The payoff

25 April 2007
This morning I woke up early, despite the fact that it’s my day off and I didn’t have anywhere I needed to be. On my mind was the “Miss College” pageant that took place last night. Several of my students participated, and I was curious how Ira K (from English club) did. I didn’t want to ask her though, in case she was upset about the results, so I sent text messages to Nataly and Oskana to see if they knew the outcome.
Nataly wrote back that she was in the hospital, because she’s ill, and that she didn’t know the results. I didn’t hear from Oksana for quite a while, so I gave up on the idea, figuring that I’d find out tomorrow at school. I decided to get an early start on my errands, as the post office is less crowded the earlier you get there, and I had a package to pick up.
I was walking across the small park near our house. It’s the one in front of Sabor Yura (St. George’s Cathedral), near the Polytechnic University. I was admiring the fresh green-yellow leaves on the Spring trees and trying not to step in muddy patches along the path, when my phone beeped. It was hanging around my neck, so I reached under my jacket to grab it. I was excited when I saw that it was a message from Oksana, thinking I would finally get to know the results of the Miss College pageant. As I read the first screen of her message, I was disappointed, as she also did not know the results. Then I scrolled down to the rest of the message. It read:

“I don’t know because I didn’t go there. But I /
have other good news. Yesterday they called me /
from IREX. I have won, and it means that I’m /
going to America!!!”

Standing on the muddy dirt path in that park, holding my phone in my hand as its shoelace lanyard dangled around my neck, I began to cry. Short gasping breaths snuck out of me, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I read the message again, sobbing now. I lifted my head from the phone to see if any passersby might be staring at the unusual scene I had created, but it was early yet and the park was mostly empty. I stepped off to the side of the path, onto some new, stubby grass, and began to reply to Oksana’s message. There weren’t words to express what I wanted to tell her at that moment, how her life would change forever, how she would have a different perspective on her world once she returned, and how she was going to have so many new opportunities open to her, so I simply told her I was happy for her and I couldn’t wait to hear all about it.
The program Oksana was referring to is an opportunity for college students from Eurasia to spend one academic year at a college in the U.S. She applied for it many months ago, and has since kept her progress through the various stages of the application process a secret from everyone at our College except me and her roommate. She will leave Ukraine in the summer and begin at her new college in the Fall semester of this year.
I continued on down the path through the park, wiped my face, blew my nose. My legs felt tingly and the tears were slow to dry up. I felt giddy. I wanted to jump up and click my heels together. I wanted to tell everyone I knew. I wanted to make plans to visit Oksana in America. I realized she would be there before I would. I began to wonder what she was thinking, how her parents were reacting to the news, her friends, her teachers.
It is the most perfect reward I could be given for my two years of service. It is better than any applause or party in my honor. Better than my students’ good grades on the assignments I give them or their genuine interest in what I have to tell them. All of that is temporary, and all of that stays in Ukraine when I leave.
When Oksana got called back to Kyiv for the semifinal round of the application process, she confessed to me that she was deathly afraid of escalators. While navigating the metro in Kyiv to get to the study abroad office, she would have to overcome this fear and just hop on. Now in a few short months this same girl will take the first plane ride of her life and touch down in some big American city she’s only seen in movies. She’ll be surrounded by people speaking English, and other languages, with different backgrounds and different life experiences. She will enroll in classes at an American Univeristy, eat lunch in a college cafeteria, live in a dorm with roommates, ride escalators at shopping malls, and ride in cars down American highways. She will have endless questions. She will miss Ukraine. She will begin to understand some of the things I have told her, and she will learn the rest of it for herself.
Oksana deserves all the credit for her successful study abroad application. But she wouldn’t have known about this opportunity had I not printed it out from an email I received and brought it to her. This almost negligible effort on my part will forever change this one girl’s future. And every time I walk through that park near Sabor Yura I am reminded of the moment when I learned that Oksana was going to go to America. At that moment my daily complaints become small, my dedication feels appreciated, and I feel confident that my temporary presence in Ukraine won’t ever fade completely.










(That's Oksana, far right, with other girls from my English Club)

Photo Exhibit

Check out this great photo exhibit by Yuriy Bilak. It's on display now here in L'viv, and I encourage you to go see it if you're in the area (at the ethnography museum on Svobody, 3rd floor, and it's free). The rest of you will have to settle for the photos on the website. They're excellent! He's really captured a lot of what makes this place unique.

http://ybilak.free.fr/ukrainians.htm

new writing

I've got a new piece on my Peace Corps experience at www.perigee-art.com.

They also said some pretty nice things about me.

Easter #2

On Easter people greet each other with "Christ has risen." The correct response is, "he has risen, indeed." We learned this last year, and were ready this Easter.

It's difficult to explain what a huge holiday Easter is in Ukraine. It's a lot like Christmas in the U.S., with a huge, though less commercial, build-up for weeks beforehand.

We got to Pryluky without hassle. Took a nearly empty morning express train to Kyiv, and hopped on the first marshrutka to Pr'ky. Little did we know, our old host father Valera is now driving the Kyiv-Pr'ky route, and we could have gotten a ride with him had we waited about an hour. We arrived in town early, and only Babusya T was home. We tried to chat with her a bit, but she informed us she was watching a film, so we gave up on that.

Later, Larysa came home and we ate dinner. Our friends Kris and Jen were coming into town later on a bus, but we would wait to see them Saturday. Valera got home, and he and Larry immediately enjoyed "5 drops" (of guess what?) together, though I wasn't invited to partake. We sat around the table and chatted like old times. Valera informed us that our Ukrainian was much worse, and that I, in particular, needed to go back to school. I decided not to tell him that my intermediate level of Ukrainian is a lot better than his English, and is the only reason why we can converse in the first place. =)

Saturday, we dyed eggs with onion skins (not red onions, but the yellow ones). Try it! They turn a beautiful red. We put these plastic strips around them that shrink up when you dip them in boiling water. So they look like traditional Ukrainian "pysanka," to the untrained eye.

Babusya L across the street has already baked her famous Easter bread by the time we arrived, since Saturday was also a holiday this year and no one could work. It was delicious, as we remembered. Though this year we knew not to overdo it. You should never fill yourself up during a meal, because you never know how soon again you'll be eating. This fact, K & J were reminded of as they ate 3 times before 1pm on Easter! We were lucky and I think we only ate 3 times that day. Also, there is a tradition for young women to eat the bread of 12 different paska loaves. This will make you get married soon.

We went to church to get the basket blessed on Saturday, after dying the eggs and preparing the meat. Yes, that's mayonnaise on the meat. We used a whole packet (the yellow thing sitting there), and it was tasty! She boiled it before baking it for a couple hours in a plastic bag. I got to help with that preparation while Larry sat and watched. Little did they know that if we were to repeat that recipe in our home in the future, he would most likely be the one in charge.

We stood in a circle around the outside of the church with our baskets in front of us. The basket contains: meat, eggs, salt, cheese, horse radish, and sometimes wine. They believe that the blessed food is healthier for you and doesn't go bad. Valera told us that if you put a blessed egg and a regular egg side by side, the regular one would go bad after some time but the blessed egg could last a year or more. We decided not to test that theory.

Another fun part of Easter are "egg wars." You tap your egg, once on each side, against someone else's to see whose cracks. The winner takes the other person's cracked egg and eats it. I had the champion egg for a long time, which I got tired of finally because I wanted to eat it. Here you can see Larry and Kris in the middle of a battle. Then Kris' champion egg took on Toli.

What I love about this holiday is how special it is to Ukrainians. We could not have spent it in a better place, with our original "Ukrainian families." They were so good to us, and took us into their homes when we knew nothing of the language or culture. We spent hours around the table, like on Easter, discussing everything from the current politcal situation (grumble, grumble), to Dancing with the Stars, to teaching experiences and our family back in the States.

It was great to see our best PC friends, and to reminisce about when we first arrived in Ukraine. Pr'ky was so confusing, and everything was intimidating. Returning to that city we felt at ease, like seasoned veterans playing an old game. We're lucky to have such a comfortable place to return to, to remind us of what extensive goodness exists here. It's a reminder of what it was like when we came here, and how far we've come since then.

Happy Easter!

looks like i did jinx it

worldview magazine link

well, my piece got published. unfortunately, the editors at the magazine ran out of room in the print edition, so my piece got stuck online.

pretty dissapointing.

it's the 'first shot at the cup' link at the top.

piv-tor-ah

(one and a half)

So we're one and a half years in. That means less than 8 months to go.

