It Was A Busy Summer!

What a busy, busy summer for me! I know, i know its been awhile..... I had so many camps including Russian language camp (for Americans), Soccer camp for younger boys, children's summer camp, then our Republic camp. I think I had mentioned this before but this was my first camp in which I directed with two friends of mine. Here is the link to get a better idea about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=713FkwJ2Ol0&feature=player_embedded

Also, I got to travel a lot this summer for some relaxation. I was able to go to Crimea for about 5 days with some Americans and then go to Istanbul and Greece for two weeks. Before my travels abroad my Mom and Aunt were able to visit Ukraine. See below for pictures!

Now I'm finally home in Ukraine after a wonderful summer. It's hard to even conceive how long I've been here. I only have 7.5 months left! It's crazy how fast time is going here. I'm sure it will not slow down as we are just beginning to start our school year schedule at my organization. Soon I will have English Club, Business Club, Soccer Club, Children's activities on the weekends and maybe some visits to the orphanage - not to mention my two active grants, a proposed HIV/Aids seminar, and all my Peace Corps activities. I am definitely looking forward to the next couple months, just not looking forward to once again a cold Ukrainian winter!

Photo labels:
#1 My mother and me in Independence Square
#2 Underground flower market
#3 Oldest road in Kiev

Summertime

Summer is in full swing here and my schedule is already booked until mid-September. Can you believe that? Goodbye summer :(

However, I'm quite excited about everything I will be doing. This is what the schedule looks like so far: July 4th - July 19th I will be in Crimea, hiking/camping in the mountains and by the sea with my organization (same trip as last year). July 25th - 29th I will be attending a Peace Corps Russian language camp right outside of Kiev with a bunch of my American friends. July 30th - August 4th I will be at a Soccer camp with our women's team. August 10th - 16th is the English camp I am directing "Camp Republic". After this camp, the American volunteers and I will probably go back to Crimea for about 5 days to relax on the beach after such a busy summer :)

Finally, my Mom and Aunt come to Ukraine on the 28th of August!!!!! I'm so excited for them to come here and see my city, home and place of work. After about 3 days here we will go to Turkey and Greece for 10 days total. Then, as if this all couldn't get any better, my best friend from home will meet us in Greece and then come back to Ukraine for a week!

Life is good and busy, but I have to admit time is seriously going too fast for me to handle.... :) Can you believe I'm finished in 11 months? wow.

Here are some photos from the past couple of weeks:


1. Mega-Picnic - Kickoff of the summer event we do for children and teenagers in the forest; includes team building activities, fun games, and a BBQ.


2. My best friend here, Katya, got married! I was a bridesmaid and after the official ceremony we did a photo shoot in many different locations including the corn field. It was so beautiful and fun!


3. As some of you may know, I was in France for a week with a dear friend from the states. We spent about 3 days total in Paris, then drove through the wine country visiting Dijon, and ended up on the Mediterranean Sea for 2 days in Nice. Very beautiful country, I recommend!

Springtime

This time of year is just awesome in Ukraine for many reasons.... First of all it marks my anniversary in this country. 1 year down!!! Whooooo hooooo!!! (Which is also proving to me how fast time flies)... Second of all the weather is just absolutely amazing. I think I had mentioned to some of you that I went about 3-4 weeks without ever seeing the sunshine? Yeah well now we are going on the 3rd week of nothing but sunshine. The climate here is strange like that - VERY wet, cold, dark cloudy fall/winters and VERY dry, sunny, hot, spring/summers. Cherry blossom trees are in full bloom, all the poppy flowers are out and the tulips are just coming up... Also, in preparation for the Prague Marathon in 2 weeks, I am now running every morning at 8AM. This picture shows the large river about 200 meters from my apartment. There is a small trail that runs along this river and it is sooo peaceful and beautiful in the morning. Every morning I run by farmers, fisherman, baby goats, cows, pigs, and many different types of birds. I really love this time of year in Ukraine. :)

Right now work is pretty busy. I finally have received the grant funds (about $2,500 - which is a lot of money here) for a project that I will conduct over the next few months. It's for running a Business Leadership Club, which actually I have sort of begun last November, but this will be an expansion and major improvement to the club. We were given a room in our organization to hold many of our events and with the funds we will refurbish almost everything. The list of tasks includes: buy a laptop for club use, buy new tables/white board/bookshelves, repair and paint all walls (including a large 20 foot map of the world on one wall), install Internet, and buy a long list of resource materials (books, software, etc.) to help us in teaching new and interesting topics. At this point in time, we are concentrating on purchasing all the materials and preparing for the painting event. My organization has agreed to use their own money and repair the whole ceiling and add new doors to this room.. so this project will be going well into the summer before it is finished.

