August 19th

The phone company which all the other volunteers use and which is half the price of any of the competitors does not work in my new apartment.  Just not enough altitude to get reception a little ways down the hill and on the second instead of fifth floor.  It's also the company which I use to call home, or anywhere international. Today I tried everywhere in my town, even the top of a climbing structure. Looks like I will need to keep looking for a sweet spot, or only use this sweet company when I go up to Chervonograd, down to Lviv, or just about anywhere besides my town.

 

Got to get some community mapping done and design this community survey to further focus our environmental cleanup project. I also am starting to dream big because I saw a truck filled with crushed plastic bottles drive through my town headed south. There has to be recycling somewhere, and that would be a cool thing to get started. I know recycling has some problems, especially plastic recycling, with huge energy costs, harmful air pollution and a poorer quality plastic in the end, but it seems better than the bottles just immediately going to the landfill…ahhem, I mean the pit in the forest or field.

 

I tried to set up physical therapy today, and the lady told me to come back tomorrow. Hmm.  I got to start running, especially without a set schedule right now, I'm falling back into my adolescent habits of staying up real late, sleeping in real late anв getting nothing done till after noon.  Can't waste that kind of daylight, especially since each day is getting so much shorter. Screw the pain, I'm going running tomorrow. I'll ice and stretch and take ibuprofen and just hope that the Achilles tendinitus goes away the same way that the plantar faciitus did. Time.

 

The weather has been beautiful. I'm going to miss this warmth so much in a few months. At least I got my hot water working today. Not that I'll use it for a while since I've come to enjoy a cold shower. Helps save water also. Bed time. It's nice having this computer to get some thoughts out every day. I can't forget about my real journal or violin though. I wonder how long you, the reader, will be able to keep up.  I know that I fell way behind in elo's blog and now don't even have a chance of catching up. So…I need to stop writing.

August 18th

Ok, almost have windows re-installed on my laptop (notebook in ukrainian).  Next will be microsoft office, then a slow filling out of other programs, since I have to find them all on cd. I was an idiot when I was trying to reorganize stuff on the computer that Brooks so kindly donated to me and moved some files that the computer needed for startup, so it couldn't find them.  Sam even warned me as I was doing it not to mess with it if I didn't know what it was.  Oh well, now I have more incentive to learn Russian since both the operating system and the whole office suite is in Russian.

 

I'm most excited to be able to watch movies, but being able to type lesson plans and generally have things organized in documents/folders. It's odd how I'm more likely to write stuff down if it's on a computer because my typing is so much faster than my penmanship. I hope the computer doesn't distract me from my violin.

 

The students and I who will attempt to start a trash cleanup program on the banks of our river. Ideally we'll get trash cans and an agreement with the city to empty them. Then we'll organize 3 cleanups a year combined with me teaching environmental lessons in the school and facebook/vkontakte groups. Doing a community project is not easy, but doing something is far better than only planning and talking. I can't wait to get started.

 

My spork broke. Curtis won't stop making fun of how his is titanium and still whole while mine is plastic and now in two pieces.

 

Thank you brooks, for the computer.

Sam, I miss your fresh perspectives.

I ate too much watermelon.

I need to sleep. Sure wish I could watch the Olympics.

Independence day

Yesterday was Ukrainian independence day

great time in Lviv, lots of people dressed up in army uniforms, scantily clad women selling cell phone contracts, priests, choirs and outdoor church services, rock concerts and the philharmonic sharing one outdoor stage

in usa we just celebrate independence, not really caring too much who we gained independence from

Here it is made very clear that ukraine escaped russia's cold and oppressive embrace

People express their nationality as defined in opposition to Russia, with hateful, violent graffiti, tshirt slogans and slang

maybe that's how we used to feel toward England, in 1803?

I sure hope russia doesn't try to make eastern ukraine succeed the way they're supporting northern georgia

then again as a pcv, i'm not supposed to express political opinions, oops

physical therapy

requires a prescription

just like the usa

the doctors are super overworked and underpaid

I waited for half an hour as the line to see the doctor got longer, and longer, and longer

and yet he didn't show up, rumors that a car crash kept him up at the hospital

which combined with the other doctor being on holiday...

but the masseuse was happy to see me

she said "how can we not cure our star american footballer? Hope to see you soon..."

I have some other blog entries on my flash drive, but no flash drive allowed at this internet club either

Why are all the tents sold out?

went running today, I can't just sit around all day

Got to find a plastic tub to do my laundry

new place only has a shower

i'm making apricot/white cherry jam, watching alot of lost, and generally waiting for the school year to start

maybe i'll get one more trip in before school

Sunday is independence day (unlike the USA, where we don't think of it in terms of us vs. great britain, here alot of nationalistic spirit comes out in antagonistic terms against russia.)

then thursday is a big religious holiday called praznik, not sure what that means

will report more later

now back to the tub search, want to get a new cell phone so i can get internet at home

and need to map out the river where we are planning the cleanup

if only google earth had airial photos of Velyki Mosty

probably do, back from soviet times, maybe still classified

is my absentee ballot going to get here?

back home, new place

old apartment vs. new apartment
pink bedroom--carpets on the wall
building built in 1979-vs1984
normal toilet--backwards display everthing on a shelf before flushing toilet
tub and sit down showers-stand up shower that makes the whole bathroom wet
big kitchen-small kitchen
2 frying pans-10 frying pans
nice flat queen size bed---lumpy fold out couch
great view in two directions--light pole and houses
fridge in the kitchen--fridge in the hall
machine that spins clothes and water--real washing machine not hooked up to anything (inoperative?)
full set of silverwhere--no butter knives
overall, satisfied with the new place, hopefully I can get the water heater working before cold weather
the windows are new, so there should be no draft
now what else was on my mind?

Beautiful weather

last day with Sam

feel sort of bad that I will send him on a train by himself back to Kyiv (arrives 2:53am), then he has to get the bus out to the airport, through customs and all the rest without knowing any ukrainian in a predawn postindustrial megalopolis

today was spent in and around Lviv

nice food, hot day, hotter transport

back to school on monday

moving apartments in 8 days

got stop collecting stuff

searching for a tent

had enough of the big canvas behemoth that i lived in this summer

pretty excited to watch some movies and tv shows now that I have a computer

hopefully I still read and play violin also

and now to find a yoga dvd

got to improve flexiblity

and want something to do each morning instead of running

achilles physical therapy starts in september

ok, what on earth is going on in the olympics?

Got to find cable

peace

 

 

Whirlwind Romania

Nice mountains
old buildings
villages, animals
I think I like peopleless wilderness better
more to come now that I have a computer
Thank you Brooks! and Sam for carrying it here
undecided about internet, but the computer is a start
off to cross the Carpathian Mountains, again...by train

So much fun!

The environmental camp was a huge success. We basically taught grassroots project design and the response was great. Add the sun every day, woods, lakes and rivers, great volunteers and a pinch of luck. Now i'm in Kyiv, Sam arrives tomorrow, staying with my first host family tonight. Is my flash drive dying if it's making sounds when working? Maybe putting it through the laundry did affect it?