Host Family Home

Pryveet! (Hello in Ukrainian)

Well, I have been living with my host family for a week now and it has been an experience to remember! I have a wonderful room (you can see from the pictures above)! You can see my room and the view I have from my large window. We have a nice kitchen where mama cooks all sorts of yummy meals (my most interesting meal was borshch with rabbit, which was quite delicious!). Other than eating lots of new kinds of food, I have been keeping extremely busy!

I am exhausted after four to five hours of Russian language lessons each day. My language teacher is wonderful and I keep a journal of her teaching techniques so that I can use these activities when I have my own classroom. I have also met with the mayor of my town (population 15,000) who offered to have militia (police) escort my group of PCVs into a "cafe" if we were interested in dining at a cafe. Apparently, from what I have learned in Ukraine, people with a "good" reputation do not dine in "cafes" to socialize; but rather, respectable people socialize in their homes. Fighting and drunkeness are too common in cafes, so the mayor wanted us to be safe and offered the militia escort. Of course, just the idea of being escorted by the police is enough to deter me from wanting to dine in one of these establishments. I am learning about my community each day!

Also featured in the pictures above is Marsyk - my host cat! When I first moved in, he did not want anything to do with me and would even try to scratch me if I tried to pet him. But now, he has surrendered to me and I can pet him whenever I want and pick him up and carry him over my shoulder (although, he still sometimes runs from me). I am determined to win over Marsyk!

My host sister, Ania, attends the university in Kyiv and we enjoy talking and laughing together! We talk about her boyfriend and she has showed me lots of pictures!

My host mama is very friendly and works at the local art school. I'm not sure exactly what she does, I thought she was an economist, but today I found out she works at the art school, so I am slightly confused! Oh, the wonders of language barriers!

Mom - you would be proud because I wash dishes AT LEAST once per day (usually after breakfast or dinner).

Overall, I am enjoying my stay with my host mama, sister, and kitty cat! They keep me busy, on my toes, and I'm constantly trying to communicate with them (with the little Russian I know and my dependable Russian dictionary). But hey, I'm learning more each day!

Poka, Poka!

Natalie