Shameless Plug: The Vinnytsia Khutory School Project

I'd like to take a moment to talk about something important: classroom materials.

Many classrooms in Ukraine lack textbooks altogether, and if they do have them, they are often outdated and inferior. New textbooks are not an option, as most Ukrainians cannot afford anywhere near the cost it would take to replace them.

My friend and Peace Corps volunteer Anna has put together this great project to help the students at her school in the Village of Vinnytsia Khutory (on the outskirts of my city) purchase new textbooks. The money will also help to renovate some rooms of the school which are in great disrepair, purchasing new windows to help keep the children warm during Ukraine's absurdly cold winters.

If I may, I'd like to ask you, my friends and family, to give a worthwhile Christmas gift to some Ukrainian kids this year, and donate a little money to her project.

If you'd like to read a little more about Anna's project, take a look at the Project's Facebook page.

To make a donation online, visit the Peace Corps Website here. Donations are, of course, tax deductible.

Thanks and Merry Christmas! :o)

More Winter "Fun"

Happy 12/12/12!

So I am now in the midst of the busiest week I've had in Vinnytsia so far. And in true Ukrainian form, these plans weren't altogether presented to me until Saturday. I already had committed to teaching a class today (Wednesday) afternoon and my regular class on Saturday afternoon... and this week, the Peace Corps is organizing a training for English Teachers in Vinnytsia and I was asked to present. That is tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. Then last week Svitlana asked me to cover her class for her since she will be out of town, which is three hours long and is on Friday. Then Oleg's students accosted me in the hallway and asked if I would come back to their class. When I brought this up with him, he said that the only chance to do this would be on Friday morning. Then he scheduled a Russian lesson for me with Lena on Monday, and she asked me if I would also cover her three-hour evening class last night (Tuesday). Ack!

On Sunday, though, I was free to go out and have some fun with Tanya and her husband. We went out to the Mega-Mall and went bowling. The bowling alley felt just like being in America, right down to the carpet. The only real difference? They give you not just shoes here, but also socks! Interesting.

After bowling we went shopping, and I was finally able to buy a fleece blanket to wrap myself in when sitting around my apartment, as well as a good sharp knife. Tanya and her husband also bought me a beautiful Christmas ornament, which I look forward to putting on my tree back in the States!

Then we drove around town a little to look at the Christmas decorations, which was a lot of fun. I have a deal with Vasa-- I try to speak Russian and he tries to speak English, and Tanya helps us both-- so I got in some language practice, too :) Then we went to a Ukrainian restaurant for dinner.

The wooden building in the snow made me feel like I was in the Carpathians for real :P

We ate a dinner of fried potato dumplings stuffed with mushrooms; salat made of eggs, cucumbers, green onions, and ham; and shashlyk. Mmmmmm so tasty!!!

Mmmm... Shashlyk with dipping sauce. Дуже смачно!

So at least I had an enjoyable and relaxing evening before embarking on this crazy week!

Then today, my power went out around 11:30 am. I thought nothing of it, since power has gone out a couple of times before and the weather is kind of crappy (it just keeps snowing and snowing and snowing!) But then I went out to the grocery store, and discovered that I could not take my trash to the dumpsters down the hill because the sidewalk beyond my building had been roped off. There was an ambulance and some construction equipment, and even a TV news crew. When I got to the end of the street, I discovered there was a policeman blocking it-- the whole street was closed. I did not realize what had happened until I got back from my trip to the grocery store: under the weight of the snow, THE NEIGHBOR'S ROOF HAD CAVED IN.

Holy. Crap.

So my power (and thus my heat) was out all day. I left early for my class, wanting to charge my computer at the university... but there was a car accident and the tram was stuck for quite a while. I barely arrived in time for the class.

Like an idiot, I decided to walk home in the dark and the driving snow. The whole way I kept praying that my electricity and heat would be on when I got home. The street was open again, which was a good sign. But when I got to my building, it was dark. So I stopped outside to turn on the flashlight which is built into most Ukrainian cell phones (for pretty much this exact reason), because it was pitch black in the staircase. But literally right as I stepped in the door, the lights came back on. Thank God!

So, that's more than enough adventures for me today. Tomorrow I present at the Teacher Training. Never a dull moment around here!

Also, 9 more days until Turkey!

