I have slowly been accumulating items for my upcoming move and I actually have a decent sized pile going. I decided that, unlike last time I moved across the world and packed the night before, I would do it … Continue reading →

NPR's Russia By Rail series is pretty cool.

I have trouble comprehending why anyone would want to live in Siberia, but these pictures almost make me want to go there. Dazzling.

Men of the Crowd: How Homo Sovieticus Was Created is a good article about Ukrainian mentality.

In general, anything from Ukrainian Week is informative. I geeked out on this article about parents who try to always speak Ukrainian with their children while living in Russian heavy areas.

It's been cold in Ukraine. Last week, I had school on Monday and Tuesday and then school was closed until this past Monday due to the cold temperature. I had school Monday and Tuesday this week, and my school will be closed until next Monday again. I've only been leaving my house to go to school when I have it and to buy groceries. Otherwise, I'm inside reading or watching tv shows from my external. It's an exciting life, for sure.

Just because I stopped trying to write about television, doesn’t mean I stopped watching it. I still follow a slightly unhealthy amount of shows (HIMYM, TBBT, The Office, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Community, Mad Men, and Game of Thrones). Here are some thoughts I’ve had lately. Has CBS forgotten about Ted? Call me a romantic, but I miss having episodes about him. It’s like Future Ted forgot his own narrative. Try and … Continue reading →

I just feel like I need to post something, so here goes...

I've been kind of bored and the weather got the best of me for the past two weeks. Not necessarily as bad as last year, but definitely felt quite contained inside the apartment, and as a result, stuck inside my head. Lately, I've been hearing about truth. It is so easy to believe whatever is said to me, but am I at fault if I do not question what I hear? Maybe even questioning it adds to the fire. I decided that the best way to fix what I need is to get out of my head and into "now."

I haven't been traveling much since I got back from Israel. I'm quite happy about that decision because I had not been at site for a while, and wanted to spend time here relaxing, working and focusing back on school.

I am proud to announce that I have begun two major projects, one more justice focused and the other cultural focused. The first (click the link to see it on my school's website!) teaches students at my school about the power of one and the power of many - while individually we can make small changes, when we combine our forces and have the same goal, we can make a real difference. We are collecting coins (just) and at the end of the month, all of this money will be donated to an organization of the students' choice. The second is a chance for 8th form students at the school to learn about different countries around the world through various English discussion topics. They will learn about different countries around the world, and I will be the "American in Residence" and teach them about American culture. Both projects will last until the end of the school year.

пока.

Yesterday, I was walking home from school and a man that I don't know & doesn't know me stopped me and told me that I NEED to wear a hat. It is strange to me that someone would go out of their way to look out for a stranger. That would never happen in America.

I thought it was pretty warm compared to last week but I just got a call that it's too frosty and there will be no school until Monday!! (today is Tuesday).

In the last few weeks, I have been asked several times by both Americans and Ukrainians, “Aren’t there little tiny holes in condoms that make them ineffective and useless against pregnancy and STDs?” Answer: “Some people claim that condoms have tiny pores or holes in them through which sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV can [...]

February 6, 2012 Alison Cumbow Peace Corps Volunteer TEFL in Ukraine akcumbow@gmail.com Dear Faithful Blog Readers, I’m writing to you all specifically for assistance funding a very important Peace Corps Partnership Project. This project is in collaboration with 17 other volunteers and eight Ukrainians from around the country to conduct a summer camp in east [...]

Okay, so it's not really water. It's ice. But, you get the idea. I finally captured a man on the solidly frozen river going ice-fishing! I only had my iphone with me.

If you click on the pic, you can make it larger...

School was back in session today (was it bad I was hoping for another snow day?). I felt like I was in high school again...waiting for "Norman Public Schools" to scroll across the bottom of the tv. Incidentally, when schools here close, I think it's solely a word of mouth type thing. Maybe a hand-written sign on the door.

Last week when schools were cancelled, Olena asked me if I wanted to go buy some hot dogs or cottage cheese for cheap. I politely said no thank you (two things I hate...not to mention I couldn't buy hot dogs for my doggies because they freeze in my fridge). After she was gone, I realized why she was asking me that {very odd} question. School #4 (literally how schools are named here) sits right next door to my work. Because the cafeteria had already purchased food for the week but they were having to cancel school, the food would be bad by Monday when school resumed. Olena came back very excited to have hot dogs for her doggie and cottage cheese to accompany her blinchiki (crepe-like food).

The sun was shiny and made my walk to work quite pleasant. I tested out my ski jacket for my upcoming ski trip at the end of this week!!!!!!! Words can't explain how excited I am to shoop down the mountain. You can guess what this weeks way-back-Wednesday post will be about... :)

Hope nobody had a case of the Monday's. Toodles!

Words of the day:

on time--вовремя

during--во время

Is is just me or do those words look ridiculously similar? It's all about accent marks in Russian.

Novi Sad, known for summer street cafes, is covered in snow.



A pond, frozen and covered in snow, makes for great sledding.

If you had to guess what it was that finally prompted me to write this blog entry, which of the following would you choose? a) A successful return from a mostly successful trip from Moldova b) My apartment being flooded while I was away c) The beginning of a new semester of classes at the university d) Supercold temperatures prompting week-long school closures e) Running out of internet and being unable to activate a new round of service I mean, really, all of those things led up to it, but now it’s the fact that all of my recent picture uploading, job searching, and actual work have left me with only dregs of internet—probably barely enough to post this entry, should I finish it tonight. In fact, no rush. I think I’ll work out for a bit and watch an episode or two of The West Wing, and then I’ll be back. Just kidding. Right?

First, though, it's finished! A Day in the Life of Ukraine! Take a look HERE to see the map, click the links, and read the stories! You'll see 111 entries, submitted from all over Ukraine-- teachers, students, Peace Corps Volunteers, and more-- all telling the story of December 13, 2011. Enjoy! Woooooo!!

