Kyiv Visit and Night From Hell

The stomach meter is currently back down to about 32%. I was well Friday and Saturday, but today things aren't so pleasant in that department. Let me shed some light on this subject and you can draw your own conclusions about this surreal life I'm living...
First things first...Kyiv frickin' rocks!!! This city is awesome. There is so much life there, history, architecture, cathedrals, shopping, amazing food, and I could go on. It was a ton of fun and it was like stepping into Western Europe for the day. We left at 8am and took a 2 hour bus ride to Kyiv. The bus dropped us off at the Metro station and we had to take the train into the heart of the city. We must have had good luck because of the small handful of people I talked to this morning, 4 of them got pick-pocketed. Our assignment when we got off the train was to go on a scavenger hunt. We are currently studying the topics of "The City" and "Things Around the House" in language class. In this chapter, we are learning how to ask and receive directions. Olga, our teacher, was with us and she gave each of us a piece of paper with a tourist attraction on it. We had to take turns asking strangers for directions and leading our group to that place. Our first stop was the Peace Corps headquarters in Kyiv. It was a very nice, and extremely secure, building complete with a lounge that included a library and a home theater and medical offices (if I knew the stomach meter was going to drop, I would have talked to the doctor there). We ran into some of the other Chernigiv clusters there, but never got to meet up with the other groups that traveled to Kyiv from small villages. We lefter there and visited 3 awe-inspiring just breathtaking cathedrals that my pictures don't do any justice to. We saw the golden gate of Kyiv which used to be the main gate to the city that protected it from enemies. We visited a huge underground mall and fouund the protests that have been going on all month. They seemed very calm. There was live music and it was more like walking into a Lollapallooza concert than a governmental protest. Olga took us to her favorite restaurant for lunch where I ate the best meal since I left Montana. I ate a huge bowl of borsch, potato pancakes, chicken, a ham omelet, garlic buns and followed it with an amazing Ukrainian beer. I was stuffed and completely in my element. We then ran into another cluster and we headed to an Irish pub where we watched soccer on a big screen and enjoyed a couple more beers. They had Guiness on tap for $30 grievnya (which is expensive here, but only about $6 in the U.S.). Instead we stuck to the locl brews which were still pricey. We were warned how expensive Kyiv is, and it is no joke. I saw so many great souveniers I'd like to pick up for gifts, but just could not afford them this time.
By the end of the day, I was exhausted and stuffed. We waited in a very long line to board the bus back to Chernigiv. I made the mistake of buying one of these deep fried dough thingies with what appeared to be tater tot casserole in the middle of it. It was really good, but I don't think I needed it. My stomach is ready to kick my ass at this point.
I finally get home around 8pm and the real fun begins.
(sidenote: remember when I said I was extremely lucky to end up with my host family? I am second guessing this now. They are great people, but every day grows longer in this apartment.) I walk in exhausted and wanting to just relax to a movie and pass out. I am dying for a glass of grape juice that I bought with my money. I go into the kitchen to find that the kid drank the ENTIRE carton in one day. So now not only do I have to sneak food into my room after I buy it, I will have to store warm juice in there as well. Peace Corps pays the familes to buy food for us and it seems that my money goes to nearly all food that I never get to eat. It makes me wonder if they are just in it for the money and are planning on buying a big screen TV or something once I am gone. A perfect example, now my host dad says, would you like to drink a couple beers tonight? I say, okay because it souunds like a good idea. He sends me to the market and expects me to pay for all of the beer. I buy 4 bottles and a bag of chips. I get home and he drinks all the beer with his friend and eats my chips. Anyway, at this point my gut is busting and just killing me. Marina approaches me saying she has spent all day preparing this huge chicken dinner for me. The last thing on my mind is food. She lays the guilt trip on me and I find myself struggling to eat this chicken feast. I am sweating at the table forcing myself to eat. She thinks I don't like her cooking and gets upset at me. I do the dishes and head straight for the toilet for an hour. I am finally sitting at my desk uploading pictures and Nikita walks in behind me. "Paul, look what I got!" I look into this butter container he has and inside are 3 huge cockroaches. I freak out because he keeps trying to put them on me and they are jumping out of the carton onto my desk. Apparently he likes to catch them and bring them inside to play with. They are all petting them and playing with them like they were pets. He even lets it walk around the dinner table. They all get out of the carton and they let them explore the living room. I head to my room and shut the door. Andrey comes in and says "Paul, you have to go with me to pick up my friend". I say okay because he assures me it will not be longer than a half hour. We get in the cab and head to a new disco that opened up last night. He uses me saying I am an American and we skip out of the cover charge. We find his friend along with some others that speak English. They bombard me with questions and in a very friendly manner take me to the bar. I'm not thinking about drinks, I just want to go home. I turn around and his friend buys me a huge shot of this sambuca and green stuff that is on fire. The bartender screams at me and gives me a straw. I drink it with all of them and say "thanks for the drink, but I really need to go home now." His friend then says I owe the bartender $25 grievnya. I'm pissed, I pay and leave with Andrey and his friend. Instead of getting into a cab, we end up walking down to the river and talking for an hour. We finally go home and end up staying up until 2am. I had to wake up early today for a meeting with my disfunctional project group. We are the only group who doesn't have a definite project due to circumstances beyond our control. After I'm done here, I need to go to the bazaar to buy a razor and shaving cream. I've used an electric razor my whole life. Why do I need to buy this stuff? Beacuse I stupidly plugged my razor in without a power converter and fried it. Replacement razors are expensive and scarce here.
So there it is. I apologize if I seem like I'm constantly complaining on here, but I AM!!! I keep telling myself things will get better and I'm hoping they will. We are already in the planning stages of getting our permanent sites. We find out in 2 weeks and then go to visit them for a week. Part of the reason for the Kyiv visit was so we know where to go by ourselves when we come back to headquarters for a debriefing. I just want to get my own place and start living a somewhat normal life again.
The weather was perfect yesterday and today it is going to snow. I guess I took the Montana weather with me. The best part is, the heat in our building has been shut off for the year and I freeze at night now because I didn't bring a sleeping bag. Some people say their sleeping bag is the best thing they brought. I say the best thing I brought was my gigantic bottle of Tums which is almost gone by now. So add that to the fact that the Ukrainians I've met don't use soap when they do dishes, don't open windows on buses when it is hot outside because breezes could kill a person, don't brush their teeth or bathe properly, and I could go on. I knew I would have to make some cultural adjustments and it's not all that bad. I just don't understand some things here. I should justify all of this by saying Ukrainians are all around better people than us. They are extremely family-oriented, peaceful and hospitable. The women here are all attractive, everyone stays in great shape. There is no "bar scene" really. People would rather stay home on the weekends and be with family. They take their holidays very seriously, they respect one another and cherish what they have; quite the opposite from how we operate in the states.
So, yes, I'm hanging in there. No, I'm not quitting yet. Yes, I miss all of you, but I have a lot to experience first.
Thanks for listening to my rants and complaints. Have a good week!