oh, for an air conditioner!

Oh, it's hot here these days. Yesterday was in the 90s and today probably is as well. We all sweltered through church this morning, helped out by two fans and open windows. I left the house this morning in my new red heels, but a combination of hot, sticky weather and the fact that the shoes are new led to discomfort and a blister, and I was back in my flipflops by the time the service started. Sigh...

One of the things that makes me the happiest about being here this time is that I'm finally able to help around the house without being told to sit down and relax because I'm company. I helped Nadia with canning Friday night (it takes very little language skill to chop cucumbers and apples, and no, they weren't together), and yesterday I helped clean the dog kennel, wash chalk off of the house, and bag onions. Yesterday's tasks were all done as a way of getting Valera (age 12), whose tasks they actually were, to do them, as otherwise he's quite willing to sit and talk to me instead of doing what he's supposed to.

As romance is in the air around here with Vitaly and Katya's engagement, Valera seems to have decided to do likewise and informed me this afternoon that I am his fiancee. I pointed out that a) he hadn't actually proposed, b) I live in the U.S. and he lives in Ukraine, and c) I'm 14 years older than him. He seemed moderately deterred, especially when he realized that he doesn't speak English in addition to all the other problems, but I suspect I haven't heard the last of this. Nadia laughed and laughed when I told her, and said, "And he hasn't even wanted to go to the playground to play soccer since you got here!" So much for summer romance...instead, I have a hyperactive, inquisitive, Ukrainian 12-year-old with a crush on me!

home (not in the U.S., but still home)

I'm as happy as a lark.

L'viv, despite its beauty and claims to be more European than the rest of Ukraine (while at the same time being more Ukrainian than the rest of Ukraine), is not home. Home, whenever I am in Ukraine, is Balaklia and most of all, the Yukhymets family. It's being lifted off the ground in a hug, bags and all, by Viktor when I arrived. It's telling Nadia stories about my adventures in L'viv until she's helpless from laughter and tells me I need to write a book. It's lying on my back in an inflatable boat on the pond out back on a hot summer afternoon (I opted not to swim, much to Valera's utter bafflement, due to my unfamiliarity with the pond and the fact that at no point was I going to be able to touch the bottom). It's sitting on a bench under a pear tree eating fresh pears and being interrogated on various topics by Valera. It's looking at my pictures of the summer and showing off my new shoes to Vlada. It's hearing Vitaly's news (more on that below!). It's being taught how to make an origami flower by Ruslan (before breakfast!). It's Nadia telling me that my room up here on the third floor is mine whenever I want it. It's being sunburned and bruised and exhausted but knowing that I love and am loved.

And the family is growing! No, no more kids are being taken in from orphanages...Vitaly's engaged! His fiancee is Katya Vlasova, a former student of mine who goes to the same church as the Kotlar family (until tomorrow, anyway, when she transfers her membership over to ours). They're quite young--Vitaly is 19 and Katya's 17, having just finished school this May, but I think they'll be good for each other and understand that marriage is a life-long committment (although, remembering when Katya was in 8th grade, I feel OLD!). They got engaged this past Monday (apparently it was completely out of the blue as far as Katya was concerned, although Vitaly has been contemplating this for quite some time, I suspect...I wondered if there was something going on there when I was here in May) and the wedding will be sometime this fall, probably in October. I'm sad that I'm not going to be here for the wedding. It's hard, having people I care a lot about in on opposite sides of the world. Wherever I am, I'm missing out on half of everything. But that's the price of having friends and families on both sides of the Atlantic, and I will just have to find a nice wedding gift before I leave.

B1 (!) (?)

Official result of my Ukrainian exam: B1, which made about much sense to me as it probably does for all of you, so I'll explain.

I got everything right on the reading and listening portions of the test (!), missed 4 out of 50 questions on the grammar portion, and my writing wasn't bad, except that I have problems spelling, as there are several letters that sound the same to me, plus a few grammar mistakes.

Apparently, there are levels A1-A2-B1-B2-C1-C2 available, with A1 the lowest and C2 the highest, except that you basically need to be a native Ukrainian to reach anything at the C levels. B1 is, according to my teacher, quite high for a foreigner and high enough to enter a university here or apply for work. When I asked her how to translate it into terms that would make sense on my resume, she told me that my reading is at an advanced level and my writing's at an intermediate level. I was already at an advanced level of speaking before this summer, so things look good all round.

Now, to just figure out what to do with this accomplishment! (Oh, yeah...write a thesis and transcribe my interviews...)

~*~

The rest of my time in L'viv is likely to go as follows: a) try and ship some English textbooks back for my thesis, b) hang out with Max, a PhD student at MSU who's from L'viv and just got into town this weekend, c) pack, d) closing ceremony for the program tomorrow morning, and e) anything under a) and c) that hasn't gotten done by that point.

final test

This morning, we had our final test in Ukrainian class. Our grades for the program aren't directly connected to how we do--they're based more on participation and dilligence, as best I understand, but all the same, my brain's pretty much dead. 10 pages or so, composed of 50 multiple-choice grammar questions (ugh), two reading passages and one listening passage with multiple-choice questions, and a writing section where we a) read a passage and wrote short answers to questions and b) wrote a short essay (15-20 sentences). I realized partway through the essay that if I would stop writing complex and compound sentences, I'd finish 15 sentences much more quickly; my thoughts are ahead of my writing ability. We get our results tomorrow.

Other than that, not much else...I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who on my laptop, and I really should start packing, which will not be all that much fun.

(grown-up) little brothers

This week has contained two particulary amusing exchanges via text message with my "little brothers" here in Ukraine.

The first one was with Vitaly Yukhymets, who finished up his month-long course in video journalism this week. He had an exam on Thursday, and so, like a good big sister, I texted him around 8 pm that night to ask how he did.

At 3:30 Friday morning, my phone went off, letting me know I'd gotten a text (I don't keep it on silent at night because it's also my alarm clock). I looked and Vitaly had answered, "I got a 5!", which is the best grade you can get here. I was very happy for him, but found the timing a bit odd.

Went back to sleep and, around 7:30, woke up and replied, "That's great...why did you text me at 3:30 instead of sleeping?" The response was "I don't know, I couldn't sleep because I was so excited."

Which still begs the question...why wait until that late/early to reply to my text? :)

~*~

My other text message incident comes from Sasha Malko, who was taking an English exam today to enter a MA program and texted me a sentence in Ukrainian, requesting me to translate it for him. Yeah, right!

yeah, not much to say

Sorry, people, this hasn't been a bloggable week. Stuff's been happening, but it hasn't been blog-appropriate. I'm doing okay, although getting rather weary and stressed. The program finishes up next Wednesday, and then I'm headed back to Balaklia via my friend Svitlana's (she lives between here and Kyiv). I'd like to see the Malkos, but the logistics of that are getting a bit crazy, so we'll see.

On tap for the weekend: Saturday, Ksusha, a former camper of mine from my first summer in Ukraine, is going to be in L'viv on her way to Gdansk, and we're planning to meet up. In the evening, Allie and I have tickets to a jazz concert, which should be good.

red high heels

Well, I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, and today I finally succumbed...and bought a pair of red high heels. They are neither stilettos nor bright red; they're a muted, darkish red with golden floral designs and moderately thick (although not clunky), not overly tall heels. They're utterly adorable, and the price was quite reasonable.

Ukraine has affected the way I think about fashion. Viktor, one of the professors here, says that the reason that women's fashions here are a bit over-the-top is because for the first time in years, people have a larger selection of goods available, and therefore they want the fanciest things possible. I think that's quite possibly true, and a lot of the clothes here are too ornate/skimpy/something for me to want to wear or look at all good while wearing. But I love the scarves here and am beginning to warm up to the shoes (mostly because flats are now available, even if I did end up buying heels), and in general I think that living in Europe has given me a bit of a fashion sense, at least more than I had a few years ago. (You're all welcome to laugh at this.)

not an overly eventful week

Random bits from my week, which has been very full of language class and cultural excursions:

~Allie and I saw the President of Austria on Wednesday. He was taking a tour of the main square and we randomly happened to be there. We were surprised at what seemed to us to be a fairly low level of security.
~Natalya, our Ukrainian teacher, went with Vanessa and I to the theatre on Wednesday evening. We saw a play called "The Suede Jacket" which was apparently something of a satire on bureaucratism in post-communist countries. It was a bit hard to follow, but I enjoyed it.
~One of my students in my English class at the Baptist church (which I love teaching) kissed my hand at the end of class on Thursday. As I said to Mom, the student, who is probably a few years younger than me, looks as if his goal in life is to be a poet gone to seed, possibly living in a garret and struggling to pay bills. I was amused.
~Today we went to Shevchenky Hai, which is an open-air folk architecture museum, reminiscent of Greenfield Village (although much smaller). I liked it a lot.

krakow wrap-up

Final thoughts on Krakow:

~I loved it. And as much as I enjoy being in Ukraine, it was a great break for me, a chance to get away, see somewhere different, and have a change of both pace and scenery.
~I hadn't realized that there is a distinct difference between being post-Soviet and merely post-Communist. Ukraine is the former, Poland is the latter.
~Ice cream in Krakow...yum!
~One of my favorite things to do there was take a book and sit on a bench in the Planty.
~Amber is more gorgeous than I ever realized.
~I want to go back some day.
~I could easily have stayed a day or two more this time, if logistics had permitted.