MOLDOVA! So I went on an adventure trip to Moldova! Although your first question most certainly will be, ‘And did you sample any Moldovan wine?’, it seems likely that your second question will be ‘Why? After all the nice things you just got done saying about Ukraine, why run away now?’ Fair enough. In fact, the trip to Moldova was designed to… extend my stay in Ukraine! Due to changes in Ukrainian laws, foreigners living in Ukraine need to go through a new process to obtain visas. For me, and for the other 16 or so extendees of Group 37, this means that we have to go to a Ukrainian embassy—yes, outside of Ukraine—to apply for a new D-1 visa, then return to Ukraine and begin the regional registration process. So, about 26 of us in this situation gathered in Kyiv, then piled on a bus and headed to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. The outcome of our trip was general success. We all left Moldova with D-1 visas. Hurrah! The process, though, was a little rough. When the expectation of a 12-hour trip turned into the reality of a 22-hour trip, however, some stress was admittedly experienced. The basic problem was that the diplomatic discussions and agreements hadn’t trickled down to the staff at the border crossing, and so they were concerned to find so many people with expired visas attempting to leave the country. As a result, they didn’t want to let us cross the border. Catch-22ish indeed. We wouldn’t be trying to leave the country if we didn’t have expired visas. What can you do, kick us out? As we discovered, some time between our 3:30 a.m. arrival and our noonish departure from, they could make us wait. And wait. Finally, the agreed-upon solution, negotiated by some elsewhere-but-important upper-level entities and our fearless guide/ PC staff member Sasha, was to interview each of us and to have us sign documents acknowledging that we were wrong to have expired visas and that this was our official warning never to do it again. Okay! The rest of the trip, including our actual time in Moldova, was fine. I’m used to seeing lots of wide open spaces in Ukraine, but the countryside in Moldova seemed even more wide and open. Orchards, vineyards, and fields stretched expansively, covering the distance to Chisinau. Chisinau itself was a fine city, not too big, but nice for a day or so of walking around in. We drank bubble tea, ate nachos, saw the biggest bazaar, took pictures, and went souvenir shopping. Many of the souvenirs were similar to those we might find in Ukraine, and I had to laugh when one vendor suggested that we might like to buy some pysanky. “We live in Ukraine,” I told her. She laughed. To be sure, we made a strange group—speaking English to each other, half of us speaking Ukrainian, half of us speaking Russian, none of us really sure about the bright-colored bills and their values. In Moldova, people speak either Russian or Moldovan—which is actually Romanian, but just called Moldovan in official documents. It was sort of surprising to realize how much I could understand of what people were saying, but a good boost. However, the fact that their largest cell phone company seems to be called Moldcell--? I'm not sure I can support that. I have allergies, you know.

The trip back was an expected and uneventful 12 hours, and landed us in Kyiv for more information about the visa registration process. On the date they were issued, our visas were good for 45 days. So, within the remaining time, we need go to through a slightly complicated regional registration process, with the help of our regional managers, local counterparts, landlords, and multiple governmental offices. There’s some stress and nervousness involved in this process, but hopefully all will be well. FLOOD! When I came back to Lutsk, I found that my apartment had recently been flooded. Pipes, hoses, or othersuch had conspired to flood my apartment with hot water while I was in Moldova. The building staff became aware of the situation due to its effects on the two floors below. My floors had mostly dried, but I found wet papers, clothes, and very clean shoes. A high-water mark can be found a few inches above the floor throughout my apartment, and I immediately commenced an open-window/ space heater campaign to try to dry it all out. Unfortunately, the next step was the rippling of the floor in my living room and bedroom—the two rooms with hard-wood floors. Now parts of the living room floor show gentle swells, but the bedroom floor has a sort of mid-Atlantic ridge running from door to window. The building staff have been wonderful, super kind and understanding, and have comforted me to no end by repeatedly telling me I’m not to blame. This is the only good thing to come out of this experience—to know that people I don’t really know very well were willing to step up and support me when I was in a bad situation. SUPERCOLD! I can only say this so many ways: it’s been supercold this past week. Yes, there was a little more snow today on top of the ice and snow already, but the cold itself has been the real problem. Schools were closed for the week. News reports suggested that more than 100 people died as a result of the weather. Forecasts in the negative degrees forced me to realize, as my friend Andrew pointed out, ‘The closer you get to -40, Celsius and Fahrenheit are almost the same.’ Brrr. Seeing your breath is one thing. Seeing your breath freeze on your scarf in front of your face is another. Feeling your nose hairs frozen solid when you rush out to get the mail is another. Still, should be up to 0 soon, so maybe we’ll all be able to stop camping out in our kitchens and by our space heathers. NEW SEMESTER! Not too much to report in the new semester just yet, but lots of plans for good things to come! Writing Beyond Reality is coming to Lutsk (and Rivne! Andrew!), a spring film fest is in the works, a Valentine’s Day goodies-and-crafts fair is happening next week… I’m teaching master’s students in Applied Linguistics and first-year Ap Ling students in Country Studies. I think it’ll be a quick semester, not just because it’s my last (oh no!) but because the schedule is squished to make sure the summer is clear for Euro-2012, the big soccer championship to be held in Ukraine and Poland this summer. Woo! For some schools and universities, this means more Saturday classes, or, as in ours, longer days. Normally there are 6 ‘lines’, or class slots. This semester, there are 7. So, for those lucky enough to have a 7th line, this class starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 7:20. There’s only one of those on my schedule for now, thankfully. AND… We’re also now working on Camp ACT—Action, Creativity, and Teamwork! It’s a regional camp for students entering grades 8-11, and will be held [hopefully!] in Shatsk in early July. We’ve already built our staff—half American and half Ukrainian—and they are indeed, as Vitalik pointed out, a dudical crew. There’s a lot of great energy and plenty of good ideas—and I’m especially excited that almost all of the Ukrainian staff members are students from my university, many of whom I’ve worked with on previous projects. This may actually be my favorite thing about this camp so far, but I have a suspicion I’ll continue to like it more and more. So, until I run out of internet again… :)

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.” -Carl Reiner

This is something that Mr. Reiner and myself have in common. Snow is something I've become quite accustomed to over the past few weeks. It came quickly and it came with a vengeance. Having never really been around much snow, I found myself to be somewhat excited about it. When it fell, it turned the scenery into something from a Christmas movie. The snow is beautiful, but the cold is not. I'm not talking about the pleasant kind of cold where you break out your favorite scarf and boots. I'm talking about the kind of cold that hurts your bones. The kind where frost bite is an actual worry as opposed to something you had heard happened to world famous explorers. It's so cold that school was cancelled for almost a week through most of Ukraine. That's a big deal in a country where snow is just a part of life. Over 100 people have died from it throughout Eastern Europe and half of those were in Ukraine. Many of them were elderly or homeless. Thankfully, Ukraine has set up over 2,000 shelters to try and alleviate this horrible problem.

Well, that was an uplifting intro, huh? In all honesty, I am fine. Although my apartment is quite chilly because the heating is set for the entire building, I'm making it. I am staying warm thanks to multiple layers of thermal underwear and the ingenuity of the snuggie that was so thoughtfully left behind for me by my site mate, Jessica. I knew what I was getting myself into when I found out I would be going to Ukraine, so I find myself laughing (a little) about how unprepared I was for this weather. Honestly, I don't think that there is anyway that a person who comes from a place where 50 degrees is considered cold can prepare for something like this. It had to come with experience, and boy do I feel like I'm getting that experience.

I've actually been quite a busy bee since my last post. Things at school have picked up a lot, so that is keeping me pretty busy. I co-teach 2-3 English lessons a day with my wonderful counterpart, Olya. The classes are for 2nd-6th grades and they are a hoot. Each week, I teach the 3rd grade classes an American song. So far, we have done "If You Are Happy, and You Know It", "The Hokey Pokey", "10 In the Bed", and several other ones that I can't recall right now. They love it and so do I! I also spend two afternoons a week at The Children's Center, which I would compare to a YMCA back in the states. There are a lot of arts and crafts, plays, and general silliness. I also have been filling my time working on projects. I am about to start writing a Partnership Grant for some some radio equipment for my school, but more on that another time. I'm busy and happy.

