To Ukraine and Back

Apologies

2007-08-06T06:08:00.000-07:00

A few blogs back I made reference to issues I had with some previous female bosses I have had. I generalized as I have had several and several have turned out to be "not so pleasant". Not EVERY one of them has been bad. I have had good luck with my supervisors in Billings (Sam and Gail are great people and managers). This blog was intended for a very small audience and realizing that so many people turned out reading it although was flattering, it is just one more reason why I need to stop. Things I say are intended for a select group and end up being taken the wrong way. I love you all.

Season Finale

2007-07-17T01:08:00.000-07:00

For numerous reasons I am taking a blogging hiatus. I will be back for the occasional post (i.e. when I have some big news).
Last weekend I went to a town called Nova Kahovka. I met up with 3 volunteers from that area that are from goup 31 (the one before mine). We had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant which got invaded by stray cats. We went home and made S'mores. Amy got a package from home whicha included graham crackers and marshmallows neither of which can we find here. I never really ate smores, but they were amazing! We also bought a watermelon. Since I've heard watermelons are the best thing about Kherson I was curious. However, it wasn't all that great and I learned that they don't get really good until September. We had many beers and played some games. I went to this guy Cody's flat to sleep which was in a nearby village called Byroslav. The guy has an incedibale DVD collection (by volunteer standards) so I gave him some money to copy a bunch of stuff for me. He had an external DVD burner, but it took a lot of time, but I got all seasons of Futurama, 1 season of The Simpsons, Da Ali G Show, Wedding Crashers, Stranger Than Fiction, Pi, and a few others. He also burned a ton of great music for me as he is really into the indy rock scene and turned me onto some new bands. My only complaint about the guy is his hatred for Dave Matthews and Pearl Jam. Oh well, not everyone can have perfect taste in music ;) The next morning we woke up and watched "Borat" and I finally took the bus back to Kherson Sunday evening.
Things are still awkward at the library...in fact, they get worse everyday. My counterpart has said about 10 words total to me over the last week. I emailed my regonal manager yesterday to tell him to help me escape. They are also dragging their feet on finding a flat for me. I hear they may have something for me to look at today, but it is near my host mother Tanya 45 minutes from work. So there ya have it....the season cliff-hanger. Enjoy the rest of summer and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVE! (I miss the hell outta you, Bro!)

Bored Ramblings

2007-07-12T00:50:00.000-07:00

I'm having an extremely boring week and have not much to report. I've just been studying and playing the guitar to the point where my fingers are developing new calluses and are throbbing in pain. I've already written some songs and learned a few new ones by going through my MP3's. Last night was Dave Matthews' "Lover Lay Down" and the night before was Belle and Sebastian.
So I'm almost done with The DaVinci Code and I can definitelty see how it could piss off the church. It does make you think and the last few days I've been researching the internet for more information; that's how bored I get at this place. Speaking of which, this library has the ultimate filter on their computers. I'm doing research for the library's website and I can't even search for words like "Charles Dickens" and/or "analysis". I'm sure you can figure out why that is. I need to do something about my host organization. There is just no way I can handle 2 years of this. The other volunteers are even making fun of me now telling me to put on puppet shows for them...which is actually pretty damn funny. They tell me to switch organizations or get the hell out because this is a waste of time and they just want me there as a "look at our American" circus side show. I couldn't agree more, and could have told you that from my site visit back in May...wait, I DID tell you. I am actually taking on little productive projects to kill the time, but those can only go so far. First on the list is to remodel their bathroom. No more crapping into a hole in the ground for this guy...no sir! I am going to apply for a grant to install a toilet, new sink, mirror and possibly (and hopefully) an air conditioner for the room I work in because everyday I am on the brink of passing out from heat exhaustion. I also emailed several organizations in the U.S. for book donations. An organization called Darian Book Aid has already shipped out some classic English novels per my request. I can't say enough good things about the people that work for Darian Book Aid! In addition, yesterday Marina turned into Super Moody Woman and it made for an extremely long, uncomfortable and irritating day. It is hard to escape it when there is only her and I in this tiny room for 8 hours daily. I'm not sexist in the least but have a very important question...Why is it that EVERY time in all my places of employment over the years that I have had a female boss, they are always moody and can't just chill out and stay consistant??? Is that really so difficult? Instead they feel the need to piss off the entire staff with their childish behavior and make their bad moods contagious. I don't know. Maybe it's just another one of the mysteries of the female species. I thought maybe it was just an American woman thing, but apparantly it is worldwide.

I'm so bummed I'm missing "Big Brother". I've never missed a season and I'm jonsin' for my annual dose of brainless television. I was very fortunate to complete the last season of "Lost". My sister emailed me the world's largest report on the current theory behind the show and now I'm completely confused....thanks, Julie.
I saw AFI released the updated top 100 films of all time, but I still don't see "The Big Lebowski" or "Boogie Nights" in the list so I will keep waiting until they get it right. Anyone besides Chuck see "The Transformers" movie yet? I'm trying to get my old host dad in Chernihiv to mail me a bootleg Russian copy of it, but perhaps I burned that bridge by giving them a bad write-up at the end of training and it got back to them. I don't know nor do I care. He was just my only hook-up for bootlegs out here.
I see Pearl Jam is headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago. It figures that would happen whenI'm not there. I'm counting on Mike and Heather to give me the full report on PJ's only show this year.
I think I'm going to take another road trip this weekend to visit volunteers in a nearby city about 2 hours away. I'll give my report next week.
Let's see, news from home, my cousin is going to prison for 10 years and my parents are coming out here to Romania next week and I'm not able to meet them which sucks. I would love to see Dracula's castle and spend time with them out here, but it's not in the cards this time around. They are taking a river cruise through Eastern Europe...I think to every country except Ukraine. I don't blame them. I love how everyone wanted to come out here to visit me, but after reading my blog it's more like, "Ummm, yeah, maybe I'll just catch ya when you get back" or like Chuck, for example, "Let's just meet in Rome next month". No worries, I'd say the same things. You are not missing much out here. At any rate HAVE A FUN VACATION MOM AND DAD! ...and Chuck too if I don't hear from you.
also...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!

A HUGE thanks to all of you for sending packages to me. I think I have about 8 packages in the mail now and it really helps to stay in a good mood and be excited for something. In these packages I'm getting new CDs from Wilco, Velvet Revolver, Arcade Fire and Beastie Boys and new DVDs like "Black Snake Moan" and "Smokin Aces". The always illustrious Scotty Dangerous is shipping out hundreds of burned bootleg DVDs to me as well...heaven in Ukraine! Also tons of food and other goodies. I love you all for taking the time to do that for me.

My good friend in Chicago (who has been neglecting me out here, but for understandable reasons) is getting married this week and I was really torn as to whether to go home to be a part of it after he invited me to stand up in his wedding. We have been through some crazy journeys together that stem back to the days of us both rockin the mullets together. He lived with me in Montana and I lived with him in Chicago. I'm Dirk Diggler, he's Brock Landers. He's more like a brother than a friend and I hope he understands my reasons for not being there for him on his big day. I also hope since he was MY best man that me declining his offer and not being able to even attend the party of the century we have been waiting for for 15 years + did not permanently damage our friendship. I'm writing in the 3rd person because I don't even think he will ever read this, but in case he does...
CONGRATULATIONS MAR & CARRIE JIMENEZ!!! Here's to a lifetime of happiness together! Have a kick-ass wedding and god bless you both! I truly am sorry I could not be there to celebrate.

Have a good weekend, my peoples!

2007-07-10T00:55:00.000-07:00

Моя любимая гитара!
Yesterday I grabbed the bull by the horns and marched out of work (an hour early) directly to the music store and purchased my security magnet. I found the perfect guitar for $100. It's made in Ukraine, but honestly it plays like a Les Paul. I figured for that price it would be junk, but it is by far the best guitar (as far as playing action, Jen) I have ever owned. My fingers are scabbed over right now from playing for 4 straight hours last night. It's funny how life comes full circle. Let me take you back to the 4th grade many moons ago. I was taking guitar lessons from this hippy called Ron. The first songs he taught me were "Money For Nothing", "Stairway to Heaven", "Crazy Train", "Greensleeves" and "Yesterday" by the Beatles. Now you already know from an earlier post that Ukrainians loooooove that song for some reason. It might as well be the national anthem here. As soon as I walk in the apartment yesterday Tanya said to to me. I need to hear you play "Yesterday"! At this moment in time I would like to say "Thank you, Ron, wherever you are". All I really remember about that guy was that he ran over his foot with a lawnmower while cutting his grass wearing sandals. Ever since the 4th grade I have been scared to mow the lawn thanks to that guy. Heed this story, Shawna. No more mowing your lawn in high heels.
At any rate, I have named my new girlfriend Old Chorny or Старый Чёрный (chorny means black in Russian because she is as black as JJ Walker at midnight).

2007-07-09T01:50:00.000-07:00

Pictures from my amazing weekend in Ukraine...
Marina and Tanya teaching em how to make fresh raspberry vareniki in our kitchen.

Yelena and Ana picking fruit at the dacha.

This is Yula. She is the cutest 11 year-old I've ever seen. She loved talking to me as she is learning English in school.

Ana offering me the best plum on the tree.

Igor cooking up a mean BBQ!

Vodka and Kabobs.

Yelena and I stumbled upon this HUGE field of sunflowers (my foavrote flower). This was such an amazing sight. Too bad the picture turned out like crap.

Ana and Yelena stopping for a classic photo on our hike.

Yelena and the Dniper river...and the only cows I've seen in Ukraine.

Farewell to the Dacha and new friends.

This is Mike from Bilazerka and Ben from the West and Mike's huka pipe.

My turn to hit the huka.

Our view from the huka to the boxing fight from Mike's balcony. A love this picture witht the flags in the background and the Ukrainian/American fight in the foreground.

2007-07-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

A Breath of Fresh Air

The results are in. I had the chance to weigh myself the other day and it looks as if either the scale was broken or I have lost 35 pounds.

I caught word today that Group 32 suffered its next victim as another person quit and went back to the states. I was wondering what was taking so long. At any rate, she was a cool person and I will miss her.

I had a killer weekend and I feel revived. Thursday after work I went with my host mother Tanya to meet her ex-husband's family and Ana from Israel. We walked down to the river and drank beers and then went to a fancy cafe and went all out. The down side of this fun night was a goal of mine was broken. At some point in my past when I was about 6 years old I made a pact with myself probably while playing with my G.I Joe action figures and watching Tom & Jerry cartoons that I will never EVER eat fish eggs (AKA caviar). I turned agains myself on Thusday when Tany's ex-husband Igor ordered me something he guaranteed I would love....red caviar stuffed in pancakes. I felt bad that he paid all that money for me so I had to suffer through not only one but 6 of these monsters each tiny little egg popping as I bit into them. Luckily there was a stray cat in the area and I kept throwing some of the eggs on the ground for it. Just another Peace Corps duty...feeding starving animals. During dinner Ana asked me if I wanted to go to her family's dacha ( a small house in the village where they garden and rest). I responded that I would love to, but had to work Friday. Tanya jumped in saying that she would call into work for me so I could go. I was reluctant at first because I barely knew these people, but thought, what the hell, it beats working in a hot boring library so I was all in.
Friday morning I woke up around 730am and I went to Igor's house where only his other daughter Yelena was at that time. We hung out and she tried to impress me with her collection of Scorpions MP3's. Finally the whole family showed up and we hit the road. We drove to the countryside and got to their dacha which also happened to be on the biggest river in Europe the Dniper. This dacha had an amazing selection of wild food. Nut trees and fruit trees (plums, apricots, cherries, apples, grapes, every kind of berry and I could go on) they also grew potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, carrots and several other vegeatables. It was like some sorta produce Mecca. After picking fruit with the family, Yelena and I walked down tot he river and hung out for about an hour talking. She is learning English in college right and I think she enjoyed chatting about life. We headed back to the dacha, unpacked all the food and set up for a huge picnic. Igor BBQ's some kabobs and we pigged out with a huge feast and, of course, vodka. After dinner Ana, Yelena and I went hiking through the countryside. This moment was one of the greatest moments of my life. It was just all so beautiful and for the first time since my arrival here I was able to say to myself, "Man, I am really living life right now!". I will never forget that day. This family is really something special and I have the upmost respect for all of them and I hope to stay in touch after Ana goes back to Israel.
Saturday I met up with Peter, Marcia, Leah and some volunteers outside of Kherson. This volunteer called Ben was also in town from someplace out West. He was backpacking through Ukraine and was in Kherson for a couple days. We walked around Kherson and stopped for lunch and some beers and then Leah and I went to a nearby village called Bilazerka where Mike and Renae live. The village life was different than I expected. It was more populated and aside from wild goats, chickens and geese everwhere, was pretty normal. There has always been friction between city volunteers and village volunteers (AKA the village people). I don't see what the big argument is about. So he has to bathe in a bucket and crap outside while I take warm showers and sit on an ivory thrown...what's the big deal ;) Anyway, we took the bus there and relaxed before making, sit down for this...tacos!!! Renae's family mailed her taco seasoning and we had an amazing Mexican feast. It was everything I ever dreamed of. After dinner and drinks I went with Ben to Mike's apartment. Mike is the American who got married last month to a local Ukrainian. She was gone for the night so we spent the night at Mike's place and partied late into the night. Mike had a huka pipe and we enjoyed that with some beers and we watched the live boxing fight that I'm sure a lot of you in the states watched too. The only difference was it started at midnight here. At any rate to fill you in for those who don't care for the sport. Long past are the days of Holyfield and Tyson. Nowadays the heavyweight champion of the world is this gigantic white boy from Ukraine....Ukraine's saving grace. This boy is unstoppable and he pounding on Don King's boy from America who gave up in the 9th round. It was so cool to watchit from Ukraine's point of view. Sunday we woke up around noon and ate stuffed eggplants for breakfast which totally rocked. Mike's wife made them for us. We then hiked to the lake in Bilazerka and hung out before I caught the bus home. I stopped at a store on the way and found the perfect guitar for $120. I am spending this morning debating whether I should buy it today or not. After spending time talking to Mike and Ben who have been here for 2 years and are getting ready to head home, I was newly inspired from their stories. Last year they backpacked through Europe for super cheap and now that I'm reading The DaVinci Code, I really want to get to Paris. My struggle now is to spend money on this guitar or keep saving for travel. I guess there could be worse problems to have. When I got home I called my parents, my brother, Shawna and some volunteers in the area. I miss ALL of you!!!
Farewell from a great 3-day weekend!

