December 27, 2007
Another Christmas passes and a new year grows close. I like this time of year, it makes me stop and think about my life; what’s different from the year before, what may be different a year from now, and am I happy with what is going on in my life. And while every day has its ups and downs, its struggles to understand a babushka (grandmother) talking to you in the street, or figuring out which marshutka (big bus-taxi thing) stop to get off on, or simply which class-room you are supposed to be in, I can honestly say that I am happy with where things are going.
Christmas is a hard time to be away from everything normal to you, everything comfortable, especially since Christmas is the one time when almost all our family is able to get together and see each other. This was the first Christmas I have been away from my family, and while I was sad to be away, its hard to be sad when your students are struggling through Jingle-Bells or Frosty the Snowman. My students all wished me a Merry Christmas (once they realized that Christmas happens in America on December 25th) and Christmas Eve I went to the opening of the Christmas tree in my settlement. It is about 20 feet tall and on a pedestal so it spins, and they had Father Frost and his scantily-clad helper. I was lucky enough to get calls from my family in Minnesota, as well as my host-family in Rokytne and my friend Joanna. It made it much easier to be away from home.
I have been able to ‘teach’ a lot since I have arrived in Lugansk. I say ‘teach’ cause mostly I just teach my students the lyrics to Christmas songs and make them sing or answer their questions about me, but it’s a good way to get to know them, so that’s nice. Yesterday I went into downtown Lugansk to meet the other peace corps volunteer who lives here, Brian. He is doing business development but is right now looking for a new group to work with. So we went to a cultural college to meet with the teachers and students, and we gave them an hour class on American Christmas and I read “the night before Christmas.” It is very interesting to hear what Ukrainians think of our traditions and to hear about theirs.
Today was the last day of classes at my school, and the students put on a wonderful concert/skits for the rest of the students and the teachers. The students love to sing and dance, it is very cool.
I think that is all I have for now, great to hear from all of. Love,
Seth
Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
December 21, 2007
So here I am, sitting in front of the tv watching some football game, thinking about what Lugansk is going to be like for the next two years, and wondering why it is pitch black (I MEAN DARK) at 4:30 in the afternoon. I guess it is the shortest day of the year, but still, there isn’t even any real snow on the ground.
A lot has happened over the past week, and time certainly went by fast. Last Monday all of the volunteers packed up their things (I had 4 bags filled with cloths and books) and headed to Kyiv for our training closing ceremony. There was a tearful good-bye with our host families in Rokytne. It was very sad to leave the families that had taken such good care of us over the past two months. While my Russian definitely isn’t perfect, my host family was so helpful in me practicing everyday. Monday night we had a re-camp of all of our community projects we conducted in our cities, and had a talent show. It was wonderful listening to groups sing Ukrainian songs and dance. Tuesday morning we were in more meetings and met our counter parts (the teachers we will be working closely with in our new sights). Tuesday was a very long day, and it was nice to relax a little at night with all of the other volunteers, especially since it was the last night that all of us will be together again for almost two years!! We have already had some people leave from the Peace Corps, and maybe more will by the time we are done.
Wednesday morning we all headed out to the Teacher’s House in Kyiv. This was a very large building where the Ukrainian parliament once used to meet. We were there for our closing ceremony, where are sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. The American Ambassador to the Peace Corps was there to swear us in, and it was very neat to all be together, and my host-mother was able to come and watch this special time. After the ceremony there was a short reception and then a buffet dinner back at the ‘resort’ we were staying at. Some volunteers had to leave for their sites that night, but my train didn’t leave till 9 Thursday night, so I had a lot of time to say good-bye to all of my friends and sleep. (training is extremely tiring) So last night along with my counterpart and a couple other volunteers who will be within an hour or two of Lugansk bordered a train, and were here by 11am this morning.
I will try to write more about all of this soon, but I am tired and still have a lot of unpacking to do. Hope you al have a merry Christmas and I wish I could be there to celebrate with you.
Love,
Seth
So here I am, sitting in front of the tv watching some football game, thinking about what Lugansk is going to be like for the next two years, and wondering why it is pitch black (I MEAN DARK) at 4:30 in the afternoon. I guess it is the shortest day of the year, but still, there isn’t even any real snow on the ground.
A lot has happened over the past week, and time certainly went by fast. Last Monday all of the volunteers packed up their things (I had 4 bags filled with cloths and books) and headed to Kyiv for our training closing ceremony. There was a tearful good-bye with our host families in Rokytne. It was very sad to leave the families that had taken such good care of us over the past two months. While my Russian definitely isn’t perfect, my host family was so helpful in me practicing everyday. Monday night we had a re-camp of all of our community projects we conducted in our cities, and had a talent show. It was wonderful listening to groups sing Ukrainian songs and dance. Tuesday morning we were in more meetings and met our counter parts (the teachers we will be working closely with in our new sights). Tuesday was a very long day, and it was nice to relax a little at night with all of the other volunteers, especially since it was the last night that all of us will be together again for almost two years!! We have already had some people leave from the Peace Corps, and maybe more will by the time we are done.
Wednesday morning we all headed out to the Teacher’s House in Kyiv. This was a very large building where the Ukrainian parliament once used to meet. We were there for our closing ceremony, where are sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. The American Ambassador to the Peace Corps was there to swear us in, and it was very neat to all be together, and my host-mother was able to come and watch this special time. After the ceremony there was a short reception and then a buffet dinner back at the ‘resort’ we were staying at. Some volunteers had to leave for their sites that night, but my train didn’t leave till 9 Thursday night, so I had a lot of time to say good-bye to all of my friends and sleep. (training is extremely tiring) So last night along with my counterpart and a couple other volunteers who will be within an hour or two of Lugansk bordered a train, and were here by 11am this morning.
