Warsaw and Krakow

Last month my friend Sam came to see me. Sam is studying in Turkey this semester and like me, loves to travel. Sam had one caveat when coming to see me, that we go to another country, so I managed to convince her to go to Poland for six days.

I had been to Poland a few years ago, while on a class trip with my classmates from Slovakia. We visited Krakow, and saw the beautiful old city and Auschwitz concentration camp, which is not very faw from Krakow. But I always wanted to go back and to see Warsaw and lucky for me, my friend Sam was game. 

I met Sam in Kyiv on Easter Sunday and we took an overnight train to Warsaw. In Warsaw we stayed with a really nice guy named Pawel, who like me is an English Teacher. Pawel was really great and showed us the town and introduced us to his friends. We saw the very beautifully restored old town, the famous Palace of Culture that was "a gift" to the people of Warsaw from Stalin, and a really cool poster museum. Sam and I also throughly enjoyed the mall and had some very good perogies. 

The Palace of Culture in Warsaw

We then travled to Krakow, which is only a four hour train ride from Warsaw. Krakow is the old capital of the Polish empire and is famous for its architecture, salt mine, and Venetian market where you can buy lots of amber, which we did. Unbeknowst to Sam and I , we were in Krakow at the same time as the Beautification of John Paul II, the former archbishop of Krakow. Although the ceremony took place in Vatican City, thecity of Krakow had flags and pictures of John Paul everywhere in honor of his canidacy to sainthood.

The Venetian Market in Krakow, where they have lots and lots of amber

This time in Krakow, I saw the famous Wieliczka Salt Mines, which includes a very beautfiul underground cathedral. We ledt Krakow and headed back to Ukraine, to see Kyiv for a day before Sam went back to Turkey and I went back to Konstantinovka. It was rallly great of Sam to come and see me and I hope that many more of you do.

Ukrainian Easter Eggs

Ukraine is known for making traditional Easter Eggs, called pisanky. Back at home, a family friend John makes traditional eggs and has a really large collection of them. The tradition of making pisanky somewhat died out during communism but has been making a comeback. Today, there was even a bunch of eggs on display that students made in the school's entry hall. 

I had the opportunity to make some pisanky during training. I only made a couple of them, but I really enjoyed it. And I think I might have a knack for making them too. 

The process of making pisanky is quite long. First you must poke a hole at the bottom of the egg to drain it. After letting it sit for a day or two, you can then decorate it. The first step in the decorating process is drawing designs on the egg with a tool that is shaped like a pen, but it has a needle on the end rather than a pen tip. You must drag the well that is on top of the pen across a a bunch of wax to fill the well. Next you melt the wax,by holding the pen-like tool over a candle. Then you use the tool with the melted wax to draw on the egg with.

This is a picture of me drawing on the egg with the pen-like tool. To th left is my friend Monica.

This is what an egg looks like with the wax drawn on it.  

After you finishing drawing your design, you then place the egg in dye(s).

This is the first egg I made.

 

And this is the second, it was a lot better than the first and I gave it to my host family.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Project!!!

As a volunteer I am required to do outside projects, besides teaching. Although they can be teaching related, most volunteers choose to do other things.  Last week I completed my first project, which was helping to organize a spring clean-up at my school and nearby grounds.

I will be frank and tell you that there is a lot of trash on the ground in Ukraine. After the Soviet Union collapsed, there were not a lot of people around to pick up garbage and not a whole lot of garbage cans arround either. Needless to say there are a lot of environmental problems here, but I hope to tackle a few of them during my time here.

I got some help for a International NGO called Let's Do It, which gave my school gloves and bags. The purpose of Let's Do It is to get people, especialy youth involved in cleaning up and taking care of their environement.

Before we began the clean-up I decided that I should teach my students what they should and should not throw on the ground. 

One of my second form students deciding where to throw her bottle. She guessed right.   

Students running to pick-up garbage.

