Musings of an Ukraine Traveler

Thanksgiving in Ukraine

Dearest All,

 Well, it is December 3, the winter sun has been shining since 8 this morning and now at 2:30 is lowering in the West. We had a hard frost last night, but it is very mild today. Everyone tells me that snow is coming, but I haven't checked the forecast. Ukrainians stay out as much as possible when it's like this--no snow--even if it's cloudy. I think we must be pretty lucky to have gone this long without a hard snow.

 I rode in on the night train from Lviv to Kyiv Sunday night. Got in at 6:30 and then took an hour marshurtka ride home. Hadn't slept well on the train as I had a top bunk and it was soooo hot. When I got home I took a shower, greeted Rah Rah and climbed in bed. Napped on and off all day, but did get one load of wash done. Have done a load every day with this sun. Have one more to do. Hang them on the balcony in the morning and finish them off on the radiators and drying pipes. Now I have to iron.

 I finished up the training for the new group on Wednesday and then took off Thrusday morning for Gretsiv to meet up with my friends Wini, and Alice who came in from Vinnytsia. Wini who has only a hot plate had fixed a pot roast and we were all ready to continue eating (we had eaten through the afternoon as we talked) when Wini's coordinator, her two daughters and 3 friends showed up with a baked stuffed(carrots, onions, garlic) turkey, wine and smagnof (home-made vodka). We scrounged around for enough forks, plates, etc. We had a great time. We were so cozy and thanks to the pech and  the vodka not feeling a lot of pain. Valya had put a very small cucumber in the bottle and then put in the smagnof. The cucumber actually grew and became a very pale yellow. It really added a nice flavor.

 Friday we walked around Gretsiv (pictures soon) and at 5 left for Shepitivka where we caught a very nice train to Lviv. We went coupe and were there in about 4 hours. Were later than we planned so the restaurant where we were supposed to meet the rest of the group was closed. We had taxi take us to the Lviv hotel as the other two looked way beyond our budgets. It worked out great as the hotel is old but clean and right in the center of Old Town. The linens were clean, the water hot and there was pressure! 

There were over 50 PCVs in town for Lviv's traditional dinner on Saturday and most of them were our group 24. Most shared a flat--15 people to each. That said, the flats in Lviv are absolutely huge. They are high-ceilinged, 5 large room homes--very European with inner courtyards reached by an arched alleyway.They are the original apartment blocks--most from the 18th century--none of the communist monstrosities most of us live in. The Russians never succeeded here in their collectivization programmes and the war that destroyed many cities was not fought here. (That is a hot political topic in Ukraine--that the west welcomed Hitler while the central and east sided with the communists to drive the Germans out)

 A traditional American Thanksgiving dinner began at 4 on Saturday. Turkey and vegetables were catered, but desserts were made by PCVs--pumpkin pies, cheese cakes, cakes, etc. It was wonderful to be with each other again, to talk, to gripe, to boast. I really feel close to this group no matter what their ages or where they are stationed.

 Before dinner, Wini, Alice and I began our tour of Lviv. Lviv--it's hard to know where to start--ancient, gothic churches and apartments, so many museums. We toured all we could on Saturday and then again on Sunday. We did lots of shopping for beautiful Ukrainian pieces. We ate in wonderful cafes and restaurants. There are almost no street vendors here. The stores are quite modern. There are 2 working telephones on every block. The stores take credit cards and there are ATMs everywhere. Like Ivano-Frankisv, there is color everywhere in the buildings. I took pictures of course and will set them up on a web page hopefully by Sunday, but I just couldn't capture the antiquity and size of it so will send postcards to Boise and to Jones. I think they are better.

 Time to go and study a little more. Know you are getting up or just ready to get up. Have a wonderful day. Love and sunshine to each of you.

Post Offices and Ziplock Bags

Dear Sembya and padruzia,

 Winter has pushed its nose into Ukraine for the first time this weekend. Yesterday, Saturday, it was rain mixed with snow--in other words pure deep slush. Then last night most of the water had gone and it snowed that kind of snow that whirls on the pavement and leaves bare spots. Then it dropped below freezing and as my husband would say, it's slick as owl shit! I walked very gingerly to a store close by this morning to get some bullion cubes.

This whole weekend has been very special. First because I have been home all week and secondly, because yesterday what started out as a simple trip to the post office and the store turned into a three ring circus and a day of surprises. I left for the post office (banks and post offices are open on Saturdays here) planning on buying a stamp for Ukraine and one for US. I usually buy in quantities of 10 or 20 which sends one of the young girls into a tailspin. This time though I was low on grivna as on Monday the bank in which I have my account did not have US dollars to give me my PC living allowance. They were supposed to have had it in on Friday, but I was teaching all morning and didn't feel like walking all the way there again. Then Saturday of course the water and snow up to my ankles so I put it off again.

 I digress. Post office: I am standing in line behind a man who is buying about 25 lottery tickets and there is ONE clerk. I wait for quite a while then decide to go on to the store and buy my groceries. As I get out the door, a lady with whom I had held a brief conversation in line comes out and tells me that there are packages for me. Oh boy. The one day I decide not to bring my PC documents (like a passport--green card) and I don't bring it. I go in, tell the clerk that I have to go get them. I am back in about 3-5 minutes. There are 5 so the clerk has to make out 5 custom slips, then I have to fill out in cursive in Ukrainian the back side. Oh, I had told the clerk I wanted the Ukrainian stamp but she didn't let me finish about the US stamp. I get the papers all filled out, get the stamp and tell the clerk I will make two trips. Claudia had sent a very large box; Janet had sent a small box and Boise friends had sent 3 bubble envelopes.

