Ice Cream; It comes in a tube.

And my flavor of choice you may ask?... “White”. Yes, the flavor is called “White” and its no GMOs apparently too! Anything flavor named after a color has got to be good for you… right? Have I mention already that it comes in a tube? Well if you can imagine having a hunkering for some of that cold creamy goodness, walking in to the store and picking up what looks like a giant sausage of “White,” you will know Ukrainian ice cream or moroshinaya. Scoop not needed my friends- because of its sausage shape you can treat it the same way, just slice right through the plastic and cut yourself a medallion of creamy “White.” It never gets old.

Well I have passed the 3-month mark for service and my 6-month mark for being here in Ukraine. It has flown by. I remember being in Ecuador, and though I loved every moment of being there and I miss the heck out of it, after 5 months I was ready to come home, I wanted out of there for a little, I wanted American style Chinese food- you know General Tsao’s, Sweet and Sour, super sweet MSG. All I wanted was to hear a little English, to drive a car, to not be forcibly converted to Evangelical Christianity every time I needed a haircut (long story.) It is different this time around, maybe Sheryl Crow was right? The first cut is the deepest. I feel that I have smoothly adjusted to this life abroad. Though I deeply miss all my friends, family, and habits in the US, the longing never crosses the threshold into “unbearable.” I hope it stays this way.

I do not know why, but the all the White Stripes albums on random have been more and more frequently pumping through my speakers as I experiment with new cooking techniques, hand washing sheets and towels, and boiling massive pots of water for my baths.

I finally got my first Ukrainian girlfriend. People have been telling me that I will fall in love here with a fair-haired Ukrainian, but I never thought it would come true. Her name is Juanita- but she isn’t your typical lady- for one, she’s a parrot. To be more specific, I believe she’s a parakeet, a very handsome looking white and blue singing machine. My first pet in my first apartment, jeez I feel like a real adult- what next? Gray hair? Too late- starting to find some of those too. But yea, I was graced with a wonderful little parakeet who will be keeping me company here in the old UA.

It is getting warmer here, meaning its time to take the fur inserts out of your boots, remove the fur collars from your jackets, and open your windows to the warm breeze and sun, discover the buds just starting to peak out from the end of the trees and start doing some serious walking. I haven’t been able to totally explore all of my town because it has been so cold and dark outside for the last three months, but Mohyliv-Podilskyy is a valley town surrounded by large rolling hills on each side, a couple rivers, and more confusing side streets than Boston. I am pretty excited to start doing some serious exploring and hopefully I can stumble upon some sweet honey holes for fishing.

Last week was quite and active and different one. As you know most of my weeks consist of teaching massive amounts of my mother tongue in class and clubs, but this past weekwe had kanikoola, aka, vaca. My time off started by going up to the oblast capital Vinniska, (side note, each place in Ukraine has like 5 ways of spelling it, so I am pretty sure this has got to be one of them- I have seen Vinniska, Vinistka, Vinnisia, Vinnystka, etc you get the point,) for a Peace Corps “Meet Your Neighbors” event. Since we are Jackson Pollock style, splattered all over the region, we typically hold meetings where we get together meet volunteers new and old, and share ideas/ events. It is a lot of fun. And of course, no volunteering group event of any kind wouldn’t be without some games. After the meeting most people stuck around to bask in the glory of common experiences, languages, problems, and longings. While trying to find an Italian restaurant we stumbled into a small basement restaurant. After inquiring if they served fine Italian cuisine, they waitresses looked at each other, then at the lederhosens, they were wearing then back at us, and said, “No,its Austrian.” A common light bulb went off leading to an “ah-ha” moment as we too saw their lederhosens, and said, “Ok, table please!” After a quick snack we decided that it was best that we find the Italian place we were looking for, to begin with since the other volunteers would be there.

Later on in the night I had my first fall. Being that we are in a country that can sometimes be pretty slippery you can imagine that people do a lot of falling, which makes for some great humor. If you took some goofy clown music and put it to a montage of volunteers, alone and in groups, busting ass you could do some serious fundraising for Peace Corps projects. So I had made it almost all the way through winter without falling, and on boat shoes even! Sure I’ve had plenty of slips, but have always managed to find my feet before landing in snow, ice, mud, puddles, or what have you, but old Ukraine finally caught up with me. I slipped on a small patch of snow with my right foot, tried catching myself with the left, then went down hahhhd! I got pulled up by a huge Ukrainian basketball player Micha, who is a fan of the Celts by the way, and continued walking laughing pretty hard.

