November in Krakow, Poland. November in Oświęcim, Poland. November in Vilnius, Lithuania. November in Kaunas, Lithuania. November in Trakai, Lithuania. November in Šiauliai, Lithuania. November in Riga, Latvia. November in Dārziņi, Latvia. *Music: “Winter Song” -Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
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I’ve been sitting on this blog entry for a while, not sure why. I’ve known for a while I wanted to post it for comedic purposes. One of the great things about living in another country is the gained (or expanded) ability to laugh at yourself. I’m sure I’m often ridiculous in Ukrainian and worthy [...]
{i noticed} my blog needs some photos to liven it up, so, відпускний (Graduation/Prom) came and went and with it, the students I’ve been working with for two years now. It was an emotional day for me, though it would have been worse had I gone to the dinner with the graduating class in Truskavets. [...]
Being a vegetarian in Ukraine is something that starts as a challenge and slowly degenerates into tedium, both in cooking and in representing a lifestyle largely missing from this country. In training, the constant stomach-clenching fear of offending your host family keeps your vegetarian identity edgy and interesting. You’re asked, told, begged, ordered, cajoled into [...]
End of service in sight, I’m being shredded by conflicting urges. A wanderlust pulls at my feet, shoelaces, ponytail as it whips in the air on my runs. It trips me in any direction, spinning me around for the sake of yet another city, journal entry, photograph, running event. My headphones, their connection broken [...]
Lately I’ve been seized by an all encompassing quiet. Exhaustion has set in, and only extreme quiet ameliorates my mood. The mental silence of running has become my haven and training for the Prague Marathon is my foundation in many ways. Routine has muffled any mental noise or confusion, and it’s calm if not entirely [...]
Snowy winters suit Drohobych, if not my Prague Marathon training. The dirty yellow haze of a sun looked this morning as if painted in abstract. No warmth comes from it, no rays fall on the cold morning floor, the world has become dove grey, yet the snow seems to dance with the otherwise absent light. [...]
I haven’t written a blog entry in quite a while, and that is most likely an understatement. Journaling in general seems vapid and frivolous to me these days. Running on full speed 7-11 each day has worn me thin to the point where I don’t have independent thought outside my minute to minute schedule, let [...]
*Please note that temperature discrepancies throughout this entry are due to the fact that it took me several weeks to find enough time to sit down and complete an entire blog entry. I’ve torn myself, for a few evanescent moments, from the pages of my current reads to devote some attention to my ever increasingly [...]
For everyone who missed my entry on Facebook, this happened to me after school a couple weeks ago right before I left for Poland (Note: all of this took place in Ukrainian); Walking home from school this morning, a nice Ukrainian man stopped me outside the gates of the local polyclinic to tell me that [...]
*Written before my trip to Poland, but failed to post.* Though the weather here seems to have abated into a normal autumn and the leaves have metamorphosed into a living painting, my homesickness refuses to be alleviated. The past week has been trying, though interspersed in the maudlin days were some moments of an esoteric [...]
Idly swinging my bag from the grocery store as I walked back home this afternoon, I was lackadaisically looking for the dogs that live along the road I always take. I’ve come to know exactly which dog belongs to which house as well as Drohobych’s stray dogs and their haunts. Not far from my house there’s [...]
Since October 1, 2009 1: times I’ve checked my iCal since March 2: jars of peanut butter consumed 3: average cups of coffee I drink per day 4: number of New Years resolutions I’ve completed 8: approximate number of hryven in a dollar 9: number of New Years resolutions I made 11: times I’ve fallen [...]
This is out of character, but just a straight forward update today to let everyone know what I’m up to, as I haven’t posted in about two months! Life in Drohobych Perhaps the happiest I’ve been throughout my service time at site, I’m currently extremely grateful for my phenomenal friends Olesya and Pavlo (they’re brother [...]
A brief account of a moment that has brightened recent saturnine days; Studying my students to ensure they were actually watching the movie I was playing to bolster their lagging energy the last few minutes of class one day last week, a sudden torrent of “What’s shakin’ baby!” burst out in my classroom. Parroting occasional [...]
“Well, at least you’ll be able to say you saw the sun rise over the Carpathians” Kari mumbled groggily as our taxi rolled steadily toward Mukachevo (мукачево). The four of us drowsily faded in and out of rudimentary conversation for roughly half the trip before slipping into drowsing silence, I believe much to the relief [...]
Happy Birthday, Dad!
If Mary Chapin Carpenter is music that reminds me of mom, Tom Petty is your music, and I’m listening to it all day. Can’t wait to celebrate your birthday with you (a couple months late) in Sweden this summer.
