Whoa. That’s all I can say right now as I sit in the Amsterdam airport after what I can only describe as a whirlwind two weeks. I’m en route to DC. I’ve been medevac’d. I guess one could say that I am in shock.
After Egypt, I had these moments of clarity with my service where I had begun to see Ukraine in an new way. I was truly starting to appreciate it for what I consider oddities and I could find beauty in the strangest things. Instead of an exasperated UGH UKRAINE sigh, it was more of a light hearted chuckle and eye roll Ukraine. Things just started looking different, and I had hit my groove with my service. I felt like things were going to change in a monumental way, although, to be honest, this wasn’t the monumental change that I was expecting.
January was a really stressful month, because I was working to get my SPA grant finalized and submitted. There was some kicking and screaming, literally, not the kicking, but the screaming part in trying to get things done. Let’s just say, I wasn’t the only one screaming. Needless to say, it was a really stressful month, but I knew that the last week of January would bring with it Language Refresher. For roughly a week, me and my Russian speaking PCVs were getting together to well practice our Russian and get some additional language training in a FUN environment. So even though I was going through hell most of January, I knew that at least this would make it worth it. I would get to see my clustermates and some other good friends since we had strategically applied for Language Refresher all together on Thanksgiving. It was really going to be a hoot to be reunited.
That said, I left site and headed to Kiev a few days before language refresher to have a meeting and to get a medical appointment out of the way. Without too much detail, within the span of 5 hours that Friday, my life in Ukraine got turned upside-down. That’s not to say that what happened sunk in at that time. It didn’t. I had a busy weekend lined up with a trip to visit Kim in Ktop, followed by us travelling to visit our host families in Starry Belouse for two days considering the Language Refresher was going to be held in Chernigiv, and then, Language Refresher for the rest of the week. I hopped on the train to see Kim and chatted quite normally with a couple of friends on the phone and then realized what the heck had just happened.
The doctor had sat me down and explained things. He told me I was going to be medevac’d (although he didn’t say when, because he didn’t yet know) and asked me if I wanted any medication to help with nerves or sleeping or what not since he had just supposedly dealt me kind of a major blow. Well, clearly, I was in shock, because halfway through that train ride I was kicking myself for not taking him up on some drugs. At the time, I really didn’t believe the medevac was happening. I just thought it was a remote possibility. But on the train, I replayed what he said and I was like, Oh SHIT! I’m getting booted out of Ukraine.
I spent the weekend with Kim, on Sunday we headed to the host family, on Monday we went into Chernigiv to hang with Caroline, Vicki and Cheryl and to toast Vicki’s birthday at one of our old haunts. Then on a very packed marshrutka back to Starry B, I got the phone call to drop everything and go back to site, pack up, grab my documents and get back to Kiev ideally by Wednesday. WHAT!?! That was too much for comprehension and virtually impossible since it’s a 2 hour trip to Kiev and then another 12 hours back to my site… horrendous. Let’s just say, I freaked the fuck out. I had banked on Washington taking a few days to make the determination. Apparently, all it took was an email from Ukraine. Things NEVER happen that fast in Ukraine! NEVER.
In the end, I kind of refused to leave. I wanted to go to Language Refresher and spend time with my friends, and then Conor and I had planned to spend the following weekend in Kiev. I mean, shit, I don’t know what is going to happen in DC. Let’s just say I created a little confusion at the Peace Corps office in Kiev when I went on the lamb by going to Language Refresher. I think more than one person would have liked to wring my neck on Tuesday. I want to return to Ukraine after they sort out my medical problems, but I can’t be sure that that will happen in the 45 days that I have to get well before I get medically separated. I might be saying goodbye to some people for good, and this was the thought that I had when I decided to just go to Language Refresher. I compromised by cutting the Kiev time short by one day. I got to see my peeps and we had a decent time considering there was this thing hanging over the time we had to spend together. Hopefully things will go well in DC and I will make it back post haste. I’m not done with Ukraine yet. It’s funny and very true that you don’t fully appreciate something until you lose it. Crap Ukraine, I don’t want to leave you yet!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Walk Like an Egyptian
What a whirlwind couple of weeks. My vacation was supposed to start with a medical visit to Kiev, broken up by a weekend visit to Kim in Konotop pre-Egypt to break up my appointments. Lucky for me, they changed one of my appointments so that they were both on Monday, so I decided to just head straight to Konotop which is on the way to Kiev for me anyway. It was great to see where Kim lives and to hang with the some of the other PCVs in Konotop. With the latest batch of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteers Konotop now has 6 PCVs in town. Wow. Feeling a little left out in Balakleya where I am the one and only volunteer.
