Hello again and welcome to the increasingly colder lives of Shannon and Danny.
We are in the middle of a gradual cooling that I here will result in an ice-covered period known as winter. We have had a very good time this Summer. We have traveled, worked, swam and visited people. We most recently went to a nearby salt lake which is a series of four or five salty lakes of varying levels. We like to swim in the saltiest of the lakes which is way saltier than any ocean and probably not as salty as the Dead Sea but close. You can float in it with very little effort (if any) and it is completely void of life. No fish, no plants just mud-covered people who believe the chemical makeup of the mud cures arthritis, skin blemishes, cuts and other ailments. The salty water is believed to also help you out of you have glaucoma. Not really sure how much science there is in these beliefs but a lot of mud-covered people hang out there so who am I to decide?
We also went to Kyinka again for a litany of celebrations. The first was Alona and Baghdan's seventh wedding anniversary, second was Alexi's (Alona's grandfather) 86th birthday and Papa Kola's (Shannon's host dad) 60th birthday. The first night was the wedding anniversary and Alexi's birthday party where we sat at Baghdan and Alona's and ate ourselves sick. The next night we celebrated Kola's birthday at his favorite hang out spot: The Sauna. There we danced and ate and sang and at the end of the night we shot off about 400 grieven worth of fireworks which is a big deal in tiny Kyinka.
Before this we traveled to Kiev for our Russian language refresher camp which was a great deal of fun. We spoke a lot of Russian and played lots of games. We got to swim in the Dnipro River which was cool and play ultimate frisbee which is new to me and was very tiring but fun.
A couple of days ago was the 20th anniversary of Ukrainian independence and there was a gathering of folks here in Izium and a concert and dance event at the outdoor disco.
School begins on Sept 1 so we are kind of gearing up for that. We've been taking advantage of the free time we have left by studying a huge amount of new vocabulary. I made about 500+ flashcards with all kinds of important words like "to use" "to suggest" "to mean" and others which brings us to our Russian words of the day:
достопримечательност - [dosta-premechatel-nost] noun: place of interest, attraction
This afternoon we had a Skype meeting with a married couple from Texas who are about to ship over here with Peace Corps. They asked us some questions about life in Ukraine and what to expect and bring. They seemed very nice and fun.
Oh and Shannon has been writing a grant for a press club at her school. They basically want to start a school newspaper so she and Oksana are working to get some funds to start it. She's been working very hard on it and it looks great. My counterpart (Inna Nikolayevna) finally had her baby. His name is Nikita and he looks like his dad. All are happy and healthy.
Not sure if we've mentioned it on here but we are also trying to start a inter-school sports league here in Izium. Basically, we think the schools and students would enjoy and benefit from the same kind of weekly sport events (school vs school) that we have in the States. We met with the head coach of the sports college in our town and she agrees that the idea is good so this month we are going to try to set up a couple of exhibition soccer games between School #4 (my school) and Gymnasium #1 (Shannon's school) and see how they pan out. If they work and the kids are interested in a longer season next fall then we'll meet with the town council sometime early next year and try to get approval. It will be a lot of work but we think the schools could use the money and the kids would enjoy the games and rivalries that develop. Oh well, we'll see I guess.
I think that about covers it this round. Once school starts we might have some more interesting stories to tell you but for now I will end it. With the earthquakes, hurricanes and Steve Jobs quitting over there I hope everyone stays safe and happy. We'll see you soon or you'll read about it here. We love you and miss you.
Danny and Shannon
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Work, Travel, Rinse, Repeat
Hello again. We have returned from our three week long English camp marathon. We began here in Izium with our art and music camp (which turned out to have less music and more visual art). We had some great help mostly from volunteers living in western Ukraine. They came and really did a good job implementing our plans and making them interesting for the students. We made pinatas on Monday, landscape collages on Tuesday, found art sculptures on Wednesday, and charcoal portraits on Thursday. On Friday, we had a concert (performed by the students - Shannon and I sang a song too) and then we went outside and busted a couple of pinatas. (We have video on Youtube and pictures on Facebook for your perusing). We got some great work out of the students and they spoke a lot of English and learned and practiced some new vocabulary.
On Saturday, Shannon got a stomach virus and we needed to be in Kharkov by 6pm to board our train to go to Odessa. I was ready to call off the next camp but Shannon somehow made it to the bus station and suffered through a two hour ride on a hot, bumpy, swerving bus to Kharkov so that we could make it to the camp in Yuzhne. She is amazingly tough and one of the strongest people I've ever met. Once on the train she could lay down and by then the worst of the virus was over. So, we took a 14 hour train to Odessa.
We spent three or four hours in Odessa where we met up with Davidson and Megan (who have been traveling around eastern Europe since their service ended) along with Heidi (who came with us from our art camp here in Izium). Odessa is a very old city and there were some very cool sights to see there but I think the city would be best understood with a guide because without some kind of context the buildings are just buildings and you don't know where to go to see cool stuff like in Kiev or Lviv. But we had some fun and then hopped on a bus to Yuzhne.
Yuzhne is about an hour east of Odessa by bus. It's is a very small port city (about 2 sq kilometers) but it's occupied by around 40,000 people most of which live in 10+ story apartment buildings. It has a oil port, refinery, chemical plant, and a couple of other sea-related industries so it is one of the richest cities per capita in all of Ukraine. It has no less than three huge sports complexes with indoor, olympic-sized swimming pools (one of which has waterfalls and and fountains in it), a town square that has a huge fountain, and a convention center/auditorium that's better than the one in Kiev. It also has beautiful beaches right on the Black Sea.
There we had a camp setup by a Ukrainian English teacher. This is extraordinary because, though Ukrainian teachers frequently setup camps on their own, they very rarely reach out to PCVs from other regions to come and help. This particular teacher was colleagues with our language teacher in Kyinka when she was a teacher in Yuzhne so that's how we got hooked up. We lived in the school which provided us with beds as well as all of our meals. There we had classes on food, animals, music, and the United States. On Friday there we made tie-dye shirts and bandanas and for lunch we taught the kids about Mexican culture and Tex-Mex food and we all (kids included) made burritos and non-alcoholic sangria. In addition, we taught the kids to play kickball and baseball (whiffle ball). We planned to teach them ultimate frisbee but they literally chanted "baseball, baseball, baseball" in protest, so we played baseball again.
While we there we had to work from 9am to 2pm and then we were free. However, when we arrived on Sunday it was cool. Then it stormed and some north winds blew in and it became sweater weather on the beach at the Black Sea. Figures. This lasted until Tuesday and then it progressively got warmer and by Thursday you could swim. On Tuesday we tried to swim but the water was so cold that it made your legs burn and then go numb. Wednesday wasn't much better either but the sun was out so I forced myself to submerge and then I raced out of the water as did everyone at the beach that day. Just way too cold. Something cool about Wednesday though was that Shannon and I waded in to our thighs and Shannon said, "Hey, look there's a jellyfish! ...And another! ...And ANOTHER!" Then we looked around us and there we thousands of them. The sea was filled with them. We asked if they would sting us but the locals said no and then we saw little kids running around holding huge globs of jellyfish. There were a few kids building sand castles and adding jellyfish to the tops which gave them a gelatin sheen...bizarre. On Thursday there were waves and so we got to body surf which was a lot of fun and then on Friday we took a dip in the sea one last time and then went back to Odessa to catch an overnight train to Kiev.
We got to Kiev very early in the morning and hung out for a couple of hours while the day caught up to us and then we took a bus to Radomishel to help out at Heidi's camp. Radomishel is a small(ish) town an hour west of Kiev. There we lived in the kindergarten room which is filled with little bunk beds which were lashed together so we each slept sideways on four beds. It was fun though. We taught two lessons a day for five days so I won't bore you with the details of each but we each got our own team of kids and we did do some really funny cheers and skits with our teams. On Friday we tie-dyed t-shirts and Shannon tie-dyed a pair of white Levi's she bought there at a second hand store. Overall, it was a very successful camp.
We then took a bus back to Kiev and another bus to Chernigov where Bagdan and Aliona came and picked us up and took us to Kyinka. We spent three days there eating too much food and speaking only in Russian. Our families were very happy to hang out with us. We went to Shannon's family's house and had dinner and then they came to Bagdan's house for another big dinner the next night. I probably gained 20 pounds there but we leveled up on our Russian so it was worth it. I also got to help Bagdan work on his fence which I helped with all during training. We want to go back on the 12th of August for Bagdan and Aliona's wedding anniversary and Papa Kola's 60th birthday. We had a blast in Kyinka needless to say.
We took an overnight train back to Izium which arrived at 4:30am yesterday and we crashed. When we woke up, our extra loud and Yoda-old refrigerator was filled with ice in the freezer compartment so I started busting up some ice to free some of our food in there. As the ice fell away I began to hear a hissing sound. Yeah...ALL of the freon leaked out of the refrigerator as the ice burst a coil. Shannon's counterpart and I went to a repair place today where the repairman heard about the coil busting and pronounced our fridge dead. It's in our living room now. Luckily, before we left for our camps we made sure that all perishable foods were either eaten or thrown away so we didn't lose any food. Tomorrow, we're going to go look at a used refrigerator which will be fairly inexpensive so the problem should be corrected by tomorrow afternoon.
So, we are back and happy. We got a new volunteer in our town. His name is Ed. We have another about 30 minutes away and his name is Blakely so this weekend we're going to have them over, have a dinner and meet them. We're very lucky for more reasons that this. We have people here that love and support us and even more, like you, in the States.
Thanks for reading our blog this week. I know it was very long but it's been such a long event-filled time that it had to be. Check out our Facebooks for pictures and our Youtube channel for videos. We love you, we miss you and we'll see you soon.
Danny and Shannon
On Saturday, Shannon got a stomach virus and we needed to be in Kharkov by 6pm to board our train to go to Odessa. I was ready to call off the next camp but Shannon somehow made it to the bus station and suffered through a two hour ride on a hot, bumpy, swerving bus to Kharkov so that we could make it to the camp in Yuzhne. She is amazingly tough and one of the strongest people I've ever met. Once on the train she could lay down and by then the worst of the virus was over. So, we took a 14 hour train to Odessa.
