Christmas though International Women's Day

In late December, my parents came to Ukraine for a visit. I met then in Kyiv, which was really wonderful. I took the 9.12 AM InterCiti+ train up to Kyiv, and waited in the Peace Corps lounge until their flight and the airport shuttle arrived. I spent some time wandering around the office and chatting with people. I met them at McDonalds, which is one of the best landmarks near the train station. It's two stories, so you really can't miss it. We all went back to the office to wait for our train. The parents of PCVs are allowed into headquarters along with their PCVs. We took the 17.30 PM train back to Olex. I managed to get us a taxi, which was good, as it was cold and dark when we got back. I'd bought a bottle of cognac for them, as Ukrainian cognac is quite good. We had some of that and herbal tea with some chocolate. 

We stayed in Olex for a few days, at my apartment. My parents got to meet my counterpart, which was really good. Originally, my school had a New Year's party the day after we arrived, but the big director in K'grad gave them a few extra days off, so they had their party on the day we were taking the train to Olex, so my parents were unable to meet everyone. We saw the town, the New Year’s Tree, and went to the restaurant which has crêpes. We got to tour my school. Mom and Dad took advantage of my washing machine and did a load of laundry. It started snowing the day they arrived, and the snow didn't really stop until mid-February. 

On New Year's Eve, we took the train to L'viv. Because it was NYE, we had an early dinner at the crêpe place, and finished packing after. We then walked about halfway to the train station, before getting a taxi the rest of the way. Which is standard for me in the dark. I got our tickets printed as souvenirs (Dad had them printed on regular paper), and we waited for our train. A man dressed as St. Nick came in and hopped one of the trains. It's traditional here - St. Nick comes on NYE, not Christmas Eve. Once our train had been called, we went out to the platform - there's only the one here - and waited. It was cold and snowing, but we didn't want to miss the train. 

We met a soldier on the platform and had a very interesting conversation in a mixture of Russian and English. Mom wanted to chat with him some more, but we didn't see him again. We had to run for our train. And by run, I mean actually run. Once safely in our compartment, we set up our beds. I'd bought all four bunks, so we had the compartment to ourselves.

Just before midnight, the train stopped in a small town, and the conductors had a small party. At first I thought the town was ringing a bell for the New Year, but it turned out that the people in the next compartment were listening to AC/DC. It was "Hell's Bells." It was quite something, seeing a St. Nick offering vodka to people on the platform, seeing the slight colored echo of the fireworks, and hearing "Hell's Bells." 

Once Dad went to sleep, he understood why I didn't want him up on the top bunk - it's smaller, and there's no easy way to get up to it. Train bunks are really small and short, so they can get 4 in each compartment. The top bunks are slightly smaller and shorter, as they have less room. The only way up... Well, one of two ways up is to just push yourself up all the way up or drop down (which really stresses the shoulder), or to use the collapsible ladder. It's a crapshoot either way, as someone my height doesn't get a grip at the top to haul themselves on to the bunk. 

The next morning, we had a packed breakfast (mandarin oranges, cookies, cheese) and ordered coffee from the conductor. We got to L'viv.

Dad takes a picture of the statue of Mary in L'viv. 

The historic Rynok (Market) Square in L'viv, with the craft fair. 

The historic Rynok (Market) Square in L'viv, with the craft fair.

The historic Rynok (Market) Square in L'viv, with the craft fair.

The Ukrainian flag, flying from the top of the clock tower in Rynok Square, L'viv.

The Italian Courtyard, as seen from the top of the Clock Tower in L'viv.

King Daniel

Once at the train station, we took a taxi to the hotel. It is very common for taxi drivers to stand just inside the train station and ask if anyone wants a taxi. They always ask people carrying luggage. Dad decided that it was a good idea, and we got to the hotel. There, we put our bags in the locked room, and went for lunch.

We had lunch at a tiny strudel place. Tiny. I'd been there before, so I knew the strudels were good. We got pictures and wandered around the square for a bit. 

Over the course of our days in L'viv, we went to countless churches, and had lots of coffee. We went to a place called Puzha Hata, which is a cafeteria-style cafe. There, we got borsch and vareniki. Mom thought the vareniki were correct, which was good. Unfortunately, it was difficult to find a table, as everyone put their stuff down first, meaning there were no free tables. We did eventually find a free table. 