Kherson Website

2007-07-05T05:55:00.000-07:00

I've been getting requests from people who want to know more about my city of Kherson and see some pictures. I posted some back in May when I visted here. Also, here is a link to the city website which also contains pictures and information about my "hood":

http://www.kherson.com/

Happy 4th of July!!!

2007-07-04T00:21:00.000-07:00

Today I have been up for only 2 hours so far and already I'm mad homesick due to the holiday. I love the 4th of July and all it has to offer. I had a great holiday last year with Jessica in Chicago and today find myself missing her company. Chicago is ultimately the place to be on this day. Taste of Chicago, Schaumburg Fest and other township festivals, Milwaukee Summer Fest, amazing fireworks shows, BBQ's, bean bags...AHHHHHHHHHH!!!
What am I doing today?? Working. Ukraine's Independence Day is August 24th and I'm sure I'll have the whole week off, but things such as camping and BBQ's don't exist here. I think at that time I will visit Geoffrey in Crimea and parasail over the Black Sea or visit Hung-Chee out West and take a few days into Poland with him. At any rate, I'm thinking of you, my American friends and family, on this beautiful day!
I haven't been doing too much. My new ATM card does not work and that is the only way I can get my money from Peace Corps. I need to go to the bank on lunch and try to talk to someone with my lame-ass Russian skills. My favorite is how they all look at me like I have gerbils crawling out of my mouth when I talk. I have also been looking around for guitars. I may have to break down and make the big purchase this week. Other than that, just been reading, watched "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and remembered how much I love that film and also watched "From Dusk Til Dawn" and "The 40 Year-Old Virgin", a film I hated when I first saw it but for one reason or another I keep rewatching it and it gets funnier every time. I've also been hanging out with Tanya's daughter Ana from Israel and this girl called Olga who works here at the library a lot this week.
That's it.
Happy 4th of July, y'all!

The Longest Weekend of My Life

2007-07-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's July already. Today is my first official pay day!!!
Okay so Peace Corps often warned us how bored we would become once we got to our permanent sites and I was able to witness this first hand this last weekend. I had 4 days off of work due to the holiday and since I don't know too many people here and my host mom and counterpart don't like to go out, it made for a long and boring weekend. Luckily I had enough mind-numbing things to do around the house.
First off...Thursday. By far the weirdest thing that has happened to me since my arrival in this country. Remember I thought I was going to be on the Tonight Show? Well, it was quite different than I thought. I met the host around 2pm and we headed to the station. I said, "So I suppose I will talk about the Peace Corps and why I'm here for about 10 minutes and head home". He respnded, "Actually, the show is 3 hours and you will be on for 2 of them. It's a live call-in talk show that airs in 7 regions of Ukraine." I get there and there are 2 hosts. One to ask me Russian questions and the other to translate for me. The show is Ukrainian MTV so it is a laid back atmosphere where we talk live on tv and then watch some music videos and this goes on for 3 hours. So wew start and right away they start pounding me with questions. "What would you change about your consititution?", "What is different about the youth in our country?", "What is the Peace Corps?" "How old are you and why aren't I married?" and my favorite..."If you are a business development volunteer, then why are you working in a childrens' library?" I responed, "Dude, that is the question that lingers in my head all day long with no answer in sight." As for phone calls, one viewer asked me to tell an American joke and another asked me if I was a spy like 007? This led to several questions about James Bond and his films. They made me introduce some wacked-out music videos in English and Russian "This is So and So with their song So and So comin' atcha!". All in all it was a fun time and my few hours of celebrity fame. Afterwards they invited me to Kiev for a festival, but I couldn't go due to PC rules within the first month. Instead they invited me to the premier nite club in Kherson with VIP tickets for later in the week. The club is simply called Chocolat.
Friday I didn't leave the house.
Saturday I met up with Leah, Peter and Marcia (volunteers from my group in Kherson) we walked around, ate lunch and drank beers. Afterwards we met this guy called Patrick who is from Florida and has been living here for several years. This guy was a trip. I still don't quite know why he is living here. He had a coupon business in Florida and sold it. His friend has a mail order bride business here that he helps with. Whatever the case is, this guy is my new idol. He flew his Mercedes here complete with Florida plates. He completely gutted out the entire soviet block trashy apartment and made the most amazing bachelor pad imaginable with a home theater that would knock your socks off. He also had a fresh stock of American food complete with popcorn, Golden Grahams, A1 steak sauce, Tobasco, etc. I hope this guy throws a party at some point in the near future. His flat is right in the center of town too.
Sunday we didn't do anything exciting.
So in all the hours of boringness this weekend, I read half of the DaVinci Code (which although I'm 2 years behind the times, I am really enjoying how brilliant the book is and want someone to mail me his other books :), I played a PC game called The Movies which may be the most addicting game ever made, I studied my butt off learning new Russian vocab words and I even started reading the bible on a daily basis....yes, it's come to that. While out here I plan to do many things I didnt have the time for back home. One of which is to actually read the good book so I can be more educated about my place in this multi-religious world. I am also getting notes together to start my next screenplay. So I guess free time isn't all that bad. There is a lot I have sitting on the back burner.
As my life grows less exciting, my posts will be few and far between. If you really get an itch to hear what I'm doing, shoot me an email otherwise I'll be back when I have something worthwhile to say.

Pauly's Big Rebuttal

2007-06-27T02:07:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I need to clear some air here after I caught wind that some people think my life here is nothing but one big party. I could see how one might draw that conclusion based on the pictures I post, but let's be honest, do you really want to see pictures of me studying or sitting on the toilet for hours on end? I didn't think so. Let me paint a picture of why life here is far from a party...
1. Everything and everything I love is on the other side of the planet. Most people are unable to call me here for one reason or another and I can make a phone call to my loved ones, but it usually cuts off after 5 minutes and it costs half of my salary to do so.
2. Everywhere I go, nobody understands me and I only understand about 1/3 of what is said to me. This makes doing the simplest tasks nearly impossible.
3. I never eat and whe I do it usually makes my stomach turn for about a week and I end up puking or doing the toilet thing. This is caused by the low grade stuff they call meat and very unpleasant foods I have to pretent I enjoy eating.
4. There is a constant smell of sewage everywhere I go. That lingers in my nose all day while the sound of a woman getting raped lingers in my ears.
5. I spend 5 hours everyday being force-fed Russian and then go home and study every night for a couple hours. Now that school is out I am working for an organization that does not even remotely resemble an organization I signed up for and was trained on.
6. Yes, the girls here are beautiful, but when they talk to you they are are usually all single moms looking for a ticket to America and 80% are crawling with HIV so it takes the fun out of flirtation.
7. The water here is brown and there is no water after 10pm. Some days there is no hot water at all. Washing machines are a luxuary item as well and are pretty much nonexistant.
8. I am constantly getting stared at and I feel like a celebrity sometimes which is really annoying and makes me feel unsafe 24/7.
9. I made some great friends here, but they are all gone now for 2 years. Now my only contact is my host mom who makes me feel guilty if I am not studying Russian all night.
10. I take a 45 minute bus ride at least twice every day stuffed (and I mean STUFFED) with sweaty, stinky people who are buzzing words I can't make out.
* : I hear nothing but bad pop music all day and have zero culture at hand. The cities here make the Cabrini Green projects of Chicago look like paradise.
**: I walk about 6 miles a day to get around and have only been in a car MAYBE 3 times since I have arrived. Those times we ended up driving on sidewalks and on the wrong side of the road.
***: Air conditioning does not exist out here and I live in the hottest, most humid city in the country. I walk around all day soaked in sweat and am lucky if I can sleep for more than 3 full hours.

So being told my life is one big party is immensely hurtful, demeaning and ultimately ridiculous. Excuse me if I want to have some beers with my friends one night a week to escape from the madness I am sinking deeper into on a daily basis. I am trying to make the best of what is around.

So now that that has been said, tomorrow is, once again, another holiday...Ukrainian constitution day and I have a 4 day weekend. I am tolda that I need to go to my director's dasha, or summer house. To clarify, summer houses here have no bathrooms or running water.
Laswt night Tanya's daughter, niece, sister and friends all came over for a big dinner. It was fun, but very smoky and tiring. I think they felt sorry for me because I wanted to jump into the conversation, but didn't know how.
Yesterday afternoon was a trip. I was working in the library when these 2 people come in and ask if I am Paul. They then introduce themselves to me. Apparently they are th stars of some Ukrainian live talk show and I am to be the special guest on tomorrow's show. They took me on a tour of the studio and I am being picked up tomorrow at 2:30pm to be on the Ukraianian version of "The Tonight Show". I wish they had VCRs here. More good news is that one of the stars speaks almost perfect English because he lived in Texas for a year. I hired him to be my translator out here and I also hired a tutor who is a local English teacher.
Last night I had a crazy dream that I won't get into , but it is freaking me out and is haunting me all day....AHHH! Let's just say it was about someone I care about deeply about, it was very realistic and had a David Gray soundtrack...honest to God.
I am hooked on 2 songs lately. The first is Audioslave "Wide Awake" which is just an amazing, powerful rock anthem that makes up for the fact that Audioslave has put out 3 crappy albums and are now broken up. The second is Dinosaur Jr. "Almost Ready" which is bringing back the grunge sound and is damn catchy. Download both of these if you get the chance. I also hear the Beastie Boys, Wilco, Arcade Fire, Interpol and Velvet Revolver all have new albums out. I picked a helluva time to leave the country.
Everything else is a blur. I am just adjusting to having my training wheel ripped off and starting all over again with knowing only 2 people who don't even like to leave their house. I also have learned that Kherson is the second worst city in the country in a number of categories including least developed. This is going to be a long 2 years.

Every P.O. box in Kheson is taken so I have to use my library's address for my mailing address. If you would like it so you can send me fan mail or love packages, shoot me an email. I can't post it on my blog or Pauly get spanking.

Happy Constitution Day! ;)

Moment of Reflection

2007-06-26T02:36:00.000-07:00

Today I realized Ukraine is like America in the 50's, but with cell phones. Tanya won't let me iron or wash dishes because she claims it is womens' work. She even folded my underwear yesterday while I was at work. Things are out of control. She made some awesome mushroom soup last night though.
I am freaking out about working at this library. I am suddenly on a career path I never intended to be on. At any rate I am going to give it my best shot.
So I read that Chris Benoit killed his wife and 7 year-old son and then killed himself earlier this week. I tell ya, I don't miss American news one bit. We live in a depressing society according to the media and it annoys me.
That's all for today.

Pictures

2007-06-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

The day Zach and I discovered Batman (or Nichtman) ice cream bars.

Brian and me before our seminar.

Rocking out for my cluster on our last day of class.

Best picture of 2007.

Pole-dancing with my host mom.

The first stop on the Great Chernihiv Beer Tent Crawl.

The second stop on the tent crawl

On the bus after saying goodbye to our Chernihiv host families. in front of me is Jonathan's host mom Tanya who gets the award for greatest host mom of 2007!

Some dodgeball pictures. That's me on the sidelines after getting pegged.

Me in action. That ball is heading directly you know where.

Jonathan and I after a little nightswimming. I believe this is the moment our really annoying song we made up was born. This Simon and Garfunkel tune was sang non-stop until we were on the bus to our sites and I will never listen to "Sound of Silence" the same again.

Party in Prolisok room.

Jason, Jonathan and me. These are pictures from the post swearing-in party...sorry they are reversed on here.

Brian, Geoffrey and me. I swear I'm not as drunk as I look here, but it does make for a dman funny photo.

Dance Party Ukraine.

Andrey, my tech teacher and translator, giving me a ride.

My Russian teacher Olga getting down. her contract was up and she was finally legally able to drink again with us.

Our first toast as Peace Corps volunteers. That's my scrawy arm in front holding the cup of champagne.

Our country director giving a speech at the swearing-in ceremony.

A really bad picture of the U.S. ambassador and his translator.

My Chernihiv host parents and my counterpart.

The last known picture of my cluster. I love this pic and I will miss them and the good times we shared.

Doin a little dance on stage for Ukraine Group 32.

A serious one.

My cluster minus Megan and Suzi.

clockwise from left: Greg, Sarah, Hung-Chee, Me, Stephen and Jason

The Ukrainian orchestra that played during the ceremony.

My counterpart Marina and Me.

Time to Catch Up

2007-06-25T02:24:00.000-07:00

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.

Quick Notes

2007-06-14T04:19:00.000-07:00

I just totally bombed my LPI. You know what I say to that? "Screw It!". What are they gonna do, fire me? The truth is that I froz up in the middle and couldn't remember half the words I wanted to use. In my opinion, it's not a very fair assessment because I can easily carry on a 20 minute Russian conversation, but not under these very awkward circumstances. The second half of the test was "pretend your parents are coming to town and you need to reserve a hotel room and other things...go" lame. On a bright note....TRAINING IS OVER!!!! Tonight the rivers flow with vodka.
I stopped in to check emails. I am on my way to eat Micky D's one last time and buy another suitcase. We are then going to watch "Lost" and right now I feel like a kid at Christmas.

In case I don't get on before I head out....

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO THE GREATEST FATHER IN THE WORLD!
(thanks, Shawna, for reminding me)

The Week In Pictures

2007-06-12T08:08:00.001-07:00

One more picture of me doing my portion of the presentation last week.

3/4 of the picnic on Sunday with our host families.

Andrey, Marina and Me.

Marina wanted a picture with all the American men. This is the end result...minus the strange Ukrainian who snuck in on the left side. Who is that guy??

Me, my host family and my Russian teacher Olga.

