So let me tell you all about the extravaganza that is 11th form graduation in Ukraine.

It's like a combination of Junior Prom wrapped up in a parade and giant eating fest all wrapped up in one. The evening began with everyone meeting at my school at 5 o'clock. We then paraded around the town for about half an hour, finally reaching the center. There was dancing, singing, and many awards were given over the span of 2 hours. Then we marched to the local statue of a tank and laid flowers. After that, we came back to school for another award ceremony that lasted for another 2 hours.

At around 10 o'clock we started the feasting and dancing that lasted until about 4 in the morning. After this, the 11th form classes went out to our local canal in a tradition where they welcomed the new day while watching the sunrise. I unfortunately didn't make it that late, but I heard it was very emotional and worthwhile.

I must say, I will miss my 11th formers. I feel like i've watched them grow and mature in such a meaningful way, that to see them leave school fills me full of pride. They are thoughtful, resourceful and very intelligent, and i've loved getting to know each and every one of them.

Here's to you my 11th formers, good luck and don't forget who taught you English when you become billionaires :)

Love Mr. Nitai

Traditional Cossack horse-riders

Soviet Flag

Juxtaposition

Decorated Veterans

Youth Groups

More Cossacks

So badass- Wish I had a scimitar like that.

WW2 Era Car

Jesus was the key figure in winning the war.

Sick Emblems

Best view around.

9th of May Shrine

"Gimme yo money!" -Kirill (English teacher's son)

The trench that was built to fortify Crimea during WW2.

The TITAN factory which produces Titanium alloy. Most people in Armyansk work there.

Charge!

Shashlik. Yum.

Dima wielding an old soviet baton.

About 5,000 people showed up

If you're wondering what the title means, it's simply: Goat! in Russian. I don't know why, but I really like the way it sounds (pronounced: KA-ZOL!) Anyways, this post is about this past weekend and how much fun it was to finally go outside.

First of all, Friday started off with a bang. One of my best Ukrainian friends invited me out with her and some more friends to celebrate. Somehow the night unfolded in a traditional Ukrainian fashion, and at one point I found myself singing 50 Cent's "In da club" at the top of my voice while racing down a freeway in some random guy's brand new car.

The night was a success to say the least, and the following day I headed out to teach my beloved disc golf to some Ukrainians. They thoroughly enjoyed it, and I can see Disc Golf blowing up in Ukraine if it will be introduced properly. I should have introduced it sooner, now that I think about it, due to the fact that it's a nice leisurely sport (Ukrainians love walking around) and it also can involve drinking- 2 for 2!

Anyways, on Saturday my site mate and I went out in the center and just star gazed with some of our Ukrainian friends, and afterwards headed to my house. Back at my house, we taught them how to play some "Kings Cup", and that went over successfully (but not so much for my neighbors, who complained of the noise, even though they make so much noise themselves).

In short, this weekend was great, and I wish spring would have stuck around a bit longer- it's now cold again :(. However, on the upside it was nice and warm over the weekend, and I got to wear shorts for the first time this year! Successsssss!

Here are a couple of photos :)

Everyone in my apartment

Max, Dilya, Lilya, and Yulya (yeah all girls names end in a -ya)

Smokeeeeeers

Free stylin' on the bed

Homie's on beds- I should start a new photo-series

DISC?!?!

Yes- first timer and he's already one finger spinnin'- Ukrainians are gonna be gods at this sport when they figure out how fun it is.

Rippin' one.

Found some friendsOh hai козел!

Today I was invited to photograph my students in what's called "KVN". KVN is short for something, but this something has not been discovered by yours truly as of yet. In short, it is a competition between teams given a theme, such as "song" "dance" or "skit about something specific", and they must complete each task as a team. The themes were extremely funny, and I think one of them was babushka's on marshutkas or something along those lines.

One of my students ended up winning, and my best friend Lilya's team got second. They were all extremely funny, and at one point I choked on my sprite I laughed so hard. My favorite skit had to be "Hindi Harry Potter" where two guys dressed up as harry potter and draco malfoy (i think) were about to dual with wands, but at the last moment busted out some hindi bollywood dancing using their wands as flutes instead- I lost it completely, I think I rolled on the floor.

It just goes to show you, many people think of Ukrainian/Eastern Europeans to be so dull and serious, but here they were making me laugh harder than i've ever laughed in my life. Take that stereo-types.

To my students and friends who were part of this show, BRAVO!

Here are some pictures that didn't capture nearly as much hilarity that occured this afternoon:

I just read a blog of another PCV in Ethiopa who is extremely similar to me in a lot of respects. He is someone who lives in the land of "superlatives" and only sees the greater scheme of things, not the realities a lot of times.

Well that Blog inspired me to write one of my own. Titled: The honest truth, because I think the truth is a lot more important than a bunch of manufactured "EVERYTHING IS SUPER" all the time mentality that I tend to subscribe to on certain days. I got some criticism from other volunteers in the beginning of service for my blog being too "damn positive", and I want to say to those volunteers, YOU WERE RIGHT. I was too positive, mainly because I wanted to only focus on the positives. But here I am now, and I want to change that, not for them, but for myself. Because only in this way will I be able to fully comprehend what i've achieved in the past year and a half.

Furthermore, i'm writing this blog because like the PCV in Ethiopa, I want to expose my family, friends and prospective PCV's who read my blog to the honest truth of becoming a volunteer in the Peace Corps, and the many challenges that are imposed on us while we strive to do our best in a foreign land for 27 months.

First of all, for me personally, I have been struggling constantly with health issues. For me it's manifiested as indigestion. The food will be a problem no matter where you go I think. Different recipes and ingredients for things that you've never tasted. For me, it's been dairy. I can't digest dairy for the life of me, and Ukrainian food is saturated with it. So aside from having a runny nose as a side affect, i've had to take insane doses of Imodium and Lactaid to cope with this issue.

Next, the language. I think the language for me has been the one single most frustrating aspect of living here. Not being able to properly communicate your thoughts in a clear/coherent way is something that can really get under your skin. I usually nod or smile when I have no idea how to respond to something, or to what something means.

Also, this past winter has been brutal. The climate where I live is generally better than the rest of Ukraine, but this winter Ukraine and Eastern Europe in general got owned by winter. It's been about -10 c on average for the past 3 months. Thank god it's finally warming up to a balmy -1. However, this means sitting at home doing almost nothing other than reading writing, and throwing a tennis ball at the wall, while over hearing your neighbors scream at each other for hours, remodel there apartment, and then have really loud sex on top of you... I guess it's more fascinating now that I type it out than I thought before.

Alcohol. Alcohol is a huge problem here. It's sad, but you don't find many people who think that Alcohol has a negative affect on their society. It's not that EVERYONE drinks themselves to death, it's just that a majority of men do, and it reflects poorly on my gender. Everyone just assumes I drink copious amounts of alcohol, and when I go out with friends, it's usually just a drink fest. Not that it's much different in U.S., I think here it's just that men have a much more negative connotation with being drunkards, and I feel sorry for the Ukrainian woman for having to deal with it.

Additionally, I miss my family. I miss my friends. I constantly think about what they are doing. How I could be having fun with them. But how i'm not there. It's hard. It's really hard.

Communication in general is a basic issue as well, even in English. Different ideologies, and world philosophies clash culturally, and over time i've realized that I don't really understand the way that my host country sees the world. I also often ponder if i'm enough for my community, my school, my colleagues. Sometimes I wonder, do my students actually listen to me, or do they see me as a talking bobble-head with empty words. Who is this American? What does he want from us? Why is he here? Why isn't he making any money? I get all these questions directly most of the time, so it's not really of a wondering, it's more of a rhetorical thought-process.

However, don't let all these hardships think that I don't have a lot of positives going for me over here. I do. I just haven't ever talked about what is hard. I think a lot of people see the romantic side of the Peace Corps and just hear, "oh yeah, it's hard too" on the side. It's the opposite. There are a lot of small brilliant moments over here that I will remember for an eternity, but most of the time, i'm sitting facing my lap-top writing, playing games, or watching copious amounts of "the office".

The truth is: Peace Corps is hard. It's one of the hardest things i've had to do in my life. It's challenging. It's frustrating. It's agonizing at times. But the crazy thing, IT'S 100% WORTH IT FOR ME.

There are so many small rewards that are manifested in so many different ways.

For example, one of my 4B students comes up to me other day and tells me, "Only because of you do I now know how to read and write in English". My students made a photo exhibition in school and my director comes up to me and tells me "They are beautiful, thank you for this". My counterpart smiles ear-to-ear every day I walk into class. I feel her love. My school writes me a poem on mens day saying "Next to Nitai, the children are at peace". My students constantly tell me that they will be sad when I leave.

I have never once felt the need to think that I want to go home. Yes I miss it, but every challenge I face I know that I'm growing, maturing, becoming a better person. These challenges make you feel like you can do ANYTHING after you are done with your service. To me, this is why I deal every day with these fears, these illnesses, these mental battles.

I'm a fortunate human being, and I live in a wonderful apartment in a wonderful town in Ukraine. I have the best counterpart/friend I could have ever asked for before I was invited. But even with all these fortunes, PC is STILL insanely hard. Remember, this is coming from someone who loves to romanticize life and treat positives like it's candy.

