Should I wear the hat?

"Of course!" I told Abe. I mean, if your blog is going to be quirky, best to get President Lincoln with his trademark top hat. Ironically, we had never crossed paths in the USA, but here in Ukraine you never know who you might meet. In fact, I met a whole slew of Americans this week. I'm not one of those people who seeks out my countrymen/women because I feel lonely for my culture, or whatever. It's usually the opposite. I mean, we tend to do local things with local people (that's what we like about being here!). However, it is entertaining to meet up with expats like us.

Earlier this week, I gave two workshops at the Peace Corps training center (I'm not sick anymore, by the way). They have 101 new English teaching volunteers that will go to their posts, some in remote parts of Ukraine, in December. Most of them were quite young with little to no teaching experience. They are all in the middle of a three-month training program that aims to prepare them for their 2 year assignment: they learn Russian or Ukrainian (depending on where their school will be), and they learn how to be teachers. Sounds like a tall order, but I got a glimpse of the program and they just may end up being more equipped to teach in Ukrainian high school than I was following my Master's. Practical activities will take you a long way!

Thanksgiving day I was invited to the Fulbright office for a 'turkey feast'. Although there was no stuffing or pumpkin pies, two of my very favorite items that I wish my mom could've sent, the turkey and cranberry? (maybe sultana raisins?) sauce was good. I made the rounds introducing myself trying to recruit "native speakers" for our conversation club at my English Resource Center at the university and meeting a few really nice people. Our bi-monthly conversation club has been going well, but the more native English speakers we get, the more excited the participants (who range from students, to teachers, to other professionals) are. Keep your fingers crossed for next week. Ah, next week...

Next week we are going to Crimea - Yalta and Simferopol. It's a part of Ukraine in the South that looks somewhat like an island connected by a little sliver of land. It has a strong Russian influence - so my smattering should come in handy. What is your first name? What is your last name? Do you have...? (are you impressed yet?). It is a resort area in the warmer months; although it will probably be rainy for us, it will be different and interesting. And I love going to new places! We will fly - wonder how big our plane will be? You'll have to stay tuned...

P.S. Today there were special commemorative events to honor hundreds of thousands that died in a Soviet-induced famine 73 years ago. It made the Yahoo! News headlines: Ukraine Marks 73rd Anniversary of Famine. . . very sad to know that this "mass starvation" was man-made. More on... Kiev Ukraine News Blog.

Green beans are good for you

 Spader's back... yay! Our satellite got fixed, well kind of, and we now get all the channels that had mysteriously disappeared (except CNN). It was quite a bummer during the election, but that's where the Internet came in handy. So we are back watching "The Practice" - we are on the Jill Clayburgh episode for those of you who may have been watching this in real time back in 2004. It pays to stay out of the mainstream; now that we are able to watch these old series, they seem brand new to us!

By the way, I'm sick of being sick as a dog! I got really tired of the chronic sore throat and went to the American Medical Center. I think the "American" part just means that it's super expensive... Well we found the place near the Embassy. The greatest part is that they speak English - it comes in handy, especially when you're not feeling well. I went in and chatted with the Indian doctor, trained in Britain, whose wife and kids live in Russia... he tested me for strep - negative. He gave me, or at the last minute had his nurse give me (Joe was in the examination room with me) the anti-inflammation shot. Don't ask... Actually, the shot hadn't been ready - it was in the delivery truck caught in traffic, so while we waited for the drug delivery, the doc showed me how to administer some nose spray he was prescribing for my irritated and inflamed nasal passages. OK, so you're supposed to spray it in a nostril then snort it up. Probably second nature for some people, but for me it was like patting my head and rubbing my stomach, so I had to concentrate. Nostril one was not quite successful... nostril two - WOW! I could tell I had done it "right"... it seemed to go straight into my brain - a combination of eating ice cream too fast and turning a somersault in the pool and forgetting to hold your nose (see suspicious-looking bottle with blue top in photo).

To make a long story short, when I was paying the bill I started to feel woozy. We walked to the metro and I felt HORRIBLE. Actually, I felt positively dizzy and a pain like I had never felt before in my head struck me. I staggered around as we changed trains (thank god Joe was guiding me around and a kind young man gave me his metro seat - I was able to muster the Russian for 'thank you'). I finally made it home and hit the couch, took some Excedrin, and held my head. Joe asked, "What would you like me to do?" I said I wished for an ice pack; I knew we didn't even have ice. Joe thought quickly and ran for the bag of frozen green beans. I put it on my head and it slowly eased the intense migraine I was experiencing. God bless vegetables from the frozen foods section! Joe called the doc and he said maybe I snorted too enthusiastically - he had TOLD ME TO! (the doc, not Joe) Anyhow, I recovered and the shot actually brought down my swelling. I think I may finally get over this "bug" as I have to give trainings for Peace Corps next week!

