You look like a monkey...and you smell like one too!

Today is both my birthday (the big two four)and the last day of school for the semester. Life is sweet.

Rainy Daze

Hi everyone!
I had an interesting weekend.

The original plan: Shashlik at Adrien's. Meet Niko, in Khmelnetsky, take the marshrutka (bus) there together.

What Actually Happened: I got on the marshrutka to Khmelnetsky (about an hour long ride)at 12:20. At 12:50 Niko called me and said the shashlik was cancelled. Boo. I got to Khmelnetsky and found out that it was my friend Ruslan's birthday and we were going to celebrate with (you guessed it) shashlik. It was like a roller-coaster ride of emotions. We had a lovely picnic by a little lake. I learned a new frisbee game (apparantly I've gotten a little rusty when it comes to disk tossing) that is basically like tag and keep-away. One person is "the dog" and they have to tag the person with the frisbee before they throw it to another person.
The next day we went to yet another shashlik at Niko's host family's summer house. It was tasty and the family was really nice. I drank a little too much red wine, but all things considered it was a great night.
Today it's raining and I'm waiting for my 5-o-clock train home. Hopefully it's raining in the town where I live too. My Sugar Peas need it to grow up strong and delicious.

May!

Spring time in Ukraine is beautiful (probably expecially beautiful when compared to the starkness of the winter). My yard is abloom with tulips, lilacs, and about a billion other flowers. Our chicks have transformed into chickens, and the garden (which is really like a small farm!) is well underway. My officiall veggie contribution has been sweet peas!! I can't wait for all of this fresh produce to flood into my potato and mayonaise filled life!!!

I officially have three teaching days before summer vacation! I'm sure I'll find myself wishing school was back in session when I'm totally bored, but at this point I am wickedly excited for a little break. I'm hoping to do some travelling around Ukraine, and I am definitely signed up to work at a baseball camp (of all things). I assured the camp director that I am not in fact good at sports, but he said my English prowess outweighs my lack of coordination.

News Flash! I went running yesterday. I think that having a dog to take care of is one of the best things I could do for my health. I can't stand to see him just sit around all day. I've also developed the very Ukrainian habbit of doing morning exersizes. It's amazing what a ton of down time will motivate you to do. I'm toying with the idea of becoming a vegetarian for the summer...they eat a pretty meat-heavy diet here and it would be hard to explain to people why I just suddenly stopped eating meat (vegetarianism is not popular in Ukraine, neither is refusing to eat what is offered to you), so we'll see about that.

I hope you are all having an excellent spring!