Perpetual Change

Random Thoughts III

I had my second "real Peace Corps experience" the other day. I was getting ready to go to school, and my host mom was in the kitchen and the neighbor from downstairs knocked on the door. I hadn't seen him before, and he was in a dress shirt and a bit flustered with two ties in his hands. My host dad wasn't home yet (he works nights) and my host mom wasn't having too much luck when I came into the kitchen; so I offered. Luckily he just wanted them tied, not an explanation how to (try that in a foreign language, or your own for that matter). And off he went, and I haven't seen him again, but I felt like my "expertise" helped someone out of a stressful situation that day. Sometimes, the things that feel like the greatest successes here are very small things.

I just came back from a conference in Cherkasi, which again was a very well put together training by Peace Corps, and we got to meet volunteers that are working on other projects and from previous groups. I got to know one that graduated from Strathhaven in 1999 (the highschool my brother and sister graduated from outside of Philadelphia). He plays rugby too. Small world, huh?

Gas and water utilities are charged by the person instead of the amount consumed, and the water isn't even on in the middle of the day or night, AND hot water comes from the city but only on Mondays and Thursdays (if you're lucky). This results in people constantly filling tubs with water and just letting it run sometimes. The same thing for gas. I try to encourage them to turn off the stove when they aren't using it, but I often still find an open flame waiting for someone that might feel like eating in the next 20 minutes. I really don't know if it is the disregard for safety or conservation that amazes me more. I gave my family a smoke detector.

Quick Geography: Ukraine has 24 oblasts and one autonomous republic. The oblasts are a lot like counties, but instead of unincorporated land belonging to it, all the land is divided up into region territories with region capitals. Region capitals, of which my city is one, often have a surrounding collection of villages at varying distances (villages is often pronounced by Ukrainian English speakers with a slight "W" sound along with the "v" which I find really interesting considering that Ukrainian has a "v" sound but no sound anything like a "w") The villages are regarded almost like a cross between suburbs and the countryside. Saying someone is from the village is common but really carries a pretty poor conotation.

Now is the season of haystacks; I think they are the first I have seen, and they are really cool to see, especially swaying in the breeze, and even better to watch them being built.

A few more food comments: They steak all fish regardless of size or boniness. They usually prepare it very well, but sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it with the bones. They use mayonaise on EVERYTHING just about, lots of sour cream also, but it is generally better than ours I think (the sour cream is a bit different). They sell condiments in bags, with screw on caps. The bags are really ingenious and cut down on space in the refrigerator and trash.

The roads (in cities, on highways, mountain roads, or country roards) is FULL of horrible potholes. Constantly. They literally add hours to relative short journeys. The geography here is great for truck transport, but the roads are not. One day, the Ukrainians will realize this and build some highways... I hope.

Somedays I feel like I am doing so well with my language. Like when I first got to site, I conducted a whole question and answer session in Ukrainian at the sports camp. I spent other days with the kids and teachers, and not one speaks English, but then the other night, I was caught off guard when it was my turn to toast at a party. I didn't know most of the people and I didn't expect to be asked. Usually, I prepare something beforehand(I have some stock ones), but this time I fumbled through something old and some new. It wasn't good but it was passable. Later that night, the 4 year old toasted. He did an excellent job; it ran laps around my toast. We joke about speaking at the level of a 5 year old. I thought I had progressed maybe to 7 or 8 in the past month. Guess not. And ironically, his dad loves to get into philosophical conversations with me, which usually end in his frustration more so even than mine, and him telling me that he isn't a philosopher but I need to go home and study more. Trust me, I am NOT the one starting these conversations, for once.

My new host family is very open with guests. Their friends come and go (almost like a college dorm room); the family comes and goes regardless of whose friends (husband's, wive's, or daughter's) are over, and it is generally a fun envrironment, but then sometimes we eat as a family while other's watch (I think generally they have declined food, an option that really isn't open to me, ever, at least yet), and then I feel awkward.

Finally, Plato (or Socrates) has a quote on Youth. It runs something like the youth of today have no plans or aspirations, they are always partying and have no respect for their elders or something along those lines. Does anyone out there have it? Feel free to post it, I would be much obliged! Or any other good quotes on Youth. I want to use them in class.

Eurovision was a couple of weeks ago. Did anyone see it. It was quite interesting, cheesy even at times, but a lot of good songs. The country that won the year before always hosts, so this year it was in Kyiv (shame on you, if you didn't know Ruslana won last year :-). It was quite a big event for Kyiv, and they had lots of promotions and publicity to separate as much money from tourists as possible. I only saw the competitions on TV, but one day Kate and I were in town on the metro platform, and a young guy approached us as we got on the metro. His name was Alexander, he informed us, and he had heard us speaking English and wondered if we needed a tour guide for the day. I answered him in Ukrainian that we were studing Ukrainian and living outside of the city so that wasn't necessary. He asked where, and didn't believe us when we told him (at this point the conversation was completely in Ukrainian and afterwards I was quite proud for maintaining it on the noisy metro). He couldn't believe that Americans were living in such a small town, studying Ukrainian. Then we talked about Peace Corps a bit, and what he was studying, and although I think he found it interesting to talk to us, it was obvious that we weren't going to need any paid services, and he excused himself a couple of stops later. I hope he did find some business that day; I was impressed with his effort.

posted by jjs @ 4:26 AM