In so many ways it seems like much longer. And on the other hand it's really flown by.

This past week my students debated whether or not women should work (as you read in Larry's post, below). There were some interesting opinions, and many interesting arguments. They did a great job with the argument part, though the "supporting your opinion with facts or statistics" is still a tough one. Also, I specifically warned against generalizing "all people..." or "everyone," but it happened a lot anyway. Hey, I can't undo a lifetime of generalizing in a few months.

But I'm trying. =)

women and work (?)

I sat in on one of Karen's classes today. Her students were debating whether or not mothers should have jobs. Here are some nice one-liners I wrote down during the class. Not sure how relevant to the topic they are.

"All women want the chance to be beautiful, to be told that they are pretty."

"Children are gifts from God to two parents."

"If a woman is in old clothes and curlers, her husband will leave her."

"Women must always look beautiful. When a woman looks ugly, her husband can look at he and say, 'This it not my wife.'"

"Did you love your fathers less because they worked?"

"It is hard to find a girl who has a good relationship with her father."

"To feel a mother's love: It is the most important feeling in a child's life."

lviv 26 march 07

fresh from an unbelievably well executed surprise bday party for casey--a weekend that saw our part of the world's time leap ahead an hour and more guests than we've had since last summer--i step out of my apartment this morning and there's a dead woman.

she laying prostrate on the corner on the park nearest our block. her feet are wrapped in green and white socks. her head is buried in her scarf.

she's not moving. she might be sleeping, passed out from too much of something, but she's not.

after i pass her on my way to exchange some money--you don't stop and help these people; you just can't because it happens way too often--i come back by her body and the ambulance has pulled up. a nurse pops out of the back of the van.

she lays an orange bag onto the pavement near the lady, smooths its wind-curled sides, and rolls the lady onto it.

zips her into it.

insane

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/03/18/c1.cr.teacherarrest.0318.p1.php

i know that guy. he was in my building, on my floor during my time at U of O.

i feel all dirty and tingly.

A Wedding March

This week in class we've been disucssing "Wedding Traditions" in the U.S. Of course, the students are a bit thrown off my some of my wedding photos (the beach in January without snow, smearing cake on each others' faces, flip-flops on bridesmaids...).

Many have told me that the building where we got married isn't actually a church, because there are no "icons" on the walls like in Ukrainian churches. I try to explain to them that it is a non-denominational (tough concept) chapel, where church groups of different religions hold services. Then I try to explain the idea of a "justice of the peace" rather than priest...another toughie.

We discussed traditional vows, the idea of writing your own vows, tossing the bouquet, the cake-cutting ceremony, gift registry, the toast, and of course the honeymoon.

Most of their ideas are from movies, of course. You don't find out about some of the important details from watching movies. They liked the gift registry concept, but it was a difficult one to grasp. Most Ukrainian stores still don't even give receipts, and there are very few chains. So the concept of scanning items and updating the registry list all over the country was puzzling.

=) Think of all these things you take for granted.

street life

hunger, yesterday, overtook me on the street. i stopped at a kiosk and bought a hot dog made with a hunter's sausage--a thin, tasty type of cured sausage. as i'm waiting for my dog, these two guys order beer--of course. they receive bottles.

they ask for a bottle opener and go to down on it with one free hand. they manage to get one edge pried up and the one guy says, that's good enough.

he grabs the bottle in his hand puts the cap--the metal cap--between his teeth. he then pries the lid off.

snap!

wow.

and my grandma said teeth weren't made for pliers.

a warm fuzzy

wow.

two minutes ago i was going to log in and blog it up with a bunch of bitching. some needed venting. but then i got an email.

we worked on a conference in Poltava last weekend. i presented about racial diversity in ukraine. it was fun, but i don't know how much we impacted the students. i've been in a rut like that, feeling kinda useless lately. and then this:

"'I was expecting the Americans to tell us about their culture and makeus believe the same things. Instead, they encouraged us to have adiscussion and find solutions for ourselves. I was really surprised.' -- a graduate student from the Technical University"

a student from the conference wrote that.

i am really truly very happy right now.

i'm going to hold onto that and just move on without bitching about anything.

the cat's done outta the bag

sorta.

it will be soon.

i guess i won't be jinxing it now, so i'll let you know.

i'm getting pub'd this summer in Worldview magazine. www.worldviewmagazine.com

it'll be a piece i wrote last summer on ukraine. two-thousand words.

my first worldwide, print publication credit.

look grandma, i'm a real wrter (<<< oh the irony in misspelling that word) now!!

yay.

what occupation?

so, yushchenko mentioned that he might like to see an occupation museum open up in ukraine--a museum to talk about the soviet occupation. he had just visted on ein georgia and got the idea.

and then this from the press:

Creation of Museum of Soviet Occupation, the necessity of which was outlined by the President Yushchenko in Tbilisi, will become the final point of division of Ukraine into West and East. Member of Communist party of Ukraine Oleksandr Golub told Friday.
“It will lead to final split of Ukraine,” he said. “It is just another inadequate action of the President.

"What occupation? This is absurd,” Golub added.

first, it's "what famine?"

then, "what racism?"

now it's, "what occupation?"

backwards more than forwards, i tell you.

backwards more than forwards.

ixnay on the inxjay

came to kyiv for medical and dental exams. routine stuff. were looking for an apartment to stay in cuz we didn't want to stay in the same ol' hotel way out in the middle of nowhere. in that quest, we had a very poor service interaction (surprise) with a ukrainian woman who rents hotels in kyiv. but we ended up in an apartment anyway with our friends kris and jen. we were headed, tonight, to see them in poltava and work on a conference; instead, they areflying back to the u.s. they've received some bad news about a family member and are returning home for two weeks for a funeral. we wish them safe travels. we did the same trip a little over a year ago. we understand the pain in going home, but also the joy that mixes in from being able to see home again. very, very bittersweet.

big heat today. up to plus 5 or so. snow is melting--maybe for good this time? the roads are like rivers for all of the run-off. we walked forty minutes in the rain to the detists and forty minutes back. avoiding the metro, for no other reason than just because. so far, so good.

in somewhat exciting news, which isn't confirmed yet, i submitted a piece of my pc writing series that i'm doing for perigee-art.com to worldview magazine--a pc magazine with worldwide distribution. they wrote that they liked my piece, offered edits, and said they were interested in publishing it in the summer. if so, it'll be my first real-deal print magazine publication.

i hope i didn't just jinx that.

:D

Family

It's been an interesting week in class, as Larry referred to below. I've been teaching about "American Families," and all that entails. I've been challenging the students to define family, helping them with some vocabulary along the way, but mostly focusing on their opinions and ideas of who makes a family.

We've had some heated debates and discussions. I love it when they disagree with each other and aren't afraid to express their views. I try not to impose my views on them, and encourage them to respect each others' ideas, especially if they disagree.

This week they did it all.

We start by drawing our families. It's interesting to see if they only include those who they live with, or if the extended family makes it into the drawing. Sometimes they include pets, and we discuss whether or not pets can be family members. We go over some key terms (related by blood, by marriage, extended vs. nuclear family, co-inhabitants, etc) and then I challenge them to write a definition of "family." Most come up with something along the lines of "a group of people related by blood or marriage, who love and support each other." Some leave out the feelings aspect, others include the idea that "family" doesn't have to be related, but just people you feel strongly commited to.

I pass out notecards with different living arrangements, and they discuss whether or not each is a "family." Often they begin to contradict their own definitions, so we discuss it. They have a difficult time with one example couple I included, together for over 25 years but not married and no kids. They argue over whether or not this is a family, because they have no stamp in their passport (apparently something that happens in Ukraine when people are married), and no proof of their relationship. Some argue that a couple must have children, but then when I mention same-sex couples they change their minds.

I realize that most of these are new questions for them. No one has ever challenged their very traditional notion of family as a mother, father, and children. Many of them don't know any other model. They are shocked to learn that the majority of households in the US are comprised of a married couple with no kids (29%), followed by a person living alone (26%), only then do we have married couples with children (24%).

They also have had interesting discussions about what the "official stamp" means. They ask me why two people would live together so long without getting married. They don't know any people like this. Some seem to believe that without this stamp the relationship could end tomorrow, even in the case of the couple together for 25 years. They worry about the future of this relationship more than my 2-years-young marriage.

