NOTE: Carrie left to return to the United States today, after more than three years of working in Ukraine. Our friendship is woven into my entire Zhytomyr experience, so much so that when she asked for copies of photographs I had taken from events she had been to with me, they took up a CD and my entire 1 GB thumb drive. I will greatly miss her, but she'll be back in August. Zhytomyr volunteers can't seem to stay away from this country. It's something in the water... Which, of course, we never drink. Bye for now, Carrie. And thanks for everything!
***
Well that was a cold snap.
A little over a week ago I was in Florida, swimming in the ocean in only a bathing suit. Now...
The temperature wasn't too bad when I got back, hovering between -02 and -05. But today it plummeted, to -25 C (-14 F), the coldest temperature I've ever experienced. I had to take off my glasses outside because the metal was painfully conducting the cold to my face. They cancelled school because of the temperature drop. Mind you, it's a clear sky outside, very pretty. No hurricanes, rains, blizzards, earthquakes, none of that. Rather, UKRANIANS cancelled SCHOOL because it's THAT COLD!
Of course, everytime a co-worker mentions the temperature, invariably someone says back to that person "but it's -40 in Moscow". Do you know what they're saying in Mocow? "But it's -60 in Siberia!" And do you know what they're saying in Siberia? "I'm going to find the ancestor who thought it be a good idea to disagree with Stalin or listen to Western music or be, you know, a Pole or a Tartar or a Lithuanian and kick him in the nuts because I'm f-ing cold!"
In all honesty, it's not that bad. I can barely feel the cold, but that's because when I'm outside I look like an obese ninja (black slacks, black jacket, black scarf around my face, black ski cap pulled down so only my eyes show, and black hood pulled up and cinched tight; oh yeah, and there's four layers beneath all that). An obese ninja whose lethal martial arts skills will never be fully realized because he has yet to learn how to walk on ice.
Save the cold, it's been good to be back, see my friends and slide back into my work schedule. Good as it's been, though, weird things keep happening lately. Today in class a teacher in her 60s said she didn't want to do the activities: she was feeling ill and had only come to hear the lesson. Fair enough. But during an activity when I was working with the teachers near her, she stopped me to ask me questions about Florida. "My sister-in-law lives in Florida," she said. "My brother lived in Vermont and was in the legislature. He was re-elected many times. But then his son drowned in a lake and he went in after him." And at this point she started crying. Middle of class. Old woman crying.
I tried to comfort her and still keep the class going. Later, near the end, she asked for my number "in case I ever need to get a hold of you." Peace Corps is a 24/7 job, so of course I gave it to her.
Night is falling outside and I've just been informed that it's now -30. I'm about to leave in a few minutes. Sigh. Once outside, it'll again be a new personal record.
Welcome to Ukraine.