Caroline Mackenzie,RPCV, Ukraine 2014 Now Living a Great Life in Hawaii

Hello Everyone,

February and early March have been busy - FESTIVALS and work!

February 14 was Valentine's Day, and just like home, it's a big day for the card and flower vendors. My young friends gave me very cute, very small Valentine cards, not unlike the cards I received back in 4th and 5th grade!! It was a great fun day. Photos from my organization's St. Valentine's Day festival are below.

TANGO DANCERS
BOTH YOUNG LADIES ARE DEAF- AND FABULOUS DANCERS!

СИНТ ВАЛЕНТИН
МОЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦА

February 23 was Men's Day. While it was not a national holiday, Ukrainians celebrate Men's Day with cards, flowers, and great food. Our organization had a wonderful festival, celebrating the young disabled men. Photos below show the games, songs and dances celebrating "Men's Day."

CELEBRATING MEN'S DAY

A WHEELCHAIR DANCE PERFORMANCE
CELEBRATING MEN'S DAY

SASHA ENJOYING MEN'S DAY
SURROUNDED BY MY STUDENT TRANSLATORS

Pancake Week began on Monday, February 27 and lasted the entire week, ending on Sunday, March 6. блины (bliny - Ukrainian or Russian for pancakes) are sold and eaten almost daily during the week-- bliny with meat, bliny with cottage cheese, bliny with jam, or just plain bliny.... one week dedicated to eating pancakes. I enjoyed all the блины I ate and of course, enjoyed the festival that accompanied our organization's блины party for our youth.

HAVE A блины !

M-M-M БЛИНЫ

Today, as I write is "INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY" -- YES!!! AND THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT HOLIDAY, THAT WE HAVE TWO DAYS OF VACATION. Almost all business offices are closed today and tomorrow!. Everyone is out buying presents - flowers, cards, and chocolate -- for their favorite women! I have decided that I will begin a one woman campaign to celebrate this holiday in the United States!

While all the festivals have been great fun, I have been working. I have been writing grant applications for funding for various projects and training seminars that my organization would like to host. In addition, I have started tutoring English for many of my young disabled students. We meet at the local children's library, which is one of the few buildings that is accessible (at least the first floor) for my disabled students. This will be quite a challenge as many of the children are challenged in different areas and their English is also at different levels. My daughter, Frances, is a 2nd grade teacher and has been really helpful in ideas on how to approach this task! I will gladly accept suggestions from everyone as I proceed with this work project.

Pictured on either side is даижа (Daisha), a delightful 15 year old, who loves to sing, and she would love to sing a song in English by the time we finish our lessons.

What makes the English tutoring extremely tough, is the textbooks my students use come from the U. K. and are dated 1990 or earlier.

No "blog report" would be complete without an update on my weather! While the East Coast and the Midwest in the US definitely have had more snow, Ukraine has had record low temperatures since January 2011. The thermometer has stayed in the MINUS category - mostly MINUS 5 to MINUS 13 -- since January. Pictured at left is an example of the sidewalks (aka my "luge" runs) that I take to work every day.

The festival that celebrates the end of winter and the beginning of spring, celebrated last week, came just a wee bit early. A "бабушка" creature- old winter- is burned in effigy in the hopes that spring will come soon.

I was truly hoping for a spring thaw as on Sunday, the therometer said 35F or +3 C. But then, because I put my snowboard pants away for the winter, we had 3 inches of snow. The photo below is the view from my window, this morning, Monday, March 7.

One comforting thought... fur coats are now reduced 50 to 70%! I know... what would I do with a fur coat in Hawaii!

Happy Women's Day to all my wonderful women friends!

Happy Mardi Gras to all.

And ... The Peace Corps is 50 years old this month!
Thank you all for the opportunity.

Caroline

Panorama of Kiev Pechersk Lavra overlooking the Dnieper River
UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine
The word pechera means cave.
The word lavra is used to describe high-ranking monasteries
for male monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

February 2011

Hello Everyone,

I thought it might be fun to post my pictures of Kiev: hopefully, these photos will convince some of you to come visit. I have been to Kiev seven times since my arrival and, because the Peace Corps Ukraine headquarters are in Kiev, I will be in Kiev many more times while I am here.

I am attaching a link to an article from the Kiev Post, an English Language paper that PC volunteers receive.
The January 28 Issue has an interesting article about Kiev- "What We Love and Don't Love about Kiev". It's a good read with fun comments about "cheap bread, cheap vodka" and the allure of "Slavic women"!

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/city/detail/95794/

KIEV/КИЕВ Photos

Pechersk Lavra
Numerous Architectural Sites

Dormition Cathedral (below) destroyed in World War II,

and fully reconstructed in recent years.

Dormition Cathedral- back

Dormition Cathedral - front

Great Lavra Belltower

The Great Lavra Belltower is a notable feature of the Kiev skyline

and among the main attractions of the Lavra.

It was the tallest free-standing belltower at the time of its construction in 1731-1745, and was designed by the architect Johann Gottfried Schädel. Its total height is 96.5 meters.

Church of the Saviour at Berestove.

Church of the Saviour at Berestove seen with its 19th-century steepled belfry.

Strong stone fortification walls- looking to the statue of the Motherland.

More churches in the Kiev Lavra complex.

Within the Lavra is a wonderful collection of Ukrainian decorated Easter eggs...

Walking from the Lavra, the next big park has the enormous statue to the Motherland, an eternal flame, and other war monuments.

On a hillside farther of this park is the Botanical Gardens park. In the spring (usually May) the lilacs are in bloom and Ukrainians from all over the country come to see the lilacs. These photos are from May 2010. My Peace Corps friends Vicki (left)and Cheryl (right), and Sveta (center), Vicki's host mother during our training stay, are in the photos.

Red Horse Chestnut trees, the official tree of Kiev, were also in bloom in May. Absolutely magnificent.

The center of Kiev is also fun to walk around and visit churches, more parks, and the puppet theater. The Puppet Theater is spectacular and, maybe, I will have a chance to see a performance in the puppet theater.