Saturday, December 1, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving to Me!

I learned another lesson about Ukraine this Thanksgiving holiday after spending my entire Thanksgiving Day and night on one of those lovely Ukrainian buses we all dread to have to take.  I was on my way to Kirovograd to visit my good friend Jenny after changing my Thanksgiving plans so many times, nobody knew where I was going to show up.

See, first I was going to go to a very small village outside of Odessa where my friend Eileen was having a ton of volunteers over to celebrate. But after going to the train stations and finding that trains from Chernivsti only leave every OTHER day and trains coming back from Odessa only leave every ODD day, and the one I needed was all sold out, I realized I could only get home three days after I was supposed to, or I had to go all the way to Kyiv first. For those of you who don't look at a map of Ukraine hanging on your wall every day, that meant 3 overnight trains in 4 days. Not a fun prospect. But all of you that (attempt to) buy train tickets in Ukraine know, it's not exactly something that's fun or easy (even for those fluent in Russian and Ukrainian)! So I just took what I could get. Because of course at this point everyone in line was getting mad at me and the ticket lady was getting frustrated, but as soon as I walked away I thought, "What the hell am I doing?" The way the trip worked out (and the fact that Eileen lives 2 hours away from the nearest train station) meant that not only did I have to take three overnight trains, only get one day in Eileen's village, I would have most likely have missed Thanksgiving dinner all together!

I ended up exchanging the tickets the next day. All that hassle only cost me 40 grevs. :)

So after thinking I might end up in Lviv, and part of me just wanting to spend the weekend by 
myself in my freezing apartment wearing everything I own and feeling sorry for myself, I decide to go to Kirovograd because I haven't seen Jenny in a few months now. And last time I made this trip, I SWEAR it was only a nine hour bus ride. Buying a bus ticket in Ukraine is about a million times easier than buying a train ticket is. There aren't OPTIONS like there are when you want to travel by train. At the train station, they asked you what class you want to travel in, if you if want an upper or low bunk (I like lower in platscart and upper in kupe....try getting THAT across when they're sold out of the first class you asked for. It seems like it should be much easier, I know...), they don't even need your passport. So after I very easily obtained a much more expensive bus ticket than I remembered I asked when the bus arrives in Kirovgrad. "6 in the morning." "6? But it leaves at 2 in the afternoon! What the...?"

Well, okay. So it's not 9 hours. But I already bought it and everyone was peer pressuring me that if I spent the weekend huddled alone around my PC space heater I'd regret it. So I go. First,  of course, it was the worst bus ride I've ever been on in Ukraine (and that's saying something!) I was right near the front and not only did they blast the old Russian sitcoms all afternoon and evening right above my head, but it was freezing all day because they kept opening the doors and then stiflingly hot all night when the driver finally turned the heat on. 
Plus I had the sweetest woman in Ukraine sitting in front of me who kept turning around and glaring at me (I have no idea why!) and who was lucky enough to have the one seat on the bus that reclined to be almost completely flat (meaning...in my lap). And Ukraine must have known it was a holiday somewhere because all of the food stands at the bus stations we stopped at were closed. So I spent my Thanksgiving, needless to say, hungry and more than just a tad grumpy.

But I knew it would pay off! So after sleeping a measly 3 hours, I wake up at 5:30 to be ready to get off in Kirovograd at 6. And we pull into a station at ten to 6, but...it's not Kirovograde. So I call Jenny and together we think,
this MUST be the station right before Kirovograd. The bus must be just gotten delayed along the way. After another hour and a half, however, Jenny calls me back, wondering where the hell I am, and suddenly I see it. A sign that signs Dnipropetrovsk: 18 Kilometers.





