Halfway Gone

Our summer school program has reached its halfway point already. I can't believe it!

After classes on Thursday, I joined in a school excursion to Shevchenkisky Hai, which is an open-air architecture museum. I've already been there a few times, but never with a tour guide.

The monument to Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine's most legendary poet and artist, for whom the park was named.
Fun fact: last year one of my biggest research projects was about monuments to Shevchenko-- so I have a lot of pictures like this :))

The newest house in the museum, which belonged to the village's richest man. It is covered from top to bottom with intricate carvings.

One of the carved symbols, a tree with stars in its branches.

Some real livestock to add to the authenticity of the experience ;)

A beautifully preserved wooden church from the Carpathian mountains

I enjoyed the brief tour, which taught me many interesting facts about life in Carpathian villages of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Friday was a red-letter day. The end of the first half of the six-week summer program, it marked the departure of the students who had only signed up for session A (the first three weeks) of the program. As a result, our usual Friday exam was entirely atypical. Instead of meeting in class at 9 am, we met in the center at 9:30 am. Then our class (by this time only 5 people) was divided into teams, and we were put on a sort of scavenger hunt throughout the city. My friend Alex, who was my partner in this escapade, had to complete the following: First, to go to a candy shop on the square and ask for the names and prices of the most expensive, cheapest, and most popular candies. Next, we had to walk along the north side of the square and record the names of the buildings. Then we had to go into the Apteka (Pharmacy) Museum (which, incidentally, also contains a functioning pharmacy), and ask what the pharmacist would recommend for a headache or sore throat. Then we had to visit the post office and ask what stamps they had which depicted famous Ukrainians or cities in Ukraine. Then we had to find a particular monument and record the name of the person. Finally, we had to visit a local hostel and ask them how many beds they had available, whether showers and bathrooms were available, and whether coffee and tea were provided. After that, we all met up at Tsukernia once more, and took our written exam.

That night we had another dinner, very similar to the one we had the week before, to say goodbye to the students who were leaving. Again, it was at Ratusha (town hall) the new restaurant which recently opened in L'viv's Ratusha.

This photo courtesy of the Ukrainian Language and Culture School at the Ukrainian Catholic University-- the three people at the closest end of the table with me, aka the people with whom I've spent every waking hour of the last 3 weeks, are at least 12 kinds of awesome (AT LEAST 12. I'm not sure of the exact number. ;)

After our fancy celebratory dinner, we moseyed over to Pravda, the new beer factory that recently opened on Rynok Square. We drank beer, listened to the band (they were phenomenal!), and enjoyed one another's company. I have here a short video of the experience. I believe it captures better than anything else the complete Zen that is life in L'viv for me this summer. I hope this video makes you as happy as I was sitting there.

As for the rest of the weekend... well..!

Saturday, as you know, was the Fourth of July. It was also the first day since our arrival when the weather actually felt like summer. We did some souvenir shopping, enjoyed some to-die-for mint lemonade at a restaurant on Rynok Square called Centaur, followed by a beer at Biliy Lev (The White Lion). I was infinitely glad I'd brought along two packages of glow bracelets, two mini American flags, and a pair of hilariously cheesy blinking American-flag glasses. We enjoyed these things a little too much (as you will see in forthcoming photographs.)

After a brief stop back at Pravda for another beer, we found our way to an American-themed restaurant called Americans. We were the only Americans there.

The most American photo I may have ever taken of me

The staff of the restaurant was visibly excited to have REAL LIVE AMERICAN CUSTOMERS on the 4th of July. They gave us two free bottles of beer to celebrate. "Did the burger taste like burgers in America?" the waitress asked us nervously. Although some of my friends apparently disagreed because they liked their burgers rare, for me the answer was yes. My favorite part of the restaurant was the photograph on the wall that claimed to be "the view from the empire state building" except that one could clearly see the empire state building in the picture. :)) I really wanted to photograph it, but the glare made it impossible.

Sunday was excruciating, since it was our friend Wojtek's last day in L'viv. We made it a mission to send him off right. The day started with Liturgy at a monastery in town, where he and Alex had made friends with some of the nuns. The rest of the day was spent hopping from one to another of the best places in town, and boy, did we outdo ourselves-- we got pastries, then mint lemonade at centaur, then stew and salad at hasova lampa (the gas lantern), then desserts at Liviy Bereh (the Left Bank, under the opera house), and topped it off (fittingly, since it was our regular haunt) with chocolate at the L'vivske Chocolate Factory, before finally taking him to the bus station.

And then there were three. And we drowned our sorrows in pizza and beer at Celentano, leaving us with nothing but to rest in preparation for the beginning of session B!

Twelve Nights (and days) in L'viv

Have I really been here for two weeks already? Well, no, because I arrived three days late. But on Friday, the Summer School of Ukrainian Language and Culture celebrated the end of its second week of classes, and the departure of the handful of students who were only doing a two-week program. And I realized that it was high time that I updated my blog with actual adventures in Ukraine, and not just on the way there!

The last ten days or so have been a whirlwind of learning, fun, sightseeing, shopping, and eating. Okay, so mostly eating. Lots and lots of eating.

a breakfast cooked by my host mom: Varenyky filled with potatoes, plus tea with homemade strawberry jam

The Ukrainian word for the month of June is "Cherven," derived from "Chervony," the word for "red." I'll bet you can't guess why.

