I Made It

We got to Kherson at around 10am. The train ride was long, but very cool. We all shared a cozy (cozy meaning uncomfortable) room and I had the top bunk in a scorching hot room. The last 2 days have been super hot and I have been sweating for about 2 days straight now. They don't have air conditioning in this country so I hope you all realize how lucky you are and think of me once in a while.
My counterpart or partner(Marina)picked me up at the train staion and the four of us purchased our return ticket for Sunday night. We then went our separate ways and she took me directly to my new organization. My counterpart is awesome. She is a divorced single mother, 28 years old, and she speaks basic English. I met my host mother whose name is Tatiana (or Tanya for short) who is also very nice, but apparently we are living with a huge boxer (the dog, not Mike Tyson). I went on a tour of the building and met about 20 people here whose names I can't pronounce. All I know is I had to kick my Russian into 3rd gear because nobody here speaks English except Marina. I do know that only one male works here and he is the driver. It might be a looooong 2 years. For the most part, everyone is really nice. We walked around downtown and ate lunch at the local pizzaria. Now we have one hour to kill before I go to see my new home. I have internet at my desk and this is a pretty sweet set-up. Tomorrow I need to be back here at 8am to begin discussing my projects in detail. It sounds liek right now, I need to finish developing their website, put on seminars on the English culture for the community and build the library through donations. I also need to start a film club and English club. Apparently there was a former volunteer who worked here and set the bar pretty high for me so I have some big shoes to fill.
Gotta run.