A Trip to McDonalds: A Beth and Karis Adventure

Yesterday, with the assistance of Karis, I finally made a trip to the Vinnytsia McDonalds (the one nearest my house, that is-- Vinnytsia has two!) The place was crowded, and there was a children's birthday party going on in the party room-- we heard them singing "Happy Birthday" in English and were amused. Also, lots of small children in snowsuits. Too cute!

It's true what they say about McDonalds in foreign countries though. The food actually looks like the pictures.

Look at the sheer un-squishedness of this bun!!! I ask you!!

It was nice to eat some fake cheese for once. I've missed it. Also, beef. I've missed beef.

We also made a cat-friend. This cat was just hanging around in the McDonalds, rubbing up against my legs as I was eating.

He (or she) decided to clean him/herself right as I snapped this shot.

Interesting.

In other news, snowmageddon has come. Here is the weather forecast as of yesterday:

As you can see, the apocalypse is truly nigh. In the words of one of my Ukrainian friends: "Welcome to Ukraine."

It's snowing now, even as I write this. This is what I woke up to this morning:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...!

And playing with my new camera, an artsy shot that makes my backyard look like a toy train set.

Yesterday as I was walking in the park, I found some men building- yes, building- a Christmas tree.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but they were literally pulling apart pine trees to get the fronds to make a giant one. Pretty cool!

Snow!

First real snow of the year today! Like a crazy person, I went for a walk. Here are some pictures:

The courtyard by the Orthodox Church.

The bridge

The park on the other side of the bridge

The snow was extremely wet and heavy-- PERFECT for snowballs.

The Orthodox cathedral

The World War II Soldiers' Memorial... it looks even more somber in the snow.

On the edge of the park. I just loved how much the snow stuck to that bush.

My street.

 Since it was my day off, I also took the opportunity to attempt cornbread. Two weeks ago, I'd been discussing Thanksgiving foods with my students. Like many other Ukrainians I've talked to, they had never had cornbread. Since I know this is something for which I can obtain ingredients here, I decided to attempt it. Being that their corn meal and flour are both of different textures, that I have only baking soda and no baking powder, and that I don't have any kind of measuring tools, this venture was highly experimental... and HUGELY SUCCESSFUL.

I used butter instead of oil because I wanted my students' first experience of cornbread to be a positive one. Om nom nom nom nom!

Ten Things You Will Never Find in an American Grocery Store

#10: This much sausage.

Seriously, who eats this much sausage?!

#9: Things in bags that really should not be sold in bags.

Not just ice cream, but also sour cream, and even milk! This presents some logistical issues.

#8: Spices and baking goods in packets.

Spices, cocoa, baking powder-- all very hard to find in jars, and very expensive if you do.

#7: Unwashed produce.

That's how you know it's fresh, right?

#6: Kinder eggs.

Apparently these are now illegal in the States.

#5: "Mister Proper."

I guess Ukrainians prefer that things be "proper" more than "clean"?

#4: Kefir.

Looks like milk... feels like yogurt... is actually neither.

#3: Crab-flavored potato chips.

Yes, you read that correctly.

#2: Whole pigs.

Because sometimes, "every possible cut of pork" is just not enough pork.

And the #1 thing...

Colored... and yes, SCENTED... toilet paper.

Because I want my bum to smell like violets.

By the way, one other thing you won't find in American supermarkets... potatoes fresh from my department head's mother's garden. :)

ETA Training/Orientation in Kyiv

I have returned at last!

Not much was happening for a few weeks-- or well, things were, but there was not much interesting to report. The weekend after I lost my camera I traveled to Kyiv to attend the regional Fulbright ETA orientation. This was three days of meeting with other ETAs who were sent to Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, etc.

While I had no camera, with the aid of Facebook I was able to gather some pictures that my fellow ETAs took from the trip.

St. Andrews' Church, at the top of the hill

Vanessa and I walking down St. Andrews' Descent. During the day this street is filled with vendors selling all kinds of crafts and souvenirs... but it was pretty awesome to be there at night when it was completely empty. I think this is my favorite part of Kyiv.

Words to live by. (Shashlyk, for the record, is grilled meat and/or veggie kebabs and is super tasty)

By the time I returned to Vinnytsia I was exhausted after my 2+ weeks of solid travel and very little sleep, so I didn't do much except rest for a week or so. Over the weekend, I went shopping with Karis, one of the Peace Corps volunteers, and we bought a new camera. She took me to the "Mega-Mall" on 600 Years Street.

