Reason #831 I love my host fam's house

There's nothing like arriving home after being gone for a while.

Random Frost Family tradition: after a long trip, we return home to a Snoopy beach towel {that is probably 25+ years old, which is as old as I am btw, weird.} hung up in the bathroom.  The towel has something along the lines of, "Happiness is a warm blanket" written on one side, and my family is going to have to help me out with what's written on the other side! Totally blanked on it now.

Anywho, the home that I was talking about is my host family's home in Oster.  When I get off the bus and walk the 15 minutes down hill to their house, I know I'm home again.  The dog greets me at the gate.  The cats dart in and out of the open door.  Food is offered before I even have time to take off my jacket.  It's feels so good to go there and be home.

And then, there's my bed.  A queen-size bed that I can roll ALL over and still not use all of the available room.  It's glorious.  That's all.

I got to visit one of my old teacher's Lyuda.  She's a TCF (culture/technical teacher) for Peace Corps trainees.  It was fun to get to chat with her and catch up on life. I also got to meet the new group of volunteers that are living in Oster.  I can remember how excited we were the first time a real PC volunteer came to visit us during training.  The questions we bombarded them with were probably ridiculous. 

I got to say hi to a few of the babushkas who live in the apartment building across the street from my house.  They complimented my Russian {nice ego boost} and asked where all of my cluster mates live now.  Even though it was pouring rain when we stood outside talking, they still had to catch up on all of their gossip.  Babushkas in Ukraine are about as gossipy as a group of middle school girls.  

Can't wait to go back and visit my host fam's house again soon.  Christy {one of my host sisters} showed me how to make a bead bracelet I've been dying to learn how to make.  Super excited to buy more beads and start making them.  

It snowed/sleeted/rained/hailed in Oster today.  Nice April Fool's joke, eh?  Not so much.  

I splurged and had Domino's pizza today in Kiev.  Super yummy margarita pizza.  If only I could get some Papa John's garlic sauce or Kraft Ranch Dressing.  :) 

My energy level is still lacking after the pneumonia.  Walking for 10-15 minutes has been tiring me out. I feel so old having to sit for a while and recuperate after something as simple as going to the store.  

Gotta get going now :) much love. 

happy Friday :)

Not much to report on this lazy Friday.  I went to bed super early last night (in Lydia terms at least--9:30ish I think!) and was actually able to sleep through the entire night without coughing once.  That's the first time in 2+ weeks that I haven't woken up to cough in the middle of the night.  I think I slept almost 12 hours last night which was much needed after yesterday's adventure to K-grad.

My landlady and her husband came by today to collect rent money and turn on my water.  I also asked the husband to fix my bathtub to where I could shower (it was a free standing tub and needed caulking around the walls).  Not only did he fix that but he also fixed my toilet which has been broken for a month or two I think.  Hooray! 

Also on today's agenda was a skype date with one of my lovely PCV friends:

biffster, Kymmy Gibbler (and a yet-to-be-showered Lydia)

Kym doesn't have good internet most of the time, so when she's in a place with wifi, she needs to take full advantage.  Makes me super thankful for my fast internet that I have all the time (I know, I know.  I'm quite spoiled).

The new group 43ers should have arrived at their host family's tonight for the first time.  I can remember that day like it was yesterday and not, in fact, almost a year ago.  I was so jet-lagged and so overwhelmed by finally being in Ukraine, all that I wanted to do was sleep.  I think I fell asleep around 8 or 9 pm that night too!  On the following day, I met with my cluster for the first time at my teacher's home and we all shared funny stories of getting situated in our new rooms that would be ours for the following three months.  I am super excited to share with y'all that I will be getting to help a cluster in this current group of newbies.  Peace Corps has this program called "adopt-a-cluster" that is geared towards getting a group of new PCVs to interact with a current PCV.  So, sometime in April, I will go to meet with my cluster (group of 5 trainees) and stay with them for a couple days answering questions about my life as a PCV and teaching a lesson or two for them as well.  Not sure who will be in my group of newbies but I think I should find out soon :)

Happy and safe travels to the McFarlin kiddos as they head down to south Texas tomorrow for the Spring Break mission trip.  Can't wait to see the pics and hear the stories of y'alls time there :)  Oh, how I wish I were getting on a mini-bus tomorrow and going with y'all!  But, I'll be in my apartment recouping :)  Happy Friday!

Unfettered.

--to set free or keep from restrictions or bonds.

There are a few words in Russian that have special memories that go with them.  I can think of three right off the top of my head right now.  As I was reading Marley and Me last night in bed, I came across one of these words {in English}: unfettered.

I'll be honest.  Up until a month ago, I didn't even know what this word meant in English.  BUT, at Russian language camp (you can refresh your memory here), I learned this word...both in English and Russian.  You see, when we arrived at Russian language camp, we were broken up into groups of 4-5 people.  Our group was assigned a Ukrainian teacher and we were then given our group name.  Our group name was "Вольны как ветер" (volʹny kak veter), which translated to "unfettered like the wind."  There were a total of 12 groups at Russian language camp, each with a different group name we were supposed to learn.  The next meeting, we had to present a small skit to help everyone remember our group name.

What did our group come up with?  Here was our skit:

person 1:  "Что это?"--Shto eta?--What's that?
person 2:  "Ето птица!"--Eta pa-tit-sa!--It's a bird!
person 3:  "Ето самолет!"--Eta sam-mo-lay-ot!--It's a plane!
person 4:  "Нет!  Ето SUPERMAN!"--Nee-et! Eta SUPERMAN!--No! It's SUPERMAN!
all persons: "Он вольны как ветер!"--Ohn vol-nee kak vay-ter!--He's unfettered like the wind!