The Final Days

2007-06-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe training is over. Today was the last technical session; it was an afternoon on web design which I really needed. Tomorrow is the last day of language training. We have spent the week reviewing and spent all day today going over verbs and how to conjugate them. Russian is a near-impossible language to master. Having taken many years of Spanish, there is no comparison; Spanish seems so simple nowadays. Tomorrow we are doing more reviewing and Thursday is the big final verbal test on the language (LPI). After that, it's to the beach for a beach party blow-out. Friday we will meet to exchange pictures and clean our teacher's apartment since she leaves when we leave. The plan for Friday is to watch the final 2 episodes of "Lost" and then go beer tent-hopping for our last night in Chernihiv. Saturday is hangover day and packing day...I have no idea how I am going to repack all my junk into those 2 suitcases again. We all leave early Sunday morning for "Prolisuck". We will spend 4 days there and then I will take the train to Kherson with my counterpart Marina.
Saturday was not a very good day to say the least. It's funny because I have been so on edge as to whether to continue on with this library deal or head back home. I asked the powers that be to send me signs as to what I should do and since then look what has happened: I suffer through listening to a girl getting raped which still rings in my ears constantly, I talk to Shawna and after hanging up realize how much I miss Montana and the grand finale...Saturday. I went to the market Saturday morning and when I came back home I stuck my key in the front door and broke the lock because there was a key in the other side. Apparently, Marina told me to always ring the bell first and up until the final week of 3 months here, I have never done this. I don't remember her telling me this, but apparently it was like week one when I understood maybe 3 words of Russian. At any rate, she is pissed off at me now. I thought about offering to pay, but then remembered how they never feed me and she always takes my stuff and eats my food. I learned the other day the they are redecorating the entire apartment when I leave. That answers the question as to where all that Peace Corps money has been going. They always complain that they are broke. Nikita eats candy for dinner half the time and she goes to the disco every night. Andrey just got back from Crimea (where he broke his arm playing soccer), and it turns out they will be the only host family not going to Kiev for my swearing-in ceremony. Come on, it costs only 30 Ukrainian dollars for 2 of them. It is a huge day for me and some volunteers' parents are even flying in for it. At this point I am almost glad they won't be there. So there's that...my host family is back to being upset at me.
Next, Saturday afternoon we go to the beach. We were having a blast. They had a huge waterslide set up and the weather was perfect. At the time, it seemed like a good idea when Jonathan, Jason and James wanted to swim across the huge river. What the hell? I am a string swimmer and I was dying of heat so off we went. With minimal struggle we made it there. The current was super strong in the middle, but we made it. I think we were exhausted by the time we got to the other end which was an island. We got out and started walking upstream so we wouldn't have to fight as much current when I stepped on a brick of glass slicing my foot wide open. My foot is covered in blood, I'm thinking I need stitches and the only thing I could do was swim back across. Keep in mind that this water is NASTY. Picture a sewage tunnel and blow it up. In fact, we aren't even allowed to eat river fish...but yet, we thought it was a good idea to swim in it. Chalk that up to the top 1 dumbest things I've ever done. So I jump in the water and pain shoots up my entire leg. The current seems 50 times stronger and I'm losing so much blood I am pale and light-headed. I make it about half way and feel like I'm going to faint. I turn over on my back and start to back stroke not realizing that I'm going so slow that the current is taking me to never never land. I barely make out the sound of Jason screaming my name from shore so I flip over and realize that I am really drifting away from everyone...and fast. I suck it up and get a rush of adreneline and turn into the high school swimmer superstar I once was and freestyle quickly back to shore. I plop down on my towel and wrap my sock around the wound turning it a crimson red. Sarah shows up with some bandaids and I patch it up and once the bleeding came close to a stop, I lay down and relax not realizing how sunburned I would end up. Now I am itching like crazy because I am about to peel everywhere. As for the foot, I cleaned it out and wrapped it. I called my doctor and he saud as long as I can still walk and there is no discharge or discolorization I should be okay. I am back to limping like George Jefferson and if I put any pressure on my big toe, it starts bleeding again. In reality, I really should have probably gotten stitches. I have only had stithces once in my life a few years ago in my thumb after a galss vase shattered in my hand and they freak me out. I guess I'm a sissy when it comes to sewing flesh together.
So you be the judge. Everyday ther is at least one thing telling me to get the hell outta Ukraine and still I push on. I can't wait to see what tonight and tomorrow will have in store for me; a guy can only handle so much of this crap, ya know?
Sunday we had the thank you picnic with the host families. We went to the forest and set up a huge area with tons of amazing food. As soon as we set up the grub, it started thundering and raining. Andrey came back Sunday morning and learned that Marina had called in sick all week. What he doesn't know is that she was not sick, just too busy disco-hopping. He was concerned about her "health" when it started raining and they took off right away. Typical.
In my free time, I have been reading that wrestling book that JJ sent me and should finish it tonight. I watched "Austin Powers" and "Men In Black II" (the latter was against my will, for the record) and I've been studying for the LPI. Yesterday Megan and I put together a 10 minute slide show of awesome pictures of our training group in Chernihiv and we will show it at the end of the talent show in Prolisok. We put it to music and it is turning out pretty sweet. We set it to Interpol's "Next Exit", The Kingsmen "Louie Louie", Todd Rungren's "Bang On the Drum All Day" and All-American Reject's "The Last Song" which is a great song and really hit the final spot on it. I'm sure all 35 people will love the final product when it is revealed next week.
Today I got a package from my parents. It is a miracle that I received everything in there. A reminder to not write "CD's" or "DVD's" on the shipping label as they are not allowed to be mailed into country. Luckily, I received about 6 DVD's from them which include "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", "Three Amigos", "Pleasantville", "House Party", "Mystic River" and one other which I can't remember. I also got some more issues of Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!! For those plannign on sending some packages, please help me out if you can. My library wants to build up their DVD collection. They need any DVD movies that are rated PG or PG-13. Go to pawn shops, garage sales or wherever you can and throw some in there, but please include the cases with them. Again, I am unable to have anything donated out of country and this may be my only option. You will be doing a good deed and might be able to deduct it from your taxes. Also remember that I need movies and some good books as well...and some good ranch dressing which does not exist here :)
I should have a permanent address within 2 weeks and will let everyone know when that time comes. Thanks for your continued emails, letters, and packages. You guys have no idea how much they all mean to me!
I'm not sure if I will be able to post until I get to Kherson so wish me luck and I'll be back.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!!!

The Week In Pictures

2007-06-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

The soccer game last weekend.

Richard, my roommate in Philadelphia, and me after the soccer game.

Me and Marina, my host mommy.

Me and the 2 of the 3 Olgas in my life right now.

2 pictures from Megan's picnic.

The festival we never made it to. Tuborg is a huge beer out here.

The moment of truth...before our presentation. This was a great group to work with!

This was our audience. I think there was 1 male there.

Doing a mock interview with Greg.

The after-presentation party!

We are frickin' cool. Lovin' the pictures of Castro all over the walls.

A Messed-Up Situation and Weekly Update

2007-06-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

What is the foremost thing on my mind these days? Funny you should ask. Pretend Satan has taken over your body and you're close. Up until this week I thought Ukraine, or at least Chernihiv, was a safe place and all the crap Peace Corps told us about safety was a waste of time. Here's the thing. Tuesday night about 2:45am, I was woke up to the sound of a girl screaming. Not just screaming, but the last 20 minutes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre screaming. I shot out of bed and looked out my window. I saw nothing and my mind was still half asleep. This went on for about 10 minutes. Should I go out there in the pitch black with no flashlight and try to console a girl in Russian? Is she just really drunk? About every other night there is screaming out there, but nothing like this. My fiorst thought was that maybe a love one died and she was just freaking out. Suddenly I heard a lady's voice in Russian asking her "what is happening?". Things quieted down and I went back to bed. It wasn't until Wednesday night that my heart sunk and I felt like a complete helpless coward. Marina, who did not hear a thing that night, was told from a babooska in the building that this girl was brutally raped right under my window. Apparently she is okay now, but I have spent the last 2 days feeling like complete s**t. I could have done more than just sit there. This is just an indescribable feeling and it sucks. Now I am haunted by this girl's screaming in my head about every 20 minutes.
So after that pleasant story, onto brighter things...
Sunday we never made it to the concert. Apparently it cost more money than we planned, it was raining and cold and it started at 5pm which means we would have no way home. The trip to Kiev was a total waste of time and money.
Monday and Tuesday were spent in a stressful panic as the 5 of us scrambled to get everything together for our presentation. Between meetings, buying material, doing run-throughs and everything else, I think we were all exhausted come the big day. How did it go? I think really well..better than I expected. We all made a smooth transition, had no technical difficulties with the exception of the copier breaking at the last minute, and the feedback from PC was constrructive yet they had good things to say. We had an audience of about 35 people. It is all over now and afterwards we all celebrated with beers at a new bar in town that had a Cuban theme. A huge weight is off our shoulders at this point and the only thing left to stress about is our final Language Proficiency Interview next Wednesday. This is where they evaluate us and our language skills through a 20 minute conversation in Russian.
Tuesday we had an HIV/AIDS class in the afternoon where we met 2 Ukrainians infected with HIV. It was a depressing afternoon to say the least. I can't believe this disease and how crazy it is in this country.
Today's tech session was on teaching English and conducting English clubs which I found very valuable since my library wants me to teach English 4 times every Sunday. I got a lot of good advice. We also learned about proper ways to work with interpreters.
My home life still sucks now and, if it's possible, even got worse. Since Andrey has been out of town, Marina is going wild with parties every day. She called in sick the rest of the week and expects me to lie to Andrey's parents tonight so they will babysit Nikita while she goes to the disco with her friends. Man, I can't wait to evaluate this host family next week. Andrey, meanwhile, broke his arm playing soccer in Crimea. He comes back Sunday just in time for the end of training host family picnic.
That's about it for now. I'd like to thank everyone for sending another round of packages, but starting today, please hold off until I get my own apartment in about 4-5 weeks.
Has Big Brother started in the states? If it has, someone tape all epsiodes for me. They have a rip-off show here called Dome 2, but it is super lame. Big Brother rocks and it wouldn't be summer without it!

The Weekend

2007-06-03T01:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few days. Friday our language class played Russian Taboo. We had to choose Russian words and then choose 3 other Russian words that you can't use to describe it. Your team then has 1 minute to guess the word; it was fun and a great exercise. We also had a debriefing with our training manager and had to watch an hour long movie on AIDS. Ukraine is the fastest-spreading country in the world of AIDS...a fun fact I thought I would share with you. The film was narrated by will Smith. One had not lived until they listen to the Fresh Prince preach about HIV. After class, I went home and dropped my stuff off, threw on my Ukrainian soccer jersey and we headed to the stadium. We got our tickets, went to the beer tent for some pre-party cold ones and then went in. The game was fun although we sat in a section run by neo nazi skinheads. They were fighting with the militia, doing the Hitler salute and were pretty damn crazy. After the game (which ended in a flippin' tie), we went to the beer tent and hung out until about 10pm. I walked home and my host dad and I ran to the market for more alcohol. He left for Crimea for 10 days Saturday morning and he wanted to drink vodka wiht me before he left. We drank and watched Pirates of the Carribean 3 with really bad English subtitles and I finally got to bed around 3am. Saturday my head was hurting as I now realize just how much I don't really care for vodka straight up. Give me a foo foo screwdriver or white russian. I slept in and then blew off Olga who I was supposed to go to the beach with. Instead I went to the bazaar and bought a new shirt. I then met people and we went to Megan's house for a picnic in her family's amazing backyard. Jonathan discovered a guitar store that just opened up and he bought one for $100. I think tomorrow I may break down and buy one as well. It will suck to take it with all my other luggage, but it will suck more to not be able to play for 2 years. Anyway, Brian had his guitar too and there was a little jam session as we chowed down some Ukrainian BBQ which included pork kabobs and stuffed tomatoes with cheese and garlic (possibly the best food I've eaten here). I got home around 9pm and walked in on a party. Marina decided to invite all her girlfriends over since Andrey was gone and by the time I got there they were all drunk and obnoxious. They finally all left for the disco around 10:30 and I fell asleep watching Conan O'Brien.
I woke up today at 5:15am and am now in Kiev at headquarters. We just got back from McDonalds where we ran into 2 girls from Atlanta. Why is it we always see Americans at McDonalds...are we really that shallow? I am catching up on some emails, talking to other volunteers who are in town and we are about to head out to this music festival. Placebo is headlining today. Side note: the Stones are playing here in July!!!
I have a lot of studying to do when I get home and our project is Wednesday. Next time I am at the internet cafe, I will post pictures from the weekend.

Random Thoughts and Ramblings

2007-05-30T08:12:00.001-07:00

I have a new-found love and its name is "Twin Peaks". Either this show is that good or I am just desparate for some boob tube. Sure this show was back in the early 90's, but come on, it's David Lynch...the man...the genious. My language teacher had the only 2 seasons on her computer and I copied them over to mine and now I'm hooked. I think my host family is worried about me because I won't play cards with them or watch corny Russian music videos with them anymore; instead I just watch this show on my laptop locked away in my room. I also watched "Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny" and "Napoleon Dynamite" this week...both are hilarious in my own diluted world. My host mom asked if I was suffereing from depression yesterday. It's funny because the Peace Corps tells them that we will go through days of depression and that is always the first thing they think of. The truth is, I just need time alone from screaming kids and people eating the food I buy. They are great people, but I am soooo ready to move out in a couple of weeks and am counting the minutes.
Due to some inspiring events, I am plaaning on starting my next screenplay in the very near future. I wanted to do a lot of writing out here in my spare time and now that training is winding up, I am starting my treatment. Ideally, I'd also like to tackle the novel after that is done. I also got some leads on some very interesting jobs for returned Peace Corps volunteers. Things are looking up and I am starting to look at things (i.e. my future) in a very different light.
We tentatively set a date for the Egypt trip. I am trying to arrange it around my birthday in October so I can ring in the big double 3's on top of a pyramid in the middle of African nowhere.
We are still planning a fun weekend coming up in a couple days. This Friday we are going to a huge soccer game at the stadium and Sunday we are going to that music festival in Kyiv. I'm sure there will be pictures coming.
We are learning the topic of shopping right now in language class which includes things in department stores and hundreds of clothing items and how to talk to sales clerks. Seeing how I have dropped 3 sizes and my pants sag down on my knees like Lil Bow Wow, this topic may come in handy faster than expected. I can now get some tight European pants and start living the dream officially now. Tomorrow we have the second session of Ukrainian entrepreneurship and economy class. Our project is also rolling along. I finished my portion of the manual and passed it to Greg to get translated. Brian and I handed out invitations today and now we just need to practice our portions. The big day is one week from today....crazy!
I've gotten a ton of support and advice from all of my friends and family and through it all, I keep referring to that one scrawny guy whose name I will never remember's advice: "The Peace Corps...it's not for everyone, just the sexy people" ;)

Thanks for being so good to me, Shawna!

and

Happy 47th Anniversary Mom & Dad!!! The big 5-0 is just around the corner!

2 Months Down...25 To Go

2007-05-28T04:18:00.000-07:00

2 months here seems like it has been 6 months at least. When we look back to staging and Philadelphia it seems like years ago now. I think because we are being brainwashed with so much stuff and have experienced so much in just 2 months. It's actually quite amazing.