The trip home left a bit to be desired...I wasn't feeling well, probably because of something I'd eaten, and this time, rather than stamp my passport in my compartment, the border guards took it and didn't bring it back for 20 minutes, which I hadn't expected and was moderately concerned about. But I made it back to L'viv just fine and found out that taxi drivers try to rip you off here when you show up needing a taxi at the train station at 6 a.m. Talked it down to a somewhat normal fare. Then home, another hour of sleep, and I was off to class!

Auschwitz

I went to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps today. I don't have a lot to say about the details...the article I linked to covers them enough. But the thing that stood out the most to me was that many of the Jews deported there were told that they were being given a chance to start over again and be resettled, and so they brought with them suitcases full of everyday possessions. They didn't know they were headed to the gas chambers. They thought the camp was a place where they could live their lives in some semblance of normalacy, and even as they walked into the gas chambers, they thought they were going to take a shower.

Also, seeing 2 tons of human hair that was cut off of the deceased after they were gassed in order to make it into cloth was unsettling, to say the least.

krakow, day 2 (plus the vegetable store joke, sort of explained)

The concert last night was definitely worth it. Imagine a dimly lit, ornately decorated Catholic cathedral with stone walls and floors, with classical music being played by a phenomenally talented chamber orchestra. It was one of those evenings I want to remember for a long time.

At the concert, I also met an undergrad in mechanical engineering from U-M who just arrived to study Polish. Her mother and a family friend were there with her, and I hope I was able to help her mom feel better about leaving her in a foreign country for a month, telling a bit about my own life as an example of "yes, she'll be okay...I had a great time and learned a lot".

This morning, I slept in a bit, found an excellent English-language bookstore (I bought two books, at least one of which will be a gift for a certain reader of this blog with the initials RJM), and hung out in the Planty, which is one of my favorite places in Krakow. It's a narrow strip of park with lots of trees and benches that goes all the way around Stare Miesto, or the old part of Krakow. I sat on a bench, people-watched, and started reading one of the books I bought.

At noon, I met up with Jes and her friend Helia, who's from Wales and knew Jes from a year she'd done at Berkley in undergrad. We decided to go to the Wielickza Salt Mine, and although it hadn't been something I was planning on seeing, it was definitely worth it. It was amazing, especially when you realized that almost everything was made out of salt, even the walls and floors. As a nice touch, it was also in the upper 50s temperature-wise, which as it was in the mid-to-upper 80s (I think) above ground, was very nice.

Once we got back to Krakow, we went out to a restaurant with traditional Polish food that Jes knew. Jes got soup; Helia got bigos, which is a traditional dish of pork and sauerkraut; and I got pierogi with a meat filling. Good food, and we were all stuffed by the time we finished, as we got healthy Polish-peasant-farmer-sized portions! After that, we wandered around a bit and stopped at a cafe for coffee and milkshakes. Then I came back to the hostel, and am now writing this for all of you.

~*~~

The joke from an earlier post explained, for those people who don't get it (don't feel bad, it's a cultural thing). It helps to know that a) post-Soviet salespeople are not known for being overly polite, b) at places such as train stations here, you can pay a small amount of money to get your questions about schedules, prices, etc. answered at the information bureau, and c) during the 1990s, often stores would be out of various things, even when it would seem like they would have them. All of those factors play into making the joke humorous, and I'm not sure how to explain it beyond that. I found it utterly hilarious while Vanessa got it but didn't find it funny, and based on your responses, I think it's a really cultural joke, as Tif was the only person to say she got it and she lived in Ukraine.

krakow, day 1

Krakow (there's at least 4-5 ways to spell it and this is the one I feel like using right now), is fabulous, and I'm so glad to be here, even though I've spent the day walking and my feet absolutely ache.

Last night, I boarded the Polish train from L'viv to Krakow and was pleasantly surprised to find out that a) there are three berths instead of four per cabin, b) there are little cupboards you can put things in, c) you're given a wrapped sweet roll, a bottle of water, and a thing of soap along with your washcloth, and d) the duvet was big and fluffy. Not to mention, the bathroom was a great deal nicer than the ones on Ukrainian trains. However, to give Ukrainian trains the credit that is due them, they have a) more comfortable mattresses, b) larger, softer pillows, c) more head room above your bunk, and d) offer you tea in the morning.

I got to Krakow around 5:30 a.m., hopped a tram (which have a much better system of organization here), and then got to my hostel. I couldn't get a bed yet, because they were all full, so I conked out on a couch for a couple of hours, showered, breakfasted, and headed off to explore the city. Jes had texted me late last night that her plans had suddenly changed and she was going to be out of town today without a chance for me to go with her, so I was on my own. It was lovely. Surprisingly for me, I found myself utterly uninterested in museums and instead did a lot of shopping, both window and actual. I think it's because we've gone to various museums in L'viv. I walked down to Wawel Castle, but it was at least 85 degrees and the line for tickets made me decide that tomorrow would be a much better time to see it, even if not everything will be open.

I then walked through the old Jewish quarter out to a shopping mall Vanessa and Ally had told me about, where I ate at Pizza Hut (I'm on vacation, and I'm sure Jes will show me some authentic Polish places tomorrow, so I don't feel like I'm slighting myself of the authentic Krakow experience...plus, it was air-conditioned) and bought myself a new dress. Light brown cotton, sleeveless, with gathers/ruffles at the neck and armholes and a built-in sash. It was cute, fit well (apparently, doing the conversion back to American sizes, it's a size smaller than I thought I take...yay for lots of walking!), was decently priced, and I can wear it both now (which will stretch my laundry out) and when I start teaching this fall.

Then I went back to a toy shop I'd visited earlier in the day and found stuffed animals for my honorary nieces and nephew--Breanna and Nathanial Shirley and Rebekah Susan-to-be Herrick (yes, Heather, I'm claiming the title of honorary aunt, or at least "good friend of mommy's"). I figure I'm going to be one of those quirky, well-traveled aunts who give good presents, since I had such a good example (hi, Aunt Rebecca!). :)

Other purchases included pretty bookmarks at a coffee shop/bookstore and a silver and amber pendant with a cameo of a flower in it, which I saw first thing this morning, pondered all day, and went back in the late afternoon to get. Not to mention gingerbread, gelato, and a Polish snack that's sort of like a cross between a bagel and a pretzel.

I'm amused to notice that even though Ukrainian and Polish are fairly similar, when I speak Ukrainian to people they answer in English. I don't know if this is because a) they speak English to everyone who doesn't speak Polish, b) they can tell just by looking at me that I speak English (which is ironic if true, since no one in Ukraine seems to think I'm American), or c) my Ukrainian sounds to them like broken Polish and they figure it'll just be easier if we use English.

My feet just ache. I'm guessing I got in several miles today, what with all the wandering and back-tracking I did. So now I'm back at the hostel, resting up for a concert with the Krakow Chamber Orchestra at one of the cathedrals in town, which will feature Chopin's and Mozart's music. I debated on whether or not I should get a ticket, which, although quite cheap by U.S. standards, was more than I'd pay in Ukraine. Then a little voice inside my head (which sounded exactly like Mom) said, "You're here, you have the opportunity, you have the money, you should go." So, figuring it's a good idea to listen to Mom, I'm going.

ice cream, cute shoes, and jokes

Last night I went to L'viv Central Baptist Church to help out with their English conversation group. We had a good turnout, about 30 people. Afterwards, an American choir was giving a concert at the church so I stayed for that. I sat with Lena, a woman in her late 40s (?) who's learning English.

Lena said to me, "Do you want some ice cream?"

Slightly confused, but always in favor of ice cream, I said that that would be nice. Lena left and came back a few minutes later with four ice cream bars (the type that come individually wrapped and on a stick). She handed one to me, and since I was pretty sure we weren't supposed to eat ice cream in the church, I held on to it until I saw her stick the other ones in her bag, and so I stuck mine in my bag. The concert was very nice, but I kept thinking about my ice cream, and how it was probably melting, since the temperature had been in the mid-90s for much of the day.

After a bit, Lena whispered to me that our ice cream was melting and therefore we should eat it now. "In church?" I whispered back. She said that it was okay, and we (plus the man behind us, who also got one of the ice cream bars) began to eat our ice cream. The ice cream bars in Lena's bag were still fairly solid, but mine had more or less melted, so I was trying to eat it out of the paper without making too much of a mess of myself.

At this point, Lena saw that I was having problems, and gave me the last (whole) ice cream bar. As I was trying to eat it without drawing attention to myself, I happened to notice a Rather Cute Guy standing near us, who I had noticed was rather cute the first time I had been to church there. Keep in mind, I have never spoken to him and don't expect I ever will, and I don't even think he noticed me last night, but I still was a bit mortified to be a) eating ice cream in church and b) getting it all over my face in the process.