They shared openly and maturely, in most cases. I was impressed by their willingness to reevaluate their own definitions.

* * *

Check out the "Photos" link for some new Mardi Gras photos. I believe it was my first time celebrating this holiday. It meant a lot to Edwin, and we paused for a moment of silence for the city and people of New Orleans.

Sending you smiles from L'viv.

sadly it's coming to an end

the q, that is.

it's time to start working in the classroom again, come monday. i doubt any of you feel sad for me, and i don't blame you. i would complain that having nothing to do is rather boring, but i'm very good at filling my time and my life. i have no complaints on that front.

on tuesday, we had a big ol mardi gras party. our citymate, edwin, hosted. he's from nowlins, so he knew how to do it right. we made masks and ate beans and rice and gumbo and the famous king cake--replete with the seven pound, six ounce baby jesus buried under the sugary green and blue crust. no idea what i'm talking about? i didn't either until two days ago.

the king cake's a big deal. if you find the baby jesus--which one fo the ukrainian guests did--you hafta host the next party. as he's moving to america with his new american bride, i guess we'll have the hoedown next year in the states.

the spirit of the party was thrown into stark relief by a comment one of karen's students made about new orleans during class. she mentioned how a lot of people felt katrina hit the gulf coast because god wanted to punish the area--specifiaclly n o--for its sins. nothing else i've heard in this country has made me so slack jawed. the hate that religion breeds...it's so old testament. and the main reason i stay aloof from (of?) religion. all that religious leaders (and political pundits who have become the spokespeople of the church) can talk about is hate and seperation. and, frankly, i'm fucking tired of that kinda talk.

[/end rant]

yesterday, we went to a club in lviv. it's the first time we've went out to a late night venue in the city--safety being our #1 priority whilst living here. our friend, who lives in a neighboring town, knows a guy in the band, and we got invited out. and we are so glad we went. besides the fact that the music simply rocked our socks off (and the singer could sing his everloving face off), it was nice to be around ukrainians that reminded more of the states than of ukraine. by this i mean, they looked and acted different than each other. everyone had a different style. everyone seemed to be respecting everyone else. no one was passed out on the floor hammered. all of the negative things i could say about ukraine were absent in that concert venue last night. instead, we met smiling people. happy people. people just having fun and dancing to music. everyone was young adn just into being themselves, it seemed to me. in short, we saw a face of ukraine that we haven't seen until now. it was a fresh breath of air. we hope to go back to that club.

after the club, we walked around the center looking for a taxi. we found one and, karen and i believe, the driver was the first guy in ukraine not to think we were foreigners. we chatted about the weather (his forecast ended up being, of course, incorrect) and the route to our house. he never once asked if we were foriegn--which EVERYONE else does. well, more like, they just make a statement about it--"you're a foriegner"--and proceed to stare.

and am i about done with the staring. everywhere we go. and i mean like 10 or 20 minutes worth of staring. just cuz we're speaking a different language. i wish they knew how staring, to us, is an act of aggression. and just plain rude.

anyway, life is chuggin along. looking down the calendar to our cos date, which karen implores me not to do because it "gets my hopes up." but, when the day comes, i'll not be sad. we've had a good run, but i'm tired. tired of being stared at, as you now know. but also tired of a lot of other things.

but, i suppose, the ukrainians around me are more tired of things that i am--a new try at a new draft of the constitution being just one thing--so i'll put my head down and keep going.

i guess that's how i feel right now.

hrm....

there is snow somewhere

while the streets are currently clear of the soft white stuff, the ski resorts are not.

kinda.

taking advantage of the quarantine my school--and my friend's school--is under, casey and i went to slavske (o) for an adventure. i've lived in this oblast for almost a year and haven't yet seen the carpathian mountains; i figured now, with the little bit of time off, would be the best time to see them. and ski them.

of course, i chose snowboarding instead, and snowboarding is the single biggest thing in the world that i SUCK at. but, more on that later.

first, we took the 730 train from lviv to slavske. i had been reading my return ticket instead, so we hopped onto the wrong wagon. noticing we were in platskart (a whole lotta people) as opposed to koup (not a whole lotta people)--and there was a little boy sleeping in one of our spaces--casey realized our (my) error. so we ran back outta the wagon, grabbed our tickets, and booked it down to the other end of the train, where our real wagon awaited.

three hours, and a lotta flat land WITHOUT snow, later, we were in the trans-carpathian region. there were actually mountains there. slight peaks that jutted out of the earth. rimmed with snow. pulling into the train station, we gotta look at some of the ski runs coming down the side of some of the mountains. i just gotta say, they were mostly dirt and mostly now snow. yet there was snow on the ground, so we had hope.

we walked from the train station, down a crooked road full of potholes, and toward a hotel. across from the hotel was the "prokat"--the rental place. casey rented some skis and i opted for the snowboard. i wanted to try something new.

clever.

so, as i was getting geared up, casey asked where a mountain was with snow. the name he got was a mountain that translates as "high on top." now, hearing that, i jumped up and reminded everyone that i was a beginner. i wanted bunny, not treachery. they assured us that there were beginner slopes. we shrugged and headed outside to find a taxi.

now, if you're thinking yellow cab from Crazy Taxi or NYC, think again. well, actually, keep the Crazy Taxi part. for 60 uah (12$) we got loaded into a soviet style green jeep with a nice new steering wheel grip but not new not nice suspension. halfway down the road, the man driving points up

up

up

and says, "there's your mountain." I freak again and reiterate: I AM A BEGINNER. he assured us there would be no problem.

so we get to the base of the hill and we see the line for the ski lifts and lift passes and we get cut in front of and we get cut in front of. (ukrainians love love love to cut in line). finally we get a ski lift pass and stand in line for the ski lift and ukrainians cut and cut. then we get to the front and sit down.

thirty minutes later (literally) we're on top. way on top--you can check the pics at the bottom.

and they were right, the beginner stuff was at the top. so i dicked around falling on my ass for about four hours, ate some shashlik, and fell some more. casey did the same thing, except with skis and except without falling.

it was beautiful up thee and cold up there and i'm glad we went up there--despite the height.

after our skiing, we took another cool ass jeep down the mountain (50 uah this time) and returned our equipment. then we toured the small town (five minutes) (seriously) and then sit in the train station to wait for our train, which will come in thre hours.

train stations are much much much better than television.

we got to watch people open wine bottles with ski poles. we got asked if we were foreigners--to which i replied, "we live in lviv." we got to listen to a really really really really wasted old woman sing horribly to people waiting for trains. (which was less funny and more sad and depressing; alcohol is the ruin of this country).

and then we took the train home.

all in all a very very fun day. a surreal day for a pcv.

and all in russian. one person on the entire mountain--besides us--was speaking ukrainian. the rest was russian. boo.

enjoy the pics.



me and a snowboard

scenery

skilifts

scenery

the hil (and slavske the town in the distance)

scenery

scenery

casey

hittin' the q

or the k.

karantin.

that's how they say it in ukrainian. this seems to happen every year, according to the people i talk to. it's already happened in several oblasts, and now it's hit the city of lviv.

the q.

quarantine.

and if you're like me, that word strikes fear into your heart. images of deadly diseases come to mind. being locked up in your house.

but here, it's really just an expected vacation. a few of my students came down with the flu (glad i got my flu shot) and didnt come to school. right around the same time it happened last year.

and the year before.

and then othe students dont come to school because their friends dont have to come to school.

and the eventually no one is coming to school and they call a quarantine because of having too few students. i had, on average, four students in each of my classes last week.

so, on friday we hit the q. we have it for ten days and then we reevaluate the situation. probably wont go longer than ten days, but who knows.

so i've got some extra time to work on some projects i'm in on.

and i've got time to take a day trip to slavske (www.slavsko.com) and check out what this ukrainian skiing thing is all about.

w00t.

Making up for lost time

It seems the snow is making up for lost time. It's been snowing pretty constantly since Winter finally decided to show its face. The snow's been pretty wet though, and doesn't always stay on the ground for long.

I'm still on a sort of extended vacation since returning from the States. My classes at the College start up on Feb 9th, and I will have a whole new schedule, but hopefully all the same students. They are usually pretty kind to me with my schedule, not giving me too many classes in one day, or having me work so late that I'll be walking home in the dark. Just found out this week that my colleague Yulia teaches nearly twice as many classes as I do. On top of that, she teaches private English lessons from home to supplement her salary. I'd be willing to bet almost all of my colleagues do. They also probably cook and clean a lot more than I do...but that's a whole different entry.

