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Musings of an Ukraine Traveler |
| October |
|
Cold and Work |
|
Well
it's 8 pm, Saturday here and I just finished up the dishes after
spending an hour making "blinis" which are really just
pancakes with a little twist. Finally found baking powder but I used
"kefir" instead of milk and they realllllllly rose. I will get
it right before I leave. I'm enjoying having my first full weekend to
myself in a long while. I cleaned my furniture and puttered around doing
lots of little projects like finally emptying my PC medical kit into my
medicine cabinets. They supply us with everything imaginable from
antibiotics to band aids. I am going to use the empty kit to make my
emergency kit which I now can't find the directions for!! Was supposed
to have made it right after I got to site. Well
our 3 (3,4 and 5) "doms" apartment buildings have been without
heat again since Friday afternoon. Seems the crew working on putting in
a new restaurant in
building 3 either broke the pipe or it broke on its own while they were
working. It has been below freezing outside for about 3 days. The
apartment really hasn't been bad. I am comfortable and frankly the
nights are better because its not so warm in my bedroom. I had been
opening the window every night. The flat is well insulated so I just
heat whatever room I am in with the little PC heater and I am fine. I
dress pretty much like I did in Idaho in my house in the winter. How
people are accepting this no heat thing is so typical of Ukrainians. No
one protests, there are no pickets or storming of city hall. Everyone
just kind of waits until it gets fixed or at least that what it seems to
me. Another example is that on Thursday, Natasha invited me to a movie
on HIV that was being shown at the cultural center. All students had to
go and pay 50 kopeek. Well, the "movie" was Russian, made in
the 70's, about adult drug users. It lasted about 20 minutes. Then they
began to show an American action film at which point we and most of the
kids left. Natasha told me that the same people had done exactly the
same thing before and that they were just making money off the kids. My
question--why in the hell did school officials permit it again? The
answer of course is an entire cultural attitude formed by the Soviet
collective process. You just stand in line, accept what is happening and
don't protest because the results could be fatal to you and your family.
Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of people in Ukraine and in
Korostyshiv who are protesting quietly and some loudly. This is a very
young democracy--12years and many of the same old greedy cronies are
still in positions of power and still hurting people. One of Ukraine's
big hurdles to getting into the EU is instituting transparency and
ridding itself of graft and corruption. Some people want to forget the
EU and stay with the CES (Russia and its former states). Young people
are changing this attitude, but it will take at least another generation
for a working democracy to really exist here. 10
am, Sunday Hey,
didn't mean to get so political. Of course this morning when there was
no heat, the water went off just as I wanted to wash a load of clothes
and thennnnnnnn the electricity went off, I got real political. Well
electricity was off just a short time while I went to get my 10 liters
of water and to empty my trash. Rah
had a blast playing with everything he can get his paws on and he can
get everywhere--behind the refrigerator, under the stove. He got quite a
shock and a little hot yesterday when he climbed under the stove and
backed out of there so fast! Well,
I am going to close as I need to vacuum and clean my kitchen today.
Going to study some more as Natasha will be here for my lesson this
afternoon. I don't think I told you (don't know anymore), but I am
reading a book of Russian fairy tales. I really enjoy them. They are
quite long, but are really helping me learn the language. Natasha says I
am doing quite well on them. I have another book that I use that is for
grammar etc. It is quite good and honestly very interesting. |
|
Bus Rides |
|
Well,
I arrived in Korostyshiv this morning at 4:30, after an all night
hellish trip from Ivano-Frankisiv. Got into bed as quick as I could and
got a couple of hours of partial sleep, but did take a 3 hour nap this
afternoon. The bus was absolutely packed with people standing in the
aisles. There were 3 young men drunk out of their minds one in a
definite blackout state. He stood near our seats and kept sinking to the
floor but his eyes were fixed open the entire time. The lady in front of
Norri begged him to back off, but as usual nobody else did anything or
said anything. All night long they would yell at each other (all 3
finally got seated); drink, then get off at each stop and piss wherever
they could never mind who was there. This kind of thing (the no one
speaking up or doing anything) is honestly the hardest thing for me here
in Ukraine. Rudeness in public is accepted, tolerated and practiced
quite widely at the banks, in any line, where ever and it's not just the
young! The
trip down was quiet, I slept pretty well and then when I arrived found
that my travel toiletry bag had been stolen off my backpack. I had it
behind my seat and I was in last row. Didn't hear a thing. I know it was
the young kid who was seated way over on the other side in the back
because he was the only one there. Nothing valuable, just inconvenient.
Got in at 6 am. Took a taxi to the hotel where the clerk told me there
were no rooms (I had been assured that there would be a room). The taxi
driver was absolutely wonderful. He took me to 3 hotels--no room and
then back to the train station which has very nice rooms with shower
etc. I stayed there until about 1:30 when the on site coordinator picked
me up and took me back to the hotel where I had gone in the morning.