Then, the woman sitting in front of us turned around and chewed me out for eating ice cream in church. Fortunately, I finished it quickly and then could actually start enjoying the concert.

~*~

Am randomly in the mood for a new pair of cute shoes. Unfortunately, the two pairs that I really liked weren't available in my size. Ukraine has discovered flats, which I think is a wonderful innovation, and with the hryvnia currently 7.8/$1.00, they're fairly inexpensive.

~*~

Okay, people, I'm interested in your reaction to a joke. This was in our reading this week (in Ukrainian), and Vanessa and I had very different reactions to it. I'd like you to comment on whether or not you get the joke and whether or not you think it's funny. Vanessa's and my reactions to it will come in a later post.

A man walks into a vegetable shop.
Man: Do you have any potatoes?
Shopkeeper: No, we don't.
Man: Do you have any cabbages?
Shopkeeper: None of those, either.
Man: And I suppose you don't have carrots?
Shopkeeper: Look, friend, this is a vegetable shop, not an information bureau!

travel plans

Well, I've bought my train tickets to and from Kracow (after standing in various lines and being told to find random, out-of-the-way ticket counters, not to mention paying an extra five hryvnia for the privilege of buying a ticket in the "special" waiting room, which was the only place I could by the ticket), and I've booked my hostel (Mom, it's Hostel Yellow, since I know you'll want to Google it), being pleased to notice the Sunday night discount which meant that I'm only paying about $22.50 for two night's stay (my train tickets cost roughly 5x that, which means that for once transport is costing me more than lodging, which is a switch). And that was a horribly long run-on sentence.

But seriously, I'm excited about the opportunity to go to Kracow (Krakow? Crakow? Cracow?). I've heard a lot of good things about it, and getting to see a new country fairly inexpensively is always something I'm up for, not to mention getting to hang out with Jes. She has a friend there from Wales, and the three of us are planning a day trip to some nearby city on Saturday. Sunday, I plan to wander Kracow itself and see Wawel Castle, and on Monday, I'm planning to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, because I think it's going to be worthwhile for me to see, albeit sobering.

~*~

Other facts of random interest:

*It's really warm here, warmer than I'd like, but at least the daily rain seems to have stopped.
*I think our language class is going to watch Everything is Illuminated on Friday. It's in English and Russian, but Natalia told us we'd be talking about it in Ukrainian.
*Hopefully I'm getting a few more interviews set up for next week.
*Really, my brain is too much Kracow-oriented to write about anything else. :)

librarians and Ukrainian roommates

I've always gotten along well with librarians, going back all the way to my pre-school-aged days, when I couldn't see over the counter but brought my invisible pet dinosaur to Story Hour. My rapport with librarians has gotten me out of study hall in middle school, found me a Quiz Bowl coach in high school, and helped me get a private tour of MSU's Special Collections in undergrad.

So today I found out that this isn't just something that happens to me in the U.S. I had to go to L'viv Post-Graduate Institute today to drop off a stack of questionnaires, and I decided to stop by their library to see if a lesson plan that Nelya and I submitted to a Ukrainian pedagogical journal for English back in fall 2007 ever got published, so I could know whether or not I could put it on my resume. The librarian was very helpful, and found me many, many bound volumes of the journal. Unfortunately, it looks like our lesson plan never got published, but the librarian, who is herself a history teacher and apparently has a lot of things published, assured me that what I should do is submit the same lesson plan to a Kharkiv publisher (instead of Kyiv), because they aren't as backed up. She even gave me the phone number of the publisher and told me to mention her name. I don't actually want to publish anything right now--I just was curious what had happened to our lesson plan, and I'm not even sure if I have the files for it--but I was amazed at how helpful she was.

After that, I told her about my thesis, and she bustled around finding me journals in Ukrainian with articles on Communicative Language Teaching, let me check them out to go make copies, and even told me where the closest copy center was (of course the library wouldn't have a copy machine...). I was pleasantly surprised at how willing she was to be helpful, and she told me to come back again if there was anything I needed. I've experienced this level of helpfulness several times this summer, but usually when I was introduced to the person by someone else who had some level of authority. This was just me going in and asking a question.

~*~

Yesterday, I visited Zhanna, a woman I met at church. Zhanna immigrated to the US in her early 20s and got a degree from Fuller Seminary, but now she's back in Ukraine doing seminars in schools on drug and alcohol abuse. She and I, along with her roommate Vira and their friend Tanya, hung out all afternoon, eating homemade pizza and cherry coffeecake (Lisa, if you remember my blueberry cake that took forever to finish baking, they had the same problem) and talking about life, religion, and randomness. Lots of fun.

I particularly enjoyed watching Zhanna and Vira and realizing that roommates are roommates the world over. (Zhanna told me before we got there, "Vira and I get along well. But sometimes we even argue." I believe I have 3 former roommates and 1 roommate-to-be reading this blog, and I doubt this surprises any of you.) I asked Vira, "Does Zhanna ever mix things up and speak English by mistake?" since I occasionally do so in Ukrainian, particularly when startled. She grinned and said, "Yes, and then I tell her I have no idea what she's saying." Lisa should appreciate that. :)

Kracow this weekend, barring unforseen circumstances (such as no train tickets available when I go buy one tomorrow, which seems unlikely).

the last few days

Oh, a lot's been going on.

Thursday through Saturday, our group went on a trip to Transcarpathia, which is in southwestern Ukraine. It was part of Hungary and Czecheslovakia at various points, and has a slightly different feel to it than other regions of Ukraine. We stayed in dorms at a camp belonging to IFNU (the university here), which was in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. I loved driving through the mountains...they're absolutely beautiful, and although Balaklia is home for me here in Ukraine, I felt a slight twinge of regret that Peace Corps hadn't placed me there. We visited the cities of Mukachevo and Uzhgorod, complete with a castle and quaint little downtowns. At some point I'll try and post pictures.

Last night, after we got home, John (the other student who's staying with my host family, an ethnomusicologist in his 50s) and I were chatting with Olgert, our host dad, about L'viv history and all the interesting things that have happened on our street. Then, around 10:30 pm, Olgert said, "Let's go over to the President's house. I know the housekeepers there, and they're over there now getting ready for someone to come tomorrow." So John, Olgert, and I walked across the street to the presidential residence, and since the gate was locked, Olgert (who is probably close to 60) climbed over the fence and knocked on the door. The housekeepers, who were getting ready for the head of the safety department for Ukraine to come this morning, were happy to see us, and we had ice cream and tea in the living room (out of cups that I realized were probably used by the president!). John played his guitar, we sang in English and Ukrainian, and Olgert yodeled. (He likes to. Don't ask.) I love my quirky life.

Today Vanessa and I went to L'viv Central Baptist Church, and the pastor mentioned that this afternoon, there would be English conversation. Looking for ways to get to know people (and a bit convicted by the sermon, which talked about different ways to reach out to others), I introduced myself after church and said that I'd love to come. After today's meeting, I am now helping out with a weekly conversation group, am hanging out tomorrow (which is a holiday here, Constitution Day) with a woman I met from the church, and had several people tell me that they were looking forward to trying to speak English with me on Thursday. All of which makes me very happy.

Kyiv, Part 2, Take 2

Blogger ate my post. Grr. And I don't really have enough time to type it all over again.

In short: Vitaly Yukhymets and I hung out Saturday afternoon, I showed him the main sites of Kyiv, and we had an awesome time. I realized that I miss having friends around, as I don't know many people in L'viv.

Also, I have started talking to the full-time international students here, as they are often in our hallway studying for exams. The ones I have talked to are from China and Serbia, and the weirdness of an American girl and a Chinese guy having Ukrainian as their common language appeals to my sense of quirky.

That was all, really, just expanded a bit. Plus, it rains a lot here. I think Seattle must be a bit like L'viv--in the west, often rainy, and lots of cafes/coffee shops.

Kyiv, part 1

I have to confess, I wasn't crazy about going to Kyiv for a program trip last week. I've always thought of it as big, noisy, and expensive, and I've been there 15-20 times already. That said, I had a great time.

We arrived Thursday night at the Post-Graduate Institute for Taras Shevchenko National University, where I had stayed a couple of years ago for a Peace Corps function. Group 36 (!) had had their swearing-in ceremony there last week, but unfortunately, they left before we arrived. I would have enjoyed sharing my (and Tif's) horror stories with them to scare them before moving to site (just kidding).

Friday, we spent the day doing things I'd never done before. In the morning, we went to the Kyiv-Percheska Lavra, which is an Orthodox monestery complete with museums, churches, and monks buried in caves, which we got to see. Very interesting. Then we went by the Parliament building, and while we couldn't go inside, we still could take pictures of the outside. (Our professor told the guard on duty that we were a "delegation" and therefore got us a good parking spot.) After lunch, we took a boat cruise a ways down the Dnipro River and back, which was something I'd never had the chance to do before, and I really enjoyed it, particuarly because it came after the Lavra, which we could see quite well. Having been there first meant that I actually knew what I was looking at. After that, we went to Saint Sophia's Church, which dates back to the 11th century. A lovely day, particularly because even though I'd been in Kyiv so many times, I hadn't seen any of the things we saw.

