Christmas

After a nineteen hour train ride, I arrived at one of my linkmate's site and she escorted me back to her apartment where we chatted for over an hour and then got ourselves ready to head up to join the others about an hour north. She was not exactly sure where to get a marshrutka to the place, but with the help of a taxi driver, we figured it out. We hopped on one that had no seats available, so we stood the whole way in an very cramped aisle with our big backpacks. I told her that this was now something else that we could cross off our lists of things that we have done in Ukraine--stood for the entire trip from one place to the other. Don't want to do it again.

We arrived in the little town and were met by another taxi driver who knew the way out to this cabin. I don't really know what I was expecting, other than hearing that it was nice. When we got there though and walked inside, nice is not really the word for it--the place was absolutely beautiful. Brand spanking new, the place was full of conveniences, luxuries, comfy furniture, beds, and even heated tiles in the bathroom. The manager (who is talked about in Lonely PLanet Ukraine) even had an excellent meal waiting for us when we arrived--this was even before our shashlik dinner! It was delicious. We amused ourselves by singing Christmas carols (complete with a trumpet, trombone, and a guitar), having an i-pod concert, playing euchre, other card games, and just in general hanging out. Of course there was a white elephant, and my gift was the one "retired" first--I brought a couple of dvds and books--of course that gift was envied and "stolen" a few times. I "stole" a little Xmas box that had some tabcoso (spelling?) sauce in it.

A wonderful time was had by all, and before we knew it, it was time to go. I hopped onto my train back to Odessa (another 19 hours) and was pleasantly surprised to see that my platzkarte mates were people I knew! A student from the city English club and his father. The father took excellent care of me and even made sure to help me out when we got to Odessa to find out where I can pick up a marshrutka to the airport tomorrow. I am often times worried about the company I'll have on the train, so this was a really really nice coincidence.

Overall, it was a lovely (and surreal) Xmas. I got to see some friends, including someone who had COSed just days ago and all of our exhaustive efforts singing in the minibus taking us back to the bus station from the log cabin made it snow just in time!

I hope that all of you had a Merry Christmas too! Here's to a Happy New Year!

Stressed!

Just like so many of you getting ready for the holidays, I am too feeling a certain crunch trying to prepare for many things that seem to be happening all at once, but sensing that nothing will get accomplished.

Firstly, today was dedicated to cleaning my apartment. It is now past four o'clock and no cleaning has taken place, not even the purchase of rubber like gloves to do things like clean the bathroom and wash the floors. If it is not done today, it probably won't get done. 
Secondly, I decided that I would spend the New Year in Kyiv, and I thought that I'd have plenty of time to make reservations, etc, but after a friend cautioned me about the difficultly in securing anything I went into a frenzy, trying to locate an apartment to stay. Everything is booked or the prices have doubled, and I in no way, shape or form can justify spending $120 for an apartment in Kyiv for one night. This is impossible for me to fathom.

I realized how stupid I had been about waiting when I went bought tickets to Kyiv yesterday and found out that all koupe tickets were sold out. Platzkarte was only available on certain trains (and not on the regular N-- to Kyiv train, so I knew that things must really be busy) or luxe. I never asked how much luxe was, and when I found out I nearly passed out. Something over 200 grivenya for one ticket, this is $40. No way.

So, I still have no leads on a place to stay, but have two tickets to Kyiv in platzkarte, which is something that I would wish on no visitor to Ukraine to endure. I, myself, leave tomorrow on a trip to Chervitsi, where a link mate lives, where we will journey off into the Carpathian countryside together to meet up with a group of volunteers celebrating Christmas in a picturesque log cabin in the woods. Dreamy, indeed. But a lengthy process for me. First I must go to Odessa by marshtruka (about 2 to 2 and a half hours) and then get to the train station. The train will leave around 3pm and I'll arrive at 9 am. That's a pretty long ride. And stressful for me--I can never relax until I am on the train itself.

I also still need to pack for this small trip, find a white elephant gift, meet with my host sister, my tutor, do laundry, and clean, all before I leave tomorrow a.m. It's all just not going to happen and I'm feeling rather under pressure from it all.

But again, tis the holiday season. To have it be careful and merry would be boring, right?

Одесса Escape!

Over a month ago I got word that one of the first people I befriended back in Chicago would be heading for home permanently before the holidays. She made plans to come and see Odessa before she left and get together with a few friends. At first I didn't think I'd be able to make it, because of a student project on the same day, but I found other PCVs to babysit and made arrangements to leave.

