M. and A. my landlady's granddaughters(written last night)
It's definitely still the holiday season here. Today is Christmas. I've lost count of how many times the family has gathered around the table since I last wrote. It's funny, during training I created a list of projects I wanted to do once I got to site; things to read, patterns to embroider, cookies to bake. I haven't gotten near the list until today. Though I've been on break for a week now, being part of a family takes up all my time.
Since this is my space to vent, I have to say that by the end of the day I'm exhausted because every waking moment I'm translating Ukrainian/Russian/Moldovian in my head. Training was a breeze in comparison to this. I'm going to need to find space in the day, and days for that matter, to rest from communicating. The past week or so I've been making so many grammatical mistakes that I'm aware of, not because I didn't care to correct myself, but because my mind doesn't want to communicate with my brain anymore. It's punishing me for making it work overtime by purposely stunting my improvement and making me sound like a fool.
Related tangent, like any other culture on the planet, Ukrainians love to watch TV. Stating the obvious, it's enjoyable and lacks little energy. I can't stand it. Furthermore, it's not a form of relaxation when you have to translate everything internally. I'm part of the HULU generation that only watches shows on the Internet and tries to limit my intake as much as possible mainly cause I can burn more calories sleeping (or prefer Entourage marathons). Here, the TV is on all the bloody time. In every house. For example, once my landlady came home after me. Instead of asking how I was or what I was doing (obviously reading at my desk), she asked me why the TV wasn't on. She couldn't understand how I could be home and not have the TV on.
I remember one episode of The Simpsons where Bart watches some sort of Japanese game show that causes the audience to go into seizure. That's how I feel about Ukrainian TV. Like Russian pop music, it's so overproduced and kitsch that it makes me feel nauseous. During the holiday season, there are a lot of variety shows that are beyond technicolor that make it even more unbearable. To compensate, this week when I'm in my room, I try to have my headphones on so I don't get headaches. Sometimes, I'm seriously just listening to white noise. I miss silence. It's one of the sacrifices I'm getting more used to living without. Ukrainians in general, and especially in my community, live communally. Meaning, they're always together when they can be and often generations share the same space. Closed doors seem uncommon, and since my door connects to my landlady's sleeping/living area, it would be rude to close it on most occasions.
Another TV related anecdote, I don't know if it was a one time thing, but once David Letterman did a segment called "Name that Meat" where he had a butcher show the audience different cuts of uncooked meat and the audience had to guess what it was. I'm thinking that by Easter I'll be a pro at this. Lately, I've been thankful that there are a lot of "posts" going on. "Post" is a religious fast, where typically all animal products aren't consumed. Last night, Christmas Eve, there was a post. But, I'm still confused because though at our house the only meat was fish, at another house we visited there were meatballs, fish, jellied chicken, liver, hare, rabbit (I guess there is a difference), straight up fat, ham, duck, and something I failed to memorize the name for. I'm hoping to start cooking for myself soon. It's been hard to figure out how to do this up to this point for a number of reasons. I'll write about food some other time.
Anyways, at the house with the rabbit and the hare, there was an 82 year-old man. I instantly fell in love with him, which is a problem lately. I have a thing for elderly Ukrainian men. Perhaps because they are so rare. He drew me in because he had a "homemade" tattoo of his wife's name on his hand that he did during the war. I got to interview him a bit while the meat was being arranged. His story only made it more concrete to me the importance of starting an oral history project in this country. I honestly don't know what I'm talking about, but a one hour Google search a couple of months ago didn't revel that there is any archive of oral histories in this country (though a few Ukrainian transcripts are at the Library of Congress in DC). It's just an idea. A time-consuming and expensive idea, but hopefully I'll follow through somehow. Suggestions on where to start?
It's definitely still the holiday season here. Today is Christmas. I've lost count of how many times the family has gathered around the table since I last wrote. It's funny, during training I created a list of projects I wanted to do once I got to site; things to read, patterns to embroider, cookies to bake. I haven't gotten near the list until today. Though I've been on break for a week now, being part of a family takes up all my time.