So to conclude this ramble of emotionally charged blogging, I would like to leave you all with a piece of advice i've gained throughout my time here:

I think it's important to realize that with every hardship there is an equal success to follow. It might not manifest itself in the way you expect it to, but know that without pain and suffering there is no growth.

So to all of my friends and family, thank you so much for your constant words of support and hours and hours of skype chats.

And for all of you who are considering joining the Peace Corps, consider this:

Do you want to grow as a human?

Do you want to face some of the hardest conditions you have faced in your life?

Do you want to come back with a plethora of life experiences that you will cherish forever?

If you want all of the above, and only all of the above, I whole-heartedly recommend joining. Otherwise, go travel, go have fun, go do something else that will occupy less of yourself because when you decide to do this, your whole heart needs to be in it or else you will suffer for 27 months.

Keep searching for the truth, and the truth will find you.

Love you all,

Nitai

Hey Everyone!

It's been way too long since I last posted, and I am sorry for the delay. I have been all over since I got back to site from my lovely little Winter break in Israel. I got to see my Family for the first time in 14 months which was a bit overdue, but it was totally worth the wait. I won't write too much more since I took a ton of pictures. I'll let you see instead :)

Happy belated Holidays from Ukraine!

Love Nitai

This past weekend I traveled up to help my good friend and ex-cluster mate, Katie out. In addition to the seminar that we did, it was her birthday, so good times were had all around.

Let me explain a bit about what a "living library" is for all of you that have never heard of it before. It's basically a group of volunteers who each chose a subject, and then act as a "book". Students ask questions about the topic and you explain to the best of your knowledge what you know about it.

My topic was "American Entertainment", so I basically just let students talk my ear off about different topics, which primarily included Twilight, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. It was a blast though. I got to show them how to use my camera, and what "makes" a good picture. All in all, a very positive experience. It's always nice to meet students from another school and see what they do.

After the seminar on Friday, we partied like rockstars at Katie's sitemates house, Danielle. We had a lot of fun- maybe too much fun, because the last part of the night is a bit of a blur, but all went down smoothly in the end-- maybe except for Danielles apartment. If you're reading this Danielle, I owe you an apartment cleaning and some tacos.

All in all the weekend was a success, and if you don't believe me, check out the pics below!

Katie getting swamped by student presents

Bippity what?

I see Mr. Thumps in there somewhere...

I'm gonna pretend like I don't know what's really going on here...

Cafeteria deluxe

COOKING WITH GINGERS! Nuff said.

God she's spoiled

Yep, i'm a living legend.

So is Michael, but i'm better.

Alison's students look amused.

Ukrainian reps.

Hotties.

Before the shwayze kicked in.

Hit me up sista.

Our mexican lady. One wicked bartender let me add.

Katie getting the royal treatment.

Is there anything on my tongue?

Let me holla holla holla.

What is happening?

BEEEEYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Sweet wheels Mike.

Creepy, yet wholesome.

Watch out for Mr. Tuff stuff over here.

The B Team.

Changing it up.

Hey all!

Just a short message today. More of an advertisement actually. So as many of you know, it's now officially Christmas season, and you know what that means... GIVING!

So as some of you may know (and have generously donated) I am trying to raise funds for my grant project to get my school a functional and modern technology lab. I am asking you, my beloved readers to spread the word these holidays.

We have already racked up a thousand dollars worth of donations! Yes, this is great, but we're far from reaching our objective of $7,500. Please please please spread the word! My school and I will be ever so grateful for your help, support and giving!

Here is the link: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=343-270

Thanks again!

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Nitai

Ok in reality, it's one of many, but this one is the one i'm most proud of to date. So as you all may know by now, I have been teaching a photo club this past semester for my older students (mostly 10th-11th forms). This past week three of my students entered a photo contest for all the schools in the town, and to my delight, placed in the top three spots!

I couldn't contain my excitement, and had to write a short success story due to the fact that my passion is photography, and seeing my students sweep this contest really gave me a huge boost in the confidence section.

Not only did they win, but this wave of successful projects brought on a whole new wave of enthusiasm for making photo projects. This afternoon everyone was asking about what they could do to make a good project. I feel extremely fortunate for all these opportunities, and can't even explain the gratitude I have for my wonderful counterpart, Dasha, for all the help and support she has given me to catapult my dream into action.

To see my students' work, click here:

http://armyanskphotography.blogspot.com/2011/11/student-projects.html

Thanks again to National Geographic for the resources and the support.

I'm extremely pleased to announce that the project grant that I have been working on for a while now, has finally been validated by Peace Corps Washington!!!

The grant has been a lot of work for me over the past few months. I have been talking to teachers about it since I arrived in Armyansk, and really more than anything, trying to assess what it is exactly that the school needs from me.

Finally, we came to the conclusion that the school just isn't up to snuff on it's technological resources. There are only several working, and modern computers in the entire school, very few students have access to them, and moreover, there is no real learning process with regards to new and updated equipment.

Essentially, in todays world where technology is rapidly changing and becoming more and more sophisticated, our students are being left behind. Not only in the sense that they do not have the required skills to be productive members in the broader sense of our "global village", but more so that they don't really stand a chance to push themselves outside of the boundaries of their consigned communities.

Every day when I go to school, I see a vast potential of the students at my school, and I see a certain hunger and capacity for learning-- and yet, the materials that the school is able to offer are often (and usually) extremely outdated, boring, and really un-engaging.

What my goal is through this project is to bring a certain amount of excitement and progressive thinking to the students of School #1 Armyansk. I know in the bigger scheme of things, it's only the beginning of something that will be greater in the future. But really, I believe that by making small ripples in a big pond might eventually cause a wave. I know it sounds corny, but hey, I've gotta try, we all do.

So here is where I need you, whoever it is that is reading my blog at this time and place, to step out and try and help me make this ripple here. I'm not asking for millions, the project itself is going to cost approximately $9,000 US, and it's going to provide my students with 10 modern computers, access to Internet, a scanner, projector, smart board and printer. My school has already contributed 25% of the above cost, so i'm looking to fundraise approximately $7,000.

So please, if you know anyone who could help with this, please forward on this link for me, I would greatly appreciate your help, and I know my students would as well :)

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=343-270

With much love and peace from Armyansk, Ukraine-

Nitai

"отличники" literally translates into "The best" or just "Excelled". These students who are referred to as "Atlichniki" are at the top of their classes, receiving only the highest of grades.

I was asked to photograph them this past week so that they would be recognized at the front of the school for their hard work. So, as a true Anthropology enthusiast and photographer I took this opportunity to really get into it, and feature this work as "Faces of the Brightest Ukrainian Youth".

Enjoy.

Dang. It's been a while since my last post. I must apologize, but the first month of school has almost come and gone and it feels like things are moving again. From laziness of summer to the grind of school.

But the cool part is, school has taken a whole new fun-ness to it if you will (yes I know that's not a word, no I don't care).

First off, I finally started my photography club this week. I'm very proud to say that there has been a lot of interest in it, and the three cameras I received from National Geographic are being put to good use. I will be posting the pictures this next week on a separate blog (it will be linked here), so that is very very exciting for me.

I am also starting to get the hang of teaching a bit more on lock-down. I mean, it's no piece of cake by any means, but it's definitely starting to make more sense in terms of how to structure my time and what to focus on and what not, etc.

Furthermore, i'm now tutoring several students after school, and am holding several English and outdoor sport clubs. I am able to converse more with my students (mainly because I think we met half way between my skill level in Russian improving, as well as their English skill level improvement) and feel very confident that I understand mostly what my students are saying to me.

Lastly, *drumroll sounding* yes, yes it's true- As of September 26th I will have been in Ukraine for exactly one year. Unbeleivable. I know. I still can't wrap my mind around it. It seems like yesterday I got off onto the rainy tarmac in Kiev Boryspol. I was warned it would go by fast, but who would have thought this fast.

Looking back at all I have accomplished, and all that lays ahead of me, I can proudly say this is the best choice i've made for myself in a long long time (probably ever). I am not just proud of my decision, but I'm glad to admit that I didn't really believe it would do such wonders to my maturation/individuation process- but here I am a year later in awe of what i've been able to accomplish all on my own, and never a moment of "Oh crap, what have I done with my life."

Anyways, enough of the drivel- I'll leave you all with some photos I took with a student the other day while we were working on our first photo project entitled "My Armyansk". She really got some winners, and i'll post those on the student blog, but for now you have some of mine :)

Love and Peace from the border lands AKA UKRAINYA

Nitai "Rijik" Vinitzky (Rijik= red head)

And so another summer comes to a close. What a summer it was too. But looking to the future, I am extremely excited to be starting a new school year. My optimism stems from a few new changes to my schedule that I thoroughly look forward to.

For starters, I was gifted three DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) Cameras from National Geographic through a program in Simferopol. I have them now for a year, and am happy to announce that I will be teaching a photography class this upcoming school year!

Furthermore, I have grant project in the making. I won't divulge quite yet the specifics of it due to the fact that it's still in the early brewing stages. Stay tuned though-- I will be needing all of the help I can get once it gets written up.

Finally, I feel like I need to say that I have finally got a grip of the Russian language. I mean, i'm not fluent by any means, but I understand a good deal more than I did last semester. I can't stress how significant it is to know the language when you're teaching English (especially to young students). So I feel like i'm coming in better equipped than last semester, so I feel very optimistic about my teaching capabilities.

All in all, a lot more to look forward to this next school year!