It was cheesy, but it worked.  And I will never forget what unfettered means :)

The other two words that I will forever relate to memories in Ukraine come with more of a story.  One of our first weeks of pre-service training (the first three months I was in Ukraine), our Russian teacher Zhenya showed us a popular Russian cartoon: Masha and the bear (Маша и медведь--Masha ee mee-yed-ved).  This was probably the second week of class when we barely knew how to say hello and goodbye in Russian.  The cartoon doesn't use too many words though, and she told us to listen for one word as we watched the first episode: ещё (pron: yay-show).  If you want to watch the video, it's below (hint: you can skip to 4 minutes and still figure out what the word means!)

ещё--more!

It's a cute video.  And that word forever stuck with me...and is used quite often in my every day life.  

The other word that strikes up a funny memory in Ukraine?  The word for rain--ДОЖДЬ--dohsh-d.  This funny story also happened during training, probably around the middle of our time spent in Oster.  One of my clustermates, Jamie, and myself were wandering downtown in Oster.  At the central park, we happened to run into a family we knew in the community.  As we stood there smiling and pretending like we understood everything the family was rambling away at us (when we honestly had no clue what they were saying), it started to rain.  We had just learned some of the weather vocabulary and were excited to put it to use.  The family had a little boy with them and as we stood there awkwardly not understanding a word the parents were saying, the small boy (2 or 3 years old) said, "Дождь!" in the most perfectly clear and articulated manner. I think that was the only thing Jamie and I understood in the 5 minutes we stood there "talking" with the family.

Sometimes, you just have to smile and nod.

Way-Back-Wednesday #17: Happy Birthday, Kym!

Today's Way-Back-Wednesday post doesn't go too far back because every picture available for today's post only comes from my time in Ukraine!  However, there are definitely some good pictures and stories to tell with the photo montage.

Meet Kym. 

also known as Kira, Ken, Kim, and a slew of other names. My fave: Kymmy Gibbler.

Kym Starno, one of my bestest friends in the PC, was in the training village next to mine.  I will never forget the first time my cluster group met her cluster group.  We had probably been in country a week and a half.  The Kozelets group (Kym's cluster) was coming to our village that day for a lesson.  As we sat in our teacher's apartment with the windows open, we heard a very strange noise slowly getting louder and louder.  Turns out the noise was coming from four incredibly loud and boisterous girls and their lone guy of the group, Matt.

The Kozelets group: Kym, Anne, Mary-Kathryn, Matt, and Maria in the front

I thought I wrote a blog entry about "how sweet the Kozelets group was" but I couldn't find it just now.  If I did in fact write one of those entries, at the time I was probably lying.  The first session that we were all together I didn't say one word the entire hour.  They were so overwhelming and so completely polar opposite my training cluster.  I can remember letting out my breath after they left that day wondering what the next few months would be like.  If someone had told me then that some of the Koz. group members would be some of my sweetest and closest friends, I would have laughed in their face.  But, I'm lucky to call them friends now :)  They are quite the bunch, that's for sure.

Back to Kym's birthday photo montage.  I have more awkward and embarrassing pictures of Kym and myself from ALL over Ukraine and Eastern Europe too.  I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  

First time in the Black Sea together--Odessa, summer 2011

Alien night at Camp Bereg, summer 2011

Kym, Lydia, Theo

Second time in the Black Sea together--Camp Bereg in Sergiivka, summer 2011

PEPFAR (HIV/AIDS) training w/some of our clustermates, September 2011

Kym, Jamie, Lydia, Mark, Maria

Sight-seeing in Kamyanets Podilsky, September 2011

EuroTrip with my work, Dresden, October 2011

Hello Kitty earmuffs.  Eurotrip, October 2011

Squash in Kym's apartment hallway, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!  There is so much that I love about this picture.  Words can't even explain it...Kym, Lydia, Matt, Mary-Kathryn

doing my "special" make-up on my birthday, December 2011

My New Years work party, December 2011

Olena, Lydia, Kym, Mary-Kathryn

Happy New Years!!! Celebrating in Kiev...2011/2012!

Matt, Kym, Lydia

Words can't describe the relationship I have with Kym.  She is the best travel buddy ever (she brings half the toiletries, and I bring the other half!), she has the most gung-ho attitude where nothing is impossible, and she can literally make me laugh uncontrollably just by being herself.  I feel like I've known her my entire life.  You are a blessing in my life and I hope you've had a happy, happy birthday :) love you Kymmy Gibbler!

From the sick bed of Lydia...

I've been in bed since Wednesday evening feeling achy and pretty blah. Sore throat, headaches on and off, no strength.  After my absolutely wonderful trip to Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany, I came back and taught two full days of English clubs on Tuesday and Wednesday.  By the last club on Wednesday evening, I was incredibly weak and wanted to curl up in bed at 6 pm.  I think I went to bed at 9:30 pm and slept for 12 hours that night.  It reminded me of my old studio days; our project would be due on Monday, class was over at 5:30 pm, I was home by 6:00 pm and usually in bed by 7:00 pm (sometimes earlier).  I would then sleep until the next morning around 9 or 10 am (that's around 15 hours of sleep folks).  I can remember the first time Stephanie and Allison (two of my old roomies) witnessed this phenomenon...they thought something was wrong with me!  Nope, just sleep deprived!

I am bummed to be staying in this weekend though because I was supposed to go visit my host family for the first time since training!  What's even better was that my old LCF (Russian teacher) Zhenya is on rotation in Oster (the village I trained in) as well as my TCF (technical teacher) Lyuda.  And, most of the Kozolets group (our link cluster) would be there as well!  But, it just wasn't in the cards.  Instead, I've been in bed watching an embarrassing number of episodes of the Real Housewives of Orange County.  It's a guilty pleasure that makes me feel like I'm back at home in Oklahoma laying in my nice, comfy {big} bed.  

This morning when I woke up and pulled my laptop into bed with me, I opened up facebook to be bombarded with status' about my friends playing and hearing Christmas music back in the states.  As I sat in bed, I began to hear what sounded like caroling music.  At first, I wondered if I was really that sick and my mind was just playing tricks on me.  Then, I just figured my upstairs neighbor was playing their tv a little loud.  When I finally got out of bed, I went to my kitchen to make hot tea and heard the singing very loudly then.  As I looked out my kitchen window, I was quite surprised to see what was before me.  

