Pavlograd. The name of my new home looks a lot cooler in Russian than in English.
So, if you haven't heard already, my site is Pavlograd, Dnipropetrovska Oblast, Ukraine. It's a smaller city of around 113,000 people. I find it quite endearing. The main street through town is called Karl Marx Street, and in the main square there is still an imposing statue of Vladimir Lenin. My school, School No. 1, is less than a block away from my apartment, which is on the top floor of a 5-story building that lacks an elevator. I like to think of it as the penthouse suite. It has a living room, where I sleep on the pullout couch, a good-sized entrance hall, an office, a kitchen, and an enclosed balcony with a floor that I'm not convinced is entirely stable. I just got high speed internet set up today. It only costs the equivalent of $7.50 a month in American dollars, but you're required to put up for sharing at least 5 GB of files on the local network. I put up some music. Ukrainians have an interesting view of copyright infringement...
Apart from the Soviet street names, Pavlograd is a very modern town. It has a Celetano pizza restaurant (Ukraine's most popular pizza chain), a small American-style shopping mall (well, a mall without department stores, if that makes sense), high-end electronics stores, and several parks that I imagine are beautiful in better weather. It's not terribly cold, either, but unfortunately that just means there's slush and very slippery ice everywhere.
I can't believe Christmas is in 3 days! On Friday evening, I'm going to Donetsk (one of the major eastern cities in Ukraine) with Catherine, another PCV in Pavlograd who just arrived like me. There should be a large gathering of other Americans there. I wish you all a very merry Christmas, or whichever holiday you prefer.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Я закончил!
Fun fact: which country was the first in the [modern] world to attempt a total prohibition on alcohol sales? Answer next entry, whenever that may be...
This week has been a series of endings, goodbyes, and last whatevers. Monday was our last Russian language lesson. Tuesday had our language proficiency interviews, to ensure we know enough Russian to, at the very least, survive on our own. On Wednesday we visited the town administration again to thank them for allowing us to work in the schools in Vasilkov, and we also had a thank-you dinner for our host mothers. On Thursday, we had a last meeting and dinner with the 2 teachers we've worked closely with, Ludmillia Nikolaivna and Irina Ivanonva. Yesterday, I went to Kiev for part of the day, and I'm back there right now, at a McDonald's with my laptop. Gotta love free wi-fi. There's a basketball game on the TV nearby. It looks like some kind of European professional league, so it's probably 2nd rate college players from the US who didn't want to find a real job. There's too many black players for it to be a Russian league, but the game's definitely in Ukraine.
On Monday, I'll be going to Kiev again for the entire week--leaving Vasilkov for good. I'll also finally find out where I'm going for the next 2 years, 3-4 days before I leave for there.
My experience in Vasylkov has been almost entirely positive. My host family was great. The people I worked with every day, Americans and Ukrainians, were great. The town itself was great. Everyone I met was friendly, polite, and interested in me--why on earth would an American want to work in Ukraine? I'm really thankful for everything so far--Спасибо за всё!
It's hard for me to comprehend how quickly time has moved. Less than three months ago, I was packing to leave for 2 years or more, with almost everything I own crammed into 2 rooms in my parents' house in Atlanta. Six months ago, I was in staff training at Camp Chief Ouray in the Rockies in Colorado for my job as Daily Program Director. Twelve months ago, I was finishing my history thesis on Anglo-German relations before World War I and preparing for my last semester in college. Now, I'm preparing for 2 years or more of teaching English in some Russian-speaking part of Ukraine after an intensive 2.5 month training where I went from having no real idea how to teach and knowing 3 words of Russian (да, нет, и водка) to feeling comfortable planning lessons and teaching on my own to feeling comfortable enough to live on my own in a town where no one speaks English, только Русский, иногда Украиский. I think we've had the equivalent to 4-5 semesters of university-level Russian in 70 days or so. It's surprising how much of a language you can learn with 4 hours a day of lessons and a home that only speaks that language. I can understand most of what Russian leaders Vladimir Putin or Dmitri Medvedev say when they're shown on TV here.
I'm actually enjoying winter so far here. It first snowed the last weekend of November, and December began with daily highs below 20 Farenheit, but it warmed up this week and everything melted, which was actually worse than the frigid weather. It's below freezing again now and snows lightly off and on. I actually kind of like it, as long as the wind isn't too bad.
I suppose I'm ready for what the next months bring, then. I hope to be able to post some pictures here soon. Talk to you all soon!
This week has been a series of endings, goodbyes, and last whatevers. Monday was our last Russian language lesson. Tuesday had our language proficiency interviews, to ensure we know enough Russian to, at the very least, survive on our own. On Wednesday we visited the town administration again to thank them for allowing us to work in the schools in Vasilkov, and we also had a thank-you dinner for our host mothers. On Thursday, we had a last meeting and dinner with the 2 teachers we've worked closely with, Ludmillia Nikolaivna and Irina Ivanonva. Yesterday, I went to Kiev for part of the day, and I'm back there right now, at a McDonald's with my laptop. Gotta love free wi-fi. There's a basketball game on the TV nearby. It looks like some kind of European professional league, so it's probably 2nd rate college players from the US who didn't want to find a real job. There's too many black players for it to be a Russian league, but the game's definitely in Ukraine.
On Monday, I'll be going to Kiev again for the entire week--leaving Vasilkov for good. I'll also finally find out where I'm going for the next 2 years, 3-4 days before I leave for there.
My experience in Vasylkov has been almost entirely positive. My host family was great. The people I worked with every day, Americans and Ukrainians, were great. The town itself was great. Everyone I met was friendly, polite, and interested in me--why on earth would an American want to work in Ukraine? I'm really thankful for everything so far--Спасибо за всё!
