My Birthday and the Next Day

Good evening, friends.  I wasn’t planning on writing tonight, so my apologies, as this is sure to be one of my most haphazard yet . . . always set high expectations!  It’s 10:30-ish Tuesday night.  This will most likely be posted tomorrow (Wednesday, the 2^nd).  So, not too many new developments since we left each other last.  However, I should write a bit about my birthday.  I had a great birthday, it was May 21.  I’m now 24 years young, well on my way to being able to rent a car, so I got that going for me, which is nice.

 

I have always found birthdays a silly holiday to celebrate, or at least my birthday.  My grandmother says that all we men are the same.  We never want to let people have fun by spoiling us, and making a big deal over little things.  I wouldn’t necessarily agree, we all like to be spoiled, but I think we like feeling that we deserve the praise and the credit, even if it too lavish.  So, feel free to praise me for anything, just the praise for being born thing is difficult to understand. 

 

But, anyway, I should say that I had a wonderful birthday, I already did say that, but I guess I wanted to reiterate, put some real emphasis on the fact.  (If my writing style is a bit choppy and strange, my apologies, I started reading some Samuel Beckett, and he is confusing the hell out of me, and I’m hoping his bad habits are not seeping into my subconscious.)  For the birthday itself I went to school.  I walked into my classroom to be sang “Happy Birsday” by one of my 6^th grade classes.  The “th” sound is virtual impossible, I think, for Ukrainians and Russians because there is no similar sound in their alphabet(s) (I’ll give the plural, though the alphabet is hardly different).  But, it was nice, and sweet of them.  I was given a box of chocolates, and then also three carnations.  They were white carnations with pink stripes – the carnations, not the students, so don’t you go calling my students pinkos.  The day ended after a few classes, and I went home to clean.

 

For the evening my friends in town, Yana, Seriosha, their daughter Masha, and Ira, came over for dinner.  We were joined by a Peace Corps Volunteer-friend.  Seriosha prepared a pizza, for our dining pleasure.  He, in a style that would make my dad proud, is fond of the Chicago-style deep dish pizza.  And, the pizza is the best pizza I have had while in Ukraine.  We had a Greek salad minus the things I don’t like (feta, and olives), and then desserted on the box of Chocolates, and some truly decadent western chocolates, those Ferraro Roche chocolates, they were phenomenal. 

 

The gifts I got were great also.  Ira gave me a towel that says “Honey Bear,” one of those show towels, that I’m sure my mother will be proud to know I now possess.  It is even already hung over the handle of the stove.  This is an appropriate gift, both because, as we all know I am a Papa-Bear, and also, I have a strange affinity for gummy bears of the Haribo persuasion.  I’ve never done the empirical analysis to determine whether my consumption of gummy bears amounts to cannibalism or not, but I think it doesn’t, I’ll give me the benefit of the doubt.  Also, I received a commemorative coin.  The coin is a 5 hryvnia face-value, and it is a memorial to the genocide of the Ukrainian people.  This genocide was, of course, the Great Famine or holodomor engineered by Josef Stalin.  It is a very somber reminder, and an appropriate memorial to such a tragic event.  (I wanted to see what other special coins have been minted by the National Bank of Ukraine, so I looked at the list online.  I once heard my Uncle Mike (Meegan) describe his dad, my grandfather, as a man who thought “if some is good, more is better.”  Unfortunately, the Ukrainian mint agrees with this.  I say this because, while the coin commemorating the Great Famine is an appropriate reminder, there have been coins minted to commemorate just about anything that has ever happened in Ukrainian history.  This includes a coin celebrating the coins of Ukraine.  On the back of the coin are the images of the 1, 2, 5, 10, and 50 kopek coins, as well as the 1 hryvnia coin.  At the risk of sounding culturally insensitive, I would say its absurd to have coins commemorating half of the things they have coins commemorating.  There are special minted coins (which are legal tender, not just souvenirs) for the animals of the Chinese Calendar, for the different astrological signs, and a variety of other un-memorable things.  I don’t say this to diminish the coin I was given at all, because I found it very cool, and a really interesting gift.  I will attach an image here:

)

 

So, that takes the day itself off the table.  On the 22^nd, a Saturday, with my PCVolunteer-friend I went to see Wehrwolf, this name may not mean anything to you, but it is the name of Hitler’s eastern front bunker.  It is about and hour and a half from where I currently live, in a suburb outside of the local big city.  I was really exited to go here, even though the guidebook mentioned that it is not all that awe-inspiring.  This bunker was said to be state of the art when it was “in business.”  Supposedly it went seven stories under the ground with the latest communication devices (of the time, of course).  There was an underground train depot, and it was rumored to be either a kilometer, or half a kilometer wide – either way pretty substantial, if you ask me, which I’m not sure you would.  This is all true, but I will also say that Hitler only came to the bunker twice, because the Eastern Front was pretty tough.  While I am happy I went, and we got a great walk in, in the area, it was pretty nondescript.  If you did not know it was the Wehrwolf bunker, you would think it was just a random field with some large concrete slabs in the middle.  It is interesting to be able to walk on an area like that, and be in the midst of history, and even stranger, when you are able to walk on an area like that which should generate emotions of some sort, and feel like it is nothing of importance.  I suppose that is what happens, though, when there is no memorial, and no real designation of the place.  It is simply a field that once had a different use, and that is that.

 

After Wehrwolf, we went to a park in Vinnitsia, and hang out for an hour or so, just sitting, relaxing (and at least on my end, hoping my feet would feel better).  In the park there were pony rides, and a senior-citizen concert and dance.  This was especially surprising, because there are not really events for specialized groups here, especially not groups which may otherwise be isolated.  It was strange, for me, to see older people here that looked like they were happy, and enjoying themselves.  I’d have to say the day hit its zenith right before we left to go back to Zhmerynka.  We stopped by a grocery store, and were treated to Guinness, in cans.  I was like a little kid at Christmas, or a college student on St. Patrick’s Day.  I couldn’t believe I was seeing such a wonderful, and welcoming sight, and, because it was my birthday weekend, I decided to treat myself (though, had it not been my birthday weekend, I would have found a different excuse to treat myself).  Some argue about the bad aspects of globalization, but if I can have McDonalds and Guinness in the same day, well, that’s enough to get me through another week, perhaps even longer.

 

My birthday weekend also had a Sunday and a Monday (it was a three-day weekend here), but those were pretty uneventful days, and not in need of documentation.  Sunday we went to a park in town, and ate pizza-place pizza.  Monday I was by my lonesome and downloaded 20 hours worth of podcasts (I have some good ones if you’re interested).  I really enjoyed myself, though.  The birthday, and the weekend were great.  This is a beautiful country when the weather is on our side, and I’m trying to take advantage of it while I can.

 

That is all I know for now . . . maybe for good, but that’s all you’ll get.

 

Be well and be good,

 

Pete