Mmmm

Fresh milk with

Oatmeal, chocolate chip, peanut butter cookies

 

I am finally learning English grammar

Nothing like teaching to learn things

And grammar is difficult

Even for me, a native speaker

 

Dental floss search failed

Maybe L'viv will have it?

It's really time to get new running shoes

The tread if falling off and the snow comes in the holes of my wave rider 8's which are approaching 1000 miles.

 

Also searching for some other things

It feels like I should have free time, but I never get around to leisure activities such as reading or playing violin.  Always cooking or cleaning to do, or of course I could eat.  

Running is made less fun by achilles tendonitis, left side.  Need to find some strengthening exercises.  Don't feel like trying to wade though the PC to set up PT, or having to go up to Sokal to do the PT.  If anyone can send me some websites with clear explanations/diagrams, my internet time to search for such is limited.

 

That's all for today, actually going to study Ukrainian.

Starting to get settled

Learning the best places to get food

Fresh milk every morning

Who has an excess of what in their cellar

Taped the windows so the wind no longer blows through my apartment

Learning how to seat my students so that their attention is on me rather than the pretty girl or their best friend.

The tricky balance between fear and friendship, stick and carrot, grades and learning desire.

My mom shipped peanut butter, and I made my favorite cookies last night which were a great comforted at the same time as making me miss everyone in the states.

Trying to start an English club, any great ideas for an overall theme or first topic?

Got to go, a bit of lesson planning before my bi-weekly indoor soccer with highschoolers.

Week one complete.

Some scheduling juggling, a few pretty bad lessons, but overall good, and think I will be able to succeed at this teaching thing.   Moving into my apartment has been slowed by constant cooking, cleaning and lesson planning.  I'm not that busy, but I waste alot of time watching soccer and eating.   Cooking has been really enjoyable, and often I choose to make time consuming dishes, just because I can.  I buy some really weird food only to realize that it does not taste good at all, but the exploration is fun.  

            The younger kids are really fun to teach, because they love me.  They suck up language like a sponge.  The older kids are a bid jaded and take a bit more coaxing, but if I come prepared with a good plan and some patience, they normally get it.   I have almost doubled my teaching experience in one week.  I might attempt to make bread this evening, if there is no soccer on tv.   I live so close to Poland that I get polish soccer channels without cable.  I also have cable, but cannot decide if I want to keep paying for it.  

            I have a really nice fold out couch, if anyone wants to visit for any amount of time.  It's possible to live here on about 20 dollars a week.   The temperature has been much warmer than I expected.  This morning it was raining rather than snowing.  The wind whistles around my apartment, way up on the 5 ^th floor.  The sun comes up a bit earlier every day, but still really rushed to fit a run in on mornings that I teach or observe first period.  

            And that's about all I can think of this moment.  I will be able to keep my jersey number 16 on my new soccer team.  I have gone from worried if I would get to play to worried about if I will get really frustrated because some of the players have way more confidence than skill.  Hungry, got to go buy more food.  Now what to do all weekend?  Maybe I'll unpack my clothes, or embark on an epic multi-town search for dental floss.  I love free time.

Jan. 23, finally

Week one if classes is under way.  The students are well behaved for the most part, better behaved in the morning of course.  My schedule may be undergoing more changes, for political reasons which my principle asked me not to share.  But everything is good now.  The African nation's soccer cup has prevented me from unpacking my clothes, though I have gotten pretty well moved into my kitchen.   It's amazing how expensive luxury foods are here, and by this I mean anything that is prepared in any way.  Breakfast cereal, cooked/cured meat, fruit, vegetables, anything that is ready to eat costs the same as it does in the US (where as everything else costs 5 times less), which is not bad, except that the salaries here are 10 or more times smaller than the US, which does not help out families where food is a large budget item.   So I can buy a whole lot of grain, potatoes and beans but a week worth of yogurt and fruit wipes out my budget.

Three days of the week it's too dark before class to fit in a run.   So for a month or so I might cut down to 4 runs per week.  3-4 soccer scrimmages/week should be enough to digest 20kg of potatoes.  My finger is still too swollen to play violin, and I haven't found speakers for my ipod, which makes it hard to get my music fix.   The windows are old enough in my apartment to let in quite a draft, accentuated by wind flowing over the pipe where my stove vents creating a negative pressure in the apartment.   So wind flows in through the window and out up over the stove.  It's probably good to get some fresh are in to air out the new furniture and curtains, but I feel bad about the undoubtedly higher gas bill.  

