potatoes!

In September my school gave me about 50 kilos of potatoes. 50 kilos... 100lbs? i think... anyways its alot. Now winter has hit and veggies and fruits here are at a minimum. That combined with my extreme laziness and i think you can guess what i eat for dinner every night!

You know the scene in Forest Gump when Buba is talking about all the things you can do with shrimp? Ive always thought that potatoes are the shrimp of the veggie world, yet i still find myself only eating maybe 3 variations of potatoes. 1. mashed. 2. roasted 3. boiled.

Why am i devoting so much space to potatoes? some deep, thoughtful metaphor, right? that maybe just maybe potatoes represent more than just what i eat for dinner every night. That potatoes represent Ukraine and why ive come here and what im doing, and overcoming?

......... no. i just eat a lot of potatoes.

As promised here is a pic. We made these for thanksgiving at Caitlyn's. Can you guess which one is mine?

This weekend i "rearranged" some furniture in my room and i feel revitalized! 

i dont know what happened to november. it was here and gone before i realized it. I have a post written about Budapest but ill wait til i can upload it with pics and then there is thanksgiving too! 

ive discovered a favorite ukrainian candy and also that i have the ability to skype! pretty good things for the cold dark winter nights that have descended. 

the semester is over in less than 3 weeks and that seems crazy to me. im approaching my 9th month in Ukraine and i feel like i just got here. The next group of volunteers get to site in a few weeks and i will no longer be a newbie. I will be expected to actually know how things work here...though i dont think that will ever happen. 

i think every time i post something i say something to the effect that ill try and be better about posting. but... i dont really think that will happen.  

so heres to potatoes, positive attitudes, and 2012! 

im not doing so well at this updating thing.
here is my new and improved vow make updating this a regular event!
here here!

so since school has started i have actually been busy! go figure! the summer me would have never thought the day would come where i would actually have things to do!!

my school bus

my school schedule is set and i am teaching 18 hours a week. it doesnt sound like a lot but when you add prep time it for sure adds up. and technically i am suppose to have 3 hours a club a week and i havent really started that yet. im hoping to at the beginning of nov ( after fall break). I have actually tried to start a teachers english club but no one comes :( its very sad.  for the most part the kids are good. perhaps not totally motivated but overall pretty well behaved. i, of course, have had the occasional cussing, which i dont even think they really know what it means, but i am trying to nip that in the bud. the kids, i think, are warming up to me. they see me around school and they stop and say hi, or good morning, even if its 2 in the afternoon.

i told them to work in groups...hmm.....

also last week i did my first project. oct 16 is world food day so with the help of my lovely vanessa i signed my school up for hike4hunger! (hike4hunger.org) pretty much you raise the awareness of world hunger through all different activities and of course, with a hike! We had a lesson all about the causes and effects of hunger, who and where are most affected, how everyone can make a difference! Ukraine actually has a history with famine so the kids know all about that. the hike organizers sent us a banner, these cool necklaces, and a disposable camera ( which i dont think my counterpart had even seen before!). after the lesson we had our hike which was to a park in a neighboring village. we even caught the eye of some locals who offered us money for our cause. i thought it was a nice gesture :) all and all i think it was a good first project, with this hike we are also in the running to win some money from the company who sponsors the event. that would be amazing and my school would definitely put that money to good use!


oh and ive also started a pen pal project with a friend/pcv in Peru! im really excited to have my kids make new friends in new places! i think it will be awesome :)

my weekends have been busy too.

i went to kyiv the last weekend in sept for a working group meeting. its like a focus group/club for volunteers that deal with important subjects in Ukraine and for our projects. since people come from all over the country and that can take hours and hours some volunteers rent apartments for the weekend. so i stayed in one with about 18 other volunteers. let me recap for you one of the most interesting events of the weekend:

3 am on sunday morning. the apartment is quiet, filled with sleeping volunteers. suddenly there are loud crashes and bangs. then silence. then what sounds like water.
" what are you doing?"
"dont worry about it go back to sleep"
"no what the fuck are you doing? you are peeing on the floor!"
" dont worry about it, its been decided. there is a meeting"
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? YOU JUST SHIT ON THE FLOOR!"
"its ok its ok go back to sleep"

so that happened. somehow it got cleaned up with minimal yelling. and you thought pc volunteers were classy?

the next weekend was jewish new year and some fellow volunteers planned an amazing event in Dnepropetrovsk. its a huge city about 12 hours from me so i hopped on the train fri night and woke up there. there was food, people and a nice walk to the river to boot! i was told that there was boba in this city, and i would be lying if that wasnt a main reason for me going, you know besides all the jewish stuff and whatnot. so we find the stand and just when we head over there they are out of the bubbles. it was rough. i was heartbroken. but really it was nothing a few shot of vodka couldnt fix. to top off the night we went bowling and im going to brag or anything but if anyone of you out there has seen me bowl than you know what i bring to the table and lets just say i brought it.