Below are a few pictures of the ceremonial "First Bell". It's basically a commencement ceremony that marks the beginning of the new year by ushering in the new students with flowers, backpacks and balloons.

Hope you all are well, and hope to talk to some of you soon!

Until next time!Much Love and Peace from Ukraine,

Nitai

Romeo and Juliette

Footballers

Onlooking Babushkas

Classy Teacher

New Terrorists (AKA new first graders)

Fresh faces ready to learn

Maybe not this one

This one's just wants to go home already... :(

Not this one, she's ready with her bouquet

Ritual backpack hand out- 11th formers giving 1st formers new backpacks for school

Release of the customary Yellow and Blue Balloons

Ring-a-ling!

Administration

The sound of school couldn't be any sweeter!

Late to post again, but hey, better late than never. Summer has blown by, and as of today I have about 2 weeks left before I go back to school. In short, it's been one of the best summers of my life, hands down. I'll be sad to see it go, but I also look forward to school, and find myself thinking often about my students and what they're up to. I'm sure they're not thinking about school at all, but hey I think this might be the first time in my life where i'm excited to get back to school.

This is actually the first week where I have nothing really planned. I have had 3 summer camps back to back from the very beginning of June until the beginning of August, so this respite has been a welcome change to my hectic summer schedule. I enjoyed every camp I went to immensely, especially the one in Kharkov- mainly because it was so challenging and intense. I learned a lot about teaching techniques and different approaches to dealing with children. I feel very accomplished in my summer, and I'm glad to say it's not quite over yet.

Anyways, recently my best friend Dasha (also my counterpart) and her family went to the bay that's closest to Armyansk for the day. We cooked "Shashlik" which is basically the Ukrainian version of barbecuing, and swam. It was a lot of fun, and very relaxing. To top it all off, we made home made pizza the next day. All in all, a very successful week! Below are some pictures.

Zaliv!

Miss you all,

Love Nitai

Hey all!

I am back from Poland and all the craziness of summer camps- FINALLY. I can't tell you all how accomplished and how exhausted I feel. I just returned a few days ago, and haven't had a whole lot of time to even upload anything... but I finally got around to it today.

Anyways, ABC camp was a blast- I met some of the coolest people I think i'll ever get to meet in PC Ukraine, and also some of the most gifted kids. It really raised the bar on my level of involvement in this country, and I came back to site full of inspiration and new ideas on how to improve my level of community involvement.

Here's a link to the blog filled with pictures and videos- http://abccampukraine.blogspot.com/

Furthermore, I got to go to Poland. I really enjoyed my time there. It is a really fascinating country to visit, and for me in particular, due to almost 100% of my family roots can be traced back to that country. I only got to visit Krakow. I got to do some day-trips from there to Auschwitz and the salt mines, both of which were really amazing. Anyways, below are photo albums- I am now using Picasa for all my photos due to the convenience of just uploading through my google account- I think it's more attractive and easier to use too for my blog-subscribers...

Finally, summer is coming to a close. I have about a month left before school starts again, and I feel really excited about this upcoming school year. I feel like i'm finally integrating into Ukraine, and really starting to understand the people here, so that should help me a lot in the way that I approach my students.

All in all, life is good- went to the beach this morning with my closest Ukrainian friends, and have been really feeling like Armyansk is now home. Life is not necessarily easy, but that's not what I'm looking for at this moment in my life, and I feel like everything i'm doing is right for me at this point in time.

Below i've linked the two albums from Krakow and Auschwitz, respectively. I hope you enjoy them, and I really miss you all- i've been dreaming about the Yuba these past few days, so a request to all of you native NC'ers- please, the next time you dip into that lovely river that you all know I cherish so much, THINK OF ME!!!

Always lovin' and peacin'-

Nitai

Krakow

Auschwitz

I am currently in Kharkov, in the north-eastern part of Ukraine, and have been having an amazing time. I am teaching Art again, and also in charge of the Journalism elective, where students create a full newsletter every other day. It's been a lot of fun, but also exhausting. After this next week, I'll be going to Krakow, Poland with my friend Adrianne for 4 days. I'm extremely excited to see my ancestral country, and it should be a blast.

Here is the link to the blog-site of my camp, as well as the latest edition of our newspaper.

http://abccampukraine.blogspot.com/

Click to Enlarge

I will put up all the photos when I get back home in a couple of weeks. Hope you all are having a fantastic summer, because I sure as heck am.

Love and Peace from Ukraine-

N

Hey all-

Got a moment to upload some photos from my summer thus far. It's a bit of a hodge podge, but I hope you all enjoy them. It's a totally different world here during the summer. For one, everything is green and warm. Fresh fruits and vegetables are bountiful, and the sea is perfect for swimming.

Anyways, enjoy the shots and miss you all!

Love Nitai

Last week Michael, my site mate turned 26, and his friends from Pennsylvania came all the way out to our little town to celebrate with us. We took a "Marshrutka" or bus to a small beach about an hour from our town called "Portovye". It was beautiful, and had a mud pit that you could roll around in like a pig. Also, there were two giant slides that were reminiscent of those that we all loved riding at water world when we were younger.

The following pictures were taken by a friend of Michaels and edited by me:

a few local kids we made friends with at the beach

Got sucked into reading Cosmo haha

black sea mud!

Time for a swim

Got my book order in from Darien Book Aid over in the states, and couldn't be happier! Our school received about 40 books, varying from comics to teaching guides. Thank you to the folks at Darien my school's English department will have more materials to teach from and use to enrich their knowledge of American culture in the future! I felt extremely proud walking into our library clenching an extremely heavy box of books between my arms. These are the moments in PC that make you feel like your actually worth something :)

Some of the books we got- gotta love that they sent me some Dr. Seuss books as well as a "all you need to know about the Simpsons" guide hahaDasha and I

Dasha and our Librarian holding our new English texts

Yesterday our 9th form had it's graduation at school. Here are some shots:

Hey all-

So I'm back from summer camp. It was truly a blast. I can't really begin to explain all the things I did there, so I will sum it up briefly.

First I went to Simferopol and hung out with Adrienne, who was leading the camp (it was her schools camp to be precise). We celebrated her birthday and then headed out for Chernomorskaya, which is a small resort-like town on the western coast of Crimea where our camp was to be held.

We got there a day early and just kicked it by the pool and went to the beach for a bit. The beach there was a amazing, and the water was crystal clear.

The first wave of kids from 5th and 6th grades showed up for the first week, and they were awesome. We had three different groups. I had red team, Adrienne had the green team, and Whitney had the Yellow team. The kids had three different classes each day, consisting of Debate, Music and Art. I taught the Art portion and was surprised to find that my art skills were still intact after not using them for about a few years.

I taught them about shading, light, and of course how to use various types of art mediums such as charcoal, water colors, colored pencils, acrylics, etc. We also got to make some collages and portraits.

The next week the older kids arrived from the 7th and 8th grades. They were awesome, but less cooperative than the younger kids. I liked all the kids though, and felt like they really liked me back. They all gave me huge hugs before we said goodbye, and I truly feel like the two weeks were a huge success.

Below are some photos from the two weeks that I deemed the best from my stay there. I hope you all enjoy them.

Til' next time

Love and Peace from the beaches of beautiful Crimea-

Nitai AKA Scholes (my students at camp called me Scholes after Paul Scholes from Manchester United- my favorite football player of all time).

Week 1

Yes, Che has made it to Ukraine in the form of a hotel known as "Uncle Che -rnomor" (A play on words due to the towns name: Chernomorskaya)First group: Team "Hearts"

Group photo

Team photo with me in it

Team Cactus face

Football- my favorite sportDjamboolOur wonderful tour guide whom we dubbed the "Ukrainian Indiana Jones" Losha and our kids in Djambool. Apparently this place is known to have strong "spiritual" energies, and wizards and witches from around the world come here to energize from it's powers.

TreacherousGot me some rock climbing inTaking a whack at our home-made pinataBeach chillin'

Week 2

My Second Group- Team "Shrek"

Ping pong tournies every dayThis dog Chelsea was so cute, but it wouldn't move from our field when we tried to play gamesTug! Yes, our very own Statue of Liberty in UkraineI can do that...Dennis had some bad luck with waves... here's wave one that got him

And here's wave number two that I thought might kill him actually... good thing he didn't fall into the ocean or I would have had to jump in after him. Friggin' guy.

Paper Crane Toss

Where's Kolya?

Whitney Farmer- Golden

Lord of the Flies- Ukrainian variant.

So I lied. But it's a lie that errs on the side of good fortunately. I thought that the last post would be the final one in a while, but today I got some great photos of my students' graduation, and decided to quickly throw them up before my hectic weekend starts.

It was a beautiful day in Armyansk, and it was great to see a cultural tradition of "ringing of the last bell" where students and teachers alike gather and get recognized for their hard work.

Here's to the last day of school and the beginning of summer!

Much Love,

Nitai

The "football" crew.The two beautiful Dasha's, both English teachers, both goddesses.

The ladies.Romchik, Denis and Yulia making us all laugh.Director and staff.Dashinka getting the first of her 2 awards! WOOOOOO!Dasha and her mom.Congratulations!!Savekina getting her award! Congratulations!

Oleg knows what the ladies like...

That's it! Last bell!

Crew shot.Danil, Senya and Myself (I just realized i'm the shortest in the picture...)Danil being a ladies man.Kristina and IZarina and I.