Ready, wait.

My first day of teaching was aborted because of a badly jammed finger which I thought might be broken.   Really frustrating because I've been waiting so long to start.  Yesterday I was out playing soccer on the really slippery muddy snow melt rain soaked field, ended up on my stomach, and as I was getting up, the ball was drilled toward my face, and reflexively putting my hand to block, caught force of the ball on my third finger, left hand.   

Today, Monday was spent traveling to and from the region center (Sokal), the closest hospital with an x-ray machine (1 hour by bus).   The hospital was not quite as clean smelling as I'm used to, and the lighting was again in economy mode.  I found the x-ray offices, and then started trying to figure out the system of how to get my finger zapped.   Other people came and went; the line did not function according to any logic that I knew.  I finally got someone on my side, by giving my seat to an older lady, and she was able to make the nurses aware of my existence.   Then the machine was a bit stuck, so I helped to slide the emitter into the correct place.  The price for an x-ray is 3grn, about 60 cents.   I gave them a 5 and didn't stick around for change.  Then I had to find a doctor to read the x-ray, and tell me if the bone was fractured or not.   This time I didn't even try to wait in line, I just went to the front, walked in the office, and it worked!  Wanted to be sure that I understood correctly, so I got the PC doctor on the phone, handed the phone to the doctor looking at my x-ray, and everything was fine.   Just ligament damage.  The standard rate for a doctor's consultation is 50grn ($10).  He wrote out for me to get ibuprofen crème (I already have) and something else which my PC doctor said was unnecessary.   No prescriptions are needed for most drugs here.  The medical system is a bit unorganized, but overall I spent less time in the hospital than I would have in the US, and spent a lot less money. 

Yesterday I moved into my new apartment.   Everything works great, all the furniture is new and off-gassing some weird smells.  Food shopping is taking multiple trips, I keep forgetting all those things that you don't have to buy regularly, like matches, baking soda and kitchen scrubbers.   The road is a bit louder than I thought, but I'll have to wait until my finger heals before I attempt to move the bed.  The current bedroom is also really pink, and has a picture of the virgin marry, Jesus and some angels hanging right over the bed.   I should really write down some recipes while I'm online, but I always forget.  That's all for now, will report after I get through the first week of teaching.      

From Winter #1

Would 220V kill me?

In an effort to get more light and heat

I tinker in my office

Replacing flourescent lightbulbs

Disassembling outlets

I attempt to complete curciuts

High resistance electric coils convecting in oil radiator

Hot glowing gass in glass tubes

Quantum leaps, electrons dance

Coal power plant in Dobrotvir

Carbon splits, heat emits

Brown mist, workers cough

Open pit mines in Chervonograd

Cold and Dark

My mouse

Lives near my office

Comes out of the air duct

runs along the wall

banks her 90 left paw turn

and dives down the crack

where the pipes with no water

come from

Friday, January 18, 2008

Still on holiday.  This week was full of teacher meetings and individual conferences where I tried to warn the teachers who's classes I will be teaching not to worry when I start asking their kids to do really weird things in the name of language learning.   I will be coteaching with 6 teachers, and two will not actually get to talk to me until school starts on Monday.  It should be interesting, and I've been waiting a while to actually start teaching.   I've already planned my lessons for Monday, mainly focused on seeing what level the kids are at, and letting them get to know me a little bit.  At least one class will be challenging, the chapter they are on is actually titled "The verb Have Got".  I don't usually use this word, and my high school english teacher told me never to use it.   It's because they are British books, but even in England, do they seriously use "got" in anything but spoken language?    Would'nt it be better to teach the kids the verb "To Have" which can be spoken and understood in the US and UK, but also correctly written in an academic setting?  In addition got also seems to require fancy contractions, such as "I haven't got any oranges".   To top it off, this is my 5^th form class (5^th grade if you speak american).  If anyone has any insight into this, send me an email.