"Vulnitsa Sheist-sot richya"

We also visited the Silpo in that mall, which we discovered to have a better selection and better prices. I've started going there when I can spare the time to take the longer tram ride.

On Thursday, I took a trip back to that mall and bought a wireless internet router for my apartment. This was really becoming necessary because my internet cable is broken and was continually falling out of my computer whenever I moved. It was a fulfilling venture, because the clerk at the store was perfectly nice to me, and he spoke Ukrainian and I spoke Russian and we understood one another perfectly, and he showed me the correct router for the internet service I have and the size of my apartment. Then I went home and set it up, which ended up being a somewhat complicated process since I have a service you have to sign into... and although all the menus and settings were in Ukrainian, I successfully set it up. I was really proud of myself after that!

Then, the Thanksgiving festivities began. I attended the local English Club's Thanksgiving meeting. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to actually eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving at the English Club! As you can see, there was turkey, potatoes, cranberries (made by yours truly), and lots and lots of sweets!

You can view more pictures of the English Club's Thanksgiving party here, too. My favorite is the one of Mila posing with my cranberry sauce. Hahahaha...

I had attended the English Club once before but it was like no one had noticed me until this meeting. Several of the members introduced themselves to me, and were really nice people. I will have to go back this week.

On Saturday, Anna, one of the Peace Corps volunteers, was hosting a bigger Thanksgiving party at her home in Vinnytsia Khurota-- one of the villages surrounding Vinnytsia. Unfortunately I had to be late, since I was teaching the class that I teach on Saturdays. This group of students are in the 11th grade at a local high school, and the university offers them these classes to help them prepare for their college entrance exams in the hopes that when they need to choose a college, they will choose this one.

These students are really motivated and enthusiastic and they really work hard-- and apparently they love me too. Before class Oleg was telling me that one of the other teachers had overheard some of my students on a bus in the city talking about how I was the best English teacher around. :o) This week they asked for a picture with me, so here it is:

These students are fabulous!

After the class, I caught bus 176 to Vinnytsia Khurota to attend the party at Anna's. It was interesting because I only knew three or four people there and everyone else was a complete stranger. They were all really nice to me, but as the only non-Peace Corps person in attendance, I felt like a special guest to a group which already existed. Still, I had a really great time and made some new friends in the area.

The food was fabulous. There was a huge spread of American favorites, including macaroni and cheese, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc. Notably missing, though, was the turkey. Plans for obtaining one had fallen through last-minute, so we ate pork and duck instead.

I should probably also mention that it was an "ugly sweater" party. We don't all have this questionable of a fashion sense on normal days. :P

After dinner we retired to the sauna (a surprisingly nice building with a pool and everything) to drink and play games and chat. After playing a game of Cards Against Humanity (a version of Apples to Apples that is utterly politically incorrect and offensive, and therefore often very hilarious), we settled into conversations.

Around 1:30 we (me and two girls who were planning to crash at my apartment) attempted to call a taxi back to my place... but there were a series of communication mishaps (first we didn't know the correct area code for the taxi service, then we got a number for one which didn't serve the area, except the person who made the call didn't understand that so we waited outside for 40 minutes, then tried to walk to a nearby hotel/bar to get a number and the people there either gave us a wrong number or the taxi service they referred us to didn't operate during those hours... it was a mess). Long story short, we ended up staying the night at Anna's (not that I really slept) and I didn't get back until late yesterday morning.

Now I'm very tired, but I got up to teach a class this morning (well, not really teach. It was a class I had never worked with before, so we just chatted and got to know one another). Then I took a trip out to the fancy Silpo and got ingredients for vegetable soup, which I made for dinner. Tomorrow I have a Russian lesson (only my third one since all this madness started-- I was gone, or my teacher was busy,  pretty much every day since) and I teach an evening class of high schoolers that I've never worked with before from 5-8 pm. It's going to be a long haul but I think it will be fun.

I also made plans for Christmas-- from December 22-28 I will be going to Istanbul with some of the other Fulbrighters, and when I return from that I will go to L'viv for a two-week intensive course in the Ukrainian language and to celebrate Orthodox Christmas at the home of one of my friends. :o) I'm really excited! Better things to come!

More History of L'viv

I don't have much exciting to post for now, since losing my camera means that I don't have any photos to show.

