Advertisement!! Keeper Needed!!

Attention folks who read this blog fairly regularly, have access to the internet, know how to send me text messages and could call my folks if need be.

I like to have someone know about where I am at all times--meaning if I am going out of town, where I am going, when I leave, and when I arrive home. I can do so by texting you from my phone to your internet. It's not a big job, just one that in case anything does happen, I'd like someone at home to know about it as soon as they possibly can to help get in touch with anyone that could help me out.

Those of you thinking, wait, doesn't PC know this info? Yes, they do, but they are not in constant touch with me and I don't text my manager or coordinator telling them when I am getting on a marshrutka or when I have arrived home. I also don't know how long it would take to take serious news to get back home.

It's mostly for peace of mind. So it's a boring job, but a potentially serious one.

If anyone is interested, send an e-mail to me. I also may spread this responsibility out so that it isn't just one person. We'll see.

Job will be opening after this next refresher--there should be enough of us going that I should be cool sans Keeper. :)

Language

Today I leave for the Peace Corps language refresher, which this time will be held in the Kharkivska oblast. Never been east, so I'm excited to see what life is like over there.

On the subject of language, my own has been rapidly decreasing since training. People talk to me and I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about even though I know that somewhere I learned these words. Simple stuf I'm talking about too.

I have recently been witnessing how well people can speak if they apply themselves, which I haven't been doing. I have a bad tendency to simply drop something that I know I can not master. It's hard for me to be motivated about learning something that I'll never really be able to grasp. I got accused of laziness by a few teachers in high school and college as a result of this. Is it really laziness? No. It's a defeatist attitude. I am hoping to change this about myself here, as there can be no greater motivation than actually understanding what people tell me and how I communicate, especially in times of need.

Besides, I'm tired of depending upon others to translate for me.

Izmayil

Trip number three is now complete. And it was another great experience. There were a lot of highlights for this one as well, which mostly was just an opportunity to hang out with some great people and see another area where other volunteers live.

This couple lives so far to the south and west that on the marshrutka ride there from Odessa we passed through Moldova. For all of five minutes. I was excited none the less.

Arriving we got a tour of the town before heading down to business. There was tons of excellent food and good conversations. The next day in the evening we headed over to the Danube for a swim and a shashlik, which unfortunately was rained out. We walked back in the pouring rain, getting soaked, even me with my umbrella.

The next day we again went to the beach (after I had to buy a swimsuit for the occasion--not fun), swam, and got rained out again. There then was a great big dinner for all their guests and the food was terrific. We then left for Odessa, which ended up being both good and bad. The trip was fun, because we were all together, but it was long, hot, and the train stopped every 10 minutes for about 10 minutes. It was a pain. After arrival, one of the party got his wallet stolen (and a split lip) while boarding a marshrutka. It's a common trap for theives here to work in groups of 3--2 people close a person in, while the other steals your valuables. Luckily they only took money and dropped the wallet. After figuring out what to do after that, we eventually ended up back on the beach, this time in Odessa, by the beautiful Black Sea. The sea was warm and salty (and muddy at the bottom?) but as close to the Atlantic as I'll get here.

In addition to that, I had a monkey crawl all over me and made it home safe and sound, trying to understand the "Da Vinci Code" in Russian, which was being played in the fancy marshrutka. The other good thing is that I'll see most of the folks in just a few days for the language refresher and I got to take more pictures of Odessa!

*Oh- we decided to go to Odessa instead of the Ukrainian Venice due to monetary issues. Going there would have cost 80 greevin, or about $16, per person, which is a bit steep for most volunteers. Perhaps another time later this summer or next though, as options can be looked into.

Leaving. On a Marshrutka.

So tomorrow morning I am off again. This time heading down to the Ukrainian/Romanian boarder. I shall see the Danube. But not cross it. There are several University TEFL teachers there who decided to host a get together to share ideas, thoughts, etc. Over the weekend we are also going to the Ukrainian Venice, a little town further east whose name escapes me, but I'm very excited to go and see it.

Will be back before the end of the weekend and then will be off again on Monday night heading to the Russian Language Refresher out east.

June continues to be busy, but I am hoping that in early July I will get my photos of Lviv developed and then scan them and post them!

Look What's New!