            On Sunday I supposedly move into my apartment.   When I spoke to my future landlady (is there a better word that applies to apartments) today in the bazzar, it was a bit disconcerting because when I said "on Sunday good", she nodded, and then went into a long, extremely fast spiel from which I only understood "me and my daughter".   And in normal Ukrainian fashion, it's impossible to set an hour of meeting, and when I asked what time precisely it would be good to come with all my stuff to get the key, she said anytime.   So I said after lunch on Sunday.  Which really means after church.  And when I suggested a more precise time, 1pm, she said "we'll see".  There has been some additional apartment drama which I can't seem to understand because either no one gives me the whole story, or nobody actually knows the whole story, or I just can't understand through some wall of cultural barriers.   Basically my current host mom is already looking for another apartment for me, one with only one room, because she says I don't need two rooms.  I don't disagree.  I assumed it is because the peace corps is only paying 200grn/month, which barely covers electricity, gas and water.  Most two room apartments in this town cost 300-500grn.   Mine would probably be closer to 500grn because it has a toilet inside and was recently remodelled, which in ukraine means basically covering up old materials with new tiles, wallpaper, paint.   My host mom denied it was a problem of cost, and when I talked to my landlady, she said everything was good, there is no problem, which is also what my landlady's daughter said, who is a fellow english teacher.  So what's the issue?  It's just morally wrong to live alone in a two room apartment? I asked if another family needed this apartment, or if I did'nt live there another family would be able to pay more rent.   Negative to both.  I just don't understand.  Unfortunately there are no leases here, so I could be kicked out at any time without notice.    

            There are a lot of political relations within the teaching community.   All the teachers chaff under the authority of the administration, yet kiss up with presents on birthdays, and long toasts at parties.  One of the vice principles had her birthday yesterday, and I heard some of the teachers discussing who got invited and who didn't to her party, and how it had to do with what family and how much money they had (my language skills work sometimes).   The vice principles and principle make almost and more than twice as much money as the the teachers, respectively.  Supposedly, because salaries here are hidden, a precident set by the president, and his ministry officials, who many say should not be driving porches when most people in the country have outhouses.   Despite this hiddenness, Ukrainians are very money aware, and would easily win any price is right game.  I have also been warned that kids from richer families are assumed to be smarter, and given slight favoritism in class because it is dangerous to make enemies with the rich families in town. There are not very many of them.

            Today there was another holday dinner, we were hosted by my host father's mother, and this time I knew to chew my pelmeni slowly, because once again, I was lucky enough to get a copek, which means will be rich, but I also got the pepper corn, which means my life will by spicy, hard, and short.   The drive up included a quick spark plug change, because even the logging trucks were passing us.  All 4 plugs sparking made all the difference.   Under the hood was increadibly simple.  Even I could work on this car.  It was increadibly open, with lots of space to get hands and arms around the engine.

I think tomorrow is the last round of religious celebrations, something about holy water, revelation, and Vladamir.  I really need to get a book on religious history around the time when Catholocism split from Orthodoxy.   My framework of musical history was only lightly draped with religious overtones, and I know mostly about the reformation, and counter reformation, because even Slavic composers music was mostly played in in western europe.   The way I understand it is that crack between the eastern orthodox and the roman catholic churches followed the division of greek and latin languages.   But the split occurred during the crusades, which were not sent out to crush other Christians.  So then I get really confused, and again wish I knew more and had access to an English library.  I do know that there was already competition between the Roman Church and the Greek Church, especially in what is now Ukraine , and the East Church was more successful because they used native languages in their services.  I should add a "this is not fact" disclaimer.  As I said, I need some books.

Frustrations have been resolved

My boss got involved, which I feel bad about, but I am glad that I will see most of my students twice each week. Today was another long teachers meeting, about safety, policy, procedures and a lot of other stuff. I heard the word 'collective' a lot, and there is an organization, not quite a union, but something that connects all the teachers. They were deciding how much to contribute to a fund if someone's immediate family dies, and what the best way to deal with absences was, and how often to celebrate birthdays, all sorts of stuff. No time now, will write more later…