Willem Defoe?

Vacation ended with a trip to visit my friend Theo in Smila, where which was super relaxing, and we visited a huge cemetery. Its funny how you can be so surprised such big differences in cultures when you least expect it, and this graveyard was an example of that. The cemetery had to be a kilometer long with graves quite close together. Most plots are sectioned off with small fences, many having little tables and chairs for people to visit, and I don’t know, have a little meal? Many of them were quite well taken care of, and others had not been visited in awhile, where people typically create large mounds of fresh dirt where the person is buried, giving the impression that the person had just been buried, a very new thing for me. Also many were duel, or tri plots, but what I want to know is if the people leave us at different times whenis the headstone made? Does the first person wait until the second joins them and is left without a headstone for a period? Or do the second people do some forward thinking and create their own headstone? What an existentially strange decision that would be.

Another major difference between cemeteries in the US and UA is that almost every grave has a picture of the deceased here, which can be a little morbid, but also very interesting since it gives you a chance to kind of build a nice story for each person. Most of the new ones are ghostly engraved, but it’s the older ones that really interest me as an amateur photographer. Real photos are used on the headstones, which seem to be their passport photos somehow graphed onto oval tiles, sometimes painted with color, sometimes black and white, but always super cool. It is kind of weird, but I kind of wish I could collect some of them for some sort of kitchen/ bathroom art project in tiling. The pictures of profiles were just so interesting and there had to be thousands of them. When I look at photographs of nature I find them wonderful, but after a certain time it does not do it for me, but I feel as if I could look at profile shots for hours and hours. The people hold basically the same pose, no background, no explicit imagery, lighting or special effects. But like snowflakes, or a more obvious simile, like people, no two portraits are ever alike, and the fact that these people had died just make them more interesting. Enough on graveyards.

Funny Ukrainian video about train traveling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI-FY0ub9pc&feature=player_embedded

After a few hours of train rides back I finally made it back. Home sweet home, and to tell you the truth I was homesick for Mohyliv-Podilskyy and my apartment. Interesting feeling. Anyway, I look forward to the couple people visiting this summer and seeing a whole new warm Ukraine. Solidarity yo.

'nother interview!

Now the pressure is on. Now that there has been, what I consider so much media coverage of me in my relatively small town, I am going to have to really preform. Wish me luck!

Side note: I do not know how this began, but I have adopted the word "kalonka" in my head as the noun I substitute for any noun I do not know in Russian. For example. "I wonder how much that "kalonka" over there costs." or "Where did that "kalonka" come from?" or "Look at the "kalonka" on that guys head!" ... Kalonka means "water heater" Don't ask me why- just try it out. It works.

Man Day, Women's Day, Brains, and TV appearance

The last few weeks have been full of special celebrations. The before this past week we celebrated Defenders of the Motherland Day aka Man Day. For those of you unfamiliar with Man Day and its history, I can say that I am under the impression that it stems from the massive appreciation and remembrance of those who gave theirlives in the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Today the holiday is devoted to all men, in particular to those who have served in the military and if you are any man above the age of about 40 or so, that means you. In the Soviet era all men were conscripted into a 1-year minimum of service, like many countries still do today. Even though military service is no longer a requirement it s still a very popular profession choice for many men and women in Ukraine. Obviously the military in other countries are a little different than in the US. Where many of our soldiers are stationed oversees, Ukrainians serve in Ukraine, so you frequently see men and women in inform. Anyway, on Man Day, men are treated extra special. For example- even though I am not a defender of the motherland, I’m not Ukrainian, and I didn’t even serve in the US armed forces, I am a man, which means I was included in the festivities.

Man Day

The Spa Treatment

Fire Drill!!

I received numerous wonderful boxes of chocolates,shaving creams and moisturizers and my favorite gift, a coffee mug with “Patrick Star” from Spongebob Squarepants- this gift of a personalized coffee mug was my realization that Iwas now a teacher, a sort of initiation that all teachers must go through. The day ended early with a wonderful play/ concert organized by a number of the female members of the school. Lastly the men retired to feast in the man chamber aka the woodshop!- Where else?! After devouring pig fats, black bread, pickles, sausages, and Russian salads we did the obvious- talked up our personal ping-pong skills and put them to the test in the gym. There were some real battles, and I can say I did not come out on top. Now I am not a bad ping pong player in any sense of the word, but I can vouch for the incredible ping pong skills of the Ukrainian people as a whole. They are something else. It was a good Man Day.

