Everything Will Be Illuminated

Was Everything Illuminated?

2007-08-01T16:09:00.000+03:00

This year has been at the same time the most amazing and difficult experience of my life. In my senior year of college I decided that I wanted to spend a year in a Russian speaking country doing some kind of community health work. This year I was able to do exactly that. I feel blessed and honoured to have had this opportunity. The professional experience I gained was immense. I had the opportunity to do extensive program development and implementation, learn how a non-profit and NGO operates, in

Ukraine

no less, and be a part of an incredible international organization.

The personal growth I went through and the life education I received were also enormous. I learned so much about myself: about my strengths and my weaknesses and how to utilize and/or overcome them. I feel almost completely acculturated and very at-home in Ukraine, as scary as that is given some of the backwardness of this country. I was able to make a life here, and make sense of this culture and society. My Russian really is almost fluent. At graduation last year I spoke briefly with Tufts’ Provost. When I told him what I would be doing this year, he said, “Wow, you are really taking our global citizenship message seriously!” I do take the idea of global citizenship seriously, and after this year I am pretty confident that I could manage to live anywhere in the world, for a year at least. I am also more committed to the values of cross cultural exchanges, knowing foreign languages, and studying/living/volunteering abroad.

How I feel about being Jewish and what being Jewish means to me has also changed. I expected this to happen over the course of the year, and I have to admit it was one of the things I was most anxious about before I left. I started this year as an “un-affiliated Jew.” I was not involved in Hillel or any other Jewish youth group, I went to synagogue only for the High Holidays, and Judaism was something that was important to me only because it was important to my parents and grand-parents. There were many times this year when I felt very guilty for this; for taking my being Jewish and having had a Jewish education and up-bringing for granted. Seeing the vitality of the community here, and meeting so many people who were discriminated against because they were Jewish and were not allowed to practice at all, and now that they can are overjoyed by the “privilege” of just participating in a Jewish community, has inspired me to value being Jewish. Being Jewish and participating in Jewish communal life and maintaining Jewish traditions are all much more important to me now and I will be looking for ways to incorporate this into my life when I return home.

I leave for the airport tomorrow at 8am. This is probably my last post. Thanks for following my adventures in Ukraine! Not to worry, I'm sure there will be more to come...

Final Countdown

2007-07-27T17:38:00.001+03:00

Its hard to believe, but I have less than a week left in Kyiv! If all goes according to schedule, which it probably won't, I will be touching down in Boston at 6pm on Thursday August 2nd. My replacement, Sarah, has arrived, and we are busy orienting her and making sure she feels as overwhelmed as possible before I abandon her next week.

The past month has been jam packed! A few weeks ago I went to St. Petersburg to visit the Fieldmans and to see Kristin. The differences between Russia and Ukraine were apparent from the second I got off of the plane and stepped into a crumbly Soviet airport filled with hundreds of Uzbeks carrying bags of melons trying to get through customs. In general: Russia is dirtier, more backwards, has more bureaucracy (the number of small, stamped pieces of paper you need to leave the country is really ludicrous), the people are angry and mean, and it is expensive! It makes Ukraine, ok well Kyiv, look like Europe. I have noticed all year that the people here are much friendlier and more helpful. I find Ukrainians to be quite warm and endearing.

It was great to visit Petersburg and see some friends, but I was actually relieved to be back in Ukraine! That was a weird feeling...

Both right before, and since my trip to Russia, I've been hosting lots of missions. I really am good at this "Jewish Tour of Kyiv" thing. I'm pretty sick of all the "sights" here--Jewish and otherwise. If I never go back to the souvenir market it will be too soon.

Other than a few last meetings, phone calls, and actually packing my bags, I'm done! My final report is all written, I've packed my last box of warm home cookies, and said good bye to almost all of my old ladies, who are all surprised and sad that I am leaving.

I am also sad, but mostly excited! I can't wait to do American things like bbq, drink iced coffee, and shop at Target.

Here's a link to the article from JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, basically the Jewish Associated Press) about the Jewish Service Corps. If you are still un-clear as to exactly what I am doing here, this should help! Oh, and when it says Weinberg, they mean Wertlieb...

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/20070722JDCVolunteer.html

Getting Friendly with My Neighbor

2007-07-02T22:05:00.000+03:00

I was just on my way out the door (locking the last of my 5 locks) when my neighbor poked his head out. I don’t have much to do with my neighbors. From my two encounters with this man in the last eight months, I have learned that he is a 95 year old Hesed client (what a coincidence!) named Mikhail. He is blind in one eye and very hard of hearing. He has a son, Alexander, who lives with him part-time and speaks English. The “4” of “41” had fallen off my door a few months ago, and he had found it outside on the ground. “Let me give you your 4,” he said today. I agreed and he ushered me into his apartment (which is identical to mine expect three times the size). Mikhail shuffled with remarkable speed into the back room and brought me my 4.

I thanked him and turned to go. He said, “Dochenka moya (little daughter of mine), can you sit with me for a couple of minutes, I have a question for you.” I of course agreed and followed him into the living room. We sat. He launched into a story about how he has a very close friend who lives in America who has a 60 year old son who he has known since he was born who is looking for a good Jewish girl to marry. Did I know anyone? I told him I would have to think about it. Then he told me it had been his 95^th birthday a few days ago. He had received lots of cards. If I had a moment, could he read them to me? I of course agreed and he jumped up and again shuffled with remarkable speed to collect his birthday cards, which he then read aloud to me. He told me about who had sent him the cards (Veteran’s society, regional government party, a friend in the US, a friend elsewhere in Ukraine…). He said he felt bad for not inviting me to his birthday party.

The cards and names of course triggered lots of memories and stories for Mikhail. “If you have another minute, would you like to see some pictures of my friends and family?” Mikhail asked me, “Or maybe another time if you have to run somewhere.” I asked to be shown the pictures now. He led me, again at remarkable shuffling speed, to another room. I told him not to rush, that I had time. He said, “I can’t move slowly! My son is always telling me to slow down, but I can’t! You should see me when I clean the apartment!” In this room there were pictures of Mikhail, his family, and his army pals spread out over a large desk and up on the wall. He pointed out brothers and sisters (who lived until 98, or were killed by the Germans, or had moved to Israel but were now blind), wedding pictures (a group of 15 people, and he is the only one still living), his wife who died two years ago, his son, a niece, a comrade whose teeth he had fixed at the front (Mikhail was a dentist. When he told me this I glanced at his teeth, which are PERFECT: a rarity for any elderly person, and even rarer in Ukraine.)

Mikhail kept telling me to come over if I ever got bored, or maybe just to chat in the evening, or maybe he would come ring my bell (he will push twice so I know it’s him). He was so sorry we hadn’t gotten acquainted earlier, but, “better late than never!” he said.

A Few Words About My Feetnes Tsentr (Fitness Center)

2007-06-28T13:38:00.000+03:00

In an attempt to combat the mass amounts of deep fried, sugar coated, fat laden, mayonnaise smothered food I am force fed on a daily basis, I joined a gym way back in November. My membership has expired at this point, but I figure if their system is too archaic to keep track of the memberships (we're talking no computers, I paid in cash, and my ID is handwritten and laminated...) then I have the right to keep going until they discover me.

My gym is called "Olympic Style" and is situated on the campus (they say "territory") of the Ukrainian National University of Physical Fitness and Athletics, on Physical Fitness Street. I couldn't make this up, could I? Its a 10 minute walk from my apartment. As far as I can tell, I am the only American who goes to this gym. I am also the only woman who works out without the assistance of a trainer, does not wear biking gloves on the elliptical, does not wear trendy pumas on the treadmill, does not wear a cute matching spandex work out outfit that exposes most of my skin, and who actually breaks a sweat. I get a lot of weird looks. The men are equally entertaining. Lots of body builders, lots of mullets, lots of hunky trainers (I'm serious). My favorite is the guy that runs bare-foot on the treadmill. Ouch!

machines, lots of weight machines, free weights, a mat area, a boxing ring, and a bowling alley...I have yet to bowl. There are of course, flat screen TVs. The non-stop. Why on earth do the The gym is actually pretty nice (I pay more than I do in the US, even though my US gym is nicer...there just aren't a lot of gyms here to drive the prices down). It has several cardioTV's however, are on mute, and there is no way to plug in headphones to the machines. But, even if I could hear the TVs, I wouldn't want to. The only stations that are ever playing are the Russian Sports channel, which sometimes shows awesome stuff like rhythmic gymnastics (its sooo cool!), but usually shows something awful like Russian Billiards...The other TV broadcasts all Fashion TV all the time. This channel is the bane of my existence. A lot of "trendy restaurants" also show this channel. Why do restaurant and gym people think you want to watch skinny girls parade around in their underware while you are eating or exercising? Today it was in fact a lingerie run-way show. Awful. I should also mention that my mp3 player is broken, so I am subjected to Russian/Ukrainian pop and house music, which I have to admit, I sort of like.

That's the gym in a nutshell. Not my favorite place.

On another note entirely, I'm going to St. Petersburg at the end of next week!!! I am so excited. After Boston, Petersburg is my favorite city in the world. I'm going to visit Matt and Alyson, the JSC volunteers there (I've directed you to their blog on many occasions), hopefully my host mom from when I studied abroad (a hysterical 75 year old woman who I became very close with), and one of my best friends, Kristin, who is there doing a writing program with Gary Shteyngart (author of my favorite book, Absurdistan). She's a lucky girl! I had a mild visa scare and wasn't sure that I would get my Russian visa in time, but it turns out if you are willing to wait in line for hours and pay a lot money, anything is possible. I'm sure you can imagine that the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Kiev Ukraine is a bit of a nightmare...

Rocket Man Rocks the Socks Off Kyiv at AIDS Awareness Concert

2007-06-17T18:29:00.000+03:00

Last night I attended what may have been the best concert I've ever been to. Elton John on Independence Square FOR FREE. Sir Elton played a 2.5 hour set including every hit imaginable...and it turns out I know most of the words...Highlights were Rocket Man, Crocodile Rock, and The Circle of Life complete with Lion King video montage on the big screens.

Katya and I were a little weary of what the scene would be like: thousands of sweaty, drunk Ukrainians drawn to a free downtown event. Beers in hand, we made our way towards Independence square quite easily. On the street, volunteers were giving out information, condoms and addresses of the HIV testing and counseling centers. Then we came to a fence on the edge of Independence Square. We were happy to see that it didn't seem too crowded on the other side, by the stage. A mob quickly formed by this militsia enforced "entrance." At first we were all moving forward through the gate. Then, much to the mob's dismay, the guards stopped letting people in, and were only letting people out. At first we all stood calmly sipping our drinks. But after 10 minutes of standing and sweating, the mob got restless. So we did what Ukrainians do best: we pushed. The mass of bodies (all still with a bottle or two in hand) was too much for the small gate and few militsia to handle. We knocked the gate and guards over, and were all pushed/trampled/squeezed through. Success! It is amazing the kind of camaraderie that you sometimes feel here in beating "The Man."

We pushed through as much of the crowd as we could, until we could see the top of the stage (Katya and I are short), and had a good view of the big monitors. We got settled just as Elton came on stage. The Ukrainians were surprisingly un-animated for most of the concert, and the songs they really got excited about were obscure ones that Katya and I didn't recognize. We didn't let the placidity of the rest of the crowd stand in our way. We sang along with Elton and danced the Crocodile Rock like it was 1999. We got a lot of confused, yet supportive, looks from our neighbors.

Sneaky Ukrainians that we are, we managed to squeeze our way past another gate into a sort of VIP zone for the encore set. From here we were sort of able to see Elton! And with the help of an enthusiastic picture taker, snap some shots of Elton on stage.

A couple times during the show Elton said a few words pledging his help to Ukraine and our emerging AIDS epidemic. Katya and I cheered. The Ukrainians didn't seem to understand the English, cheering only when Elton attempted a few words in Russian and Ukrainian.

How did this incredible event come to be? The reason is actually quite sad. Ukraine is on the brink of a devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2005, there were over 80,000 registered cases of HIV in Ukraine. The most common means of transmission are intra-venous drug use, and in-vitro transmission. According to the socio-economic forecast of HIV/AIDS epidemic conducted by the World Bank, by 2014, 40,000 children will become full orphans and up to 169 thousand children will lose one of their parents due to the AIDS epidemic. Most of these children will inherit HIV status from their parents.