Spew

January 13, 2008
There must be some systematic plan to invite me to every young English teachers' house/apartment, which means basically every english teachers' home (of the English teachers, 7 are in their 20's, 2 are in their 30's, 2 are in their 40+'s). There are 11 English teachers at my school, two are on maternity leave (two years long in Ukraine), and two are taking this semester off to finish their teaching certification. I have already had a holiday meal with the families of Natalia, Irena, Irena, Hanna, and tomorrow will visit another Natalia. These are on top of the holiday meals I attend with my host mom, or that occur at our house. I sort of think my host mom set it up, since she is the assistant principle, and basically their boss, although they have all denied it.
Parents make no effort to give their kids unique names. Patronymics also don't help, since their fathers' names are also very repetitive, so there are multiple Irena Bohdanivnas etc. So I have to learn their family name also. I can now generally match any given combination of three names with one face. I don't think they're trying to marry me off, which is what's happening to every female volunteer I know, because many of these young teachers already have a husband and a kid or two. It has been really interesting to get a wider survey of Ukrainian homes, food, family interactions and hospitality. The last ranges from generous to super-generous. Whatever the cause behind this hospitality, I thank it.
I will try to repay each visit with my own invitation, once my kitchen is set up. Maybe I'll test the recipes first, because all of my cooking attempts in Ukraine thus far have been lacking (I've only tried pumpkin pie and tortillas, and I'll keep my confidence intact by dismissing those failures to lack of practice and ingredients/recipe). Recipes are for wimps.
The visit tonight was particularly interesting because instead of trying to dismiss religious questions as quickly as possible by saying that yes, I believe in God and Jesus and the Bible (for the record, I'm not sure what I believe), I explained that I was raised Quaker. Irena also has never talked about religion in English, so it was an unknown area in both of our second language vocabularies. I think I got them to understand that Quakerism is centered around non-violence, equality and simplicity. I managed to say that there is no preacher, icons, baptism, crosses or much of anything material. The doctor in the room was particularly interested in how the Religious Society of Friends stays organized, if there is no Pope to tell people what to believe in. I explained as clearly as possible that this was one of the central ideas. Quakers don't think other people can communicate more clearly with god, or know better what each individual should think about abortion. Not only that, but quakers don't have to capitalize things (am I mixing religious semantics with grammar?), or take off their hats to the king, because equality is central, which is why George Fox had it rough in 16th century England. Come to think of it, Quakers don't stay very organized, and Friends General Conference is only once a year. Maybe individual meetings only operate along certain "guidelines", as Jack Sparrow would say.
There is a huge ideological split between evangelical quakers and ____?__quakers. My experience has been only with the latter type, which has left me open to the realization that proselytization/evangelism has ripped many cultures and social fabrics (is my life in danger now?). The urge to spread the "truth" about whatever religion claims to know the truth has provided many excuses for invasions, genocides… Of course my quaker upbringing has taught me to respect all religions, and realize the impossibility of impartial judgments. Do absolute judgments (killing is wrong), or the concept of universal human rights, exist? Alas, even these are not impartial, and are beliefs just like any other (unless world wide consensus is reached, which will require quite a bit more equality/equity). Evangelical groups have provided a huge amount of humanitarian aid to countries around the world, countries that may or may not be suffering because of an initial colonization. Of course colonization blends the lines between religion and economic exploitation, both objectives using the other as a tool.
How can I spout off so many words guilt free while knowing virtually nothing? My yearning for knowledge has not dampened, but my access to it has decreased substantially with no English libraries nearby. I also did not realize how many of the excellent online resources I had access to at Haverford are not free, and now I am without. If there's anybody reading this at Haverford, please send me interesting academic readings via email, pdf, word, whatever.
Current events in Velyki Mosty? Spent yesterday in L'viv, beautiful day, beautiful city. Met Garrard and Caitlin from my cluster and Shannon who is another volunteer serving very close to Caitlin. We saw so many churches, climbed a hill to survey the surroundings, and visited a giant graveyard whose 400,000 remains include Ivan Franko. Had a wonderful gyro, and a general wonderful time speaking English, slang, abreves, slurring words, and all the things we do that people who haven't spend time in America can't understand. They all start teaching on Tuesday, Jan. 15, but I don't start till the 21st. I learned that they will have a week off sometime in May which I don't have off. It's good that I don't start yet, because I don't even have my books yet, a semester unit plan, any lesson plans, or a time/room schedule.

From Winter #1

Frustrations.

As of today, I only have three of my classes 2 times per week, which means I have another 9 classes one time each week. This is frustrating because of how much I have emphasized the importance of repetition for my students to understand the new concepts I will be introducing, such as creativity, free thinking, games, activities, projects, group work and communicative rather than translation activities. I’m not just going to accept this schedule, and will do everything I can to fight it, openly or subversively. My main supporter seems be angrier that I was assigned weaker students, who “have no intellectual potential”. I don’t believe in such predetermination, and am sure that their previous low performance is due to lack of motivation. Obviously it will be more challenging to introduce new methods at the same time as convincing these kids that they really do have potential. Hopefully I can get this worked out, and avoid making any enemies this early in the game. Got to brush up on my polite Ukrainian.
I met a beautiful family on Wednesday. I have not been impressed by authoritarian Ukrainian parenting, but their little five year old girl was an angel. They used polite phrases with each other; disagreements were worked out rather then overpowered with seniority, and she seemed to know that whining would not work. After eating lunch with them, they took me on a tour of local churches, most of them built in the 1700s.
A few nights before that, I had been at a party at a teachers house, and trying to leave, fighting back the constant invitations to stay longer, when a bag of meat, sweets and alcohol was forced on me. The only way I was allowed to leave was if I took the bag. I was really frustrated, because I know it’s part of Ukrainian hospitality, but it is applied in excess because I am an American. Culture shock, round two.
Smoking is still cool, as is real animal fur, and not wearing seatbelts.

