October Update

Luhansk's Central Park
Fall is here

Neighborhood Church

Fall colors on driveway in
front of my apartement

Hello Everyone,

Life has been busy over here.  
Where did October go!  

Art Workshop
National Talent Contest for the Disabled
Cooking Club Meeting #2
Fun at Work

Since pictures speak at least 1000 words,

I will just populate this update with photos 

and captions for the photos.

Enjoy!

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October 16-17-18, 2010

Workshop Weekend for 

Finals in the Ukrainian National Talent Competition for the Disabled
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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Confidence Building and Choreography Session

Workshop Leader:  Vitaly Bolodimirovich - Dramatic Arts Teacher 

Vitaly working with a performer

Vitaly Bolodimirovich - dramatic arts teacher 

who works with disabled, leading a workshop and 

choreography session

Vitaly working with dancers in a
confidence building session

Vitaly working with the wheelchair dancers

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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Art Activity Workshop - We Understand Each Other

Workshop Leaders:  Peace Corps Volunteers

Wyoming McKenzie, Hailey Spencer, Nazgol Zand and Caroline

(Photos of workshop from Wyoming)

Making Name Tags-- getting acquainted

Wyoming and her activity pals
I love Wyoming's green dots on her cheeks

Nazgol and a fingerpaint specialis

Caroline and friends

Hailey, Caroline and Sveta
Sveta is a wonderful singer1

Having fun!

Peace Corps Regional Manager
(for our group) joined in the fun

Post Workshop Fun!
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Monday, October 18, 2010

Ukrainian National Talent Finals Competition for the Disabled

Ukrainian National Theater, Luhansk

Students from Cultural and Drama Institute
Opening the Talent Competition

All competitors on stage
Grouped by Regions/Oblasts

Sergei, 18 yr.-old from Luhansk
Opened the Competition
Wonderful voice!

Children from the Luhansk Orphanage
All three groups on the stage 

Children from the Luhansk Orphanage

Ella and her mom, Roxanne
I spent a week with both of them at conference for the disabled.
Ella and her mom LOVE to sing and both sing very well!

A wonderful "sister act" -
also both had fun at the art workshop!

My finger painting specialist
Also a promising singer!

More of my art workshop participants dancing and having fun!

Another finger painting specialist and
also a very good singer!
Former Miss World-Ukraine competitor in background.

Mother and daughter singing together.
The song:  Mama!

Marla  - a budding author
She read one of her own poems.

Wheelchair dancer.
Amazing.

Another Wheelchair Dancer.

Sveta, 29-yr. old, singer
Exceptional voice.

Another group dancing and having fun!

Tatyana, my organization's director.
Receiving flowers and a standing ovation for all her work for the Festival.
Amazing young woman.

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2nd Meeting of the Cooking Club

Sunday, 24 October 2010

Preparing Beer the "Mexican Way"
Salt, Limes (YES LIMES) and Ukrainian micro brew!

The Table- ready for all the food groups:
Meat, liquid protein, carbohydrates, and sugars!

Artiom, the official Cooking Group Photographer
Sergey, the official "Beer Meister"

Preparing fried apples to go with the sausage

Taya, Caroline, Wyoming and Alexie
Enjoying the results of the cooking adventure

Roman, Tanya, Sergey, Taya
Eugene, Kate, Olya
Enjoying the results of the cooking adventure

Plum Kuchen

Homemade Pork Sausage
Fried Apples
Mashed Potatoes

Cooking Club results!

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Celebration Lunch

Work Colleague was just married

Monday, 25 October 2010

Celebration Lunch

My work colleagues
(l to r:) Dim-Social worker; Tatyana,-Director, Alexie- lawyer and Tatyana's husband,
Marian- office assistant, Lena- new bride and office assistant,
Irina - Office manager, Sasha- IT expert, Natalya - Press secretary
Loshya-driver, Galena - accountant

A toast to the new bride!

Enjoying life in Ukraine!

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Farewell Summer and Fall

Flower vendors in front of my apartment building

11 October 2010


It is 38 degrees outside .... inside is about 45.  The heat is officially turned on sometime in late October or early November.  I do not think I have worn this much clothing unless I was in Utah skiing.  Now I understand why the Peace Corps had us carry a 40-lb. electric heater on the train to our work assignments. 


I thought it might be fun to post a pictures of the last weeks  of summer in Luhansk.

Dancing on the Square- Sunday evening outdoor concerts

Every Sunday night in the summer in the park across the street from my apartment, the "Luhansk Municipal Orchestra" performs for 90 minutes.  There must have been 150 people dancing on the square-- on the last Sunday of September.  It was still warm then!

Luhansk City Garden Festival

The City of Luhansk had the annual "City Birthday weekend"- in September.  Luhansk is 215 years young.  One of the events was a huge outdoor garden festival, held in the park in front of the train station.  School groups had displays, local growers were selling plants, the major garden centers had displays.  Fabulous displays everywhere.

First display when entering the garden festival

An idea of the size of the garden festival

A school display- note construction paper flowers
and the rather bored student

Another entry in the City Garden Festival- model RR train and 
flowers - paper and real!

Students playing instruments that looked like carrots at the Garden Festival

Children's playground exhibit at Garden Festival

Mums for sale at the Garden Festival

"Dinner-plate" dahlias for sale at the Garden Festival

Balloon flowers for sale at the Garden Festival

Deciding which bare root rose to purchase at the Garden Festival?

Bare root rose purchased and wrapped to go home

Photos below are other fun distractions from the Garden Festival!

This motorcycle and side car are a common mode of transportation
in this area of Ukraine

Entertainment for non-garden people

Garden art (?) for sale-- Gnomes and БАБУШКА sculptures 

More garden art (?) for sale

Feng shui or "water element"- Parts other than the clam also light up

For only $30 (229 UAH), she can be "yours"

Love the name- Expert Tools!

