20 Days and Counting

As I type this at Cafe Shakhtar in Olex, I have only twenty days left in Ukraine. I also have no power at my apartment, or I didn't when I went for a walk and lunch. I have a checklist of things to do before I can COS and fly home.

Not much has really happened in the last few weeks. Spring has sprung, and it is extremely beautiful. The students at school have been taking their "four skills tests," which are short tests to, well, test their four primary skills of reading, listening, writing, and speaking. These tests take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, and, if the scores are too low, the students get to retake the tests.

The eleventh formers are taking their DPAs, as well as their independent subject testing. The DPAs are A-Levels, NEWTS, or EOCs, depending on where you took yours. They are required to take the DPAs in certain subjects in order to get into Uni, so these are really important. The independent subject testing is a second type of test, and the students take the ones in the subjects they want to go to Uni in, sort of like SAT subject testing, but more important. Unlike AP tests, they don't get any credit, but which tests they take, and their scores can determine where they go on to Uni, and in some cases, if they go on to Uni. They are all required to take Ukrainian, but they can choose which other tests they take. All of them are taking three independent subject testing, except for one girl who is taking four. The students who wish to study Maths or Physics take Maths and/or Physics, while the ones who want to study humanities take History.

I will see my English club once during the entire month of May, assuming we have it on Monday. The first and second Monday in May were Easter and Veterans Day, respectively, I was in Kyiv last weekend, and Memorial Day Monday is after the last day of school.

Easter Sunday was May Day here, so we got an extra two days off - Monday and Tuesday. I didn't see much over Easter, unfortunately. I tried to wrangle an invite to whatever celebrations were happening, but never got an invite. I do know that people got up really early to go to church and get their Paskas blessed. A paska is an Easter bun. The one I had tasted a lot like Panettone, complete with candied fruits. People usually make them themselves, but you can buy them if you don't have time to make them. You take them with you when you go visiting family and friends over the Easter Holiday. A lot of people went to see family in the far-flung villages, as it was a four day weekend. Kyiv also did an amazing job decorating St. Mikhail's and St. Sophia's Squares with Pysanky. Pysanky are Ukrainian Easter Eggs, basically. They are decorated with patterns and colors specific to the different Oblasts, and the different colors and patterns all mean something different. They come in both wood and the traditional eggshell varieties.

My Paska. 

The Friday before Easter, my colleagues and I ran an Easter Egg hunt with the students, using various Pysanky N (the handicrafts and English teacher) had made. She hid them while I told the students about the U.S. tradition of Easter Egg hunts. Then we passed out a sheet of paper with riddles about where the eggs were and sent the students off. They had to take a selfie with their team and their Pysanky at each location to prove who won. The students loved it!

The next week was Veterans Day. My school usually lays flowers on the local Tomb of the Unknown, a few days before the holiday. I really wanted to, but I never got a straight answer about when the school would be doing that, as everyone shrugged and said that they didn't know when I asked. There was a parade in Kirovograd, but not in Olex. It was really short, but my friends who were there said it was really awesome. This Veterans Day specifically celebrates VE Day, so there were WWII vets in the parades all over the country.

Vokzal Oleksandryia, as seen from the InterCiti+ to Kyiv.

I had to go to Kyiv for the first thing on my COS checklist - the physical exam, a dental exam, and a TB test. I went up to Kyiv on Friday, and came back on Monday, hence the not having English Club. There were a couple of PCVs in the office on Friday, so we all went out to dinner that night. Did you know that there is a very good Lebanese place near HQ? Well, there is. Excellent humus and something called “yogurt cheese.”

I was not staying in sickbay, despite what I had originally thought, but at the hotel near HQ. I was in a 2+1 room, which means that there are two rooms - one with two single beds and one single - sharing a bathroom. Like a hostel, but without a hall bath. It was about as secure as a hostel... In fact, I've stayed in more secure hostel rooms in Ireland. The door knob looked and felt as if someone had tried to force it at one point, and the door jamb came right to the door knob on the inside, making it hard to lock it from the inside. No one was in the other room, I don't think but, still... The shower was also pretty bad - I had to let the water run for a good ten minutes to get hot water, and then it leaked on to the floor. Plus, basically no water pressure. I'm complaining about nothing, I know. This hotel isn't bad, but I'm not going to miss the 2+1 rooms when I get home.