Elton John's AIDS foundation has funded twenty-three HIV/AIDS related projects in Ukraine over the last six years totaling over $2.6 million. Last night's AIDS awareness concert was the most recent of these projects. Elton partnered with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation (one of our oligarchs who is actually using his money for the betterment and development of Ukraine) and the Elena Franchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation. Together, they have pledged a $2.5 million grant for the 5 year program of the Elton John AIDS Foundation in Ukraine.

To read more about the concert, and to learn about Elton's AIDS foundation, and about the Pinchuk and Franchuk, see Elton's website:
http://web.eltonjohn.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070605&contentid=11751

Sweating to the Oldies: Ukraine Style

2007-06-13T16:23:00.000+03:00

The good news is I have been bad about up-dating the blog because I have been so busy! Though I still managed to find time to become addicted to yet ANOTHER tv show. I somehow worked through the first two seasons of “24” in about a week. It’s just so good.

The beginning of the month was slow. We were closed for a number of Ukrainian and International holidays. But as soon as the prazniki were over, mission season began. What is a mission? It is far less religious than it sounds. In the JDC world, a mission is a person, or couple, or group of people, usually from the US, usually Jewish, who are donors or potential donors or people who will get the word out about our work to attract donors, who come for a day or a few days to visit the JDC programming they are either funding or may potentially fund, and meet with representatives of the organizations/programs. My role in receiving missions ranges from giving tours of Hesed, to meeting groups for dinner, to providing information and giving interviews about the Jewish Service Corps, to playing tour-guide and interpreter all over Kyiv covering all the Jewish sites of interest. In May I helped to host 7 missions. That’s a whole lot of translating. I have met a lot of very interesting and influential people in the past few weeks! Maybe one of them will help me find a job...

To test my translating skills further, Natasha and I have been hard at work creating a Hesed website, for which I was responsible for all the English content. Hopefully it will all be done and up and running by the time I leave. Things move slowly here...

Also, summer come early! Starting in mid-May, the weather has been consistently hot and sunny. It has been 80-90 degrees and sweltering for almost a month now. I have no a/c. I do have a large fan...but my babushky have cautioned me against sitting directly in front of it lest I get a lung infection from the draft.

In addition to all the missions, I had more visitors! My dad was in Ukraine for 3 weeks, first on a
short-term Fulbright in Mykolaev, then working on his on-going project in Dnepropetrovsk, then on a quick trip to Kyiv. If you are looking for the source of my bizarre FSU obsession and desire to live/work/play here, my dad is partially to blame/thank. A few days after my dad arrived, I took the sweatiest overnight train imaginable down to Mykolaev. We promptly hopped on a marshrutka (mini-bus) to Odessa where we spent 24 hours strolling, eating, checking out local culture and sharing stories about experiences and interactions in this strange country. If you are looking for Ukraine’s other number one fan, I think my dad is it! Back to Mykolaev the next day to check out dad’s temporary home. Turns out Mykolaev is a very pretty, very green, very walkable, lovely small Ukrainian city! Also turns out we have family from Mykolaev (they left late 1800s)! A cousin of ours gave us the address, so we stopped by. Dad forgot the keys though, so we couldn’t get in. (xaxa it is joke.)

A less-sweaty train ride back to Kyiv and 2 days of packing cookies for the Warm Homes later, Evan arrived in Kyiv! A first trip to Ukraine is shell-shocking. I made sure to keep Evan at the highest level of shell-shocked-ness for the duration of his 11 days here. How did I do this? While we traveled all over the country (and to Moldova for a few hours, then through Transnisteria-- Europe’s Newest Country) I made sure Evan had as many “typical” Soviet, I mean Ukrainian, expereinces as possible— We took multiple forms of loooooooong hot-as-hell overnight transportation next to crying babies, stayed in an un-renovated Soviet in-tourist hotel, rode marshrutkas until we had sweat through our clothes and were on the verge of passing out, were force fed sweets by old ladies (who were ecstatic to meet my “fiance” as they insist on calling him), haggled over differences of a few cents at markets, were interrogated by border guards (you’ll have to e-mail me for the full story on this one...), and dodged drunk men and ill-fitting man-hole covers. Whew. While the rest of this country is beautiful and interesting, and Lviv and Odessa are both strikingly European looking, though a little bit crumbly, we were both relieved to get back to “clean”, modern, cosmopolitan Kyiv! Can you imagine?...

Evan is a champ. He learned to read Cyrillic on his first day, and absorbed almost everything I showed and explained to him in true “see how it grows?” fashion (sorry, that’s a little Wertlieb fa-mi-ly joke). The only time he stopped talking to me was for a few hours after a 5 hour Chisinau (capitol of Moldova which I had a burning desire to visit) to Odessa marshrutka that included several border interrogations, transit through Transnisteria (a horrifying and unbelievable fake country, see above in text links), a mandatory bribe, a bag search, and again, gallons and liters of sweat. When we arrived at the hotel after what we now refer to as “that great character building experience we shared,” there was a sign at the desk saying “we regret to inform you that we have no hot water.” When I asked when there would be hot water the lady replied with a chuckle, “I don’t know, maybe October.” Luckily, I had reserved a more expensive room (about $4 more than a standard room) with its own hot water heater, so we did have hot water, and Evan did resume speaking to me after having a nice shower.

Pictures from all of these travels are in the Photo Album link.

Now its back to work until my grandmother and aunt arrive next week. We are planning a little trip to Chernobyl. Not joking. After that its really time to wrap things up (I head home August 2^nd!) and then train my replacement! You may remember Sarah, she was the crazy maniac who came to Kyiv on the Kyiv/Chicago Hillel Spring Break trip and stayed a few extra days with me? Well, she’s signed up for more! Guess that makes her Ukraine’s third number one fan...

Spring Fever...or I Hope I Don't Have Drug-Resistant TB

2007-04-28T19:32:00.000+03:00

What happened to April?! I guess with every intense “formative” experience “the days are like weeks and the weeks are like days,” (Mark, TMS). It feels like I just posted that bit about the “Revolution,” but it’s actually been almost a month....but the days themselves went by sooooo sloooooowly.

Passover feels like eons ago…all in all I went to FIVE Seders, two of which I co-lead with a Hillel student. It was a whole lot of Passover and I was ready for it to end mid-way through. As much hard work as it was and as difficult as it was to be away from home, it was of course very meaningful and memorable. As with all Jewish traditions I witness here, I was deeply moved by how much the holiday meant to the community here; how deeply proud and happy the people were to be able to celebrate Passover. At all of the Seders I went to, it was at least one persons first Seder. In addition to all of my usual feelings of guilt for taking being Jewish for granted was the poignancy of the idea of freedom, that we were freed from slavery in Egypt and how today in Ukraine, Jews are free to practice Judaism. This made the holiday particularly meaningful.

After Passover, Josh (my older brother) came to visit! We did literally every single touristy thing Kyiv has to offer…and then we struggled to fill the next two days of his visit. Haha. Josh managed to point out, and not in a mean way, but rather a well-traveled way, all of Kyiv’s shortcomings as a destination city. Nothing he mentioned was news to me, but were all things I am well aware of and choose to ignore so I can go about my life here. As much fun as we had visiting churches, synagogues, old ladies (they LOVED him), wax museums, outdoor markets, demonstrations (they’re pretty unavoidable, you have to walk through them to get around the center of the city) and the Scorpions concert (hilarious), when Josh left I wished it was me in his suitcase instead of all my winter clothes.

Luckily, I only had to bear Kyiv for a few days until I flew to London for a much needed break from Ukraine and time with my mom! We had a glorious long weekend in London town filled with speaking English and eating delicious rarities like Thai and Indian food.

Now I’m in Kyiv trying to wrap my head around where the time has gone and how I will make it through 3.5 more months…I know the time will fly but I am starting to go a little nuts/turn Ukrainian.

The demonstrations have been going on for almost a month and the only change that seems to have occurred is an increase in the severity of traffic due to lots of major street closings. I should mention that the bulk of the protesters here are people from rural Ukraine who get bussed into the capitol and paid $30 a day to wave the flag of the party who’s paying them…That’s how we do democracy.

In other news, a couple days ago as Katya and I were enjoying one of our taco feasts in my apartment, someone tossed a FLAMING mattress out of their 3^rd story window down into my courtyard. Luckily no people or stray cats were hurt…

Things get nuttier

2007-04-04T17:19:00.000+03:00

Remember how yesterday the President of Ukraine called for the Disbandment of Parliament? Well, today the Prime Minister of Ukraine defied that order:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/world/europe/04ukraine.html?ex=1176350400&en=d5ad81079dc7a198&ei=5070&emc=eta1

In other news, the Rolling Stones are coming to Kiev July 25th! Who wants to go to the show with me? All of my friends here (including my Ukrainian friends) will be in America...

I actually live in Absurdistan

2007-04-03T16:08:00.000+03:00

I'm not sure how many of you follow the news in this part of the world...Morgan gets 2 gold stars for sending me articles about recent political events. I frequently have experiences here that make me laugh and shake my head and say, "Is this place for real?" Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan (one of my FAVORITE books) paints a freakishly accurate picture of this part of the world. If you haven't read it, READ IT! Especially if you have any interest and/or experience with this part of the world. Check out these links to stories of recent goings-on here and tell me if you think this place is for real. And of course, given all of the security warnings and precautions I receive from JDC, and the e-mails from the US Embassy, I will not be attending any of the demonstrations.

Demonstrations last week...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6512941.stm

That lead to the disbanding of Parliament this week...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/europe/03ukraine.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

What is The Orange Revolution? (Shame on you for not knowing)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution

To help clarify: Yushchenko and Yanukovich were the presidential candidates. Yushchekno is pro-West and Yanukovich leans towards Russia. Yushchenko was poisoned during the elections leaving his face disfigured...we're pretty sure it was Yanukovich that poisoned him. Yushchenko won the election and is the current President of Ukraine. Yanukovich is our Prime Minister...

Other craziness:
http://perezhilton.com/topics/gay_gay_gay/headline_of_the_week_weak_20070402.php

"Spring Break" Ukraine and Passover

2007-04-03T00:29:00.000+03:00

This is the third Passover I have spent away from home. Every time I say I am never going to be away from my family for Passover again…But here I am in Kiev without my family on Passover (but Josh, my brother, is coming to visit on Sunday!). Luckily the past few weeks have kept me so busy that I haven’t really had time to be homesick. I guess I’ll start where I left off last time, heading out the door to meet the Chicago “spring break” group. Perhaps this needs explaining. You are probably familiar with the concept of alternative spring breaks. Usually the trips are doing things like building houses in Central America…These kids chose Ukraine…Apparently I am not the only crazy out there who actually wants to come here. This was a service-learning/cultural exchange trip with a group of 10 students from Chicago Hillels and 10 from Kiev Hillel. (Chicago and Kiev are sister cities)

I didn’t make it to the airport with the rest of the Kiev Hillel kids to meet the Chicago Hillel kids because I had a surprise lunch with one of the JDC VPs in town for just a few hours. Very tasty. When I did meet up with the group, they were very tired, confused, disoriented and overwhelmed…I think they probably felt this way when the left town a week later…I feel this way most of the time here…

Overall the week was awesome. We did sightseeing around Kiev, visited the Jewish communal organizations, did some volunteering at Hesed and made home visits to Hesed clients. For Shabbat we split into two groups, half went to Chernigov and half to Cherkassy. We did some more home visits to Hesed clients, spent time in the Hesed Day Center and did Shabbat and Havdallah with the Youth Club. I went to Chernigov (for the second time in 2 weeks…believe me there is not THAT much to see there…) We also did fun things like went bowling, saw a ballet and went salsa dancing…

What made all of this every-day-of-MY-life-stuff so awesome? That it wasn’t everyday life stuff for anyone else. It was really cool for me to observe and help coach the Americans go through what I have been experiencing for 7 months (!). To watch them and assist them get their heads around just how different everything is here: life period, Jewish life, being Jewish, what a Jew is, living in a society with no social supports, being elderly and receiving a pension that is not large enough to buy your food, medicines and housing…the list is really endless. Obviously the Kiev students know what it is like to live here, but for some of them it was the first time they had any exposure to Hesed, to a Jewish Day School, to doing a home visit to a Hesed client.

It was also really special to be a part of a group of people who come from very different “places” (geographically, Jewish-ly, culturally…) and manage to really bond and learn A LOT from each other. We spent a lot of time teaching each other English/Russian…The Americans were particularly fond of teaching the Ukrainians bad words in English…The new favorite catch phrase at the Kiev Hillel is “Who farted?” It also turns out that most of the Kiev Hillel girls, many of whom I have known all year, SPEAK ENGLISH, and didn’t reveal that to me until now. Socially this was a good week for me because now I am not just “that weird American girl who Sasha knows and sometimes stops by Hillel.” Good thing it only took me 7 months.

