I'm Alive!!!

Happy Cinco De Mayo, Mi Amigos!
Good news: Stomach meter is at 96% and I am in much better spirits this week.
J.J., haven't gotten your package yet, but as long as you didn't write food or CD's on it, it will come. I'm still waiting on other packages that were mailed to me 5 weeks ago. Brian, I am anxiously awaiting your package as well :)! Kelly, welcome to blogging heaven. I can't wait to visit you in your Ukrainian Chicago village. Heather D, did you get my email? Email me at my hotmail address. Kate, got your new number. I promise to call sometime over the next 26 months ;)
So it's been a week since last you heard from me. What did I do? Monday? Can't remember. The weather has been just awful. Freezing cold and rain everyday. Tuesday was Labor Day in Ukraine. It is the only day we have off during training. Did I mention there was a flippin' blizzard on Tuesday?? Next week is Victory Day which is a huge holiday here where they celebrate their victory over Germany in WWII with fireworks and festivals. We have to work, but it sounds like an easy and early day. On Labor Day we went day camping. A guy here called James said yesterday that some things in Ukraine are better like being able to start a fire anywhere you want. It was funny at the time, but he is right. Even in Montana, the world's greatest camping mecca, you can't have fires in campgrounds half the time. I went with my host family and Olga and her son. We hiked into this forest, set up a huge picnic blanket, searched for firewood and started a bonfire. We ate lots of food and played soccer. It was a fun day. The rest of the week is a blur. Wednesday night we went to Olga and Andrey's place to have dinner and drinks and ended up singing karaoke. I started off with some Blue Suede Shoes and went into some Sinatra, Steve Miller and by special request...Ace Of Base. They said I had an amazing voice and should make an album out here (they were actually serious). I said they need to get out more. Language class is getting better. We are studying how to make phone calls, take public transporation and kick ass at the post office. One of our assignments was to mail stuff to America and send someone a telegram. I chose this guy Geoffrey and we sent him one that read "I know what you did last summer" signed anonymously. The lady at the post office thought we were crazy and it was much more difficult than we imagined. He did receive it though and is still trying to figure it out. Our group project is still in the works. It's gone from a resume-writing workshop to train-the trainer to currently developing a career fair in town that they can hold annually. We have a big meeting Monday with the chamber of commerce and employment center to get this nailed out. Our final project proposal is due next Friday. Yesterday, we had 3 hours of safety training. We learned about fun things like assault and rape and we got to put out a fire in the back of the school. There was a medical guy in town from D.C. and he enlightened us with....I forgot. I do remember him looking like George Lucas, however. When he got up to the front of the auditorium, I was ready to ask why he chose the color green for Yoda, but instead everyone asked him questions about medications. I don't get it.
Other than that, I've been a slacker this week which may be part of the reason why I am feeling better. I hardly did any homework and gave myself a little one-week vacation. I managed to watch the rest of those American DVD's Andrey's friend lent me. I offically had the Worst Films Ever Made Film Festival this week. The list included Anger Mangement, The Whole Nine Yards, Bedazzled (Elizabeth Hurley is one of the most beautiful women on this planet by the way), My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Bruce Almighty and The Freshman (which I actually enjoyed). I'm hoping the next batch of flicks will be better, but obviously I will watch anything right now. Andrey uploaded Clockwork Orange, From Dusk Til Dawn and The Science of Sleep to my laptop so I have 3 more to watch. We also watched The Good Shephard the other night in Russian with subtitles. The movie moved very slow, but was still interesting. He got Tarantino's Grindhouse last night so we will nail that one out this weekend. Also, tomorrow we are going to see Spiderman 3 at the theater; yes, it's in Russian and, no, I don't care if I can only understand every 15 words.
So, out of 1500 channels on satellite at the house, we only get 4 in English (The Travel Channel, VH-1, BBC and CNBC). Thursday night, Marina and Andrey went out to the disco and I had my first night alone in Ukraine. It was amazing. I turned on CNBC and BEHOLD!!! Conan O'Brien was on. I was in my element. He had a musical guest on by the name of Brandy Carlisle. What's the deal with her? I hate female singers and bands, but that song was awesome. Is she a huge deal in the states? Who is mailing me this CD???
What else?? One of my clustermates, Teri, came down with the same stuff I had except her fever was much worse. An ambulance had to take her to the hospital and now she is in the Kyiv medical offices. I learned that if things get really bad, they medivac us to Thailand. Does that make much sense?? Anyway, we may be looking at the next American to leave us. I have discovered shaving in a whole new light and it sucks. I was spoiled with my electric razor that I killed. My neck is very sensitve and I cut the hell out of it. Funny story: Nikita, who is 6, learned lat week that the male genitals are a great target. He keeps walking around trying to punch everyonein their family jewels. I have managed to successfully block each blow this week until last night. I was playing Godzilla and destroying a village he built out of building blocks. He came out of nowhere and nailed me in my little guys. It instantly took me down; I guess I deserved it. I now need to buy a protective cup to wear around the house.
I discovered a new market in town that has an amazing selection of food including Guiness beer and Honey Nut Cheerios. We scored some tortillas to make quesidillas with at language class and I found smoked string cheese which completely rocks!
Training is just about half over. Tomorrow at 11am, I have my placement interview with the Peace Corps big whigs. They ask us what size town we want to live in, if we want to be in a Russian or Ukrainian town, if we want to live around other Ameicans, etc. I think they already have places for us and this is just a formality, but I really want to work on heading south to the black sea region...maybe the Crimea penninsula. Next weekend we head back to prolosok where all of us reunite for mid-training debriefing and site announcements. From there we all go separate ways to our new towns and we meet our new organizations and new host families. We stay there for a couple days and then go to Kyiv to debrief at headquarters. We then come back here to Chernigiv to complete our projects. Things are picking up and time is flying.
There is another cluster in town today and I'm about to try to meet up with them. I have been getting a lot of calls from other PCVs outside of my city. It is so great to talk to them and hear about their very different lives in small villages. We are all very excited to reunite in prolosok next week. Stephen and Nathan have invited me to room with them so it should be a fun time.
Be safe and I love you all!!
Until next time.