Spring!

Greetings from a not-so-cold Pavlograd!  It's been a while since my last entry, Mom informed me today, so I'll fill everyone who reads this in real quickly about the last 5 weeks.
March was a great month.  On the first day, I felt an immense sense of relief that February, the coldest month, was over.  The snow started melting and the sun actually shines pretty regularly now.  After the snow melt, Ukraine is left with a lot of mud and a lot of massive puddles approaching pond size--for example, the soccer field next to my school.  It took about 3 weeks for everything to dry up, but it finally did.  The weather is mostly pleasant (highs in the high 50s Farenheit) during the day, but at night it's still cold.  Also, the town administration has seen fit to shut off our central heating (finances), so my apartment has been a balmy 58-60 for the last week now.  But warm weather, I firmly believe, is around the corner!
As for what I did, the answer is a lot of traveling.  I went to Dnipropetrovsk several times for work and play, traveled to Kharkiv on what I suppose is my first business trip, and traveled on spring break to Kiev, Vasylkiv, and Lviv--the cultural capital of Ukraine--with my friends Anand and Kurt.  We had a blast.  We rented an apartment in downtown Lviv for 4 nights for about $35 a night and took in all that such a cool city had to offer.  I'll try to post a few pictures from spring break this week.  Spring break ended with a 17 hour train ride back to Dnipropetrovsk, where my platskart (3rd class) companions offered me vodka and pizza. 
Everything is going well with teaching, I suppose.  My 7th grade class is definitely my favorite--they're always interested and easy to get involved with whatever I want.  One student, Anya, is the otlichnik--basically an equivalent to valedictorian, highest grades in her grade or whatever.  They also made me a cool card for Defenders' Day on February 23. 
I promise I'll post some pictures soon.  I'm also looking to make a video entry of a grand tour of Pavlograd soon, so look back in a few days to see what I've done.