My Fake Homeland

In this sea of black and grey,

I stand out like golden frizz,

Only if you catch me smile,

Do I shine my champagne-fizz.

These charcoal, smokey, granit waves,

Are rocking me to slumber now.

This little speck of flaxen frizz,

Finds comfort in the dingey bow.

Your fragile heart and one-track-mind,

Would get crumbled, broken, see?

By my new friend, this Thunderic Ocean

Who I now love, at ashen sea.

A stoic gang of hard-edged statues,

Make up my new lovely crew.

I grip on close to obstinate rock,

That has an acient, worn tattoo.

Survival, the one word on your mind,

In capital letters and grey.

I see your fair-candy center,

You still are who you are today.

In this sea of black and grey,

I stand out like golden frizz,

Only if you catch me smile,

Do I shine my champagne-fizz.

Grateful

This is a list of things that I am grateful for in the United States. A lot of the items on this list I was either unaware of, or I just took for granted that I have them in my life. So here goes...

Being able to call my family whenever I want
Fireplaces
Soft socks
Everybody speaking the same language
TJ Maxx
Skype
Driving Laws
Soft tissues (to blow your nose)
Soft toilet paper (I'm not explaining that one)
My car
Tap water that you can drink
Dishwasher (I'm sick of using a moldy sponge)
Christmas music on the radio
Bus schedule
People showing that they are happy (by smiling)
A straightener! (for my hair)
All of my painting supplies
Non-mystery meats
Being warm when I am inside
Being close to my family (extended!)
Target

Taco Bell

Having a bath tub

Cripples being taken care of by the government (most beggers are cripples)

Good indoor heating

Regular potatoe chips (can't find them ANYWHERE)

Dryer (for your clothes)

Medicines in english

Around Halloween I really missed all of the haunted houses, etc.

No inside shoes

A couch to lounge on in front of a tv.

Living in a safe town

There are so many more... I will need to write another list. But this is a good start. I miss and love you all! Wishing you a Happy Holiday!

Different

Ukraine is VERY different from America. I was almost overwhelmed by all of the differences when I fist got here. But now I have learned to love them (well most of them.)
Let me name a few of the big ones.
Here in Ukraine they are very weird about feet. You have outside shoes and inside shoes. You change into your inside shoes at home and at school and no, this does not mean that you can just wear socks around. Apparently this is a sin. Luda (our host mom) made us stop right in the middle of what we were doing (we were helping make dinner) to go put on our inside shoes. We now know to ALWAYS wear inside shoes when you are inside.
When I asked somebody why they do this, they couldn't really answer at first. Then this person said that they do this because of the germs that are on the floor. Because germs are there, even right after you wash it. I said that with this logic we should wear inside gloves also. They agreed that it is a little strange.

Another difference is that they aren't a smiley people. I have learned that this does NOT mean that they are not happy!! They can be having a fabulous day, just when they are out on the bus they always have the same facial expression. I think that I have gotten better at telling when a Ukrainian really is frustrated and when they just are normal. I think. haha

The driving here is INSANE! I really am so glad that I don't have a car. There are no speed-limits, so you can drive as fast as you want to. The roads themselves are terrible with ten thousand potholes and garbage everywhere. It would be odd to see a sidewalk without a car parked on it. When crossing the street you take your life into your own hands. Just because there is a 'walk' sign does not mean that cars will always stop for you.

There are so many other things but these are some big ones. I will post more soon!!

Poland

Well I went to Poland a few weeks ago... But I will still post about it because it was so much fun!!
We got on a sleeper train in Kiev and rode all night to Lviv (another city in Ukraine). This in itself was quite the experience. It was dirty, there were creepers and it definitely didn't smell pleasant.





But it was still a blast! I was in the same area as Carlie and Kylee so we chatted until late at night. We made friends with some girls that are about our age that spoke English quite well and then they helped us around the city of Lviv the next day.

Lviv is beautiful! It was like being in another country. It was cleaner and smelled nicer. The people in Lviv are very proud of the Ukrainian language so they only speak Ukrainian there and most won't answer if you try talking to them in Russian. Luckily we had Tony and Johnny with us that speak fluent Ukrainian. :)
They showed us all around the city taking us to some great places like a chocolate factory/shop, a bell tower that we climbed to the top of (the stairs just kept going and going...) a very cool restaurant that you had to know a secret password to get in, and some other cool sights. :)







That night we all climbed on a bus that drove all night into Poland. At customs we were awoken (not that any of us were getting great sleep anyways) and the stern customs-people asked us for our passports. Every single one of the stern passport people laughed at my passport photo. It really is terrible.
When we arrived in Poland that next morning some of the girls went into the salt mines (You can lick everything. Greeaaat.) and a few others (including me) just explored the little city we were in. I LOVE POLAND! It was soooo clean, smelled amazing, and the people were so nice! We went to this little cafe and got hot chocolates and the man serving us was so nice and tried to teach us a few words of Polish.







