Lviv-cation aaaaaand sickness.

Hello, Beautiful People! I'm a little late on updating this time, but earlier this week I MEANT to tell you all about my day-trip to Lviv/Lvov, a BEAUTIFUL city in Western Ukraine (where, by the way, people are a-speaking the Ukrainian and not-a-so much the Russian). I went with two great American friends, one of which has lived in this city before and took us to some of her favorite places. Here I am with Pushkin (notice the chops, A.S. Pushkin style) outside the Lviv/Lvov Opera.


We decided to take the night-train on Saturday night, arriving in Lvov at 7:30am (just in time for sunrise!) we had a lovely walk into the center of the city, encountered our first non-Russian speaking establishment, and then began studying some simple Ukrainian phrases. Ukrainian and Russian are very similar, but some important words are completely different, like "Bud' laska" instead of "Pozhalusta" (please), and "D'yakuyu" instead of "Spasibo" (Thank-you). We successfully avoided any further language issues as we made it to the center. Here's a lovely market where I bought myself a pretty Ukrainian scarf!


We spent most of the day just exploring the city --- it's quite small, so it wasn't hard to do. The architecture was GORGEOUS and even though it was a Sunday, the atmosphere was lively and there were plenty of people milling about. (Not that you can tell from my photos, because I try not to take my bright-pink camera out in crowds of people... but I promise, it was a happenin' place!)



Our previous Lviv/Lvov-inhabitant friend took us to some sweet places, including a cafe named for the inventor of masochism (where the waitresses will handcuff and whip you if you let them) and a place called Dom Legenda (House of Legends) where a large part of the waitstaff are under 4'9 and you can ride in a flying car on the roof. No pictures allowed inside, but here's a nice view from the top :)


A good trip, and we made it back to the train station in time for our 15-hour train ride home. I love train rides in Eastern Europe --- this time the Ukrainians next to us taught us how to play "Durak" ("Fool," a Russian card game) and we played for HOURS until bedtime. I sleep like a baby on the train, but honestly, sleeping on my bed in Kiev is like sleeping on a set of overly-creaky stairs wrapped in burlap... So I guess the train compartment has something to boast about.

Also, I got REALLY sick this weekend, and am still recovering... but we had thanksgiving anyway. Stay tuned for details!

Love,
Sarah

New Students, Sister-Weekend, and Cultural Diversity

I find myself with some spare time to write a post, since I am currently waiting for my Landlady to visit about our broken washing machine... Good thing, because quite a bit has happened that's worth writing about. Since my birthday I've been keeping busy --- Last Sunday I had another "Master Class" on Ukrainian cuisine with a previous student, and this time we made Borsch! It was incredibly delicious, don't worry I'm bringing back a recipe. We also watched a VERY famous Russian film, "The Diamond Arm," and some famous soviet cartoons: A Ukrainian folk-tale as well as The Russian version of Winnie the Pooh (my all-time favorite)


The next day I started a new group class, and my new students are (as always) FANTASTIC! We laugh a lot, and sometimes we go on crazy tangents (like discussing the names of different facial-hair styles) but we have a lot of fun and my students don't complain :) This is a really sweet gig, and I'm very seriously considering moving back to Kiev in the future and working as a REAL English teacher. However, I am missing my family more than ever... My wonderful sister came to visit me in Kiev this past weekend, and we crammed as much Kiev-exploring and sister-bonding time as possible into the 48 hours that we had to work with. I actually cried for about a day after she left, but hopefully I'll end up in France soon. Here we are with a Monkey in the city center (there are always crazy people dressed up for pictures at Independence Square).


