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.