Well I have been in Sosnivka for two weeks now and I still haven’t found my coal miner’s daughter. I guess I am not looking hard enough, surely she must exist somewhere. I have been busy though. Most days are full of teaching. I got my schedule and after playing around with it I ended up with a great schedule. I gave up Fridays off to get what I wanted, mainly seeing each group at least twice a week. I also agreed to teach a little more. I now know that I would make a terrible litigator, but then I have already reached the conclusion that I don’t want to go to law school and this kind of compromise is better suited to diplomacy so perhaps this is better career preparation.

The news of the week is that I got a fridge! It is amazing how it’s the small things that make life better. I now have leftovers safely stored below 40F, a fridge full of frozen veggies for the winter to come, and yogurt! Again it is the little things. I teach for about 4 hours each day and the rest of the time is slowly filling up. I am planning a bunch of English themed clubs four days of the week and the other hours seem to fill up rather quick. Impromptu lunches with the teachers after school are luckily very common. However after most of them I am a little tipsy because of all the vodka. My colleagues say that vodka is very useful for my health so I can’t really say now right?

I am getting better at ping pong as I spend a lot of time hanging with my students walking around town, playing in the teen center, or hiking in the syringe littered forest. We went for a walk to the lake today and had to walk through the stretch of forest where the gypsies live and the druggies hangout at night. I don’t think I have ever seen so many needles. Every step I had to be careful to not step on one. Talk about depressing. A friend of mine said that there was a big drug problem here and was he right. Luckily the school has a drug and AIDS awareness curriculum, hopefully this helps most of the students to avoid all this shit.

I went to my first coal mine today. I wasn’t able to dawn a head lamp, hard hat and pick but maybe soon I’ll be heading underground for a tour, although Ukrainian mines are notoriously unsafe.

We are in the middle of a great Indian Summer. I love it although I know that soon it’ll be replaced with a few feet of snow. I am on the municipal heating system so I hope that the people that control the steam plant are not stingy because I left my Peace Corps issued heater with my host family in Peremish. I promised that I would give it to them at the end of my service and I don’t really want to have to lug it here and then back again so I hope that I can just leave it with them.

Last week I was at a “peer listening conference.” AKA crazy hippy touchy feel conference with a lot of kumbaya. It was a nice chance to get to see people I haven’t seen in a while and develop some programming to help lower the drop out rate and keep all of us volunteers a little more sane. We had some down time and some of us went on a hike through the ruins of a Scythian village from 2000BC. Rumor has it that it was built around a positive energy field…another chankra energy center (see Poland trip entry)? Then some PCVs whose families hail from the sub-continent cooked up some amazing curry, basmati rice and rice pudding. Needless to say I was in heaven and totally re-energized. Next week is my house warming party. I am going to try to whip up some viddles from south of the border. I attempting to make chilie rellenos, quesadillas, salsa and Spanish rice. I am really looking forward to it so it better turn out.

That is about all the news from here. My address is updated on the left of this page and I can always email it to you if you need. I am going to work on some mail for the holidays so if you think I don’t have your address pop me an email and you’ll be added onto the list. I know totally bribery for emails but heh?

That is about it for now. And for those that are keeping track I have been Ukraine for exactly 1 year today (September 28^th). That means that as of today I have 430days of Peace Corps before I start heading back to the US. Crazy to think that is all I have left. I feel like I just got here.

Miss you all and more later!

 When I arrived in Ukraine almost a year ago the first thing I saw in Kyiv was the miles upon miles of apartments that were the exact same. It was liking watching some anti-Soviet propaganda at home. All that I learned about Soviet housing was true. It was block after block of cement apartments. Now after living in a farm town I am in a mine town just north of L’viv. My town is 100% soviet. I absolutely love it. I feel as if I am embracing the former Eastern Bloc with all of my being and really becoming a comrade, or it could be the warm sensation pumping through my veins, the result of another day of post work vodka. But seriously, my town is a throw back to another time; a time when one town was dominated by one industry or one company. In this case the town was built because of 15 mines that operated at one time in this region. Now many of them are shut or are operating in an extremely dangerous manner. But what remains is a very Soviet town. The commercial center of the city is small and limited but the town is very much alive. My previous town was a mix of farms and suburbs, a sort of fringe city. Sosnivka, or Ñîñí³âêà in Ukrainian, is a strictly a town for housing miners. There are a bunch of apartment building and hostels for the single miners. What is strickingly different is the amount of planning that went into Sosnivka. It is a system of grids and block apartments. But what it created was not a stoic stereotypical Soviet town but a very alive close knit town of 13, 000.

