I Shashleeked

So pretty much all my plans for last weekend fell through. First, Yulia's friend ended up in the hospital so needless to say, we didn't go out. Here, so far as I can tell, being in the hospital isn't as big of a deal. In the states, people tend to go to the hospital for critical/serious conditions. Here people tend to go to the hospital for less critical reasons. Jennifer's host-sister had a bad cold earlier in the year and she spent two nights there. One of my students was in the hospital on Tuesday and back at school on Wednesday.

I had also planned to go hiking last Sunday, but that didn't work out either. The volunteer organizing the event decided she didn't want to go, so the rest of us didn't go. Instead of spending orthodox easter hiking, I hung out with Klitchko, took a walk, napped and read my Bible. It was a rather nice day. Monday was a holiday as well, (though I never work mondays so every monday is a holiday to me) and I went to Vinnystia and hung out with some volunteers there. In the middle of Vinnystia is a park that is basically a huge forest. We went into the forest and "shashleeked." We walked for about 30 minutes until we found a patch of flat ground. There we built a fire (no permit required!) and roasted sausages and chicken. We picniced and drank some beer and generally enjoyed nature's beauty. (My kid's always say, I like the nature, and I just nearly wrote that we enjoyed the nature's beauty. Yikes! What's happening to my English?)

Wednesday was the anniversary of Chornobyl. Here it is a day to remember the victims and the tragedy as well as a day to be prepared in case such a thing were to ever happen again. I believe Larissa translated it as Civil Defense Day. I didn't have the 5th or 6th lessons Wednesday because the kids had a special schedule. First they had a special lesson on how to act in a disaster. They practiced bandaging each other up, walking in an orderly fashion and even putting on gas masks. (Though I don't know where they'd get these gas masks in a real emergency). Then the students had a concert assembly where select students read poetry and sang songs in rememberance of Chornobyl's victims.

I had a shortened day on Wednesday because of the special schedule. Sasha, my favorite cohort, invited me to go to the forest with him and another teacher. First we went to this teacher's house. He lived in a village about 10 minutes away. Then we walked 20 minutes to the nearby forest. There we gathered leaves from the forest floor, leaves that I later used in a SALAD! My first salad since leaving the states! Wait, that's not true, I did pay a pretty penny for a salad in Kiev a few weeks back...

After we gathered leaves, we roasted some sausages and ate hotdogs. Then we went back to the teacher's house, or rather, his small farm. I have to say, being in the village really made me appreciate the fact that I don't live in a village! The teacher sent me home with a big bag of apples from his trees, apples which I've been thouroughly enjoying.

Who knows what this weekend holds. A bunch of volunteers are coming to Bar. They are volunteers from Jennifer's group. We're trying to plan a day trip to this small town that has an old castle, but so far we're running into some transportation issues. Like most things in Ukraine, we probably won't know if our plans will work until the very last moment.

Should I get Another?

Last week I got my cat, Klitchko. He's small but extremely feisty. Perhaps I shouldn't have named him after a boxer. His fur is black with dark brown streaks in it and his eyes are a blueish grey color. He is very good company. Now I'm thinking that maybe I need to get another cat to keep him company while I'm at school. Am I crazy?

The weather has fluctuated between being really nice and being down-right dreary all week. Today the weather has been pretty nice. I took my 9th form to the park for our lesson. We talked about Earth Day and about the environment. We discussed the problems of pollution in their river and all the trash in their park. The kids see the problems, and they talk about how they'd like their park to be litter free and how they'd like to be able to swim in their river, but they don't think that anything will make a difference. There really is a huge trash problem here. The streets, the parks, everywhere is full of trash.

One reason is that there are so few trash cans, but the other-- and the main reason really -- is that everyone thinks the trash is someone else's problem. Nobody thinks that things would change so they don't even try. My kids told me that even if they picked up the trash, somebody would just throw more on the ground. One of my 8th formers said, "Things will only change when the culture changes." A rather profound statement from a 13-year-old. And it's true, I can teach the kids about the dangers of polluted rivers and about clean air and about why it's bad to burn trash-- especially plastic bottles -- but my lessons aren't going to change the culture. And when it comes to environmental problems facing Ukraine, it's the culture that needs to change. As I walked to the internet cafe today, a car passed me and the driver threw a fist-full of trash out the window. Right in front of me. No shame in it at all.

This Sunday is Orthodox Easter Sunday. I am planning on going to the town of Nemiroff to visit some volunteers and to take a nice day hike. Hopefully the weather will hold up. Even if it doesn't, it's always nice to see other volunteers. On Friday, I'm going out with Yulia. Her best friend is home for Easter from the University in Kiev. We're going to go to the club 'Marafone'. The first time I went to 'Marafone', I was wearing my black pants and a black hoodie and I was horrified to find that the club was entirely lit by black lights. I was the lintiest person for miles around. I doubt I would have been more speckled if I had rolled around on a dirty carpet. I won't be making that mistake again.

Tomorrow I get my cat! (I think)

Today Larissa instructed her 9th form students to bring their kittens to school tomorrow so I can choose a cat. I'm very, VERY excited about finally getting my little Vitally Klitchko, as I've decided to name him. (In honor of the champion Ukrainian boxer who ran for Mayor of Kiev in this last election.) I've spent the afternoon searching Bar high and low for cat litter. I know I can get it in Vinnystia, but I've yet to be able to locate it here.