It's hard for me to comprehend how quickly time has moved. Less than three months ago, I was packing to leave for 2 years or more, with almost everything I own crammed into 2 rooms in my parents' house in Atlanta. Six months ago, I was in staff training at Camp Chief Ouray in the Rockies in Colorado for my job as Daily Program Director. Twelve months ago, I was finishing my history thesis on Anglo-German relations before World War I and preparing for my last semester in college. Now, I'm preparing for 2 years or more of teaching English in some Russian-speaking part of Ukraine after an intensive 2.5 month training where I went from having no real idea how to teach and knowing 3 words of Russian (да, нет, и водка) to feeling comfortable planning lessons and teaching on my own to feeling comfortable enough to live on my own in a town where no one speaks English, только Русский, иногда Украиский. I think we've had the equivalent to 4-5 semesters of university-level Russian in 70 days or so. It's surprising how much of a language you can learn with 4 hours a day of lessons and a home that only speaks that language. I can understand most of what Russian leaders Vladimir Putin or Dmitri Medvedev say when they're shown on TV here.
I'm actually enjoying winter so far here. It first snowed the last weekend of November, and December began with daily highs below 20 Farenheit, but it warmed up this week and everything melted, which was actually worse than the frigid weather. It's below freezing again now and snows lightly off and on. I actually kind of like it, as long as the wind isn't too bad.
I suppose I'm ready for what the next months bring, then. I hope to be able to post some pictures here soon. Talk to you all soon!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tell us about your sport career in Georgia
A bad luck entry may seem like I'm miserable or something, which I'm not, so I figured I'd add a more upbeat journal-style entry for balance.
That titular request began my first birthday party in Ukraine. It was for Vanya, one of my students in 10th grade. His aunt, one of the teachers who we've been working with, invited me in class the day of his birthday, 2 weeks ago. I thought it was kind of odd that they invited me and not the other Americans, but I thought it would be interesting and good to see, since my host mother's birthday was coming up that weekend. And if Ludmilla (the teacher) was there, there shouldn't be any impropriety issues--after all, another American had told me she went to the discotech with her students (no drinking with them, of course).
So, at any rate, I met Ludmilla near my apartment at about 6 PM that day, and walked across the street to a small neighborhood with small but well-kept houses. She took me to a larger one next door to her own house and told me that Vanya's father was her brother. We went inside and I joined the party in progress, which consisted of 3 girls and 6 or so boys, all about 15-17. Most of them were my students, but there were a few that I didn't know. They had a plate of pizza ready for me, and Alina, one of my students, translated the titular request from Vika, a girl I'd never seen before who was apparently too shy to speak English to me. I laughed, with my mouth full of pizza, because it sounded like they thought I was a professional athlete.
Following eating, they wanted pictures with me. First group, then boys, then girls, then individual photos. During the girls' photo with me, Valentin (another student, male), threw a cat across the room. Then we played mafia, in 2 different ways--the way I played before in the US, and then a new way where there's only 1 mafia member, no narrator, and everyone in the group holds hands in a circle. The mafioso then squeezes a person's hand x times, and he squeezes the next person's hand x-1 times, then they squeeze x-2, and so on. When your hand is squeezed once, you die. I went home after about 3 hours. All in all, pretty fun. But constant questions about you, your life, and your country do tend to get old.
That was Thursday, 13 days ago. That weekend was Olga's birthday party, which saw her with Luba and Natasha (Olieg's girlfriend and her daughter) make enough food to feed about 40 people, then invite about 16 people over Sunday afternoon, eat, and make frequent vodka toasts (not everyone drank, but Olga drank every toast). She spent Monday at home from work, probably nursing her hangover while watching the Russian reality TV shows she loves, as well as what seems to be a Russian version of "The View."
I can't really remember too much about last week, except I got to sleep in one day because I didn't have any lessons and the girls in my group got really pissy about something at the end of it.
The weekend, however, was excellent. I did absolutely nothing on Friday but play video games and go to bed early, and then spent most of Saturday in Kiev with 5 friends. The capital is only about a 30 minute bus ride away that costs the equivalent of $1. We went to a few cool places, including a McFoxy restaurant (a Ukrainian competitor to McDonald's) and an Irish pub where half the patrons were Britons yelling at an England-Australia rugby game. On Saturday night, we went to the disco in Vasylkov. Very, uhm, interesting. It's so far the only club or bar I've been to where the person at the door is a middle-aged lady, but knowing Ukraine, I doubt it will be the last. The 2 other guys in our group and I made a "man-pact" to ask Ukrainians to dance, which proved challenging. First, Ira, one of the Ukrainians (Courtney's host sister) with us, when we asked her how we should go about this, told us to just ask if they spoke English. We tried this once or twice, then decided it was a bad idea...would you say yes if some foreigner in a small-town club asked you if you spoke his language? It just seemed weird. Anyway, we switched to broken Russian; the results of which were much more positive. We asked, viy khatitye tansuit, which we thought was "Do you want to dance?" but "to dance" is actually "tansivat," an irregular verb. So I'm not sure what we were really asking, but it was more effective and we achieved our goal after a while. We made it home around 3 AM.
In less than a month, I'll finally be done with training. I can't wait. Pulling 60 hour weeks got old pretty quickly.
That titular request began my first birthday party in Ukraine. It was for Vanya, one of my students in 10th grade. His aunt, one of the teachers who we've been working with, invited me in class the day of his birthday, 2 weeks ago. I thought it was kind of odd that they invited me and not the other Americans, but I thought it would be interesting and good to see, since my host mother's birthday was coming up that weekend. And if Ludmilla (the teacher) was there, there shouldn't be any impropriety issues--after all, another American had told me she went to the discotech with her students (no drinking with them, of course).
So, at any rate, I met Ludmilla near my apartment at about 6 PM that day, and walked across the street to a small neighborhood with small but well-kept houses. She took me to a larger one next door to her own house and told me that Vanya's father was her brother. We went inside and I joined the party in progress, which consisted of 3 girls and 6 or so boys, all about 15-17. Most of them were my students, but there were a few that I didn't know. They had a plate of pizza ready for me, and Alina, one of my students, translated the titular request from Vika, a girl I'd never seen before who was apparently too shy to speak English to me. I laughed, with my mouth full of pizza, because it sounded like they thought I was a professional athlete.
