The Event is Over

On Monday our university held an event at the Ukrainian theater in town and it went fairly well. One other PCV was able to attend, which was nice, and while certain mistakes were made, no one outside of the department was really there to observe it (we had one "school leaver" attend).

"Hello Dolly" went well, with two girls at last minute training two other girls who didn't show up to class on Friday and made the little dance work. Juliet did not remember her lines, but remembered my intrepretation of Romeo and Juliet enough to recite me, not Shakespeare. As you can imagine, I was at first mortified, but later I had a certain sort of thrill, since I realized that no one else in the room knew since they have not grown up reading Shakespeare in original English. I read my bit about American theater, which was boring, but people politely smiled throughout and then I begged my coordinator to forgo the "games" section scheduled for myself and the other PCV, since there were no school leavers to do the games anyway.

Photos were taken during rehearsal. Then during the actual event. And then, of course, afterwards. And even more later. Photos were a major part of the event, I'd have to say. If I ever come across some, I'll let you see what I mean.

I feel ten times better than I did. It's over. The last major event that I need to do for my university before I leave. Now I can get back to cover letters and apartment searching. But first, I'm gonna take a nap.

Position Filled

Finally, this past week I was able to get all my materials together to put out my first resume and cover letters to potential employers.

That also meant that I have been able to do my first checks on the status of those materials. Within 24 hours of applying I saw that my resume was being processed, but that the job that I had applied for the day before was now no longer being advertised on the college's web site. After checking on the second day, I saw on my login page "Position Filled" in regards to the job I had applied for. Awesome.

I realize that these are obstacles that I must get used to when beginning the job search, but it is still very frustrating and disappointing. Probably more due to how time consuming this process is, especially here in Ukraine. To apply for one job I needed to come back to the internet cafe no less than 3 times in one night before I was sorta able to accomplish anything and then finding out the job wasn't even open anymore. Strike two.

Most of my peers are not looking for work until they finally come home. I don't feel that I am in a financial position to wait that long (plus it's just not in my nature to feel comfortable not knowing what I'm doing several months from now) so the search continues.

There will be a lot more rejection, I know.

In conjuction with looking for a job I have been looking for an apartment, which has been a very extremely similiar experience. Who wants to live with someone they've never met? (Surprisingly no one asks whether or not I have job, which in my position, is a good thing!). People are nice about rejecting me though, which I suppose is to their credit.

I am still working hard for a spectacle at my University, which hopefully will go off without much embarrassment. (My students will be singing and dancing to the Broadway hit "Hello Dolly"). Soon things should settle down and I can continue my fervant search for jobs and homes with hopefully less of the "position filled" responses and more of a happy 'we'd like to schedule an interview with you' response. Time will tell.

Warden

I have been busy lately with a project at my university involving theater. And then there is applying for jobs and whatnot. But I was going to take some time out and write something about how life has been lately. But instead PC has other plans for me this evening! See, one of the safety measures we have here are what are called "wardens," people who typically live in cities and work to disseminate information from the main office. It means that you can be called at any time at any place, so it's sorta a sucky responsibility, but it's one that I have.

Hence this post is not about watching movies with my students, me finding the earring lady, or touching memories about my clustermate, COS or travels. It's about telling PCVs to not go to a Halloween party organized in the east. It's huge. Maybe 45% of the PCV population (yours truly will be sitting at home writing cover letters, organizing travel plans and just loving life in her city). Anyway. It's just something else to do tonight instead of the things I want to do! More later.

Busy

These past few weeks have been quite busy to say the least. Cleaning my apartment, making piles of clothes, books, and other objects to get rid of. Mailed one box of clothes home and have more to send along. Sketched my after COS travel plans and purchased all the plane tickets. Will worry about hostels later.

Went to Kyiv to begin my COS procedure of endless signatures and closings of things like grants and bank accounts. Did most of my medical and some routine paperwork, but still have to buy some things for my grant before I can close it. Another time consuming project that I am putting off.

I have also started putting together lesson plans to give to my university when I leave, which is boring and time consuming. So I don't do it that often.

Instead it has been more interesting to look for an apartment in Boston and for possible jobs. I think the apartment might be impossible till I get home--who is going to want to live with someone they have never met before (or who doesn't have a job). But I am still trying. I know I'll feel better having a place to call home, rather than a couch.

So all of these numerous things take up the little free time I have (although I did watch two movies last night--thanks Mary...) but are making life much more interesting right now. I can't believe that I have less than a month at my site. Time is really flying by.

Paris!!!

This picture was taken at exactly the moment when the lights were being turned on, one of those magical moments that you hope comes out on film.

Another picture from Germany...