By the way, I've updated the "Photos" link on the right-hand side with some of our photos from the holidays in the US. Check us out!

Hope you are all staying warm and eating lots of finger food for me while watching the big game. Go Chargers! Oh wait...well, I hope it's a good game, anyway.

I heard the groundhog is predicting an early Spring. Tell that to Ukraine, please.

[karen]

snow in l'viv

the snow's finally hit. not too bad. we're hovering at around 0
celsius, so the snow melts during the day. for the most part. put
then, during the night, the temp drops and all the melted snow turns
to frozen water. let the slip sliding commence!

off to another oblast center this coming weekend for warden training.
happy to be able to see a new city. not happy that i'll probably have
to go overnight to a city that's less than 135 KILOMETERS (prolly)
away. bah.

writing away on my novel, which i haven't mentioned at all up here.
getting a lot of good work done on that. maybe it'll be done by the
time i COS outta here?

school is going okay. i've really parsed down my lesson plans to five
vocabulary words that we can work on in a conversational setting.
seems to be working so far. ss seem on task--those that come.

off to see blood diamonds in a bit with some fellow volunters. it'll
be in ukrainian, which is great.

at least it's not in russian.

in kyiv for language and medical

Well.

Taught for three days, in between holidays and being sick from jetlag—that shit makes me nauseous. My students are pretty much the same as before, but I think I’m learning how to cope. In America, we have our discipline system. It’s a rule-goverened kind of affair. Here, it’s more about yelling. I don’t yell. I don’t like to yell. I’m an inside voice kind of guy. So I leave it up to the headmistress of each class. This is something that I didn’t try this year, but have already employed this year. Behvavior gets reported to the headmistress and then the yelling starts. I’ve never found yelling effective, but nothing I did last year worked out in the class as far as discipline went. I know it’s a cop out, but as long as I’m not the one yelling….

Headed to kyiv tonight (well, will be in kyiv by the time I post this) for mid-service medical training and language training. Will get to see all of our friends who live in various other parts of the country. I’ve made a plan with myself to only drink juice. Juice only. We’ll see how it goes.

Being in America gave me a sense of calm. Being here, I haven’t descended into the frustration et all that I felt last year. Of course, it’s only been a week.

Walked a friend to the train station a few days ago. We went out at 530am. It was dark. Three boys followed us—and when I say followed, I really just mean they were walking in the same direction that we were. But the pursuit made me remember how dark this country is at night. There isn’t much in the way of street lights. It wasn’t the safest walk ever walked, and I’m glad I didn’t let my friend go alone. In the train station, I waited for my other friend, who was coming in on a train from kyiv. I wasn’t gonna walk home alone.

I can't believe it's almost been a year since the last langauge refrsher Karen attended. Man, we had a lot of fun then, which was nice after coming back from my gma's funeral last year. God, I can't beieve that was a year ago. We're gonna be outta here before we even realize.

Jeez, it's almost February!

rawr

jet f'in lag.

it's like a monster clawing at my brain. and i can't seem to shake it.

rawr.

glad to be back tho.

11.5 months (or so) to go.

and jenn's comment was right on: being a PCV changes you wholly.

doing the countdown again

getting out of the states soon. going back to ukraine. refreshed. ready to finish up my service. shed myself of much of the frustration i felt about ukraine. definitely very happy about living in america, something i thought i wouldn't come to. i was pretty much done with it when i left for ukraine in the first place. now, thankfully, i have a whole new perspective. that's one major thing i am thankful for about my experiences in ukraine. it has helped me appreciate my life here so much more. and it has helped me realize the really important things: friends and family. and has helped me weed out the really unimportant things: stuff and fake people. also, the gains in patience that i have made are worth the price of admission, the price of service.

here are a few pics we took down here in san diego with karen's family and up north with my family. being home has been so rejuvinating. i am so appreciative for all the time people took to be with us. we have such amazing people in our lives, and i hope they all know how wonderful they are. the energy they have given to us will sustain us throughout the last eleven months.

me, uncle jr., justin, greg

karen preparing holubtsi (cabbage rolls)

us in front of the christmas tree

america, america...

something about shedding light (or grace) on me (or thee).

man, it is so nice to be home. i forgot what it was like to feel like i belonged somewhere. the static dragging along in the back of my mind, the constant reminder that some things are a little off kilter, has fallen away. i'm smiling. i'm happy. and i've still got 13 days. w00t!

karen cut her hair today. she cut it real short. she asked my opinion before she did it, and i thought she'd look nice with short hair. i, as usual, was right. her students will say things like, "oooooo!" and "ooooooooooooo!"

went to a beach in San Diego yesterday. it was nice to be so close to the ocean. there's a pic up there on top of karen walking down the beach. (all that long hair is now gone.)

it's 78 degress here, plus. we're happy to be here, basking in the sun.

i was blown away, and still am taken aback, by all the english i am hearing. all the diversity i am seeing. i'm still not used to seeing people who aren't white. and i'm still not used to hearing perfect english. even my english has degraded since living in ukraine.

to all of my friends still in ukraine for the holiday season, i wish you luck, joy, and love.

and these words: america is more amazing than you probably remember.

merry christmas

merry xmas from Krakow!

staying at a hostel near wawel acstle with our friend celeste. we're all flying home tomorrow. it'll be a very long day, flying against the time zone and all of that. but we'll touch down tomorrow night and be with family. almost teary just thinking about it.

krakow, as always, is amazing. two nights ago , i stayed up all night with my friend casey. he was taking off for home early in the morning, so we decided to punch through the night, drinking. we pub hopped, moving from a cool music club (where karen and celeste were with us) and then off to a pizza club, a sub-street level pub built out of bricks and resembling a bomb shelter, to our final stop--a death metal club. the woman at the door didn't seem to want to let us in. she kept asking, "you know this is a death metal club, right?" as it was, it as the only place still serving beer, so we pushed in. got a 1/4 of the way through the beer and decided it really wasn't a place we wanted to stay.

the train from l'viv to krakow was long. we had about a 4 hour wait at the border. we always heard the waits were long on the train, but 4 hours? turned out an old woman in another wagon had died and the authorities were waiting for a lawyer to come to clear up the legal troubles of a ukrainian dying on a ukr/polish train in poland. it was a strange experience for us. ignorant of the situation, we all played rummy. karen and i had a coupe mate in an older ukrainian woman who aws flabergasted that we a) spoke ukrainian and b) didn't have family in krakow. why would we go to another city if we didnt have anyone meeting us? other than that, seh kept trying to get karen to drink hot, black tea beacuse it was "good for the heart." in Casey and celeste's coupe was a man from London. i think casey still thinks the guy was a spy. he's lived in ukraine too long.

anyway, havign a pot luck chtistmas dinner tonight with some aussies. should be fun.

love to all. see some of you soon.

ll

another day deeper

two days ago was my best friend's birthday. it was the second, and the last, that i have missed. next year, i'll be there in person to celebrate. he'll be picking us up from the airport midway through our time home in california; he will drive us to meet my mom. we're very excited.

yesterday, on a saturday, i held a leadership conference at my school. karen and i interviewed 23 students and selected the top twelve to take part in the conference. we invited another volunteer to help us give the conference. the start time was 10 am, and, par for the course, only a handful of people arrived on time. but, by 1015 we had eight students and we kicked off the four hour event with a kinesthetic activity. then, as we began our first session, and introduction to leadership, two more students came, bringing the final total up to 10. we talked in the second session about communication--active listening. in the third, and final, we discussed problem solving. the students were very active. i was surprised to see students who rarely ever raise their hands in class raising their hands in the conference. everyone was talking and cooperating, all in english. karen, casey, and i were very impressed.

and i was very happy. for all the lameness that happens at my school on the administrator level, i have to remember that the kids are where its at. they came in on a saturday and worked very hard. they wanted to participate, and they wanted to do it in english. i gave them an opportunity to speak in ukrainian, but they chose not to. they wanted to push themselves, to try. something i really don't see in class in school. it was refreshing. i'm hoping to do many more of these conferences. i also plan, next semester, to begin after school clubs: writing and debate.

lastly, we're leaving very soon! it's exciting, but i'm so busy here, our journey home hasn't been on my mind so much. but it's coming on fast.

