Random Thoughts on a Clear December Night...

I have now been living in Ukraine for approximately ten weeks. A few random observations:
- I need to update this blog more.
- Everyone warned me of the “terrible Ukrainian winter.” It has snowed once since I have been here (it’s December now) and it has not been cold. I know it will get worse but I was expecting it to be a lot colder already.
- The Peace Corps really likes forms. And meetings. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a briefing before a meeting, the actual meeting, then a debrief of the meeting. Then I filled out a form going over all of the same info. Seriously, I expected a government organization to be bureaucratic, but this is just ridiculous.
- People’s lives don’t stop when you leave.
- Most people aren’t really going to stay in touch.
- I have been pretty bad about staying in touch with others.
- Ukrainian students are like American students. There are the smart kids that suck up to the teachers. The other smart kids who are just disinterested. The overly shy kids. The awkward kids. The poor kids. The rich kids. The ugly kids. The popular kids. And then there are the real trouble makers. Always just one or two that make it a real chore to keep control of a classroom.
- I really did not enjoy high school and I feel sorry for those who don’t enjoy it.
- I feel sorry for those who enjoy it too much.
- I have a lot more respect for teachers now.
- I regret some of the crap I gave my teachers throughout the years.
- It is perfectly acceptable for a Ukrainian teacher to call his or her students dumb, stupid, or lazy. Even in front of the entire class.
- I wash my clothes a lot less often here. I rotate two to three “outfits” per week. I bathe every two or three days. It is awesome!
- I still smell better than most Ukrainians.
- Turkey tastes better when you saw it running around the day before you ate it. I can’t tell you why.
- Eating turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and homemade pumpkin pie with some friends gave me more of an emotional boost than any pharmaceutical or therapy session ever could. I think.
- In Ukraine people don’t catch colds from germs. They get sick from “drafts, not wearing a hat, and sitting on cold surfaces.” They treat colds by drinking vodka with black pepper stirred in, sticking their heads over a pot of boiling potatoes with a blanket wrapped around their heads, and many other really bizarre remedies.
- No matter how many people are on a bus, they can (and will) get more on it.
- I miss: burritos, guacamole, cheddar cheese, late night fast food runs, (American) football, Avalanche games, customer service, reliable heating and hot water, my family, my friends, real pizza (that I can have delivered!), drinking water from the tap, any type of spicy food.
I don’t miss: driving, American college kids, Republicans, hippies, Democrats, phony kindness, people who say “how are you” and don’t actually care, saying “fine, thanks, and how are you?”, paying bills, Tony’s, fat people,
- People in Great Britain speak a different language than people in the US.
- A swimming costume is a bathing suit to the British. I thought this was funny but then I realized: is a costume to go swimming in any stranger than a suit to bathe in?
- Chips are French fries and a packet of crisps is a bag of chips.
- America is the greatest country in the world. And this has made us lazy and wasteful.

Life in Ukraine.

So after much anticipation, packing, stress, traveling and more packing, I am finally in Ukraine. First, we had a couple of days in Washington, DC for our orientation. This consisted of getting to know one another, going over the general Peace Corps rules, and the logistics of getting 111 Americans from the United States to Ukraine. I should add that while we did start off with 111, only 109 of us made the trip. A couple of people decided that Peace Corps Ukraine was not for them and decided to go home. This will happen more and more over the next two years, especially in the first two weeks, and I can only hope that I will not be one of them. I think the actual figure is somewhere around 30% of the volunteers will come home before the 2 years are over. This is for a variety of reasons – some people get sick, others miss boyfriends / girlfriends / family, and others get kicked out for breaking the rules.
The trip to Ukraine went amazingly smoothly considering the logistical nightmare that is trying to get 109 people half-way across the world without anyone getting lost / arrested / deported along the way. We had to leave the hotel at 10:30 for a 4:30 flight. Our hotel was 30 min from the airport. We had four buses, not because of how people we had but because of the sheer number of bags that we had. In all, the flights were not so bad but in order to fight jet lag most of us didn’t sleep and basically were awake for well over 24 hours. Needless to say we were a little on edge and quite tired by the time we arrived in Kyiv (this is the new, correct spelling of Kiev). But there were no troubles and we were whisked by bus to a small resort town just to the south of Kyiv.
We spent the next couple of days in a beautiful forest on the Dnepr River learning about Ukraine, doing language interviews, meeting with the doctors and getting our vaccinations, and starting to learn our languages. In my language interview it was determined that I speak Russian at an intermediate – advanced level. Because of this, it was decided that it would be best if I learned Ukrainian. The two languages are very similar and I can already understand quite a bit but I was a little apprehensive at first. We then were split into groups of five students who will be studying together for the next 3 months (it is called a “cluster”). In our cluster we have a girl who spoke Russian at home for her entire life, a guy who studied Russian and lived in St. Petersburg for a year, myself, a guy that knows some Czech (also similar to Ukrainian) and a girl with no experience in Slavic languages.
The three days were fun and it was a little sad to see everyone split up but everyone was very excited about meeting their host families. So we loaded onto buses again and were off to our new homes. Any doubts I had about learning the Ukrainian and losing my Russian were gone after I met my host family. I live with Alexander and his wife Nadia, their 13 year old daughter Nastya, and Alexander’s mother. Nadia does not speak Ukrainian, only Russian, but the rest of the family speaks both. So I will get to practice both languages. Also, Nastya speaks English fairly well so she can translate if any confusion arises. This also means that I can practice a little of my teaching by tutoring her in English.
The town I live in is a small village with about 2,000 people right outside of a fairly large city. The town is very beautiful with a river running through the middle of it. I get to cross the river every day on a rickety suspension foot bridge that they assure me is “very safe.” On my 25 min walk to our training site (our language teacher’s apartment) I walk along dirt roads and see chickens, cows, and a bunch of stray dogs that they assure me are “very friendly.”
In all I am very pleased with my family and the village and I think that I will definitely enjoy living here.

