Reflections

Hello, all! I"m back in the good ol' US of A, spending some quality time with my College friends and thinking about all the wonderful adventures I had in Kiev. I've noticed that some of the same thoughts come to mind when I think about my most recent trip abroad, so I'll write a little bit about each of them...


1. Not everyone is as interested in this as I am. As people continue to ask me "How was Russia?" I've stopped correcting them and exclaiming like a lunatic on speed that "ACTUALLY I WAS IN UKRAINE AND IT WAS AWESOME BECAUSE BLAH BLAH BLAAAAAH!!" I've realized that just because I had the time of my life, most people really aren't that concerned with the particularities of Russian/Ukrainian culture. Now I usually just say "It was awesome, thanks!" unless they ask more specific questions, like how to say something in Russian (which is ALWAYS fun to answer, by the way). I also understand that Borsch and Pel'meni are not everyone's favorite foods, and I don't need to cook them in portions large enough to feed forty... oops.


2. I'm a responsible adult... right? Sometimes I feel like I'm a successful young adult with all of her ducks in a row, lots of good life experience, and a promising future. I mean, I can speak RUSSIAN for cryin' out loud! that's so COOL! I'm original and intelligent! ...Then I remember that I haven't even STARTED paying off my student loans, that my parents have taken out their own loans to pay for my education as well, that I've never had a REAL job, haven't had ANY income since summer, and that if all goes as planned then all I can look forward to for the next year is a food stipend. At first I thought I was subconsciously running from my debts and responsibilities by "fleeing the country," which I sometimes joke about, but you know what? This is really what I want to be doing. I'm 22: I don't feel like a grown-up quite yet. Which brings me to my next point...

3. I'm poor, and I will be for a LONG time. Yeah, I went to college, and I majored in Russian. Cool, but what does that mean, in the grand scheme of things? Not a whole lot. I am, thank goodness, a preferred candidate for teaching English in Russian-speaking countries, but since I don't have a Master's or a degree in teaching... Well, you understand. Eventually I'll go back to school, or else earn enough Russian speaking experience to work as a translator somewhere, but in the meantime I'm trying to spend as little as possible while still enjoying my life to the fullest. So far, so good --- you want to know why? Read on.


4. You can never replace Family. My parents, my sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are SO great. Even if they don't understand why on earth I'm living on a less-than-shoestring budget and running around the world, they're supportive and proud of everything that I've accomplished thus far. And when they tell me that they're worried about me being a fair-skinned young lady in Eastern Europe, sometimes I may get defensive, but it shows that they care a lot about me and want to make sure that I'm safe. Anyway, I love my family, and it's hard to spend enough time with everyone when I'm only back for a month, but they are always there for me (even if I am a fiscally irresponsible nomad).

Well, I guess that's the end of this blog... Hope you enjoyed reading. Next stop, Tbilisi! www.georgianchaos.blogspot.com

Love,
Sarah

Wrapping it up

Well, my last week or so in Kiev was eventful, to say the least. Yes, I'm already back at home in Minnesota (Thank goodness, because my flights were a MESS) and trying to be in the Christmas spirit (impossible without snow, really) but until now, I haven't had much time to update the blog. My final days in Ukraine were emotionally draining, but nevertheless happy and memorable!


As you can see, I DID manage to make it to that soccer game with my friends. A great first half, followed by some ridiculous red cards in the second half that lead to our demise (but also a very exciting game --- incredulous yelling, chanting, and fights on the field). The game, however, began the cycle of goodbyes for me as well. Time to say farewell to all my friends in Kiev, one at a time.


First of all, I had each of my students to say goodbye to. We had our final classes, and at the end of each one there were lots of hugs and "I'll miss you's" and promises to return. My favorite student, an AWESOME 12-year old, was my last goodbye on Friday evening. Every week we met and talked about everything, from the difficulty of his Math courses to Japanese martial arts practice. I couldn't help but cry when we said goodbye, and his parents gave me a framed ruble note from the USSR as a Christmas/Going away present. I gave them all about a million hugs, and it still wasn't enough...


Although I'm not very fond of goodbyes, I invited my friends and coworkers to spend some time with me on my last day, just relaxing and talking in my kitchen, keeping me company while I finished packing for my long journey beginning at 5am the next morning. We had tea, coffee, and food of all sorts (because people brought snacks, and because I had SO much food in my fridge to use up). It was nice to have that final good-bye at my own place.


It was a great three months, there's no denying it! I'm so glad I clicked on that stupid facebook link that started the whole thing. I'm so happy I such a wonderful chance to teach, to practice my Russian, and to travel! I'll miss Kiev, especially all the amazing people I've met there, but I know that I'll be back someday soon. Goodbye, and goodnight!

Love always,
Sarah

Just some things:

I like lists. Here's one.

1. I leave Kiev in 5 days...

2. My last Italian roommate just left for Italy this morning, so I am lone in my apartment.

3. There is A LOT of food in my apartment right now.

4. I have less than 200 grivna left in my wallet ($25)

5. I cannot stop sneezing, coughing, or being late to Russian class at noon every day (so early!)

6. I stopped taking so many pictures because I'm getting lazy, sorry!

7. Today I am (hopefully) going to the last soccer game of the year today (which I thought was against Great Britain, but is actually against Tel-Aviv. Why did I think Maccabi was british? Don't ask.)

