Spring is in the air. It has been quite some time since my last update and for this I apologize, but life has been so full of action that any free time I have been blessed with is immediately allocated to the sleep bank. So what have I been up to? Well, where to start?
A basic update in classes will do. So as usual, things are going great at school and this semester has flew by. We are preparing now to start writing test papers in all of the classes, which means that in just a couple weeks school will be over and summer will begin. I have finally gotten a debate club started at another school and after a few practice runs we will start doing some interscholastic debates which I am super excited about. I am a little sad that summer will be coming so soon because I know it will become a lot tougher to get all my kids together, but that’s why I have 3 more semesters. 3 more semesters? That’s it? It seems like I just got here, but judging by the view from my window, this is quite a different place than the one I arrived to in December.
The trees are blossoming with flowers and the buds have already turned into large leaves. The sun shines and the cool spring breeze runs though my home drying my clothes a lot quicker than in the winter. I have put away my winter coats and can now walk to school in just my suit jacket, a very nice change. During the winter I tended to walk very fast, watching always for ice and slushy puddles, but now that it is so nice I can walk a little slower and admire the valley we are situated in. Like everywhere in spring the sun stays out later and now when I leave the gym at 8 it is still sunny out whereas in January the sun would be long gone when I get there at 6. Strollers have replaced sleds and people are outside all afternoon soaking up the good weather. This is really a whole different country when it is not winter- if it would be like this all the time I may never leave.
As for the three main events of this post I will start with the visit of my good pal Jack. My good old buddy from Falmouth has been studying at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris for the last couple of months, and after wavering back and forth whether he would get a chance to come visit Ukraine he finally budged. I got two urgent emails from him on a Thursday saying that he wanted to visit and he needed me to let him know if coming the next Tuesday would be ok. A pleasant surprise to say the least. Of course I said! I haven’t seen anyone from the real world in months so I was really excited to show someone from my old life what my present one was like (the blog doesn’t really cut it.) I planned to pick him up at the airport, which I had only been to while arriving in the country and take him back here to MP. Thankfully the travel gods were with me. I took an early morning train to Kyiv, a bus to Boryspol and met him coming out of baggage claim. Getting back was just as easy, though while on the train back home we got off a stop before we were supposed to and had to run back to the train and get back on just as they were lifting the stairs and closing the doors whew!
]On arrival to my site Jack and I settled in and got ready for a busy week. I wanted to show him the everyday experience here- plus its not like I can just take a week off work, I got a job to do! And so did Jack. As you can imagine, all of my classes had a lot of questions for him which was great, for one, I got a little break from teaching, and besides that the kids got to practice actually doing what they spend so much time studying. While not at school we did a lot of walking around the town, the gym, getting water from the spring, doing English clubs and Jack was a judge for two of my debate clubs. We also took a trip to the beautiful village right outside Mohilov, called Bronista. We got a very Ukrainian welcome with traditional Ukrainian clothes and were presented with a large bread and salt on a rushnik- a long ornamental Ukrainian towel. Super exciting! After we answered some questions and believe it or not, signing a lot of autographs- you should have seen the look on Jack’s face when he was signing autographs, it was a combination of “why would they want my autograph,” “get me outta here,” and “this is awesome!” but he is going to a famous writer some day, so get used to it Jack, maybe you can write about that one day.
The next day we were feeling hungry so we went to the bazaar and bought a whole rabbit! Already skinned and cleaned except for the liver. Still with its whole head, it looked like some sort of alien baby. Couldn’t resist. I got the cooking directions from the lady we bought it from and went on home to start getting it ready. Pretty simple. She told me just some salt and pepper and cook it for about 2 to 3 hours. I wanted a little more though so I melted some butter and chopped a few cloves of garlic then salt and pepper rubbed it all in and out of the carcass and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge. Then we popped her in the oven, made some mashed potatoes and when it was done we just popped her out and dug in, no forks no knives, rabbit and potatoes eaten like warriors. We annihilated 2 pounds of potatoes and 4 pounds of rabbit in about 30 min. It was a great visit- I quote Jack “This has been the best vacation I have ever taken” Why? I ask. “Everything is just… real, everything’s like so real. Real.”- Ok Plato! Words of wisdom from a Literature/ Philosophy Major.
The next day we were feeling hungry so we went to the bazaar and bought a whole rabbit! Already skinned and cleaned except for the liver. Still with its whole head, it looked like some sort of alien baby. Couldn’t resist. I got the cooking directions from the lady we bought it from and went on home to start getting it ready. Pretty simple. She told me just some salt and pepper and cook it for about 2 to 3 hours. I wanted a little more though so I melted some butter and chopped a few cloves of garlic then salt and pepper rubbed it all in and out of the carcass and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge. Then we popped her in the oven, made some mashed potatoes and when it was done we just popped her out and dug in, no forks no knives, rabbit and potatoes eaten like warriors. We annihilated 2 pounds of potatoes and 4 pounds of rabbit in about 30 min. It was a great visit- I quote Jack “This has been the best vacation I have ever taken” Why? I ask. “Everything is just… real, everything’s like so real. Real.”- Ok Plato! Words of wisdom from a Literature/ Philosophy Major.
So to all of you who are considering a visit you will receive the same all-star treatment!
Next event; Easter. This isn’t your parents back yard Easter egg hunt, you wont be getting any microwaved peeps, Cadbury eggs, or Harry Potter flavored jelly beans on this day- this is straight gangsta Easter yo! The old school stuff. Throw back!