Love, Bunny
*Music: “Runnin’ Down A Dream” -Tom Petty
Some of you know that I’ve been volunteering time at a local NGO here in Drohobych called Caritas. It’s an amazing organization that tries to help countless groups of people; working out of the same building as a program that works on the rehabilitation of handicapped children, they have programs for, among other groups, victims [...]
Oh, the glory of getting care packages. Specifically, the ones that hold such delicious surprises as American snacks. Despite having a deep appreciation for the chemical, preservative, unidentified substance-free food I eat 24/7, a little taste of something American (syrup and fat laden though it may be), never fails to inundate me with nostalgia.
Just as [...]
While I concentrate any and all writing skill I possess on what I hope to be a moving, persuasive, and unforgettable letter to a grant foundation in the hopes of obtaining much deserved support for a local NGO, enjoy a picture update.
The lifestyle in Ukraine being more active than that in America, I can enjoy [...]
Happy Birthday, Mom!
sorry this is a day late.
i listened to carole king and mary chapin carpenter yesterday, thought of you, and wished i could be home to celebrate with you.
Love, Bunny
*Music: “So Far Away” -Carole King
This morning I walked back home through freshly fallen snow after seeing Kari off, headphones in, plugged into my own inner world. Even with music on, my iPod has the astonishing ability to wrap me in nebulous silence from which I can absorb without taking part in my surroundings. Though I have taken part in [...]
Ways I Fight and Embrace my American-ness In Ukraine #2: “You shouldn’t even try…”
It was “one of those weeks” this week. Subtly adverse, the full weight of this week didn’t hit me until I finished teaching my lessons yesterday morning. Left with a gap between the end of classes and the beginning of English club, [...]
Ways I Fight & Embrace My American-ness in Ukraine #1; “Opah!”
I own the most hated jeans in Ukraine. Perhaps an exaggeration, but not as much as you’re doubtlessly thinking. Bear with me.
My relationship with jeans is tenuous at best. Even stateside where jeans monopolize the social scene, I would frequently wear tights with skirts or [...]
“Do you have a ruble?” or, Recent Adventures #1;
Wandering through the Christmas villages that dot the Lviv layout for three weekends in a row was sufficient to convince me I should try the гаряче вино (hot, spiced wine) featured at almost every booth. I have to admit that though the smell of cinnamon was part of [...]
The long awaited moment has arrived – I finally have a mailing address! *Remember to write my address in both English and Ukrainian so that it can get through both postal services. It is suggested you use USPS to send packages because it’s the most secure service.
Linnea Zielinski
Drohobych Pedagogical Lyceum
Ivana Franka, 36.
m. Drohobych
Lvivska oblast
82100
Ukraine
Лінея Зелинські
Дрогобич [...]
Kari and I have frequently discussed the pace our Peace Corps time is going to adopt. The discussion usually went as follows – Kari would suggest that it would fly, I would suggest that summers would fly while the school year would drag. When I called her crazy, she would carefully break down our service [...]
“To our new American friends, sharing our culture.”
I have heard variations of this same toast several times throughout my brief experience of Ukraine, and not once has it failed to illuminate ever so clearly the warmth, generosity, and hospitality of the culture into which I have been thrown. In three months various Ukrainians have shared [...]
Note: LPI = Language Proficiency Interview, Caritas = local NGO in Drohobych where I volunteer my time writing and correcting grants as well as teaching the staff English.
*Music: “Hard” -Rihanna
Things I love about my new home #1;
Perfect place to read in the summer, complete with reading materials in both Ukrainian and English, an antique atmosphere that I’m very drawn to, and a calming view of the street outside my house. Though I can only stand about thirty minutes out on the porch currently, the [...]
“He said, ‘Take it all at once, it will be better for your health,’” Yulia translated, matter-of-factly. I looked dubiously at the squat Russian man sitting across from me, read his Simpson’s “Never Too Old To Rock” shirt for what was perhaps the fortieth time, looked around circumspectly to make sure this wasn’t one big [...]
We do the best we can.
This phrase has never held any weight with my nerves, anxiety, or acid stomach before any number of interviews, deadlines, or exams. Funny thing was, and still is, that it fails to hold water in the opinion of my common sense. That statement, which flows so freely from the mouth [...]
I am determined to give you an update that will make you laugh, appreciate the culture shock I have gone through, and miss me anew before I leave Nosivka…this, however will not be that post. Disorganization has reared it’s ugly head in my room here with the end of training in crystal clear high-def sight. [...]