BRAINS!!! Yes, I ate brains finally.

Now, to all you post third wave feminists out there, be you male or female, do not fret. Ukrainians would not think of having a Man Day without a day to commemorate women as well. All countries except our own USA know The 8th of March. International Women’s Day. We celebrated the day at school on Friday by having senior students take over the instructions of the classes for a day while the teachers relaxed and waited for their own concert. Unfortunately I was not able to see the concert because the male teachers were preparing for our own act, the final part of the concert. I have noticed that Ukrainians love to organize concert, presentations, and shows at the school, and they do a really phenomenal job at it too. Dance acts, singing, wresting and karate showcases, speeches, poetry, and lastly our skit. Dressed as mystical wizards, each one representing a different department of female teachers we recited spells and mixed our wizards cauldron. It was pretty funny, but to tell the truth for most of the rehearsals I thought we were dressed as clowns not wizards. It was only when I heard the word “abracadabra” did I realize we were wizards- part of whole not knowing the whole language you know? But I typically can figure everything out eventually- patience is a virtue. After we had a big feast with lot of food, dancing, music, singing, and of course speeches. Ukrainians have this amazing ability to poetically present good wishes. Even if you do not understand what someone issaying- judging by the tone and rhythm of their voice you can tell that they are wishing someone a happy birthday, safe travels, orany other celebration. A general translation notes wishes of wealth, health, love, all you dreams coming true, praising of beauty, work, and anything other positive thing you can find about someone. I myself even gave a short speech during the feast.

Our wizard get-ups

In other news, I do not know why, but I have been dropping dishes and glasses at an alarming rate. If I keep it up I will have nothing left to eat or drink out of by summer. This is strange, I thought that after those two hard summers at the Leeside, I would be set for life with my plate handling capabilities; I never had too much trouble before. I attribute this new clumsiness to all of the Woody Allen movies I have been watching recently. I do not know what got me interested in the guy, but I love him now. He just cracks me the hell up- I guess I am getting old. Depressing, I know, so I wont mention all the Paul Newman movies I have been also watching. In my free time, while I am not acting like an old man, I have been totally emerged in an Ann Rand book my auntie Maureen sent me called The Fountainhead. I am not usually a novel guy- but its pretty gnarly. Still waiting on The Long Way from my mom though!! Hint hint.

Debate Club

I ripped a hole in the knee of one of the two pairs of pants that I do not wear to school. I dread clothes shopping here because I get so nervous. The language thing doesn’t even have to do with it. I just can never decide if I actually want to buy something or not. This is why I haven’t bought clothes since I was in high school. Since boarding school if I, or any of my peers has ever needed anything you just “borrow” something from a friend and forget to give it back. If I think really hard about the past of most of my clothes I can come to the conclusion that they are not actually mine. But mind you, this is not one sided. I cannot tell you how many of my clothes I have had to part with over the years.

Debate Club

My debate club is thriving and is always a hoot, and I am in the process of starting debate clubs at other schools in town. All out debate warfare!! I am really excited. I have been keeping up with the gym where of course I am frequently greeted by “Hello!!! American Boy!!” You get used to it and grow to like it too. Obviously when I have a workout, a trip to the sauna or a bath needs to follow, and I plan to make sauna a permanent part of my life. I have also decided that now since I will never be able to live without real, crystallized, dark, golden honey, I am going to become an amateur beekeeper. Wish me luck!

Below is the link of my interview on TV-

check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W0xwnBuzrA

Baseball = Confusion

As winter continues to crawl along, I have been keeping a running pace. The weeks have been flying by and I have been keeping very busy with all sorts of activities. For the last few weeks we haven’t had too much snow- especially compared to back home, but today brought a nice change with plenty of powder. Like any there, the snow seems to quiet slow down life, and it comes with perfect timing. I am looking forward to taking a couple naps this weekend in between the normal bustle of lesson planning and prepping for the weeks activities.