I forgot to mention that I received more shots in my left shoulder last week for Hepatitus and influenza. I think the total is up to 47 needles to this point. I also forgot to mention that on Friday we had emotional health day. It was 4 hours of first aid and stress-coping mechanisms. The one good thing that came out of it was I won some mouthwash playing health jeopardy.

Saturday night I watched the top 100 best songs of the 80's on VH-1 and educated Marina about classic songs from the 80's. I'm not sure I agree that Bon Jovi "Livin on a Prayer" should be #1 though I was happy to see Duran Duran in the top 5. That was a blast even though I pissed little Nikita off because I prevented him from watching his cartoons. I watch maybe a total of 1 hor of television a month here and this was my time dammit!
Yesterday rocked! I went to Jonathan's apartment with James and out tech teacher Andrey and we watched over 5 hours of "Lost". I can't believe how much better the season got since I left. I didn't even miss it until now. I only need to watch the final 2 episodes of the season now. The only problem is, we don't know if Jonathan will receive another shipment before we leave Chernihiv. I HAVE TO SEE THE FINALE!!! I will go on record once again by saying that this is the best show to have ever graced a television set..."Six Feet Under" is not far behind.
I have also been reading Mick Foley's new book that J.J. sent me. It's actually quite an interesting read going behind the scenes of professional wrestling (Yeah, I'm a nerd like that). It's also been really great reading those magazines everyone has mailed out. I also talked to my brother and his family last night which was great.
Here's a funny story. I was walking back from Jonathan's place last night and a huge storm came from nowhere. I took cover under this huge tree because I had my laptop with me and no umbrella. As I'm standing there I notice 2 younger guys speaking English next to me. I ask them where they were from and they freaked out at the sound of an English voice. It turns out they were Mormon missionaries traveling Ukraine and one of them was from Billings, MT. You don't see that every day here. They were nice guys and didn't try to push the church on me so I applaud them.
We just finished language class and I am about to head home to finish up the manual I have been working on. My host family is home today as is the rest of the country because low and behold yesterday was another holiday here....the holy trinity. When a holiday falls on a Sunday, everyone gets Monday off work. That sucks for us because our project group had planned on visiting some organizations and hand-delivering invitations to our event.
That's all I got.

Hi Cassandra!!!
Happy Birthday, Mar!!! (if you ever read this)

This Week's Pictures

2007-05-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

This was the monestary we hiked to on Tuesday. You enter the back of it and there is a huge maze under it.

Brian and Geoffrey descending into the unknown.

These are human remains from monks who lived underground. Good stuff, huh?

Exiting the caves...that whole expeience obviously freaked me out a little.

I thought this was a really cool monument. I wasn't a huge fan of climbing 800 steps in the unbearable heat with a 100 lb backpack on, but perhaps it was all worth it.

We stumbled upon a great cafe where we enjoyed an ice-cold beer.

and finally....my treasures from my parents, JJ and Shawna. Thanks and I love you all!!!

Weekly Report

2007-05-26T04:58:00.000-07:00

A lot of people keep asking how much news I get about the U.S. Here's my answer. I hear the Bulls are doing okay. I have no frickin' idea what is happening back home and it's kinda nice.
Some statistics: the stomach meter has officially dropped again to 30%. For the last week, my stomach has been on edge. It could have been the river fish I ate that the medical officers warned us not to eat or perhaps the sewage water I swam in; there are so many options.
For 2 weeks this country has been experiencing record high temperatures. From what I gather, it usually only gets this hot for about 1 week in July. Seeing how nobody has fans or a/c, I am slowly melting away as my lovely friend Kelly pointed out. To give you an idea, I pound about 2 2liters of water every day and I think I've urinated once all week.
I finally received all my packages from the PC ffice and took them home Thursday. The microwave popcorn was a hit because they don't have that here. My family stared at the microwave in amazement like it was about to shoot out a million dollars. Beef jerky and red licorice was also a smash. I got 4 packages total (Mom, the DVD's did arrive...thanks) and I have included a picture here in which I show off my treasures. Wait, maybe that's why I am sick because my stomach doesn't recognize real food anymore.
So this week...a group of us went to the beach on the river. While I did not intend to swim in that mess of water, it was so hot I had to do it. The beach was a rather nasty experience all around.
Language class was good, but a lot of us are in a funk from our site visit and don't want to learn anymore. We are counting the days to the finish line. We had a tech session on Thursday and learned about the Ukrainian economy and the tax system out here. It was actually pretty interesting stuff.
I am hooked on playing badmitton lately. Yesterday, Hung-Chee, my host family and I walked to a different beach which was a lot nicer than the one on Wednesday. I soaked up some rays and then we went home and drank vodka, listened to music and played cards.
Tomorrow we are watching 7 episodes of "Lost" and I am more excited about that than anything else. I don't think the finale is included in there though. Tonight I am watching "Shrek the Third" in Russian and I also want to check out Pirates 3 at some point. I am also stoked about the news that a group of us are going to Kyiv next weekend for a music festival. It tuns out I won't go all summer without a good concert afterall. There are a bunch of bands, but only one band I know from the states.
My site situation is still the same. I'm trying not to think about it too much. I am focusing on our project for the time being. When that is over, I will make the big decision. /i am writing up a manual on interviewing basics and sample interview questions and then need to get it to a translator. I am working on a powerpoint presentation for our seminar as well.

Happy Birthday, Dad & TJ!

Lotsa Pictures For You

2007-05-22T09:07:00.001-07:00

For those of you that think I am exaggerating about what I eat here, I took this picture of a cookbook that was on our kitchen table before I left. Mmmmmm.

This is Jim from Schaumburg, IL. It is completely crazy that he grew up literally down the street from where I grew up. He's a really great guy for a Sox fan, but then again, all guys from the the Chicago burbs are...right? Check out the killer sunset in this picture.

The dock at sunset at the beginning of the party at Prolosok.

The dock later in the evening.

Matthew, Me, Geoffrey and Brian at the bonfire party. Matthew catches a lot of crap for looking like the late great Chris Farley.

Cards the next morning as we wait for our bus to pick us up. Geoffrey taught us a Russian card game called Durok that I am now hooked on. The guy in the blue shirt is Nathan and the guy in the white shirt is Stephen. They were my roommates in Prolosok.

This is a crappy picture of what a typical train car looks like. I slept on the top right bunk.

This will be my room for 1 month when I return. Those that know me well realize I need a fan :)

This is Gara the boxer I live and sneeze with. She eats strictly oatmeal and chicken bones.

Tanya (new host mom), me, and Marina (my counterpart or partner) at the library I will work at....maybe.

This is Marina conducting a class similar to what I would be doing on Sundays there.

My office and desk.

This is the group of volunteers in my city and surrounding areas minus about 5 of them.

Kherson has a huge ship-building industry with tons of docking bays.

A really cool building. It's difficult to see, but there are statues of children sitting along the roof.

This is Tanya enjoying a smoke. Personally, I love the Ukrainian in the background sleeping in his boat. My plan is to make friends with every boat-owner in the city.

Gotta love the European speedo action in this one.

One Step Up (...and two steps back)

2007-05-22T08:32:00.001-07:00

Okay, I don't remember what I wrote last time so forgive me if I repeat myself.

I'm back in Chernihiv from my site visit to Kherson. It's mad hot here now (especially south on the Black Sea) and I've been dripping sweat now for about 5 days straight. In addition, I think I've lost so much weight that I am back to my Jr. high school weight class. Overall, my visit was fun. I got to experience 2 looooong train rides through pretty much the whole country, I met some really nice people, I saw some really cool things, but overall I came back pissed off.
I know in my last post I was happy with my site. However, after that post I had a meeting with my organization's director and she laid down some strict rules including not wanting me to work with other organizations. In a nutshell, I will a librarian for 2 years, edit their website, teach English every Sunday ALL DAY, and that about sums it up. I joined Peace Corps when they told me I could continue to work in my field, work in business development and do some good things for this country based off my resume. This library had a PC volunteer working for them in the past and the guy set the bar too high for me and it will be difficult to fill this golden boy's shoes. Perhaps his dream was to be a librarian, but mine is not. I did not say anything to my director, but complained at my site debriefing in Kyiv yesterday. He pretty much said to just go with it and see if things change. Now I am stuck with a major decision as to whether call it quits and be a dropout and focus on a decent career in the states again taking away 3 months of great experiences, or stick it out, move everything across the country and give it a shot. My head is floating a hundred different directions and right now I am just going to focus on my Chernihiv project and give that my all. When that is done in mid-June, I will know what my move will be.
So, with that said, it wasn't all bad of a trip. My host mom is an awesome cook!!! She took me to this market and we picked out this huge fish fresh from the Black Sea and they chopped up 2 huge steaks for us. She made some amazing salads and we had strawberries like I never had before. I had heard they were good here, but it was ridiculous how sweet they were. I think I dreamt about them last night. I was super allergic to her dog, but it was a sweetie. Monday, my host mom had to work so I hit the town and walked around for miles and miles with a 200 lb. backpack in about 98 degree heat. I walked down to the docking station where boats and crusie ships dock as this is a big tourist port city. Later that day I met up with some volunteers who live in the area and took the bus into town to meet the four of us. We had dinner and many beers and it was cool to hear about their experiences and advice. One of them is about to marry a Ukrainian he met here. We then went to the train station and that was it. Time really flew there. The city itself is rather shady. 75% of it is pure ghetto. We had drunks coming up to us and our neighborhood is very dirty. The other 25% is awesome. There is one street they block off to traffic and now it's nothing but fun bars and restaurants. The Black Sea is about an hour's bus ride, but Kherson sits on a huge river that connects the Black Sea to another huge sea. Therefore, half the city is surrounded by water, beaches, fishing, water skiing, swimming, etc.
I think I could live there no problem for 2 years, the people I met were really cool as well. My host Mom, Tanya, is learining English because her boyfriend and daughter live in Israel and they speak English. She is self-taught over 6 months all from a computer program...I was floored at how much she picked up just from me. In return, I learned more Russian in 2 days there than the entire time in class here. I feel really good about my language skills now. My counterpart, Marina, totally rocks and I really lucked out with her too. We are going to take a cruise down to Crimea in July for free because some friends of hers owns a yacht.
Once we got back to Kyiv Tuesday morning, we stopped into the PC office to debrief and then went site-seeing around the city again with Hung-Chee and Geoffrey. I truly love that city! I tried to pick up some gifts and souvenirs, but couldn't find the place I was at last time. I ended up just buying a Ukrainian soccer jersey. We took the 2 hour bus ride back to Chernihiv and I went home, ate and passed out from exhaustion.
Today was "reflection day" since half the people are not back yet. I had my movk Language Proficiency Interview and scored intermediate mid which is way better than I expected. The real test is the last week of training. These tests are basically sitting down and having a half hour conversation completely in Russian. After that, Brian, Geoffrey and I backpacked across the city to this monestary and we paid to explore these underground caves where monks used to live. It was a trip down there because it was huge and there were human skulls and bones to be stimbled upon. We then hiked to the river to meet up with some friends at a beer tent and relaxed in the shade. Now I am going home to play badmitton. Tomorrow after language class, we have a project meeting and then we are going to the beach to swim and hang out.
This is what my life has become.

I Made It

2007-05-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Time To Blog

2007-05-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

We got to Prolosok (AKA: Prolosuck) yesterday afternoon. Prolosok is the place we spent our first 3 days in Ukraine just south of Kyiv. We had our site announcement ceremony. How did it go? FRICKIN' AWESOME! ...at least on paper. They answered all my requests. I am going to a city called Kherson (pronounced "Hersone"). It is in Southern Ukraine right on the Black Sea just above Crimea and across the bay from Odessa. The weather is supposed to be perfect there this time of year. It is a port city of about 400,000 people. It is a big agriculture and ship building city. That's about all I know. There are 3 other volunteers going with me: Peter and Marcia who are an older married couple and Leah who is about 23...I think. I'm super excited to head south.
Last night we all started a bonfire on the beach at Prolosok and had a little party. It was awesome to see everyone again, but now we are all going separate ways..at least for a week.
I am currently at the Peace Corps headquarters in Kyiv and we are wasting time until we leave for the train station. We then hop on a 13-hour train ride and we will meet our partner (the person who takes care of us there). I guess my host family is a middle-aged female and her friend. She works at my host organization. My host organization (the place where most of my work is focused and I am stationed) is a childrens' library. I will be developeing their website, starting a film club and an English club as well as finding time to work in H.R. with employment centers and other organizations. Here at the Peace Corps office I tracked down my 2 packages from J.J and Shawna...both were loaded with food, books, games, and tons of other stuff. Perfect timing and I'm eternally grateful to you both!
I'm off to check out my new home now. I have internet at my host organization so I will be able to blog once I'm there most likely, but tons of pictures will follow when I return to Chernihiv.
Mom, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! I love you tons!!!!!

Quick Post

2007-05-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

I have a few minutes and thought I'd send a quick note out. I had a boring weekend of doing nothing. In the package I got from my parents, was a new card game. We spent many hours playing Phase 10 and now we all hate UNO. I had a new and exciting food experience...chicken embryos. They are basically eggs in the earlyy development stage comlete with nasty veins and all. They are very tought and resemble that of a sheep testicle. Good eating. Can someone please tell me why my host family eats the weirdest stuff??
Today we had an easy day in language class. We watched a Russian movie and cooked an awesome lunch together. I am aboutto meet up with some people at the beer tent in about 10 minutes to hang out for a bit before I need to go home and pack. It is super nice outside for once...nothing like Billings though.
We leave at 8:15am tomorrow and get in around noon. Tomorrow at this time, I will know where I am going to spend 2 years of my life. We are all excited to see each other again and hear the news...good or bad.
I got a call from the office in Kyiv this morning. They have 2 packages for me I need to pick up next week. I'm guessing they are from J.J. and Shawna. I'll let you guys know. Thanks for taking care of me.
Talk to y'all in a week!

The Week In Pictures

2007-05-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the Soviet War museum. You had to pay to take pictures inside, so this is the best I could do. This is an old school Soviet tank.

This is my project group (minus Greg) slaving away in the only place available...the local shopping mall. The mall did have an amazing ice cream shop where the owner spoke English. I tried smoked ice cream....not good. Ukrainian ice cream is awesome though.

Project Group study break at Jonathan's place just before the greates Ukrainian meal of all-time.

A manly pose of me taking a tea break. Not only is Jonathan's mom the world's greatest cook, she also makes killer tea. Jonathan is the guy drilling for oil on the right.

Victory Day celebration!!!