Since this is my space to vent, I have to say that by the end of the day I'm exhausted because every waking moment I'm translating Ukrainian/Russian/Moldovian in my head. Training was a breeze in comparison to this. I'm going to need to find space in the day, and days for that matter, to rest from communicating. The past week or so I've been making so many grammatical mistakes that I'm aware of, not because I didn't care to correct myself, but because my mind doesn't want to communicate with my brain anymore. It's punishing me for making it work overtime by purposely stunting my improvement and making me sound like a fool.
Related tangent, like any other culture on the planet, Ukrainians love to watch TV. Stating the obvious, it's enjoyable and lacks little energy. I can't stand it. Furthermore, it's not a form of relaxation when you have to translate everything internally. I'm part of the HULU generation that only watches shows on the Internet and tries to limit my intake as much as possible mainly cause I can burn more calories sleeping (or prefer Entourage marathons). Here, the TV is on all the bloody time. In every house. For example, once my landlady came home after me. Instead of asking how I was or what I was doing (obviously reading at my desk), she asked me why the TV wasn't on. She couldn't understand how I could be home and not have the TV on.
I remember one episode of The Simpsons where Bart watches some sort of Japanese game show that causes the audience to go into seizure. That's how I feel about Ukrainian TV. Like Russian pop music, it's so overproduced and kitsch that it makes me feel nauseous. During the holiday season, there are a lot of variety shows that are beyond technicolor that make it even more unbearable. To compensate, this week when I'm in my room, I try to have my headphones on so I don't get headaches. Sometimes, I'm seriously just listening to white noise. I miss silence. It's one of the sacrifices I'm getting more used to living without. Ukrainians in general, and especially in my community, live communally. Meaning, they're always together when they can be and often generations share the same space. Closed doors seem uncommon, and since my door connects to my landlady's sleeping/living area, it would be rude to close it on most occasions.
Another TV related anecdote, I don't know if it was a one time thing, but once David Letterman did a segment called "Name that Meat" where he had a butcher show the audience different cuts of uncooked meat and the audience had to guess what it was. I'm thinking that by Easter I'll be a pro at this. Lately, I've been thankful that there are a lot of "posts" going on. "Post" is a religious fast, where typically all animal products aren't consumed. Last night, Christmas Eve, there was a post. But, I'm still confused because though at our house the only meat was fish, at another house we visited there were meatballs, fish, jellied chicken, liver, hare, rabbit (I guess there is a difference), straight up fat, ham, duck, and something I failed to memorize the name for. I'm hoping to start cooking for myself soon. It's been hard to figure out how to do this up to this point for a number of reasons. I'll write about food some other time.
Anyways, at the house with the rabbit and the hare, there was an 82 year-old man. I instantly fell in love with him, which is a problem lately. I have a thing for elderly Ukrainian men. Perhaps because they are so rare. He drew me in because he had a "homemade" tattoo of his wife's name on his hand that he did during the war. I got to interview him a bit while the meat was being arranged. His story only made it more concrete to me the importance of starting an oral history project in this country. I honestly don't know what I'm talking about, but a one hour Google search a couple of months ago didn't revel that there is any archive of oral histories in this country (though a few Ukrainian transcripts are at the Library of Congress in DC). It's just an idea. A time-consuming and expensive idea, but hopefully I'll follow through somehow. Suggestions on where to start?
Grandson making sure Father Frost doesn't have a flu worthy temperature on New Years
Sara - I'm heading to Ukraine in March and have been following your blog. An oral history project sounds like a great idea. It reminded me of an exhibit (emphasizing oral histories) that I saw at the Smithsonian recently. Below is the link to the exhibit info, maybe you can find some ideas under the prospectus or oral history links.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibits/bracero_project/main.htm