So here we are, the countdowns that is.
Days til COS medical and Halloween trip: 30
Days til I leave Lviv: 48
Days til I leave Ukraine: 51
Days til I'm back in the US: 56
Tomorrow is the two year anniversary of me moving to Ukraine. Two years. Today, I did word association with a friend to ask her what she thought of first when she heard two years. She said she didn't have a word, only a faint feeling of wanting some sort of ethnic food. She returned the favour and asked me what my association was with two years. My response: awkward. I told her awkward can sum up about 95% of my life in Ukraine. I'm either feeling awkward, feeling awkward for someone else or just in general realising that the situations I find myself in on a daily basis are really awkward. For example, today about 15 of my students separately came up and petted me because my hair was curly. I appreciate their love, but mistaking me for an animal in a petting zoo makes me feel, you guessed it, awkward.
I wanted to write a story about my new 70 year old boyfriend Pan Roman. He's an old man who somehow met some peace corps volunteers in the middle of lviv. Wanting to get to know them better or talk to them he contacted the local government and got them to tell him where all the peace corps volunteers are. Well, not all, needless to say my name was on his list and he's been calling my school since April or so trying to talk to me in English...not for very long of course, but long enough for him to want to meet me. Pan Roman had been telling me every time I talked to him that he was "an old man, well not old but I will say middle aged." Pan Roman also called my school twice a week during summer to see if he could catch me at the time when I was there. He finally got a hold of me the second day of school to resume our conversations that had been going on in the spring. I agreed to meet pan Roman in center on a sunday afternoon and brought my friend, Blythe, along with me. We had exchanged numbers earlier so that if there were an emergency he could call my cell phone as I wouldn't be at school on a Sunday. And so, he had proceeded to call me that Friday night while I was at teh bar with friends to ask me about the name Daniel in English and to say he hoped I wasn't too bored in Lviv. I assured him I had friends and that he didn't need to worry.
On Sunday, he called about 2 hours before our meeting to tell me what he was wearing and to tell me that he walked with a cane. Blythe and I walk down to the center to meet him. I see an older man with a cane and a dark blue tshirt start smiling when he sees two girls obviously not Ukrainian walking up to him and starts saying, "america? America?" Pan Roman as sweet as he is had been lying to me; he was most definitely not middle aged he was most definitely around 70 years old. Nevertheless, I help him up off the bench he was sitting on and walk him while he holds my arm for balance to a cafe nearby with blythe walking near us. Blythe had asked me earlier how I had gotten to know him and I responded with the truth, "in all honesty, I'm not really sure how he found me. He just started calling and I never really knew how he got the number or anything."
We sit down with Pan Roman to discuss anything in English really while he buys us coffee and syrnyky (little cheese pancakes) He must have felt so proud sitting down with two young American girls. He ordered for us and pat the waiter on his hip in a somewhat knowing or charming manner. Blythe and I tried our best to keep giggles in. Upon getting his syrnyky covered in a sweetened sour cream he accidentally dumped his hand into the cream and when blythe alerted him to this he immediately started licking it up and says to us with a smile and a wink, "like a cat, no?" We talked for awhile about how he found me, his health, his life in Ukraine, our lives in Ukraine. A few highlights, Pan Roman's comment, "i have so much money and nothing to spend it on." I suppose this is the reason he wanted to take out two american girls. He also asked us if we were married or in love. He told us that all love is suffering. Blythe asked him if he had ever been in love. His response, "once when I was 20. She was married to a Russian officer. I may have caused problems there." Obviously, they did not married. But Pan Roman followed that up with the mention of his wife. I suppose we don't all marry for love. He also talked about learning English saying, "The best way to learn English is to marry an American woman. You will be so scared when she is yelling at you that you will have to learn what she is saying." Pan Roman also told us we could be late, "because your boys will wait for you." All in all it was a great time at the cafe He recited poems and limericks making sure I had copied down some and memorized others by heart to retell and teach to my students. We walked him back over to his bench and he took pictures with us. He told us that he was going to join his friends to play poker, but he didn't play with russians because they are cunning and will find a way to win. He handed me two reader's digest and let us go on our way.
A few days later, he called to make sure I had found the chocolate and talk again about our meeting and about life in Ukraine. This week he called to tell me a few things, one that he has a hard time sleeping and so he is goign to call me later at night. So you know, he had called at 10:00p and may be calling around then later. Also, to tell me that he had been thinking about Blythe and I. He had decided that Blythe was strong and clever and I was soft and so he worried about me in Ukraine and wanted to take care of me and of course give me more 10 year old readers digest.
Pan Roman has become a fixture of phone conversation these days. It's nice to know that every week I'll get a phone call or two from an older man who cares about me and just wants to talk to me before I leave. He is sad that we are leaving and I can tell he would've been so happy to talk to me during my whole service, but such is life we do what we have the opportunity to do. But for now, I have a wonderful 70 year old boyfriend who calls me regularly, brings me chocolate and readers digests and cares that I'm doing ok. I count myself pretty lucky, even if it is only for two and a half months.
