One month tomorrow since I left Lexington...

In response to some questions I received:

-My family has a laundry machine. Everytime my host Mom washes clothes (usually once a week) she asks if I have anything to throw in. I haven't had to wash anything by hand yet.

-The weather is pretty similar to fall in Massachusetts. There are some sunny days, but just as many cold, windy ones. My walk home from school has one steep hill with a great view of the village from the top.

-My students do not wear uniforms, although many of them dress up for the school day. The boys often wear blazers or sweaters and the girls skirts. Our town only has one school with three English teachers, which I think is pretty standard for villages here. Our link cluster (the group of trainees we have technical sessions with once a week) is in a bigger community with multiple school so their experience has been different.

I had my site interview this past Thursday. It went really well and I have a feeling I will be placed in a community similar to the one I live and work in now.

I am starting to feel like I can really communicate with my host family. My host Mom and I usually spend at least an hour each night just talking. Our topics of conversation are varied, but we seem to come back to animals often. Probably because it is easy to understand and act out animals in any language. The other day she asked me the English names for "hen" and "rooster." In my broken Ukrainian I explained that the "husband" is called a rooster, and the "wife" a hen. Liubov understood, but explained that husband and wife really weren't the right expressions to use since a henhouse is more like a harem. Overall a pretty hilarious exchange of information. She has also taken it upon herself to teach me how to cook. She is fascinated with the fact that I don't know how to peel fruits and vegetables with a knife. Should have brought my own peeler!

This week our students have fall break. Instead of teaching our regular classes we will be holding English Olympiad tutoring sessions. Olympiad is a national academic competition in all subjects. They have already had the town Olympiad, so I'm pretty sure we are helping prep winning students for the regional competition.

Traveled to Kyiv last weekend. Only a two hour trip from our village. Spent the day sightseeing and learning how to ask for directions and use public transportation. We will return in three weeks for a mid-training seminar.

Last week my clustermate Gretchen mentioned to her host sister that we were interested in learning traditional Ukrainian dances. Turns out there was a concert coming up featuring this very thing. The five of us quickly accepted the invitation to participate in the concert. Yesterday, dressed in full Ukrainian traditional costume, we performed two dances with our students. Our language teacher attended and told us the community members were very pleased with our participation. My host Mom was thrilled with my Ukrainian costume, telling me that as long as I didn't open my mouth I could convince anyone I had lived here my whole life.

I guess that's about it for now. As you can probably tell everything continues to go well. Oh, and I even had my first headlamp/outhouse experience the other night and it wasn't half bad!

Love and miss you all. Keep in touch.