What else is new....

Two weeks ago, I attended what is called a language refresher. This is a kind of camp held by Peace Corps that basically serves as a quick re-cap over the language. It also serves as a big motivator for people like me who haven't been studying like they should. They have classes during the day and different activities at night (These activities include dance lessons, card games, clay and jewelry making and several others). It was held in Chernigiv, which is the city that I trained near. I actually got to go and see my host family for the first time since September. I was welcomed with kisses, calo, and vodka. A really good homecoming in my opinion. I also got to have the first sledding experience of my life. When I say sledding, I of course don't mean with an actual sled, because this is Ukraine and they have invented more fun ways of doing such old activities. There updated version of a sled includes large plastic bags with small chair cushions stuffed inside. I went with my host sister, Sveta, and her friend Max. They had more fun than I did because they got to laugh at me hiking through the snow and falling up the hill that I was suppose to sled down. (If you know me at all, you know that grace has never been of my best attributes. Add snow to the mixture, and you've got yourself a comedic routine.) I learned that snow is exhausting and sledding is hard work. By the end of the adventure, I was a wet mess with cold toes and a happy heart.

Oh, hey. Did I mention that I'm going to Greece? Because I am. Jesse and his dad have invited me to go to Greece with them at the end of April. I'm not going to lie. I cried when Jesse told me. I'm sorry, but getting to go to one of my dream travel destinations with the love my life was just too much for my emotional scale, so tears were in order. Knowing that I'm going to a Mediterranean paradise with my sweetheart and his wonderful father at the end of April is definitely going to help these cold winter months pass by.

That's all I've got for you right now. It's cold, but the love and happiness I am feeling is keeping me pretty warm. Cheesy, but true.

Here are some pictures of my latest adventures. Hugs and love to all of you.

Snow

My host family's house

Me after my first sledding experience.

This little sweetheart made me a pair of beautiful earrings at his language refresher. What's not to love?

As many of you have heard, Ukraine has been hit pretty hard this past week with snow and painfully low temperatures.  My school is not very well heated, and so when it dropped to -25C (-13F) on Wednesday, our administrators … Continue reading →

I’m proud to say that I’ve read every single Calvin and Hobbes strip I can get my hands on. I think the comic has wisdom to it beyond all of our years. We can learn something from each one of the strips, even if it’s simply that we need to laugh at life a little more. However, today I present you with this strip: It’s seems silly, but this is something I try to live by. … Continue reading →

I've found that some of my best times of brainstorming future blog entries comes at inopportune times. Sometimes I'll make a note on my phone, or try to ingrain the idea in my brain, but it usually never comes to fruition. As I was just cleaning up my kitchen, a topic flickered through my head. I finished doing the dishes and decided to sit down right now and type it up. I'm also {highly} procrastinating going out to run errands like I need to.

Late last night as I lay in bed (quite bored out of my mind), I decided to sign onto facebook chat. I never use fb chat but decided to see if anyone was online. One of my sweet high schoolers (Rachel) messaged me and even said, "Whoah! You're on facebook chat?!" Ha. See...I never get on that thing! But as I looked through the people online...lo and behold, my favorite curly red-head was on! I couldn't believe it. The red-head I'm talking about is Mr. Darren Downing Gore.

One of my last nights in Norman before leaving for the PC...

I met Darren when I moved to Oklahoma in 2001 and no matter the distance between us, I can always count on a good chat (and a good laugh) when I talk to him. He has a rather hectic schedule right now because he is going to Physician Assistant school at Baylor and going through rotation's at the moment. So, I was super excited to see him online at a time where we could both chat for a minute. Turns out he never uses facebook chat either, so was it pure coincidence we both happened to be online at the same time? I think not. Somebody up above was looking out for us :)

I wasn't planning on making this a picture montage, but Darren and I have been on many an outing together and well, some of these pics are just too good not to be posted. This is totally not the direction the blog post was supposed to go today, but I'll get to the point in a minute! Let's call this a decade of Darren, shall we?

Probably gonna kill me for some of these, but I'm 5500 miles away, so he can't do very much :)Darren, David, and Mark--circa 2001 BASIC retreat

Anna, Darren, Lydia--circa 2002 choir tour to Florida

bored on the charter bus...who knew that a person could fit in the overhead compartments?

Yep, he'll definitely be mad about this one. This was sometime during high school at youth one night.

Dinner theater 2005--Darren, Karen, Lydia, Swenson

Prom 2005--Bert, Lydia, Amy, Karen, Anna, Rose, Darren

Graduation 2005--Darren, Rose, Amy, Lydia, Kevin (Darren's brother-in-law!), Anna, Swenny

Choir Tour to Disneyland--2005

Disneyland 2005--Darren and all of his girls :)

Mission trip to Seattle--summer 2005

Lady Liberty, Darren, and myself--summer 2006

Birthday celebrations--2007

Tacky Christmas Party 2007

Opies Reunion--2008

Happy New Year! Love Amy cheesin' in the background--2008/2009

Mexico 2010

My hot date to Jacey's wedding--2010

And last but not least, he came to surprise me at my going away party...we're both doing the "Darren smile" :)

So, that photo montage was completely off subject, but I had fun finding all of those pictures on my external hard-drive and on my laptop. Back to the topic of my chat with Darren!

Darren has a friend from college (Katie) who happened to leave for the Peace Corps about a month or two before I left. She is currently serving in Tanzania, Africa, as a teacher! The story for how I came across the fact that Katie was leaving for the Peace Corps is somewhat creepy (or really creepy as Darren would inform me). I went to post something on Darren's wall in early 2011. Katie had just written a note on his wall informing him of her blog and that he could follow her service through that. She didn't mention the PC once in that post, but the lingo was some of the same PC lingo that is used worldwide. I found her blog and facebooked her...never having met this girl. Okay, okay...kinda creepy on my behalf. BUT, I love reading about her adventures in Tanzania and thinking how utterly different every PC experience is.

Katie must have a sense of humor very similar to Darren's because anytime she posts something on facebook, I typically laugh (or gasp if it has to do with an African animal encounter in her house...). One of her more recent posts on facebook said: "not too happy about this bat that has taken up residence in my pit latrine...". Wow. She's fighting a bat in her "toilet," while I'm fighting to keep my apartment semi-warm with temps still in the negatives.

