Busier Than The 405 At 5

(whadup LA!) Seriously though, I'm working around 100 hours a week and I barely have time for Dexter episodes... and sleep. Here's the thing, culturally, Ukrainians are more straightforward and aggressive than Americans when communicating their thoughts and feelings so my politeness and friendliness actually reads as vulnerability. The teachers I work with have a lot going on besides work. On top of taking care of their families and vegetable gardens, they prepare dinner from scratch, hand-wash clothes, bucket shower, tutor students on the side, drink around 5 cups of tea a day, and clean their home (without the help of mr. clean). At school, it seems like a constant game of hot potato where all the teachers try to give their workload to someone else. I mean, I share all these responsibilities too (minus the family and vegetable garden) and since I've been the one holding the potato at the end, it's no surprise I've been sick at least once a week due to exhaustion and a weak immune system according to the Peace Corps doctors. I need to learn how to say "no" and learn the rules of the game so I can catch up on Dexter... and sleep :_

I spent "fall break" (a week long school break in October) in Budapest, Hungary with three other lovely Peace Corps volunteers (Elyse, Kim, & Davi) and enjoyed a much needed mini-vacation. We were only able to cram in 3 days after all the travel time getting there but filled each day up with traditional Hungarian food and places that I'm a little surprised we were able to experience so much!
The first day, we checked into our fun little hostel, which felt like a 5 star hotel compared to *cough* my current place of residence.
Then, we found a nice Hungarian restaurant for dinner and relaxed with some delicious Hungarian wine, which was heaven after our long train rides.

*I clocked my total train time at 76 hours!*

The second day, our hostel friends recommended a free walking tour so we would have some ideas on what to see and where to see it. Our tour guide was so helpful and gave us history, language, and cultural lessons along the way. The locals pronounce it "Budapesht" and it consists of two cities, Buda and Pest, which are divided by the Danube River. The tour started in bustling Pest (more urban than Buda).

Some of my favorites were the Hungarian Parliament,

Saint Stephen's Basilica,

and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

We stopped along the way to rub the Little Princess's knees for good luck.

To get to Buda, we crossed the Danube River on the Széchenyi Chain Bridge.

Me, Elyse, Davi, Kim on Castle Hill

Once in beautiful Buda (more residential than Pest), we walked through Holy Trinity's Square (bought some souvenirs), Fisherman's Bastion, and ended on Castle Hill with some breathtaking views. Our tour guide also recommended where we could find a free Hungarian rock concert that night! So, after filling our bellies with Tai food and strolling through Fashion and Váci Street (roamed H&M for awhile), we rocked out with our Palinkas out! Not wanting the night to end, we headed to a famous "ruin pub" and felt the vibe from the locals.

The third day, we slept in a little and headed to the biggest and baddest Turkish Bath House, Széchenyi Bath & Spa, picking up Subway on the way (Oh hi there Subway, haven't seen you in 8 months). We walked 7 miles down Andrássy Avenue right through some of the main sites in Pest.

Some of my favorites included the Hungarian State Opera House,

the House of Terror (cool architecture but it gave me the chills),

Heroes' Square,

and Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park,

to finally the baroque-styled Széchenyi Bath House.