The caroling that I had been hearing was actually a funeral going on.  I stood in awe as I wondered who had passed away--it was a little old babushka as best as I could tell.  The singing went on for two hours as more and more people placed flowers on their beloved.  This was literally happening in the entrance way to my apartment, and I can only wonder who passed away.  I didn't recognize many of the people at the funeral.  Only two or three other babushkas who sit on the benches and watch as I go to work, always saying something to me in very fast Russian that I can't understand.  Definitely a new experience for me here in Ukraine.  

I hope to take advantage of my time at home this weekend by blogging about some of my traveling experiences.  I am super excited to have my first guest from the states here in Ukraine in just a short time...Mitchell will be making his way over to Eastern Europe come Nov. 20!  Much love, Lyd :)

You wash your hair how often?

Remember yesterday's post and how I promised you a great picture? It will come...but you have to read first. :)

Here in Ukraine, fashion and the way you present yourself to the rest of the community is a BIG deal. No longer do I have the days where I can go out in a a pair of Nike shorts and a t-shirt to run to Target (okay, no Target's here, but we'll say Furshet, which is the grocery store across the street). Technically, I still could, but the looks I would get on the street are usually not worth it. I think it's safe to say with the seven month mark approaching, that I have never worn makeup more consistently in my life than I have the past seven months here. This is the land of dolled up women walking on uneven roads with stilettos, with the makeup to boot. There are days when it's fun, and I've now fixed my morning routine to allow for the primping that has to occur. But there are also days when I just want to wear my "studio clothes" as I used to call them...aka, a pair of yoga pants and a mission trip t-shirt. Look, I'll even show you a picture of said studio clothes. This was back in the days of my furniture design class where my clothes were covered in a nice layer of sawdust by the end of the day. I would still go to youth activities and sometimes work at Cathy's looking like this. Ah, studio life...how I do not miss you.

Sanding my life away...

So, those clothes are not politically correct here. End of story. I'll tell you one more little tidbit of a story, then back to hair (the point of this post...sorry, tangent.).

During training in Oster (a village of 5000ish people), we dressed up quite a bit on days that we taught at one of the two schools. The boys usually wore a suit and the girls usually wore a skirt or dress of some kind. One day, I wore a grey skirt with a white button-down, frilly shirt. Nothing special, just nice business casual. I even have a somewhat crappy picture of it.

To illustrate what village life is like in Ukraine, let me continue. Mark (clustermate) had a host sister about our age. I walked to school and back home in that outfit, and was maybe gone for a total of 3 hours. I changed before class that afternoon so that I wouldn't ruin a white shirt, which isn't likely to stay white here in Ukraine. When we got to Russian class that afternoon, Mark told me that his sister liked my outfit. His host sister is 24 years old and had yet to leave the house that day. What's wrong with this picture? My walk to school is nowhere close to Mark's house...so how did she know what I was wearing? And that, my friends, is what village life is like. Every person in towns know what you buy at the magazine (store), what you wore that day, if your shoes were polished (or not, as the case often is for PCVs), etc. Anywho, back to the title of the post...

I go through phases with my hair. I typically let it grow and grow and grow until one day I decide I'm done with it and chop it ALL off (hopefully donating it to Locks of Love)...like I did the day before I graduated from OU.

I went from the left...to the right...overnight. (sweet Casey pictured too!)

I've never been a fan of getting my haircut. I don't think I've had a traumatic experience (other than the time I got my incredibly long hair when I was a child wound up in my mom's curling iron brush. That, was traumatic. And, the whole thing is caught on tape. And she told me not to play with it in the first place...lesson learned.). And it wasn't that I didn't love who cut my hair (sweet Rachel who now lives with Rosemary in Chi-town)...maybe I just don't like change? Who knows.

So, a few weeks ago, one of my friends Kristen posted a link to a blog she found: the daybook. I, of course, checked it out and found some random tutorials on it that I'm embarrassed to say I watched.

Why am I embarrassed?

Because one of them is called "how to create messy hair."

I thought, "Psh! I know how to do that, and my hair really doesn't do the 'messy look' very well...but I'm going to watch it for a bit anyway." Well, the girl does something I never thought to do: braid her hair at night and sleep on it. When I've done that in the past, my hair looks a poofy, crimped, mess. And heres' the picture you've been waiting for...

Dance Recital...probably circa 1996 or 1997?
I was a munchkin in the Wizard of Oz.

In the tutorial she unbraids her hair in the morning and then takes random chunks of hair and curls them. I thought, "Might as well give it a shot...". The first few times I did it, it didn't work well. My hair ended up in a messy bun or a ponytail (neither of which are very acceptable here in Ukraine). But, I eventually got an idea for how it works with my hair, and I am happy to say that I can now go three days without shampooing. The answer? Hairspray. The best part? Everyone at work thinks I spent a long time getting ready that morning. Ha, if they only knew... :)

It's a small world after all...

This is another one of those weird posts that I have been dying to write all weekend and never got around to, but now that I actually have time to on Monday evening...all that I want to do is curl up at 7:30 pm and go to sleep.  BUT, I'm powering through my tiredness and writing this funny story.  Actually, it's two funny stories...two funny small world stories as the title tells you!

Story #1:

Last week I traveled to Poltava, Ukraine, for a warden training.  What is a warden you ask?  The official PC definition: 

"Wardens are an integral component of the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) system! They are appointed by the Safety and Security Coordinator in collaboration with their regional manager.  The warden is responsible for coordinating the immediate response to an emergency among the volunteers in his/her designated oblast."

Basically, if a disaster of any kind occurs, I will be called first and it's my duty to contact all of the other volunteers in my oblast and alert them of the situation at hand and what we need to do from there.  One of my fellow sitemates, Ricky, is finishing his service in November and he was one of two wardens in our oblast.  It's somewhat his duty to find a replacement for his job...and PC typically likes to have one warden living in the big city or oblast capital.  