Besides this grant, myself along with 14 other Peace Corps Volunteers, have decided to hold our own English Camp this summer in August. Even though it is only a week long, there is A LOT of planning that will go into this camp. It is called "The Republic" and here is a brief description:

"A camp that uses a role-playing game based loosely on the ancient Greek city-state of Athens from roughly the 6th-4th centuries BCE. 70 campers will participate in the game as Athenian citizens who make up the Athenian government, the Assembly. The government of the game is also based on the democratic process created in Athens during this time period. The campers will participate in this government by reacting to a series of daily crises that occurred during this period of Greek history in Athens. In their political factions (10 students), campers will have to create and present projects in response to these situations, deliberate them, and vote on them as official legislation. All their actions will have some type of consequence, however, affecting their factions and the city-state as a whole. They will be forced to compromise with different groups’ motivations / objectives / resources in order to achieve their goals. In addition, campers will have the opportunity to learn about the culture of ancient Greece, which is a large part of the foundation of modern civilization."

It's a New Year!

New year, new friends, new work..... There has been a lot going on this month. I know I have not written yet about my trip to Egypt, about my first Christmas away from home, about my first Russian Christmas (January 7th), about New Years celebrated Ukrainian style, and all the other craziness in my life right now... but i promise I will get to all of this. :)

First off, I need to let everyone know that I will be coming home in 15 days!!!! I'm so excited for my visit home. I honestly never get much of a chance to rest here. Even when we went to Egypt we were constantly on the go. I'm looking forward to real, uninterrupted rest (and a lot of get-togethers and catching up with friends too).

So about my trip to Egypt... it was absolutely AMAZING! As you all might know there is a lot of protests taking place in the country as we speak, but I'm praying this ends quickly. There is so much beauty there and it is really such a shame. I'm guess it just shows us Americans that there is one more thing to be thankful for... no dictatorship! Anyway, my 8 day trip in this country was breathtaking... We began by flying into the resort city of Hurghada. This city, once a small fishing village on the Red Sea, is now a huge resort city with beaches, clubs, restaurants, shops, scuba diving, etc. For $500 we got round trip tickets from Kiev-Ukraine, transportation to hotel, 8 days/7 nights, and all-inclusive food and drink. You really can't beat these prices! One of the main reasons why it was so cheap was because we stayed at Russian resort. The English speaking resorts were probably about double the price... not really sure why, but we were thankful to know Russian. :) We spent the first day on the beach, lounging and relaxing. The second day we hopped on a flight to Cairo ($42) and stayed in the city for 2 days (Christmas eve and Christmas day). Christmas Eve day we rode camels around the pyramids for 1 hour then toured the Sphinx. Next, we ate the worlds best falafel, drank turkish coffee, went to little shops and toured the city. Christmas Day we strolled around the Egyptian Museum for about 4 hours. There was SO much to see here! All the treasures/jewelry/gold that were found in tombs across the country have been placed and preserved here now. I even got to see the famous King Tut mask... this was sooo cool. Christmas night we jumped on a overnight train all the way to the south of the country to the city of Luxor. Here there is the Valley of the Kings/Queens, a very cool temple, Mosques, Egyptian bazaar and of course the beautiful Nile River. After strolling around this city we jumped on a 6 hour bus back to our resort city of Hurghada. We spent 2 full days on the beach before we boarded our plane back to Ukraine. Please look on my Facebook for my favorite pics!

NYE was interesting as well. Upon getting back to Ukraine, my friend Kim and I went to the city of Lviv and met up with other Peace Corps Volunteers. We basically rented out our own Hostel, cooked food, and had a nice little American party. 30 minutes before midnight everyone comes into the main square and lights off their own fireworks... and I mean A LOT of fireworks... I was a bit concerned for my safety at one point... haha but it was really fun and very cold! But a big tradition on New Year's Eve is to serve hot wine in the square to help everyone stay warm.... You all need to make this... here is the recipe:

* 1 bottle sweet red or white wine (I think you can use semi-sweet wine, since most westerners - including myself - don't prefer sweet wine)

* 1 tablespoon cinnamin - about 1 stick

* 4 whole cloves

* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg* orange slices (optional)Simply add the spices to the wine and slowly warm in a covered pot over a low heat. Add a slice of orange and other citrus and serve warm. ENJOY!