So mass at church starts at around 10 pm the night before Easter. Throughout the night more and more people show up to listen to the priest do his rituals behind the amazingly decadent alter. The churches here look more like museums than places of worship, (but aren’t museums just where you worship art?) The walls are covered in frescoes, murals and paintings of icons and saints. The priest is behind a large alter so you cannot see to much of him, but when you do he is usually wearing a large beard, massive hat like the pope wears and this robe with a tall hard collar in the back and of course a massive gold chain cross. Bling. The services here are not what you would really find in the US. People cannot sit, since there are no pews, people pack in like sardines into the hall to listen to the calla and return between the priest and the amazing choir of angels that are a must have at every Ukrainian church. From what I can tell, there is no real sermon at orthodox churches, the priest doesn’t talk about some article he read in the paper or how to be a better husband or anything like that. The point of going to church here is to be present during a religious act done by the priest. We are spectators. People make the sign of the cross constantly and light candle at little shrines.
My friends Yura, Sasha and I spend most of our time outside the church with the majority of the thousands of people who show up sometime in the middle of the cold Easter night to have themselves and the food they have brought in their traditional Ukrainian Easter basket blessed by the priest. When I say it was cold I mean really cold. They say it is cold on the night of every Easter. So people encircle in the church in single file rings, round and round and round. At sun up- yes sun up, the precession of the priest, large crosses, the choir, some paintings, and bread circles the church passing by each ring with incense all the while frequently yelling “Christos Voscres!” to where the masses always reply with a loud “Vayisimo Voscres!”– “Christ has risen” and “He sure has risen!” This is also how you greet your friends, answer the phone, cheers your drinks and about everything else on Easter. “Christos Voscres!” “Vayisimo Voscres!” You can just say it and everyone has to answer at any time you feel the spirit. “Christos Voscres!” “Vayisimo Voscres!”
So after of hours of listening to the rituals and freezing outside it is time for the blessing. Our baskets which are full of the traditional Easter fare; Sausages, cheese, bread, wine, died eggs, water and delicious cakes called “paskah” literally meaning Easter, are then uncovered from the embroidered napkin they were covered under. The priest makes his fourth round to each ring of people, soaks a large brush that looks to be made out of some sort of animal hair and then soaks us. I knew he enjoyed spreading the blessing of God on Easter, you could tell by the huge laughing smile on his face as he soaked us with holy water being carried in a huge vat behind him. Now I said it was cold, but the priest’s blessing on Easter made everything just a little more nippy since you cannot wipe off the water that is splashed all over your clothes and face. Of course, since little kids are most susceptible to the evils of the devil they really get wet, the priest gives them a little extra.
It is now 8 am and we have been there for hours, now soaking blessed, we take our baskets to Yura parents house. His mom is one of the English teachers at school 3 Svitlana Ivanovna and her, and her husband, Vova have prepared a delicious meal. We stuff ourselves with traditional Ukrainian food, vareniki- dumplings with potatoes, meat, sausage, jellied chicken, veggies, paskah, holopski- meat and rice brazed in a roll of cabbage, etc. Delicious. Now 9.30, time for a nap, because Easter doesn’t end yet!
At 1 I meet back up with Sasha, Yura, and their friend who they call Lova for some shashliki! Aka Ukrainian shish kabob and a national addiction. After assembling the troops and the gear we hauled ourselves up the side of the small mountain that surrounds one half of the town. It was quite a hike, but I couldn’t believe the view when we finally got to the top. We picked a spot underneath three blossoming trees and set out for wood. Yura prepared the shashliki pit, while we three others set off into the woods. We got some bog rocks to set the shashliki rods on while the cooked above the coals and Yura got them glowing nice and quick. We had a few appetizers of cheese and with every toast came a loud “Christos Voscres!” “Vayisimo Voscres!” Making shashliki is a time-honored tradition and they really know how to do it with the simplest of materials. The end result is phenomenal and after for desert we soak in the sun and the view of the Valley and Moldova. Spring is all around and the breeze fills our nostrils will the smell of smoke, blossoming trees and keeps us cool. My friends and I used to sit on the beach in Falmouth and think “What do other people when they are bored? We go to the beach, but can it get any better?” Well I know now- they do this! It’s wonderful. I want to stay there forever, full, sun burned, and dirty. What a life. “Christos Voscres!” “Vayisimo Voscres!”
Me and Adam Tutor aka Radam Duder
Next: Beregszasz Wine Country Half Marathon & 10K. So a few weeks ago I heard about a 10K/ Wine tasting in the Carpathian Mountains so I thought how could I pass that up? So I didn’t. So I organized myself with my pal Adam and we planned to set out to the Wild West to see what sort of adventures we could get into. We boarded a train at around 10 from Vinnistia west to who knows where. The next morning I awoke to see that we were weaving through the valleys of the beautiful Carpathians. Crossing over railroad bridge after railroad bridge looking forward to where the train is turning around on mountain and then looking back towards the valley you just came from, passing through tunnels long and short, and occasionally spotting a little settlement of colorful houses below where I see no road in nor out. You know every train trip contains the excitement and atmosphere as going to Hogwarts for the first time if you can imagine it. Strangers talk and ask us where we are from, where we are going, and why one of us speaks Ukrainian and the other speaks Russian if we are part of the same organization. Since it’s a bilingual country, or conversations are naturally are in as many languages as we can get out. Gnar bag.
Aint no river wide enough baby!