Then we climbed back on the bus and went to Krakow. Beautiful. Beautiful. We explored the city and I loved it! Such a great city. Then that night we went to Schindler's Factory. I have mixed feelings about this experience. I thought that it would be more about him and how he helped so many people, but it was mainly about the lifestyle of the Jews during WWII in the ghettos. It was incredibly sad.
The next day we went to Auschwitz. I had no desire at all to go, but I had to because I couldn't stay by myself for safety reasons. I went through the first part, Auschwitz 1, and I really did not like it at all. I just sat on the bus when the rest of the group went to Auschwitz 2. I wish I would have stayed on the bus the whole time.
We went back to Krakow, more exploring and then went to bed. The next morning it was back on the bus that took us to Lviv again. This bus ride was interesting. We had a cocktail of sleep deprivation, hunger, insanity, and cameras. The result was some funny pictures. haha





Back on the sleeper train, back to the cigarette-urine-pollution-smelling Kiev that I love. :)

Lonesome

This sneaky snake by the name of Thyme
has taken something I thought was mine.
The bells have rung, my note is past due,
and a bit of my soul is residing with you.
Your walking on planks and avoiding the stares.
Hold your head high dear, for nobody cares.
I'm so proud of your courage, your dancing, your glow.
You may be frightened but I'd never know.

You're the best of the best, darling.
A true sister and friend.
I miss you more than I can say.
I love you to the very end.


This fast-written poem goes out to Carlie Joy Mansfield. I love you.
Carlie Joy is one of my best friends, my host sister, my old roommate. Sadly she went home to the USA yesterday because of family stuff. I'm very sad today but I am just so glad for the great time that I was able to spend with her. She is awesome.

Today

Today was tough. The kids were being very difficult and I already don't feel very well.
The day started out well. Exploring and lunch with Carlie. Then I came to school and something happened to the cute children that I teach. Little demons crawled in their ears and took control of their brains. The demons are out to get me.
They didn't listen AT ALL. Right when I said "No" to something, they went ahead and did it anyways. The normal methods of keeping them in check didn't work and they just went crazy. Anarchy is not as glamorous as it sounds.
Then my last class was the 3 year olds. I'm usually so great with this age group, but they hate me. And their parents hate me. They want the other teacher, Brittany, to teach them the whole time. I agree with them, but Brittany is teaching other kids. I just have no idea what to do with them. They don't understand a single word I say so I can't say "Stop hitting her on the head and look at this bear."
I now fully understand what parents / teachers / people-that-work-with-kids mean when they say that they love the kids, but they want to strangle them. Because I love these kids, but I want to spike their water with something that will make them sleep.

I'm positive that Monday will go better. (At least I'm hoping so)
And I am looking forward to Poland!! Will post more positives soon...

First Weekend

I can say that my first weekend here has been one of the best of my life! :) It just has been so enjoyable.

Thursday night we went to a futbol game, Ukraine vs. England. Me and a couple of other girls went a little bit late because we were teaching, but there was still plenty of the game when we get there. We had to walk a long ways and finally got there and found our seats. We were in the row with all of the other ILP volunteers and we were just a row of yellow because of the jersey's we were wearing. haha
They boys next to us were drunk and hardly knew any English. But they still tried hitting on us. And failed. We just said 'Nyet' a lot. There was a man that was even more drunk than them in front of us. He knew more English and was just very funny. He gave us some sunflower seeds and said, "These are Ukrainian Big Mac." haha
I thought that we were going to lose, we had 3 minutes left and the score was 0-1. Then we scored. The crowd went wild and it was sooo much fun. :)
When we were walking to the Metro to get home we were in this huge crowd. It was so cool because everybody around us were singing and chanting the same things, clapping and jumping at the same time. It was amazing, we tried to do the same as everybody else but it was just cool to be there.




