luck

This week started my favorite holiday in the entire world. Sages taught us that at this time of year, we are to fully cleanse ourselves of our "chametz," our ego, our demons, and start the process of becoming a full once more. To search for these moments of damage, we are commanded to use a small flame. This flame prevents us from a quick clean up, and forces us into a spiritual reflection that comes at a time when flowers are blooming and the sun is finally shining. I am at a point in my life where I need to reevaluate my character, and I am lucky to do it when I can physically begin this process and then move slowly inwards without missing a crumb.

At this very point in the year, I am blessed to have a name that means two things: (1) Father of Dew and (2) I will bring the dew. My parents gave me this name without knowing the full impact it would have on my life, an impact that I can accredit to my current service and my devotion to positive change. I was born on this day, the very day that carries so much meaning about process, growing, development and life - and then my name only added meaning to those very values.

"Dew is modest. It comes and covers our earth without anyone ever raising a brow."

I must be very lucky to always be growing up.

Chag Sameach; Happy Holidays; Enjoy the weather.

creation

I went to visit Deedra, a fellow PCV, and her site called Верховцево and joined her for an art class with Brianne and Caroline. We learned how to make traditional Ukrainian artwork. It was really cool.

It was also my birthday this past weekend and I celebrated it here in Dnepropetrovsk with friends from America and Ukraine. When I went to school on Monday, my students presented me with gifts, flowers, cake and chocolate, and even sang me Happy Birthday :)

I leave to Prague in one week!

timing

Americans run on this incredibly strict schedule of time. We follow rules of timing because we are nervous about missing what will come next. A missed minute here can lead to a missed minute in the future, and before it is realized, minutes have added up into days and we are left blogging about it, considering all the moments in the past 6 months that might have been a bit off, and wondering, what has happened?

And then it becomes so fantastic when all those minutes pass by, and by no schedule, just by nature, flowers and sun start to shine and whatever minutes are lost seem irrelevant and obsolete, and the ancient minutes turn into opportunity to look ahead and think "what can I do?" or "what will I do?" Something with the calendar must be in tune with the weather and spirits.

Blue skies are blowing into Dnepropetrovsk and it feels great. Colette came to visit me, and this is what we saw:

A beach.

A Ukrainian tradition (locks of love).

A view from a bridge.

And here we are!

Enjoy the last days of March and remember: Апрельские дожди принесут мне цветы.

doughy

I made the most delicious treat last night... guess what?

Twisted thoughts and twisted nights and twisted mornings and twisted people and twisted fun and twisted moments and twisted chats and twisted lessons and twisted love and twisted smiles and twisted guilt and twisted entries and twisted pretzels.

visitor!

This past week Andrew came to visit me in Ukraine, so it was quite exciting to have an American visitor that I could show around my town and show off to students. We cooked a few things and did some stuff together, but these are hardly thoughts that travel through my head... I just thought that I should share some photos from our week together in Dnepropetrovsk.

We made Gnocchi...

...and bread...

...and a fritata that turned into an Israeli breakfast.

Just hanging out in my kitchen.

We tried tried traditional Ukrainian foods... (сало aka pig fat)

Went out.

And here we are.

doing

I have been having a great few days. For the past three weeks, I have substituted for a colleague of mine because she had to refresh courses for teaching. Yesterday, I told my students that I would not be teaching them for a little while (teacher wants to give me a break from them), and to my surprise, they were surprised. It was the first time in the two months I have been at the Planet of Happiness and felt wanted.

I hear about what other volunteers are doing at their schools, and I continuously search my brain for a reason of my presence at this school. Why would a school with privileged children, who all have access to private tutors, the best teachers, and international experiences, need me, an American, a Peace Corps Volunteer? On a bad day, I wonder, what possible impact does my presence have on students who vacation in Switzerland and Thailand? What can I offer a student with the world at his or her feet? Some villages have bad textbooks, bad heating, bad chalkboards - on a bad day, my school has everything. Happiness has blessed this school.

And this week the fog began to clear. I feel in my brain a reason brewing that connects my role at school, my job here in Dnepropetrovsk, all the people I have been meeting on Friday nights... it's a small buzz going. I'll report back with more thoughts from my brain-hive soon.

counting

This past weekend I traveled to Kyiv to take part in a Multiculturalism working group (working groups are like the student clubs of Peace Corps). Even though I enjoyed leaving town and seeing a lot of new people and old friends, I came back absolutely reenergized and motivated (well maybe just motivated - I am wiped; I need a long nap). A friend of mine gave me an extremely good piece of advice and I am happy to share it with you because if you have recently joined a graduate program, started a new job, began a different type of service program, or just feel like there is so much time ahead of you, then this piece of wisdom will help.

Do not think about the end. The end might be a few years away, and if you think about something finishing before you have hardly even started, then you might as well just quit while your ahead. Even if it means that there is something very near in sight (like a visitor, Saturday) or a holiday (Purim in Kyiv, March 20), those might just be the small motivations that will help you while you are shortly frustrated (unmotivated students, bratty students, unfriendly people at the gym, angry drivers, fair weather friends, aggressive colleagues, weird classmates, etc...) if the day just went completely wrong.

I had a day like this a week ago. I used the gym and some time with the Kaminetsky's to cheer me up. Subconsciously the visit to Kyiv was also helping me, but now that I have clear countdowns of things happening in my life in the next month or two, it won't be possible for any bump to get me down. Thank you Jeremy for the piece of advice.

My list of "me" activities is growing slowly. I have also begun private Russian tutoring with my good friend Sergey who has agreed to teach me, so now I have developed a packed schedule which keeps me out of the house and in my city.

Also, Happy Valentine's Day, my least favorite holiday for lovers but the best holiday for friends and family. I spoke with my students about "My Perfect Match" and we read this essay which was extremely well written and very moving. I think Steve Lewish might have a point about love's mysteries. I miss you, Ima... I hope that in two years we can exchange a mug and some chocolate again.