Sunday, May 26, 2013

Torpedo the Highly Intelligent Goat

I was walking by the river and I found these goats, mother and child, down a slope. As I was drawing them, a woman appraoched me, surprised. She was the owner of the goats. I asked her permission to draw the goats, and she gave it without hesitation. Her name was Svetlana, the old goat was named Torpedo. When Torpedo was younger, she was more ballistic- Svetlana said she'd hold one end of her chain and Torpedo would get an urge, and she'd shoot away,  knocking Svetlana to the ground. Svetlana definitely had affection for this goat, I saw love in her eyes.
She said the goat knows Ukrainian. She gives an order like "Turn" and she doesn't even need to nudge her, the goat knows. Although- there are times that Torpedo pretends that she doesn't understand, because she is feeling lazy or rebellious.
Svetlana said that if I was a real teacher, I should teach her goat English. "This goat learns fast," she said.

 

Thursday, May 23, 2013

First days in Novoarkhanhelsk (Rewind to December)

These were some of the first photos I took upon arrival at Novoarkhanhelsk, my home for 24 months. "м'ясо" just means meat- people don't need to get too fancy with the names of their stores around here.