I also felt really USEFUL this week. I did a lot of translating and explaining of things that seemed obvious to the Ukrainians but were beyond comprehension to the Americans (like parking on the side walk and drinking beer on the street). My position as an American and a Kiev group member meant I did a lot of cultural interpreting and mediating. As things go on large group trips, logistics can get a bit tricky. Multiply any usual group planning challenges by 10 because we are in Ukraine. Luckily, I am an organizational and logistical mastermind, and my skills in those areas were much appreciated.

The week left me EXHAUSTED. I am used to like 10 hours of sleep a night (I lead a very exciting life, I know). I got far fewer than that all week. One of the Chicagankas, Sarah, decided to extend her trip a few days and stayed with me. We were exhausted and felt crazy together. She speaks Russian, so I gave her a map and sent her on her way. The Hillel girls also did some baby-sitting.

Last week was CRAZY with Passover planning for Warm Homes and general craziness because we are closed most of this week so everyone was scrambling to get things done. All of my questions, of which there are always many, were answered with, “I don’t know. Go ask _____.” As a result, pretty much every day was a disaster and I was in tears by the end of the week. Yes, I have turned into a huge cry-baby.

Saturday we had a Passover seminar at Hillel complete with model Seder. Sunday my gentile friends helped me make a ton of choroset to get me through the week. And now I have just returned from a very bizarre Chabad Seder experience at the central synagogue. Whew.

Sasha and I got tickets for the “people’s” Seder at the synagogue. We arrived, met up with a friend (also named Sasha of course), and milled around for a while waiting to be ushered into the dining room. There was another Seder going on in the main hall of the synagogue. It turns out this was the VIP Seder…the upper crust of the Kiev Jewish community who received special invitations to this Seder lead by one of the four (yes, we have four) head Rabbis of Ukraine. We were standing in the women’s gallery looking down onto the VIP Seder wondering why on earth WE had not been invited. We saw someone we knew, gave her a call, and just like that, we were invited. We joined the VIP Seder just as the meal was getting started. The meal left much to be desired…and my homesickness really kicked in. We chatted with our table-mates and pushed the food around our plates for about an hour. Then the Rabbi, with the help of his very serious and learn-ed 10 year old son, got the second half of the Seder under way. At this point pretty much everyone had left (it started out with maybe 100 people and we were down to 30ish). As engaging as the Rabbi’s pacing and chanting was, we decided we had had enough and took off too.

I was un-impressed. I told Sasha we should have just done it ourselves at one of our houses with a bunch of friends. This thought had crossed my mind earlier, but I am still so wiped out from the last couple of weeks that the thought of organizing something else was just too overwhelming. Now I sort of wish I had! We may still succeed in doing that this week if we can muster the strength after doing Warm Homes and Hesed/Beitheinu and Hillel Seders…Doing Passover at home is just not something that happens here. Because there are very few Jewish families who practice Judaism in their homes (because they literally don’t know how), people rely on Jewish communal organizations for holiday celebrations. The Hillel kids though, definitely know how to do a Seder. I saw them do it on Saturday! Sasha said maybe she would just do it at her house next year…

….Its slow gains here. But any progress is progress. Chag Pesach Semeach!

The State Puppet Theater is Fancier Than My Apartment...

2007-03-19T11:32:00.000+02:00

The Puppet Theater here is still a state sponsored institution...One of those amazing Soviet carry-overs. We also recently had one of our infamous Oligarchs pour a ton of money into it...so yes, the Puppet Theater is fancier than my apartment. Last week a friend of mine and I went to see a puppet show...As I am on my way out the door to a week long Chicago Hillel Alternative Spring Break Adventure in Kiev, I don't have time to adequately write about the expereince. Luckily, my friend already did on her blog! I think you'll find our senses of humor similar, so it is almost like I wrote it myself...and yes, the friend she refers to is me. Enjoy.

I Went to a Crazy, Ukrianian, Pornographic, Puppet Show and All I Got Was a Broken Toe

As is the case with all of my friend's blogs, the rest of the blog is very funny and informative. So check it out.

Additions to "List of Awesome Things"

2007-03-09T13:58:00.000+02:00

-Juice boxes for grown-ups (yes, I am a grown-up)
-The Russian language (sometimes they/we say the nicest most poetic things to each other, I also love all the diminutives)
-Gloriously delicious milk products
-Women's Day

Thinking Positively

2007-03-06T17:51:00.000+02:00

I have been living in Kiev for 6 months. I am half way through my time here. Where has the time gone?! I feel like I just got here, and like I’ve been here for an eternity. I think that the next 6 months will pass too quickly, and also maybe not quickly enough! I feel like I have a lot to accomplish in my remaining time here…so I’m trying to keep my fantasies of touching down in Boston at bay for a while…

Spring has sprung. The winter here was not unbearably cold or snowy, much to my dismay I have to admit! It was just oppressively, soul-wrenchingly grey. Trees are beginning to bud and people are shedding their furs. The sun makes frequent appearances! I feel like I am also thawing. I have never felt my mood and state of mind so correlated to the weather as it has been for the past 4 months. The warmer weather (we’re talking 40s) and sunshine has made me restless. I actually want to be out of my apartment! I am a big fan of spending hours alone in cafes reading.

As I’ve mentioned before, though I think I’ve managed to censor my rants about the difficulty of living here pretty well, life here is tough! I am doing my best to think positively, and keep a running list of really awesome things that you can do/find here that you can’t do/find elsewhere. Many of the items are awesome because they are just so damn cheap…Here is what I have come up with so far:

-Fresh squeezed juice at pretty much every restaurant and BAR
-Cheap waxing
-Shoe repair kiosks on every block (this actually does come in handy)
-Shockingly convenient, cheap and far-reaching public transportation
-Cheap fur and leather goods
-Institutionalized hitch-hiking (you just wave guys down and pay them a few grivnyas…)
-Dom Buity (House of Services), buildings where you can get your shoes repaired, buttons sewn on, belts fixed, buy zippers in every size and color, get things dry cleaned and hemmed, have copies of keys made, change money, and sometimes book flights, all of course for ridiculously low prices.
-Abundance and variety of flowers for sale
-The possibility of buying a bra, a dried fish and homemade pickles from the same lady

This list seems short…I will let you know if and when I think of more!

So Much Business

2007-02-27T13:22:00.000+02:00

I have been busy busy busy! Which is a fabulous feeling! Warm Home cookie packaging and Purim planning and mission receptions oh my! Work and life have really picked up, and I am actually going to be very busy through June! So many exclamation points!

Aside from work being busy (and rewarding), I have had a couple of super fun adventures in the past couple of weeks. The first was Maslenitsa, my favorite holiday of all time. I feel that it is best explained in an anonymous post from Matt and Alyson's St. Petersburg blog, so I have copied and pasted it below. Also, check out my pictures. It really is the best holiday possible.

Masleniza is an ancient Russian holiday. It was the most important holiday. Masleniza is a meeting of spring. Russian very much wait this holiday, in fact it (he) means arrival of long-awaited spring! The spring is means, there is no cold more, is warmly and the Sun! The person from hay which burn name the Scarecrow. The scarecrow is a winter. In a scarecrow put leaves with desires which are always executed. When the scarecrow burns it is necessary to speak " Gori,Gori yasno chtoby ne pogaslo " (Burn, burn clearly, that would not die out!) Farewell to Winter is accompanied by pancakes with caviar, vodka, songs and dances. Masleniza lasts week, to it Russian get fat on twokgs and drink vodka in 10 times more usual!

Right.

This past weekend I went to Warsaw! It was part business trip, as I visited Aviva, the JSC volunteer there, but mostly relaxing/crazy sightseeing and shopping. Warsaw rocks! I think that Kiev could be that awesome/European in maybe 10 years...It is a really cool mix of crazy Soviet architecture and scariness, Old European neighborhoods, and neauvo-European restaurants and stores. Me likey.

In addition to checking out the city, doing some much needed shopping, eating of delicious and somewhat healthy food, and drinking lots of pivo s sokom (beer with delicious raspberry syrup. mmm!) paid for by new Irish friends, getting to know about Aviva's life and job as a JSC volunteer was also very interesting and valuable. Our jobs are not SO different, as she is also doing a lot of elderly social welfare programming, but her life and the community there are totally different.

The community there is VERY insular...all of the Jewish communal organizations are housed either in the synagogue or the building next to it. Aviva's apartment and her friends' apartment are across the street from the synagogue...all of this is in the old Jewish ghetto...The whole community really has a shtetl feel to it. For Shabbat dinner we ate at the super religious Jewish Graveyard Keeper's house...I'm not kidding...So its nice that everything is so close, but it also means that Aviva seems to be always sort of "on call." People call her all the time to do different favors/errands/babysit their kids...its nice that she's so involved, but I like that when I leave work, I have really left work. A good example: after shul on Friday night the Rabbi informed Aviva that a guy in the process of converting would be spending the night at her apartment....he slept on the floor as I had reserved the mattress...It just goes to show how every JSC placement is unique.

So Warsaw kicks ass. So does Maslenitsa.

This country knows how to kick your butt

2007-02-16T18:37:00.000+02:00

Living in Ukraine is not easy. Meredith Dalton puts it well in her book Culture Shock: Ukraine (one of my favorites), “Ukraine is not for the meek.” I do not consider myself to be meek, but rather a strong, capable person. There are days here, however, where my own strength and capabilities are no match for Ukraine. There are days when I feel like this place has blind folded me and made me run backwards up a hill for hours. There are days when I literally do not understand anything that is going on, and no one understands me…this is partially due to a battery of cultural clashes and partially do the fact that I speak broken Russian…Those days usually end with me coming home to find I have no running water at my apartment. Awesome.

There is one thing, however, that cheers me up and restores my faith in myself and my work and in humanity (people here can be downright MEAN sometimes…yesterday a woman literally pushed me from behind and muttered something rude about me cutting her off getting onto the escalator at the metro…something it is impossible not to do given the number of people and lack of space…I stared at her with my jaw dropped until she went on her way). That thing is my Warm Homes. I have written about them before, and described them to some of you in greater detail, but in the simplest terms, visiting a Warm Home means having tea and tasty treats and chatting with sweet old ladies (and the occasional man).

Getting to the Warm Homes is a harrowing experience. After riding to the end of the earth on the metro, I am deposited in the middle of an enormous bustling out-door market. I have to ask several people where the bus stop I need is, once on the bus I ask to be told when my stop is, once at the stop I ask a stranger or 5 to point me in the direction of the address I am looking for. On more than one occasion I have followed a kind stranger through snowy yards while they ask other strangers for directions on my behalf…

An hour or so after leaving my warm, cozy apartment, I arrive. I climb up several flights of crumbling, unlit stairs and ring the bell. I am greeted every time by a lovely babushka who is overjoyed to see me. “Oh Mollechka I am so happy to see you! I told everyone you were coming! They are so excited! Come in, come in, take off your boots, here are some tapochki (slippers).” I oblige (you must always do as the babushky say because they WILL NOT EVER take no for an answer), ask if I can help (they never let me), and sit down at the table that is laid with cups and saucers and piles of cookies and candy and home-baked treats like ruglach and bliny. Heaven. The apartments are old and unrenovated (like mine). You would never know that it is 2007…things look as if they have been untouched since 1970…this is usually actually the case.

The group trickles in and settles around the table, chatting the whole time about Polina’s new hat, or the upcoming trip to the Hesed Day Center, handing each other books, newspaper articles and clean empty glass jars. I usually sit quietly and grin, so tickled by these adorable old women, until they notice me and chirp, “Mollechka! Kotik (kitten)! How nice to see you! How are you doing? Are you keeping warm enough?...” After we have established that I am indeed keeping warm enough, that yes I do miss my family and friends, but I am quite happy here in Kiev, we begin with the “cultural” part of the visit. The past couple of Warm Homes I have gone to I have brought my computer and a DVD about Svetlana Portyanskaya to watch. Svetlana Portyanskaya is a Jewish singer from Russia who now lives in L.A, and has traveled the world singing Jewish and Russian songs. She is really quite good. I have seen the DVD three times…The women have been very pleased with this film, commenting throughout on Svetlana’s strong, soulful voice.

