30 August 2006
I am almost at a loss of where to start here, things have been moving at a quick clip here and a whole host of things has happened. So I will just try to go through my memory and write as it comes, no guarantees to anything extremely organized or chronological. My only worry is it will turn into a mini book, so I’ll try to break it up so you don’t have to read it all at once either.
First of all, let me start from the present. I am sitting in a location different from where I have written previous posts, mainly meaning that I have moved into my own place. I’ll try to get some pictures up for you all to get an idea what my living space looks like, but it is still a little messy from my moving in and I haven’t got things organized to a satisfactory point yet. When that gets done I’ll try to get some photos up. It is definitely no palace, but it does have two rooms, plus the kitchen, toilet and bath. Yet, because the previous residents moved out the day I moved in (they are moving to a larger apartment in town) I have the bare minimums of living here. Basically the second room has one, no now two, pieces of furniture in it right now. I moved a small coffee table in to accompany a small couch. That is also the larger of the two rooms, but the majority of furniture is in the smaller one, which includes my bed, desk, and storage for my clothes. Peace Corps gives us a list of the bare minimums of what should be in our apartments, that’s what I have in my apt. right now, with maybe a couple extra forks. I cooked dinner tonight and realized I had no storage containers to put the extra rice into. I put the pot in the fridge. It is a strange way to start off, with almost nothing, in all my previous moves I knew I brought a lot of stuff, but now see, especially in the kitchen, how all of that can make life so much easier. But the evening was better than the morning. I spent the second half of my yesterday helping the previous residents move out and move my stuff in, which meant it slipped my mind to actually buy some food to eat. This was after I had already dropped a good chunk of change the day before buying necessary things like toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Thankfully my former host mother took pity on me, she only lives one floor down from my current place and fed me breakfast and gave me a few kitchen items. Still need to get a hold of a spatula. Then I went and dropped another load of cash to buy just the basics to get me started around here; we’re talking as basic as salt and pepper. But I was able to cook myself dinner tonight so no one should worry about me starving. I still have a lot to learn about gas stoves, however. I get the feeling like there is no low setting like on electric stoves, just hot and really hot(update, this morning I have have found it, no guarantees). Made for an adventure trying to cook my rice, which is supposed to sit on low heat. Also trying to get chicken cooked without spraying oil all over the kitchen, I failed at that. And yes I know I could cover it, but didn’t have a lid of any sort to do that with. The other observation is how silent it is. Thankfully I got mail from the states so I spent some time reading through that, but this will be another part of my adjustment I’m sure. I was used to living with families and always someone around or something going on. I had been wanting to not feel like I had to put on a show of any sort, but it can be lonely at times to, I’ll admit.
Well, moving on, I want to preface the next part by saying today has been a sad day because I heard the news that a former volunteer that I had seen just this past weekend died Tuesday night. John Zvosec was a volunteer in Ukraine for six years before ending his service this past fall. He was a retired architect and stayed in the country with his Ukrainian wife. I first met him on a project I have been working on to plant trees in my community. He was a man that gave a lot of himself to this country and had an abundance of patience with a newbie like me in the country. For a man of his experience I never felt stupid in front of him and he seemed to generally care for the country and the work he did as a free-lance volunteer in the country. He undoubtedly had a profound impact on the country of Ukraine and his adopted city of Ternopil. I’m still in shock, as are many others who knew him.
A little of what him and I had been working on. My regional manager approached me with a potential grant to plant trees from an American organization and I said I would do my best to put together a grant, almost immediately feeling overwhelmed, you can read about it in a previous post of mine. But this past weekend I went to Ternopil, a few hours east of Lviv by train, and we finished this proposal, which I know I could not have done on my own. The city, by the way, is beautiful. I was told it is one of two cities in Europe formed around a lake, the other being Geneva, on further thought, that may be stretching it a bit, but the town itself was charming. I was there on a rainy day so I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked, but liked the atmosphere there and definitely want to return and spend more time there. As for the prospects for the grant, I have no idea what to expect, mostly I’m just glad to have got it out of the way for the moment; I have plenty of other things occupying my time as well.