You can find Katie's blog here, with the most recent post detailing a snake encounter in her house. Oh, Ukraine...I'll take your cold weather any day over the bugs and animals of Africa :)

Darren is probably shaking his head at the fact that I would post all of this, and I hope Katie isn't too weirded out since I have never actually met her. BUT, what else could I write about on a Sunday afternoon? Congratulations if you read all the way to the bottom. Молодец! Or good job... :)

I've been the laziest person ever today (literally: eating, reading, and watching tv shows. kind of embarrassing). BUT, everyone needs a day like that now and then in my opinion. I chose today.

part of my lunch today: a modified version of this recipe

That recipe called for Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese, neither of which I had. Instead, I used lemon pepper spices, garlic salt, and regular salt. Pretty delish. And simple!

Back to the topic at hand: Russian Language Refresher. A week ago, I was in the snowy city of Chernigov with 50-some Peace Corps Volunteers. The goal? To practice, improve, and motivate our Russian at site. I enjoy speaking Russian in Kirovograd. Well, in Ukraine for that matter {sidenote: if someone had told me 15 years ago that I would be studying Russian and enjoying it, I would have laughed in their face.}. So, I was very excited to get to go to language refresher. It's a great time to see your friends who lives far, far away, and I was hoping that it would be motivation for me to actually study Russian at site.

Every day consisted of a few lessons of your choosing. I chose a class on perfect/imperfect verbs (very helpful), gerunds and verbal adverbs (horribly unhelpful to me because I can't even tell you what those are in English...), and verbs of motion (incredibly helpful and needed!). OH!! And one of my favorite classes: Russian cursive.

Russian (and Ukrainian) cursive is truly an art. Students learn cursive starting in the first form and study is for SIX MONTHS. Generally, it is incredibly uniform (for boys and girls alike!) and simply beautiful.

The reason it is hard for us to learn is because many of the cursive letters look the same with a crazy amount of loops.

This picture floated around facebook for a while and made most PCVs here in Ukraine laugh and shake their head. The first word says Militsia (police). I can't tell you what the second word says. Maybe something about listening?

This is my attempt at writing some words in cursive. As my sweet teacher told me, "Your letters are dancing..."

Every letter is supposed to be at the same height and at the same slant. And then you have to remember "connectors" which separate similar looking letters. Sigh...in time :)

During the evenings at language refresher, you could choose different "fun" classes to attend. Arts and crafts, jewelry making, chess, dancing, etc...and all of these lessons were taught in Russian. I chose to remember how to do knitting and re-learn the art of cross-stitch.

My turtle!

The last morning of language refresher, Catharine (a fellow K-grad oblast volunteer!), Jenny, and myself were working on our cross-stitch projects. One of the PC staff members came over and asked Catharine if she had just started hers the night before. In all actuality, Catharine had started hers three days before but hadn't had time to work on it outside of class. It gave us all quite a good laugh :) This picture was taken moments after that minor slip-up :)

Catharine, Jenny, and LydiaCourtney and Anne in the back

much better! Anne is working on her knitting as you an see...

Also offered as one of the "fun" classes was a basket-weaving class. One of my sweet friends Theo took the class and worked on her basket on the marshrutka ride back to Kiev...

The inside of a nice marshrutka {note: this is not what the city marshrutkas look like in K-grad)! Meredith (with the brown curly hair) is also working on her basket :)

The last night of refresher a small talent show was held. I'll let these videos speak for themselves. On the video below, if you click on the red part that says "youtube" you can watch a larger version of the video. Enjoy! I honestly can't tell you what they're saying in this video, but this is a very common Ukrainian song :)

As a joke, someone signed up Nathan and Richard to count to 1000 in Russian. They were pretty good sports about it...

Word of the day:

turtle--черепаха

Kyiv New Years 2012 - Peace Corps Ukraine

forgot the cardinal rule of not to make noise as the videoer due to being so close to the mic From: allstar28chs Views: 4 0 ratings Time: 00:37 More in Travel & Events

Its so cold that...

the snot freezes in your nose.

tears are semipermanently on your lashes.

the smallest gust of wind makes you contemplate why you dared exit your warm house.

any exposed skin is numb in a moment.

your fingers and toes are stiff when you come inside and often painful.

three pairs of wool socks MAY keep your feet warm.

crossing the street becomes a hazard not for the vehicles but the ice rink you have to traverse.

I wonder if I will remember what warm sunshine is like.

when you hear 30 people have died in the last two weeks from the cold, your surprised the number isn't higher.

schools are closed (-25 C or more/-13 F).

people tell you to stay home from work and not to go out on the street.

people don't ask if you are cold but if you are frozen. (That is the direct translation people!)

braving the market for necessary food is more like wandering in the tundra.

I could go on people but lets just say it was cold, still is really but hoping it comes out of the ridiculous area soon. I have been surviving for sure but my toes are argueing a bit. I bought some really good boots for traversing all the ice (they just don't really plow here and salt is a "foreign concept") but they are not the best for warmth. Yet this cold spell will pass soon I hope. Actually one of the main reasons was that we got about a week of mostly clear skies but a significant drop in temperatures so it was not a fun week to leave the house in.

Okay, enough about the cold. I wanted to re-enter the world of blogging. I am sorry to say that for a number of reasons last fall went by without much word. But I am starting this year off right. I am on my way! It is already February and to say that January flew would be an understatement. I got to start the year off right with a much needed (for my mental health) trip back home. Coming to America! I was so excited I had to fight back some tears at customs. Honestly there was this video playing with all these pics of America and people talking about being American and I got a little chocked up. I was feeling a little ridiculous though so I had to control myself. I considered kissing the floor in the terminal as well but thought that might be a bit too much. It is funny, but I never imagined that being here would make me appreciate the USA so much. I am honestly so much more patriotic now. It is true not just for me but most PCV's feel this way. We talk about it sometimes about how living in a place that is so different in many ways has changed the way we see our own country and usually for the positive.

Sure we miss things, that is a given but it is more than that. It is a kind of sense of where one belongs. The phrase "my homeland" is really applicable. For Ukrainians, homeland is a really important thing. They place a strong emphasis on their identity as Ukrainian. They are the people of Ukraine. They say this with hands on their hearts and fists in the air, passion in their voice and mist in their eyes. They love their country and even though they hate all the troubles and would love to get rid of all the politicians, this is their homeland. They value tradition. In fact it is their traditions that really give them a lot of their identity.

Being surrounded by this for so long and being asked about American traditions, I have come to love and appreciate the things that make me an Амеріканка (Amerikanka). I love that this is often a really hard question to answer. American traditions: hamburgers, bbq, apple pie, Thanksgiving and Santa Claus sure but also tacos and burritos, bowling, chinese food and sushi, piñatas at kids birthdays and St. Patrick's Day. Its all American. We don't have one culture really. We are this hodge-podge of traditions and ideas, of beliefs and desires.

One thing I do pretty regularly is watch the online broadcast of NBC Nightly News. Brian Williams and I are really good friends (oh Brian). I love it because it make me feel at home but also because it has been great for keeping up with what is happening in the world. Lately, I have been watching a ton of stuff on the nominations race. I don't think I am going to make the effort to vote this year and I am fine with that but it is fascinating to hear from Ukrainians about the race. The local news stations here have been covering the race and it is fascinating. I don't know what things will look like when I get home in 10 months but I know my view of home will be different and I hope it will stay for the better.