We spent three or four hours in Odessa where we met up with Davidson and Megan (who have been traveling around eastern Europe since their service ended) along with Heidi (who came with us from our art camp here in Izium). Odessa is a very old city and there were some very cool sights to see there but I think the city would be best understood with a guide because without some kind of context the buildings are just buildings and you don't know where to go to see cool stuff like in Kiev or Lviv. But we had some fun and then hopped on a bus to Yuzhne.
Yuzhne is about an hour east of Odessa by bus. It's is a very small port city (about 2 sq kilometers) but it's occupied by around 40,000 people most of which live in 10+ story apartment buildings. It has a oil port, refinery, chemical plant, and a couple of other sea-related industries so it is one of the richest cities per capita in all of Ukraine. It has no less than three huge sports complexes with indoor, olympic-sized swimming pools (one of which has waterfalls and and fountains in it), a town square that has a huge fountain, and a convention center/auditorium that's better than the one in Kiev. It also has beautiful beaches right on the Black Sea.
There we had a camp setup by a Ukrainian English teacher. This is extraordinary because, though Ukrainian teachers frequently setup camps on their own, they very rarely reach out to PCVs from other regions to come and help. This particular teacher was colleagues with our language teacher in Kyinka when she was a teacher in Yuzhne so that's how we got hooked up. We lived in the school which provided us with beds as well as all of our meals. There we had classes on food, animals, music, and the United States. On Friday there we made tie-dye shirts and bandanas and for lunch we taught the kids about Mexican culture and Tex-Mex food and we all (kids included) made burritos and non-alcoholic sangria. In addition, we taught the kids to play kickball and baseball (whiffle ball). We planned to teach them ultimate frisbee but they literally chanted "baseball, baseball, baseball" in protest, so we played baseball again.
While we there we had to work from 9am to 2pm and then we were free. However, when we arrived on Sunday it was cool. Then it stormed and some north winds blew in and it became sweater weather on the beach at the Black Sea. Figures. This lasted until Tuesday and then it progressively got warmer and by Thursday you could swim. On Tuesday we tried to swim but the water was so cold that it made your legs burn and then go numb. Wednesday wasn't much better either but the sun was out so I forced myself to submerge and then I raced out of the water as did everyone at the beach that day. Just way too cold. Something cool about Wednesday though was that Shannon and I waded in to our thighs and Shannon said, "Hey, look there's a jellyfish! ...And another! ...And ANOTHER!" Then we looked around us and there we thousands of them. The sea was filled with them. We asked if they would sting us but the locals said no and then we saw little kids running around holding huge globs of jellyfish. There were a few kids building sand castles and adding jellyfish to the tops which gave them a gelatin sheen...bizarre. On Thursday there were waves and so we got to body surf which was a lot of fun and then on Friday we took a dip in the sea one last time and then went back to Odessa to catch an overnight train to Kiev.
We got to Kiev very early in the morning and hung out for a couple of hours while the day caught up to us and then we took a bus to Radomishel to help out at Heidi's camp. Radomishel is a small(ish) town an hour west of Kiev. There we lived in the kindergarten room which is filled with little bunk beds which were lashed together so we each slept sideways on four beds. It was fun though. We taught two lessons a day for five days so I won't bore you with the details of each but we each got our own team of kids and we did do some really funny cheers and skits with our teams. On Friday we tie-dyed t-shirts and Shannon tie-dyed a pair of white Levi's she bought there at a second hand store. Overall, it was a very successful camp.
We then took a bus back to Kiev and another bus to Chernigov where Bagdan and Aliona came and picked us up and took us to Kyinka. We spent three days there eating too much food and speaking only in Russian. Our families were very happy to hang out with us. We went to Shannon's family's house and had dinner and then they came to Bagdan's house for another big dinner the next night. I probably gained 20 pounds there but we leveled up on our Russian so it was worth it. I also got to help Bagdan work on his fence which I helped with all during training. We want to go back on the 12th of August for Bagdan and Aliona's wedding anniversary and Papa Kola's 60th birthday. We had a blast in Kyinka needless to say.
We took an overnight train back to Izium which arrived at 4:30am yesterday and we crashed. When we woke up, our extra loud and Yoda-old refrigerator was filled with ice in the freezer compartment so I started busting up some ice to free some of our food in there. As the ice fell away I began to hear a hissing sound. Yeah...ALL of the freon leaked out of the refrigerator as the ice burst a coil. Shannon's counterpart and I went to a repair place today where the repairman heard about the coil busting and pronounced our fridge dead. It's in our living room now. Luckily, before we left for our camps we made sure that all perishable foods were either eaten or thrown away so we didn't lose any food. Tomorrow, we're going to go look at a used refrigerator which will be fairly inexpensive so the problem should be corrected by tomorrow afternoon.
So, we are back and happy. We got a new volunteer in our town. His name is Ed. We have another about 30 minutes away and his name is Blakely so this weekend we're going to have them over, have a dinner and meet them. We're very lucky for more reasons that this. We have people here that love and support us and even more, like you, in the States.
Thanks for reading our blog this week. I know it was very long but it's been such a long event-filled time that it had to be. Check out our Facebooks for pictures and our Youtube channel for videos. We love you, we miss you and we'll see you soon.
Danny and Shannon
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Last Day of School, Spectaculars and More!
HAPPY GRADUATION TYLER!
Stop growing up. You're making us all feel old.
Also, if you missed a week or two check out Shannon's short story below. I think it's very accurate in describing what it's like here and it's very good.
So, this week was the last week of school here in Ukraine. As a result we didn't really do a whole lot of "book learnin'" and opted instead to play games and look at the clock every five minutes.
On Wednesday we had our end of the year English Show most of which you can see on our Youtube channel. I played two English songs alone and Shannon and I sang a duet of "Fools Rush In" by Elvis and then we sang a Ukrainian duet in Ukrainian. I then sang a Ukrainian song with two Ukrainians (Volodymir Nikolayvich and our school music teacher). All was well-received. Afterwards, I made my Ukraine acting debut in the role of Juliet's father in an all-English language Romeo and Juliet scene. Specifically the house party scene where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. This is also on our Youtube channel.
On Friday we had "Last Bell" which is a school event where the seniors do some choreographed dances, sing songs, and the younger students sing songs to the seniors. Then at the end, the class leaders ring a ceremonial bell signifying the end of school. It's very different than what we are used to in the States but it's nonetheless interesting and entertaining. Afterward, many of the teachers went down to the river to have a huge picnic and play volleyball and we brought baseball gloves and baseballs and taught them to play catch which they really liked. They kept my gloves in fact and I hope Dima returns them tomorrow. After the picnic, some of the younger teachers brought their wives over to our apartment and we played some music and spoke lots of Russian so I think we made some new hanging out buddies.
Yesterday, Saturday, there was a concert in the center of town and all the seniors from every school dressed up in prom-like dresses and suits and were presented to the town. Then there were pictures and songs sung. Afterward, each school had a party in different places. I attended the party for Shannon's school which was at the administration building. By party, I mean, the seniors, teachers, some younger pupils performed skits, dance numbers, songs, and other things based on the theme of "the beginning of a flight to a destination". There were jumbo jet balloons and the MC's (10th graders) were dressed as flight attendants. I have pictures of this on my Facebook and video on my Youtube channel.
Yesterday we went across town to the train station and bought our tickets to Yuzhne which is a port town near the resort city of Odessa located on the Black Sea so we will be working a camp by day and relaxing on the beach in the afternoon starting Sunday, June 12. Super excited.
So, today we will go over to our friend Alex's house and cook some shish kabobs and hang out with him and Elena. It is a picturesque, beautiful day in Izium with not a cloud in the sky so we are almost guaranteed a great day.
Well, until our next post, we hope you have a great day and we love and miss you. We have Skype so call us up sometime. And, seriously, Tyler...stop growing up. Have fun buddy. I"m proud of you.
Stop growing up. You're making us all feel old.
Also, if you missed a week or two check out Shannon's short story below. I think it's very accurate in describing what it's like here and it's very good.
So, this week was the last week of school here in Ukraine. As a result we didn't really do a whole lot of "book learnin'" and opted instead to play games and look at the clock every five minutes.
On Wednesday we had our end of the year English Show most of which you can see on our Youtube channel. I played two English songs alone and Shannon and I sang a duet of "Fools Rush In" by Elvis and then we sang a Ukrainian duet in Ukrainian. I then sang a Ukrainian song with two Ukrainians (Volodymir Nikolayvich and our school music teacher). All was well-received. Afterwards, I made my Ukraine acting debut in the role of Juliet's father in an all-English language Romeo and Juliet scene. Specifically the house party scene where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. This is also on our Youtube channel.
On Friday we had "Last Bell" which is a school event where the seniors do some choreographed dances, sing songs, and the younger students sing songs to the seniors. Then at the end, the class leaders ring a ceremonial bell signifying the end of school. It's very different than what we are used to in the States but it's nonetheless interesting and entertaining. Afterward, many of the teachers went down to the river to have a huge picnic and play volleyball and we brought baseball gloves and baseballs and taught them to play catch which they really liked. They kept my gloves in fact and I hope Dima returns them tomorrow. After the picnic, some of the younger teachers brought their wives over to our apartment and we played some music and spoke lots of Russian so I think we made some new hanging out buddies.
Yesterday, Saturday, there was a concert in the center of town and all the seniors from every school dressed up in prom-like dresses and suits and were presented to the town. Then there were pictures and songs sung. Afterward, each school had a party in different places. I attended the party for Shannon's school which was at the administration building. By party, I mean, the seniors, teachers, some younger pupils performed skits, dance numbers, songs, and other things based on the theme of "the beginning of a flight to a destination". There were jumbo jet balloons and the MC's (10th graders) were dressed as flight attendants. I have pictures of this on my Facebook and video on my Youtube channel.
Yesterday we went across town to the train station and bought our tickets to Yuzhne which is a port town near the resort city of Odessa located on the Black Sea so we will be working a camp by day and relaxing on the beach in the afternoon starting Sunday, June 12. Super excited.