I will try to write more about all of this soon, but I am tired and still have a lot of unpacking to do. Hope you al have a merry Christmas and I wish I could be there to celebrate with you.
Love,
Seth
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Finall, It works
I remember the times when I used to get upset when the internet would take 10 seconds to load a page. Oh, for those days!! I wrote about 2 pages on my blog, and then the internet decided not to work, so now I am at home writing, and going to use my flashdrive to transfer it onto the internet tomorrow. Anyways, what I was originally writing (or as close as I can remember) Also, sorry this is so long, you can read as much as you would like.
You think you get into a groove here in Ukraine; wake up, eat breakfast, go teach, go to Russian class, come back home, eat, study, go to sleep. Much the same on the weekends with an occasional movie thrown in; and then something is thrown at you which completely throws you off. This weekend was pretty much that. I came home Friday night after a very long day of classes, cross-cultural sessions, etc. I walked into my house and the first thing my host-mother (Tanya) asked is if I wanted to go to a birthday part for her god-daughter, who was turning 2. I asked the usual questions; when, were, who, how long. I am very wary of these encounters because it usually ends up being a bunch of guys trying to get me to drink vodka, or people talking in extremely fast Russian (actually, usually not even in Russian, but Ukrainian or Sergik, a mix of both) and me understanding about 10 percent of whats going on. Anyways, so off I went. We got there at about 6:40 and already the table was packed (I mean packed, no room left on the talbe) with food and vodka. Right off the bat I explained that I only drank beer, and only brought one bottle, which was good cause every time I filled up my glass they would tell everyone to chug their glass. So we ate and talked (people talked at me, I would say STO, what? To my host mother, she would translate in Russian, Spanish and English) for 2 hours, then the dancing began. It was an eclectic mix of music, ranging from new Russian and Ukrainian rap to popular American music from the mid 1990s. They certainly do like their dancing here. After pretty much most people were fairly intoxicated, (I would like to point out that I was by far the youngest person there) the kissing began. They have an interesting tradition here (which I think I explained from the wedding) where one person dances around with a scarf, and when they point at someone from the ring of dancers they come over and kneel on the scarf and kiss (at the wedding I was able to get away with just a kiss on the cheek, I was not so lucky here) let me tell you it’s a little new for me to try to not have a married woman basically make out with me… not that it’s a bad tradition, just not quite used to it yet. So I tried to leave at least 3 times but they kept blocking the door, I finally got out at about 11:30, so much for my two hour stay. It was a very interesting Friday night. But the story does not end here.
The previous Tuesday at about 9pm the doorbell rang and in came our next door neighbor and her 18 year old daughter. I am also wary of these meetings because I never really know what the intentions of anyone involved are, and I am not looking to get married to a Ukrainian girl. So I talked to the girl and her mother for a while, and the subject of café’s and bars, and whether I liked them came up. About 10 minutes later I realized that I had agreed to go a bar with this girl and her friend the following Saturday. I invited my friend Zahar (another peace corps volunteer from California) to come, to back me up, and even more importantly, he speaks much better Russian then I do. So he came over at 7 on Saturday and we had a couple beers before the girls were supposed to show up at 8. So 9pm rolled around, and since my host mother was out of town for the night and my host father was asleep, we decided that they weren’t coming so Zahar and I decided to venture into downtown Rokyte alone and see what was up. We stopped at 3 different bars throughout the night, and each one we got the same reaction. Everyone pretty much stopped talking, and the looks on their faces were “who are these out of towners?” we got a bunch of stares as we were talking (I think quietly) in English and drinking our beer. We wanted to check out the discothèque and see what was up there, but when we opened the door and went oh… these are all our 9th, 10th and 11th graders, we quickly got out of there. Came home at 11 and went to sleep. (sorry, story still not over yet)
The next morning I was watching a movie in bed, still wearing my sweatpants, and I heard a knock on the door, but since my home mother was back home by that point I didn’t feel like getting up, but about 2 minutes later Tanya said Olya (my neighbor) was here and wanted to say hi. So she came in and just started talking in Russian/Ukrainian. What I understood of the conversation was that her bus from Kyiv (where she works) hadn’t showed up and she hadn’t gotten till 10:30pm Saturday night and had gone to my house but my host dad said I was asleep (I was still out walking around). Anyways, she asked if I wanted to try meeting again that night, and again, unbeknownst to me, I said yes. So Sunday night at about 7 I ended up going to a café and having ice cream with this girl. She speaks very little English (actually knows a lot, but is to embarrassed to speak it, like pretty much everyone else here) so I used my very faulty Russian to communicate for about an hour, after which we walked back home. It was interesting to talk with a native-speaker that doesn’t speak English. You have to be very inventive in your language. So my first ‘date’ in Ukraine was a success. I am going to learn this language purely so I stop getting into these situations.
I have less then a week in Rokytne, after which I head to Kyiv and have my Peace Corps swearing in on December 19th. My host mother and counterpart from my new school in Lugansk will be there, as well as the head of Peace Corps in Ukraine and American Ambassador to Ukraine. Should be cool. I will arrive in Lugansk on Dec. 21st. Hope to hear from you all soon, and if I don’t talk to you before then, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Miss you all,
With love,
Seth
p.s. i have my language practicum today, wish me luck!