the next weekend a fellow volunteer in my oblast had arranged a 527 project. in ukraine the problem of human trafficking is pretty big. people get trafficked many different ways and many of them are preventable. there is a free number here (527) and people can call it when they are applying for jobs abroad, study abroad, or pretty much anything else that might take a person out of the country. they can check to make sure the company is legit and safe. so we had the seminar and then we hit the streets to educate the people!! after that was done i stayed in the city for the night with some friends and got the see the biggest fountain in europe! holla! it has lights and music and even a lazer or two. jealous?

last weekend i stayed home and did nothing. which was fabulous. i got to sleep and read and watch movies. its getting really cold ( in the 30's) so ive plugged in my heater and put on the layers.

next week is fall break and i have a week off! yay!!! myself and 3 other volunteers are heading to budapest! i am so excited! 1. i get to travel on trains with people! i have thus far only traveled solo. 2. i get to leave the country!! 3. i am staying in a hostel so i get to take actual showers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4. and you know i get to see budapest which im sure is lovely.

notice one of the main ingredients. appetizing no?

so thats about everything. oh to prepare me for the winter my school decided to give me some potatoes. and by some i mean.....50 kilos. yea. i will never have to buy potatoes ever. in fact if you need any potatoes let me know.

i am helping prepare some kids for the olympiads. the olympiads are similar to academic decathlons... i think... but they are a huge deal here. schools pride themselves if they have a student that does well and they will talk about it forever.

but as i was saying..

i am helping prepare some kids. and today we were working on an essay question. the question was something like pretend the fountain of youth was discovered and you could have any notable person live forever. who would you pick, why and what do you think the consequences would be.

my kids top choices for everlasting life were: Da Vinci, Shakespear, Aristotle, and Michael Jackson.

hmmm.

lets be real.

i had a whole different post up here before. i want this blog to be completely honest. not really for anyone but myself. I have a journal that i write in and im more candid there but i also want this space to be true to my experiences. when im having a great time i want it to show and when things are hard i want it to show too. up til now i dont think it does. granted i dont update all that often but still. so..

lets be real

and

lets keep it real. 

ive been at site for almost 3 months, and they have been difficult. sometimes really difficult. im really good at finding excuses as to why im not exactly happy here. sometimes they feel like real strong valid reasons and other times they feel like weak excuses. really though perhaps im just lonely and all those other reasons/excuses are just more concrete things to focus on. im hoping with school starting and my schedule getting busier ill be able get past these feelings and start to focus on my work and start enjoying my time here more. I know I'll be at the year mark, and at close of service before I know it. My friend received a letter from a volunteer in Morocco during our training and it was a list of things to remember everyday to keep you sane. The thing that stuck out the most to me was owning your feelings. so much is going on constantly here/as a volunteer that your feeling/emotions are not so stable. He told her to identify exactly what you are feeling and own it. Don't feel bad because you are not enjoying every second, or that you are frustrated with something, etc. Own it. So thats what im trying to do. Own it so that I can get past it. 

***********

School. 

i've officially been a teacher for a whole week now. im just doing observations for the first 2 weeks but its still exhausting. exhausting and confusing. the schedule seems to change everyday. my classes are small for the most part. I think the biggest class is 16. and the smallest is 6. im excited for those small classes. The kids seem somewhat timid at the moment but i know that wont last. ive also found a russian tutor so hopefully soon the language barrier between us will be very small. I also get free lunches at school! It will def be a help in saving my pennies for future travel. 

some of my students made me this card! i also got flowers on friday. i guess i now know who my favorites are. i also now know im married. thats my married name. 

I have more pictures of my classroom but ill post those next time. 

pictures!

i am lucky enough to have a friend who is willing to share her amazing internet with me. so i am taking advantage and posting some pictures while i can! just some from the summer.

here we go!

swearing in! this is my counterpart ill be working with for the next 2 years! say hello to the english department at school #2!

on my 3rd day at site my counterpart, her husband, a volunteer in the next town, and i ventured to this river! how pretty!

here is a picture of the house building project i volunteered at! all that work there? yea, not me.

one day at the house some of the americans decided to make vereniky! ( a delicious ukrainian dumpling like food.) we made at least 100!

here is picture of the protest in kyiv. ( wrote about it in the last entry)

While Kristin's boyfriend was visiting from the states I went over and we made burritos!!! any mention of any kind of mexican food gets me all excited. there were avocados, salsa and real tortillas! they were amazing. and obviously i used my coho skills to show them how to properly wrap a burrito. see i learned something in college.

heres some pics of my current room. look you can see me in the mirror!!

Bratslav day!! the sign reads Bratslav, city of Cossack glory. and there is a male singing group. traditional ukrainain clothes.

heres my future classroom! where i will mold the minds of Ukraine's youth.



here was the bulk of independence day activities i saw.

random selection, i know but ive been bad at taking pictures. im going to make an honest effort to take more! i promise!