it's already december

a fairly familiar title, but what can you do. thinks are still trucking along here. we're officially under three weeks until we return home for a much needed plug-in to a familiar culture. it's good here, but by that i really just mean it could be worse. and i'm really glad that it's not.

parent teacher conference tonight. kinda like open house, i assume. except there aren't projects on display in each teacher's classroom. students don't troupe through the corridors hand in hand with mother or father. in fact, when i asked if father's would be coming out as well as mothers, the students just laughed at me. a sad laugh, i felt. i'm sure there'll be some daddy's down there tonight, right?

this conference comes just at the right time for me because my supervisor at my school just informed me that a majority of students and parents are unsatisfied with my work. she went on to list a number of reasons why--though each one was a specific problem my supervisor has with me and, most likely, wasn't uttered by a parent. that hunch was later confirmed by a colleague. so, i'm not getting along with my supervisor. my supervisor observed one of my classes and pretty much disliked everything i did, dismissing it as "new wave methodology" that my supervisor had tried in the past and found ineffective. it wasn't a super constructive meeting--but after our mutual bitchfest three days ago, it seemed constructive--but at least my supervisor has some basis for the negative things my supervisor says about my work now. previously, all the negativity was based upon hearsay. so, at he conference, the majority of parents get a chance to tell me just how much they dislike the practices of the american they have never met.

in seriousness though, being a western trained teacher is a tough gig here. everything is seen as a game instead of a legit practice. and i refuse to unlearn everything, sink into grammar-translation and dialogue memorization and call that something which it is not: learning. my students like me and they are learning. its a benefit if a student is learning but doesnt, at first, recognize that fact. especially with my 8th formers, which are the students particularly in question.

it's all very frustrating, but in a very small way. being lied to has kind of reduced my emotional involvement in the argument. i don't need to prove myself as a competent teacher to someone who needs to lie to attack me. that's not worth it.

and, in 2.5 weeks, i'll be home! nothing can get me down with that on the horizon.

Black Ribbons

Ukraine Marks 73rd Anniversary of Famine
Released : Saturday, November 25, 2006 7:06 AM

KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine held solemn commemorations Saturday to mark the 73rd anniversary of a man-made Soviet-era famine that killed one-third of the country's population, a tragedy that Ukraine's president wants recognized as an act of genocide.

At the height of the 1932-33 famine, 33,000 people died of hunger every day, devastating entire villages. Cases of cannibalism were widespread as desperation deepened.
Black ribbons were hung Saturday on the blue and yellow national flag, and in cities across the country, officials laid flowers at monuments to the estimated 10 million victims.

President Viktor Yushchenko and Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz unveiled the cornerstone of a planned memorial complex in the capital. Later Saturday, officials planned a procession and the lighting of thousands of candles on a centuries-old Kiev square.
"I would like for us never to tolerate the shame of having to hold discussions about what to call this," Yushchenko said at the ceremony. "This is one of the most horrible pages of our history, and for a long time now, it has had only one name."

Soviet dictator Josef Stalin provoked the famine in a campaign to force peasants to give up their private farms and join collectives. Authorities collectivized agriculture throughout the Soviet Union, but farmers in Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of the U.S.S.R., fiercely resisted and bore the brunt of the man-made disaster.

Yushchenko has asked parliament to recognize the famine as genocide, but some lawmakers have resisted, and Moscow has warned Kiev against using that term.
Russia argues that the orchestrated famine did not specifically target Ukrainians but also other peoples in the Soviet agricultural belt, including Russians and Kazakhs, and this month said the issue should not be "politicized." But historians say that the overwhelming majority of victims were Ukrainians, and the famine coincided with Stalin's effort to quash growing Ukrainian nationalism.

"Practically every family who lived in Ukraine at that time suffered deaths," opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said.

During the Soviet era, the mass starvation was a closely guarded state secret, but information trickled out over the years and Ukraine has since declassified thousands of files. Ten nations, including the United States, have recognized the famine as an act of genocide, defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. Genocide is a crime under international law.

Moroz said he supports recognizing the mass starvation as genocide, and predicted that the president's bill, which has run into some trouble among lawmakers loyal to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, would come before parliament next week. Some lawmakers from Yanukovych's Russia-leaning Party of Regions have suggested calling the famine a tragedy instead of genocide, but party member Taras Chornovil predicted the president's version would ultimately pass.

Under Stalin, each village was ordered to provide the state with a quota of grain, but the demands typically exceeded crop yields. As village after village failed to meet the requirements, they were put on a blacklist. The government seized all food and residents were prohibited from leaving, effectively condemning them to starvation.

Those who resisted were shot or sent to Siberia.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://macroworld.net/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&id=230283441

it's already november

wow! the time is just trucking along. we're already in november. man!

in kyiv now after a elongated stint in poltava. karen and i worked on a civics conference (we specifically demonstrated ways democracy can be evident in education). we were also able to hang out with our bestest pc friends, kris and jen. it was sure nice to see them, and to get away from l'viv for a little bit. until i left, i didn't realize how frustrated i was with everything that was going on there, professionally. personally, most everything is good. being in poltava, observing teachers, participating in conferences, and meeting new students really energized me.

being in poltava was my first experience in "the east." though some people might call poltava the center, i think it is east enough--and russian speaking enough--to count as east. and being there, i realized that some of my preconceived notions about that part of the country were wrong. people seemed happier in poltava than they do in l'viv. people were smiling, laughing. we walked around at night several times in poltava and never, ever felt unsafe. this is not true in l'viv. l'viv is a bigger city, however, so maybe that accounts for some of the goodness i found in poltava (a decidedly smaller, but not small) city. in short, yay for poltava! i really think it comes down to the fact that there are jobs in poltava. factories adn such. money. none of that is really in l'viv. l'viv is a beautiful museum with a rich history, but unless they can spin a strong tourism base out of the city--and they seem to be trying--there's not much else there in the money-making field.

Leaves everywhere

For some reason falling leaves seem to be Enemy #1 around here...and they are swept up almost as fast as they fall. I can't really understand this, because to me they are so beautiful and natural and they will just become mulch under the snow in a month or so, won't they?

During my walk to school in the morning I pass numerous women, mostly elderly, bent at the waist, backs parallel to the ground, sweeping leaves. Their brooms are about 2 feet long, forcing them to bend over really far in order to reach the ground. Their "dust pans" are made of metal, and must be really cold to hold on to. Usually they are putting the leaves into big trash bags, and after that I don't know what happens to them.

In the park there is a flatbed truck which serves as the trash truck and leave truck. Interestingly, the bed to this truck is only about 3 feet deep, so much of what's inside flies out when it moves.

Often you'll see someone sweeping into the wind, scattering leaves more than gathering, or someone else dropping more leaves to the ground than they manage to put into the trash bag. It has occurred to me that perhaps they are creating work for themselves. At home I might think they get paid by the hour, and are therefore not in any hurry to accomplish their task. However, here I'm not sure that they're paid at all.

We've had similar puzzlement over the trash issue. I've come to the conclusion that people really do want to throw their trash in a trash can, there just aren't any. They will often pile their trash neatly in a pile, with a lot of other people's trash, near an overflowing trash bin, or just in a corner somewhere, where there ought to be one. Perhaps this severe lack of trash bin creates jobs for people: picking up trash. If you installed dozens of new bins, someone could just dump them, replace the bag, and be done with it. As it is, someone sweeps it to a neat pile somewhere, and then by hand puts it in a bag. It's easily a half day's work. I've heard of Volunteers meeting opposition when trying to install new trashcans in a city. It takes away jobs.

a short

Just pulled out of an AP wire story--written by a former PCV in Ukraine--about a dress made entirely of confectionery. The last graph of his piece reads as follows:

"The baker hopes to someday open a business with his sister in Ukraine, believing there's more room for skillful bakers here than in Paris. 'Here you can buy jobs,' he said. 'You want to be president, governor, (parliament) deputy, OK. But my job you can't buy--you have to do it.'

The here being Ukraine.

The here being Ukraine.

perigee-art.com

Forgot to say. www.perigee-art.com published my newest Peace Corps piece. Enjoy.

a crisp begin to autumn

The sun is up, but doesn't really start to heat anything until 11am or later. We are lucky to still be in for warm afternoons, but the promise of a continued "babane lito" (or Indian summer (known as Grandma Summer here)) is fading. Today, the chill sunk in. The thermometer on our balcony read 8 degrees C. The whole sky was an overcast grey spitting a fine mist over all of us ants walking around the earth over here. Soon, it'll get much colder and much wetter. I'm beyond happy that I have a happy pile of books to sustain me through the long, dark cold.