One of those other things you may have seen if you looked at my pictures recently. August 24 is Independence Day here and while I felt like Americans take their day a little more enthusiastically, I had my own part in the activities. The mayor had asked me to give a speech in front of the town, oh, in Ukrainian. Thankfully this time around I had time to prepare and practice, unlike the other time I got to give a speech to a town on Victory Day this past spring. With it threatening rain the entire ceremony, I was slated to be one of the last people to speak. To add to my pressure, people were getting tired and the ceremony was kind of dragging on, I heard people saying it was too long, with even more speakers to go. Thankfully I had prepared only a very short speech and it went rather well (to read the text, go to my supplemental materials). I started off a little nervous, but was able to settle down by the end and it went all right. The day went on to a concert featuring local musicians and some other group that at least none of the young kids had even heard. Then it was the outdoor disco that brings a lot of the town together and ended with fireworks, made for a long day.
That’s probably way too much reading for any one person, but I hope you make it through eventually. I’ll try to keep them shorter, and for better or worse, I know there was more I had wanted to write at one point or another. But I can save those stories for another time. It is 11 at night and I need some sleep, have English club tomorrow and no idea what to yet.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
It’s been a little while since I was able to sit in front of the computer here and pound out a little of what has been going on around here. A big part of the delay has been because I’ve been doing a little bit of running around, getting sick and even a little freaking out, but I’m all better now, except that I won’t be settling down much quite yet. A couple of things I want to touch on below. God is great and new airline regulations suck.
First about those airline regulations, there was another volunteer who went back to visit her boyfriend who was a PCV, but just returned home to Oregon. She asked me if there was anything I wanted from home. As I thought about it, the best thing I could come up with was a good bottle of Pinot Noir. For those of you who don’t know, Oregon has some of the best around and I cannot get a decent bottle of wine in this country. Yet, while she was there, those psychos in London tried to smuggle liquid explosives onto planes bound for the U.S. and as a result I guess you can’t take any liquids onto planes any longer. So no wine, it was a bummer. It is funny the sort of things that you can end up missing, in retrospect I might have asked for some coffee, it is real hard to get a good cup of coffee here too, but I am finding places where I may be able to get some good beans. But good wine, that’s a tough one. So basic decision, these new airline regulations suck.
As for the part about how God is great, don’t know if I should say that and risk having the wrath of Peace Corps and the American government come down on me, but oh well. I have been in the process of working on a grant to help plant trees in my town and there has been a need to move quickly on it, causing me a bit of panic and stress. Ends up that this guy who is a former volunteer and still lives in Ukraine I thought was going to just help me, will do the actual writing. Gives me a lot of relief and the ability to assist in every way possible running down information and leads while not stress about needing to word the document in addition to the other things that I have been busy with. He was out here to visit my site, which involved having the mayor drive us around almost the entire day and have a generally good time, but made for a long day since I made two trips to Lviv that day and ended up going to Lviv the next day as well.
The reason for the second trip because a girl who I had met at a summer camp where she was teaching English, she’s from Virginia but has family history in Ukraine, wanted to see my site and get a chance to help out with an English club. I had my first meeting of younger classes yesterday (sixth to eighth grade) so it was a good opportunity for her to come check it out. While she speaks Ukrainian much better than I do, helps to have it in the blood I guess and to speak it at home, I am able to move around the country a lot easier since I do it more frequently. So I made a trip into Lviv to pick her up and then turn around pretty quick to make it back in time for the club at four.
As for the club it went well, had more students show up for it than I did for the older class, which isn’t too surprising but am aware of more who will want to come but were out of town at the sea or in the country. One thing I found interesting is the interest parents have in ensuring their children would be able to come to the club if they were not there. Guess that just speaks to the culture here where things can be exclusive and doors can close quickly? Not sure but it was not an isolated occurrence.