Friday night was a surprise. We knew that we were going to sleep over at Brittany's apartment with her host mom and some of here host moms friends. We hear rumors of a photo shoot but nobody could confirm anything. We all walked to her apartment together and went up. This was the nicest apartment I have ever seen, not just in Ukraine, but ever. Everything was new and top of the line. They had Swarovsky crystal on all the door knobs, their little girl had a princess bedroom that was like 2 times bigger than the room I sleep in. It was just amazing. There were all these dresses, necklaces, and other accessories laid out. Vica (Brittany's host mom) said to pick out whatever we wanted to wear and she was having sushi sent up for us to eat. So we all picked out fun outfits (I donned Ukrainian fashion) and ate delicious sushi and then did hair and makeup. We were having so much fun. :)




Then we all climbed and squished into her brand new Lexus and drove to the high school futbol field. We had to basically climb down to the field because our heals were so high. When we got down there, Vica pulled out these brightly colored lanterns and we lit them. She took a lot of pictures of us with these. (I haven't gotten them from her yet.) Then we let them go into the sky. It was like the movie, Tangled. Just so magical. (I really hope that none of these fire fueled lanterns fell into the city or onto anybody. I haven't heard of any fires yet....)
After this we were going to go to a club that translates into Sorry Grandma. hahaha But we decided to go to a place much more quiet. It was so great. Carlie, Vica, Katya, Brittany, and I were dancing and just having a ball. :)
Then we went home and got into our pajamas and talked until about 4 in the morning.



Saturday morning, Carlie and I woke up around 8 and went back to our apartment to get ready for the day. We went down to the Metro and just explored some of the city. We wound up finding our way to Souvenir Street. It was beautiful. The weather, the people, everything was fabulous. We stopped at KOOE XAY3 (we think that it is like the Starbucks of Ukraine) and got some pistachio gelato. I literally died and went to heaven. Too good. We just kept walking around and exploring.



Just a wonderful wonderful day. :)
Then we went home and ate some more icecream and watched a movie and went to bed.
I love it here so far and am so happy :)

To Ukraine

Here are some things that I learned / things I found interesting / things that I think are funny / things that I just want to say about my 24 hour traveling experience.

First things first, study a bit about the place you are traveling to.
Don't let your shuttle bus driver that is taking you to the airport drop you off at the wrong terminal. Or you will have to walk in the pitch-black-dark for a half a mile to the right one.
Make sure that you weigh your bag before you leave or you will have to pay an extra 75 dollars for the extra 5 pounds you have. And no, you can't get 5 pounds worth of crap out of your suitcase and put it in your carry on. Even if you ask nicely. And bat your eyes. (This last method may have worked if it hadn't been a woman at the desk.)
Also make sure that you go to the right gate that it says on your ticket. (you may get confused between the gate number and your seat number.) Or they will anounce your name over the loudspeaker saying that you have 2 minutes to get over there. And you will have to run.
Ask for a blanket when the stewardess passes by with one.
You can also ask for extras when they give you the peanuts and pretzels.
When you get a drink, you can ask for the whole can. :)
When you get to Atlanta and start calling family and friends to say goodbye, you will start crying, in front of a big crowd of strangers. But you will also be laughing so you will look like a crazy person. You will only look worse by stumbling over you bags.
When you sit on the plane, sit next to the nice looking girl. She will be roman catholic and will be very very nice to you and talk to you alot about religion. She will also give her your desert because she doesn't want it and you can use it.
Make sure that you get the pasta and not the chicken. The chicken looks dry and gross, your pasta is quite delicious.
Landing in Paris in the middle of the night is great. It's beautiful because it is all lit up still.
Use the toilets in the Paris airport. They are orange.
Get a window seat flying out of Paris in the morning. You can see the Eiffel Tower. <3
As you go along this journey, each plane gets progressivly worse. And don't expect the nice pictures of the comfortable people on the websites. They are lying. This last plane that you go on will sound Terrible, even before moving. It sounds like there is a giant robot dog dying somewhere. That's just the plane.
When you land you will go through customs and there will be an intimidating man in camo with a gun. Just stay in line and do what you are supposed to. (Seriously though, camo in an airport? Isn't the point of camo to blend in?)
Anyways, when you get out to where you get your baggage, you will have to wait for awhile because the people picking you up got a flat on the way. But you don't know this because you have no way to communicate with them. Apparently nobody knows English when you try to ask them where the phone is. Don't worry, they will be there soon. :)



That is my traveling adventure. haha
I will post pictures soon.