The Tanya Problem

I can't believe we've been here for 5 days. This is insane! I have SO MUCH to say!

Let's start with the plane ride..

On the way over I realized that apparently I’m a picky eater. I never thought I was until the airplane gave me lasagna for dinner, yogurt for breakfast, and scrambled eggs, cooked tomatoes, and spinach for lunch. At least a bread roll came with all of the meals so I had something to munch on. That and I packed chickadee crackers with me. Yum. For dinner our host mom made us mashed potatoes and fish. I’m definitely not a fish person so I stuck with potatoes. And then there was also cheese, vegetables, bread and a little dessert set out on the table with us too. Audrey and I were not hungry at all so we had to like force down the potatoes and take super small helpings of the veggies, cheese and bread. And we barely even touch dessert.  We also had tea to drink along with it, but all we really wanted was a few glasses of cold water.

The airplane ride wasn’t bad. Audrey and I had different flights so we had to fly with other groups of ILP volunteers which helped us get to know new people. On the flight from Madison to Chicago, I was chosen to be randomly searched at the desk before getting on the plane. They pretty much took apart my carry-on and then put it back together for me. In Frankfurt, I was randomly chosen to get the wand and to be patted down. That was fun. And then after my stuff went through the x-ray, I was randomly chosen to have my laptop checked for drugs.  Honestly, the next time I’m randomly chosen for something, I hope it comes with a prize.

Ukraine pretty much looks like I was expecting it to. It looks dirty and old, but really cool at the same time. After we got to the airport and went through customs, we found our bags. Both of mine arrived safe and on time! Then we went through the gates and found the ILP coordinators and we stood around and talked for a while. They talked in Russian, we talked in English. Then they split us all up to go to host families. Audrey and I are living together! Which is crazy because we are so going to kill eachother.

Our family has a cat! We were really hoping for one so this is very good news. While Audrey and I were eating dinner, we happened to see a packet of cat food in the fridge (which was left wide open, I guess they don't close them here?) and we both got super excited. A while later when we were trying to unpack the cat came and found us. He’s not too much into affection, much to our dismay, but loves to play with string and do summersaults.  We also have 3 host siblings. But because were antisocial and awkward, we haven’t met them yet. Or our host dad. Do we even have a host dad?

Audrey and I are still seriously on USA time. We've woken up before 3am every single morning and we fall asleep at about 7 every night. It's pathetic, I know. But this schedule works for us because we were assigned to teach the morning classes at the school, so we have to be out of the house be 8 anyway. That means we only have 5 hours to get dressed every morning. Can you say high maintenance much? :)

On Saturday, Audrey and I walked around and tried to find a grocery store. That was a fail. We walked for about 30 minutes and then came across a Home Depot-esc store that we stayed in for a while. Oh, I should mention that it was snowing heavily outside.. Anyway, then we went home and our host mom was worried that we were starving (we weren't) and then she had someone translate for us that we should eat. Our host family doesn't speak English by the way..

So we started teaching this morning. The school is new this semester so we spent all day Monday setting it up and cleaning up. And I've been up since 1am making calendars, rule lists, and name tags for all the class rooms. It's difficult, but honestly, I wouldn't change it because it's worth it and this is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. Anyway, I work the 9-1 shift so today we taught and then ordered lunch and went for a walk, and now Audrey and I are just sitting around using the free Wi-Fi while everyone else takes their shift.

But, I'm headed home now so I'll post more later about.. everything!

(sorry for spelling errors, spell check is thinking in Ukrainian..)

OK, I guess I forgot to talk about the Tanya Problem.. Everyone is named Tanya. Two of our coordinators, our host mom, and our neighbor. We never know which Tanya everyone is talking about. IT'S A SERIOUS PROBLEM, NO?