5 months!

i think about updating this blog alllll the time. its true. but something happens between the thoughts in my head and typing on this webpage and pressing publish. its probably just my busy and exciting life of moving back and forth from my bed to my everything else table.....

to recap:

JUNE

mid month we left our training sites and headed to kyiv for swearing in! the lights and glamour of the big city! where we would find out our permanent sites and finally, and officially become volunteers. after a week of meetings and seminars we left kyiv for our sites!

* so because my blog is not password protected ( i could do that but i dont really want to) i cannot be as candid as I may want. i will try my best to "keep it real" though most likely anyone who is super interested already knows my feelings on most things.*

that week was chaotic. saying goodbye to people that i had come to know and see on a daily basis and head to a place where i knew only my counter part which i had just met. i cant say i was ecstatic. but this is what i signed up for. we found out some small details before we left about our town, our schools, and our living situations. i got a granny. and a room. can you tell how happy i was?

the rest of june i spent with my counterpart at her secondary job ( a private english language school) and in my town. if my internet wasnt super slow i would post pics. when/if i get faster internet i will.

JULY

i had spent the last 2 weeks of june just sitting around my town with not much to do and with no one to do it with so i decided to go to camps. this is what i really wanted to do all summer. i love summer camps! anyone who knows me knows that. so i found one that needed people. it was on the black sea outside Odessa. I was super excited. i went and stayed for a week and had a nice time. met lots of new volunteers and international students. got to play on the beach ( black sea!) and in a pool!!!! and got nice and tan :) following my week at camp i decided to explore Odessa with some fellow volunteers. we found a hostel ( very nice!) and explored the city and the beaches! (more black sea!) went to the biggest bazaar everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, slipped on some steps ( not the famous ones but got the biggest blackest bruise on my booooooty ever!) made burritos, and found the costco of ukraine. i was suppose to leave on a tuesday night overnight train but as would happen in most fiction novels to the young, naive narrator i got on the wrong bus, got lost in Odessa at midnight and missed my train but mere moments when i did get to the train station. of course i was out of money and had to rely ( and thank goodness they were still there) on the other volunteers to loan me some monies so i could take the same train the next night. this was of course after spending the night in the train station, alone, with some locals. best. sleep. ever....

i got home, finally, after making it on my train, and had time to arrange my next trip. another volunteer found an org that was building a house in a small village in the eastish/central ukrainian hillside and was looking for volunteers. so we went. i took a train the next day to meet up with the other volunteers going in southish central ukraine and the next day we took a 7 hour bus, well minivan to the closest big city and took another 2 hour bus to the village. i wish again i could post pics for you because the country side where this "building" adventure took place was gorgeous. so green and lush. hills, and orchards, and cows and a little pond. we stayed there 2 weeks and we helped in the garden, somewhat on the house, and buying the daily milk from the lady with the cows next store. imagine no plumbing, fresh food, camp fires, and pretty good company. oh and a million mosquitos. but that was just an added bonus. plus crazy kitties.

AUGUST

after more eventful train rides i made it home again with one day to spare before i was to be off to Kyiv for a training with my counterpart. so by this point i had only been in my town for about...3 weeks after being "at site" for almost 7. but as a TEFL volunteer thats what summers are like. the general thinking here is that you are a teacher and its summer. you should be off on holiday. so. off is where i went. also after about almost 4 weeks not at site i hadnt really done laundry. thats a lot of dirty clothes.

the next morning my couterpart and i headed to kyiv, a day early, for our training. we arrive after a 5 hour bus ride and i meet my roommate who is from the group before me. we venture into the city to find some protests ( we were going to shop, of course). If you have been keeping up with your Ukrainian politics which i know you have you know that the protests are about a former politician who is being put on trial for corruption but she has admitted to the charges and has gained more fans/followers because of it. thats all ill say about the actual situation, im not an expert so i dont want to give out inaccurate info. the protests seemed tame at first. just some speeches and flags. as we were leaving though the police came out in full force and the yelling got louder and the crowds seem to double if not triple. i have pics of that too but you know, when i get better internet...blah blah.

the week in kyiv, the training, was pretty informative, we got a free flash drive! thanks pc, us gov't, and of course the us taxpayer! it was really nice to see volunteers and be together and hang out. obviously, it was quite tame, we are americans afterall.

ive been back at site for almost a week. i went to visit mila in the oblast center and kristin in her town ( we made burritos! totally used my coho skills) and kristin and john came to see my town. i gave them the tour....

ive met some more teachers and we had a meeting. sunday is our town day so that will be interesting and wednesday is independence day! we start school on the 1st and after that i should be pretty busy.

i still have my fingers crossed about a place of my own and hopefully once school starts and people are back in town ill meet some more people. it always takes me awhile to get settled in a place so i know how i feel right now isnt permanent. i have lots of plans for the next 22 ( less than!) months that im pretty excited about so we will see.

this has been a pretty long update. hopefully i will be better and update more and hopefully ill have some more exciting things to share. if my life gets too exciting i may just have to put up that password....

OH! and i gotten my first care packages and they have been amazing! i have awesome friends and family. the ladies at the post office know me and have been super nice about holding my packages. i think i should get them some chocolate.