Quarter of a Century

On the 14th, I got more phone calls and more wishes of love and value than any person deserves! Thank you all for your attentions you lavished on me! I had a GREAT day.

It started at 6 am with an awesome Skype date with Brother Drew. And then a long morning run before my first lesson. When I walked into first lesson, the kids stood up and sang "Happy Birthday!" 27 little fifth-formers singing their hearts out was absolutely wonderful! Next, my English teachers gave me their gifts and well-wishes. ALSO a traditional Ukrainian shirt, with matching earrings and necklace. I wore them the next day to everyone's delight. Here's the ensemble with two of my teachers, Olga and Galina.


















After school, we had an impromptu (or so I thought!) party in the cafe. My neighbor and a French teacher at our school fried up some yummy fish and we enjoyed a few hours' conversation. Lovely!
These are my two cafe ladies, Olga and Olga.
















This is the spread we managed. YUM!


















Next, though not my actual birthday, it was off to L'viv to celebrate a Peace Corps girl's wedding. She married a great Ukrainian guy last month and the reception was Saturday. To make for a special occasion, I went up a day early to meet the bf and to splurge on a yummy yummy sushi dinner. Thanks b-day cash!

















Strolling L'viv late that night, I found these lovely reminders of the beauty of memories at a monument in the park.

















The reception was LOVELY, L'viv was chilllllly, but my heart is warmed and overjoyed. Thanks for being a part of it!

Favorite moments...

This is a bit delayed, and shouldn't seem trumped by my transit difficulties to get to the softball weekend, but I forgot to mention the orphanage visit we had. The kids always put on a really cute concert, during which they recruit us to help out in relays and whatnot. Last spring I was in a tug-of-war contest with teeny tiny little girls who ended up pulling us over! (There were boys hidden behind who pulled like crazy...I think even some of the little girls fell!) This year I ran around a tree or two holding a stick and a hand.

It was after the concert, when we were playing soccer, that I had my favorite moment. I was talking to some of the girls who were probably 13-15. Just small talk, nothing particular, but it was really nice to chat with them. After the second part of the concert came the HUGS! I got so many orphan hugs...it buoyed my spirits in the midst of the sadness that sometimes comes seeing kids in such situations. They've had a rough start, but they're going to be ok because they have hearts beyond their circumstances.

And today: I walked into my house to discover my room DESTROYED by dust and tarps. My landlady's remodeling took them to my room to replace windows today, but without warning me first. My computer, new camera, ipod, recently washed and drying clothes were out and are now covered in dust. ARG! But I held it together (surprising for those of you who know me well), found a bucket of water and a rag and started wiping things off. Who knew I could handle this stuff with grace??? And "Check" for another favorite moment...my personal growth!

An addition to my renovations is a washing machine! A legit, modern washing machine. My favorite moment was my landlady asking me to help her translate the manual which is printed in German, Italian, Romanian, Slovakian, and just about every other language than Russian. We had quite a nice little moment sitting together and looking it over.

Blessings to you as your favorite moments come and stay in your hearts.


What I came home to!



See that clean square? That's where my brand-new camera was. And the round spot was my Nalgene's spot. Can we say ew???

Makin it work!

Softball weekend is a legendary event for PCVs in Ukraine. It actually happens in the fall and again in the spring, and is always a red-lettered day for us. We gather together in Kirovograd, play softball, sleep in rented apartments, visit an orphanage that always puts on a sweet show for us, and generally have a wonderful time. I went in the spring and was headed out for it last weekend when I hit a snag. No train to K-grad. They were repairing the line, you see, and the only day I needed the train was the only day it was being worked on.

Knowing I couldn't take the train, I went into Odessa anyway to try and figure out how to make it happen. I left my site a little after 1 pm, arriving in Odessa around 4. After some criss-crossing of the city to make SURE there was no train, I took a bus to a big-ish city on the route toward K-grad, Mykolaiv. I arrived there only to discover that I had literally JUST missed a bus that was going to K-grad. It was a little after 8, and I found out that there was another bus to go at 9. I bought a ticket and sat to wait. 9:15 rolled around, and then 9:30. No bus! The lady had mentioned there being a 10:00 bus, so I thought I might be able to catch that one. But then 10:10 rolled around, and then 10:15, and then 10:30. The bus station attendant was checking on me from time-to-time, and she finally came up and said that neither the 9 nor the 10 were happening that night. Biiiiig surprise. But there was a 3 am. Did I want that? Well, I sure didn't have a lot of choice, now did I?

The lady took me to a large, empty waiting room full of long benches without armrests. I pulled out the sleeping bag I had packed and decided to make the most of my opportunity to rest. But a guard came around and told me I couldn't "do that." "Do what?" I asked. But he just walked away. He returned a few minutes later with the manager of the bus station who informed me that I couldn't lay down. "Can I sit here?" Yes. "Can I sleep?" Yes. "Can I have my sleeping bag?" Yes. "But I can't lay down." Yes. I looked around. "Seriously?" Yes. He didn't seem to be known for his humor anyway.

So I propped myself up on my backpack, wrapped in my sleeping bag, and eeked out a few hours' sleep. I got on my 3 am bus which had two drunk men who kept fighting. The bus driver continued to pull over to yell at them, but mom's "Don't make me pull this car over!" tactic failed. Nevertheless, I arrived in K-grad at 6:30, made it to the apartment and had one of the best showers EVER. It was a wonderful weekend, and I was really proud of myself for being able to make it on my own without having any freak-outs of loneliness and uncertainty. Woo hoo! A year in and I'm really starting to make it work!

