1) Steve had his extension approved. This means he will be serving another year in Ukraine on top of the 2+ he has already served here. Apparently there's something in the Zhytomyr water (not that any of us drink the water here) because he's the third Zhytomyr volunteer I personally know who has extended. Is extending to a third year in the cards for me? Um, NO. I enjoy Ukraine, but I'm not dealing with any more of these winters than I have to. It's almost April and it's STILL below freezing. I haven't been warm since I got here. I got of the plane in late September, and it was cold. Six months later, it's still cold. I forget what being warm feels like, to tell the truth.
But anyway, congratulations, Steve!
The Zhytomyr Crew: Carrie, Steve, Me and Amy. With Steve extending for another year, we should be together until December!
2) Yesterday, I went into Kyiv to meet up with Liz, Jerry and Jessica, three of my clustermates from training, who are spending their Spring Break in Kyiv. Unfortunately, Seth couldn't make it and complete the group I spent three intense months with.
The girls told me to meet them at the T.G.I. Fridays. Yes, Kyiv has a T.G.I. Fridays, and it's the only other American food franchise I'm aware of here other than McDonalds. The thing is, it also has American prices. While I spent a few great hours talking with the girls, I couldn't actually afford to eat with them.
In a circle starting on the left, we have: Caitlin, Suzie, Liz, Jerry, Jessica, Steve and me at T.G.I. Fridays in Kyiv (note the Pepsi on the table that I brought in with me)
I ate lunch ahead of time knowing this, figuring I'd have an appetizer to get some "American" food in me, but even mozzarella wedges were 32 hrivna. Really, that's only $6 if you have an American salary, but after 6 months in Ukraine, my mind is trained off of dollars. 32 hrivna here is equivalent to 32 dollars and that's a ridiculous sum to pay for mozzarella wedges. The final bill, with five people eating, came to 473 hrivna. Imagine paying $473 for dinner at Fridays!
Because the girls live in small towns (Liz is getting a more "authentic" Peace Corps experience, actually having to haul water up from a well and take bucket baths), they have nothing to spend their money on, and so could afford it. They were actually happy to pay it because while I get to eat non-Ukrainian food maybe twice a week, they haven't had it in nearly three months!
3) I had a fantastic little experience last night. I got home late from Kyiv, to find that much of Zhytomyr had lost power. Walking past all those dark storefronts and apartment buildings in only the light of the moon was a little nerve-wracking, with dark bodies looming out of the darkness, just the firefly-tip of an inhaled cigarette to give away people farther on. I worried, as I often do when walking home past 10:00, about getting mugged, walking that same stretch, past that same spot, only this time in bluish dark and not able to see if anyone was near me.
So that set up a dichotomy for when I got home and was given a lit candle by my host mother to use in my room. Alone in my room with the door closed and letting the tension bleed out, I pulled out the new guitar tab I had printed up in Kyiv and spread the pages on my bed before me in the flickering light. I was exhausted, but for some reason didn't want to go to sleep just yet, wanted to try out some of these new songs before I went to bed. The room was cold, as my mother had opened one of my windows to air it out, but for some reason I was lazy and didn't feel like shutting it. Instead, I kept on all my layers but my jacket, picked up my guitar, put on the headphones of my MP3 player and played.
The two songs I learned last night were by Radiohead: "Fake Plastic Trees" and "How to Disappear Completely". Both are beautiful, haunted songs, and both turned out to be surprisingly simple to play, so I quickly had them memorized. Not looking at the papers, I instead kind of stared off, half-lidded in near-sleep, watching the flickering candle while I played the guitar and periodically letting escape the words to the songs in a near-whisper, more felt than heard over my guitar and the music in my headphones. Finally, in some half-asleep haze I realized that I had forgotten to push the back button to repeat "How to Disappear Completely" and that the album had gone on. I slowly collapsed back onto the pile made by my shoved-aside blanket and pillow, completely relaxed, guitar just lying on my lap and eyes finally shutting, letting the rest of Kid A, Radiohead's poignant, groundbreaking, fourth album play out to the end. Or at least I assume so, because by then I was sound asleep.