But in the meantime, you should look at this. I think it does the best job of beginning to capture what I would call the spirit of L'viv. I'm sure you've heard me say that to be there feels as though you have stepped back in time. Well, this photography project illustrates that feeling in the most beautiful and eloquent way I can imagine.

http://www.nickolaykravtsov.com/2012/10/blog-post.html

Observing the Ukrainian Elections: Part II

And now, Ukrainian Elections: The Thrilling Conclusion:

Peter and Darka informed me that there was a meeting for the L'viv election observers at Darka's apartment at 10 am Saturday morning. In attempting to find this apartment, I got a little lost. Took the bus to the city center with no problem, but got on the tram going the wrong direction and ended up who-knows-where. Fortunately I got off with no harm done and found the tram going the opposite direction. On the opera house square, I was met by David, a Canadian election observer. He helped me find my way back to Darka's. A lengthy meeting then commenced, during which we received our assignments and were paired into groups.

The generals, Stephan and Russell, plan strategy in the war room. Interesting tidbit: Stephan is a lawyer who actually helped to draft the Ukrainian constitution. Pretty cool huh?

By the time we'd been over all of this, it was near 2 pm. Then, Darka decided, it was time for us to go out to some polling places. There was general grumbling amongst the group at this, since many of us had other plans in the evening (Russell and I were both planning to go to a Halloween party hosted by Charitie). Nonetheless, we headed out to Horodok, one of the regions we were in charge of covering.

Before we could head out, though, we had to collect the missing members of our team, Peter and Talia. So the rest of us waited at a convenience store for over an hour while our driver went back to get them. Thus began a long and frustrating excursion to Horodok. For all the frustration, though, that driver *was* awesome. He kept buying us candy and cookies and he insisted on helping me out of the van every single time (to the point where I was forced to announce to everyone that I was not, in fact, made of glass).

Voting booths at the DEC

Ballot boxes at the DEC. This was the most patriotic room ever.

We went to the DEC, the regional polling office where all of us would ultimately be escorting our ballots at the end of election day. We also visited several other polling locations, filling out forms about whether all the protocol had been followed in terms of no campaign propaganda, ballot boxes being sealed properly, cameras placed properly, etc. etc.

For example, this "Svoboda" sign was against the rules.

Darka wanted each of us to have a turn filling out a form, which meant that this process took forever and we didn't actually get back to L'viv until after 8, by which point it was really too late to go to the Halloween party. Instead, Talia, Russell, Peter, and I went out for pizza and then returned home. We were all annoyed at the long day, knowing that tomorrow would be even longer.

David brought the car to pick me up around 5:40 the next morning. He had brought with him not only a driver, but also a translator and a friend of his. So, crammed into the back of this car with 4 strange guys, I rode to Mostyska, the town on the other side of Horodok. Now, L'viv is pretty far west in Ukraine, Horodok is west of L'viv, and Mostyska is even farther west than that. During some of our excursions we were even farther west than Mostyska, so far out we were very near the Polish border. In fact, once when we stopped to ask directions I heard David say "Gencouya" and "Dobje" instead of "Dyakuyu" and "Dobre"-- Polish instead of Ukrainian :)

Oh, that was the longest day of my life. Our driver was from the area, so he felt it was very important to take us to the smaller villages, despite the state of the roads-- they were really more pothole than road. It also began to snow, and everything was cold and wet and muddy. I was very glad that I had worn my snow boots. In all we visited 14 polling locations, opening at one, closing at another, and visiting 12 in between. We interviewed the committee leaders, observed voting, and examined the stations. At several places, the poll workers gave us coffee and tea and offered us food from their potluck meals they had brought from home. It was all delicious, and I was so full by the end. At our last polling location, we were supposed to stay after they closed and the doors were locked, and to stay until every vote was counted. At our poll this took a really long time... we didn't end until about 5 am!

We escorted the ballots back to the DEC and had to wait for them to be accepted-- a process which somehow was expedited when we showed our IDs and told the police that we were international observers and we were in a hurry. It was all like something out of a Soviet-era movie-- being ushered through a crowd of waiting people by a couple of police officers into a noisy, messy back room where votes were being read, numbers called, and ballots collected. I can't say I approved of it, but thank God it let us get out of there such that I could finally get back to the dorm by around 6 and to sleep by 7 or so.

I have never been more exhausted in my life. I had been not only awake, but working, for over 24 hours. Not to mention the 3 crappy nights of sleep before that and all the stress generated by the trip. Now, I didn't want to sleep too long because I didn't want to miss the following night of sleep. So I napped until a little after 1 pm, which gave me about 6 hours of sleep.