Following eating, they wanted pictures with me. First group, then boys, then girls, then individual photos. During the girls' photo with me, Valentin (another student, male), threw a cat across the room. Then we played mafia, in 2 different ways--the way I played before in the US, and then a new way where there's only 1 mafia member, no narrator, and everyone in the group holds hands in a circle. The mafioso then squeezes a person's hand x times, and he squeezes the next person's hand x-1 times, then they squeeze x-2, and so on. When your hand is squeezed once, you die. I went home after about 3 hours. All in all, pretty fun. But constant questions about you, your life, and your country do tend to get old.
That was Thursday, 13 days ago. That weekend was Olga's birthday party, which saw her with Luba and Natasha (Olieg's girlfriend and her daughter) make enough food to feed about 40 people, then invite about 16 people over Sunday afternoon, eat, and make frequent vodka toasts (not everyone drank, but Olga drank every toast). She spent Monday at home from work, probably nursing her hangover while watching the Russian reality TV shows she loves, as well as what seems to be a Russian version of "The View."
I can't really remember too much about last week, except I got to sleep in one day because I didn't have any lessons and the girls in my group got really pissy about something at the end of it.
The weekend, however, was excellent. I did absolutely nothing on Friday but play video games and go to bed early, and then spent most of Saturday in Kiev with 5 friends. The capital is only about a 30 minute bus ride away that costs the equivalent of $1. We went to a few cool places, including a McFoxy restaurant (a Ukrainian competitor to McDonald's) and an Irish pub where half the patrons were Britons yelling at an England-Australia rugby game. On Saturday night, we went to the disco in Vasylkov. Very, uhm, interesting. It's so far the only club or bar I've been to where the person at the door is a middle-aged lady, but knowing Ukraine, I doubt it will be the last. The 2 other guys in our group and I made a "man-pact" to ask Ukrainians to dance, which proved challenging. First, Ira, one of the Ukrainians (Courtney's host sister) with us, when we asked her how we should go about this, told us to just ask if they spoke English. We tried this once or twice, then decided it was a bad idea...would you say yes if some foreigner in a small-town club asked you if you spoke his language? It just seemed weird. Anyway, we switched to broken Russian; the results of which were much more positive. We asked, viy khatitye tansuit, which we thought was "Do you want to dance?" but "to dance" is actually "tansivat," an irregular verb. So I'm not sure what we were really asking, but it was more effective and we achieved our goal after a while. We made it home around 3 AM.
In less than a month, I'll finally be done with training. I can't wait. Pulling 60 hour weeks got old pretty quickly.
Everything Is Bad Luck
A sampling of what is bad luck in Ukrainian culture (many of these are shared with Russian culture or other EE nations)
Shaking hands across the threshold of a house
Bringing an even number of flowers
Giving yellow flowers to a sweetheart
Whistling indoors
Whistling in public (when can you whistle? I still don't know)
Killing spiders or insects in the house
Drinking cold drinks (you'll get a cold)
Going outside when it's slightly cold while not wearing 40 layers (you'll also get a cold)
Opening windows on a bus, even when its 100 degrees outside and there's no A/C (you'll probably get a cold as well)
What's good luck in Ukraine
Brooms (because they sweep away bad luck)
There's a lot of bad luck superstitions here, and sometimes it's a little irritating, i.e. I whistle all the time, like cold drinks and a nice breeze, and I'm not going to bother to catch a spider to put it outside. But it makes sense historically that there are so many bad luck customs. Ukraine (and all of Eastern Europe) has not been the luckiest place on earth. Unlucky to be so close to invasion-happy Germany and expansion-happy Russia rather than surrender-happy France, nap-happy Spain, and tea-happy Britain. There's still craters in the nearby forests from Nazi bombs. Unlucky to have no idea how to handle capitalism when Ukraine first became independent in 1991, and see the living standards decline for most of the population AFTER communism ended. Yeah, that's something they don't tell you in American schools. In most of the former Soviet republics, death rates have risen, birth rates and life expectancies have fallen, emigration rates have soared, organized crime (specializing in drugs, sex trade, and more) has gotten more powerful, education has, pardon my French, gone to shit, and corruption has become endemic.
Anyway. I hope that was illuminative, informative, and maybe a little entertaining.
"Poor Mexico! So far from God, and so close to the United States!"--Porfirio Díaz
Shaking hands across the threshold of a house
Bringing an even number of flowers
Giving yellow flowers to a sweetheart
Whistling indoors
Whistling in public (when can you whistle? I still don't know)
Killing spiders or insects in the house
Drinking cold drinks (you'll get a cold)
Going outside when it's slightly cold while not wearing 40 layers (you'll also get a cold)
Opening windows on a bus, even when its 100 degrees outside and there's no A/C (you'll probably get a cold as well)
What's good luck in Ukraine
Brooms (because they sweep away bad luck)
There's a lot of bad luck superstitions here, and sometimes it's a little irritating, i.e. I whistle all the time, like cold drinks and a nice breeze, and I'm not going to bother to catch a spider to put it outside. But it makes sense historically that there are so many bad luck customs. Ukraine (and all of Eastern Europe) has not been the luckiest place on earth. Unlucky to be so close to invasion-happy Germany and expansion-happy Russia rather than surrender-happy France, nap-happy Spain, and tea-happy Britain. There's still craters in the nearby forests from Nazi bombs. Unlucky to have no idea how to handle capitalism when Ukraine first became independent in 1991, and see the living standards decline for most of the population AFTER communism ended. Yeah, that's something they don't tell you in American schools. In most of the former Soviet republics, death rates have risen, birth rates and life expectancies have fallen, emigration rates have soared, organized crime (specializing in drugs, sex trade, and more) has gotten more powerful, education has, pardon my French, gone to shit, and corruption has become endemic.