So, today we will go over to our friend Alex's house and cook some shish kabobs and hang out with him and Elena. It is a picturesque, beautiful day in Izium with not a cloud in the sky so we are almost guaranteed a great day.
Well, until our next post, we hope you have a great day and we love and miss you. We have Skype so call us up sometime. And, seriously, Tyler...stop growing up. Have fun buddy. I"m proud of you.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
A Change of Pace
Hey guys! For this blog I thought we might have a little change of pace with a short story I recently wrote. Any of your comments good or bad will be appreciated. I don't think I need to tell anyone that I've recently become a budding writer, dealing mainly in poetry but this is my first short story. Please be aware that not all of this is from my life, some of it is from my imagination. Read on, gentle reader, read on. Shannon
I pass the Babas on the way home, their backs bent from planting potatoes, picking out weeds, years of Soviet rule. I can hear their disapproval, their disappointment. "And such a pretty girl." They don't know I understand. I understand much more than I can express. "Zdrasvoystya", I say. They nod, reply in kind, like they hadn't been talking about me. Just some daily business. I smile. When I walk into the apartment, I sigh, thankful to be back in my world: a world of beef jerky, peanut butter, Siracha, filled with amenities sent from America. "Why is she here?" they ask. They wonder why I left the land of plenty, the land filled with houses made of glass, 24 hour movie theatres, and paved roads. "Exactly", I'd say but they wouldn't understand. When you have everything, you go looking for something different, something more....real. I pull a cigarette from my pack and step put on to the tiled, broken down, barely keeping itself up balcony and give myself a light. I'm tired, worn down, yet strangely energized by what's around me. It isn't mine. It's like I'm looking into someone else's dream. Vaguely voyeuristic, yet, at the same time it's mine. My dream. The storm starts suddenly. Somehow, here, it always seems to rain out of the bluest sky. I laugh, hold my hand out, flat, so the raindrops hit and splash back into my face. Everything seems so green. I wonder, briefly, what I would be doing if I were back in America. Would I be back at work, playing video games, watching some inane show on TV? Why is it that, here with the sweet summer rain, there is always the sweet, sickly stench of garbage? I hear thunder in the distance: something rare. It's really coming down now, and I consider all of those people out there in the market, surprised by this summer shower. How unexpected. How lucky. I'm sure they don't think so. I remember how a couple of weeks ago, I had been caught in one. It was a beautiful day, the trees were so green, so happy to be out of winter's frosty grasp when the rain started. I had not yet bought an umbrella, my suitcase being too full to pack one, or to be more honest, I hadn't thought to bring an umbrella to what I thought to be a land of ice and snow. Women were huddling under awnings, pulling their jackets over their heads to shelter themselves from fat, cold drops. But I, I was smiling, walking with my hood down, head uncovered, kicking at raindrops as I passed, gaining strange looks from the Babas under cover. "You know she's not married. 25, too." I imagine them saying. "Zdrasvoystya!" I yell. It's obvious I'm not from around here. That's fine with me. I put my cigarette out, but I don't go in just yet. I stand, reveling in the raindrops that so lightly beat my legs as they hit the side of my shoddily constructed balcony. I look out at the flowers blooming just outside my apartment, marigolds, poppies, tulips, and, my favourites, irises as they are battered by the rainfall. A rainbow, summoned by the sun mixed with the rain forms on the horizon, and I laugh, running in to get my camera to share my moment with my family and friends back in Detroit, where it's 65 and cold, dark, dreary. I hop up on my tiptoes to glance down at the Babas now huddled on a bench outside my apartment under a canopy of shared umbrellas. One of them looks up. "Hey," I can almost hear them whisper, "the American! Already 25. What a pity. What is she doing here?"
I pass the Babas on the way home, their backs bent from planting potatoes, picking out weeds, years of Soviet rule. I can hear their disapproval, their disappointment. "And such a pretty girl." They don't know I understand. I understand much more than I can express. "Zdrasvoystya", I say. They nod, reply in kind, like they hadn't been talking about me. Just some daily business. I smile. When I walk into the apartment, I sigh, thankful to be back in my world: a world of beef jerky, peanut butter, Siracha, filled with amenities sent from America. "Why is she here?" they ask. They wonder why I left the land of plenty, the land filled with houses made of glass, 24 hour movie theatres, and paved roads. "Exactly", I'd say but they wouldn't understand. When you have everything, you go looking for something different, something more....real. I pull a cigarette from my pack and step put on to the tiled, broken down, barely keeping itself up balcony and give myself a light. I'm tired, worn down, yet strangely energized by what's around me. It isn't mine. It's like I'm looking into someone else's dream. Vaguely voyeuristic, yet, at the same time it's mine. My dream. The storm starts suddenly. Somehow, here, it always seems to rain out of the bluest sky. I laugh, hold my hand out, flat, so the raindrops hit and splash back into my face. Everything seems so green. I wonder, briefly, what I would be doing if I were back in America. Would I be back at work, playing video games, watching some inane show on TV? Why is it that, here with the sweet summer rain, there is always the sweet, sickly stench of garbage? I hear thunder in the distance: something rare. It's really coming down now, and I consider all of those people out there in the market, surprised by this summer shower. How unexpected. How lucky. I'm sure they don't think so. I remember how a couple of weeks ago, I had been caught in one. It was a beautiful day, the trees were so green, so happy to be out of winter's frosty grasp when the rain started. I had not yet bought an umbrella, my suitcase being too full to pack one, or to be more honest, I hadn't thought to bring an umbrella to what I thought to be a land of ice and snow. Women were huddling under awnings, pulling their jackets over their heads to shelter themselves from fat, cold drops. But I, I was smiling, walking with my hood down, head uncovered, kicking at raindrops as I passed, gaining strange looks from the Babas under cover. "You know she's not married. 25, too." I imagine them saying. "Zdrasvoystya!" I yell. It's obvious I'm not from around here. That's fine with me. I put my cigarette out, but I don't go in just yet. I stand, reveling in the raindrops that so lightly beat my legs as they hit the side of my shoddily constructed balcony. I look out at the flowers blooming just outside my apartment, marigolds, poppies, tulips, and, my favourites, irises as they are battered by the rainfall. A rainbow, summoned by the sun mixed with the rain forms on the horizon, and I laugh, running in to get my camera to share my moment with my family and friends back in Detroit, where it's 65 and cold, dark, dreary. I hop up on my tiptoes to glance down at the Babas now huddled on a bench outside my apartment under a canopy of shared umbrellas. One of them looks up. "Hey," I can almost hear them whisper, "the American! Already 25. What a pity. What is she doing here?"
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The Death of the White Whale, Spring, Rain and Road Work
Hello and welcome.
We haven't had many exciting things to talk about lately but there are a few so I will keep this brief.
First of all we would like to thank everyone for the birthday cards and wishes. They mean a lot so THANK YOU (from Shannon and I).
On that note, we have some Ukrainian friends and we had a little dinner for Shannon's birthday the weekend after her birthday and one this weekend for my birthday. Both weekend were fun and wonderful but this weekend was a bit more interesting because we made burritos and the "tortilla" bread you can get here has no strength. So we had to teach them how to roll a burrito (they'd never eaten Mexican food) and then the bread tore (it ALWAYS tears unless you're Shannon) so they were laughing and confused as to how they could safely eat this strange food. They ended up either using forks or just picking at the pile. They all said they liked the taste and would try to make it again.
I got Alex and Sveta to try Sriracha Hot Sauce which is the greatest food, yes food, on Earth. However, I believe it is bottled directly from a hose tapped into the molten center of the Earth's core. It will burn a hole in the floor so when a Ukrainian, who never ever eats hot things, tries it, they kind of sputter a bit. Alex did...Sveta didn't but she lived in Germany for a year or two so she's gastronomically experienced.
Then we played SPOONS which is a card game involving one less spoon than there are players. If there are five players then there are four spoon in the middle of the table. The dealer deals four cards to everyone then begins picking up one card and discarding to his/her left, keeping only four cards in hand. The cards move around the table from person to person and when one person gets four of one kind of card (i.e. 4 jacks, 2's, 10's etc) then they grab a spoon. Then, basically, everyone else tries to kill each other grabbing the remaining spoon. The person who does not get a spoon is out and everything is reset minus one more spoon. It's played until there is only one person left. So, it's kind of like a mix between poker, slap jack and musical chairs. We had a lot of fun.
I think Shannon mentioned this in her manifesto-sized post but the great white whale has been harpooned and I am typing this from the comfort of my couch. We also have a wireless modem so, if I want or if I'm a liar, I might be typing this from my kitchen, balcony, or bathroom (try to get that image out of your head).
Anyway, now that we have home internet, we can afford to post video. However, Blogspot in its infinite wisdom has seen it fit to not allow videos to be posted to our blog. It just sits and works but never finishes like Nike's Chinese workforce. But, hey, they both work for free so I'm not complaining. The point is that since we cannot post here on Blogger, we created our own YouTube channel. So, go to Youtube.com and search for dannyshannonukraine. We have some videos up and we'll be adding more soon. Or click this link: Our Youtube Channel
Before I go on, I think it's time for our Russian lesson. So, today's Russian lesson will focus on the seasons.
Лето (Lyetoe)- Summer
Весна (Vesna)- Spring
Зима (Zeema) - Winter
Осень (Ohsen) - Fall
So, segueing right along here, Spring is here in Ukraine. Spring here is only slightly warmer than winter with rain instead of snow. Today, so far, it looks like we might actually not have rain which will be a first this week. In the sky, I see this strange, blue color instead of the gray wet things that usually hang there. Maybe today we'll have a comfortable day. Anyway, there are lots of little flower buds popping up and people have been working in their gardens around the apartment so soon there will be lots of really cheap, really fresh vegetables and fruit at the market and lots of colorful flowers around the city. Some of the trees have even started to show signs of budding so when things warm up a bit more, we'll get green. I think the average daytime temperature here has been 10 Celsius so...50F. Not miserable, but it warmed up gradually which made you get excited and then plateaued at 50F which is cruel.