So, last week I went to warden training in Poltava.  I knew one other PCV going to that training...she is a fellow group 41er.  Everyone else was from older groups, which made me a bit nervous because I figured they all knew each other and here comes Lydia...the newbie. But, I was just as excited to meet new people.  

Upon arriving in Poltava around 7 pm on Tuesday evening, I got lost trying to find the PCVs apartment we were all staying at.  Finally...I arrived and was greeted by 3 charming faces who were more than anxious to learn all about me.  It was a "what's you life story in 5 minutes or less" jam session.  Sitting in Alvi's apartment was Jeramie and Danny.  After I gave them my life story, I was just as curious about their stories!  At some point in my 5 minutes of being there, I remembered that one of my sitemates, Rob, had talked about a Jeramie at some point in my few months of living in k-grad.  The conversation went a little like this:

Rob: "Jeramie something sdlskdf blah blah blah." 

Lydia:  "Oh! My brother's name is Jeremy!" (trying to fit into the conversation)

Rob:  "Oh cool...this Jeramie is a girl."  

Talk about foot in your mouth.  We all got a good laugh about it. 

So, resume introductions at warden training.  As it turned out, I was meeting the girl Jeramie that I had heard about!  Sweet!  While we ate dinner in Alvi's kitchen, I questioned each of the people sitting there...nd boy was it a good thing I was sitting down for the interview.

Lydia: "So Jeramie, where are you from?"

Jeramie: "I'm from south Texas."

Lydia: "Oh cool!  What city?"

Jeramie:  "You've probably never heard of it..."

Lydia: "I've actually been a lot of places in south Texas...try me."

Jeramie:  "It's called McAllen, Texas."

McAllen...as in the place that I've driven through and stayed in for the past umpteen spring breaks on McFarlin's Mexico mission trip?  THAT McAllen?  I couldn't believe it.  Could. Not. Believe. It!  

I could tell her that the Sam's Club in McAllen without a doubt will lose power sometime while we're shopping there during the week...and it usually happens when the cooks are halfway through ringing up their merchandise.  

I could tell her that the Walgreens next to First UMC where we stay is not open 24/7.  

I could tell her about eating at Olive Garden or Fudrucker's with the Chacon family.

We could talk about walking across the border to Rio Bravo and Nuevo Progresso and going shopping.  

But instead, we just gawked that the other knew a bit about our past in a very odd, but comforting way. We talked more about McAllen and South Padre Island and Schlitterbahn and Mexico and everything going on south of the border now.  It definitely brought up some good, good memories as I thought back to all of the times that I've had in and around McAllen.  Talk about a small world...and that's the end of story #1.  

Story #2:

Not as long, but I woke up to another small world story this morning...this time in my email inbox.  By the way, I love, love, LOVE having an email (that isn't junk mail) waiting for me in my inbox.  Even it just says hi, you don't know how much it can make my day.  Anywho...this is the email I had waiting for me.  But first, two little background stories.

Background story #1:  My cousin Denise was at the OU/Texas game on Saturday with a friend of hers.  Along with every other woman at the fair, they decided to run to the restroom before kick-off.  At some point that morning, Denise had commented to her friend that her Aunt (my mom) would be at the game but that it'd probably be impossible to meet up with her.  So, while standing in line for the restrooms...my mom hurried past and Denise caught sight of her.  "Lenaaaaaa!  LENAAAA!"  My mom wheeled around and lo and behold there was Denise.  They snapped a picture (shown in the previous post) and my mom headed off to the game. 

Background story #2:  Remember when Hayley got married this summer?  Here's a picture of us from OU/Texas two years ago...

 

Hayley was one of my dearest Interior Design friends who moved to Dallas to finish school...but that didn't keep us from staying in touch.  I visited her fam in Altus one weekend and got to hang out with her sweet parents.  I also went on my first trip to Vegas with her fam.  Frances, her mom, will email me every few weeks telling me that she's reading my blog and usually comment on something that I wrote about.  But, this email was a bit different!

"Lydia,  I was reading your blog this morning and ran across the pic at the OU/Texas game of your cousin Denise and your mom.  I was so surprised!  I was standing in the same line about 4 people behind your cousin when that picture was taken!"

I couldn't believe it.  My mom and Frances have never met so they wouldn't know each other...but what are the odds of that happening!  Such a small world. 

In other news, I start my first English clubs tomorrow and on Wednesday!  Happy thoughts and prayers would be much appreciated.  OH!  AND....I think I have a tutor!!! Meeting with her tomorrow to work out the logistics.  I'm actually pretty ready to get back into studying Russian...never thought I'd say those words.  My last news:  made homemade pizza tonight.  Here's the proof: 

Homemade pizza crust (recipe here), with tomato sauce (homemade), pineapples, green olives (shocking, I know), and tomatoes.  Oh, and cheese (duh).

This was dinner the night before.  Mashed potato with fresh broccoli (not normally available here---it was super cheap too!  a crown/head/whatever it's called was around 50 cents USD!), a little cheese, and some caesar dressing (no ranch here).  

The end!

Cat's outta the bag...

I got up this morning, went for a jog around the school track, came home, took a bath/showered, made and ate breakfast (and by "made" I mean: yogurt with granola and coffee), worked on my HIV/AIDS lesson for Wednesday, answered emails, did a little Facebook creepin', and worked more on lesson planning.  I then put lunch in the oven (baked potato with one of my veggie burgers) to warm up, ate lunch, got finished getting ready for work, and was out the door by 12:45 pm.  There are 7 stairs outside of my door (I guess I'm kinda on floor 1.5?).  Somehow in the process of going down the said 7 stairs, my ankle gave out/rolled which meant my knee gave out and I basically ended up crumbling on impact.  I'm completely fine because this is a somewhat normal occurrence for me (maybe once a month?).  I was more mad at how DIRTY my pants now were from the horribly graceful fall.  {sidenote: the stairs have probably never been cleaned in my lifetime.  Luckily, I was wearing jeans as opposed to my black pants that I almost put on today.}  Back to the story...