Kim and I made the best of it and managed to pack in a really full weekend. We both got great haircuts and pedicures (for Egypt), hosted a dinner/wine get-together for the lady PCVs in Ktop, got together for another dinner get-together Mexican night, and managed to squeeze in a trip to the banya (sauna) with Kim’s co-workers (which in the end turned out to be one co-worker plus me and Kim. Having not been to the banya since the summer, winter adds a whole new element of fun to the sauna experience. Winter means, running outside and rubbing snow on your body after sitting and sweating in the sauna. Actually, it was pretty fun. I can now kind of understand the Polar Bear Club… kind of. You are so warm from the sauna that you are still hot when you step outside. I’m thinking that the cold water is still a really big shock though.
I took an early train to Kiev on Monday and knocked out my medical crap. Then I just waited for everyone to gather the next day. By the time I was up and ready to go from my hostel, Cassie, Kim and Conor were all at the Peace Corps office. John came a lot later and met us for dinner. We had a family dinner at the Doctor Bar and got a reasonably priced steak (actually it was really cheap, less than 10 bucks). It was surprisingly really good. I will be going back there. The wait staff dresses in dirty nurse costumes and serve shots in little beakers in a basement restaurant that is off the beaten track and something you can only find with really thorough directions from someone in the know. (It’s in a back alley, in a basement, without signage to advertise – nonetheless, the place was packed).
The next day we headed to the airport extremely early to be there for a 6:30am flight. Conor and I managed to get seats in the Emergency Exit Aisle for his long legs, and apparently on Ukrainian flights/airlines there is a lot of clapping. Before the plane even hit the ground in Egypt someone had started off the whole plane clapping. I guess I have become so blaisé about flying that I take it for granted that I am in a gigantic silver tube hurtling through the air and the fact that I land safe and sound in a different destination is a small miracle. Well anyhow, Conor and I got a chuckle from the passionate clapping when we landed. No really, there was some seriously heartfelt clapping going on. And then, Hurghada…
The small back-story about Egypt is that from Ukraine you can get really good all-inclusive package deals to resort destinations such as Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheik (a woman was recently killed by a shark there). For flight, transport from the airport to the resort and back, and all inclusive food and beverage for 8 days and 7 nights we each paid a little more than $500 USD. That’s pretty amazing. So we planned a trip for our cluster to spend Christmas in Egypt. We figured we could use the resort as a base and visit the sites from there. We planned to go to Cairo for a couple of days to see the Pyramids of Giza and then to head to Luxor to hit up the Valley of the Kings and Queens. Kim and I put our heads together pre-trip and decided a flight to Cairo, a night train to Luxor and then a bus back to Hurghada and we would do all this in 3 days. Whirlwind, yes, but then we would have a couple of days at the resort to just chill in the sun before we headed back to the darkness in Ukraine.
The resort was nice enough and we got what we paid for. I really wish I bought some kind of mosquito repellant, because our room was filled with mosquitoes – and these mosquitoes loved them some Amy. Any thing that wasn’t covered by the blanked was covered in bites. I can still hear that traumatic high pitched buzz around my ears… Needless to say, I am very thankful that the mosquitoes were not malarial.
We spent a good day and a half chilling at the resort and the beach in the SUN. Yes, there was SUN in Egypt, unlike Ukraine where the sky is grey and the sun sets at like 4 in the afternoon. The resort had two restaurants and it was buffet-style eating. I have never seen the boys eat so much in the time that I have known them. It was really amazing what they packed away. There was also a couple of bars and alcohol was included in our package, unfortunately, the alcohol was served in tiny 2 ounce plastic cups like the ones that you get at the dentist to swish and spit with… yeah, guess how long a beer lasts in one of those cups? But, they also had hookahs or water pipes that we could smoke depending on what you call them. You get to smoke fruit flavored tobacco sans nicotine. Not bad, it makes for a fun group activity anyhow and oddly enough is really relaxing.