8. I found bacon in my fridge! And it's not old!

9. I made Draniki for Barbara the other day, and they were delicious even though I added too much salt.

10. There is no money left on my phone but I hate to add more when I'm just going to leave in 5 days...

11. There is still no snow in Kiev

12. I have exactly one class left with each of my students. I love them all.

13. I may try to go on a tour of a chocolate factory before I leave... We'll see.

14. Didn't want to end with a list of 13. I'll give a more substantial update later!

Sarah

The Kiev apart(y)ment

I know, you've all been reading my blog and thinking "Goodness gracious, Sarah is such a bump on a log. All she ever does is teach, travel, and cook --- she needs to get a life over there in Kiev." Well, I'm here to tell you that I DO have a life, and although I am by no means a partier, the party always finds you when you live in Kiev ...Especially if you have an apartment, and you live with two Italians.


Weekends are practically an open invitation for anyone and everyone we know to come to our apartment and enjoy good company, our fancy living room, and free food (The Italians make pizza, bruschetta, and whatever else they can think of. I usually provide chips and pickles...)


We usually end up playing a silly game or two, once everyone arrives and we decide what kind of party we're going to have. Here we're playing personalities, and I was Cheburashka (a famous androgynous soviet cartoon character).


Aaaaand things usually get silly, we have lots of laughs, and take waaaay too many pictures. Because of the hodge-podge group we have, we're constantly speaking a mixture of Russian, Ukrainian, English, and Italian --- This is one of my favorite aspects of our get-togethers. The language barrier is never an issue for anyone, everyone tries on every other language for size and we have a great time. I personally love adopting Italian for a few minutes, whereupon I exhaust my entire Italian vocabulary and simply repeat the word "Perfetto!" because that's what we are.


At the end of the night, we slowly make our way to respective taxis, bedrooms, or the pull-out couch bed if you're lucky enough to call dibs. In the morning, I make coffee and tea for anyone who's still around, and we spend the rest of the weekend relaxing and soaking up the few hours of daylight we have left on Winter Kiev days. On this day, there was no food or water left anywhere in my apartment, so we had juice for breakfast. Good morning!


So, this is my first time having my own place that isn't a dorm room, and although at first I was disappointed not to be in a host family, I don't feel like I've missed out on the cultural immersion. Living with other people my age, I have the opportunity to learn from so many different people, from so many different cultures and backgrounds. It's definitely a change from living with my Russian host mother in Novgorod, but it's another great learning experience. Constantly learning more about myself, and other people in general. I dig it.

One weekend left in Kiev, and then it's back home for Christmas! I think I'm making Pel'meni with my favorite Ukrainian family today... I'll keep you posted :)

Loooooooove,
Sarah

T-Gives!

Here's a post about Thanksgiving, before I forget about all of it! Unfortunately, I was REALLY sick last weekend, but something magical happened and I was able to pull myself together for our Multi-cultural Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday afternoon. I got up early, met my cooking partner/co-worker, and started cooking. We may have bought rotisserie chickens from the store to save time, but everything else was made from scratch! Look at this beautiful spread...

Mashed potatoes, stuffing, green-bean casserole, corn, chicken, berry sauce (not cranberries, because I couldn't find any) and mushroom gravy. We also had some beautiful pies, apple and pumpkin. Although there were some troubles with the pumpkin pie, i.e. a baking time of about three hours, it still tasted de-li-cious!

It was really nice to just sit down with all of of my friends, Americans, Italians, and Ukrainians, and share a thanksgiving dinner. We all said what we were thankful for, and most of us were just thankful for having each other for support in this crazy country and with this insane language. Good people. Good times. Good Foooooood :) I'm also thankful that by Tuesday of this week, I was finally feeling well enough to leave my apartment.

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog, to my awesome students who make my work so worthwhile, to my great friends here in Kiev, and to my family back home. Stay tuned for more adventures, and another blog coming in February 2012: "Sarah Chao does Georgia (the country)" Wooooo!

Love,

Sarah

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!

My Dearest Readers...

...I am in love with Kiev right now. I can't even explain it. What we have --- it's something special. I had a wonderful Saturday exploring the north-east corner of the city center with my new Ukrainian tour-guide friend. We walked through Andreevskiy spusk/uzviv/street/whatever, which is a famous old street that turns into a giant flea-market during the day. We also found our way on top of an abandoned building to take some sweet pictures of St. Andrew's Church:


Afterwards my fellow intern and I went to the Kiev National Opera which was BALLER as I'll get out. We saw Tchaikovskii's "Yolanta," about a blind princess who grew up not realizing that there was such a thing as light. It's a crazy plot, but it got lost in the fact that they were singing complicated unintelligible arias... I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have understood it even if it was in English. Good thing I read the synopsis on Wikipedia beforehand :) Anyway, it was really fun, and a good excuse to get dressed up. Ta-da!


The other day I FINALLY was able to explore my neighborhood a bit, and found out that there is a GIGANTIC park just a few blocks away. I spent my Sunday afternoon walking around the trails there, people-watching and listening to the Russian and Ukrainian conversations around me. It was kind of nice. Also there were lots of dogs, ducks, and babies which made me happy :)

Then Monday happened, and now I'm back at work. I loooooooove my students, they are so COOL! (some of them are reading this... Hi guys!) They tell me that they will celebrate my birthday with me, with poppy-seed pie, pirozhki, coffee and 3 liters of milk. We might celebrate at McDonalds, but perhaps we'll go to Barcelona. It's all up to Serendipity. My life is fantastic.

Sarah