Revealed!

So, I got 4 guesses on that last post where I asked people to guess things, all from one guesser.  Shame on you non guessers.  I can't really express without pictures how amazing this transformation was, but when I say that this dark green tube of metal became the most wonderful thing in a Ukrainian summer, a Kvas (and beer) kiosk, next to which large pavilions are set up, you'll just have to believe me.  Kvas is a truly wonderful substance, a sort of poor-man's kombu cha, or maybe bread cola would be a better description.  Mmmm, kvas. Suffice it be said I can hardly wait for this summer.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass

Mountainclimbing!I

I climbed the highest mountain in the country.  Look and see what it was like.

We chartered this train completely to take us there.  About a dozen natives and 12 of us.

The bus from the train station village took us a certain ways, and then this road led up to the  chateau.  You can see the mountain for the first time through the trees.

This is from our first rest break after the chateau, after we got to the upper treeline. 

Resting under the evergreen trees.

Lots of people, eh?  Somebody told me 300+

The last photo I took before I reached the top, but it took a long time to get there from my last caption.

There's the chateau wayyyyy down there.

I think that's actually territory in a neighboring country down there.

Some guys felt the need to take their shirts off to show how tough they are, even though the mountain wasn't that cold.

Unfortunately I didn't document the descent until I was back in the trees here, probably because I accomplished much of it on my posterior, sliding wildly out of control. Exhilarating but exhausting.

I must have been thirsty coming down; I kept photographing the brook.  

Monastery

Ok, so a short photo post about my time in our capital.  I know some of you may have seen these already, but for those of you who haven't, and I'll try to post some interesting captions for you other people to keep everyone happy.

So, my friend Nicole happened to be in Kyiv at the same time.  That's the Dnipro River, which divides the capital and the country.

A WWII memorial I believe

These are of the memorial to victims of the Famines.

As we were walking to the monastery of the Caves, we saw this neat street art.

For some reason Eggs are very important to display on the monastery grounds.

This was a cool older church fragment contained within a larger newer church . At this point a tour guide told me "no foto. no foto."

A Mystery for a New Arrival--a Precious Advent for an Old Hand to Look Forward To

Hello dear readers.  You must be very faithful, and therefore even more dear, to still be here, even periodically.  (Those of you who have subscribed for automatic update service are artificially boosting your dearness, but so much in life these days is artifice, so I must sanction, or subscribe . . . to your method of subscription.)  I wanted to make a post about the change that occurred in my site from winter to summer, and how wonderful that change was.  When I arrived at site, if memory serves (which it never does faithfully, unlike you, my dear readers) there was a big ol' layer of ice on most things that were standing still.  Later on, as I grew more accustomed to the geography of the city, I noticed several strange structures.  One of them looked like an over-sized, non-portable, standalone potty, if you take my meaning.  (Please leave something in return if you do take it.)

Nope.

Or else it resembled one of those round rings of standalone bicycle lockers, with six or eight pie shaped cubicles for your self-propelled foot substitute, like a trivial pursuit pie.

Not that either.

But I decided it wasn't the right shape for either of those, being too tall by far for a toilet, and to narrow to hold a bike, and besides, this doesn't seem like the kind of place to provide that kind of community service on a simple public street.  In fact I've only seen those bike lockers on my old college campus, between the music building and one of the girls' dorms.  Little did I know that this structure was hibernating, just waiting for warmer weather to undergo a miraculous transmogrification, like a beetle hunkered down into her shell.  Post guesses in the comments as to what this Transformer(TM)(C) metamorphosed into.  Answers to come.

Dear Readers

So, I am here at work again, writing a blog for posterity. The week so far has been not too disconcerting. I observed lessons all week, and I was asked to work with the English Olympiad (like English Bowl--a contest) participants. So I asked them questions and they practiced their speaking. Apparently, I will be moving soon, so a new apartment with a new address. But I need a PO box anyway, so there will be that. Be patient my dear correspondents. Hopefully my host family will forward any mail they receive for me. But I will be living at a place on my own! I'm kind of excited and kind of scared and kind of regretting that I won't be near my host family anymore, who are lovely people. I'm getting to know Lutsk a bit better, and I like what I see. Its about 250,000 people, so close to Evansville metro area. The english staff at my school are excellent, and I'm excited to get to work on their kids. It's a bit cold and there's plenty of ice on the sidewalks, but I have yet to fall down in country yet. (knocks on wood.) This weekend I will be a consulting judge on this english olympiad, so hopefully I can figure all of that out. Tonight I'm going to dinner at a fellow volunteer's place in Kivertsi, and over christmas, we will be getting together at a place south of here. near Lopatin. That is all for now kids. More posts to follow!