The teaching staff getting down at the annual last bell dance.Savekina and oranges mix well!Lets Kushayt! (eat)Me and DashinkaVodka+Teachers= Good times

Yes that's right- my grandma came to visit me!!! She totally surprised me and told me she was coming about a week in advance. I was thrilled, and got the royal treatment from her- got to eat at restaurants, got to travel with her to Yalta to the botanical gardens and the Lavadia Palace (the place where the Yalta convention was held).

Anyways, the weekend was a success, and I felt very loved and nurtured. Now back to the last few days of school before summer (I will miss the teachers and my students very much!), and i'm off to a camp on the beach here in crimea which promises to have a ping-pong table and a swimming pool! Good times are to be had for sure this summer!

Update on Armyansk: IT IS HOT! The weather has been quite crazy too, with strange thunderstorms in the afternoon and lots of humidity. I like the change of weather, but it is also causing a lot of allergies from the pollen that gets thrown into the air with the occasional showers.

Excited and awaiting summer, I will bid you all adieu, and warn that I will probably not be able to update my blog now for the next month or so due to camps/traveling. Until next time, Much love and peace from Armyansk!

Gursuf and the "drinking bear" mountain in the background.My grandparents, Adrienne (my friend from Simferopol), Judy (Adrienne's mom), and Barbara also a PCV from Simferopol

Classic bab in front of lavadia

My favorite salad: Olivier!

Yes, Spring has fully arrived to Armyansk. It's official. The weather has been nuts. Yesterday for example it was warm and sunny in the morning. As soon as I stepped out to go to soccer training, a strong wind started to blow, and thunderclouds appeared out of nowhere. All of a sudden a crack of lightning bolted down in my vicinity, and the skies opened up dousing me with warm spring rain. I was elated. Skipping to practice in the rain, I was like a little boy again. As soon as I got to practice the rain stopped, but the lightning persisted.

I love how warm it's become. There are many benefits to this weather. First and foremost- not playing soccer in the snow. Secondly, being able to buy all sorts of fresh veggies at the local market for half, if not quarter the price I was paying only several months ago.

Anyways, got back home recently, made myself an amazing fresh vegetable salad, which has been a rarity in my diet since arriving in Armyansk. Life is good in this hood, and can't wait for summer to begin already- the beach is beckoning!

Yes! I'm back in Armyansk finally! How i've missed you so, and in good time too, everything is beautiful and blooming with spring fervor!

It's been a while since my last post, over a month to be exact. I can't believe all the things that I've managed to squeeze into my hectic schedule this past month. To say the least, I have a lot of catching-up to do.

I will first summarize what I've done, and then I have 2 whole photo sets that I'd like to share. This is due to the fact that I have so many photos, I don't want to confuse and overwhelm you all ;)

Anyways, I was in Israel a few weeks ago, where I met my mother and stayed at my Uncles house outside of Tel-Aviv. It was amazing, I got to spend some good quality time with my extended family, which I rarely get to see nowadays. It was especially shocking to see my cousins, who have all sprouted and matured in such fantastic ways.

This visit really brought the kid out of me again, mainly due to the fact that the only recollection I have from Israel is really from my childhood days when we would go once or even twice a year to visit. As of recently, I have only been able to visit twice in my adult life, and it's a whole different reality.

Israel is going through some amazing economic changes, and it's looking like the country is financially going through an economic boom. Tel-Aviv has changed drastically since I saw it five years ago. Everything is being revamped, remodeled, and made to look much more modern. To be honest, I kind of liked it before, the way I remember it as a child, but I guess you have to be open to change.

It was nice to walk around with my Mom in her childhood neighborhood. I saw the building where she grew up, and the school she went to when she was young. The old section of Tel-Aviv (Dizingof area) is really nice, and has an old-world feeling to it still.

I also got to see some of my old school-friends from Gilon (the Neighborhood I grew up in when I was younger in the Galil). It was really nice to catch up with my good friend Ziv. We went out for Thai food, which I had been craving for for so long here in Ukraine. We then went and met up with Yael, another friend from Gilon and got a few beers at a local pub in downtown Tel-Aviv. We finished up with watching the "El-Classico" at Ziv's friends house.

All in all, it was a very pleasurable trip to Israel, but my vacation wasn't over... yet.

My mother and I jumped on a plan that next week back to Simferopol via Istanbul. Let me tell you, nothing made me more excited to travel than when our plane came down over Istanbul. Seeing Istanbul from the air is shocking, mainly due to the shear size of this city. As you land, there is nothing you see other than city for miles and miles around, with the Bosphorus snaking its way through the clusters of buildings.

When we got to Simferopol, my mother and I met up with a good friend of mine from PC. She showed us an awesome place to eat downtown, and we ended up walking around the city on a chilly Friday night.

Luckily for us, the weather warmed up and we were able to hike the whole week in sunny, warm spring weather. It was amazing. We got a great guide named Sergey Sorokin, who was so kind and very much our type of outdoorsy person. He is an experienced Alpine climber who now climbs for fun in and around Yalta as well as paraglides. I've always wanted to paraglide, so I took the opportunity to inquire about a local teacher who I could take lessons from, and it could be that I will taking lessons this summer!

At the end of the week, I was able to meet up with some more friends who are from Yalta and Sevastopol, and it was really nice to introduce them to my Mom, who got a good taste of the the local crowd.

All and all, a great trip, with many memories for years to come. I hope you will enjoy the photos, some of which were taking by my cous. I had a great deal of pleasure taking them, so I hope it will show.

Thinking of everyone back home, and must say don't miss home quite as much as I did now that I know that i'm only 50 minutes from Istanbul by plane... But you will see me... some day ;)

'Til then,

Much love and peace,

Nitai

ISRAEL

UNCLE AND AUNT'S HOUSE(Cousins and I went a bit crazy with the Camera)

Any resemblance?

Ridin' dirty

Uncle and Cousins

Lilach and I in all of our glory

Beautiful Ronnie

Sun Drop

Too cool for school... or actually they just had vacation.

Swingin' tough

Monkeys (special variety of Orangutans to be exact).

Nappy Dreads

It reads: I <3 JB :) (I love Justin Bieber)... gotta instill some good music-taste in these ones :)

The ladies

Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs. Hapoel Ber Sheva (we got worked... 2-0)

Mika's Game-Face

My youngest cousin: Tamar, with my Uncle Ori.

Mica's Zombie-pesto-face

PASSOVER WITH THE ROTLEVY FAMILY

Michaela, my second cousin (I think)

Traditional singing of the Kushiot while sucking the thumb and grabbing the nuts... I love my family haha.Gadi and Mik

A friend of mine requested a picture of me with a Yarmulka, so here it is (you know who you are- and yes, you owe me).

Traditional dance while holding your ear (don't ask me, I have no idea what it means)

Beautiful Daniel (also my second cousin)

Cousins, from left to right: Mika, Daniel, Me, Maya

I think Mika and I have about a hundred of these type of pictures...

Shira and Ori (my Uncle)

THE GALIL WITH THE MILSTEINS

Naharriya, not far from the Lebanese boarder, the home of my Grandparents

In Israel traffic jams are caused not by cars, but by tanks...

Looking down the barrel...

Tank tune-up on the boarder of Lebanon.

Tal-Toola and Michaleh, best people ever.

ACCO: THE OLD CITYView of the entrance to the old city

Hookah village

The old Roman Walls

Yum

Chillaxen

Nipple slip

Good god, I can't look at these too long without drooling all over my keyboard...

Warning: These pictures may cause extreme salivation.

I would give anything for this "Mashowsha" again... This is a special kind of Hummus where the ration of Tahini to Hummus is higher than normal, and it's also much thicker, also the key ingredient is an insane amount of Garlic... Hummus Sayid in Acco has to be the best Hummus I have ever tasted, and believe that I will ever taste... and trust me I've tasted many in my life.The magic in progress...

MMM... Fresh Hookah Tabak, straight from the Market.Got me some Double Apple goodness :)

Zaatar- the worlds most delicious spice- used in a lot of Arab-Israeli Cuisine.Everyone checking out the Sting-Ray

CRIMEA

BAKCHISSARAY

Kahns Palace

Avi and Collette, best PC buds.Our wonderful guide, Sergey

Mom's favorite room and door

Inshallah

Even found some "Karaite" Jewish burial quiltsCrimean Tatar Wedding photos at the Kahn's palace

View from near Shooldan Mt., South-Western Crimea

Shooldan Cave Monastery

Eskikerman Cave town, dating back to around 1200 AD

View of the valley floor from the top of Eskikerman- if you look closely on the bottom right, you will see my Mom napping in the valley.Light house monestary on the way from Yalta to Sudak, Southern Crimea.

Little roach we found

Novi Svet(Unfortunately my camera's batteries died after this point, but still got a good amount of photos in!)

Here I am. Back in reality. I still can't beleive what i've seen this past week.

So let me backtrack a bit. It started last month, when my friend Alison and I have were talking about the possibility to go to Odessa. However, both of our spring breaks got pushed, and we didn't know if everything would sync up or what. I decided on my own that I wanted to see the south of my oblast. I had heard so much about the beautiful countryside of Bakchissaray from my site-mate Michael. So in Ukrainian fashion, Alison's school decided to last-minute push their break too, and she was able to join me. Little did we know of the adventures that lay ahead of us.