As for looking ahead, I have a full week ahead planned and will not be slowing down yet, maybe in the foreseeable future. Quick rundown of my week, in case you care. Monday to Tuesday will be in an adjoining town interviewing an NGO about some of their practices to see if I can use some of their ideas. Wednesday will have the Country Director visiting along with me having another English club almost right afterwards. That will just be followed up with Independence Day here on the 24th where I will giving a speech to the town, in Ukrainian. Not sure how that will go yet, guaranteed to be interesting! Well that’s more than enough for everyone to read, hope life is good wherever you read this and hope to hear from you soon!
A link to a report by the Brooking Commission of suggestions for Peace Corps, actually can agree with a lot of it. Don't often do that with Brookings
http://www.brookings.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb127.htm
First about those airline regulations, there was another volunteer who went back to visit her boyfriend who was a PCV, but just returned home to Oregon. She asked me if there was anything I wanted from home. As I thought about it, the best thing I could come up with was a good bottle of Pinot Noir. For those of you who don’t know, Oregon has some of the best around and I cannot get a decent bottle of wine in this country. Yet, while she was there, those psychos in London tried to smuggle liquid explosives onto planes bound for the U.S. and as a result I guess you can’t take any liquids onto planes any longer. So no wine, it was a bummer. It is funny the sort of things that you can end up missing, in retrospect I might have asked for some coffee, it is real hard to get a good cup of coffee here too, but I am finding places where I may be able to get some good beans. But good wine, that’s a tough one. So basic decision, these new airline regulations suck.
As for the part about how God is great, don’t know if I should say that and risk having the wrath of Peace Corps and the American government come down on me, but oh well. I have been in the process of working on a grant to help plant trees in my town and there has been a need to move quickly on it, causing me a bit of panic and stress. Ends up that this guy who is a former volunteer and still lives in Ukraine I thought was going to just help me, will do the actual writing. Gives me a lot of relief and the ability to assist in every way possible running down information and leads while not stress about needing to word the document in addition to the other things that I have been busy with. He was out here to visit my site, which involved having the mayor drive us around almost the entire day and have a generally good time, but made for a long day since I made two trips to Lviv that day and ended up going to Lviv the next day as well.
The reason for the second trip because a girl who I had met at a summer camp where she was teaching English, she’s from Virginia but has family history in Ukraine, wanted to see my site and get a chance to help out with an English club. I had my first meeting of younger classes yesterday (sixth to eighth grade) so it was a good opportunity for her to come check it out. While she speaks Ukrainian much better than I do, helps to have it in the blood I guess and to speak it at home, I am able to move around the country a lot easier since I do it more frequently. So I made a trip into Lviv to pick her up and then turn around pretty quick to make it back in time for the club at four.
As for the club it went well, had more students show up for it than I did for the older class, which isn’t too surprising but am aware of more who will want to come but were out of town at the sea or in the country. One thing I found interesting is the interest parents have in ensuring their children would be able to come to the club if they were not there. Guess that just speaks to the culture here where things can be exclusive and doors can close quickly? Not sure but it was not an isolated occurrence.
As for looking ahead, I have a full week ahead planned and will not be slowing down yet, maybe in the foreseeable future. Quick rundown of my week, in case you care. Monday to Tuesday will be in an adjoining town interviewing an NGO about some of their practices to see if I can use some of their ideas. Wednesday will have the Country Director visiting along with me having another English club almost right afterwards. That will just be followed up with Independence Day here on the 24th where I will giving a speech to the town, in Ukrainian. Not sure how that will go yet, guaranteed to be interesting! Well that’s more than enough for everyone to read, hope life is good wherever you read this and hope to hear from you soon!
A link to a report by the Brooking Commission of suggestions for Peace Corps, actually can agree with a lot of it. Don't often do that with Brookings
http://www.brookings.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb127.htm
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Had my first meeting of an English Club today, part of me feels like I should have tried to do it earlier, but wanted to be fully available before I started anything that would have serial meetings. And that couldn’t happen until August, since I had been coming and going almost the entire month of July and June I was still adjusting to the site.