We had dinner at the Uzbek place one night. There, we shared dumplings, a fried cheese roll, a pilaf, and mutton shashlik. We also ordered a bottle of wine, the one the waitress suggested. It was a white, but it hadn't been refrigerated. Dad ordered it all, so our waitress tried to explain that there were big portions. They eventually figured out what we were doing - that we were sharing everything. Our waitress was very attentive and professional. We all loved the mutton shashlik and the fried cheese roll. 

We also had dinner at Kumpel, a German restaurant famous for its three meter sausage. This famous sausage is three meter-long sausages all together. We ordered beer - Kumpel is also a microbrewery - and studied the menu. We decided on the sausage, and asked our waiter for his suggestion. He suggested we get the plate of "extra" which was the sauerkraut and other stuff which goes with the sausage. We got a salad starter - something with feta and olives. Everything was really good, my favorite sausage was the white one, the Viennese one. The only problem was the family at the closest table was letting their kids run wild through the restaurant. Our beers were their Dubble and their Christmas (a spiced Irish dry). Our waiter was excellent, working very hard and running around making sure everyone had enough beer and no one was worried about needing a new one. 

We had lunch at Pravda one day. Pravda is a new microbrewery in L'viv, and their head brewer is an American, so they brew American-style microbrews instead of Euro. We got their cheese and meat platters to share. The beers were an IPA and a stout. Usually, I like the stouts more, but this was a hoppy stout. I liked the IPA, as it was the malty IPA I like. Dad really liked the stout, so we switched. 

We had lunch at Cafe Centaur. We'd gone there the day before for coffee. I'd ordered us all Viennese coffees (coffee with cream and sprinkled with cinnamon), but we got something else. I'm not complaining, as what we had was better. We got French-Press coffee, with brown spices.  We were charged for coffee L'viv-style, so that's what we ordered when we went for lunch. But, coffee L'viv-style had lemon bitters in it, so that's not what we got... We all ordered lunch. I got smoked vareniki, Mom got galupsi (stuffed cabbages), and Dad got something with a cream sauce and bacon. It was all excellent.

It turns out that L'viv has two strudel restaurants, so we went to the other one, as well. This one was better and nicer, but even smaller. The strudels were beautiful and came with a specific sauce. They were delicious! 

We went to countless churches, and wandered the craft fair. Over the New Year's holiday, there was a craft fair in the city. There were booths everywhere, and people were selling lots and lots of crafts. We bought gifts for family and friends at one of the booths. We also toured lots of churches. We went to the Armenian Cathedral, the Latin Cathedral, the Jesuit Church (now the main chapel of the Ukrainian Military), and a few others. The Armenian Cathedral was amazing.  We went to the L'viv Handmade Chocolate factory and bought lots of gifts. We went to Her Majesty's for chocolate. I bought pysanky as gifts. 

We climbed the Clock Tower, and got lots of pictures at the top. Dad enjoyed it, but Mom and I found it cold. There were really cool views from the top, though. We went to the Arsenal Museum one day, as Dad wanted to see it. It was really cool. There were tags in both English and Ukrainian, do we knew what everything was. It would have been cool to know more about the collection. Dad knows a fair amount about military history, so he was able to tell us about some of the collection. We also went to the L'viv History Museum, where we saw the Italian Courtyard and the former rooms of the then-King – King of Rzecz Pospolita Jan III Sobieski. It is fascinating to think that L'viv was under Polish rule when the House of Bourbon ruled France. 

We left L'viv on the evening InterCiti+ train to Kyiv. Before leaving, we checked out of the hotel and spent an hour or so in a nearby cafe. The power went out while we were there, and nothing happened. It happens sometimes in Ukraine, and no one panics. We went to the L'viv Croissant place, and got sandwiches for dinner. We collected our bags from the locked room, and got a taxi to the train station. The concierge had called us the taxi, as he knew who to call and when we needed to be at the train station. 