You think you get into a groove here in Ukraine; wake up, eat breakfast, go teach, go to Russian class, come back home, eat, study, go to sleep. Much the same on the weekends with an occasional movie thrown in; and then something is thrown at you which completely throws you off. This weekend was pretty much that. I came home Friday night after a very long day of classes, cross-cultural sessions, etc. I walked into my house and the first thing my host-mother (Tanya) asked is if I wanted to go to a birthday part for her god-daughter, who was turning 2. I asked the usual questions; when, were, who, how long. I am very wary of these encounters because it usually ends up being a bunch of guys trying to get me to drink vodka, or people talking in extremely fast Russian (actually, usually not even in Russian, but Ukrainian or Sergik, a mix of both) and me understanding about 10 percent of whats going on. Anyways, so off I went. We got there at about 6:40 and already the table was packed (I mean packed, no room left on the talbe) with food and vodka. Right off the bat I explained that I only drank beer, and only brought one bottle, which was good cause every time I filled up my glass they would tell everyone to chug their glass. So we ate and talked (people talked at me, I would say STO, what? To my host mother, she would translate in Russian, Spanish and English) for 2 hours, then the dancing began. It was an eclectic mix of music, ranging from new Russian and Ukrainian rap to popular American music from the mid 1990s. They certainly do like their dancing here. After pretty much most people were fairly intoxicated, (I would like to point out that I was by far the youngest person there) the kissing began. They have an interesting tradition here (which I think I explained from the wedding) where one person dances around with a scarf, and when they point at someone from the ring of dancers they come over and kneel on the scarf and kiss (at the wedding I was able to get away with just a kiss on the cheek, I was not so lucky here) let me tell you it’s a little new for me to try to not have a married woman basically make out with me… not that it’s a bad tradition, just not quite used to it yet. So I tried to leave at least 3 times but they kept blocking the door, I finally got out at about 11:30, so much for my two hour stay. It was a very interesting Friday night. But the story does not end here.
The previous Tuesday at about 9pm the doorbell rang and in came our next door neighbor and her 18 year old daughter. I am also wary of these meetings because I never really know what the intentions of anyone involved are, and I am not looking to get married to a Ukrainian girl. So I talked to the girl and her mother for a while, and the subject of café’s and bars, and whether I liked them came up. About 10 minutes later I realized that I had agreed to go a bar with this girl and her friend the following Saturday. I invited my friend Zahar (another peace corps volunteer from California) to come, to back me up, and even more importantly, he speaks much better Russian then I do. So he came over at 7 on Saturday and we had a couple beers before the girls were supposed to show up at 8. So 9pm rolled around, and since my host mother was out of town for the night and my host father was asleep, we decided that they weren’t coming so Zahar and I decided to venture into downtown Rokyte alone and see what was up. We stopped at 3 different bars throughout the night, and each one we got the same reaction. Everyone pretty much stopped talking, and the looks on their faces were “who are these out of towners?” we got a bunch of stares as we were talking (I think quietly) in English and drinking our beer. We wanted to check out the discothèque and see what was up there, but when we opened the door and went oh… these are all our 9th, 10th and 11th graders, we quickly got out of there. Came home at 11 and went to sleep. (sorry, story still not over yet)
The next morning I was watching a movie in bed, still wearing my sweatpants, and I heard a knock on the door, but since my home mother was back home by that point I didn’t feel like getting up, but about 2 minutes later Tanya said Olya (my neighbor) was here and wanted to say hi. So she came in and just started talking in Russian/Ukrainian. What I understood of the conversation was that her bus from Kyiv (where she works) hadn’t showed up and she hadn’t gotten till 10:30pm Saturday night and had gone to my house but my host dad said I was asleep (I was still out walking around). Anyways, she asked if I wanted to try meeting again that night, and again, unbeknownst to me, I said yes. So Sunday night at about 7 I ended up going to a café and having ice cream with this girl. She speaks very little English (actually knows a lot, but is to embarrassed to speak it, like pretty much everyone else here) so I used my very faulty Russian to communicate for about an hour, after which we walked back home. It was interesting to talk with a native-speaker that doesn’t speak English. You have to be very inventive in your language. So my first ‘date’ in Ukraine was a success. I am going to learn this language purely so I stop getting into these situations.
I have less then a week in Rokytne, after which I head to Kyiv and have my Peace Corps swearing in on December 19th. My host mother and counterpart from my new school in Lugansk will be there, as well as the head of Peace Corps in Ukraine and American Ambassador to Ukraine. Should be cool. I will arrive in Lugansk on Dec. 21st. Hope to hear from you all soon, and if I don’t talk to you before then, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Miss you all,
With love,
Seth
p.s. i have my language practicum today, wish me luck!
Monday, December 3, 2007
a short one
Just wanted to say a quick hello. Heard that minnesota is getting pounded by a storm. I'm jealous. We have gotten a few inches here and there, but its not the same when it immidiately melts the next day. Training is winding down here. Only have 2 weeks left till i got to Kyiv to be sworn in as an actual Peace Corps Volunteer. Very tiring doing everything, but things are good overall. ALways great to hear from all of you. Take care,
WIth Love,
Seth
WIth Love,
Seth
Monday, November 26, 2007
СВАДБА!!! (wedding)
Okay, so first off, i finally figured out how to switch the computer into russian here, so i might try to use some of my класная слова (my cool new words). hopefully it will work, not really sure.
So, anyways, I only have 3 weeks left of straying, о боже (oh god) time has gone by very quickly. In the next 2 weeks I have to finish our community project where we are teaching a seminar to Ukranian teachers of English on how to use the interenet as a more effective resource; i have to teach a test class in front of observers and finally have to take my langaguage proficiency test, which should be very interesting. but, i am still able to get out and enjoy what Rokytne has to offer.
