So these past two weeks have been pretty packed with goings on… I’m currently at my apartment where I have no internet and I’m trying to remember where I left off with my last blog entry… hmmm… ok lets start with two Sundays ago, April 19th, when we celebrated Easter here in Ukraine.  Yes it is a week later that you guys celebrated it in the states and no I’m not sure why… suppose I will figure it out eventually and perhaps I will update all y’all too, but for now it just is.  Easter began for me on Saturday evening when I joined one of my Peace Corps friends and her host family for what I thought was going to be an Easter church service.  What it really turned out to be was a whole freaking lot of people showing up to the church’s back yard where we all stood with candles and baskets of food waiting to be doused in holy water, and when I say doused I really mean saturated.  These priests really get cha good, and people seem to be very pleased with the whole thing, but I was cold so I was pretty stoked when I walked away dry despite the lack of holy-ness thing (also... don’t worry, I got another chance to be sloshed with holy water the next morning).  So we stood around for about a half of an hour and then our food got wet, our company got wet, and we went home.  Relatively short and sweet (but not as short and sweet as the one I went to the next day…).  After that we went back to my friends home where we shared some drinks and my friend’s host-sister belted out some songs, which was amazing!  It’s not that she was the best singer ever, it was just that she didn’t care!  I loved it!  I could have listened to her sing and laughed with her all night (and we kind of did… good fun.).  I got home that evening to find my host mom still awake, at which point she communicated to me that we would be going to church service the next morning at 7am (dad I know you are smiling really big right now… knock it off.)  So the next morning I woke up and my host mom asked me if I was ready right at 7am at which point she lead me literally right across the street to another church yard where the holy drenching had already begun.  We shoved our way to the end of the circle that had was still awaiting the wetness and squeezed ourselves to the front (my host mom made sure I was in a position to get good and wet… thanks?).  And as I feared, I too received a hefty blessing (thank goodness I had my sunglasses on!).  And we left.  That blessing literally took us about 20 minutes from the second we stepped out of our door to the second we stepped back in it.  That - is what I am talking about.  Ok in all seriousness I was looking forward to sitting in on a service (no matter how long it took) just to experience it, but I’m sure there will be plenty of time for that!   After that my host mom and I prepared and ate a really yummy breakfast complete with the traditional Ukrainian Easter bread that has something semi-marshmallow-y as frosting.  Then I was invited to a BBQ with my other Peace Corps friend and his host family.  We went down by a river (I think it was a river…) and hung out and played Frisbee and ate etc.  That was fun.  It was really refreshing because although his host parents don’t speak much English, he has a host brother who does… very handy. I love my host mom, but it was nice to be able to share in the Ukrainian family experience beyond the limits of my language knowledge (ie ‘good morning, how are you?’).   This past weekend the celebration continued and Ukrainian families all visited the graves of their loved ones and then celebrated their lives.  This is a very interesting holiday here in Ukraine.  People leave food and sweets on graves and sit and eat with their loved ones who have passed on and then they find the group of men (one priest with more holy water for dousing those in the vicinity and about three singing men) who they would then pay to visit the grave of their loved one and bless them to rest in peace.  While many aspects of the day were fascinating to me, I was enamored with the Gypsies.  Up until this point I had heard of but not seen a single one in my town, they seemingly came out of nowhere but there they were… everywhere.  The they would come by the graves and ask if they could have the food off of them.  When I asked one of the Ukrainian friends I was with how people felt about this she said it was normal, some people got annoyed but for the most part it was understood that your loved one would not actually eat the food and it was understood that after you were done appreciating the time and the food you had brought for your loved one, it was ok for the Gypsy families to have them.  I loved the Gypsy families.  I cant help but to romanticize their way of life in my head.  Although they are clearly outcasted and in most ways probably live a life that is far more difficult then I can fully understand right now… I loved watching them.  The children seemed proud in brightly mismatched attire, each topped off with an individual perfectly set flare.  I did not feel the shame that often clings to the impoverished people in the states whom have made a way of life from begging for the publics’ scraps; they were there as a family, a support unit.  I suppose I will continue viewing them with these rose colored lenses until one of them takes my money (which I was warned about on several occasions…).  Just kidding that totally is not going to happen, I love them.  On that note, I should go to sleep.   Fun fact: It is a normal occurrence for my shower to turn FREEZING cold while I am in it or turn off completely while I have soap suds in my hair.  Showering is a game for me just like most means of survival and health for me here in Ukraine.  After playing charades all day with the local people, trying to get them to understand my wants and needs I come home and play the game of luck ‘if I get in the shower now will I be able to efficiently clean myself or will I walk around with half washed off soap all day?’  YOU JUST NEVER KNOW!!  It is so exciting.  Over and out.    