Might mention here that there is no heat anywhere!!!!!
I thank Maree Rushlow for that polar fleece quillow everyday. It
was my pillow on the bus and my needed extra warmth here at home and in
the hotel. The
conference was great. The students (14) were students that had been at
Camp Rah Rah and were their usual enthusiastic wonderful selves. We all
worked hard in a cold classroom for two days. We were teaching and they
were learning more about implementing projects in their communities.
There were two other conferences for camp graduates at the same time:
one in Kharkiv and one in Vinnytsia. I came home inspired and renewed in
spite of the bus trip. I just remember none of those kids is like that
and that they are dedicated to changing that "I can't do anything
about that" attitude. I got some really good shots of the city. I really love it. I had the best time walking in the center through the leaves, the bright sun, the fall. Honestly it was fine walking outdoors, better than being indoors--actually warmer. Anyway, I hope to have a page up by next weekend. I did publish some new pages on Rah and some called a Walk that I don't think I told everyone about. I think you'll find them pretty interesting. |
|
Batterias |
|
Just
an update on me and my life here in Ukraine. I can't believe that it is
only 10:15. I have really been going like a house afire this morning.
Since I had water and sufficient pressure and since it wasn't raining
although cloudy, I did a load of wash and hung on balcony. Then I did
dishes. All
the while I am trying to figure out what to do with Rah-Rah. He has
figured out how to climb onto balcony railing. I sprayed and sprayed
water on him to no avail. He was like a kid. I have his litter box out
there and really don't want to bring it in house as he digs out nearly
all the litter out of the box and of course he would do it in the house,
too. I fixed up a cardboard box lined outside with plastic to put the
litter box in thinking it would protect the litter box and catch litter.
Hah! He dug out all the litter and then lay inside the litter box in the
cardboard box!!! In the meantime he figures out how to get around every
obstacle. I watch him go around posts, walk the balcony rail and come
back several times. I figure if he falls, he falls, but he has to learn
and I would have to face it. The end--hell no! Then he is trying to
climb up to the next balcony above and there is no doubt he would fall.
So I am back to square one. The litter box is going to have to come
inside unless I can figure out a means to keep him on the balcony. I may
end up taking him outside each day and letting him run until the snow.
Can't make up my mind. The
clouds broke up a bit so I also went to the bazaar. Big mistake on
Sunday. What a crush of people and one thing many Ukrainians are not, is
polite in a queue. They don't mind a bit shoving you out of the way or
getting in front of you. I have learned to hold my own and press back!
It has rained buckets all week and water was off for about 48 hours, so
I went to spring for water to flush, etc. I wrote and composed a picture
essay on the web site if you want to read about that adventure and my
thoughts on the process. It's
still fall and not really cold yet, but I have turned on little space
heater PC gave us when I am sitting and working or reading. I have heard
that the hot water (for radiators) will be turned on Oct 15th. We will
see. Speaking
of radiators--called batterias here.
Week before last, men came into the office to work on the
batterias. All our computer equipment and the cords run in front of it
so we moved everything. Good thing because as they used the cutting
torch to remove them they burned the wall and the floor in several
places. I didn't pay any
attention as to how they left the pipes. The next week (computer is back
together and all cords etc) Zhanna is working on the computer, my desk
faces away from her. All at once I hear, "Connie, Help" in
English. I turn around and water is flowing out of the radiator pipes.
They had not been capped. Zhanna has lifted all the cords. I am the only
one who knows how to disconnect everything so I am frantically trying to
get things disconnected so we can get CPU off the floor. Zhanna cuts the
top part off a plastic
bottle and begins catching the water. I run with it to the sink. I stop
momentarily and cut another bottle--the handle on the scissors breaks as
I stab away. Find another pair of cheap Ukrainian scissors but I get it
cut so we have two bottles and prevent a little more water from going on
the floor. Zhanna, who's in heels and a long dress dragging in the
water, asks me to stoop at the pipe and she takes water to sink.
All the time I am asking if she has called for help. Then I
finally understand that ALL the offices are flooding. All considered we
had very little water compared to others. It's Ukraine! They remove the
radiators; don't cap the pipes and then test the system. Well, Claudia's (I think) package arrived in Zhytomyr on Tuesday. Zhanna told it would come to the office Thursday after lunch. She was going out of town. I was there no package. Maybe I should have stayed longer, but who knows. The next day, Friday, I was at the office. It was cold, and the electricity kept going off. No one seemed to know if there was a package so I went home and worked. Saturday, Natasha went with me to our post office (post office and banks are open here on Saturday) to see if the package had come there. No. Why it went to Zhytomyr I have no idea, but when Zhanna returns on Tuesday, maybe I will finally get it. |
|
Halloween |
|
We came
back here to my home and Natasha called for us to see what was up. We
thought we understood the bus ran only other day.
