Man does not live on xлеб alone

Wow, I can't believe that another week's gone. PST (Pre Service Training) is absolutely flying by. I had my site placement interview in Kiev on Wednesday and I feel I represented myself very well. I was upfront with my aspirations as well as in which areas I felt I could be flexible. My director placed all of the CD volunteers and they know where we will be living for the next two years. From my interview as well as speaking with current volunteers, I think I will most likely be placed in the Eastern region of Ukraine working for a small NGO. Southern Ukraine is another possibility so I will just have to wait and see what happens. 

Swearing in is two weeks away and it's almost time to start packing and saying goodbye to my wonderful host family. I'll outline the basic timeline but PC really doesn't tell me much so excuse any gaping holes in the plot. 

1. LPI(Language Proficiency Interview) - June 4th
2. Find out where I am moving to 
3. Pack my whole life up again
4. Say goodbye to Host Family and Chernihiv
5. Travel to Kiev - June 12th ish
6. Meet counterpart who will be my first point of contact in host community
7. Swearing in at US Embassy
8. Travel with counterpart to my Site
9. Continue on with this crazy thing called life

So with all this on my mind I haven't had a chance to take many pictures. Fear not my dear friends, I have been withholding most of my food pictures. Everyone asks me what Ukrainian food is like. Let me just say that my host mom is a phenomenal cook and I have gained around 5 pounds. In general the food is delicious and hearty. There is a heavy emphasis on potatoes, bread, seasonal fruits/vegetables, and cabbage. Meat is incorporated in almost every meal but in my experience it is used mostly for flavor and texture. This is a highly biased viewpoint as I can only speak for how my host family eats and what is served in the less expensive restaurants. I have friends out here who are fed straight up man food at every meal and feel like they are bursting at the seams. Think sausage, lot's of dairy, tons of mayonaise, and salo.

I have one funny quote from a fellow PCV about what she typically comes across when she tells Ukrainians that she is a vegetarian.

"You're a vegetarian, very interesting. So you still eat chicken right?" 

Bars here usually serve beer by the half liter, liter, and two liter. The other thing is Каса and it is like an adult version of string cheese. Каса is quite salty actually but goes great with a cold one.

Homemade Квас, also called child's beer. It is lightly carbonated with just a touch of tanginess.

Our house hold bird staring down my bowl of Борщ 

Голубци с Сметаной (Meat and rice stuffed cabbage rolls served in a tomato sauce with a side of sour cream)

Broke down and had to try it while I was here. Tastes EXACTLY like in the US. Kind of scary actually but man it is nice to get a taste of home every once in a while. Just to confirm what I was hoping, It actually was called a Royal w/ Cheese. Gotta love that metric system.

So please take note of McFoxy's that is literally attached to McDonald's. It was pretty crazy to see but not surprising that the line at McDonald's was about ten times longer.

 Making Вареники is a group affair (Dumplings stuffed with potatoes, cheese, or sour cherries)

Easter bread and colored eggs

 Homemade pickles = Delicious

Beet Horseradish

 Now that's what I call a meal (Rolls stuffed with various meats and vegetables)

I am falling in love with all things Шашлик

Matt and I trying our first Ukrainian street food. Doner Kabobs were a huge success and I would absolutely eat them again. It was kind of like a burrito with gyro filling.

A Day at the Дача

Здравствуйте,

Another week in the books and the end of PST is looming. I had my progress assessment this week and so far so good. I have a great cluster with two other guys and thankfully we all click well and are motivated to learn the language. Classes are so much different then during my first month here. We started off just trying to figure out how to read a foreign alphabet and now we are given situations and we role play for 5-10 minutes. The great thing is that even if the exercise starts getting boring we can just start talking about whatever comes to mind. If we are speaking in Russian then it is still practice and generally not frowned upon. PC language training is short and intense. They throw a ton at you and see what sticks. The basic goal of PST language is to paint a broad outline of the language and to give you a foundation to build on. 

I have my Site Placement Interview on Wednesday. Scary stuff, in less than a week PC will know where I will live for the next two years. I feel like I have a good idea of what I want to do here but a lot of that will depend on my living situation. I could be placed in a small village with ~500 people or I could be in a large city of +300,000. Only time will tell and since I am placed based on community needs I am fairly certain my fate has already been determined. 