At times I swear that if it weren’t for the language that this could be West Virginia coal country. The only restaurant in town is decorated in old pictures of when this region was very important in relation to the Soviet economy. Now it is a sort of ghost town in that its future lies elsewhere, the mines will all dry up in a matter of time and what will be left is simply apartment buildings with no employment for the residents. There are a lot of possibilities around this region for employment or commercial development but not a lot of direction.

When I drove up here in a cab from Peremishlyany I was shocked at first. The first town I came to was Drobrotvir, which is very soviet and not so good looking. It was a huge change from being around farms and horses and cows. The cab was hilarious. It was a very old Daewoo, aka the smallest crap car the South Koreans ever built. It was powered by propane and as a result the trunk was full of a big gas tank so my bags had to be squished between propane tanks and in the back seat. The roads were awful completely full of potholes the size of small bomb craters. It was slow going and the 120km was covered in two and a half hours. The cab driver was more skilled in being a taster of Marlboro lights not a taxi driver. He had no idea how to get there, and luckily I had looked at a map and was able to direct us along with the 200 villagers we asked along the way. I swear Ukrainians are the most geographically challenged nationality out there. The cab wasn’t too expensive but more than I would want to pay for a nearly lethal experience.

When I threw my bags down in my apartment the teachers and I immediately went to dinner and had a nice Ukrainian meal free of potato dumplings and other heavily starched foods that Dr. Atkins would die if he ever witnessed. After a few bottles of champagne and vodka and some yummy Ukrainian Orange Julius’ we headed back to my apartment and I descended upon the layer of dirt and grime that plagues all Soviet era apartments. After six hours of scrubbing I managed to rescue the kitchen and bathroom from a destiny of filth. Now it smells of bleach instead of the resident mold and cobwebs that previously perfumed my domicile.

On my first day at my new school I was serenaded with the hokey pokey and other strange English songs, we are going to have to update the musical repertoire with some Phish for sure!

A teacher videotaped the hole first day so anyone that wants to see what a Ukrainian school looks like simply has to watch the video with me. I even spoke Ukrainian on it…a feat in itself. After school I went to the big town of Chervonohrad with the young teachers. We had pizza and walked around. I tried to open a bank account but was shut down because I needed about two dozen stamps and a dozen forms. Peace Corps then admitted that they needed to send a page or two to my bank to speed the process up. I’m going to head there in a few weeks to see if I can’t open an account. I did manage to open a new post office box, and my address is now updated simply click here to see it. I still have my other PO Box till the end of the year should any of you have sent a letter or package. I also have a new number, the new number is country code 38 097-838-4673

My third day of school was nearly a full day, but at the end of the day the mine dropped off a bunch of produce for the students to take home so classes ended early, can you tell that I am living in the former USSR? The teachers and I then went to the café to have lunch and of course the requisite bottle or two of vodka. I was tossed by 4 o’clock when my fridge was supposed to arrive. Luckily my director was late so she didn’t see me too tossed, and my fridge is now arriving in a day so I am spared from having to clean a fridge for at least one more day. I now have to sit and relax and pretend to plan my lessons for tomorrow. Because the schedule isn’t set for the year I don’t know what I’ll teach from day to day so I can’ really assign homework. Instead we just talk, ask questions and play games. Very doable even on a hangover, something no 6^th grade teacher in America would admit to. It looks like we are going to have a major thunder storm in a few minutes, which is expected after two weeks of sun and Indian summer. I’m somewhat ready for winter but am appreciating the last few weeks of summer.