Weekly Update

2007-05-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Victory Day. We went to this Soviet World War II museum which was really interesting. We had an English tour guide and it made a big difference. It was painful to see how the Jews were treated back then and to see graphic photographs of it all. I got home in the late afternoon to find out Andrey pirated Spiderman 3 so we watched that on his computer. I guess my Russian is getting better because I understood the entire film except one scene he had to translate for me. When that got over, we ate dinner. What was for dinner?? It looked like delicious chicken soup so I dove in. I noticed a peculiar taste and at that moment Marina said to me, " You do like fish heads, don't you? Just be careful of all the bones". I choked down the rest of it and Andrey had the idea to get on a bus to watch the fireworks show downtown. I was reluctant, but I was glad we went when all was said and done. We stopped and grabbed some beers and when we headed into the center it was like Vegas on New Year's Eve. Most of the city was out at 11pm and it was a huge street party. We ended up staying out pretty late. We walked home and stopped into this pool hall and played some Russian billiards. The differenece is all the balls are white and you can hit any balls you want. The first person to hit 6 in wins. The tables are twice as big as American pool and I sucked. They did have one American table so I taught Andrey and his friend how to play "real pool" and I still lost :) I finally got to bed at 4:30am and had to be up at 7am.
Wednesday was an awkward night. Andrey and Marina were in a screaming match and then not speaking to each other. I felt very uncomfortable and left the house to hang out with olga down the street so they could have some privacy.
Thursday we had our last session on grant-writing. I came home and watched some more lame DVD's.
Our project finally has life after several meetings and a busy week. We are putting on a seminar June 6th for 6 organizations and a group of college students on "selling yourself" (e.g. resume-writing and interviewing skills) so our original idea came backl to life in the long run. We sat in on one Russian seminar at the employment center Tuesday and brought an amazing translator with us so that is a big reason why we had success. We spent the last few days drafting our proposal and applying for a grant to pay for this thing. Wednesday at Jonathan's house I expereiced something amazing....food! His host mom rocks! She cooked so much food for us and it was all delicious. Good to know I'm the only one who got the shaft in the food department. I am going back there tomorrow with our translator to watch the last 5 episodes of "Lost". Jonathan's mom in the states mailed him a DVD with the last few episodes on it and I am excited!!! Our translator, Andrey, also is a huge fan of the show so tomorrow should be a good day. Speaking of packages, I finally received my first one!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was mailed April 6th from my parents. Cutoms took out the food that was in it, but I was glad to get something. My mom put a hot wheels car in there for Nikita and now he thinks he is the coolest kid inUkraine. He is so proud to have an American living with him and he loves to show me off to his friends.
On the down side, I am completely broke. I have enough of my pay to get me to my site on Tuesday and that's it. I get paid again when I arrive there. Therefore, it will most likely be a boring weekend.
Last night totally sucked. When I got home Andrey and Marina were shouting for hours and hours again. She's a screamer when they argue and it went on until about midnight. My dinner last night was a bag of mushroom flavor potato chips. She offered me dinner, but I saw it was left over fish head soup with nothiung but bones floating around in there so I kindly passed.
Today I laughed harder than I have in years. In language class, we had our Tech teacher come in and teach us Ukrainian cuss words. It was for our safety and for the business teachers mostly. The handout had every possible word and phrase imaginable and some of the translations were hilarious and made absolutely no sense. We just got out of another meeting with the director of the employment center and tonight I have the house to myself WOO HOO!!
I won't be posting for over a week most likely. I will be back around the 23rd. I can't afford phone minutes this week so I apologize for the lack of calls. I will be back in touch when I get back from visiting my new city.

Just Stopping By

2007-05-07T03:34:00.000-07:00

I just got out of a brutal language class where we had to learn how the European train system works. The entire exercise was over my head so I guess I will end up in Kazakstan when I am trying to get to Odessa. We are going on a field trip Thursday to the train station so I have a few days to figure this thing out. Tomorrow I have tutoring in the afternoon and Wednesday is Victory Day and we have the day off, but need to get together with our clusters for reflection (whatever that means). I hear we are taking an English tour of a museum here so that should be fun....hopefully.
So yesterday, I got home and instantly got talked into going back to that amusement park. I guess my pictures sparked interest for the family. Olga and her son and my host family took the bus back there and I ended up breaking my kneecap in 7 pieces on the stinkin' bumper cars. I had Olga's son in my lap and in order to protect the kid, I sacrificed my precious knee. Oh well, I have another one. Now I am walking around town like George Jefferson "WHEEZY!!!". As a reward, however, I treated myself to a Ukrainian hot dog. Little did I know they were pretty much raw (what a surprise) with mayonaise and carrots on them. So, Heather, when exactly should I expect this package of Chicago eats??! We got home around 7pm and I studied for about an hour. One of Andrey's friends then came over and we ended up drinking beer and eating fish jerky (yes, the kind where you rip the heads off, take out the guts and eat away). I ended up arguing with the guy about television when he stated the "The Simpsons" was "s**t"! He spoke very good English and we got in a heated debate, but it was defused early on when he gave me the next batch of crappy English DVD's. This batch includes I, Robot, Swordfish, The Terminator trilogy and Doom. The crappy sci-fi film festival begins tonight if anyone wants to fly out to join me.
Word around the rumor mill is that up to 4 of the 30 of us will be stationed in Chernihiv permenantly. God, please don't let me be included in that group. I like my town, but I am ready to move out of here at this point.
Well, my hour is up and I need to head to the employment center now to have our meeting and finalize our project.

Welcome to the blog, Maicie and the i_TECH crew; it's nice to know I have a fan base out there and I am the topic of conversation around the water cooler nowadays. Thanks for finding my babbling somewhat interesting.
Keep On Truckin'!

My Tour of Chernihiv

2007-05-06T03:43:00.000-07:00

So after I posted yesterday, I walked around downown looking for that cluster that was in town, but had no luck. Instead I ran into Greg, James and Brian and 3 Ukrainians. They invited me to go with them although none of knew where we were going. Greg and James had just finished their site interviews and were dressed in their suits. I also had nice clothes on and uncomfortable shoes. Long story short, we ended up walking around Chernihiv from 2pm until 8pm. These guys felt they needed us to see the entire city by foot. Brian and Greg took off about halfway through and maybe I should have followed their lead, but I did get to see a lot of stuff I normally would not have seen here. We checked out famous landmarks and statues and then walked down to the river. He showed us the beach and sauna and then we walked into the woods. I was thinking these guys were gonna murder us or something, but we stumbled upon Chernihiv's version of Six Flags (in the middle of the forest). Here was this huge central park with an amusement park, stadium and concert venue. I never knew any of this even existed here. The two Ukrainian guys (Sasha and Sergey) bought tickets and forced James and me to ride these rides that looked like they were built before world war II. They bought me a beer and we slammed it and then he made me ride the orbit which spins around a million miles/hour; just what my stomach needed (it's still holding strong at 97% by the way). We then rode a few more rides and continued to walk for another 10 miles. I finally got home, ate some pizza my host mom made and passed out around midnight wishing I had more crappy movies to watch. By the way, the weather was amazing finally. Today is pretty nice as well although it's windy as hell.
This morning I had my site interview. It lasted about 20 minutes and I'm not sure what to make of it. They went over my resume and asked me if my priority was a big city, to live by other volunteers or to be south near the Black Sea. I didn't know how to answer that question since those are all priorities for me. I sid I will just roll with the punches and told them I'd like to work for an organization that ties into my work experience; working with kids, AIDS, disabled and all that was secondary and ideal for side projects. I now wait for a week to hear where I get placed. Brian went on a date last night and saw Spiderman 3 without me so that is off for today, but Marina wants to take me to these caves in town and do more sightseeing after seeing my pictures. Unfortunately, my legs and feet are killing me from yesterday. I'm curious to see how the day will unfold. Here are some pictures from yesterday...

It's a wonder I was even able to take this picture. I hate heights, I hate ferris wheels because they freak me out and I was scared this old 1942 ride was about to break. The things I do for my blog.

This is the river that runs through my city. In the distance on the left is a cool little beach complete with a sauna.

Mini Me.

The three on the right were our Ukrainian tour guides for the day.

The Week In Pictures

2007-05-05T04:25:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along our journey into the woods, I stumbled across the shire from Lord of the Rings. Here I am coming out of Bilbo Baggins' house.

One big happy dysfunctional family.

Roasting some expired, rotten wienies over an open fire and doing my best to tell my friends in Russian about my philosophy on life.

Oh yeah, I adopted a kid while out here. My goal is to Angelina Jolie my way to adopting enough kids to start a Ukrainian 80's cover band.

A true Ukrainian superstar I am. I believe here I was singing "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Sinatra. Chuck, where were you??

2 of the craziest SOB's this side of Nantucket.

I introduced The Running Man to Ukraine this week.

Oh yeah, and this happened.

I'm Alive!!!

2007-05-05T03:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Kyiv Visit and Night From Hell

2007-04-29T02:59:00.000-07:00

The stomach meter is currently back down to about 32%. I was well Friday and Saturday, but today things aren't so pleasant in that department. Let me shed some light on this subject and you can draw your own conclusions about this surreal life I'm living...
First things first...Kyiv frickin' rocks!!! This city is awesome. There is so much life there, history, architecture, cathedrals, shopping, amazing food, and I could go on. It was a ton of fun and it was like stepping into Western Europe for the day. We left at 8am and took a 2 hour bus ride to Kyiv. The bus dropped us off at the Metro station and we had to take the train into the heart of the city. We must have had good luck because of the small handful of people I talked to this morning, 4 of them got pick-pocketed. Our assignment when we got off the train was to go on a scavenger hunt. We are currently studying the topics of "The City" and "Things Around the House" in language class. In this chapter, we are learning how to ask and receive directions. Olga, our teacher, was with us and she gave each of us a piece of paper with a tourist attraction on it. We had to take turns asking strangers for directions and leading our group to that place. Our first stop was the Peace Corps headquarters in Kyiv. It was a very nice, and extremely secure, building complete with a lounge that included a library and a home theater and medical offices (if I knew the stomach meter was going to drop, I would have talked to the doctor there). We ran into some of the other Chernigiv clusters there, but never got to meet up with the other groups that traveled to Kyiv from small villages. We lefter there and visited 3 awe-inspiring just breathtaking cathedrals that my pictures don't do any justice to. We saw the golden gate of Kyiv which used to be the main gate to the city that protected it from enemies. We visited a huge underground mall and fouund the protests that have been going on all month. They seemed very calm. There was live music and it was more like walking into a Lollapallooza concert than a governmental protest. Olga took us to her favorite restaurant for lunch where I ate the best meal since I left Montana. I ate a huge bowl of borsch, potato pancakes, chicken, a ham omelet, garlic buns and followed it with an amazing Ukrainian beer. I was stuffed and completely in my element. We then ran into another cluster and we headed to an Irish pub where we watched soccer on a big screen and enjoyed a couple more beers. They had Guiness on tap for $30 grievnya (which is expensive here, but only about $6 in the U.S.). Instead we stuck to the locl brews which were still pricey. We were warned how expensive Kyiv is, and it is no joke. I saw so many great souveniers I'd like to pick up for gifts, but just could not afford them this time.
By the end of the day, I was exhausted and stuffed. We waited in a very long line to board the bus back to Chernigiv. I made the mistake of buying one of these deep fried dough thingies with what appeared to be tater tot casserole in the middle of it. It was really good, but I don't think I needed it. My stomach is ready to kick my ass at this point.
I finally get home around 8pm and the real fun begins.
(sidenote: remember when I said I was extremely lucky to end up with my host family? I am second guessing this now. They are great people, but every day grows longer in this apartment.) I walk in exhausted and wanting to just relax to a movie and pass out. I am dying for a glass of grape juice that I bought with my money. I go into the kitchen to find that the kid drank the ENTIRE carton in one day. So now not only do I have to sneak food into my room after I buy it, I will have to store warm juice in there as well. Peace Corps pays the familes to buy food for us and it seems that my money goes to nearly all food that I never get to eat. It makes me wonder if they are just in it for the money and are planning on buying a big screen TV or something once I am gone. A perfect example, now my host dad says, would you like to drink a couple beers tonight? I say, okay because it souunds like a good idea. He sends me to the market and expects me to pay for all of the beer. I buy 4 bottles and a bag of chips. I get home and he drinks all the beer with his friend and eats my chips. Anyway, at this point my gut is busting and just killing me. Marina approaches me saying she has spent all day preparing this huge chicken dinner for me. The last thing on my mind is food. She lays the guilt trip on me and I find myself struggling to eat this chicken feast. I am sweating at the table forcing myself to eat. She thinks I don't like her cooking and gets upset at me. I do the dishes and head straight for the toilet for an hour. I am finally sitting at my desk uploading pictures and Nikita walks in behind me. "Paul, look what I got!" I look into this butter container he has and inside are 3 huge cockroaches. I freak out because he keeps trying to put them on me and they are jumping out of the carton onto my desk. Apparently he likes to catch them and bring them inside to play with. They are all petting them and playing with them like they were pets. He even lets it walk around the dinner table. They all get out of the carton and they let them explore the living room. I head to my room and shut the door. Andrey comes in and says "Paul, you have to go with me to pick up my friend". I say okay because he assures me it will not be longer than a half hour. We get in the cab and head to a new disco that opened up last night. He uses me saying I am an American and we skip out of the cover charge. We find his friend along with some others that speak English. They bombard me with questions and in a very friendly manner take me to the bar. I'm not thinking about drinks, I just want to go home. I turn around and his friend buys me a huge shot of this sambuca and green stuff that is on fire. The bartender screams at me and gives me a straw. I drink it with all of them and say "thanks for the drink, but I really need to go home now." His friend then says I owe the bartender $25 grievnya. I'm pissed, I pay and leave with Andrey and his friend. Instead of getting into a cab, we end up walking down to the river and talking for an hour. We finally go home and end up staying up until 2am. I had to wake up early today for a meeting with my disfunctional project group. We are the only group who doesn't have a definite project due to circumstances beyond our control. After I'm done here, I need to go to the bazaar to buy a razor and shaving cream. I've used an electric razor my whole life. Why do I need to buy this stuff? Beacuse I stupidly plugged my razor in without a power converter and fried it. Replacement razors are expensive and scarce here.
So there it is. I apologize if I seem like I'm constantly complaining on here, but I AM!!! I keep telling myself things will get better and I'm hoping they will. We are already in the planning stages of getting our permanent sites. We find out in 2 weeks and then go to visit them for a week. Part of the reason for the Kyiv visit was so we know where to go by ourselves when we come back to headquarters for a debriefing. I just want to get my own place and start living a somewhat normal life again.
The weather was perfect yesterday and today it is going to snow. I guess I took the Montana weather with me. The best part is, the heat in our building has been shut off for the year and I freeze at night now because I didn't bring a sleeping bag. Some people say their sleeping bag is the best thing they brought. I say the best thing I brought was my gigantic bottle of Tums which is almost gone by now. So add that to the fact that the Ukrainians I've met don't use soap when they do dishes, don't open windows on buses when it is hot outside because breezes could kill a person, don't brush their teeth or bathe properly, and I could go on. I knew I would have to make some cultural adjustments and it's not all that bad. I just don't understand some things here. I should justify all of this by saying Ukrainians are all around better people than us. They are extremely family-oriented, peaceful and hospitable. The women here are all attractive, everyone stays in great shape. There is no "bar scene" really. People would rather stay home on the weekends and be with family. They take their holidays very seriously, they respect one another and cherish what they have; quite the opposite from how we operate in the states.
So, yes, I'm hanging in there. No, I'm not quitting yet. Yes, I miss all of you, but I have a lot to experience first.
Thanks for listening to my rants and complaints. Have a good week!

