Кам'янка-Бузька (Kamyanka-Buzka)- My Community

Kamyanka-Buzka (KB) is a city in the Lviv Oblast, of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Kamyanka-Buzka. Kamyanka-Buzka has a population of over 10,700 comprising over 3,300 square miles. We are approximately 40km from the Polish border, 44km from Lviv by bus and an overnight train ride (~350 mi) to Kyiv. The climate is similar to the upper mid-west in America - cold winters, hot and humid summers. The area is primarily agricultural with fertile soil and hydration from the Bug (Буг) (pronounced boog) River. Overall it is a quiet peaceful community where the primary mode of transport is bicycle - regardless of age. As the "county seat" we have a large hospital, twice weekly open air market (bazar) and a fire station. Fine dining is sparse with one or two great pizza places and a couple of cafes. We, as do many communities, have numerous pharmacies (Аптека). And, for an unknown reason they are only outnumbered by the small 7-11 like shops (Продукти) which dominate the main street and everywhere in the communities. Convenience at your fingertips. They are where you buy water, ice cream, cookies, candy and daily necessities. How the pharmacies and shops survive, due to the number, is beyond me, but they do.
As often happens we (my site mate, Laura, and I) have aptly named our most frequent places, "Forbidden Cafe" - not supposed to go there because people drink in the park where it is located, but the food is decent and good place to sit and study Ukrainian. They have air conditioning); "Golden Key" - our favorite because it is the shop dedicated to COOKIES and CANDY (which by the way are national foods). Then there is "Ozone" - it is the actual name, but good food for lunches and if you are up to a "disco" at night. Last, but certainly not least, "Antoninni Pizza" - this is the latest addition to fine dining in KB - great pizza, beer and AIR CONDITIONING. Another favorite place is the local "ПОШТА" - post office where I go once a week hoping I have mail. Receiving mail in Ukraine is a novelty and not a frequent occurrence - not only for me but Ukrainians as well.
Our main mode of transport going to Lviv is via minibus (Маршрутки) Marshrutkey (close enough). These are small passenger buses designed to seat 20-22 people and 25-30 standing, but not supposed to exceed 40 total. In most cases there are generally 35-45 people on them with no air conditioning and most of the time windows are not open because they think if they have a breeze blowing on them they will get sick. So, when it is 85 degrees with 80-90 percent humidity you can imagine what it is like in the minibus. The ride is about 1 hour with frequent stops to let passengers off or on. Women with children have first dibs on seats, then older women, then older men then whoever can grab a seat. Me, because I am old, I get to sit...The ride is like being on a roller coaster with the driver making every effort to avoid the frequent pot holes, without much success, as they drive from one side of the road to the other to try and find the smoothest ride. Passenger comfort is last on the list of concerns. Can't beat the price however, $.60-$.70 one way.
Okay, now time for some pictures. And an end to this posting. More to follow....

Across the road from my house

Looking down the road to my house

Grapes soon

Everyone has a garden

Coming into town - main street

Another view

Our fire station

Where I shop - translated name is "mittens"

Best wood fired pizza in town

Bus stop

Another view

Looking down main street

Another view

The "Forbidden Cafe"

"Golden Key" Yum, Yum

:Golden Key Sweets"

One of many churches in town

Where I buy bread

The $1 store

School #3

"Town Hall"

Museum

Post Office

Another look at main street

Where I get my money

Another place I buy bread

Post-Easter and Counting the Days

Well, Easter has come and gone, weekend of May 1st. The celebration here is more focused on religion and family than on Easter egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, and live rabbits or chickens.

We got up around O-Dark 30 (5:30am) to go to church and have the Easter baskets blessed as well as each person.

On the way to churchHost father, mother and son

The church we went to

Priest blessing baskets and people

Holy water sprinkled on all

My host family

Waiting to enter the church

Once at the church we formed a circle with the priest in the center with a bucket of holy water, he then moves around the circle splashing holy water on baskets and everyone in the circle. If you are in the front you will get very wet!

Inside the baskets are praska (traditional Ukrainian Easter bread), butter, oil, cheese, eggs and meat. Once the food is blessed we go into the church to light a candle and offer a prayer. Then, it's home to eat everything in the basket along with several shots of горілка (vodka). Then, it is time for a nap!