After the film, the tea and cookies portion of the visit really gets underway. In some cases we drink tea while watching the film…The conversation moves easily from the film, to how someone’s grandson is doing, to swapping home remedies for “old people moles” (sometimes we all get to see the moles…), to Yiddish sing-a-longs. At every Warm Home I attend I am told what a wonderful, beautiful girl I am, how much they love this program, how lucky they are to have Hesed to help them. Sometimes they cry a little as they tell me how grateful they are for Hesed’s help…which makes me cry too.

When it is time to leave, despite my protesting, a bag of cookies and candy is forced into my hands (I have taken to giving these bags to beggars I pass on my way home). I always feel re-invigorated enough for the long trek home, and ready to face another day in Ukraine.

You know you've been in Ukraine too long when...

2007-02-12T13:47:00.000+02:00

I have been here for over 5 months!

My friend e-mailed this list to me...and she may have gotten it from another blog...so I really can't take credit for it at all! But it was too good not to share. This list was for Russia, but almost all of them apply to Ukraine. Anyone who has any experience with this part of the world will appreciate this. And FYI, almost all of these apply to me...especially the one about ALWAYS carrying a plastic bag around with me, just in case.

You have been in Ukraine a long time when:
1) You say to the waitress, "devochka, pochemy v blyude ykropa net?" (Why is there no dill on this dish?)
2) You feel naked without your tapochki (slippers...Russian style)
3) You join a random angry bab in berating the roadworkers for how they're laying the tarmac
4) You start looking at Russians and thinking "that is a nice outfit"
5) You think "woah, slow down on the pirogi!" when you see someone over a size 8
6) Someone cuts in front of you on the metro and you tell "Nu, tee sho?! Zhopa!" (hmm..very obscene)
7) You take a plastic bag everywhere "just in case"
8) You yell "ALYO!?" into the phone when you answer
9) You mutter "durak" at the idiot who forgot the pickles when they bought the vodka
10)You join the line at the ticket booth according to what time the tekhnicheski pererivs (technical breaks) take place at each one
11)You remember with scorn the time when you had to buy the whole multipack of yogurts, and not just snap out your favourite flavour
12) You hit the cue-all too hard at billiards, and just shrug and "s dushoi" (It's fate)
13) You start humming the "dumma dumma dee...hya-da-dee, hya-d-da" song
14) You realize that potato is a polenza and appropriate pirog filling
15) "Voda" and "Bezgazirovannaya" (without gas) as inextricably linked in your head
16) The weird guy who lives at the internet cafe turns his music on full blast and starts smoking...and you start to relax, inhale, and tap along...
17) The DSP start pulling even more cars off the road, and you're not surprised when a politician convoy goes past at 200km
18) You start measuring in km, kg, and koneshno, sto grams!
19) You get suspicious when someone smiles at you (rightly so)
20) You laugh at Russian comedy
21) You argue full-belt with the checkout girl why she overcharged you on tampons
22) You shove in front of that damn bab to get the last carton of kefir
23) You get your queue-neighbour to save your place while you shop around, then return and take your place unabashed.
24) You have to check your passport to remember your arrival date
25) You start planning how to fit enough Russian food in your suitcase to survive back home
26) You know which diminutive your friend prefers according to mood
27) You can tell by the weight of your jacket if you have the key to your apartment
28) Your start to say oiy, akh, ekh
29) "Da net!" becomes a logical and usefuneighbor
30) You talk with your neighbour about "those Europeans" in the ballet intermission
31) You actually start to use the prefixes with verbs of motion
32) You appreciatively murmur "bogastova russkova iazika" (Rich Russian language) when you learn a new irregular plural
33) You keep typing "H" instead of "n"
34) You don't get it when your parents laugh if you order juice in a restaurant
35) You think nothing of wearing your stilettos to a club...when its -20 outside
36) The prazdnik celebrations kept you up for the third time in a month
37) Strangers are "molodoi chelovek" (young man) or "devushka" (girl)
38) You ride the marshrutka shouting "ostanovite na ostanvoke" EXACTLY where you want to stop and don't worry about handing your money to the driver via 6 people
39) You stare at the innostrantsii (outsiders, internationals) wandering around town

Not-So-Relaxing Massage

2007-02-02T16:54:00.000+02:00

Yesterday my herniated disk and I decided that a massage would be a good idea. I consulted my favorite book, The Kyiv International Women's Club Survival Guide, to find a masseuse. This book is very specific and very thorough. For example: To buy the best lamb, go to the Vladimirsky market, in the meat section, go to the third stall on the right and ask for Sergei. It's an amazing book. The massage section of the book is a list of names of masseuses and their phone numbers. Most will come to your house. I did not want some one to come to my house, because (a) is that a security risk? and (b) I was hoping for a little bit of that spa atmosphere...

I called Valery (va-LEH-ree) and scheduled an appointment for today. He gave me directions and told me that it would cost 70UAH for an hour...this is about $14...I wondered what exactly I was getting myself into. A $14 massage? Who was this guy? Where was this "office"?

The office was the basement floor of a building, inside a Med Tsentr (that's Russian for Medical Center). Valery met me at the entrance, he was wearing scrubs...I think this made me feel better? The setting was typical post-Soviet, very "where the real Ukrainians are" and sort of nasty...There was a group of mothers with sick young children in the waiting room...Valery lead me to the massage room which was harsh-fluorescently lit with an old rickety massage/examination table. Valery put a sheet on the floor, explaining the floor would be cold for my bear feet and gave me a few minutes to undress...The table was covered with a thin gauzy medical table covering...does that make sense...what they cover examination tables with at doctors' offices... I can only assume it was clean/sterile...

Anyway, I lay down, Valery came back and got to work. The massage was not what I would call relaxing...Sadly, the fluorescent lights remained on, Valery chatted with me most of the time (about where I was from, what kind of music I liked, if I had gotten massages before...). The whole time I was thinking how authentic this experience was and how the whole experience was actually making me feel a little tense...

After an hour of vigorous massage that seemed to be intended to promote and increase my circulation, Valery asked if I would like to finish with a stomach or head massage. I have no idea what a stomach massage would have entailed...I opted for the head massage. I must say, despite not feeling really relaxed, and the atmosphere having been less-than-spa-like, I did feel reinvigorated and my back does feel better. Valery also should me some exercises (gymnastica...) I could do to stretch and strengthen my back. Not bad for 14 bucks...I might even go back.

The Wonders of Winter in Kiev

2007-01-30T18:26:00.000+02:00

After months of grey mid-40 degree days, winter has finally arrived. It has been snowing on and off (more on than off) for the past four days, it is down right coooold outside (and near my un-insulated windows). Winter in Kiev means a variety of things; a legitimate excuse not the leave my apartment, but rather stay in and watch hours and hours of dvds (I worked my way through Season 1 of LOST, that’s twenty-something episodes, in less than a week…it was intense. I am addicted…); if I do manage to leave the apartment, a legitimate excuse not to walk places; increased soup and hot beverage intake (I recently discovered the one place to get coffee to go in this country…McDonald’s); wearing lots of layers and bulky clothes which keep me warm and also have the benefit of disguising some of the weight I have mysteriously put on…One of the most exciting things is that fur coats and hats are out in full force. Here, I am not the only one wearing a giant bushy fur shapka (hat). Women (and some men) wear fur coats of all lengths and colors, and there is not a paint throwing PETA person in sight.

Lots of snow also means lots of snow removal techniques. One that is familiar to us in the West is the use of salt to melt snow. My friend Katya and I had the pleasant experience of being pelted with salt by a salt truck on our way to a bizarre and hysterical Visotsky concert. (Visotsky was basically the Jim Morrison of the Soviet Union…). A method that we are less familiar with in the US, is the phenomenon of “snow sweeping ladies.” Now, in this part of the world, it is the norm to clean up “messes” by pushing them around with brooms (usually bundles of twigs), or a dirty rag on the end of a stick. It is always a lady in a standard issue blue with white piping apron-ish thing. Every building/organization/store has at least one of these ladies. You might call them cleaning ladies…

In some cases (most cases), this method does little more than spread the puddle of dirty water at a store entrance around the floor of the entire store. In the case of snow, however, this method seems most effective! There is a group of ladies that has appeared every morning for the past few days to sweep away the snow on the road running through the yard outside my apartment building. Who are they? I wonder. Do they live in these buildings? Do they work for the city? Who sent them? Why are there 4 ladies cleaning this one small road? Is the road really that important? Only a handful of cars drive on it…So many questions.

What about work? You may be asking. Yes, I do work. I have been deemed the Warm Homes expert, and been given the not so small or as simple as it sounds task of “opening as many Warm Homes as possible.” This is easier said than done given the unique breed of Ukrainian Babushky I am dealing with and the small task (I’m being sarcastic) of finding volunteers other than myself who are willing to schlep to the far ends of Kiev (this is a very big city) to drink tea, chat, and maybe give a lecture--for free.

In my free time, that is when I am not working, trudging through snow, watching LOST (it is not unlike a full time job), nursing the injured disk in my back (that means not gym for now…), I am planning exotic getaways to other Former Soviet countries…

"You poor girl. 23 and not married!"

2007-01-22T17:48:00.000+02:00

It's true. I turned 23 on Friday and am not married. This comment, however, was the only one of its kind. It turns out that the best possible antidote to being sort of majorly bummed out after returning from 2 weeks of fun in the sun in Israel with your boyfriend and new best friends (the other JSC volunteers, who are the most impressive, pro-active, forward thinking, good-doing group I have ever come across, except for maybe my Mountain School peers...this is a debate for another time...), is a birthday in Ukraine!

In Ukraine, the birthday person takes everyone else out, or brings everyone else lunch at work. Then it is all the guests responsibilities to toast to the birthday person's health, happiness, success, prosperity, love life, ect, ect, and obviously get very drunk. People do also give gifts and flowers. I'm not exactly in a financial situation that allows me to treat everyone to a large meal, so instead I brought congac and chocolate to work and figured whoever wanted to toast to me and eat chocolate could do so.

At about 11:30am on Friday, some of my co-workers and I decided we had waited long enough to get the birthday festivities rolling. By 11:45 I had received several gifts, a bouquet, and had about 4 shots of congac. This is not the first time I have had too much to drink at work. I have celebrated a couple other birthdays at work, that of a co-worker complete with lunch spread, and that of a co-workers granddaughter who lives in another city...In an effort to be sober for my meeting at JCD at 12:30, I ate A LOT of chocolate and cookies and cake that appeared from our office cabinets...

I was feeling pretty good when I arrived at my meeting at 12:30. After about 10 minutes of meeting, Julie asked me if I could come with her to another quick meeting...She lead me to the lunch room, opened the door, and there was almost the entire JDC Kiev staff, 2 cakes, 6 bottles of champagne, more chocolate and bouquets! Several people made toasts, and I cried....as I seem to do frequently here because I am frequently so moved by something. Once upon a time I never cried. Ever. It turned out that one of the bouquets was from my parents (so sneaky) and there were also two boxes of gorgeous dainty cakes from the fancy patiserrie in the fancy shmancy hotel that my mom had had someone pick up for me (so SO sneaky!).

With all my gifts, flowers, and cakes in tow, a driver took me home. We stopped at the post office to pick up a FANTASTIC Hanukkah/Birthday package from Dana and Greg that miraculously remained in tact at the post office for 2 weeks. I got home and looked over my treasures, cried some more, and watched selections from my amazing new DVD collection (thanks to Mirs, Evan, Dana and Greg and the JSC swap). Turns out starting your day with several shots of congac makes you tired...I managed to rally and go out to dinner with some of my friends at a restaurant decorated like the inside of a train...different rooms are different themed cars. We were in the VIP car aka the Tsar's car. Hilarious.

Throughout the day I received several phone calls, e-mails, and text messages from people both here and at home. THANK YOU! Overall, a fabulous birthday! I was really overwhelmed by the generosity, kind words, and true feeling of belonging I felt from my friends and co-workers here...the timing couldn't have been better!

Pictures from Israel are up! Enjoy.

Best Hanukkah Ever?