 You should have seen me. No Ukrainian woman carries a box especially a large one. The box had been opened by customs--every package is--and then rewrapped, barely, with string. It had tears and holes in it. All the very elderly babushkas sitting in the PO gave me the look. I don't care. When I got all of them home and make the short trip to the grocery store, I had a great time--almost like Christmas! Rah Rah had already worked most of the string loose on the big box by the time I got home. He does love boxes and string!

 I oohed and aahed over Claud's box and put the two, now mostly unwrapped boxes in my closet to open on Christmas day. I will write you a nice long letter of thank you, sis. Janet sent me a wonderful album of pictures of Ben and Beauty and their trips to the mountains plus candles and videotapes of the PBS Blues series. My friends sent me coloring books, children's books, colored pencils, beautiful pens for the students! I have great plans for these as part of my anti littering, anti dumping campaign.

 Have to share with everyone the story of the storage bags Claudia sent me-one large box of gallon and two of quart size zip lock bags! I will never use all of them but they are wonderful. Since my Ukrainian family, the Druhalcheks are always feeding me, fixing my toilet, translating for me, I decided to share a few of the bags with them. I took over 5 of the gallon and 10 of the quart. Natasha kept saying "Klaus" (cool) and Asha kept cool but kept clicking her tongue as I explained how they could be used. The first thing Asha asked me is "Can I wash them and reuse them?" I didn't scream out loud with laughter. I just said of course. This afternoon I went next door to get Yura's help getting my sweeper pole apart so I could use an attachment. After we got it apart, Natasha called me into the kitchen and proudly showed me how they had used many of the bags to store their dry goods--peas, flour, etc. I love them for their graciousness, their joy at simple things we in America take so for granted. I  love you my American family and friends for sharing with me.

 I am getting more and more requests to teach classes and teachers which makes me very happy. More and more people are thinking seriously about our pollution problems here in Korostyshiv and coming up with their own ideas about how to solve them. That's the idea--sustainability.

I am off for a day trip to Kyiv tomorrow for a short day trip. I hope to hell I don't fall. There are two qualities that Ukrainians have that I wish I did. They can see in the dark and they never seem to slip on the ice no matter how old or crippled they are. They have a way of planting their feet that I just haven't mastered. I guess I need not to think so much about it before I bring it about.

 Well, it's 4:05 and I need to turn on some lights and maybe study a little bit more before my lesson. Love you all.  Happy winter.

Language and Broken Eggs

Dear family and friends,

 Well, I think it's about 6 am there and I hope you are waking up to a prettier day than here. It has been raining constantly since 6 this morning and it is very dark and gray. I think I mentioned before that I have decided that this part of Ukraine is just like St. Louis. The weather here doesn't get me down like it did in St. Louis though probably because I can do what I want like read, drink hot chocolate etc, instead of studying or being on my knees like I was there.

 It was a "HopMalb" normal week for me. Worked in the office every morning and taught classes on Thursday and Friday. Been sticking at the study of Russian. Try to study two hours a day, but it usually works out to one. In January all of our group, #24, and our tutors will be in Kyiv for a Language Refresher conference for four days. I am looking forward to it and although I am a little nervous am going to ask to be tested again to see if I have improved any. I know I have as far as reading and writing which I am not tested on. I think I have in speaking. Natasha makes pretty sure of that.

 Must share my latest trip to the bazaar. Went yesterday morning and bought my apples, tangerines, tvorog etc. I had taken my egg case (like those ones you buy for camping). Don't know if I told you that it holds only small eggs. Well, in the dairy bazaar, the lady from whom I bought the tvorog had beautiful eggs. I bought the ten (no dozens here--metric system) and of course they were too big for the case. "Oh, I can do this. I've gotten them home before." I made my usual stop outside the bazaar where there are some shelves to put my bag into my backpack as it weighs pretty close to 40 pounds

(The medical officer jumped on my ass last spring for carrying bags in my hand so I bought a small back pack. It does help.) Well, as I am unzipping the backpack, the cloth bag tips over and the eggs and the tangerines fall onto the concrete. Both are in these cheap, thin plastic bags. The one with the tangerines bursts and tangerines roll all over the sidewalk. The egg bag doesn't break. The eggs do, but the bag doesn't. I scurry around picking up rolling tangerines, stuff the bag into the pack, gingerly pick up the bag with the eggs and put it into the pack and walk home! This is how Ukrainian I have become! I put the egg bag in a bowl, open it, and let eggs slide into bowl. Two didn't break! I wash them off and put them in the frig. I pick out the all the shells. Get out my skillet, scramble all the eggs and now have them for egg sandwiches! I would have hard boiled eight of them anyway so it did work out. 

Defrosted my refrigerator yesterday in preparation of going away. Those of you about my age remember that process-- scraping, a little chipping but not too much or you'll hit the freon lines! The plan for Christmas which I may have already told you is that Wini and I plan on going to Sevestapol for Christmas dinner with our friend, Amit, and other group mates in the Crimea. Then we will fly from Simferopol on the 27th to Cairo. We have booked a wonderful hotel in downtown Cairo with private baths and all the amenities. We can even see the pyramids from the roof. We plan on flying back to Simferopol on the 31st and be back in Korostyshiv for the 1st which is the big holiday here for dinner and gift giving. I'll send out a description of the traditions later this week.

Hope you enjoyed the web pages. You can see that I have it easier than Wini and why she likes to come to the "city" once in a while. I will be writing again soon this week and keep you abreast on the trip.  Love to all. Keep warm!