It was around the point that I got back to the dorm that I discovered my camera was missing. I had been using it during the elections. The memory card had been filled, so I'd put it back in my purse, and I never saw it again after that. I don't know if it was stolen or if it just fell out somewhere. Either way, I'm really mad about it. Not bad enough I'll have to replace a $100-plus camera-- but I also lost all my pictures that I took in the villages and driving through the beautifully snowy hills! Major bummer. But at this point, I was pretty much too exhausted to care.

That evening I went out with the L'viv Fulbrighters as well as a couple of the election observers and my Ukrainian friend Mariana. We went to (probably the only) Tex-Mex restaurant in L'viv, which is owned by an American guy. What an interesting time. The food wasn't all that great, though it's possible we just got the wrong dishes. In any case, the corn bread WAS really good, and I promised Mariana I'd teach her how to make it :)

I was really glad I had made the decision to stay that extra night in L'viv, because it would have been a million times more stressful if I had to leave on a train that very same day. Instead I was able to get a night's sleep before heading back to Vinnytsia.

The train ride back was the best one I've had so far. My coupé was shared by an older Ukrainian couple who were from Yalta. The woman especially was really nice, chatting with me despite my terrible Russian and offering me some of their homemade dinner-- it was so good, especially because I hadn't had time to stop and grab any food on my way out of L'viv and I wouldn't get back to Vinnytsia until after 4.

The next morning I got up to teach Tanya's class. It was Halloween, so I talked to them about this holiday and how we celebrate it in the U.S. They all know about it, of course, since they watch many of our television shows, but they really enjoyed the pictures I brought and my descriptions of carving Jack o' lanterns and so on. Then, fortuantely, I was able to relax for the rest of the day until I went over to Tanya's for dinner. She had picked some pumpkins from their garden for us to carve, and I brought The Nightmare Before Christmas to show to her and her husband. Of course I had to sing along :)

Tanya and her husband were so excited I was there to show them how to take part in this tradition :)

Yesterday Tanya and I went on a shopping trip, on which I finally bought some good boots of the kind that Ukrainians wear, and a nice gray wool coat. I am so happy with my purchases-- they were expensive, but worth every kopeck. I am sure I will get a picture sooner or later-- perhaps when I actually have a camera again.

So, tomorrow I teach the high school students again, and then Sunday I am back off to Kyiv AGAIN for the Fulbright ETA orientation. I am getting so sick of traveling!!!! It will be nice to stay in one place for a while once the orientation is over. I can't wait!

Observing the Ukrainian Elections: Part I

Far too much happened within the past week to be condensed into a single blog entry, so I will have to make installments.

I'll start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start. :)

I had signed up months ago with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (a Canadian organization for Ukrainian diaspora) to join the hundreds of international observers monitoring the Ukrainian parliamentary elections on October 28th. After working with this organization, I don't mind telling you that it is the worst-run, most disorganized group I have ever worked with, and I definitely would think twice about working with them again. But hey... tse Ukraina.

(After they changed the date 3 times,) I knew our orientation would be at 8:30 AM on October 25th. I did not yet know in which city I would be observing the elections. Twice the UCCA had sent me forms to fill out about my preferences for where to be sent, whether I would need accommodations and train tickets, etc. etc. Twice I had completed these forms: twice I told them that Vinnytsia was my first choice, L'viv my second, and beyond that I didn't care; and that yes, I would need accommodations unless I was in Vinnytsia, and yes, I would need train tickets.

By the day I was to leave for Kyiv (Wednesday the 24th) I still did not know for certain where I was to be placed. I'd emailed them to ask; they hadn't answered. Jack (the other ETA) had called them and they'd told him they hoped to send me to Vinnytsia, but then they sent me an email the next morning saying they hoped to send me to L'viv. Then the final list was sent out (but not to me, Jack had to forward his), and it listed me in Vinnytsia. I thought probably this meant I was coming back home to Vinnytsia, but I packed an extra set of clothes just in case. Anyway, I was more concerned that I had not heard any word of where I was meant to be staying that night. Starting to panic, I tried to find a hotel in Kyiv, but many were full. I finally got ahold of UCCA to ask whether they had made arrangements; they had not, but they assured me they would. I was literally about to board my train when they finally called to inform me that they had booked me a room at Hotel Ukraina... for 800 hryven (about $100) that night. Expensive! But I was glad to have a place to stay, at least.

