My Own Cluster Reunion
About a month ago I received a text message from one of my clustermates about going to DP for Japanese food on the 19th on him and his wife. I was staying with another clustermate at the time and asked her if she the message too.
I had made preliminary plans to spend that weekend in Odessa celebrating my birthday and the birthday of a local PCV, but it was clear that would not work out. We decided then that we would go up and visit them in their city the day before and then all head to DP (affectionate name by volunteers for a large industrial city in the area) together on Sunday where our fifth clustermate would join us.
Thankfully there is a train to the city and I was able to take it overnight. I shared my space with a famliy who invited me to share their dinner with them. I politely declined several times, but after my fourth refusal, a piece of bread was shoved into my hand and it was too late (or impolite) to refuse further. Of course they wanted to drink samahon (homemade vodka) which I again politely refused but ended up taking one tiny sip and made faces as it journeyed down into my stomach. It certainly is an acquired taste.
After eating more they insisted that I take more samahon. They indicated that I would be left alone if I took this one shot, so I did, feeling as if I might vomit it back up for the next five minutes. Of course they all laughed and told me to eat, eat, eat--the typical response when drinking here, believing that if you keep food in your stomach, you won't get drunk. I nibbled a bit more and hit the hay.
In the early morning they were already awake. They told me to get up and look out the window. It was a lot more beautiful than I had supposed. The Dnipro was wide in that region, and I could not see across it. Many men were already out in small boats, fishing. Many dachi lined the other side of the tracks, set up on a hill, their small farm plots still in use.
When we finally got there, my clustermate was waiting for me. We took off back to their apartment and he showed me some of the buildings and parks we passed along the way.
I took the best shower I have had in over a year and hung out until our other clustermate arrived at the bus station. We went and picked her up and then headed back to the apartment where he fixed us up with some "house specials" and we sat around talking. Two other PCVs arrived after a bit because they were meeting the new trainees coming through on site visit. The two that came over are in my current sitemate's group and so are getting ready to leave soon.
My clustermate was put in charge of gathering up the newbies, so he left encouraging my other clustermate, who had visited the city once before, to take me to the Lenin who stands beside the hydroelectric dam, the largest in the world, I believe. I was excited about checking this out, but it was cold and it was uncertain where the new people would go, so the four of us left in the apartment just stayed, drank and chatted. It was my birthday then, afterall, and I just wanted to relax! Plus, it was kinda cold outside. The new people ended up coming back to the apartment. We met up and went out for pizza.
After that, my cluster (sans one) was togehter again for the evening and we drank champagne and talked as my phone kept ringing with folks from calling to wish me a happy birthday.
We had to get up early to venture into a different city, so the couple went to sleep, but my other clustermate and I stayed up for along time chatting before finally heading off to sleep. It had been a fantastic birthday as far as I was concerned!
I had made preliminary plans to spend that weekend in Odessa celebrating my birthday and the birthday of a local PCV, but it was clear that would not work out. We decided then that we would go up and visit them in their city the day before and then all head to DP (affectionate name by volunteers for a large industrial city in the area) together on Sunday where our fifth clustermate would join us.
Thankfully there is a train to the city and I was able to take it overnight. I shared my space with a famliy who invited me to share their dinner with them. I politely declined several times, but after my fourth refusal, a piece of bread was shoved into my hand and it was too late (or impolite) to refuse further. Of course they wanted to drink samahon (homemade vodka) which I again politely refused but ended up taking one tiny sip and made faces as it journeyed down into my stomach. It certainly is an acquired taste.
After eating more they insisted that I take more samahon. They indicated that I would be left alone if I took this one shot, so I did, feeling as if I might vomit it back up for the next five minutes. Of course they all laughed and told me to eat, eat, eat--the typical response when drinking here, believing that if you keep food in your stomach, you won't get drunk. I nibbled a bit more and hit the hay.
In the early morning they were already awake. They told me to get up and look out the window. It was a lot more beautiful than I had supposed. The Dnipro was wide in that region, and I could not see across it. Many men were already out in small boats, fishing. Many dachi lined the other side of the tracks, set up on a hill, their small farm plots still in use.
When we finally got there, my clustermate was waiting for me. We took off back to their apartment and he showed me some of the buildings and parks we passed along the way.
I took the best shower I have had in over a year and hung out until our other clustermate arrived at the bus station. We went and picked her up and then headed back to the apartment where he fixed us up with some "house specials" and we sat around talking. Two other PCVs arrived after a bit because they were meeting the new trainees coming through on site visit. The two that came over are in my current sitemate's group and so are getting ready to leave soon.
My clustermate was put in charge of gathering up the newbies, so he left encouraging my other clustermate, who had visited the city once before, to take me to the Lenin who stands beside the hydroelectric dam, the largest in the world, I believe. I was excited about checking this out, but it was cold and it was uncertain where the new people would go, so the four of us left in the apartment just stayed, drank and chatted. It was my birthday then, afterall, and I just wanted to relax! Plus, it was kinda cold outside. The new people ended up coming back to the apartment. We met up and went out for pizza.
After that, my cluster (sans one) was togehter again for the evening and we drank champagne and talked as my phone kept ringing with folks from calling to wish me a happy birthday.
We had to get up early to venture into a different city, so the couple went to sleep, but my other clustermate and I stayed up for along time chatting before finally heading off to sleep. It had been a fantastic birthday as far as I was concerned!
posted by Molly | 3:58 AM
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