Love to all my friends at home and remember how lucky you are to have free elections and a voice in your government as well as the ability to go buy your favorite burrito! (Oh Chipotle if only you delivered to Ukraine!)

Laura :)

I’ve got a lot of good friends in my life. They trickle in from different sources – childhood, high school, college, study abroad, camp, Peace Corps – and they’re all really difficult for me to explain. You see, I love all of these people equally, but I love them in different ways. These differences aren’t [...]

I’ve got a lot of good friends in my life. They trickle in from different sources – childhood, high school, college, study abroad, camp, Peace Corps – and they’re all really difficult for me to explain. You see, I love all of these people equally, but I love them in different ways. These differences aren’t [...]

It's the little things in Ukraine that bring us (PCVs) big amounts of joy. I already posted an entry today, but I was too excited to share my small (yet large!) success with the blog so that I could read it again later and remember how elated I was.

Do you remember this blog post from a while back? Well, I have tried to make chocolate chip cookies about 4-5 more times since then and every time, they haven't been like home. Maybe it's wishful thinking that they would taste exactly like the break-n-bake cookies that I've made faithfully for the past 5 years. I could get the cookies here to taste good, but they simply don't fluff up like my cookies in the states did.

I found this recipe on pinterest the other day. Since schools are "quarantined" right now (ie, too cold for kids to go to school), I told myself I would try to make these cookies sometime before Monday. Mission accomplished!! And man, was the mission accomplished well!

I present to you, my snickerdoodles :)

I might have eaten three {or four} for dinner...with a giant cup of {almost too cold} milk.

It's a guessing game anytime you cook or bake in Ukraine. Until you master a recipe, there's always room for error. This recipe, I'm proud to say, I mastered on the first attempt: a rarity! I did have to alter the ingredients and oven temp and time in the oven though. I'll explain that in a minute.

First though, I need you to drool a little bit.

Good?

So, Lydia's PCV alterations to snickerdoodles. Cream of tartar was nowhere to be found in K-grad. After googling "substitutes for cream of tartar," I learned that there is not really a substitute. Well, crap. The tartar acts as an acid which activates the baking soda in these cookies...which makes them rise. It suggested adding baking powder instead of baking soda and cream of tartar altogether. There was a formula you had to do for how much...but this is what I ended up putting in:

1/4 teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon baking powder

And it worked lovely! I baked these in between 150-175C (closer to 150C) in my toaster oven for about 5 minutes. Then, I rotated the tray and baked them for a few more minutes. When they started puffing up, give 'em a minute more and voila!

I want to take these on the ski trip. We'll see if they last that long... :)

I had to venture out of the house today. I had my usual for breakfast, read a lot, watched the newest episode of the New Girl (hysterical), then had leftover chili and cornbread for lunch (in my new lime green bowl my parents got me for Christmas!):

It's been on my mind lately to try a few new recipes from pinterest. I am currently in the process of making homemade "Lara bars" (recipe here). I wanted these bars to eat as a skiing snack for next weekend when I'm shooping my way down the mountain. But first, I had to get a few ingredients. So, off to the store I went.

After my dad posed the question, "What are you walking on most of the time now?" I decided to document it today. The answer is ice or black ice, 98% of the time. The main roads are cleared. Sidewalks? That's a negative. So, for the first time ever, I decided to bust out my YakTrax (care of the Carruth fam!). Talk about inventive!

I didn't slip or slide once on my 20 minute walk. I watched other people slip and slide, but not yours truly. I did get a few funny looks (as always) because of my attire, but that could have been because I was wearing light brown boots, which are NOT labeled as "winter boots" in Ukraine. Or because I had on a white and teal ski hat, a pink scarf, and a red purse. I kind of looked like a rainbow exploded on me. And my mittens (these babies) always get stares. However, I was toasty and that's all that mattered.

Along the way, I stopped and took a few pics. You're welcome :)

The frozen river...I've seen men ice-fishing on this all week but I guess these temps have made them go inside...

This is one of the icy paths. Sometimes the sidewalks are covered in a layer of sand or dirt, as I think they've done here. However, it doesn't alleviate the fact that there is still an inch+ of ice...

A close-up of the ice. Every one of the divots you see in the ground is from a Ukrainian ladies high heeled boot. My YakTrax made quite an interesting impression in the ice as well but I forgot to take a picture...

I couldn't find cream of tartar sauce on my excursion today :( hope that I can make snickerdoodle cookies without it! I also managed to buy prunes instead of dates to make my Lara bars. BUT, I'm still making them with the prunes. Fingers crossed the turn out decent... :)

And if you are interested in another article/video about the weather here, BBC did a story on it today. Watch here. Happy Friday! And good luck, Team Hobart! Missy is ready to greet everyone at the Frost household tonight :)

We often stumble upon the best recipes when we’re not actively looking for them. With two thawed chicken breasts in my fridge, I was going to cook them today with the rest of my red cabbage. However, I just happened to be reading Mark Bittman’s most recent column in the New York Times and it [...]

A ‘stiliaga’ – the Soviet Union hipster of the 1940s and 50s. I came across two very interesting articles this week pertaining to elements of Ukraine’s past and present culture. The first, “A foreign affair: On the great Ukrainian bride hunt“, published in Harper’s Magazine, follows a man who goes undercover to learn more about [...]

It was -30C (-22F) when I woke up this morning. Brr!!

As I lay in bed this morning all nice and toasty, I didn't want to get out of bed and into my cold(er) room. Last night, I used one of my brother and sis-in-laws Christmas/birthday presents. A hot water bottle!

I have the red one :)

I've never had one of these things, but holy cow was it phenomenal! When I get in bed, my toes are usually freezing...so I tucked this down at my feet and let it warm up my toesies while I read my book (Chasing Harry Winston). More on the book in a minute.

I conducted my morning like normal. Made hot water for my instant coffee. Cut up a banana and ate it with yogurt (note: had to thaw the yogurt first because my fridge is frozen...). Turned on my computer and checked email and facebook. And then, my phone rang.

It was Olena, my counterpart, on the phone telling me the most glorious news ever: I didn't have to come to work today! "See you Monday," were the last words we spoke. Yippeeeeeeeee! That meant that my day became a LOT more productive, at least in the scheme of things that needed doing at my apartment.

Important things first...I tried this video that my brother posted on my blog yesterday. Turned out to be an epic fail from my window, but it's still cool to watch the lady do it!

Eventually, I started making veggie chili (I base it off this recipe but definitely can't follow it to a tee. Half of the ingredients aren't available here...). Tastes pretty darn good if I do say so myself! Watched the newest episode of Glee. Cleaned up the apartment. Thought about showering and then decided it was too cold. Then decided it was time to go to the store. But first, let's take a look at the weather (this is tonight and tomorrow's forecasts, but they were basically the same):

current temp right now: -24Cgonna get down to -29C in the morning but it will feel like -30C. Wowzers.

