Birthdays with Mr. Coco

If you feel so inclined, you can get your ukr dance party going while you read.

So as most of you know, my birthday has come and gone and Ukrainians spared no expense in "expressing their wishes of wealth, happiness, and that all my plans find their way to success". I tried to make it clear that I'm not one to enjoy celebrating my own birthday... however I guess either they didn't understand my Ukranglish / didn't listen.


The day consisted of a few things repeated over and over...

1. flowers - enough to where I presume a small garden was decimated (a moment of silence please)
2. the happy birthday song sung in with an Eastern European accent
3. home made cards

A few highlights of the day included a massive torso sized cake that the faculty refused to eat, a jar of Nutella gifted by the 5th form, and Robin Hood.

An interesting thing about Ukraine is that each city has it's own "day", for instance Myrhorod Day (which I think pertains to the day the Nazis left said town/city). Anyways, Myrhorod day ended up being celebrated my birthday weekend. So, once my school day ended, I made my way to Myrhorod where I spent the rest of the day with my sitemate Robin. 

The 8:45 morning train was actually on time and wasn't late arriving to Kyiv - in essence my true birthday present from Ukraine. I was able to grab my Mickey D's and shawarma fix and hung out with friends for the rest of the weekend. This weekend may or may not have included ending up in a 80's grunge hangout (denim jackets included) where presumable self titled DJ Mr. Coco spoke some broken English words of wisdom...

• "my name is Mr. Coco"
• "make some loud"
• "it makes me feel like oh my god"
• "why is it so dark in heaven?"
• "ladies get your booties moving"

All and all, a successful birthday number 1. 

(We also may have taught hipster Ukrainians how to electric slide - great success)

Dnipro...blah blah blah Oblast

Disclaimer - this is the forth blog post of "catch up day". I most likely will not be proof-reading it for spelling or grammatical errors. 


My last week in Aug was spent making my way between the two huge industrial cities of Kryvyi Rih - Кривий Ріг and Dnipropetrovs'k - Дніпропетровськ in the Dnipropetrovs'ka Oblast. The 8.5 hour Myrhorod - Kryvyi Rih bus ride (from hell) was not the ideal way to get pumped up for camp but thankfully I had a fellow Poltavian Megan and curb side / swiss army knifed cheese, tomato, bell pepper, cucumber sandwiches to ease the awfulness. Literally a fellow passenger almost died on the bus. 

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I was in Kryvyi Rih for yet another Summer camp - Camp LEAD; which was a English immersion leadership camp for 16-21 year old students that myself and maybe 15 other PCV's were a part of. We all were housed in this old soviet hotel that made The Shinning + Hostel seem like a mashup potentially possibility - creepy hallways, abandoned basements, flickering lights, eerily quiet and deserted hallways at night. However I will say that's what made it really fun to explore. 


We each were responsible for a group of 10-15 students. "The 7G's" aka my group was of course the найкраща група. We placed first in the best skit award for our awesome rendition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone as a soup opera. 

They also gave me some sweet new Russian and Ukrainian bands and movies that I need to get on downloading. Anyways, highlights of the week in the form of words and photos.

• campers getting highly into watching The Mighty Ducks to the point where they were cheering when goals were scored
• teaching the kids dodgeball
• Ukrainian independence day park festivities 
• characatchers of some of the PCVs

 

It was actually really sad when the week ended, good thing these kids took no time in friending my on Vkontakte (the Russian equivalent of Facebook). 

The weekend in Dnipro was pretty relaxing as well - seeing how we stayed at a fellow 41er Kathryn's sweet pad. Got to see some sites, cook some good food, and just chill before school starts.

I got home on the 28th with just enough time to relax for a day before that which is school began.

Has it really been 5 months?!

So my counterpart asked me to put together a short video of my time in Ukraine to be shown at this educational department rayon conference - I then realized it's been five freaking months?! I dunno, it seems like time has flown by.

Enjoy!

Music: Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club, Furr - Blitzen Trapper