Our flight to Cairo was at 4:45am on Christmas Eve, so the plan was to get to Cairo, find a place to stay and see the pyramids as soon as possible. We were kind of walking around blindly and this guy came up to us around 7am and offered to show us around and brought us to a great locals stand to get an authentic Egyptian breakfast (butter bun with jam, falafel, and pita stuffed with what tasted like refried beans). He took us to a local’s alley to get coffee and eat our breakfast, and then took us to a hotel and helped us get a room. We got a passable room for 20 bucks each that included breakfast. Yes! And then he took us on public transportation to the pyramids. Riding the bus was fun. Apparently tourists don’t do it often, because we had a lot of interesting looks. We stopped off at a papyrus museum where he likely got a cut of whatever profit they made on us, but it was interesting to learn how to make papyrus (the paper that the ancient Egyptians wrote on). Then he dropped us at a place where we could rent camels to ride and get a guide to show us the pyramids. We tipped him handsomely, but really, I thought it was worth it since the breakfast was great, we would have bumbled around for a hotel on our own, and we would likely have taken a cab to the pyramids missing out on the local experience.
Riding a camel is likely a necessary venture if you visit Egypt, but it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Camels smell, they fart a lot, mine was constantly doing the shimmy when we stopped so I had to hold on for dear life, and Conor’s camel bit John. Granted the camel bit John’s cargo pocket on his shorts and technically bit the sunscreen in that pocket, but still, John VanGavree got bit by a camel. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, for me, the camels took away from the fact that we were seeing THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA. I spent a lot of time focusing on staying on my camel since he was a dancer. Thankfully Cassie and Conor took a lot of pictures. I had trouble getting my camera out of my bag since I had to use both hands most of the time to hold on.
The pyramids are huge and awe inspiring. I’ve read the articles in National Geographic and I have seen the photos, but seeing the pyramids with your own eyes is a whole new experience. Spoiler: the Sphinx is not that big. Sure it’s big, but in comparison to the size of the pyramids, it’s just a little thing.
After the pyramids we grabbed a quick snack then headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest, and shower (we all wreaked of camel). After a rest, we ventured out to find a restaurant called Farfalle, which was touted as an old traditional Egyptian restaurant with reliable food and a nice atmosphere. Sold. Christmas Eve dinner should be special. Unfortunately, we had a heck of a time finding it. After wandering around for a half an hour we asked someone and it was just across the street, right in front of us. We had an excellent, if not heavy meal, but we were all exhausted so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and passed out.
On Christmas we slept in, got our free breakfast and then ventured out to the Egyptian Museum and spent the better part of 3 hours looking at artifacts that were found in the tombs. Talk about sensory overload. Our guidebook said that you should try to tackle the museum in two days. I saw everything in 3 hours. Did you know they also mummified animals? Mummified crocodile anyone? After we grabbed some falafel at a local joint, we then happened upon the alley that we ate breakfast at the day before and ordered a hookah and some coffee and sat with the locals. This was pretty awesome. The beer we had at the locals bar after that was also awesome. Then we headed back to the hotel to meet our ride to the train station to catch the night train to Luxor to head to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. (Night train was also awesome).
Luxor was pretty impressive, if not a bit of a blur. It kind of had the feeling of get in this tomb, hit this tomb, get in the van, next tomb, next temple, etc. I definitely saw some cool sights, but I honestly have no idea whose tombs I saw and which temples we visited. Our guide was a bit useless so we gave him the boot once we got our bus tickets back to Hurghada. We ventured off and happened upon a great lunch place. John, Kim and Conor got some awesome meat dish, which I passed on knowing that I had a 6 hour bus ride in my near future. Cassie and I got falafel, which was also awesome, but I kind of wish I got the meat dish. If I could trust my stomach at all, I would have.
Back to the resort and two full days to chill. Beach, pool, sun, relax, read, aahhhh. We did have some thoughts about renting dune buggies and going out on another tour, but at this point we were all toured out so we just chilled. When all was said and done, I read three books. It was great. Leaving Egypt was bitter sweet. I didn’t want to vacation to end, and I certainly did not want to say goodbye to the sun, but at the same time… I was exhausted from all the touts and people harassing you to buy stuff, etc. Strange to say it, but I was kind of excited and relieved when I got back to Ukraine. Great trip, great visuals, great weather, great friends. What more can you ask for… besides an extra couple of weeks in Egypt.
And yes, I did watch Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark when I got back.
Kim and I made the best of it and managed to pack in a really full weekend. We both got great haircuts and pedicures (for Egypt), hosted a dinner/wine get-together for the lady PCVs in Ktop, got together for another dinner get-together Mexican night, and managed to squeeze in a trip to the banya (sauna) with Kim’s co-workers (which in the end turned out to be one co-worker plus me and Kim. Having not been to the banya since the summer, winter adds a whole new element of fun to the sauna experience. Winter means, running outside and rubbing snow on your body after sitting and sweating in the sauna. Actually, it was pretty fun. I can now kind of understand the Polar Bear Club… kind of. You are so warm from the sauna that you are still hot when you step outside. I’m thinking that the cold water is still a really big shock though.
