It's been about two weeks since my last update. We have been very busy learning Russian, meeting with different community and governmental organizations both in Staryi Bilous as well as in Chernigiv, and becoming a little more acquainted with the Ukrainian life style. The language training is pretty intense. Wednesday we learned both the past tense and future tense for verbs, how to tell time, and a bunch of reflexive verbs - and the walls of our classroom are full of posters of things to memorize! :0
The group of Peace Corps Volunteer Trainees that I came to Ukraine with is the largest group that Ukraine has received. We were all together at the arrival retreat, but then were split up into groups called clusters. In my cluster there are three other volunteers: Pete is 28 and grew up in Rhode Island, Brenton is 26 and grew up in Mississippi, and Jeanine (also 26) grew up in a suburb of Chicago. Pete, Brenton and I all live on the same street, and Jeanine lives about a 10 minute walk away. They are all wonderful and make the training much more enjoyable! Here is a picture of the boys walking down our street (my gate is the blue and white one on the right hand side!). We have two paved streets in our village.
Some of the organizations we have visited include the local village authority, the local school, the Staryi Bilous Library, as well as the Chernigiv Public Library. We also were introduced to an NGO called ARATTA which targets at-risk families and youth. Each organization has been different, and it has been very interesting to see how business is conducted in a different culture.
We also have discovered what we like to call “the Babuska bench” (a Babushka is an older lady who wears a head scarf). This bench is located on our street, and on sunny afternoons all of the Babuskas are out gossiping. Here is a picture of our Babuskas last weekend, as well as a group shot that includes my cluster!
Even though it is still cold here (it snowed earlier this week) gardening has began. I planted vegetables with my host mom last week. Another big job this time of year is canning the birch tree juice. The trees are tapped like someone is taking a core sample; but once the hole is made, grass is stuck in the hole, and a bottle is hung to catch the sap. My host dad goes out to the forest every morning and comes back with a five gallon bucket full of the runny sap. Once the juice is collected, sugar and fruits are added and the concoction is boiled and canned. I helped my host family can over 40 jars last weekend.
Martin the goat is getting much bigger, and I am sad to say he is no longer allowed in the house. He is always getting into trouble - earlier this week he figured out how to get into the basket of my host dad’s motorcycle and almost tipped it over.
This is one of the homes in our village that we found on a walk. The owners have found an interesting use for plastic pop bottles as they get started with their spring gardening tasks. They also will need to rebuild the steps if they ever want to use the blue doors. Perhaps it is a dacha, or summer house, for some of the city's residents.
Russian Lesson #1:
меня зовут Анни я доъролец корпса мйра!
That says, "my name is Anne and I am a Peace Corps Volunteer," and it is pronounced like this: men-ya / zu-vut / Anna / ya / do-bro-vol-ets / kor-pusa / me-ra.
