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
Sunday, October 31, 2010
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.
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