PictureFest

The first cake made in my honor. Yes, that says "Alison" in Cyrillic. The "being impressed by Ukrainian cakes" appears to be a theme that will continue throughout my two years here.

This is my cluster with our Russian teacher at swearing-in. From left: Jeremiah, me, Lena, Trina, and Annmarie. We enjoyed furthering the stereotype that all Americans are ridiculously tall.

This is Oleg, who is not only a teacher at Gymnasium No. 9, where I teach twice a week, but also my current Russian tutor. He's a little on the short side.

This was the view out my window the day before my birthday. Quite snowy, as you can see, which was much more enjoyable to look at than the following SlushFest 2007. Here you can see a fine example of Soviet block housing. Seems Lenin (or was it Stalin) made a visit to the good ol' US of A, took one look at project housing, and found it to be the perfect way to house all Soviets. So, now they're everywhere. I live in one now and will move to a different one tomorrow.

This is my host sister Aliona in front of the New Year tree. She's more or less modeling current Ukrainian fashion trends.

This is the couch that converts to a bed where I have been sleeping for the past month or so. Maksyk, the cat, really enjoys relaxing in this particular corner of the couch. Despite his incredible fluffiness, we've gotten along quite well. In fact, immediately preceding this picture, I was reading Crime and Punishment (see right arm of couch for proof) right next to Maksyk.

These are my birthday flowers. Very exotic, don't you think? You might also note that they were given at approximately 7:43 in the am, which is about the time I amble out of the bathroom and begin readying for the day. Sadly, you might also happen to glance the Jennifer Lopez double feature on my desk. I apologize. This is what happens when all possible forms of entertainment are available only in a language you have only just begun to understand, and usually only when spoken quite slowly. Really.

And here we have my birthday cake. It traces my journey from America, including a variety of important places there: Georgia, Philadelphia, Wisconsin and New York (looks like my host family really does listen when I talk!) to Ukraine, with a brief stop in Kyiv before arriving at my final destination in Simferopol. Clearly the coolest cake ever. Also impressively tasty...and large. We've only eaten about a fourth of it in a week.