all vows annulled

i started  a post that was meant to be super reflective and thoughtful. but i found i just couldnt get anywhere. these high holidays have been probably some of, if not the most, meaningful yet. i think this past year might have been too. i just find myself taking things in with more thought and consideration. and even simply just knowing more about who i am and my surroundings. i am figuring out what it means when people say they know themselves and what they want. it makes it much easier to approach things with more sincerity and compassion. i hope that this next year is filled with blessings, friendship, love, kindness, and thoughtfulness. i want this year to be filled with completed goals, and aims met. to be who i can so that i can do all i can.

no mass apologies.and lets be real. its insincere.
gmar chatima tova!

The ReReturn

11 months later and here I am.
Post PC
Post COS Travels.

some plans in the work. I will update later. I will be a better blogger. I will. I will. I will.

summer summary

summer came and went this year, in fact sept is pretty much over. please dont take my absence of posts as abandonment, take it as me living up my last summer in ukraine!

JUNE


as soon as school ended i packed a bag and headed to lugansk ( far east, read: russia) a good friend of mine lives there and we never get to see each other because we are so far so i took the opportunity to help her with her camp and see the east. even though i technically live in central ukraine it still took about 24 hours (2 buses and 2 trains) to get to her. 

The east is a crazy place. its really quite strange to hear and see all the signs in russian. the language issue is a big deal here and coming from somewhere where most people are pro ukrainian, it gives you a whole new perspective.


after Kristin's camp i headed to kyiv to meet up with 5 lovely ladies to head to Croatia (via budapest)!!!! we trained the whole way. so round trip thats a total of 10 trains and 2 ferries for a total travel time of about.... 70 hours. whoa.

budapest: since most of us had been to budapest before we took advantage of the awesome city and pretty much just ate delicious food: thai food. mexican food. cantaloupe. CHEETOS! amazing.

after 2 nights in budapest we headed to croatia. croatia is beautiful. beautiful nature, beautiful people, beautiful food. beautiful.  we saw the capital, zagreb, split, and the island hvar. pretty much croatia consisted of beach time, food time, and sunshine. perfect.
                          people complain about the trains in ukraine but they actually have beds to sleep on. on our over night train in croatia it was 5 grown ladies, in a 6 person sitting compartment. it was pretty miserable. someone even slept on the floor. i will never say anything negative about ukrainian trains again. not even when its 100+ degrees, no one will open a window, and you are surrounded by drunk smelly people. NEVER.

sangria in a fish bowl!

in split we rented an apartment. it had tv, internet, ac, hot water, and best of all washing machine and dryer! i got to wash my clothes (not by hand!!!) for the first time in 14 months. that could have possibly been the highlight of the trip.....

                                               

the last week in june was the first ( hopefully to be annual) vinnytska oblast camp. we held it in tyvriv at Caitlyn's site and it was a huge success. we had campers from all over our oblast and awesome counselors. we had different themed days and most importantly the kids loved it. 

JULY

MARIA!!! my first visitor!!! for 2 weeks in july i got to show off my lovely ukraine. our route: kyiv, lviv, my site, crimea, kyiv. i tried to show her a little bit of everything to get a taste of real ukraine and i think i did it. from homemade borsch, to the black sea, to a ukraine summer camp. it was great and she handled all of the quirks that make ukraine, ukraine quite nicely :)

dont say everything you know, but know everything you say.
mighty fine soviet wisdom.

                                             

        After Maria left I headed to the west for the first of 2 Camp Unitys . This camp is part of the multicultural awareness council here in ukraine ( PCV run). this camp was all about, as im sure you can guess, multiculturalism!!  the camp was great. super interesting lessons, awesome guests, and beautiful surroundings! 

we made pinatassssss!

one of the major successes of the west camp was getting the kids to stand in a straight line while waiting for their food!! patience and lines are not so big here so trust when i say it was a success and worth a picture!

AUGUST

In the beginning of August i did the second Camp Unity in the east. this camp, as its west counterpart, was a great success. we were lucky enough to have some special guests. Ukraine actually has a good amount of refugees and we invited 2 teenagers to come and be campers at our camp. it was great for the ukrainian campers and i think great for them too. outside of big cities here you dont see much diversity so it was a good opportunity for the kids to meet kids their own age of different backgrounds.

I went to my region center for Ukrainian Independence Day. One of the volunteer's org wanted to celebrate American style. So she had them play kickball and have a hot dog eating contest!! you might not be able to tell from the picture but those hot dogs and buns were HUGE. they were also covered in ketchup and mayo.

When I got back to site I went straight to a camp my counterpart was working at. a true ukrainian "rest" summer camp. she tried to have as much english there as possible and we played american games and taught them how to much friendship bracelets. spreading the fb loveeeeeeeeee. 

                                         one last trip to the river and that ends out my summer.

in pictures

school is done, my grants are submitted and here i am with 3 days with a short to do list before i start my summer adventures. ive been lacking pictures lately so here are some from the last few months. 

THINGS I SAW WITH MY EYES. 

 in the beginning of may i went on this amazing jewish tour of bratslav. i knew there was a rich history but it blew my mind. this is part of the old jewish cemetery. 

 my lovely easter paska (easter bread) clearly my love for icing and sprinkles couldnt wait til after i took a picture.

 the lovely spread for our passover seder

happy bday kristin! cake from a box and icing from a can! delicious! oh and a shot of whiskey. pretty much america. 

 we had a miss school pageant. with 3 contestants. and 1 of their tasks was sewing a button...

a view from my friend cait's site. 