Saturday morning, we went to Petrivka, a big book/CD/DVD market in Kyiv, where I loaded up on English textbooks used in the schools here in order to have them as references for my thesis. The vendors looked at me a little strangely when I asked for books by specific authors and didn't care what grade they were for, as most people would be looking for a book for a specific grade. I also got a movie, Metropolitan Andrey (about a Greek-Orthodox priest) in Ukrainian with English subtitles, and a CD of Ukrainian folk music.

And now the lady at the computer lab tells me I must go, so more later!

languages and research

Monday night, we had a very international evening. Natalya and Olgert, my host parents, have friends visiting from Poland, and those friends had invited friends of theirs from Germany to come stay for a few days. This brings the total number of people in the house up to eight, with me being less than half everyone else's age. More interesting is the fact that we all speak a slightly different set of languages, with six languages total between the eight of us. Everything that gets said has to be translated for someone, but we're doing pretty well. The breakdown is as follows:

German man: German, English, French
German woman, German, French, some English
Polish man: Polish, German, Russian
Polish woman: Polish, Russian, some German
Natalya (Ukrainian): Ukrainian, Russian, Polish
Olgert (Ukrainian but of Polish ethnicity): Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, French
John (American): English, rudimentary Ukrainian and Russian
Me: English, Ukrainian, and Russian (and I'm surprised how much Polish I understand)

As you can imagine, it's quite something. Everyone's here until Thursday, when we all leave (our program is going to Kyiv for a few days), and Natalya said she's going to pretty much collapse at that point.

Language classes are going pretty well. I've decided that partway through a grad program in learning how to teach languages is a horrible time to take language classes, as I've spent a year developing opinions how it should Be Done Properly, and while this isn't at all how I would teach grammar, I can tell that it's paying off, at least in how I write. My oral language may be fairly fixed by this point, and I have a few Russianisms that my teacher continues to comment on that I can't seem to shake loose, but the classes really are helpful.

What's most frustrating about the program is that I feel like I primarily speak Ukrainian in class. It isn't like Balaklia where I did basically everything in Ukrainian (except teach, I suppose, although I ended up using a lot more Ukrainian in class by the end than at the beginning). Here, I spend time with the American students, or we're going on trips to museums and everything gets translated (which makes sense, as we have some beginners in the group), or I'm wandering around by myself and can order things in cafes in Ukrainian. But I don't have a social life in Ukrainian, and I miss that. Or perhaps I just miss having a social life in Ukraine. I'm not quite sure how to meet people here. I asked about getting a conversation partner, but that's difficult right now because it's summer vacation and there aren't many students around.

However, I did get to speak Ukrainian this afternoon, and it was directly connected to my thesis! An English professor at the university who I had been introduced to connected me to the head of social programs at the university, who called the head of the teacher recertification institute (for all subjects) for L'viv Oblast, who introduced me to one of the people responsible for running the English recertification program, who said (slightly condensed), "You only have 9 surveys with you? I'll take those now, and can you please bring 35 copies on Monday, as we're getting in a new group of teachers? And would you please speak to the teachers about your life and what you're learning about TESOL and how people teach English as a native language in the U.S?"

Not to mention, I got several surveys turned back in to me today already from other sources and have an interview scheduled for next week! I'm really impressed with people's willingness to be helpful, and it's nice to be going through the university, as that gives me access to contacts I wouldn't otherwise be able to get on my own.

mistaken national identity

Well, the answer to how much of the liturgy I could understand at the Catholic service on Sunday morning is "very little," as the service was in Polish, not Ukrainian. There are enough cognates that I had a slight idea what was going on, but not much.

After that, I met Allie and Vanessa for the opera Natalka Potavka, which was nice, even though the plot was somewhat predictable. Allie had quite the experience before the opera--she had been going to come to church with us, but then ended up at the Greek Catholic church instead of the Roman Catholic church. A very cute (in her words) guy helped her find her way back to the opera theater, and was talking to her in Ukrainian the whole time (Allie speaks some Russian but is a beginner in Ukrainian). At the end, he said something she didn't understand, and she said, "Yes." He then kissed her! I've asked many people for directions over the years in Ukraine, but no one's ever kissed me. :) (Allie said that that was because I actually understand what they're saying...)

However, I did have a funny thing happen last night. I went to L'viv Central Baptist Church for the evening service. The third sermon (there are generally three short sermons at Baptist churches in Ukraine, interspersed with lots of music) was given by a visiting American pastor, who was in charge of a missions trip who would be teaching English to people in L'viv. After the service, I decided to go up and say hello. The visiting pastor was saying hello to some kids in English, so they could practice what they knew how to say. I walked up and said, in what I thought was fluent English, "I appreciated your message. What state are you from?" Very slowly, with a great deal of enunciation, the pastor replied, "I am from the state of Texas." He thought I was a Ukrainian who spoke English! I replied, "I'm from Michigan!" "Really?" he said, and we chatted for a minute or two. I've had people think I'm from all over here, but it's rare that Americans don't recognize me as one of their own!

I did have a similar experience once when I was in the Peace Corps. I was at a Kyiv McDonald's, and a woman there (who might have been a native speaker of English...at any rate, she wasn't Ukrainian or Russian) was having trouble ordering (which is sort of amazing, as it's all cognates). I helped her out, and she said something like, "You must be an English teacher" (because I spoke English). "Yes," I replied.

This afternoon I met with a professor from the English department here, and she took some of my surveys to pass out. I'm glad to have made the contact with her, because I've had some down time on my thesis research and I'd like to get started again.

We head to Kyiv Thursday through Sunday, taking a university van for the 7-hour trip rather than taking an overnight train. It'll be interesting to do Kyiv as a tourist, rather than running errands. On Friday we're going to the Percheska Lavra (Cave Monestary), which is somewhere I've never been, as well as some other places. On Saturday, we have a free day, and I'm hoping to meet up with Sasha Malko and Vitaly Yukhymets, although probably not at the same time. The universe might implode with that odd combination.

settling in

Well, my first week of classes in L'viv is over. It's different from what I expected...not bad, just taking some getting used to. I'm used to Peace Corps, which crammed as much Ukrainian in our heads as possible, and then sent us off to live on our own--with their support, of course, but we learned how to be self-sufficient fairly quickly. Here, I'm an international student, our language classes go at a much slower pace, I find that I use Ukrainian primarily in class and English much of the rest of the time, and we're given a lot of support...in English. It's weird for me, because for the first month I was here, I was speaking Ukrainian all the time I was awake (except for my interviews), and here, since us students are together a lot, I use English much more. But I'm hoping to get a conversation partner so I can speak Ukrainian more.

Today we went on a bus tour of L'viv with a history professor from the university as our tour guide. It was really interesting...since L'viv was part of Poland and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at various points and didn't come under Soviet control until 1939, it feels so different than out East in Kharkiv or Balaklia. In some ways, it feels like a different country, just with the same language. I'm reminded of my impression from the time Tif and I visited here--the people who built this city took the effort to make things pretty, with great attention to details like wrought-iron balconies and sculptures on the facades of buildings. I also love seeing all the old churches.

On the subject of church, I was hoping to go to the Baptist church here tomorrow, as that would be something that would feel familiar to me. But Vanessa, Ally, and I have tickets to the Ukrainan folk-opera Natalka Poltavka, which starts at noon, so there's no way the Baptist service (which starts at 10 am) would be done by then. So I think I'm going to the Catholic cathedral downtown, which should be a neat experience. I'm interested in seeing how much of the liturgy I can follow, as the last time I went to a liturgical service in Ukraine (which was several years ago), I couldn't understand a thing.

good fences make good neighbors, and good neighbors make good water?

Having not had Internet access for several days, I had typed up a blog post detailing some of the amusing highlights of my weekend (Carmen ended up being a Ukrainian musical, not an opera!), but I can't get my flash drive to work in the USB port here at the Internet cafe, so I'll just skip the weekend and go straight to L'viv.

I am living in a gorgeous, shabby old house in an old neighborhood in L'viv. The grandfather of my host dad was a professor at the Polytechnic University in L'viv back when L'viv was still Polish Lwow. The family had to leave the house during WWII, but it wasn't destroyed by the Germans, perhaps because they weren't in the area long enough. After that, the family eventually got the house back, but Nikita Krushchev lived for a while on the first floor, in the days before he was the Premir (which I can't seem to spell right now) of the Soviet Union. When the President of Ukraine or other important political figures are in town, they live across the street from me, which has a great side benefit..unlike the rest of L'viv, we get water all day long! (L'viv has a chronic water shortage, as it's not on a river.)

