Shashlik and THE Disco

I spent a lovely weekend in Morozivka with my host family. Going there is like going back home from college. I eat a ton and get to relax for a couple days.

There were two big hilights from this trip. On Saturday night I went to THE disco with my friend Alie and her host sister. This is a village disco, meaning that it is the equivalent of a townie bar but with blasting techno music, ballin lazer lights and an overactive smoke machine. Needless to say it's a bit hard to describe. When we lived in Morozivka we went to this bar relatively often and people got used to seeing "The Americans" there. At this point we have been gone for about three months and we are super novel again. This time as we were walking in a guy asked if we were from America or Africa (I mean Alie's tall but I don't know where he got Africa from). We ended up talking and dancing with him and his friends for most of the evening. It's a lot more comfortable to be a spectacle when you understand enough of the language to know that people aren't talking trash about you... for the most part. This disco remains my favorite bar in all of Ukraine.

On Sunday my host sisters, Tanya and Galya, Galya's boyfriend and I went to a field and made Shashlik, the best food in all of the world. (We stopped to see the ostrich farm first, a major must see in the region.) Shashlik is pork that has been marinating in spices and onion overnight then put onto skewers and fried over an open fire. It is incredibly tasty and an awesome way to spend the afternoon with friends or family (plus you feel like a cave man when you eat fried meat off a stick around a fire). This is one culinary tradition I am definitely bringing back to America with me. I've said it before and I'll say it again... everything cooked over a fire in Ukraine is delicious.

An Update

A life goal has been achieved. I HAVE A PUPPY!!!! His name is Freddy. Initially it was Franky but Anya (the lady I live with who technically owns the dog) kept calling him Freddy so it stuck. He is pretty much the cutest puppy ever. When I get the internet at my house (which is supposedly happening soon) I will be posting many many pictures... 6 months worth really. So now I officially live with an adorable lady, a kitten, chickens, rabbits, and a puppy. Gotta love that.

This weekend it is finally getting warm! Along with the snow and ice people's dispositions are melting. I have gotten a lot more preevets (hellos) on the street since the shift in the weather.

Today I'm in Kyiv, then on my way to Morozivka for Saturday and Sunday. Next week is my spring break and I think I'm heading to Odessa. I'm hoping to see the Black Sea, but it'll be way to cold to play outside too much. I also want to go to an art museum... we'll see about that.

Last weekend was one of the other volunteers' birthday's so we went out to a club called shtorm (NOT storm!). It was a hilarious club with a fake tornado in the middle of the dance floor and booths with huge leather couches. We were dancing and celebrating and all of a sudden there were two people dancing on stage... a man wearing a metalic colored vest and suspenders and a girl who had cut the butt pockets out of her jeans so it appeared that she was wearing funky chapps. They were certainly paid to be up there and their moves were hilarious. Vesty's move (singular) was to wiggle around and point at different points in the room. Great stuff. After the club we taxied it back to my friend Niko's apartment and absolutely devoured all of his expensive food. A lovely night was had by all.

Livin For the Citaaay

Hello,
This weekend I am in Xmelnetsky with two of my friends (Alei and Emily from training). Yesterday was quite a big day. I caught the 10:00 elecktrechka (commuter train). I knew I was headed to the First School, but I had never been there before and neglected to write down the directions. I got into the city and took a marshrutka (small bus type deal) to the center. One thing about Ukraine is that people LOVE to give directions and are really helpful if you stop them to ask a question. One of their national sayings is "your tongue will lead you to Kyiv" (ie if you ask people for directions you will get where you need to go). I asked the marshrutka driver if he would pass the first school and this started a riotous conversation among the whole bus about how to get me to where I needed to go. Needless to say I got there. At the school we had our "Meet Your Neighbors" meeting. Eleven volunteers and our regional manager got together to chat about life in our oblast. It was your typical meeting, ice breakers, new and old business.

After we ended up going out to lunch at a pizza place. One of us accidentally ordered a pizza with tuna on it which is pretty popular here. A few of the other volunteers had planned a taco night (Mexican/spicy food is pretty much non-exictent here). After a lot of himming and hawing Emily and I decided to go along instead of heading to her apartment as we had planned. In fact, everyone had the same idea. 9 people ended up going. We started off cooking the tacos together and talking. 9 Americans in a small apartment makes for a loud environment. It was great to get to know everyone a little better. After some DELICIOUS and very spicy tacos we decided to go to the disco. There was much dancing and more talking and lots of laughing. After the first disco four of us decided to head out to another club. This one had an excellent ambience and a light up dance floor. We finally made it back home pretty late and made ourselves cozy little beds on the floor. By which I mean I slept on the floor using my coat as a blanket. Haha good ol' Peace Corps. Anyway. Now I have 7 new friends.