So, I decide to go to the store. Kishenya is my favorite store in Kirovograd but it's a marshrutka ride away. I wanted to go yesterday but didn't think I could physically wait for a marshrutka in these temps, so I opted for the grocery store that's across the street from my apartment. I'm pretty spoiled, I know. There are a number of marshrutkas I can take to get out to Kishenya. Instead of waiting for one that I was positive would go there (I had already been standing outside for 2-3 minutes), I saw the #5 that I knew went out to another store nearby. I assumed that it would go down the street that Kishenya is on.

I assumed wrong.

Let me state that marshrutkas are not easy to see out of to begin with. But, when the windows are completely iced over on the inside of the mashrutka, it makes it really hard to see out. It was literally like riding in a big box with a tiny hole to see out of the front. I had to guess where we were half the time. We stopped a few times and let people off and more people got on. Eventually, I figured we had to be getting close. And then, we stopped. Everyone started filing off the bus and I could tell that we were at the end of the line...and nowhere near Kishenya.

I had to laugh at myself for not waiting for a marshrutka I knew would go to Kishenya. At this point, I was by some apartment buildings and could see EpiCenter about 500 yards away. Head down, hood up, hands in my pockets, I started walking. Let me add that the first breath you take outside literally makes you cough because it's so cold. My eyes were tearing up. I wasn't all that cold, just feeling incredibly stupid because I wasn't patient :) I stopped in EpiCenter and looked around, mainly just to warm up. EpiCenter is kind of like a Home Depot, while Kishenya is like a Wal-Mart/Target.

Not sure how far EpiCenter and Kishenya are away from each other, but I had a revelation sometime along the walk (it's probably half a mile if I had to guess). I had heard talk of people saying their eyelashes froze...but I didn't understand what they meant. About halfway through the walk, my eyelashes felt weird and wet. And then they started sticking together. It is SUCH a weird feeling. It must come from the fact that my eyes were tearing up like crazy and I'm sure the wind doesn't help the situation either. Whatever the scientific reason, by the time I got to Kishenya, my eyelashes were icy and white-ish. I didn't have a camera or I would have taken a picture of this phenomenon.

While at Kishenya, I bought a rolling pin. I have really been wanting one (instead of using a bottle of hairspray in a ziploc bag) and decided that I will truly use it in the next 17 months. I plan on making homemade wheat thins sometime tomorrow or Saturday (recipe here!). We'll hope they turn out well :)

Back to the book I'm reading. This is the first book book I've read since I have had my Kindle. I picked this book up in the Peace Corps office last weekend and thought I would give reading a real, physical book a shot again and give my Kindle a rest.

It is SO weird to be reading a real book. My fingers instantly try to hit the "next page" button. Or even worse, there are words every page that I want to look up the actual definition for. Can't do that with a real book :( Don't know how I feel about this because I absolutely love having real books on my shelf and picking them up to look at them. Read the plot. See what other books the author has written. It's so strange now to have it all electronic. BUT, I'm very thankful I do have the Kindle because without it, I wouldn't have read as many books as I have (somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 since I've been gone?).

I am tired and cold and ready to curl up with my hot water bottle and my real book :) goodnight blog readers!

Last week, I went to the winter Russian Language Refresher camp. Peace Corps traditionally has 2 language camps each year (for both Russian and Ukrainian) and this winter, the camp was held in Chernigov - a city/oblast center in central Ukraine. There were approximately 50 PCVs there, and we spent several days studying Russian grammar and practicing our Russian speaking/listening/reading/writing skills. I also took another Language Proficiency test (affectionately known as the LPI) and scored at the Advanced Low level! I'm glad that my Russian has finally moved up from the Intermediate High level, although the teacher who did my evaluation told me that I would have scored a higher except I tend to only speak in the nominative case and use only the masculine form of adjectives... aka my grammar needs some serious work. But oh well, at least I've made some progress - I'll keep trudging away at the grammar!

Cases... the bane of my existence. The different elective "clubs of interest" that were offered each day. We also had the chance to participate in some cultural activities such as touring the bomb shelter (бомбоубежище) located in basement of the building that we were staying in. During Soviet times, many cities prepared bomb shelters in main buildings and actually trained their citizens on what to do in case of bombing.

Following everyone into the bomb shelter! This door is curved, which was designed to withstand the impact of a bomb hit. Look how solid this door is! The bunk beds. So for example, in that building they had prepared to withstand bombings by installing things like a filtration system and a small water tank. The filtration system consisted of a simple input/output system that would clean incoming air and then eject the outgoing air. Or maybe it was vice versa, I could have misunderstood the explanation in Russian. These cranks were designed to run normally on electricity but could also be manually worked if necessary.

Theo cranking the output valve. Pushing the input valve. The water tank. They also had bathrooms and showers down in the basement - they rerouted the sewage pipes for that basement bathroom to go 200m below the ground (when the city's sewage system was normally only 10m below ground) just in case everything collapsed under the weight of bombs. They also had beds down there of course, although I didn't see much in terms of entertainment... I wonder if they ever had to actually use that bomb shelter during bombings.

Bathrooms.

Power switches for the bomb shelter. Another interesting club that I attended was the hand-made club.... where I made some bracelets! Other people learned how to knit scarves, cross stitch, and embroider in the traditional Ukrainian style.

Linda and I with our bracelets. Knitting. Cross-stitching. Earrings! The figurines from the salty dough club! Along with the theme of Ukrainian cultural lessons, Volodiya tried to teach the boys how to do the male part of the traditional Ukrainan dance. The male part is very physical and difficult to master, which made it amusing for the girls to watch. Katya had already taught the female part of the dance during dance club :)

Chest out, shoulders back, and open your arms up wide to the women! And kick... while your friends got your back. Next, you can try to do it by yourself (the trick is to do it without falling). And my favorite lesson that I attended at Russian language camp.... basket weaving! Volodiya gathered a bunch of willow branches and taught us a basic weaving technique that he learned from his mother. He told us that she used to weave baskets to carry things like food back from the market in their village. Of course, none of our baskets look as smooth and professional as Volodiyas but it was still awesome to actually produce a basket from sticks!

So many sticks... Starting the base from 2 long and 2 short sticks. See... our bases are starting to look circular. (The next day) evolving into baskets! Still working on the baskets (I'm weaving around a waterbottle for structural support). Almost done.. most of us are finishing up the handles. Ta-da! The finished baskets!

I also tried to organize a Talent Show at the end of our Russian language camp, but unfortunately not very many people were interested in showing off their talents. I wish I could have sang (like the summer, when I adapted Lady Gaga's Bad Romance into Russian) but I had a sore throat all week and almost lost my voice... so I was barely able to speak, let alone sing. But we still had some really fun talents!