drum roll

Why can’t I upload pictures?
My teaching load and schedule is hanging in the balance
Tomorrow the director and assistant directors plus senior English teachers decide what classes I will teach and how often I get to see my students. Somebody higher up is pushing for me to see more kids less often, and I am really pushing for less kids at least twice each week. Just have to wait and see. The weather has been weird, rain, snow, sun, not cold. Ukrainians say warm weather in the winter is bad for health.
The internet works just often enough to be frustrating.

Holiday meals continued…January 9, 2008

Beautiful day, a few degrees above zero, sun, melting snow, fake spring.   Teachers meetings have started, I can't really understand what they are about.  Basically each department has to present on it's activities in the last year.   And then there's issues like fire safety, swimming and diving accidents, science lab safety, stuff like that.  Last night was yet another holiday party amazing table food spread singing toasting marathon.   How can celebrations be so tiring?  I am trying to figure out my schedule and plan overall topics and units.  Just got invited to another holiday meal...

Christmas meals

     First dinner was Christmas Eve, Jan. 6^th.  Before dinner there were a variety of traditions to be adhered to.  First was the saying of a long set of prayers, with many crossings.  Then host father tried the traditional poppy seed/kasha dish (sweet and filling) and we followed example.   Each of us (Host dad, mom, brother, grandma, 2 cousins) had beside our plate some garlic, some apple and a walnut.  I'm not sure I got this right, but the garlic is good luck, the apple is happiness, and the walnut is strength.   There was special mushroom vareniki in the borsch, which I was instructed to eat delicately, because there were various items hidden inside.  I was lucky enough to bite down on a coin, which obviously means I will be rich.  Other people found a pepper corn (short, hard, but spicy life), a sweet one (sweet life), and a trinket (you will find treasures).   There was a ridiculous amount of food, and since I joined the family in fasting for the day, I was pretty hungry for dinner, which meant I ate too much, and promptly fell asleep, after the 3 ^rd round of dessert.

Christmas day I slept through the 7am church service, unfortunately.   I'll go next year.  Then a fancy brunch/lunch with just as much food.  I asked why there was always one extra place set, and discovered it is for those who are no longer with us.   Last night also had an extra place set.  Then more cleanup, and more preparation, because…

Christmas day fancy dinner.  Good friends came over, the family that we visited for new years, and another 4 hour dinner ensued.   My favorite part was when the carolers came, mostly other teachers from school, my family sang with them (I know most of the melodies now, but no words yet) and gave all 10 singers shots of horilka (vodka?), martinis, bread, meat and sweets.   There was also singing around the table before and after the carolers came, and my violin came out for a short appearance.  Since this family has girls, I learned all about some traditions my family hadn't had to worry about.   If you put a touch of honey on a girls cheek, it's said to attract men (honey is sweet…), and if you go outside and bang two spoons together and a dog barks, you have a man coming soon (what if a dog doesn't bark?).   I personally think the honey method would be more successful, but I know very little about being a Ukrainian girl, or the best ways to attract Ukrainian men.   Now very full, very content, and very tired. 

Luckily tomorrow only has one fancy dinner, and it's at another house, so I am forbidden to help set up or clean up.   Man's only responsibility when visiting another house is to keep the women's glasses full of whatever their drinking.  Easy enough.

Part of my language training is watching the news, a lot more often then I did during training.   I am sending peaceful thoughts to Kenya, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Georgia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Darfur.   Those were the places on the news tonight.  Not that thoughts have any effect.  But thoughts can lead to words which can lead to action, and peaceful actions are needed in many places.   My current events knowledge is incredibly poor, and I am realizing with limited internet I will have to make a much stronger effort to become and stay educated.