Classes were only 30 minutes today because today the students did spring cleaning at the school. They cleaned both the outside and the inside of the school top to bottom. I didn't participate in the great spring cleaning. I was told to go home and take a rest.

On Saturday I went to Kiev and met a bunch of my friends. We rented an apartment not far from the center of the city. Then we spent the day pretending we were in America. We went to the underground mall that has shops like Puma and Adidas and Timberland; I bought a bag full of gummy snacks from a candy stand; we ate small cups of Baskin Robbins ice-cream from the food court; I enjoyed a burger and had a salad WITH REAL LETTUCE!! for dinner; it was incredible. It was nice to explore Kiev as a tourist with my friends. It was the first time I'd ever been to the city for myself and not for some sort of peace corps business.

I came back home on Sunday. I caught the one o'clock train from Kiev to Vinnystia. It was a beautiful train ride. I'd never seen the country-side between here and Kiev before because I'd either traveled at night or with people who didn't open the curtain on the train; but this time I sat right by the window and stared out the whole time. It's amazing to travel out of Kiev, where there is every modern convenience imaginable and to pass through small villages where people live off the land and get around on carts pulled by horses. There's such a broad spectrum of the way lives are led here.

The bus ride back to Bar was funny. A young mother sat next to me. She had her infant son in one arm and bags of goods in the other. Attatched to her baby's wrist was a HUGE dalmation balloon. It was probably four times the size of her baby. As she sat down next to me, the balloon bonked me in the head repeatedly making a hallow thumping noise. We laughed because it was funny. Then the static of the balloon kept drawing out strands of my hair so that it looked like I'd rubbed the balloon on my head and purposefully made myself look like Albert Einstein. Then, halfway to Bar, the balloon popped. It was loud and made a woman in the back of the bus squeal. The driver screetched to a stop thinking he'd hit something. The mother apologized, turned beat red and started whispering condolences to her baby-- as if he'd even remember ever having a huge dalmation balloon tied to his wrist.

It's All So Lovely

Today it is sunny and the sky is blue and the breeze is slight and I'm the happiest I've ever been in Ukraine. Mostly this is because I'm finally living in my own apartment, though the nice weather helps too.

I moved into my apartment last Friday. I had LOTS of bags of stuff. Somehow, I've managed to aquire even more stuff -- mostly books and manuals -- since coming to Bar. My coordinator said she found a car that could drive my stuff the few blocks to my new home. I packed my bags with that in mind. They were all pretty damn heavy. Then, Friday morning, the plans changed. Instead of a car and the three or four older men who were going to move me, Sasha (english teacher at my school) suggested that he get some students to move my stuff.

Now, in America, a teacher could not just volunteer his students to move someone's stuff in the middle of the school day. In America, it would require permission slips and probably district approval. Not so here. Here, it's okay to enslave students. So at 11:00, I went back to Katia's house and got everything in order and by the door. Then, around 11:30, a small army of boys came to move me. Sasha had recruited 15 or so boys from the 9th, 10th and 11th forms. They took all my bags. The only thing I ended up moving was my purse. It was a spectacle as my small battalion of porters marched my many, many bags across town. People stopped and watched us. I heard lots of comments like, "There goes the American" and "Moving the American" and even just "Americanka."

My apartment is pretty nice. I had to do some deep cleaning in the kitchen and in the bathroom, but other than that, the place is in good condition. I'm subleting it from a woman who moved back in with her parents. She left a lot of stuff and by stuff I mean crap. There are cupboards upon cupboards full of empty plastic beer bottles, jars, caps, ratty magazines from 5 years ago, and knicknacks galore. Knicknacks are really big here. So are ugly, florecent, fake flowers. The first thing I did was box up all the fake flowers and weird trinkets she'd left out for my enjoyment. Then I took all the freaky stuffed animals she'd left displayed in the bedroom and put them in the spare room.

Dave came to visit last Saturday. We had a lot of fun while he was here. We did a lot of cooking. We made pizza dough and baked veggie pizzas, we made tortillas and had fajitas, we baked chocolate chip cookies, it was a good time. Jennifer's family had us over for dinner one night. Jennifer's host father loved Dave. After dinner, everyone played music. Olya, Jennifer's host sister, played a few songs on the piano, Adriy, her host brother, played a song on his guitar, Jennifer's host father (who has a name but I've only ever heard him called Papa so I don't know it) played the accordion and the guitar and Dave impressed them all by playing a few tunes on his trumpet. It was a really great time.

Dave left on Wednesday. On Friday, Jennifer and I took the train to Kiev and then the bus to Zhetomer to visit some other volunteers. There was a national English competition last week so a lot of volunteers were in Zhetomer to work as judges. I met a lot of people from group 27 (I'm 29). On Saturday night, we all went out dancing. It was fun to be out with Americans. We all got pretty drunk. We danced a lot, racked up an enormous tab and stumbled home around 3:30 in the morning. It too was a good time.

Tomorrow it's back to school. Only two more months until summer. I'm excited about summer. There'll be a lot I can do with Jennifer's family: dig potatoes, garden, pick fruits, walk the cows in the village. Things are starting to turn green and thaw. The country side is so beautiful. I'd never noticed it before because it's been covered in snow since I arrived here. Between Bar and Vinnystia, there is nothing but rolling hills, small forests, small farms and orchards. It's all really very lovely.