Kyiv Pictures

2007-04-29T02:43:00.000-07:00

Of the 90 pictures I took yesterday, these made the final cut...

God, we are cool!

Zach and I taming a legendary, extremely dangerous fire-breathing dragon.

Can someone please confirm that this is, in fact, Wilford Brimley? I thought he was dead, but I stand corrected..

My brief visit to heaven.

Our cluster posing for the cover of our family band album cover. Watch out Partridge Family!!!

This cathedral was designed by the same guy who designed some of the most famous cathedrals in St. Petersburg.

This is us walking into exactly where we weren't supposed to go for safety sake. The best quote was when we came out of an underground tunnel and found ourselves directly in the middle of the protestors. Someone from our group summed it up by simply stating "Oops."

Let's play a game. Can anyone find the drunk guy passed out with his head next to a sewer vent? It's kinda like "Where's Waldo?" but different.

I'm not sure, but I think the girl in front was ready to nail me with pepper spray.

This was a fraction of the protesting going on there. Those tents are full of people camping out in the center. I sat here wainting for Bono to take the stage, but it never happened.

The few, the proud, the Peace Corps. I'm the guy with no stomach.

Quick Hello

2007-04-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

I am meeting some people later and had some time to kill since we had a short work day so I thought I'd zip into the internet club.
I'm in better spirits today and the stomach meter is back to 92%. I am excited to do some traveling tomorrow. It sounds like all 75 of us are heading to Kyiv tomorrow to see the Peace Corps offices and sightsee.
Last night was a late UNO night (PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SEND ME SOME OTHER GAMES!!!). Today we had to do presentations in language class and I did mine on my life in Billings. I showed pictures and translated everything into Russian.
Now wer are going to play soccer and unwind at the beer tent because it is beautiful outside for once!

One Month Analysis

2007-04-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

1 down and 26 to go.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Somewhere between the expired eggs that the markets don't refrigerate, the raw meat I eat on a daily basis and the canned goods that expired in 2005, I caught food poisoning on Thursday. It wiped me out for 4 days, but somehow I still managed to attend all of my meetings and classes.
Sunday was just an awful day. The party Saturday night was fun even though I had to hear a lecture about how Ukrainian parties are much better. After the party the drama started when we took cabs to the disco. Long story short, people were buligerant and there was a serious lack of communication. I did nothing wrong and Sunday my host family was not talking to me nor was their friends. Olga started talking to me again Monday and my host mom is finally coming around. We had a long talk about our cultural differences. That day I was seriously ready to pack up and get the hell outta there. On top of that, I somehow broke Nikita's favorite toy gun, the satellite dish went out as I had control of the remote and I forgot to eat this discgusting cheese Andrey spent money on just for me. Did I mention I spend most of my free time either sitting on or kneeling in front of the toilet or watching ridiculous movies? Andrey scored about 10 English DVDs for me. Unfortunately between "What a Girl Wants" and "My Big Fat Wedding", the choices were not so great. You know when I am watching "Cheaper By the Dozen" and loving it, things are bad. Oh yeah, and their pet guinea pig died on Tuesday and Nikita was devastated. Hmmmm....wonder why he died (shut up, Heather).
Tuesday I had my first of 6 classes on grant-writing. It was interesting but it is going to be a long 3 weeks of this class. There was a voulnteer there who has been in for a year and she shared some stories with us. We also heard a Chernihiv native tell us how appreciative he is that we are doing all of this in his city. After that, we went to one of the many beer tents to hang out for Brian's birthday. I was sick so stayed for one quick one. There were some cool older Ukrainian guys there and they provided good entertainment (see the pictures below).
Today we had our first meeting with the employment center to discuss our project. We found 2 translators who are 17 year-old girls who speak amazing English and 5 other languages. The meeting went a completely different direction as we ended up drinking tea and talking about soccer and coming out with a plan of doing a completely different project for them. It is still a good thing we're doing, but not what any of want to do. We have to sit in on 2 Russian seminars next week and be guest speakers after that. Then we are doing a train the trainer workshop for them. At least it's still somewhat in my field.
Saturday my cluster is heading to Kiev to sight-see and do a small amount of work for the day. I'm just excited to have a change of scenery and see more of Ukraine. We are also talking about a trip to Egypt. For $400 we can take a 5-day all expenses paid trip there. Some of the people have been there before and say it is just awesome.
Well, I'm gonna go puke now. I'll probably see the doctor Saturday in Kiev. I'm feeling a little better today and have discovered an amazing musli-granola cereal with hot (expired) milk that is really the best thing I've eaten here so far.
Thanks for all of your phone calls, emails and most importantly your support and encouragement. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life (well almost) and although I spend 6 days wanting to come back home, the 7th day is always rewarding beyond words. Hearing from you guys really means a lot to me and I miss all of you!

More Pictures

2007-04-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Viva Ukraine! It's a tough job, but it's the least I can do for my country.

A cool building in downtown Chernihiv.

A great picture.

Every meeting we attend has USA flowers, flags, etc, and of course....tea.

Me and my host mommy.

another one.

Marina and our departed little friend whose name I never learned to pronounce.

Me and Little Nikita. He is eating what they refer to as a potato chip. Me and Olga #13 (the one with a kid who lives by us).

This is me getting made fun of for attempting to prepare a Ukrainian recipe.

A Ukrainian toast at my party last Saturday.

My cluster (minus Teri)

A local Ukrainian showing Brian how to properly rip a fish's head off and eat it on Brian's birthday.

Week #4

2007-04-20T05:40:00.000-07:00

This week was bananas. We made visits to the Chamber of Commerce and met with the heads of all the youth organizations and NGO's in the city. Our visits are now all done. Yesterday our mission was to analyze all of our visits and come up with 6 community projects based on these organizations' needs. We came up with HIV/AIDS, NGO Advising, Professional Women in Ukraine, Sister Schools in America, Youth Development and my idea was an Employment Assistance seminar. I got 5 people to join my project. We are meeting tonight to discuss the details, but right now the plan is to put on a seminar in a few weeks in which we assist young people and unemployed citizens on interviewing skills, putting together resumes, etc. I am glad there was interest in this because this is what I wanted to do out here since most of my experience is in this field.
Today I had my first evaluation. They pretty much just drilled me on safety, health, language and community integration and asked what my concerns were. It sounds as if they want to break up our cluster and break us into 2 groups, but none of us want to leave.
Wednesday, we had some people over and we played cards with a Ukrainian deck...it was like learning all over again. Olga and her kid spent the night and it was a late one.
Yesterday we were supposed to go to a Russian sauna. Those of you who haven't heard, I guess they get you completely naked and beat you with a birch branch. You then diuve into ice cold water. It sounds insane, but I hear the next morning you are a changed person. I hope they mean that in a good way. At any rate, the girl that made our reservations screwed up and we have to reschedule.
We are talking about traveling to Kyiv next weekend. Some people are going this weekend, but the demonstrations in the capital are bacoming violent and Peace Corps is recommending holding off. On top of that, I am running low on cash this pay period. I have been buiying a lot of groceries. I store them in the kitchen, but the next day it is all gone. That kinda stuff is considered rude in the states, but obviously not here. I have come to the conclusion that I either need to store it in my room or at our language instructor's apartment. Most of my money goes to minutes for my phone and food. It was nice to talk to Shawna (briefly), Jessica and my family this week. Julie, I will try this weekend.
Tomorrow my host family wants to have some Americans over so I invited about 10 people over to play games and then we are all going to the disco...again. It should be a blast if all goes well.
There is an American here at the internet club right now. It's kinda weird to hear an American voice.
Chernihiv is finally starting to feel like home. I am not scared to walk down the street or ride the buses anymore and that is a good sign. It's going to suck when we have to move again after making friends and establishing ourselves here.
Until later
До Свиданю И До Завтра

IMPORTANT!!!

2007-04-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

First, I can't express how grateful I am for all of you that have sent out packages.
I found out yesterday that you are not allowed to mail food or CD's/DVD's here. If you want to mail me this stuff, don't declare it on the customs label. Instead, you may write "personal belongings" on it and it won't be inspected and confiscated. Shawna and my parents' packages most likely won't ever get to me because they wrote "food" on the shipping label. I'm really bummed about this because I could really use a care package about now. The best bet is to just wait until I am moved in to my permanent site and you can mail it to me directly there with little to no problems.

Random thoughts

2007-04-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

I'm obviously bored and in the typing mood.
I had an hour-long conversation about Ukrainian music the other day with my host family. Let me paint the picture for you on what a typical day is like at my house. From 7am to 2am Marina has the radio blasting. The station plays the same 10 songs over and over and over. The music here is pretty much all techno or really bad pop music. I am going insane and you know it's bad when you start to sing along to bad pop music in another language. As most of you know, I am a rock and roll kinda guy and despise pop music. I finally asked them if there are any rock groups in Ukraine or radio stations. The response was that there were some, but nobody listens to that kinda music because Ukrainians are peaceful people. I just shut up and buckled up for a long 2 years. However, The Rolling Stones and The Scorpions are coming to Kyiv in the next couple months.
Next topic...
I am having difficulty remembering some of the cultural differences here. For example, empty bottles are not allowed on tables so after I am done with my beer, I can not for the life of me remember to put the empty bottle on the floor.
Smiling. Ukrainians don't believe in smiling. They instruct us not to smile as it draws attention to us. If you smile at someone on the street, they assume you are a lunatic. If you smile at a baby or tell the mother it's cute, that baby will have a bad life according to urban legend.
I love to whistle and if you whistle indoors in Ukraine, it brings bad luck into the house.
I always forget to wear my slippers around the house and it is pretty much mandatory in Ukraine to wear slippers (tapachkeys) all the time.

I have been watching "Lost In Translation" over the last week. One reason is because it is one of my favorite films and the other reason is because that is pretty much my life right now.
I realized how limited my DVD collection is here. If anyone sends a package out, slide some movies in there for me. ANYTHING!!!

Some of the topics we have been learning in language class so far are: Getting Acquainted (how to greet someone and tell them about yourself), food (how to order in restaurants and markets) and time and weather. Speaking of which, 2 more things I can't get used to is the wacky celcius tempurature scale and military time. When someone says it's 30 degrees at 17:30. I wanna climb into a hole.

That's all I got today. We are getting internet at home sometime this week so hopfully I can post more and add more pictures. I'm off to watch "Smokin Aces" in Russian and eat fish eggs and duck liver after squating in the shower and cramping up. Viva La Peace Corps!!!

PICTURES!!!!! (thanks Rachel!)

2007-04-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

Some friends (Ukrainian and American) at the birthday bash. This was just about the only picture I could post here that wouldn't get me in trouble.

some pictures from Friday's school production...

This is me trying a Ukraianian delicacy called Salo. Salo is essentially raw pig fat placed on bread and supplemented with a clove of garlic. Almost as good as Ukrainian meat jello or fish soup. You can tell how much I loved it.

Ukrainian McDonalds gourmet lunch with some of the PCV's that were in town Saturday.

Some of my clustermates cooking that pasta lunch on Friday.

BEST PICTURE EVER!!! After me singing "Yesterday" during a karaoke sing-off.

I believe this was Easter dinner #3 before heading out to the disco party. Geoffrey is a PCV and is in the front right. It was his birthday and his host parents are sitting at the end...they rock!

The local cathedral.

Pasxa (Easter) Sunday at the church and the blessing of the baskets.

A typical night of playing UNO. My host "parents" on left and their friends on right.

Some of my technical training classmates.

Some of our technical trainers.

Olga's apartment where we have language class everyday. Olga is on the right.

Our living room (although we just rearranged it when Andrey got satellite tv with 2000 channels)

My bedroom...notice the huge, comfy bed :)

My host family (Andrey, Marina and little Nikita)

Here we are waiting for a bus. This activity occurs about 10 times/day.

Not sure what this is, maybe a museum, but this is the main square.

One of the main roads in my home town.

Lenin statue in the main square of Chernigiv.

This was our room...nice and cozy for 3 grown men.

This is the room we stayed at in Prolosok. This is the lovely bathroom I described a few weeks ago.

Another Week Gone 2

2007-04-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

I will try to remember what I wrote last time.
Thursday we visited a school where the kids are taught English. On top of that, they are fluent in Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and German. I can barely handle 2 languages. We met with the principal where she said we could show up at any time to teach a class at her school. I think I would like to try that if I could find some free time. We also broke into groups of 4 and got to sit in on a class. There the students asked us questions about America and American people. It was rather moving when one girl said her dream was just to see the statue of liberty even once. Here we have it at our disposal and we sometimes take things for granted, I think. The best question was what extreme sports do you play. Apparently they know about the X-games and snowboarding.
Friday we had our language class where our project was to come up with a recipe, go to the bazaar and order the ingrediants and then come back and cook it. We ended up doing spaghetti. After language, we went to a social welfare center where part of the group sopke Ukrainian and the others spoke Russian. It was a complete mess and from here on out we realize we need an interpreter at all times. After that meeting a small handful of us were invited to a different school where the students put on an hour-long production entitled "Welcome to Ukraine" ALL IN ENGLISH! It was simply amazing as these kids did traditional dances and songs, played instruments and taught us about their culture.
Earlier in the week I was really down in the dumps, but after these 2 visits, it sorta uplifted my spirits and re-energized me little.

