Дом

My house!

As promised, a tour of my new digs. I've been here for just over 3 months now, so that means I still have yet to unpack everything. Goal for this summer: decorate. We'll see. I typically need Duff to help motivate me to get my interior decorator on. (I waited until the last month in our Carlyle apt to put up my one decoration in my room, a Block O)

But before I take you to Konstantinovka, let's journey back to my first Ukrainian hotspot, Chernigov. I still haven't posted all of my pics from that city, so here goes.

Viva!

Rando apt with flowers

a plethora of homeless cats

Transforming into "Miss Sarah"

Kellee and I shared a class of 6th formers. They were well behaved and had a fantastic grasp of English. Not the best preparation for site  

Those chalkboards were the bane of our existence. You had to literally carve letters into them to get anything to show up. NEVER take for   granted a good chalkboard ya'll.

Being presented with my going away present (handmade magnet) from Victoria. Surprised she still gave it to me on pop quiz day

Ah..to have students who understand the concept of group work. Those were the days.

Then I was commissioned to take 'teaching' shots for Cody

So instead I took "Carla" shots

Back to teaching

Everyday...for 4 hours..I couldn't have loved it more

Soaking in the Russian

I meant to get pics of our Russian study room before the very last day (when most of the stuff was already taken down) but the 3 months went   by quicker than I could whip out my 'mra...so this is a shot of one of our walls that's about 1/2 full. 

Another view of our Russian room. Daring pattern mixing.

Student Spots

Now behold, some pics of my host house.

View from my bedroom

I spy

Something with 3 working legs

My host mom, Galina, had a mild obsession with flowers. This was how the dining room table was set most of the time

View from the kitchen, complete with ladder leaning on an apple tree

Bathroom, with a washing machine that worked for my first 1 1/2 months at site.

Living room with Vanman's toys

Steps leading up to my room

Looking out onto the street. Hey soviet era block apartments! Thanks for getting me lost nearly every time I walked by you! Vortex.

Kitchen! I miss having every meal cooked for me..90% of them containing potatoes. Also, that table is where I sat like a stone my first afternoon in the house, terrified that any movement would somehow offend my hosts. Big mistake. They just thought I was really hungry and kept putting food in front of me. Which I had to eat, lest I offend them...

The broom that no Ukrainian sees a problem with using. And it's not as if taller brooms don't exist in this country...it's just that no one has any interest in standing up straight when they sweep. It's a 2 foot tall national symbol.

My attempt at making meatballs for my host mom (way WAY harder than making them in America)

Vanman's attempt at helping. By showing me his new shampoo

Adios Chern

Onto Kiev and swearing in

Ok! So that part's over.

My very first train trip! En route to Konstantinovka aka my site. In the luxurious kupe (2nd class) wagon! I was spoiled for sure. Usually we travel 3rd class...it's a little more...lively..

So now we'll see what my house looked like on the very first day I moved in.

Living room/Bedroom (extremely comfortable fold out couch actually)

Purely decorative TV set, that's already been removed

I don't know if you can tell, but my walls sparkle

Dining room/office/mouse wars battlefield

Kitchen/computer room for my first 2 months

Bathroom/'kitchen' sink/purely decorative washing machine. It serves as my dirty clothes hamper/counter-space

My not so purely decorative spaceship shower

And finally, the most important news of the year: THIS GUY (and his dance moves) ARE COMING TO UKRAINE THIS WEEKEND:

BREN.DAN.FINN.E.GAN

I'm heading out for a few days in Kiev with my little brother, then bringing him back to the village where I will try to ditch him in the fish section of our local bazaar and see how he manages. 

Book update: Finished Little Women (1868, 4 stars), had a quick affair with B is for Burglar (1985, 3 stars) by Sue Grafton (major guilty pleasure reading, just love her) and now I'm reading a cocktail of The Executioner's Song (1979) by Norman Mailer and High Noon in the Cold War: Kennedy, Krushchev and the Cuban Missile Crisis (2004) by Max Frankel. Normy's book is disturbing but addicting, Maxy's book is "exciting, sparsely elegant", just like the The Washington Post Book World said.