Freezing Temperatures, Burning Heart.

It's hard to think that just 3 weeks ago I was napping shirtless in the sun on the beach in Falmouth and walking out of my house this morning the bottom of my top siders met the crunch of a hard frost. Thats right, it is time to retire the boat shoes here in Ukraine and bring out the big bean boots. The sun is making its last few appearances between sporadic showers and overcast skies, which also bring the cold Russian winds and snow. I mean, I love wearing my peacoat, but I was not aware I was going to have to break it out so soon. I was also told today to expect -20 to -30 temperatures in the dead of winter, but wait, not Fahrenheit, -20 Celsius! But its all good because I am still having a great time here and though I miss the warm, as any do in winter time, I am welcoming the snow.

The last few days have been pretty eventful, my host brother Maxim came home from military lyceum as he does each saturday and helped me with some of my Russian homework and the next day he took me along to his soccer game against the team in Kozeletez, who they beat last week 2-1 but tied this week 1-1, with Maxim scoring Oster's only goal. I was expecting just a pick-up soccer team but they are a sponsored select team made up of mostly 20-24 year olds but Maxim is only 17 and it's his second year on the squad. Taughthim everything he knows! Not really, the kid's a freakin' star. I challenged him to some futbol when he comes back this saturday so I can get some humble on, na sayin? He really digs the old school Celtics starter jacket Ryan gave me at my going away party and he asks to wear it everywhere which is sick so of course I let him sport it wherever he wants since it hardly fits me. He even wore it to the game. I was pretty stoked

Among other notable events this week have been our first school visits where we sat in on English classes taught by our Ukrainian counterparts. It was very interesting to watch the class and I am currently planning my lesson for Thursday's 5th Form (5th grade) class that I will teach. The topic is one dear to my heart; being one common human family regardless of color. The point of the lesson is to introduce new English vocab and introduce the concept of "have got" since they are being taught British English. An example of what I am talking about for all yall gringos speaking American Standard English is "I have got brown hair, Sally has got green eyes." It's going to rock, they seem like a group of real great kids and I recognized some of them as the kids who were following us around town saying hello.

My host parents also threw me another birthday party last night! It must be a Ukrainian thing, they love you so much they throw you two birthdays! Homemade pizza, gnarly cake, delicious soup, potatoes, homemade grape juice, pickled tomatoes and more! I could hardly eat the cake at the end but it was too good to pass up.

Also today we woke up nice and early to take the 7.30 bus to Kozalets for our Heath talk with the head Peace Corps Dr. Valeriy, (hes a guy,) who is hilarious and an avid mushroom picker. We talked about all sorts of ways to maintain our physical and mental health here in Ukraine as well as what we should do in certain situations of illness or injury. This discussion was very reassuring, as Peace Corps takes the upmost care of us as volunteers and does not hesitate to transport volunteers for the best care that is available even if that means having a surgery in Bangkok or Vienna immediately. We reviewed the massive medical kit that Peace Corps issues their volunteers which are stocked with everything from floss, bandaids, aspirin, anti fungal cream, even antibiotics and an unlimited number of condoms. Speaking of condoms, since our sexual health is just as important to our physical health and safety here as contracting any illness or injury, we had a very lengthy and in depth sex education session, very informative.

I remain in good hands as always and I remain always missing you all, if you have any specific questions do not hesitate to email me at patrick.cutrona@gmail.com

Love,

Patrick

Jillian NO!