2nd day April 6, 2010

I have had both breakfast and dinner here now, some soup/tortellini stuff this AM and some soup, salad (tomato/cucumber/onion), and a piece of meat with cheese and mushrooms. I've been eating all day; mid-day we stopped in at a teacher's classroom for a snack that consisted of wine, jellied meat, and sweets (to celebrate her birthday and my arrival). We toured the school library and some classrooms, saw the students; the school is old and has limited resources. The halls are wide, the classrooms big and light-filled, but the sinks in front of the cafeteria are ready to fall off the wall and the steps are much like those in my hotel, uneven and poorly measured. It feels like walking in a fun-house. However, the students are eager to meet me and are well disciplined. I was surprised to see several classrooms unsupervised. Even the young students were without a teacher, and in one classroom they were playing with only a few Legos. The students were obviously anxious to practice their English, greeting me in the hallway with "Good morning!" From there we went downtown to see another, more privileged school. While the students themselves were better dressed, the building itself may have looked even worse. The rooms and halls were crowded and dark; few open spaces are well-lit. At this school, we talked in a round table discussion with 12 students and 3 teachers, as well as the Peace Corps volunteer who joined us. She, small world that it it, is from the Portland area. The students here at the Gymnasium are amazing and their English is excellent. They spoke about wanting to work abroad as lawyers and interpreters. They study a great deal, with no time for sports, and like English, computers, and "jumping in the streets" which sounds like skateboarding with no board.
After this, we visited the local director of the district, Alecsander Yacovich. In his office, we were ushered in, given sweet wine and specialty chocolates. He then spoke of his pride in the area, his changes to the community, and plans for a celebration in May honoring the WWII siege and the survivors who might visit. He then presented me with a needlepoint of a cossack (hetman)and a straw and dried fruit/vegetable ornamental picture that seems to be a protectorate for the home.
Finally, we stopped at the Palace of Culture (much like the local community theater) where we picked up rented costumes for tomorrow's Ukrainian folk festival. The building has the same problems of much of the town, lack of maintenance makes it appear to be falling apart.

I didn't think I would miss coffee so much, but I had tea for breakfast and almost jumped when Lyudmila offered me coffee in her home this afternoon.

First day April 5, 2010

I've been in Ukraine for 24 hours now. Yesterday I arrived at 5 pm in the Kiev airport (pop.2 million), much smaller than I had anticipated--only somewhat harder than Lewiston's (an airport serving an area of about 60,000 people). I went through customs with no questions; no one even looked in my bags. Lyudmila and her son Sasha were there waiting for me with big hugs. We waited for a "real taxi", one called, instead of one on the street front. We took the taxi to the bus station, had a bite to eat there, then got on the bus for a 5 1/2 hour ride to Kirovograd, talking all the way about school, the country, her children (Sasha is a dance teacher in Moscow, Russia, who is visiting until Saturday). After a long ride, L's husband met us at 1 AM in the bus station at Kirovograd and then we drove to Novoukrainka. The roads are in terrible shape, with huge potholes, and unlit. It made me glad I was sitting in the back so I couldn't see the road. About 45 minutes later, we arrived at the hotel, then spent some time debating how hot the water was and how cold the room was. I have 2 large rooms, bed and sitting room, and a private bath; I eventually showered in the sauna downstairs, because the water in the room wouldn't get hot but I took the wrong bag downstairs, so without shampoo, I had to wash my hair with soap--it looked terrible this morning!