That's right friends. I just went across the country. Instead of getting into to Kirovograd at 6, my bus must have gotten in sometime in those few precious hours I was sleeping, probably at 3 or 4 in the morning. After getting out and buying my bus ticket back to Alexandria, where we were having Thanksgiving in a village outside the city, I went about 8 hours out of my way. Now, being a Ukrainian language learner, I've always been nervous about going to the East, where I've heard horrible things about what people do to you when you don't speak Russian. But I just boldly went to the ticket counter, said, in Ukrainian, "I'm sorry I don't speak Russian, but....yada yada yada." and even though most everyone answered me in Russian while I was there, I only got a few cold stares, and even convinced one young man to speak Ukrainian to me! I took a few pictures of the smoke stacks to tease Mike about later and got on another 3 hour bus, going this time I made sure, to the right place at the right time.

Okay right. So my Thanksgiving lesson. First I learned to ALWAYS ask at least 3 people what time you will be getting to your destination
(and one of them should be the driver!). Second, I learned, oh wait....reconfirmed that I hate Ukrainian transportation. And third, it's still worth to go see good friends and meet new people, because even after all of that, I had a wonderful weekend, and Thanksgiving celebration and now....one more story to add experiences here in great Ukrainia. :)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Newbie

Tomorrow morning at 9:34 our newest member of the Chernivestka Oblast arrives for site visit at the Chernivsti Train Station. His village is a 25 minute Marshutka ride away from Chernivsti, and is rumored to have NOTHING (not a single flushing toilet in the whole town) 
so I'm thinking that he'll be in Chernivsti pretty often. I can't wait! I'm so excited to have new blood 
and someone else to hang out with! Hopefully he's cool and hopefully he likes his site and doesn't 
want to switch before they come permanently in December. We'll just have to convince him that 
we're awesome enough to put up with an outhouse for 2 years. :)

Besides meeting newbie at the train station, I will also be teaching my second lesson at a local Chernivsti school on how to prevent human trafficking. Now, in theory, I know what to do. I have a whole lesson planned on what I want to get across to these kids that are very at risk to be trafficked. And I'm really excited that I have this opportunity to get to spread the message to so many kids! In reality...it's a little different.

You think kids in the states are poorly behaved? Wow. I could not imagine kids in the states even attempting to act like the boys did during my first lesson. ESPECIALLY to a guest speaker! I did everything I could think of to get through to them. I waited. I threatened. I called them out and tried to make them repeat what other students had said. I stood next to their desks. I shouted over them. Nothing. It's so frustrating! After the lesson, a darling girlchild came up to me and told me a story 
about a woman she knew that was trafficked. She wanted to tell me during the lesson, but obviously 
couldn't make herself heard over her classmates. It's such a shame. Almost all of the girls were sitting there 
trying to listen, however, so I might make another visit to that school and talk to the all girls health class. Women are more at risked to be sexually trafficked, but I wish I could think of some way to get through to the boys too, since they're not immune to get trafficked, and even if they were, they all have sisters, mothers, and friends. The more we spread the word about ways to prevent it the better.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

I'm still alive!

Whew. Sorry that took a while. My normal choice of browsers at the library, Opera wasn't letting me sign in. It took me until today to think of, doh! why not try Internet Explorer? How archaic, but...that's Ukraine. ;)

There's always so much to tell, I'm just going to have to start picking stories I guess. My most recent is the gas leak in my apartment, which happened yesterday. I was just putting my soup onto my gas stove for it to cook all day (why does it take so long for beans to cook here? Yes, I soak them overnight. Sometimes even 2 or 3 nights. But I still have to boil them for 2 days...) when my trusty Peace Corps issued smoke detector/carbon monoxide detector started screeching and telling me (it talks) "carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide" over and over again. After turning off the gas stove and my colonka...

definition of a colonka excerpted from an email update:
"....in my apartment is a Colonka. I don't think this contraption has an English translation, but it's fabulous. I was terrified of these contraptions when I first got to Ukraine because everytime I see a Ukrainian talking about one they always make the hand motions that resemble Chernobyl blowing up. That's because a Colonka is a fabulous gas ball of death that you have to treat very carefully and get to know very well, but when you do, provides all the hot water you can ask for because the fiery death ball inside of it heats the pipes where your water flows through until you turn off the gas (carefully). I love it. Especially because (so far) my Colonka is very mild mannered and well behaving."