2007-01-01T17:44:00.000+02:00

Hanukkah ended over a week ago, but the week itself was NUTS and Miriam arrived the day after it ended, so I've been a little too busy to update the blog...and I leave tomorrow morning for 2 weeks in Israel, but am taking a brief packing break because I feel like I need to share what a wonderful Hanukkah I had!
I was the busiest I've been at work because there was so much going on for Hanukkah. I worked with a group of students at Hillel to organize Warm Home visits for Hanukkah. A couple of students visited each of the Warm Homes and told the story of Hanukkah, lit candles and sang songs. In a couple of cases, on days when no Hillel students could go, I went. My singing was a big hit...and I had lots of divas to compete with. At one of the Warm Homes I went to we had a Hanukkah meal that was several hours and toasts long. I also attended various celebrations at Hesed and Beitheinu, and hosted a latke and dreidle party at my house.
I think what made this Hanukkah so different for me, was not just being away from home and my family, but how I really celebrated it this year. When I was younger it did feel like an actual week-long holiday, but in the past few years, it has been more of a one or two night deal, and I've attended more Festivus and Christmas parties than Hanukkah parties. There were so many different celebrations going on through out the community here, and people were really excited and happy about it. There were candles and ponchiki (sufganiot/deep fried jelly donughts) every where--in true Ukrainian fashion I was force fed several every day. I even lit my menorah and sang blessings every night at my apartment.
The community here continues to amaze me--how active and alive it really is, and how much a part of it I feel. At home I know that I have chosen not to be an active part of a Jewish community, but here, it is my job, my entire life. And I have to say that it is wonderful! I keep coming back to the questions of "What does being Jewish mean to me?" "How will it change this year, how will it be different when I get back to the US?" Of course the answers to these questions change as I experience things, but I have managed to make some resolutions. One of which, is that I will have a Hanukkah party every year.
Pictures from Hanukkah and Mirsi's visit are posted in my "photo album." Enjoy! Oh, and Happy New Year!

It's a Hanukkah Miracle!

2006-12-16T12:07:00.000+02:00

The 9am wake-up call I received from my landlord, David, this morning (its Saturday) telling me he'd be over in an hour to deal with on-going apartment securing shenanigans (I am officially paranoid and don't trust anyone...my boss, Danny, makes sure that every time he sees me he tells me of the most recent Israeli/Jew related violence, which seems to happen every couple of weeks...I also get JDC security up-date e-mails...) made me a little grumpy. As I rubbed my temples in an attempt to ease the headache I think is a side effect of the flu shot I got yesterday (at the AMERICAN clinic, yes I made sure to go somewhere with the word America in the name), I saw something strange through my curtain...Is that sun and blue sky I wondered? No. Impossible. I was intrigued. I got up and pulled back the curtain and lo and behold, CLEAR CLOUDLESS BLUE SKY AND BRIGHT SUN SHINE! It is a Hanukkah miracle. I couldn't believe it.
I still can't believe it. I needed an excuse to get outside immediately. So when we had a little break from the security festivities, I took a trip to the grocery store (which btw is both exciting and terrifying...I go to a MegaMarket down the street, it is huge and overwhelming but has an impressive variety of goods, I can even buy imported tortilla chips!) I have never been happier to go to the grocery. It was so sunny that at times I had to shield my eyes in order to cross the street and not get hit by a car. Amazing.
Lots of Hanukkah stuff going on this week! I am going to a Hanukkah party at Beitheinu (the children's center) tomorrow, there are several days of celebrations at the Hesed Club, and all week Hillel students are going to visit the Warm Homes (my little old ladies are very excited). I am also getting the best Hanukkah presents ever at the end of the week...Mirsi comes on Saturday and the next week I'm off to Israel with Evan!
So Happy Hanukkah to me! And to you! I hope you all get to experience a Hanukkah miracle of your own! I wish you all a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

A Russian Lesson from Matt

2006-12-14T14:05:00.000+02:00

A great big MOLODETS (well done) to Matt Fieldman, a fellow JSC volunteer, for putting together a great explanation of why Russian is just so damn hard! Check it out on Matt and Alyson's blog: http://fieldmansinrussia.blogspot.com The entry is called, appropriately, "Russian is Really Hard..." Hopefully this will help some of you understand why after 9 years of studying Russian I still say I'm not fluent. The diagram of "verbs of motion" is especially good. I have encountered many such diagrams over the years.

The rest of their blog is pretty awesome too...I read it compulsively.

Eastern Europeans Chafe as Charity Pulls American Funds

2006-12-05T17:01:00.000+02:00

Below is the link for an article about JDC's work in the FSU. I met this journalist when he was here researching and went on a couple of Hesed client Home Visits (including the one he quotes from) with him and my boss, the local JDC director mentioned below, Danny Gechtman. This paints a pretty good picture of what's going on here...maybe better than you have gathered from me!

Eastern Europeans Chafe as Charity Pulls American Funds

http://www.forward.com/articles/eastern-europeans-chafe-as-charity-pulls-american/

"You Didn't Do the Right Thing"

2006-11-29T13:39:00.000+02:00

Just a quick note before I go get Melanie at the airport...I was just looking at Erin's, one of the JSCers in Mumbai, pictures of a Jewish wedding there. Lina, who I share my office with, looked over my shoulder and asked what those were pictures of. I explained, and she said, "OOO, you could have gone to India!? Mollie, you should have gone to India. Its much more interesting there than it is here. Can you go there next year? After your year here is up?" I said no, I want to go back to the US. She said, "Why? You already know all about the US and you can live there for the rest of your life. Better to go to India where it is interesting. Why didn't you go there in the first place?" I told here I chose Ukraine, that hear I can speak Russian. She said, "But you already know Russian. In India you can learn another language." I was laughing, she walked away muttering, "You didn't do the right thing Mollie. Should have gone to India."

Seasonal Affective Disorder?

2006-11-28T15:07:00.000+02:00

Today I saw the sun for about 2 minutes from the inside of a bus. It made me ridiculously happy. It was the first time I've seen the sun in over a week. I am wondering if I am developing Seasonal Affective Disorder...according to this website: http://www.ncpamd.com/seasonal.htm, the typical symptoms of SAD include depression, lack of energy, increased need for sleep, a craving for sweets and weight gain....sounds like me! Hey Josh B, Brian and Mirs, did those lights end up working? Should I get one? One of my friends here is going to start going tanning regularly, a tactic some of my friends tried in Russia as well...I would but I am afraid I will get a sun burn...

So yes, it is very gray here. But so far, not that cold. Its been high 40s, 50s even, but grey grey grey and rainy. Gross. I am ready for it to just snow. I also bought some fabulous fur lined wedge heeled winter boots. Here, all of the winter boots are cute, because you have to wear them. Good luck finding good looking winter boots at home, fur lined no less!

In other news, I seem to have picked up a recurring stomach bug...I've had a very angry stomach twice in the past couple weeks...we're thinking if I have a third episode I get to take a trip to the American clinic...Where I might also be able to get a flu shot. Though when I asked my director, who is Israeli, and a couple of Ukrainian women who work at JDC here if they thought I should get a flu shot and where I could get one, they all looked at my like I was an insane person from another planet...I am. It's called America.

Its impossible to know what it was that made me sick, if it was indeed something I ate...b/c everything here is questionable. I'm thinking that I was sick Monday morning from the ice that was in my drink at the CRAZY Mexico Party I went to at a club on Sunday night as part of the Euro Party series the club hosts...even though Mexico is not in Europe. It was hilarious. There was Corona, and dancers in Corona unitards and sumbreros, a Corona balloon drop all over the dance floor, constant confetti, and the Mexican Ambassador to Ukraine was there. Dancing. I got pictures don't worry.

Melanie, my program director from New York is coming tomorrow! I love visitors.

Lunch Date

2006-11-21T18:10:00.001+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I started eating my lunch in the main dining room at Hesed with the clients and other volunteers (though I can’t distinguish them from the clients, and indeed, some of them are clients), and not in the staff dining room as I had been. Something about the paper work being easier this way as all the other volunteers eat in the main dining room...and it turns out that I don’t have to pay even the 6 grivnya: I eat for free like all the other volunteers! The food is exactly the same, and it is nothing particularly special, though it is edible.

The first time I went to the dining room, I sat with a man who was sitting all by himself. After briefly introducing myself, just so that he understood that I was an American here for the year volunteering at Hesed, he immediately started talking to/at me, telling me all about his life, his family, his time in the army (he wears his army medals every day)…I have sat with him every time since, which is several times a week (whenever I am at Hesed at lunchtime). He has come to expect to see me at lunch and seems to take great pleasure in having someone to talk to/at. And I really enjoy sitting with him and hearing his stories and seeing how happy it seems to make him to have someone to talk to. I have to admit, he speaks a little softly and rambles, so I don’t understand everything he says, but I seem to be smiling, nodding, and furrowing my brow in sympathy in all the right places. I’m pretty sure he’s told me some of the same stories a couple of times…but whatever makes him happy!

I finally learned his name today. It’s Abraham. Abraham goes to lunch at Hesed everyday. He is 87 years old (I would have guessed late 70s, he looks GOOD for an old Ukrainian, I mean Jewish, man). He lives alone in an apartment near the center of the city. His wife is dead, he has a daughter (I believe…) and she has two sons. They live far away and he never sees them. He talks to them occasionally on the phone but doesn’t think that they are “good boys.” In fact, he seemed to really not like them or is really displeased with them…he may have said it was because they live far away and make no effort to be as involved as a family should be. In short, he is lonely. I am happy to brighten his day.

Abraham, like everyone else in this country, is very concerned that I am not married. They are eager to offer up sons and grandsons…and are then a little disappointed, but also relieved, when I tell them that I have a boyfriend. Today after reassuring Abraham that while no I am not married but do have a boyfriend, he asked, joking a little, “Where do your good looks come from? Your mother or your father?” I laughed and told him they were both very good looking.

Today Abraham told me a little about his wife, and how she was very sick towards the end of her life…some kind of blood disease and she had to have a leg amputated…He told me that good health is very important. Then he told me something that I’m sure I will never forget and hope that will serve as a reminder of all that I have when I’m having a bad day or a frustrating moment (of which there are many here). He said, “If you have health and love, you will be happy.”

Home Sweet Home

2006-11-15T10:13:00.000+02:00

It has been a dreary couple of weeks. The sun has poked its head out just a couple of times. Winter arrived with my mom and dad last week…it was in the 20s and 30s and snowed pretty much every day they were here. But we had a great time anyway! It was also a nice little “vacation” of sorts for me…staying in a five star hotel, eating at nice restaurants, getting presents like a really cool watch with two faces on it, one for the time here and one for the time in Boston, and yummy fur lined leather gloves…Yes, I like it when mom and dad visit.

We did lots of touristy things around town like some of the requisite churches, the ballet, THE CIRCUS (see pics, amazing), and even a trip about 30 minutes out of time to the Pyragova Museum…basically a Ukrainian Plymouth Plantation…check out the pictures. Pretty cool/hilarious. We also did a JDC excursion day: Hesed, a warm home, the JDC office, and Beitheinu (the Children’s center). What an exhausting day that was! I did a lot of translating the over the course of the week, but it took me two days to recover from the translating I did in that one day! Turns out I speak Russian though.

I have spent much of my free time in the past weekish going to various markets all over the city collecting kitchen items and bedding for my new apartment…WHICH IS WHERE IAM RIGHT NOW! Well, I was there when I wrote this entry, but the wireless network (KostyaHome, Kostya is a name…) which I was allegedly on wasn’t fully cooperating…I will have internet here eventually, probably cable but possibly just dial-up. So I’m posting from work. But yes, I FINALLY MOVED! I am so happy. The move-in/moving process has been a real authentic Ukrainian experience…

Yesterday three men from JDC came to and picked up me and all of my stuff, including the divanchik (couch/bed, sort of futon-y but way more comfortable) that JDC bought for me to use at my home stay. This proved to be a little more involved than any of us knew, as we had to disassemble the divanchik to get it out of the apartment and down the stairs. We managed, drove the 7 minutes to my new place (my new apartment, old apartment and the center of town form a triangle, distance b/n the apts is the shortest side…does this make sense?...it makes perfect sense to me? Mom how’s your Kyiv geography coming?), and unloaded all my stuff. Then began what has been two days of waiting (and not going to work as a result)…2 of the JDC guys left, and Gena (the same man who accompanied me on my first trip to the post office) stayed. We waited for Kolya to arrive from JDC…I’m not sure why exactly other than that he helped reassemble the divanchik…Then the three of us waited around for the washing machine to be delivered. As we moved into our second hour of waiting, Kolya left. Shortly thereafter, the washing machine arrived.

Gena left and I was free to dance about my apartment, unpack, and clean compulsively. It was amazing. Then I took a trip to the heavenly supermarket in the center of town where all the ex-pats shop and you can buy imported things from all over the world (some for outlandish prices that my stipend will not permit on a regular basis) like tortilla chips ($6/big bag), barilla pasta sauce ($8/small jar), sugar-free cookies, CHEDDAR CHEESE!, lo-fat cheese, and grated parmesan cheese (I love cheese). After loading up my back pack with some goodies (like balsamic vinegar), but mostly necessities, I got on a bus and went home. Turns out going on a bus with a large over stuffed back-pack at rush hour is not the best idea…I was uncomfortable and I got many dirty looks and even unkind words from some passengers….Oh well, now I know! I made pelmini (Russian/Ukrainian dumplings/ravioli) for dinner, did some decorating, watched The Simpsons in Ukrainian and passed out.