I took an early train to Kiev on Monday and knocked out my medical crap. Then I just waited for everyone to gather the next day. By the time I was up and ready to go from my hostel, Cassie, Kim and Conor were all at the Peace Corps office. John came a lot later and met us for dinner. We had a family dinner at the Doctor Bar and got a reasonably priced steak (actually it was really cheap, less than 10 bucks). It was surprisingly really good. I will be going back there. The wait staff dresses in dirty nurse costumes and serve shots in little beakers in a basement restaurant that is off the beaten track and something you can only find with really thorough directions from someone in the know. (It’s in a back alley, in a basement, without signage to advertise – nonetheless, the place was packed).
The next day we headed to the airport extremely early to be there for a 6:30am flight. Conor and I managed to get seats in the Emergency Exit Aisle for his long legs, and apparently on Ukrainian flights/airlines there is a lot of clapping. Before the plane even hit the ground in Egypt someone had started off the whole plane clapping. I guess I have become so blaisé about flying that I take it for granted that I am in a gigantic silver tube hurtling through the air and the fact that I land safe and sound in a different destination is a small miracle. Well anyhow, Conor and I got a chuckle from the passionate clapping when we landed. No really, there was some seriously heartfelt clapping going on. And then, Hurghada…
The small back-story about Egypt is that from Ukraine you can get really good all-inclusive package deals to resort destinations such as Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheik (a woman was recently killed by a shark there). For flight, transport from the airport to the resort and back, and all inclusive food and beverage for 8 days and 7 nights we each paid a little more than $500 USD. That’s pretty amazing. So we planned a trip for our cluster to spend Christmas in Egypt. We figured we could use the resort as a base and visit the sites from there. We planned to go to Cairo for a couple of days to see the Pyramids of Giza and then to head to Luxor to hit up the Valley of the Kings and Queens. Kim and I put our heads together pre-trip and decided a flight to Cairo, a night train to Luxor and then a bus back to Hurghada and we would do all this in 3 days. Whirlwind, yes, but then we would have a couple of days at the resort to just chill in the sun before we headed back to the darkness in Ukraine.
The resort was nice enough and we got what we paid for. I really wish I bought some kind of mosquito repellant, because our room was filled with mosquitoes – and these mosquitoes loved them some Amy. Any thing that wasn’t covered by the blanked was covered in bites. I can still hear that traumatic high pitched buzz around my ears… Needless to say, I am very thankful that the mosquitoes were not malarial.
We spent a good day and a half chilling at the resort and the beach in the SUN. Yes, there was SUN in Egypt, unlike Ukraine where the sky is grey and the sun sets at like 4 in the afternoon. The resort had two restaurants and it was buffet-style eating. I have never seen the boys eat so much in the time that I have known them. It was really amazing what they packed away. There was also a couple of bars and alcohol was included in our package, unfortunately, the alcohol was served in tiny 2 ounce plastic cups like the ones that you get at the dentist to swish and spit with… yeah, guess how long a beer lasts in one of those cups? But, they also had hookahs or water pipes that we could smoke depending on what you call them. You get to smoke fruit flavored tobacco sans nicotine. Not bad, it makes for a fun group activity anyhow and oddly enough is really relaxing.
Our flight to Cairo was at 4:45am on Christmas Eve, so the plan was to get to Cairo, find a place to stay and see the pyramids as soon as possible. We were kind of walking around blindly and this guy came up to us around 7am and offered to show us around and brought us to a great locals stand to get an authentic Egyptian breakfast (butter bun with jam, falafel, and pita stuffed with what tasted like refried beans). He took us to a local’s alley to get coffee and eat our breakfast, and then took us to a hotel and helped us get a room. We got a passable room for 20 bucks each that included breakfast. Yes! And then he took us on public transportation to the pyramids. Riding the bus was fun. Apparently tourists don’t do it often, because we had a lot of interesting looks. We stopped off at a papyrus museum where he likely got a cut of whatever profit they made on us, but it was interesting to learn how to make papyrus (the paper that the ancient Egyptians wrote on). Then he dropped us at a place where we could rent camels to ride and get a guide to show us the pyramids. We tipped him handsomely, but really, I thought it was worth it since the breakfast was great, we would have bumbled around for a hotel on our own, and we would likely have taken a cab to the pyramids missing out on the local experience.
