She's got a cactus crown with a dot dot dot on her brow

So, perhaps this is my first reflection on ukrainian culture and language without coming from my own experience. here goes. . .

A Reflection on the names of Ukrainian months which fills my head probably more than it should.

So, the month of February is called лютий seemingly coming from the word (or at least to a non native speaker) любити which means to love. Which again could make my interpretation of it more skewed because obviously, I think this is related to St. valentine's Day or perhaps a tradition of love giving in February that is now linked to St. valentines. The Next month is березень or the month of the birch tree (I think!) And as I've been told it is in this month that you tap the Birch tree or as my host sister called it the tree that weeps for their juice (which is by the way delicious) my host family canned it and added lemon and it was fantastic. Next comes квітень, квітка being the word for flower. I suppose here it's March showers bring April flowers. . . Followed closely by May otherwise known as травень the month of herbs. After that I'm not too well acquainted other than the months I've lived here. So, November is лістопад (falling leaves) and October is жовтень yellow month. Feeling poetic yet? The Russian months from what I know follow closely to the numerical roman months that we're used to. While difficult to memorize given the fact that they are completely unrelated to numbers I much prefer the agricultural lean to the calendar of the Ukrainian language. It makes me wonder if in earlier times жовтень wouldn't have been different for each section of the Ukrainian speaking world. How long would these months last? Sometimes longer than others depending on the year or season? And when would you know that you were making that slight transition into the next. This lack of definite subdivision given by the numerical leaning calendar of our own leans itself to teh idea of Ukrainian time in general. My students are hardly ever in a rush and while they apologize when they are late, they rarely arrive early to anything. It's not that I prefer one way over the other. I will always be awkwardly early fearing that being late is causing my host or guests etc. undue concern and anxiety. But at the same time, I enjoy that there is something of a lax nature of time here. While I can't quite reconcile my own tendencies with the nature of time that I prefer, it still makes me think of a culture so rooted in its perceptions of teh world around it that it's months were given the names of the natural world around it. It may sound a little romantic and in osome ways I'm sure I'm romanticizing it. But I also just adore the visuals that come with knowing the name of the month. I like that when I think of October here, I will always think of teh yellow leaves littering the streets on my way to language class with my cluster mates in Nosivka. Similarly, I know that as these months pass it will be the natural world often that provides the backdrop and reason of my memory. Without sounding overly simplistic, I think language when wrapped in an idea to transport the platonic ideal of yellowness to the name of the month is really quite true to its form. I think that when you can wrap all the things yellow can be into the idea of a month it translates into the world around you and exudes that yellowness through structure or otherwise. In the end, after thinking about this development of language I thought to myself that I should reconcile the calendars I've been making with the names of the month, and so I'm including a picture of my march calendar featuring none other than birch trees.

In news about school, if you'd like it. . . My regional manager will be here on Thursday visiting my classes, meeting with me and the directors and inspecting my place to make sure I've completed my checklist. I'm nervous. He will be observing my 7th form class and I'm nervous about their behaviour. I know I'm not doing something right with them, they're acting out all the time. I'm looking for ways to improve my teaching with them and maybe having Bohdan visit them will push me to create something that will constantly keep them activated and engaged, but it's hard with the varying skill levels present in the classroom. Apart from that, I did create a lesson based on listening using some pop music which they loved. We listened to a song and i had them count every time they heard the words busy, telephone and call/calling. It was really interesting to see how close they were to my counts that I had heard when I listened to the song. Beyond that, we talked about why they may have heard the word too many times or why they didn't hear it enough. Sparking an interesting discussion about listening to people and things when speaking in a foreign language. And then, they were really excited and happy to have been able to understand some of the words as we dissected the lyrics a little bit more. The highlight was when they all at the end of class were able to sing along to the song using the correct words without ever seeing them in front of them! My third grade class has been altogether this week because the other teacher is out sick. They get excited to be all together, but what is more is that the class always likes to show me what they've accomplished, showing me what they do and when they finish their written work. They just like learning English and I'm happy to be their teacher. Today, one of my students who is particularly fond of my teaching gave me a hug and then turned to one of the other students in teh other group and said "Isn't my teacher Cool!" And today, I feel like I made some good break throughs with my first graders, while it's really hard to handle them as a class, they've been writing and reading better and better. I'm not sure what my end of the year goals for them are. But they know their numbers, they know their letters, they know their colours. and we're working slowly on days of the week; over, under, on. And now my and 's ownership. At the very least, I got more hugs in first grade today. I have two twin boys one who is super excited for English named Buroslav and one who is not excited for English but is excited to show me his new toy named Yaroslav. Buroslav as always delights in calling me over and saying "teacher I'm finished" or "Miss kari, I wrote it!" And today one of teh boys in my class who I think may be autistic and/or have special needs has decidedly begun to trust me and gives me hugs and wants to hold my arm and when I come over and tell him no today he said ok ok I'll listen now. So, today, despite having its frustrating moments there were some really good ones too. For this I'm grateful. I still miss everyone in the states and am gearing up for the next few weeks of meetings. ugh! But at teh same time there are great things coming out of these meetings.