Cars

Went to L'viv with host family today, them in search of lower food prices, me in search of an atm without surcharges.   No success.  Andre drove my family's 1991 Lada.  They bought it new, just as the currency was being devalued.   Despite the cardboard in the grill, the heater would not put out anything.  You would think a soviet car would have a working heater given the lattitude at which it was designed.   Maybe the heater core needs to be bled, or maybe the thermostat has been taken out.  The wind coming in through the door handle did not help my circulation problems.  It always amazes me when I compare my 1991 Accord (I miss driving!) to their 1991 Lada.  I don't know where to start.   The Honda was quite, fast, efficient, warm, a/c, cruise control, fuel injection, power everything, an amazing machine.  The Lada tops out around 70mph, carbreated, have to play with the choke whenever throttle position changes (or maybe it's a mixture control?), like I said earlier, it feels like a 1970's Volkswagen.    

I want to bring Liam and my dad a few cars that they have over here.   Most notable are the deisels of every variety.  Audi, Volkswagen (awesome variety of vans), Mercedes (again, hook me up with a mercedes deisel mini-van), BMW, Opel, Skoda, and a bunch of other companies I can't remember because I don't know the language well enough for their commercials to be effective.   There are some models of known companies that I'm convinced would do wonderful in the US, but then maybe my dad and Liam have influenced my views on what's cool.   Then there are trucks which run on both benzene and propane, simply flipping a switch based on which is cheaper at the time.  I'll try to describe the smell of benzene exhaust later.  

Andre just brought me a plate of steaming hot toast with potato ladka and garlic mayonnaise on top.   They're really trying hard to fatten me up a bit.  Everything I eat has oil or grease of some sort.  I will not make a scene or lecture them on the food pyramid because I only have 19 more days until I get my own apartment, where I may do a few days on just fruit and vegetables, need to clear my arteries.   And then a few days after that I'll probably miss somebody cooking for me, even if it is full of lard, grease, butter, sour cream, mayonnaise, sunflower oil, or canola oil.   Well off to my violin.  One of my four full body warmth activities.  Sleeping, running, soccer and violin.

I'm reaching the point where Ukrainian is getting pretty frustrating, trying to build vocabulary beyond what I want and action verbs into ideas and concepts is difficult because I can't repeat the words as much as I need to remember them.   Also trying to speak grammatically correctly is difficult, because even if I correct myself, then I've said it once wrong, and once correctly, and have exactly a 50/50 chance of saying it correctly the next time.   I can't even speak correctly in English.  I've also realized that a highly developed language means one that does not easily fit within grammatical structures and rules.   In other words, exceptions, just like English.  For every rule, there are a handful of exceptions which come and bite just as my confidence starts to go up.  

coldish

Nothing extreme, but I am unable to find true warmth.   Actually, my bed is pretty warm, but it's that camping type warmth, where my ears and nose are always a bit cool, and I'm asleep most of the time, so I mostly miss out on my warmest hours.   It's not that my house and the buildings I go into are not heated, it's just that they are heated economically.  In the house I will live in for another 3 weeks for example, the only warm rooms are the living room and the kitchen.   The whole open part of the house (bottom hallway, stairway, and upper hallway) is about 50F .  My room, the living room and the kitchen are 60F.   I'm not sure about the other bedrooms. Then I realize that my family is really used to these temperatures, because when we visited a friend's apartment, which was normal room temperature 67F, my host mom and dad were sweating.  My host mom thinks it's because I'm so skinny, but host dad is also just as skinny. He thinks it's because I don't often drink tea.   I think I ruined a lot of small blood vessels in my skiing days, before I knew the wisdom of thin socks, during the days when I would ski non-stop, eating lunch on the chairlift, not willing to miss a single second of downhill speed.   I remember many days with numb toes and fingers, and then painful thaws on the drive down the mountain, itching, burning, but it was worth it at the time.   Now I am wishing I had always worn mittens instead of gloves, taken a break if my feet were cold, and realized the importance of proper circulation.

Outside it's been -10C, not extreme, although the wind finds the zipper on my coat, and I regret wearing my cheep polyester hat rather than my polar tech one on the walk back from Ukrainian tutoring.   This walk includes a suspended cable pedestrian bridge which actually sways in the wind.  I wonder if it's ever inspected as a contemplate whether it would be better to land on solid ice, or to break through into the water so that the impact would be softer.   How do you climb out of a hole in the ice?  Could my two keys be used like an ice pick so I would have some hand hold while I kick with my feet?   How many attempts would I have?  30 seconds, 40?  Nathaniel, I need to borrow that survival manual you have.   I just keep telling myself that a cold winter will make hot, muggy days of summer more bearable.  The joys of a continental climate.   It's also helpful to think of Nathaniel, up in Alaska.  I love sunshine.

