Dome-sick

Дом is the Russian word for "home." (It's pronounced "dome"). Sometimes I get a little dome-sick for Ukraine. It's really strange to think that Ukraine was legitimately my home for 2 years and that after years of hoping and planning to serve overseas, I've already done it and come back. I just can hardly believe it. Recently, I've had a lot of moments where I'm thinking about Ukraine and missing it. Here are a few triggers from the past week or so:

1. Skyping with Nastia. I miss her SO much! I met her my very first Sunday in Poltava, and we both watched each other grow so much in the course of two years. She laughed at me (a lot) in my growth as an Amerikrainian, and I'm so excited watching her continually grow into a strong woman of God. She's such an encouragement to me. We skyped on Saturday, and as always, went for an hour before we realized it.

2. I went to see "The Help" last weekend (and have subsequently begun reading the book) and thought about Ukraine when Minny says that Crisco is the best thing since mayonnaise in a jar. That made me think about how weird it was to by mayo in a pouch whilst in Ukraine. And ketchup. And milk. And ice cream. And sour cream.

3. I changed a roll of toilet paper the other day, and it started me thinking about all the crazy scented toilet paper they have in Ukraine. I would sometimes have to hunt (imagine me digging through the toilet paper options on the shelf while Ukrainian passers-by scowl at me) for non-apple/orchid/cherry scented paper. Or tissues. It wasn't until about 2 months before returning to the States that I had my moment of enlightenment. You WANT that scented stuff when you're squatting over a massive whole in the concrete-ish floor of an outhouse with no ventilation and lots of...scents...out in the country. You want it so you can cover your nose with it... And that thought reminded me of a beautiful Sunday spent with the Rays. I miss them more than I can accurately describe.

4. I thought about Ukraine when I woke up with a weather pressure headache this morning. It made me think about how I became 100% accurate in predicting snow showers; my head would always split open when it was about to snow. Most of the time, I detested the snow. However, I have an extremely happy memory of walking through town in new snow and eating pizza at Celetano's with Ira, Nataly, and Victoria.

5. I missed Ukraine dreadfully yesterday when we had lunch with some new, Iranian friends of ours. Their daughter reminded me forcefully of my friend, Nataly. Her mannerisms and her speech patterns were Nataly to a "t"...and it made me want to spend my Friday evenings with Nataly and Victoria again. We fell into a pattern of visiting every Friday night after I taught English club. Sometimes we'd bake, sometimes watch a movie, always we'd talk...sometimes we'd look through gobs of photos or listen to music. I learned so much about their lives and shared much of mine with them.

Over course, I begin idealizing Ukraine at times and forget about all the really hard stuff: visas and registrations, maneuvering the post office, cross-country travel, being yelled at when I had no idea why, being stuck in gloomy gray-ness, lonely hours of missing home and friends, feeling like a complete failure in the speaking Russian department.

Then again, all of the unpleasant things made my life in Ukraine real. I wasn't there for a week or even a month of fun adventure; I was there through all 4 seasons (twice) and experienced life in its ups and downs. At times, it was excruciatingly painful. So often, it was an exciting adventure (usually ending with me embarrassing myself and everyone laughing at me). Always, though, it was very much my life. I get that twinge of achy missing often these days, and it makes me so grateful that I have those memories...it means they really happened. In all their glory (or extremely lack thereof...squatties, buses, and falling on the ice.)