My host parents are in their late 50s or early 60s. Pan Olgert, my host father, is a retired engineer whose interests include airplanes, architecture, and Jules Verne (he's apparently the secretary of the Jules Verne Society of Ukraine). Pani Natalya ("Pan" and "Pani" are terms of respect used in western Ukraine) is a physician. She's cheerful and chatty, whereas Pan Olgert is quieter. They have a son, Pavel, who's about my age and works as a physician in Poland. I haven't met him yet, but he's supposed to be in town for a few days starting today.

There are only four American students in the program here. One of them, John, is also staying at the same place I am. He's in his mid-forties and interested in the Ukrainian folk instrument, the lyra (lira?). He and his wife, whose area of expertise is textiles and fabric, were here last year, but she didn't come this time. The other two students are women about my age--Ally (Allie?), who's interested in energy politics, and Vanessa, who's interested in folklore. I think it's going to be a fun group.

Lutsk

Well, the people in my compartment from Kharkiv to Kyiv thought I was from Western Ukraine, and the people in my compartment from Kyiv to Lutsk thought I was Polish. If the trend of thinking I'm from just west of wherever I'm going keeps up, I will apparently be German if I go visit Jes in Cracow in July.

Lutsk is very nice. Via the recommendation of my trusty guidebook, I booked a single standard room for three nights at the downtown Hotel Ukraina, which cost me in total about $30 less than one night in Kyiv. In addition, both the room and the attached bath are about 3x bigger than my hotel room in Kyiv, plus there's a fridge and a comfortable mattress. As breakfast is included in the deal, I think I lucked out.

I also lucked out with my interview, which was with someone who was not only informative and interesting, but also gave me several books of materials used in teacher recertification. Apparently, I was their second researcher to come through in the past month...the other one is a PhD student at UPenn in Educational Linguistics, who I'd run across a mention of while looking at UPenn's program. I should email her at some point to see what particularly she's interested in (although that will wait until I'm using a computer where the keys don't stick like the dickens).

I wandered around Lutsk a bit yesterday and plan to do so more today, including visiting the town castle. Tomorrow is church in the morning and the opera Carmen in the evening, as I got a 3rd row center aisle seat for about $3.33.

Will post more when not battling keyboards.

paris when it sizzles, kharkiv when it thunders and lightenings

Having typed my post title, it occurs to me that I might have used a similar title last summer the night I watched Paris When it Sizzles in a thunderstorm. Oh, well...

Yesterday was my last day in Balaklia, which was primarily spent packing and making arrangements for the next leg of my trip. I'm in Kyiv now, for a lunch date with my friend Tanya and an interview for my project, then off on another train tonight to Lutsk in north-western Ukraine, where I have an interview tomorrow morning and then will just hang out there for the weekend, as I found a decently priced hotel downtown there (I can stay there for three nights for the price of what I spent for one night in Kyiv...). (I also found a church online to visit on Sunday, which amazed Nadia that I was able to accomplish all of this via Internet, and somewhat allayed her worries that I'm headed across the country by myself with heavy luggage. I keep calling her to check in so she doesn't worry quite as much.) Then on to L'viv on Monday.

At least 11 children were sad to see me go yesterday (Yura wasn't around to say goodbye, and when the van pulled away, I saw him brushing Nadia off that no, he didn't intend to. But he wears the t-shirt I brought him a lot, which is enough for me.). Valera told me that he's going to visit me in the U.S. when he's 25 (in 13 years), and then asked me in detail where I would be living, who would open the door when he arrived, and what would happen if I wasn't home when he came, since he thought it unlikely anyone else in my family would speak Ukrainian. Snizhanna told me that she was going to come with Valera, but only if Nadia let her. I am going to miss them all so much.

Then I took the elektrichka to Kharkiv, which was one of those experiences that was just nice, as the scenery was beautiful and the ride brought back memories of when Tif and I used to ride up to Kharkiv for the day. I think that Nadia had expected me to stay in the train station and eat the sandwiches she'd packed, but instead, I went out to dinner at Adriano's (saving the sandwiches for later).

Adriano's is quite possibly one of my all-time favorite restaurants, up there with Sansu in East Lansing. The food is Italian, the decor is nice without being overdone, the prices are reasonable (my meal was roughly $8 USD), and the music is light, jazzy, and European. I got the lasagna with spinach, shrimp, and salmon. I think this is the first time I'd ever been there by myself--it was a popular place for PCVs to hang out, and I think I took pretty much everyone who ever visited me there (Tif, did you go there with me? You're the only person I'm not sure about.)

After dinner, I decided to go find a coffee shop I remembered around the corner, where we often went for dessert afterwards, but it had been replaced by a small casino. Grrr... So I decided to walk down to the next metro stop, but it was farther than I remembered, it was growing dark, and there was lots of thunder and lightening, although no rain (it had rained earlier). I was starting to question my common sense, but I had a rough idea of where I was, so I started heading in the direction of the Universytet metro stop, which I figured was pretty close. Just after a VERY loud crack of thunder, I spotted the huge Lenin statue near the metro. I never thought I'd say this, but I've never been so happy to see Lenin in all of my life. :)

Returning to the train station, I was disgusted to find out that the ticket counter for foreigners now closes at 7:30, instead of staying open until midnight, as I wanted to buy my ticket to Lutsk (which I got without problems in Kyiv this morning). I then, in classic Sal-and-Tif fashion, went to McDonald's for ice cream and clean bathrooms. And by that time, I could board my train.

The train was awesome. They've really spruced up the Kharkiv-Kyiv overnight train, with plushy seats, a control panel for lights, radio, etc. (which also tells you if the toilet is occupied), and clean windows. It felt very luxurious. The conductor was also friendly and helped get my suitcase on and off the train, bless his heart! My traveling companions were two sisters in their 50s and the daughter of one of them, who was about my age. The one woman was a former administrator of education for Kharkivska Oblast, and her daughter is a translator for international students at Karazin University in Kharkiv. They were friendly and I really enjoyed chatting with them. At first, they didn't realize I was a foreigner, but when they asked if I was really trying to read Les Miserables in English--the whole thing! (it's about 2 inches thick)--I explained that I was actually American. They had assumed I was from western Ukraine, which made my night. A lot less people give me odd looks when I talk to them, so hopefully my accent has gotten better.

a multilingual evening and my current love life (completely non-exciting)

Well, the guests all came and we now have 22 people here (although one or two kids might have been sent off to Grandma's next door to sleep). One of the best parts of the evening included having a conversation in English with Hannes, an older man from Switzerland who is a friend of Valentin's (the friend of Viktor and Nadia who is visiting). Hannes knows some English, and he speaks English better than Russian, so we visited for a bit and he showed me pictures of the Swiss Alps on his digital camera. My other favorite part of the evening was when I played the piano and we sang "How Great Thou Art", and when we came to the chorus, people were singing in English, Russian, and German (and possibly Swiss and Ukrainian).

Less fun was getting accidentally elbowed in the face by Valera during a game of dodgeball. Fortunately, he missed my glasses, but the kid doesn't know how strong he is, and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm a bit black and blue there tomorrow. Sigh.

That aside, Valera is still as much my buddy as he ever was, and if the kiss on the cheek I got yesterday was any indication, the crush he had on me at age 9 is still extant at age 11 (albeit he also has a crush on a Roma girl named Sophia who went to our church for a short period of time). He loves to ask me questions about anything and everything, all day long, and it's thanks to him that I have gotten much better at conditionals in Ukrainian ("What would you do if...?").

To continue with the Y children's interest in my love life, the other day I was getting ready to go visit Robert, the 40-something PCV in town, for tea, and Ihor (age 7) asked where I was going. "I'm having tea with Robert," I said. "You're going on a DATE!" Ihor crowed. Nadia and I about died laughing, Nadia adding, "I didn't think he even knew what that was!"

Snizhanna (age 6) said to Liza the other day while we were playing dolls, "Miss Sally's going to marry Vitaly (age 19)!" I told her that that was in fact inaccurate, and when I told Nadia, she said, "That's what Snizhanna would like!" Snizhanna loves playing dolls, helping Nadia in the kitchen, and being a girl, and the fact that I am one more girl in a houseful of boys has endeared me to her deeply.

Due to all the extra people, Liza and Vlada are in the room next to mine on the third floor. So far they have thrown toys at me, stolen my key, knocked incessantly on my door, and played what sounded like the accordion. I've been utilizing the "ignore them and they will go away" approach, which is fairly effective. When Valera came upstairs to bug me, they told him to go away. "Miss Sally's sleeping!" And yet they play the accordion!

and then there were 22!

If evangelicals ever start canonizing people, I nominate Nadia Volodomyrivna Yukhymets for sainthood. There are currently 15 of us living here, and at least seven guests (including small children) are coming to stay for an unspecified number of days (their best friend, who's a missionary in Germany, and friends/family of his). Nadia's been cooking and cleaning all day.

