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.