This past weekend I was invited by my host family to go to a wedding of one of their good friend's daughters. The bride was 23 and the groom was 21. I spent much of the night attempting to explain how in America many people don't get married till they are 27 or older.
When I first got there I was introduced to the bridesmaid who spoke fluent english, and who brought me over to a table to put on a white flower to show that I was an 'eligible' male. (unmarried) then about 20 minutes later we all went upstairs and sat down at talbes literally COVERED with food. (it was slightly redicoulous, as they just kept bringing more food out, even if there wasn't any room to put in on the table.) I early on decided that I wasn't going to be drinking vodka, and it was a wise decisioun, as the women across from me put down about 15 shots over the course of the night (i.e. i would have been passed out on the floor) I stuck to wine, and it was pretty good stuff.
So we ate for a long time, with ocassionally speeches and chants of Gorka, Gorka (kiss, kiss) to the bride and groom and the bestman and bridesmaid (a big tradition here), and then the really fun began! we went downstairs, and the one-man band began to play fast paced Ukranian music. Let me tell you, these people can dance! even the guys who i thought would be way to cool to be seen doing a fast-paced waltz were flying all over the place. It took me a while, but i finally got into it, and spent much of the night either dancing with the 'eligible girls' (who my host mother basically yeld at me for not dancing with them at first, because a young man must ask a lady to dance when the man/woman song comes on... interesting...) or doing a typical russian circle with people dancing in the middle. I will have to explain everything else in person, it was just to much fun. The party ended at about 12, and i got home and immidiately fell asleep. I was exhausted!
hope all is well with you! take care,
Love,
Seth
So, anyways, I only have 3 weeks left of straying, о боже (oh god) time has gone by very quickly. In the next 2 weeks I have to finish our community project where we are teaching a seminar to Ukranian teachers of English on how to use the interenet as a more effective resource; i have to teach a test class in front of observers and finally have to take my langaguage proficiency test, which should be very interesting. but, i am still able to get out and enjoy what Rokytne has to offer.
This past weekend I was invited by my host family to go to a wedding of one of their good friend's daughters. The bride was 23 and the groom was 21. I spent much of the night attempting to explain how in America many people don't get married till they are 27 or older.
When I first got there I was introduced to the bridesmaid who spoke fluent english, and who brought me over to a table to put on a white flower to show that I was an 'eligible' male. (unmarried) then about 20 minutes later we all went upstairs and sat down at talbes literally COVERED with food. (it was slightly redicoulous, as they just kept bringing more food out, even if there wasn't any room to put in on the table.) I early on decided that I wasn't going to be drinking vodka, and it was a wise decisioun, as the women across from me put down about 15 shots over the course of the night (i.e. i would have been passed out on the floor) I stuck to wine, and it was pretty good stuff.
So we ate for a long time, with ocassionally speeches and chants of Gorka, Gorka (kiss, kiss) to the bride and groom and the bestman and bridesmaid (a big tradition here), and then the really fun began! we went downstairs, and the one-man band began to play fast paced Ukranian music. Let me tell you, these people can dance! even the guys who i thought would be way to cool to be seen doing a fast-paced waltz were flying all over the place. It took me a while, but i finally got into it, and spent much of the night either dancing with the 'eligible girls' (who my host mother basically yeld at me for not dancing with them at first, because a young man must ask a lady to dance when the man/woman song comes on... interesting...) or doing a typical russian circle with people dancing in the middle. I will have to explain everything else in person, it was just to much fun. The party ended at about 12, and i got home and immidiately fell asleep. I was exhausted!
hope all is well with you! take care,
Love,
Seth
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
This isn't Ukraine anymore
Hi all. Happy Thanksgiving to all those back in America!! I will be celebrating the holiday with the 3 other peace corps volunteers in my cluster city, Rokytne. I believe we will be buying a chicken, and doing the usual pie, potatoes, maybe some jello. It's not really the same as back home, but we are going to try. A quick story that i thought was pretty funny about our attempt at thanksgiving in Ukraine.
Our group was in Kyiv yesterday afternoon, and we ventured into a fairly large (or large for Ukraine) Supermarket with so many amazing things in it (spices, hot sauce, chocolate beyond my dreams) and we were trying to find things for Thanksgiving. Well, i thought i saw something that looked like a Turkey. After using my faulty russian, and the help of other peace corps volunteers, we asked if it was Turkey or where we could find one. A very nice (yet eventually exasperate clerk) attempted to help us find some turkey. She showed us chicken, whole chicken, cooked turkey, turkey legs, and Ukranian man that spoke English even helped us. Eventually she asked us if we wanted a WHOLE turkey, and we said, yeah, sure. so we were asked to wait 20 minute while they got it ready. After about 5min. myself and another volunteer started to think, I wonder how much this is going to cost, so we asked to see the turkey. they went in the back, and held up a turkey about as big as a small child! we asked how much it cost, and they weighed it and brought out a small sticker which said that it would cost 320griven (62 dollars) and that it weighed 24kg (about 55 lbs!!) we then realized that there was no way we were going to fit this into a Ukranian oven, and so, sadly, had to leave the monstracity there...
anyways,Sorry that I have not been writing a lot lately, but for the last 8 days I was either in Kyiv or my new site, Lugansk. (Spelled Luhansk in English, take a map of Ukraine, go as far east as you can, find a larger city, and that would be Lugansk.) I will try to write a quick description of Lugansk. It is huge, 470,000 people, and one of the largest industrial cities of Ukraine. It is about 30 minutes from the Russian border, so while, officially, schools are supposed to teach in Ukranian, my school kids almost all speak entirely in Russian (its a good thing im learning Russian) But in my whirlwind tour of the city over 4 days, i was privy to the schools student body president elections with discoteque afterwards with about 50% american music, as well as a ice skating for 45min. at an indoor ice arena, and on saturday went to an EXTREME circus (lots of women dancing in skimpy costumes with okay clowns and no animals...) but my city has a first division soccer team which will be fun to watch, as well as tons of foreign restaurants as well as huge shopping centers.
talking to the people, it definitely seems like I am in Russia (many of their relatives live in Russia, and their politics often lie in that directions) it is going to be a very interesting next two years. I am excited, alittle nervous about how dirty the city is, but know that I will love/ and hate it, but overall, will be glad to be here and doing what I do. Hope all is well wherever you are!
