Rollercoaster

The good:
Last week I decided to celebrate my birthday with some of my closest Peace Corps friends and this week I celebrated my birthday with my closest Ukrainian friends. Both parties were wonderful and I feel so loved when I think about them. For my "American" birthday, we ate Indian food, which was such a treat, and pretty much laughed and played games the entire night. Also, I facilitated the advanced level English Club in Lugansk (city 2 hours away from me), which had a turn out of around 50 university students and adults, for the first time and even though I was incredibly nervous, I think it was a big success!

For my "Ukrainian" party, we ate sweets, drank champagne, and went to the theater in Lugansk. I recently made actual Ukrainian friends in my town that weren't also my colleagues so it was very thoughtful of them to think of me. My colleague friends threw me a surprise party at school and I even received flowers and chocolate from some of my students. I'm so happy that I actually have a social life right now, I broke down their Ukrainian brick faces and walls, yay! It only took me 9 months haha.

The bad:
The last few weeks have been very difficult, teaching wise. It's like my students are already ready for summer holiday and it's not even spring yet! They're completely disregarding the homework I give them, no one volunteers to read anymore, and I've noticed myself saying "come on guys" a lot more, which is a bad habit of mine. It's just tough. Teaching students who are out to lunch is the hardest thing to do in the world! I'm not embarrassed to say that sometimes I get home and I just cry out of frustration. I spend hours, sometimes all night, creating lessons that are fun and interactive yet it's greeted with apathy. I'm on a rollercoaster of emotion! Such is life right? I guess I'd rather be on a rollercoaster than to never experience the thrills.

The ugly:
I had food poisoning today, it's become a once a week ordeal. Right now, I'm doing process of elimination to see what the problem food is. I've learned to not mention this though because then my Ukrainian friends smother me and shut off my bread consumption, which I know is done with good intentions but it makes me cranky. I like to be alone when I look awful and I like toast when I'm nauseous. I don't think I'm asking too much but I'm also in Ukraine haha. Not to mention, it's still really cold and snowing, everyday, can't wait for spring :)