10 PCVs Walk Into a Bar. . .

And 2 hours later get thrown out. That’s right kids! I’ve officially been thrown out of my first Ukrainian bar! Granted, as always, it wasn’t my fault, but hey. Here’s what happened:

This weekend was the Gender and Development Committee meeting in Kiev. I’m on the council (it was a pretty competitive application process). The council meets quarterly and discusses gender and sexuality issues in Ukraine and what we can do to make the situation better. The committee is split into sub-committees, including: trafficking, women in the workplace, domestic violence, LGBT, GADfly (the newsletter) to name a few. Anyhoo after the meeting, we all went back to the one apartment we rented for all of us. Apparently the chick who rented it said there were only going to be 4 people living there. HA! As it turns out, there were 20 people in a one bedroom apartment! Some of them weren’t in our working group, but the HIV/AIDS working group, who was also meting last weekend. Problem number one: get 20 PCVs together, and you’re bound for trouble. Now, I wasn’t actually in the apartment when the shots of vodka started. I was too busy walking around with Rachel and Elizabeth, getting the most amazing cheeseburger I’ve ever tasted (from a real hamburger joint. . . NOT McDonalds!), and finding a place that Rach and I could have ourselves a wiskey.. Problem 2: whiskey. . . sometimes I forget that whiskey is my danger alcohol. And yet I refuse to not drink it. . . because it’s so tasty! And because I hadn’t had a decent whiskey in what. . . 6 months?

So after our whiskey, we’re not drunk by any means but are nicely buzzed, and walk up Independence Square to the bar where the vodka-in-apartment people have gone, called O’Brians. Everyone in there is either a foreigner or an ex-pat. Or a Peace Corps Volunteer. I literally felt like I could’ve been at any Irish pub in New York. It was heart-warming. What was even more heart-warming was one of the chicks on GAD who was fall-over drunk, telling me all night that as soon as I walked in the door that morning she knew I was cool, telling everyone in the bar I was awesome, and then promptly starting to flash everyone in the bar. Mind you, she wasn’t wearing a bra. So, the entire bar saw her boobs. . . . 5 times! And then we were asked to leave. This was the most heart warming part because I REALLY felt like I was at home (soccer girls. .. you know what I’m talking about). So, me being the good little DD, I am holding this chick up, while we stumble our way to McDonalds, and have to feed her a hamburger and fries. When I say feed, I mean just that- literally every 2 seconds saying, “bite”.

As chaotic as this all sounds, for some reason it brought tears to my eyes and for the first time since I’ve been here, I really felt like I was at home having a drunken night on the town with my girls. It was really heart-warming. Is that weird? I don’t think so.

I'VE MOVED!!!

That’s right kids. . . after 3 and change months of living in a house in Grishkivtsi with no water and breeding mice, I’ve moved into Berdychiv! My apartment is conveniently right next to the bazaar and smaller bus station. . . something which is actually a bit comforting, because it’s never totally quiet. I guess I’m a city girl at heart. . . always need some background noise. So, here I am, in my apartment with running HOT water! Well, the “hot” part once I learn how to use the water heater and not look pathetic trying to do it.

I must say, I’m going to miss the village. It was a nice little vacation house. . . but there’s work to do, so goodbye Grishkivtsi, hello Berdychiv!

So what’s going on in Berdychiv, you ask? Well. . . not much. Rosh Hashanah was last week, and I spent it at the synagogue eating. No joke. Literally, it was 2 days of eating. I can never eat again!

On a non-religious note, Luba and I went to an HIV/AIDS training last week, and of course once we got back, she wanted me to write another grant (for those of you who aren’t aware, I’m already writing one for a volunteer club project they want to start). So, we’re going to have a 3 day HIV/AIDS conference starting on World AIDS Day (Dec. 1). If anyone has any suggestions on activities or whatnot to do with youth about this, let me know!!!

Why didn't we think of this?!

Where else in the world can someone like me walk down the street with a bunch of flowers and not stick out like a sore thumb? For those of you that didn’t guess Ukraine I’m sorely disappointed and think that maybe (just maybe) you should be paying more attention to my blog. For those of you who guessed correctly, Maladetz! (well done!)

Two days ago (Sept 1) was the first day of school. Now, I totally remember my first day of school. I was all nice and neat, with new pencils and notebooks and a new backpack. I said hello to my teacher and by the next hour was ready for the school year to be over. One would think that’s the way things work outside of the US, right? WRONG!! The first day of school is a big, BIG deal! Not only do the kids dress up, but they get dressed to the nine! I’m talking tuxes and velvet dresses specially made for this day, people! And, as part of the traditional dress, the girls have to wear these ridiculously large poofy scrunchies in their hair. It literally looks like they're all wearing loofas in their pig tails.

The outfits. . . note the girl on the far left with the loofa on her head.

So, all the kids were wearing clothes I’m sure they’ll never wear again, but were probably custom made specially for the first day of school. And everyone (everyone!) brings flowers to school to give to their teachers. I even got flowers (hence the first sentence), and all I did was show up at a school and tell the kids to come and visit me and speak English with a real, live American! Oh, and did I mention that each school has a little celebration on blacktop to commemorate this historic day that only happens once a year? That’s where I had to speak. I had to speak bad Russian to about 100 kids and their parents and say who I was and for everyone to come and visit me. It was. . . well. . . interesting. And just for doing that I got flowers. They LOVE their flowers here! Flowers and taking pictures. I swear, if every Ukrainian could have a digital camera and take pictures of flowers and their friends doing funny poses that are so beyond “acting natural” and so posed it makes any model you can think of look like a non-poser, they would die happy campers.

Elizabeth demonstrating a brilliant "Ukrainian Pose". No joke. This is what is looks like.

Luckily my camera is stowed away in my house, only to come out for my organization’s events. Although my battery usually dies after the 200th picture taken during a day because according to my counterpart, I don’t take enough of the same picture. Imagine that. Being the "rebellious" type, I'm pretty close to just boycotting pictures altogether.

As a sidenote: my sitemate Heather was on the subway in Kiev yesterday, and she calls me and says, "oh my god you will never believe what I'm looking at right now. . . . an older woman, on the subway, reading a 10 page article in a magaznine. . . ABOUT POTATOES!!" This country never ceases to surprise me.