-Seth
Our group was in Kyiv yesterday afternoon, and we ventured into a fairly large (or large for Ukraine) Supermarket with so many amazing things in it (spices, hot sauce, chocolate beyond my dreams) and we were trying to find things for Thanksgiving. Well, i thought i saw something that looked like a Turkey. After using my faulty russian, and the help of other peace corps volunteers, we asked if it was Turkey or where we could find one. A very nice (yet eventually exasperate clerk) attempted to help us find some turkey. She showed us chicken, whole chicken, cooked turkey, turkey legs, and Ukranian man that spoke English even helped us. Eventually she asked us if we wanted a WHOLE turkey, and we said, yeah, sure. so we were asked to wait 20 minute while they got it ready. After about 5min. myself and another volunteer started to think, I wonder how much this is going to cost, so we asked to see the turkey. they went in the back, and held up a turkey about as big as a small child! we asked how much it cost, and they weighed it and brought out a small sticker which said that it would cost 320griven (62 dollars) and that it weighed 24kg (about 55 lbs!!) we then realized that there was no way we were going to fit this into a Ukranian oven, and so, sadly, had to leave the monstracity there...
anyways,Sorry that I have not been writing a lot lately, but for the last 8 days I was either in Kyiv or my new site, Lugansk. (Spelled Luhansk in English, take a map of Ukraine, go as far east as you can, find a larger city, and that would be Lugansk.) I will try to write a quick description of Lugansk. It is huge, 470,000 people, and one of the largest industrial cities of Ukraine. It is about 30 minutes from the Russian border, so while, officially, schools are supposed to teach in Ukranian, my school kids almost all speak entirely in Russian (its a good thing im learning Russian) But in my whirlwind tour of the city over 4 days, i was privy to the schools student body president elections with discoteque afterwards with about 50% american music, as well as a ice skating for 45min. at an indoor ice arena, and on saturday went to an EXTREME circus (lots of women dancing in skimpy costumes with okay clowns and no animals...) but my city has a first division soccer team which will be fun to watch, as well as tons of foreign restaurants as well as huge shopping centers.
talking to the people, it definitely seems like I am in Russia (many of their relatives live in Russia, and their politics often lie in that directions) it is going to be a very interesting next two years. I am excited, alittle nervous about how dirty the city is, but know that I will love/ and hate it, but overall, will be glad to be here and doing what I do. Hope all is well wherever you are!
-Seth
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Hi all,
Well, This is my first report from my new site, Lugansk (or Luhansk in English). Basically, take a map of Ukraine, go as far east as you can and find a fairly large city, and that's where I'll be for the next two years. I am just visitng for the weekend, but I will be coming back for good Dec. 21st. Lugansk has aobut 470,000 residents, and is a very industrial town. It is not really what I was expecting in a placement, as I am living only 5 minutes away from a coal mine, but in all reality, I am sure it will be great and I will learn a ton here. The students are very motivated, as I am going to be working at a Law Lyceum (sort of a private high school) for grades 9-11. it is about 80% boys here and is a sort of military school so that will be interesting. The school teachers are really trying to impress me, so I went ice skating at an indoor rink in the city yesterday and am going to the circus today. Should be exciting. I will try to write more aobut my experience here, but just wanted to write something quickly!
-Love,
Seth
Well, This is my first report from my new site, Lugansk (or Luhansk in English). Basically, take a map of Ukraine, go as far east as you can and find a fairly large city, and that's where I'll be for the next two years. I am just visitng for the weekend, but I will be coming back for good Dec. 21st. Lugansk has aobut 470,000 residents, and is a very industrial town. It is not really what I was expecting in a placement, as I am living only 5 minutes away from a coal mine, but in all reality, I am sure it will be great and I will learn a ton here. The students are very motivated, as I am going to be working at a Law Lyceum (sort of a private high school) for grades 9-11. it is about 80% boys here and is a sort of military school so that will be interesting. The school teachers are really trying to impress me, so I went ice skating at an indoor rink in the city yesterday and am going to the circus today. Should be exciting. I will try to write more aobut my experience here, but just wanted to write something quickly!
-Love,
Seth
Monday, November 12, 2007
Winter in Ukraine
Well, i would have to say that it is officially winter here in Ukraine. Yesterday it snowed at least 5 inches in a storm that put out electricity in my neighborhood off and on yesterday afternoon. I was out in the storm in a bazar in Bela Cerkva (a larger city about 40 minutes from Rokytne) buying a new winter coat so I look more Ukranian. ( what i mean is that i try to look more ukranina, somehow they can always tell im an American). But anyways, tomorrow morning i head out to Kyiv for our site placement (where we find out what city we will be in for the next two years) and go on Wednesday to visit our city and meet teachers, etc. so i am very excited aobut that. Hope all is well with you wherever you are. Take care.
Love,
Seth
Love,
Seth
Monday, November 5, 2007
B-day in Ukraine!