Droppin mad knowlege

Classes have continued to remain fun and interesting and the turnouts for English clubs haven’t waned at all. I do three clubs a week; Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. The first club is for 6 and 7^th form students where we just do fun activities, projects and dialogues- since Monday was Valentines day we made valentines with poems and saying in English. Wednesday was the English Debate club I started and it has proved to be a lot of fun and the points students bring up are both intelligent and hilarious. They seem to really get into it sometimes because after the club is over they continue to bicker back and forth, developing their arguments, which makes me really happy. In the US we take extra-curricular activities at school for granted. There is always a French club, Student Council, Chess Club and so on, but its not always the same here. I think there is a great need for more opportunities to do informal learning. Or as I like to think of it- secret learning. The third club is run with the 8^th and 9^th formers who, like the former two, are full of really energetic and open kids. I do not have a real format for this club, its more of a week to week planning thing. Last week we played Jeopardy with Ukrainian facts- the point having the students work on requesting different topics, and giving answers in complete sentences. I think I made a pretty good Alex Trabeck too! Last week we did a lesson on baseball. This brings me to my next subject.

My School!

Up until now I haven’t had too hard of a time with cultural differences- but explaining baseball was by far the most confusing thing I have ever tried to teach. Growing up as a typical American I never had to think too much about how to play baseball- you just play, you just know! America’s Pastime is really just that- its America’s Pastime, and I feel for anyone who has tried to introduce the game to this football (soccer) dominated world. The game is completely foreign to Ukraine so I had to start at square one. I thought to myself- well, I will just have to introduce some new vocabulary, and explain the basic idea and they will pick it up in now time- Nope! I could not have been farther from the truth and the result left me aching in pains from laughing so hard. The more I tried to explain, the more I realized how strange and confusing it is. Nonetheless, we had a great time. Because there are no baseballs or bats here I had to model with a stick of wood some heavy little ball. We couldn’t actually hit the ball so we modeled the basic idea of the game with players in the field and runners on the bases. I had to deal with multiple runners on the same base, still holding the bat, runners picking up ground balls, fielders running all over the place and no one had any idea what was going on. It was awesome. I mean the game makes no sense. One versus nine at a time? Stop and go, stop and go? What does three balls and 2 strikes mean? I thought there was only one ball in baseball! What is the difference between second baseman and shortshop? What’s the point of shortstop? You know it really it makes you question why you played such an odd game for so many years, and who the heck thought of all these weird rules? And the names for things in baseball? Don’t even get me started… I dread the day I have to explain a “bock.” Despite all the confusion he kids (made up of mostly girls by the way) really want to play more and learn about the game But who is ever hopping to contribute to my life here, I would really appreciate a couple wiffle-ball bats and wiffle-balls. I think this will be a better introduction to actually game playing.

In other news, I got a package from my auntie Maureen the other day, which made my week! It came stocked with all sorts of hometown goods- dried cranberries, granola, 5 bottles of hot sauce!!! Books, great socks, and much more! So many thanks to her, and the cough drops came at the perfect time- the day after the package arrived I developed a little soar throat, so молодец тётя спасибо болше! I have been frequenting the sauna recently and it is like a little peaceful embassy where I forget everything except for the extreme feeling of heat and the sweet taiste of Ukrainian honey. It will be one of the many things I hope to bring back to the US with me, making it a perminant part of my life

P.S. I was on TV on Friday night and in the paper, NBD. I'm like totally famous.

Speaking of addictive Ukrainian treats, the word сало, or salo comes to mind. This is the Ukranian equivilant for our love of bacon with is multiplied by probably 1000. This speacial treat from our friend the pig is like bacon- without the meaty part. Basically pig fat. It is made a few diferent ways. First you can buy large, white, fatty strips of it at the bazaar- skin still attached, and slice it to your liking and eat it stright and raw with some bread- skin still attached. Another way is boiled and then preserved in salt and pepercorns in glass jars, eaten with bread again, and the third, and which I have seenleast, is fried, with whatever you want. It is something that is mentally challenging at first- as Westerners we dread putting anything raw into our mouth for fear of who knows what, but once you get a taste of this salty mouth wattering treat you just want more. Its not a far you find on your steak, chewy and hard- where we find the root of the idiom 'chewin' the fat.' This fat melts once it hits the 98.6 degree heat wave of your mouth. If I were to describe it in one sentence it would be- 'Salo; it’s a jacuzzi in your mouth!' Raw food- get into it.

Side note: I am teaching a lesson on Stonehenge and it is taking all my power not to show the music video from This Is Spinal Tap. "No one knows... who dey were,... or... what dey were doin'"

I hope you are all tunneling through the snow alright. I really miss you all, but its already been about 150 days- times flying!

Get Lost Kiddo!...

...but only so you know where you are.

