Brrrr

Still no heat in our apartment, and the temperature is freezing. In fact, it’s snowing lightly as I write! When asked when we might expect the heat to be turned on, a student said that it’s a complete mystery; a local adult friend said that it will come on November 15; and a librarian said she read in the news that the heat has started to be turned on, but only in schools and hospitals – apartments may get heat in two or three weeks. Guess time will tell.

We have opened up our “winter” suitcase for sweaters, gloves, and hats, and the electric heater provided by Peace Corps is working full time whenever we’re in the apartment. Often we’re warmer when out walking somewhere than when inside not moving as much. It’s an inconvenience, but not at all an unmanageable one.

We hosted a celebratory dinner last week for our wonderful Russian tutor and her husband and 19-year-old son. She confided to us a few weeks ago that their request to emigrate to Canada had been granted by the Canadian embassy. Our dinner was to celebrate the completion of the final step in their process – the immigrant Canadian visas now affixed to their Ukrainian passports. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and the latest news is that they now have tickets for their flights to Toronto later this month.

Local attitudes about Ukraine’s prospects for the future vary. Our tutor has not expressed much hope for her country’s future, and it was not altogether surprising that she had been working for months for her family’s move to Canada where her brother lives. Many locals that we have met in our English clubs, when asked about the recent parliamentary election, were apathetic, saying it doesn’t matter who is in office, nothing will change. We’ve also met those who are optimistic about the future. Many students and teachers that we work with are excited for the opportunities that education will bring.

We had a Halloween party at our children’s library English club. The kids enjoyed Pin the Nose on the Witch, bobbing for apples, mummy race (which team can wrap their mummy in toilet paper fastest?), and pumpkin carving. Halloween candy sent by family served well in the simulated Trick or Treat finale.