A group of students, my counterpart Sveta and I posing next to a poster for the Lets Do It ad campaign.

 The clean-up went well and we even managed to hold off some stormy skies. Spring clean-ups are common here as we are getting ready for Easter this Sunday and Monday.  Hopefully I will do some more environmental related activities with my students in the future. My goal is to create a recycling program at my school, which is very progressive for this part of Ukraine. As an incentive for my students, I made M&M cookies for them. They were a hit and hopefully the memory of them will encourage my students and fellow teachers to not litter.

My M&M cookies. I now know why my mom does not bake cookies, but my students and fellow teachers really enjoyed them.

Something Fractured

One day while on the way to the grocery store  I saw this pile of broken glass and cigarette buts. While I intially just walked by it, I hesistated because there was something intriguing about it, beautiful, perhaps even inspiring, or slightly mystical. Just thought I would share.

At the bazar

Here in Ukraine lots of things are done differently than they are at home and this includes grocery shopping. At home the "buy local" movement is big, but in Ukraine we are way ahead of you, or maybe behind you. It depends on how you look at it...

Condiments for sale at the bazar, including MAYONAISE!

Most people who live in villages like me have huge gardens and orchards where they get nearly all of their produce to last the entire year. This includes lots of potatoes, cabbage, onions, and carrots. In Konstantinovka, we are known for cherries (which will soon be appearing) and I am told that there are lots of apricots, peaches, and plums to be enjoyed as well.

Produce section at the bazar

Housewares for sale at the bazar. The woman is holding my new garbage can

If people have a surplus of fruits or vegetables, they will usually sell it at the bazar it town. At the bazar you can buy anything from produce to meat to clothing. And going there is always a social event, you never know who you will see or what you will find.

Since I have changed residences here, I now have to cook for myself. And so far its not that bad. Last week I made French Onion Soup, and it actually turned out pretty good. This week I hope to tackle Chicken Enchiladas.

French Onion Soup and Facebook

Sveta

However, my village and my coworkers think I really cannot really cook, I overheard them one day saying so. Truthfully, I am not really sure I can cook either, especially after all of those years of Lean Cuisines and Red Barron frozen pizzas, but as I say "you do what you have to do, when you have to do it."  But in any case, Sveta, my wonderful counterpart, has decided to take me under her wing and teach me how to cook Ukrainian dishes.

The meat counter at the bazar

In order to prepare for our cooking day we went to the bazar and bought fruit, vegetables, this amazing apple vinegar that I am now obsessed with, rice, sugar, spices that were custom mixed for which dishes we were making, a really fresh piece of beef (complete with some skin still on), and fish (which is always eaten with its skin on here).

Plof

After our shopping trip we came back to my house and made plof, which is a Central Asian dish that consists of meat (we used beef), rice, shredded carrots and spices. It turned out pretty well and I ate it the entire week.   We also made fish soup which was pretty good, but I still cant muster up eating fish with its skin on. In due time perhaps. And lastly we made a cabbage salad, which consisted of shredded cabbage, green onions, carrots, and with a dressing of my new fav apple vinegar and black pepper. And of course it did not include MAYONNAISE-most of you know I would rather eat nothing, than eat anything with mayonnaise in it.

In Ukraine there is not only a local food movement, but an age old natural food movement going as well. Nearly all food is labeled with "без гмо" which means it does not have any gmos in it. Most Ukrainians are very skeptical of gmos and believe that they are very, very harmful to your body. Additionally many believe that food from supermarkets and restaurants is also very unhealthy and that homegrown and homemade is always the best way to go.
Initially I was doubtful of their views on restaurants, supermarkets, and food in general-I mean I have to have my guacamole when I eat my quesadillas. But as time goes on and the more I think about it, the more I realize that perhaps their views might be the right ones, eating what is homemeade instead of storebought is better for you. As is eating what is fresh and natural, rather than chock-full of preservatives and gmos.

