A March Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Chernivtsi

Returning to Chernivtsi has been really nice. Mykola said everyone missed me, which I thought was very sweet of him to say. So Wednesday I got back in the swing of things with classes. I was supposed to teach Thursday as well to make up for last week and when I asked the students if Thursday was OK to meet they seemed agreeable, but when Mykola came in and asked them in Ukrainian, they said they had conflicts. So, I asked them if they had understood me when I had asked the question and they said yes but that they needed time to look at their schedules. Hm. Students and professors here have many more classes than what is typical in the US. So no class on Thursday.

Instead, I was able to have my first Ukrainian language lesson with Valentina. I learned how to say very nice to meet you and a few other expressions. I know learning Russian woud likely serve me better in future travels, given that most everyone who lives in a former Soviet country also speaks Russian, but I am in Ukraine, living in an area where Ukrainian is proudly spoken, and thus I want to learn more Ukrainian.

After the lesson I stayed to do more internet work and then walked back to the flat. On the way back, I took some photos and just simply enjoyed the walk, and the slower pace of my life here that allows me to be so present and engage my surroundings in this way.


I can't believe Olgy Koblyianski doesn't have tons of snow covering it!

This is not my building. Rather, it is a building around the corner from me.

It sure has been nice to walk around without all this snow. :)

FAST FORWARD to FridayAM...

Forget everything I wrote on this blog and on Facebook about the sunshine and the snow melting. It is back with a vengeance. God is teaching me patience. Mykola says the 15th of March is time for celebration bc it is the end of winter. The 15th (the ides of March for you Julius Caesar ancient history buffs) of March is only 9 days away and I assure you we remain in the midst of what I consider winter.

Yesterday AM (Friday) when I woke up it was snowing buckets. It continued all day and I did not leave the flat. This morning I woke up and guess what, it is still snowing. We now have about 7-8 inches that has accumulated in the past 2 days. I fear we will go through the great thaw yet again, hopefuly without falling icicles this time. Already I hear a loud thud and see something fleeting in my periphery about every ten minutes. At first I thought birds were flying into the building. Then I realized that large chunks of snow are falling onto the ground below. In the photos you can see the accumulation. This was yesterday:

And this is today:

There is a house dog (sebaca) that lives across the street. He is a cute, furry little guy. I hear him bark when he is outside sometimes. It is amusing to watch the process repeat itself...dog is let out to go to the bathroom, dog goes to the bathroom and runs around the fenced in area, dog gets tired/bored/cold and walks up the steps, where he sits for about 30 seconds to one minute, then lets out a little bark which is usually ignored, so he runs around the yard a bit more, returns to the steps, barks again, etc. until the doors is opened and he returns to the house.

I am planning to leave the house today to run some errands. I need my juice medley, since I have been juzzling juice bc I am clearly crazing vitamins. I need to go pay for plane tickets to Rome at the travel agent. I also need a lightbulb (communicating that should be fun), tomatoes, and need to recharge Kyivstar. I thought I would also walk to a former church nearby that now hosts concerts to see if anything was on, as well as to the Philharmonic. I'm thinking about going out to dinner tonight but we'll see how we brave the elements this afternoon and then decide.

Well, you guessed it. After going to recharge the internet, I walked to the travel agent, who was closed, so we decided to go into a few art stores that feature local art. Looking around was fun.

Our friends Andriy and Veronica invited me over for tea and to look at Andriy's impressive coin collection. I always have a good time with them. Veronica and I talked about Int'l Women's Day, looked at photos from their wedding, laughed at one of Pink's music videos, and googled South Carolina and Furman (and me, amusingly) on the internet. I enjoyed telling her about Furman and SC, and answering questions about the US. I learn so much about Ukraine from them so it is nice to think we can satiate their curious questions about the US, including my favorite one that I have been asked by more than one person here: "Are Americans fat?" Evidently we have a reputation!

After leaving their place it was later than I thought and dark and cold so I had yet another dinner at the apartment. I cooked angel hair pasta with spinach and olive oil.  I did not use tomato sauce. I haven't been able to find a tomato sauce that suits me here.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is Mom's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I will definitely call her in the AM.