I bought my ticket to leave Balaklia today. Honestly, there isn't a connection. :) The current plan is to head out Wednesday night, do an interview in Kyiv, hang out with/maybe spend the night at my friend Tanya's place (she's a Ukrainian with a penchant for Joss Whedon shows [there, there, Lisa] who I met when she was doing a TB training in Kyiv), and then hopefully head to western Ukraine, assuming I can get an interview scheduled for Friday (or Monday). Not quite sure where I'll be during the weekend, as my plans to visit the Malkos fell through because they'll be out of town for a family wedding. If I don't have any place to go for interviews/visiting, I may pick a city in western Ukraine out of my guidebook and find a relatively inexpensive hotel for a night or two ("relatively inexpensive" = less than $50/night).

Random bits about my research:
*I collected six questionnaires today (that had been distributed earlier during my visit) and did two interviews. With one more questionnaire to get back and one more interview to do tomorrow, that brings my Balaklia total to 13 questionnaires and 6 interviews, which is about half of what I need for a minimum amount of data.
*One teacher I interviewed offered to pass on questionnaires to some of her colleagues, who filled them out and returned them to me by leaving them at the store by my house (which I was told via text message), and then I stopped by to pick them up.
*So far most people I've interviewed have wanted to use English...I don't know if they want the chance to practice speaking or if they feel it's necessary, since they're English teachers (I'm fine with them speaking Ukrainian). One teacher didn't want me to record the interview on my digital recorder because she was worried she'd make mistakes...I felt bad, because her speech was fine.

Valera just came up to tell me that the guests are here...bye for now!

last bell

The Last Bell ceremony for the end of the school year was yesterday. I watched this year's eleventh formers, dressed in traditional school uniforms from Soviet days (with some of the girls' skirts indecently short, but no harem costumes, Tif), and remembered when they were 8th formers, back when I was brand-new here. Then I taught Nelya the basics of how to use a computer mouse and how to type in Microsoft Word, which made both of us proud that she was learning how to do more with computers.

Later, I visited an English teacher who I had known when I lived here before and who is now on maternity leave. Although it was a social visit, she was interested in my research and is willing to be interviewed. Interesting fact about Ukraine: women can take up to 3 years of paid maternity leave (not full pay, but their job will be there when they get back). Everyone is shocked that we only get 6 weeks.

I spent the night at the Kotlars', which was fun and a change from one set of kids to another. Much to the amusement of her family (and myself), Lilia K. (age 6) has an enormous crush on Yura Yukhymets (age 14/15?). Apparently he bought her ice cream once, and she's utterly besotted. She told me that they're going to get married when she grows up and he'll go to work and she'll stay home and cook and clean. When I asked which church they were going to go to, she thought about it and decided that they would alternate Sundays. Lilia and Natasha walked me home, and they weren't going to come in, but then Lilia started to cry because she wouldn't see Yura, so they stopped in to say hello. Yura walked by and said "Hello, Lil," and she just beamed. (Personally, I think Yura's got a lot of growing up to do before he's ready to be the object of anyone's adoration, much less Lilia's, but perhaps she'll be a good influence. :) )

Lilia reminds me of why I actually do want children at some point (although not 12!). She's a very deep-thinking, loving, little girl, who likes to cuddle and take care of her little brothers. She said to me very seriously at breakfast this morning, "I missed you while you were gone [to America]. Sometimes I looked at your picture and thought about you. I don't want you to leave." Aww...

This afternoon Viktor and I took 6 of the Y kids to the playground at one of the schools in town to get them out of Nadia's hair so she could garden (of the other half, 1 was at a church conference in Kharkiv, 1 helped Nadia, and the other 4 were with their grandmother). We stayed at the playground for about 4 hours. I played football, excuse me, soccer, with the boys and Viktor for a bit, proving once again that I have very little aptitude for sports.

In case you all hadn't picked up on it, I love being in Ukraine again.

productive day :)

I forgot how things in Ukraine tend to come together at the last minute.

My research was going slowly earlier this week. Part of it was that I was waiting on questionnaires; part of it was that it's the last week of the semester here; part of it was simply that things go more slowly in Ukraine than they do in the U.S. I was starting to feel frustrated and worried that I wasn't being a good researcher--after all, since MSU is funding the majority of the trip, I need to be productive. And yet there wasn't much I could do besides sit and wait.

Well, things have taken off with a vengeance. It started yesterday, when two surveys were returned to me and an interview scheduled for next week, and today kept me hopping for almost 12 hours. I started the day with an interview at a local school, then caught a very packed bus to the center (downtown) to meet up with Robert, the PCV in town, as we were supposed to speak to students at the college and collegium (the latter is a specialized high school in the same building and sharing the same faculty as the college). We spoke with 3rd year college students and 10th form collegium students--both groups did a nice job of speaking English and had good questions for us. I was especially proud of Firyuza, a former student of mine, who's now at the collegium and wants to be a translator. Her teacher mentioned to me that she's one of the best students in her class, which makes me really happy.

After that (which was several hours), Robert and I went to the Palace of Culture, as he had written a PEPFAR grant (he works at the HIV center here) and was trying to set up a concert. The director of the Palace of Culture wanted a translator at the meeting to make sure they had all the details correct, and since languages come more easily for me than they do for Robert, I translated. We had Robert, the director of the Palace of Culture, a musician/sound/lights guy from the P of C, the director of the HIV Center, and I, and I think we got all the details hashed out. I enjoyed translating in a non-school context, which is something I haven't had much chance to do before.

When we finished, it was already mid-afternoon, so Robert and I went to the new pizzeria and had a late lunch. Then we hung out and talked, mostly about his impending Close of Service and what it's like for me, being back here. At 5 I had another interview, which lasted until around 7 p.m. At that point, I came home, had supper, and played dolls with Liza and Snizhanna. A good day all around, and between me and a PCV who emailed me, I've gotten 9 more questionnaires passed out and another interview scheduled for Monday.

Tomorrow: Last Bell ceremony at School #3, helping Nelya learn how to use a computer, a possible interview, a visit to an English teacher I knew when I lived here, and spending the evening at the Kotlars.

Yay for accomplishing stuff!

(Now to post this before my Internet dies again...)

my impressions

As an American living/working/visiting in Ukraine, a common question I'm asked is "What are your impressions of _______?" It's apparently a literal translation of a question in Ukrainian, since whenever I ask someone to translate it for me (because I can never remember the word in Ukrainian), they say "impressions". So here are some random impressions I've had since arriving in Balaklia:

~There are now two coffee shops and a pizza place that delivers (not that I've been to any of them yet). Be still, my beating heart.
~There is also a second supermarket, twice the size of the first one (which came while I lived here). It offers such delicacies as Brie, which you used to only be able to find in Kharkiv. (I don't actually want Brie, I'm just amazed you can find it here now.)
~I lived here two years and didn't know that a) both the college and the lyceum have dorms and b) the name of the bus stop by the Yukhymetses' house (Sichnya).
~I did a fairly good job of packing clothes for this trip. Packing a non-wrinklable black skirt and a black cardigan was a stroke of genius, as I wear them almost every day. Tif's suggestion of throwing in my long denim skirt for around the house was also an excellent idea.
~That said, the weather here is a bit cooler than I had hoped. It's working, but I should have packed one more long-sleeved shirt.
~Everyone is much more computer/Internet-savvy than they were two years ago. Nadia is quite proficient with the computer now and spends her evenings looking up old friends and relatives on Odnoklassniki.ru, which is basically Classmates.com.
~One should never try and do educational research during the last two weeks of the school year.
~I spent a semester learning about informed consent and confidentiality. It's all a lot more complicated when you're doing research in a culture where these are not concepts that people have spent much time thinking about.
~My former students understand English a lot better than they speak it. I'm amazed at how much they understand.
~12 kids are a lot. But I wouldn't want to be staying anywhere else in town while I'm here on a visit.
~The economic crisis has really hit home here. Everyone talks about it. Nadia said that this month the government hasn't sent them money for raising the kids (for anyone unaware, the Y family is sort of a permanent foster care home, except that the children look at it as their own home and family...they just aren't legally adopted). She's not sure what they're going to do if this continues.
~It's really good to be back. Everyone's made me feel very welcome.

homemade cough syrup and injured kittens

I had, if not grand, at least moderately good plans for the day--go to church, help Natalia and the kids from the Orthodox Sunday School plant trees, go to the youth group at Andrey's church this evening and hopefully connect with an English teacher who helps out there.

Unfortunately, I woke up with a bad cough, a tight chest, and not much voice, which is likely the result of overworking myself this past semester, giving myself no downtime before coming to Ukraine, and then going more or less full-tilt once I got here. However, being in Peace Corps taught me a bit about slowing down and taking care of myself so I wouldn't get more sick, so I told Nadia I was staying home this morning, gargled, took one of the Fishermen's Friend coughdrops I found a bag of in my computer bag (not sure why), and went back to bed until noon.

