Wow, it has been a crazy past few weeks! They are definitely keeping me busy over here! Most of August was spent in various camps including a soccer camp (I have joined one of my cities women’s teams) where we had lots of practices, ran some 5k's and participated in various team-building activities. This was very fun! There was only about half of the women's team there though but there was also a men's team and a younger boy's team who participated. This was a good experience for me because I met a lot of very cool people from my city who, like me, LOVE soccer. Among other awesome activities, we played a huge game of capture the flag in the forest which spanned maybe a kilometer wide. I feel like a kid again in this country and I'm so thankful for that. Not to mention I'm in the best shape of my life after hiking mountains for two weeks, joining a soccer team, and cooking my own food for ever meal of the day (believe it or not Ukraine has not latched on to the restaurant business really, mostly because there is little to no tourism right now).
After soccer camp, I came back to my city and participated in Camp LEAD. This is an English-only leadership camp, which two Peace Corps volunteers started in my city. Their names are Frank and Carol and they are in their mid-50's, married and live together in my city. They invite us younger volunteers over all the time and cook really good American food for us. Unfortunately, they are leaving in October to go back home (they've been here 2 years and are expecting their first grandchild!). Since I'm the only other volunteer living in the city now, they want me to continue this camp next summer. So I attended this camp in hopes that I would not be too overwhelmed and would agree to take on this enormous task next year. It was very cool because everyone spoke really good English and we had various debates and improv sessions. I met some awesome university students in my city who are going to help me with planning and implementation of this camp next summer. I'm really looking forward to this because... the best part is.... the whole camp is run by American Peace Corps Volunteers! Frank and Carol invited about 25 PCVs to work as teachers, directors, kitchen staff, etc. at the camp. This is something all volunteers like to do because it gives us an opportunity to get all of the American's together for a week and catch up on our crazy Ukrainian lives :)
Most recently, this past weekend we participated in another team building retreat with all the volunteers at my organization. We spent 3 days camping on an island in the city of Zaporizhia, this is one of the major historical landmarks of the Cossacks. Check out this link for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khortytsia ... very cool and beautiful place! We went kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, visited an interesting museum and even found a gorgeous bridge famous for their bungee jumpers ;)
Anyway life continues to be really good for me here. My organization is pretty established (as you can see) so there is a lot to do. In October I will be starting two English Clubs: Beginner and Advanced. My advanced club is partnering up with a middle school class from Ridgefield, CT (this is a program within the PC that matches us up). We are going to start something like a pen pal program this fall. For now I am just communicating with this class and telling them about my experiences in Ukraine. Whenever I come home I will go visit the class and bring them souvenirs, etc. It’s just another way to open children's minds about the rest of the world. Another thing that I'm working on right now is project planning for this winter. I was given permission at my org to paint a huge map of the world on one of the walls in the building. I will use this to teach about geography and also show my students where all the English-speaking countries are located.
It seems there are no signs of life slowing down for me in this wonderful country! I’m soo thankful for this; though I miss the good old USA, I truly feel blessed to be working with such a great group of people J
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