This morning David, my landlord, came over to wait for the various mastery (handy men) coming to install/fix things. David got here at around 11. He brought me a bag of potatoes and carrots and a bag of onions, explaining that I would inevitably need these items and they were very heavy. He also brought me a box of chocolates. The first master, the door master, didn’t come until about 12:45…so David and I had almost 2 hours to chat and for me to show him the 2 cockroaches (luckily I know how to say cockroaches in Russian from my work this summer…its tarakony) that came out to say hello to me when I was in the shower this morning. We are going to get some traps and poison. (There were cockroaches at the apartment I just moved out of as well…the buildings are both from the 60s and mostly un-renovated.) Oh, how well JCHE prepared me for my life and work here!

David is a very sweet man who works in the kitchen at Hesed. He is in his early 50s and brought pictures of his 19 year old daughter to show me. She lives in Israel with David’s wife. All of his other family has either died (his mother died earlier this year), or immigrated to Israel, America or Germany. This is a typical story. Sadly, he is the only one of his family left. His wife and daughter moved to Israel about 8 years ago. He hopes to join them in the next year or two, now that he doesn’t need to stay to care for his mother. I heard all about his extended family, the time he spent in the army, what kind of education he received, what sorts of jobs he’s had over the years…Very interesting. Then it was my turn to tell him a little about my family and look at pictures. The people here are always interested in seeing pictures of my friends, family, Boston…

I wasn’t exactly sure what the door master was coming for…something about the balcony…Turns out Danny (head of JDC locally) wanted to get a second front door for me (a second layer which is typical here for security and to keep heat in) and make the balcony a closed-in balcony (with windows) all for security reasons. Everyone is very concerned about my security. I have been told by everyone that while this is a safe city, I am a single, foreign, female, living alone. I should always have my wits about me: be aware of strange men, drunk people, groups of young men, pickpockets, and hooligans. I also promised my mom that I won’t take gypsy cabs after 7pm. (Gypsy cabs are a totally “normal” mode of transport here: Basically unregulated “private” cabs. Men who will drive you anywhere that’s more or less on their way for a fee that is lower than a regulated taxi. These are generally safe, and its not like regulated cabs are even really so regulated…). All the warnings are working I guess...I'm now paranoid that a drunk person is going to climb into my apartmen through the balcony and rob me...

So, David and the door master talked for a while about the front door and the balcony. Of course, at this time, the other mastery showed up. This guy (turns out it was 2) was coming to hook up the washing machine. David was out on the balcony with master #1, so I opened the door and said hello. These mastery did not say even say anything to me, just went right to the kitchen and commenced work…Luckily David came in to save me at this point and some argument over where to position the washer ensued…I was not a fan of these mastery. I don’t even really know how to explain it…It was like they were doing us a huge favor by showing up and hooking up the washer, that it was a huge inconvenience for them. They did the job (sort of…we needed a longer hose, so one guy went to get that and didn’t return until 6 even though he said he’d be back at 3:30…in the mean time David changed the face-plate of the outlet that the washer will be plugged into from Ukrainian to European… not sure exactly what was going on but he kept turning the power on and off…intentionally I believe…again, some problems and that took him several hours but we were waiting for the master to return anyway) in a very rushed way, and one of them was on 1 of his 2 cell phones the whole time.

It was a relief when everyone left! David said, “Well, there you see how our mastery work, rushed, busy, and they didn’t even finish. In American I bet it’s not like that.” David was actually the second person I have had to assure that even in American you have to wait around all day for service people and even if they do show up they sometimes don’t finish the job.
All very exciting. I will definitely take some pictures of the apartment and maybe even take a little video to post when it is all set up.

A Trip to the Electronichesky Supermarket

2006-11-15T10:06:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago I went to buy a hairdryer. I don’t have a hairdryer at home; it’s not something I usually use. It’s either warm enough that going out with wet hair is not a problem, or I am not outside for a long time in the cold. Here, it is absolutely nelzya (forbidden, but you guys knew that one, right?) to go out with wet hair. In the cold weather, because your hair will freeze, but in general I think it has to do with always looking very put together. I have been using my host family’s hairdryer, but as I am now on my own, I knew I had to buy one.
So I set off to the electronichesky supermarket (electronics supermarket). There are many types of supermarkets here…there are food supermarkets, electronics supermarkets, I’ve even seen door supermarkets, parquet supermarkets (everyone has parquet floors), and various hypermarkets as well. The electronic supermarkets are basically like Best Buy or Circuit City. You can buy pretty much anything that is electric there: washers, refrigerators, irons, electric kettles (everyone has one b/c of all the tea we drink here), microwaves, TVs, stereos, electric razors, and hairdryers. Everything is in glass cases and you need to have an employee get things out for you to “look at.” You do very little touching and examining, it is mostly show-and-tell.
I don’t know anything about hairdryers. I just wanted something cheap that would blow hot air. So I asked the girl who was hovering over me what the difference was between the two cheapest models 50 and 52 grivnya (about $10) respectively. There didn’t seem to be a difference other than the company, but she recommended the one for 2 grivnya more ($.40), a Phillips. I said alright, that sounds good. She went a got one from the back room and plugged it in and turned it on so I could see that it worked and feel how hot it got. I again said alright, looks good, I’ll take it. She then led me to a tiny back room where another girl was sitting at a computer. Girl 1 handed girl 2 some paper work. Girl 2 entered some things into the computer, I gave her the 52 grivnya, she signed and stamped some things and then sent me back out the girl 1. Girl 1 gave me my new hairdryer and wished me well. On the way out, the security guard at the door checked to make sure all of my hairdryer paper work was legit, and told me to have a nice day. All for a $10 hairdryer. I have come to expect shenanigans like this. I was surprised they didn’t ask to see my passport and take down that information. I had even brought my passport with me in anticipation. Better safe than sorry.

Back to Reality (if this is reality...)

2006-10-30T09:42:00.000+02:00

I am back in Kiev. What a week I had! Crimea is a beautiful place…well the natural scenery is very beautiful-rocky mountains plunging into the Black Sea. Unfortunately, the landscape is punctuated by a lot of rather ugly Soviet architecture. Crimea is often called the “Russian Riviera.” This is exactly what it is. A beautiful place where people go to vacation in the sun, but the hotels, restaurants, tourist sites and other such vacation-y activities have not quite caught up with the West…

I guess I’ll start at the beginning (a very good place to start). This lager, camp or retreat was a joint endeavor (the first of its kind here) between Hillel and Soxnut. Soxnut Jewish Agency for Israel is an organization that operates both in Israel and in the diaspora to educate people about Judaism and about Israel, and encourages and assists with resettlement in Israel. I couldn’t find their website, or info about it online...It was emphasized repeatedly that this was neither Hillel nor a Soxnut lager, but rather a Jewish lager. There were 150 participants from all over the FSU (all over Ukraine, Moldova, Minsk, I even met a boy from Petersburg) ages 17-25ish. As far as I know, it was a free trip for everyone! We paid just $10, I’m not sure for what exactly, but transportation, hotel, food and activities were all paid for. The theme of the lager was The Jews of Crimea.

We met at Soxnut on Tuesday afternoon. We were supposed to meet at 5, get on the buses and leave at 5:30. Yeah right. We met at 5, got on the buses around 5:30 and didn’t leave until 7:30 because one of the buses was broken (we were in 5 buses)…Once we finally got on our way, we hit maybe the most unbelievable traffic I’ve ever seen (in general here the traffic is horrific). 2 of the buses got separated, so we pulled over to wait for them for half an hour….Around 8:30 we actually got going. 16 hours, many “toilet” stops (going on the side of the road, in a field, behind a truck with a group of strangers in the dark and cold), and very little sleep later, we arrived in Yalta. This time I really vowed that after the return overnight bus ride, I WILL NEVER DO A LONG OVERNIGHT BUS RIDE AGAIN! I think my max will be 8 hours in the future. There really is not a less comfortable way to travel.
Our hotel, the Preberezhny Pancionat (ocean side boarding house), was a Soviet style all inclusive place…The rooms were fine; I shared mine with two girls, Lera from Sevastopol and Nastya from Simforopol (both cities in Crimea). Sadly, we were not on the ocean facing side of the building, but if I craned my neck around our balcony, through some trees, I could see the ocean. The hot water was turned off a couple of times a day for several hours, and some times there was no water at all. We ate fish at almost every meal.

Accommodations aside, the lager really was amazing. The thing that impressed me the most, over and over again, was how well organized, well run, and well lead everything was. There was a group of about 20 midrachim (counselors or group leaders), Hillel and Soxnut people. Sasha and her friends were all midrachim. We were organized into groups that did excursions and activities together throughout the week, they called them obshinas, communities, of about 10 people, each group had 2 midrachim. These kids were all really fabulous leaders! Energetic, engaging, outgoing, always smiling. I was so so so impressed by them. I already knew that Sasha was wise and mature beyond her 20 years, but this was a characteristic of all the midrachim. Mine, Lena and Polina (best friends from Soxnut), were only 19. I didn’t learn that until the last day, I had thought they were my age or older the whole time!

Throughout the week we had excursions to Yalta, including a very rocky boat ride; Sevastopol where we saw the ruins of an ancient Greek town, Hersones; Chuf-Kale, a monastery built into the mountainside, ruins of an ancient Jewish town, and Jewish cemetery; and Evpatoria where we wore trash bag raincoats and visited a re-built synagogue (this excursion was a little lost on me…I’m not sure exactly what we were seeing…and there was lots of talk of Tartars as many of them lived/live here)

We had lectures at the hotel on topics like, history of the Jews of Crimea, Crimea during the holocaust, history of Crimea, and my favorite, Jewish cemeteries and how to read the gravestones. This was particularly cool because we got to visit an old Jewish cemetery. This lecture was also particularly taxing because it was delivered in Russian, notes on the board were being made in Hebrew and Russian (as it is Hebrew on the gravestones), but I still mostly think and process in English…

We had night activities like a scavenger hunt all over the hotel property where we had to do different tasks like make a salad while we were all tied together and the salad components were on different sides of the room, see how many candies someone could fit in their mouth and still say a specific phrase after adding each piece (like Chubby Bunny…), and answer trivia questions about Judaism; a Jeopardy like game show; watching the movie Uzhpihin (Guests, an Israeli movie, a comedy (?), about the misadventures of a Hassidic man during Sukkot in Jerusalem…yes this is the same movie I watched during my day at the Rabbi’s house for Yom Kippur…)
We also had several times where we met with our obshinas to discuss something, like Shabbat, the movie we had just watched, or a time to give feedback about the lager at the end of the week. Every time I was so impressed (sensing a theme here?) by not only how great my group leaders were at leading the discussion, but at what great participants everyone was in the discussion. Everyone was an active participant, offering interesting, thoughtful, and personal input.

Shabbat was really something. The meal and Kabbalat Shabbat service were incredible! Everyone got all dressed up. The dining hall was arranged into 4 long banquet tables jointed at one end by a row of tables where the midrachim, Osik (the director of Central and Western Ukraine Hillel’s, based in Kiev, Sasha’s boss), Aaron Goldberg (the international director of Hillel, American, based in D.C. visiting for the week) and I sat. Brief side-note about Aaron: My mom has actually known him for a couple of years so it was funny for us to meet here in Ukraine. He brought me Claritin (damn cats). It was wonderful to have some American company for a few days! Great to share our impressions and experiences about this lager and this group of people.

Back to Shabbat. The spread was ridiculous. Many kinds of fish (so sick of fish), veggies, salads, stuffed peppers, challahs, stuffed chicken breasts, potatoes, fruits. Yum yum yum. The Midrachim lead the service by putting on a sort of skit about welcoming Shabbat. There were many songs throughout the meal. I was a little surprised, I think, to see that many of the people knew all of the prayers and songs-some better than I did.

Saturday was spent mostly lounging. There were some lectures, but most of us opted for the beach instead as it was 70ish degrees and sunny! We did Havdalah on the beach which was really cool. It ended with fireworks…and an Israel Party! This Israel Party was basically like a crazy middle school dance/bar mitzvah where you don’t know anyone and don’t know any of the moves to the endless number of choreographed dances…Ukrainian and Israeli versions of the electric slide, cotton eye Joe, and Macarena…the music was mostly Israeli pop and rap…again, not something I am so familiar with, but everyone else seemed to be. And, as I have said before, this kids are really good dancers! I am not…Aaron and I were commiserating about how hilarious/nightmarish this was, and then one of the girls invited him to dance. He is a very good sport, and a very good dancer! Obviously I snapped some pics.