Nooooo. The bus had broken down and we hadn't understood the
words. Anyway she leaves tomorrow morning.
One thing about Ukrainian transportation--they run on time and
they don't break down completely often. Drivers are great about nursing
them along if something goes wrong. So we will get more scrabble in and
maybe another video! Yeah. This begins
a busy month for me. I go to Kyiv Wed to meet with a friend from
Sevestapol, in the Crimea. Thursday I go back in for my flu shot and to
stay until Sunday for the HIV/AIDS conference. The 19-21st and the
24th-26th I go back to Kyiv to be part of training team for new PCVs
Group 26. Then the 27th, Alice, Wini and I go to Liviv for Thanksgiving
and do some Christmas shopping and visit. Work goes
well and really I do work. Still teaching and working on developing
clean up project. Several groups--environmental organizations including
LEAP, the city administration and the waste department are doing a big
river bank clean up these 3 weekends. I feel bad not being here to help,
but my PC stuff has been scheduled for a long time and the clean up was
put together last Wednesday. I
will write again next weekend. Each of you take care of yourselves; have
a great week and know that I love and appreciate each of you. |
| November |
|
Peanut Butter |
|
Hello
everyone, I
am a little late this week updating you, but when I got home on Sunday,
I had been gone for 5 days and was really just vegging out. It's about 5
pm right now and just barely any light--just like a typical fall evening
anywhere with lights starting to go on in the flats across the way.
Street lights aren't on yet but they will be soon. No solar switches
here in Korostyshiv. Played
a game of scrabble with myself. Hey you know mom is right. It is fun and
I don't even cheat! You know something else I am doing which I said I
never would--washing out ziplock bags. I brought a few with stuff in
them and my friend from Vinnytsia gave me some more. Those damn things
are precious and not available here. Kinda like tuna and peanut
butter--never know how much they mean until you can't get them. Wini
gave me a jar of chunky peanut butter that her family sent her--she
doesn't like chunky--I was in heaven when I made PBJs for my trip to
Ivano. She also shared two packages of tuna. I just never thought about
missing them and generally don't, but such comfort food surely was nice. I
just brought in my wash which I did this morning before work while I
still had water. It has been drying all day. It's chilly here, but not
really cold yet so it got mostly dry. I put it on the drying tubes and
line in the bathroom and a few things on radiators in bedroom. Didn't
have to use the kitchen or living room radiators like I do sometimes.
You will laugh because now that the heat is on, I get too hot at night.
Heat is hot water pumped from a central station to the flat's radiators.
There is no way for an individual to regulate the temperature.
Ukrainians tend to like it hot so I open my window every night. I am
sure that will change as the temperatures drop over the winter. Work
goes well. I have pretty well finished the grant application and my
project goes on little by little. LEAP is working on their environmental
action plan which is quite well done. Of course we are looking at 5-7
years to accomplishing the cleaning up of the dump and redoing water
treatment systems. Getting money and expert help is going to be a big
part of it. My main focus right now is raising awareness among students
and public of problems and ways of reducing litter. I hope to start a
series of workshops in January for teachers on various subjects
including the environment and HIV. Have
had a split pea soup on today and will eat in a little bit. Bought me a
Korona chocolate bar with nuts when I went down for my 10 liters of
water while ago. Don't do that too often, but really wanted something
sweet. I make up soups--vegetable, potato with peas or carrots, beans
with chicken. I have a bowl everyday. My diet is pretty good even for
winter time although I do miss the great variety of fruit from the
summer. Apples are running out my ears and everyone else's too. Have to
ward off potatoes and carrots and kapusta (cabbage) as I can only eat so
much and no more and everyone wants to give me some. I estimate I have
lost about 10 pounds and yet I eat bread and butter at every meal except
breakfast!. It's got to be the walking. My size 10 pants are loose on me
and the 12s are really big even with long johns. Really
enjoyed the conference which was put on by the PC HIV/AIDS working group
of which I am a new member. There were about 40 people there--PCVs and
Ukrainian counterparts from various sites across the state. Hope to
implement some kind of educational program on sexual health here in
Korostyshiv soon. Rah-Rah was spoiled rotten by the Druhalchucks and he
keeps going to the door expecting them to pick him up for the day. They
really love him and take such good care of him. I am very lucky. I
met some of the new trainees--TEFL--group 25 English teachers. They are
much younger than our group of business and environment volunteers. Next
week I will be going back into Kyiv to help in their training. I will be
working with the CMO (Chief Medical Officer). I will be assisting with
emotional and mental health training. So I am still using my counseling
skills. That
is all the news for now. Will write next Sunday. I am sure I will have
new adventures to tell. |