Lastly, the road in front of our house, the main street in Izium had these huge potholes in it due to winter and ice and what not. There was one that, no kidding, was as big as a small car and about a foot deep so the road crews are out every weekday morning under our window with paving equipment, jackhammers, that nasty blacktop which smells wonderful and what sounds like a marching band (percussion only). Luckily, on most days, we have to get up early anyway so we have a clangy bangy soundtrack while we eat breakfast. But, I remind myself that the reason they're doing it is because soon it will be warm. And that means soon we will be able to so swim. And that means yours truly in a Star-Spangled Speedo (try to get that image out of your head).
Until next time, we love you and miss you! Thanks for reading.
Danny and Shannon
We haven't had many exciting things to talk about lately but there are a few so I will keep this brief.
First of all we would like to thank everyone for the birthday cards and wishes. They mean a lot so THANK YOU (from Shannon and I).
On that note, we have some Ukrainian friends and we had a little dinner for Shannon's birthday the weekend after her birthday and one this weekend for my birthday. Both weekend were fun and wonderful but this weekend was a bit more interesting because we made burritos and the "tortilla" bread you can get here has no strength. So we had to teach them how to roll a burrito (they'd never eaten Mexican food) and then the bread tore (it ALWAYS tears unless you're Shannon) so they were laughing and confused as to how they could safely eat this strange food. They ended up either using forks or just picking at the pile. They all said they liked the taste and would try to make it again.
I got Alex and Sveta to try Sriracha Hot Sauce which is the greatest food, yes food, on Earth. However, I believe it is bottled directly from a hose tapped into the molten center of the Earth's core. It will burn a hole in the floor so when a Ukrainian, who never ever eats hot things, tries it, they kind of sputter a bit. Alex did...Sveta didn't but she lived in Germany for a year or two so she's gastronomically experienced.
Then we played SPOONS which is a card game involving one less spoon than there are players. If there are five players then there are four spoon in the middle of the table. The dealer deals four cards to everyone then begins picking up one card and discarding to his/her left, keeping only four cards in hand. The cards move around the table from person to person and when one person gets four of one kind of card (i.e. 4 jacks, 2's, 10's etc) then they grab a spoon. Then, basically, everyone else tries to kill each other grabbing the remaining spoon. The person who does not get a spoon is out and everything is reset minus one more spoon. It's played until there is only one person left. So, it's kind of like a mix between poker, slap jack and musical chairs. We had a lot of fun.
I think Shannon mentioned this in her manifesto-sized post but the great white whale has been harpooned and I am typing this from the comfort of my couch. We also have a wireless modem so, if I want or if I'm a liar, I might be typing this from my kitchen, balcony, or bathroom (try to get that image out of your head).
Anyway, now that we have home internet, we can afford to post video. However, Blogspot in its infinite wisdom has seen it fit to not allow videos to be posted to our blog. It just sits and works but never finishes like Nike's Chinese workforce. But, hey, they both work for free so I'm not complaining. The point is that since we cannot post here on Blogger, we created our own YouTube channel. So, go to Youtube.com and search for dannyshannonukraine. We have some videos up and we'll be adding more soon. Or click this link: Our Youtube Channel
Before I go on, I think it's time for our Russian lesson. So, today's Russian lesson will focus on the seasons.
Лето (Lyetoe)- Summer
Весна (Vesna)- Spring
Зима (Zeema) - Winter
Осень (Ohsen) - Fall
So, segueing right along here, Spring is here in Ukraine. Spring here is only slightly warmer than winter with rain instead of snow. Today, so far, it looks like we might actually not have rain which will be a first this week. In the sky, I see this strange, blue color instead of the gray wet things that usually hang there. Maybe today we'll have a comfortable day. Anyway, there are lots of little flower buds popping up and people have been working in their gardens around the apartment so soon there will be lots of really cheap, really fresh vegetables and fruit at the market and lots of colorful flowers around the city. Some of the trees have even started to show signs of budding so when things warm up a bit more, we'll get green. I think the average daytime temperature here has been 10 Celsius so...50F. Not miserable, but it warmed up gradually which made you get excited and then plateaued at 50F which is cruel.
Lastly, the road in front of our house, the main street in Izium had these huge potholes in it due to winter and ice and what not. There was one that, no kidding, was as big as a small car and about a foot deep so the road crews are out every weekday morning under our window with paving equipment, jackhammers, that nasty blacktop which smells wonderful and what sounds like a marching band (percussion only). Luckily, on most days, we have to get up early anyway so we have a clangy bangy soundtrack while we eat breakfast. But, I remind myself that the reason they're doing it is because soon it will be warm. And that means soon we will be able to so swim. And that means yours truly in a Star-Spangled Speedo (try to get that image out of your head).
Until next time, we love you and miss you! Thanks for reading.
Danny and Shannon
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Mount Hoverla: Trains, Sightseeing & Expecting to Die
Hello good people!
Danny and I are back from climbing Mt. Hoverla, and I thought I would give you all a run-down of our trip. If you were planning on doing something soon perhaps you should come back as this post will be a long one. So, grab some coffee (or preferably tea) and some snacks and read on.
Day 1: Danny and I packed up and left Izium at about 6:00 p.m. on the train to Kharkiev. I sat next to a rather large lady who kept taking the arm rest the whole time. Danny sat further away because, apparently, it doesn't matter what your ticket says, it's first-come first-served. Anyways, I did get to talk to a nice Jehovah's Witness guy who didn't seem to mind that the conversation was way outside of my language capabilities. We got to Kharkiev, and with a few hours to spare, we ran over to McDonald's and grabbed a bite. On this day, I was feeling incredibly sick with some sort of stomach flu so it was unpleasant.
We then hopped the overnight train to Kiev in which Danny and I had a Kype (a four person car) with two twin creepy girls who sat across from me and stared. I was so confused and very sleepy but I couldn't go to bed because the creepy girls were sitting on my bed. I expected them to say "Come play with us" at any minute. Well, in about a half hour we figured out that one of the girls didn't have a ticket and they were waiting to see if there was an extra bunk on the train (there wasn't). They paid the conductor, and she and her stick of a twin slept in the same bed while another dude had the other upper bunk. He played music all night and they kept getting up and down. It was hard to sleep. In the morning, more awkwardness ensued but we eventually got to Kiev. (Davidson, Megan, and Kim's bunkmate was my doppelganger, and she spoke a little English.)
Day 2: Once we arrived in Kiev (at about 8:00am) we headed over to Peace Corps office for a bit where I collected some books from the library, and Danny found some girl jeans that he's been wearing in the free bin. After that, we hung out with Megan while she showed her friend Kim around the city. We saw all of Kiev, I think, including the cathedrals, the friendship arch, Hydropark,Independance Square, etc. We had a train to catch at 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. but, before we hopped the train, we met up with Jason who used to be stationed in Izium before he got a job in Kiev, and had dinner.
We then caught our train and slept.
Day 3: We woke up and did our little train dance which means getting all your stuff together in a 7 ft by 9ft room with 4 people in it. (Difficult) Our bunk mates this time were much better. A very nice woman and a Communist Youth member.
This was our first day in Lviv so we took a Tramvae down to the center of the old city to book our hostel. We did and then went for a tour of the city. We hit most of the tourist spots including High Castle which was very high but, unfortunately, not a castle. It was, I thought at the time, the windiest place in Ukraine. It also has more steps than a packed AA meeting. By the time our tour of the city was over, we were beat but we didn't want to get dinner out AGAIN for those of us on a budget. We, instead, decided to go to this supermarket that our hostel guy recommended. It was 40 minutes outside of the city (by bus mind you- by car it's about 15 minutes), and named Ashan. It was HUGE! I've never seen anything like it in Ukraine. It was a combination Galleria Mall and Wal-Mart. It was very overwhelming to be in a place like that without being to a real supermarket in 6 months. I found BRIE there for gosh sake! It was crazy. We grabbed stuff for spaghetti at the hostel and headed back.
When we got back we cooked our dinner and then played Apples to Apples. Finally, we hit the hay in our 10 person room. I got a top bunk!
Day 4: Since our train didn't leave until 9:00 that night, we left our stuff in the hostel and went out for some breakfast (Nutella filled croissant.Yum!)
Danny and I were on our own so we visited the chocolate factory and then went to the souvenir bazaar where we met some other PCVs in town for the Hoverla trip. We joined them for lunch at this awesome gyro place. We then burned off those calories by going up the huge tower in the middle of the old city center.
Finally, we found our group again, went souvenir shopping again and then got dinner at the same gyro place before we had to travel back to the train station to meet up with our Hoverla group.
At the train station, I don't think I've ever seen so many PCVs. We stood in horrendous lines but we were successful in getting tickets back to Izium (we were worried a bit). Then as a huge, weird, English-speaking group, we boarded the train. It was a Platzkart which means there are little alcoves where 4 bunks are then 2 bunks along the aisles but the whole car is open. We bunked with Megan, Davidson, Heidi, and Kim. This was at 9:00 so we basically just got our stuff ready and then went to bed.
Day 5: We were woken up at 6:00 to get our stuff on and head out to catch the bus to the mountain. We hopped the buses and when we unloaded, began to walk. Thus began our 10 hour hike. We walked for about an hour on the road until we got to part where the actual trail begins. Nothing much to tell about the that except that I didn't bring enough water (M&Ms make you really thirsty, Jess). I was able to get some at the end of the road, though. Next was the wooded section which was gorgeous. Danny said it was the prettiest forest he'd ever seen. It was really beautiful but extremely dangerous (like me!;-)) There was ice every where and at one point Danny went sliding away and I thought he was going to go down into a ravine: a ravine with pointy rocks at the bottom. Luckily, he recovered though there was one girl who slipped and fell head-first into a tree. Her face was a bit bruised and cut from it but it looked like an awesome war wound.