With the passing of another American holiday, I’d like to wish everyone an extremely belated Happy Halloween:
Yes, I am carving a pumpkin in a make-shift costume. Maybe in time for Christmas I’ll have the opportunity to post a picture from our cluster Thanksgiving Dinner! Though I may not have needed to call the Ukrainian ambulance, [...]
Deep breath, on three.
How many times have I said that exact phrase while teaching swim lessons?
One…
Were my students blindly trusting me out of necessity or belief? Which more accurately describes the faith I have in the officers telling me to travel to Kyiv by train tomorrow…alone?
Two…
звидки номерація вагонів?
In class, the phrase flows silky, [...]
Laconically, how you know we’ve reached week six of training:
I am not phased by my second bout of food poisoning.
Two shots in my rear and I took them like a good little soldier.
Night falls at 5 pm.
Studying burnout is in full gear.
I miss fleece blankets so much even a snuggie sounds appealing.
Cuddle withdrawal is getting [...]
*Written a while ago as a draft and forgot to post*
If my feet could tell you about the last two days, they would not speak kindly of me. They would be on the war path, if they still had the strength to follow it.
After discovering there were problems with our visas, six of us waited [...]
Swaddled in bubble wrap, postmarked from the Chernihiv Oblast, Nosivka rayon, town of Nosivka, late but miraculously in tact it would arrive at your doorstep.
It would smell of burning leaves, the sour sweet smell of beets cooking in my host family’s kitchen, slightly sweaty socks nervously rubbed against the carpet of the room in which [...]
Familiar places are eerie when you know you’ll be leaving them behind.
Visiting DePauw this weekend, I was inundated by the constant replaying of moments from the span of my four years at the university. Here’s where I slipped on some ice one frosty morning when I had decided to brave the snow in heels. Sitting [...]
Road Trip Journals Part Two: Michigan
“Well of course there isn’t a McDonald’s. They’re practically Canadians up there!” my mother stated simply as I moaned about my sore rear, cramped knees, and dire need for a sugar-free vanilla iced coffee.
It had been roughly five hours since the last time I had stopped the car, and I [...]
Road Trip Journals Part One: Minnesota
If it had been daytime, my journey would have ended in the parking lot of a gas station immediately off an interstate exit. Face decked out in mascara pinstripes from tears of frustration, I would have been sputtering out uncontrollable giggles as my friend Megan lovingly made my lack of navigational skills [...]
It has been a weekend of realizations, both good and devastating.
It will hardly be news to anyone familiar with my navigational skills that I barely survived Chicago traffic and wound up parking somewhere between six and eight blocks from the park in which the Ukrainian Independence Celebration was being held. Pumping my elbow as furiously as I could [...]
A group of soon-to-be PC Ukraine group 37 Volunteers are meeting in the Ukrainian village in Chicago this weekend for the Ukrainian Independence Celebration. I absolutely cannot wait to meet them! [After which I will be stopping in the Swedish district at the AH-mazing bakery and picking up some goodies for my family.]
Summer and I [...]
Through a the Visual Bookshelf application on Facebook, I was given the opportunity to receive and review an advanced reader’s copy of the new E.L. Doctorow novel, Homer & Langley. Having forgotten I had this Facebook application, receiving notification that I was chosen for this opportunity was quite the pleasant surprise. If only the book had [...]
The Peace Corps has moved up my staging date from September 27th to September 25th; it’s not a huge difference except in the pressure I’m now feeling to start getting things together for my departure.
I ordered special luggage for the packing I’m only tentatively thinking about: http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=35986&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&parentCategory=4518&feat=4518-tn&cat4=2911 It’s supposed to be the lightest luggage for how [...]
First of all, I feel so proud that from my graduating class, four people decided to serve with the Peace Corps ( not to mention the great amount doing AmeriCorps and Teach For America! ). Now I’m extremely flattered about this article: http://www.depauw.edu/acad/articles/?id=23761 though I wish the other two people had emailed responses to the [...]
More to come later, but here’s a brief run down on the ways I’m preparing for Ukraine:
*Currently I’m tutoring four students in English through the IEI ( Intensive English Institute ) of UIUC. I meet with two students at a time for an hour each week. I’ve only had my first meeting at this point [...]
I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I’m an
Extroverted Reinventing Traveler
Check out 43Things.com where you can share your past and future adventures and cheer on others. I’m officially addicted.
I’m now taking the liberty to post a non-Peace Corps related adventure update in my blog since my URL is conveniently vague.
I am now a … brunette.
It’s been a little less than a month since my big change, and honestly, I think I’ve launched myself into a deep state of denial about what is proving to [...]
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