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

First off, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving this year! Mine was a bit out of tradition since I am living on another continent for the first time ever on this great American holiday. As expected, I was a bit homesick when I first woke up Thursday morning. I reminisced in my head about big parties we used to have on Thanksgiving Eve when all my childhood friends were back in town; then sleeping late all day only to wake up to large quantities of the best food ever. Next, all we were expected to do was sit back with family and friends while watching football. I also remember times in my childhood when we would go visit family in New York or New Jersey and would always end up in a late afternoon football/basketball game. I really have great memories of this holiday. :)

This year, as I expected, would be a bit different. I had the option of traveling to spend time with other American friends throughout Ukraine but decided on a different approach to celebrating. I really wanted to share this holiday with the wonderful people whom I have met in my city. I decided to stay local and threw Thanksgiving parties in my Beginner and Advanced English Club Thursday night. We began by sitting around a large table and talking about the history of this holiday. Next, we went all around the table and spoke about what we were thankful for. I was very impressed by the participation in this exercise. My friends were very pleased to learn about this holiday and even expressed a strong desire for such a holiday to exist in Ukraine. We concluded by completing some art projects which included what we were each thankful for and then watching the Thanksgiving "Friends" episode while eating cake and drinking tea. Afterward, while reading some of the projects, I noticed that my students said they were thankful for me; thankful that I came here, thankful that I want to teach them and hang out with them (and also learn about their own culture/language), thankful for God and thankful for our "Shelter Plus" organization. For the first time I realized, this holiday is not about the parties, the food, or the football games... its really about the people whom are placed in front of you throughout your life. I'm forever thankful for the people whom I have met here in Ukraine. Though I have only been here for 6 months now, I know that they are lifetime friends.

**This is a picture of me and some of the girls on my soccer team!

Sorry I should be writing more but in my defense I’m doing a lot of living right now

A few weekends ago I went to the city of Kirovograd to participate in a Baseball Tournament run by a bunch of Peace Corps volunteers living in that city. It was awesome! I left my city at like 7AM and jumped on a bus for 2.5 hours (with two local friends) and arrived to this lovely city in central Ukraine. It’s always nice to hang out with other fellow Americans who go through the same trials and tribulations of being a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine. It sure makes for some awesome story telling and lots of laughs. Events and times like this just make me appreciate this organization so much more. The feeling of giving up your life for 2 (or more) years to move somewhere in the world all alone where you don't know anyone or speak the language, is a feeling that is just inexplicable. The similarities between all of us are astounding! Even though you have never met these people before, the chances of having mostly everything in common is pretty high and you’d be amazed how easy it is to hold a conversation for hours with this complete stranger.

Anyway we ended up playing baseball with the professional team from the city. Just so you know baseball is NOT popular in Ukraine (I actually tried teaching some kids - in Russian - a few weeks back). I never realized how difficult it is to teach about baseball, especially in another language. My team lost the first game and won the second. Overall it was simply a delightful weekend!

As for my work, the past few weeks have been filled with preparation for the next 6 months. Right now this is my schedule (beginning the week of Nov 8th): Tuesdays - Business Leadership Club - Lecture (2 hours), Wednesdays - Soccer Practice/Meeting, Thursday - Beginner and Advanced English Clubs, Friday - Business Leadership Club (activities), Saturday - Children's Project (all day)/soccer in the afternoon, Sunday - rest and more soccer, Mondays - FREEE! But I'm usually teaching at a school or university :) I'm enjoying being so busy though. When I finally do stop to smell the roses, they always smell sooooo much sweeter :)

Next up, I will be traveling for a week between Lviv, Ternopil, Kiev and my old training site St. Bilous. I'm thankful for the week of traveling, as I feel I need (and deserve) a little mini vacation!

*Attached are some pictures from one of our first events with Children last week. It was really fun and they all enjoy saying "Hello" and "Goodbye" to me a million times :)

You know you’ve been “Ukrained” when…

“Ukrained” definition: Essentially, culture shock. More specifically, when a Peace Corps Volunteer, living in Ukraine, experiences a sort of cultural misunderstanding or incident resulting in awkwardness, discomfort, embarrassment and/or surprise.

You know you’ve been “Ukrained” when…

‎…you misinterpret what a man says and end up riding an hour on a marshrutka (bus) in the wrong direction.

‎…you shrug and get out to push the bus with the rest of the guys.

…you agree to help a man hold a chicken only to soon find out you’ve become an accomplice in its beheading.

…you’re told the mystery meat you just ate was nutria.

…when you finally go to rinse the soapy clothes you’ve been hand washing for an hour in the tub and the water goes out.

…your school director tells you you’ll have to deliver a speech – in Russian – about teaching healthy lifestyles to Ukrainian youth with only an hour notice.

…your counterpart drags you out of bed at 7 a.m. without telling you why (or to even dress appropriately) and takes you to the newspaper office, where a staff of reporters and a photographer are waiting.

…when any purchases of food or drink in the bazaar are accompanied with a “to your health” statement or prayer.

‎…when you know, personally, the cow where you get your milk; and have stepped in the (massive) piles of poop it has left in your yard.

…you go to get your haircut and you end up with a flattop. And when you ask for the woman to cut off some more, she simply tells you, “no.”

…you sign 40 autographs at a school with 35 students.

…you show up to give a 30 minute lesson for an 8:30 start and the director asks if you can teach until 10.