Perpetual Change

Random Thoughts IIII

This one is really disjointed.

Peace Corps volunteers work all over the world to teach business, market economics, and capitalism and yet the Peace Corps itself has got to be one of the closest things to socialism that I have ever seen. I am given exactly enough money to buy food and housing; I am given a chance every year to comment on if it is indeed enough; I am given free and excellent health care (unless you ARE a doctor, my healthcare is better); all the products come to me at no cost; and in exchange I work really hard, trying to develop myself and the community to the best of my ability. I have no set hours and I can spend the money that I receive for food and housing on whatever I want. It is not a reimbursement (though I can receive a reimbursement for extra language training). All competition is completely removed from the equation, and yet that is what I teach. It is quite an interesting irony. Especially considering that Peace Corps works (or worked) with many former communist countries to teach an economics it doesn't use, and share an 'American' culture through a system that would never be mainstream in America.

PCVs (that is Peace Corps Volunteers) have very unique names. I discovered this when I received the latest call sheet. I had previously noticed that it was unusual that in our training group of 46, I was the only John. In fact there were NO duplicate names in our group, except for two Jeff's. Then when I received the list of all 300 volunteers here in Ukraine, I noticed that there are very few other duplicates. There are about 225 different names, which in Ukraine becomes ironic because of the popularity of such a few names. I have more than one class of twelve, or less, students where three have the same name.

On one of my tours around town when I first arrived, I stopped in at the Clinic/Hospital and there was a large map on the wall. I wasn't quite sure where I was, and so I asked. The nurses on duty had quite a time trying to find us on the map. Now I am trying to find where the dump is (for a citizen awareness project) and no one seems to have any idea where trash goes either.

The concept of work is drilled into us from such a young age: go to work day, job fairs, playing kitchen, playing Mr. Fix it, play companies on the playground (making tacos, etc)., stock pick games in school; and yet here the difference becomes quite obvious. They have such a different concept.

Before I left my training town, I went to a recital. It was my first Ukrainian recital. I was a bit upset to find that people talked quite loudly through the whole thing. In fact, it almost had the feeling of a rehearsal; the piano was out of tune too. But I was quite interested in the traditional dancing. It is amazing how a five minute dance can so well depict multifaceted gender roles. It also explained why break dancing still has a small band of followers here.

I really never thought of myself as a fussy person, but I have found there are lots of things I don't like; things that were never issues before. I don't like my bread buttered for me, in fact I don't really like butter on by bread at all. I don't like people to add sugar to my tea for me; and again, in fact I don't really want coffee or tea at all. I REALLY like to have a vegetable and or fruit with a meal; I don't like those vegetables salted. And I feel like I am the best judge of whether I am hot or cold or not; I can decide whether I need to take off my shirt (a weird thing for your grandma to tell you – Adam Sandler jumped to mind) or put on a jacket. And I MOST ESPECIALLY don't like to be petted, especially by adults.

At the end-of-the-year exams, which they are thinking of changing, there is no basic level demanded from all. The exams are extremely subjective, but the average level demanded is very high. I suspect their lowest student would be pass averagely in our system. The education system here is generally very good. However, preparation for the exams has a very minimal effect on the grade, considering the subjectivity of the process. Year end grades, behavior, and scores on other parts of the exam have as much of an effect as your actual performance on the exam.

Drying umbrellas inside is standard, whistling inside is not.

My next stock pick: Cell phone jewelry. I haven't looked yet, but I am sure it is out there already. In a culture where cell phones are often worn around one’s neck, usually in decorative cell phone pouches, and women often wear necklaces with large pendants, combining the two can not be far off.

The church services are designed almost like a discussion (a long time ago, Roman Catholic was like this also, I now remember studying in my Florence Art History class). The priest sings or speaks and is answered by the parishioners and sometimes by one choir or another. At some masses people hold special flags with depictions of Mary, Jesus or other disciples. When the parishioners bow, the flags are angled, and they have bells at the top that ring at these times, as the audience replies; it is almost as if these characters are there; it is a neat effect. Also, at church, they make change during the collection. The collection basket has a flat wood top, and if you place a large bill there the person with the basket will pull bills from it and place them on the top so that you can take your desired amount of change. Then they sweep everything back inside. There are no benches so everyone is always standing or kneeling which makes it easy for the person taking the collection. And finally, there is lots of ceremony in the mass, more than even I like; the services are always two hours, and that usually doesn't even include communion, and remember the no benches part!

Long, dramatic speeches and toasts are the preference.

Down time in camps, even school and other planned activities, doesn't seem to be a big deal; certainly not something to worry about avoiding. Then again this could be because their power distance is greater than ours; which means authority figures are viewed more distantly; we tend to think of everyone on the same level, and therefore downtime often breeds chaos. Whereas here, a teacher can leave a class, mid sentence to attend to something in the hall (or further away) and the students sit patiently and obediently for the undetermined duration of her absence.

How much does a new apartment cost in a middle priced city (or town). What do you think is the minimum you could pay for an apartment? How much does a mobile home cost? And how much do you actually get for social security now. It isn't enough to live on, is it? And while I’m at it, does anyone know how much you get for unemployment, or for welfare? These are all questions people ask me, and I just don’t know.

posted by jjs @ 4:02 AM