Finally, we made it through the trees to the mountain. When we got there I thought, "There's no way". I mean, this mountain was at a forty-five degree angle (I'm not kidding). People walking up it looking like little ants. Regardless of my internal alarms we started up. There were so many of us, though, that we had to walk in a single file up the mountain, stopping every five minutes of so. It got worse as we went up. It got to the point where I was kicking snow steps into the side to get a hold. (Mind you this was in snow) I refused to look down and jumped anytime Danny touched me. I practiced the 'don't think about it' ritual. We finally got up there doing this.
At the top, you could see everything! It was beautiful and very windy but I was a bit concerned as to how we were to get down. No worries: back the way we came. Ok now I was much more nervous. I mean, this was so steep that I couldn't see the slope when I was standing 2 feet away from the edge. Then, I found out worse news. We were only at stage 2. There was a whole new peak. Our group decided to give it a go, so Danny and I headed out.
OK. I'm not going to lie. I was terrified. This was a slope that was pure snow, the wind was whipping at ridiculous speeds, and 20 meters away on either side were 2,000 foot drop offs. I crawled my way up. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, the weather was so bad that they closed the peak. So, Danny and I went as far as we possibly could (our group didn't follow us).
It was kinda nerve-wracking going back down to the main plateau because of the aforementioned wind and drop-offs but, surprisingly, making it up to the top killed all of my nerves. Danny and I slid back down and prepared to go down the mountain.
It turned out to be not too bad. You just had to tilt your body at a 45 degree angle and step foot over foot in order to stay up. If you fell you would side down a long ways (a couple people did and ended up terrified). However, once you were past the worst of it, you could kinda slide down on your own, so it was super fun. It was one of the scariest, most exhilarating, funnest, coolest experiences ever.
After that it was a quick 4 hours back to the vans and the train. We ate dinner (sandwiches), played Apples to Apples, and went to bed.
Day 6: We woke up in Lviv at 4:00 a.m. and had to get off the train. Megan and Kim's train for Kiev left at 8:00 so Danny and I just slept in the train station until then. Our train didn't leave until 1:00 a.m. so we had a lot of time to kill in Lviv so we went to the city center, got breakfast and walked around a bit. Then we decided to go back to Ashan to kill some time. They were having their birthday bash so we got to see clowns, mimes and a string quartet. We figured if worse came to worse we could go ice skating, bowling or see a movie but we ended up just walking around until Danny got all T-Rex arms and uncomfortable.
We finally made it back to the train station and had to wait a couple of hours for the train. When it got there, we got in and fell asleep immediately.
Day 7: Our train ride from Lviv was 24 hours so we had a bit of time on the train. We woke up at around noon. Luckily, our walking all around Lviv the day before killed all of our soreness. We watched a movie, read, drew, etc. We were also lucky enough to not get a bunk mate so it was just Danny, Davidson, and me.
FINALLY, we got to Izium at 1:00am, took a taxi home, and fell into our own bed.
So ends the saga of our epic journey to Mt. Hoverla in Western Ukraine. If you've read all the way up until this part I congratulate you. It was 7 days of trains, sightseeing, and walking. It was incredibly fun, but incredibly tiring at the same time. Anyway, the trip came full circle because I caught a chest cold from somebody. I'm feeling much better today though. Ok, you've read enough, so go do something productive instead of reading a silly blog. Jeez.
Miss you all, love you all, and glad I didn't die on the mountain.
Danny and I are back from climbing Mt. Hoverla, and I thought I would give you all a run-down of our trip. If you were planning on doing something soon perhaps you should come back as this post will be a long one. So, grab some coffee (or preferably tea) and some snacks and read on.
Day 1: Danny and I packed up and left Izium at about 6:00 p.m. on the train to Kharkiev. I sat next to a rather large lady who kept taking the arm rest the whole time. Danny sat further away because, apparently, it doesn't matter what your ticket says, it's first-come first-served. Anyways, I did get to talk to a nice Jehovah's Witness guy who didn't seem to mind that the conversation was way outside of my language capabilities. We got to Kharkiev, and with a few hours to spare, we ran over to McDonald's and grabbed a bite. On this day, I was feeling incredibly sick with some sort of stomach flu so it was unpleasant.
We then hopped the overnight train to Kiev in which Danny and I had a Kype (a four person car) with two twin creepy girls who sat across from me and stared. I was so confused and very sleepy but I couldn't go to bed because the creepy girls were sitting on my bed. I expected them to say "Come play with us" at any minute. Well, in about a half hour we figured out that one of the girls didn't have a ticket and they were waiting to see if there was an extra bunk on the train (there wasn't). They paid the conductor, and she and her stick of a twin slept in the same bed while another dude had the other upper bunk. He played music all night and they kept getting up and down. It was hard to sleep. In the morning, more awkwardness ensued but we eventually got to Kiev. (Davidson, Megan, and Kim's bunkmate was my doppelganger, and she spoke a little English.)
Day 2: Once we arrived in Kiev (at about 8:00am) we headed over to Peace Corps office for a bit where I collected some books from the library, and Danny found some girl jeans that he's been wearing in the free bin. After that, we hung out with Megan while she showed her friend Kim around the city. We saw all of Kiev, I think, including the cathedrals, the friendship arch, Hydropark,Independance Square, etc. We had a train to catch at 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. but, before we hopped the train, we met up with Jason who used to be stationed in Izium before he got a job in Kiev, and had dinner.
We then caught our train and slept.
Day 3: We woke up and did our little train dance which means getting all your stuff together in a 7 ft by 9ft room with 4 people in it. (Difficult) Our bunk mates this time were much better. A very nice woman and a Communist Youth member.
This was our first day in Lviv so we took a Tramvae down to the center of the old city to book our hostel. We did and then went for a tour of the city. We hit most of the tourist spots including High Castle which was very high but, unfortunately, not a castle. It was, I thought at the time, the windiest place in Ukraine. It also has more steps than a packed AA meeting. By the time our tour of the city was over, we were beat but we didn't want to get dinner out AGAIN for those of us on a budget. We, instead, decided to go to this supermarket that our hostel guy recommended. It was 40 minutes outside of the city (by bus mind you- by car it's about 15 minutes), and named Ashan. It was HUGE! I've never seen anything like it in Ukraine. It was a combination Galleria Mall and Wal-Mart. It was very overwhelming to be in a place like that without being to a real supermarket in 6 months. I found BRIE there for gosh sake! It was crazy. We grabbed stuff for spaghetti at the hostel and headed back.
When we got back we cooked our dinner and then played Apples to Apples. Finally, we hit the hay in our 10 person room. I got a top bunk!
Day 4: Since our train didn't leave until 9:00 that night, we left our stuff in the hostel and went out for some breakfast (Nutella filled croissant.Yum!)
Danny and I were on our own so we visited the chocolate factory and then went to the souvenir bazaar where we met some other PCVs in town for the Hoverla trip. We joined them for lunch at this awesome gyro place. We then burned off those calories by going up the huge tower in the middle of the old city center.
Finally, we found our group again, went souvenir shopping again and then got dinner at the same gyro place before we had to travel back to the train station to meet up with our Hoverla group.
At the train station, I don't think I've ever seen so many PCVs. We stood in horrendous lines but we were successful in getting tickets back to Izium (we were worried a bit). Then as a huge, weird, English-speaking group, we boarded the train. It was a Platzkart which means there are little alcoves where 4 bunks are then 2 bunks along the aisles but the whole car is open. We bunked with Megan, Davidson, Heidi, and Kim. This was at 9:00 so we basically just got our stuff ready and then went to bed.
Day 5: We were woken up at 6:00 to get our stuff on and head out to catch the bus to the mountain. We hopped the buses and when we unloaded, began to walk. Thus began our 10 hour hike. We walked for about an hour on the road until we got to part where the actual trail begins. Nothing much to tell about the that except that I didn't bring enough water (M&Ms make you really thirsty, Jess). I was able to get some at the end of the road, though. Next was the wooded section which was gorgeous. Danny said it was the prettiest forest he'd ever seen. It was really beautiful but extremely dangerous (like me!;-)) There was ice every where and at one point Danny went sliding away and I thought he was going to go down into a ravine: a ravine with pointy rocks at the bottom. Luckily, he recovered though there was one girl who slipped and fell head-first into a tree. Her face was a bit bruised and cut from it but it looked like an awesome war wound.
Finally, we made it through the trees to the mountain. When we got there I thought, "There's no way". I mean, this mountain was at a forty-five degree angle (I'm not kidding). People walking up it looking like little ants. Regardless of my internal alarms we started up. There were so many of us, though, that we had to walk in a single file up the mountain, stopping every five minutes of so. It got worse as we went up. It got to the point where I was kicking snow steps into the side to get a hold. (Mind you this was in snow) I refused to look down and jumped anytime Danny touched me. I practiced the 'don't think about it' ritual. We finally got up there doing this.
At the top, you could see everything! It was beautiful and very windy but I was a bit concerned as to how we were to get down. No worries: back the way we came. Ok now I was much more nervous. I mean, this was so steep that I couldn't see the slope when I was standing 2 feet away from the edge. Then, I found out worse news. We were only at stage 2. There was a whole new peak. Our group decided to give it a go, so Danny and I headed out.
OK. I'm not going to lie. I was terrified. This was a slope that was pure snow, the wind was whipping at ridiculous speeds, and 20 meters away on either side were 2,000 foot drop offs. I crawled my way up. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, the weather was so bad that they closed the peak. So, Danny and I went as far as we possibly could (our group didn't follow us).
It was kinda nerve-wracking going back down to the main plateau because of the aforementioned wind and drop-offs but, surprisingly, making it up to the top killed all of my nerves. Danny and I slid back down and prepared to go down the mountain.
It turned out to be not too bad. You just had to tilt your body at a 45 degree angle and step foot over foot in order to stay up. If you fell you would side down a long ways (a couple people did and ended up terrified). However, once you were past the worst of it, you could kinda slide down on your own, so it was super fun. It was one of the scariest, most exhilarating, funnest, coolest experiences ever.
After that it was a quick 4 hours back to the vans and the train. We ate dinner (sandwiches), played Apples to Apples, and went to bed.
