Winter is here!

Well, winter has finally come to Ukraine and I am delighted. I was starting to worry that we wouldn't get any significant snow this year, but we finally did. And everyone is thrilled. School this week has been excellent because my students, my fellow teachers and I have all been in great moods. In fact, so far as I can tell, the only one not enjoying the snow is Klitchko -- and that's just because he doesn't appreciate the piles of it on the balcony.

I got back to Bar from my ukrainian language classes on Saturday. I had a good time visiting with some American friends I hadn't seen in a long time. We hung out in the evenings drinking bear and playing games. One night we played a pretty "wild" game of Scattegories. I mean, after I caught myself screaming "HEIFER! HEIFER! HEIFER!" I had to put myself to bed. Like I said, it was pretty wild.

I continue to be happy with my language progression, so that's good. When I was on the bus leaving Bar to get to Kiev (via Vinnystia), a woman asked if anyone was going to Vinnystia. Without really thinking, I opened my big mouth and said, "I am!" This invited a more complicated conversation than I expected and resulted in me chaperoning the woman's 7 year old daughter to the Vinnystia bus station.

For most of the trip, I was under the impression that she was meeting family at the bus station. This was not the case. What I'd in fact agreed to do was help her buy a ticket to a village town, wait for the bus with her, and then make sure she was seated and safetly on her way. Now normally, this wouldn't have been a stressful situation, but I was under a pretty tight schedule to catch my train. Plus I could barely pronounce the name of the podunk village she needed to get to. In the end, I got her on her bus, caught my own train with minutes to spare and learned a valuable lesson: just because I understand, doesn't mean I need to talk.

In other news, I've been dating my friend Roma since I got back from America. Thus far our courtship, and I like to call it a courtship because he always insists on carrying my bags, has mostly consisted of evenings at the gym playing basketball. I did however, recently get myself invited to his house for dinner where I met both his parents. They were really nice. His mom cooked all my favorite Ukrainian dishes and then spent most of the evening telling me to eat more. A very Ukrainian (female) thing to do. And as for his father, well, I had a hard time understanding what he said because he barely moved his lips when he spoke. This, I have found, is also a very Ukrainian (male) thing to do.

His parents were very eager to speak with me, though they didn't always understand what I said. Many times I would say something, they wouldn't understand, Roma would repeat the exact same thing I'd said, and they'd get it. Then they'd make comments like, "You understand her Ukrainian." And he'd say, "Well, I've been listening to it for over a year."

Perhaps the highlight of the evening was the rousing rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that I sang for them simply because they asked. I don't really know what got into me, maybe national pride? maybe the hope of another invite? maybe the desire to use my vibrato? Regardless, I was a hit. And I did land another invite, so I guess it worked.

***

If the weather stays cold and it snows a little bit more between now and Saturday, my friends and I are going to go skiing in the forest. I have my figures crossed that we get to go, because I missed the ski trip last year, but we'll have to wait and see. Regardless, three cheers for winter...