So now to explain the Дача (pronounced: Da-CHA). A Дача is a small plot of land that can most broadly be defined as a garden. It is very common for families here to own one and to grow a substantial portion of their food there. On our plot of land there are 6-7 fruit trees (apple, cherry, apricot, pear, peach), several berry bushes(red/black currant, raspberry) that I'm told produce quite well, so much garlic growing everywhere, and finally there are flowers all over to help spruce the place up. In addition to what is planted there is a good bit of free land that isn't being cultivated presently due to time constraints. To get to our Дача we took a bus to the end of the line and then walked another 5 kilometres. Besides serving as a garden these places work as excellant venues for BBQ and to get in some peaceful time in nature.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Absolutely gorgeous day to be outside 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Our beautiful Дача

My lizard friend

Beer bottles are often used as garden liners

Шашлик (Shish-kabobs)

Victory Day

This was by far the best Victory Day I have ever been a part of. Nearly the whole city of Chernihiv was out for the parade and in support of those who gave their lives fighting. The whole day was bursting with emotion and it showed. There is a genetic sadness that comes from generations of hardship and struggle. I saw numerous people in tears but there was also a remarkable amount of pride in having overcome difficulties while maintaining their Ukrainian traditions. On Victory Day it's tradition to give flowers to veterans and I am so happy I took part in this tradition. The look on his face was unforgettable and it will stay with me forever. I am so thankful to be living in Ukraine and that my training coincides with the Spring festivities. 

One aspect of victory day that is a departure from the typical stoic Ukrainian behavior is that everyone pretty much has free reign to approach veterans and ask to hear their stories. At one point in the day I decided to wander off on my own and I ended up in the park that surrounds the monastery and Anthony caves. I was walking around enjoying the beautiful scenery when I noticed an older gentlemen selling icons outside. He was wearing a USS Midway hat so I decided to approach him. At first I thought he might have been American but that idea went out the window as soon as we started talking. He was a soldier with the Soviet Union and said his fleet had joined up with American sailors and they had traveled together quite a bit. We did our best to communicate in my broken Russian and his less than stellar English. I have been made a believer that if people are willing to put in some effort than even with basic language skills, quite a bit can be shared. Days like these make all the BS of training melt into the background and reaffirm why I made the decision to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

I took a ton of photos but I'm only posting my favorites

The flowers I gave out during the parade. We originally only wanted 3 but the Baba selling them was one heck of a salesman. Just FYI, these cost 1 UAH per flower which comes out to about 12 cents a piece.

The parade begins downtown and everyone joins in. The parade ends at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier (below), about a mile down the road, and festivities continue there.

These guys marching in formation with their platoon was pretty intimidating. 

Awesome veteran I met in front of the monastery

My buddy made fun of me because I take pictures of every church we walk by but they are everywhere and I think they're beautiful.

Ukrainians really know how to picnic. Hanging out by the river with good food and great friends is the only way to spend an afternoon. I have about 100 mosquito bites to show for it but I would go back in a heartbeat.

Our awesome Ukrainian friends

This special forces guy was scary good at throwing his shovel tomahawk style. 

My photo editing software is being finicky at the moment so I wasn't able to crop this one. I liked it so much that I thought I would still share it and I will fix it when I can. If you can't tell, those are fireworks behind one of the cathedrals in town.

Христос Воскрес

Happy Easter!

The city is alive with basket carriers. Every single group I have seen on the street has been carrying a basket full of food either on their way to or on the way back from the nearest church. We made the same trek and it was a great experience.

I have been trudging through language as always but I do see improvement every week. I judge my Russian skills by how well I can communicate with my host brother. I'm not exactly sure if I am starting to speak the language better or if my pantomime skills have improved. This week marked the halfway point in training. I have my site interview in 2 weeks and I would love to do well on my LPI (Language Proficiency Interview). I have been spending all my spare time either learning Russian or enjoying the company of my host family. Life is good. 

As always feel free to get in touch with me and I would be more than happy to chat. Take care and be safe.

Will

6am outside our local church

More Творок, I still love it!

Thats right, I live at the very top of all those stairs, luckily my elevator works and is supposed to be good until 2025 as is written in Sharpie on the control panel.

Spring is here!!!

 Matt making toast Peace Corps style

 Classroom where I do my best to speak terrible Russian

My daily Commute looks a lot like this. Ignore the tv in the above picture and this is the general setup with maybe an additional row or two. ~18 seats and I have seen upwards of 50 people on these things, you do the math.

About 2/3 of the Community Development PCT's stationed in Chernihiv for training