That is it for now I am posting a few more pictures of the new town, digs and whatnot.

Cheers

A

Okay folks I have had a change of scenery and thought I'd pass along my new address to you all. Here it is Õåëëîê Åíäðþ À/Ñ 19 Ì. Ñîñí³âêà Ëüâ³âñüêà Îáë. 80193 Óêðà¿íà/Ukraine What it means Name P.O. Box Town Province/Region Zip Country I am living in a coal town just north of L'viv. It is great and I feel like I have stepped back to the days of the USSR in that things look the same as they did 20 years ago, but the people are great! I've got an update that I want to add but the internet cafe I am at doesn't allow me to do that. So that will have to wait. Also I'll be getting a new mobile number in a week and will post that as soon as I get it. Miss you all and more in a few days! A

After a session of family bonding the Hallocks, Berrys and a Badger headed out for a historical tour of Krakow. Having been in Krakow a day before us Mom, Dick and Crazy pointed out such significant sights as Shrek and the church of Peter, Paul and Mary. Sadly the organist at the church didn’t know the tune to Puff the Magic Dragon. I don’t know if the tour was so much historical as hysterical.

 

In Turkey I tried to convince Erin that to really understand a culture you must sample as many pastries and sweets as possible. She didn’t really buy that theory and she said that unless I wanted a spare tire as a souvenir that I better avoid baklava and Turkish Delight. Luckily Aunt Crazy and Dick subscribe to my theory of traveling. So as we followed the royal road through the center of Krakow we took a few detours into some “patisseries”. 

 

Following the advice of Rick Steves we headed to Wawel Castle to marvel at its beauty, take some pictures and find one of seven centers of energy in the world. Not being a follower of Chankra, I thought this was where Chakah Khan gave a concert. I was corrected and enlighted by the red robe wearing monks in search of a little recharge of their spirit. I tried to feel the energy but all I felt was the wall of an old church…perhaps you have to be a true believer.

 

After the castle we headed to Kazmierez to fuel up and see if Erin and I couldn’t find the best Kebab shop in Krakow. We discovered it in a mild drunken haze so retracing our steps was going to be a little difficult. But armed with a map and five hungry tummies we found it…we found it closed. Apparently it favors the evening bar crowd over the hungry afternoon crowd. Luckily there was a restaurant not to far away and we managed to get seated just as a huge thunderstorm rolled in.

 

After energizing and soaking up the history of Krakow we set out to face an ugly chapter in our history. We took the early train from Krakow to Auschwitz and for most of the ride we didn’t really talk but just looked at the scenery and attempted to imagine what this ride must have felt like sixty-five years earlier.

 

The most startling thing about Auschwitz is how intact it is. It was as if the war ended yesterday and all the soldiers and victims just walked away. As we toured the camp all of the history of WWII seemed to jump out at you. There was an amazing silence even thought several tour groups were visiting the camp; rightly so, as there are no words to describe it.

 

Auschwitz II, or Birkeneau, was more familiar having seen films like Schindler’s List and war time documentaries. However, no matter how many times one sees the photos of the gates and rail lines that carried millions of people to a horrible death when you see it in person it is amazingly haunting and moving.

 

As we walked back from what is left of the two largest crematoriums you couldn’t help but think not only how close these dark pages of our history are to the present day but also how few people walked in the direction we did, away from the gas chamber and crematoriums.

 

The ride back to Krakow was even more silent as we each tried to process all that we saw. It is not only an amazing first-hand lesson on how cruel man can be, but also how resilient the human spirit is. Even in the shadow of Auschwitz, you could see the rebirth of the Polish people after decades of war and de facto Soviet occupation.

 

We headed back to Kazmierez for some dinner. We found this awesome Jewish restaurant in the center of the Jewish quarter (Kazmierez). Our water provided many much needed laughs. We had farfels, potato pancakes, borsch and by far the best desert I have ever had. We finished the night with some classical Jewish music and a slow walk back to our hotel as the next day we were heading to Ukraine; and as I said, our vacation would end and our adventure would begin.