Settling In, Part II

I always feel like there are different levels of settling in when I go to a new place, or start anything new, really.  The past couple of weeks have felt like a new level of settling, beginning inauspiciously with food poisoning.  A couple days later my roommate decided this wasn't the job for her, leaving me as a the sole inhabitant of our apartment.  The following week included our first excursion to a club and our first use of the Kharkov taxi.

Overall, this apartment has been feeling more and more like a home.  It just needs a good cleaning that I'm reluctant to do because the previous inhabitant should pay for a "deep clean".  But maybe the dustbunnies add to the sense of home...?  Not that I've ever seen a single dustbunny in my mom's impeccable house....

Teaching has also been feeling much more comfortable.  I feel like I'm getting the hang of maintaining energy and attention during class (the students' and my own), although it's something I'm still working on.  And I'm getting positive feedback from students, which always makes me feel warm and fuzzy, much like the subject of this video:

In other news, it's been a lot warmer!  Most of the ice has melted and, even though it snowed yesterday, I've actually been out of the house without a hat, and twice without my heavy snow jacket on top of my sweater-jacket!  I saw my reflection in a store window and for a second thought I must have lost a lot of weight until I realized I just wasn't all Michelin-ed in a puffy jacket....

I also have sooo many things to look forward to, too!  I've been invited to two outings by students this weekend, my director found me a seemingly good dance studio, and I have tickets to go to Turkey in March!!!  I'm so excited for everything, much like the subject of this video:

In my next post, I think I'm going to talk about the interesting experience of shopping in Ukraine!  For now, I'll leave you with some cultural differences that I've found interesting recently:

• It is 100% normal for a teacher to read all the students' test scores out loud to the whole class
• In private homes, the toilet is always (or seemingly always) separate from the room with the sink and shower
• There often (not just at my school) aren't doors to the stalls of squatter toilets in public restrooms
• People feel very comfortable talking expressively about their romantic relationships to strangers, such as too the whole class, even if their partner is in the room
• There is much less personal space between people talking, even if they are relative strangers
• Dancing on tables in bars is very normal and acceptable ;)