The week ended with another awesome bus ride home. Overall, the week was a good one. It was definitely hard for me at times as I didn’t really know anyone (any one I knew was busy working…) and everything was in Russian. Once I got over my social awkwardness (its endearing, right?) and some of the language barrier, I definitely had people to at least sit with at any given time, if not carry on a long, “normal” conversation. I understood pretty much everything that was going on in the lectures and activities, even if I didn’t get every word, or wasn’t able to participate as much as, or in the way I might have at home. I think what was most valuable for me is what I got out of the lager as more of an observer than a participant. It was so interesting, and very important, for me to have the opportunity to get to know this demographic: Young Jewish adults in the FSU. I learned so much about what they think about being Jewish, being Jewish in Ukraine, Israel, and just how they are with each other as people, friends and peers.

Here are my pictures. Lots of landscapes, and of me, alone...

I have to say, when we arrived back in Kiev, despite it being gray, cold and raining, I felt like I came home. Strange.

In other news, I found an apartment! Moving within the next couple of weeks. It is pretty centrally located (about as far as I am now, but in a different direction), next to one of the city’s large concert venues, and across the street from a huge outdoor market. It’s an old apartment that hasn’t been renovated…but JDC is getting some new appliances for me and we’ll spruce it up a bit. Its one big room, a sizable kitchen (for here) and a bathroom. It is actually the exact same lay out, exactly the same, as the place I’m in now, but with the two additional rooms cut off. Creepy. I am very excited to move.

Also, my parents are coming next week! YAY! I’m incredibly excited about that…I’m actually a little worried about how depressed I might be when they leave…luckily Melanie, Mirsi, Evan, Nanny and my aunt all have plans to head over. Any other takers?

And Then It Was Winter

2006-10-16T15:02:00.000+03:00

It is snowing. The past couple days have been in the 40s, with cold windy rain. Ick. Tomorrow it is supposed to drop to -3*C (about 26*F). For some reason my office is colder than the other offices…but today Lina, the energetic, chatty woman I share the office with (she is the head administrator…basically she knows everything.), busted out a space heater that is shaped like a pile of burning coals…The heater and the 6 cups of tea (and a cup of the instant coffee that is the norm to drink here in place of regular coffee) I’ve had today are finally starting to warm up my fingers. It seems that when it is cold, even less work gets done here as more time is spent warming up on cigarette breaks (in the bathroom), and tea breaks around the space heater…more opportunities for me to drink tea with old ladies. My job is hilarious.
Luckily I can put off dealing with the cold for another week as tomorrow I am heading to Crimea, to Yalta specifically, for a week! I am going with Hillel for a Western and Central Ukraine Hillels conference…I’m not exactly sure what this means, but I am going for free and Sasha and a bunch of her friends are going so it should be very fun! We are taking an overnight bus there. I think it’s about 11 or 12 hours…After my 14 hour $14 overnight bus ride experience from St. Petersburg to Riga I swore I would never do a long overnight bus…alas, overnight bus to Yalta, here I come.
I have to admit I was a little surprised to learn that when I say “Crimea” to some of you folks at home, you don’t know what I’m talking about…I forget that not all of you have had the extensive Russian and Eastern European language, history, culture, and geography education that I have…Erin and Greg get gold stars for knowing what and where Crimea is. Could this be because Erin is an International Relations major and Greg’s family is from Kiev and he majored in Russian History? Hmmm. Dana and Evan on the other hand acted like they knew what Crimea was and then when I asked if they knew what I was talking about they both laughed and replied, “Crimea river.” (Cry me a river…) Haha. One of my Kiev based American friends wished me a good trip and told me not to sign any treaties. Again, I think maybe only Greg and Erin will understand this joke…

Here is a history and geography lesson for you: (thank you Wikipedia...)
Crimea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea

Yalta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta

Yalta Conference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference

Of course, I will take lots of pictures and post them for you enjoyment and education.

I LIVE here.

2006-10-12T18:36:00.000+03:00

I have been having such a good couple of weeks! I am finally starting to feel like I really live here. Which is both very strange and very exciting. I love the feelings of being settled, being in control, knowing where things are and how to get places. I have been feeling like this more and more everyday as bus routes, street names, and different types of fatty sweet cheese, poppy and cabbage pastries become familiar to me.

As well as having local things that make this feel like home, I have found some ways to incorporate aspects of home locally. One of the things I was really worried about before coming here was that I was going to get really fat because of all the delicious (and some not so delicious) fatty and unhealthy food. This is still a concern, as we all know I have a weakness for all things sweet/chocolaty/buttery. But I have found some exciting things in the past week that have allowed me to cook and eat some more healthy things: Boneless-skinless chicken breasts, lettuce, eggplant, kiwi, non-sugar coated cereal, fresh ginger, brown rice, .5% milk (fat free is non-existent here), avocado and broccoli. I have also become a little more daring, feeling free to actually use my host family’s kitchen…which is to say I make everything in a pot or a frying pan because I never see them use the oven…I think because of gas prices. We do have a toaster oven that I used one time to make lavash “pita” chips.

Speaking of apartments…JDC is working very hard to find me one! For whatever backwards reason, apartment prices in this city are very very high, comparable to what we pay in Boston, but people make far less money here. So, finding me a centrally located apartment for a reasonable amount of money has proved difficult. In the past three weeks, using four brokers, we have seen one apartment. It was not far from where I live now (one metro stop farther from the city center, and 20 minutes more on foot). I was hoping for something a little closer, although I was ready to take the place any way because 1) I am ready to be living on my own, and 2) the apartment was pretty sweet. It had a big living room, TV, cable, CABLE INTERNET, a big bed, a nice bathroom with a washer, and a good kitchen with a microwave (this is rare here). It was so clean and free of the cat hair that has taken over my life (in my food, all over my clothes...did I mention I hate cats?). In the end, the woman at JDC who is helping me find an apartment said she thought we could do better for that amount of money. So I’m waiting…but very excited about what I will end up with given what I saw.

Other American things that make Kiev feel like home? AMERCIAN FRIENDS! I didn’t realize how valuable these would be. I met a girl who is here for the year working for the Kyiv Post (the local English language newspaper, I accompanied her to sample some Chicken Kiev (delish!) for an article she had to write about different Chicken Kiev’s in town…this weekend we are trying salad bars…), and she introduced me to a whole group of American kids here, mostly Fullbrighters. Very cool, fun people. I spent last weekend with them, and plan on spending a lot of time with them whether they like it or not…I think they like it. It was so nice to be able to just speak English without having to choose words carefully so non-native speakers could understand me, and to have people get any cultural references, and to joke/complain about aspects of life here that seem crazy. So yes, I have some friends…well people that I hang out with and soon I hope they will be my friends.

I also discovered this weekend that Sasha has the entire collection of Sex and the City DVDs…dubbed in Russian. But if I listen closely and concentrate, I can hear the English and it is almost like watching it on low volume with some weird noise (Russian) that I can tune out.

Perhaps the most American thing I did this week: Ate a hamburger and fries at T.G.I. Friday’s. I caved. I would never eat there at home, but I knew I could get a decent burger there and I really needed one. It was gooooooood. The restaurant was filled with tons of Scottish guys in kilts in town for a Ukraine-Scotland (cities?) soccer game. The game was last night. Ukraine won! Sad for the literally hundreds of drunk Scots in town.

The Ukrainians that I work and live with (by which I mostly mean Jews, see my previous post…) have also seemed to accept that I am here and a part of their community. I think this because people are using pet names, diminutives, with me more and more. I get called things like Koteek (kitten), Pteetchka (little bird), yaisheek (bunny), and Mollechka. These are things people call each other when they get familiar, close. In several cases I am on the “tee” level with people (this is the singular and informal version of “you”) I still tend to use the plural, formal, polite version, “vee,” with anyone who is older than me.

So in short, I am feeling more and more settled and like I actually live here! It is a good feeling. And my Russian is getting better and better. I have been getting really good practice with the babushky at the Warm Homes…and with all of the people I have to talk to when I ask directions while attempting to locate these women’s apartments. In general addresses here are confusing. Out in the suburbs where these women live, it is even more confusing…There are just blocks of apartment buildings with the same number…clustered around a big yard….and you have to go to each building and see if the apartment you are looking for is in that building or not…but that is after I locate the right block…After I get off the metro, I have to ask someone where the right bus stop is, after I find that, I have to ask if this is the right side of the street, once on the bus or tram (so sketchy) I ask the ticket lady to please tell me when we reach the stop I’m looking for, when I get off I ask someone to please point me in the direction of the street I am looking for. Then I wander around the courtyard (park sized…) and ask people where the specific building or apartment is. Such good practice. Perhaps by the end of my year here I will be speaking Ukrainian as well…that’s what everyone keeps telling me.

Tahitian Noni International

2006-10-12T18:28:00.000+03:00

The WEIRDEST thing happened to me today. I went to a Warm Home out in the burbs. I carried a VCR there so we could watch a tape. It turns out when I tried to hook it up that the wires didn’t quite fit…All of the women there live within a few buildings of each other, so one woman graciously offered for us to all go to her apartment and watch the tape on her VCR. So we put all of our cookies in plastic baggies and headed over. We watched a clip about Eddie Rosner, a jazz trumpet player from the 40s….Any way, an hour later, all the ladies got up to go. Alla, the woman whose apartment we were at asked me if I could stay for a few minutes and talk with her. I agreed, figuring she probably wanted some company and wanted to talk to me about what I was doing here, being Jewish, reminisce about Ukraine and about the war, and to find out whether or not I was married (this is what most of the babushky I hang out with want to talk to me about).

This is not exactly what happened. Alla started out by telling about her family, that her husband died 8 years ago and how wonderful he was and how much she misses him and how bored and lonely she is—but that since she’s met people and started doing some activities through Hesed she is much less bored and lonely. Her kids (daughter and fam?) live on the floor below her, but they are all busy with work and school. Of course they love each other and spend time together when they can, and she is thankful for that, but she feels lonely sometimes nonetheless. I have heard spiels like this several times, and am happy to listen and nod and agree that life is very hard when you are an elderly widow in Ukraine.

She then launched into telling me about how last year she was sick in bed for all of January. Her blood pressure was very very high, her skin was white, her lips grey…and there was a 40 year old woman who lives in her building who was also very sick at that time. She had been sick for months and there was little that doctors could do for her. (At this point I started wondering if I was going to get sick from spending so much time around sick people…the other day Arkadiy coughed and when he saw my worried face said, “Oh its nothing, you know, the tuberculosis.” Oh my.) But then one day Alla saw the previously sick 40 year old woman and she was better. Not only healthy, but healthier than she’d ever been, and she looked ten years younger.

“She had been drinking this juice,” Alla told me. “You have probably heard of it since you are American and there is a factory there. Noni Juice.” I furrowed my brow and shook my head; no I have not heard of this Noni Juice. Alla, eager to enlighten me, gave me a brief history of the Noni plant and Noni Juice. Tahitians discovered the plant more than 2000 years ago and have been using it to stay healthy and young. It is a sort of “fountain of youth” plant…now there are three factories that make the juice, in America, Japan and Germany. It is very expensive, $70 a bottle here in Ukraine, and $50 in the US.

So Alla bought some juice, and drank some every day. And she got better. And felt better than ever. She still drinks it everyday, and even poured a couple sips for me to try, telling me that it was so concentrated; you only needed a little to get all the benefits. I smelled it, and then drank it. As it went down my throat (it tastes like thick, all-natural, fruit juice), I wondered if this is how I was going to die: In a strange old woman’s apartment in Ukraine from drinking weird juice. My mind was filled with all of the warnings I had been given over the years: the dangers of talking to strangers, the dangers of accepting unwrapped candy on Halloween, the dangers of drinking home made vodka.