The afternoon was spent watching Battlestar Galactica, although the tone is getting darker and I'm going to have to start slowing down on watching it or mixing it with Doctor Who. I'm really enjoying BSG, but I'm finding that there are limits to how much gloom I can take in a sitting. But at the same time, I want to know what happens next! (Although I know a lot of the major spoilers, unfortunately...the series finale was this past spring, after I started playing the board game, and in order to know a bit more about the game, I did some reading on Wikipedia. All the same, it's interesting to watch it all play out.)

But I digress...Nadia dosed me with homemade cough syrup, which was surprisingly effective. It's a combination of butter, honey, wine, and baking soda, and although it's a vile concoction, by the time I finished the small bowl of it she told me to drink, I could breathe easier and wasn't coughing as much. I've also been drinking compote and water all afternoon, so I rather feel like I'm swimming by this point.

The other major occurence of the day was that Alosha (5) decided to take one of the kittens, dunk it in water (or possibly hold it under?), and then throw it on the ground next to the dog, who decided to investigate it. We were all sure that the kitten was dead, and all the little kids were mad at Alosha, who was crying when he realized what he'd done (except for Snizhanna, who blamed the dog), but apparently the kitten has come through, thanks to prayers from Ihor and Vlada, although it may be blind now. We're not sure.

My camp counselor skills come in handy here. I've taught a bunch of the kids how to play Duck Duck Goose and the hand-clapping circle game "Down by the Banks of the Hanky-Panky" and how to do thumb wars. It's amazing how much they enjoy it.

it's a small world and my Ukrainian "twin"

Of particular interest to the Riverview crowd, but the rest of you may find it interesting as well:

Vitaly (19) and Oleh (15) went to a youth conference in Kharkiv today at one of the churches there. The topic translates roughly as "a Biblical look at attitudes between guys and girls". Both of the boys seemed to have a good day, and at any rate, Oleh was much more sociable and less of a brat than he's been since I arrived. (Viktor commented that the boys hadn't heard anything different there from what they hear at home, but somehow the conference seemed to have made more of an impression.)

But what I found the most interesting was that the conference was sponsored by Almaz Church, which is one of the GCM churches in Ukraine. Having attended Riverview, which is a GCM church, in undergrad, I visited the other two GCM churches in Kyiv, City on a Hill and Spring of Hope, whenever I happened to be in the city on a Sunday. I never managed to visit Almaz, primarily because I didn't know where it was and its services were on Saturday nights, which never corresponded with my train schedule, but I knew Eric and Cindy Thomas and several other missionaries who would have been involved to varying extents with the ministry at Almaz.

Basically, it's a fairly small world, at least if you're an evangelical in Ukraine.

~*~

This afternoon, I went to a neighboring village with my friend Natalia to visit an English teacher who's a friend of hers to see if she'd be interested in participating in my research. We had tea and cookies with her friend and her friend's cousin, and then we visited the village Orthodox church. Natalia does a lot of work with the children and teens that go to the Orthodox church in Balaklia, and she had wanted the teens from the church in the village to meet me. However, only the priest's daughter showed up, so Natalia, who's been taking a course in Orthodox theology, explained what the different icons represented in the church and why they were arranged the way they are.

It's been great to get in touch with Natalia again. We're a lot alike--if you can imagine a Ukrainian Orthodox version of me (who is also taller and blond, but we're built about the same), that's Natalia. She's a bookworm who lived and worked abroad in Germany for a couple of years and now teaches German and Ukrainian at the local college. She loves to travel, but she also feels deeply at home in Balaklia and enjoys life there. She's active in the local Orthodox church (pretty much the only devout Orthodox person I know personally in Ukraine), and she loves to talk and laugh. (She's also able to talk about history and theology for half an hour straight...yes, we are indeed a lot alike!) We think on the same wavelength, despite coming from different cultures, and hanging out with her is always a lot of fun.

a typical (?) day

Mom wanted an example of a "typical" day for me here in Ukraine, so I thought I'd give it a try. There's a fair amount of variance, depending on research/socializing/etc., but roughly, weekdays go something like this:

Sometime between 5 and 7 a.m.: I wake up due to a combination of sun and roosters, roll over, and endeavor to go back to sleep until my alarm goes off, usually at 7 or 7:30. I'm fairly successful at this.

7-8:30ish: My alarm (on my cell phone) goes off. I make my bed, get dressed in nice clothes (if I'm going somewhere) or old clothes (if I'll be around the house for a bit), wash up (there's a sink with hot water on the third floor, where I sleep!), and head downstairs for breakfast. Downstairs is barely organized chaos, with 11 out of 12 children getting ready for school. If I'm going to school that morning, I'm part of the chaos...otherwise, I sit on the couch and keep out of everyone's way until the kids are off to school and then have breakfast. The Y kids are not cheerful early risers, and they are not necessarily on time to school on a regular basis.

Remainder of morning/early afternoon: This varies a lot. I may be around the house, doing my own thing there, or I may be at my old school guest lecturing to some classes. Alternatively, I may go into the center of town to run errands/make more copies of my questionnaires and consent forms/pass out aforementioned documents. This sometimes happens after I've been at school. Hopefully this next week interviews will become a regular part of this segment of the day or the one following it.

Mid-afternoon: Kids come home from school. We have lunch, which took some getting used to, as I think of lunch as something that happens at noon, whereas at the Y house, it's sometime between 2 and 4 p.m. It may or may not involve people actually all eating at the same time.

Mid-afternoon to early evening: A lot of my social visits tend to occur at this time. Alternatively, it's "Big Sister" time, which can involve anything from helping Vlada with English to teaching Vitaly how to play chords with his left hand on the piano to watching the little kids play outside to answering any and all of Valera's innumerable questions. Seriously, he looks at me as a fount of information and I'm never sure what he's going to ask next. If I've reached my limit of big sister-ness, I head up to the 3rd floor (which I and I alone have a key to), watch Battlestar Galactica (thanks to Carl, the Cylon...I've already finished Season 1), and contemplate never having children. Which at times, almost sounds appealing. (And I'm not having 12, regardless, as much as I love them all.)

7:45?: Carmelita, the older kids' serial (i.e., evening soap opera) comes on. It's about a Roma (gypsy) tribe living in Russia, and it has catacombs and guns and affairs and convoluded, improbable plot lines. The kids love it. I'm sort of surprised that they're allowed to watch it, but it appears to be a battle that Viktor and Nadia decided to let the kids win. It's mostly interesting to me for how the Other, in the form of the Roma, is portrayed. Carmelita, the main character, really only looks Roma due to her curly hair and flowing skirts, and her love interest is non-Roma.

After that: The little kids often watch Scooby-Doo dubbed into Ukrainian, and we have supper. Or, if Nadia's been in the garden all day, we eat whatever happens to be cooked at that time. For the first week or so I was here, the younger kids wanted me to play the piano while we sang, but we've gotten out of that habit lately.

9ish: I go upstairs and watch more Battlestar Galactica or read Les Miserables, and sometimes use the Internet.

Sometime between 11 and 12: Devotions and bed.

And there you have it: the fledgling researcher and her typical life. Right now, it's a bit kid-heavy, but I'm hoping that interviews will pick up this coming week. I've got a lot of questionnaires and consent forms passed out, and I'm waiting to hear back on those.

a fairly easy adjustment (except for my feet)

Vitaly and I set up wireless internet on my laptop (via external modem plugged into a USB port...it's 5 hryvnia off of my phone card to connect and then 2 kopecks a minute, so quite reasonable), so I hope to be checking email/blogging more often. As in every day or so. It's interesting for me to realize how much less technology I use in Ukraine, and how quickly I've slipped back into a slower-paced lifestyle.

I will say that I do miss being able to drive places. I'm not used to walking everywhere, and my feet and calves ache fairly regularly. If I have a long way to go (from school to the center, for example, a good 25-30 minute walk), I cheat and take a marshrutka (van), which I would have thought rather extravagant during my PCV days.

Yesterday I went to a neighboring village (via elektrichka) to visit my friends Andrey and Ira and see their new baby girl, Yanna. It was nice, and I think Ira was glad to have company. She said she misses being at work. Interesting fact: in Ukraine, women get 3 years of maternity leave, instead of 6 weeks. They get a (very) small monthly stipend during this time, and their job will be open for them when they come back.

Question for my readers: what do you all want me to post about? So much is going on, that I don't even know where to start. So if you can give me some topics you want to know about, I'd be happy to oblige.

the lilacs are in bloom

I could blog and blog, but I had enough other things to do on the computer that it isn't really feasible. However, apparently I may be able to sent up wireless (or some equivelent) through a type of flash drive that uses a phone card. I really don't understand it, but I'm hopeful.

~*~

Story for Tif, who remembers Lilia Kotlar at age 3, and her unwillingless to let me go home after I'd visited them:

I went to the Kotlars's church last night (along with Vitaly, Valera, Ruslan, and Liza...we goofed and got there an hour early...), and when Lilia (now age 6) saw me, she ran up to me and gave me a big hug.

"You remember me?" I asked, since the younger Yukhymets kids don't (Snizhanna likes to be reminded of the things that she did to me, like try to take my glasses and bop me on the head).