Part of my job as a Peace Corps Volunteer is to take the country I serve back to the U.S. Perhaps Ukrainian views on food are what I will bring back home in some way. However, exceptions for guacamole must always be made.

A small little favor....

As many of you know, I am involved in a group here made up of Peace Corps Volunteers called the Gender and Development Council. One of the biggest things that the Gender and Development Council, known as GAD, does is host two annual summer camps. One is for girls called GLOW (Girls Leading our World) and the other is for boys called TOBE (Teaching Our Boys Excellence). As a part of this group, I must raise money to hold the camps and I really could use your help.

I know many of you do not have a lot of extra money right now, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I can truly empathize. But if you skip dessert at your next meal out or go without getting your double extra-shot venti mocha next time at Starbuck's, than that little bit of extra money would go a long way here in Ukraine. And it would be greatly appreciated by students here, more than you could imagine.

This is our official fundraising letter:

Peace Corps Ukraine
Gender & Development Council
http://www.globeukraine.blogspot.com
gadukraine@gmail.com 

Hello Friends and Family! During my time in Ukraine as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I have become heavily involved with a working group of volunteers called the Gender & Development Council (GAD).

Every summer, GAD, in partnership with local Ukrainian organizations, organizes two summer camps for Ukrainian youth, ages 14‐17. Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and Camp TOBE (Teaching
Our Boys Excellence) provide a unique opportunity to gather 40 girls and 20 boys from different parts of Ukraine to participate in a camp dedicated to learning about gender issues and developing leadership as well as team building. Camp topics include: How to GLOW/Excel, How to Design a
Volunteer Project, CounterTrafficking and Human Rights, Domestic Violence, HIV/AIDS Awareness, and Healthy Lifestyles and Body Image, in combination with fun leadership and team building exercises and excursions. 

This year, GAD and our partnering organizations will offer two GLOW and one TOBE camps. One GLOW and TOBE camp will take place in the eastern town of Kremmenaya, and the other GLOW camp will be held in the western town of Kolomiya. Last year was the first time GAD held three camps at these sites, and they were all fantastic—this year we can only hope for the same. We are lucky to be working with Ukrainian partners who are eager to help make these camps a success, but we are still in need of funds to help make these camps a reality. Through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, we are asking friends, family, and local businesses back home to help us cover costs for these camps. In order to make these camps a reality, we need to raise $8,361. But your dollar can go a long way here. For example, you could: 

• Buy materials for a scavenger hunt—$12.50
• Send a Ukrainian child to camp for one day—$13
• Pay for copies of camp materials—$25
• Bus 40 kids to their campsite—$30
• Buy art and work supplies for one camp—$40
• Send a Ukrainian child to camp for one week—$72 

Please consider making a taxdeductible donation ($10, $20 or more) to help us make camp GLOW/TOBE an amazing experience for the Ukrainian youth we work with each and everyday. Every little bit counts! You can make a donation at the following website:

Or go to peacecorps.gov, and search for GLOW/TOBE Leadership
Summer Camp under "Ukraine" in "Donate to Volunteer Projects." Also, visit our blog at www.globeukaine.blogspot.com for more photos, videos and testimonials from past campers and counselors. 

Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you for helping us empower the next generation of Ukraine! Sincerely, GENDER & DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Peace Corps Ukraine
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute. projDetail&projdesc=343‐218

Peace Corps Ukraine
Gender & Development Council
http://www.globeukraine.blogspot.com
gadukraine@gmail.com  

My new favorite holiday

My internet is working really well at the moment (a kind of unusual occurrence), so I thought I would take an opportunity to re-update my blog. I really like blogging and wish I had more time and better internet to do it, but unfortunately I don't. So, I will just try and post as often as I can.