I asked my clustermate to take a bus to my site (it would arrive early a.m.) and from there we would go in together to Odessa, after going to talk to a kindergraten class with my sitemate. My clustermate decided to come along, to watch us "in action" and I told her that it should be amusing since we all teach at universities and have little experience with young ones.

After answering about our families, our homes, sports, and the like she and I headed out for Odessa. We arrived in the afternoon and went over to check into the hotel--a swank place that she had booked as a treat for herself and the others. I did not plan on staying the night--but realized that I would only have little time to hang out and so thought if it was necessary, I would crash with them. It would cost an extra $50 to have me stay, as we found out by asking, so we did what any honest American would have done--we looked for a back entrance to sneak me in for the end of the night if I stayed.

We then went out to find a place to settle in for the night after our late lunch at the Irish pub. Using the Lonely Planet Ukraine we found a really cool and comfy (and not so expensive) place to drink, eat, and hang out.

We all had a fabulous time--the music at the place was really fun (a lot of oldies) but they had no dance floor but several of us made due without. AUkrainian sitting nearby noticed the dancing and came over and started attempting some old rock and roll moves as the rest of the restaurant watched clapping along to the music. My clustermate wanted to go out clubbing (which is a very rare occasion) but the rest of us were hesitant (I didn't want to spend the money for a cover and then the bottled water I need when I go to a club in order to dance, and the other two didn't want to pay the cover just to stand around--they don't dance). So we decided to end the night there at that bar and then go and hang out back at the hotel.

It was definitely one of the nicest weekends I've had here, being able to hang out with some good friends and just relax! My friend should be back in the States by now, readjusting to her new (or old?) life... I wish her the best.

Warnings to Travellers to Ukraine

I have now lived here so long that i cease to even think about a lot of the things I first noticed when I arrived here over 14 months ago. But with my visitor coming, I have tried to remember everything i found different, difficult, or heard others complain about.

As such, I compiled a list for Eric in order to prevent such shocks from happening and i submit this list with the full knowledge that he may very well be my last visitor!

1) Don't expect people to speak English in places you'd think English would be spoken. You know. Like airports. And hotels. You have better luck in restaurants in major cities than in these likely places.


2) Toilets. Turkish style or if luck, a toliet with only the bowl, no lid. Public toilets cost money to use. Anywhere from 50 kopeks to 1 grevenya. When in doubt or dire needs, use Mc Donald's. The best toilets around anywhere.

3) Customer service. Is inexistant. People are also typically not friendly (on the street). Expect to be yelled at, not helped, and not served if you don't have exact change or are carrying large bills.

4) Personal space. There is no concept of this. Especially in public transport. Marshrutkas are cramped and at busy times standing room only. When you think they can't fit any one else on, they'll squeeze five more people in somehow. This also effects lines, where it is nearly impossible to figure out where it beings and ends and the people behind you will stand so close to you that at times they will help to complete the transaction for you (especially in train stations).

5) Attitudes to drinking. In the U.S., anyone who has a drink first thing in the morning is either a college student or an alcoholic, but this does not carry the same stigma here. People also can drink alcohol in public places, making parks and beer tents popular hangouts all year round. This also means that they don't have the same views on public drunkeness. I once almost stepped on a man passed out on my path to work one afternoon. It's common to see people who are sleeping it off at bus stops and in the grass. No one bats an eye.

6) Dress. Women dress provocatively. No way around it. Short skirts, see through tops, high heels, etc. It is not uncommon for Americans to stare (espeically American men). And it's hard not to when it is so 'in your face' so to speak.

Thanksgiving

Obviously, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Ukraine, but that does not mean that PCV's don't want to gather together and celebrate what is for most Amercians a very special tradition. Since so many people will go home for Christmas, this holiday also becomes even more attended around the country as a way of seeing friends before heading home.

Two PCVs locally hosted a large gathering of people. There were 17 present for Thanksgiving Day. We had plenty of food, and most of the traditional Thanksgiving food made an appearance: we had delicious turkey (and three chickens) filled with stuffing. My sitemate made some fantastic mashed potatoes. We had several pumpkin pies, vegetables, and cornbread. I brought apple sauce, mac and cheese, and a cake. And we had plenty of wine and beer. After cooking, we spent the afternoon and evening talking and playing "catchphrase" and dancing to 80's tunes my mom sent me.

