Workin' on our tan lines at the outdoor bar near the park.
All we need is a Ma and we got the Golden Girls of Ukraine. (Mine host babusci is the one in the middle)
One of the babusci said the baby must be big since I'm big which led them trying to figure out exactly how tall I am using the door frame as a measurement. Too funny.
Holodets: turkey jello. As you can see, I only took "cheut cheut" (little) after being forced and then put a good amount of ketch on it. I still gagged.
This past week at school was an easy one. I fewer classes than normal because of end of the year tests. Nothing too excited to report on that front. This Wednesday will be the last day of classes and today there was no school because of Green Day which is a national holiday. On Friday, I asked one of the teachers what she wanted me to do with my Tuesday classes. She responded with, “they won’t listen to you, you will be free.” Life is a little more laid back than at home so tomorrow instead of going to school I’ll be sitting outside finishing some books.
On Wednesday, I had another successful ENG club that I run out of a room in the library building. The first meeting I had 15ish people, second 18ish, this past one only 7. But they were an engaged and enjoyable seven. We went over vocabulary of places in a big city: hospital, university, theater, etc. Played a few games of taboo and charades with the vocab. Toward the end did an activity of building sentences with the vocab and making sure the correct tenses of verbs were used when talking about actions of yesterday and then plans for today and tomorrow. This week’s topic is music. Hopefully introduce a variety of my favorites: Dixie Chicks, 50 Cent and my beloved Celine Dion.
Friday morning was definitely the most excited day of the week. While I was walking to school at almost 8am in the morning my sister Tobey gave birth to a sweet baby boy. I got a few texts that day as well as a short phone call this weekend. Momma and Poppa Natzke along with my nephew are doing well and should now be back at home. It is hard to think that I missed out on the special moment. But that is the biggest trade off of getting to have this experience so far away from home; not being able to be in two places at once. Hopefully visiting via Skype until an in person meet is possible will hold me over.
After school on Friday, I met up with Allison in Lutsk. We did some shopping. Did pretty well with getting our checklist done but Allison wasn’t too successful when it came to finding a swimsuit. Let’s just say searching for a person who is blessed up top and then petite on bottom makes for some pretty funny cross cultural exchanges when trying to explain to a sales person that a tortilla chip would cover more than the bikini top trying to be sold.
The weather was gorgeous so we roamed around the center a little and eventually met up with a few other PCVs at a sidewalk pop up café. Enjoyed a couple of brewskies before heading back to my town. But not first without our traditional stop at Tam-Tam pronounced Tom-Tom which is the closest thing Ukraine has like a Wal-Mart. It is nice because there is cafeteria like restaurant at the back of the story. Pretty good veggie salads. Finished up there and then hopped a very crowed marsuka back to my town. I was ready with cookies and a chick flick but ole’ Allison tuckered out before 9:30pm.
In the morning, we both got up around 8:30am hoping to get to Lutsk by 10 to shop the market before hoping a bus back to the V.V. (Allison’s site, 1hour and half bus ride). Normally, I’m not a big breakfast eater here in Ukraine. I prefer a bowl of cornflakes and can be out the door in 20 mins. That didn’t happen.
Saturday marked the day of Mikola. Women in Ukraine have a patriarchal name. My host babusci’s father name was Mikola so we celebrated the day of Mikola which happen to be this Saturday. Not only did we celebrate her father we celebrated Baby Natzke. When we first sat down there were only a few dishes, but as Allison and I soon found out when two of her friends dropped by more dishes and alcohol got brought out. It wasn’t until a little after 11 that we left the table and a little tipsy at that. You probably think why not just say no thank you. Let me tell you I was influenced in high school to drink, I was influenced in college to drink, but nothing has compared to peer pressure or should I call it babusci pressure. She tells you to drink. You throw back, no questions asked. If you don’t believe me, you are more than welcome to come visit.
Finally after escaping to go catch a bus, Allison and I arrived to the V.V. around 2:30 in the afternoon. It was absolutely beautiful with blue skies and sunshine. Since we endured the heat of the bus ride, we thought we would reward ourselves with a beer in the park right behind the bus station. Four hours later with different PCV friends as well as Ukrainian friends, we found ourselves again tipsy but it was worth the good conversation and tan lines. Later we made our way back to Allison’s place dropped our stuff and headed to the restaurant across the streets in the company of Aidan. After a shared bottle of vodka, my chicken sashleka and salad, I was more than jolly.
Sunday was a slow morning. But eventually got moving and back outside to get some sunshine. We went over to Aidan’s place. I was able to get the rest of Grey’s Anatomy which I was so excited about. (FYI: probably the best season finale ever, too bad I had spoiled it by reading up online before watching it. I’ll would have probably cried even more if I wouldn’t have known what was coming) We had some afternoon ice-cream and eventually I headed back to my site.
Today I feasted with my babusci’s family for Green Day; a religious holiday celebrated 50 days after Easter. I’ve taken a nap, re-watched the Grey’s finale, watched the assignation of Jesse James, and now I’m working on my to do list. Hope everyone had a great weekend and the start of a good week. Later yo-s!
Kate
High of the week: finally becoming an aunt!!!
Low of the week: Two way tie. A drunken Ukrainian man using my shoulder as pillow for an hour and half marsuka ride and unfortunate tracks (ask me sometime in person).
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