I also decided to jump back on couch surfing, a site dedicated to travelers looking for a couch to crash on. I sent out a few hurried e-mails to people in Bakhchisaray, Sevastopol, and Yalta- all cities we were planning on hitting on our circuit around southern Crimea.

Alison came down on Sunday and met me in Armyansk. After a day of lounging around, we jumped on the first bus to Simferopol monday morning, and headed into the capitol city of my Oblast, located in the south of Crimea. We then jumped onto another bus heading to Bakhchisaray, after a delicious lunch of Crimean Tatar food (very similar to Arab fare) in Simferopol.

Needless to say, we were shocked when we arrived in this amazingly scenic town. We were dropped off in a deep canyon, enormous white cliffs rose up all around us, and a beautiful river ran down the middle. This was not the Ukraine I was used to. It felt like I landed on the moon for all I knew. We were met by a fellow couch surfer, and we stayed at his and his wife's hostel, which was nestled in a cute small village whose name eludes me at the moment. We hiked around that evening and explored a "cave city" where ancient farmers used to store their live stock in "stables" carved out of the cliff faces. We got to see the sunset from the top of the mountain, and we even found a small cult-like settlement further up the plateau.

The next day, we parted ways with our new friends, and headed down to Sevastopol. We only stayed there for a night with our new friend Marina, who graciously showed us around the San-Francisco-esque town. It's truly a gem of a city, but unfortunately it was raining so we hopped the next bus to the fabled Yalta.

To those of you who don't know, Yalta is known for it's rich history, beginning with a key Allies World War 2 summit meeting, to housing Chekov, one of Ukraines most celebrated writers. We were hosted by two of the coolest people, let alone Ukrainians, I have ever met. Kostya and Katya showed us around Yalta and even invited us to come talk to some students at the local school about what we do in the Peace Corps. God I love couchsurfing.com. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to meet awesome new people while traveling.

The whole trip was a huge success, and we ended our last day in Yalta drinking some of the local wine up on a hill overlooking the whole town. It truly was a very European experience throughout, and look forward to my next adventure :)

Below are some pictures from the trip:

Cliffs of Bakchissaray

Hostel in Bakchissaray

Typical Ukrainian village house

Cows

Alison and I in front of the Cave City

Tire stairway to the Christian settlementFront of the храм or chapelAlison doing a good imitation of Merlin

View from the hostelRock Monestary in BakchissarayBab

Chifoot Kale, by far the coolest spot i've seen in Crimea so far

Pee-ka-bOOOO!View from one of the cave windows

Streets of the ancient settlement

Conquered!huh?!I found Hebrew there!!! Couldn't make out what it says though...My new buddy Ilya and IGuard post in Sevastopol

Monument in SevastapolJelly

Our new friend Marina on a ferris wheel overlooking Sevastopol

Greek Ruins, SevastopolOur wonderful Yalta hosts Kostya and his girlfriend

Rainy beachfront in YaltaOur boy FDR has a street named after him in downtown Yalta!Sparrows nest- was a bit of a let down, we thought it was a real castle, but turns out it's just a disney model of one, and it now houses a defunct restaurant... fail

APRIL FOOLS ALISON!!!

Tea time, pretty much all the time in these twos home... Kostya lived in Japan and we quickly bonded over our love for Ti Kwan Yin... my type of peeps :)Last day spent drinking wine overlooking Yalta= WinFin.

To all my beloved blog-readers. I must begin this post with an apology. I have been super busy of lately, and have completely neglected my blog that I have vehemently kept up with... until recently.

Well all that has changed, and I am back, and not without any good material either. I finally did a short photo essay today, and am damn proud of it too.

One of my students asked me if I could help him with a project chronicling some of the remote, and "ethnic" parts of Armyansk. Of course I obliged, and today I set out with him and two of my other 10th form students.

It turned into more of a lets-walk-around-and-do-random-things-while-taking-pictures-day. My favorite kind, of course. We found some random statues, climbed down some sketchy bridges, waded into a filthy dead-cat infested canal, and many other small adventures.

Anyways, I ended up taking way more pictures of them rather than any of the scenery in the area, but I did get a couple of "ethnic" shots- at least in my opinion.

Heres to hoping he wins first place, as far as I know it's just a city-hall competition.

Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Peace Corps!

Today marks the 50th anniversary of my organization, and I couldn't be more proud to be part of it. I have increasingly been feeling more and more confident in my role as a teacher here, and today really topped the cake.

For my English club I presented a slide show that my friend Warren put together for a seminar in regards to what the peace corps is. I showed it to my older english club, and it was really heart-warming to see the kind of interest they had what people did in the PC.

I sat there, beaming, as if I had won the lottery- and to be honest, I kind of did. As I mentioned 5 months ago when I got into PC, it's no cake walk of an application process. It takes a lot of determination and mental strength to even enter. Even when you're in, it takes a lot of mental determination to stick with it and tell yourself that you want to do this.

Also, in my younger English club, we made some cards for the 50th anniversary, pictures below.

All in all, this is a mellow week for me, tomorrow I have a meet your neighbors meeting in Dzankoy (two hours south of me), and on thursday I teach two classes and celebrate my quarter century mark.

That's right, i'll be turning a ripe old age of 25 this coming Thursday. To ring it in, I booked the local spa- yes I have a sauna and pool in my town, and it's awesome. A bunch of friends are coming down and it should be a grand old time.

Goodbye my early 20's, you were good to me while it lasted, but I think maturation is going to be a lot better for me... whenever that comes, lol.

I'll leave you with a few pictures i've taken recently (I know I know I need to shoot more, it will happen, just wait for it).

Love Nitai

My buddy Karina

Mr. Nitai, Я готов! (I'm ready/done!)Good and Evil

Dasha and I with the 5th form students and our Flags

The last 72 hours of my life have been incredible.

Let me backtrack real quick.

3 months ago during swearing in, Alison (my beautiful clustermate) decided that she was going to have an epic birthday party, regardless of where anyone in our cluster was. So as a loving friend, I made the commitment.

Now, I had no idea I was going to end up in Crimea and she would end up in the north pole. Seriozna- I'm not kidding. The girl lives not far from the russian boarder in a small train town known as "Kupyansk-Uzlovoi".

Now, the logistics were, I would get on a bus to Dzankoy, the nearest train hub to my town (there's a train station in my town that only goes to Western Destinations, so when I go east, I must take a train from Dzankoy). Then I would get on a train at midnight to Kupyansk.

So all in all I was on a train 15 hours up (plus two hours on a bus), and 10 hours down (plus 2 hours on a bus).

All so worth it though. I got to see most of my clustermates, and a bunch of PCV's that I haven't seen since swearing in. All in all, it looks like my clustermates are doing quite well for themselves.

I was jealous of Alison's huge apartment, with an ice skating rink right down the road. We got to ice skate for a bit right as I got off the train so that was nice.

I also got to eat my first Ukrainian BURRITO! Yes, those two words were just used in conjunction. I too was shocked when I first heard about it. Now don't get me wrong, the thing was damn delicious, and HUGE. But it was no burrito. It had some kind of Kurdish spices mixed in with huge fava-type-looking-beans. I was stoked though, I couldn't have asked for anything else after a long day on a train.

The next day, (Saturday) we went into Kharkov and walked around for most of the day. Kharkov is amazingly beautiful. In my opinion even rivaling Kiev for the prettiest city I've seen in Ukraine so far. It had a really nice atmosphere, and definite signs of once being part of the communist empire we all know as U.S.S.R. For example, a GINORMOUS statue of Lenin in the center of the city (pictures soon to come). Also, the little symbol of the scythe and the hand with the star were all over the metro stations.

It was like going to a different country all together for me. Crimea is a good 15 degrees warmer (yes I know you hate me if you're reading this all you north-easterners). Also, the people just looked different to me. I don't know if it was the dress, or what, but being in a big city is always shocking for me after being used to living in a small community.

Well, it's 9pm on Sunday and I'm absolutely dusted. It was a great weekend though, thanks for being born Alison- if not for you I would have probably slept for the last 72 hours instead of marathoning my face off.

Good night- love and miss you all back home- talk soon.

Nitai

Still can't believe it's Friday as I type this blog... Time has been moving quite quickly now that i'm back in school following the quarantine. After being bored silly with nothing to do for a few weeks, I've been thrown back into the fray.

Along with the 14 classes I teach, I have 3 English clubs that i've started. Two of them were this past week, and I would say they were a monumental success. The first one, which is for students from the 3rd-6th forms was so good, that apparently the kids told their parents about it and the parents called the school director to tell her how happy their kids were about it.

Now that's what i'm talking about. I mean, I never expected it to be recognized for my work, but the fact that I am is making my time over here that much more worth it. It's the little things, like a gigantic grin and sparkling eyes from a 2nd grader when you tell him that his drawing of a giraffe is "Atlitchna" (great/fantastic/wonderful), like a hug from a 3rd former who screams "Mr. Nitai! Ya skootchayoo tebya!" (I missed you!) after seeing him for the first time following the quarantine.

On a sad note though, I had to transfer my kitten, Remus, to my counterpart, Dasha. I started waking up in the middle of the night, wheezing and coughing. So luckily, Dasha wanted him so I just handed him over, and now I still get to see him often but without the allergic symptoms.