For a $15 entrance fee, we relaxed all day in indoor pools, outdoor whirlpools (you literally "whirled" around), wooden saunas, stone saunas, saunas that changed colors, steam rooms (I can't handle those though), that all ranged in temperature and medicinal benefits. Amazing right?! I even noticed some older women speaking Russian and said "do u speak Russian, me too!" (in Russian) because it seemed like so long since I last spoke it. They all just gave me the "brick face" of course haha. Budapest was very English friendly and reminded me a lot of home. We walked back toward the Jewish district, a trendy and less expensive part of Pest, to see the largest synagogue in Europe, Dohány Street Synagogue, and a supermarket to buy food for cooking dinner back at the hostel. We might be vacationing but we're still on our Peace Corps stipends haha.
The next morning was bittersweet as we awoke at dawn, rode the metro to the most gorgeous train station I've ever seen (the Budapest East Railway Station), and waved goodbye to a city I'll never forget. We did manage to play dorak (means "fool" in Russian), the only card game all Ukrainians seem to know, with some random Ukrainians on the train to Kyiv, yay integration! We roamed the streets of Ukraine's capital for the day, dropping our bags off at another cute little hostel, as we awaited our separate trains in the morning. *More photos are on my Facebook*
Straight from Kyiv, I was off to the largest American Halloween party Ukraine has ever seen with 150 of us! It was in Kharkiv, the second biggest city in Ukraine, and home to a MEXICAN RESTAURANT! I had to see (and eat) this for myself! It lacked hot sauce and sour cream but I did share this bueno occasion with one of my favorite Peace Corps Volunteers, Janine, who was just as stoked. Kharkiv was pretty epic and I saw a lot of familiar faces from training. I tried to be a cat burglar and thought it would be easy to pick up a crowbar on the way, but oddly enough (and I was looking) there wasn't one to be found. So, I just wore my cat mask, which I made on the train, wore all black, and stole people's drinks all night. I gave them back of course, but it did seem a lot easier to steal other peoples' drinks the more drinks... I mean as the night passed on. When I FINALLY got back to my apartment, I had no clean clothes, no water, no food, and no regrets :)
(just for that one day, don't worry Mom)

Last weekend, I helped a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer (Nazgol) who lives 3 hours away throw a goodbye party since she's nearing the end of her service, leaving for the states in less than 2 weeks! The night before, I had a slumber party with her and two other amazing Volunteers (Hailey & Rachel) and had the best girls night I've had in YEARS! If only I didn't live in the middle of nowhere and could see them more often. The next day at Nazgol's party, we made a lot of food and it was delicious. She also gave me a ton of stuff since she's leaving and doesn't want to lug around tons of luggage for the long journey home (something you learn as a Volunteer, pack as light as you can manage). I'll definitely miss her, she's funny as hell, full of wisdom, and f*in fearless. She's moving to New York, by herself, just because that's always been her dream. Good luck Nazgol, may all your positive karma catch up with you in the big apple!

Last week it snowed so I can now say to my future kids "when I was your age, I had to walk 2 miles in the snow to get to school, stop complaining and eat your carrots!" I was so giddy when it snowed, mostly because this Southern California girl rarely sees snow, let alone so much of it! I know by the time winter's over, I'll be sick of snow but right now it's new and exciting (and a little scary).

I'm sure you're curious how I'm adapting to simple, Ukrainian life... well youtube "how-to" videos, ehow, wikihow, and marthastewart.com have become my life. I search for things like "how to whiten white clothes using natural ingredients" (baking soda or white vinegar, but not together). I also learned you can clean just about everything with white vinegar! Or how about "how to turn whole milk into skim" (you can't, only if it's straight from the cow, then u boil it and shave off the cream that forms at the top). I had a tough one with "how to make a window screen, mosquito tent, duct tape" because it was a tight fit and my window still doesn't close all the way. And finally there's the life of canning; "how to make strawberry jam," "how to preserve tomatoes," "how to make pasta sauce using preserved tomatoes," "how to can cucumbers into perfect pickles," the list goes on and on. Also, my phobia of creepy crawlers doesn't matter here in Ukraine, it's every living thing for itself. I tried to kill a centipede/waterbug called a сороконожка (literally translates to bug with 40 legs), which was the size of my iPod touch (looks like an iPhone). This thing was creep-y. I had my friend Alec on Skype motivating me to approach it. When I finally did, I used my broom to hit if off the wall, but when it fell I lost it. I did manage to kill two smaller centipedes hiding under my big chair's cushion when looking for it but still no sign of the huge one. Alec gave me courage that night but I won't have him talking me through it every time a showdown happens. If anything, the Peace Corps will have taught me how to be a damn good house wife haha. In case you're STILL curious, here's my friend Amy's blog. She posts more often about day-to-day life as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine. She is a community developer living in Luhansk (big city 2 hours away) and I visit her every few weeks when I help with English Club on Saturdays (I'm even in a couple of her posts).

My next big adventure is a big Thanksgiving dinner in Luhansk with 27 Peace Corps Volunteers!!!