Kyiv… We were staying at the same hotel I'd stayed in for the American House Camp. It has a great location in the heart of Kyiv. First, we were sent the wrong driver's telephone number, so we couldn't reach the right guy. Therefore, we thought he was in Borispol, not the train station. We eventually met up with our driver. Then, we get going, and he runs out of gas! Dad had to help push the car! Once he got gas, Dad tried to tell him he's going in the wrong direction. Turns out he thought we were going to a different hotel! I started yelling at him in Russian - the square - and he started going in the right direction. We finally get to the hotel.

There, we learn that my window has been left open, letting in the very cold air. The window was open because the previous guest was a smoker and had been smoking in the room. Then we learn that the higher level rooms (we'd stayed in the lowest level rooms for the camp) had awful beds. Truly awful beds. Like sleeping on an AT shelter floor on a ridge rest. I'm very glad I didn't flop backwards on to the bed. That would have hurt. A lot. The next day, we ended up having to get my room changed, as the cigarette smell was too strong. 

St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv

While we were in Kyiv, we visited St. Michael's. It's a beautiful, old Orthodox Church. It was snowing the entire time, coming down in perfect individual snowflakes. We walked out along the cliff wall. There is a very nice view off the Dnieper when it's nice out. We met a flock of Great Tits (don't laugh), which are chickadee looking birds. They are very curious and not afraid of people. They were also sure we were going to feed them. One flew over, chirped at us, and attracted the whole flock.

We then walked over to get pictures of St. Sophie's. By that point, my toes were cold enough to hurt. After Mom got her pictures, we headed down to O'Brien’s, an Irish pub. We all ordered tea, and our waitress told us to order fast if we wanted breakfast. I ordered lunch, Mom and Dad ordered breakfast. It was quite good. We walked around Khreshchatyk Street, going into stores. We didn't go to the flagship Roshen store, as we'd been to the one in L'viv. The one in L’viv had a very weird but very interested sculpture out front, with cat and a yarn ball. The one in Kyiv has the creepy puppets.

For dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant close to the hotel. It was quite good. We shared the house red, and all got different pastas. Dad got lamb, I think, while I got Alfredo and Mom got red sauce. 

The next day, we got up, and didn't go back to the hotel breakfast. We walked up, trying to find a cafe Mom had seen the day before. Not finding it (it was actually there, we just didn't see it), we went to the little croissant place near the hotel. Dad saw and wanted chocolate filled croissants. Turns out they were chocolate-banana croissants... We had been thinking about going to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), but we had to be somewhere else early. I suggested we walk out to St. Andrew's and the Descent. In the warmer months, there is a craft market that runs the length of the descent. Given the snow and ice, it's not surprising that there wasn't the craft market. We walked out, past St. Michael's, and out to St. Andrew's. St. Andrew's stands at the very edge of the Dnieper cliffs, send overlooks Kyiv. We walked a bit down the Descent, but it was steep and slippery, so we turned around pretty quickly. 

We walked down to St. Sophie's and took pictures. We then wandered down to the Zoloti Vorota (the Golden Gates), the original gates to the city. We took lots of pictures, before wandering down to Khreshchatyk. We went to a grocery store, looking for a host gift, before deciding on lunch. We went back to O'Brien’s, where I got a bacon cheeseburger (the first since May). We spent the rest of the afternoon packing, as we were going to be out late and all had to leave early the next morning. 

We went out to Obukhov and had dinner with my host family. My parents brought my host-mother a lot of gifts from the U.S. We had an amazing dinner, and everyone was able to come, so my parents met my host-uncle and his family. It was amazing. There was a lot of culture and traditions that night. Dad learned about the tradition to clink glasses last with a man, and we all got to try very nice vodka. We all got to eat a traditional Christmas Eve food - oats with Uzvar. It was a very special night. 

Once we went back to Kyiv, that was that. My parents had a very early wake up call for their transfer to Borispol, and I had a 7.15 train back to Olex. 

My school restarted the following Monday. I learned that the 6th Formers are using Karpuke book for second semester. 

Most schools in the Oblast closed for the flu. The Swine flu was going through Ukraine, and most schools in the country were closed. Except for mine, of course. The big director in K'grad didn't want to close schools. We only had about half of our students, as the town students didn't always come in, but the boarding students did. 