Now entering week 6 here in Ukraine. So strange to think that i have been here this long. Time really does fly. Last week was holidays for the students here, so no teaching, but still a lot of language class. Last Friday I was able to celebrate my birthday by having a dinner-party at my host families house. it was really a lot of fun. My host mother Tanya deffinitely out-did herself by making all of my favorite foods, and the other peace corps volunteers and my language teacher were able to come over and help me celebrate. I got a little cold over the weekend, so slept a lot and helped around the house. It was very relaxing, and good to start the week afresh. I taught three classes today, will teach one tomorrow and one on Friday. We all head to Kyiv in about a week for site-placement (where we find out where we are going to be for the next two years, a little crazy) so I am excited for that.
It snowed here today... as in it is cold... but i prepared myself this weekend by going to the bazar with my host mom and picking out some new stylish Ukranian leather gloves. (my choppers don't really fit in, people always ask me about them) and my host mother made me a skarf for my birthday, so Ukranian winter, come on!
Hope everything is good where you all are, and take care!
It snowed here today... as in it is cold... but i prepared myself this weekend by going to the bazar with my host mom and picking out some new stylish Ukranian leather gloves. (my choppers don't really fit in, people always ask me about them) and my host mother made me a skarf for my birthday, so Ukranian winter, come on!
Hope everything is good where you all are, and take care!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Another week down
So, yet another update from Rokytne, and no matter how many times i try, i can not figure out how to get the keyboard into Russian to type something interesting, or photos to up-load. Oh well. So, has one of my good peace corps friends happened to tell me on Sunday, I have been in the Peace Corps for a month now,and will have been in Ukraine for a month on Thursday! It is very crazy to think both that a month has gone by, and that I have only been here a month. SO much has happened, and my host family and friends have made me feel so welcome that i definitely feel like it has been a lot longer. There are definitely days when I get frustrated with the language (or my inability to use the language correctly) but i have not had one minute that I wished i was back in the states. This week is vacation for our students, so we are doing mostly language and techinical sessions (how to become a teacher). I also have been able to get to Kyiv 3 times in the last week and a half, so i definitely feel comfortable going there and seeing the sites. As my dad and others can attest to, it is really a beautiful city. It definitely has a Soviet feel to it, but with a charm all its own. Whether it be the beautiful monastary with about 15 churches inside it that feels like you are in Turkey, or the 4,000 ton Rodina Mat (huge tin statue of Mother Ukraine , defender of the country overlooking east Kyiv) the city has a lot to offer. As I was walking down the main street (which was closed for cars for some reason) Sunday afteroon, with Russian/Ukranian anthems being blasted from street-side speakers, I definitely felt that I was in another country... It was very Klasna (cool!) I should probably get going for now, but i really appreciate all the e-mails and posts i am getting. Also, a friend of one of my college roomates who works for the Duluth News Tribune decided to do a short article on me in last Sundays paper, so here is the link to it. You may have to register your e-mail address, but after that it is free. http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=53127
miss you all,
Love,
Seth
miss you all,
Love,
Seth
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Small town boy goes to the big city
well, i am not exactly living in the country, but Rokytne is tiny compared to Kyiv, where I traveled Sunday. Actually, my weekend began with a wonderful host family dinner (actually, host mother dinner, the fathers are not really into that kind of thing) where we were able to meet the host mothers of the other volunteers. As our language coordinator as translater, we discussed differences between America and Ukraine, expectations of the next 3 months, and were just able to get to know each other better. When one of the mothers asked whether we would be willing to stay in Rokytne for the whole 2 years, my friend Zahar answered, "if i meet a Ukranian girl and get married, haha, just kidding" and his host mother, in English, responded "you know Zahar, there is truth to every joke." it was pretty hilereous, because now all the host mothers are introducing him to their young daughters.
On Saturday my group ventured to Bela Certka (beautiful church), which is about 40 minutes east of Rokytna by electric train. We spent the day touring the city museum, and learning a lot aobut Ukranian history, Soviet occupation, and the famine of 1932 were hundreds of thousands of Ukranians starved to death. we also took a stroll through Alexandria park, the 2nd largest park in Ukraine. It was great.
On Sunday i woke up at 7 and was at the bus station by 8:00 to catch a 2 hour bus ride to Kyiv. I didn't really know where to get off, so when we go to Kyiv i just got off at a random street,found a metro, took the metro 2 stops, got off, and spent 10 minutes deciding if i was going north or south. So after staring at the map and having no idea, (yes, i actually did this) I whipped out my compass and found that i actually was going north. It was pretty hilereous. Ran to the train station where i met up with another group of peace corps volunteers and spent 6 hours touring around the city. Kyiv (as my dad can tell you) is gorgeous, with tons of beautiful chruches and nice parks. I really had a great time. At about 3:30, i realized that i needed to be at the train station by 4, so i hopped on the metro, transfered and got there by 3:50, and called another peace corps volunteer who i was supposedly going to join on a bus back to Roytna. Well, they were about 45. minutes away from the station, so i spent 8 crazy minutes attempting to find the electrichka (electric train) ticket office, was told in russian where to go, sort of understood, found it, realized my train was leaving in 2 minutes so i thought i would buy my ticket on the train. well, i attempted to run through the then open ticket barriers (the kind that are usually closed and only open when you put a ticket or coin into them) well, as i was running pretty much full tilt through it, it closed, and i proceeded to whack my shin full force on it. it felt great. A guy laughed and pointed to a ticket window. bouhgt a ticket, hopped on the train, it left a minute later and i was back in Rokytne 3hours later. it was great!
Again, pictures are difficult to download, but i will keep trying.