The weekend was fantastic, we had a lot of coffees from the coffee trucks (they sell espresso from mobile coffee-shops based out of hatch-back sedans all over the place in Kiev), we went to the Lavra (caves monastery), saw the churches Sofia, Mihailovskij, and Andreevskij, ate Pirozhki, Borsch, Chicken Kiev, and everything else I could think of that was especially Ukrainian. We also ran into some Pizanka (Ukrainian painted eggs)


Also, I am happy to say that last night my Italian roommates invited me to hang out with them for the FIRST TIME, because one of their boyfriends is here and he brought fancy chocolate liqueur from his region in Italy. We had that, some tiramisu ice-cream cake, and Butter cookies from Bretagne. It was a total breakthrough in our roommate relationship. All in all it's been a good week! I have three days left of this group class, and I think I'll be going to Lviv/Lvov this weekend to explore and take more pictures (which means another TRAIN RIDE! MY FAVORITE!) I'll keep you updated.

Good Gravy, I love Kiev!
Sarah

Birthday happenings:

С Днём Рождения! Here's a rundown of my Birthday weekend:

-Early celebration at Lviv Handmade Chocolates

-Daisies, Malina berries, and a book of Pushkin Fairy-tales from my Russian Teacher

-Long text messages wishing me success, beauty, happiness, love, etc. from 3 of my previous students who remembered my birthday

-A Putin/Cheburashka themed Birthday card (score) and Crocodile Gena stuck in my head for hours

-A bottle of Champagne, chocolates, and a birthday song from my Coworkers

-Ukrainian-style pie after work with a good Ukrainian friend (and the cat who sat next to us)

-American party at my apartment with Kievskiiy Cake (actually, the cake is kind of weird, but cool that it was Kievskiiy!)


Amazing weekend, but tomorrow it's back to work. I love my students, but for some reason I haven't been given the schedule for classes tomorrow, so I just have to get there early and hope that I can find out where to go/what to do with enough time to spare for planning... I live life on the edge! (literally, because the name "Ukraine"/"Украина" means "On the edge") Wish me luck!

Life is good, my friends. Жизнь --- хорошо.
Sarah

P.S. I forgot to mention one of the best parts of last week, which was when the great April Curtis came to Kiev from St. Petersburg and hung out with yours truly. What a Дама. Had some beers, shot the breeze, listened to some cool, cool jazz in the city center. SO glad she came!

It's the moooost wonderful tiiiime of the yeeeeeeear!

Dear Wonderful World,

It's my BIRTHDAY! I'll update you on how it goes later, but first I need to fill you in on what happened before I turned 22... in numbered format.

1. Master Class on Ukrainian Cooking: Sharlotka and Draniki. One of my students invited me to meet his family and learn some Ukrainian home cooking skills. We made a delicious apple cake called Sharlotka and grated potato pancakes called Draniki (or in Ukrainian, Deruni) SO good, and also the most adorable family I've ever met in my life. I have a soft-spot for Eastern-European children. LOVE them. The baby loves the apple cake. The boy likes staring contests (seriously, that's why he's doing the crazy eye thing).


2. Halloween! We had a party at work with some students form the Naval academy and our awesome receptionists. We carved pumpkins, played never-have-I-ever, had vodka with tomato juice (supposed to look like blood?) and went home early since it was, unfortunately, a Monday. But look how cute our sad pumpkin is! (btw, we did all the carving with that blue bread knife and a butter knife covered in old paint. We're pretty skilled.)


3. My birthday in the Philippines: As a good friend informed me, my Birthday began in the Philippines about 6 hours earlier than in Kiev, so when I met with my Ukrainian friend we didn't have to worry about the common superstition of celebrating a birthday early being bad luck. A poor excuse, but my Birthday lasts longer this way! We went to a famous Chocolate cafe called Lviv Handmade Chocolates where they also have great coffee (which we both love), and later I ordered CHOCOLATE TEA. Seriously? Yes. Chocolate tea. I have no idea how it works, but it was pretty good. In Russia and Ukraine you can put chocolate in anything and it will make it better, just like sour cream. Chocolate tea? Oh yeah. Chocolate condensed milk? Good idea. Chocolate Butter? Why the hell not. Chocolate is always good.


I love everyone here so much. I love chocolate and coffee. I love Kiev. I love my life.
Sarah

p.s. --- On Monday I have a skype interview for a teaching job in Georgia... Wish me luck!