Last Tuesday, March 8th, was International Women's Day. International Women's Day or Women's Day as its often referred to, is celebrated around the world, but most especially in Eastern-bloc countries. My old host mom in Slovakia, Melania told me that Women's Day is a big deal, because Valentine's Day was thought of as a capitalistic holiday. Today both holidays are celebrated in Eastern Europe but, Women's Day is by far the bigger deal. Women get flowers and presents and the day is a national holiday, now do you see why I like it so much?

My Women's Day celebration started the Friday before, classes finished at noon and all of the teachers went to the auditorium for a performance in our honor. (All but 3 teachers at my school are female). After the concert which included songs, dancing, and a power point presentation on all of the ways that women are great, the biology teacher, Anton Anatoliovich came out with a beautiful cake for all of us. We all went back to the breakroom and had cake, sandwiches, wine, tea, and coffee.

Then my counterpart Sveta suggested we all go to the city and go to a cafe. So a group of about 10 of us went.I had a calzone and a very good greek salad. While we talked and ate, everyone went around the table and gave a toast. Toasts are very common at Ukrainian celebrations and holidays, and even I gave one in Russian/English. After a few hours at the cafe, a group of three of us went bowling. And for the first time in my life, I actually won a couple of games. It was a great day and to top it off I had a four day weekend.

 

The faculty or collectiveas we are called at a cafe in Melitopol.

On the actual holiday, I went to the city with some Ukrainian friends and a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer. we walked through the park and went to a cafe. Later at home, I celebrated with my new host mom, Klaudia Gregorivna along with her daughter and her family. All in all, its a fantastic holiday, but unfortunately because of it, we had school on Saturday to make up for our day off. Sometime you just can have everything.

Saying goodbye to a friend

A couple of weeks ago my good friend Heather left Ukraine due to medical reasons. Before she left I went to go see her and say goodbye to her. Here in Ukraine, us volunteers often hear that we are members of what is called the "Posh Corps." In other words, that we have so many luxuries that other Peace Corps members do not have throughout the world, we are in a league above the rest. However, after visitng my friends Heather and Margo, who also lives in the same town, I can attest that they are certainly not members of the Posh Corps. 

Both Heather and Margo had water in their apartments for a total of 5 hours a day and neither had hot water. Also, I spent the night in Margo's apartment and it was by far the coldest home I have ever been in. Although I live in better conditions than both Heather and Margo do, it is still hard to be so far away from home and there is nothing posh about being 7,000 miles away from home.

 This is a picture of my friends Heather, Margo and myself. Margo is holding the box that Heather's birthday cake came in.

 

This is a picture of mini-caviar sandwhiches that were for sale in the cafe at a Super-Walmart esque store in Donetsk. Donetsk is one of the largest cities in Eastern Ukraine and I traveled through it on my way to see Heather. And on the way back I got an opportunity to see it a little. There are many nice and expensive stores, i.e. Dior and Dolce & Gabanam, and nice cafes, none of which I can afford.

.

This is a picture of a church in Donetsk. The inside was very beautiful, but unfortunately I could not take a picture of it.Churches are not such a frequent sight as they are in Western Europe, but I relish every opportunity I can to see them. Although I am not particularily religious, there is something calming about being in a quite church, with incense, and being alone with your thoughts.  

I hope you are all doing well and I will try and update my blog more often, my internet connection is not the greatest, but there are always more tales and pictures to share.  Take care and if you have time, drop me an email.

Moving!!!!!!!!!

 I am back from my weekend trip to Kyiv and it's that time again, time to pack your bags. Only I am the one who is moving. I am changing residences in Konstantinovka, at the end of this month or in the beginning of March for a few reasons. I know some of you wanted to send me things, so kindly hold off until I post my new address. In the mean time stay warm, spring is almost here in Ukraine and I am sure back home too. As always, Cheez-its are more than welcome.