Not sure if anyone has noticed or not, but I decided to go all Big Brother and get one of those maps to see who was accessing the site--you can see it all the way down at the bottom. I think that it's pretty neat, and also it was the only way for me to see if HQ was accessing the site. I feel that I do a pretty good job being culturally sensitive and whatnot, but it certainly is reassuring to know that they aren't scrutizing it as well. However, who the hell is in Djubuti and the center of the US?

Львов

Sorry. Where I currently sit I do not have access to a Ukrainian keyboard, so it shall be entitled the Russian "Lvov" instead of the Ukrainian "Lviv."

This past weekend I was not in Ukraine. As a matter of fact, I have no idea where I was. Some would say Ukraine, others Poland, and even a few would say Austria-Hungary. I say I was enchanted. taht after my linkmate and I got alighted from tram that took us from the train station to the center we were in a fairy tale town, complete with a magical language that I could not comprehend.

Everywhere we turned (well, except for our hotel) were beautiful buildings with goregious facades. No signs of the typical Soviet buildings (well, except for our hotel) that can be found the world over in any former Communist town or city. Cobblestone streets that meandered this way and that. Clean beautiful streets with flowering hanging baskets on old lamp posts. Flower beds by monuments and statues. Horse drawn carriages. One street more beautiful than the last. Quite sipmly, this place had the works.

On our first day we grabbed something to eat on a street cafe watching the crowds go by and just sinking in the vibe of the city. What luck, we both thought and said over and over again. The place was charming and relatively inexpensive--and this coming from a Peace Corps Volunteer! After that we found City Hall to climb of the top of the tower for a beautiful city view. It was perfect weather, especially after the so-so week in Crimea and then the few days backin N--. From the top we saw a few places to explore and enjoyed our positions of being tourists for a change. We took many photos (I without my digital) and just talked about the good fortune of those who can call Lviv home. Using our Lonely Planet guide, we settled in for the evening at a restaurant to watch the World Cup US vs. Italy match (which we tied, by the way).

The next day we met up with another PCV who lives locally and his friend visiting him from the States. He took us to the famous cemetary which was quite a moving experience. Many soliders from WWI now call this place home, along with Ivan Franko, a famous Ukrainian author and poet. Surprisingly here we ran into someone from the PC office and later four other volunteers out touring as well. It seems this place is very popular. We walked around more and just admired the beautiful and fair city.

I couldn't help but think, wandering the streets with my linkmate, "next time.... next time..." because I know there will another visit to Lviv for me.

And my favorite....

Here is the statue of Lenin in Yalta. I have heard that a PCV somewhere here in Ukraine decided to start a photo collection of Lenin statues in Ukraine, and there is certainly no shortage, at least in the south, east, center, and of course, Crimea, a strongly Russian place.

This is my second favorite Lenin that I have seen. The first is outside an administration building in St. Petersburg. This is mostly because he is huge, with his hand out and his coat blowing behind him. He (like the administrative building) is massive and imposing. This Lenin is more regal, but extremely out of place amongst the Crimean palm trees and lush vegetation and mountains. He would be better suited for his location if he was wearing some sandals, Hawaiian shirt, some shorts, sunglasses, and a pina colada in one hand. In the other, perhaps a travel book about Yalta.

His current vantage point has him in direct view of a kasino and the McDonalds. One has to laugh.

Just a few more perhaps?

Quick, who is this?

Need a hint?

1) he died of TB in Yalta
2) he had a dacha in Yalta and hung out with all the cool folks of the day
3) he wrote many short stories and plays, including
4) the Cherry Orchard
5) his first name is Anton (crap, I think??)
6) it's Chekhov! Yay if you got it right!

Are you tired of photos from Yalta?

Sadly, I think that I took a lot of photos rather quickly, or it could have been that several days it was just crappy weather, but this photo (and a lot of others) are just not too clear. This one is of Gorky, who has a lovely view overlooking Yalta.

And even MORE photos of Yalta

I have no idea exactly what this is beyond beautiful. Open first seeing it, I assumed that it was a mosque, but truthfully, who knows. It is now a part of some sanitorium, so we couldn't get a closer view than from the road. Quite beautiful though.

Even more pictures of Yalta

Here is a picture taken on the famous Yalta boardwalk. Tons of stores and tons of people line this very long avenue (called Nab Lenina).