Karen is busy reading journals written by her students. They have a weekly correspondence where they can practice their written English with a native speaker. Several of her students are imploring her to have children because that is a woman's duty. Those of you who know her know that's going over well. So well. Women are born to make children, and Ukraine's population is dropping. So the government offers "cash for kids," probably not unlike our tax breaks. Seems like a surer way to keep your population stable would be to keep people in your country, but that seems beyond the means of the leaders here.

All the rest is well beyond well. We are having a good, busy time and look forward to coming home in 10 weeks!

jeebus i'm famous

I'm in a Wikipedia entry that I didn't even write!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perigee:_Publication_for_the_Arts

Wowza

Teacher's Day

What a wonderful sentiment: to honor those who teach, to say thank you for choosing a respected, but often underappreciated profession.

Ironically, during the same week of this holiday the teacher's at my College didn't receive their paychecks. They were told they would be waiting for them in their banks for over a week, but the money never appeared. Last time I checked, they were still waiting.

I did receive some gifts: 3 different boquets of flowers, and a really nice book in English about Lviv. I received the book a week late because the class that gave it to me only had 5 students the day of the holiday.

Many of my students didn't come to class on that day, which also happened to be the day of their presentations. So for teacher's day I had to adjust my planned lesson, and reduce their grades by 25% for being late (a new policy I've implemented which is shocking to them).

Other volunteers had no students at all. Or students who presented them with chocolates and then asked if they could be excused for the rest of the day. In one of my classes students had to give their presentations over the distracting voices of the teachers celebrating their holiday in the back of my classroom.

Nevertheless, however well-intentioned but misguided these celebrations were, the sentiment is there. Somewhere in history someone decided that teachers were important enough to merit their own holiday. And if it's the "thought that counts," it's a gift that makes me smile.

diversity in Ukraine

The PM of Ukraine recently wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post.

He said, among other things, "Finally, Ukraine is and will remain a country of great diversity. We have the largest Jewish population in Europe. I have many close friends of the Islamic faith, and we have countless Christian denominations, including at least three Orthodox ones."

In McDonald's yesterday, a dark-skinned man walked up the counter and asked for an application for employment. The employees handed him an application while laughing at him, and as he walked away they continued to laugh at him, using words to characterize his physical apperance which I considered racist.

Diversity is not one of the things I see here.

bittersweet news

As some of you already know, my work was being considered for a
nomination for the Pushcart Prize. The PP is a very prestigious award
for small press authors and can lead to much bigger things. I was very
honored to be considered for this prize. They say to be nominated in
itself is a prestige unmatched at this level, and I agree.

That said, I have the humble honor of letting you know that I am now a
Pushcart Prize nominee. I am nominated for a piece I wrote about my
Peace Corps experience titled "Mirrors Finding Floors." You can find
this piece at perigee-art.com . I can't express how honored I am.
Perigee was only able to chose six pieces out of their entire stock of
published work's for 2006; mine was the only work of prose selected.
The work will wing its way to the Pushcart editors after I get another
edit done. They make decisions sometime late next year. What happens
from then we'll discuss if I am selected--which is very doubtful.

That's the sweet; now for the bitter: I was selected for a piece I
really don't like anymore. I wrote it during a difficult time of my PC
experience; in fact, it was my first written in Ukraine. It reminds me
of the dark, so maybe that's why I don't like it. But, I really just
think it could have been written better. Here's goes the editing
round....

P.S. The Perigee letter:

"Dear Lawrence Lawson,

As you know, over the last several weeks the editors and I have been
reviewing the work we published during 2006. We've been looking for
our Pushcart Prize nominees. The Pushcart Prize is a respected and
coveted award which only the best writers and poets receive. Even to
be nominated for the prize is an achievement and an honor.

Each year small presses, like Perigee, have the opportunity to
nominate six of the works they've published. The nominees are then
considered by the Pushcart panel for that year's prize--which includes
publication in the annual Pushcart Prize Anthology.
(http://www.pushcartprize.com)

I'm pleased to inform you that Perigee is nominating you for the 2006
Pushcart Prize, for your Peace Corps prose piece "Mirrors Finding
Floors"--which we published in our 12th issue. Not only have we
continued to enjoy your Peace Corps writings, but this piece in
particular was among the very best work we've published this year. You
have our thanks and our congratulations on a job well done.

We have announced you as a Pushcart nominee on our official weblog.
We'll be sending your work to the Pushcart panel in November, in time
to meet their December 1st deadline. If you wish any final changes
made before the panel considers your work, please let us know during
October. Otherwise, we wish you good luck as the panel considers your
prose. We will notify you of any prize status as soon as we receive
word. If you have questions, feel free to contact me directly.

Warm Regards,

-ROBERT J WOERHEIDE
Managing Editor"

Yours,

Larry

50+ years ago

This week my students are presenting the information they've found about their "Famous American." In order to show them how things would work, I did a mock presentation last week on tennis great Billie Jean King. I gave them some basic facts about her, all her career tennis victories, her struggle for women to earn equal prize money, her victory over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," and of course her life-long dedication to the game. I asked them to please ask questions based on this information, but I can never get them away from their favorite question...

It's always the first thing I'm asked when I meet a new group of Ukrainian students.

It's not about the U.S....though I may be the first "American" they've met,
It's not about my choice to live in their country for 2 years teaching English,
It's not about whether or not I miss my family (though that usually comes 2nd)...

it's:

Do you have any children?

Interestingly, (though not surprisingly), Larry doesn't get asked this nearly as often.

So they couldn't care less about Billie Jean King's legendary tennis career, they just wanted to know why she didn't have a "normal" family. And they demanded an answer. They wanted to know how I could choose my career over having a family, didn't I feel lonely in my life without children, and why I devoted time to helping underprivileged children but didn't have any of my own.

I literally didn't know how to answer these questions. When I said I (BJKing) was divorced, they demanded to know "why?" I told them it was a personal question, but they were unsatisfied.

This week during their presentations, the questions have continued. They consistently ask their classmates, who are acting as famous celebrities, first and foremost about their families. If they are unsatisfied with the response, nothing else seems to matter. No career achievements or international acclaim are as acceptable to them as having a "normal" family.


It's strange to be the only person in the room shocked by something. To everyone else, these questions seem normal. At first, I tried to explain to them that in the U.S. it would be more appropriate to ask "DO you plan to have children?" rather than "WHEN do you plan to have children?" But the concept of having children as a choice is something I feel my students are years away from accepting.

my briefs

We are four days away from the opening of the celebration of L'viv's
750th anniversary. We are four days away from A high-tech, German
laser show put on in the center of town at "no cost to the city
besides the cost of transportation." We are four days away from a
medieval-styled tournament--replete with knights and ladies and swords
and armor--at the historic Shevchenko Park. We are four days away from
an opportunity to explore the network of tunnels and caves that form
the "underground city of L'viv." We are four days away from Okean
Elzy. We are four days away from Ruslana. From an all day and all
night Jazz festival.

Now, we seemed to have just been here. The excitement. The build-up.
It was Independence Day, one month ago. There was to be concerts and
contests and festivities. Instead, the country cancelled most of the
festivities because of a plane crash in Donetsk. Nothing happened when
it was supposed to happen. The wind whipped out of the sails.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting the same this time. The same
let down. The same disappointment. I'd also be lying if I said that
despite all of that, I wasn't excited.

---------------------------

In other news, we have a new heating system in our house. Our landlord
put it in, along with help from a relative. Two days on, it's leaking
water all over the bathroom.

---------------------------

Obsessed with West Wing. Maybe I'm a little late to the ballgame, but
let's just celebrate my arrival.

---------------------------

Battles in my classrooms. Some students want in who aren't on the
roster. Other students who are on the roster don't care to be there.
Others still are trying to bring in influential friends to force the
administration's hand. Ukraine.

---------------------------

Battles over Crimea. Ninety-three percent of schools there are
Russian. These schools serve a Russian population that numbers under
50% of the peninsula's population.

--------------------------

Russians angry about Ukraine's bid for NATO, which the PM has bagged anyway.

--------------------------

Oil painting. I've picked it up. I suck at it, but I suck at writing
and guitar playing and I still do those things.