The lighter or bigger side of things

 

This week there is not a whole lot going on. I am getting ready for English week at school by drawing pictures of animals. I have also been teaching some more, its not easy, but its something I enjoy. Tomorrow I am going to Kiev or Kyiv as we spell it here for the weekend. I am really looking forward to it and I am sure my next post will be about my trip. In the mean time, this is a picture of the biggest pickle I have ever seen. My host mother served it to me for dinner one night. Most of you can remember my rather big green thermos, the pickle had the diameter of almost half the height of my thermos. I hope that you have a good weekend and if you run into any pickles, that they might be smaller than the one you see here.

A few interesting things...

For the past few days I have been at home from school sick, so in addition to catching up with emails and work, I have decided to post a couple of interesting articles I have read recently. Most of you know that I have a serious, serious addiction to The New York Times. I read the paper daily and when I was in college, I would read it at least four times a day. I am simply obsessed with the wide variety of coverage they provide, the articles they write, and their travel section. During college, I never needed a TV, even on election nights, all I had to do was to simply refresh their website.

Most of you know that this is my second tour of duty in Eastern Europe. My first round was from 2005-2006, when I was an exchange student with the Rotary Club in Kosice, Slovakia. My second hometown of Kosice occasionally has gotten some attention in The New York Times, including this article last month:


http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/eurofile-slovakia-off-piste/.

Its a really nice city and I hope to go back and see my friends and my host families there and even my class reunion in 2012 now that I am here in Ukraine.

The second article is about a program called Teach and Learn Georgia, which takes young Americans and send them to Georgia, another former Soviet Republic to teach. Unlike the Peace Corps, this program is funded by the government of Georgia.  There are a lot of similarities, but some differences to from what my experience has been like so far in Ukraine.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/world/europe/24georgia.html?ref=europe  

Well, I hope you are staying warm amongst all of the storms at home.We have no snow here, which is normal because we are so close to the Sea of Azov. Any way stay warm and feel free to comment.

The Two Ukraines

Perhaps you may have been wondering what I am doing in Ukraine speaking Russian (or maybe you are not). But half of Peace Corps Volunteers here learn how to speak Russian, the other half of course, Ukrainian. Because I studied Russian for a couple of years in college, I was assigned to learn Russian.

The reason for the language divide is a historical one, Ukraine was divided between two different empires: the Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Naturally, the part that belonged to Russia, which was mostly to the right of the Dnieper River, speaks Russian. The part that belonged to Poland, lying on the western banks of the Dnieper River speaks Ukrainian. Eventually Russia took over Ukraine, so the entire country speaks or understands Russian or a mix of the two called Surzhyk. Since my village is on the right bank of the river, we speak Russian

However, despite the language differences, the national language of Ukraine is Ukrainian.. Classes in my school are conducted in Ukrainian, even though Russian is taught. Our local newspaper is in Ukrainian as are all of the signs on the road or in the museum. Further to the East and closer to Russia, Russian is predominantly spoken and is on all of the signs. Students learn Ukrainian once they enter school or pre-school.

   

This is the local newspaper called "New Day". It is in Ukrainian, even though most of its readers speak Russian.

  This is a picture of my host mother and I in  the newspaper. It is an article about the Old New Year's tradition of caroling. This year a group from my school came to my house dressed in folk costumes to raise money for the school.

And lastly, there is an article about me, the work I am doing at the school, and the Peace Corps. That is me in the center, helping a student read.

But unlike English, which in my opinion has no language that is really close to it, Ukrainian and Russian speakers readily understand the two. After spending a year abroad as an exchange student in Slovakia, I came to Binghamton with the idea that I should learn Russian because it was not really to far off of Slovak.. I also felt that foreign languages were vital after seeing my friends in Kosice fluently converse in at least three different languages (Slovak, English, and French or German, the latter three are the most frequent foreign languages studied in Europe).

