I’ve been pretty stressed out lately, and have been trying to keep myself focused on some positive, happy and funny things that have happened so as to not get mired down in a funk. I thought I would share some of them.
First, I bought my plane ticket and I’m going home for 3 weeks in November! Woohoo! Very much looking forward to seeing everyone, doing some shopping (Eddie Bauer Warehouse, here I come!), and getting some good Mexican food. I’ll also be making presentations at Ohio State University and Ohio University about Chornobyl and about international volunteerism, which should be fun and interesting.
I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor the other day, 3 months after my surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. I was feeling some discomfort in my abdomen, so she decided to do an ultrasound to check things out. Much to our delight, everything is in tip-top condition and, in fact, she said I have “very beautiful organs.” Not exactly words I would have thought of in connection with my uterus and ovaries, but I was glad to hear them. My intestines didn’t look so hot, though, and she asked me about my diet recently. It’s true, I’ve been eating crap for the last week and a half. Time to get to the market and stock up on healthy fruits and veggies again.
I also had a dentist appointment this week. I have a huge phobia about the dentist, very strongly enhanced by an experience I had in 1994. I was visiting my then in-laws in Chernovtsy, Ukraine, when a filling cracked. My sister-in-law was a dentist, and she offered to check it out and fix it. I know she had the best of intentions, but I felt like I’d fallen into my worst nightmare. I’d heard so many horror stories about Soviet dentistry that I was nearly frozen with anxiety. The appearance of the clinic didn’t do much to counter my ideas, being a dark and dreary place. I remember seeing a cat walking down a hallway, and a filthy rag on the floor inside the door to wipe your feet on. Up until then, I had only ever gone to one dentist my entire life, in a little private practice where everything was bright and clean and individualized. In Vera’s clinic, she took me to a big hall with chairs for several patients, and in fact another man was there being treated while she worked on me. I had heard how anesthesia was not used in Soviet dentistry, and my ex-husband had even told me how he had a root canal with no anesthesia. Yikes! Well, Vera knew that I was used to slightly different dental practices, and she offered to give me a shot of Novocain. However, my guess is that she’d never actually administered an injection before, as she didn’t actually manage to fully insert the needle. Much of the anesthesia ended up squirted on my tongue. By this time, I was crying uncontrollably and near hysteria. Poor Vera was trying her best, and I know I made an embarrassing scene, but, as I said, I felt as if I’d fallen into my worst nightmare and just couldn’t control myself. Vera stuffed my mouth full of cotton, and I wondered if she even knew that a spit-sucking device existed. Oh, and I remember how Vera and another dentist were very concerned about some white spots on my teeth. No American dentist every mentioned them at all, much less seemed concerned, but there was much speculation about why I had these white streaks on my teeth- maybe I didn’t get enough calcium growing up, or there was some kind of defect, or who knows what. Anyway, Vera ended up removing the broken filling and putting in a temporary filling, which I later had replaced with a permanent filling back in the U.S. The tooth never really felt right after that, though, but my dentist-phobia had reached such an extreme that it took me 10 years before I got the necessary root canal and crown.
Long set up to my story about my dentist appointment this week. Another tooth has a rather large filling, and I’ve also known for some time that I would eventually have to have it replaced or get a root canal or something. The tooth has been sensitive for awhile, and becoming painful enough that I started thinking about seeing a dentist. A Ukrainian friend told me about a clinic here that really impressed her, and I decided to give it a try. I was very pleased – clean, modern, very nice people, and amazingly cheap! $30 for a new filling, and I was in and out in less than 45 minutes. She did a fantastic job, was very cautious, attentive, and concerned that I was OK. There was one difference I noticed, aside from price, between this experience and a visit to an American dentist. “Do you want with anesthesia or without?” Now there is a question you won’t hear in an American dentist’s office! I gladly splurged for the anesthesia (which she administered perfectly). As I opened my mouth, I suddenly remembered how the Ukrainian dentists in 1994 were so concerned about the white spots on my teeth, and I wondered if this dentist would ask about them too. Sure enough, one glance at my teeth and she started asking about them – had they always been there? Were my teeth sensitive or painful? She was stumped about why those spots were there, but I assured her I’ve never had any problems with them. So, she moved on to her task and did a great job. She had the spit-sucking thingy, too!
Another thing that made me happy this week was that my boss asked me to draft some grant proposals for a possible new donor. It was the first time he’s asked me to lead a project like that, and I was excited to get the chance to try out some of my ideas. A meddling colleague tried to interfere and derail some new and different suggestions I wanted to make, but in the end our boss liked my ideas and sent the proposals on to headquarters for their review. It was a little thing, maybe, but I felt really good about it. I negotiated around the meddling colleague, and my own ideas were encouraged. That was a nice morale boost.
My social life has been nice the last few weeks, too. I’ve met some new people, mostly North Americans, and I’m finally starting to have a social circle that includes some native English speakers! I have to admit, it’s just nice sometimes to talk to people with whom I share a cultural background. My friend Blane and I went to Pub Night at the Canadian Embassy (invited by some Canadian friends). We weren’t exactly “undercover” Americans, but we tried not to bring it to everyone’s attention. Much to my amusement, one woman instantly pegged us as Americans, saying she could just tell there was something different about us. We had a good time, drank some beers, ate some pizza and met some nice people. This week is a Happy Hour with Democrats Abroad, and next week they are hosting a lunch with the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. Should be interesting. I’ve been emailing with a Girl Scout troop leader here in Kyiv, and as soon as we can coordinate our schedules to actually meet in person, I’ll start volunteering with the troop. I’m glad to be expanding my social circle here in Kyiv, especially as the dreary winter months are approaching. I need some motivation to get me out and about during the cold, dark months ahead, and some new friends and activities will be nice. Everything continues to be fabulous with Igor. I hope we can find him a good job in Kyiv so he can move here from Korosten. It would be so incredible to see him every day instead of just on weekends!
Oh, and the last but very important piece of good news this week was that I officially was notified that my UNV contract will be extended! To make it even better, Peace Corps has agreed to co-sponsor me, so I’ll be back in the PC loop. So, at least the next year of my life is more-or-less set, and I’m excited to be staying in Kyiv, and continuing with CRDP.
Anka in Kyiv 