Working with my coordinator, we decided to focus on having classes 9-11. Hypothetically this means they have all had at least several years of English studies, how much they could speak, was to be determined. It was supposed to start at four, so at about two minutes till we had a grand total of three people. I was starting to worry a little bit and wondering if I was going to have to wing the whole meeting, since all of the plans I had required more than three people. But as it rolled to four the total number of people pushed up to about 10, and I sighed an inward sigh of relief. Now in all of their defense I will say it is summer, people come and go quite a bit, I know of at least three who would be here if they were in town. Plus, I printed up several announcements and posted them around town, it then commenced to rain and destroy every single announcement I had printed, which meant I had to print them up again and lost several days of eye-exposure in the process.
As we sat down, everyone looked like they were not sure what they had gotten themselves into and I knew I needed to move fast to keep their attention. To give you all a quick run-down what happened, I had everyone re-introduce themselves, played the game where they have to line up by birthdays without speaking to show them they can communicate without needing to always speak. Had them tell me things they talk about regularly and also with friends. I noticed students were trying hard to speak, but it was evident it was the first meeting and they (I’ll give a disclaimer: maybe some had) had not thought, especially spoken English all summer.
The last game got a thumbs up from my coordinator, however, I remember playing it at my college orientation for the first time, but the basic idea of the game is you say one thing you do, have, etc. and whoever is the same must change places. Whoever is stuck in the middle starts the game over. It became popular with the students as well, and I could see them stretching to remember words and be somewhat creative, or just plain calling out other people there to make them be in the center. Overall, I was very pleased with the results, hopefully the students thought the same. Although, as we were trying to decide when to meet next, I was reminded again it was summer, as we are not meeting next we due to the fact a lot of them will be out of town. But overall, I guess it was worth writing home about, since you have my account right here on your computer screen to read.
Working with my coordinator, we decided to focus on having classes 9-11. Hypothetically this means they have all had at least several years of English studies, how much they could speak, was to be determined. It was supposed to start at four, so at about two minutes till we had a grand total of three people. I was starting to worry a little bit and wondering if I was going to have to wing the whole meeting, since all of the plans I had required more than three people. But as it rolled to four the total number of people pushed up to about 10, and I sighed an inward sigh of relief. Now in all of their defense I will say it is summer, people come and go quite a bit, I know of at least three who would be here if they were in town. Plus, I printed up several announcements and posted them around town, it then commenced to rain and destroy every single announcement I had printed, which meant I had to print them up again and lost several days of eye-exposure in the process.
As we sat down, everyone looked like they were not sure what they had gotten themselves into and I knew I needed to move fast to keep their attention. To give you all a quick run-down what happened, I had everyone re-introduce themselves, played the game where they have to line up by birthdays without speaking to show them they can communicate without needing to always speak. Had them tell me things they talk about regularly and also with friends. I noticed students were trying hard to speak, but it was evident it was the first meeting and they (I’ll give a disclaimer: maybe some had) had not thought, especially spoken English all summer.
The last game got a thumbs up from my coordinator, however, I remember playing it at my college orientation for the first time, but the basic idea of the game is you say one thing you do, have, etc. and whoever is the same must change places. Whoever is stuck in the middle starts the game over. It became popular with the students as well, and I could see them stretching to remember words and be somewhat creative, or just plain calling out other people there to make them be in the center. Overall, I was very pleased with the results, hopefully the students thought the same. Although, as we were trying to decide when to meet next, I was reminded again it was summer, as we are not meeting next we due to the fact a lot of them will be out of town. But overall, I guess it was worth writing home about, since you have my account right here on your computer screen to read.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
For some odd reason I have the old dating show theme song running through my head right now, which doesn’t make any sense, since I’m thinking about cooking. But there just aren’t any good cooking show theme songs I can think about right now.
