Halloween

Okay, so I know that I haven't been blogging for a while, but I have an excuse! Okay, that's a lie. . . I've just been lazy, but still.

Really, nothing much has been going on. My organization is so into America, it's ridiculous. They really wanted to know how Americans celebrate Halloween, and I didn't have the heart to tell them that in New York we all just go bar hopping all night and usually end up doing something stupid. Sooooo. . . . I gave them the PG version (carving pumpkins and dressing up in cute little costumes and saying "trick or treat"). Luckily, my organization has a lot of costumes because one of the billion things they do is have birthday parties and dress up in costumes for the kids (as pirates, clowns, princesses, you name it, they've got a Ukrainian version of a costume for it). Anyhoo, so we gave all the kids in both my English clubs a costume, and one of the kids brought a pumpkin, and we carved it. Apparently they don't have orange pumpkins here, though, so we carved a green pumpkin. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. Of course, then it was photo time (Ukrainians are obsessed with their cameras and take tons of pictures of the exact same thing).

Carving the pumpkin

I was a devil (it's a little kids' devil costume. . . hee hee)

The following weekend was the “adult” party out East, run by Peace Corps volunteers and not offically approved by Peace Corps (hey, even volunteers have to party sometimes) Unfortunately for me, who was never really into the campus college thing, this turned out to be very much like a frat party. Kinda, lame, but maybe that’s because I wasn’t drinking. On the 6 hour train ride to the party, which was in Harkiv (aka. a hop skip and a jump from Russia), my stomach decided to go crazy and I couldn’t eat/drink for the entire weekend because of a weird bacteria growing in my intestines. But no worries. . . it’s gone now!!! I was super mad because I had sewn an amazing costume!!! Note: I said “SEW”!!!

Katie, Elizabeth, Rachel and I were the Elements. . . guess which one I was. . . .

On a lighter note, I just found out that I received a conditional grant from Peace Corps for a project my organization wants to do. I told my counterpart, Luba, and I swear, I have never seen someone so happy!!! I got so many hugs and kisses, it was absurd! And to celebrate, we drank beer, ate pizza, and watched soccer with her grandfather. It was the perfect end to a busy/not really busy week (I don’t know if you all have heard that Ukraine is under quarantine right now for a swine flu scare. It’s not a big deal, but school’s been canceled for 3 weeks, so work’s been slow. It’s been a lot of tea drinking and hanging out. Oh, and knitting. That's right, you heard me. . . . I need something to occupy my time, since it gets dark here at 5pm, and will soon be getting dark at 4pm. I bet you're all now thinking that this grant couldn’t have come at a better time. Me too!

Halloween

What happens when 60 volunteers go into Eastern Ukraine? Well, a party. Here's how it went down.. . . I spent all week sewing my outfit. No joke. I actually sewed!!! I was sewing in my really bad, "I learned when I was 6 and a Girl Scout)" way, and one of my coworkers, Kristina, comes over and says, "what are you doing?" My response was, "sewing" (duh). Then she says, "no. You're not." Okay. So I wasn't sewing. Then I got a one hour tutorial on how to properly sew. So, I now knowhow to sew.

And what happens after I go through all that trouble, take a 6 hr. train ride to the industrial part of Ukraine (ps. I literally felt like I was entering Russia. . . the part of Jarkiv we were in was so dreary and depressing). . . anyways, what happens once I get on the train on my way there? My stomach decides to revolt! So I spent all friggin' weekend, ill, not able to stay more than 5 feet away from a bathroom, and couldn't drink at the what really was a frat Peace Corps party! SO SAD!!!

I left Harkiv last night after only having eaten a little bit of rice yesterday, and took an overnight train back to Kiev. Of course I would have the top bunk instead of the bottom, because God hates me. And, not to anyone's surprise, the bathrooms on Ukrainian trains. . . not the cleanest. People actually stand on the seats and squat over the toilet. I can attest to this because I see the footprints all the time. So here I am in Kiev, after a very unsuccessful and anticlimatic weekend, and can't take the 2 hour bus ride home, because I don't think I'd made it. So for now, I'm stuck in Kiev. Halloween, to me, was totally more of a bust than last year, but at least I got to experience the trains and know how to travel that way for when people come to visit!

In other news. . . just in case no one's heard, the Swine Flu has come to Ukraine. It's actually quickly turned into an epidemic in Western Ukraine. There are many Peace Corps volunteers who aren't allowed to leave/go to their sites because the sites are being quarentined, and school has been cancelled for the next 3 weeks as a method of controlling the outbreak. I just wanted to let you all know this, because you'll be hearing it on the news anyway. But this for now has really only affected the very Western part of the country. Seeing as I'm in Central Ukraine, I'm okay for now. I haven't heard of anyone getting sick in Berdichev or Kiev, and so I'm not worried. But I'll be keeping everyone informed as to what's going on.

Love to everyone! Hope you all had a great Halloween! Pictures from my amazing outfit, and Halloween with the kids last week to come shortly (once I upload them to my computer).