On Saturday I had my dental exam. The clinic HQ uses is about a thirty minute bus ride, and it doesn't look like any dental clinic I've been in. The admin assistant offered me tea or coffee while I waited... to have my teeth cleaned. The dentist herself was very nice, but she seemed to enjoy scraping my gums with pointy dental tools. Then she pressure washed my teeth, with a baking soda spray. They have to protect your tongue while they do that, and the water gets everywhere, even down the back of my neck... My teeth were extremely clean when she finished, even if my gums were sore for a few hours. I now understand why another PCV came back from his dental appointment complaining about how painful it was.

There was another PCV at the office, so we went out for lunch. It turns out the Italian place right next to HQ has amazing borshch. After lunch, we had a quiet afternoon in the office, as it was raining almost all day. We went out for dinner before she had to catch her train. There was no one but me in the office on Sunday. I went in to drop off my bag - I was NOT going to leave my computer at that hotel - before heading out for the Spoosk.

I walked up to Universitet Metro station, and took the red line to Khreshchatyk street. HQ is almost directly in between Universitet and Vokzal Metro stations (in fact, the red line runs directly under HQ - you can see it on Google Maps!), and the walk up to Universitet is through a botanical garden, so it is much prettier. At Khreshchatyk, I walked over to Maidan, and took some pictures. I was approached by one of the people with "tame" doves, and had to be actually rude to get him to back off. I don't feel that bad - he approached me when I had my head down, looking at my phone to take a picture.

Maidan

St. Mikhail's Cathedral

After that, I crossed Khreshchatyk, and walked up to St. Mikhail's Square. The bells were ringing. I didn't get to see the Pysanky from Easter, as they were taking them down, but I did see a few that had been already loaded up. I walked past St. Mikhail's and over to St. Andryei's, and the Spoosk. St. Andryei's Spoosk is a craft fair on a fairly dangerous descent down the cliff St. Andryei's overlooks. I walked down the Spoosk taking pictures and looking at what was for sale, and then back up, when I bought a Vynok. A Vynok is a flower crown, and they are a symbol of Ukraine. I also bought another Pysanky or two. I think I have a collecting problem...

A mural on an apartment complex on the Spoosk. 

St. Andryei's and the Spoosk.

St. Sophia's Bell Tower. Quite a good landmark. 

St. Sophia's Cathedral.

After walking back up the Spoosk, I wandered through the art side of the craft fair, over towards St. Sophia's. The three Cathedrals make a triangle - St. Andryei's the tip of the triangle, with the two longer sides pointing to St. Sophia and St. Mikhail. I had a brief moment where I wasn't sure if I was on the right path, but then I saw St. Sophia's bell tower and knew where I was. I had a burger at the Irish pub near St. Mikhail, before heading back to HQ. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the lounge, as it was, once again, raining. The lounge is kinda sad when there isn't anyone in the office, just me and the guards who didn't get Sunday off this week. I had some more borchsh for dinner, and headed back to the hotel for a shower.

On Monday, I had my TB test check, and then a few hours before my train. I got a lot of questions answered about COS procedures, and had lunch with a COSing PCV. We shared a pizza at a restaurant near HQ. Quite good. There were a few other PCVs in the lounge on Monday, as it was a business day. My train back to Olex was uneventful. It turned out that the two women in my row were also getting off in Olex, and we had an interesting conversation in my limited Russian. One was a photographer, the other an engineer.

I got to explain the apostrophe in "o'clock" to the fifth formers, who were learning about time.

Thursday was Vyshyvanka Day in Ukraine, so I wore my Vyshyvanka and my Vynok. I was told I was "Ukrainian" at least twice, and received no less than a dozen compliments. There was also a Vyshyvanka celebration in the Centre Square, where our school had a flashmob dance to celebrate and show off their Vyshyvankas. It was amazing. I wish I'd gotten some pictures, but I didn't have a great view. And it was raining. Hard and cold. The students were complaining about the cold. Vyshyvankas aren't very warm, as they're very thin shirts. The dance was wonderful. After the rain started pouring down, my students ran back to the Gymnasium, and I wandered back to my apartment.

I still don't have any power at the apartment - one of the babushkas sitting on the stoop said something about four - and I'm waiting for my Russian tutor. We're going to the local museum. So I can compare Olex with Winston. If I don't have power by dinner, I'll have to get dinner out. I think I'll call V and invite her along. Would be nice to see her before I leave.

I went to the local history museum in Olex, were I got to see some awesome pictures from the early 20th century, as well as artifacts from the various wars in the town. I got to see a lot of cool things. I want to try to pick up a flag of the town, Oblast, and country before I leave. My tutor said I could do that in town. Now, to find where I can get them…