Take care,
Seth
On Saturday my group ventured to Bela Certka (beautiful church), which is about 40 minutes east of Rokytna by electric train. We spent the day touring the city museum, and learning a lot aobut Ukranian history, Soviet occupation, and the famine of 1932 were hundreds of thousands of Ukranians starved to death. we also took a stroll through Alexandria park, the 2nd largest park in Ukraine. It was great.
On Sunday i woke up at 7 and was at the bus station by 8:00 to catch a 2 hour bus ride to Kyiv. I didn't really know where to get off, so when we go to Kyiv i just got off at a random street,found a metro, took the metro 2 stops, got off, and spent 10 minutes deciding if i was going north or south. So after staring at the map and having no idea, (yes, i actually did this) I whipped out my compass and found that i actually was going north. It was pretty hilereous. Ran to the train station where i met up with another group of peace corps volunteers and spent 6 hours touring around the city. Kyiv (as my dad can tell you) is gorgeous, with tons of beautiful chruches and nice parks. I really had a great time. At about 3:30, i realized that i needed to be at the train station by 4, so i hopped on the metro, transfered and got there by 3:50, and called another peace corps volunteer who i was supposedly going to join on a bus back to Roytna. Well, they were about 45. minutes away from the station, so i spent 8 crazy minutes attempting to find the electrichka (electric train) ticket office, was told in russian where to go, sort of understood, found it, realized my train was leaving in 2 minutes so i thought i would buy my ticket on the train. well, i attempted to run through the then open ticket barriers (the kind that are usually closed and only open when you put a ticket or coin into them) well, as i was running pretty much full tilt through it, it closed, and i proceeded to whack my shin full force on it. it felt great. A guy laughed and pointed to a ticket window. bouhgt a ticket, hopped on the train, it left a minute later and i was back in Rokytne 3hours later. it was great!
Again, pictures are difficult to download, but i will keep trying.
Take care,
Seth
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Notes from Ukraine
Well, i am trying to keep the blog as up to date as possible, but in all reality, there is not a whole lot to report since last time. No lions, or floods, or rebels... Sorry. Actually, live in Ukraine thus far has been slightly mundane. (not to say that i am not loving it here), but as one of my friends who is also a peace corps volunteer here in Ukraine, so far its been like going to University and living at your Grandparents. (which of course has its perks) I am constantly being fed, and if i allowed myself, I would gain about 100 pounds when I am here. It definitely shows the true spirit of Ukranians.
While they most likely will not smile at you on the streets as you run by, as soon as you are in their homes they will do whatever they can to make you comfortable. Besides the language, it is very simiar to the rest of Europe. Speaking of the langauge. I speak russian (chu-chut- a little, i tried to figure out how to get the keyboard into Cyrillic, but it continues to evade me) and every chance i get i use what little words i know. my big accomplishment of last night was to tell my host mother that I wouldn't be home till 6:40 tonight, and i even used the future tense! This weekend looks to be exciting, as i will be going to a large city called Bela Sertka on Saturday to go to a museum and learn more about Ukranian culture, and on Sunday will be heading to Kyiv to hang out with friends and see what it has to offer. Hope everything is great back home, and it's always nice to hear from all of you!
While they most likely will not smile at you on the streets as you run by, as soon as you are in their homes they will do whatever they can to make you comfortable. Besides the language, it is very simiar to the rest of Europe. Speaking of the langauge. I speak russian (chu-chut- a little, i tried to figure out how to get the keyboard into Cyrillic, but it continues to evade me) and every chance i get i use what little words i know. my big accomplishment of last night was to tell my host mother that I wouldn't be home till 6:40 tonight, and i even used the future tense! This weekend looks to be exciting, as i will be going to a large city called Bela Sertka on Saturday to go to a museum and learn more about Ukranian culture, and on Sunday will be heading to Kyiv to hang out with friends and see what it has to offer. Hope everything is great back home, and it's always nice to hear from all of you!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Hey all,
A quick message from Ukraine. I I am in a town 2 hours south of Kiev, and am loving it so far. there are frustrating occurances of course, but i am learning russian a lot about teaching. Not a whole lot new has happened since the last update to my blog. Ukraine is an interesting place, there are so many things here that are similar to America (roads, cars, internet, coca-cola, etc.) yet it has a Russian twist more than i even expected (the schools are built in a russian style, all the cars are 30 years old, etc.) Today i saw the left overs of a car accident (the drivers arent always very attentive) and a car had hit another car and driven into the side of a wall about 2 inches from a house... very interesting. My dad is currently in Kiev, and will be making the journey to Rokytna (my town) tomorrow morrning. I am very excited to see him and to have someone see the life i am living. It is much different than what i expected, and different than friends of mine in Gambia, Uganda, and the DOminican Republic, but i am loving it, and wouldnt change anything so far. Would love to hear from all of you!
-Love,
Seth
A quick message from Ukraine. I I am in a town 2 hours south of Kiev, and am loving it so far. there are frustrating occurances of course, but i am learning russian a lot about teaching. Not a whole lot new has happened since the last update to my blog. Ukraine is an interesting place, there are so many things here that are similar to America (roads, cars, internet, coca-cola, etc.) yet it has a Russian twist more than i even expected (the schools are built in a russian style, all the cars are 30 years old, etc.) Today i saw the left overs of a car accident (the drivers arent always very attentive) and a car had hit another car and driven into the side of a wall about 2 inches from a house... very interesting. My dad is currently in Kiev, and will be making the journey to Rokytna (my town) tomorrow morrning. I am very excited to see him and to have someone see the life i am living. It is much different than what i expected, and different than friends of mine in Gambia, Uganda, and the DOminican Republic, but i am loving it, and wouldnt change anything so far. Would love to hear from all of you!