I don't understand why I have weak knees and ankles, but I do, and I've gotten used to it in my lifetime.  My friends in high school used to knock the back of my knees under and I would instantly crumble to a heap in the middle of the commons.  They quickly learned that they had to be ready to catch me, which they did (and for that, I'm very grateful!).  I'm pretty sure Darren or Bert loved doing this.  Also during that era, I would be in the middle of bell practice, and Bennett or Cameron (maybe?) would do it WHILE I WAS PLAYING.  Not very funny when you have 4 bells in your hands.  I'm pretty sure Kyle Haskett also did it at church events.  It was a fun game for everyone though and I laughed...as long as they caught me :)  

So, when I moved to Ukraine and was thrown into a group with people I don't know, you don't want the first words out of your mouth to be, "Hi, my name is Lydia and I have a tendency to fall, even while simply standing."  I managed to keep this lovely Lydia factoid a secret until our first trip to Kiev.  In big cities in Ukraine, there are not crosswalks above ground; instead, you go down a staircase, cross under the street, and then go up another set of stairs.  During that lovely first group field trip was when my secret slipped out: my ankle gave out when I was about 4 or 5 steps from the bottom.  Luckily, Mark was in front of me and I managed to grab ahold of him instead of crashing straight to the floor.  Pretty sure Jamie was right behind me too and tried to make an assist.  It was an epic,

"Ohmygoshwhathappenedareyouokay?" 

moment where I was thoroughly embarrassed but had to laugh about the situation because the cat got out of the bag!  We still laugh about that moment to this day.  And, my loving cluster embraced my clumsiness (if you can call it that) and probably stood a bit closer to me after that day just incase another episode occurred.

Today, when this happened, my first thought was that I was going to be late for work.  This isn't a big deal, but if I am going to be late, I like to let them know.  But how do I explain why I'm going to be late?  I came back in, turned back on my computer, opened up google translate (lifesaver) and typed in an explanation that I hoped Olena would understand.  I called her and tried to get the message across...but I'm pretty sure she thought I broke my ankle or something of the like.  I kept saying that I was fine, I just needed to find my ankle brace, and that I would be late.  I finally emailed her what was going on in English, she google translated it to Russian, got the idea, and wrote me a message back saying: rest, don't come to work today, get well, and eat more foods that contain calcium.  Loved the calcium part :)  I laughed, called her back, and told her that I really was fine to come into work.  So, here I sit at home doing some work from here for the day.  I'm going to go into work for a club meeting in a few hours during which word will probably have spread that I broke my leg or something like that. If I were still in Oster (my small training village), every babushka in town would already know what happened.  Just another day in Ukraine :)

Let me tell you a story...

I'm still playing catchup with old blog posts, so try to keep up as I switch from summer camp to current happenings to environmental trainings, etc.!  Today's story is about a special little camper named Tanya.

While at Camp Bereg, a summer camp for kids about 2 hours south of Odessa, there were numerous other camps going on at the same time as our English camp.  Also staying at the sanatorium (think old Soviet style dormitory) was a group of orphans who live in Chernigov during the year.  My clustermate Jamie lived in the city where Camp Bereg was and we would catch up on the phone throughout the summer, seeing what each other was up to (this was before I went down to Camp Bereg).  The English camp had 4 summer sessions, but the orphans were at the sanatorium all summer.  Jamie would often tell me that he played with the orphans which was a bit confusing because he was not in charge of them--they just flocked to him.  So, when I went down for my week at Camp Bereg, I finally got to meet some of these orphans who he's hung out with all summer.  They are precious and simply want to be loved.  That's it.

That is Jamie (clustermate) who got to hang out with these sweet kids all summer.  Zhenya is the little boy in the green shirt and Valera is the boy in the middle.  From what I heard from the other camp counselors, the orphans are in charge of washing their own clothes at camp.  I think Valera is 11 years old and Zhenya is 7.  They wore those outfits the entire week that I was there.

Zhenya on Jamie's shoulders...too precious.

Valera playing on the beach

From what I could tell, the orphans could basically do whatever they wanted during the day at camp.   They went to the beach in the mornings with us, but after that, I would just see them sporadically throughout the day.  This is where Tanya comes into the picture.

Did you notice that the boys both have shaved heads?  Lice started going around in the orphans wing of the building.  Their solution?  Shave all of the kids heads who had lice because the lice can't stick to a buzz cut.  So, one day, Kym and I were trying to make friendship bracelets with some of the other camp counselors and kids during afternoon activities.  I was sitting on the couch with some kids when Tanya came into the room.  I believe she's 7 years old (but looks like a 5 year old because she's so tiny).  She was incredibly timid and started picking up the scraps of yarn that other kids had discarded.  One of the other camp counselors knew her and asked her if she wanted a bracelet.

Her face lit up.

I could see the excitement as she thought, "You mean I get to pick my own colors?"

It made me wonder when the last time she actually had a choice about something was.

She was so proud of the pink and yellow bracelet the other counselor made for her.  At that point, I had messed up on my bracelet but could fix it for Tanya's tiny wrist.  I asked her if she wanted it and her face lit up again. While I finished working on it, she came and sat next to me on the couch.  The next thing I knew, she was standing on the couch playing with my hair.

You see, little Tanya was one of the kids who had to have their head shaved because of lice.

She played with my hair for an hour and a half...braiding it, putting it in ponytails, putting it on her head like it was her hair.  One of the other camp counselors, Kristen, snagged this picture of her playing.

She was the reason I was at camp that week, and a confirmation why I'm here in Ukraine.  Thanks for that, God :)

6 month mark!

Today marks the day when I left good ol' Norman, Oklahoma, to start the next chapter of my life: the Peace Corps.  What a day it was too!  If you want to read a funny entry about my delayed flights, screaming children, etc., click here!

