Time to Catch Up

Where to begin?
Our beer tent crawl in Chernihiv last week was fun, but uneventful. We made it to 2 of them, but the rest were too crowded to find seats for all of us. It was nice to say goodbye to our beloved tents of ale and spend one last night together any way we could...which meant sitting in the park drinking beer and eating chips.
Saturday I spent the day packing and getting ready. I also experienced my first Ukrainian haircut which was quite an experience to say the least. Let's just say things are very different in hair salons here than they are in the states. It turned out good though so I'm happy. We had one last meal as a family that night and called it a day. There has been awkward tension in this family for a couple weeks now.
Sunday morning I got my stuff together and we called a taxi and my host family went with me to the meeting point which was a post office. We all unloaded there and waited for the bus. The bus came and we got on and said goodbye to our families. All in all it was very sad to see not only my family waving goodbye, but all of the other families and volunteers crying. We finally hit the road and got to Prolisok around noon. The afternoon was spent attending seminars on finding apartments and wrapping up loose ends of training. We also had to take tests on safety, medical and general PC policies and procedures. That night after dinner we went for a swim in the river (no, I didn't learn my lesson) and then it was born....DODGEBALL UKRAINE!!! Jonathan and I had the idea to get 2 teams together for a game of dodgeball with soccer balls. We thought it was a joke of an idea, but half of Prolisok joined in when all was said and done. I had the greatest time playing this amazing sport. I just wish we thought of it the other times we were in Prolisok. After dodgeball, the plan was to watch "Pirates of the Carribean 3" or "Shrek 3" (this time in English), but we opted to have drinks and spend time as a group. I made the right decision.
Monday was more seminars. All 75 people presented their projects to each other and our project was voted second place and we had to present it to the entire group. Truth be told, I think the contset was rigged because for one reason or another people like to watch me talk in front of large groups of people. At any rate, I am proud to be in the top 3! Our project rocked!!
Monday night we had our talent show where we debuted our Chernihiv slideshow to an emotional group and we also watched volunteers sing and dance amongst other things.
Tuesday our counterparts arrived and we attneded sessions on what we need to do when we get to our sites. We ate dinner and played more dodgeball. I went to bed early out of exhaustion.
Wednesday was the big day. After breakfast we got on the bus and headed to Kiev. To my surprise, my host family showed up and I got a little teary-eyed when I saw them. Sometimes I wanna take back all the bad things I have said about them. The ceremony was nice. The media was there (in fact when I arrived in Kherson, my host mom said she saw us on TV). We listened to speeches frmo PC staff, Ukrainian big whigs, 3 volunteers and the U.S. ambassador. We then stood up got sworn in by the ambassador and then we watched a slide show and they announced us and where were we from as we stood up again. It was all over within an hour or so.
Wednesday night we had a huge Ukrainian BBQ and my counterpart (Marina) and I chowed down. Marina went to bed and the volunteers (not trainees) had a huge blow-out in the round hall complete with champage, dancing and "other things". It was a great last night together!
Tueday was a long emotional day. We picked up our money and signed the oath. I didn't leave until 5:30 so I had to watch several groups head out every hour on the hour about 5 people headed out to their sites. There were a lot of tears and hugs as we won't see each other for 2 years...some maybe sooner. We finally headed out at 5:30 to the train station and our train left at 10pm. Marina and I shared a room with all 5 of my suitcases (I have since added 2. One is full of PC books and the other is a space heater, fire extinguisher and smoke alarm they gave all of us.) After a somewhat awkward trainride, we got into Kherson about 10:30am the next day. The driver, Sasha, drove us to the library where we debriefed. My host mom (Tanya) met us and we went to my new home of 1 month. I was greeted by her larger than life dog and she cooked up a mean meal for me. I forgot how good of a cook she was. I then spent the weekend unpacking, relaxing and watching "Twin Peaks". After 2 more episodes, I will be done and can start reading the DaVinci Code finally. I didn't leave the apartment except for an occasional walk of the beast. I made some phone calls to family and friends and spent way too much money doing so.
Today is my first official day at the library. I was taught how to check out books and you should have seen my expression while learning such a task. Tonight Tanya's daughter comes in from Israel so I will get to meet her. I also plan on opening up my PO box at the post office so you guys can send more packages my way!!! :)

I'm sure I left out a bunch, but it's been a long, crazy week.