Riding a camel is likely a necessary venture if you visit Egypt, but it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Camels smell, they fart a lot, mine was constantly doing the shimmy when we stopped so I had to hold on for dear life, and Conor’s camel bit John. Granted the camel bit John’s cargo pocket on his shorts and technically bit the sunscreen in that pocket, but still, John VanGavree got bit by a camel. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, for me, the camels took away from the fact that we were seeing THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA. I spent a lot of time focusing on staying on my camel since he was a dancer. Thankfully Cassie and Conor took a lot of pictures. I had trouble getting my camera out of my bag since I had to use both hands most of the time to hold on.
The pyramids are huge and awe inspiring. I’ve read the articles in National Geographic and I have seen the photos, but seeing the pyramids with your own eyes is a whole new experience. Spoiler: the Sphinx is not that big. Sure it’s big, but in comparison to the size of the pyramids, it’s just a little thing.
After the pyramids we grabbed a quick snack then headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest, and shower (we all wreaked of camel). After a rest, we ventured out to find a restaurant called Farfalle, which was touted as an old traditional Egyptian restaurant with reliable food and a nice atmosphere. Sold. Christmas Eve dinner should be special. Unfortunately, we had a heck of a time finding it. After wandering around for a half an hour we asked someone and it was just across the street, right in front of us. We had an excellent, if not heavy meal, but we were all exhausted so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and passed out.
On Christmas we slept in, got our free breakfast and then ventured out to the Egyptian Museum and spent the better part of 3 hours looking at artifacts that were found in the tombs. Talk about sensory overload. Our guidebook said that you should try to tackle the museum in two days. I saw everything in 3 hours. Did you know they also mummified animals? Mummified crocodile anyone? After we grabbed some falafel at a local joint, we then happened upon the alley that we ate breakfast at the day before and ordered a hookah and some coffee and sat with the locals. This was pretty awesome. The beer we had at the locals bar after that was also awesome. Then we headed back to the hotel to meet our ride to the train station to catch the night train to Luxor to head to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. (Night train was also awesome).
Luxor was pretty impressive, if not a bit of a blur. It kind of had the feeling of get in this tomb, hit this tomb, get in the van, next tomb, next temple, etc. I definitely saw some cool sights, but I honestly have no idea whose tombs I saw and which temples we visited. Our guide was a bit useless so we gave him the boot once we got our bus tickets back to Hurghada. We ventured off and happened upon a great lunch place. John, Kim and Conor got some awesome meat dish, which I passed on knowing that I had a 6 hour bus ride in my near future. Cassie and I got falafel, which was also awesome, but I kind of wish I got the meat dish. If I could trust my stomach at all, I would have.
Back to the resort and two full days to chill. Beach, pool, sun, relax, read, aahhhh. We did have some thoughts about renting dune buggies and going out on another tour, but at this point we were all toured out so we just chilled. When all was said and done, I read three books. It was great. Leaving Egypt was bitter sweet. I didn’t want to vacation to end, and I certainly did not want to say goodbye to the sun, but at the same time… I was exhausted from all the touts and people harassing you to buy stuff, etc. Strange to say it, but I was kind of excited and relieved when I got back to Ukraine. Great trip, great visuals, great weather, great friends. What more can you ask for… besides an extra couple of weeks in Egypt.
And yes, I did watch Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark when I got back.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Saint Nicholas Day
Here are Conor's photos from Saint Nicholas Day. His tutor Marina invited him to attend church for the day. The photos are an interesting example of the Ukrainian Orthodox church culture.
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| St. Nicholas Day |
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Interesting Winter Observation
Slippery walking conditions are a huge problem here in Ukraine during the winter. My guess is that they don't have the resources to put down salt/dirt or shovel in front of businesses to keep the walking paths clean. The obvious issue is that people walk a lot more here than in the United States. So walking from grocery store, to pharmacy, to bank, and back home is completely normal. People kind of plod along lightly and slowly on the ice, bracing themselves for a slip or fall. When it’s slippery and dangerous to be carrying heavy, bulky or just plain awkward packages, Ukrainians don’t carry them. They drag an old school sled with metal runners on it behind them and pile the packages on. Ha, amazing. Picture it, tons of people dragging sleds behind them packed with groceries.
