Another Benchmark

This week marked the one year anniversary of living alone in Ukraine. Over a year ago I moved out of my host family and into my lovely, sprawling 2 room apartment overlooking a lovely courtyard and facing an identical superbly constructed Soviet apartment building. It's quite a bustling neighborhood, and as I was assured when I looked at the place, middle class.

It has been basically a problem free year (*knocks on wood*) with only one minor fire (in the oven) and a few other mishaps like a broken refridgerator door and a recent light incident that had me use a can opener to break open my light fixture to replace a burnt out light bulb. (Hey, I had to do what I had to do...)

It has also made me reflect on my time spent with both sets of host "parents." The first three months were fine, I enjoyed their company and they were a good family. My next three months were more difficult as the family I was placed with was dealing with some serious family issues like divorce, and possible alcoholism. However, it does take an awful lot to let a stranger come into your home and have them see you at your best and you worst. You know, worts and all.

Now, please don't be confused. I would never opt to live in a host family again. I enjoy life in my sprawling, clean, modern 2 room flat and wouldn't want to move in with a family again even with the bribe of cable and English tv channels.

The only somewhat disappointing or frustrating thing about this, this last "benchmark" of my time here is that while it measures a real concrete passage of time, I still have a long way yet to go. Another 9 months. But I am having fun and have a lot of cool things to look forward to doing both while I am here and immediately afterward. So, let's bring it on.

Two Dollars A Day

Just this morning I started thinking what exactly can $2 get me in Ukraine, and can I actually live on just that sum alone? If I ate nothing but potatoes, carrots, and onions, sure--and some days I do, but if I want a varied diet, it just won't go that far. But here is a small list of what $2 a(or 10 grivenya-UAH) will buy you:

1) 10 marshrutka rides in my city
(I typically take this form of transportation at least once a day--with evening clubs and tutoring, it can be as high as 3 to 5 times a day)

2) A litle less than 1 kilo of chicken breasts (1 kilo = 2.2 pounds)

3) 5 kilos of potatoes

4) 40 xerox copies for my students

5) 2 and a half hours of internet time

6) 2 envelopes and stamps to the US (with some change left over)

7) A cheeseburger McMenu at McDonalds (although I might have to throw in a bit extra)

8) 3 half liters of beer

9) 400 grams of cheese

10) 6 loaves of white bread

11) 1 ride by marshrutka to the next nearest volunteers in my area (9 UAH)

12) 1 train ticket to my closest clustermate (although the price has probably increased since the last time I went there)

13) sheets for the overnight train to Kyiv (9 UAH)

14) 3 liters of water (with some change left over)

15) 27 eggs

While this list is short, it may help to provide you an idea of how much things cost here.

St. Patrick's Day

This year I decided to go to Kyiv to celebrate a fellow PCV's birthday and to enjoy Kyiv's St. Patty's Day fesitivities. There are two Irish pubs in Kyiv and we went to the one the revellers celebrated in the year before.

We arrived around 9 pm and the place was already packed with expats. This primarily consisted of men aged 40 or over already on their way to having a good time. They wasted little effort in attempting to get acquainted with the mostly female pack of young PCVs. While the price of entry was pretty steep ($12) it did include some drinks.

The place was decked out in green with balloons and shamrocks everywhere. The large screen TVs played U2's concert footage from their "Into the Heart" tour for most of the evening and early on there was live Irish music, complete with several girls doing some Irish dancing.

Tired of standing, another PCV and myself headed into another room that one Englishman proclaimed earlier to be "where all the other Americans are," hinting for us to join them before he berated us for the sins of our President. ("Did you vote for Blair?" I countered. He looked reflective and shook his head no. "There you go" the b'day girl and I echoed back before drawing our attention back to the bar.) We found some empty chairs near some folks who struck up a converastion with us for a while. Expats in Kyiv tend to be a rather smarmy crowd, enjoying the privileges that their incomes can afford them and the access to things like young Ukrainian women, but these folks seemed rather normal, interesting and nice. It could be because they consissted of what I took to be two couples. It was good for a change of pace.

After a while I heard a new band start to play and realized that they were playing U2. I got up to go and dance and headed to the front to get the best view and sound. Around me emerged a bit of a younger crowd and mixed in terms of nationalities. We met young Americans teaching English in Kyiv, young Ukrainians with excellent English working for American companies, just cool folks in general. As the band played on and I lost myself in the music I was incredibly happy that I took the long (and expensive) trip up there for the weekend. But what else should I have expected from a holiday that stems from a nation deep rooted in the beliefs of luck and chance.

Human Trafficking Lesson

I hate using the term "developing country," a more politically correct term for what was called "third world" when I was growing up. I typically envision some African country when I hear this word, the visual of which doesn't suit my current scenery. Plus I just feel odd about being an American and using the term to describe Ukraine. I hear Ukrainians use it from time to time and I cringe, not wanting to think (or have them think) that America is better. We have our problems too, I like to add, that good jobs are hard to find there too. That people live in poverty. That it's not perfect.

But when thinking about it, my mere presence here indicates that Ukraine is not like America. They don't send Peace Corps Volunteers to Japan or France, for example. Peace Corps exists to serve those countries in need that want and can use volunteers.

Because of this reality that I'd rather not face or think about, I typically steer clear of certain topics in conversation and in the classroom. I am extremely uncomfortable taking about things like pollution and the environment, for one, and taught a section on it only once because I hated feeling sanctimonious when talking about burning trash or the lack of public trash cans and how even scenic areas are littered with garbage. I become awkward, consciously trying to not come across as thinking that America is better, just merely different.

