puddles and some really wet shoes later, a successful journey completed! The only problem—how to choose which pictures to post?!
- Also, I went to my first European football game, and our team won, so that’s a good start.
- Replanted some spider plants into re-styled plastic bottle pots, in keeping with the recent celebration of Earth Day.
- Our grant project was awarded funding, so we’ll be able to hold the summer leadership trainings and September retreat for local university-age youth. If all goes well, the application process will be done within a month, and students will begin to work on the creation of their own community projects.
- Mushroom gravy/ sauce on vareneky [pierogies] is delicious, as is apple soda.
- If you want to get a modern Ukrainian song stuck in your head, try “Я Так Хочу” (Ya Tak Hochou) by Океан Ельзи (Okean Elzy). They’re from Lviv, sing in Ukrainian [as opposed to Russian, see] and I’ve just read that the lead singer has a degree in theoretical physics.
- It’s really sunny today!
:)
picture captions:
- PCVs after presenting at the TESOL conference in Rivne, a little over an hour from Lutsk
- spring trees, with Easter white knees
- how gardens grow: greener
- out to dinner for the best vareneky contest/ celebration with friends on the opening of their new school
- said school, much Ikea’d
- English Club preps for Earth Day
- blue and green, heavy on the green
- small amusement park in the surprisingly large park downtown
- an artist lives here—could you tell?
- soccer/ football: Volyn 4, other team 0
in Lviv-
- Ivan Franko, plus Vika, Jonathan, Yurko, and Olya
- Ivan Franko’s university, plus Vika
- Taras Shevchenko does the wave near the center
- Lviv opera theater
- climbed up… all steps, no elevator, and with close-shouldered twists near the top
- part of the straight-down view from the top
- pretty cutelike
- one of many ornately lovely churches
- secondhand books, worth many second looks
- several stages upward to the High Castle…
- which turns out to no longer include a Castle… just High
- [oldest] pharmacy museum
- with relatives in Komarno- Ihor, Khrystyna, Eugenia
- part of a pysanky exhibit in the huge park that’s a museum of folk architecture
- one of many buildings in this park/ museum
- with Khrystyna, who was my family guide for the day :)
- church from the 18th century
- old schoolhouse
- inside old houses,
- with traditional such
- inside the schoolhouse: school on one side, teacher living space on the other
- somewhat-unexpected windmill
- back in the city, ceiling and organ of Saint Andrew’s, a giant and beautiful church apparently used in the filming of The Three Musketeers
- statue [really?!]
- green-in/ green-out
On Saturday morning, my friends Vika and Jonathan and I took a bus down to Lviv and met with my cousins Yurko and Olya. Yurko graduated last year from Lviv Polytechnical University, and Olya is in her fourth year at the Academy of the Arts in Lviv, so they both know their way around quite well. After a tasty lunch, we saw Ivano Franko National University and the Lviv Art Gallery, passed through a rich and bright cultural souvenir market [where I couldn’t help asking a woman in an Ohio State sweatshirt if she had gone there… yes, she said she had, and… I spoke English?!], climbed an unexpectedly high clock tower for a city view, and stopped for a drink at a café where a well-known jazz piano player was entertaining himself and others with any song—or part of a song—that came into this mind. Next, it was a secondhand book market, with books in Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, English, German…Yum. Then, up a hill to a park, then up some flights of stairs, then up to another path and more stairs, and we were at the High Castle. Well, it used to be a castle, and now it’s just a really high lookout on the city. We also passed by a puppet theater, stopped into the pharmacy museum, and carefully made our selections from a handmade chocolate shop… Yum, again! Then, back to Komarno for a short family visit and some sleep.
On Sunday, Yurko and Olya’s mom, Khrystyna, played the tourguide role, and we visited the church where her husband, Father Ihor, was having a service, passed a bicycle race through the center, and then headed to a huge forest/ park that serves as a museum of folk architecture. Buildings from different Ukrainian time periods and places have been transported and rebuilt here, including many churches and houses complete with wells, storage buildings, etc. Lots of tourists were taking lots of pictures here [in all of Lviv, really!], as well as couples taking wedding pictures and people dressed in traditional clothing posing in traditional scenes. This park also included a small farm of domestic animals, a pysanky exhibit, and an exhibit of modern paintings and wood carvings. Back near the center of the city, via trambaye [tram], we passed by the arsenal museum [to be saved for next time!] and went into Saint Andrew’s, a huge and ornately decorated church, which was apparently used in the filming of The Three Musketeers. Finally, a tasty lunch/ dinner at Potato House—Greek salad and baked potatoes with cheese and mushrooms on top—and then to the bus station, where I met up with friends and headed back to Lutsk in the middle of the only actual thunderstorm I’ve experienced in Ukraine. Many puddles and some really wet shoes later, a successful journey completed! The only problem—how to choose which pictures to post?!
- Also, I went to my first European football game, and our team won, so that’s a good start.
- Replanted some spider plants into re-styled plastic bottle pots, in keeping with the recent celebration of Earth Day.
- Our grant project was awarded funding, so we’ll be able to hold the summer leadership trainings and September retreat for local university-age youth. If all goes well, the application process will be done within a month, and students will begin to work on the creation of their own community projects.
- Mushroom gravy/ sauce on vareneky [pierogies] is delicious, as is apple soda.
- If you want to get a modern Ukrainian song stuck in your head, try “Я Так Хочу” (Ya Tak Hochou) by Океан Ельзи (Okean Elzy). They’re from Lviv, sing in Ukrainian [as opposed to Russian, see] and I’ve just read that the lead singer has a degree in theoretical physics.
- It’s really sunny today!
:)
picture captions:
- PCVs after presenting at the TESOL conference in Rivne, a little over an hour from Lutsk
- spring trees, with Easter white knees
- how gardens grow: greener
- out to dinner for the best vareneky contest/ celebration with friends on the opening of their new school
- said school, much Ikea’d
- English Club preps for Earth Day
- blue and green, heavy on the green
- small amusement park in the surprisingly large park downtown
- an artist lives here—could you tell?
- soccer/ football: Volyn 4, other team 0
in Lviv-
- Ivan Franko, plus Vika, Jonathan, Yurko, and Olya
- Ivan Franko’s university, plus Vika
- Taras Shevchenko does the wave near the center
- Lviv opera theater
- climbed up… all steps, no elevator, and with close-shouldered twists near the top
- part of the straight-down view from the top
- pretty cutelike
- one of many ornately lovely churches
- secondhand books, worth many second looks
- several stages upward to the High Castle…
- which turns out to no longer include a Castle… just High
- [oldest] pharmacy museum
- with relatives in Komarno- Ihor, Khrystyna, Eugenia
- part of a pysanky exhibit in the huge park that’s a museum of folk architecture
- one of many buildings in this park/ museum
- with Khrystyna, who was my family guide for the day :)
- church from the 18th century
- old schoolhouse
- inside old houses,
- with traditional such
- inside the schoolhouse: school on one side, teacher living space on the other
- somewhat-unexpected windmill
- back in the city, ceiling and organ of Saint Andrew’s, a giant and beautiful church apparently used in the filming of The Three Musketeers
- statue [really?!]
- green-in/ green-out
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