The Holiday Season Blues

The gray, bleakness of winter has arrived to Ukraine.  It was only a matter of time before it showed up  I should be happy that it came later than it did last year.  I should be ecstatic that we haven't had one snowflake in my town yet, although I can't that say for the rest of the country.  Although the weather is mild for this time of year in Ukraine, it feels like winter.  The sun sets at four o'clock every day and the trees are bare. Winter is here my friends and so are the winter/holiday season blues.

The past two weeks have been very unproductive for me.  Not by choice, of course, but that's neither here nor there.  My counterpart, Olga had to have an operation three weeks ago.  The operation went fine and she is currently recovering, but her absence from school means that all of her classes were cancelled until she returns, which means a wide open schedule for me.  I've been trying to pick up extra lessons with the other English teacher I work with, but I am still finding my days to be pretty empty.

Because of these empty days, I've found myself with a lot of free time that I haven't had since, well, last winter.  I could fill this free time by learning to knit or to play the guitar, but instead my needles sit unused and my guitar is currently gathering dust in the corner.  I'm ashamed to admit that up until now, my days have consisted of a lot of Pinterest, comfort food (Ukrainian style),and  Battlestar Galactica.  Although these things are all great in moderation, the saying "Too much of a good thing" definitely comes to mind right now.

To be honest, things are just really frustrating right now.  Due to a brief lapse in memory, Jesse was unable to make it to the wonderful Thanksgiving celebration that we had been planning to attend at our friend Kristen's a few weeks ago.  It's been a month and a half since we have seen each other, and that's not looking to change until the end of the month when our schools have their winter breaks.  (As I might have mentioned last year, Ukrainians do not celebrate Christmas on December 25th, but instead they celebrate in January.  Although Peace Corps will probably give us the day off, because of Peace Corps travel rules and the fact that Christmas falls on a Tuesday this year, it doesn't look like he and I will get to be together for it.)  So far, the holidays are looking like they will be just like any other day here in Ukraine and that just doesn't sit well with me.

On top of missing my beloved, I am also having to deal with the prospect of moving.  As of right now, they have not found me a new place to go.  Thankfully, the director of my school is not only handling the new apartment search, but she has also gotten my landlady to agree to wait until we find somewhere for me to go before she gives me the boot.  As I'm sure you can imagine, this is a very frustrating situation for the independent, "I like to handle everything on my own" kind of girl that I am.   I don't like having to depend on other people, but Ukraine is doing everything it can to make sure that when I leave this country, this will no longer be the case.

I know the gray skies won't last forever.  The sun will shine and my days will fill up again.  Jesse and I will be reunited before we know it.  Although it will be a headache, I'll get moved and situated into a new apartment that I will make as homey as possible for my last few months here.  Even though the past few weeks have been dreary and frustrating, I know that they won't always be like this.  Good days are on the way.  I just know they are.