Melted milk chocolate with coconut from the L'viv Chocolate Factory, which we have patronized almost every night :)

Georgian food!! Mmmmm

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Strawberry cake at Tsukernia, one of the best sweet shops in L'viv-- and that is saying something!

Fortunately, all that eating has been balanced out with lots of adventures!

Since I was late to the program, I was a little worried that the students who had arrived on time would already have formed cliques and I'd have a hard time making friends. Fortunately, that was not the case. A casual introduction to two guys in my class brought me into a small group which are already some of the best friends I've had in my life. We've been going out every day after class and having adventures in the city.

The first night after I arrived, Thursday, there was a planned school excursion to the L'viv Opera House to watch the ballet Romeo and Juliet. It was a pretty nice show, with great music, quality dancing, and in my opinion, some interesting wardrobe and makeup choices. (Photographs were prohibited during the show, so these photos are from the opera's official site, opera.lviv.ua)

from opera.lviv.ua

We enjoyed the ballet, but we'd really wanted to see a real Ukrainian opera in Ukrainian. So the following Sunday, we returned to see "Zhaporozhets' za Dunayem" or "Zaporozhian across the Danube." Although I couldn't understand everything, I could follow the story, and of course I could still enjoy the dancing, singing, and costumes!

We also visited Vysoky Zamok, the "High Castle," and "Lysy Hory," "forested mountain," both of which have tremendous views of the city.

We also returned to Lychakivske Cemetery, which I'm pretty sure accounts for about half the photos on my blog at this point. :)) I love that place!!!

We also revisited the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, which is finally being restored. We also got the chance to look in on the chapel of the Boim family, which I have walked by hundreds of times and photographed the outside, but never entered.

Of course this is only a small sampling of the amazing things there are to do and see in L'viv. I apologize for being too busy to update, but I hope I will do so more frequently in the future!

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. :)

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.

Adventures in Ukrainian Cooking

TODAY: Adventures in Ukrainian cooking + Attempting to attend Mass!

I wanted to attend Mass at the Catholic cathedral in Vinnytsia, which is across the street from the Orthodox Cathedral.

It turned out to be a Latin Rite Catholic Church, and a Franciscan one, no less! (Hence the Franciscan cross and the mural depicting St. Francis)

Being that I entered the church a little after 10 AM last week and found Mass ending, I decided to get there by 9 AM.

I successfully did so, but it turned out that I had a good half hour to wait and listen to the babushkas sing. And oh, how many babushkas there were!

Mass began. As it went on, though, I grew increasingly perplexed. It seemed I couldn't understand A SINGLE WORD of what was going on. Now I know my Russian's not the best, but being that this was the exact same Mass we have back home, I knew from the set text that I *should* be understanding at least a few words here and there. But no... not a one. Only Бог (Bohg) for God... that was it. Not a Hospody Pomiluy (or Gospody, for that matter!) in sight. I wondered fleetingly... what other language could it possibly be? The only other that I could even conceive of it being was Polish, since I knew a lot of people in Western Ukraine, in L'viv anyway, spoke Polish as it had been part of Poland at one time. But here in Vinnytsia, that wouldn't make sense, right? and so I decided it must just be in Russian, and I was just worse at it than I thought.

Later, when I met up with Tanya, she asked me if I'd made it to Mass and I told her yes. Then she asked me, "Was it in Polish?"

...

I mean, how many languages am I gonna have to learn to get by here!? Hahahaha.... guess I'll have to track down a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Anyway, in the afternoon Tanya came over to teach me how to cook some Ukrainian food, so that I might not starve. It's not that the food available is so *different,* per se, it's just that it's available in much different proportions than I'm used to. In terms of meat, they mostly eat pork; I was forced to confess that I have very little idea of how to prepare pork, so Tanya taught me to make two dishes using it.

We started with a stewed cabbage dish. Once I saw the finished product, I realized I'd eaten it quite often at the English Summer School where I taught in 2010. This dish is pretty versatile-- you can put in just about any veggies you have around. Tanya brought cabbage, as well as a huge carrot and onions. We cooked the cabbage and added the other veggies once they'd been sauteed to make them sweet. Then, we fried up some pieces of pork and added them in as well.

It was a fun challenge with the limited amenities offered by my pre-furnished apartment: a set of really dull knives, one dutch oven, one frying pan, and one oven pan. But we made do.

Tanya also brought a really tasty Armenian sauce to put on it. We added the sauce and let it cook for a while, so that the cabbage became soft and the whole mixture took on the texture of coleslaw, or relish.

The other way to prepare pork was, she said, called "French Style" although there wasn't really anything French about it. That was kind of immaterial, though, since it was delicious. Basically we took the defrosted pieces of pork and beat the heck out of them with a meat tenderizer. Once they were tender and flat, we put them on the oven tray. Then we sprinkled them with salt and pepper, spread Mayonnaise on them, and topped them with onions, mushrooms, and cheese.

Before cooking:

And after:

Our cooking complete, I sat down at my newly-clothed table...

And enjoyed the delicious meal!

Смачного!