So, I know that it's been far too long since I last wrote an update.
I am now living in a village called Bilovod. It's a very small (+/- 1200 people) settlement in north-central Ukraine, in Sumska oblast. It's about four and a half hours away by bus from Kyiv, sixteen kilometers from the nearby city of Romny, and so far it's been excellent. There's not much to my new village. At a glance, it has a school, a music academy, a very impressive church, four small shops (one also contains the local bar for true one-stop shopping), a village administration office, a post office, and a bust of Lenin. And that's all, or Hitlerkaput, as the locals sometimes say. I don't know much about the history of the town, but the neighboring city of Romny was first settled in 1149 AD, so I imagine that it's pretty old too.
Language-wise, the locals speak mostly a blend of Ukrainian and Russian (This is Surjekland). I do hear more Russian words here than in Kulykivka, but I suspect that's because the Russian border is closer to this village. However, as I told everyone that I want to learn Ukrainian, everyone speaks that language towards me.
Life in the village is a definitely a change of pace than from even a small town like Kulykivka. Everyone knows everything that you do well before you come home. They all talk to one another. For example, on New Year's day I made a trip to Romny. Before I even arrived in Romny, another teacher called to ask why I was going to the city. And when a letter arrived for me, several people came up and asked if I had picked it up at the post office yet. This was the same situation in Kulykivka, but because of how small the town is, people will figure out where are you and what you're doing even faster.
This is not unique to newcomers like myself. Everyone seems to know the whereabouts of the other yokels, so if you need to know where someone is, more often than not, anyone you ask will know his routine and daily circuit around the village.
Also, this is a village in size only. There is a decent set of apartment buildings here, and the local infrastructure is among the better that I've seen in Ukrainian towns so far. The roads are holding up well, there are streetlamps, and nearly every house (except the outliers) are hooked up to local utilities. Really, this feels more like a compact Midwestern American town than the other villages that I've seen in Ukraine so far. This village has some surprises too – there's a library hidden in the upper floor of the administration building, there's a “secret shop” inside one of the apartment buildings that's only open when the clerk feels like running it. Undoubtedly, there's more to discover. Apparently this area is full of cherry, apple, and apricot trees too, so the summers should be beautiful. I also discovered a greenhouse behind my school and my school's handyman showed me a cavernous workshop nearby.
So, what do people do for entertainment in the village? There is a local house of culture (auditorium, and nearly every community in Ukraine has one), and I assume that concerts are held there from time to time. There's a discotheque inside there on Friday nights too. The local school has sports game pretty often, and I've heard that there are concerts and recitals in the school too. Otherwise, everyone seems to be content working on their land or in their workshops, visit friends, and watch TV.
What I find interesting is how isolated this village can feel, despite being so close to a highway and a city. There are only three buses that come in and out of the village to Romny, and the last returns at 3:30pm. For me, this means that if I want to stay out for a night in the city, I need to call ahead to one of Americans living there (and contact my counterpart too – she worries about me when I am away from Bilovod). Perhaps it's the few buses, or how many fields and forests encircle the town, or the lack of internet most of the time, but I felt more connected to the world in Chicken, Alaska than I do in Bilovod.
That said, I requested a small site and overall I really enjoy it. So far, my favorite parts of village life are:
- Finding wildlife. There's a few stands of pine trees near the village, and I can hear woodpeckers and songbirds during the day. I found a frog today, which is a healthy sign for the nearby Sula River.
- The generosity of the locals. I've only needed to cook for myself three times so far in the last three weeks. Everyone in the village has opened their hearts and larders to me, and I've received jars of meat, roasted peppers, tomatoes, whole pots of soup, potatoes, and lots of fresh milk. There's also a nice teacher from my school that invites me over to her son's apartment for dinner and coffee pretty often.
- Most people that I've met in the village so far have been very eager to help me settle in.
- Telling people that my town is so small, it's off the map.
- Common comforts from larger towns, such as regular internet access, beer on tap, new books, board games, and espresso become much more exciting once you bring them into the village. Even writing this post, which probably won't be submitted until next weekend at the earliest, become much more interesting and involving than if I were in my hometown of Fairbanks.
- I've eaten borsh from eight different people. Whose is best? My host mom's, of course.
And what do the locals expect from me? So far, they want me to teach their children English, firstly. Secondary projects will come up later on in the semester, but they probably include leading English language camps in the summer, organizing English week and special events, and leading English clubs at the school. I would also be interested in organizing an art club for students and perhaps movie nights at school or in the house of culture.
But for now, I'm concentrating on settling down in the village, improving my Ukrainian language skills, and preparing for my lessons at school next week.
So, take care, keep writing, and feel free to send me letters/love notes/packages of peanut butter and Sharpies.
Garrett Armstrong
4 Shorsa St., # 2
C. Bilovod, Romensky Raion
Sumska Oblast, 42065
UKRAINE