But on a lighter note, it seems as if spring has hit Ukraine early. Record high temperatures have been recorded all over the country, and Armyansk is no exception. Today I woke up to a bright blue sky and birds twittering in my window. I don't know how long it will last, but it sure does feel like spring.

To all of you back home, I miss you, It's been hard not seeing all of my beloved family and friends for the past 5 months, but just know, you are all in my heart and soul, and I truly don't know what I would do without you. Thank you all for your constant support and love. I really appreciate it.

Love Nitai

PS Here is a video of my English club, we were playing "Musical Chairs".

I would like to introduce my new partner in crime: Remus! He was given to me by a friend, and we've taken to each other quite quickly (we spooned all last night, don't be jealous). This will be the first time I have my very own pet (non-family pet) and i'm super excited!

So as you all know, I have been cooking quite a bit now that I have had a few weeks off due to the quarantine. I have tried all sorts of concoctions. Primarily dishes with the primary ingredients that are in season: Beets, Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage and Garlic. Usually it would involve some kind of chicken soup, beet salad, or something in-between. However, tonight me and my sight-mate, Michael, decided to give something else a shot.

It was a long-shot, but I felt it was a risk worth taking. If you're wondering what it was, read on. I have been craving chinese food now for the past few months (ok, maybe since I got to Ukraine). I have been craving it so bad I have been having dreams about it. I am a sucker for Orange Chicken, and tonight, I conquered the task of making this deliciously greasy meal.

I can't believe it either. It's actually quite easy. Michael and I went to chinese food heaven. It came out textbook style. I can't believe how delicious it was still. I almost want to make it again tomorrow night.

Here's a short photo-story chronicling our endeavors:

Michael about to start frying our breaded chicken

Waiting for the oil to heat up

*Drool*

Whoops- plastic device was a bad choice to use in hot oil

SO WORTH THE WORK- GAH I NEED MORE!

My friend Courtney came up this weekend to visit me. We hung out, watched movies, cooked, walked around, and most importantly- slid around on the black sea. Yeah that's right, I Nitai Vinitzky have WALKED ON the black sea! If you're intrigued- read on...

My counterpart Dasha sent me an e-mail saturday night saying: I want to show you a place that you haven't seen yet. So me and Courtney headed over to Dasha's Sunday morning. Dasha had a big smile on her face- "You guys ok with taking a cab?" she asked non-chalantly. Uhm, ok we both responded, unsure of what this adventure entailed.

"I'm taking you to the bay" Dasha said as we climbed into the cab. "Ok" i thought in my mind- "What exactly are we going to do next to the bay at this time of the year?" I thought to myself, a bit confused as to why we were taking a fairly expensive cab to just look at the cold ocean.

As we neared the bay, I could see a strange white flickr coming off the surface. It looked like... maybe? No, i couldn't beleive my eyes! The bay was frozen SOLID with ice. I could see a couple standing out about 40 feet talking to each other on the ice. Another group of kids was running around the shore and onto the ice, sliding on their butts as they made their way across the bay.

I was in shock. My heart pounded, I felt like a little kid being given a brand new toy. "IT'S FROZEN SOLID?!" I yelled. I looked at Courtney, she was grinning from ear to ear. We ran out on the Ice, a bit apprenhesive at first, I thought- Oh shit, I'm gonna fall through! I heard a bit of cracking, but I had to try this. As we headed out, the ice got thicker and thicker, and also more slippery.

I ran and skidded for a few feet. It was heaven. Ice as far as the eye could see. "I think it's frozen all the way across", Courtney beamed. "Maybe about 5 kilometers" said Dasha. "Let's GO!!!" I screamed at them, and started to run like an adolescent getting out of class for recess.

We spent the day frolicking around the ice, and trying to find the "best spot" for sliding. At one point a couple guys came out on a little moped and started speeding around, as if it were the salt flats.

It was a great day. The sun came out, and so did the little kid in me. I'm thinking of taking a bike down there while it's still frozen and trying to ride straight across- who knows, maybe i'll make it to Odessa!

Yeah, It was a bit scary... but well worth it!Talking couple

Courtney grinning like a little kid :D

Dasha and IMotorcyclist

Dasha Sliding

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Cracked ice- photo taken by Courtney

I looked out the window at around 2:30 pm wondering if I should wear an extra layer to soccer training today or not...? I ran the tips of my fingers over the window pane. I immediately felt a stabbing pain from the cold go down into fingers and through my wrist. I smartly decided to throw on my fleece- which usually makes me uncomfortably hot, but I knew today was an exception.

I locked my door and headed out of my building at approximately 2:45 pm, looking at my phone to see if I had time to stop by the store and grab a small baguette to munch on for after practice (I always get hungry afterwards and want some sort of snack). I decided against it, considering it takes about 15 minutes to get to the stadium, and I like dressing with the rest of the team if possible.

The moment I stepped out onto the frozen street my breath froze, my eyes began to water, and my knees began to tremble. It was freezing: literally. I pulled my hoody strings tight around my beanie, and shoved my gloved hands into my jacket pockets. I decided to begin running immediately. I usually wait until I get to the road where there is no ice, but today was an exception.

As I ran, I noticed the intricate patterns of the frozen ice on the surface of the puddles. They looked like jigsaw pieces welded together with frozen water. I wished I had my camera, but decided to mentally photograph instead as I jogged through the frozen art gallery.

It was especially silent for this time of day. Usually there are babushka's sitting out front of the buildings yelling something at each other. They usually hush to look at me as I jog by, and as soon as I pass, I can hear them chatter something about "Amerikanetz". But today, it was an exception.

I could hear my heart beating loudly in my chest, my breath heaved out in white, cloudy bursts with every stride I took. I felt like a dragon spurting white flames.

The water hung from tree branches; gravity stopped by temperature. The beads of icicles clung to the thin twigs on small trees, making them look like heads of Q-Tips.

Up ahead, I saw a big puddle ahead and decided I would dare and skate across it. As I neared it I sped up. Leaping into the air, I threw all my weight on my front foot, and prayed the ice was thick enough to hold me from breaking through it. I was fortunate, and skidded smoothly for about 5-6 feet clear across it.

I arrived at the stadium at 5 'til 3, my nose burning, my eyes tearing, my ears ringing, my heart racing. I could feel the stabbing dryness in my throat. The stadium was even more silent than outside of my apartment building. The grass was coated with a thick layer of frost. It looked like a giant cake.

I noticed the rubber pitch we play on was also dotted with small, frozen puddles. I wondered if coach Grigory would still allow us to play today. I grinned, thinking of the fun it would be if we did play.

And play we did. I almost died on several occasions. The first time contesting a 50-50 ball, I sprinted quickly and caught the side of my foot on the puddle and did the splits. The second time, I pivoted on a puddle and my whole right side of my body moved while my left kept turning... I was lucky to come out of it with no sprained ankles or even a fractured skull.

One kid, Vlad almost killed himself on the goal post running to cross a ball, he ran into the biggest puddle of them all and started slide toward the goal post, and was lucky enough to be able to navigate past the post and into the net.

Oh, how I love playing "football" in Ukraine. We play on a little rubber pitch that could kill you, but we play with joy and love, and each pass is as if it were in the World Cup. The love of this sport was shown at a great level today amidst the frozen puddles. A day that I will never forget- I'd like to dub it "Soccer skating".

Yes, I've become domestic. Super domestic in fact. For all of you puzzling over my new middle name in the title, it means: House wife or Landlady in Russian. Yes, that's how domesticated i've become- it's my middle name now.If you don't believe me, please keep reading.

Today, my day consisted of:

1. Going to the bazaar early this morning to buy all sorts of odds and ends, including a Aquafor water filter (european-style Brita), Sugar, Flour, Grater, my favorite type of apple (Goldens, friggin' delicious), beets, potatoes, and a long power extendor for my next project-

2. Washing clothes. This part was the part of my day that started to make me really feel like I was in the peace corps. Up until now, I haven't done any laundry in Ukraine. The first month I was here, my landlady just randomly told me that she was going to do my laundry for me. I was not opposed to that. But today, I finally busted out the little machine she bought for me and put it to use. Let me tell you something- it feels really good to pretty much manually wash all of your clothes- both mentally and physically. It's not easy work. I got a really good fore-arm workout from wringing out almost every peice of laundry I own. Unfortunately, my clotheslines are out in this little deck/patio area that is kind of freezing cold, so we'll see how long it takes them to dry...View of my drying system

3. After getting down and dirty with my clothes, I cooked up a storm. I made my very own curry from scratch for the first time in my life. It's the easiest thing to do. For my fellow PCV's, you must try the recipe that is in the cookbook given to us at training (I think it's called Curry #1). It basically takes 2 minutes, and the results are scrumptulescent.

Today Nitai's kitchen pumped out Vegetarian Curry and Beet Salad

4. I cleaned the crap out of my house. I took apart my whole stove and scrubbed the living H out of it. My house didn't know what was coming to it, I just basically ravaged every last corner that I initially missed in the first wave of cleanings that occurred when I moved in. Now, I can confidently say that I have left no corner un-scrubbed.

This basically sums up my day of being a maid. It wasn't half-bad either. My forearms are nice and sore, my back is feeling it too from scrubbing... To all of the PCV's who allegedly said they don't get any exercise in the winter in Ukraine - do some laundry and scrub the living god out of your house, and trust me, you will get quite the aerobic workout.

Anyways, time for bed now- all this talk of scrubbing and cleaning has worn me out...