More photos of Yalta

We passed by this church everyday in the morning on the way to the university where the conference was held.

Some photos from Yalta

Here is a picture of downtown Yalta.
I am going to publish all photos individually because I can't really seem to figure out if this dang thing works or not--today I have been having a heck of a time at the internet place, cursing up a storm with lots of little Ukrainian boys around me. I think that my skill at profanities is so advanced that they can't understand.

Away Again

Of course my digital camera decides to die when I am about to go on another adventure. It has been about 4 days since it's great soakage, being caught in my bookbag in the rain and the zoom is still not working. I have not had time to take it into a shop to repair it (along with my slowly dying watch that probably needs a new battery) so it looks like I'll have to take the tired and trusty other camera which has decided since Moscow to only take photos during the day.

So this evening I am off to Kyiv for a meeting (I will be accompanied by my sitemate, although I don't think that we will be in the same train wagon). After that meeting, I will take off from Kyiv at night to head to Western Ukraine--Lviv.

I am as excited to see Lviv as I was to see Yalta. Another place famously bragged about the world over. Lviv, and well, Western Ukraine, has more Polish/Austria-Hungarian roots. This is evidenced in architecture, design, attitude, and most notably, language. I am expecting my nice "please" and "thank you"'s in Russian will not be well received, from what I've heard from others. We will see. I am going to meet up with a Linkmate for the weekend, who lives out west but has yet to visit Lviv. Should be fun.

When I told my coordinator that I was going to Lviv he proclaimed, "Oh Lviv! I hate it!" "Why!," I inquired. "It has old buildings, it's European, old-fashioned, has cobble stone streets that" and he made a zig zagging motion with his hands. "Well, I think that sounds beautiful. It will be exactly what I love." "Well, you'll like it then. But the food!," (he raised his hand to his mouth and made a kissing sound). Sounds like everyone can find something great about Lviv.

Well Done!

Those packages were fantastic, containing a variety of super cool stuff.

Things for my head.
Things for my heart.
Things for my brain.
For my stomach.
For my school.
And so on.

Eric sent me a lot of books, which will be extremely useful not only for personal use, but also for school and language learning. Very thoughtful. A dvd for fun (which I watched with my sitemate last night), some cds I had been asking for (which, by the way, I have not stopped listening to!), and photographs.

Chandra and B surprised me with a package full of edible goodies (when I saw the icing I let out a shriek of joy), a few dvds (I watched a few of the Sex in the City episodes after coming back from my sitemates apartment), a long long letter which has inspired me to write more, and well, more delicious edible goodies. Yum!

The third came from another Alfred friend who is never reads the blog, but who always sends the coolest stuff. I got more candy than I know what to do with, an adorable knitted hat and a cute bag, a little bouncy ball and more fun stuff. Was great too.

Everyone had included some information on their universities (it pays to know folks who work in education or are in graduate school!) which I had honestly forgotten about, so I was really pleased and touched that they not only remembered me, but my students too, as I asked some months back for them to see what American universities looked like, what course selection booklets were like, etc. It will definitely come in handy next semester.

Again, a big thanks to all of you--that stuff makes my week, easy! Большое Cпасибо

Thanks!

So after being out of town for a week, I went to the post office to find that I had not just one but three packages waiting for me.

I have yet to open any of them, as I came to the internet cafe directly afterwards, but I am super excited and will post about the exciting contents tomorrow!

Yalta

Wow.

That's really all I have to say about my time spent in Crimea.

The conference was great. I learned a few new things, spent more time thinking about other stuff I haven't in awhile, and met lots of fantastic Ukrainian educators who had super impressive knowledge.

I got to spend the week with my clustermate, one of my absolute favorite people here, who despite being sick, was great company. It was just nice to have a good friend to laugh with, joke with, and talk about the serious stuff with.

The weather was mixed--warm enough to swim only in the first days, which we didn't take advantage of because we thought there would be more of it later. It rained a few other days, most notably on Saturday, after the conference was over and we had planned to meet up with other volunteers. We got caught in a torrential downpour, getting soaked to the bone, and possibly killing my digital camera (I am so bummed about this).

