You Know You're Bored When...

Oh, the glory of being back in Ukraine! Oh, wait. Just kidding. Kind of.

I returned to teaching this week after being in the states for almost two weeks (it goes without saying that this was a glorious period of time). Unfortunately, I've also gone back to being incredibly bored on a daily basis. So bored that I decided to do more intense cleaning, only to remember that I did most of that before I left for the states so there's not really a lot to do now (when I came back to my house, I actually thought my landlady had come in and cleaned while I was gone until I remembered: no, I did all that). Last night, I killed some time reluctantly painting my nails and taking a shower I didn't really need. Today, I was slightly crestfallen that two of my classes had been canceled because it meant I'd spend even longer sitting in my house, doing nothing. I AM NEVER CRESTFALLEN ABOUT CANCELED CLASSES.

Clearly, I am ill.

So I've spent most of the day on the internet, searching out job information that probably won't be relevant by the time I get back to the states for keeps. In general, I've been cooking a lot more that is usual for me, playing word games on my kindle, napping on the days I get out of school relatively early, reading articles (like this gem of life advice), writing snail mail cards, attempting to load a 10-minute youtube video (and after three days of effort, I succeeded!), planning lessons, and watching re-runs of tv shows on my external. 

I've been back in Ukraine for less than a week...

It's hard for my mind to not automatically calculate how much time is left until I leave Ukraine in mid-December when I ask my students every morning what the date is. Snap - the math is done. This is not actually how I want to spend my remaining time here. I'm all for the future and returning to the states, but I'd like to still be mentally present for this last little bit. This is proving difficult as my mind mostly wants to crawl out of my skull and flop around on my carpet from lack of stimulation.

Hammock Time

To any future volunteers heading to Ukraine who may happen to read this,

Bring one of those wonderfully compact camping hammocks with you. I curse myself every time there's delightfully warm and sunny weather here (yes, we are still intermittently having it!) and all I want to do is lay out in the sun and nap. It's the only item that I regret not bringing with me.

On a semi-related note, my landlady told me today that this last bit of warm weather we're having is called baboosny/babushky (grandmother) summer.