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.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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.
*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.
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