If you're reading this you're awesome.

Hi gang. It has been a Ukraine minute since I posted last. My life is starting to normalize here (which is pretty bizzare in itself). I teach 3rd through 11th graders at the school where I work. I love my students and the other English teachers I work with. I started three English clubs 2nd-5th grade, 6th-8th, and 9th-11th. The most successful one is for the little ones. I had 42 show up to my first meeting last week and 51 this week (ballin'). We sang songs, talked about animals, and watched a bit of the Jungle Book. Let me tell you 2nd graders get rather squirrley during a movie in English when they don't understand a word. It was fun though, before the meeting started a bunch of my little guys came and colored with me. Many of them made adorable valentines for me. In my 6th-8th grade club we were writing childrens books and one of my favs from 7th grade drew the most hilarious picture I've seen in a while (I wish I could scan it in and show you). It's based on Little Red Ridding Hood (Red Head to him). It's a girl with buck teeth and red hair wearing a red army helmet standing over a dead wolf with two guns in her hands and money sticking out of her pockets in front of a flag that says Bart Simpson Forever! Maybe a bit innapropriate, but I didn't care because I was too busy laughing. It's after school anyway.

What else... I'm in Kyiv at the moment, hangin' at the Peace Corps volunteer lounge. I hit the jackpot on books today (there's a volunteer swap library with a lot of sort of trashy novels but sometimes a hidden gem). I found The Clan of the Cave Bear (the book that my friend Ayla is named after I do believe), and a Jodi Piccoult book. Those will hold my attention for a while. I also found a beginner pilates dvd and season one of Firefly. I am currently livin large. There are a bunch of other volunteers in here, so I'm picking up a lot of gossip while writing this.

In other news I should be getting the internet at my site (ie in my house) within the next month. So look for a lot more blogging and skyping and everything internet communication.

Love you guys! Happy Valentines Day!

One Christmas In the Bag

I have officially survived my first Christmas away from home. It wasn't easy,but I soldiered on. The worst part was waking up knowing it was Christmas morning (normally a magical time). But as the day went on the people here really showed me that they care about me and knew that I was missing home. At school I was given a stocking full of chocholates and a candy bar. The students were going to sing me Jingle Bells, but it didn't work out exactly (the thought was there though). After school I went with my counterpart to the police station to give my contact info and introduce myself. Then we had tea and hung out for a while. It was nice to be out and about. In the evening I had a lovely dinner with my new roommate Aunt Anya. I got to talk to my family and I watched Elf. All in all it wasn't too sad (except for missing the people I love of course). Soon I'll get to see a whole new set of holiday traditions, so there's definitely something to be said for that. Oooh I officially have a mailing address, however I can't post it on the blog (safety policy and whatnot). I'll get it to those of you who want it through facebook, just let me know. Have a safe new year!

Three Days Into Two Years-It's Official

I'm a terrible blogger. It's been a good long while since I last posted so if you're still reading this thanks for your patients. I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer (not to be confused with a PC Trainee). I took part in a rather fancy-shmancy ceremony with the US Ambassador and a few members of the Ukrainian government. I raised my right hand and everything. Not I'm at my permanant site where I will live and work for two years. The second night I was here there was a rather adorable parade of Santas (Papa Moroz for those in the know), a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, and a smll concert. It was a great start to my time here. Other than that I live with one woman in a very nice house with a very cute kitten. I have many more stories to tell, but they'll have to wait for another day. In good news I shoould be getting internet soon (soon being a relative term here) so I'll be in better contact with everyone!
I love you all. Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi everyone!
I finally have some more internet time and I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a great holiday. I didn't have your traditional celebration. Instead one of the other Peace Corps Volunteers, my host sisters, one of their boyfriends and I spend all day yesterday baking and then had an epic feast for dinner. Everything we made burned terribly in the oven, but we managed to still have a good time. After our feast we were treated to an accordian recital by my host sister and then looked at photos for a long while. It was a great day! We were joking that it was very similar to the first Thanksgiving in that we were strangers trying to figure out how to live in a new place and the "natives" helped us find our way. I must say that it was a really good thanksgiving eventhough I did miss Pumpkin pie (my favorite kind of pie I'll have you know).

Other than that I have about two more weeks of training so everything is pretty hectic right now. There is lesson planning to be done and language testing and teaching demonstrations, oh my. I am really going to miss the place that I live now when I have to move. I really love the people that I've met and would love to stay here for the rest of the two years. Sadly that won't be happening. On to new adventures. I still have two weeks to enjoy though. I'll make them good : )