So I've now been in Ukraine for over a week and my vocabulary consists of things like 'my name is Katie' (which people in Ukraine cant pronounce very easily so I tend to be called 'Katia'), 'excuse me/Im sorry, I don't understand',  'I am from America' and 'I don't like fat' (there is actually a food here called 'sala' that is really and truly just fat, I had it for breakfast yesterday with my eggs.  Even though I know how to say 'I don't like fat' and 'I would prefer less meat please' I cant bring myself to say these things to my host mom.  I believe this to be partially due to the fact that I feel that embracing different foods etc is a vital part of experiencing another culture, and partially due to the fact that (even though I cant understand everything/anything she says) my host mom makes it very clear that when it comes to taking care of me... she is an expert.  She spoke to my LCF (language teacher) yesterday to tell her she was concerned that I was not dressing warmly enough; mind you I had tried to dress visibly warmer yesterday by wearing an undershirt, a wool sweater, thick stockings, my ugg (yeah I gave in to uggs... they are warm... they have fuzz INSIDE of them, it is amazing) boots, a scarf, gloves and a hat topped off with my down vest.  I was warm.  I wore these layers so that she would see that I was warm and not worry about me.  Failed.  Ah well.  Im just worried about winter, I need to start thinking warm right now... but if my thinking doesn't keep me warm Im sure the babushkas in my permanent sight will have my back.  Ok, Im off to class.  Today is my first day of observing lessons, next week we will start assisting in teaching lessons (which, if you revert back to the beginning of this entry to see how many Russian phrases I have to work with, is an interesting prospect).  Paka!!! (bye!!! -informal)

                                 Ok I’m ready.  So I have now been in Ukraine for a whole week, and I am loving it.  Don’t get me wrong, there are challenges… for instance my host mom does not speak ANY English, but over all I am content that I am doing the right thing (hopefully I will feel the same way in a month or so!).  Right now my days consist of language training and technical trainings (technical trainings are to give us the information and tools that we will need to be successful once we are placed in our permanent sites).  I have been placed in a town with approximately 45,000 people for my 3 months of training.  I am here with my cluster of five and another cluster of five.  These are learning clusters that we will stick with through the duration of the training.  Both of the clusters in this town have been assigned to learn Russian, which I am pretty stoked about.  All of the people in these two clusters are around my age and I enjoy each one of them, overall Peace Corps seems to attract a pretty awesome grouping of people from all walks of life and all ages.  When we first got to Ukraine we were with the entire group of 55 Peace Corps Volunteers who are assigned to Ukraine.  There were a few married couples, and the ages ranged from 21 to I would guess well over 60.  My days have been pretty good so far and I know that there will be rough days during my training, but I am guessing that the real challenge will start when I hit my permanent site.  Im guessing that I will be in a much smaller town and I will not necessarily be working or living with anyone who will speak English.  I wont have my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers to commiserate with and I may not even get cell phone reception (I feel ridiculous for even saying that but now that I have a cell phone here I really cant see living without it… I have only had it for going on three days now and it has already made up for the severe shame I feel, when I admit that I am addicted to the comforts it gives me).  Nonetheless I am excited for the journey.  I have already experienced quite a few cross-cultural moments, many surrounding my host mom’s use of Ukrainian remedies to rid me of my cold.  From what I have experienced so far Ukraine is a warm and welcoming country and I’m excited to be here.

All is well.  I have too much jumble in the brain to try and spit it out on to this computer screen right now... it is going to take time but meanwhile, here is my cell-phone number +380630383676.  Feel free to call... it may cost you an arm and a leg but any incoming calls are free for me to answer, so if you have extra $$ and want to pay like 14+ cents/a minute to get priceless conversation and love from me... I would love to hear from you!  Life here is quite different... more on that later.  Much love,

KTO