Until next time, mountains of love and peace-

N

(Title Credit to Alison Cumbow- you are my inspiration for living in this world)

Right as I start to think: "Hmm, I'm getting a bit of the hang of this whole teaching thing..." the door slams shut right in my face. That's right. I won't be teaching another class until the 31st of January.

It's kind of a blessing and a curse. Yes, I have 11 days off. But on the other hand- I've really been enjoying teaching, and just being at school with the local kids. They are a lot of fun, and I never ever expected I would actually enjoy this job as much as I have been.

By saying I didn't expect to enjoy this job, I mean that in the best possible way. When I signed up for the Peace Corps, I never imagined that every day I would jump out of bed, excited at the prospect of going to school. I thought I would have my moments of joy, and a lot of downtime and sorrow- But man, have my expectations been outplayed- BIG TIME.

1st expectation that was exceeded was that I have an AWESOME, and I mean AWESOME counterpart. She basically makes my life a piece of cake. She is very clear, and understands what I want and what I need to be as effective as possible.

2nd exceeded expectation- I have an AWESOME school, and the kids are all pretty damn nice and for the most part on task at all times.

3rd exceeded expectation- I have running, hot water, a comfortable, quiet apartment, and I live right next to my school.

4th exceeded expectation (this should actually probably go higher up on the list)- the weather here is pretty damn warm for a Ukrainian winter. I mean, I was expecting to freeze my nether-parts off, but no. It is on average about 50 degrees Fahrenheit out, and sunny way more than I ever thought it would be- which leads me to my

5th and final exceeded expectation- I live in Crimea, it is warm here, it is beautiful here. The people seem really laid back. I train with the local football team, I eat awesome, locally grown foods from the Bazaar (that includes tomatoes, carrots, onions, beets, cabbage, lemons, and many many more), I have already made several friends (within the first month), I have been quite healthy (since my last big sickness), and am in pretty high spirits all around.

Life is good in Ukraine- and I hope it continues this way, I really don't see anything slowing me down, but here's to a positive future anyways!

Much love and peace,

N

My first week has come and gone at lightning speed. I'm actually writing this on Monday night, so I've officially started my second week of teaching. Let me just sum it up in one succinct word: Awesome!

I mean, my teaching definately needs some fine-tuning, but my students listen to me, they want to learn, they enjoy class- yes I can tell. Some students are so overzealous, they stand up before I even ask a question, jump up and down holding up their arm in preperation to answer. It's amazing how much I really enjoy this. I feel like i'm learning more than they are about the English language. It's really really good.

I have to go to sleep, but I wanted to just update you all as to my love of life at this point in time. Feeling very independent, very strong, and very optimistic. Oh, and i've been cooking like crazy- so I will leave you with a few shots of my recent creations...

Love and Miss you all!

Eggs and Hashbrowns

Beet Salad (Thanks to my moms friend Marla for this recipe)

Daal ala Ukraine

First of all, let me wish all of you a wonderful and happy new year.

And yes, it's true. All the hard work and the patience and the sickness and everything is going to finally pay off... tomorrow! I'm damn excited to say the least. It's everything i've worked for over the past year. I never thought I would get to this point. It just seemed so elusive looking back on it from a year ago...

Recap of the last year building up to this point:

December 2009- Met Travis Axton, regional interviewer for the bay area at the local farmers market.Januray 2010- Debating whether or not to turn in my application.February 2010- Preliminary application turned inMarch 2010- Interview with Mr. AxtonApril 2nd, 2010- Invitation to begin my application process.May- July 2010- Medicals, medicals, and more medicals...August 2010- Invitation to serve.September 2010- Left for Washington D.C. for stagingOctober- December 2010- Arrival at training site, lots and lots of training (language/tech.)End of December-Beginning of January 2011- Lot's of preparation at my site for teachingJanuary 2011- I FINALLY GET TO TEACH!!!

So as you can see, it has been a year to remember. I really believe 2010 was one of the best years of my life as an adult. I say as an adult, because it's the first year where I was completely out of school. I feel I got a lot of things accomplished internally, externally, and with my family and friends. I feel like I am much more dependable and even keeled than ever, and I like that about myself.

I hope 2010 was as good for all of you as it has been to me. What excites me is that I have so much more to look forward to in 2011, and 2012 for that matter. I am extremely enthusiastic about the future, and I feel like that's how life should be- you should always be energized for what's around the next bend.

Much love and a wonderful happy new year to you all!

Nitai

Last week may have been the worst week so far in Ukraine. A serious sickness over took me- I have been sick since Monday with some kind of wicked Ukrainian flu. Anyways, on New Years Eve I was still pretty out of it, but was still able to make it over to Dasha's house for an AMAZING meal! She made pretty much every single dish ever conceived of in Ukraine. It was amazingly delicious to say the least. After dinner, we went out to the town square and watched people shoot off fireworks and dance around the big Christmas tree. We were enjoying the atmosphere of drunk merry-makers until a couple rockets flew right by us, almost impaling Dasha's husband Ivan. That ended our night, I was pretty shook up- but all in all I had a great night. I felt very welcomed and at home at my counterparts house. Ukrainians know how to make you feel right at home.

Here are some shots:

Dasha's girls

Dancing

Fire!

more fire...

Fireworks

I was fortunate enough to be granted leave from my first weekend at site to go celebrate the holidays with a bunch of awesome PCV's down in a small town south of mine called Nyzhnygorski (I think that's how you spell it).

I got to ride an electrushka, which is the same as a train, but for some reason has a different name due to it's nature of frequent and prolonged stops. What would have taken me 2 hours by bus took 4 hours on the electrushka, which was an awesome experience by all means.

The train culture in Ukraine is amazing, it's like stepping into another era. It's as if I had stepped into Soviet-Era Ukraine. The train was wobbly, creaky and old, but I found that there were plenty of benefits of this mode of transport. First of all, the ticket was 10 grvn, which translates into about $1.25. Furthermore, it was a direct route down to the town where I was going to, so I wouldn't have to do any confusing swaps at Djankoy, the main hub of transportation in the northern part of Crimea.

Hopping off that Electrushka into Nyzhnygorski, I felt very proud to have solo'd that short trip. Every small thing I do in this country feels like a huge accomplishment. After wandering around the town for a bit, with the help of Vicki, the host of the party, I was able to find her apartment.

To sum up the weekend: it was amazing. I ate sooooo much good food. I mean, I am warming to Ukrainian food, but theres nothing like food from home- Turkey, mashed potatoes, REAL leafy salad. I say real because it had actual lettuce- something very uncommon in the Ukrainian cuisine.

In addition, I got to meet a bunch of the PCV's in my region. They were all really friendly, and one of them even knew where Nevada City is! I thought no one knew where my hometown was located outside of Northern Cali. Also, I feel like I got a lot of good information about what I can expect in the next two years. Let me tell you all, it sounds pretty awesome. I've been blessed. Crimea offers a lot of awesome sites to travel to, and they are all relatively close to each other due to the Island-like nature of the peninsula.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

Colette striking a pose

Vicki wrastlin' the Turkey- one of the best turkey's i've ever had!Cortney- being Cortney... nice sweater btw.

Reeebeeeeeeeeeeee (fish)

I'm gonna get me one of these as soon as I find a shop in my town.

Colette blending into the Ukrainian bazaar.

Egg-slangin' Bab

Christmas tree time- don't think any of these ones were real- they did have a bunch of real ones all over the bazaar though.

Church

Preppin'

Mmm mmm I love Vareneki (kind of like tortallini)

Had to leave this one in color- god this is making me hungry...

Nap time after chowing hard.

Yesterday was my last day at school before the holiday break starts. I met all of my classes, and must say that I am really really pleased to be at Schoool #1. The kids are energetic, friendly and very curious!

I was fortunate enough to get out of class pretty early, considering I only have a couple of classes on Thursday, and walked around for a while photographing most of the town- which isn't too hard to do, considering it's only like a half an hour by foot from side to side.

Here are some of the pictures:

4th Form studying

Dasha Teaching (she needed pictures for a teachers competition, so I gladly took them for her)

School #1 Christmas Party

Nastya (Dasha's daughter) the rabbit (zaychick)

"Ded Marose" ("Grandfather cold", i think that's how it gets translated)

The huge plane statue in the center of town- not quite sure of the story behind it yet...So there are these little wooden statues carved out from old dead trees all over the town, i am planning on taking pictures of all of them and making a collage to give to the city hall- here are a few of them, there are at least 100 more all over Armyansk.

Shopping district

Preferred mode of transportation- in front of the local bazaarBus stop

"Titans" football stadium

The canal near my house

The path home

Michael Walter- my site mate who taught me how to make onion rings!PCV party at Michaels houseDon't try to mess with his onion rings...Onion vision

School #1 10th and 9th form dance

Dasha (yes there are 2 english teaching dasha's at my school) dancing with a student

9th form girls

I met my first four classes today at School #1. The kids seemed really nice, and even though I was really tired I felt really excited about the prospect of teaching again (even though it has been 3 weeks or so since I last taught, it feels like forever). Here are some pics of my apartment and the community map I made for my ELF (Emergency Locator Form) that PC requires of us.

My Kitchen

My Living Room (yes it's messy still, I haven't been able to fully unpack due to the fact that I'm getting a new wardrobe this next weekend- so don't judge!)My desk and porch (it's behind those curtains)Front door and hallway (bathroom is on the left)

My beautiful pink-themed bathroom! Yes, I'm stylish like that.

