two ankles in two weeks

So it seems that the way I go through culture shock is by physical abuse. This last weekend, I got the chance to go home with Svitlana to her family's cottage - around 15 minutes outside of Ostroh. Every month the Ukrainians, and their counterparts, get the chance to go home for the weekend. No folks, this won't be something that happens in Canada - it is a special aspect of the Ukrainian phase. The trip was full of highlights: a long adventure in the ponderosa pine forest outlining the cottage, time with a large, fun, and very hospitable family, a Ukrainian sauna, tasting and elaborate meals from the 'garden', playing with Svitlana's little 4 1/2 year old nephew. And one lowlight - I managed to sprain my ankle, jumping out of a tree. Why I jumped - I don't really even know. I think i just wanted to do something a little bit risky - my version of culture shock. But now I have another sprain that's bruising like crazy on my other ankle. Hopefully it'll be gone soon because I hate limping!

I'm going to make the rest of this note short because my fellow Canadian, Becca, and I are freezing it outside the post office as Ostroh embarks on a late fall. We are rocking out to Michael Franti, but freezing.

Today we had our first CAD ( community activity day ) - a discussion day for the Ukrainians at Ostroh Academy. They seemed to really enjoy it and many of them commented in their feedback sheets that they thought it was awesome and well planned out - we planned it by the skin of our teeth! So it made us feel confident in our skills.

Ostroh has been as beautiful as always. I found another bike to work on at Svitlana's cottage - a Raleigh Tarantula ( a lot like my scrambler ). I was going to ride it back to Ostroh before I sprainged my ankle. There's a little seat on the top tube for Nazar (svitlana's nephew) and it has an old seta - made in Canada too!

Everyone is at the pizzaria right now watching the soccer game - Becca and I are going to stop in soon. I'm making her wait until I finish this letter.

Love everyone lots and looking forward to a Jenn skype date either today or tomorrow..?

love,

ellen