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Somerman
Monday, December 13, 2010
Catching Up
It has been a super long time since I have written. A lot has happened, and I have a lot to catch up on. I don’t think I ever wrote about my amazing hiking trip to Crimea. I think time has given me a more positive perspective of the trip. It was beautiful, extremely beautiful, but also extremely physically challenging on several levels. My bag was too heavy for me to manage with the steep inclines and declines, the food bothered my stomach and made me sick, there were two really annoying teenage boys on the trip, and it was incredibly cold at night. But, on the bright side, I met some amazing people, I survived some daunting physical challenges, I did my very best to maintain patience and understanding, and I got to see a very different region of Ukraine. I think, all in all we hiked between 50 and 60 miles in 10 days. That was a pretty good feet, even more impressive when you consider the extra weight we were carrying on our backs.
November went by pretty fast. There were a few notable things that happened. I have a new friend in Ukraine. One of my students at the Lyceum has sort of taken me under her wing and has been inviting me to walk, or to have tea, or to watch movies. It has been great. She invited me to her very AWESOME 16th birthday party and it was a really memorable day. We met at the train station and took the electrychka 2.5 hours to Kharkov for a really packed day. It was me, two 16 year old girls, a 13 year old girl and my friend’s mom. Her mom actually lives in Kharkov, so I think she came all the way to Balakleya to ride with us on the train to make sure everything went safely. Ukrainians really take care of their own. And I’m glad the mom was there on the train, because of course we were speaking English so the girls could practice and a drunk man came over at a certain point and expressed that he had a problem with us speaking English. He was angry for no reason other than he was worried about foreigners taking over his country. The mom quickly told him off and he soon after got off the train. My Russian isn’t very good, so I don’t know if I would have been able to get rid of him so swiftly and the girls were obviously really uncomfortable with the situation. But in the end, all turned out fine.
Her mom armed us with a pocketful of metro tokens and we were set free in Kharkov on our own. We had lunch at a nice restaurant, then we went bowling, then we met up with the mom for a pizza dinner and cake, and then a dolphin show and a tour of the aquarium. The dolphin show was really something else. Picture a variety show with different dance sequences, singing, gymnastics, some water ballet and then the actual performances with seals, a sea lion and then dolphins. I was really worried ahead of time that it would be horrible, but it was actually really fun. We had a great time and then took a cab back to Balakleya (1.5 hours) with all of us squished into a car. It was great. At a certain point, I asked how old my friend’s mother was since she looked really young. As it turns out, her mom is 4 years older than me. I asked my friend how old she thought I was and she came out with 21 which of course made me laugh. Then 23, then 26, then 28… it took awhile and finally I just told her how old I was. She couldn’t believe it. She really thought I was 21 years old. This I find hilarious. 26, I have heard a lot… but 21? Gee.
I also made a trip to visit Conor in Khartsitsk. This was great, because in addition to seeing Conor and being able to swap movies and TV episodes on our hard-drives (Conor now has high-speed internet that a friend helped him jerry-rig), and finding a great store to buy a pair of Ukrainian jeans, I got to eat pizza at Xar Pizza. Xar pizza is the best pizza we have managed to find thus far in Ukraine, real pizza. (Note: what passes as pizza in Ukraine is often ketchup and mayonnaise instead of tomato sauce and to me is absolutely disgusting). But the real highlight of the trip was when we met with Igor, Marina, and Father Leo for dinner and a movie both Saturday and Sunday nights. Igor and Father Leo were friends we met on the hiking trip. Father Leo’s wife Marina, and their son, Daniel both speak English really well. Marina has taken Conor under her wing and has been tutoring him in Russian, but also teaching him how to cook Ukrainian dishes. Marina is a great cook and only uses natural ingredient in her cooking. She and Father Leo are vegetarians, but she will cook meat for her sons. We always walk out of there absolutely stuffed. One of the nights she introduced us to quail eggs. They are supposedly extremely healthy for you and you should drink them raw. Yes, I drank two raw quail eggs, and you know what? It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually pretty good. Will I go out and purchase quail eggs and drink them raw on my own? No. But I am certainly no longer afraid to drink a raw egg.
The other BIG occurrence in November was Thanksgiving. I decided that I wanted to be wherever Caroline was for Thanksgiving, because Caroline is a great cook. I figured if anyone could pull off a Thanksgiving dinner it was Caroline. And let me tell you, this girl did not disappoint. I had a few things sent from the states like brown sugar, coconut flakes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie spice. We managed to get together almost the whole cluster for a group trip to Lugansk + a handful of PCVs in the area. One of the cool things about this was that Conor, John, Kim and Arden all met up and got on the train in Konotop to head to Lugansk at about 7pm. I got on the same train at around 3:45am. I woke up around 7am to someone poking me in the butt. I thought it might be Conor, but I couldn’t understand why he was up so early. Turns out it was two 12 year old boys in the beds across from me. Jerks. They could have at least waited until 8am to poke me in the butt. Apparently they were part of a large group of young boys, perhaps a sporting team that took up half the train car. After that, I packed up my stuff and went to the next car to have breakfast with the others. When we arrived in Lugansk around 9:30am it was like a real home-coming. Caroline and Wyoming were waiting for us at the station waving their arms around and hooting and hollering at us. It was a great welcome back.