Strangely enough, Thanksgiving did sort of turn into a sex segregated party with the women in one room and the boys in the other. Usually only my sitemate could be found with the girls, which makes sense since he knows the girls better and played the DJ for our dance party.

Needless to say, the company was good and it was great to see so many people, from places near and far. Since many people will probably be home next Thanksgiving, it will be the last one of that magnitude, and I'll have to find somewhere else to be for next year!

So Lonely

I have been at site for almost a year and this is the first time I'm truly all alone.

Yesterday I put my remaining sitemate on the train to Kyiv and we said our goodbyes.

I was proud that I kept up appearances at the train station, at least until the train pulled away. I had the most time with my last sitemate--after our Group 26 sitemate left in May. We continued some of the traditions of cooking together, watching movies, supporting the clubs, and in general, just hanging out and talking. Towards the end I found myself calling him every night to see how he was or what he was doing. He invited me occassionaly to join him at gatherings with his group, also university teachers, and I always really enjoyed myself and his crew.

It is sort of a strange feeling, as prior I always knew that there was someone that I could call or count on if something happened--if I locked myself out, or got scared, or was depressed about something. Now, I am alone.

But more than that, obviously, he was a wonderful person and someone that I respected and admired very much. A new volunteer will arrive in N-- in a few weeks, before Eric arrives, but I just know that it won't be the same. Someone only gets that lucky once.

Congratulations to him though, for again showing me that the two years are not impossible. Thankfully I'll be seeing him again in a month when I go and visit him in Germany. So perhaps all this whining may seem like it's not necessary to you, but again, this was a very special person to me and he will be missed, sorely.

DP

On that Sunday after my birthday, we woke up and got ourselves ready to head to the vauxhaul. We had gotten a big breakfast under our belt (literally) and were looking forward to our Japanese treat.

I had never really thought of DP as being a cool or exciting place to visit, so I was pleasantly surprised when we got there and it looked so nice. We strolled down prospect Karla Marxa for several hours, taking pictures and trying to find this restaurant. Once that goal was achieved, we still had several hours to kill before the scheduled time and went to find the river.

They had a river park area and an island with a huge statue and a church on it, and I could easily see how in the spring and summer, this could be a great place to hang out.

By this point in time we were all starving and decided to go to the restaurant an hour earlier and await there for our remaining clustermate, who was coming in from another nearby city. By 3 we were all united again, along with the cluster couples sitemate. It was delicious food, albeit extremely expensive and we easily ran through the allotted $200 they had in vouchers to spend.

Afterwards myself and the 2 other girls had time before our various modes of transportation left, so we went to another PCVs apartment and hung out with her until 2 of us had to go.

It was very easily one of the most pleasing weekends I have had here getting together with other volunteers. Everything was relaxed and easy and made me decide to venture out on that side of the Dnipro more often.

A Guest! Finally!

So many months this has been in the works, but earlier this week I received confirmation that someone is coming to visit right after our Christmas.

I am extremely excited to have a visitor and see my "home" here and am counting down the days till the arrival.

Some of the original plans have already been scraped (staying in Odessa after he arrives, for instance) because I found out that I have to give "credits" the week of Christmas and that I should work on Christmas day (it is celebrated here January 7th). I have no idea what this whole "giving credits" thing is, especially since I found out earlier this semester that my courses don't show up on the students transcripts. Everyone ends up getting credits anyway, whether or not they've attended classes, so it's frustrating all around.

I'm very bummed about this and will see if I can possibly work something out, but on the bright side, my company will have an opportunity to meet my colleagues and my students, which should be interesting for him and fun for the students in particular.

-->side note: While I am "backed up" on a lot of my entries, this one is in "real time" with only 19 more days to go before the arrival!!!!

Birthday Thanks

A special thanks again to those who called or send cards/packages or e-mails for my birthday. It means a lot to me to have you all remember and take time out to do so. In Ukraine, the tradition is that on your birthday you treat others to dinner, drinks, etc. So it was especially nice to celebrate this day with other Americans (who don't expect such things).

Again, it's always great to hear from people and to know that I am in your thoughts as all of you are in mine.

ps: I did not drink too much champagne, despite what it may have sounded like.

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!

