April

April is the anniversary of the Chernobyl accident.  Every town in Ukraine has a “Town Meeting” to remember all people who were affected on the 26th of April, 1986.  

 

Most kids in Ukraine are taught to say “My happy birthday is on...” or “Today is my happy birthday!”  This is one of my favorite Ukrainian sayings.  In Pervomais'ke, one of my best friend's birthday is in April, and I was invited out to celebrate at a restaurant. 

Natasha and Igor

Pervomais’ke has one garbage truck/tractor, and this is what happens when it breaks.  The trash piled up, and it didn’t help that people decided to trim the trees then.  I think every stray dog and cat gained at least 5lbs over these few weeks!  The real problem was that people turned to trash burning even more than usual. It's awful for the environment. 

It finally was warmer in April, and the library took advantage of the weather! One sunny afternoon we had a cookout where we made soup and potatoes with salo over a fire at the library.