Anyway. I hope that was illuminative, informative, and maybe a little entertaining.
"Poor Mexico! So far from God, and so close to the United States!"--Porfirio Díaz
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Khappy Khalloveen
EDIT (Nov 1)
My attempt to evade drunk babushka was disastrous. As I was closing the door to my room, she appeared and told me in Surzhyk to come to the kitchen. She grabbed my arm. In the kitchen, she produced a small bottle of vodka and soon enough, there were 2 shot glasses of Russian vodka on the table. Thankfully, Olga and I said I couldn't, since I hadn't eaten yet. After some kasha and kolbasa were on the table, we had a few toasts. She asked me (very, very loudly) "Sprechen sie Deutsch?" Apparently she was in the Soviet military in Germany for some time. This whole time, Olga was grinning behind her and making the Russian/Ukrainian sign for being drunk/wanting a drink, which is flicking your neck, and pointing at her. She left, eventually, but not before saying something about wishing my family well--mother, father, wife, and girlfriend. Yes, and. Shortly after Olga came in with a handwritten note that said (in Russian), She's an alcoholic. She's 66 years old.
Another Sunday night in Vasylkov.
Today, my host nephew Taras (age 7) was wearing a Spiderman costume without explanation. I assume it had something to do with Halloween--Ukrainians know about it but don't really celebrate--but my family never made any reference to it and acted normally otherwise. Maybe he just wanted to wear it.
Daylight savings time for Europe ended today, which means 3 things. 1) Clocks moved back an hour, meaning more sleep for me, B) Since US DST doesn't end until Nov. 7, for the next week we are only 6 hours ahead of the east coast, and 3) it gets dark at 5 PM now. And in December, it will be dark here by 4:30. Going to be interesting.
Yesterday, I spent most of the day in Kiev. To get there is about a 30 minute bus ride, costing 8grv ($1), followed by a metro ride for about 3 stops. In less than 1 hour I can be in the heart downtown Kiev from my apartment for about $1.25. Kiev is great--what you'd expect in almost any European city, only without Western European prices. It has everything from Ukrainian and Russian chain restaurants to, of course, McDonald's and Domino's Pizza (with delivery drivers--on motorcycles).
Today, I slept until around noon, enjoyed a breakfast of potatoes, cabbage, and pork, and then caught up on some work. I went for a run today in my neighborhood--the weather was great, clear skies and around 14 Celsius. The sight of an American in shorts running around for no apparent reason caught a few stares, mostly from old men (who chuckled), teenage girls (who giggled, blushed, and stared), and young children, who started running with me for about 100 meters until I guess they either got tired or bored.
My Russian has made leaps and bounds since I last wrote here. I can now comfortably talk about things in the past, present, and future--Russian only has 3 tenses. The rest will come soon, I hope.
And now I am done. I will be eating soon. And, more importantly, I am going to hide in my room because the old lady who occasionally barges into our apartment, очень синая (very drunk), has returned. She is very loud and babbles away in Surzhyk, the patois of Ukrainian and Russian favored by uneducated Ukrainians in central Ukraine. I really just don't want to smell vodka and menthol cigarettes right now and be subjected to questions about whether I have a wife (why don't you), and am I looking for one (you want a Ukrainian one? I'll find one for you!)
The best of Ukrainian humor, translated
Heaven is a British house, a Ukrainian wife, an American salary, and Chinese food. Hell is a Chinese house, an American wife, a Ukrainian salary, and British food.
эндрю шелл
My attempt to evade drunk babushka was disastrous. As I was closing the door to my room, she appeared and told me in Surzhyk to come to the kitchen. She grabbed my arm. In the kitchen, she produced a small bottle of vodka and soon enough, there were 2 shot glasses of Russian vodka on the table. Thankfully, Olga and I said I couldn't, since I hadn't eaten yet. After some kasha and kolbasa were on the table, we had a few toasts. She asked me (very, very loudly) "Sprechen sie Deutsch?" Apparently she was in the Soviet military in Germany for some time. This whole time, Olga was grinning behind her and making the Russian/Ukrainian sign for being drunk/wanting a drink, which is flicking your neck, and pointing at her. She left, eventually, but not before saying something about wishing my family well--mother, father, wife, and girlfriend. Yes, and. Shortly after Olga came in with a handwritten note that said (in Russian), She's an alcoholic. She's 66 years old.
Another Sunday night in Vasylkov.
Today, my host nephew Taras (age 7) was wearing a Spiderman costume without explanation. I assume it had something to do with Halloween--Ukrainians know about it but don't really celebrate--but my family never made any reference to it and acted normally otherwise. Maybe he just wanted to wear it.
Daylight savings time for Europe ended today, which means 3 things. 1) Clocks moved back an hour, meaning more sleep for me, B) Since US DST doesn't end until Nov. 7, for the next week we are only 6 hours ahead of the east coast, and 3) it gets dark at 5 PM now. And in December, it will be dark here by 4:30. Going to be interesting.
Yesterday, I spent most of the day in Kiev. To get there is about a 30 minute bus ride, costing 8grv ($1), followed by a metro ride for about 3 stops. In less than 1 hour I can be in the heart downtown Kiev from my apartment for about $1.25. Kiev is great--what you'd expect in almost any European city, only without Western European prices. It has everything from Ukrainian and Russian chain restaurants to, of course, McDonald's and Domino's Pizza (with delivery drivers--on motorcycles).
Today, I slept until around noon, enjoyed a breakfast of potatoes, cabbage, and pork, and then caught up on some work. I went for a run today in my neighborhood--the weather was great, clear skies and around 14 Celsius. The sight of an American in shorts running around for no apparent reason caught a few stares, mostly from old men (who chuckled), teenage girls (who giggled, blushed, and stared), and young children, who started running with me for about 100 meters until I guess they either got tired or bored.