Mysterious as a Sphinx.... Sphinx, sphinx, sphinxxxxxx..... Music club with Sergei and Helen. Counting to 1000 in Russian with Nathan and Richard. The Sphinx team plus Andrew! I had a fantastic time at Russian Language Refresher camp, and I really hope that I'll be able to go to the next one in the summer... though it will be much harder to get selected as a participant because I'll be one of the oldest groups of PCVs in Ukraine by then. It's so weird to think that I'm considered one of the older (and therefore more knowledgeable and experienced) PCVS now! One of the most interesting things that happened to me at this camp was that several group 41 PCVs came up to me and introduced themselves and told me that they read my blog before they came to Ukraine - its amazing to feel like people actually take the time to check out whats going on in my life and follow my blog! Thank you to all my readers out there :)

"Ukraine's cold snap death toll rises to 63"

Sixty-three people have frozen to death in Ukraine over the period of severe frost, with 41 dying on the streets, eight in hospital and 14 at home, the press service of the Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry reported on Thursday.

Over the last six days, 1,146 people have sought medical aid for hypothermia or frostbite, and 945 of them have been hospitalized.

Hospitals were told not to discharge homeless patients even if their treatment was finished to save them from the cold

Overnight temperatures sank as low as minus 33 degrees Celsius (minus 27 Fahrenheit).

Some experts suggested the high death toll from the cold was linked to authorities' unwillingness and incompetence in dealing with the homeless.

Cold deaths were also reported in Poland, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria.

On another note. "February" in Ukrainian is translated literally to "misery." It is so cold! In Ukraine, if the weather is 20 degrees or more below zero the schools have to close. So, the good news about it being this cold is that I am on a mini vacation. No school Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday!

School was closed today, so I spent most of the day doodling on my computer. This is the result: Not my best work, but for less than a day of work, not my worst.

It is -25*C (-13*F) in Ukraine.  The past week has been so cold that more than five minutes spent outdoors freezes your nose hair. Friends in California like to point out that they are a full 70 degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer than … Continue reading →

Uh oh. You Know You've Been in Ukraine Too Long When...

Cinnamon presidents in your coffee: В <Кофеине> Выбирают Президента

I've heard a lot about friends of acquaintances who have done programs like this in the U.S.: Company Banned in Effort to Protect Foreign Students From Exploitation

Most schools, including mine, were closed due to the cold: At Least 58 Killed in Eastern European Cold Wave (more people have died since this was written)

Lens Pictures of the Day, including the cold wave and, again, the cinnamon presidents.

Gross. A foreign affair: On the great Ukrainian bride hunt

The blog of a PCV who contracted HIV while serving: No Going Back. There is Only Forward.

I am on quarantine. It’s one of the phrases I thought I would not have the opportunity to utter in my lifetime, but lo and behold, Ukrainian living. I thought I would never eat raw pork back fat. Or pine for a washing machine. Or heck, talk to myself as much as I do. Wait, [...]

I joined Peace Corps and thought I'd be living in some tropical paradise complete with fresh produce, scary bugs and year round sun. Sure, I'd have to combat intestinal parasites regularly, and yeah, there'd be that ever looming threat of malaria, but that's all part of the experience and well worth the price of fresh avocados and breathtaking volcano views.

Nope. None of it came true. Example A - my kitchen window this morning. Frosted. And that frost's not outside. No no no, it's inside, and it's fun to play with. Exhibit B - my door. No, it's not normally white. In fact, it's black. But you can't see that because it's hidden under a thick layer of frost. I'm warm enough, but my poor house appears to be freezing to death.

Jakh- awfulness I was walking across the bridge of my town in the sub-0 temperatures and a friend asked me what we call this kind of weather in America. I came up with a decent list- frigid, brutal, biting. Then … Continue reading →

Tiago and the Legend of Ukraine

This movie is my answer to the following questions: 1. What is Ukraine like? 2. How could you stand to live there for 2 years? 3. What will you remember most about Peace Corps? Enjoy. From: simulacrumsquared Views: 53 3 ratings Time: 08:57 More in Nonprofits & Activism

Huge snowfalls and poorly plowed roads do not close schools in Ukraine. Instead, schools close when it is too cold. …Continue reading »

For the past 7 years (at least, maybe even more), my dad has competed in a sports trivia contest in Norman. I can remember dragging Amy Carruth to the first one I went to when it was held at Step-Brothers restaurant by McFarlin. They no longer hold it there because too many people wanted to come. The first year my dad did the contest, he was on a team with a bunch of random guys and they lost. The next year, my dad was ready. The amount of sports trivia that this guy knows is ridiculous...and apparently it's not just him that's interested in it. Go figure! :)

The second year he competed (I think the first year Amy and I went), he gathered 5 guys from his hometown of Hobart, Oklahoma. The requirement to be on their team? Graduate from Hobart High School and have an incredibly large amount of sports trivia knowledge.

The team members have been fairly consistent throughout the years and the team usually consists of my dad, two brothers (Wes and Brad), their uncle (Jim), Bill, and one of the Webber guys (depending on who's available). For my dad and Jim, sports trivia is no joking matter. In fact, my dad sends out friendly reminders to the team encouraging them to practice. Somehow I think only he and Jim actually practice though...

Something must pay off thought, because they've won a ridiculous amount of years (something like 5 or 6 out of 7?). There is always a team picture after the contest. However, I don't have all of them on my computer. Bummer. BUT, I do have a gem from 2008 and another from 2011.

Team Hobart 2008

Team Hobart 2011 (missing Jim!)

A few years ago, the small town of Hobart got wind of the competition and it turned into a reunion of sorts. People drive from all over Oklahoma (and maybe Kansas?) to come cheer on Team Hobart, which usually results in a few snide comments about how many people are there rooting for the (usually winning) team. Shirts were made a couple years ago and given out to the people who come from far and wide, letting everyone at the contest know who they're rooting for.

The after party is held at my parents house to continue the celebration and this will be the first year I'm not there to see everyone! Sending good vibes and lots of knowledge to the 2012 Team Hobart team from 5800 miles away :) And a little Boomer Sooner never hurt anyone...

Remont- repair I came to Ukraine like I went through to most new places in my life, hastily, and perhaps unprepared. Of course, when my parents suggested I buy some new shoes for the next 2 years, I looked at … Continue reading →

It's cold. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. This is the coldest weather I believe I've ever been exposed to. People in Ukraine ask me what the weather is like in Alabama and Oklahoma. "Not like this..." is all I can answer. I'm a misfit because I'm not wearing a wolf (true story), mink, squirrel (also true story), or fox fur coat. BUT, I can thankfully say that I am dutifully prepared now as of February 1st, 2012.

Why, today, you ask? Because of my most recent care package (still Christmas and birthday package...only 6-7 weeks late) that arrived today. Behold, the Snuggie.

It's not just a Snuggie. It's an OU Snuggie.

