If you remember last year, I had an ambitious November. I wanted to take 30 days to make myself a better man, and I did. I wanted to do 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups each day, and I did. I also wanted to complete NaNoWriMo, and I did. It was ambitious and by the end I was absolutely drained […]
Today I began to say goodbye. I’ve mused before about haircuts in Ukraine. It was a simple post that boiled down to, I have a great woman who cuts my hair here because she knows what I want without me having to jump through hoops in Russian to explain it. I walk in, sit down, […]
Sometimes you do things because the opportunity is there and you’re not quite sure if it will come about again in your lifetime. Sometimes people ask you why you’re doing exactly that and you explain it to them the way you see it. And sometimes they respond that future insurance companies might not insure you […]
So much has happened in the past week and I want to write about all of it now, but I think I’ll spread it out over a few days because each thing deserves personal recognition. The week started with our flag football tournament, but I’ll write about that later once I steal photos from Jeramie […]
As of today, September 17, 2012, it has been exactly two years since I left Wisconsin for the Peace Corps. Granted, I didn’t actually arrive in Ukraine until September 22, 2010 due to problems with visas at the embassy. Also, it’s been a year since I last visited home. Time has flown.
I talked to Jeramie yesterday and it sounds like she had an awful first day back at school. If not awful then at least not ideal. Apparently she had to deal with the same kinds of things we had to deal with in earlier years, but she’d thought she had helped her school past them. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]