My Russian has made leaps and bounds since I last wrote here. I can now comfortably talk about things in the past, present, and future--Russian only has 3 tenses. The rest will come soon, I hope.
And now I am done. I will be eating soon. And, more importantly, I am going to hide in my room because the old lady who occasionally barges into our apartment, очень синая (very drunk), has returned. She is very loud and babbles away in Surzhyk, the patois of Ukrainian and Russian favored by uneducated Ukrainians in central Ukraine. I really just don't want to smell vodka and menthol cigarettes right now and be subjected to questions about whether I have a wife (why don't you), and am I looking for one (you want a Ukrainian one? I'll find one for you!)
The best of Ukrainian humor, translated
Heaven is a British house, a Ukrainian wife, an American salary, and Chinese food. Hell is a Chinese house, an American wife, a Ukrainian salary, and British food.
эндрю шелл
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Third week begins...
Time flies and drags at the same time. Each day is slow at times, but it's hard to believe I've been in Ukraine since last Thursday. The weather is still cool and cloudy every single day, but last Friday--would you believe it!--it was sunny and warmed considerably in the afternoon! My host family is great. Olier called me "Don Ju-wan" last night and kept saying "American or Ukrainian girls, da, Andrewski!" His son, Sergei, spent almost the entire day playing an old version of Warcraft on the computer--reminded me of when I was 13 and could spend the entire day playing video games. Now I get bored after 2 hours or so.
My Russian skills are progressing quickly. Olga and I have a basic method of communication--I can understand now when she asks me if I want to eat, have eaten, what I'm wearing tomorrow, and other basic stuff around the house. I haven't been babied this much since I was about 10 or so. Once I'm able to, I'm gonna start asking her to teach me how to cook and let me iron my own clothes. Until then, I'll have to deal with her chasing me away when she cooks or irons. I have managed to do dishes on several occasions, although I have to wait until she steps away from the sink and repeatedly say, "ya sam, ya sam" (I'll do it myself).
This morning was the definite low point of my stay here so far. I stayed up late last night--til 2 or so--and intended on sleeping in as late as I could. Instead, I awoke at 7 to extreme nausea, unable to go back to sleep, and vomited after 30 extremely uncomfortable minutes in bed. I tried to go back to sleep, and an hour later, I vomited again (there wasn't anything in my stomach at this point). Then I slept very poorly until about 1:30, when I felt much better.
As I said before (to Courtney today, not to Olga or anyone in my family), I think it was not something I ate, but a stomach bug of some kind. I ate at 6 PM last night and felt fine when I went to bed 8 hours later. When I threw up was 13+ hours after I ate. I haven't had any alcohol in 3 days. I feel mostly fine now but am still not hungry at all. To make matters worse this morning, all I could think of was how Mom would tell me to drink a Coke. I need to buy some Coke to keep here for myself. It's readily available in any magazine (store), of course.
I have my first lesson, co-taught with Collette, this Thursday. We're teaching the seventh form. Gotta make some lesson plans tomorrow--in Ukraine, teachers aren't allowed to teach without submitting a detailed lesson plan in advance!
Hope everything is well stateside. If anyone is wondering, no the Danube does not flow into or through Ukraine. It does, however, empty in the Black Sea, so I'm not sure how/if the sludge in Hungary will affect us. Probably a rise in fish prices at the very least. Maybe a rise in energy costs too if hydroelectric plants have to shut down and more gas has to be imported from Russia. The central heat still isn't turned on in my building, but it's not that bad yet. I think it gets turned on in 2 weeks.
My Russian skills are progressing quickly. Olga and I have a basic method of communication--I can understand now when she asks me if I want to eat, have eaten, what I'm wearing tomorrow, and other basic stuff around the house. I haven't been babied this much since I was about 10 or so. Once I'm able to, I'm gonna start asking her to teach me how to cook and let me iron my own clothes. Until then, I'll have to deal with her chasing me away when she cooks or irons. I have managed to do dishes on several occasions, although I have to wait until she steps away from the sink and repeatedly say, "ya sam, ya sam" (I'll do it myself).
This morning was the definite low point of my stay here so far. I stayed up late last night--til 2 or so--and intended on sleeping in as late as I could. Instead, I awoke at 7 to extreme nausea, unable to go back to sleep, and vomited after 30 extremely uncomfortable minutes in bed. I tried to go back to sleep, and an hour later, I vomited again (there wasn't anything in my stomach at this point). Then I slept very poorly until about 1:30, when I felt much better.
As I said before (to Courtney today, not to Olga or anyone in my family), I think it was not something I ate, but a stomach bug of some kind. I ate at 6 PM last night and felt fine when I went to bed 8 hours later. When I threw up was 13+ hours after I ate. I haven't had any alcohol in 3 days. I feel mostly fine now but am still not hungry at all. To make matters worse this morning, all I could think of was how Mom would tell me to drink a Coke. I need to buy some Coke to keep here for myself. It's readily available in any magazine (store), of course.
I have my first lesson, co-taught with Collette, this Thursday. We're teaching the seventh form. Gotta make some lesson plans tomorrow--in Ukraine, teachers aren't allowed to teach without submitting a detailed lesson plan in advance!
Hope everything is well stateside. If anyone is wondering, no the Danube does not flow into or through Ukraine. It does, however, empty in the Black Sea, so I'm not sure how/if the sludge in Hungary will affect us. Probably a rise in fish prices at the very least. Maybe a rise in energy costs too if hydroelectric plants have to shut down and more gas has to be imported from Russia. The central heat still isn't turned on in my building, but it's not that bad yet. I think it gets turned on in 2 weeks.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Eastern Europe
Greetings--Privyet. I am writing from Vasylkov, Ukraine, a city of about 40,000 in the Kiev region of Ukraine. I live in a nicely furnished apartment with my host mother, Olga Ivanovna. It's almost 9PM here and we are enjoying a figure-skating competition show in Russian.
