So it was the first time in the history of ever that all five Zhytomyr volunteers: Mary, Carrie, Amy, Steve and myself, were ever in the same spot, the spot being Steve's apartment. I was trying to cook chicken fettechini alfredo on Steve's one working burner, and then found myself picking all the chicken off the floor because when I flipped the chicken (me being I-Don't-Need-No-Stinking-Spatula Daniel), the screw holding the pan to the handle flew one way while the pan full of chicken flew the other, into a wall. I stared dumbfoundly at the handle still in my hand until Steve said: "Oh, I forgot to tell you that happens sometimes."
Steve's apartment and also Carrie's tell me and Amy what to look forward to: Steve has the one working burner and no hot water. Carrie has hot water, but her sink and tub don't drain and her toilet doesn't flush. She flushes the toilet by pouring buckets of water into it, empties out the tub after her hot showers in the same manner. No one came into Peace Corps to have it posh, though.
In any case, dinner was rescued, washed, and then cooked again. We watched my travel video and hung out, listening to music. Mary, in her fifties, excused herself about 11:30 (extrodinarily late for her; we usually loose her around 10:00). Then the alcohol came out. So did my guitar.
About an hour later, the girls were past inebriety, and demanding that I play "My Immortal" by Evanescence yet again. I had just learned it on guitar, and while Amy was a fan, Carrie had never heard it. They made me type out the lyrics so they could sing along, and then got really serious about it, commanding me to stop and start so they could figure out their version of harmonies (the way cats have versions of harmonies), belting out the chorus in this tiny apartment with paper thin walls at well past midnight. We got up to the bridge and I suggested that maybe we were done with the song, and Carrie said: "No! It's a project now! We have to finish! Steve, we need more alcohol!"
And Steve does what he always does, which is whatever the girls tell him to do. So he went off to make more mimosas while we screachingly went through the bridge, the final chorus and then finished the song.
Another highlight of the evening was when Steve broke out the nachos. They looked like Dorritos, were in a Dorritos-styled bag and even crucnched like Dorritos. Like most Ukrainian food, though, they were absolutely tasteless. Amy dissapeared with the bag, returning a few minutes later and shaking it. "Try," she said, holding it out. I put a chip in my mouth. It tasted sweet, like cinnamin. Then my tongue started to burn, that burn associated with cayanne pepper. Apparently Amy had gone into the kitchen and started putting spices in the bag. "Amy, you are no longer allowed to drunk cook," I said. We also had to take her cell phone away because she was on the verge of drunk dialing. London.
There was a demand for more music by the girls. They told Steve to put on Coldplay. Steve, who was busy transfering music from my MP3 player to his computer, put on Green Day. "Coldplay!" they demanded. After a few minutes, he put on "Vodoo Child" by Jimi Henderix. "Coldplay!"
"It's always time for Jimi," I said from beneath my ski cap, which was pulled down to cover my face. I was tired and trying to block out the light.
"Coldplay!" the girls said.
Steve put on Coldplay.
"Yay!"
A bit after that the couch was turned into a bed and Steve's bed pushed beside it.
"Finding Nemo" was put on Steve's laptop and we piled onto the new big bed, Amy and Carrie saying "We want the turtles!". I was drifting off to sleep before Nemo was even captured, but woke up a little bit later to snoring. Marlin and Bruce the shark were having a conversation. The snoring was from Steve, but Amy was asleep, too. I got out of bed and shut off the movie and the computer.
I woke up to Steve going, "No! No!"
My head darted up, eyes open. "What?"
"Something's wrong with my computer! It's not on!"
"Steve, I shut it off."
"You did?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
The conversation awoke Amy. "Where's 'Finding Nemo'?"
"You were asleep. I turned it off."
"But I want the turtles!"
"It's off."
"Play 'Finding Nemo'!"
I put my head under the covers and went to sleep.
So, fun times all around, although I was exhausted this morning. Probably not as much as Carrie, though, who had to get up at 8:00 am to catch a marchrutka to Kyiv for a meeting. She took one for the team though.
In any case, we think that group sleep was a rousing success, and plan to have another one soon.