Day 6: We woke up in Lviv at 4:00 a.m. and had to get off the train. Megan and Kim's train for Kiev left at 8:00 so Danny and I just slept in the train station until then. Our train didn't leave until 1:00 a.m. so we had a lot of time to kill in Lviv so we went to the city center, got breakfast and walked around a bit. Then we decided to go back to Ashan to kill some time. They were having their birthday bash so we got to see clowns, mimes and a string quartet. We figured if worse came to worse we could go ice skating, bowling or see a movie but we ended up just walking around until Danny got all T-Rex arms and uncomfortable.
We finally made it back to the train station and had to wait a couple of hours for the train. When it got there, we got in and fell asleep immediately.
Day 7: Our train ride from Lviv was 24 hours so we had a bit of time on the train. We woke up at around noon. Luckily, our walking all around Lviv the day before killed all of our soreness. We watched a movie, read, drew, etc. We were also lucky enough to not get a bunk mate so it was just Danny, Davidson, and me.
FINALLY, we got to Izium at 1:00am, took a taxi home, and fell into our own bed.
So ends the saga of our epic journey to Mt. Hoverla in Western Ukraine. If you've read all the way up until this part I congratulate you. It was 7 days of trains, sightseeing, and walking. It was incredibly fun, but incredibly tiring at the same time. Anyway, the trip came full circle because I caught a chest cold from somebody. I'm feeling much better today though. Ok, you've read enough, so go do something productive instead of reading a silly blog. Jeez.
Miss you all, love you all, and glad I didn't die on the mountain.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Great White Whale Is Dead!
Hello again from the increasingly greener east of Ukraine!
So, the first thing I will talk about today is the death of the great white whale. He has died and left behind home internet. Wi-Fi in fact so...good riddance silly mammal-fish! So, as we speak, I am typing this in our kitchen. Super, super great!
Alex, our friend and Shannon's English student, works for a application developer and he basically got us internet at our house. He ever loaned us the wi-fi modem. He went way out of his way to help us and we can't thank him enough for making our life easier. Ukraine is truly filled with amazingly kind and wonderful people. Alex is one of the best.
This brings us to the Russian phrase of the week:
"Спасибо большой, Алексей!" (Spaseeba balshoy, Alexei!) which means "Thank you so much Alex!"
Next order of business, which is kind of related, is that, since we have home internet, we have uploaded videos on Youtube. You can see them at the links below:
Shannon's Host Family's Pet Bird During Training
Shannon Saves the Winning Goal in Training
Our Apartment in Izium
So, we have internet now so if you want to talk just ring us up on Skype and if we're here we'll try to pick up.
Secondly, but not least by any means, is that Shannon's birthday was on Tuesday and her pupils gave her so many gifts that she made a birthday shrine in the living room.
Tonight, we will host a small birthday party for her and Megan (Davidson, our site-mate's girlfriend and PCV in West Ukraine). So, a few PCV's from around here will come to Izium and hang out for a night. We are currently making borshch, varenyky and shuba which is a kind of fish salad.
So, until next time...same bat-time same bat-channel. Love you guys but maybe we won't miss you so much now that we can talk to you more often.
Bye guys!!
So, the first thing I will talk about today is the death of the great white whale. He has died and left behind home internet. Wi-Fi in fact so...good riddance silly mammal-fish! So, as we speak, I am typing this in our kitchen. Super, super great!
Alex, our friend and Shannon's English student, works for a application developer and he basically got us internet at our house. He ever loaned us the wi-fi modem. He went way out of his way to help us and we can't thank him enough for making our life easier. Ukraine is truly filled with amazingly kind and wonderful people. Alex is one of the best.
This brings us to the Russian phrase of the week:
"Спасибо большой, Алексей!" (Spaseeba balshoy, Alexei!) which means "Thank you so much Alex!"
Next order of business, which is kind of related, is that, since we have home internet, we have uploaded videos on Youtube. You can see them at the links below:
Shannon's Host Family's Pet Bird During Training
Shannon Saves the Winning Goal in Training
Our Apartment in Izium
So, we have internet now so if you want to talk just ring us up on Skype and if we're here we'll try to pick up.
Secondly, but not least by any means, is that Shannon's birthday was on Tuesday and her pupils gave her so many gifts that she made a birthday shrine in the living room.
Tonight, we will host a small birthday party for her and Megan (Davidson, our site-mate's girlfriend and PCV in West Ukraine). So, a few PCV's from around here will come to Izium and hang out for a night. We are currently making borshch, varenyky and shuba which is a kind of fish salad.
So, until next time...same bat-time same bat-channel. Love you guys but maybe we won't miss you so much now that we can talk to you more often.
Bye guys!!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Kharkiv, Good News, Tips You Can Use!
Hi there! (And by 'there' I mean hopefully a warmer place than here).
So, we have good news.
1. We actually got to leave town for a day or two. We went to Kharkiv on Friday night and stayed in a hostel with some PCVs and on Saturday we briefly met with our regional manager and ate some lunch before touring the city a little and heading home on the coldest bus ever. Kharkiv is beautiful and we'll be going back in the next couple of weeks to see a ballet or opera there. They are very cool and fairly cheap apparently.
2. Apparently the cold weather is on its way out soon. People are saying that is should begin warming up again in the next couple of weeks. HAPPY! Though this winter has been apparently very mild in comparison to norms.
3. We received our care package from my sister Lisa and it was filled with hard-to-get goodies like re-sealable plastic bags and Orville Reddenbocker oil and popcorn. It has been put to good use already.
(Begin Segue... Today's Russian word for the week is actually a sentence that I have uttered many times lately:
Как я могу получить в Интернет в моей квартире?
(Kock ya magoo pauloocheete vinternet vmaye kvarteera?)
Translation: How can I get internet in my apartment? ...Segue complete)
The great home internet search continues as today I was informed that I have to go to another office in order to ask about it. Apparently, you cannot buy UKRTELECOM internet here in the UKRTELECOM office. You need to go upstairs to another office which is not connected to this office but around the back of the building up another set of stairs and of course they were closed. It's my white whale. Soon, I shall harpoon the great beast!
This weekend will be somewhat calm unless we decide to go to an Indian Food party about 5 hours away. We'll keep you posted but it should be ok.
Anyway, we saw that there were some tornadoes in Tennessee around Murfreesboro so I hope everyone is OK. I didn't see any Facebook memorials so I assume everything is normal. I know Joe's mom's work took a good beating but she is ok so that's our number 4 good news.
Last but not least...Happy Birthday Laura Baragwanath (Shannon's aunt)!! Hope you are having a good time in CO!
Until next time! We miss you guys and love you all. Seriously!
Danny and Shannon
So, we have good news.
1. We actually got to leave town for a day or two. We went to Kharkiv on Friday night and stayed in a hostel with some PCVs and on Saturday we briefly met with our regional manager and ate some lunch before touring the city a little and heading home on the coldest bus ever. Kharkiv is beautiful and we'll be going back in the next couple of weeks to see a ballet or opera there. They are very cool and fairly cheap apparently.
2. Apparently the cold weather is on its way out soon. People are saying that is should begin warming up again in the next couple of weeks. HAPPY! Though this winter has been apparently very mild in comparison to norms.
3. We received our care package from my sister Lisa and it was filled with hard-to-get goodies like re-sealable plastic bags and Orville Reddenbocker oil and popcorn. It has been put to good use already.
(Begin Segue... Today's Russian word for the week is actually a sentence that I have uttered many times lately:
Как я могу получить в Интернет в моей квартире?
(Kock ya magoo pauloocheete vinternet vmaye kvarteera?)
Translation: How can I get internet in my apartment? ...Segue complete)
The great home internet search continues as today I was informed that I have to go to another office in order to ask about it. Apparently, you cannot buy UKRTELECOM internet here in the UKRTELECOM office. You need to go upstairs to another office which is not connected to this office but around the back of the building up another set of stairs and of course they were closed. It's my white whale. Soon, I shall harpoon the great beast!
This weekend will be somewhat calm unless we decide to go to an Indian Food party about 5 hours away. We'll keep you posted but it should be ok.
Anyway, we saw that there were some tornadoes in Tennessee around Murfreesboro so I hope everyone is OK. I didn't see any Facebook memorials so I assume everything is normal. I know Joe's mom's work took a good beating but she is ok so that's our number 4 good news.
Last but not least...Happy Birthday Laura Baragwanath (Shannon's aunt)!! Hope you are having a good time in CO!
Until next time! We miss you guys and love you all. Seriously!
Danny and Shannon
Monday, February 21, 2011
Travelling Blues and The Great Home-Internet Search
Sorry we haven't posted in a while. There I said it.
So, I will explain the title:
Three weeks ago, I received an invite from a volunteer in Kupiansk to attend her birthday party. I told Shannon about it and informed her that it was that coming weekend. We were excited and ready to see other English-speaking people. That Saturday came and, a couple of hours before we were to leave, I called them to see if they were in Kupiansk yet. They informed me that they were not there and would not be there as the party was next weekend. I am a moron.
So, disappointing, but it's only a week and we'll be able to go. So, this weekend we packed up and left. We got to the bus station at 4:18pm. Now, Kupiansk is a pretty large town much like Izium. It is situated, not on a major highway but on a decently-sized road between Donetsk and Kharkiv (the two biggest cities in eastern Ukraine). So, one would think that buses would go there frequently at all hours of the day just like they do between our town and Kharkiv. So, we got to the station at 4:18pm and asked for the next bus to Kupiansk. We were told that the next bus was Sunday at 8am. When was the last bus? 4:10pm. We missed the last bus to the party by 8 minutes. Bummer. So, we went to a local pizza place and blew 100 greven on junk food.
This coming weekend we have a "meet your neighbors" gathering in Kharkiv so all of the PCVs from out oblast will be there. We...shall...not...miss...it!
We've been trying to get internet in our apartment for a while but it's kind of hard. We went to a place that installs internet in the apartment (not through a phone line) but they told us to go to a competitor because their internet wasn't very good. HA! We should have it figured out in a couple of weeks. Until then it's sitting on a wooden bench in a telecom center with spotty internet. But, we could have no internet at all so we're lucky and blessed.
