20 September 2013

20 September 2013

Today I met my host family for the first time. After a more than three hour bus ride from Chernihiv. The day started with breakfast. Note to self – never cook eggs sunny side up; they jiggle! Then we had our departure logistical meeting, followed by a skit about what to expect with a host family. We were told that most of the families are experienced, and that we are living with them to learn via immersion the language and culture that we are studying. We learned that there might be customs that we (Americans) consider odd, but that are the norm in whichever region we are sent to. This could be the shower, breakfast, carrying luggage, bathroom etiquette, anything really.

After our host family meeting, we had our security meeting, where we heard from the Safety and security officer. We were given tips as to how to mitigate our standing out in a crowd. As well as what we need to do in the event of a situation. After that, we had our Admin intro, where we signed lots of forms that none of us could read. They were for our registration and bank accounts, both of which are necessary in Ukraine. We were told how to change money (if we need to; either direction), and that we would need to fill-out more paperwork in a few weeks to get our bank cards.

After a lunch of soup and pan-fried chicken, we departed to our host communities. There were three groups – the Chernihiv group, the near-Chernihiv group, and the near-Kyiv group. I am in the near-Kyiv group, in a town called Obukhiv. We had a long bus ride, as 4 clusters were on the same bus. We even got pulled over by the Militia (Police), but we don’t know why! Nothing happened; the driver had a long conversation with the local gendarme, and all was good. Eventually, we arrived in Obukhiv, where we met out host families.

My host family is my host-Mom, and any children, children-in-law, and grandchildren who happen to be over. She reminds me a lot of my grandmothers, which is very good. I love spending time with my grandmothers. We went to the apartment, where I was able to unpack, give them their PC money, and their gifts. Host-Mom mimed taking a shot with the shot glass, and thought the spice cookies were spices, at first. She was very excited to learn that they were cookies! With the help of the granddaughter, I was able to explain the Old Salem Coffeepot on the shot glass, and Old Salem. Winston cigarettes are popular here, so she had (indirectly) heard of W-S (her son smokes Winston Lites; small world). On a side note, I asked one of the LCFs (Language and Cross-Cultural Facilitators) about my gifts, and he said that the bag would be too much. All of my stuff made it through in one piece, except for the Velcro strip the holds my computer cord together, but that could have broken at any time. I also found my charger and battery for my point-and-shoot (no need to mail me one!). The TSA didn’t open any of my bags. One PST had her backpack opened in such a way that they busted the zipper; it came out on the carrousel in Kyiv held together with TSA tape.

After I unpacked, I had dinner with the family. I had a Georgian rice dish, with beef and raisons. It was very good, although I apparently missed that I was supposed to put salsa on it… I also tried borsch for the first time – very good. We all had a small glass of red wine with dinner. Ukrainians eat borsch first, then the rest of dinner. While host-Mom and (grand)daughter and I had dinner, a daughter-in-law and another granddaughter arrived, to meet the American. Host-Mom’s son also came over. Everyone had dinner, and shared a very good chocolate and meringue cake, along with coffee or tea. This coffee was the first instant coffee I’ve had that didn’t really taste instant. I asked, and it’s from Moscow. After dessert, I got out my photo album, and we looked over it, trying to figure out the correct translations for words. All of this is good, as host-Mom doesn’t speak much (any) English.

My host-family has wifi and an Ethernet computer, from which I was able to send an email. I was told that I could Skype on the wifi, if I had a webcam, and wanted to, which is very nice. They even have a washing machine, but the PC told us to learn how to hand-wash our clothes, in case our site doesn’t have a washing machine. I was also able to get a shower. Same as the hotel, there isn’t a mounted shower head, but there was hot water, and it could also be warm water, instead of really hot (the hotel’s water was either hot or cold, but never warm). All in all, today was a good day.