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The last holiday we will talk about today is Thanksgiving. An all American holiday. The story goes that the pilgrims that came to America had a meal with the natives to give thanks for their blessings. It is a day when all Americans do two main things— eat themselves completely stupid and watch (American) football. The main dish is definitely turkey. My mother would wake up at 4 am to put the turkey in the oven. My family of four would have one about 25 pounds in size. Mom would also make mashed potatoes, corn, green beans casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and squash oh and candied yams. For dessert there would be apple pie, pumpkin pie and my grandmothers chocolate pie. Mom would also make a huge assortment of cookies and brownies. I have to say it was always my favorite meal of the year with plenty of leftovers for us to eat for a week! Later this week I will share more holidays specific to the US.

Easter—— we color our eggs but the eggs in Ukraine are WAY better🤣 We use them for egg hunting contests where adults hide them and we find them for prizes. The White House has their egg roll each year as well. I taught that to my students this year and they were amazed. The Easter bunny is also a big staple of Easter in the US. You can take photos with him just about anywhere. The Easter bunny comes to your house like Santa and leaves a massive basket of candy and small gifts (I would get CD’s or DVD’s and makeup)

Let’s talk about Halloween. October 31st. One would assume since my birthday is October 29th I would enjoy Halloween but it is my least favorite holiday. Kids get dressed up and go house to house ringing the doorbell saying ‘trick or treat’ and have candy put in their bags. Many people also carve pumpkins and put candles in them so the spooky faces light up inside.

So this week we will talk about holidays! I have never seen a country have as many as Ukraine 🤣 but the US has some different ones as well and we will talk about them as well. There are also very big differences in how we celebrate our holidays. We will begin with Christmas. My Christmas has always been December 25th and I know that is a new date for many of you. My mother was very big into Christmas and this picture is of the last tree she decorated before her passing. My gifts were always on the right side of the tree and my sisters on the left. After we opened them Christmas morning it was my job to organize them so they looked nice when family stopped by. Our ‘Christmas season’ would begin in the middle of November. Like many holidays in the US it has become very commercial. School would let out around December 20th and we would be off until about January 3rd. For me we would wake up around 7 and open gifts. After that I would organize and my father would go to the deli to get us all breakfast sandwiches (fried egg, ham and cheese on a roll). We would normally have a few hours while mom cooked before my nana would come and my father would pick up my grandmother. We would have a big meal around 1pm (ham and turkey with all the sides you can imagine) both grandmothers would go home and we would head to my aunts for dessert around 5pm where we would see our two cousins and stay for a few hours before going home. I did not have a large family so that was about all we did. Christmas is still my favorite holiday. Even here in Kyiv it has that same special feeling (if you want me to show you my first Kyiv Christmas tree from this past Christmas let me know. It isn’t great🤣🤷🏼‍♀️)

I earned my BA and my MA from Stony Brook University which is also on Long Island just further east than where I grew up. It was a great place to go to university. I made many connections there that have created my path in life. I miss my time as a Stony Brook seawolf (please don’t ask me what a sea wolf actually is🤣 I am still trying to figure that out🤣🤷🏼‍♀️)

So continuing our introduction week let me show you some things about me. I was born and raised in the north shore of Long Island New York. Almost half way down the island. My town still has a super cute Main Street. The two best things about it Main Street are the shipwreck diner and the cute old time candy store. At the end of Main Street there is a boat marina to the Long Island shore. It was a great place to grow up!

Boris and Lesya 💕

Hi everyone! I know not everyone was able to come to the zoom so I wanted to tell you about me. My name is Jodi Ann Kuchynska and I am from the US. I was born in NY, about 30 minutes from NYC. I went to college and graduate school there as well. When my mother passed I moved to Texas and became a teacher. I taught in Texas and Florida for a total of 17 years. I was mainly a high school history/ social studies teacher for most of that time but over 17 years I taught k-12 all subjects. I decided to come to Ukraine in the fall of 2022 as a humanitarian aid volunteer. While I was here I met and have since married my husband. I still volunteer as much as I can but for this past school year I was also an english teacher within Cambridge programs at schools in Ukraine. I have taught k-11 here as well. My husband and I have two cats, Boris and Lesya. They are both rescues from Kherson. We got Boris first and then found his actual mom and adopted her a few months later. I absolutely love it here and plan on staying here long term. I love my current school and my students as well. Some silly things now🤣 my favorite things. Color? Purple. Food? Still NY pizza🤷🏼‍♀️🤣 number? 7. Season? Fall (my birthday🎉). My favorite place in the entire world? Maiden. I look forward to getting to know each of you and please ask whatever questions you want! I am always willing to answer. I am looking forward to a great month with all of you! See ya soon!

A big thank you to everyone who joined the zoom today! It was so nice to meet all of you! I look forward to a fantastic month showing you all sorts of American things! Please always ask questions! They help us all learn!