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
