Merry Christmas

My extended family!

I'm settling into my site, getting a feel for my school and slowly teaching those closest to me that drinking water (instead of compote or tea) is indeed not the end of the world. However, the whole argument that the body needs fat, especially butter, for the "organism" to process the food through the stomach, has yet to be refuted. One thing at a time.

I'm utterly amazed by the warmth and hospitality of my community. Everyone that I've spoken with has shown sincere interest in me and has taken steps to make me feel welcome and a part of the community. The teachers at my school are awesome. It is also a "women's collective," in that I think there are two men in the physical education department and that is it. The teachers and I have started to joke too, which I consider a strong sign of friendship and trust. I'm really thankful for this environment.

Friday, as the rest of the world knows, was Christmas for the non-Orthodox. The Orthodox Christmas is the 6th/7th of January. However, Ukrainians in a way celebrate 4 Christmases: Saint Nicholas's Day, New Years, Christmas, Old Christmas (Julian Calendar).

My family and school did an amazing job at making sure I didn't feel lonely or sad on Christmas day. When I woke up in the morning, there were presents around my bed from all the members of my family that my landlady had preciously put there in the night. Let me tell you, the presents were the most beautifully wrapped I've ever seen. The women in my family beat the mall ladies any day.
When I got to school, my staff told me I didn't have to work for the day, which kind of annoyed me because I couldn't think of anything else to do. In the end, I did observe all the classes I could. I got to observe the young learners too, who were about seven years old. They were adorable. The women's collective got me a beautiful gift too, very Hummelesque. The director of the school, who is a dreamy instructor of Russian language and literature, gave me a book (in Ukrainian) about holy sites in Ukraine.

When I came home from school, my landlady had started prepping for a feast. All afternoon we made vareneky, while I sometimes played with her grandson. He's really funny. He's currently obsessed with geography and has a dvd that he likes to watch about the solar-system. I bought a ball that looks like a globe during training for my lessons. I brought it out for us to play with. He was so excited to put it up against a lamp and show me how half of the world was day and the other half is night (he's four) and then continued to point at different continents. He's really smart. I pointed to a map earlier in the week and told him about my friends who live in different countries. He showed me where they were on my ball.


I'm typing in my room right now. I'm distracted by my window. There is a funeral procession going on. Not that I really want to attend a funeral, but the ceremony looks beautiful. About eighty or so people walked by. The priest was in the front singing, carrying a large cross. The family was carrying the open casket, a lot of lace. In the back of the procession was a band; a base drum two or three trumpets and a trombone. I've seen this band before, they're in some pictures of my landlady's daughter's wedding from the early nineties. I'm going to try to befriend them.

Aight, I'll post this sometime today. My landlady has arranged for the landline to be turned back on (she uses her cellphone). I should have internet in my bedroom sometime after the new year! It's hard to imagine how accessible Skype dates and the New York Times are going to be pretty soon.

This week will be raucous. New Years is a very big deal in the Ukraine. Because of the quarantine, schools are in session until the 31st. However, I think the majority of people are so uninspired by having classes this week that it might turn out to be a series of field days. I shall see.

my extended family + my counterpart