Cafe to the Country

I've been pretty lazy lately and let my work pile up, so last Saturday I got all my stuff together and said I'm going to sit in a cafe to do work because whenever I try in my apartment I get distracted by novels, naps, and netflix.

I got anxious while ordering, ya know because of the different language and ended up getting a latte, which is pronounced the exact same. I had slurped it down pretty quick when I saw a student come into the cafe with her father. When I see younger students outside of school the conversation usually doesn't become much more than "hello, how are you" because it can be a bit intimidating speaking another language without other classmates and a Ukrainian teacher to help translate.

Her dad quickly realized I was the American volunteer and sat down to talk. We ended up talking (in Ukrainglish) about travel, work, and then of course food. Conversation of food quickly become an invitation to his mothers house for some food. She lived on the outskirts of Romny and I met my students grandmother, great aunt, cousin, aunt, and uncle. Their hospitality was overwhelming. They showed me around their property with the gardens, brand new puppies, and tons of chickens. They broke out some family albums and I was able to see decades of history.

We then headed out to one of the villages outside Romny, got some pictures of the churches, and ate some ice cream by the river. It was so peaceful being somewhere so quiet in perfect weather. We then drove to and climbed some Scythian burial mounds. I was super confused at first because even translating I didn't understand some of the words. It was such a cool experience to see such awesome history. You can read about Scythians and their burial mounds here.

They invited me back the next day for shashleek (BBQ) which was amazing and more puppy time. It was such a fun time getting to hang out with locals.

#culture #romny #pictures