I know I've been slacking on blogging lately...there are two real reasons why I started this blog: I wanted a convenient way to update friends and family back home, and I wanted it for my own memory so that I could go back and remember funny stories that would otherwise probably be forgotten.  So, please forgive me for slacking the past week! I was sick for a few days with a stomach bug, but am getting back in the swing of things now :)

I thought it'd be fun to see some of the things I've done since I left home...so let the pictures speak for themselves!  Since I have been in Ukraine, I have.

Learned the Russian alphabet!

Met my loving host family in Oster

Met my crazy and fun-loving cluster group :)

Taught classes in Russian to 7th and 11th graders

Spoke (in Russian) at the Last Bell ceremony in Oster

Was officially sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteer!

Survived a week-long camping trip...

Cleaned and cooked chicken for the first time in my life...

Swam in the Black Sea!

Missed my train to camp... 

Saw my first fortress in Ukraine! 

Experienced my first Ukrainian summer camp

Attended a First Bell ceremony in Kirovograd

Learned what a jewel-weed is!

Made homemade tortillas :)

Traveled 3124 kilometers (or 1936 miles) by train!

Saw my second fortress/castle in Ukraine in Kamyanets-Podilsky!

The new group of Peace Corps Trainees will be coming to Ukraine today/tomorrow. That means that I'm no longer the newbie :)  which is a great feeling.  They all met for the first time yesterday in D.C. and probably enjoyed their last real American meal last night.  So, happy 6 month mark group 41ers and welcome to the Peace Corps group 42ers!  

It's a small world...

I'm home for all of 16 hours on this Sunday before I pack my bags for another trip--this time to Kamianets-Podilskyi which is in the western part of Ukraine.  I left on Friday night at 11:40 pm for Kiev (arriving at 5:40 am on Saturday morning) for an Environmental Working Group meeting which basically occupied most of the day on Saturday.  Had to fit in a run to McDonald's though (duh) and enjoy fries and...get ready for this: a cheeseburger.  I can't believe I ate one either.  It goes against EVERYTHING I am as a human being to eat meat like that.  I honestly don't know when the last time I ate one was (maybe elementary school when Happy Meals had mini-Beanie Babies in them and I had to have every one of them?).

Pause.  As a sidenote to the Beanie Babies story: it cost all of 50 cents more to buy an entire happy meal (with fries and a burger) as opposed to buying just the Beanie Baby itself.  We fed all of our neighbors in the Downs the day that they came out...and our dog, Panda, got to eat fries and hamburgers for what seemed like weeks.  Oh, the craze that was Beanie Babies.  

Anywho, back to McDonald's meat.  Mmm...so, I ate a cheeseburger.  Want to guess what book I'm reading right now also?  The Kind Diet, by Alicia Silverstone.  Want to know what the book is about?  I'm sure I'll have many posts in the future about it, but basically it's her lifestyle change of becoming a vegan and the reasons why our body doesn't actually need meat to survive.  Shocking, I know.  It really is pretty crazy to learn about.  And yes, I ate a cheeseburger after reading about cow farms in America, being fully aware of how the animals are treated and raised on these farms.  I don't think I can become a vegan while I'm in Ukraine (soy products are WAYYYY expensive here and my PC living allowance does not allow for that).  And it's not feasible to say I won't eat meat while I'm here in Ukraine because sometimes you have to eat whatever is placed in front of you.  However, when I cook for myself for the next two years, I want to try to have a more grain-based diet as opposed to one filled with meat (that takes 72 hours to go through our digestive system).  I didn't mean to go off on this tangent, so I'll get back to the title of this blog! :)

Last night (Saturday night) I headed to the Kiev train station around 8:30 pm for my 9:23 pm train.  I found my seat and got my bedding ready when a man came and sat in my compartment with me, letting me know that he had the top bunk above my bottom one.  He was probably in his early 30's and asked if I wanted to go have a smoke break before we left (no, thanks), and it was at that moment that he asked me my name.  I try to avoid talking to people on the trains because I really like to just relax and watch some tv shows on my iphone or read my Kindle.  And sometimes if I know I'll never see a person again, I tell them my name is Anna or something like that.  But, when he asked me my name, Lydia came out before I knew what was going on!  He left to go smoke, came back, and started getting out the shmorgasborg (sp?) of food that he had just bought at the EcoMarket supermarket store.  He had everything from salo (pig fat), to beer, to cucumbers, to cabbage, to tomatoes, to bread, to 2 or 3 different kinds of sausage (mmm), to desserts, and then he pulled out Cognac to top it all off.  Now, for the Americans reading this, this is a totally normal thing to do on a train.  And it is custom that you share the food with your neighbors.  The only thing going through my head at this point was that I was exhausted and wanted to go to sleep and that if he was going to drink Cognac and beer, that I was in for a long night with not much sleep.  I kept reading, waiting for the time when our train would leave, and a few minutes before we were to take off, the other two people in our little "compartment" showed up.  I glanced up from my book and lo and behold I KNEW the person standing there.  Her name is Yana and she is my NEIGHBOR who lives across the hall from me.  I nearly fell out of my seat.  She squealed my name (which is when I was VERY glad I told the man my real name) with delight and we hugged and started talking about our adventures of the day.  She had gone to Kiev for the day with one of her guy friends to go shopping and they had actually been on my train that morning from k-grad.  Such a small, small world.  Yana speaks basically perfect English and I was SO glad to have her company for the rest of the ride home.  We even got to take a taxi back at 4:30 am when our train arrived in k-grad.  If I hadn't been so tired, I would have turned on my laptop and searched for the SOONERS playing Tulsa (since it was only 8:30 pm Central time) but I decided that sleep was more important.