After that harrowing afternoon panicking about not having a place to stay, I finally arrived in Kyiv, took the metro to the hotel, and secured my room around 10 pm. Hotel Ukraina is very nice... a Soviet high-rise at the very center of town, right behind Maydan Nezalezhnosti.

See? Right behind the freedom monument.

So I was annoyed they couldn't have put me up someplace cheaper, but glad the place was reasonably nice.

My room on the 10th floor of Hotel Ukraina

What really made the place almost worth it, though, was the view from the balcony!

View this one full-size. I promise it's worth it! I am really pleased with how well the pano came out, and at night no less!

I didn't sleep too well, however, because the room was hot and there was noise from the street, and I was still feeling a lot of residual stress from all that had happened that day. All in all I only slept maybe 3 or 4 hours. I got up around 7 for breakfast at the hotel, then afterwards got back on the metro to Kyiv Mohyla Academy at Kontraktova Ploshcha for our orientation.

On Kontraktova Ploshcha... autumn leaves in the background, and the church on the hill...

The orientation was endless and frustrating. Everything was announced in English AND in Ukrainian, and the information was redundant anyway. On the plus side, I met up with some of the other Fulbrighters (click here to read about their projects): Russell, a journalism teacher from Penn State; Jack, the other ETA; Talia, a researcher working on the history of Jews in Ukraine; and Debra, who I hadn't met until this day but who was (supposedly) coming to Vinnytsia with me. At the start of the day she came up to me to say that UCCA hadn't found her accommodations in Vinnytsia like she'd asked (surprise, surprise), so I told her she could crash on my couch. They hadn't bought us train tickets either, though, so we spent the whole day struggling to find a good train back to Vinnytsia that evening. In the end we decided just to wait till we were at the train station and buy whatever was left, even if it meant getting in at 2 am.

The most (possibly only) interesting part of the orientation were the visits from the Canadian and United States Ambassadors. Unlike when we had met him during the Fulbright program, Ambassador Tefft had over an hour to talk and take questions, and we were allowed to take pictures. None of mine came out, though.

The orientation was supposed to end at 5 pm with us breaking off into our regional groups with our group leaders, but this did not happen until after 6. When the list of group leaders was read, guess what? There was no one for Vinnytsia. Debra and I went to ask... and were told that the leader for Vinnytsia, as well as the other four members of our team, had all dropped out. Either we could go and be the only people in Vinnytsia, or we could go someplace else, or we could go home.

WHAT.

Well, damned if I was going to go home empty-handed after sitting through that 10-hour orientation and paying $100 for a hotel in Kyiv... and Debra and I couldn't do it alone, since neither of us had any election observation experience... so I got sent to L'viv.

But I didn't have a place to stay in Kyiv that night, and I had no train ticket, no place to stay in L'viv either, I told them. And of course they hadn't made any for me. Panicking, I called my friend Taras at Ukrainian Catholic University who'd arranged housing for me on my last visit, and told him the situation. He found me a room in UCU's new dorm for 150 UAH a night. Acceptable. Then the UCCA people offered me a train ticket to L'viv they had already bought which left in a little over an hour. I bought it, but was worried about getting to the station in time for an overnight train and not having eaten dinner. This didn't turn out to be a problem, though, since the L'viv team's leader, a British woman named Darka, traded tickets with me since an unplanned meeting was called and she had to arrive earlier. This meant that I wouldn't need to leave until 11:30 pm, and I had time to go eat. Plus, another observer, a British guy named Peter, was also taking my train, so I would have help getting to the station and finding the train. Not that I really need it at this point, but still good to have the assurance since I seem to be very talented at messing up things I already should know how to do. Crisis averted.

In order to wind myself down from the panic attack nearly caused by all of this, Peter, Talia, and I went out for pizza and a few good drinks. After a tall glass of Chernigivske beer and a couple hours of friendly conversation, I finally began to relax. Oh, Ukraine. In the words of Svitlana, "This is Ukraine, where unexpected is happening every day."

