With my host family, I do not have internet access. To access the internet I have to invite myself over to a fellow trainee’s host family’s house. Thus, I only get online once every week or two. This is the biggest reason I have neglected to compose any earth-shattering blog posts on my cross-cultural observations, and about how much I will change the world once I am fluent in Ukrainian (read: in a very, very, very long time). I finally came up with the idea of writing my blog post as a Word document (I am using the brand new Microsoft Word, and I hate it, for the record), and then copying and pasting once I am able to go online. Aren’t I just a clever and industrious one?
Because I have been very brief in all of my emails to family and friends, if I have answered at all, let me first describe my town. The town has about 15,000 people. There is a relatively busy town center, complete with a supermarket called ΦΟΡΑ, this is pronounced “for-a”. At ΦΟΡΑ I generally buy a two liter bottle of water, or two a day. Unbeknownst to me, the brand I buy has kept me a slave to the Coca-Cola Corporation. I learned this after finally reading the label. There are also many smaller kiosks, and Mahazines. Mahazines are small stores that can sell anything from food and drink to clothes, to hardware. Our town also has a wonderful and large park, with two monuments to The Great Patriotic War, and the veterans of said war. The Great Patriotic War is the portion of World War II in which Germany attacked the Soviet Union. This was 1941 and on.
Our town center is looked after by two additional monuments. One is the Lenin statue, Vladimir, not John – John’s last name is Lennon! Lenin is looking stern, and pensive, but fatherly. He is sitting down. Further on there is a tank. Tank is the same word in both Ukrainian and English. We foreign language studiers call it a cognate. The tank has the barrel of its cannon staring down the main street, and the monument states (paraphrased) Honor Defenders of the Motherland. Even in post-Soviet Ukraine the veterans of the Great Patriotic War are still honored, and respected – as they should be. Our town also has a bust of the ubiquitous Taras Shevchenko. Shevchenko is a Ukrainian national folk-hero; a politician through poetry, and one of the most outspoken proponents for an independent Ukraine when Ukraine was under Czarist Russia. His famous work is Kobzar it is taught throughout schools, and I have the goal of reading it, and understanding it entirely in Ukrainian. Finally there is statue honoring one of the first mayors of Soviet Kaharlyk. His name escapes me.
The center is at the top of a hill. A hill I walk up every day. I walk almost everywhere, just about always. Generally it takes me about 20 minutes to get into town. Close to the park is a new church currently under construction. It is a gorgeous building with the famous golden domes; I believe they are called “onion-top”. It is a nice sight to see the just the golden top above the rest of the town on my walk every morning. My walk takes me down the dirt-road (it is not as rustic as it sounds) that I live on, one right, and one left turn bring me to a more central road. This road, it is, indeed, paved, brings me down a hill. From here I turn right onto one of the main arteries in an out of Kaharlyk. I walk past a large pond, crossing the pond over a road bridge, and then go up one more hill to hit the Center. I must say, on mornings in which I am not rushed, the walk is a pleasant way to start my day.
The architecture in town is very square, and boxy. The most impressive building is the Kaharlyk Region Administration building. It stands above the town like a sentinel, or perhaps impenetrable fortress would be a better description, and I imagine would be spooky in the dead of night. Along the main drag there is also a police station. Police here are called the militsiya, which always makes me think of the Minutemen of Massachusetts for a second when they are mentioned. There is also a smaller Kaharlyk town administration building – the differences between town and region are just what the words imply.
Close to our center we also have a bazaar. This, I think, will be the subject of a different post sometime in the near future. It is a very lively open air market that is rather interesting to see. Merchants sell their wares from different booths, and kiosks, most of which look like wooden shacks, and can be closed up, and left where they are. . . now that I think about it, this describes the bazaar perfectly, just imagine a large area very crowded similar to the Haymarket in Boston.
We also have a plethora of crows in Kaharlyk. They are a bit disconcerting. Like a scene out of the Hitchcock classic there will be groups of tremendous numbers of the birds flying all together like a swarm. I have yet to figure out a purpose for this, and ultimately one watches and waits, and prays to God bird-shit doesn’t drop down from the heavens (Sorry for the language, Mom, but the other descriptive words for feces do not seem to do justice to the emotion). These groups, though, will fly all about the town, and I can see them whether I’m in the Center, or near the home in which I live.
Temperature and weather are, of course, favorites for small talk. When I first got here, October 17th was my first day in town, we were already in the depths of autumn. Leaves had changed, but the temperature was still relatively warm. Since then, almost four weeks later, while we are definitely still in autumn, and not the dreaded winter, the temperature, and the weather has most-definitely changed. The temperature has been much lower, as of late. Averaging probably around 5 – 12 ° C – a far cry from the 70° F days I have heard of recently in Rhode Island. The issue, for me, however isn’t with the chilly weather. It is chilly, but not cold. The issue is thus: When I first get outside I am cold. I need a jacket, and ear-muffs, and gloves. I am also wearing autumny-wintery clothes. The walk, however, is usually at a brisk pace, and involves some large hills. By the time I get to class I am sweating. This is compounded by the fact that the heat is generally put on very high in most places, which makes it difficult to cool down even after I arrive.
Other than the temperature regulation issues, the weather has been very dreary lately. There have been many grey days, misty mornings, foggy afternoons, and flat-out rainy days. There are not many things I would like better than a string of sunny days. Even if they were sunny and cold, I wouldn’t mind, just so long as they were sunny.
But, the important things are that I am happy, and healthy. I am overwhelmed with work, but that’s never killed anyone (except John Henry, he was a steel driving man, Lord, Lord). I have been well-fed, and well-looked after. If I were placed here in Kaharlyk for my entire 26 months I would not have any complaints, but alas, that is not going to be the case, as this town does not have the need of wherever ever else we are ultimately sent.
If anyone gets through all of this, God bless you. I appreciate your time going through my mental meanderings, which I am not sure are all that coherent. With such a large, all-consuming change, it is hard to describe specific aspects succinctly without getting into a million things, but I hope I have been somewhat concise. If there are any questions you have for me, I would love to hear them, and will answer as soon as possible. My email address is
U.S. Peace Corps/Ukraine Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) PeterMeegan
111A Saksohanskoho St. Kyiv, Ukraine 01032
Please, as a matter of courtesy that I would NOT extend to you, do not judge my grammar, and general mistakes herein. I have done this in a very short period of time, I am tired, and I will not proofread. I don’t have the energy.
All the Best, and as always Go Friars,
Pete
Pete!! Glad that things are going well! Be safe and keep writing!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I will go to PC games to keep you in spirit this year.
-Samantha