Merry Christmas!
I am writing from the internet cafe in Stry, the city next to my new village. I've been in миртюки since last Thursday morning. Spent a few days before that in Kyiv learning about different grants I can apply for over the next two years and my new Ukrainian bank account. It was hard to say good-bye to my training clustermates, but I'm excited to finally be here at my permanent site. It's nice to be able to answer people when they ask where I'll be living for the next two years (and in Ukrainian at that!)
I don't have a sitemate here, but there are three other volunteers from my group in villages very close by. I am closest to a girl, Shannon, who will be teaching 1st through 5th form in a neighboring village. We are starting our own Christmas Eve tradition, meeting up for pizza and beer in about an hour! Tomorrow I will be at school. The students have been practicing their rendition of the birth of Jesus and some Christmas songs in English so that will be fun. They go on vacation at the end of this week and are taking exams for the next few days so I haven't been doing much at school except talking with teachers and drinking coffee- not too bad if you ask me :)
My new family is great. Very good about including me and eager to help with my Ukrainian. My host brother's wife is pregnant so that has been very exciting for everyone.
A quick note for the Elton John fans out there (Aunt Terry and B!)- I was looking through the 10th form English book and found the lyrics to Rocket Man in the section on space travel. Thought you would enjoy that! On a somewhat related note was also asked by one of the tenth formers what a "peepshow" is. I asked him where he learned that word and he said "Fifty cent." Good lord.
I guess that is about it for now. Hope everyone is doing well and having a very merry holiday season. I miss and love you. Merry Christmas!
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2 comments:
Hi Caitlin;
Wishing you a Merry Christmas. We had a great time tonight and Brendon won all the money. We all missed you tonight and are so proud of you. Here's Su's Christmas Letter:
Dear Family & Friends December, 2007
Here we are another year has passed and now we are looking at 2008. I’ll keep this simple, because I am really not very good at this Christmas letter thing.
It’s been a good year. I continue to work at home after getting hit by a car last December. I’m certainly glad things are much better with that!
Dan now has established his own company. He’s a consultant, working on SAP (Systems Application Programming), for a company located in upper state New York. They manufacturer many different products from soy sauce to trays for hotdogs, such as you would get at Nathan’s Hotdogs, which from experience are very good! Dan also works from home. He’s in the kitchen. I have my virtual office from the living room.
The biggest news for 2007 is the wedding of Kelly in August, to Dan O’Donnell. It was truly a time of celebration. It was great, and so much fun having family and friends together. Dan and I now have 3 great kids, you and are stuck with us now Dan, sit back and enjoy the ride!
All right, I guess I have 2 big news events! James will be graduating early with honors from UMass, Lowell. He has accepted a job opportunity from a CPA who he currently works for. He will be busy attending Bentley in January for his Masters in Taxation at night, and working fulltime during the days. Recently between finals and the new job, I have had the opportunity to spend some time with James. He is so very proud of his girlfriend Colleen, a nursing student, also attending UMass, Lowell.
I recently read something that hits home, and would like to share it with you.
“Tradition is defined as a “time-honored practice.” It carries a slightly different meaning than, say, a custom. It’s more like a habit or routine. And those change over time. And while the traditions may change, the important things remain. The memories of time spent together.”
God Bless, Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!
Love,
Dan and Su
Hi Caitlin, So glad to hear from you yesterday. Tell me about your home again as I was trying to keep up and couldn't because of the poor connection (well sort of the bad connection). If your students are on vacation, are you? Do you have any special plans? Nana and Papa were extremely generous as usual, and we all made out very well. I had Mark and bought him some Patriots stuff. He had me and bought me some snugglies and a red suede coat. Dad had Terry and bought her a tennis racket. Terry had Lisa and bought her some sneakers and other items. Lisa had Jim and bought him a coffee maker and some other kitchen gadgets, and Jim had Dad and bought him sports related gifts. Big surprise there. Brendon is heading back to Norfolk today and Sean will be home until New Years. I'll call again soon now that I know how how simple it is. Miss you tons! Mom
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