And a post...

So, once again in L’viv. Third time in 3 weeks. Must be some sort of record for me.
Yep. It’s a record. I had to send an email to Peace Corps and, wouldn’t you know it, there’s no Internet in my town. So I caught the 45-minute Marshrutka (mini-bus) and here I am.
Well, not really, since I’m currently typing this in my room, which is on the 5th floor of an apartment building in a town 45 minutes from L’viv.
What’s new in my life? Glad you asked!
Not much. I mean, I’m living in Ukraine as a volunteer English teacher, so there’s that. But that kind of speaks for itself, wouldn’t you say? Much of my time not teaching is spent walking to the post office and to the supermarket. At the supermarket… ok, I’m going to digress for a moment about what Ukraine chooses to call a supermarket. This is not Cash-Wise or Hy-Vee or whatever your regional supermarket might be called. This is a four aisled grocery store. But they have a deli and a fruit section. Yes, but those are at the end opposite from the cashiers and half of the deli is taken up by boxes of bulk candy. What is in the four aisles? Well, in aisle one, on the right side, is a wall of Vodka, Cognac, Vodka, and Wine. On the left side is water, all of it carbonated except for the 5-liter bottles of un-carbonated water that are conveniently tucked away on the bottom shelf. I’m the only one who buys this water. On the left side is also soda, Sprite, Coke, Fanta, etc. But the catch is that they also call this water. There are cartons of juice. Lots of it. It’s good juice. I recommend the 100% juice Apple-Carrot (with pulp). And at the end of the left side of aisle one is the beer. Beer is not alcohol here, but just another variety of soda… er, water.
Aisle two? Well, with the cashiers behind you, the right side of the aisle is taken up by chocolate and cookies and wafers and sweet snacks. There are nuts and dried fruits at the end of the aisle on the bottom shelf. To your left, you’ll find more chocolate bars, a wonderful product called Halva (Oh, this stuff is great. It’s pulverized sunflower seeds [just the meats] pressed together with sugar/honey/other kinds of sweeteners. It’s hard to explain… apparently it’s made from what’s left over from making sunflower oil), coffee: instant and ground, teas, and cocoa. I’ve also seen Nesquick here, for anyone who can’t live without chocolate milk.
Aisle three. Again, the cashiers are to your back. On the right are honey, canned and jarred vegetables, tomato paste and sauce (both taste like thickened ketchup), eventually you’ll come upon the canned meats: mainly fish, but I think there is also potted beef here. I don’t know what potted beef actually is, but I know how to say it in Ukrainian. The canned fish is not like canned salmon or tuna. It’s like a cut of carp that they canned with heavy oil and peppercorns. When I was in Training, my host mom kept trying to convince me that this was a very healthy dish. I’ll stick to the meat Jell-O. On the left is pastas, flour, sugar, and cup-o-noodles Ukrainian style.
Aisle four, this time with the deli to your back, will present you with the frozen foods and the dairy on your right. In the frozen foods are fish and pizza crusts. When I own a freezer of my own, I will buy all of the pizza crusts. There is also frozen meat. And frozen, sweetened cream cheese, which is a poor substitute for ice cream. The dairy has the basics, milk, butter, sour cream, ketchup, mayo (all 500 varieties of it), yogurt, mustard, and kefir. Some of you might be asking what kefir is. My dictionary says: a creamy drink made from fermented cow’s milk. That’s a pretty good way of putting it. It’s sour milk. But it’s actually not that bad, once you get over the sour taste and the slightly fermented smell. Plus, it helps to keep you regular. The left side has more ramen noodles, potato chips, dehydrated tofu (at least, I think it’s dehydrated tofu…) and those corn starch packing peanuts (only these taste like strawberries).
There’s also a small toiletry section that sells a lot of shampoo, a lot of soap, a lot of detergent, and Harry Potter colored pencils. It also has a lot of toothpaste varieties. But no toothbrushes. Nope. Not a single one. Turns out that you can’t buy toothbrushes in the supermarket, only in the pharmacy.
Ok, sorry for my digression. So I go to the post office and the supermarket. Thanks to the help of all of you who have sent me letters, one of my fellow English teachers told me that I am going to win the contest for the most mail received. She said this with a straight face, which I can read one of two ways:
1. She doesn’t smile when she speaks English, which would explain why I think that she doesn’t get my jokes.
2. There really is a contest in my town for who can receive the most mail. God that would be sweet.
Needless to say, I’m really hoping that it’s option number two. And that I’ll win some kind of cool prize, like a tour of the post office or a day of job-shadowing the guy who runs the photo-copier/photo developing booth. Either would be cool. And well worth all of you investing 80 cents into making my dream come true. Huh? Huh? Whaddaya say?
I was taken to one of my prospective future housing sites on Monday. It was a three-floored house on the outskirts of town. Nice place, a good walk from the school and the center of town, and they have water all day, everyday. Problem is, a family lives there. A dad and his two college-aged children. So, I would be sharing the kitchen and bathroom with them. I would have a room to myself, but I would be living in their house.
This sound familiar?
Probably because it’s what I’ve been doing for the past 4 months. The idea is that I live alone, that I have my own apartment or house (houses here are like apartments without a building) and don’t share a bathroom or kitchen with anyone. And so the search continues… which is ok, since I don’t get to have my own place until the end of March.
If I’m going to be expected to share, I might as well just stay with my current family, because at least we’ve gotten past the transition period. When I told Iryna, my host mom about it, she said the exact same thing to me. Then she added that I was a young man and should live alone. She was probably mentally fixing me up with a girl she knows and will therefore have me married within a week of moving into my new digs. This is how the minds of Ukrainians work. When I went to the police station to tell them who I was and to show them that I have a visa and whatnot, they told me that they would find me a Ukrainian girl a.s.a.p. No kidding.
I guess that’s about all I’ve got for this update. Things are safer. Life is good. And so it goes.


Please check out the photos below.