So what a crazy couple of weeks it has been. I have been going no stop with all sorts of fun activities!

Soviet Bunker

I can say I think I am really getting in the zone now and with every week passing I add another thing to my schedule. I usually up early every morning, cook breakfast, iron my clothes and walk to work listening to “This American Life”. The obviously I teach a full day of classes, followed by English clubs 3 days a week, tutor students who are studying for theOlympiad competitions next month, or sometimes I am able to get a little basketball with the director in the schools gym. Then its home to change for the new gym I have joined, which by the way is something out of a Rocky movie. It’s a small gym in the basement of the technical college in town and its great! The 20 guys or so who are members are like a small sub-community. On arrival to the gym it is obligatory to make the rounds to each station and shake hands with every guy there, regardless of age or familiarity. Though it may seem a little dated, the gym has everything you need and because of its small core group, there is never a wait at any of the stations- something that can’t be said for many of the other newer gyms in town. It’s a cool place to hang out that’s for sure. After the gym its back home to cook dinner, shower, probably do some laundry, and plan lessons. It’s a pretty non stop schedule, but that’s what its all about right?

Memorial for soldiers who heroically held off the Nazi's until the last man.

I haven’t had a lot of time to being doing tourist-y things but when you are in a country you still know little about, who speaks a language you are pretty unfamiliar with everyday is like an adventure. It is funny having to plan your days around when the bazaar is open. If I know in the next few days I will need some food, or wall-paper (which I use to make giant dialogues for class) I have to wake up extra early. The bazaar, or “The Beast” as I affectionately call her is a maze of every product man can offer. There are hundreds of stands full of any kind of jackets, shoes, pants, shirts, sweaters and underwear on full display. Bags and bags of grains, fresh vegetables, jarred and preserved fruits, honey unlike any that I could have ever imagined. A huge fish section where you must tread carefully and look out for the splashes of live fish, which is pulled pout of the Dniper daily. One of my favorite sections is the meat department. When you enter youa re ment with the fresh smell of meat and the dominating color is obviously- red. Meat on the tables, hanging from hooks, rolls of salo (pig fat- a self described Ukrainian narcotic) pig heads, home made blood sausage, shanks, flanks, ribs, roasts, spines, livers, hooves, and any other cut of meat you can imagine. And this is no normal butcher shop, its an all out free for all with 50 or sixty vendors all pushing their products, but they are nothing compared to the vendors in the dairy department. Walking into the dairy department you all you see is white. Huge hunks of fresh cottage cheese called tvarog, and a cream cheese like substance called brensa and bottles and bottles of fresh milk, all homemade brought in from the surrounding villages. And the best thing about the bazaar is that you get to try everything before you buy it! A samplers dreamcome true.

The Meat Market

So I love walking around and do not even mind getting lost and since many of the stalls look identical and there are no landmarks visible, this happens pretty frequently. One thing I have started to appreciate over time while traveling is getting lost. For a moment you fell the stress, nervousness, maybe even hopeless, but if you can calm down and think to yourself about the fact that if you never got lost you would have never had the chance to see the things you are seeing at that moment. So getting lost is a good thing. It all works out in a few minuets anyway.

In other news, I finally had my first Ukrainian Sauna experience and it was awesome. Let me just say that on an unrelated note I took my first bath in probably 5 or 6 years Friday night- what else was I going to do?- and it was life changing. I plan on making it a weekly habit if I can help it. So adding to my relaxing a purified feeling from Friday night, on Sunday morning one of my neighbors downstairs took me to his friend’s sauna. The whole shabang, and of course with the traditional beating with oak branches. Now, to say that this experience was just a bunch of sweaty guys in a sauna whacking each other with sticks would be missing the point, and far off. The Ukrainians really know how to do it. We had 4 carefully planned and timed sections where we rotated between the hot sauna at 85 degrees Celsius, a room for sipping tea, a rinse area and of course spending some time outside in the freezing cold. During the last part we took turns hitting each other while lying down with oak branches and leaves that soak in water. This process is purifying to the skin and the senses. The smell is indescribable. Like Christmas cookies and raking leaves in the fall all in one. It was awesome. I went home cooked some spaghetti and went into repose for a few hours.

My Coat of Arms for the next two years.

So that is what I have been up to, sorry it has taken so long to get this last post out- but I am alive and well! Much love to my homies in the pen, see ya when I free ya, if not when they shut me in.

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!