-Love,
Seth
Monday, October 8, 2007
Update from Ukraine!
well, here i finally am. I am living in a small city called Rokytna, about 2 hours south of Kiev. It is wonderful, crazy, frustrating... I am currently attempting to learn Russian in a town were 75% of the population speaks Ukranian, and while many say that they are very similar, I really dont think they are, maybe like Dutch and German. But life is wonderful. It is amazing at how many things in Ukraine are similar to the U.S. (the towns look very familiar, old cars, but streets are generally in good repair) yet other things are so strange. The architecture is truley amazing here, deffinitely still got a lot of the communist feel to it. Also, they use Turkish toilets here (squatting) and everyone seems to have a large garden out back. I live in a fairly up to date house, with a computer, tv, electricty. Not quite what you would think of in the Peace Corps, but trying to understand what the heck is going on at dinner when my host family speaks Ukranian to each other, very interesting...
I have a host mother who is a lawyer (tanya) and a host father who works for a milk manufacturer (Konstantine) and two host brothers, Sasha (7) and Aleksyi (12). Sahsa constantly blabbers on in Ukranian, and while i dont understand a single word he says, it is very interesting.
I will be teaching english to 3 different classes for the next 2 months during training, so I will be learning a ton! while still attempting to learn to speak Russian. I think that is it for now, but I will try to be a little more up to date from now on, hope all is well!! with love,
Seth
I have a host mother who is a lawyer (tanya) and a host father who works for a milk manufacturer (Konstantine) and two host brothers, Sasha (7) and Aleksyi (12). Sahsa constantly blabbers on in Ukranian, and while i dont understand a single word he says, it is very interesting.
I will be teaching english to 3 different classes for the next 2 months during training, so I will be learning a ton! while still attempting to learn to speak Russian. I think that is it for now, but I will try to be a little more up to date from now on, hope all is well!! with love,
Seth
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Out of here
So, 24 hours from now I will be on a plane to Ukraine. The time has defnitely gone by a lot more quickly then i ever thought it would. The adventure started when I got up at 3:45 Friday morning to get to the airport for my 5:20 flight. I arrived and immediately found out that my flight was cancelled, but would be on a flight at 7:20am through Northwest. So i went over to the Northwest checout and came upon my best friend Nathan's sister Stephanie who was one the same flight as me. It was a strange way to start a trip that I am supposedly leaving everything familiar behind. Got into Philladelphia at about 12 friday and got to the hotel which was in the historic section of Philly. I went out for a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich with another peace corps volunteer from Minnesota, it was delicious. We also stopped at the Liberty Bell and Independance Hall. It was a lot of fun to see these famous landmarks of our nation's independance. Friday and Saturday were spent just going over necessary details about the Peace Corp's expectations of us. Lots of information in a very short time period. Great to meet so many wonderful people though. I can't believe i am actually going to do this though. Definitely hits you in the face when everyone else is going through the same emotions as you.
Well, my next post will be in Ukraine and I am sure I will have much more to write about. Miss you all.
-Seth
Well, my next post will be in Ukraine and I am sure I will have much more to write about. Miss you all.
-Seth
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
One last goodbye
Dobryy den' (Good afternoon in Ukrainian)
I thought I would write one more quick good-bye before I head off to the unknown. It is currently 9pm, Wednesday the 26th, and i leave in around 36 hours for Phillidelphia. I will be there for two days and will be in Kiev, Ukraine on Monday, October 1st. I will then be housed with a local Ukranian family within an hours drive of Kiev for 2 months, where I will take classes on learning Ukranian or Russian, and find out what exactly I will be doing for the next 2 years.
The last week has been filled with excitement, nerves, and a slight panic based on thinking, 'have i packed enough, did i pack to much, what do i need, have i said goodbye to everyone, etc.'
Well, in a day and a half the wait will be over and I will be 'making a difference in the world,' hopefully for the better. I hope to keep in touch with you all, and look forward to hearing from you while I am in Ukraine.
With love,
Seth
I thought I would write one more quick good-bye before I head off to the unknown. It is currently 9pm, Wednesday the 26th, and i leave in around 36 hours for Phillidelphia. I will be there for two days and will be in Kiev, Ukraine on Monday, October 1st. I will then be housed with a local Ukranian family within an hours drive of Kiev for 2 months, where I will take classes on learning Ukranian or Russian, and find out what exactly I will be doing for the next 2 years.
The last week has been filled with excitement, nerves, and a slight panic based on thinking, 'have i packed enough, did i pack to much, what do i need, have i said goodbye to everyone, etc.'
Well, in a day and a half the wait will be over and I will be 'making a difference in the world,' hopefully for the better. I hope to keep in touch with you all, and look forward to hearing from you while I am in Ukraine.
With love,
Seth
Monday, August 27, 2007
Leaving
So, in little over a month, I will be in or around Kyiv, Ukraine. I am headed to Philadelphia on Sept. 28th for staging and then off to Ukraine on September 30th. I hope to see many of you before I leave, otherwise please give me a call before then.
218-310-5962
218-310-5962
Monday, August 13, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Leaving soon
Hey everyone, so this is just a start, but I am leaving for Ukraine on September 28th. This has been a dream of mine for the last four years, and it is finally realized. I will arrive in Kiev and spend 3 months close to the capital, and from there, who knows. I will be teaching English supposedly to secondary students, but there are so many unknowns about this experience that I am at the same time super excited and super nervous. I will do my best to keep this up to date, so this is the best place to see how I am doing. Try to keep in touch!
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