Since we were in the Rhine area, there were of course lots of vineyards!

Pics of Former Travels

Back in April, I went to Germany and saw this, the most adorable town ever!

Eastern Slovakia

After COS, at the end of August, I headed across one last border before my traveling adventures as a PCV were over.

Slovakia, as we found out, has a border that must be crossed via transportation. We taxied to two different borders before realizing that we would not be able to walk across it. Taking an afternoon bus from the Western Ukrainian city of Uzhgorod, we made our way across the border smoothly arriving in the city of Kosice by nightfall.

I can't remember the first place that we went to for lodging or exactly what the story was (were they full? did it even exist?) but it was in the middle of nowhere and everyone we encountered was super helpful in trying to find us lodging. Helpful to the point of abandoning their job to point us in the right direction which led to more wrong places.

Somewhere along the way, we ended up by Soviet buildings and trolley tracks and headed towards an abandoned hotel. We guessed it was closed for repairs. Considering that was our third or fourth attempt for the evening, we moved closer to the old center, where hopefully the presence of more tourists would mean more hotels or pensions.

Finally, we found a place--a pretty nice place actually, with our own bathroom and television. After getting a cheap bite to eat we went back to the hotel and slept. It had been a tiring day.

I woke up early the next morning to try to see as much of Kosice as I could. It had a cute old center and a beautiful church in the center. It looked really different in the daylight--and we were in a completely different part of the town than the night before. Our pension ended up being located amidst the market, which were simple permanent wooden stalls. The old town was quite tidy and compact--easy to see everything within a twenty minute stroll.

After getting a really tasty breakfast--we headed back to the buses, taking off for Spissky Hrad, one of Slovakia's UNESCO sites--an old castle nestled in the mountains.
The town itself did not have a whole lot going for it, and again we ran into difficulty securing a room. Eventually we did and headed up a steep hill to the castle.

It was rainy on and off and cool--the perfect sort of weather to view a castle--but alas, we did not have the proper attire. And I thought that I'd die on the trek up. Arriving finally at the entrance I plopped down and waited for either imminent death or restoration of breath. The beauty of the surroundings overcame me and kept me going. The town itself sat below the castle in the valley, and everywhere else was rolling green hills and mountains. The castle had a small museum below which we checked out and lots of touristy things and a working potter. Despite how out of shape I realized I was--it was a perfect place.

We returned to the small village and took a walk to the monastery across town before deciding to find a restaurant, of which there was none. Not as in we were too snobby to eat at certain places, but literally there were none in the small town. They all had their doors padlocked. And we were starving.

We went back to our pension, which was hosting some sort of event and begged for food. The woman brought out two steaming plates of whatever they were feeding everyone else. It was some beef with beet sauce and bread. It was absolutely delicious. Mostly due to being famished.

Afterwards, we went back to our room and each got under our set of covers--it was cold and we were beat. We knew that we'd have to start our trek home the next day, sad to leave.

The next morning we got ourselves out of the pension and headed up to the small train station. On the way back into the city we passed mountainside after mountainside. Content with the trip, the company, and the scenery, I laid my head back against the seat and thought it all just perfect. It is my plan to come back after my service and explore the country a bit more.

Day of the City

Several weeks ago my site celebrated its 218th birthday. Compared to other cities in Ukraine, my site is rather young--both Kyiv and Lviv are over a thousand years old, but this is normal in parts of the south and east that did not become cities or towns until the Russians brought people and industries to most of this part of the country.

I had been looking forward to City Day as an opportunity to buy souvenirs for folks back home and to pay a visit to the "earring lady" who I haven't seen in ages.

Another PCV from the area also came in for the event, so we met up with our local friends and explored the various events up and down Sovietskaya, our pedestrian street. We saw students decked out in traditional costumes, doing dances. Later students from the same local university put on a fashion show. Many stands with various crafts and school displays lined the edge of the street. Flowers were also all over. It was great to see the city so alive and full of people. But no earring lady.

The highlight of the day was a free late night concert held at the end of Sovietskaya, down by our Lenin statue. It had several big name Ukrainian acts which I didn't know--I don't own a radio and my tv doesn't work, so I'm pretty out of it. They were all really good though. Some old man who is apparently popular (and doubles as the head of some cultural university in Kyiv) sang a song about salo (pig fat) and then another song about vareniki (dumplings), both Ukrainian national cuisine items, which seemed very strange to me. I can't imagine singing about hamburgers or hot dogs, but hey!

The main headliner was Annie Laurak, whose songs I have heard a lot and who is really popular. She started around 11pm and even did Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" which sadly, the Ukrainians knew the lyrics better than me (what about "Livin' on a Prayer"? Or "Dead or Alive?," Annie?). But we had a great time.