The fur hat also completed the look (relax, it's not real, PETA).

A lot of my PCV friends have Snuggies that have been sent to them in care packages. I think friends and family send them thinking it's a funny joke, but in all actuality, it is the warmest thing I'm wearing at the moment. I am now part of the CK (only a select few will understand that acronym) club of proud PCV Snuggie owners. Thanks Mom and Pops :)

It is so cold in Ukraine that schools basically throughout the country are closed until Monday. The schools do not have the money to pay for the heat and it's too cold for the kids to work in a classroom. I had one kid come to English club today. There are lots of sad stories and articles online about this cold spell that is wreaking havoc all over Eastern Europe. Say a little prayer for the people (and animals!) that are left outside in this weather. It is truly miserable. Read about it here. I wanted to go to my favorite grocery store (a marshrutka ride away) but could not stand outside waiting for the bus. I haven't seen any dogs the past few days...hope they're huddling together somewhere :(

In other news, my fridge (on the balcony) is completely frozen. Good thing there wasn't any American food of high importance in there (like Velveeta!).

Today's words of the day:

норка-minkлиса-fox

You can probably guess why... :)

Goodnight Ukraine. See you in the morning when it's going to feel like a balmy -30C (-22F). Yep.

highly recommend not having the audio up too loud some "woo girl" decided to scream right by the mic

yes... ukraine does a "count up", and yes, we were just as befuddled.

i guess i shouldn't have assumed that everyone partakes in a count down but come on, who would have ever though, a count up? in retrospect, it does actually make more sense, with seconds adding up to the new year. oh ukraine, you always surprise me.

kiev had they're electric ish in order because it was a led central.

but honestly, in the words of the famous barney stinson new years in kiev was "legen...dary".

by the end of the evening, I ended up finding a few things...

i found my twin i found my sitemate i found my cluster i found a sparkler i found fireworks i found a mask the day after was also a site to see. i'm not quite sure if kids here actually believe in santa when you can find 20 of them roaming around khreschatik

best new years hands down

That’s -18 F for tomorrow, folks.  If you’re curious for real-time temperatures tomorrow, here’s the link to the forecast.  Keep an eye on the “comfort” rating.  (According to that, we’re already feeling -18F right now.) About 80 people – mostly … Continue reading →

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ukraines-says-43-people-have-died-so-far-from-severe-cold-weather/2012/02/01/gIQA9R2AhQ_story.html   Today from the bus I saw a man sitting on the sidewalk against a building. He was shivering, yet sharing his small blanket with a lifeless nearly frozen dog. Holding back the tears, knowing that he couldn’t possibly survive through … Continue reading →

Little Saigon. Tenderloin.  Haight-Ashbury. Union Square.  The Pier.  Russian Hill.  China Town.  Little Italy.  Pacifica.  Mt. Diablo.  Considering we were only in San Francisco for three days we were able to see quite a bit of the city.  Though I enjoy visiting the California towns and cities I have never really liked one of them [...]

Brrrrrrr.......

Well, winter has finally arrived here in Novomoskovsk...it hit us a few days ago with single digit temperatures and the thermometer hasn't moved much since. I got up this morning and looked to see it was a cool 0 degees F... just like home in New England. I don't mind the cold, as long as it stays OUTside. Unfortunately, the school where I teach is anything BUT warm. It was so cold in there today and yesterday they closed early. As a matter of fact, the school will be closed from now until next tuesday. We have central heating in the building, but the windows are old and HUGE. They have these great big gorgeous windows that do nothing to keep out the cold. All of the faculty were shivering and half of the student body stayed home today. My first class had only 2 students, and the second and third had 5 each.

I'm actually really grateful to be able to stay home. I've been sick for a few weeks and although I feel better, I have a nastly viral infection in my sinuses and cannot hear very well. Everything sounds as if I am underwater. This made for an interesting challenge when teaching my classes. I will be traveling to Kiev next week for dentist and doctor appointments and hopefully they can figure out how to help me with this.

My apartment is at the opposite end of the spectrum. It's toasty warm so no complaints here, but for the fact that I don't dare put on my outside gear until I am ready to walk out the door or I'll pass out with the heat. It's a process that takes about 5 minutes because there are so many layers to put on. I keep forgetting to figure in the time it takes to suit up to leave for work in the morning and find myself running behind schedule quite often. One thing I'm happy about however...I don't have to clean the snow off the car.

I love pancakes. Just know that I make these ones at least once a week, usually after my weekend long run. While it’s hard to beat the cornmeal-banana-kefir ‘cakes, I’m always on the lookout for a new pancake recipe to shake things up. Luckily, I stumbled upon this one the other day and decided to [...]

Too cool for school. I mean that quite literally. With the temperature hovering around -24 degrees Celsius (-10 degrees Fahrenheit) this morning, most schools cancelled lessons all together. My school, however, thought they’d give it a shot and see how many students would show up. In my first lesson of the day, usually a rowdy [...]

Today I followed in the footsteps of many Volunteers before me and applied for this wonderful little thing called Darien Book Aid. This organization out of Connecticut supplies any volunteer with a twenty pound box of books for free! All … Continue reading →

Before Christmas, I was working frantically on getting my grant written and submitted to Peace Corps, and its been approved! Peace Corps just posted it online, so now its open and ready to be funded—this is where you come in! … Continue reading →

My first week back in Ukraine was an adventure, from the very moment I stepped off the plane. The only bus to my town from Kiev is an overnight bus, so although I arrived in Ukraine at two in the … Continue reading →

cultural update ukraine and russia's bedazzled santa clause (дід мороз - father frost) with his granddaughter (снігуронька - snow maiden) who takes style tips from queen amidala are the stars of the new years and christmas holiday season here in ukraine.

Myrhorod rang in his arrival with a free concert that i accidentally fell into - молодець мені

i will have these skillz mastered

with the american christmas season come and gone, ironically as I write this post which will have had its "post date" altered, ukraine feels more like our traditional christmas for many reasons. my project will all my

english clubs it finally started snowing ukrainian christmas falls on the seventh of january christmas trees (or new years trees) go up around the twenty eighth of december stores in town have lights and santa paraphernalia і тд. however, that doesn't mean I can't bring / force some "early" holiday cheer to the students in my school. a lot of our american traditions for christmas and new years are combined in ukraine, which makes distinguishing between the holidays much more difficult for myself during the holiday season.

that sadly took about 25 minutes to perfect

the 25th ended up being pretty low key. with just a small"ish" gathering of local friends over some chilled beverages, tunes of christmas carols, white elephant exchange, and intense discussions over the super powers. it was just enough america to get you back in the holiday spirit for the evening even though outside that apartment door the holiday spirit hadn't picked up yet.

the big finale before holiday break, schools put on a play of sorts where santa and his granddaughter are the main star. kids dress up in costumes (not quite sure why) and go hybrid carol / trick-or-treat for money or candy.