Fall colors in the parks

Fall colors in the parks  

More information will come  as I have been to Kiev four times now for meetings and thought the next blog will be photos of Kiev.


Big hug to everyone and I hope everyone at home is doing well.


Caroline

More fun photos of Luhansk, Ukraine

Church about one-half mile from my flat

Fire station about four long blocks from my flat

One of several main town parks in the center of the city

Monument to the victims of Chernobyl - the monument is behind my apartment complex

One of several places for a beer, just down the street from my flat

Park across the street from my flat where the band plays on Sunday nights.
This is where everyone dances on Sunday evenings.

Two friends playing soccer on the fields at the edge of the city of Luhansk

Celebration banner for Coal Miner's Day

My friend Bill Bauer's famous salsa - now famous in Luhansk

Local steak house advertising 30% off to celebrate on your birthday

"Foxtrot"-- our local Best Buy

Luhansk Philharmonic Concert Hall

Luhansk Philharmonic -- weekly concerts, Oct to June -- season tickets $50 for entire season

My local "chain" grocery store, Mandarin

Bliny stand on the corner of the drive to my building

Eggs, by the "each" or 10 for 50 cents.
You bring the carton.

Salt in the Match Box

September 19, 2010
Lugansk


Hello Friends!

Salt for the train picnic

A new interesting fact.... 
Ukrainains put salt in a match box as part of their train picnic packet.  I find out this is really true... not just because my office mates do this, but all my Ukrainian colleagues do this. Everyone I have asked about this tradition said " YES, It's a Ukrainian Tradition."   Photo to prove it..   Please note the hardboiled eggs, too- also traditional train picnic food.

Train Picnic

I learned this new fact when I traveled with my organization from Lugansk on the 4:45 p.m. overnight train to Kiev.  Once organized in our "coupe" rooms that had four  benches--two high, two low--  mattresses, sheets, pillows, towels that we had to arrange on each bench--  we all gathered in the ONE "handicap access" coupe room for our picnic supper.  The picnic supper photos are attached and will prove that I am assigned to an organization that works hard and also has TONS of fun together.

Work colleagues on the train

I must admire my colleagues who are in wheelchairs.  The one special train car that is  the "special needs/ disabled access" car has only ONE coupe room out of 15 that is accessible for the disabled.  My counterpart and I shared the one accessible room.   While her bunk was the lower bunk, I cannot imagine how a disabled person could leave a wheelchair and climb up to the higher bunk!  

Train picnic with work colleagues

My two other colleagues in wheelchairs had to be carried to their rooms as their wheelchairs were too wide for the train corridor.   The Ukrainian train system provides a wheel chair to transport the disabled down the corridor, but even this "special wheelchair" is too wide for the corridor."  


In  all of the Ukraine train system there are ONLY 10 special needs access train cars... and each of these cars has only ONE room available for a disabled person with ONE accessible bunk.

One of the steel mills outside Lugansk

Looking out the train window as we left Lugansk, I had a flashback to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and the steel mills.   


Once we arrived in Kiev, our organization was busy preparing for the Right to Work for the Disabled Conference.  My organization was the recipient of a two-year grant (along with several other organizations for the disabled in Ukraine) and the conference was a progress report on the  seminars and programs established to help disabled Ukrainians seek employment.    I was one of the speakers at the conference; my topic was the ADA and what the ADA means for the disabled Americans as well as for American businesses.  I was very honored to be on the speakers list!

Young dancers in talent contest

I have also had the pleasure to be a judge in a regional talent contest.  The participants were all disabled youths between 10 and 18 and the categories were dancing, singing, poetry reading and one piano soloist.    The seven finalists we picked will move on to the national talent contest for disabled youths.  That contest will take place in Lugansk in mid-October.    The photo I attached has 10 year old dancers, performing a waltz.

Gymastics at the picnic

The Saturday afternoon Lugansk English Club is a wonderful example of a sustaining Peace Corps project.  Yesterday, Saturday, Sept. 18 we had 41 attendees.  We had a wonderful discussion on voluntarism and what it means in the US and what it means in Ukraine.    Our English Club had a group picnic and 35 of us hiked out to an older park near the fringe of an old air base, no longer in use.  Soccer, badminton, frisbee, football and "gymnastics"  -- Great fun!


What is also fun is that I have started a Cooking club as a small "offshoot" of the English club".  We have 15 very interested participants and our plan is to cook one Ukrainian dish and one "other country" dish at each session.  Most of group are Ukrainians and their interest is learning what we do with cabbage and potatoes and soup and meats --- Do we have a barbecue?  What do we do when we barbecue?   And of course the few Americans in the group want to know how to make a proper borsht and a proper perogie.  I know we will have fun together.  Right now my small flat is "cooking central" as my small flat is larger than everyone else's!!  Our first cooking adventure will be Friday Oct. 1!  Can't wait.

Bill's salsa in Ukraine

And speaking of cooking, I have had a lot of fun practicing various dishes in the hopes that I could get a cooking club "off the ground" and into a kitchen.  I am very fortunate that my first huge success is fresh salsa.   Fresh tomatoes (помидори) , fresh cilantro (кинза), fresh garlic (чеслок), fresh lime (лаим), green onions (лук зелони) are readily available.  I owe my fresh salsa success to my friend Bill Bauer in San Diego, who is famous for his fresh salsa!


And of course with every success, there is failure.  I have found corn meal in Ukraine,  and while corn meal isn't for tortillas, I thought I had also found corn flour which IS great for corn tortillas.  What I discovered was I had purchase CREAM OF WHEAT FLOUR which does not make tortillas in any way shape or form.  So back to the Russian studies and relearning the words for corn flour.