During that day, my friend spotted some coupons to go to the local ice skating rink for a free hour the next day, so we all made plans to do that the next morning. The PCV and I arrived a half hour early--before the rink even opened up--and there was already a line! I had not been skating since I was a VISTA in Boston and was feeling anxious--falling is a lot more dangerous now. We laced up and set off--the Ukrainians and I holding onto the bar. The other PCV skated off leaving us in her tracks, but kindly came back and offered us all trips around the rink. While I was out with her, I was able to remember my barrings a bit and got the hang of it again and soon enough I was skating around the rink fairly confidently. When our time was up, we filed out off the ice. Everyone had a super time and it was certainly the best ending to the City Day.

In a lot of ways this event helped to restore my enthusiasm for Ukraine, the people, and my purpose here and things have been on the up and up ever since!

Anniversary!

As of today, October 3rd, I have been in Ukraine for 2 whole years. Two complete years.

It is daunting to think of all the time that has passed, how much I have changed, how the awe of this place eventually wore off. But, despite occasional frustrations, set backs, or miscommunication, I am still very happy and thankful to be here, loving my courses, my students, and the communities that I am in contact with.

It has also only recently been a point for me to ponder that I am leaving people behind. It's not a good feeling and one I have not yet figured out how to reconcile, but I know that staying for me would not be the answer. I am ready to come home, but maybe one is never ready to say goodbye?

Istanbul By Boat

At the end of July, 2 of my lovely link and cluster mates and I went on a "cruise" to Istanbul from Sevastopol. We met up at my site first to buy the fabric for the bridesmaids dresses before heading off in the evening for Crimea.

Arriving in Sevastopol, it was obvious that the sea rules the town. Specifically, the Russian fleet, who is still stationed there and the Russian flag is flown from most administration buildings across the city.

We were able to do a little swimming in Balaclava before getting on our "cruise ship" that would take over a day to reach Turkey.

Half way down we dropped anchor in the Black Sea and we were allowed to swim for an hour or so with no land or other boats in sight. The water was a clear aquamarine blue and the temperature was just right. There was not a whole lot to do on the boat other than wait for meals, so we contented ourselves by reading or sleeping either on the deck of the ship or in our cabin.

We arrived early in the morning the next day, just in time to see the sunrise over the city with the horizon dotted with minarets and we were flanked by palaces. It certainly was unlike any other city I had ever seen before.

We ventured forth that morning going to the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. I was very much impressed by the latter, with its interior--it had a calming atmosphere and beautiful blue tile work. We spent the afternoon hunting in the Grand Bazaar district being targeted by countless Turkish men eager to give us tea and sell us some wares.

The next day, the bride-to-be and I went to the Topaki Palace to view the harem. We were overcome by the beauty of the artwork on the tiles and took many pictures hoping that they might reflect the beauty of the rooms we were in. That visit was probably my highlight from the trip.

Shopping is a major attraction to Istanbul, and has been for thousands and thousands of years. I felt like we all did our share to the best of our abilities, my favorite places being inside the Spice Bazaar and back at the Grand Bazaar haggling prices over just about anything and everything. The shop stands were gorgeous too, so many vibrant colors and displays of ceramics, rugs, lamps, trinkets, and spices. I spent a lot of time there talking to various shop owners about life in Turkey and other countries. I found several Turkish shop owners who had been to Ukraine, one even had visited my city (he sold belly dancing costumes), which was a strange coincidence. Another shopkeeper had a store in IvanoFrancovisk and had been married to a Ukrainian woman. We talked about life in Ukraine and spoke a bit in Ukrainian as we sipped tea. He later took me on a tour of the old part of the Grand Bazaar trying to find me a cheap pair of earrings to bring home.

These people (and others we met) were all very frank about their feelings about Ukrainians and in particular Ukrainian women. There seemed to be a consensus that Ukraine was a less developed country than Turkey, that people in Ukraine are poor, and that women, tired and looking for more money and opportunities, will often times find themselves in the sex trade. Sadly, human trafficking is a big problem in this country and Turkey is certainly one of the places were Ukrainian women find themselves (knowingly or unknowingly) working as a part of this industry.

My experiences overall though were very pleasant--but the over-eagerness of Turkish men in general was not welcome outside of the tourist district when I was alone. I never did understand why so much attention was being paid to me unless it was assumed that certain ideas/attitudes about Western women prevailed, especially as I was unaccompanied. Out of all the places i have travelled to as a PCV, Istanbul was probably my least favorite, even though it was the one I had looked forward to the longest. Perhaps my expectations were too high and could never been lived up to. In any event, I am really grateful that I went and had such fabulous company for the trip too.