The last few days have been a blur--incredibly interesting, enlightening, and occasionally frustrating, since Olga and most of her family know about 20 words of English, 2 of which are "Santa" and "Claus." I spent today riding around in a 1960s-era Soviet army jeep in the forest with Olga, her son Olier (in his 30s, a major in the Ukrainian Air Force), his girlfriend (a widow about the same age, her name is either Natasha or Olga, I'm not sure), and her father Nikolai.
After about 4 hours and filling some large sacks with mushrooms, we went back to Nikolai's house in a village near Vasylkov for a meal (it was around 3PM, so I'm not sure what to call it). Nikolai kept topping my shot glass off with vodka. The food here has been very good--nothing terribly exciting but very hearty--and today was no exception. Natasha(?)'s 2 kids, Angelina and Taras, were there, which was great--Angelina speaks some English (she's 11), so we were actually able to understand each other for once.
Upon return to Vasylkov, I tried to do some reading but was completely exhausted, and fell asleep. When I woke, Natasha, Olier, and Taras were over (Olier had dropped Olga and me off with Angelina) and watching a figure skating competition show in Russian. They offered me food, beer, and tea/coffee about 20 times when I came out, but I was still full from "meal." They just left a second ago, so now I'm here again. I have Russian language class for about 5 hours tomorrow at 8:30. That may sound like a lot, but all I have to say is THANK GOD. The last 3 days have seen a lot of pantomiming, drawing, and referring to a Russian-English dictionary.
Vasylkov itself is a decent town. It has a multitude of stores, bazaars, and internet cafes. As you can see, I have high-speed internet at home. And TV, and hot running water, etc. I feel spoiled. The apartment buildings around me look like you'd expect Eastern European high-rises to look--dilapidated and full of surly men leaning out their windows, smoking--but my flat is very nice on the inside. I'd put it up against any 2-bedroom apartment in NYC or Western European city. Small compared to American suburbs, but cozy enough.
The jeep today reminded me of riding around in Dan's 1948 US Army jeep this summer in Colorado. This summer was fun as hell, to be sure, but if the last few days are any indication of how the next few years are going to go, it will be a great time.
I'm still a little tired, so I'm going to sign off and go to bed soon. One more note--the weather is cool but not really cold yet. And overcast. Since I got to Kiev on Thursday, I think I've seen 2 hours of sunshine. Again, pretty much what you'd expect in Eastern Europe. It will get cold soon, but again--this isn't Russia. It's about the same weather as the upper midwest--Chicago, Michigan, etc. Cold and snowy, but not as bad as Canada or whatever.
Miss you all. Hope things are going better in Georgia then the sports teams' records indicate.
The last few days have been a blur--incredibly interesting, enlightening, and occasionally frustrating, since Olga and most of her family know about 20 words of English, 2 of which are "Santa" and "Claus." I spent today riding around in a 1960s-era Soviet army jeep in the forest with Olga, her son Olier (in his 30s, a major in the Ukrainian Air Force), his girlfriend (a widow about the same age, her name is either Natasha or Olga, I'm not sure), and her father Nikolai.
After about 4 hours and filling some large sacks with mushrooms, we went back to Nikolai's house in a village near Vasylkov for a meal (it was around 3PM, so I'm not sure what to call it). Nikolai kept topping my shot glass off with vodka. The food here has been very good--nothing terribly exciting but very hearty--and today was no exception. Natasha(?)'s 2 kids, Angelina and Taras, were there, which was great--Angelina speaks some English (she's 11), so we were actually able to understand each other for once.
Upon return to Vasylkov, I tried to do some reading but was completely exhausted, and fell asleep. When I woke, Natasha, Olier, and Taras were over (Olier had dropped Olga and me off with Angelina) and watching a figure skating competition show in Russian. They offered me food, beer, and tea/coffee about 20 times when I came out, but I was still full from "meal." They just left a second ago, so now I'm here again. I have Russian language class for about 5 hours tomorrow at 8:30. That may sound like a lot, but all I have to say is THANK GOD. The last 3 days have seen a lot of pantomiming, drawing, and referring to a Russian-English dictionary.
Vasylkov itself is a decent town. It has a multitude of stores, bazaars, and internet cafes. As you can see, I have high-speed internet at home. And TV, and hot running water, etc. I feel spoiled. The apartment buildings around me look like you'd expect Eastern European high-rises to look--dilapidated and full of surly men leaning out their windows, smoking--but my flat is very nice on the inside. I'd put it up against any 2-bedroom apartment in NYC or Western European city. Small compared to American suburbs, but cozy enough.
The jeep today reminded me of riding around in Dan's 1948 US Army jeep this summer in Colorado. This summer was fun as hell, to be sure, but if the last few days are any indication of how the next few years are going to go, it will be a great time.
I'm still a little tired, so I'm going to sign off and go to bed soon. One more note--the weather is cool but not really cold yet. And overcast. Since I got to Kiev on Thursday, I think I've seen 2 hours of sunshine. Again, pretty much what you'd expect in Eastern Europe. It will get cold soon, but again--this isn't Russia. It's about the same weather as the upper midwest--Chicago, Michigan, etc. Cold and snowy, but not as bad as Canada or whatever.
Miss you all. Hope things are going better in Georgia then the sports teams' records indicate.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Four days, for real
Bureaucracy inaction! My departure date's been pushed back to Tuesday. Leaving for Ukraine on Wednesday. I was kind of upset about it at first, but apparently this happened to about half of our group, and I also realized it gave me another weekend of football. So I'm OK with it now.
I finished packing yesterday. I'm taking a big roller suitcase, a duffel bag, and 2 backpacks--my school backpack (the standard North Face backpack that just about every college student has) and my Osprey internal frame backpack, which has served me well through a summer in Colorado and countless backcountry trips in both GA and CO. I can't believe it's in such good condition as it is.