By the way, please make the following changes to the address we gave you:
Wissing, Davidson
c/o: (me or Shannon)
PO Box 5
Izium, Kharkivskaya Obl., 64309
Ukraine
Віссінг, Дeвiдcoн
a/я 5
м. Ізюм
Харківська обл., 64309
Україна
We receive packages via the other address (Lisa we got your package but it's at the post office here and I need to go there and sign for it) but we think that this change (removing the a/c 23) will be less confusing for the postal workers.
So, I'm not sure if we mentioned it but we now have a brand new mattress and sleeping is SOOOOOOO much better. Hopefully, this coming weekend will pan out and we'll get to see some friends and sate our anticipation that's been building for nearly a month.
So, until next time. Thank you for everything! We would be really strained here without your support and love. Thank you all again!
Danny and Shannon
So, I will explain the title:
Three weeks ago, I received an invite from a volunteer in Kupiansk to attend her birthday party. I told Shannon about it and informed her that it was that coming weekend. We were excited and ready to see other English-speaking people. That Saturday came and, a couple of hours before we were to leave, I called them to see if they were in Kupiansk yet. They informed me that they were not there and would not be there as the party was next weekend. I am a moron.
So, disappointing, but it's only a week and we'll be able to go. So, this weekend we packed up and left. We got to the bus station at 4:18pm. Now, Kupiansk is a pretty large town much like Izium. It is situated, not on a major highway but on a decently-sized road between Donetsk and Kharkiv (the two biggest cities in eastern Ukraine). So, one would think that buses would go there frequently at all hours of the day just like they do between our town and Kharkiv. So, we got to the station at 4:18pm and asked for the next bus to Kupiansk. We were told that the next bus was Sunday at 8am. When was the last bus? 4:10pm. We missed the last bus to the party by 8 minutes. Bummer. So, we went to a local pizza place and blew 100 greven on junk food.
This coming weekend we have a "meet your neighbors" gathering in Kharkiv so all of the PCVs from out oblast will be there. We...shall...not...miss...it!
We've been trying to get internet in our apartment for a while but it's kind of hard. We went to a place that installs internet in the apartment (not through a phone line) but they told us to go to a competitor because their internet wasn't very good. HA! We should have it figured out in a couple of weeks. Until then it's sitting on a wooden bench in a telecom center with spotty internet. But, we could have no internet at all so we're lucky and blessed.
By the way, please make the following changes to the address we gave you:
Wissing, Davidson
c/o: (me or Shannon)
PO Box 5
Izium, Kharkivskaya Obl., 64309
Ukraine
Віссінг, Дeвiдcoн
a/я 5
м. Ізюм
Харківська обл., 64309
Україна
We receive packages via the other address (Lisa we got your package but it's at the post office here and I need to go there and sign for it) but we think that this change (removing the a/c 23) will be less confusing for the postal workers.
So, I'm not sure if we mentioned it but we now have a brand new mattress and sleeping is SOOOOOOO much better. Hopefully, this coming weekend will pan out and we'll get to see some friends and sate our anticipation that's been building for nearly a month.
So, until next time. Thank you for everything! We would be really strained here without your support and love. Thank you all again!
Danny and Shannon
Monday, February 7, 2011
Hi! Danny here! We didn't really have time to post anything this weekend so I thought I would do one now.
So, I started a profile on the website vkontakte.ru which is the Eastern European version of Facebook. The profile will be an English learning resource for our students. I am working to get some activities put up on there. Anyway, every week we will post audio dialogues or stories, video skits, or text-reading activities on the page (which will automatically inform our "friends" when we do) and our pupils can go there and do the activities and email the answers. Every month we will award some small prize to the winner (i.e. two tickets to the cinema or a DVD or something). Hopefully, this will get the students interested in learning English. I am working with a local Ukrainian who has provided me with a nice microphone and mixing board on which I can get a good sound for the audio activities. The vkontakte page is called "Shark-Monkey English Weekly". I need a logo of either a half-shark-half-monkey hybrid or a shark and a monkey with their arms around each other. I will work on that soon or if you're bored and want to try to come up with it, feel free.
Shannon has been working with her pupils to prep them for a Romeo and Juliet play so she is happy. She is also taking on more and more responsibility at her school which is great. She also got her picture taken by the staff photographer so she will soon be on the official staff wall of photos. This is a very funny story that I will let her tell you later.
Shannon and I were enjoying a very beautiful two days of snow over the weekend, when, yesterday, the temperature rose to 46 degrees Fahrenheit which turned everything into mush and then last night everything refroze so it's super slick and extra wet in places. It's sort of miserable to walk in without waterproof boots...which we have thankfully.
Yesterday, we went on a picnic with Davidson and Sveta to the tallest hill in our oblast which was fun but the temp went from 45 to 33 in the short time we were on the hill so it got uncomfortable quick. We came down and went to a local cafe and ate borscht and drank hot coffee to warm up. It was a fun day.
Saturday, Shannon and I made gumbo and it is SOOOOO good. I think we will eat it for the rest of the week. The recipe yielded around 10-12 servings so we have a easy menu for a while.
The Russian word of this week is a two-for-one:
aкула - shark обезьяны - monkey
I hope all is well in the States. We will be at a birthday party in Kupansk this Saturday so we will not be online. We may be on here on Sunday though since the party is not very far away this time.
We love you. We miss you. We will talk to you soon. Thank you for reading.
-Danny
So, I started a profile on the website vkontakte.ru which is the Eastern European version of Facebook. The profile will be an English learning resource for our students. I am working to get some activities put up on there. Anyway, every week we will post audio dialogues or stories, video skits, or text-reading activities on the page (which will automatically inform our "friends" when we do) and our pupils can go there and do the activities and email the answers. Every month we will award some small prize to the winner (i.e. two tickets to the cinema or a DVD or something). Hopefully, this will get the students interested in learning English. I am working with a local Ukrainian who has provided me with a nice microphone and mixing board on which I can get a good sound for the audio activities. The vkontakte page is called "Shark-Monkey English Weekly". I need a logo of either a half-shark-half-monkey hybrid or a shark and a monkey with their arms around each other. I will work on that soon or if you're bored and want to try to come up with it, feel free.
Shannon has been working with her pupils to prep them for a Romeo and Juliet play so she is happy. She is also taking on more and more responsibility at her school which is great. She also got her picture taken by the staff photographer so she will soon be on the official staff wall of photos. This is a very funny story that I will let her tell you later.
Shannon and I were enjoying a very beautiful two days of snow over the weekend, when, yesterday, the temperature rose to 46 degrees Fahrenheit which turned everything into mush and then last night everything refroze so it's super slick and extra wet in places. It's sort of miserable to walk in without waterproof boots...which we have thankfully.
Yesterday, we went on a picnic with Davidson and Sveta to the tallest hill in our oblast which was fun but the temp went from 45 to 33 in the short time we were on the hill so it got uncomfortable quick. We came down and went to a local cafe and ate borscht and drank hot coffee to warm up. It was a fun day.
Saturday, Shannon and I made gumbo and it is SOOOOO good. I think we will eat it for the rest of the week. The recipe yielded around 10-12 servings so we have a easy menu for a while.
The Russian word of this week is a two-for-one:
aкула - shark обезьяны - monkey
I hope all is well in the States. We will be at a birthday party in Kupansk this Saturday so we will not be online. We may be on here on Sunday though since the party is not very far away this time.
We love you. We miss you. We will talk to you soon. Thank you for reading.
-Danny
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
BONUS!
I received this photo today. Shannon's counterpart (Oksana) is the woman standing to her right with the red under-shirt. My counterpart (Inna) is the woman standing to my left with the dark hair. This is our group photo in Kiev during our swearing-in ceremony. Good times.
By the way, we got our first package today but it is in a warehouse on the other side of town so we don't technically have it in hand but we will within a day or two. Thank you Lynne! It's like Christmas...or Ukrainian New Year!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
No, Jessica, we didn't give up the blog
I know we haven't posted in awhile, and we apologize to our loyal followers! (That sounds like we run a cult. Watch out, I think I like the sound of that. If I end up being a cult leader, I expect you all to be followers). So, things have been pretty tame here what with the holidays being over and all. Two weeks ago we made our first trip out of site to go visit some fellow PCVs in Shevchenkove. Technically, the town is only about an hour away by car, but, since we had to take the bus to Kupansk and then one to Shevchenkove, it took us four hours one-way which wasn't terrible but different. The buses aren't like Greyhounds which go non-stop to their destination. These buses go through small towns and pick up/drop folks off frequently so it takes a while. Anyway, we saw almost all of the PCVs from our oblast and we ate "mexican" food and had a good time, though we spent at least an hour walking around the town after dark in the freezing cold waiting for them to come back from Kharkiv. It's funny how the "American" food we tend to miss the most is Mexican.
Jeff wanted to know what happened to our "Word of the Week" so here it is:
трудно "trudna"-difficult.
This is in honor of the fact that last week, at my club for 4th graders, I had 12 students. This week, 28 showed up. So, just imagine me (Shannon)in front of 28 Ukrainian speaking 4th graders for an hour with no translator to help me out. (She did great though -Danny) I don't think I have enough games in my brain to keep them occupied every week!
Let's see, what else? Last night, I had an epic fall. I slipped on the ice, but, unfortunately, I had my hands in my pockets and could not extricate them in time to catch myself. I fell face-first into the snow. I mean, my nose and my mouth were covered in snow. There was some consolation, though not much, because Danny fell, too (mainly because he was laughing so hard at me). Needless to say, it's very slippery here. Megan, Davidson's girlfriend fell twice yesterday (the first day she arrived in town). I need to get my snow legs under me.
Danny has started helping with a Romeo and Juliet play (in English) and is playing music in a Chicken Little play (also in English). In order for them to read it, though, we had to adapt it into simpler English. This made me very sad. We also recently acquired a language tutor, so we're on our way to learning better Russian. My schedule has started to fill up, too with my classes, my two Flex hours, tutoring Mary for Olypiad, tutoring Alex, doing the 4th grade club and the leadership club, plus the girl's club. So, don't worry, we're keeping busy. I love the weekends, though I wish we had a better bed! Sleeping on a bar just doesn't make for a good night's sleep.