Days til COS medical and Halloween trip: 30
Days til I leave Lviv: 48
Days til I leave Ukraine: 51
Days til I'm back in the US: 56
Tomorrow is the two year anniversary of me moving to Ukraine. Two years. Today, I did word association with a friend to ask her what she thought of first when she heard two years. She said she didn't have a word, only a faint feeling of wanting some sort of ethnic food. She returned the favour and asked me what my association was with two years. My response: awkward. I told her awkward can sum up about 95% of my life in Ukraine. I'm either feeling awkward, feeling awkward for someone else or just in general realising that the situations I find myself in on a daily basis are really awkward. For example, today about 15 of my students separately came up and petted me because my hair was curly. I appreciate their love, but mistaking me for an animal in a petting zoo makes me feel, you guessed it, awkward.
I wanted to write a story about my new 70 year old boyfriend Pan Roman. He's an old man who somehow met some peace corps volunteers in the middle of lviv. Wanting to get to know them better or talk to them he contacted the local government and got them to tell him where all the peace corps volunteers are. Well, not all, needless to say my name was on his list and he's been calling my school since April or so trying to talk to me in English...not for very long of course, but long enough for him to want to meet me. Pan Roman had been telling me every time I talked to him that he was "an old man, well not old but I will say middle aged." Pan Roman also called my school twice a week during summer to see if he could catch me at the time when I was there. He finally got a hold of me the second day of school to resume our conversations that had been going on in the spring. I agreed to meet pan Roman in center on a sunday afternoon and brought my friend, Blythe, along with me. We had exchanged numbers earlier so that if there were an emergency he could call my cell phone as I wouldn't be at school on a Sunday. And so, he had proceeded to call me that Friday night while I was at teh bar with friends to ask me about the name Daniel in English and to say he hoped I wasn't too bored in Lviv. I assured him I had friends and that he didn't need to worry.
On Sunday, he called about 2 hours before our meeting to tell me what he was wearing and to tell me that he walked with a cane. Blythe and I walk down to the center to meet him. I see an older man with a cane and a dark blue tshirt start smiling when he sees two girls obviously not Ukrainian walking up to him and starts saying, "america? America?" Pan Roman as sweet as he is had been lying to me; he was most definitely not middle aged he was most definitely around 70 years old. Nevertheless, I help him up off the bench he was sitting on and walk him while he holds my arm for balance to a cafe nearby with blythe walking near us. Blythe had asked me earlier how I had gotten to know him and I responded with the truth, "in all honesty, I'm not really sure how he found me. He just started calling and I never really knew how he got the number or anything."
We sit down with Pan Roman to discuss anything in English really while he buys us coffee and syrnyky (little cheese pancakes) He must have felt so proud sitting down with two young American girls. He ordered for us and pat the waiter on his hip in a somewhat knowing or charming manner. Blythe and I tried our best to keep giggles in. Upon getting his syrnyky covered in a sweetened sour cream he accidentally dumped his hand into the cream and when blythe alerted him to this he immediately started licking it up and says to us with a smile and a wink, "like a cat, no?" We talked for awhile about how he found me, his health, his life in Ukraine, our lives in Ukraine. A few highlights, Pan Roman's comment, "i have so much money and nothing to spend it on." I suppose this is the reason he wanted to take out two american girls. He also asked us if we were married or in love. He told us that all love is suffering. Blythe asked him if he had ever been in love. His response, "once when I was 20. She was married to a Russian officer. I may have caused problems there." Obviously, they did not married. But Pan Roman followed that up with the mention of his wife. I suppose we don't all marry for love. He also talked about learning English saying, "The best way to learn English is to marry an American woman. You will be so scared when she is yelling at you that you will have to learn what she is saying." Pan Roman also told us we could be late, "because your boys will wait for you." All in all it was a great time at the cafe He recited poems and limericks making sure I had copied down some and memorized others by heart to retell and teach to my students. We walked him back over to his bench and he took pictures with us. He told us that he was going to join his friends to play poker, but he didn't play with russians because they are cunning and will find a way to win. He handed me two reader's digest and let us go on our way.
A few days later, he called to make sure I had found the chocolate and talk again about our meeting and about life in Ukraine. This week he called to tell me a few things, one that he has a hard time sleeping and so he is goign to call me later at night. So you know, he had called at 10:00p and may be calling around then later. Also, to tell me that he had been thinking about Blythe and I. He had decided that Blythe was strong and clever and I was soft and so he worried about me in Ukraine and wanted to take care of me and of course give me more 10 year old readers digest.
Pan Roman has become a fixture of phone conversation these days. It's nice to know that every week I'll get a phone call or two from an older man who cares about me and just wants to talk to me before I leave. He is sad that we are leaving and I can tell he would've been so happy to talk to me during my whole service, but such is life we do what we have the opportunity to do. But for now, I have a wonderful 70 year old boyfriend who calls me regularly, brings me chocolate and readers digests and cares that I'm doing ok. I count myself pretty lucky, even if it is only for two and a half months.