Anyway, I have a lot to do still. I need to scan copies of all my important documents and put them on my jump drive or email them to me. And eat some Thai food.
Recommended viewing for anyone, but especially Group 40ers:
Sorry, I don't know how to embed. Whatever I do results in a large block of HTML instead of a video.
May-or-may-not-be-actual Ukrainian Army commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4a01PpeoK8&feature=player_embedded
Ukraine is game to you?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzLtF_PxbYw&feature=player_embedded
Eastern Promises
Cronenberg's crime thriller about the Russian mafia in London. Starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen. Great movie (and I have it on my hard drive now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq_M8EOC4zA&feature=player_embedded
I finished packing yesterday. I'm taking a big roller suitcase, a duffel bag, and 2 backpacks--my school backpack (the standard North Face backpack that just about every college student has) and my Osprey internal frame backpack, which has served me well through a summer in Colorado and countless backcountry trips in both GA and CO. I can't believe it's in such good condition as it is.
Anyway, I have a lot to do still. I need to scan copies of all my important documents and put them on my jump drive or email them to me. And eat some Thai food.
Recommended viewing for anyone, but especially Group 40ers:
Sorry, I don't know how to embed. Whatever I do results in a large block of HTML instead of a video.
May-or-may-not-be-actual Ukrainian Army commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4a01PpeoK8&feature=player_embedded
Ukraine is game to you?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzLtF_PxbYw&feature=player_embedded
Eastern Promises
Cronenberg's crime thriller about the Russian mafia in London. Starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen. Great movie (and I have it on my hard drive now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq_M8EOC4zA&feature=player_embedded
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Four Days
When I was a kid and we lived in Knoxville, TN before my family moved back to Atlanta, Dad went on a lot of business trips all over the country. He still does (he's in Ottawa for a conference now, so technically not "all over the country"), of course, but it was a bigger deal back then because I was in grade school, and we all missed him. I remember that, no matter the length of his trips, he would always say, "See you in four days!" cheerfully as he left. He also said it when going out to cut the grass or leaving the house for any reason.
It's now four days, basically, 'til I leave for a long time. I have an incredible amount of preparation to do in that time. I've made all my visits now--Savannah, Jekyll, Pensacola, and Athens. All of them were great, of course. Now the hard part starts--moving my life seven time zones away, to a region I know almost nothing about and have no connection to--familial, ancestral, or otherwise. I've met and worked with Ukrainians before, and that's about it. I don't speak any Russian or Ukrainian. The farthest east I've ever been before is Italy. It's gonna be a shock, like plunging through the ice on a lake in winter. Which I've done before--the lake on the golf course right behind our yard when I was a kid.
So. Anyway. This week is going to be busy and filled fit to burst at the seams with emotions--excitement for the adventure, anxiety about the travel, curiosity about the people with whom I'll be traveling and working with, sadness for leaving everything I love behind in Georgia, and happiness at doing what seems to be best for a young man with no idea what the future may bring for him.
Now that I've waxed sentimental, I have some real work to do. I need to exercise. Running is awesome because my lungs are in great shape back here at (near) sea level. I need to pack. My sister's old bedroom has almost every article of clothing I own strewn about in it. I need to get a bunch of paperwork and whatever personal effects I'm taking in order. My state of packing right now is, shall we say, non-existent. And even though we lost to Arkansas, I had too much fun this weekend in Athens. Such a thing is definitely possible.
Five months ago, I was a student at the University of Georgia. I was headed to CO to work for the summer and maybe longer if I couldn't figure out what I was doing come autumn. I reckoned that working random jobs would be more fun in a different part of the country. Three weeks ago, I was Daily Program Director at Camp Chief Ouray in Winter Park, at the tail end of the best (maybe second-best) summer of my life. Two weeks ago, I arrived back in Georgia after driving 22 hours through Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee. One week ago, I was watching the VMAs at my sister's new apartment in Brunswick. In one week, I'll be an expat in Kyiv. In about 2 months, I'll be freezing in my "first" real winter. It's "first" because I don't count the 2 years we lived in Milwaukee because I was, well, 2 years old.
At some point, I'm going to write a screenplay for a TV show based on the last 4 months of my life. It's been that epic. That sentence sounds a lot more morbid than I intended.
One more non sequitur before I go work out in the basement. Since I'm about to leave the States for a long time and represent my country to foreigners, here's a list of all the states I've actually been to--31 of them, plus DC.
LIVED IN (6)
CO, GA, NC, TN, WI, TX
VISITED (17)
FL, SC, AL, MS, LA, AR, VA, IN, IL, PA, MD, DC, CT, MA, NY, MO, AZ
DROVE THROUGH (8)
NM, KY, DE, OH, NJ, RI, KS, OK
It's now four days, basically, 'til I leave for a long time. I have an incredible amount of preparation to do in that time. I've made all my visits now--Savannah, Jekyll, Pensacola, and Athens. All of them were great, of course. Now the hard part starts--moving my life seven time zones away, to a region I know almost nothing about and have no connection to--familial, ancestral, or otherwise. I've met and worked with Ukrainians before, and that's about it. I don't speak any Russian or Ukrainian. The farthest east I've ever been before is Italy. It's gonna be a shock, like plunging through the ice on a lake in winter. Which I've done before--the lake on the golf course right behind our yard when I was a kid.
So. Anyway. This week is going to be busy and filled fit to burst at the seams with emotions--excitement for the adventure, anxiety about the travel, curiosity about the people with whom I'll be traveling and working with, sadness for leaving everything I love behind in Georgia, and happiness at doing what seems to be best for a young man with no idea what the future may bring for him.