6 Weeks!

So, with about 6 weeks until I leave I still have done very little to prepare. It does not even really seem like I will be leaving in less than a month and a half but I have A LOT of stuff to do and I had better get on it soon.

It has been a little over a month since I received my invitation and my departure has seemed so distant, like something that I don't have to worry about. I have always been a bit of a procrastinator, I need a deadline staring me in the face to spur me into action. It's getting pretty close to that now...

Trying to figure out what to pack is driving me crazy. I am allowed two bags, not totaling more than 100 lbs. So I have to decide how much of this 100 lbs. I want to dedicate to underwear, socks, a heavy winter coat (it gets COLD in Ukraine), boots, etc. for the next two years and three months of my life. I also have to consider the fact that I have to lug all of this stuff halfway around the world.

Fortunately there are quite a few online groups of current Peace Corps volunteers in Ukraine with recommendations and such. Unfortunately there are a lot of conflicting recommendations on what to bring, what to leave, what to have your family ship to you, what to buy there, etc.

Besides packing, I have to decide what to sell, what to store and what to throw away. In a way it is somewhat liberating getting rid of most of my earthly possessions, most of which I don't use and just take up space. But I do have a ton of stuff that I have to convince my dad to store for me, a majority of it being books that I refuse to part with.

It's funny, if you really want to see what is important to you, try reducing all of your material possessions into that which you can fit into a few plastic tubs to store in someone's attic. For me, the most important things are my books and pictures. After these, it gets tough. Do I want to keep my snowboard or do I sell it for some extra cash? Stereo? Already gone. I've already donated a bunch of clothes to good will and have more give.

In a week I leave for New York City with a buddy for a final trip to see the most famous city in the world. I figured I had better see it now because I won't have an opportunity for a while. After that, I will have four weeks. 28 days to pack all of my belongings into either a suitcase or a plastic tub.

Ukraine is not weak!!!

I just received my official letter of invitation from the Peace Corps and I figured it was time to start on my blog. I was extremely fortunate to have had my application process go so smoothly and quickly. It only took about 4 months from the time I sent in my application to getting my invitation. Considering that it takes some people up to a year or more I fell pretty fortunate to get through it without any major hang-ups. The only real problem is that my blood tests for the medical clearance cost $400 (which my insurance won't pay for) and Peace Corps will only reimburse me $125.

So, I leave for DC on September 28th for a couple of days and then off to Ukraine on October 1st. Then it is 3 months of training, vaccinations, poking, prodding, and a little brainwashing and indoctrination until I finally reach my site, where I will be living for two years.

But some of you might not know much about Ukraine other than the fact that Chernobyl is there, that some people say the Ukraine and others just Ukraine, and that there is a dish called chicken Kiev. So if you want to learn more, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine

Well, despite Kramer's claim that "the Ukraine is weak. It's feeble," it seems like a wonderful place and I can't wait to see what it is like and meet the people. I am very excited to go there and am actually looking forward to the summer being over so that I can start my adventure.

So wish me luck, leave a comment, give me some new Seinfeld quotes...