My ELF form in all its glory!

So below is where I am right now- Check it out! super crazy little peninsula... I will post more pictures soon of Armyansk- but for now, here are a few from staging... stay tuned!

Yes I am on another peninsula (Sorry SF, i don't mean to cheat on you!)The Israelis of the Peace Corps... Avital and I

Hmmmmmm....

The Obukhiv Crew (OBC) united for one last time!

Group 40 gettin' amped!Me and the final picture of the fam. along with counterpart Dasha (from left to right: Me, Leira, Ruslana, Luba, Tolik, Dasha)

Yes indeed, I've finally reached the promised land of PCV-status! It's been a crazy last year getting to this point, and I'm sure the craziness will not end- but... I FEEL FRIGGIN' AWESOME!

So happy to be here and to be wanted and needed by this community. I really have high hopes of Armiansk, which is a small town of 25,000 in the Northern Crimea Oblast. My school is right down the street from my apartment- which let me tell you is quite awesome. I have high speed internet, which is like a blessing and curse- but i think more of a blessing considering I can use it to get a lot of teaching materials.

My school is pretty small, only 550 students or so- my counterpart- Dasha is a sweet woman, and she has helped me so much- from picking me up in Kiev, to helping me lug my crap around from train to marshutka to my house. I truly have been blessed- tonight she cooked me an awesome dinner, which I plan to repay her with a dinner of my own. Yes! I can cook now, I'm really excited. My kitchen is a bit small, but it has a gas stove, which I love, because I have been living with electric stoves for the last few years.

Furthermore, my apartment has hot, running water, which cannot be taken for granted while serving in the PC. My apartment is in the north-eastern part of the town, but because Armyansk is so small I can get around quite easily. There is a bazaar and a bunch of other little stores strewn out across town- plus theres a supposedly awesome cafeteria down the street that has super cheap food that's pretty tasty. Theres also another PCV living across town named Michael. He is in the Youth Developement program, and working with a local organization. He was super nice, and came over today to show me around. Tomorrow we will go exploring some more.

The weather has been kind of crazy, it was snowy when we got here, but now it's starting to melt and theres huge pools of icy water everywhere. Thank god for my water-proof boots, don't think I could make it without them.

All in all, I'm thoroughly exhausted, but super happy- I really am excited for the next two years of my life- I don't remember the last time when I had such excited emotions. I am missing a lot of my friends from PST, but I think we are all real happy to finally be doing what we came here to do- GOOD!

Love and miss you all, I'll be posting pics of the ceremony and of the town real soon-

Nitai

This is it. All done with my traiining. We have one more class tommorow morning (Cross-Cultural) and that does it for the training portion of my service. It's kind of a wierd feeling really. The past few months have sped by at lightning speed.

I can definately say that I feel confident going to site. I actually felt ready about a month ago. I don't know what it is, but I just feel really comfortable around Ukrainians. Maybe it's because I have a Ukrainian name or something, who knows.

Ukrainians are really easy to get along with for me. They don't beat around the bush any, they make their opinions known right away, and that's how I am as well, I like that straight-forward type of communication. It's brazen, but it cuts out so much drama. I guess it's the Israeli side of me that is familiar to them. They live life to the fullest, and I understand where they are coming from.

However, tonight I went and played basketball at the local Gym with another Peace Corps volunteer from the other group in Obukhiv. Basketball here is played with a bit different rules than in the US.

First of all, fouls are called on pretty much every drive- that's even if there is no contact. If you touch the ball- it's a foul. If you sneeze next to a guy- it's a foul. Everyone just holds their breath and prays that the guy will miss, just not to foul.

After the games were over, I talked to a guy name Alex who lived in the U.S. for a bit about the American version of the game- basically that in the U.S., if you were to call a foul, you better have your hand slapped to the point where it stings, or get a good 'ol fashioned body-check- otherwise, you can take that foul and write an essay about it, because that's the only thing you're going to get from calling it.

The other volunteer and I came out of the game a bit confused and flustered considering the fact that at one point the guys were calling us out for fouling too much. I guess it was the language barrier that really stopped us from understanding exactly what they were complaining about, but it just brought to light the different nature of the game and how a game with the same rules and same concept could be understood so differently by a different group of people.

It was enlightening to say the least.

Anyways, I feel great now after running for the last two hours, but I really should go to sleep. Tommorow I will start packing and getting ready to depart for Kiev this coming Monday. Pretty exciting stuff this whole swearing in deal. Time to start my "real" job. Excited to say the least.

I miss you all very much and hope to have a fast internet connection at site so I can skype all of you who have been so kind to spend your hard earned money to call me on my cell.

I will try and post where I am ASAP. Stay tuned...

Much love and peace-

Nitai

For the past two days I have been facilitating concerts at the two schools that my cluster taught at. The first school was Gymnaisum. It went really well, the sound was off, but i mean everything else went great. Then today we had another concert at School 3. It was hectic to say the least, but I feel like it went really well, so I have no complaints. The students were all very greatful and looked like they really enjoyed it, so mission was accomplished! I am very happy that we were able to do something positive for them. Here are some pictures of the concert along with the new snow and the cafeteria food that we eat sometimes:

This last weekend was Luba's grandson's 1st birthday. It was held at a little Georgian restaurant in Obukhiv. The food was very good, and the company was even better. I got a bunch of shots of a typical "Ukrainian birthday". It was really funny because they got a whole suit outfit for Danya- he looked like a proper man. I think I may just take up that custom, dressing up babies is the funniest thing, but Ukrainians are taught from a very early age that you don't mess around with clothing- you only wear the best!

It was funny, because I don't normally dress up to go out. I mean, in american terms I kinda do- I'll throw on a button up shirt and some dark jeans or something. Ukrainians put us Americans to shame with their clothing. Everyhing is impecabbly pressed with the utmost care- attention to detail is huge, they are very color-coordinated, even within couples. Also, they make sure that their are no loose ends, such as shirts or collars that look funny. They will tell you right away if your look is a bit off putting- For example, I didn't notice, but as I was taking off my jacket to take for the coat check, I must have undone the back of my shirt. Sasha, Luba's son-in-law, immediately pulled me aside and told me.

But hey, enough rambling about clothes. Here are some pictures from the birthday party:

Probably my favorite pic of Tolik and Daninka together

Katya- being a funny little brat as usual!

The birthday boy in his birthday suit- he's stoked!

Rusya and Danya

Igor and Danya

Interesting Ukrainian tradition where they cut a peice of the hair to keep in an album or something like that- not quite sure- they also balanced cash on his head

Now you know where the handsome boy gets his looks from!

The Novikova familia (could be a good name for a Ukrainian soap dontcha think?)

Blessing the birthday boy

Beautiful Danya

The Ladies

Leira getting her dance moves on

Tantzavali!

Tolik looks like a straight up G when he goes out with his winter hat on- i'm buying me one of those soon- they are warmer than anything i've ever felt in my life, I think it may just save my life this winter!

Getting Ready to Feast

The Feast

алисон и я (еше раз!)

ямямямямям

Adam going in for seconds

Yasa licking Toli with Maksim serenading us in the background

Apparently both Koshka's (cats) and Sabbaka's (dogs) both partake at the Ukrainian dinner table

Kitchen dance party

Rocky's dancing face

Annddddddd... i'm done.

Happy Thanksgiving from Ukraine! Hope you all had a wonderful one as I did!

Can't say how thankful I am to be here right now, as much as I miss you all, I'm having the time of my life!

Love Nitai

Today was my last day teaching in School #3. It was awesome... and somewhat sad. The lesson went really well I felt, and I got the kids to learn about the future tense "going to" while watching them enjoy it! I had them do some games like racing to see who could contract subjects such as: I am= I'm, You are= You're. They really got it fast!

Anyways, at the end of the lesson, I told them that that was it, and that I wouldn't be teaching them anymore. I felt a wave of sadness come over me like nothing I've ever experienced before. I really have grown attached to this group of 6th graders. They came up to me at the end of the class and shook my hand and hugged me. They gave me a funny little souvenire of a "dedushka" (Ukrainian grandpa) and told me that they really appreciated me.

I guess this is what the Peace Corps is all about- getting the little moments out of life. I felt an extreme wave of sadness after I said goodbye to them. It's not like I won't be seeing them again, we have a concert next friday, but still- I really enjoyed teaching them.

It's funny how I have such an attachment to the 6th grade. I spent my 6th grade learning in Israel, so I guess that's why I am so connected to it. It was the year that I spent abroad, and will always remember so fondly for learning how to speak another language fluently, and making so many new friends. I really love 6th graders.

I think it's also because 6th graders are at the phase where they are becoming much more mature. They understand more complex materials, and are serious about learning. Most importnatnly, they haven't lost their enthusiasm for life, and are very eager to learn. Their excitement gets me excited, and I feel like I am back in 6th grade, re-learning the same things I did when I little- just in a slightly different way.

Anyways, the day was glorious and I wish I could replay it again. I am missing home very much, due to the fact that it is Thanksgiving, but there is so much to be thankful for today, that it pretty much made up for me being away from home this year.

I love and miss you all so much, and am so thankful to have this opportunity to learn and grow and give. I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and hope that it was as wonderful as mine!

My 6th form class and I

Rocky, Katie and I with our 10th form class