"You're Miss Sally!" she said, and then cuddled up next to me for the whole service.

At one point, she whispered to me, "Are you here for always?"

"No, I'm just visiting," I told her.

Very seriously, she said, "I'm not letting you go."

I felt loved.

~*~

I ended up spending the night at the Kotlars', and talked and giggled with Natasha (age 17 already!) until 1 a.m. She gave me a backrub to rival Tina's.

~*~

The Y kids really deserve their own blog post. Suffice it to say, I love being a big sister, but I don't want 12 kids of my own. I think my favorite time of the day is in the evening, when Liza and Valera say, "Let's sing," and we all (that is, the younger kids and I...the older ones are too cool for that) sing while I play the piano.

in Balaklia

In Balaklia, enjoying being the oldest of 13 kids for a couple of weeks. The littlest ones didn't remember me at first and would look at me shyly and run away yesterday morning, but by evening, I was being pelted with leaves, asked to "Watch me! Watch me!", and basically one of the pack again.

This could either be a very long post or a very short one, but I am using the post office internet (we have 3 computers here now, not just 1!), and I'm down to only five minutes, so it will have to be short. Random bits of interest:

*Oleh Y. (15) still knows how to push my buttons and get me sputtering in English in a matter of minutes. He decided to pry into my personal life, hit a nerve on pretty much the first question, and then wouldn't drop it. He plays the piano beautifully, however.
*Vlada Y. (15) is going through what her mother calls a "difficult stage" and has lovely fingernails, one hand black and the other pink. She painted mine for me last night, all light pink.
*I went to school yesterday. My kids are all huge, the teachers are much the same, and Nelya was planning to use an idea that I had used back when I taught (an election scenario).
*The food here is as good as I remembered.
*Saw Robert today and got caught up on his time as a PCV here. A month away from leaving, he has many of the same feelings as I did at the same point.

Kyiv, day 2

Happiness is:

*Sleeping for 5 hours once I finally got a bed; hanging out in my hotel room, reading, watching Ukrainian TV, and writing in my journal for a few hours (skipped supper because I would have had to actually go somewhere, had snacks); sleeping 9.5 hours more after that. I feel more or less human now.
*Saving 30 hryvnia on a taxi by going outside and asking a taxi driver myself, rather than having the front desk get me one
*Going to a little cafe I remembered from my Peace Corps days for lunch and having soup with shrimp, lemon, and herbs along with focaccia and a raspberry milkshake
*Sending out copies of my survey and consent forms to PCVs willing to distribute them for me
*Knowing that the Yukhymetses will be at the train station with open arms to greet me when I show up at 3:45 in the morning (I offered to take a taxi, but Nadia said, "Of course we'll be there! We've missed you!" which makes me feel very loved.)

On a less cheerful note, Kyiv is warm and muggy. Ugh.

So long and thanks for all the fish

I have awesome former roomies. Lisa ended up driving me to the bus stop Sunday morning, mostly because she originally had insommnia but then decided to stay up even after it was over to drive me, and Brandi saw me off and gave me a money pouch, as I had forgotten to get mine from Lakeview.

Then a long day/night of travel. I don't like airplane food. It doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't taste good. (@Lisa: I ended up not eating hardly any of the pretzels on the plane for that reason...I want to want to eat them again!)

I made it to Ukraine safe and sound, although 4 hours too early to check into my hotel room. To fill that time, I have a) exchanged money, b) bought a cell phone, c) bought my train ticket to Balaklia tomorrow night, d) called Nadia (who sounded very excited on the phone, e) texted Sasha and Andrey, f) did a lot of window shopping (saw some lovely skirts I'd like to get at the end of the summer, depending on money), g) had lunch at McDonalds, f) gawked at how much prices have gone up in a year and a half (which makes sense with how the hryvnia's dropped), g) paid an outrageous price for Internet, and h) am anxiously waiting to go crash in my hotel room at 2 pm.

I was feeling a bit weird about the whole trip right before we landed, but it feels very natural to be here. Although I'm exhausted and really really just want to sleep right now, or at least be in a prone position. I did doze for a few hours on the flight though. And met a former PCV (before my time) on the plane who runs an English language school in Dnipropetrovsk, is willing to pass out my survey to teachers he knows and said that if I ever wanted a job, I should look him up but I'll probably be overqualified to work at his school, having an actual degree in TESOL.

Wow...jet lag is really kicking in. Time to finish this post and wait 45 more minutes for my room.

off to Ukraine!

It's been long enough since I've blogged that I almost feel like I've forgotten how. But since I leave for Ukraine tomorrow, I figured it's time to start this up again.

Ukraine, you say? Yes, I'm going back for the summer to do research for my M.A. thesis on communicative language teaching in Ukrainian schools. I'll be in Balaklia for the first month or so, I expect, with possible short trips for data collection, and then will be at Ivan Franko University in L'viv from early June through almost the end of July for Ukrainian language study through the University of Kansas. Then one week at the end, which might be wrapping up data collection, going back to Balaklia, or heading down to the Black Sea...it's a play-it-by-ear week.

I'm excited, albeit a bit nervous tonight. I loved Ukraine and my life there when I was there as a PCV, and leaving was hard. I always thought I'd go back, but a few years later down the line, not a year and a half later. (And I also thought I'd be paying for more of it...being mostly funded is nice.) Ukraine has changed. My friends there have changed. And I've changed, too.

But overall, I think it will be good. I'm looking forward to the chance to do research on a topic I'm interested in (and simply to get to try out all the research techniques I've been learning about this semester). I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends again (I'm staying with the Yukhymetses for the first month! Andrey and Ira just had a baby girl, Yanna!). I'm looking forward to studying Ukrainian again...and simply just to speak it on a regular basis. And I'm looking forward to whatever else God has in store for me. He's provided for me abundantly in so many ways over the last year and a half, and this is at the top of the list.

~*~

For the record, I think I have just finished the busiest semester of my life. Note to self: do not take on a double teaching load in your practicum class, a PhD level research methods course, and a seminar with a lot of reading in which you decide to do a research option all at once. Especially not when planning a trip overseas. To add to that, housing and employment for the fall were both in flux for quite some time, and employment is not yet resolved. I'm sort of looking forward to being on the plane tomorrow, because I won't have things I should be doing.

~*~

Saw the new Star Trek movie with the game night crew and Brandi's family tonight. Greatly enjoyed it, although I'm more familiar with the Next Generation series than the original. We may possibly have been the geekiest group there.

~*~

I should follow Lisa's advice--"Go to bed, Sally." It's 10:30 now, and I need to get up at 4 a.m.

vindication

I had a really cool thing happen yesterday. Several, actually, including going out for Chinese food for a classmate's birthday, buying an inscribed copy of Madeleine L'Engle's poetry, and having a goofy, low-stress evening hanging out with Lisa as she snarked her way through a video game and I alternately read articles for the lit review I have to write and snarked along with her. Oh, and the random tour bus that was parked in front of our apartment for several hours. We never quite figured out why.

But the thing that made me decide to blog wasn't any of those things. I've been on http://www.vkontake.ru/ for a couple of weeks now--it's an equivalent to Facebook for Russian/Ukrainian speakers. Another RPCV had let me know about it, and I've enjoyed seeing what some of the people I knew in Ukraine are up to. Well, yesterday, I had a friend request from Firyuza, one of my former students.

Firyuza was one of the best students I've taught. She was one of the very few people I could count on to do their homework, and she was a regular at my English clubs. Her family moved into my apartment building partway through my time in Balaklia, and she and I would often walk home together, having simple conversations in English and playing word games like "I Spy" and "Think of a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word" in English. She was also had a quick temper and could be a bit moody--I remember an "open lesson" for the rayon teachers where I gave both her and another student the same high mark. She felt that she'd done better than the other student and that my grades should have reflected that, told me I could go ahead and give her a failing grade, and stormed off. Nelya and I didn't always agree about her--Firyuza is Tajikistani, and Nelya felt that she often showed "uncultured" characteristics of Tajik village people (Nelya spent several years in Tajkistan), but no one could argue that she wasn't a good student. (Firuyza's family are Muslims, the only ones I knew in Balaklia. Interestingly enough, her brother, Faridun, was friends with Vitaly Yukhymets, which made me wonder if it was because they both weren't Orthodox.)

Anyhow, when I looked at Firyuza's profile, I saw that after she finished 9th form last spring, she had transferred to the junior college in Balaklia and is now studying to be a translator (I assume of English, although it might also be German). I'm beyond thrilled. I loved my time in Ukraine and occasionally felt like I was making some small differences in regard to how people perceived Americans, but I was never sure if I made any difference as an English teacher. I figured at best, maybe some of my kids would realize that there were different ways to teach, that my educational effectiveness had more to do with helping them see English as fun than with actually learning anything. And now I found out that one of my students has decided to go into a language-related professon. As I said, I'm thrilled. It's a tiny vindication that yes, I probably helped inspire someone. And that makes all the days when I got so frustrated with the kids who didn't care worthwhile.