Busy

It has been pretty crazy the last few weeks trying to take care of everything before leaving for the states (BTW - We're here! - more on that later)

As if things weren't hectic enough, we decided to follow up an invitation from a reformed church in Ivano Frankovsk (western Ukraine) and go visit and share about our church with them as well. The town was lovely and it was great to hear about their church and learn about the social activities the church and Pastor are involved in (HIV/ AIDS education and anti-prejudice campaigns.

No pictures at the moment but we got to go through the countryside as well - stopping at the Pysanky Museum (where I saw some of my teacher's eggs), trying local cheese, and going through the tourist markets where Yushenko (president Ukraine) shops (at least there was a picture of him at the restaurant). No wonder though - as all the souvenirs really come from western Ukraine and they are WAY cheaper (10-15 uah before bargaining) than in Kiev. Also - here - national costumes were not only in supply - but in abundance and there many differnt styles and patterns that in kiev you just don't see (in kieve its like a standard shirt - one pattern suites all) Not that we bought national costumes - but it was great to see the variety and innovation. We also learned that all these crafts were mostly instigated by the Hutsul people.

Also - I gleaned the most amazing recipe for pickled tomatoes. I know, you are wondering how pickled tomatoes can be amazing - well you have to trust me - once we get back to Ukraine (in tomato season) I will mix up a batch and see if I can duplicate the results and share it with you. (really I just didn't bring the recipe with me)

Walking on egg shells

It was inevitable I suppose - but sad all the same.
Haggai broke 5 of our favorite pysanky. Unfortunately the ugly thanksgiving genre Turkey that I couldn't bring myself to throw away survived - but all of our favorites were cracked or shattered.
It came at a rather bad time too as I was trying to make lots of eggs to take with us to England - and now I feel obligated to replace the patterns that we liked so as not to forget how to do them. This plan hasn't worked very well. The black floral designs I reproduced quickly - but they broke when in the blowing process. The 40 Apron patterns all turned out great - but not the same brilliant pattern. Pysanky are really alot like snow flakes.
Fortunately - none of the goose eggs were broken as that would have been really tragic.

Meanwhile, I gathered a group of people together Saturday and we went to a pysanky master class by Оксана Білоус. She lives close to me and is my supply distributor she also paints pysanky for Yushenko. Anyway, I thought that it would be a good time to try out what sort of toys and tools she has and decide if I want to invest more or not. My wish list of what to buy in America (where things are oddly cheaper) has added up and so my main waffle is to buy or not to buy the electric Kitsak. She makes and sells an electric set of 5 and it is cheaper than the states - at least with current exchange rates - and it is amazing what they do - I finally took the plunge and decided to try an Ivano Franko design which is vitrually impossible for all but the expert with a regular Kitsak. I suceeded - but still have a long way to go. This design took me at least 2 hours!!

What you didn't know your states did

Did you know that since 1994 - your state has been participating in egg decorating in order to display the egg at the White House over Easter to represent each state?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/easter/2008/eggsbystate/ For other years - just do an internet Search for White House State Eggs and the year.

Some states do contests - and some actually hire outside artists. Craziness.

Goings on

Lots of busyness this last week- but nothing terribly exciting - Alister has been working on his course and I've been doing Pysanky like mad to make gifts for the the "coming of age" ceremony for the denomination of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine. The particularization will happen tomorrow in Odessa - we head down tonight on an overnight train - always an experience.

In all I made 5 goose eggs (that was an adventure to find - but really, I think I had a better chance finding goose eggs here than I would have in the states - even if it did take asking multiple Babushkas - eventually i found a pair of Vegetable sellers, sisters, who said that a goose egg lady came every once and a while and they would buy me the eggs and I could stop buy and pick them up from them. Good to their word - they told the Goose lady about me, told her how many eggs i wanted, and even called me up to let me know she was there and I could buy the eggs. Not only did I get goose eggs out of the deal, but now I have a place i trust to fill all my fruit and vegetable needs.)

All in all, I also dyed 12 chicken eggs - of which only about 7 are worth giving out. Alister gets a bit frustrated i think because I make us keep all the ugly ones with mistakes. So much work went into them - I don't want to throw them away - I even tried to salvage a totally smashed one - but finally gave up and sent it to the big waste bin in the sky.

In other news, Alister and I have taken to making up proverbs - Or rather I make them up and Alister either says it can't be a proverb or it can. So far the only one that he likes (though he still can't remember it ) is "Like a lion on the hunt, do not tease a tired wife". Alister is an evening person and I go steadily downhill from 10pm on - just as he is reaching his comic peak. This combination proves highly frustrating for me, and highly entertaining for Alister - Though if he does succeed on getting me to see the ridiculousness of the incident at the time - I end up enjoying it too.

Pysanky

My newest hobby here in Ukraine is Pysanky. There are lots of very well laid out and explanatory sites about the art already on the internet – and I suggest you look at them to learn more or go to this article for resources and a quick HOW TO.


Basically – I always knew about Pysanky – always wanted to do it – and once I actually arrived in the country of its inception – of course I had to learn. I’ve done scores by now – but have given most away. We used the rejects – the ones with mistakes on them to decorate our Christmas tree this year. These are some that I did the other week when I had some extra time on my hands. Normally, I listen to Russian Audiobooks on tape – over and over and over again as I do the egg to try to build comprehension. Eventually I read the story in English and a light bulb goes on like – OH, so THAT’S what they were doing and then I listen to it a few more times before I try listening to the text and reading along at the same time in Russian. By that point – I understand the text a bit better and can quote back emphatic parts – Like Gogol’s Nose, in the Church when he looks down his nose at the Major and says “Вы ошибаетесь, милостивый государь. Я сам по себе. Притом между нами не может быть никаких тесных отношений.”

Other Pysanky Links:

Method and History and everything else - http://web.mac.com/lubap/PYSANKY/Pysanka_Home.html

Traditional patterns - http://home.earthlink.net/~okaczmar/egstamps.html