The каса in Киев

On my way to the cluster I had a"layover" in Kyiv for most of the day. I spent most of my time in the PC office doing various odds and ends. As suggested by my TCF, I got to the train station over an hour early to buy the ticket out to the cluster. Seeing long lines in all directions, I panicked and went to a window with a 6 griven surcharge only to be refused service. "Go the window 41 or 42 for tourist services" she said impolitely. Taken aback I asked "what?" and she repeated herself. I did not quite understand what was going on and the man behind me repeated the window numbers gleefully enjoying the scene. Indigant, I said "Я не туристка" before leaving the scene.

I was furious. Do you know what was the indicator of my foreign birth? Politeness. When I arrived at the window I waited about a minute for her to finish whatever the heck she was doing before she looked at me and I began, "Я хот.." and she then yelled for me to go to a different window.

When I went to the foreign window I saw a sign that said something about 25 griven. Using my condusive reasoning skills, I concluded that the foreign window would charge me $5 on top of whatever the price of the ticket was. I was beginning to feel like I was back in Russia where two prices exist-one for Russians, and one for foreigners. I consulted a man who knew English for varification and he said I was correct and that she could not sell me the ticket I wanted anyway. I then, looking anxiously at my watch, stood in yet another line, praying that it would move fast enough for me to catch this ting. Thankfully, it did and also thankfully, despite the woman's original hesitation, she sold me the ticket and my return ticket to N--. Painless. Finally. I was then off to find where this train would arrive, as all PCVs told me that the electrichkas are found on a different set of tracks...

All was well though and I was picked up by my TCF and taken to my host family.

Adopt-A-Cluster

Did you know PC has it's own adoption agency? Every year older groups in Ukraine are given an opportunity to adopt a new group in the same program. With the invasion of Group 31 it was my groups turn to adopt our very own cluster and tell them about life and work in Ukraine.

One of my clustermates and I decided to do this together and asked for our old TCF's cluster (you can read about her in Oct., Nov., and Dec. of last year). At different points in training we went up to meet with them, visiting the university were Gogol studied (and where they are currently teaching) and talk to them about what their site visit will be like.

While I believe that this sort of "mentorship" is extremely important and useful, I selfishly was only excited about seeing my teacher again, who I adore and respect very much. It was great to talk to her and tell her all about what has been going on with me personally over the last year. I was probably the one from the cluster that was the closest to her, as well, so I am sort of doted on. I don't complain.

Along with meeting new trainee's and seeing my TCF, I also got to stay with a host family again. This was not the part I was looking forward to. Well, that and buying the komfortnaya electrichka ticket to the cluster nearby Kyiv.

I have been in Ukraine a year and speak an embarrassing amount of Russian, so I was dreading not understanding anything for several days. The woman turned out to be quite pleasant and made some mighty fkoosna borsht. She talked my ear off as it was and took great pains to be understood. We looked at pictures of her daughters' weddings and of family gatherings. She also tried to make me comfortable (and I was) and did not say anything when I came home later than 10pm. I certainly felt bad about that, but my main function was to talk to the volunteers. I wondered what that experience would have been like if I had had a second host famly like that one.

One that also was very much in the loop of the other trainee's families, who I heard telling someone else's host moom that I too had a cough, and would comment to me the next morning that I must be better because I was not coughing, or blowing my nose as often.

But little did that matter, I was soon off to the Saturday session to prepare them for site visit and then back on the electrichka back to Kyiv and then home. For the first time in all of my service, I was actually looking forward to going home. Training was a fun place to visit. Not to stay.

Being Sick

I was able to get a bus back to my site from my friends in the morning but as the bus rolled along, I increasingly felt sicker and sicker. When finally at home I ran to the train station to buy a ticket to Kyiv for my next trip a few deays away and cancelled all other plans.

While I still made it to my classes the next a.m. I felt like I would die and gave up reading out loud because of my cold and my overall lack of enthuiasm that accompanies any cold. I miserably cancelled English club and peered into my medical kit. I took my temperature about 90 times, just out of boredom. Being sick is a drag, but it's worse in a place where you can't even watch TV. Reading was out of the question considering how awful I felt, so I had to make due with trying to watch a movie. As my lap top now refuses to play any burned cds (therefore anything I have here), I sadly realised I loaned my copy of "Pretty in Pink" to two students of mine, but finally got around to watching something else.

What was nice though were the concerns of the Ukrainians that I know. I got phone calls and text messages from several, checking in and making sure I didn't need antyhign from the apteka. That made me feel a little better, especially when one girl called and asked if I needed honey. HOw wonderful that Ukrainians realize how soothing that can be when sick.