...and trying unsuccessfully to pry the batteries out of the beeping/talking alarm, I call who else? My PCV friend Katie Backus. I knew Katie could tell me what to do. Not only is Katie a smart, resourceful PCV, but she has also had many a crazy thing happen to her in Ukraine, including I knew, a gas leak. She says, "Open windows." Check. "Go outside." Check. (My brain was getting pretty fuzzy at this point, glad she was telling me the obvious.) "Call 04."

Well. "04" is the number in Ukraine to call if you have a gas leak (I'm beginning to think this is more common than we once thought...). But I'm outside. You have to call 04 from a landline. Hence, the problem with 04. So, we decide together. I'll wait for 5 minutes, go back in and see if I smell gas. I don't. And my carbon monoxide detector isn't going off anymore. But as soon as I go back I feel lightheaded again, and obviously if my trusty detector is detecting, someone should come and check this all out right? Should I call 04 and tell them I smell gas, which I don't, just because that is the only safety language concerning gas that the peace corps taught us, and that will get them here, or...not.

Katie convinces me to call Sergey, our Safety and Security Officer, or in other words, our own Personal Badass Possibly Mofia-related Bodyguard, fondly known by PCVs as "Papa Sergey". "Hi Sarah. I am coming back from Moldova right now. Can I call you later if it's not an emergency?" "It is an emergency Sergey. I have a gas leak." "Okay. I will call you in 20 minutes." "Sergey! IT IS an emergency. EMERGENCY. SERGEY." "Aw. Emergency? I will call you now." I love Sergey. He has his assistant Andrey, who I'm beginning to learn is pretty badass himself, call me back and take care of me. Andrey calls 04 and tells me 40 minutes. He talks to PCMO (Peace Corps Medical) and they say it's fine for me to wait inside with all the windows open. He tells me to call me when the gas guy gets there and hand him the phone so Andrey can explain the situation to him. Hmm.. 2 and a half hours later Andrey calls me to "make sure I'm still alive". Yes..but no gas guy. And I'm really feeling lightheaded now. Just as Andrey calls to check where the hell they are, the gas guy rings my bell....and asks me to sign this paper saying that everything is fine with my gas. Which I understood, but...thankfully Andrey was a phone call away because he explained, no I will not sign this paper, no everything is not okay, no one's even been there yet!

So he comes in. Fixes the leak. I keep the windows open all day because NOW it smells like gas since he's been testing everything in my apartment. Andrey gives me the heads up that while I'm not expected to pay him, I will be expected to "tip" him. Thanks Andrey. What a lifesaver. ;) I cook my soup. For 14 hours. Finally I get to eat at 9. The beans are still crunchy, but I'm alive, which is nice. To all of you that I know haven't put up your PC issued detectors yet, let this story, plus Katie's story, plus that 50 year old Colonka on your wall serve as inspiration to, please, take it out of the box.

Turns out THIS is why I couldn't concentrate on studying Ukrainian all morning. No, really...it was...

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Okay, so I finally decided to start a blog...



I caved. Instead of the very infrequent group emails I've been sending, I'm going to TRY to keep up with a blog instead. I go to the internet often enough that theoretically this should be a good way to keep in touch.




To start this off, I should probably say: Hi. I'm Sarah. I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chernivsti, Ukraine. Chernivsti is in Western Ukraine, about 2 hours away from the Romanian border. It's a beautiful European-looking city located in the foothills of the Carpathians.


I'm a Community Development Volunteer. I will be serving until June 2009 in an Anti-Human Trafficking Agency in Chernivsti and working with other partner organizations which I think will include a homeless shelter and an Hiv-Aids organization.
I'm sure this is nothing new for those of you that will be reading this, but...let's just make sure everyone's caught up. :)
Hopefully you'll hear more from me soon!