Aladdin, Fish Soup, and Alcohol.

07 June

Sunday barely gets a footnote. I did go to the little tiny “prodyucti” in the apartment complex, but no where else. I spent the day going over the materials I brought from the US, and thinking about ideas for lessons. As I didn’t have a copy of the text book, most of my ideas are for clubs.

08 June

My first day at the summer camp. I didn’t really do much, just sat and watched the 10th formers create their Aladdin costumes, and then watch the final production. The theme of the day was Walt Disney, and all of the forms put together some sort of little skit, based on one of the films or cartoons. I was able to get lunch at the school, and I stopped to get dinner on the way home. As I’m still without a refrigerator, I have to buy cheese and apples, as they will stay good between lunch and dinner.

09 June

I learned that I would be getting internet at my flat on Wednesday, and that I needed to stay there – not come to school – so that I would be there when the internet person came.

Tuesday started when I read the morning presentation to the school. It was about fairy tales, and had lots of information about them. It talked about what fairy tales were, and how they came to be. Tuesday was a bit less hectic than Monday, so the English teachers and I were able to have a coffee break while the students were preparing their final presentation. After their presentation, we had lunch, and I watched as the teachers wrote up the day in Ukrainian.

10 June: A day in anecdotes. 

Internet

Apparently, Macs and Ukraine’s PPPoE internet just do not get along with each other. At least, that’s the conclusion the internet guy came up with after 75min of trying. He even plugged my baby in to the main router for the building! Nothing.

He gave me two options:

            1. He takes my computer to his work, and his boss fixes (tries to fix) whatever the problem is. He’d bring it back by 7pm.

            2. The school tech facilitator (who came by to make sure the guy didn’t try to rip me off or something) and I go and I buy a wifi router.

While the router had a higher upfront cost (but no more per month), I’d have internet in about 30min, and I would be able to use wifi for the year.

As I’d wanted wifi to begin with (the school techfac wanted to find one online for cheaper than in the stores), I went with the router. We went and I bought it, they got it plugged in, named the network, password protected it, and I was logged in in under 10min. He even showed me how to hard reset it (hint: you unplug it).

I was given a ride to the school in time for lunch. The camp was over for the day, but I got to help a bit with the writing up of the day.

Fish Soup.
Yes. you read that right: fish soup.

For 20g a week, I can get lunch at the canteen. It’s two courses (soup and meat, and a drink), 6 days a week.

The main course is a meat of some sort (cutlet (it’s ground meat reshaped in to a ballish shape, but not a meatball; no sauce), a meatball (which has rice in it), or chicken), with a starch (mashed potatoes, plain noodles, rice, or kasha (buckwheat porridge)), and a salad of some sort (Wednesday’s was sliced cucumber, Thursday’s was sliced pickles). Everything varies by day.

Tuesday, I had fish soup. But not the way you’re thinking. In Ukraine, they make soup from canned fish. Think bone-in sardines. Chop some potatoes, grate some carrots, add some (chicken) bouillon, add a can of sardines, and boom, soup! It was a bit salty, but otherwise quite good, if one can get over the texture of sardines in one’s soup.

The meat Tuesday was… well, it was as if the chef had heard of fried chicken and waffles, but had assumed it was one thing. There were two, thin, waffle-like crusts, with some ground chicken stuffed in the middle. It tasted like fried chicken…

Pickle Soup

Yep. Pickles in the soup. Those tasty Ukrainian pickles, cooked in a soup. Chop some potatoes, grate some carrots, add some (chicken) bouillon, add some pickles, and boom, soup!

11 June 2015: A day in anecdotes. 

Laundry

Ukraine is called the “Posh Corps” by other volunteers, because we really are posh. We are issued heaters, fire extinguishers, CO and CO2 detectors, and we have to have electricity. We do not have to have running water, or central heating. Most of us do, as only the farthest villages lack central heating. Some volunteers have ‘dry’ sinks, and have to get water from wells. Some have to burn wood in the winter. Volunteers like myself, those in flats, have electricity and running water (I have a hot water heater and a washing machine).

Now, my Director is incredibly well traveled, to many countries. She has been to the US many times, and each time adjusts her flat and/or the school to what she saw in the US, such as grounded power outlets, and a mounted showerhead. At the school, there is a washing machine and a dryer, that any teacher/employee can use (you just have to supply your own detergent).

I carried a small load of clothes down to school, and got them started before the morning presentation. I set a mental timer, and headed back to the presentation. Due to the fact that I was helping some students, I lost track of time. My laundry was moved to the dryer (someone else needed the machine), and that is where the story starts.

My laundry didn’t dry. It got nice and hot, but it was still soaking wet, after a go round. One of the cleaning crew unplugged and replugged the dryer, just to check, then restarted it for half an hour. Still soaking wet. I emptied the water out (while most American dryers vent to the outside, this one collects the water in a reservoir), restarted it and it was still damp. But, hey, my clothes were mostly dry when I took them back to the flat, instead of soaking wet and needing to be line dried.

Birthday party

I’ve been in Ukraine 11 days and I’ve already been pressured to drink. Well, pressured is too strong a word. Cajoled to drink. Encouraged to drink. And told that, culturally, Ukrainians “eat, sleep, work hard, and drink a lot.”

It was one of the English teacher’s birthdays, and Ukrainians, like the Irish, will... you can finish that one. A small group of us (the English department, the director, and a friend) went to her classroom and took turns toasting her on her birthday. A bottle of champagne and cognac were part of this celebration. My minor victory was that I managed to keep my glass from getting refilled. Which is easier said than done, as you have to keep an eye on it and on who is pouring. You don’t have to worry about anything other than what you are drinking, though, but just that you might have an endlessly full glass. The “never put down your drink” rule is in effect, but only in order to not get refilled.

During the celebration, I was politely chinking plastic cups and smiling, the director started wondering why I was sipping my drink. I replied that I like to savour my drinks – which is true. Her answer was that I didn’t have to, as there was a lot to drink. Which led to the cultural note. My director added that she had once brought a bottle of that specific brand of Ukrainian cognac to the US, and it had gone over quite well, so… Which it should have - if it is the same cognac I had during the New Year's party when I was here earlier, it is quite good cognac. 

Coffee

Side note: I learned that it is possible to get and make real coffee (non-instant), as one of the teachers mentioned that he doesn’t drink the instant stuff any more. I am going to look into this. I wonder if he was talking about a French press?

(note: he was talking about Turkish-style coffee - where the grounds are spooned into the cup and hot/boiling water added to them)