Ukrainian Beauty Pageants, Polish Folk Dancing, and Korean Carrots

After a winter of icy roads and bitter winds, I’ve gone on my first few runs of the season! It was pretty glorious to be able to run again, though after a false start at spring we got more snow, and my 3rd attempt to run left me slipping, sliding, and dodging vehicles as I tried to pick my way down the middle of the road. All winter long I’d been “going in for” yoga, and I think it’s definitely made me stronger, because picking up running after such a long break wasn’t as painful as it normally is. My hope is to run a half-marathon organized by another volunteer on April 17th in the Carpathians, although with my level of training that may be a foolhardy goal. It’s something to work toward though, and at the very least I’ll run the 10K. At any rate, a trip over the mountains and a hearty frolic through the hills is in order. I ran for 100 minutes last week, which is longer than I’ve ever run in my life, and I was pretty pumped. I got plenty of strange looks too, which always amuses me. I stare back and smile until they look away.

Anya and Matt came over one Saturday, and we made the first brownies she’d ever had in her life! Then she fell asleep while we were watching “Wedding Crashers.” It was nice to have them over to my house and not just go out to a café.

I can’t possibly convey in words how much the sunshine has put a spring in my step (as well as on my doorstep). I walk around with a smile on my face, commenting on the weather to anyone who will listen. One nice day I set out to find the stadium—I knew we had one, but I hadn’t seen it yet. I found it on an island in the middle of the river—which I also hadn’t seen before—and my counterpart said it used to be the old Jewish cemetery (I didn’t ask why it was turned into a stadium).

International Women’s Day is a national holiday (March 8th) in all the countries of the former Soviet bloc. I don’t know why we don’t celebrate it, because it started as a female garment workers’ protest in New York City 100 years ago. (Maybe its socialist origin made it an undesirable event in the states?) On Thursday, students came up to me between lessons, speeding through the well-used phrase, “We congratulate you on the [insert special occasion here], wish you happiness, health, etc. etc.…” and presented me with flowers, chocolate, and other nice things. I spent the actual holiday baking in the kitchen and cleaning in the house, the irony of which was not lost on me. But it was by choice, since I invited Andrei, Pasha, and Kamilia over for tea and homemade cookies. Pasha recounted how in his dream Arnold Schwarzenegger killed him, and then we had an honest conversation about drug use and fabrication (many drug users in Ukraine also know how to produce their own drugs). An interesting afternoon altogether.

On Wednesday I visited Katia and Co. in an attempt to reconnect with them (Lena’s extended family, who I haven't seen since Winter Break), and we made fresh salads for dinner—I had more green vegetables that meal than I’d had all winter! She bought broccoli in Poland and asked me what to do with it, since people don’t really eat it here. All our toasts were to women, since the men of the house were absent.

I’ve discovered a new “секoнд гeнд” store near my school, which is a dangerous development given my love of thrift stores—but you can’t really argue with dress pants, a dress shirt, and a skirt for $8, right? (Except if you remember that’s almost twice what I make in one day, but shhh!)

I invited another volunteer from GAD to hold a self-defense seminar for my 9th form girls in honor of Women’s Day, and it worked out great! We took them out of English and PE, and set up mats on the stage in the auditorium, and they learned about domestic violence and how to protect themselves. They were really enthusiastic about practicing the punches, kicks, and blocks, and as a grand finale Jean taught them how to throw an attacker and they practiced on her. The girls all wanted to know when she could come back, and the boys were very interested in what we were doing (they kept trying to peek into the auditorium), so I hope to build on that enthusiasm for future projects! We stayed at Kamilia’s the night before, since Jean went to her village school in the morning and then my school in the afternoon. Jean’s puppy came too (she terrified Djora at first, until he realized he was bigger). The second night they stayed at my apartment and she whipped up a spicy meat sauce with macaroni while I pretended to lesson plan, and then we watched a movie and had a half-night’s sleep before she had to wake up to catch her train at 5 am.

That night I smelled smoke in my apartment and found my fuse box fuming. Mr. Fix-it came to the rescue, and I will live another day. I also had to consult my brother on an urgent matter of technical support. He advised me to restart my computer. Brilliant! Also brilliant: Russian Vegetable Pie! Thank you, Babuysia’s Cookbook.

Another personal victory I’m rather proud of: I finally finagled the downstairs neighbors for tea and cookies! They are very elusive, so I ambushed the husband while we waited for the garbage truck, and asked when I could bring them the cookies I had baked (I’d been slowly eating them and soon there would be none left for the intended recipients, but like I said, they’re hard to track down, and cookies sitting on your counter are just asking to be eaten). But we finally got acquainted, and I made them suffer through my photo album while their 5 year old played with his trains.

This past weekend I was supposed to meet my cluster for a reunion to celebrate Alia’s birthday, but plans fell through and I ended up having a bizarrely impromptu yet satisfying weekend at home. On Friday, Kamilia, Slavic, and I met with someone important to get the go-ahead to inform vice principals of our project. He was very friendly and Polish and liked my last name; he said to stop by for tea sometime, and did I prefer muscular or intellectual men? I said intellectual, and he said he’d work on it. Note to self: good person to go to if I need something done in town. Afterwards, Slavic and I ended up going to a beauty pageant that Kamilia had prepared one of her students for. I have never seen an audience more excited for a non-sporting event. They were wild, and it was hilarious. There was an evening gown contest, as well as an improvised song-and-dance talent portion. Out to coffee later, I discovered Korean carrots (spicy, garlicky, delicious) and a Frenchman (choose your own adjectives) in town. I was pretty excited about both.

On Saturday I invited Kamilia, Slavic, and Andrei over to bake apple pie. We added walnuts and rounded it out with vanilla ice cream for a satisfying culinary experience. Djora came too, and I set up “Hercules” on my computer for him to watch, because I promote Disney at every opportunity. Slavic kept retreating into the kitchen to do the dishes, protesting that he hadn’t helped cook. I wasn’t going to stop him! Later I went to Polish language class, just because. There I saw everyone I knew in town: my neighbors, my counterpart and her sister, a teacher I’d met at Olympiad, and one of the girls that comes to my “Adult English Club,” who I ran into as I was walking there, and who was also going for the first time just to check it out. I didn’t really learn very much (they’ve had several weeks of lessons already, and not knowing the alphabet or the proper pronunciation slightly limited my understanding) but I had a good time. At the end, the teacher asked if I would be joining the Polish folk dancing group for a concert in May. Why not? So I went to rehearsal on Sunday, and blundered my way through a waltz-y folk number before going out to drink milkshakes and talk about boys and more serious things with Luda, the girl from my club who is enamored with all things Italian. I rounded out the night watching a Reese Witherspoon film in Russian. Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian in one day? Why not?

On Monday I had a nice chat with my counterpart, going over all the things we’re supposed to talk about. Our “meeting” occurred during the 45 minutes we were waiting for the bus, which is all the proof I need that I can get to school faster on my own two feet.

Tuesday after Adult English Club (is it just me or does that name sound slightly risqué?) I walked with Kamilia back to her house (we picked Djora up from her mother’s on the way) and we prepared a power point to present our project to the vice principals of extra-curricular activities on Friday at the lyceum. The presentation accomplished what it needed to, and the two Slavics joined Andrei, Kamilia and I to visit Pasha and Sasha at work, and then bum around town for a bit. I like these Friday afternoons, when I never know what will happen.