GUYS I DID IT IT HAPPENED THE STRESSFUL NIGHTMARISH APARTMENT SEARCH IS OVER AND I HAVE AN APARTMENT HERE AT SITE!

Like, I thought apartment searching in Chicago was hard?! Oh no. Oh no no no. Oh Randi. No. It’s a million times harder when A. You can’t speak the language, B. Nobody wants to rent to a foreigner, C. You’re working with a Peace Corps-established budget of literal pennies, D. Your apartment has to meet safety and security standards set by Peace Corps, E. You’re a single woman living in a “traditional” culture, F. Your selection of apartments is… really interesting, G. You’re relying on flaky realtors and sketchy websites, H. You need a pre-furnished apartment because you don’t have furniture because you own two suitcases worth of belongings…

…I could go on. Apartment searching in Chicago was easy peasy compared to trying to find housing in the city of Khmelnytskyi!

But! The traumatic search is over! I have moved to my new lil Ukrainian apartment!

It’s the moooooost woooonderful tiiiimeeeeeee of the year!

NEW YEAR’S.

Also, Christmas.

Christmas in Ukraine is a little… well, strange. During the Soviet era, religion was discouraged. Rather than giving up Christian traditions, Ukrainians played along.

“Christmas? Oh… no. This is my New Year’s Tree.”

(I am not kidding.)

Celebrating New Year’s rather than Christmas kind of stuck around even after the Soviet Union collapsed, and now, New Year’s Eve is the big winter holiday celebrated in Ukraine.

Because most Ukrainians adhere to the Orthodox calendar as well, Christmas is mostly celebrated on January 7 in Ukraine. My host family was an exception. Mama Natasha is a devout Catholic, so I celebrated Christmas on Dec. 24 and 25, while most of my Ukrainian friends and counterparts held off until early January.

However, the dates of actual Christmas are kind of irrelevant here. Christmas-slash-New Year’s is celebrated for weeks at a time.

I just wanted to share a few highlights from my first Christmas-slash-New-Year’s here in Khmelnytskyi.

Hopefully, you know that Thanksgiving is a very American holiday. It’s not as universal as Christmas or New Year’s. Thanksgiving Day — as it stands on the calendar, at least — is celebrated solely in America, by Americans.

Until it isn’t.

I’ve mentioned before that Ukrainians love holidays and festivities and will turn just about anything into a celebration if they can. So, when the chance came for some of my new Ukrainian friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, they pounced.

Whew. It has been a MONTH! I feel like everything is happening so quickly I don’t have time to soak it all in, and I’m so afraid I’m going to forget all of these wonderful, incredible sights and experiences I’m so lucky to have.

One thing I won’t ever forget, though, is my host family.

These people have already been so kind, wonderful, welcoming and generous, I know I will never, ever forget them.

And it’s only been a month since I’ve known them!