my pink rain boots and my first ukr. cossack performance!

I love my pink rain boots. And I especially love them here in Ukraine because when I wear them, I'm guaranteed good stories. Like this one time in Oster...we had an impromptu meeting with the school director. It was raining quite hard that day...the school was a good 15 minute walk from my house. Logical sense that I wear my rain boots, no? At the meeting, she shared with us that we would be giving a speech at the last bell ceremony. She laughed (somewhat joking, but not really) and said, "Hopefully Lydia won't wear those boots to the ceremony." Obviously, I know better than that. It was a running joke from that day on anytime I wore those boots. I'm also fairly certain that my host mom was not too fond of them. She was an amazing host mom, never criticized me for what I was wearing...except the boots. She ended up hiding them in the hall closet and would truly only let me wear them if it was pouring.
Let's flash forward to today. I saw the weather forecast...rain all day. I debated, do I break out the rain boots for the first time? I knew deep down that the looks and comments I would get would be great. I get stares just for wearing my black Teva flip flops...so pink rain boots are guaranteed a double-take.

I went for it. Standing at my bus stop: pink rain boots, red raincoat (I know, it clashes, but it's all I've got), aqua blue umbrella. I stand out...there's no doubt about it. I'm fully okay with it though. When my marshrutka #134 came by, I flagged it down and got on. Lo and behold, a lady from work was on the bus with me. She spots the boots...and instantly comments on them...which draws attention from the other 20 people on the bus. No big deal. We walk in together, I head up to my office on the 3rd floor. I see two more ladies that work on my floor who, I kid you not, turn around to do a double-take at the boots. Then, Olena (counterpart) spots them.

"OOOOOOOh Lydia! Look at your boots!" (That sentence was in Russian).

Yes, they're rain boots. It rains a lot here in Ukraine, and I plan on wearing these. They sell rain boots at stores and at the bazaar...what I don't understand is why people don't wear them. Instead, all of the ladies in Ukraine still wear their normal three inch heals...dodging giant puddles and flowing rivers in the streets. Don't worry...I haven't gotten to the best part of the story for today.

Last week, Olena had a lady come to the office for chai. I found out she is a teacher at a school here in K-grad; she also runs the Euroclub at her school, which Olena runs at my center. The lady asked if I would like to come have chai at her school next week (this week), so being the polite Peace Corps Volunteer I am, I say of course. So, at 10:30 am today, Olena and I headed over to the school to meet Olga. As we open the doors to the school, I am greeted by four 10th form boys dressed in suits with name tags on and big, goofy grins on their faces. Olga is standing with them, dressed in a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt. And here comes Lydia, marching in with her bright pink rain boots on. Hysterical, to say the least. Oh, and also greeting us open entering the school? A professional photographer and a videographer. My outfit besides my pink boots was nice and up to par for Ukraine standards, but I giggled to myself the whole time thinking about how these boots always bring along a great story.

I was given a tour of what turns out to be one of the coolest schools I've ever seen. It's a boarding school that has students from all over the Kirovogradskaya oblast, who do not have to pay a penny (or a kopek in this case) for their school or boarding. Every student in this school (I think it's basically teenagers...not little kids) is there because they want to be. They have tested at a high enough level in English, math, science, etc., to make the cut for being at this school...and as long as they keep up their grades and attend classes, they can stay there. The school features dormitory rooms for kids that do not live in K-grad, but my understanding is that 1/4 of the kids at school do live in my city while 3/4 are from other towns and villages in our oblast. I was given the royal treatment as we went from the library to the cafeteria to the dance hall (they specialize in choreography classes...love it!) to the workout room to the computer lab to the dorm rooms.

Pause. The dorm rooms...I will have to go back and take pictures of. There are 2 bunk beds, which means that 4 kids stay in that room. I literally thought the room they showed me was like a "model" room for display because it was so spick and span. Nope. We then saw 4 more rooms...and I eventually asked the boys giving the tour if these rooms were actually lived in at the moment. Everybody's bed was made the exact same way; there is no clutter or dust on anything. I was so utterly shocked by this that they wondered if it was like that in America. They probably think American's are slobs now...but in Ukrainian standards, we practically are.

Resume story. So, while Olena and I got a tour of the building, the four boys narrated every room along the way (in very, very good English). It was so cute to see how proud they were of their school. The school director (an adorable old man who has taught at the school for 40 years) tagged along for some of the tour adding in his two cents to the boys memorized and well-rehearsed lines. I might add that the cameras followed us the entire way, for an hour.

The crowning glory of my tour was when we entered a math class room. As is customary, all of the students rose and greeted us. I then had to sit at the desk at the front of the room and tell the class a few things about me and what I'm doing here. They were so cute (and probably just a bit excited to have a break from math) and asked questions about my family and where I lived (all of this is being documented keep in mind...in my pink boots and all). Eventually, one of the four boys in charge of my tour handed me a piece of paper and a pen to write the students a letter. There's absolutely no telling what I wrote on the letter because I was so confused as to why they wanted it. I know I said something how great it was to see kids have a passion about learning and their education, which is true. It was a breath of fresh air to see students actually want to be at school and enjoying it. So, that was my time at the boarding school here in k-grad. I can't wait to go back under less formal visiting restrictions and actually talk to the kids to see what their every day life is like.

My last news of the day: I got to see my first Ukrainian Cossack dance!! Phil and I went to the Kirovograd Oblast Philharmonic performance tonight (thanks, Phil!) and it was one of the coolest performances I've seen in a while. It had everything from an actual philharmonic string orchestra to vocalists to an adorable little girl playing the violin to teenage dancers...and then they brought out the traditional Ukrainian Cossack dancers and musicians. People were filming and on their cell phones during the performance...so I guiltily took out my camera and filmed some and I'm so glad I did. Enjoy it :)

I don't think the video is going to post for some reason, but it's on my facebook account. Otherwise, stay tuned...I'll try to figure it out soon!!