Looking back: First days in a Ukrainian village

I thought it might be nice to look back and remember some great experiences in Ukraine. I lived in a village for 3 months in October to December 2007, before I moved to a larger town where I worked as an English teacher from January 2008 to December 2009.

Oct. 4, 2007

(Names and places have been changed)

Sestra (Ukrainian word for sister) later liked to tease me that the first thing I said when I walked in the door and met her parents and grandparents was, “Where should I put my shoes?” This was something we’d learned in orientation. Ukrainians take off their shoes when they enter a house and they bring candy or chocolate. I was nervous. I didn’t want to offend anyone.

Of course, that’s when they led me into their kitchen and we crowded around the table and they beamed at me and served fish.

There was that fish with the eyes sitting on the plate and sardines and caviar on bread. I ate the potatoes and bread and bravely nibbled at the fish.

They kept pressuring me to eat more, more, and eventually I just couldn’t because it was all too fishy and I could see that they were discussing it. Sestra looked at me helplessly like she didn’t want to translate so finally I said, "I don't really like fish ... but it's okay, the potatoes and bread were delicious." This distressed them and Sestra said, "We didn't know, we'll serve something else tomorrow."

I said, “No it's fine!”

They served an apple cake and chocolate and coffee for dessert.

Sestra didn't really understand the concept of my pickiness. "There's not many things I don't eat," she said.

I never realized just how picky I was until I started traveling, because I could be choosy with my selection in the states. I only like six fruits, I love meats, but not their organs, and I’m also relatively selective with vegetables.

They served me borscht, a famous Ukrainian dish of tomato, beets and cabbage. I’m not usually a fan of beets but had to let that one go since the soup was tasty.

The first night, I blew their electricity twice. I had plug adapters but my surge protector didn’t have the proper electrical adaptation. I tried to plug it in, there was a pop and the lights went out. My stomach dropped and I thought, "Nice, I just murdered their electricity."

Her father knew what to do and the lights came back on. Then he examined the surge protector and my other appliances, and finally took it away with him. He did something to it and got it to work with their electricity.

I lay in bed that first night, wide-eyed, lying in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar house with strange electricity and food, in an unfamiliar country, and I was gripped with panic again.

I spent a lot of time over the next few days buying prepaid phone cards after I had purchased a cheap mobile phone, and calling my parents and friends back home. I needed the connection and the village didn’t have good Internet, which meant I wasn’t able to send emails or get on Skype.

The village I lived in had a population of 5,000.

There were lots of trees and a few stores, factory, hospital, couple of cafe-slash-bars, a school and a “culture” house, which is where their disco nights and concerts were held. One street went through town, which was paved in the middle and turned to mud along the sides. It split near the school and a statue to the "Unknown Soldier." My house was to the left, by a deep gulley of overgrown brush and skeleton trees, which Oksana said was haunted. She and her friends told me about the ghost they’d seen there. They also liked to stage filmed episodes of the TV show, “Charmed,” which ran as reruns on an English channel.

My host family had a very nice house because the father was always making improvements. They had a western toilet and a shower that rivaled mine in the states. The shower stall had a radio and water came from a spigot in the ceiling, which was the only of its kind I ever saw in Ukraine. Usually, the showers were nozzles attached to hoses, and weren’t always anchored to the wall. It was a process of washing with one hand while holding the nozzle with the other.

I lived with a complete family; parents, grandparents and one 14-year old daughter, Sestra. They were open and welcoming, although also disapproving of the general sloppiness and obesity of Americans. Sestra had been learning English in school and picked even more up as we communicated. The rest of the family knew nothing. They were eager to point at objects and get me to say them.

I lived on the second floor in a small bedroom across from Sestra's room. The stairs up to my bedroom were so steep it was almost like a ladder. I had a stand-alone wardrobe and a desk with a lamp.

The family had pigs, a cow and chickens. They grew grapes along wooden posts outside their front door and had two nearby fields where they grew potatoes, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, strawberries and onions.