home sweet home.

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Nearly a week has passed since I left Austria, finally arriving home to family and friends... and I am still slightly overwhelmed by the fact that I am back to 'real life' in Canada, no longer in my Ukrainian world. Counter-culture shock? Maybe.

My body has finally gotten over the jetlag and various time differences. It was iffy for a few days; it felt like I had a unique time zone, one of my very own... A time zone existing somewhere between Caledonia, Vienna, and Ternopil (all of which seem to be worlds apart).

My taste buds have been in total shock - Cheerios, chocolate milk, (salt and vinegar) chips... oh my! I polished off three servings of pita bread tonight, to go along with my spinach dip. I have also already enjoyed Momma's homemade waffles, salami, and unlimited ketchup. It's pretty safe to say that at least half of the items on my Official Taste Bud Wish List have been eaten/inhaled.

My last few days have been full of reunions with family, friends, and a certain Lagerwerf. I also gained a new cousin, as Elise is no longer a Vos. Welcome to the fam, Joshua! Their wedding was incredible - how often is it that a backyard reception includes a visit from the ice cream truck?! An incredibly fun and beautiful day spent with people I've missed dearly.

My travels have led to adventures in Austria as well as Slovakia (!) since leaving Ukraine. More Wanderlust? Yes, please. (Oh, that nasty travel bug... it's bitten me again! Hrmmm...) Pictures of Vienna, Bratislava, and Salzburg to be posted soon-ish.

And now, my to do list is a monster. It has (once again) taken on a life of its own, and I can hardly keep track of all of the odds and ends that I need to catch up on in the next few days and weeks. All I can really say is that I have some significantly large decisions to make in terms of my plans and whereabouts for the next few months.

[Check in again soon... I plan to post pictures of the Internat concert and final days, my last few days of travelling, in addition to continuing my series of Internat profiles. Thanks all!]

purple писанка fingers.

Our hosts at the 'universitat' have been amazingly gracious thus far, going above and beyond in order for us Canadians to fully experience everything that Ukrainian culture has to offer.
The generousity of our host families is obviously communicated (especially through FOOD!), our tutors have made learning a foreign alphabet and new language much easier, and each afternoon, activities are arranged for us once tutorials are completed.
So far, our afternoon activities have included Monday's boat ride and initial tour of the city, Tuesday's aerobics class and physical training (it was bizarre, hilarious, and grueling), Wednesday's pysanka - писанка - instructions, and Thursday's "mystery" concert (of which I will post pictures and video clips later... if I have the patience to load them!).

писанка (pysanka) is a Ukrainian tradition of painting eggs with beeswax, and there are distinctive traditions within each of the regions ('oblasts') throughout Ukraine. On Wednesday afternoon, a local pysanky artist (pysankist?!) came to the universitat to explain and teach us about this craft. I was fascinated by the deeper meanings behind the colourful designs, and am looking forward to this form of arts&crafts each Wednesday this month.

The process of drawing on eggs is extremely delicate, done with beeswax using a bobby pin or other small surface... very time consuming. I don't usually enjoy things that will consume large amounts of my time; I have a tendency to buzz about and accomplish a few different things at once, probably in an order that would not seem logical to anyone else but me.

So - in this typical 'Jen' fashion - I thought it would be much more 'efficient' (read:faster) if I used my finger in aiding the spoon to scoop my little egg out of the jar of dye. Key word there being DYE. It just so happened to be the purple pysanka dye, the darkest of all the dyes. I dyed my pointer finger писанка purple!

Our pysanka instructor thought I was ridiculous... she kept asking me questions (probably along the lines of, 'What were you thinking, you impatient little Canadian?!') but eventually gave up, laughing. I'll just have to slow it down next week and take my sweet time... 'patience is a virtue.'
(Note: Slava also laughed at me. But then she pulled out these magical lemon ('lay-mohn') salts, scrubbing my hands, and all that is still left of the purple pysanka dye is along the edges of my fingernail.) Also, Jessica had her camera... when I'm able, I'll add pictures of our писанка creations as well as my dyed finger.
PaPa! (bye)

arrived alive!

Hi all - this is a quick update... I have arrived safe and sound in Ternopil, Ukraine and am exhausted. I am unsure as to how reliable the Internet is here in my apartment, so blogs and updates will most likely come in random spurts (just a heads up!).

Jessica and I survived a nine hour flight from Toronto to Vienna, and managed to reunite with Ruby at the airport before our departure! We also spent the first half hour or so unpacking and repacking our baggage, until it was under 23 kgs (I fully believed that I was packing pretty lightly for three months. Nope.). Anyways, we managed to survive the parental goodbyes, I was too excited to be all that sentimental (I mean that in the best possible way, Mom & Dad!) Turns out the girl beside me on my flight (Kristina) was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine - she was friendly and gave me good advice about who/what to watch out for.

We had a few hours in Vienna before flying on to Lviv, but sadly didn't manage to get out of the airport... The plane to Lviv was tiny and only about half full, giving us plenty of sleeping room (hallelujah! - it was much needed rest).
I was nervous about going through customs in Lviv, mainly because all of the security gaurds/officers were scary, stern, solemn Soviet fellows (kinda intimidating). Turns out it wasn't a problem at all; as soon as we collected our baggage we were met by Olena, who will be our language professor as of tomorrow, along with two of her students (who spoke wonderful English - a relief by that point).

Originally we were supposed to be taking a train from Lviv the rest of the way into Ternopil, but Olena had managed to rent a bus as she was collecting some students from Saskatchewan as well. It was dead silent the entire trip - all 8 (I think) of us were passed out, sound asleep. Our host families then met us at a central station in Ternopil.

I'm living with an older woman named Slava - who speaks absolutely NO English... I guess this just means I'll have to work harder at learning Ukrainian?! I was picked up by her son Igor (? not entirely sure if that is actually his name) and his wife Ira, who teaches at the pedagogical university where our language classes will be held. It was a relief/comfort to be able to speak English with Ira... she acted as translator between Slava and I, and as overwhelmed as I am right now, that aid in the language barrier is something that I am incredibly thankful for.

Not going to lie - I lost it once I started unpacking here... Just started bawling. I can't communicate with Slava, I'm thirsty, I can't call home just yet, and I have no idea where I am or how to figure out this language as the alphabet is entirely new/foreign to me. And, I already missed Jessica... I'm thankful that we have our own host families, as we will each have our own individual, unique experiences over the next few months - but I just needed a hug at that point, and I'm pretty sure that I would have scared Slava and company if I had asked for one. I cannot WAIT to shower and sleep, I'm a dirtbag after all this travel and am smart enough to realize the beauty of sleep... Good night!



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Side note #1: I am now 7 hours ahead of y'all back in Ontario ... and will probably be getting a phone in the next few days. Will keep you posted.


Side note #2: I managed to collect more than 96 notes... more than one note per day that I'm abroad. Yes, Jesse, the 'Jump Rope for Heart theory' came through... thanks to Steve Boesveld on having faith in my notes. Ha.


Side note #3: Your thoughts and prayers are INCREDIBLY, undeniably, overwhelmingly appreciated! I am grateful and blessed to have so many awesome people encouraging me in this crazy adventure. You all mean the world to me, thanks for the support this far!