Praska

One of the more fun parts of Easter is the banging together hard boiled, colored eggs. The object is for each person to select an egg, which is a lengthy process to try and figure out which egg will not crack, and then you select an end and each person hits the other person't egg. You then rotate the eggs and try the other end. The one whose egg breaks loses and the winner goes on to the next person. The object is to keep your egg from cracking. 

When we got up from nap we packed a HUGE picnic and went off to the forest to meet friends. This is a traditional way to spend the day. Fires are built and chicken, pork and beef are cooked. In addition there is lots of other food to eat. In addition to горілка.

The fire pit

Food

More Praska

Yum Yum

Cooked chicken

The fire warden!

Want a radish?

Of course there were four other volunteers and their families at the picnic, I had no idea they all knew each other (the families that is). So, it gave me a chance to practice my English...

Having a beverage

Three volunteers and Ana

The party responsible for горілка

Well I am sure you have assumed I enjoyed beverages more than I should have, and your assumption would be correct. However you will be pleased to know I upheld the highest standards of Americans and made it home in one piece.

So, that was my Easter. We did not have class on Monday, which was a great thing because I think all of us are overflowing with Ukrainian and Russian language. 

Until next time. Oh yeah, only 20-days till the finish line. It will be a couple of weeks before I know where I will be for the next two years. When I know you will know. Until...Take care

до побачення

Leaving week 4 moving to week 5

Yes it has been four weeks, seems like four months. Language training is intensive:  This is our Language and Cultural facilitator (LCF) Deana.

As you can see our walls are covered in Ukrainian language grammar. We are now starting on Russian. The good - it is very similar to Ukrainian. The bad - it is very similar to Ukrainian. We have language 4.5 hours six days per week and cultural and technical training 3 hours per day. 

Anyhow, on to more fun stuff. One of our assignments was to buy food and prepare a meal. 

Buying food from street vendors

Alan negotiating for potatoes

Next, we had to prepare and cook our lunch. So, let me explain (I still don't know the name of what we made). First you grate uncooked potatoes on the "fine" side of the grater, add some flour, salt, pepper, eggs and mix. Then you add salt and pepper to the meat (usually pork finely ground) and mix.

  The Meat    Grating potatoes  The potatoes

Now we cook, heat a 1/4 inch of oil in frying pan - yeah you see where this is going...

    

Put a small handful of potato mixture in the frying pan

Potatoes frying

  Add some meat

   

Add more potatoes to cover meat, fry till brown on both sides and eat...

Yummmmmmmm

So that was our cooking day. In case you are wondering, potatoes are the "lifeblood" of Ukrainian life. They have mastered the art of being able to cook potatoes in every method imaginable to mankind. They are present, in one form or another, at every meal. Most of the time very delicious, but not sure how healthy for a young stud such as myself who is trying to maintain my manly physique. 

Now for some photos from around town. I don't have many as time is limited and the weather has been YUK. It snowed yesterday and was in the hi teens, so not conducive to walking about. Will post more as the weather improves and I get out. We are headed to Київ (Kiev) on Thursday for a day excursion and to get third rabies shot - don't ask.  So will have photos from that visit.

All is well, I am settled in with my family and their 7-year old who is helping me learn Ukrainian - his English is better than my Ukrainian. My host mother is a teacher at the local beauty college and father remodels houses, when there is work. We live in an apartment, as does everyone in Chernihiv, with two bedrooms, a kind of living room (my bedroom), a kitchen and bath. 

If I did not mention, Chernihiv is a city of around 300,000 in north, central Ukraine. We are situated about 30-40 km south from Chernobyl and about 60km from the Belarus and Russian borders. There are very few private homes and looks typical of a Russian city with 8-14 floor apartments everywhere, wide streets and little traffic.

Meat Halle

Chicken anyone?

Major street in city centre

Of course we can't have a city without...

Typical transportation. The woman in orange vest takes money for ticket which is around $.13 to ride. Hot in Summer cold in Winter.

They all look the same

Sunday is like a big garage sale

My apartment building

 My apartment front door. I am on 4th floor.

Whatever you need this is where you buy it...

  

OK, until next time. До побачення.