and I can't wait for this cold spell to be over! Eastern Europe has been in the news recently about people being unprepared for the quick drop in temperatures, with Ukraine hit the hardest because of its high homeless population. The last few weeks my school has intermittently closed when the temperature dropped lower than -20C (-4F), and I was more than happy to stay home and barricade myself in my bedroom with my space heater (until I had to go grocery shopping). The other days became 1/2 days with lessons lasting 1/2 as long since the classrooms are poorly heated, so it wasn't too bad. However, today we had full lessons since the temperature rose to -5C (23F), the warmest it's been since December, and it started snowing for the first time since early January. When I arrived home today, my base layer was drenched in sweat because I wasn't expecting it to be this warm (never thought I'd say 23F is warm). Speaking of sweating, (and I never thought I'd say this either) I kind of miss it. I'm getting no exercise, absolutely none! In the summer and fall, I walked everywhere but now I take public transportation because walking outside makes my face want to fall off. Since there's no gym in sight, I decided to download some workout videos and buy a yoga mat. Hopefully, this will keep me from feeling restless and rock me out of my winter blues. These are the Peace Corps challenges no one talks about haha.
Other than the cold weather, everything is going really well! My students are showing progress, I'm making new Ukrainian friends (ya integration) and bonding with "nearby" volunteers, I finally found a Russian language tutor, and my cooking is getting better. This week, I'm teaching civil rights with help from the film Remember the Titans. My plan was to surprise them when a young Ryan Gosling appears, "Oh wow, is that Ryan Gosling? This film is so cool!" but so far no one has heard of him... the next film I show may be the Notebook. Just kidding, kind of.
1 comment:
That cold spell you're in has been making international news! Every time I hear about it I think of you. Hope you have enough layers! And I guess it's nice that they postpone school when it gets too cold :) at least they have some common sense over there! Haha.
I can't wait to try some of your cooking! And I'm glad you're finding ways to exercise - that's always important (says the one who never does... haha.) We'll Skype soon! :) love ya!
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