What I have come to realize in this country is that a man who isn’t completely incompetent in the kitchen in this country is something of an oddity. This started a couple of days ago when there was no one home and I need to make myself something to eat. Not exactly something in my mind all that difficult. However, my host family was rather worried and one of my host sisters made sure to peel potatoes before she left for the day. She actually peeled a lot, I don’t know why, must have thought I would be real hungry for lunch. So I came home that day with the full understanding I would need to cook, used about one and a half potatoes, grilled them on the stove and added onions, tomatoes, eggs, meat and cheese for a nice little meal. Something I would do with some frequency when I was living back in the States. My good friend Rodney once said it was one of my better dishes. So I did that, ate, washed the dishes and cleaned up, no big deal.
So later that night I came home and hear the same host sister tell my host mother it looks as if I didn’t eat anything at all. I pipe up and say, no I did eat just fine, I don’t think they fully believed me. I explained what I ate, and they were impressed. Then I proceed to hear from several other people they are impressed I can cook for myself. It happened again today. I haven’t entirely figured it out, but almost as soon as I got into this country I have had people worry about whether I will be able to feed myself. Sheesh, I have lived on my own and am here to speak about it. My only complaint at this point is that since I’m not in my own kitchen it takes a little longer for me to find things I want. Other than that, I am actually looking forward to when I can buy my own food and prepare it. Sure it may get old after a while and I will miss the good food my family prepares here, but I may not be going far. As for that story…
So it has been one long drama of trying to find a place to live since even before I arrived. There were two volunteers at my site before and there was some talk of me taking that place once I moved out on my own. The only sticking point was the price, which was high, but no other places had been coming up, until today. One of the ladies my host mother works with had asked me yesterday for how the word “management” translates into Ukrainian. So when she stopped by today, that was what I expected her to ask me, but she also dropped the bomb she had an extra apartment, she is living with it along with her family right now but is moving into a larger one shortly. Somewhere along the line a question just wasn’t asked and I guess she just found out yesterday I am looking. So I got a chance to look at it today and for my standards it was just fine and she talked with my Regional Manager and things seem to look positive. So yeah!
Small matter of making sure there will be a refrigerator when I get there, but that is a pretty minor matter, in my opinion. It was said it could be taken care of. Well this, is quite enough to read for a while, I need to work on a speech for Independence Day and think about bed.
What I have come to realize in this country is that a man who isn’t completely incompetent in the kitchen in this country is something of an oddity. This started a couple of days ago when there was no one home and I need to make myself something to eat. Not exactly something in my mind all that difficult. However, my host family was rather worried and one of my host sisters made sure to peel potatoes before she left for the day. She actually peeled a lot, I don’t know why, must have thought I would be real hungry for lunch. So I came home that day with the full understanding I would need to cook, used about one and a half potatoes, grilled them on the stove and added onions, tomatoes, eggs, meat and cheese for a nice little meal. Something I would do with some frequency when I was living back in the States. My good friend Rodney once said it was one of my better dishes. So I did that, ate, washed the dishes and cleaned up, no big deal.
So later that night I came home and hear the same host sister tell my host mother it looks as if I didn’t eat anything at all. I pipe up and say, no I did eat just fine, I don’t think they fully believed me. I explained what I ate, and they were impressed. Then I proceed to hear from several other people they are impressed I can cook for myself. It happened again today. I haven’t entirely figured it out, but almost as soon as I got into this country I have had people worry about whether I will be able to feed myself. Sheesh, I have lived on my own and am here to speak about it. My only complaint at this point is that since I’m not in my own kitchen it takes a little longer for me to find things I want. Other than that, I am actually looking forward to when I can buy my own food and prepare it. Sure it may get old after a while and I will miss the good food my family prepares here, but I may not be going far. As for that story…
So it has been one long drama of trying to find a place to live since even before I arrived. There were two volunteers at my site before and there was some talk of me taking that place once I moved out on my own. The only sticking point was the price, which was high, but no other places had been coming up, until today. One of the ladies my host mother works with had asked me yesterday for how the word “management” translates into Ukrainian. So when she stopped by today, that was what I expected her to ask me, but she also dropped the bomb she had an extra apartment, she is living with it along with her family right now but is moving into a larger one shortly. Somewhere along the line a question just wasn’t asked and I guess she just found out yesterday I am looking. So I got a chance to look at it today and for my standards it was just fine and she talked with my Regional Manager and things seem to look positive. So yeah!
