Hot Sauce and Hedgehogs
- madisonunderwood93
- Oct 2, 2016
- 3 min read
I have officially been living with my host family for one week. It's crazy to think that one week ago I didn't even know them and now I already feel very close with them. Some things that have happened this week:
My host mom and I saw the Oster River
We saw the remains of a super old church
I met my бабуся (pronounced babusya meaning grandmother)
My host mom took me around to meet all her friends
I had my first day of language class with my cluster*
I asked strangers on the street where different stores were in town (in Ukrainian! I couldn't understand their answers but at least they understood what I was saying!!)
Friends and I navigated a grocery store
My host mom asked if I was hungry and/or cold
My link** and I met the mayor and I introduced myself (in Ukrainian!!!)
I became friends with one of the cats living in my host home (the other wants nothing to do with me)
I had mashed potatoes and hot dogs for breakfast
Friends and I saw some awesome churches
I broke out the Franks Red Hot hot sauce and my host dad put as much as I did on dinner... he ended up chugging water
My host dad found our dog "playing" with a hedgehog so we brought him inside
I facetimed my mom and my host mom practiced saying "hello" a few times before I called her
I told every stray dog I met that I would buy them food and we would be friends
My host mom asked if I was hungry and/or cold again
Friends and I laid by the Desna River
I became friends with a stray kitten
I attempted a Ukrainian tongue twister
I had scrambled eggs for dinner
I did some homework that my host parents said was too difficult
My host parents discovered they love snapchat filters
I accidentally called my host dad a female Ukrainian
We all got rabies shots so now we don't have to be scared to be friends with the stray animals
My host mom asked if I was hungry and/or cold again
We visited the school we'll be interning at
We watched a fifth form lesson, the same class I'll be teaching in a couple weeks!
I got lost going to a friends house
My host mom and another volunteers host mom poured us 5 shots at lunch
Friends and I went to the local bar
Friends and I were turned away from the local bar
Friends and I found another local bar
I broke out my dried habanero pepper flakes and my host mom went to smell them and it burned her eye
I figured out how to hook up my new cell phone number to iMessage
and of course I learned a ton of language and more about the Ukrainian culture!
It was a really long week and my brain was fried by Friday but it made me even more excited to learn more and be able to communicate in public and with my host family more. Sometimes I get frustrated during language class when my teacher has to correct me for the tenth time on the same word, but then I remember one week ago all I knew were hello and goodbye and it makes me proud of how much we've learned already. Check out these pictures from this week!
* my cluster is the group of four other people that I spend most of my time with, we have language class together and will all intern at the same school
** my link is my cluster plus another cluster that gets together for technical training (how to be a teacher)