--------------------------

I woke up at 7am this morning. I fell back asleep when I shouldn't
have. I woke up 30 minutes later.

--------------------------

That's probably enough.

a calling, they say

New Peace Corps ad. Maybe you've already seen it.

I remember where I was.

I was in a greasy takeaway in Hull, England.

And now I'm in Ukraine.

http://www.impactist.com/projectpages/peacecorps/IMPpeacecorps.html

Dead White Guys

This week in all my classes I've been assigning their first project of the year.  They have to research a famous "American" and then give a presentation to the class on what they've learned and why this person is interesting to them.  Then their classmates will interview them, as if they are that famous person.

 

We start this day by brainstorming all the "Famous Americans" they can think of.  As I expected they mostly name movie stars, musicians, and a few politicians from the news.  Britney Spears, Madonna, 50 Cent, Bruce Willis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Clinton...you get the idea.  A debate always arises when they name Arnold Sscwarzenegger about whether or not he's "American."  I stay out of it, trying to facilitate their thoughts on the complicated question of what it means to be "American."  I think they have no idea what a big question that is, and I enjoy watching their thoughts unravel.  First they say he's not American because he wasn't born in the U.S.  Then usually someone will argue, but he lives there!  And I say, I live in Ukraine, does that make me Ukrainian....you get the idea.  At the end of the discussion I have them vote whether or not he's American.  All of my classes have decided he is.  The deciding arguments: he is a politician, he speaks English, and most importantly, he has an American wife.  Hehe, one girl tried to argue that he didn't have American features.  I asked her what those were....good luck!

 

It's been really great.  I can see in their faces that these are issues they've never really thought about as their idea of what it means to be Ukrainian is fairly narrow and rarely challenged. 

 

One thing that shocked me on the first day I taught this lesson was who my students chose to research for their project.  After hearing who they named in the brainstorming activity, all of the modern pop stars and a few current politicians, I was shocked to read the list of dead, old white guys they had chosen for their project.  On the first day, they had signed up for: George Washington, Robert Frost, Theodore Dreiser, JFK, and Charles Dickins (oops).  I thought it would be fun and interesting for them to research a famous person, but clearly their choices were made based on who they would find in their library's ancient encyclopedia collection.

 

As I've taught this lesson, I've emphasized the importance of choosing someone they're actually interested in learning about, not just someone they know will be in their Literature books.  I understand their reliance on outdated materials, you make the best of what you have, but am encouraging them to give the more difficult options a try.  A few of them use the internet, another thing I have to remind when I assign projects like this one.  It's such a given in my world.  I hope to arrange a training for them at the local "Internet Access & Training Program" Center in town, where they can use computers for free.

 

I'm getting better at teaching this lesson as the week goes on, and students are becoming more daring.

 

Today's list of people my students will research: Madonna, Eminem, Sandra Day O'Connor, Christina Aguilera, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Swank, Leonardo DiCaprio, Britney Spears, Andre Agassi, and Julia Roberts.  For better or worse, at least it's what they're interested in.

ab day or a bday

Tomorrow's the big day, but I had the party last night.

Just asked over my closest PC friends--only Jen and Kris couldn't make
it. In between teaching and planning for teaching, I made all the
food. Potato salad, beet salad, bags of chips (those were tough to
make), and the fixings for do it yurself pizzas.

Put on some music off of the iPod--pumped through some new pc speakers
I picked up next door to the apartment--and we all sat around and
chilled.

And boy was it nice. After the first week of school, we all got to
just sit around, unwind, and not talk about work. The house was filled
with just Americans, so we were able to experience just our
culture--so needed sometimes.

Earlier in the day, I went to the little store next to my house and
bought beer--five bottles at a time. On the third trip, the woman who
works there asked me what the beer was for. usually men buy a bottle
at a time, stand around the store, and drink it. By buying multiple
bottles and leaving and then reappearing, I was a little odd. So I
explained it was bday. She congratulated me and showed me to the beer
cooler. (Some things they do drink cool here...sometimes.)

I'm really just rambling here cuz I wanted to tell you i had a little
bday party and it was great to be surrounded by friends. Sometimes we
forget how great that feels. So thanks to all my friends who came out.

football

There's so much to say, so I never end up saying anything. I just want
it to be complete, but that can never, ever happen. Not unless you've
been here. Had the experience. So, for now, a quicker thinger.

Went to a football game a few days ago with some friends. Watched the
local team physically dominate the Donetsk Metalurg team. our team got
about a bazillion shots on goal, landing none of them. The game ended
in a tie. The rain made the field slick, so the players were having a
bit of a time trying to control the ball. The entrance to the stadium
was mayhem. People screaming, crowding for tickets. Our friend Casey
barrelled to the front and bought a handful for 20 uah a pop ($4). He
said, "the hooligans are buying seats for 10, so I bought ours for 20.
Hope no one minds." Football fanaticism is a pretty big problem in
Europe, it seems, and maybe everywhere in the world besides the US (we
have Am. Football for that (see: Oakland Raiders)), but we saw no
problems inside the stadium. Maybe because the police were their
taking mostly everyone's beer away, a surprise move, I must say.
Circling the field, every ten feet or so, was another police officer.
Usually they don't make me feel safe, but that night they did.

The more I live here, the more I realize American is a police state
(something I know so many people have already discovered). It's
strange how we are the "land of the free," but we have so many laws
that bind us, that make us feel safe. It was something I was never
conscious of until coming to Ukraine--how those laws, both written and
unwritten, make you feel safe. Living in a different culture helps you
pull your nose away from the mirror and see the whole picture, and I'm
grateful for that.

Big event

A few days ago we happened upon a lot of people outside of our beautiful Opera House. We hadn't heard of anything big happening, so we went closer to investigate. There was a screen set up in the square, showing people inside the Hall and someone giving a speech. There was also a banner commemorating the 150th anniversary of Ivan Franko's birth. We stood and watched for a while, and I realized we were the only people under 50 in the entire crowd, and certainly the only people not dressed up for the occasion. A few young people passed by, but seemed uninterested to stop and find out what was going on.

At a pause in the speeches the camera zoomed in on a familiar face. It was the President of Ukraine, right there in our own Opera House. He was listening intently, up in the balcony with an empty seat on either side of him. Later, he addressed the audience. The audio outside in the square was bad so I didn't catch much of his message. It was brief, and at the end people outside applauded politely.

You can read about it here, but the translations are strange, and I think the message is somewhat lost. It's interesting, nonetheless. I was especially struck by the crowd, 180 degrees different from the one we were immersed in a few days earlier at a "hip-hop" concert.

http://eng.for-ua.com/news/2006/08/28/101402.html

studies, marshrutkas, and krakow

It's been a while since a big update. We've been really busy here in L--, and things are about to get busier. I've been having individual tutoring sessions with students from Karen's college as well as from L'viv National University. We're working under the framework of 40 minutes of English and 20 minutes of Ukrainian. I have such sessions almost every day, which is really helping my spoken language come to the surface, giving me quicker access to this most foreign of languages. On my own, I read a lot of Ukr newspapers; I've got myself quite a collections of interesting articles.

It is interesting to read these articles because I find some of the same frustrations I have with the systems in place both in Ukraine and L'viv voiced by citizens of this country. For example: public transportation. We ride marshrutkas--mini vans--around town when we need to get somewhere faster than our feet will carry us. The drivers of these vehicles are, according to our standards, very irresponsible drivers. They veer into oncoming traffic, take turns at improbable speeds, and are either all gas or all brake. All while having 15 people sitting down and another 15 people standing in the narrow aisles of these vehicles. More than once in these vehicles have I been bandied about like a potato in a sack (vigorously shaken). Sometimes I question their credentials, thinking that most of the drivers are probably the boys in school from whom (side note: from learning Ukrainian, I'm really starting to understand how to used whom in my own, native language) nothing is expected until they drop out of school. Later, they attend driving school. Maybe. Lo and behold, in an article written in the L'viv Gazette a week or so ago, citizens and writers are discussing the same issue. They talked about the bad driving, the danger in riding these vehicles (though we're in no more danger here than on a LA freeway with cars nearly caroming off of each other each second), and the general lack of ability the drivers have. They discussed measures to supervise, and if needed, suspend these drivers from work.  In a country that isn't even allowed, on the whole, to fail students out of school, it's nothing more than a lot of hot air. But people are talking about it; they are sharing my frustrations. This is a rather large, and welcome, discovery.