Now that I've waxed sentimental, I have some real work to do. I need to exercise. Running is awesome because my lungs are in great shape back here at (near) sea level. I need to pack. My sister's old bedroom has almost every article of clothing I own strewn about in it. I need to get a bunch of paperwork and whatever personal effects I'm taking in order. My state of packing right now is, shall we say, non-existent. And even though we lost to Arkansas, I had too much fun this weekend in Athens. Such a thing is definitely possible.
Five months ago, I was a student at the University of Georgia. I was headed to CO to work for the summer and maybe longer if I couldn't figure out what I was doing come autumn. I reckoned that working random jobs would be more fun in a different part of the country. Three weeks ago, I was Daily Program Director at Camp Chief Ouray in Winter Park, at the tail end of the best (maybe second-best) summer of my life. Two weeks ago, I arrived back in Georgia after driving 22 hours through Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee. One week ago, I was watching the VMAs at my sister's new apartment in Brunswick. In one week, I'll be an expat in Kyiv. In about 2 months, I'll be freezing in my "first" real winter. It's "first" because I don't count the 2 years we lived in Milwaukee because I was, well, 2 years old.
At some point, I'm going to write a screenplay for a TV show based on the last 4 months of my life. It's been that epic. That sentence sounds a lot more morbid than I intended.
One more non sequitur before I go work out in the basement. Since I'm about to leave the States for a long time and represent my country to foreigners, here's a list of all the states I've actually been to--31 of them, plus DC.
LIVED IN (6)
CO, GA, NC, TN, WI, TX
VISITED (17)
FL, SC, AL, MS, LA, AR, VA, IN, IL, PA, MD, DC, CT, MA, NY, MO, AZ
DROVE THROUGH (8)
NM, KY, DE, OH, NJ, RI, KS, OK
Monday, September 13, 2010
First post
So this is my first experience blogging since Xanga was big back in 2003 or whatever. I'm not really sure my life is interesting enough to warrant frequent posts, but hopefully that will change soon.
I'm in the midst of both packing for 2+ years in Ukraine and making efforts to see as many of my friends and family as I can before I leave next Friday. I spent about 5 hours today driving back from Brunswick, where I spent the weekend with my sister. This morning was the last time I'll see her for maybe over two years. Anyway, I had plenty of time to myself on the interstates today, so I started thinking about what I'll miss the most and not miss at all whilst overseas.
Things I'll Miss
Family and friends
my golden retriever, Caesar (and even my sister's cat and dog, Pumpkin and Lucy...at least some)
Food, especially Southern food--barbecue, soul food, pork chops, Chick-fil-a, Waffle House, and the like. And burgers. I was craving Five Guys constantly for about 2 weeks in Italy last summer
Air conditioning. Even Western Europe doesn't have A/C
my Jeep
Sports. Especially since the Braves show promise for October and next season. And the SEC East looks weak as hell for the indefinite future...maybe Georgia could finally punch a ticket to Atlanta?
American holidays, especially Christmas, Thanksgiving, and July 4th
Wearing shorts
Ice in my cokes
South Park
Things I Won't Miss
Summer weather in August/September in the South. I couldn't stand being outside for more than 5 minutes this weekend in Savannah/SSI. 95+ with high humidity, almost no wind even on the beach...ugh
Atlanta traffic
Atlanta prices...I went out on Tuesday in midtown and paid about $6 for light beer
The Braves, Falcons, and Dawgs constantly managing to disappoint and underperform
The unhealthy US lifestyle of driving everywhere, eating horribly, and being heinously overweight
The current partisan rancor in US politics
Traffic cops
Hipsters
Kim Kardashian
Tomorrow I leave for the airport in the morning with Dad. He's flying to Ottawa for business; I'm going to Pensacola to visit Grandaddy one last time before I go. I get back Wednesday, then I'm headed to Athens for a good hurrah from Thursday to Sunday. Friday morning is when this Ukraine business all begins. So soon.
I really need to get off the computer and go work out in the "gym" in my parents' basement. Being home does has its benefits, I guess.
I'm in the midst of both packing for 2+ years in Ukraine and making efforts to see as many of my friends and family as I can before I leave next Friday. I spent about 5 hours today driving back from Brunswick, where I spent the weekend with my sister. This morning was the last time I'll see her for maybe over two years. Anyway, I had plenty of time to myself on the interstates today, so I started thinking about what I'll miss the most and not miss at all whilst overseas.
Things I'll Miss
Family and friends
my golden retriever, Caesar (and even my sister's cat and dog, Pumpkin and Lucy...at least some)
Food, especially Southern food--barbecue, soul food, pork chops, Chick-fil-a, Waffle House, and the like. And burgers. I was craving Five Guys constantly for about 2 weeks in Italy last summer
Air conditioning. Even Western Europe doesn't have A/C
my Jeep
Sports. Especially since the Braves show promise for October and next season. And the SEC East looks weak as hell for the indefinite future...maybe Georgia could finally punch a ticket to Atlanta?
American holidays, especially Christmas, Thanksgiving, and July 4th
Wearing shorts
Ice in my cokes
South Park
Things I Won't Miss
Summer weather in August/September in the South. I couldn't stand being outside for more than 5 minutes this weekend in Savannah/SSI. 95+ with high humidity, almost no wind even on the beach...ugh
Atlanta traffic
Atlanta prices...I went out on Tuesday in midtown and paid about $6 for light beer
The Braves, Falcons, and Dawgs constantly managing to disappoint and underperform
The unhealthy US lifestyle of driving everywhere, eating horribly, and being heinously overweight
The current partisan rancor in US politics
Traffic cops
Hipsters
Kim Kardashian
Tomorrow I leave for the airport in the morning with Dad. He's flying to Ottawa for business; I'm going to Pensacola to visit Grandaddy one last time before I go. I get back Wednesday, then I'm headed to Athens for a good hurrah from Thursday to Sunday. Friday morning is when this Ukraine business all begins. So soon.
I really need to get off the computer and go work out in the "gym" in my parents' basement. Being home does has its benefits, I guess.
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