Life in Ukraine – Page 3

Spring Cleaning

Don’t worry – we still have some more “Winter Wrap-Ups” to post, but I wanted to let you know that SPRING IS HERE!! After a long weekend in the eastern part of the country, we arrived back home Sunday to find the rest of the snow GONE! The temperatures have been in the 50s for the past two weeks, although still chilly at night. Sunday was also the beginning of daylight savings time in Ukraine, so it’s light out from before 7am to after 7pm. It’s like the town has been awakened: people are out and about all day long, enjoying the weather and getting to work!

Mar 29 — Ready for spring! The snow is gone, so people are cleaning up and burning their trash in the background.

So, what does it mean when spring comes to Ukraine? Spring cleaning, of course! First of all, everyone is cleaning indoors in preparation for Easter, which will be celebrated April 4th. Secondly, everyone is cleaning outdoors! Individuals in their own yards and town maintenance workers in the parks and streets. They are raking up dead leaves and trash from their yards and the park. They are cutting down trees. They are tilling their gardens in preparation for planting. And at the end of the day, they make small (sometimes large) piles of dead yard waste and trash and burn it. That was something I noticed when we first came to Ukraine – the smell of all this smoke. At that time it was annoying to breath it in all the time, but I don’t mind it this go-round. It’s become a sign of spring to me: we’re getting rid of all the dead stuff and trash and preparing for a fresh, new year!

Feb 6 — This is pretty much what our yard looked like through most of February and the beginning of March!

This time of year can also get pretty dusty, if it doesn’t rain. The snow is gone, the ground has dried, yards and fields are cleared, and only a few flowers are starting to push up through the dirt. But, again, I don’t mind! So long as it’s not snow, ice, or mud that I have to trudge through to get to school every day, it’s all good!

April first marks the anniversary of our arrival in Ukraine! It’s hard to believe, but we’ve experienced a whole year here – we know what each season brings; we know what to expect. Obviously anything can still happen, but it’s nice to be in somewhat familiar territory. Now, for comparison: a few pics of our backyard through the 3 seasons we’ve experienced while living in our town.

August 11 — After just moving into our apartment in August, our backyard looks pretty green.

Sept 13 — Alex plays with the neighbor boys in September, and some wild flowers are all that remain as fall approaches.

Nov 4 — A couple of cats wander through our first snow in early November.

Dec 7 — December offically brings winter to town with a snowstorm.

Winter Wrap-Up: Kids on Sleds

Spring finally appears to be on its way (although we still have inches of snow and ice on the ground in places), the sun shines brighter and longer each day (the vernal equinox is tomorrow!), and everyone’s spirits are slowly lifting in anticipation of warmer weather (anything above 40 is considered warm these days). So, it’s time to get you caught up on winter in Ukraine.

First in our Winter Wrap-Up series: Ukrainian kids. We have come to the conclusion that kids in Ukraine are the cutest beings on the planet. Ukrainian parents don’t let the winter stop them from taking a stroll with the kids. If the temperature drops below 60, they just stuff their children into enormous coats, hats with ears, and baby carriages with enough padding to protect the kid from a 7-story drop. Picture Ralphie’s brother Randy in A Christmas Story, and you have the right image. These kids can barely manage to waddle along next to their parents, so out come the sleds. Words cannot convey the appropriate amount of cuteness, so please sit back and enjoy our pictures.

Winter Gear — This typically dressed Ukrainian kid was hanging outside our apartment on January 9th with Grandma. (FYI, the ground hasn't been clear since then, and even that was just a brief spell.)

Budapest Kid — The first time we really took note of kids on sleds was in Budapest. You can tell this kid's not in Ukraine because she can move her arms.

Funny Kid — While talking to Luda outside the Lyceum on voting day, this little gem was getting ready to go.

Funny Kid 2 — Off he goes, down our town's main pedestrian drag.

Chernihiv Kid — In front of the skating rink in Chernihiv's downtown square, we caught sight of this little one enjoying a nice ride.

Hills — Since Chernihiv has some small hills, the kids actually got to ride down, instead of just being pulled around everywhere.

Hills 2 — The hill beside one of Chernihiv's famous churches provided an afternoon of fun for these kids and families.

Lyceum Hill — The only hill in our town (covering two huge water basins behind the lyceum) attracts school kids in the winter, who don't need sleds to slide down the side.

Alex tries sliding down the ice patch left behind by the students. Unfortunately, he just doesn't quite exude the same amount of cute.

The birthday holiday

It turns out that birthdays are a Big Deal here in Ukraine. Ask a Ukrainian what their favorite holiday is, and a lot of them will say “my birthday”. It’s been almost a year, but, if I recall, back home we don’t even consider birthdays to be “holidays” per se. Well, I found out last week that your birthday can sure feel like a holiday here.

Birthday at school — Getting embarrassed at school.

On my actual birthday Wednesday, I was instructed to show up at the teachers lounge after 3rd period (during the long break). Now, I had some idea what was coming, but my Ukrainian colleagues still managed to blow me away. My director, vice-director, gave lovely little speeches and set out a big colorful cake. Then, a woman from the administration, who had apparently come from the rayon office just for this, gave a nice speech and gave me flowers and a certificate. Then, about 15 kids from various classes paraded in wearing party hats and holding balloons. They proceeded to sing a birthday song in English which Tanya, one of the English teachers had taught them. Then, one of the boys stepped forward and recited a little English poem. Some gifts were given, and I thought we would then eat cake. Instead, they boxed up the cake and told me to take it home!

Since being low-key was not an option, Emma and I decided we would throw an all-out Ukrainian-style party at our apartment on Thursday. A Ukrainian party means sitting around a table eating, talking, drinking, and sometimes standing up to sing, dance, or put more food on the table. The role of host at such a party, it seems to me, is to:

Set a table with as many dishes as possible. You know you have enough dishes if, after spending some minutes rearranging to no effect, you resort to stacking things on top of each other. It helps if you have a small table.
Have more napkins sitting around the edge of the table than your guests will ever need. It’s good form to hand a new napkin to guests midway through the party, whether they need it or not.
Have plenty of vodka and/or wine. Do NOT run out (I’ve never seen this happen, but I’m sure it’s bad).

When guests arrived, they gave me some thoughtful gifts like beer mugs and a cake plate. The proper etiquette for accepting gifts here seems to be to thank the person and set the gift aside without a second look, to open up later. Also when arriving, the guests handed us the food they brought (an absolute requirement when visiting). We put all their dishes on the table to help us fill it up. Then we started the eating and drinking.

The ritual around drinking is pretty interesting. One person will designate him or herself to fill everyone’s small drinking glass at regular intervals. Pouring backhanded is very bad, as is holding your glass up to help the person pour. During the obligatory toast, everyone holds their glass in their right hand while someone says a couple words or a long speech, then everyone drinks together. Toasting has rules, too, but let’s leave that for another day.

Party with neighbors and friends — Why not two nights in a row?

Anyway, to wrap this up, suffice it to say we had a good time and our Ukrainian-style party was a success. The next day, we invited our landlords and some neighbors over for a second party, which was less intensive and thankfully helped with some of the leftovers. In the end, we were glad to be able to repay in some small way all the hospitality we’ve been shown here.