The first week back, the 8th formers were learning about music, and one of the example bands was U2. I was able to give a 10ish minute PowerPoint on them , and play some snippets of famous songs. The students seemed to enjoy it. 

There was one week where the temperature dropped below zero Fahrenheit. School was not closed. That was the week I had to go to Kyiv for the National Olympiad Committee Meeting. I didn't have to go to school on Monday or Wednesday, but I did have to go to school on Tuesday. It had started snowing on Saturday and still hadn't stopped by Tuesday. The snow was higher than my boots and the drifts were mid-thigh. That week, PCV PB was bitten by a stray dog and I was threatened by a stray dog. Not a good week for PCVs… 

I took the morning train up to Kyiv and spent the afternoon at HQ, where I meet some new Group 48ers. I also helped PB with the documents he was editing for our Training Manager. I went with TG to O'Brien’s, as we both wanted burgers. 

The next day was the first Working Group meeting. We learned what we would be doing and broke into groups. I was the only one who had a train back that night, so I felt incredibly left out. The group went to go have fun (and maybe see Star Wars) but I was stuck in the PC lounge waiting for my train. 

The next day, I met VS and AH and went shopping with them. They are really nice and it is nice to have more PCVs in Olex. I’ve gone shopping with them several times.

The 8th Formers had a Culture Choice Day, which is where IA teaches them about a cultural thing. It was Christmas one time and Dickens another. This time it was the "Fields of Athenry." The book assumed certain knowledge, such as the Irish/English... Troubles. It also assumed that the reader would know about Botany Bay, transport, and penal colonies. So, I had to quickly explain that before I could talk about the song. The Culture Choice was all about Irish music, both traditional and punk. 

One day, the 11th Formers were learning about the conditionals. I created a PowerPoint with the phrases, and they had to make the conditional expression. The example was "go to Florida/get bitten by an alligator." One of my students was wonderful, as she said, "if I hadn't gone to Florida last summer, I wouldn't have been bitten by an alligator." She got it!! 

My English Club is doing a bit better. They are more likely to listen to me now, but they are still wild and out of control. It is not good when the instructor dreads the English Club because of the students. 

I'm taking a graduate school class this semester, and the professor wants us to do observations of how people look for and ask for information. I went to K'grad, as she wanted our first observation to be somewhere we didn't know that well. I too the bus out Saturday, and met CW. We were going to a new cafe. I got there first, and had to call her to make sure I was at the right place. I'd never been there, and she hadn't given me the name. The cafe was called Kex, and it was near the centre square. It has good food, and amazing lattes. We got quiche for a small snack and to have with our lattes. After awhile, we went to an odd restaurant, one that had Italian food. And sushi. I was able to get one of my overall favorite teas - a fruit tea (not an herbal tea, but with forest fruits), which I had had for the first time at Camp OHALOW. We wandered around centre K'grad until I had to go back to Olex. 

I meet PCV AH for lunch on Sunday, and we talked about the various mini-camps. 

The week of February 18th was the Week of English at my school. I gave a short presentation on US landmarks to the entire school during their morning parade on Tuesday. We also had other events, such as Karaoke (only two songs, "It's My Life" and "We Are the Champions"), and English Marathon races (where the students had to play games in English for points).  

That Friday was the next National Olympiad Working Group meeting in Kyiv. I was again the only one with a train back on Friday afternoon, so I felt very stressed with what we were doing. Everyone else could take their time with the materials, but I had to rush. Our Ministry contact chose the materials. We then had to decide which readings were the final readings, as well as the writing and speaking prompts. Those needed work. Over the next few weeks, we would be creating questions for the reading and listening materials.

We all trouped over to a Mexican place, where we got burritos and chimichangas. JG ordered a Bloody Mary with his, and I ordered a Cosmo. JG tried my Cosmo - he's always wanted to try one, but never has - and added it to his list if drinks he likes. It is always fun to hang out with other PCVs, as we all have stories to tell.