After Talia went home, Peter and I moved on to an Irish pub for another beer. This pub had Halloween decorations everywhere-- spiderwebs, pumpkins, etc. It was so refreshing to see them, like being at home. :) Then we went to the train station, arriving about an hour early. We settled down in the waiting hall, but unfortunately the only seats empty were next to an extremely drunk bum. Peter, being a proper British gentleman, took the seat closest to him. Unfortunately he wanted our attention. He started talking to us in Russian, telling us (among other things) how pretty I was. Peter and I, of course, pretended not to understand him and carried on speaking in English. Then the bum tried to speak to us in English. Unfortunately (or fortunately, it's anybody's guess), the only words he knew were "Baku" "seven" and "thank you very much!" He repeated all these phrases to us in different permutations, and occasionally Peter would respond to him sarcastically. I felt terrible for making fun of this poor drunk man, but by the time we left for our train I was just dying of laughter.

Our train tickets, unfortunately, were third class, in separate cars, and top bunks. I barely slept at all during the entire ride, because it was noisy and the lights were shining directly in my eyes. By the time we rolled into L'viv around 8:30, I was completely exhausted. Taras called a taxi to take me to the dorms, and I checked in and went right to sleep for a few hours. I was too tired to do much else that day except go out for dinner with Charitie, another Fulbrighter who lives in L'viv. We went to a restaurant on Rynok Square called the Golden Boar and the food was phenomenal. I had Zeleni (green) Borshch and shashlyk (kebabs) made with mushrooms, cheese, and olives. Charitie had cherry Varenky (dumplings) which she shared with me. It was all so delicious. I'm definitely going back to that restaurant.

Before the actual election fun begins, I think I must take a break. You are starting to see, now, how insane these days have been, and I think you will understand why I am so glad to finally be back home in Vinnytsia, and why I need sleep! Part II to follow. :)

Life in Vinnytsia: Continued

Yes I know it's been a long time since I've written. I had that cold for a week or so, and not much was going on. Things have finally started to pick up, though. I am now teaching about 3 classes a week, working with Svitlana (my contact here at the university) and Oleg (the department head) (for the sake of simplicity, we might just call them "my Ukrainian mom and dad," hahaha) and various other teachers.

SO here are pretty much all the significant things that happened in the last few weeks:


A week ago Sunday, on the last warm day of the year, I finally went to the little cafe downstairs. I had cappuccino and apple strudel... and it was the best ever. Tasted better because I ordered in Russian, paid in Russian, and the waitress understood me... it tasted like VICTORY.

Apple Strudel a la mode. Mmmmmmmmm...

I've also done a lot of writing on my novel. I'm happy to report that it now stands at 51,615 words... ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the halfway mark! Yayyyyy!

Storyboarding on my living room floor... don't read the papers, there are spoilers!!!

So far, the most fun I've had teaching a lesson was the class I had last Tuesday with the Philology students. They were learning about British theater... so I made them a lesson based on Les Miserables. I passed out a synopsis, and we discussed it; then, we did a listening activity with "Stars," my favorite song from the musical. The students were really happy and enthusiastic, and we all had a really fun class.

On Friday, I helped out in Oleg's class. They are only first-year students, but they are very bold and talkative. In fact, they talk more than Svitlana's fourth-year students do. Whenever I begin working with a new class, I always give them a half-class or so to ask me questions about myself, where I am from, what America is like, what I think about Ukraine, etc. etc. One young man in this class wanted to know: "You are very beautiful. Do you have a husband?"

The entire class and I laughed for a good minute over that one. Teaching college students is so much fun.


After teaching that class I finally had my first lesson in Russian. Oleg, the department head, has taken it upon himself to personally tutor me every day. It makes my brain hurt, but if I keep up at this rate, I do think that, as he says "by the time you return to America, you will have a Russian accent."

Yes, this is a textbook for teaching English. Yes, I am using it to learn Happy Russian.

Another big step on Saturday... I had to go pay my internet bill by myself. It actually went off without a hitch, but I get so nervous every time I'm supposed to speak Russian without an interpreter around.

And the adventures continue... this morning, the light fixture in my living room, the main source of light in my apartment, fizzled out. Literally. I was afraid there would be a fire or something. Tanya's husband, who is an electrical engineer, will come to have a look at it tomorrow. But for now, my apartment is very dark. And also very cold, since I haven't yet called my landlady to turn on the heat. Another problem for tomorrow.

Today at the store I found fresh figs. I had never seen a fig not dried. I bought three, and this evening I ate one. Pretty tasty, but not as sweet as they are when dried (I guess that makes sense).

And now you know what a fresh fig looks like.

And that, I think, it all that has happened of importance over the last week or two. Updates as my Russian improves.