As soon as I started walking around downtown, my feet were roasting, sweating even, but back in the car, they were freezing, the drying sweat not helping.   The highlight of this L'viv trip was seeing the big Christmas tree, and all the beautiful buildings in the center in glorious clear winter sunshine.   For all my whining about the cold, I definitely prefer cold clear days to semi-tepid cloudy ones.  The universities were heroic, the firefighting academy is an old castle, the 21 ^st century signs touting mobile phones and Italian clothing only take up the ground floor along the narrow curvy streets.  Second floor and up (first, if you count European style, ground, 1, 2…)I saw beautiful balconies, gargoyles,  and a bunch of other cool things I would be able to describe if I knew anything about architecture.

Jan. 3rd

The fourth party was at some friends' apartment. We came with alcohol and chocolate, the standard requirement when making any sort of visit, and were promptly seated at another table covered with food and drink. Dad, mom and two daughters sat across from my host dad mom and brother.   It was a joke filled evening, everything getting funnier or more serious as the horilka shots continued.  Natalia is 18 and already in her third year of University.   She's a year ahead and Ukrainian high school only has 11 grades.  She is studying economics but unfortunately my vocabulary was too limited to figure out what slant she is getting on globalization, capitalism, market economies or federalism.   And then I learned that her father, sitting across from me worked for the KGB for 22 years, and knew a lot about America , and worked in Peru for a number of years, so also knew some Spanish.   All of my Latin America classes crept into my head and the less than perfect human rights record of both the USA and USSR as we made power plays to exploit strategic alliances and resources while disregarding all moral responsibility in order to gain the upper hand.  The cold war was covered in warm blood in Chile, Peru , Argentina, Dominican Republic , Cuba and many others.  I really want to talk with him more after some more language experience, and maybe when he's not 6 shots deep.   Some of the evening did feel a bit like an interrogation, but that was probably my imagination.  He is still a Russian national, and had a lot of trouble speaking pure Ukrainian for me.   Then he showed me his expansive stamp collection, a bunch of old rubles, 1909-1950, and explained how before the various devaluations, 5 rubles could buy a few cows, but now they are only worth…   He also had collections of Soviet badges and military medals, even giving me a running man pin he had won after winning the 1000m run in KGB training in 3:04 with combat boots, full pack and rifle.  Now he works for the border patrol, and that's how he knows my host dad, who is the veterinarian for the german shepards dogs that also work the border.   There is a system of guard towers, but no fence, and they explained that part of the requirements for entering the EU include being able to demonstrate orderly emigration/immigration controls and regulations.   They said that from Ukraine is currently the easiest way for illegals to get into the EU.   Here are some other interesting facts that arose during the evening.  Only 20% of Natalia's classmates know how to drive, and even fewer older women, compared with 99% of men.   Fondue has made it to Ukraine, chocolate so good.   L'viv University's dormitories have segregated male or female halls. 

And the celebrations continue.  Last night I wend downtown with Andre, met up with his high school friends, and had a relaxing evening playing Durak (Fool) card game.  Incredibly, I haven't been the fool yet.   I still don't really understand what's going on, or what the strategy is, but I seem to be doing ok.  V. Mosty has a center plaza with a Christmas tree and reminds me a lot of the Santa Fe plaza.  There is also a good sized park a few blocks away which I am predicting will be nice when the grass comes back.

These are only the New Years celebrations.   Christmas is yet to come.  Teachers and administrators are working at school, but there is nothing that I can help with yet.  I was initially semi-frustrated with no work to do, but now I've really settled down and have started to enjoy the holidays.   I can't even remember how to teach at this point.  This morning's run was the coldest yet, made my eyes water, and then the tears froze on my eyelashes, but it was nice sunshine sparkling on the snow which I'm convinced now will never melt.   I don't remember the last day above freezing, and the snow has started squeaking loudly when walked or run on.  Tights under my pants have become so normal that when I go around the house in just sweatpants, I feel rather naked.   The wind here blows from the east fairly often, only somewhat interesting except that there is a major coal power plant 18Km to the east, and I doubt it has scrubbers of any sort.   Today has a noticeable brown haze.  It's so flat here, I can't quite figure out how the river decided which way to flow.  The Ukrainian history teacher confirmed that the Synagogue was burned with close to 1000 Jews inside of it.   I also read in PC literature that only 3% of the pre-war Ukrainian Jew population remained after WWII.  