Learning Russian was not as easy as I thought, but it was not too difficult either because it was so similar to Slovak. All Slavic languages are very close to one another. I think that Ukrainian is a mix between Russian and Slovak, so I do not find it so difficult to understand either. However, Russian is in Cyrillic and Slovak is not, so reading it and writing it are always a challenge. Nevertheless, I think once I am fluent in Russian, which I hope to be at the end of these two years, it will really open up some doors for me.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend and as always, feel free to comment or shoot me an email at laurachaath@gmail.com

My addresses

Some of you were asking about my address, well actually I have two here. This is my address for our office in Kiev. You can only send me letters here: 

PCV Laura Chaath

111A Saksahanskoho St

Kyiv, Ukraine 01032

Or if you would like to, you can send me a package to this address:

Gerasumenko, Jozefa Petrovna          Герасименко Юзефа Петровна

Laura Chaath                                             Лора Шаат

ul. Stepnaya 105                                        ул. Степная
s. Konstantinovka                                      с. Константиновка
Melitopolsky rayon                                     Мелитополский р-н
Zaporizhia Oblast 72365                             Запориская обл.  72365
Ukraine                                                      Украина 

Sorry this needs to be in Russian and English to make sure I get it, but you can just copy and paste and print it out on your computers to make life easier for yourself. As always, anything you send me will be greatly, greatly appreciated. I hope that you can continue to check my blog as I continue to post more frequently now that I have internet in my house. Up next, more pictures of my house and hopefully a clip for tonight's evening news which featured a story on me and my school. 

Have a good weekend everyone!

New Year...New House...New City...New Life!

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year! I am not sure truthfully of how many readers I have left after posting so rarely and infrequently, but part of my New Years resolution is to keep posting on my blog and to do it more frequently. Much more frequently. 

As I said last month, I now live in a new place where I will remain for two years. I live in a village called Konstantinovka, which is known as "the biggest village in Europe." There are 12,000 residents and three schools, one of which I teach at. 

I am sure many of who, or the few of you I have left are wondering about Ukrainian holidays. The biggest holiday here is New Years, which looks like our Christmas, complete with a Christmas tree and a Santa Claus like Grandfather Frost, who comes with a Snow Queen. During the night of New Years Eve, Grandfather frost delivers presents, which children anxiously await for. And of course, people countdown to midnight. This year I celebrated at my counterpart Sveta's house with her and her family. Before midnight I came home and celebrated with my host mother. She had a feast prepared even though I had just eaten, but as always the more the merrier.

This is a picture of our midnight New Years feast. I ate among other things hot dogs, cabbage salad, halupsi,  pilaf, fish, and lots of candy, cookies, and fruit.

  

 The next holiday comes Christmas, which is on January 7th. Christmas is another feast, but gifts are usually not given on the holiday, like they are at home. My host mother had all of her children over, but I went to the nearby city of Donesk for a friend's birthday.

The final holiday is Old New Years, which we just celebrated. People come from house to house, singing carols and wishing people a joyous (old) New Year. This year we had 3 groups come, students and teachers from my school, another group of teachers from the nearby pre-school, and a little girl and her grandmother. The school groups were doing it to raise money for our school and the little girl was doing it for fun. Last night, my host mother's son, son-in-law, and two grandsons came early in the morning to throw buckwheat around every room in the house. The traditions is supposed to bring good luck. When I woke up this morning there was buckwheat everywhere, even in my bed! At school, I had to dump out my boots too.

That's all for know. Below are some pictures and I will try and be more dilligent this year about posting. Happy Belated Holidays everyone and thanks for the Birthday wishes!

 This is a picture of my host mother Yulia Petrovna to my left, on my right is her 23 year-old daughter Katya and to Yulia's left is her 21 year-old daughter Larissa.

 

Above is a picture of the house I live in with Yulia Petrovna. It is a pretty big house with three bedrooms, a large kitchen and bathroom, and a living room that is so big I call it the ballroom.

 

This is me in the main square of the nearby city of Melitopol. Melitopol is pretty fun with lots to see and do. The buildings are really old and beautiful. There are some cobblestone streets too, and as I discovered this week, a good French bakery.