When bagels on a bagel, you can have bagels anytime

Happy New Year!

Well, it is the year of the “White Rabbit,” and if you were in Ukraine at the moment, you would have any trouble not knowing that. Everywhere you go and everyone you talk to lets you know about the year of the White Rabbit. Toys and cards with White Rabbits, text messages about the White Rabbit, and even toasts at dinner, “To the Year of the White Rabbit!” I have never paid much attention to the Chinese tradition of animal years, but there must be a reason why it is so popular here in Ukraine, and I am going to get to the bottom of it for sure! I’ll get at you.

In other news, I have been on and off break from school. Many times, when students get a few weeks off to relax, teachers still attend school to plan lessons and have meeting about stuff- but I have trouble following about 85% of what is being said since it is in Ukrainian, though I recognize a lot of words that are similar to Russian. Soon I will also be getting a Russian tutor here in town a few times every month to continue my studies. I have been working with some of the teachers to plan the whole semester, which is quite a feat- much respect yo.

Just before break I had an opportunity to meet the mayor for a quick introduction. He seems like a really nice guy and after talking about different informational and training sessions we could start working on, we wished each other good luck and planned to re-convene soon. Things have been working out really nicely and everyone I have come in contact with has been so hospitable and welcoming to myself and doing work here. Good stuff all around.

We also had a staff/faculty dinner ata localcafé, which was really an awesome time. I was pretty nervous since it was the first time I had been in an informal setting with most of the teachers, and many I had not even talked to yet. They say over and over again that in Ukraine, as to your colleagues, you are friends first and work together second. Even yesterday while eating with some of the male teachers from school they told me about the hierarchy in meetings and during the school day, but work is work, and everything else is everything else. Back to the fiesta. There was a long table we all sat around full of delicious food, where the teachers around me poured food ontomy plate anytime there was a vacant spot. After a round of toasts- not forgetting the White Rabbit of course- we headed to the dance floor to do some boogying. In the typical way we all danced in a circle rotating from one side to the other with people dancing in pairs in themiddle. From time to time everyone would old hands and we’d go in and out, making the circle smaller, coming together and then star bursting out. It was a lot of fun and the other teachers were really going for it, breaking out some pretty hot moves, and shouting with an occasional “Hey!” or “Opah!” But this was not the end; we were brought back to the table for more food- As if I could eat more. My full stomach did not concern the Ukrainian teachers, they filled me to the brim and then hauled me back out to the dance floor. At times while eating they would all just break out in old traditional folk songs. They were really cool. Since most males in their 40s had served at least a year in the soviet military they bellowed songs about soldiers missing their sweet hearts in deep deep voices. It was awesome and afteranother food break, another dancesession and a last little course, we were shown out with doggie bags of delicious dishes. It was one of the most fun nights I have had here so far and it was really cool to see how much they all enjoyed each others company.

Side note. I really really really love the food here. They make the best bread I have had- besides yours mom, but that goes without saying. But they take all these different baked and friend bread dishes and fill them with meat, fruit, potatoes, or cabbage and I cannot get enough of them. Get into it.

So, totally unrelated, but interesting nonetheless, I have installed myself a little electric oven- a man version of the easy bake that was in one of my cupboards- so I can start getting my bake on. I have never done much baking, but I figured this would be the place to start. So they other night I made my first pizza dough threw it in the oven and a few minuets later I had a perfect pizza! So easy right? You are saying Patrick, pizza dough, come on; I can do that in my sleep. Well the other day I was feeling a little more ambitious. I also had developed a large craving for bagels once I had tasted a local cheese called “brensa,” which must be a distant cousin of cream cheese. So I made bagels. Homemade, delicious, fresh poppy seed bagels! It was amazing and really made me feel at home, and it wasn’t too much work either so I think I am going to make it a Sunday ritual- baking day. Freezing pizza dough, making batches of poppy seed or sesame seed.

As you can guess it has been pretty cold here, and since I haven’t been able to give up my 30-minuet walk to school in the morning I have been developing pretty gnarly moustache icicles. Just the other day I even experienced something I had never even heard about before. I am about half way through my walk and I start to feel the corners of my eyes sticking. Just a moment later I was having trouble opening up my eyes after blinking. It was so cold on the walk to work; my eyelids had begun to freeze shut! About three quarters of the way to work I had started to notice that the condensation leaving my mouth was not only freezing my beard and moustache but also creating little white eyelash-sickles. It was really cool and I noticed while passing people that they too had begun to form frost on their jackets from their breath. No worries- at the time I actually felt pretty warm at the time. The jacket I bought not only has a massive fur collar, but there is a vest on the inside made of rabbit fur. When you get a good pace going you actually start to get a little hot!

Well that’s all for now- A Happy 2011 to all of you out there. To quote every Ukrainian who has wished me a Happy New Year. “I wish yousuccess, I wish you health andhappiness, I wish you love, and may all your dreams come true in the year of the White Rabbit!”

Wish me luck in my first week of official teaching- I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me!