As for Thanksgiving, everybody brought something or contributed a couple bottles of wine. Caroline actually managed to find a turkey. One of the vendors in the market had real turkeys and Caroline was able to ‘order’ a 12 pounder for our Thanksgiving. The turkey took up her whole oven, but it worked. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, I made a family sweet potato dish with pumpkin instead of sweet potatoes (for a country that loves their sweets and potatoes, you would think they have sweet potatoes here, but no), the brown sugar, and the coconut flakes, a few other people contributed some family dishes, Caroline busted out with both an apple and a pumpkin pie. We had a traditional Thanksgiving feast and we had a great time with a great group of people. There were 14 of us, we ate, danced, sang, and laughed. I have to admit it was the best time and a great Thanksgiving with friends and PC family. I hated leaving Lugansk, we had such a blast with each other it would have been great to spend more time, but alas we were all expected back at ‘work’.
December has been barreling through at a fast speed as well. My organization and I have gotten together a project that we have started the grant-writing process for. Our project would be a 3-day intensive volunteer training camp that would train a group of youth volunteers about volunteerism and how to do volunteer projects in their communities. In addition, we have added an element of healthy lifestyles and HIV/AIDS education and awareness. It looks like a great project, hopefully we will get funding. We submitted our draft to Peace Corps last week, the final is due mid-January. So we shall see.
We have started a very important countdown at this point. December 18 marks 6 months at site. So after the 18th, we will have a year and a half to go. But the more important countdown for me and my cluster mates is the countdown to our trip to Egypt. Yep, that’s right, we booked a package trip for a weeklong trip to Egypt for our Christmas. We will be there from the 22nd through the 29th. We’ll get to see the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, but more importantly, we will get to spend the Christian Christmas holiday with good friends/Peace Corps family. I am really looking forward to this.
November went by pretty fast. There were a few notable things that happened. I have a new friend in Ukraine. One of my students at the Lyceum has sort of taken me under her wing and has been inviting me to walk, or to have tea, or to watch movies. It has been great. She invited me to her very AWESOME 16th birthday party and it was a really memorable day. We met at the train station and took the electrychka 2.5 hours to Kharkov for a really packed day. It was me, two 16 year old girls, a 13 year old girl and my friend’s mom. Her mom actually lives in Kharkov, so I think she came all the way to Balakleya to ride with us on the train to make sure everything went safely. Ukrainians really take care of their own. And I’m glad the mom was there on the train, because of course we were speaking English so the girls could practice and a drunk man came over at a certain point and expressed that he had a problem with us speaking English. He was angry for no reason other than he was worried about foreigners taking over his country. The mom quickly told him off and he soon after got off the train. My Russian isn’t very good, so I don’t know if I would have been able to get rid of him so swiftly and the girls were obviously really uncomfortable with the situation. But in the end, all turned out fine.
Her mom armed us with a pocketful of metro tokens and we were set free in Kharkov on our own. We had lunch at a nice restaurant, then we went bowling, then we met up with the mom for a pizza dinner and cake, and then a dolphin show and a tour of the aquarium. The dolphin show was really something else. Picture a variety show with different dance sequences, singing, gymnastics, some water ballet and then the actual performances with seals, a sea lion and then dolphins. I was really worried ahead of time that it would be horrible, but it was actually really fun. We had a great time and then took a cab back to Balakleya (1.5 hours) with all of us squished into a car. It was great. At a certain point, I asked how old my friend’s mother was since she looked really young. As it turns out, her mom is 4 years older than me. I asked my friend how old she thought I was and she came out with 21 which of course made me laugh. Then 23, then 26, then 28… it took awhile and finally I just told her how old I was. She couldn’t believe it. She really thought I was 21 years old. This I find hilarious. 26, I have heard a lot… but 21? Gee.