I need to start and finish packing for my train that leaves this evening!  Whoops :)  I will be meeting up with two of my cluster mates (Jamie and Mark--whose birthday is today! Happy birthday Marky Mark!) and 2 of my link-cluster mates (Kym and Maria).  Couldn't be more excited for our reunion at the HIV/AIDS training that we will all be doing.  Happy Sunday :)

Camp Bereg: Beach time

On the third day of Camp Bereg, we finally got to go to the beach :)  we were all incredibly excited (at least the PCVs who were new to camp!--some had been at camp a month) and luckily, Kym (my link cluster-mate from Kozelets!) has a waterproof digital camera.  If I ever live by the water someday, I would definitely invest in one of those...to be able to capture moments in the water is awesome and hysterical at the same time.  She took video of us getting in for the first time and it was SO COLD, but completely worth it.  Your body gets used to it after a while.  This is a compilation of our beach time at Camp Bereg.

It was bound to happen sooner or later..

Well, I missed my train last night. As super embarrassing as it is, it actually couldn't have been at a better time. I wasn't going to a conference or to a meeting where I had to be in that city by a certain time. I was going to Odessa and then further south to Sergiivka where I will be helping out at Camp Bereg. AND, most other cities in Ukraine are sold out of tickets going to Odessa...it's a big hot spot during the summer for vacations. However, with my central location in Kirovograd, a lot of trains come through here on their way south to Odessa. 6 to be exact. I was also pretty lucky because it was a relatively cheap ticket (I think it was 60 or 65 griev...less than $10 USD)...AND, the lady at the ticket counter last night refunded me 25 griev even though my train had already come through.

Here's how the night went down. I thought my train left at 10:25 pm. Nope. It left at 8:25 pm. I misread the ticket (even though I probably checked it about 25 times in the past few days to make sure that it was for the right day and time). The other options for leaving from my city are all after midnight (or even at 2 or 3 in the morning) which is why I chose the "10:25" train. I was planning on leaving my house at 9 pm which would give me PLENTY of time to get there. The city marshrutkas were still running then, but not all of them. So, I ended up taking a marshrutka to the center of town (for 2 griev=25 cents) and then taking a taxi for 20 griev (a little over $3 USD). Oh, and I forgot one little anecdote: it was RAINING. Lovely. I finally got to the train station at 10 pm (after standing in the rain waiting for a marshrutka that would never come). I was ready to crash on my bed on the train. When 10:20 pm rolled around, I stood up and put on my backpack and headed to the doors that lead outside (into the pouring rain). They always announce over the loudspeaker (inveryfastRussianthatisreallyhardtounderstand) the arrival of a train...and it never came. Trains here are notorious for being on time, so I wondered what happened. I eventually asked a lady if she knew about it and she informed me that it was her first time at this train station. Her husband was helpful though and told me that I could go talk to the lady in information.

Upon speaking to her and explaining that I do not speak very good Russian and that I missed my train, she told me to give her my ticket and that was when she refunded me my 25 griev. I kept asking if any of the other trains coming through that night going to Odessa had seats, but she said they were all sold out. I asked when the next train coming through going to Odessa that HAD seats would be and she told me 5:48 am or 8:25 pm. I never remembered seeing a 5:48 am train to Odessa online but I knew the 8:25 would probably have some. I couldn't buy a ticket then though (no cashiers open), so I went home (and found a cheap taxi driver that I will be calling from now on! See, something good happened from this...).

After laughing and talking to a few people about it last night and today, I'm accepting the fact that this was bound to happen sooner or later during my time here. And I really lucked out with when and how it happened. I've been trying to get a picture of my ticket to load, but it won't for some reason, so no pictures today! Sorry folks :)

I went back at 7 am this morning to buy a new ticket...came home...and crashed for 3 more hours of sleep. It was raining and the perfect morning for a little snoozing.

One of the things I'm most excited about going to camp for: my trip to McDonald's by the Odessa train station. I would NEVER eat at McDonald's in the states. Ever. Maybe on a mission trip or choir tour when it was the only place that would house 50-150 rambunctious kids. But even then, I groaned about it because I never wanted to order anything off the menu. Yes, their fries are delicious...but they're HORRIBLE for you. And yes, the McFlurry's are great...but again HORRIBLE for you. I don't care about that stuff now. Because it's like I get to eat a little America, and you can bet that I enjoy every bite of it. Let's just say it's a good thing that Kirovograd doesn't have a McDonald's...because I know i would eat there more than I should. And yes, it is almost weird that k-grad doesn't have a McDonald's because most cities of this size do in Ukraine.

One of my link-cluster mates, Kym (who went on my first Odessa trip), is also going to camp with me tomorrow. Her train get in 3 hours after mine...ha, so I'll be spending 3+ hours sitting in McDonald's basking in free wifi, air-conditioning, and most importantly, feeling a little bit at home :) I can't wait. In the mean time today, I think I will watch a movie or some tv shows...my apartment is clean, my fridge is cleaned out, and I don't know what else to do with the day. I made another batch of zucchini bread (thanks to Catharine's great recipe) to take down to the folks that are already at camp. I'll get to see one of my cluster mates, Jamie, who actually lives in Sergiivka. Good times will be had with Kym and Jamie around--multiple laughing sessions are sure to ensure. But, until then...happy Monday!

a truly Ukrainian day for Lydia

I do not have time to be writing this post right now seeing as how it's 9:30 pm and I have yet to start packing for my 3 week summer camp. However, this story is too good not to write about.

Since I have had internet for over 24 hours in my apartment, I stayed up way too late last night on the computer. I kind of, sort of, didn't get out of bed until 11 am this morning. That is maybe the 2nd or 3rd time I've done that since being in Ukraine and I feel like it was totally a legit reason to sleep in after my exciting day of being back online. My counterpart had offered to let me come use her washing machine today (I'm still supposed to be getting one in the next few months for my apartment...fingers crossed) and I took her up on it for my sheets. My balcony takes FOREVER to dry things...and washing sheets by hand is a pain in the you know what...so around 2 pm I headed over to her house. First though, I had to go to the bank, the post office, and the grocery store to get a treat to take over to my counterpart's house.

