Intro

I was 20 years old when I had my right hip replaced. I had just returned from a semester abroad and was in excruciating pain. I had been diagnosed with Arthritis at 16, a side effect from the radiation treatment and chemotherapy I had received as an infant. I'm not exactly sure how I survived my travels in Europe while I was studying abroad, I must have been going on pure adrenaline. Four months of traipsing around Europe, and when I got back home I could barely make it upstairs to the living room. When I got back to the states I went to a local doctor, hoping he would prescribe me something slightly more powerful than the Advil my doctor at Mayo Clinic had prescribed me prior to my trip to Europe. The local doctor took one look at my x-ray and told me I should have gotten my hip replaced when I was diagnosed with Arthritis, 4 years earlier. Since then I've gotten my left hip replaced. And, since then, I've traveled the world many times over. A world traveler, who sets off metal detectors everywhere she goes. In 2007, I traveled to Ukraine, where I spent 9 months teaching English as a Second Language. Then, in 2009, I moved to South Korea, spending 14 months teaching ESL once again. These are the emails from my past and, since I won't be stopping any time soon, my present travels.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Ukrainian Funeral


Wednesday, August 22, 2007 7:06 AM




Hello everyone,
  The other day I woke up to the most somber music being played from outside. It sounded like a band was standing outside my building and playing and when I looked they were. Well, outside the building next door. I couldn't see real well but I saw some guys playing trombones and trumpets. Linda) came down, she is my roommate but she has been staying upstairs with someone else while I've been there. She said it was a funeral. Apparently when someone dies they remain in the house for a couple of days, all the mirrors are covered and someone stays to watch the body whole time. Then a band comes to play while the body is taken out of the house. We watched as the casket was carried by family members down the street and toward the cemetery. The whole thing took a couple of hours and was really magnificent. I talked to a guy and he said superstitions abound in Ukraine. For example, if you sit at the corner of a table it means you will never get married. And if you drop something it means you will have a visitor. It was interesting.

I also went out dancing the other night which was a lot of fun. Gayla (the girl who picked me up from the airport and acted as our concierge) has a friend who has a band, so we went to a bar called Dakota to listen. They played a lot of American songs so we knew all the words. They also served us food which consisted of french fries, fresh veggies, and lots of sausages.

I've also been teaching more often, although I haven't gotten my own classes yet, I've just been subbing. Apparently they hired too many people and I'm the odd girl out which I don't mind. I've been teaching at Rusonavka, a school right accross the street from where I live, so its nice. Everybody else is teaching at Khreshytic, which is 15 minute walk-metro ride-10 minute walk uphill. Some new teachers will be coming in September and some of them will be teaching at Rusonavka, so I won't be so alone.

I've been meeting the Ukrainian teachers and they are really nice. Tomorrow night is a pizza party at Khreshytic which sounds good to me. I'm having a good time but I miss everyone a lot. As soon as I know an address I'll send it but people are being confusing about that. They do say the Ukrainian mail is iffy, sometimes you'll get everything, and sometimes you won't. And sometimes it takes a couple of weeks, sometimes it takes months. Hope everything is well at home, Love, Jacy
Bathroom at my school

Classroom
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