The One Where I MacGyvered a Beard


Blog

So, I’ve been growing a beard. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I think it’s something everyone should try, at least to learn how your facial hair actually grows. Hell, you might end up liking it. Some of my “friends” have strongly urged me to shave it. They insist that […]

August 31, 2012

Early Train


Peace Corps

I’m in Kiev today for medical. I’ve been up since 4:00am and it’s earlier than I planned to be awake to get to Kiev. You see, it’s the end of summer and the university students are monopolizing the trains to get from their villages to their universities. The train I usually take was full earlier than I […]

August 30, 2012

Big Chocolate Ice-cream


Peace Corps

This summer, we’ve been going to get soft-serve ice-cream in the center. I’m not really sure why we didn’t do it last summer but what matters is that we are now. I have a standard order of, “Big chocolate.” Usually this rolls in around 200g (0.44 lbs) and it costs me 8 UAH ($1).That’s not […]

August 27, 2012

A Disappointing Independence Day


Peace Corps

Yesterday, August 24, was the Ukrainian Day of Independence. I had looked forward to it because there are celebrations in the center for holidays. At celebrations, there’s almost always shashlik. Shashlik is delicious. It’s grilled meat but not like grilled meat I’ve had in America. I wish I knew how it is different, but I […]

August 25, 2012

Highlights of Teaching


Peace Corps

For the last two weeks of summer, I was asked to work with some of the students one-on-one to prepare them for the National English Olympiad. It’s been fun, and I’ve talked about my approach to teaching already. Today, I want to share the first week results of my method. While most of the time […]

August 24, 2012

Teaching One on One, Again


Peace Corps

School has me coming in this week and next week to work with some select students. There’s a handpicked group of six or seven they want prepped for the English Olympiads well in advance, and while I’m still here able to help. While I certainly could argue and put up a fight about having to […]

August 21, 2012

Side Hustle


Blog

Hey spammers, stop doing what you do best and stop spamming my websites. I don’t like having to clear spam. [Update 8-20-12 23:22: Within five minutes of posting this, there was a spam comment on an old post.] On to more exciting news. I’ve decided that I’m going to start a side hustle. The Art of […]

August 20, 2012

Writing Short Things Again


Blog, Writing

I haven’t been doing a lot of writing lately, novel or blog. I don’t have much of a reason other than I’ve been going into school for a few hours this past week. Actually, that makes for a great excuse. If I’m going in to school, I’m not going to drink coffee which is essential […]

August 19, 2012

Operating System Switch Considerations


Computers

Guys, the release of Windows 8 is looming and I’m starting to panic only a bit. I do things like this for things like this. Get used to it. I’m usually be pretty excited for a new version of Windows (hell, I got Vista when it came out. AND. LOVED. IT.). Windows 7 was the […]

August 16, 2012