Today was spent making vareneky which is a pretty involved process. You have to make the puree with onions, salo, and garlic that you fry, then make the vermicelli, then make the dough, then stuff them all. But, we did make enough to last us for a good week or so. (I, at least, hope so because it took me 3 hours).
Well, that's about it for today. We promise to post again soon (in the next week or so). Also, Danny's thinking about doing a radio show, so we'll let you know how that goes. My husband-the superstar. I like the sound of it. Anyway, if I break a hip (or, more appropriately, if Danny breaks a hip) on the ice this week, I'm sure you'll hear about it. I will try to be more careful, though. Not for your sakes, of course, it's just embarrassing in general to be seen slipping and sliding.
Love you all, thanks for reading, and go out and have a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant for us. Bye!!!!!!
Jeff wanted to know what happened to our "Word of the Week" so here it is:
трудно "trudna"-difficult.
This is in honor of the fact that last week, at my club for 4th graders, I had 12 students. This week, 28 showed up. So, just imagine me (Shannon)in front of 28 Ukrainian speaking 4th graders for an hour with no translator to help me out. (She did great though -Danny) I don't think I have enough games in my brain to keep them occupied every week!
Let's see, what else? Last night, I had an epic fall. I slipped on the ice, but, unfortunately, I had my hands in my pockets and could not extricate them in time to catch myself. I fell face-first into the snow. I mean, my nose and my mouth were covered in snow. There was some consolation, though not much, because Danny fell, too (mainly because he was laughing so hard at me). Needless to say, it's very slippery here. Megan, Davidson's girlfriend fell twice yesterday (the first day she arrived in town). I need to get my snow legs under me.
Danny has started helping with a Romeo and Juliet play (in English) and is playing music in a Chicken Little play (also in English). In order for them to read it, though, we had to adapt it into simpler English. This made me very sad. We also recently acquired a language tutor, so we're on our way to learning better Russian. My schedule has started to fill up, too with my classes, my two Flex hours, tutoring Mary for Olypiad, tutoring Alex, doing the 4th grade club and the leadership club, plus the girl's club. So, don't worry, we're keeping busy. I love the weekends, though I wish we had a better bed! Sleeping on a bar just doesn't make for a good night's sleep.
Today was spent making vareneky which is a pretty involved process. You have to make the puree with onions, salo, and garlic that you fry, then make the vermicelli, then make the dough, then stuff them all. But, we did make enough to last us for a good week or so. (I, at least, hope so because it took me 3 hours).
Well, that's about it for today. We promise to post again soon (in the next week or so). Also, Danny's thinking about doing a radio show, so we'll let you know how that goes. My husband-the superstar. I like the sound of it. Anyway, if I break a hip (or, more appropriately, if Danny breaks a hip) on the ice this week, I'm sure you'll hear about it. I will try to be more careful, though. Not for your sakes, of course, it's just embarrassing in general to be seen slipping and sliding.
Love you all, thanks for reading, and go out and have a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant for us. Bye!!!!!!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Novi Gode or When Fun Won't Come To You, Make a Board Game!
Hello friends and family!
Sorry we haven't posted in a while. It's not that we've been too busy. Actually, it's quite the opposite. We truly have not done a whole a lot since the last time we posted. We had a nice Christmas with Davidson and his girlfriend Megan (both PCVs). We cooked Borscht (which went bad due to slightly old cabbage), deruny (fried potato cakes), corn, potato salad and coleslaw. It was all very delicious (except for the Borscht which tasted like a burned shoe) and we had a nice night.
Afterward, we (or rather Ukraine) celebrated the New Year on Dec 31/Jan 1 just like in the States. However, unlike in the States, most people gather with family and friends and do not venture out. Since Davidson and Megan left to go to Lviv and we couldn't buy a train or bus ticket out of town, we stayed indoors as well and made cabbage rolls (Galupsi) which are stuffed with ground meat and rice. They are very tasty. We ate them and went to bed around 12:30.
Next, (this weekend actually) was Ukrainian Christmas. It was pretty tame. Most of the stores in town were open and life went on as usual for the most part. We really didn't do anything for it. Last night, Shannon's counterpart invited us to her relatives' house for dinner which we accepted. They fed us very tasty food and we talked to them about all kinds of stuff for over six hours. Then Davidson came over and we ate and hung out. We also learned Cribbage, which is unusual.
So, that's pretty much all we've done. It snowed here and there's about 4 or 5 inches on the ground. I fell in the road on the way to the supermarket on Friday which is my first undisputed fall in Ukraine and honestly I can't believe it didn't come sooner. It didn't hurt it was just fast and I didn't even try to save myself. Just let it happen. Didn't see it coming at all. I'm sure it won't be the last.
Though we really enjoy each other's company, things can get pretty boring when you have two weeks in which to do nothing. It also doesn't help that we really don't know anyone here yet. So, to pass the time, here's some of the things we did to keep busy:
-read including Treasure Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Ukrainian Folk Tales, and The Idiot
-cooked
-learned, played, and sang together many new songs
-learned/played Cribbage, War, Rummy, and Hearts
-Shannon got addicted to minesweeper and spider solitaire
-made a pop-o-matic trouble board game out of paper
-created our own 'Danny and Shannon's life' board game out of paper
-drew portraits of each other
-lesson plans, etc.
-wrote a small novel
just kidding about that last one but, to be honest, we probably had time for it! So, tomorrow is officially the first day back at school so I don't think we'll have much time for any of the above activities for awhile!
Last thing I will say is we have a mailing address now. Actually, we have Davidson's PO Box as the post office here has no vacant PO boxes to sell us. But, you can send stuff to this address and Davidson has assured us that he will only steal the tasty things and expensive things. When he leaves in June we will continue to keep this box so, hopefully, this will be the only PO box address we will need. Ok. So, here it is:
Wissing, Davidson
c/o: (me or Shannon)
a/c 23 PO Box 5
Izium, Kharkivskaya Obl., 64309
Ukraine
Віссінг, Дeвiдcoн
a/c 23 a/я 5
м. Ізюм
Харківська обл., 64309
Україна
So, you have to put both addresses on the package and one must be in Cyrillic so I would just print both of them off and tape them to the box/envelope. If you have any questions let us know. Remember, it takes at least two weeks for things to arrive and if you send something please ask for a tracking number so that we can check its status right up until it arrives at the post office. I think they will notify Davidson if a package arrives but it would be helpful for all of us here.
With that I will say goodbye for now. We love and miss you as always.
-Danny and Shannon
Sorry we haven't posted in a while. It's not that we've been too busy. Actually, it's quite the opposite. We truly have not done a whole a lot since the last time we posted. We had a nice Christmas with Davidson and his girlfriend Megan (both PCVs). We cooked Borscht (which went bad due to slightly old cabbage), deruny (fried potato cakes), corn, potato salad and coleslaw. It was all very delicious (except for the Borscht which tasted like a burned shoe) and we had a nice night.
Afterward, we (or rather Ukraine) celebrated the New Year on Dec 31/Jan 1 just like in the States. However, unlike in the States, most people gather with family and friends and do not venture out. Since Davidson and Megan left to go to Lviv and we couldn't buy a train or bus ticket out of town, we stayed indoors as well and made cabbage rolls (Galupsi) which are stuffed with ground meat and rice. They are very tasty. We ate them and went to bed around 12:30.
Next, (this weekend actually) was Ukrainian Christmas. It was pretty tame. Most of the stores in town were open and life went on as usual for the most part. We really didn't do anything for it. Last night, Shannon's counterpart invited us to her relatives' house for dinner which we accepted. They fed us very tasty food and we talked to them about all kinds of stuff for over six hours. Then Davidson came over and we ate and hung out. We also learned Cribbage, which is unusual.
So, that's pretty much all we've done. It snowed here and there's about 4 or 5 inches on the ground. I fell in the road on the way to the supermarket on Friday which is my first undisputed fall in Ukraine and honestly I can't believe it didn't come sooner. It didn't hurt it was just fast and I didn't even try to save myself. Just let it happen. Didn't see it coming at all. I'm sure it won't be the last.
Though we really enjoy each other's company, things can get pretty boring when you have two weeks in which to do nothing. It also doesn't help that we really don't know anyone here yet. So, to pass the time, here's some of the things we did to keep busy:
-read including Treasure Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Ukrainian Folk Tales, and The Idiot
-cooked
-learned, played, and sang together many new songs
-learned/played Cribbage, War, Rummy, and Hearts
-Shannon got addicted to minesweeper and spider solitaire
-made a pop-o-matic trouble board game out of paper
-created our own 'Danny and Shannon's life' board game out of paper
-drew portraits of each other
-lesson plans, etc.
-wrote a small novel
just kidding about that last one but, to be honest, we probably had time for it! So, tomorrow is officially the first day back at school so I don't think we'll have much time for any of the above activities for awhile!
Last thing I will say is we have a mailing address now. Actually, we have Davidson's PO Box as the post office here has no vacant PO boxes to sell us. But, you can send stuff to this address and Davidson has assured us that he will only steal the tasty things and expensive things. When he leaves in June we will continue to keep this box so, hopefully, this will be the only PO box address we will need. Ok. So, here it is:
Wissing, Davidson
c/o: (me or Shannon)
a/c 23 PO Box 5
Izium, Kharkivskaya Obl., 64309
Ukraine
Віссінг, Дeвiдcoн
a/c 23 a/я 5
м. Ізюм
Харківська обл., 64309
Україна
So, you have to put both addresses on the package and one must be in Cyrillic so I would just print both of them off and tape them to the box/envelope. If you have any questions let us know. Remember, it takes at least two weeks for things to arrive and if you send something please ask for a tracking number so that we can check its status right up until it arrives at the post office. I think they will notify Davidson if a package arrives but it would be helpful for all of us here.
With that I will say goodbye for now. We love and miss you as always.
-Danny and Shannon
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