It was around this time that I began to feel the way my family and I had felt when we visited a tea plantation in China…like I was on an info-commercial. Alla regaled me with several more Noni “success stories”, like a woman who drank the juice everyday and then gave birth to a very big, healthy, strong, personable baby. At this point Alla revealed to me that she had asked me to stay and chat with her because she figured since I was a) American and b) probably wanted to make a little cash, I might be interested in becoming a Noni International distributor…not unlike a Mary Kay or Avon lady. I think she is a distributor, but perhaps not a very successful one…she had materials about the history of the Noni plant, the history of the company Noni International, information about becoming a distributor (“becoming a part of the success story”), information about all of Noni’s products (juice, tea, oils, protein drinks, supplements, Noni Trim plan), and a pamphlet of photos of the Noni plant in Tahiti. She gave all of these materials to me and told me to tell my friends, both here and in the US about this product, see if there was interest, and then to call her (she gave me her number on a Noni business card…). I am dreading going back to see her when I next visit her Warm Home group…How will I explain to her that neither I nor my friends are interested in selling or purchasing Tahitian Noni International Dietary Supplements? If you are interested, I have lots of materials I can show you…Or check out these sites:
Tahitian Noni International

Become a distributor

World Wide Warning?

“She’s American, and she’s Jewish!”

2006-10-04T16:03:00.000+03:00

This was a highlight of the brief introduction Arkadiy, one of my co-workers, gave of me to a group of babushky (old women) this morning. It was received with ooohs and aaahs. Today I went to my first “Warm Home.” This is a program that is just starting, and it is going to be one of the main things I am involved in. Once a week a group of 8-12 Hesed clients will meet at someone’s apartment and have tea and cookies. These meetings happen in neighborhoods that are a bit far from Hesed, so these clients visit Hesed-run soup kitchens and receive some services at their homes. I will go with Arkadiy or another volunteer to the apartment and do some sort of activity like show a movie, give a lecture, go on some sort of excursion, or have a little concert ( I am thinking that listening to the new Mates album would be a hit…or I may even sing). Eventually, I will go to these Warm Homes by myself (a couple each week). I am really excited to be a part of something that gets me out of the office and really interacting with the clients!

Side note: I am doing laundry as I write this and the electricity has gone out about 10 times as a result, I’m not kidding, every minute…There is literally NOTHING else using electricity. I even unplugged the fridge temporarily…I just changed the setting on the machine to try and speed up the process. The machine is Italian. So I really have no idea what the settings say…I am home alone. I hope nothing bad happens!

So yes, I am starting to actually have a job! But what has been occupying my thoughts the most recently is this Jewish thing. First I should explain something about being Jewish in Ukraine, or in the Former Soviet Union. Here, Jewish is a nationality, like Ukrainian, Polish, or Russian. If you are Jewish, that is what it says in your passport. Last week a couple of girls from Hillel came to the Day Center at Hesed to give a little talk about the High Holidays. The Hesed clients were having a very hard time understanding exactly who these girls were. “They are from here? They go to a Jewish university in Kiev? We have a Jewish university?”-were the general questions. One woman leaned over to me and said, “Are they Ukrainian or are they Jewish? I don’t understand.” I replied, “They are both, Ukrainian and Jewish.” To this the woman responded, “Eto nevozmozhno.” This is not possible. So for me to be both American and Jewish is really something special.

And this is something I have really been wrestling with, since I applied to the JSC, and I probably until long after I have completed my year of service. When I decided I wanted to spend a year in the FSU doing some sort of public health work, working in a Jewish community was not a priority of mine. But the JSC allows me to do exactly what I wanted to be doing, in the context of a Jewish community. At first I was concerned that I wasn’t Jewish enough. But what does this mean? As I quickly learned, despite considering myself a cultural Jew and not a religious one, here, I am a sort of “Jewish expert.” At my first Shabbat in Ukraine (in Uzhgorod), the women at my table turned to me with questions about Shabbat. For one of the girls at my table, this was her first Shabbat. I was surprised to realize that because I was able (allowed by the government) to have a Jewish education, both formally in Hebrew school, and informally by celebrating holidays and traditions in my home with my family, things about Judaism and being Jewish that I think of as common knowledge, are actually things that Jews here do not know. But they want to know; the women seemed a bit envious of my Jewish upbringing and knowledge. So this of course makes me feel guilty; that I have taken being Jewish, being a practicing, Bat Mitzvahed Jew, for granted.

It is not necessarily the religious part of being Jewish that the people here seem to want. But rather the cultural part, the traditions, celebrations, history, and community. This is the part of being Jewish that I most identify with and practice. Spending The High Holidays here really illustrated this separation. In the week leading up to Rosh Hashanah, I ate more apples and honey and pomegranates than I have in the past five years combined. They were in every office, and served at several meetings and meals. I was wished L’Shana Tova (Hebrew) and S’Novom Godom (Russian) several times a day. I didn’t go to temple for Rosh Hashanah. I don’t usually. I usually go to temple once a year, on Kol Nidre, and I did the same here…more on that in a moment. I spent the two nights of Rosh Hashanah with the local Israeli community. This was a bit of mind twist. My local boss and his wife are Israeli and very involved in the Israeli Jewish community here, a group of considerable size. They took me with them to a meal at the Israeli Cultural Center on the first night, and meal at the Chabbad Rabbi’s house on the second night. On both occasions, Hebrew was the primary language spoken. Too bad I know about 20 words of Hebrew, ten of which are the numbers 1-10.

At the Israeli Cultural Center there were about 70 people, some who now live here and some who just happened to be in town. The extent of the religious part of the night was just prayers over the bread and wine. There were about 30 people at the Rabbi’s house the next night. Here of course, there was a bit more praying, including benching after the meal for which I was given a prayer book in Russian. The weekend was festive, and the sense of community was strong, but overall not really religious.

This past weekend had the potential to be the complete opposite, given that I have become friendly with the Rabbi’s 25 year old cousin and she invited me to spend the entire 3-day weekend at her house celebrating both Shabbat and Yom Kippur (she is orthodox, for those of you who are unclear, I AM NOT). I managed to par it down to lunch at the Rabbi’s house on Sunday (this was a family lunch….The Rabbi, his wife, their 6 kids, my friend Yafit, and me…) We then hung out at the house and watched Ushpizhin (“Guests,” an Israeli comedy about Sukkot in the Hassidic community in Jerusalem…). In the evening, the Rabbi, two of his daughters, Yafit and me went o Temple. I had wanted to go to one of the three main temples in town, and thought that’s where we were headed…but it turns out the Chabbad temple is a couple rooms in the bottom of a building. There were about 20 men already praying when we go there. I followed Yafit and the girls’ leads, and proceeded to stand and pray in the women’s side of the room for about an hour and a half. There were occasional prayers that were familiar and we did all together, but this was largely an individual experience. The prayer books were in Hebrew and Russian…I can sort of read the Hebrew but it doesn’t mean anything to me…I can read the Russian and it sort of means something to me…I took the metro home, much to Yafit’s dismay (She invited me to stay with her again, but finally seemed to understand that while she is very observant, I am not).

On Yom Kippur, I spent the day fasting and relaxing. It was hard not being at home for the big Break Fast we have at my family’s house every year. When ever I spend a holiday like this away from home, I realize how much I enjoy these times with my family. Instead, I broke fast with my host sister (and friend) Sasha at a Ukrainian café. She had also been fasting all day, but had to go to work and to classes (at Hillel and the Jewish University…very confusing for me).

So there you have it. My thoughts about being Jewish and my experiences as an American Jew in Ukraine so far. I’m sure many more of my entries will have a Jewish theme as this is a large feature of my life this year. I have to go get ready for Hillel’s High Holiday celebration: An “Apples and Honey” party at a disco they rented out…

My Current Daily Routine

2006-09-25T12:25:00.000+03:00

Perhaps this will give you a glimpse of what my days have been like so far.

7am: wake-up and put a huge pot of water on the stove, being careful not to burn my finger tips when I light the burner, for my "shower." (The hot water did finally get turned back on this weekend after 2 weeks without it). Then I eat some breakfast (cereal/yogurt...) and ask the cats why they continue to meow at me as if I am going to feed them. Shower and get dressed and I'm out the door at 8.

8-9am: Commute. I have a 7 minute walk to the metro, its about 6-7 minutes to get all the way down the the metro platform, another 7ish minutes of waiting and metro riding to the center of the city, then 3-4 minutes up out of the metro where I wait for a bus or minibus which takes me on a 30 minute ride to Hesed.

Public transportation here is pretty good as it covers most of the city, has a number of different routes/types of transport to get to a destination, is VERY CHEAP (10 cents for metro and bus, 30 cents for minibus), and runs frequently. There are of course some hassles/obstacles. 1) The metro is DEEP. Deeper than St. Petersburg, maybe 2 times as deep as the Porter Square station. So, it takes a while to even get to the trains. 2) The metro and buses and minibuses are HOT. Its a good 10-15 degrees warmer in the metro/bus than on the street. By the time I get to work, I am actively sweating. 3) The metro and buses and minibuses are CROWDED. When the train arrives it usually looks like another person could not possibly fit. This is not the case. Generally a good 5 people can squeeze in when it looks like there's no more room. People literally push the people in front of them into (or out of) the cars until we are squeezed so tight that I could probably life my feet off the floor and remain upright. It is important to clutch your purse in front of you. Buses are not quite as crowded, but the same rule applies, if it looks like there's no room, there's actually room for 5 more. Minibuses are especially exciting/harrowing. They follow the same routes as buses by the same number, but they don't stop at all the stops. To get on, you have to flag it down. You then pass your money to the driver who makes change and the change gets passed back to you. When you want to get off, you yell, "Please stop!" and get out.

Luckily everything is still so new and exciting to me that I don't mind this hour long commute. It gives me ample time for people watching. I love seeing what people are wearing (particularly the women) and checking out the hair styles. The women here are very put together, and much more dressed up than at home. They favor high high heels, tight fits, stockings of every color and texture (it is apparently nelzya to have bare legs or feet...so I purchased some little nylon socks to try and fit in) and plenty of make-up. And my oh my the hair does. Men and women alike are really into mullets...and less than subtle dye jobs are also en vogue.

9-5ish: Work at Hesed. This has included tasks like the following: Translating bad English into good English, translating small chunks of Russian to English, writing business letters/memos in English, determining what a legit e-mail in English and what is just spam, contemplating a grant proposal, helping give tours/receive missions, hanging out in the Day Center or Club. I eat lunch at Hesed with a bunch of other employees. We can get the same lunch clients get in the dining hall in a separate lunch room for 6 grivnyas (about $1.20). It consists of soup, bread, veggies, fish/chicken and a starch, and fruit for dessert. Its not too bad if you add salt to everything.

5-6: Commute home. I either take the bus/minibus to the center of the city and walk home (about 25 minutes) or take the metro like I do in the morning.

Once I'm home I consider going out and doing something touristy...but usually I'm too tired. Dinner has been a lit of salami and cheese...pasta a couple of times...I think I will get more adventurous and do some cooking once I'm in my own place. I chat with my host fam, have skype dates, and watch Ukrainian TV.

Weekends are much more relaxing and for right now anyway, more eventful and interesting! We'll see how that changes if/when things pick up at work...

Where do I begin?

2006-09-22T14:33:00.000+03:00

For some reason the simple task of writing my first entry has been very daunting. I have so many things I want to post, so many observations, impressions, and experiences I want to share...so many that I don't know where to begin!
I guess I can start with a brief explanation of my blog's title, "Everything Will Be Illuminated." This is a not-so-subtle nod to the book (and movie) by a similar title, "Everything Is Illuminated," in which a young Jewish man makes a trip to Ukraine to discover his roots...I hope you are seeing the connection here. (If you have not read this book, I highly recommend it. It is a most premium book.) But this blog title has also become my mantra in the past few weeks as I have been getting my bearings. I arrived in Ukraine almost three weeks ago with 2 very heavy suitcases, the name of the family I would be staying with for the first month, 8 years of Russian training, and the vaguest of ideas about what exactly I would be doing in Kiev. I knew I had been sent here by the JDC as part of their Jewish Service Corps to do social welfare work in the Jewish community in Kiev.
What does this mean exactly? It remains to be illuminated. What I have learned is that Kiev's (and Ukraine's for that matter as all of the Jewish communities seem to be well connected and communicate frequently) Jewish community is alive and thriving! There is so much going on here and JDC seems to have its hand in most of it. This is both exciting and concerning because while there is so much opportunity to be involved in the community, I am wondering what I can do for this community that it is not already doing for itself. Again, this will be illuminated.
In addition to all of the questions I have about my work and my life here, people here have lots of questions for me. I hope to be able to answer them in the coming months (and certainly by the end of my year here). Some questions include (but are certainly not limited to): What do I do at work? Where do I live? What am I doing here? Why did I come here? What will I do when I return to the US?
So welcome to my adventure. I am excited to share my trials, tribulations, struggles and successes with you as I seek illumination.