Best to you as you do the same!

PC=Physical Challenges

In a world in which I am so accostomed to intangible, invisitble, hitting-your-head-in-the-dark challenges, this week has been characterised by much different obstacles: physical.

It started on Monday on my return from an awesome weekend with PCVs and the great American crowd-friendlier pastime: softball. I walked into the kitchen to find the sink in the middle of the room. My landlady has been living in the spare room (I rather unceremoniously ousted her from her room in favor of more light, space and a much comfier bed. In this land of long, cold and dark winters, can you blame me?) since July, doing some remodeling and construction. It's been an adjustment with the two laborers she hired (one is perpetually drunk), her two rowdy dogs and the dust and noise. But no water! I did dishes in a bucket of water I pulled up from the underground cistern that night, and I'll be honest, there was some grumbling.

The next challenge came on Tuesday. As my landlady has been working all day everyday, I have gotten out of the habit of taking my house keys. Sure enough, I came home a little after 3 pm to a vacant house. I climbed over my fortress-like stone wall (in a dress and high-heeled boots) and found thta the house was also locked. I had been to the bazar earlier in the day and had all my grocieries with me, which I also hauled over the wall. I sat until about 5:30 before I decided I was getting cold, tired and irritated. There is one window in my house that opens, which is located in my bedroom about 6 feet up. The window is about 18 inches high and swings up and down on hingest. I found a stool the workers had been using and climbed my way through the window. Half-way through, I got a painful cramp in my hip and ended up more or less diving the rest of my way through, knocking off two of the plants on my window sill. Dusty, scratched and cleaning up dirt, but I was in! Good thing, too; my landlady didn't come home until almost 7:30!

Tuesday was supposed to be my collect-kindling day, but after much time in the cold, I wussed out and put it off. Wednesday afternoon, therefore, I grabbed two large, empty cement bags adn took off for a run. I left the bags 10 mins out and kept going to the 30-min mark. When I got back to the bags, I began filling them. Eventually the sky was dark and cloudy, the wind had chilled the sweat in my clothes and I pretty much didn't care if I wouldn't be able to light a fire this winter. With a toddler-sized bag on each hip, scratched and again dirty, I walked home, enduring the stares and comments.

Other than a marathon of baking projects, I escaped Thursday relatively uneventfully.

And Friday. I was walking home after five straight lessons with some difficult groups and passed an old lady in a wheelchair almost at the bottom of the hill to my house. I normally see her begging near the bazar, and was ashemed that I'd never chosen to "see" her there. I walked about 30 steps past her, realized what a jerk I was being adn turned around to push her up the hill. I ended up going an additional 10 minutes past my house, all the while explaining to Maria why I didn't have any children. The convo went like this:
Maria: So you don't have any children.
Me: No
Maria: None? Do you have any in America?
Me: No, no children at all.
Maria: Why not?
Me: I am very young still!
Maria: Doesn't your husband want children? ("boyfriend" and "husband" are somewhat interchangable here)
Me: Well, yes, but we're both very young still.
Maria: You should have children soon. How old are you?
Me: 24.
Maria: Yes, it should be very soon.
Me: Ummm...
Maria: I think you'd have beautiful children.
Me: Thanks...I've gotta go now...[graceless exit]

Like I said, my challenges here aren't usually phsical. But there was something immensely gratifying about having this type of difficulty. I had a problem and some choices of how to deal with it. I saw my results right away, and was able to reap their benefits immediately. It was refreshing! Though I had my moments of grumbling and definitely did my share of sweating, I was successful. I only hope that next time, I remember what a blessing these kinds of challenges can be.

Best to you as you face your own challenges and succeed against them!

Water Charity Organization--PCVs read this!

Averill Strasser contacted me with the following message, which might be helpful for you PCVs looking to rock a water proj and get some cash for it!



I am COO of Water Charity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that does water, sanitation, and public health projects worldwide. We recently started a new initiative, Appropriate Projects, to fund small water and sanitation projects very quickly.

I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Bolivia ’66-’68), and am well aware of the difficulties Volunteers face in the field. Appropriate Projects is an addition to our regular Water Charity model that is allowing us to provide project resources to PCVs in the field immediately.

Often there is that little project that must be done now (before the rains start, before school begins, or in response to a critical need), but there are no funds available. Traditional funding sources are cumbersome, and there are long forms, detailed requirements, limited resources, and long delays.

PCVs working in water and sanitation usually have potential projects lined up. For those working in other program areas, there may be water components to their projects, or improvements needed where they work or teach.

Sample projects may be: a rainwater catchment, handwashing stations for a school, water for a clinic, piping, tanks, pumps, sinks, latrines, wells, etc.

We like to “finish” projects that have been started, and “fix” things that have ceased to function.

We encourage follow-up projects that expand upon the successful completion of the first small project.

If you have a project in mind, please fill out the application form. We want this to be easy for you, so we have developed a simple form that you can fill out in one sitting.

If you have any questions about the appropriateness of your project, or you need some time to get it together, just let us know.

If you do not have a project that qualifies, please pass this message on to your fellow Volunteers who may have an interest. Finally, if this initiative resonates with you, please let others know what we are doing through your social networks, websites, and blogs.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Averill Strasser

Appropriate Projects
http://appropriateprojects.com

Water Charity
http://watercharity.org