This last weekend was pretty laid back. I got to talk to my folks and my brother and Karen in her birthday. Friday was that insane party, Saturday we just sat around the apartment drinking beer and talking and Sunday I studied a ton, ate a great dinner and Olga and her son came over and we took some hilarious pictures. I think I'm up to 200 pictures now.

Today after language, we visited an NGO that speciaized in collecting data for the economies of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. They want us to work with them on some projects, some of which involve NATO and the Embassy. It was a laid back meeting and most people thought it to be very productive. After that, a small group of us went to get some pizza...now I'm here. Using Rachel's advice, I shrunk down some pictures and will attempt to post them now (kinda nervous). If this works, you will forever be known as a goddess, Rachel.

2007-04-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

I posted something this morning, but it's not showing up here. The internet here is really screwy. I just got back from doing some sightseeing with 3 clusters that were in town from small villages. There were about 20 people that came here and the first place they wanted to go was McDonald's. I think everyone is tired of Ukrainian cuisine at this point. It was so great to see them! Those of us that live here in Chernigiv feel so lucky that we live in a big city after hearing the stories these people told us of their peace corps experience so far. Apparently, this guy Adam who I met briefly at prolosok dropped out because he missed his girlfriend too much. Join the club, buddy. Another one bites the dust. It's almost as if I'm on survivo and someone gets voted off the island once/week.
I'm going to wait to see if anything shows up from my earler post before I retype it all, but some things I forgot to mention. Friday the 13th was insane. At 7am, I was in a bus accident. The trolley buses here run on suspended cables. Well, the cable came crashing down throught the ceiling of the bus and we went from going 40 mph to 0 mph instantly. We all went flying and we were covered in dust. A babooshka landed in my lap.
(side note: a babooshka is an old lady in Ukraine. They have been through so much in their lives that everyone respects them beyond belief and they rule the land. We need to always give seats up on buses for them and things of that nature. They are often seen on the streets selling various items.)
Nobody was seriously injured and the driver ran up the ladder and ran around getting us back on the road within 10 minutes.
In my language class, I had to deliver a 5 minute presentation in Russian. I ended up putting together a slide show of pictures taken on Easter and making up a fake story as the Holly Dolly song played in the background. It was a success as I had everyone rolling and my instructor was laughing so hard she was crying. Teri's presentation was about her daughter and she started to ball in the middle of it because she misses her so much. That in turn got everone choked up and we all needed a breather. It is comforting to know that everyone is missing home as much as I am.
I think I'm off to play some soccer here in a bit. Here's to another insane week!
I love you all!!!
and in case it didn't go through...
Happy Birthday, Karen!!!

Another Week Gone

2007-04-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

A Quick Update

2007-04-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

More clarification: There are 5 or 6 clusters of us in Chernigiv. A cluster is a small group you attend language and technical training with. My cluster consists of Megan who is younger from Denver, Zach who is 23 from southern California, Brian who is from New York and plays the guitar he brought with him. I think he is from Cali as well. Suzi is in her 50's and from San Diego and Teri is in her 40's or 50's and I don't know where she is from.

I have been buried with homework. We get at least an hour or two worth of language homework every night, we have a ton of reading to do, we have techincal home assignments twice a week and we have to give a presentation on Friday in Russian. My presentation is a slide show about what I did Sunday night. I have some hilarious pictures to show my cluster. I just wish I could share them here.
Last night, I got home and started to study, but my host dad was so proud of the fact that he pirated a copy of "300" in Russian with English subtitles that he hooked up his computer to the tv and made me watch all 2 hours worth. I then had to eat dinner (eggs) and as I was going to study, my host mom begged me to play UNO. She said she would do my homework for me if we could play after. I let her help me a little but then studied on my own and fell asleep. Luckily we didnt have to turn in the assignment today.
After class, we met at McDonalds where I had 2 double cheeseburgers and it was everything I remember it to be. We then walked to the main employment center and we had a roundtable discussion with the president and vice president. I was amazed how advanced it was. It is pretty much identical to employment centers in the states. We left there about a half hour ago and after leaving this internet club, I am going to a office supply store to buy some decent pens and paper. They gave us all graphing paper and it drives me insane.
Many of you have been having difficulty calling me. I just got the scoop 2 minutes ago. You need to dial 011 380 and then my complete phone number which starts with 0. Email me if you want it. I'm hoping this actually works.

Easter Weekend

2007-04-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to everyone!
This last weekend was a wild experience. Saturday, I met up with Megan, Zach, Jason and Mike and we walked around the city. We found this huge foot bridge that crossed the river and walked over it to this forest where we just hung out for a bit. At that point I was starving as I thought we were meeting for lunch not to explore Ukraine by foot. We went to another pizzeria and I enjoyed an amazing pie. I cruised home and the rest of the group continued on to do something else. I ate dinner and went to bed early as I knew we had to be up at the crack of dawn.
Easter (or Pasca in Ukraine) is a huge 3-day celebration. We woke up at 5am and got ready for church. As we strepped outside into the freezing air, you could hear choir music echoing throughout the city and hundreds of people (I mean everyone) was outside carrying their Easter baskets to the church. At the church everyone grouped up outside as the pastor blessed everyone and their baskets. From what I understand, in the baskets is the food they were unable to eat during lent. It is also part of Pasca supper. To my surprise there wasn't a church service, that was all there was. We met up with Marina's sister and her family and Marina's mom. We then drove to Andry's family's house for an early meal. At the meal was an endless supply of vodka and wine. I didn't want to even think about drinking at 6am, but didn't want to be the odd man out either so here I am doing shots of vodka with about 15 Ukrainans at breakfast. They asked me what day of the month I was born and I said 12. That opened up a can of worms as my new mission, as is a tradition, was to eat 12 pieces of different Pasca bread which is a sweet bread they eat on this holiday. I only made it to 5 by the end of the night. We came home after dinner and we all took a nap. We woke up and headed out around 6pm to Andrey and Marina's friend's house. She is an English teacher so it was a relief to have a translator finally. We ate another huge dinner and drank another bottle of vodka. We then ventured into the other room where I was forced to karaoke.
(side note: I had heard rumors that Ukrainians love the song "Yesterday" by the Beatles, and I read someone's blog where they made him karaoke it a million times. While I thought it was funny and probably overinflated, sure enough they made me sing "Yesterday". I also found out one of the guys in my cluster was forced to learn that song on the guitar.) Nonetheless, I rocked it out and by the end of the night I was an instant superstar. I have some amazing pictuers of the entire day's events, but once again, can't figure out how to shrink the size down to post them here.
Around 10pm, we took a cab to the local disco where Andrey had reserved a table and a bottle of ....vodka. We stayed there until 2:30 am and danced the night away. For those of you who want a taste of Ukraine, download a song by HollyDolly called "the Dolly Song". That song is huge out here and I was forced into doing the Russian dance in the middle of a circle of Russians at the disco to that song.
I came home, and called my parents to wish them Happy Easter and passed out.
Monday, I woke up late and was a half hour late to my technical language training. I caught a lot of crap for that, but my alarm clock battery popped out...totally not my fault. We were done somewhat early and I went home afterwards, ate dinner, studied for 3 hours and passed out.
Today we had language and technical training prepping us for community visits this week. Tomorrow we visit an employment center, Thursday we visit a school and sit in on a classroom and answer questions, Friday we go to social services. Busy week.
On a horrible note, my friend Travis quit yesterday. He was one of the people I was hanging out with in Philly. I will miss the guy and I am sick of seeing my friends leave so soon even though the thought has crossed my mind on occasion. I am beyond culture-shocked and homesick.

Some clarification: There are 75 of us total in my group. There are other Americans here from previous groups. We are the 32nd group to arrive in Ukraine. 25 of us business/community developers are here in Chernigiv and the rest of the youth developers are in small villages thoughout the country. After our training, we get sent out to our permanent sites where there may be zero Americans around.

That is all I have for right now. The weather has been cold, snowy, rainy and horrible this week so far.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Connie (if she is reading this). I am deeply saddened for your loss.

Another not to JJ: Thanks for sending me my first care package! You rock and I know you can relate to my homesickness.

One Week Down

2007-04-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

As for the pictures, I dont know what to do. The files are too large when I try to upload or email them. I even tried on about 3 different computers. I'll keep working on it but if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Last night Andrey, Marina and I went out for pizza which was the best meal I've had yet. It was nice to have a taste of home. I didnt think I'd miss good food this much. After that, we picked up Nikita from kindergarten. His teacher gave me her phone number so I can call her daughter. Apparently she is learning English and I am to help her with it....awkward. We then went to the university where they work and I tried to upload pictures on the internet to no avail. I saw Andrey's dad there and he made me do a shot of vodka. One thing I noticed here is that all professionals drink and smoke in their office during the day. Even the teachers drink champagne between classes. One of Andrey's co-workers found out I was not married and tried to set me up with her "beautiful" daughter. Another one insisted I was a spy from the FBI.
We finally went home and cleaned the house together. Apparently Ukrainians can't do any physical work over Easter weekend. They take this holiday pretty seriously and I am to attend a church ceremony on Sunday morning. I have been so tired and am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. I lucked out in the fact that my host family likes to saty up late and sleep till noon. After we finished cleaning, Andrey and I watched Fight Club in Russian. One hasn't lived until he sees Brad Pitt speak dubbed Russian. I went to bed after finally having an early night.
Today after language class, we had our first medical training session where I got 2 more shots. They also spent about 2 hours on STD's and HIV. We all had to put condoms on rubber penises. It was the most embarrasing, awkward yet hilarious moment of my life; I wish I had my camera.
Got news today the so far 2 people have quit. One couldn't hack it anymore and I'm not sure what the other's story is since he is in a different town. That kinda news brings us all down. We are all feeling uneasy and today was the first day I really missed home and asked myself why I am here. Supposedly this is normal. At any right, I was sorry to see these people have to leave.
For those of you that have been watching CNN, everything is cool in my part of Ukraine. Most of the action is in Kyiv. For those that haven't heard, Ukraine is on the edge of a civil war and there is buzz about evacuation if it gets violent. They are calling for a new election for prime minister and people are divided as to which to side with. Their have been hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians rallying in the streets in the larger cities, but so far it is all peaceful. The news is blowing it up far worse than it is.
Tonight I beleive we are just going to play games and maybe drink some beers. I am beyond tired at this point. The Peace Corps is cramming so much into these 3 months it is insane. Between technical and language homework and reading assignments, socializing with my host family and just living life, I am completely drained.
I wish all of you a Happy Easter and I'll write more next week. This internet cafe rules and I dont k,now if I told you but one of the attendents here speaks English.

Some Pictures

2007-04-05T06:20:00.000-07:00

Right now I can't post pictures, but I am working on it...sorry.

Problems

2007-04-04T06:01:00.000-07:00

For some reason, this site is acting up. I have some good pictures, but it won't let me upoad them on this computer. Also, the last post is screwed up. If you click on the subject line you can read the whole thing. I am not going to type it all over again. Sorry. I miss you all and life is good!

another day

2007-04-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

This is the most surreal thing a person can experience and I strongly believe every American should do something similar. When you see how excited people get over a stick of gum, a quarter, or even a map of their hometown, it really puts things into perspective. Living with people who don't speak your language is a total mind blow as well.
Monday was my first day of language training. We spend 4 hours a day in our teacher's apartment. After class, our cluster walked around the square and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. After that I went back to my teacher's apartemnet as I was the first one to get tutored. We have to put in so many hours of tutoring a month. Andrey took me and picked me up so I can learn the bus routes to Olga's apartment. The transportation is a little intimidating. When we got home, Andrey and I bought a couple beers and hiked to this huge river near his house. The weather has been amazing and we just relaxed and had a very awkward conversation. It really helps my Russian when the people you talk to know only about 20 words in English. After that we came back, ate, I talked ot my parents and then played UNO until 2am.
Tuesday after language class I had my first technical training class in a school downtown. I have technical training every Tuesday and Thursday. Today we just had an overview of our projects. When that was over, I took the bus by myself for the first time. I figure I'm good as long as nobody talks to me. I stopped at the market and picked up some food for lunches. I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I ended up with some bologna, I think, cheese, OJ and cookies to share with everyone. When I got home, Andrey and I walked ot the internet cafe,m but it was too crowded. Weinstead ended up playing soccer (futbol). Futbol is huge out here and Andrey is a former futbol champion. I was just amazed I could keep up. We came home and showered (not together) and then had a small dinner party. Marina invited her best friend Olga over for dinner and games. Dinner was a pasta dish with pork. After dinner we played a mean game of UNO which I won. During the game they were all having a conversation which was over my head. after teh game it dawned on me that they are trying to set me up with Olga. The thing is, she knows zero English. The only thing she knows is "oops". At any rate, the rest of the night was awkward. She left and I studied before bed. I tried to call Shawna and Jessica because I wanted to hear a familiar voice, but since it was the middle of the day I couldnt get a hold of anyone.
Today after language training, we had our best suits on for a meeting with the Mayor. That was a trip. As soon as we walked into the courthouse, we were bombarded with news media and paparazi. It was a very formal meeting where his group sat in an elevated panel and I had to talk to him briefly in Russian in front of 25 of my peers and Olga (teacher Olga). For the most part they were very welcoming. We also met the head of the militia. When that was over I walked around with some people and we got lunch in this cafeteria in a courthouse. I ate a salad that consisted of eggs and beets and to my surprise anchovies. Thank God another guy's host mom bought me a candy bar. We then went to get cell phones for a few people and I bought an umbrella because it started to rain and I forgot to pack one. I am now killing time at an internet cafe before I need to meet up with Marina. We are going to the university because her co-workers are dying to meet me. At least one of them speaks English. It's always nice to have a translator around.

lots of reading and catching up

2007-04-04T05:06:00.000-07:00

I've been journaling everyday since I dont have direct access to the internet. I am pasting everything here so feel free to read as much as you want, but I hope you read it all. I'm loving life and I miss you all!!!

Last night of staging was a blast. We went to a Mexican restaurant where I ate my last American dinner. We then went to the same pub again where pretty much all 80 of us showed up to annoy the local Philly folks. After the bars closed, I walked back to the hotel with Travis, Adam and Eryn. We ended up walking through Penn’s campus and posing for some amazing pictures along the way. Travis and I are convinced we are going to shoot an award-winning Ukrainian film while out here. There is even a girl called Jamie who has connections with Sundance Film Festival that maybe we can sweet talk.