I took the train back Friday night, and got up extremely early the next day in order to judge the K'grad Oblast Olympiad. I had an alarm for 4.45 AM, as I had to take the 6.10 AM bus to K'grad, and the Olex buses don't run that early. There were 5 students, my colleague T, and me. Several of the students were not competing in the Olympiad, but another event. The bus was freezing, but we got to K'grad in time. I ended up tripping and falling over shortly after getting off the bus. There was a piece of concrete and rebar right near to where the bus had stopped, and I took a step back, caught my feet, and went down. T immediately pulled me to my feet. I realized afterwards that I had instinctively thrown my left arm out, palm down. Had I not been wearing a puffy coat, I would have done a correct back break fall (meaning I would have broken a backwards fall). I was completely fine, but I did freak out T and the students.

We took a bus down to the centre, and walked to where the Olympiad was being held. T dropped me off at one place and went with the students to check in. I was led to the judges' room, and told where and who I would be judging. I met up with PR, another PCV. He's somewhat of an institution in K'grad, as he's been there for years and years. 

First, I proctored the writing portion, which means I watched the students write a test, and answered a few question. After they had finished, I went to a different group, and ran the listening and reading portions. The listening section was an extract from 1984 and the students had to answer questions about it just from listening to it twice. After the listening, the students had the reading section, where they read and answered questions. There was an issue with the answer sheets, as two sections were mis-numbered. The students understandably freaked and we had to get a testing administrator down to solve the problem. It worked out in the end. After that, it was time for lunch.

Lunch was supplied for the judges, and was a fairly standard Ukrainian lunch of soup, mashed potatoes, and fish. The mashed potatoes were wonderful. There were pickles, too. Ukrainians love their wonderful pickles.  

After lunch was the "jewel" of the Olympiad - the speaking section. During this section, each student chose a prompt (from my hat), and had two minutes to think before speaking. Some were very good. One poor student burst into tears. The teachers I was with were very willing to give them a few extra minutes. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I completely understand the feeling. Oddly enough, she didn't get the lowest score - one student refused to speak on their topic. 

A dragonfly sculpture in K'grad. 

A dragonfly sculpture in K'grad,

After the Olympiad, I went to Kex for a latte (and to use their wifi to check my email) while I waited for the next bus. I got the bus back to Olex. 

My 11th formers started a unit on landmarks and they learned about relative clauses. They had a lesson on volcanoes, so I got a chance to teach them about famous ones. Something I particularly like crossed paths with their books. 

The last Thursday in February was an Opposite Day of sorts, as the students were in charge. All of the administrative positions were held by students. Students taught the classes, and even had a demo lesson one class period for the teachers. The students acted like the person they were playing, to sometimes hilarious results. I was "tricked" into teaching a grammar lesson, as the students wanted me to teach the lesson. I didn't know it was a grammar lesson, so I was making it up as I went along. I know what relative clauses are and I know how to use them, but I have no idea how to teach them. Especially defining and non-defining relative clauses...

International Women's Day is celebrated 08 March. It was a Tuesday this year, so we got Monday and Tuesday off. On Friday, there was a party at school. There were lots of toasts, and lots of food. There was dancing, there were party games, and several of my male colleagues dressed in drag for one of the games. However, when the dance instructor is one of your competitors... 

The Maidan Memorial in Centre Square, K'grad. A statue of Sergey Kirov used to be there. 

Centre Square, K'grad. 

I went into K'grad on Monday, and I got to meet all of the K'grad PCVs. We have a new one - NA was recently evacuated from somewhere in South/Central America. I also met MK, an ex-pat who was PCV. She's retired, and she and PB had a lot of fun making fun of me for being young. I did recognize that the menu was printed on a record, I just thought the grooves would have been deeper... We talked about the technology and tech support issues that the Peace Corps has. 

After lunch, we all went to MK's Russian tutor, as she was having a International Women’s Day celebration. It was really cool. After that, I went back to Kex and met CW. There, we met PR and NA, who were there with colleagues. NA is still in the wide-eyed integration stage, as he got here only a few weeks ago. 

On Tuesday, I did some grocery shopping and got ready for the week. 

The Taras Shevchenko memorial. There are several copies of the Kobzar, his most famous work. 

My school has up a small memorial to Taras Shevchenko. His birthday was 09 March and his death date 10 March. It is the week of Ukrainian Literature at my school.