If it's good enough for FDR, it's good enough for me!

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Here are the updates on the past few months…

I spent spring break in Crimea, the peninsula that juts out into the Black Sea, with ten other volunteers. The journey there was my longest so far- 24 hours on a train. Thankfully it wasn’t too crowded and we packed plenty of snacks and games to entertain us on the way. We also decided to take a trip to the dining car. I was like a giddy little girl (until I saw the ridiculously overpriced check, but that’s another story…) Those of you who know me well should very well remember my obsession with Laura Ingalls Wilder and all her works. Well, train travel, especially the dining car, make me feel like I am back in the late 1880s with Laura and her beloved Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie and baby Grace. I guess a covered wagon would be more appropriate, but here a few more parallels between Ms. Ingalls and myself- I wash my face in a basin of freezing cold water, worry about mud on my best shoes while walking to school down my dirt road and live with a woman who won’t let me wash dishes on Sabbath Sunday.

Anyway, back to spring break. We arrived on Tuesday morning and spent the first afternoon and night at my friend Anastasia’s site. Her town is pretty amazing, nestled in between the Black Sea and the mountains. I guess it gets pretty packed during the summer, but we were there in the off-season, so we had the place more or less to ourselves. I had talked for weeks about swimming in the Black Sea, and it definitely wasn’t warm enough for that, but I did get to sit on the beach, skip some rocks and TOUCH the water, so that was good, too.

On the second day we visited Yalta. Our first stop after the bus station was a gigantic Lenin statue comically pointing towards… McDonald’s. That was of course our second stop, being the typical Americans that we are. We wanted to take a boat to the Swallow’s Nest, a castle pictured on the front of the “Lonely Planet Ukraine.” We were disappointed to find out that since it was the off-season boats weren’t running. Instead we found a bus driver to take us. We weren’t too sure about him, but he reeled us in with his promise of an informative English language DVD during the trip. From this DVD we were able to learn that Yalta had been a resort for “amateurs of magnificent rest,” whatever that means… The driver also turned out to be somewhat of a tour guide himself, aggressively pointing out landmarks, such as “GEORGIAN RESTAURANT!” “CHURCH!” and “WHITE PALACE!” After the Swallow’s nest, our next stop was in fact the White Palace. This is where Stalin, Churchill and FDR met post-WWII to decide the fate of Germany. I felt the history dork in me coming alive and “if it’s good enough for FDR, it’s good enough for me” became a popular catch phrase for the rest of the week.

Our last stop in Crimea was Sevastopol. Sevastopol is a large navy port where Russia still stores some of its fleet. There was a U.S. Navy ship docked there while we were in town and we were actually invited onboard for a reception with the ship’s crew, a few big shots in the Ukrainian navy and a handful of other VIPS. These two hours spent on American “soil” were some of the most shocking of my last year and a half in Ukraine. Let me start with a list of things available on board the U.S.S. Klakring that I have not had since leaving America- ranch dressing, boneless fried chicken, meatballs, bbq sauce, liquor that wasn’t vodka and 12 oz. cans. I easily ate 30 celery sticks soaked in ranch, 5 pieces of chicken and 10 meatballs. I was so full and overwhelmed I didn’t even take advantage of the open bar, and instead left room for a slice each of white cake and chocolate cake. On top of that, the captain of the ship saw how happy we were about this food and sent us home with leftovers. Talk about service. If this night was any indication, I will probably gain 30 pounds upon returning to America.

We had a tour onboard from a very friendly sailor named Donald. He took us down to one of the lounges where a few guys were watching a basketball game. One of my friends asked “who’s playing?” Two of the guys looked at us somewhat strangely and answered “we are…?” while holding up their controllers. We couldn’t believe it. This was a video game! Those graphics really are something.

After the overwhelming boat reception we needed a relaxing day and spent our final day in Crimea in a town outside Sevastopol hiking and bbq-ing Ukrainian style- skewers of meat over an open fire. Overall a fun and extremely entertaining trip.

In other news, I moved out of my apartment about a month ago. My landlady was a chronic complainer, and I finally decided to just leave. Within a few days I found a woman to live with. Her name is Dozya. I have my own room, but we share the kitchen and bathroom. For 73 she is still quite the character. She is constantly having guests over, keeps busy in her fields and garden and with the chickens, and still works a few nights a week. I’m pretty sure she’s also running a little moonshine business on top of that. It’s not a bad situation overall. She doesn’t interfere with my life, doesn’t ask too many uncomfortable personal questions and appreciates the money I am able to pay her each month. Within twelve hours of receiving April’s pay she had bought us a new bathroom sink. To think, I went from an apartment without a sink period to this house with a BRAND NEW one. Moving up in the world.

On the professional end of things, I have been working on a project that some of you may have recently received emails about… Camp CACTUS. Like I said before, this will be a summer camp for students from all over Western Ukraine focusing on English language, project planning and leadership. In order to get kids pumped about the project we organized workshops in four different cities. One was held at my school a couple weeks ago. 41 kids attended from five different schools. This was a totally new experience for a lot of the kids, and something special for the volunteers, as well- working with motivated youth is always a plus.

Well, I’m off to have a cup of tea with my new sitemates Ally and Larisa. To think I had never had tea in my whole life and now I can’t imagine a day without at least two cups. Love and miss you all. Just about eight months until I see you all again!