 11th form graduation. they dance with their parents/teachers. 

the beautiful park in uman 

 i got my kids to do an art exchange with kids from all over the world. we sent in 25 pieces about ukraine and then we will receive 25 pieces from kids all over the world! i just got our art. and i appreciate the thank you on the envelope :)

 most of my lovely ladies from the 5th form

 the 2nd form at the orphanage........i think about 24 students....

 .... compared to the 2nd form at school #2. ...  

 last bell! the lovely 4th formers... moving up to the big time!

 the 9th formers at last bell. you can leave school after 9th or 11th form

 this is puppy dog ( he doesnt speak english dont worry about it) hes my landlady's dog. he might be the sweetest pup ever. he walks me to school, the bus stop, and the shop. he even gives me hugs. 

home sweet home

some lovely flowers i got from students at last bell

and probably the cutest 3 year old ive ever met. a student's little sister. she even calls me ms. elyse. and she gives me her cherry pits. 

may 9th is victory day. the day the soviets beat the nazis. our very own bratslavian veteran!

 my 7th form boys!

 my first time fishing! some of those fishies in there are mine!! 

right after i posted about march and april i knew i left something out. but i couldnt put my finger on it. it bothered me for a second. then it came to me a few days later. march marked my 1 year anniversary in ukraine. i couldnt believe that i forget that. it did and still does seem like such a landmark. since being here i feel like i have a lot more landmarks/milestones/time markers then before. Every month is an x month anniversary, every week feels like more than just a week. i have activities scheduled months in advance, just because thats how it has to be done. people are busy, start booking. there is always something to look forward to, something to get through...


so a year. where to start. ive thought about it, this, many times. since my language skills dont allow it, most of my deeper conversations are had with myself. and ive thought, and thought what does it mean, how do i feel, what have i done, whats next. and i do really want to put it to paper, or whatever this is but now im finding it rather difficult...


what i do know, is that its not all about me. why im here, what i am doing this for. sure a little is. i dont think its very truthful for anyone to say its not but it wasnt my main reason. i really just want to be able to walk away when its over and feel like ive done the best i could do and maybe that i did something that was of value for them. after one year i dont feel that i have done as much as i could, but i think its good that i know i havent succeeded yet, this time, right now failure isnt really failing. though with time on the clock thats easy to say. i guess the biggest conclusion i can make is that after one year im not ready to leave yet.


a year ago i couldnt even imagine myself now. and i cant even begin to imagine myself a year from now. 

for zboat

giant and radioactive.

March & April

Spring is here! but really spring here means a lot of rain and still the occassional snow. but more and more everyday i see green popping up and that atleast, makes me happy, even if i still have to wear multiple layers.

much has happened in these past 2 months, so lets see what i can remember.....

MARCH

• the 8th of March is international women's day. which is celebrated in pretty much every country except for the USA. mmmmhmmmmm. yea. we got days off from school, students bring you presents, you eat a lot of cake. might just be the best holiday ever. to celebrate this marvelous day i ventured to a neighboring PCV's site where the 5 of us lovely ladies celebrated our womanhood ( read: booze, food, and science experiments)
• I tried to stay low key for most of march because spring break i went to istanbul!!! i went with 2 other PCV's (Kimberley and Kristin) and we met up with some more there. Istanbul is a beautiful city with so much culture! beautiful mosques everywhere, delicious food, friendly people. We ventured to the asian side of the city and found this great bazaar and even did a turkish bath. pretty much a turkish bath involves many half naked people, hot stone tables, and shampoo. ill leave it at that.
• and of course i had my usual routine of teaching and clubs. 

APRIL (first half-ish anyways)

• April started off great with Emma! my first niece was born! yay! 
• Pesach:
• i was invited to go to kyiv to celebrate Passover with friends of some PCV friends i have. we celebrated the first 2 nights with 2 completely different seders. one was super orthodox and strict the next was super ukrainian and liberal. both were equally enjoyable!
• after the seders i got to go back to my friends super tiny village ( 650 people!) and experience his village. the highlight: milking a goat! or at least attempting too. its not as easy as it looks. 
• last week was ukrainian easter ( they are orthodox and run on a different calendar). i experienced this last year and this year was pretty similar. i woke up at 3 am to go to church with my counterpart and her family. after standing in the rain and getting blessed by the priest we went back to their house and had breakfast. but its not really breakfast when you are drinking wine and eating all kinds of meats and veggies right? then i came home and slept for hours only to wake up and feast some more with my host baba and her family. 
• ive also discovered the "sercret" jewish population of my town! im pretty excited. and when i say "secret" i mean it was a secret to me because i didnt know they existed before now. oh and one of the woman of the group ( yea theres a group) reassured me that there are some young unmarried nice men in this group. so i guess our fears of me returning old and alone are no longer!! 

this weekend we are holding a seder for volunteers in kyiv and im pretty excited. hopefully it turns out well, especially since we are cooking all the food ourselves. but dont fear, ive already volunteered to only boil the eggs. i think we are safe.