February

A word that is difficult for both native and non-native speakers of english alike to spell. And sometimes even more difficult to live through. Last year as I will have said a million and a half times before was the worst winter on record here in Ukraine and this year as been one of the mildest. So this February not quite so hard. But the weather has finally started to resemble winter. Today it is beautiful and sunny, but it is so cold and the wind is blowing so hard that my face is as red as conserved tomatoes that are a staple of Ukrainian winter.
But at least there is sun, for the past few weeks there has been little sun and that is what makes winter so hard for me personally. So the sun is appreciated.
February is also a time for Valentine's Day, which I pretty much hate. Always have and this year did not do much to cure my dread. All day people were congratulating me on my holiday, people here congratulate you for everything, birthdays, being a woman. It sounds very strange to an American who only likes to congratulate people when they accomplish something. And so I go to the younger kids valentines day party in the afternoon. Where we danced and played games. One combination dance and game involved a broom. Everyone has to dance with a partner and when the music stops you must change partners and the person left with out a partner has to dance with the broom, and if you dance with the broom three times everyone in the room gets to challenge you to do what every they want. This felt like an all new low and I used my power as teacher to get out of the dare. Not fair I know but what good is being in a former soviet republic if you can't rig the results of something.
But my birthday was on the 18th and that was fabulous. I went to Lviv with a bunch of friends. We rented a really nice apartment and had a blast. We cooked, had birthday cake, drank sangria and had a grand old time. Later in the Evening we went to an expat bar and everyone got to have their favorite american drinks, mine being tequilla. I also drank for the first time even absinth. This is an electric green, liqourice tasting liqour that is illegal in the US and most of Europe. But not in Ukraine. It does not smell or taste very good, but it is a lot of fun. The next day was the first sunny day I had seen in weeks. Lviv is such a charming city and having a gorgeous day to bum around with my friends (in a black coat so massive it makes me look like darthvader and jabba the huts illegitimate daughter, but I was warm).
Now I am back at home. Just teaching and working for the next few weeks, waiting for winter to pass. For those of you who don't know, I have decided I want to go to law school after Peace Corps. This was a big decsion for me that happened earlier this month.

February

A word that is difficult for both native and non-native speakers of english alike to spell. And sometimes even more difficult to live through. Last year as I will have said a million and a half times before was the worst winter on record here in Ukraine and this year as been one of the mildest. So this February not quite so hard. But the weather has finally started to resemble winter. Today it is beautiful and sunny, but it is so cold and the wind is blowing so hard that my face is as red as conserved tomatoes that are a staple of Ukrainian winter.
But at least there is sun, for the past few weeks there has been little sun and that is what makes winter so hard for me personally. So the sun is appreciated.
February is also a time for Valentine's Day, which I pretty much hate. Always have and this year did not do much to cure my dread. All day people were congratulating me on my holiday, people here congratulate you for everything, birthdays, being a woman. It sounds very strange to an American who only likes to congratulate people when they accomplish something. And so I go to the younger kids valentines day party in the afternoon. Where we danced and played games. One combination dance and game involved a broom. Everyone has to dance with a partner and when the music stops you must change partners and the person left with out a partner has to dance with the broom, and if you dance with the broom three times everyone in the room gets to challenge you to do what every they want. This felt like an all new low and I used my power as teacher to get out of the dare. Not fair I know but what good is being in a former soviet republic if you can't rig the results of something.
But my birthday was on the 18th and that was fabulous. I went to Lviv with a bunch of friends. We rented a really nice apartment and had a blast. We cooked, had birthday cake, drank sangria and had a grand old time. Later in the Evening we went to an expat bar and everyone got to have their favorite american drinks, mine being tequilla. I also drank for the first time even absinth. This is an electric green, liqourice tasting liqour that is illegal in the US and most of Europe. But not in Ukraine. It does not smell or taste very good, but it is a lot of fun. The next day was the first sunny day I had seen in weeks. Lviv is such a charming city and having a gorgeous day to bum around with my friends (in a black coat so massive it makes me look like darthvader and jabba the huts illegitimate daughter, but I was warm).
Now I am back at home. Just teaching and working for the next few weeks, waiting for winter to pass. For those of you who don't know, I have decided I want to go to law school after Peace Corps. This was a big decsion for me that happened earlier this month.

