Celebration

April 3, 2011 – Celebration

Today is Sunday.  It’s been two weeks since I left San Diego.   It seems longer than that.  It feels as though everything has happened so quick that I haven’t had the chance to soak it all in.  I’m still waiting for the day to say ‘Wow, I’m no longer in America.  I’m in Ukraine.’  It has yet to set in.  I know I’m not in the states but it doesn’t feel like I’m gone.  My host family has made me feel at home.   I try to make myself feel at home.  I’m slowly feeling more a part of the house and not so much as a guest.  So it’s been a whole week since I moved in the house.  I’ve tried to wash my own clothes by hand but my mom wants me to use the washing machine, I wash my dishes when I can, and I hangout and watch TV with the family when I don’t want to study language.  So as the days pass by I feel more comfortable doing things with them.  Today is my host brother’s birthday celebration today and so we had guest come over.  It should be interesting since I haven’t really spoken to any other Ukrainians other than my host family and those that work in the Peace Corps.  So I was a little nervous to meet everybody. 

As like with Filipino parties the preparation began the day before.  The cleaning of the house, the prepping of certain dishes, the washing all the dishes, and even the setting up of the tables.  I tried to help but my host mom wouldn’t allow me.  By Sunday at noon the table was set.  And there were dishes, and dishes of food.  Some that I’ve had and others I had no idea what it was.  We ate lunch, made toasts to my brother and drank shots of Vodka, ate more lunch, made more toasts drank some more Vodka, and ate more lunch.  I had a chance to meet some of the family and they were more than helpful when it came to trying to communicate.  We talked and ate more.  I find that food and drink is a universal language.  Just like love every community, every country, every people, every person is proud of their food.  Filipinos love to feed their guests as do Ukrainians.  They wanted me to try everything and everything I tried.  I had potatoes, and more potatoes, meat, chicken, salad, cake, and more cake.  I was so full that I was full the morning after.  As in any party we talked and let the hours go on by.  They left we said our goodbyes and I thought the day was over.  We cleaned up a little bit and cleared up the table.  I took a nap and woke up an hour later and I looked out my room only to see the table was set again.  I gave them a confused look like ‘Are we eating again????’  And they knew by looking at me how I felt.  So they laughed and said that there was a different group of guests arriving.  It was Losha’s godfather and some more of Sasha’s friends.  They arrived and I tried to talk to them in the little Ukrainian I could.  They understood some of it and the other things I was trying to say made no sense.   Like our earlier feast they made me eat everything.  We made toasts and drank.  I was so full that I almost fell asleep at the table.  It was late so I decided to call it a night and they wished me the best of luck with my volunteerism and I told them Duzhe Pryemno (nice to meet you).  Today was a great day for me.  Not only did I eat everything I could in a day but I got to experience another part of the Ukrainian culture.  And although I wasn’t able to communicate with them we were able to enjoy the same thing which was each other’s company and of course the delicious food.  As we ate at the table it reminded me of eating at my mom’s or Cathy’s or Gma’s house.  A lot of food a lot of people and a lot of love.  It wasn’t only a celebration of his birthday but it was a celebration of their culture and for me a celebration of my new life.