Amand-y

I really ought to be doing HW, seeing as I am a week behind on it. But, I can’t help it, this particular entry has been forming in my mind for two days now and I know that if I put if off any longer I will not post what I wanted to. Plus, I have been working on language and practicing it since 8:30 this morning and it is almost 8pm now, so I feel justified. Haha.
I realized yesterday that apart from the incredible amount of potatoes, a Ukrainian diet and I could get along pretty well- homemade cheeses, breads of all delicious levels, fresh vegetables and fruits, and everything has dill in it (Britt- they out do my levels of dill which is saying something as you well know lol). I do love Ukraine, but heck no, it can’t be that easy right? It is after all, the Peace Corps.

And I found it: that one cultural thing that I will struggle with my entire time here. And it’s a part of Ukrainian grammar so it is completely unavoidable. The Genitive and Instrumental Cases, though not in the general sense- it’s the fact that nouns, including proper nouns such as names change. Which can be confusing enough, but how it affects my name is the bugger of the situation. In these cases my name changes to (prepare yourself) Аманді(и). Which, for those of you who can’t read Cyrillic, reads Amandy. Yup, for the next two years if somebody is with me, referring to my age, applying description to me, or directing actions to me, my name changes essentially to… Mandy. So not only are people calling me such, it could and will likely be random people and not close friends of family even. Great. Everybody in the States knows how much I absolutely detest that name and now I live in a country where to be grammatically correct they have to call me it. Now I just have to figure out how to not grimace when I hear that name. Twenty-three years of cringing at the name and now I have to hear it and be ok with it. I feel like there are not enough words to describe where that puts me.
Now, I know it’s grammatically correct and the grammar is defined historically, but couldn’t they just make the one exception for me and keep my name the same? Please?
I guess if I was fluent enough to explain the situation to them they might, under the stipulation that I could actually explain it to them… In Ukrainian. I suppose I shall stick to asking them what their hobbies are and saying please and thank-you and all the time biting back the grimace that is second nature to the name Mandy. Hahahahah
Now to working on our project- community picnic with HIV/AIDS awareness, environmental awareness, and some cultural exchanges. Le sigh. Off to grant writing I suppose! Love to all!