February

A word that is difficult for both native and non-native speakers of english alike to spell. And sometimes even more difficult to live through. Last year as I will have said a million and a half times before was the worst winter on record here in Ukraine and this year as been one of the mildest. So this February not quite so hard. But the weather has finally started to resemble winter. Today it is beautiful and sunny, but it is so cold and the wind is blowing so hard that my face is as red as conserved tomatoes that are a staple of Ukrainian winter.
But at least there is sun, for the past few weeks there has been little sun and that is what makes winter so hard for me personally. So the sun is appreciated.
February is also a time for Valentine's Day, which I pretty much hate. Always have and this year did not do much to cure my dread. All day people were congratulating me on my holiday, people here congratulate you for everything, birthdays, being a woman. It sounds very strange to an American who only likes to congratulate people when they accomplish something. And so I go to the younger kids valentines day party in the afternoon. Where we danced and played games. One combination dance and game involved a broom. Everyone has to dance with a partner and when the music stops you must change partners and the person left with out a partner has to dance with the broom, and if you dance with the broom three times everyone in the room gets to challenge you to do what every they want. This felt like an all new low and I used my power as teacher to get out of the dare. Not fair I know but what good is being in a former soviet republic if you can't rig the results of something.
But my birthday was on the 18th and that was fabulous. I went to Lviv with a bunch of friends. We rented a really nice apartment and had a blast. We cooked, had birthday cake, drank sangria and had a grand old time. Later in the Evening we went to an expat bar and everyone got to have their favorite american drinks, mine being tequilla. I also drank for the first time even absinth. This is an electric green, liqourice tasting liqour that is illegal in the US and most of Europe. But not in Ukraine. It does not smell or taste very good, but it is a lot of fun. The next day was the first sunny day I had seen in weeks. Lviv is such a charming city and having a gorgeous day to bum around with my friends (in a black coat so massive it makes me look like darthvader and jabba the huts illegitimate daughter, but I was warm).
Now I am back at home. Just teaching and working for the next few weeks, waiting for winter to pass. For those of you who don't know, I have decided I want to go to law school after Peace Corps. This was a big decsion for me that happened earlier this month.

I Wish You Quarantine

This is the type of sign off Peace Corps Volunteers give eachother this time of year. It is mid-february now and all the little kiddies are getting sick. So sick in fact that I only had four or five students in all of my classes on friday. And many school all over Ukraine shut down to prevent the illnesses from spreading and the majority of pupils from getting behind. Quarantine means no school for kids or teachers. And we PCVs love to travel. So heres hoping.
So I should find out later today what the director has decided.
I am hoping for Quarantine because I could use the time off. This weekend I had my meeting in Ternopil with the camp staff. It was a productive meeting. A lot of decsions were made a lot of issues worked out. And a lot of work assigned. The creative block cirriculum that I am working on has been expanded. I am really excited about the stuff that has been added, but of course that means more work. And I am now working on a grant for the camp. In addition I will be teaching Country Studies during the second session of camp (nine days long). Each teacher takes a country and teaches everything about it from culture to politics. And the thing about teaching things is that you have to learn them first. So I will become an expert on Morocco. And my students will participate in a model UN. The issue up for discussion and a resolution this year, immigration and emigration. I keep reminding myself that camp is a fulfilling experience becasue it is substantial, a lot of work goes into it. And now is the time to do that work. So here hoping for Quarantine.

Walk This Way

So it continues to snow here in Western Ukraine, and I assume the rest of the country but I am not there so who knows. Snow is beautiful I will grant you, but every afternoon the temp goes up a few degrees and melts some of the snow. And then that night the temp drops and everything freezes and the ten minute walk to school becomes as trecherous a journey as the Oregon Trail.
I fall on this ice all of the time. It is embarassing and this saturday I believe I actually suffered from whip lash after three consecutive big booms. And I wonder how the Ukrainian people have evoloved to avoid this particular humiliation and pain.
So just yesterday I was walking to school behind one of the second or third graders. I noticed that he walked in a very pronounced way on his heels. It made him kind of waddle. I noticed that I walk more on the balls of my feet and maybe that was my problem. So I rock back on my heels and find myself feeling instantly more stable. I procede this way to school. Gingerly, my feet out in front of me and my legs staying largely under my body to keep balance, I looked like a penguin with a groin pull. But I made it to school unscathed. But just as the bell was ringing. Caution is slow.
Other than that things are going well. I will go to Ternopil this weekend (my closest large city) for two days worth of meetings on the International Outreach Camp. I worked at the camp this summer and this year I have a part in planning it and the creative cirriculum. I am looking forward to the meeting, lots of good American and Ukrainian friends will be there to help. And next weekend I will go to Lviv(Ukraines cultural capital and a Unesco heritage site) to celebrate my birthday with a big group of friends. This event is has been dubbed (by me) as the birthday Supernova. We will be celebrating four birthdays that weekend (three of which or on my day of February 18th). I am really looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow the director of Peace Corps Diana Schmidt is coming to my site to visit. It is a rountine visit. I am not totally sure what we will talk about. But Diana and her husband were volunteers here in Ukraine about five years ago and her policies have really reflected a knowledge of volunteer life. I have never met her but I like her already.
Thats all for now. I am off to bundle myself up and waddle myself home.