Small matter of making sure there will be a refrigerator when I get there, but that is a pretty minor matter, in my opinion. It was said it could be taken care of. Well this, is quite enough to read for a while, I need to work on a speech for Independence Day and think about bed.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Well I had to review my last post quickly to know where I left off, things can move at a snail’s pace or swallow’s (look it up, they move really fast).
Last week a couple of good things happened, the one that might have the longest lasting impact will be that myself and another local guy ran wire in the library in preparation for connecting a computer network and starting to offer computer and internet classes. It was one of those super days and I was able to walk home feeling as though I had accomplished something. Of course now I need to wait for a remodel of a room so I can actually set up computers, which I was hoping would be done already, but the two things that Peace Corps will teach anyone is patience and flexibility. Two things I thought I had, but am learning more of both quickly. That and people here don’t always have a lot of it, so it can test mine even more.
The second part of last week found me at an English Camp run by the Ukrainian Catholic University. I was only there for the last couple days of an almost month-long camp, so it wasn’t quite as active as I was hoping, the best way to describe it, as told by another volunteer as a Peace Corps PR tour, but did get the chance to meet some interesting people. Some of the most interesting people were some Ukrainian monks who are in a Monastery in Poland. I found them to be extremely engaging, curious about Peace Corps and truly honest good guys.
But the most interesting cultural experience was I had the opportunity to attend my first Ukrainian wedding. Another volunteer Liz Read her account here invited me to a wedding of two people from her town and with it being on a weekend I couldn’t see why not to go. One of the first things you’ll notice different at weddings, is there are plenty of very old traditions, which I didn’t always understand, and can they can go on the whole night. Plus this one was in a village so there was no way I could say no.
To get there we boarded a marshrutka (well two, but on the first we were told wasn’t going where we wanted to go so we jumped off, luckily, before it left). The second one dropped us off along the side of a rather deserted road and the only directions we had at that point was “third house”. Somewhere along the line the directions got a little garbled, because it sure wasn’t the third. We stopped and asked several women who pointed us in the right direction and as we got closer we were able to start to just follow the music. About 20 minutes later of walking on dirt roads we found the right place, not quite the third house, maybe the thirtieth.
Once there, I never fully understood what was going on, but rather just followed the tide of people and heard what explanations I could from Liz, who had been to one previously. Let’s just say I saw it start off with what was described as “buying” the bride with vodka(?), stuffed animals and carrying what looked like a washing machine into the house. Don’t ask me to explain why, I don’t know.
Then it was time to sit and eat; on the way each guest gives their gift and wishes to the bride and groom before they went to sit down. I thought that was kind of neat as each guest got the opportunity to talk to them individually, although briefly. Then it was time for food. One thing you need to be prepared for is to eat, and drink, the entire night. The tables are just chock full of food and drinks. And as to be expected there were plenty of toasts in honor of the couple and plenty more just for the sake of toasting. I was also promptly renamed Yura, several of the other guests at the table had a real hard time pronouncing my name, not an uncommon experience, so they just gave me a new name, that was the new part of people not being able to pronounce my name. So the rest of the night, I had to remember to pay attention to “Yura”, it got called out a good number of times and became more popular as the night went on.
After a good amount of food was consumed the whole place went out and we danced polkas, traditional dances and what I guess are traditional games. I found the games most entertaining, the one I participated in was basically pretending to drop your pants and do your business over a bucket and then run back, trade the over-sized underwear with the next person in a relay game. It came with sound effects and everything; I still shake my head when I think about it. The second game, which I thankfully sat out, was to see who could make the longest cord by tying pieces of clothing together. It started out with guys removing their belts and shirts (I didn’t see women get quite as involved in it), but ended up with competition getting the best of them and guys ending up in their skivvies. It was just as well I sat that one out. Don’t think this game will catch on soon at most receptions.