Speaking of Marshrutkas, we took a series of them on our way to the WONDERFUL city of Krakow, in Poland. First we went to the Ukrainian border town of Shehini. There, we walked to the place at the border that you can walk across and met about 1,500 babusyas. We walked past the end of the line, to kind of get our bearings, and we had all 1,500 babusyas screaming at us, "Can't you see the line!" "Can't you see we're waiting." So I played the card my parents sometimes blame foreigners in our country of doing: I pretended I didn't understand them and kept on with what I was doing. My wonderful wife, however, was against this idea and took us to the back of the line. Undeterred, and knowing we'd be in line for literally six or seven hours with all of the babusyas smuggling cigarettes and vodka into Poland if we didn't play our "i'm an American card", I found a gaurd and produced some uber Ukrainian. I told him we were American, new to the whole border thing, American, and that we didn't know where to stand and that we were American. He proceeded to ask me bunch of questions which, I assumed meant he was really interested in the intricacies of my life or he was waiting for a bribe.

During this exchange, I told him we were meeting our friend in Krakow who flew in from the US. Only, up until then, I thought the word from friend who is a girl is "podruha." Turns out, instead, that I was telling the guy I was going to  Krakow with my wife to pick up my girlfriend (like the dateable kind). He laughed. We laughed. He pushed us to the front of the line. Grateful we were, but we still had to wait an hour in the crush of babas who were sending cigarettes across the border. But, 2.5-3 hrs (with the time change) after we left our door in L'viv, we were on a marshrutka, in Poland, to the strain station.

Then we were in Krakow. AMAZING! It's really a must go. We toured the city, soaked up all of the old and nicely preserved churches and buildings, listened to a bugler who, every hour, came out of the main tower of the main church on the main square to blow a tune, only to cut off mid-note after about 45 seconds--signifying a time, back in the day, when Tatars invaded, the tower bugle dude tried to warn the city, and was cut short by a swift moving arrow (though the town, so I heard, was duly warned anyway). The public transportation was amazing in the city--we could find out everything we needed to know from things called "schedules" which are notably absent in Ukraine. People were friendly AND helpful and FRIENDLY and HELPFUL. 

We took two side trips during our time in Krakow. One to the salt mines, very near Krakow. It's an old salt mine that found bored miners carving intricate statues out of the salt rock beneath the surface of the earth. We waited 2.5 hours in line for a 2 hr tour and it was the most unique thing i have every seen. We ended up 400' or so beneath the surface. Down there are churches carved out of salt, statues of famous people (like the Pope and Jesus and Copernicus--not Britney Spears or George bush), kings, and other neat things. We descended 380 steps at the first part of the tour. It was crazy deep, vertigo inspiring stuff.

The second trip was to Auschwitz-Berkenau, about 2 hrs outside of Krakow. This was a huge tour and we didn't have nearly enough time to see, appreciate, or let affect us all of the things that were there. Our tour was almost four hours. We saw all of the things you'd expect. The empty bunkhouse. Gas chambers. Gallows. Memorials to those who lost their lives, written in all of the languages that were spoken there (+English). The monstrosity done there is too massive to fully comprehend, but I walked away not asking how the Nazis could have done this, I was asking how humanity could have done this. Such evil, I feel, could be perpetuated by any human/group of humans. It wasn't unique, unfortunately, to that group of Germans. I hope we, as humans, can carry on the memory of what happened there and not allow it to happen again. (Not completely off page, a man on our tour kept comparing A-B to Guan-Bay.)

So, that's a lot to read. I hope you enjoyed it. We are back in L'viv now, really noticed how far Ukraine got left behind, how far Poland--or parts of Poland--got ahead. Realizing we are here for a real reason. We'll continue to do our best, in ways that are good.

Yours,
LL

winding down

As the summer winds down, I feel like it's barely getting started. We still have constant visitors, which I'm sure I'll miss once the cold, dark Winter approaches. We've just returned from an incredible trip to Krakow, where we met up with Michelle the marathon-traveller/gradstudent/picture-taking machine. =)

It was an incredible trip, full of friendly waitresses, patient ticket salespeople, and easy-to-follow public transportation. Polish turned out to be fairly easy to understand when spoken, but the written form was full of crazy consonant clusters we didn't know how to pronounce.

It was wonderful to have my friend here, to experience a bit of our life in our city. I enjoyed witnessing what was remarkable, odd, or shocking to her, many things I have long since gotten accustomed to ignoring.

Auschwitz was awful and wonderful; we had an excellent tour guide who compassionately described some of the horror that took place where we stood. There wasn't much time to let things sink in, but I'm so glad we went. Our time there was much too short.

In a week or so meetings will start up in preparation for the new semester, and then I will get into a new routine. I'm looking forward to seeing my students, hearing of their summer "rests," and hitting the ground running in terms of our English study.

Happy Ukrainian Independence Day, August 24th. This year is the 15th anniversary and we will celebrate with a concert, good food, and even an appearance of a world champion Strongman.

quick updater thinger

Just wanted to drop the line I've been meaning to drop for a week now (but waited to append it to a larger update that just never came):

KRK, Poland > SAN, California 25 Dec
SAN, California > KRK, Poland 12 Jan

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!you make plans to see me or vice versa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other news, headed to Krakow Saturday for a few days. Gonna see Auschwitz--that's gonna be tough but important.

triceps

Who needs to lift weights when you can hand wash!?

Usually I just wash 2 or 3 things at a time, the bare essentials. But yesterday I got ambitious and threw 8 shirts, 2 pairs of pants and some socks and underwear into my big purple wash bin. I think it's intended to be for painting, as I bought it at a hardware store, and it has that rippled slanting slope that you run your paint roller over to even out the paint. Well that's my new and improved washboard, that fits perfectly across the edges of the tub.

I started just after L left for tutoring yesterday morning, and was still scrubbing, rinsing, and wringing when he came back 2 hours later.

Many of you might be thinking, duh, Karen...that's life of people without washing machines. But really, it forces me to realize how EASY "modern conveniences" have made our lives at home. I've never had to hand wash. I even had the nerve to complain about saving up quarters for the laundromat. I never thought about how much time and sweat and EXERCISE it produce something we take for granted: clean clothes.

Perhaps I've mentioned it before, but I have a renewed appreciation for the hard work that falls under the blanket category of "housework." And I'm just taking care of myself, imagine if I was trying to do laundry for a family, including sheets, towels, work clothes....ahh! One thing's for sure, I'd be buff.

And allow me to mention the fact that on two different occasions I've heard of Ukrainian women asking their husbands for washing machines only to be met with the question,

"but what would you do all day?"

a great honor

"It is a distinctly regional force, hated by the majority of the country, which despite disillusionment with Yushchenko, gave fewer votes to Yanukovych in March 2006 (32%) than he received in the first round of the 2004 presidential elections (36%)."

 

This from the Ukraine report I regularly receive in my inbox. It's interesting to be here, to watch the defection of Moroz of the Socialists to the pro-Russian Party of Regions (who don't feel Yushchenko's election was even legitimate and whose ideology the Socialists opposed, at least in the ways that I understand), feel the shifting of the political climate (just look up "Ukraine horns" in Google news), and to try to understand the RAPID changes that are occurring here.  That as of this moment, P of R is in the majority, less people support them now than in 2004 is breathtaking to me. A lot of us volunteers see things in black and white as far as politics go. We don't delve in too much because we aren't allowed to and, frankly, because we don't really understand the foundations the current political climate is built upon. What I do know is that, standing on the Maidan today, watching the yellow flags of PORA (the Ukr. youth movement which lent substantial support to Yushchenko's 1st pres. bid) and Yulia Tymoshchenko's flag (red heart contrasted against a stark, white field) flapping against the backdrop of a hundred more flags flapping against tents and rows of tents and tents in rows, I was moved. Deeply. People are camping out again on Independence Square--nowhere near the 1,000,000 from 2004's Orange Rev, but hundreds--demanding democracy. Demanding their country listen to them.

 

One banner I read, hanging from the pedestrian bridge that crosses a cobblestone road that twists behind the square, said/demanded, in Ukrainian (and I dunno if your PCs can read the text):

 

сперше--про україну
потім--про себе

 

Which means: First, about Ukraine / Later: about yourself. Which pretty much sums up how I feel about what's going on.

 

To be standing amongst so many who simply want a voice is a great honor.  A great honor indeed.