Wednesday in Chenivtsi

This morning, I woke up, tired. I boiled water for my instant coffee and immediately lit the fire in my water heater so I could shower. In the meantime, I went back into the kitchen bc the tea pot was whistling. I opened it up so it could continue to boil for at least 5 more minutes so I could drink it with coffee. While that continued to boil, I went back into the living room to unload the washer and hang the clothes on our metal dryer. Then I went back into the kitchen to put my instant coffee in a mug and pour the water in it. I brought it back into the living room to do some last minute things for my class while waiting for the shower water to heat. Ever since Lilliana had the breakers replaced we haven't had any trouble losing electricity. I washed the clothes before I went to bed last night and didn't even worry about losing power. I still try to avoid washing my hair on Wednesday morning before I go to class bc of that one time I couldn't get my hair dried before going to work.

Mom was really tired and slept almost until it was time for me to go. I took her some coffee before I left. I as good to see Mykola and to talk about Easter. My first class went well. I asked them to prepare presentations or next week, so hopefully this will go well. I told them next week they could ask me anything about lfe in America but that they had to give me the same courtesy. I'm looking forward to it.

Then I met with 3 students who are interested in applying for Fulbright grad students scholarships to come to the US. I had a little bit of downtime and took advantage of the faster wired internet connection. I called Mom at the apt to check on her and she was her usual cheery self. I was ooking forward to class bc I had not seen my grad students for afew weeks. They had practicums in March and most of them didn't come to class. So, when I owed up to unlock the door and set up the projector and only 2 students were there, I was a bit shocked. Evidently now their other classes are over, they have jobs, and they are about to graduate. Oh, and, they don't come to my class anymore. Not cool.

I decided to hold class anyway, and just go about it in a bit more of an informal way. The 2 young women who showed up, Anna and Ivana, are very good students...bright, motivated, and able. I like both of them a lot. I really enjoyed the time with them. I talked about America's role in WWI, the 1920s and the Great Depression and ended by setting the stage for WWII. After that we just talked informally. I asked them about issues facing young women in Ukraine...did they feel any pressure to marry? What were their goals? What were challenges facing women? We discussed a lot about America, and covered other topics such as military service in Ukraine (not obligatory), the higher education system (not totally funded by the state, which is what I previously thought), what they wanted to do when they graduate,  etc.

I thought it was some the best time I've spent with students here yet. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again next week and to observing their presentations.

On the way home I always pass a school, and saw 2 diferent groups of boys playing basketball. Spring has definitely arrived. There are even green sprouts coming out of the ground.

I turned left onto Vul Olga Koblianska and enjoyed people watching, a always. In front of me were a small grouping of red lanterns. I reconizd them bc they were the same kind of red lanterns I had seen so many of on CNN International at the hotel in Rome. I looked to see a photo of Lech Kaczynski, and realized I was sanding in front of the Polish National House. Sad.

I enjoyed coming home and having Mom here. We chatted for about an hour and a half and then I changed and walked Vul Ruska to go to the market. At the market I heard a familiar voice and realized it was Mykola! It was the first time I had just run into him in Chernivti and I think I sort of stunned him. He was helpful, as always, as I asked him my usual questions: Does this have meat in it? Potato? I asked him if this place had frozen veggies (I am on a constant quest) and he said they did upstairs. Upstairs?I didn't know this place had an upstairs. We walked up there and they had a deli area and several other helpful areas of grocery items. I bought a ton of stuff for about 30 USD. Unreal.

Walking home I saw a stolovy/cafeteria that I had never noticed before. Stolovies are good for me bc I can simply point to what I want. I was carrying 2 rather large bags back and it was getting dark so I called Mom to tell her I was on my way home. The line was busy, and it turned out that she was on the phone with Lilliana.

Tonight she helped me in the kitchen and I cooked the pineapple rice dish I have wanted to make for her. She loved it, and enjoyed the sweet Muscat wine these 3 people helped me pick out at the grocery store. At the store, these 3 people helped me for about 10 minutes.One woman spoke some English, which was convenient. I had seen the words dessert, dulce, and Spumante on a few bottles and so I tried to use those words to explain that I was looking for a bottle of sweet white wine for  my Mother. These 3 people went on an all out hunt, deliberating several bottles with each other before handing me one. Most of the people here are so kind. Yesterday the transportation safety lady at the airport , Alicia, gave me her mobile number and told me to call her if I needed anything. One of my students today also offerred to translate for me if I ever needed assistance. So kind.

We returned from Italy to a TV that works! Lilliana was very pleased that it finally functions. We bought a TV in early February and the first few times the man had to cancel bc he couldn't get on the roof bc of snow. Then he just couldn't get access to the roof, and there were several other problems I'm not really aware of. Now, however, we have a TV that works. It gets 13 channels, all of which are in Ukrainian. Tonight we had the TV on and lo and behold I saw a movie come on TV around 10PM. I saw the city of San Francisco on the screen and English words. It was the Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore film Nine Months from circa 1997. Ha! Seeing and hearing that movie with Ukrainian voice translation over the English was hilarious.

Now we are about to go to bed.