New Year Parties

     My first new years party was at the new pizzeria that just opened downtown.   About thirty teachers were there and I sat at the end of one table with Boris and Sergey.  Boris is the school IT guy, runs all 23 computers and helps teachers with anything computer or printer related.   He's 23 and went to a technical school rather than university.  Sergey is one of the PE teachers, his dad told him it was a good job to stay healthy.   He's 25 and they are the only other young male teachers out of the 80 some teachers at this school.  They both have a bit more English than I have Ukrainian at this point.   It was the typical party spread, the table absolutely covered with food and drink, and a constant flow as the evening progressed.  By the end of the evening our end of the table was affectionately called the boys, and any uneaten food was passed down to us and promptly consumed.   The party lasted 4-5 hours, during which time I consumed 2 salads, 2 sandwiches, 25 pidgin wings, 2 pineapple ham pizzas (12 inch), two milkshakes an ice cream sundae and a few liters of juice and water.   Now I did forget lunch earlier in the day, and Boris and Sergey purposefully didn't eat earlier, in order to capitalize on the feast.  We definitely ate our way through the 52 griven price tag, and generally had a merry time.   I was prompted to give a toast at one point, and managed in broken Ukrainian to say something about wanting to become colleagues and friends, wishing everyone relaxing holidays, and a productive spring semester.   At least that's what I think I said.

My second New Years party was with my host parents.   I was quietly reading Julia Alverez "In the time of Butterflies" having resigned myself to a quiet new years on the couch since it was obvious that Andre's party at the pizzeria was another by invite only affair, and I didn't really feel like spending another 70 grivna, and it was cold to walk the 15 min into town.   So it was quite a surprise when furniture was rearranged, salad made, fruit cut up, meat, cheese, bread, cookies, candy and champagne were lit by candle light and I promptly became the third wheel in a very romantic new years observation.   We watched Putin give his speech, and the fireworks in Moscow, then Ukrainian president Ushenko and the fireworks in Kyiv, then the president of Poland and the fireworks in Warsaw .  It was quite fancy, host mom even getting a bit dressed up, and our living room window giving a perfect view of the modest fireworks of Velyki Mosty.   The presidential speeches were interesting, probably more so if I could understand more than a few words.  The national anthems of these three counties were serious, not at all like the American triumphant content melody which leaves you in at least the same mood you started, if not a bit more optimistic.   The Slavic anthems sounded more like the end of something, a sad movie, a minor symphony, a Shakespeare play where most characters die.  I'm not an expert on how anthems are picked, and whether they actually reflect national character, but it certainly would make an interesting music/sociology/ethnography/psychology research paper.

The third new years party was on the banks of the Rata river, about 3 kilometers downstream from my town.   Again with host parents, Andre still sleeping from the night before.  Late afternoon, northeast wind, light snow, a crackling fire with a kettle of fish soup and a pan of goat meat sizzling on the coals.   Apparently a 25 year old tradition of these three couples, who normally met at this spot every Sunday during the summer, and on new years day every year.   I was promptly served a bowl of spicy fish soup, with a whole fish in it.  I guess if the fish is under 6 inches, no gutting is required.  I was not sure how to eat a whole fish, nor sure I was quite hungry enough to attempt it with only a spoon and my teeth.  I observed the others, and couldn't figure out how, but they all ended up with only the head, spine and tail, the rest of the meat miraculously gone.   How hard could it be?  I started eating the fish, got about half way through the meat when the guts broke open.   I can't say it was incredibly appetizing watching fish poop, algae and small pebbles infiltrate the rest of my soup.  Why do fish eat pebbles?   I then started contemplating where these fish were caught, remembering that I was downstream of the sewage treatment plant, and now knowing exactly what 1970's soviet sewage treatment technology was, I decided to wonder behind the cars (one of which was a 1983 Volkswagen golf) and slyly stomp my fish into the snow.   I ate the rest of the soup, remembering Simran's algae smoothies, and avoiding the pebbles, which was easy since they sink.  It was really fun to play with the fire, and made me miss the yearly fire play at the Santa Fe meeting house with the Faralitos. 

Happy New Year

The snow has deepened, but only by another inch.  Soccer continues on the stadium (tundra?).   The Chelsea vs. Aston Villa game was sweet, the soccer channels are going to be missed in my apartment.   There have been lots of parties, only some of which I have attended.  I decided the main reason I don't drink is that I don't want to.   Why is that so hard for people to understand? 

Oddly busy considering no work, today cutting three activities short to accommodate each other.   First soccer scrimmage, then internet time, now I got to run to Ukrainian tutoring.