So that's all for now, love and hugs!

in the back of your mind just like a wind chime

The joys of a package on a broken, weary soul.

Today, my friends I received a glorious package from my parents. After a long hard day of teaching kids who are generally uninterested in learning, I find that a package will delight and tickle my soul. And so, here is a props to my parents for a complete restocking of pants in my wardrobe. I officially have thrown out all full-length pants i brought with me in exchange for new ones, that happen to fit better. Also, props for the fact that my mom stocked me with the Stromberg family Best of 2009 mix. First of all, Cheryl is a genius for coming up with this idea when I was in France. This being our third annual mix, I'm excited that I will be back for the 5th annual where I am hoping we can add a category like best song from the last five years you wish you would've put on the list but didn't because you found out about it after the new year. etc. etc. This mix is filling my life with great new music and great new moods.

And now, for more news about ukraine and the like. My kids have gotten used to me being here and being their teacher. It's amazing how quickly kids adapt to those kinds of things, it's amazing how quickly I've adapted to this. I requested a set of books today from my director so that i can lesson plan appropriately. And I've started giving tests etc. etc. etc. in the next few months I feel like all will be passing quickly, sometimes too quickly. The snow is . . . not melting. what else can I say. probably not much

love and hugs to you all

We can't be to and fro like this All our lives

An Account of a weekend of Valentine in Drohobych. . .

Despite what you all may be thinking, I really don't like to travel. That is I LOVE going to new places and seeing new things, but I hate the "getting there." When I can, I try and stay as comfortable as possible in my own surroundings. But, of course, the want to see new things and calling from friends and family will often push me out of said comfort zone aka my house or town and make me bite the bullet and do the actual "travelling."