Finally, I'd just like to say in addition to all the above, I felt smart this week. We watched "Network" - an old movie from the 70's that I had never seen. I highly recommend it and wish they still made movies like this... ones with good acting and thought-provoking subject matter. It's true that the more things change, the more they stay the same... crazy! I've always identified with the 70's even though I was just a kid then. Weird.

More soon...

Viruses, Village-schools, Velasquez, and Victory!

OK, first of all I did not take this photograph... but I did see this painting today; more on that later. The nagging thing about this past week has been the recurrence of that 'dang' virus. They say you're supposed to take "Umcka" (the extract I mentioned in an earlier rambling) 48 hours after your symptoms disappear and I didn't obey. So my sore throat came back after so magically vanishing for a couple days. But I'm back 'on the wagon' hoping to kick it for good this weekend.

Friday I had the unique experience of going out to a town called Nizhyn - 2 hours by car from Kyiv - famous for being the birthplace of a famous writer, Gogol, and for lovely cucumbers. I presented a hands-on methodology workshop twice: once for 'village teachers' and once for 'town teachers.' It was really a learning experience for me. I didn't realize that even though they were relatively "close" to Kyiv, these school teachers had limited to no access nor knowledge of computers, limited to no access to modern English teaching books and tapes, and some of them didn't understand me at all! I had heard that often times, especially in small villages, a math or history teacher may be assigned to teach English in a pinch, whether they know it or not. I felt a little bad that I hadn't been more prepared to handle this... but thought about how one could possibly teach a group something about methodology when some audience members know English and others do not...

To deal with this challenge in the future, I came up with the idea to give the caveat at the beginning of each workshop: "If you feel uncomfortable with speaking English in an interactive environment, you can sit over here and observe." Then, I'll wait for the better speakers to translate to the lower level teachers. This, in fact, would have also helped in Odessa because one French teacher attended my presentation. I didn't realize she didn't speak English until I noticed she wasn't responding to any of my requests to "OK, get into groups of 3 or 4", etc. When I figured it out, we agreed that she would just observe. She was a very cute lady (the one in front with red hair in the Odessa blog entry!) Maybe that strategy will come in handy...

While in Nizhyn, we attended a nice little museum commemorating Gogol's life and Nizhyn history; we also visited a little gallery where a woman with six fingers made sure I only took one photo of her (yes, my batteries died right then - it was a little spooky).

Today, in Kyiv, we saw a Diego Velasquez (see painting at very top)! Las Menina's is one of my favorites and I couldn't believe that an original "Portrait of Infanta Margaret" - Circa 1659-1660 - was housed here at the Western Museum of Art in Kyiv. It is a wonderful, cozy museum that I highly recommend.

And we voted this week! Absentee, of course. We got the coordinator of our English Resource Center to be our witness - she loved helping us. We scanned our affidavits and ballots and emailed them back. Maybe we helped make a difference!!! I hear they are still counting ballots in New Mexico!

P.S. I finished my first Chapter in my Russian book! Yay! It's surprising how knowing "your" "this" "name" "my" in addition to "thank you" "OK" and "please" can at least double the length of your conversations!

Snow

It's 10:46pm and the first snow is on the ground... evidence from our balcony!

Podil - Our Neighborhood

We are back in Kyiv. November is upon us and I had all these plans of exercising and studying Russian everyday. Well, a sore throat took hold and even sent me home early from work on Friday. My herbal specialist is making sure I take my South African and Israeli elixirs... So today, we took a break from our incredibly warm apartment, and I mean it gets pretty toasty in here!, out into the world for some fresh air and 30F degree temperatures. The sun sets at 4:29pm these days, so daylight is scarce! Our neighborhood, Podil, was having a special kind of Farmers' Market. It was great to see all the people out on such a cold day buying and selling "salo" (a Ukrainian delicacy of pig fat - I tried it in Odessa - even with garlic on top... not my cup of vodka), other meats, sausages, and stuffed animals. Oh, and mustn't forget the fur coats. By the way, my ankle-length leather coat I got secondhand at "Double Take" in Santa Fe is coming in really handy. Well, based on my low energy and need to go eat dinner (these pictures make me hungry!), I'll leave you with my photojournalism.