A cross between a game and a dance was also on hand, this involved handkerchiefs that several people had and a big circle of people dancing around them. The basic idea is a guy/girls waves the handkerchief at a girl/guy and they will dance in the center, put the handkerchief on the ground and exchange a kiss, then one of them goes back to the circle and the game is repeated. I was popular among the 40-something married women . But pretty much everyone got pulled out of the circle at least twice.
But it was then time for another round of eating and drinking. By this point I had what I think is an almost unique experience in Ukraine, an older gentleman who had been sitting across from me the whole night was concerned about the amount I was drinking, he didn’t want me to get drunk. Liz had never seen such a thing before and I sure hadn’t. To be honest, I didn’t feel like I had been drinking that much and had only been taking partial shots for a while before that. But it was real nice of him. I got a good kick out of it. It will be one of those things I will take with me for a while.
At midnight there was a group leaving and we were both pretty beat, but the adventure didn’t end once we got into the taxi with four other people, count that is seven people in one car (normal). On the way home, a wheel almost came off the taxi. Serious.
There was a sudden noise that I thought might have meant a flat tire, never fun, but it happens, but when we got out of the vehicle I could see that the tire was not where it should have been in the wheel well but about a foot outside of it with only a metal rod connecting it. My only thought at that point was, we could have died. But the driver jacked up the car, knocked the tire back into place with a hammer and we took off again, at a slower speed and him stopping to check it regularly. When the group of us got to Sokal, where I spent the night, he charged us extra for the hassle.
The wedding probably went on until 4 or 5 that next morning, maybe longer. But I had a good time in the time I was there and came back rather impressed. It was a good time.
Last week a couple of good things happened, the one that might have the longest lasting impact will be that myself and another local guy ran wire in the library in preparation for connecting a computer network and starting to offer computer and internet classes. It was one of those super days and I was able to walk home feeling as though I had accomplished something. Of course now I need to wait for a remodel of a room so I can actually set up computers, which I was hoping would be done already, but the two things that Peace Corps will teach anyone is patience and flexibility. Two things I thought I had, but am learning more of both quickly. That and people here don’t always have a lot of it, so it can test mine even more.
The second part of last week found me at an English Camp run by the Ukrainian Catholic University. I was only there for the last couple days of an almost month-long camp, so it wasn’t quite as active as I was hoping, the best way to describe it, as told by another volunteer as a Peace Corps PR tour, but did get the chance to meet some interesting people. Some of the most interesting people were some Ukrainian monks who are in a Monastery in Poland. I found them to be extremely engaging, curious about Peace Corps and truly honest good guys.
But the most interesting cultural experience was I had the opportunity to attend my first Ukrainian wedding. Another volunteer Liz Read her account here invited me to a wedding of two people from her town and with it being on a weekend I couldn’t see why not to go. One of the first things you’ll notice different at weddings, is there are plenty of very old traditions, which I didn’t always understand, and can they can go on the whole night. Plus this one was in a village so there was no way I could say no.
To get there we boarded a marshrutka (well two, but on the first we were told wasn’t going where we wanted to go so we jumped off, luckily, before it left). The second one dropped us off along the side of a rather deserted road and the only directions we had at that point was “third house”. Somewhere along the line the directions got a little garbled, because it sure wasn’t the third. We stopped and asked several women who pointed us in the right direction and as we got closer we were able to start to just follow the music. About 20 minutes later of walking on dirt roads we found the right place, not quite the third house, maybe the thirtieth.
Once there, I never fully understood what was going on, but rather just followed the tide of people and heard what explanations I could from Liz, who had been to one previously. Let’s just say I saw it start off with what was described as “buying” the bride with vodka(?), stuffed animals and carrying what looked like a washing machine into the house. Don’t ask me to explain why, I don’t know.
Then it was time to sit and eat; on the way each guest gives their gift and wishes to the bride and groom before they went to sit down. I thought that was kind of neat as each guest got the opportunity to talk to them individually, although briefly. Then it was time for food. One thing you need to be prepared for is to eat, and drink, the entire night. The tables are just chock full of food and drinks. And as to be expected there were plenty of toasts in honor of the couple and plenty more just for the sake of toasting. I was also promptly renamed Yura, several of the other guests at the table had a real hard time pronouncing my name, not an uncommon experience, so they just gave me a new name, that was the new part of people not being able to pronounce my name. So the rest of the night, I had to remember to pay attention to “Yura”, it got called out a good number of times and became more popular as the night went on.