This past weekend, was one of said trips when I ventured to visit Drohobych. To be honest, it's not that bad of a trip especially by Ukrainian standards. It takes approximately 1 hour or a bit more to get from my bus stop to the main bus station from where the buses to drohobych leave. Upon my arrival, I followed the directions I was given, bought a ticket from the 3rd cash register and loaded teh bus ignoring the place listed on my ticket and just picking, because no one really follows those listings anyway. Unfortunately, being a Friday nite the bus was packed. And so, when a man who had bought a ticket got on the bus and there were no seats left he made who ever was in his seat move. And so, boy and girl from the seats moved. Next comes teh two people in their seats who had to get up and move and consequently made me and the girl next to me move. I go up to the front where everyone assumes being that I don't speak ukrainian well, that I'm the one without the ticket. Not the case. I show them my ticket. And after saying sixteen times that I have seat 3 they agree with me; because they read my ticket. Only problem is girl in seat 3 is not having it and is not going to get out of my seat and keeps saying, well I have seat two and those boys are in my seat. After awhile and a lot of yelling on the part of the driver who was explaining that someone must be without a ticket. 3 girls get up in the back and get off teh bus because surprise surprise they don't have a ticket. I get the bad seat in the back because 3rd seat homie wont stand up and I don't want to cause a scene. As you can guess there was more than just me trying to figure it out becuase there were 3 people without tickets. Me, a girl, and surprise surprise my seat neighbor a 18 year old boy drenched in cologne with a penchant for falling asleep on my shoulder. This bus ride lasts another 2 hours. I get to Drohobych, taking the only marshrustka available to where linnea says I should, "look for a gaudy orange building." I don't see said building but the stop was teh end of the line. Luckily, upon getting out I saw what I thought was a gaudy orange building (good description). Linnea and I proceed to get groceries at the store where I almost knocked down the baggage drop cabinets trying to shove my backpack into it, an older lady yelled at linnea to move out of the way of teh cheese, and the homie at teh check out didn't understand when i asked for a plastic bag. Actually, the trip/weekend was good, it was just we had bad luck with weather and travelling. So, the next day after a stunning walk around town in the snow, seeing some old wooden churches that were fantastic and enjoying a tour of 6 sentences and time for me to ask questions in the church built in the 15th century; we headed to Truskavets, Linnea's other town. That bus ride was like getting to know people on a whole new level. We squeeeeeeezed in and stood in the front enjoying the many joys of a marshrutka so crowded someone on the outside has to shut the door. It's a little bit like zipping an overfull suitcase. Except we're people and it's oddly uncomfortable to be touched and squeezed against that many people you don't know. So, we took the another marshrut in town to what we thought was the mall, but what ended up being a supermarket with Everything a person from teh states could want. Hot chocolate in many different flavours, bulk grains, garlic powder and curry. (bonus find!) We returned to drohobych and went to a nice english pub and enjoyed some french fries. And spent a quiet evening at the house. In the end the trip was great. I still hate going on busses (the bus rides back were less eventful but still bus rides). But I think that the pay off for knowing that I'm using public transportation equals it out. I love trains (for teh most part) and I really love the trams and trolleys here in Lviv. These forms of public transport are easily my favourite. I'm hoping my years here will convert me to a person who will go on any transport in the states because I can stand anything.

In other news, I bought oregano at teh store in Truskavets and made a fantastic spicy italian soup tonite. The 8th grade class is going to interview me for some reason. Still teaching the 1st, 3rd and 7th form. Still am in desperate need of stickers. My students waver and I tihnk the school wants me to start doing some kind of English club for teachers or adults. we'll see. My counterpart has officially left teh school so I'm looking for a new one. AND other than that I read a lot last week. Am hoping to do the same this week and yes I'm still looking for books. The snow has forced me mostly indoors and I'm thinking about heading to center this week to pick up some yarn so I can crochet a baby blanket for some friends here who are having a baby in April. They have really welcomed me and I'm looking for a way to show my gratitude via baby present. I'm so excited for the melting season. . .

Missed the family and friends this week! Love you all and hugs!

I was little boy lost and I was little boy blue

Hello to everyone in the wonderful world of blog land.

things are as always going really well here. I'm enjoying the wonderful world of Ukrainian winter and the snow, which I'm ready to get rid of, but accepting as a part of the general existence here. Still, the thought of summer tends to creep in my head and I can't help but think of all the things that will be possible once the snow is gone and I'm able to walk wherever and spend time outside.

This week, life has been pretty standard. I've been teaching, as per usual, and just kind of taking time to lesson plan etc. This week we had visitors from AISEC, which I believe is some sort of students exchange program for people from different countries who speak english to run programs in other countries, again, in English. So, we had visitors from Turkey, Brazil and Taiwan come and visit our school and let the kids know about different countries etc. etc.

Suzanne came down to visit today. Had a wonderful time walking around the city despite the cold and enjoying the company for the late afternoon.

I'm making progress with my 3rd formers, something that bolsters my confidence if only a little bit. I also successfully taught my 1st formers under over and on and so we're working on questions like where is the ball.

At the urging of my mother, I'm updating the wish list on the right. so take a look.

What else can I say. . . big day tomorrow. Elections here, don't know which candidate will win. I live in the west and so Timonshenko is favoured here, but who knows what the outcome will be.

The best part about tomorrow is it's burrito cooking nite at Dan and Lesya's with Linda and Christie Anne, so I'm happy for even more company.