Last month, some PCVs in my oblast held a training for us to talk to people about the issue of human trafficking. I knew this existed here and was fillrf with trepidation whenever a student of mine talked about trying to find work abroad. As such, I decided that around Women's Day I'd broach this subject with one of my classes--a small group of all girls who I feel that I have the best repoire with. There is a PC affiated essay contest on the subject, so why not use that as a venue to talk about it?

So while still feeling awkward and overly sensitive, I told them how today we are deviating from our normal subject--American Studies--and how I felt it was important enough a topic to talk about. I asked if they knew about what human trafficking was and why it's important to talk about. About how working abroad can be a valuable experience (hence why I am in front of them) but you should be wise. I asked them if they ever thought about working abroad and all but one said yes. Using that as my motive, we talked about it and I drilled into them that is their responsibility to also educate their friends about this.

At the very end I wrote up on the board a local telephone number that they can call if they have questions about anything or to check out potential work abroad sites for crediblity. They all wrote it down. So at least that's something. Well, that and learning what a 'pimp' is.

I am slowly coming to realize that my own hesitations in talking about certain potentially controversial or uncomfortable topics is doing a disservice to my students. I just have to suck it up and learn that they'll perceive me as any way they want to, so I shouldn't be afraid to talk about things that really matter in this world, like their own health and safety. Next week I think that I'll do this lesson again to another younger group. It can't hurt, I've learned.

Moe Samae Luchee Prasnik

S Prasnikom ladies!

Tomorrow is a little known holiday outside of the Former Soviet Union. It is International Women's Day, a holiday, as it turns out, that was invented in the United States!

I have been curious about the origination of this holiday since last year, when I experienced my first Women's Day, unknowing to how BIG this holiday is here in Ukraine and how surprised all Ukrainians were to learn that we do not celebrate it in America (after all it is International Women's Day.)

At the English club in town last night I asked if anyone could tell me a bit about where this holiday came from and how it came to be celebrated. I just always associated it with the Communist Party and as a day to remember the fairer workers.

But lo and behold, in 1909 the Socialist Party of America observed this holiday first on February 28th and supposedly women actually celebrated this holiday for the next 4 years.

Granted, there were probably only something like 1,000 Socialists in America, and of that 1,000, maybe like 5 women total (remember, women couldn't even vote until 1920) but still, it's quite an accomplishment considering how popular this holiday continues to be today.

In 1917, the frustrated women in Russia decided to strike on the last Sunday in February hoping to gain "bread and peace," as so many men had died on the front and things were generally going to pot at home. While political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, the women did it anyway and four days later, the tsar was forced to abdicate this throne. Conincidence? I think not. Never mess with angry Russian women who want food for their families. The strike fell on March 8th (by our calendar, not the old Russian one) and so here the direct historical connections to today can be seen.

While March 8th is a day off for everyone, many celebrations begin on the 7th and continue to the 9th. For instance, my university is closed both on Women's Day and the day after. Yesterday there was a concert for the students and today there was one for the teachers that included giving out presents to all the females in the room! Yay!

See, that is the beauty of International Women's Day. It does not only acknowledge Mother's as special women, but every female in the society. Students are expected to give all their female teachers presents (usually together as a class), colleagues are to give gifts to their female coworkers, and the men in the family on the 8th are expected to do the work around the house. The gifts are typically small, flowers, candies, and small trinkets. For example, I baked some chocolate chip cookies for my faculty as a way of contributing.

While it is my favorite holiday in Ukraine, someone did point out recently how it is not necessarily to be confused with some forward thinking views on women or equality. The day is often times used and abused as a day to drink alcohol. Traditional gender roles still very much apply in this country and the women in my master students class would not even concede to date a man who would treat them well and with respect if he made less money than they did.

Even still, I consider this holiday a good thing and a way of acknowledging all the little things that the many women in this country bring to others' lives. I hope that you take some time today to think about and be thankful for the women who have helped you, inspired you, worked with you, and loved you.

The Downhill Slope

March has come and with it spring-like weather. Lots of mud being the major sign of this. By Easter tuilips and daffodills will be in full bloom and Vicotry Day will carry the perfume-like scent from the lilac trees for meters.

It will be my last spring in Ukraine. I've often times loked at my time here as an uphill journey, but now I am on the way down. Only 9+ months are left of my service, which may still seem like a long time but I know it will go by quickly. The end of summer will bring my Close of Service conference and from there it will be just part of a semester left to tie up loose ends before I'm off on the next journey--creating some assemblance of life back in the States.

It is hard to make the most of my time here when I am often times wondering what comes next. Staying in the moment and focusing on work here is increasingly difficult and also a possible explanation for the more infrequent posts. Besides, it is a lot more fun to think about travel plans after it all ends than to study Russian, lesson plan, or write a grant.

I am hoping that as the weather improves, so will my attitude towards making this experience the best one that I can. But as time Marches on it brings with it a desire to reconnect with folks at home and to catch up on all the things I've been missing out on.

This includes not only friends and family, but also popular culture. In some ways going home will be somewhat like having spent the last two years in a coma. Sure, I found out quickly that Steve Irwin died, but somehow Gerald Ford's death was communicated either by chance over a telephone conversation or through the headlines on Yahoo. This is a result of other Volunteers being a spotty source of news. When Dick Cheyney shot his hunting partner it was reported by several people that he had resigned or was being impeached or something else that never even happened.

The only news source (English) that we do receive is Newsweek International, which while a reliable news is too grossly biased to be considered real journalism, much like FOX News.

This past weekend a visiting Volunteer brought with him the first dozen or so episodes of this show called Heroes. I got about 9 episodes deep until he had to go. It may seem sad, but these are things that I do miss. Well, that and talking with all of you. And driving. And having job with a more realistic paycheck. But I'm on the downhill. I'm experiencing the last of it all. And I suppose for that I should be happy.