After a good amount of food was consumed the whole place went out and we danced polkas, traditional dances and what I guess are traditional games. I found the games most entertaining, the one I participated in was basically pretending to drop your pants and do your business over a bucket and then run back, trade the over-sized underwear with the next person in a relay game. It came with sound effects and everything; I still shake my head when I think about it. The second game, which I thankfully sat out, was to see who could make the longest cord by tying pieces of clothing together. It started out with guys removing their belts and shirts (I didn’t see women get quite as involved in it), but ended up with competition getting the best of them and guys ending up in their skivvies. It was just as well I sat that one out. Don’t think this game will catch on soon at most receptions.
A cross between a game and a dance was also on hand, this involved handkerchiefs that several people had and a big circle of people dancing around them. The basic idea is a guy/girls waves the handkerchief at a girl/guy and they will dance in the center, put the handkerchief on the ground and exchange a kiss, then one of them goes back to the circle and the game is repeated. I was popular among the 40-something married women . But pretty much everyone got pulled out of the circle at least twice.
But it was then time for another round of eating and drinking. By this point I had what I think is an almost unique experience in Ukraine, an older gentleman who had been sitting across from me the whole night was concerned about the amount I was drinking, he didn’t want me to get drunk. Liz had never seen such a thing before and I sure hadn’t. To be honest, I didn’t feel like I had been drinking that much and had only been taking partial shots for a while before that. But it was real nice of him. I got a good kick out of it. It will be one of those things I will take with me for a while.
At midnight there was a group leaving and we were both pretty beat, but the adventure didn’t end once we got into the taxi with four other people, count that is seven people in one car (normal). On the way home, a wheel almost came off the taxi. Serious.
There was a sudden noise that I thought might have meant a flat tire, never fun, but it happens, but when we got out of the vehicle I could see that the tire was not where it should have been in the wheel well but about a foot outside of it with only a metal rod connecting it. My only thought at that point was, we could have died. But the driver jacked up the car, knocked the tire back into place with a hammer and we took off again, at a slower speed and him stopping to check it regularly. When the group of us got to Sokal, where I spent the night, he charged us extra for the hassle.
The wedding probably went on until 4 or 5 that next morning, maybe longer. But I had a good time in the time I was there and came back rather impressed. It was a good time.
I have a new sworn enemy in this land, which I have not been able to defeat or even feel as if I have made progress against. Mosquitoes, or as they are called here Comar, Comariv (plural).
I had always known that we never got along, but until I got here I didn’t realize the quality of screens we have in the states. An example of last night I was me swatting at them all evening, inside. I sleep under a mosquito net (I’ll include the picture), it’s not the most comfortable, but it keeps the buggers from buzzing in my years. Right now my feet are on fire from their bites, along with my left hand. They will go right through clothing; some make it through jeans, one way or another. Most of my bites were right through my clothes at a time I didn’t think I would need to use my mosquito spray I carry almost everywhere with me.
For all of you who don’t react very strongly to them, be glad. For me, I have had the bites well up to the size of quarters and turn red, blue and purple. Locals have told me it seems like I may have an allergic reaction to them, which may or may not be true, can that even be possible.
I have also become quite adept and snagging them straight out of the air, and crushing them. But the ones who have already fed are a little slower, for obvious reasons. I go for the ones who have not got their share yet, because I know they will be gunning for me later. It is a war and I plan to make them pay the best I can, leaving a trail of dead, crushed mosquitoes on the ground behind me.
So I think this is basically a venting post, I don’t have anything I can truly do, until maybe I move into my own place and seal it up tight against the little buggers.
Well, there’s not much more to say, other than right now I’m just feeling a little miserable from them and can’t wait for the cold to kill them, kill them all.
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