Let's see what insights can I leave. Peace Corps time passes quickly and it often seems as if nothing is really going on. I like to take moments each day to think about what i could've done better and also what I did raelly well. No matter how boring or self-indulgent it seems. I finished reading Bill Moyer's on Democracy this week, lent to me by another volunteer. It's filled with quotes that make you want to get up and do something. I try to remind myself that in my own small way I am doing something. It's amazing how much you can trick yourself into thinking you've never done anything. By Ukrainian standards, I'm an old maid. I'm 25 years old, no husband, no kids and no long term job. I kind of bounce around doing whatever. But I tell myself that the whatevers that I've been doing for however long are, despite the fact that my life is small, still salient and important. i think we all crave to be the big person every now and again. To have the personality and power to influence others and make a difference in how things happen. We fantasize about what we would be doing if only guaranteed the appearance in some cataclysmic or climactic moment. The truth is, I've thought, more than once about sending a letter to obama about my reflections on America living my post college career out of the country. I tihnk in some ways, I've forgotten that even though I'm not a HUGE personality, I'm still doing something that is worthwhile. this isn't to say I question my peace corps decision in anyway. I'm more than committed to my work and school life here. But, I will say, working in Education can wear you down, I suppose working in any field can, and some days when nothing seems to sink in it's hard to remember why you're trying to teach anyone anything.

On a more positive note, I've finished 13 books in my 19/20 weeks here. I'm grateful for teh simplicity and the time that my life offers. There's nothing quite like knowing that you will have the time to enrich your soul and mind.

FOr teh first time this week I rode a mashrutka at rush hour. mistake, I've been squeezed in ways I never thought possible and now have a thorough sympathy for sardines and chinese acrobats in boxes.

love and hugs to all

One day we're gonna live in paris, I promise

this is a simple simple blog to one give a shout out to Dena aka Deener who sent me a glorious package.

And to the staff at Hill Middle School especially one Ms. Sue Johnson who organized getting a card together with letters from my old co-workers! It really made teh day to have some notes from home!

In other news, parents meetings are this week. Which means that I awkwardly wait in my apartment while they have meetings in the cafeteria.

Also, this week is AISEC week aka a group of young people from all over the world come to lead different activities and meetings with my students in English. yesterday, I did some hosting, but today I had a French lesson with my 5th graders. Who I think beleive I'm teh funniest person who has ever lived. They are pretty much alone in this department, other than my mom, who mostly just laughs at my misery and not necessarily my jokes. In fact, that's a common theme amongst people who are close to me. . . perhaps my tries at sympathy are laughable, skill to work on, looking more pathetic so people will do things for me to comfort me. Such as, giving me free vacations.

Peace Corps gave us all the "awesome" gift of an extra day of leave! woo! why you ask are we graced with such an awesome gift. Oh it's because we all got vaccinated for H1N1 within the end of the month (nothing says vacation like swine flu vaccines). I'm currently undecided as to what to do with said day off. First, I have to figure out when my vacations are, hard to do, because asking is awkward. next, I have to plan a vacation. I'm thinking about Turkey with some friends. Because it's cheap and quick and well, nothing says I need a vacation like Turkey.

Today, I had another interesting encounter with the lady who runs the kitchen and cleaning in school. Something along the lines of her telling me that the Baker didn't bring the bread today and so when I was eating my soup there wasn't any. I told her this wasnt' a problem. She joked about the weight I've been losing here. She kept doing an action like she was a synchronized swimmer or beauty queen just come out of the water. She made another joke about one of something, i didn't really get it. I really dont' understand a good half of my life here, but I've adjusted to not knowing/having any clue about what's going on around you and just kind of going with the I mean I guess this is teh right way to do things flow.

I had a dream I owned a scooter. . . one to get around in teh states, I wasn't there but I remember making the comment about me getting the scooter specifically for life in the states. I also thought about 20 minutes today about the state of my parents compost pile (I don't know if this is dedication to teh compost and/or extreme amounts of free time that plague most volunteers) I considered no short of 200 different ways to improve it, what the earthworms that my parents say are the size of boas look like how they're effecting the ph of the soil etc. etc. etc. how to work in more animal matter into the compost. . . This is an odd manifestation of home sickness if that's what it is. But over teh next two years, I've decided to dedicate some time to reading about productive/the best ways to compost and raising chickens. . . . don't judge

that's all for teh random thoughts of the day love and hugs