But Yalta is beautiful. I've never seen palm trees before, and so it was magnificent for me. Actually I was struck by the variety of vegetation there is, especially in regards to the different types of trees that just dot the landscape. From our view in the sanatorium, you saw so much beautiful green space! And of course a sea view.

The opening ceremony for the conference took place in Livadia Palace, where merely some sixty odd years ago Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill met. we did not have time to tour much of the interior or gardens, which is unfortunate. There are still belongings of the Romanovs' upstairs, which I also would love to see. What little we did get to see though of the palace and gardens though were beautiful!

Our other sightseeings took place on the boardwalk, Lenina, which is certainly where all of the nightlife is at.

So enchanting and relaxing is the place that I am looking forward to returning again hopefully this summer, hopefully to visit the places I did not have an opportunity to see. And this does not only mean Yalta, but all of Crimea, a gorgeous place.

For those hoping to see some photos of the place, I am thinking of buying a flash drive so I can bring them to the internet cafe. Unfortunately, not a lot turned out okay, other than the Lenin statue, which is basically my favorite pic anywhere in case you couldn't tell by the earlier photographs.

June

June will be a busy month.

The other day I circled the days that I have plans to be away and saw that I'll be gone a lot more than at home. This of course will be both exciting and exhausting and will mean that the blog will be quieter than usual until after the craziness ends (somewhere around mid-July), which is a good thing, for I've been noticing that reading basically every day and watching dvds does not really make good material for a blog. But hopefully, the travel will involve some stories to keep me going for the rest of the summer!

Reading

When I was young I would read often. I would turn pages and make tracks. Then something happened. I don't now what it was, but reading for pleasure ceased. For years. Probably even a decade.

At short blasts I would pick it up again, committing myself to read certain classics, or to use a grad school break to read books I wanted to read for a change, and I would dive right in again, happy as a clam and sorry so much time had passed when I wasn't doing more of this.

One of the most common things volunteers do more of during their service (besides smoking and drinking) is reading. I have already been slow on this, reading only several books for pleasure (books non-Ukraine related) during training--The Devil in White City, which I passed on to a clustermate who also devoured and enjoyed it, and then made its way to another clustermate. After that came David Sedaris' Barrel Fever, parts of which I had read before, but I felt that short stories were easier to contain myself to, as I needed to do homework, lesson plan, hang out with host family, etc.

Lastly, before leaving K--, I read Kate Braverman's story about Frida Kahlo, which I also enjoyed and passed along too.

Now in N--, I again have been neglectful, but mostly from a lack of material. I started reading then dropped Howard Zinn's A People's History. I read all the texts I needed to teach and I have had no less than 5 literature anthologies that I have idlely looked through when the mood set in. I was given Ann Packer's The Dive from Clausen's Pier, which was a Lifetime movie and so it was easy, fun, and effortless for a weekend read, especially with it being bitterly cold outside at the time. After training, I decided to read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, which only tugged at my heart making me wonder why I was in Ukraine and not toughing it out on the Applachian Trail.

I also read Jonathan Safran Foer's "masterpiece" Everything is Illuminated, which I did not consider worth the hype, Anzia Yeziersky's Breadgivers, a story about an immigrant woman and her family--one of those turn of the century preachy "don't let this happen to you" tales, but hey, it also killed a Sunday. Lately, I have been getting back into reading, since classes are over, and have gone through Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body again for like, the fifth time, read Hemingway for the first time (The Old Man and the Sea), and read a clever novel called The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart. Most of these books have come from other PCV's but since a recent package delivery from Bowling Green State University's American Cultural Studies department, who were kind enough to send some books for academic use, I'll have a lot more to choose from (the Hemingway came from that box).

Ah well. This list is neither interesting nor impressive, but I'm just getting started! I mean, as long as I can find material, I want to make reading a central personal goal, as it seems mroe feasible than reaching an advanced high on the language profiency exam or totally being an aweesome instructor/volunteer 24/7.

What I would like from all of you is a must read list of some books you particularly enjoy. Granted, my selections are scant, depending mostly upon what other volunteer's have left behind in HQ, but if anyone is feeling generous, you can always send something my way. I think the time is nigh to tackle some serious weighty stuff. Bring it on!

(oh, and I am still reading Flashman, I just took a more fictiony break--I thought it best to take that to Yalta with me).