I also made a trip to visit Conor in Khartsitsk. This was great, because in addition to seeing Conor and being able to swap movies and TV episodes on our hard-drives (Conor now has high-speed internet that a friend helped him jerry-rig), and finding a great store to buy a pair of Ukrainian jeans, I got to eat pizza at Xar Pizza. Xar pizza is the best pizza we have managed to find thus far in Ukraine, real pizza. (Note: what passes as pizza in Ukraine is often ketchup and mayonnaise instead of tomato sauce and to me is absolutely disgusting). But the real highlight of the trip was when we met with Igor, Marina, and Father Leo for dinner and a movie both Saturday and Sunday nights. Igor and Father Leo were friends we met on the hiking trip. Father Leo’s wife Marina, and their son, Daniel both speak English really well. Marina has taken Conor under her wing and has been tutoring him in Russian, but also teaching him how to cook Ukrainian dishes. Marina is a great cook and only uses natural ingredient in her cooking. She and Father Leo are vegetarians, but she will cook meat for her sons. We always walk out of there absolutely stuffed. One of the nights she introduced us to quail eggs. They are supposedly extremely healthy for you and you should drink them raw. Yes, I drank two raw quail eggs, and you know what? It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually pretty good. Will I go out and purchase quail eggs and drink them raw on my own? No. But I am certainly no longer afraid to drink a raw egg.
The other BIG occurrence in November was Thanksgiving. I decided that I wanted to be wherever Caroline was for Thanksgiving, because Caroline is a great cook. I figured if anyone could pull off a Thanksgiving dinner it was Caroline. And let me tell you, this girl did not disappoint. I had a few things sent from the states like brown sugar, coconut flakes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie spice. We managed to get together almost the whole cluster for a group trip to Lugansk + a handful of PCVs in the area. One of the cool things about this was that Conor, John, Kim and Arden all met up and got on the train in Konotop to head to Lugansk at about 7pm. I got on the same train at around 3:45am. I woke up around 7am to someone poking me in the butt. I thought it might be Conor, but I couldn’t understand why he was up so early. Turns out it was two 12 year old boys in the beds across from me. Jerks. They could have at least waited until 8am to poke me in the butt. Apparently they were part of a large group of young boys, perhaps a sporting team that took up half the train car. After that, I packed up my stuff and went to the next car to have breakfast with the others. When we arrived in Lugansk around 9:30am it was like a real home-coming. Caroline and Wyoming were waiting for us at the station waving their arms around and hooting and hollering at us. It was a great welcome back.
As for Thanksgiving, everybody brought something or contributed a couple bottles of wine. Caroline actually managed to find a turkey. One of the vendors in the market had real turkeys and Caroline was able to ‘order’ a 12 pounder for our Thanksgiving. The turkey took up her whole oven, but it worked. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, I made a family sweet potato dish with pumpkin instead of sweet potatoes (for a country that loves their sweets and potatoes, you would think they have sweet potatoes here, but no), the brown sugar, and the coconut flakes, a few other people contributed some family dishes, Caroline busted out with both an apple and a pumpkin pie. We had a traditional Thanksgiving feast and we had a great time with a great group of people. There were 14 of us, we ate, danced, sang, and laughed. I have to admit it was the best time and a great Thanksgiving with friends and PC family. I hated leaving Lugansk, we had such a blast with each other it would have been great to spend more time, but alas we were all expected back at ‘work’.
December has been barreling through at a fast speed as well. My organization and I have gotten together a project that we have started the grant-writing process for. Our project would be a 3-day intensive volunteer training camp that would train a group of youth volunteers about volunteerism and how to do volunteer projects in their communities. In addition, we have added an element of healthy lifestyles and HIV/AIDS education and awareness. It looks like a great project, hopefully we will get funding. We submitted our draft to Peace Corps last week, the final is due mid-January. So we shall see.
We have started a very important countdown at this point. December 18 marks 6 months at site. So after the 18th, we will have a year and a half to go. But the more important countdown for me and my cluster mates is the countdown to our trip to Egypt. Yep, that’s right, we booked a package trip for a weeklong trip to Egypt for our Christmas. We will be there from the 22nd through the 29th. We’ll get to see the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, but more importantly, we will get to spend the Christian Christmas holiday with good friends/Peace Corps family. I am really looking forward to this.
YakTrax
YakTrax are awesome. Recently, I was in Kiev without my YakTrax, the temperature was at freezing and it rained. The rain, of course immediately turned into ice and the sidewalks were just a slick sheet of ice. It wasn't pretty. I am really not sure how I didn't fall. Today as I ventured outside to go to work in a winter wonderland, I thought, wait, YakTrax... and I walked the entire 40 minute walk up and downhill with absolutely no problem. YakTrax give your feet supergripping powers. They will certainly improve my quality life here in Ukraine with the winter just starting to rear it's ugly head.
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