So, I go to the bank. Go to the post office. Go to the ATB (supermarket). Get to my counterparts house...and realize that I have somewhere along the way lost my LIFE sim card. Huge problemo. Let me explain how cell phones work in Ukraine. There are 3 basic cell phone providers (LIFE, MTC, and Kievstar)...and at some point or another, different cities decided which cell phone provider would be most popular for that area. LIFE works better in big cities. Kievstar and MTC work in the mountains...LIFE does not. Every Peace Corps Volunteer gets a cell phone during training (here's a picture of the day we got ours...it was an absolutely wonderful day for the Oster cluster!). I think it's safe to say every PCV starts off with LIFE. Don't know why...don't really care. It is free to call from LIFE to LIFE phones (or MTC to MTC, or Kievstar to Kievstar), but it costs a lot to call another service provider. So, people here have more than one cell phone. It's been very weird to adjust to this because you have to figure out who somebody's carrier is (their phone number starts off with different numbers for different providers) and then know that it will cost you a lot to call them if you don't have that provider. Well, in Kirovograd, nobody uses LIFE. Everybody has MTC and Kievstar. However, all of my PCV friends still have LIFE. So what did Lydia do? She bought an MTC sim card (mainly so that I can talk to my counterpart). The problem lies with the fact that I only have one cell phone. Here in Ukraine they make dual sim card phones...which I should have bought to begin with. However, the whole Oster cluster went for the cheapest phone there was. So, if I need to talk to my counterpart, I have to pull the battery out of my phone, switch sim cards, put the battery back in, type in my pin code, and then the phone will work. I have had my MTC sim card for maybe a week and a half...and it took me all of that week and a half to lose one of the cards. They're tiny.

So, when I figured out that I had lost the sim card at my counterpart's house...I called my Ukranian friend Yana who thankfully speaks wonderful English. Yana also happens to be my neighbor across the hall...which is another story in and of itself. I met Yana with a few of the other PCVs in my city...not sure how they all met...maybe an English club? We went to a discoteka one night (another story) and it was late when we were going to head home. The mutual PCV friends knew that Yana and I lived in the same area of town so we could share a taxi home. I told her where I lived...the street address...and she said oh, I live in those apartments too! I said cool! What apartment building? Turns out we lived in the same building. And then I asked what number and she told me...and I literally live across the hall from her. Small world that out of the 300,000 people in K-grad one of the first Ukrainians I meet and get to know lives across the hall from me! Back to the main story at hand...I called Yana wondering what to do. My counterpart didn't think that there was a LIFE service center here in k-grad...but she knew that I could get my number restored. However, I leave tomorrow morning at 9 am for summer camp for 3 weeks. Bad timing. Yana couldn't think of anything to do...so I had somewhat come to the terms with the fact that I would be going 3 weeks without a LIFE sim card which meant no talking to friends for the most part. I talk to at least one PCV (if not 3 or 4) every day...it's kind of how you stay sane here. Being able to laugh and exchange funny stories (like this one)...you need it. I was bummed...but knew there was nothing I could do about it. So, we put my laundry in and go swim in my counterpart's pool. We had ice cream with chocolate shavings on top, hot tea, some of the cookies I brought over, and my counterpart had made an apricot pure (apricots and ice) that I tried...quite scrumptious. She has nearly every kind of fruit you could want in her backyard...and we ate apricots and pears right off the tree. I still don't like pears, even in Ukraine. It's a texture thing. My mind was wandering the entire afternoon...wondering if I could find the card again. I told my counterpart that I was going to leave and go home and see if there was an information number Yana could help me call.

So, I get home. Yana has found her parents two old LIFE sim cards...but they don't work anymore. I had to find my original packet of information that came with the cell phone and LIFE sim card and it luckily had an information number to call. Thank goodness Yana speaks amazing English...because she talked to the operator in Russian and then would translate to English flawlessly for me to give her information. I had to name 4 numbers I dial often, when the last time I refilled my minutes was (which was 2 days ago...so it was full of money!), what day I bought the phone, and a few other things. It's a good thing I'm OCD and try to keep track of when I refill my minutes because otherwise they couldn't have done anything. The operator was able to put a freeze on the sim card so that if someone found it they wouldn't be able to use it. But our adventure wasn't over yet. The operator told us that there IS in fact a LIFE service center here...she didn't know what time it closed though. It was after 6 pm...so Yana and I grabbed my documents (passport) and her passport to see if we could catch the place still open. After finding the building, they were in fact open, but the person who could help us had already left for the day. They open at 9 am tomorrow...which is also the time my bus was scheduled to leave. Lovely. We left and decided to check and see if somebody had found the lost sim card in the supermarket or in the post office...really having no clue where I might have lost it. We checked the post office first...and low and behold I found it under the toe kick of the counter I bought envelopes at!!! I was ecstatic...but now it wouldn't work because the operator had put a hold on it. HA. The story gets better, don't worry.

We run back to the LIFE service center (I think it was supposed to be closed by then) and beg the lady in there to let us call the hotline number from her LIFE cell phone because it would be free. We finally got it restored. And all was well :) Since I had an English speaker with me, we stopped at a few more cell phone stores on the way home to see if they had a dual sim card phone that I wanted. I was ALL set to buy one...had plugged my sim card into the new phone...and their credit card machine was down. They were supposed to be closed as well by the time I decided on a cell phone. They told me to come back at 9 am tomorrow morning. No can do.

So, I'll be going to camp with one cell phone, two sim cards, and plan on being even MORE OCD about my sim cards. And, when I get back, Yana and I will go in search of a dual sim card phone for me :) it just wasn't in the cards for me today...

Hope this story provided somewhat of a laugh to y'all. It truly was a day for the record books. After I almost bought my new cell phone tonight, I had to go BACK to my counterparts house and pick up my clean sheets. And I finally got home at 8:45 pm tonight. It took me 35 minutes to write this just now...so at 10:05 pm I will finally start packing for my 3 week summer camp. You can see what the camp looks like here. I'm pretty stoked now! They want more PCVs to help out with it next year. Hope it works out!

Don't know what my internet situation will be like the next 3 weeks...so keep your eyes opened for new blog posts but no email notifications. Toodles :)