Monday morning, I woke up and ran around downtown Philly looking for a laptop lock.
I found a good one, but it cost me $45. We all checked out on time and loaded onto 3 buses. At the last minute, one girl had still not received her luggage and it was finally getting delivered at the last minute. It arrived just in time for us to leave. We took off just in time and drove for 3 hours through New York City (including Times Square) and ended up at JFK airport in time to eat and spend a couple hours in a boiling-hot airport before boarding. Apparently this airport isn’t allowed to turn on their air conditioning until summer is officially on. I mean, it was HOT!!!
We got into Frankfurt, Germany on time. It was really cool flying over “the motherland”. I really want to visit Germany and see more of it at some point. Our flight to Kyiv was delayed because of our large group and the amount of luggage. The entire group got on the plane, but when all was said and done, about 30 of us were missing at least 1 luggage. I was missing 1 suitcase, but others were missing everything...even the carry-ons they made them check. Originally we were all supposed to take off together, but since so many of us lost luggage, the one group took off ahead of us. Our group had to wait in line for about 3 hours and fill out customs forms for our lost bags. Once we were all done, we were able to head out of the airport….finally! As they were loading the bus, we were able to eat a banana, a candy bar, and drink a juice box. We had to hurry up because the Ukrainian Prime Minister was about to arrive at the airport and they were waiting for our bus to get out of the way. We took the 1 hour drive on the bus from the airport to Prolosok (snowdrop). The drive was interesting. There was a lot of normal city life (McDonalds and all) and then a lot of forests and fields getting burned. You could definitely notice the pollution in the air. We arrived at Prolosok around 7pm. Imagine the most run-down camp you ever went to as a kid and then multiply it by 20. It was rather beat-up to say the least. We were just happy to be somewhere and at that point that had somewhere to sleep horizontally since we were all so jet lagged. They unloaded our bags and our group was starving at that point. The other group was already done eating and were getting ready to play a game of soccer. We all went into the cafeteria and enjoyed out first official Ukrainian meal which consisted of a small chicken breast, rice, bread cucumbers and tomatoes. They had candy bars, tea and coffee for dessert. At the end of dinner, a Ukrainian couple in full costume came in and offered everyone this festive bread that everyone takes a piece, dunks in salt and toasts. After dinner, I put my 1 suitcase in storage, met up with Travis and we hung out in Eryn, Jen and Laura’s room after watching some Duck Tales season1 in another guy’s room. I had to live in a super small room with 2 roommates (Jonathan and Greg) and we all were so tired we started to have some crazy vocal dreams in the middle of the night.

The next morning we ate some cheese, cucumbers and other staples of the Ukrainian diet and then attended some classes. There was a volunteer from another group that gave a lecture, I found out I am to learn Russian and had my first Russian class (which sucks because I had put in so much time learning Ukrainian), and we had some other workshops. The United States ambassador stopped in to visit all of us as well. We then ate some sort of pork and noodles and some soup with onion and tomatoes and then went up to the room before meeting up to watch “Volunteers” (a great Peace Corps comedy starring Tom Hanks) in the campus theater. After that, we all went to the one small store on campus and bought out all the vodka and had a mad party in the downstairs discoteque where we played some guitar, listened to music and just hung out talking. Even at this point, I am still meeting more and more trainees that I haven’t had the chance to meet yet. In our rooms, they supplied us with bananas, water, juice and apples so we took the juice down to the ball room and had something to mix the vodka with. I was able to talk to my parents briefly today with a phone card they gave us and I am now wrapping up the night after a luxurious shower. This shower is basically a huge elevated step with no shower curtain where you use this nozzle to hydrate, lather, rinse, etc. It is extremely unreal, but entertaining nonetheless….not to mention the water is hot so that makes a huge difference. I guess some of the rooms do not have hot water and they have to squat the whole time because the hose is not long enough.

Friday, we attended more classes and ate more cucumbers. I swear I have lost about 5 pounds already. We got assigned out clusters (people we will be living near). In my cluster is Megan, Brian, Zach, and Teri. Our instructor’s name is Olga (pronounced “Ola”). She seems really cool. We got our assigned communities in which we will be shipping out to. There are 4 clusters of 5 people moving to my area. We will be moving to a city called “Chernohigiv” which is about 2 1/2 hours north of Kyiv. After a surprisingly delicious dinner of cabbage rolls and a beet and egg salad, most of us headed back to our rooms to study while some of the others stayed in the theater to watch a movie (I think it was Blood Diamond). At this point a small handful of people are really homesick and some are talking of quitting although I’ll believe it when I see it. One thing is clear, there is always going to be ups and downs. Yesterday my luggage was still lost and my ipod died on me. Today my luggage arrived and my ipod is working again. I’m having a great time, but am a little nervous about meeting my host family tomorrow. I hope they speak a little English or at least some Ukrainian as my Russian is extremely horrible at this early stage.

Welcome to Saturday…the most surreal day of my life to date and the most nerve-wrecking day thus far on my big adventure. This morning we attended classes on what to expect from our host families. The staff performed some funny skits about possible situations we may find ourselves in. After that, we had a quick safety workshop about water, vegetables and things of that nature. We ate a nice lunch of pork and rice which, by the way, I tried this stuff on the table which is essentially ketchup mixed with hot sauce. It is amazing and I can’t believe no one has brought this to the states yet. We had about an hour after lunch to get our stuff together and meet in the lobby where about 5 different buses were picking us up to take us to our cities (oblasts). I said some sad goodbyes to friends and we got on our bus to Chernohigiv. When we arrived, we drove by a McDonalds and other familiar things and they let us out in the downtown square where slowly host families began to meet us and take us away. I was the third to last to leave and was getting more nervous (probably more nervous than I’ve ever been) by the second. During the bus ride I frantically tried to scrape together a few words and expressions in Russian to make things less awkward. While we were waiting on the sidewalk 2 Ukrainian girls came up to Jonathan and me and started flirting with us. I think they were amazed by us and thought we were movie stars. Finally, my host father came up to me and in a very awkward 2 minutes with the help from my language instructor, we were off. My host father’s name is Andrey and he is 29 years old. His father and 6 year-old son were in the car and his father drove us to their flat (apartment). This was bar none the most awkward car ride in my life as all my Russian escaped from my head and I froze. The only one that made a lick of sense was Nikita (the son) who knew how to say brother, sister, mother and father in English. The father dropped us off and we walked up to the third floor of the apartment complex where I met my host mother Marina. She is 25. Right away the stress and awkwardness went bye bye and we did our best to communicate. I ended up following them around the apartment while they showed me various things such as the refrigerator, light switch, toothbrush, towel, etc. and I used a notepad to right down the Russian word. Now, get this…this flat is nicer than 80% of the apartments in America. It is a newer place with cable tv (even some English channels), a Roman bathtub with hot water, a washing machine, a home office with a computer and a nice kitchen. Andrey is a movie buff like me and has over 1000 DVDs. He works as a computer programmer for the college of geology studies. Marina works at the same college in a different department. I really lucked out. He offered me a really good beer and we sat down for dinner which was pretty much potatoes, cabbage with egg and some pork. The put it all in a bowl and add mayonnaise. It was actually quite tasty. After dinner, we finished our beers and sat down and watched some crazy Ukrainian television. We ran out of beer and it was Andrey’s night off so I offered to buy more. The three of us walked to the market and I picked up some bottled water, juice, chips and more beer. We came back and I taught them how to play UNO. We played the longest game in history and then showed each other photographs of our families and friends. We drank some more beers and watched Dancing with the Stars (the Ukrainian version) and after an awkward time of “who is going to go to bed first”, I finally caved in and headed back to my room. I never pictured my host family to be like this. I pictured a typical older family and a completely different scenario. Andrey and Marina are 2 people I would have made friends with back in the states. They are way cool and we have a lot in common. My host family is the coolest in the history of the Peace Corps and today was one of the most amazing days of my life.

I slept well last night. Although my room is very nice with a big desk, the bed is a long chair or bench and is similar to sleeping on a big brick with absolutely no cushion. I am not complaining because things could be a lot worse. Today we walked around the market where I bought some slippers. In Ukraine it is essential to wear slippers around the house. Andrey had to lend me some yesterday. I stepped out onto their balcony without slippers and they freaked out. I am slowly adjusting to the ways things are quite different out here. The market is like an outdoor mall. It’s really like a huge flea market in the states. The only unfortunate (or fortunate) thing is that Peace Corps has made me paranoid about getting pick-pocketed. So I am skeptic about anyone who gets near me. With my limited Russian skills, somehow I managed to buy a cell phone today. Incoming calls are free, but I haven’t quite mastered the cost of outgoing calls. In Ukraine, you need to buy a card which stocks the minutes beforehand. At least I won’t be receiving a huge cell phone bill this way. In the flat, we have a pet. He is a guinea pig. They treat him like a cat. I feel kinda bad though because they don’t give him water. I don’t feel comfortable saying anything yet, but I bet the little guy is thirsty as hell. Right now I am hanging out with Marina while Andrey went to pick up Nikita from his grandfather’s house. I believe for dinner we are about to eat fish soup (ugh). For breakfast we had bread with cheese and sausage with honey on it. Is everyone jealous of my eating habits? I am going to lose so much weight. It is kind of a good thing though. It’s like being on a diet with no temptation. The music out here is crazy. All of the stations play one song in Russian or Ukrainian and the next song is bad American pop music (i.e. Spice Girls). Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez are big out here and I just heard a Green Day song on the radio in the kitchen. Thank God I stocked my computer with good music.
До сииданя!

Pictures from Last Night

2007-03-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

This is the group that survived the night. We ended up staying up until 3:30am so we can sleep on the long flight. We ended up strolling around Penn's campus. These guys are great fun!

Travis from Chicago, Jen from Wisconsin, Adam from Arkansas and Eryn.

Last Post for a While (this time I mean it)

2007-03-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

We just wrapped up staging. This is all going so fast already. 27 months will fly by. Today we just did some excerises on cultural differences and went over our plan of attack. My roommate and I just got our baggage in order (Mom, I had to rearrange everything due to last minute changes) and we are off to one final American steak dinner....and, yes, probably a few last beers. We need to check out at 9am and 3 buses leave for New York City at 10:30am.
I won't have internet while in the first few days of training in Kyiv, but will update as soon as possible. Thanks to Jen, Chavella and a few others that have been reading this lately.
I'll be in touch!

Day #1 cont.

2007-03-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

So a small group of us met in the lobby and walked for what seemed to be miles just to find a place to eat breakfast. We ended up eating at McDonalds. That is the longest I have ever walked to eat a sausage egg mcmuffin. From there the group split and Richard, Daisy, me and this guy from the bay area called Hung Chee took the subway to do some sightseeing. We checked out the liberty bell which had more security than the airport, we saw Independence Hall, Ben Franklin's grave, and Betsy Ross's house. It was actually very interesting stuff. We then headed back and Hung Chee and I grabbed a Philly cheesesteak before our meeting at 3pm.
The first hour or so of staging was all icebreaker activities to get to know all 85 of us. It turns out one of the guys in the group graduated from Schaumburg high school (our rival h.s. in Chicago). The best is he asked when I graduated Hoffman and when I said 1993, he responded "Dude, I was in 3rd grade in 1993". I don't think I have ever felt older; what a small world nonetheless. It's a good mix of people; about half men half females and about 15-20 over 50. The meeting ended at 7pm. We maily just touched on our anxieties and expectations as well as some security things. They gave us all $180 to cover cab fare and meals so after the meeting about 15 of us walked to this Indian restaurant for dinner where I was forced into eating goat meat. It was actually kinda good though. After dinner we met up with another group and went to a bar where some stranger bought us all pitchers of guiness and newcastle. I was feeling kinda sick still and needed some rest so this guy Adam from Arkansas and I walked back to the hotel where I am now keeping my roommate awake. I forgot how much it sucks to live in the same room as someone.
GoodNight or Добранiч

Some pictures

2007-03-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

Dinner and drinks...and goat meat sauteed in curry sauce. Also observe the Indian beers we were all pounding.

The almighty Independence Hall

Hung Chee, Daisy, me and some dude who thought he was actually Betsy Ross's buddy (to quote The Office: "I'm about 95% sure that's not the real Ben Franklin")

This is a picture of Richard (my roommate), Daisy and I at the Liberty Bell. Don't you love how we are standing in front of it?)

Day #1

2007-03-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

This is the most surreal thing I have ever experienced. Friday night thanks to my mother, we were able to squeeze 2 years worth of crap into 2 suitcases and a carry-on backpack. I had to use a larger suitcase than originally planned, but we got it all in and both bags were under the 50 lb. weight limit! The bad news is at this point I have a terrible cold (most likely from all the stress and changing weather). This is not a good way to star off the big adventure.
My dad dropped me off at the airport Saturday at noon and my flight left for Denver at 1:20pm. The layover was about 2 hours so I was able to get one last McDonalds fix at the Denver airport. The flight to Phioladelphia was delayed, but I did get to Philly around 11pm. My baggage claim curse continued as my 2 bags were the very last 2 off the carosel. It happens to me everytime and it makes for a very stressful 20 minutes. I caught a packed shuttle to the hotel. Everyone on the shuttle was very quiet and it was awkward. When the shuttle arrived at the hotel, everyone got out and it turned out everyone on it was paret of our group. It was kinda funny, but I was glad because I thought I was going to be the last one arriving that night. After we got our rooms, one of the guys, Joaquin, suggested taking a walk to find a local bar. The hotel is situated right on the university's campus. We took our stuff up to our rooms and met in the lobby about 10 minutes later. My roommate's stuff was there, but he was nowhere to be found. In the end, Joaquin, his roommate Zach, Daisy, and Monica all took a stroll over to this Irish Pub where we got sauced on Guiness and Jamison. At 2am (last call) we stumbled back to the hotel and Daisy recognized my room number as being a friend of hers so she came in and woke up my roommate. She left, I passed out and found myself wide awake at 8am which sucks because this could be my last morning to sleep in. I met my roommate this morning. His name is Richard. He is part of the over 50 group, retired and joined the Peace Corps to experience a new culture and really get to see the world. So far everyone seems really nice. I think I posted pictures of all these guys in a previous post if you care to put a face to the name. They are all from California with the exception of Monica who is from Spokane.
Richard, Daisy and I are going to meet for breakfast at 10am and then I think I'm gonna catch the train to Liberty Square to see the liberty bell, delcaration of independence, etc. I probably should grab a philly cheese steak too. Staging starts at 3pm and goes to 7pm today.
I have internet access in my hotel room so I will be able to post a couple more times. Thanks to Shawna who is the only person to email me so far. I miss you dearly! I also want to thank my parents for letting me stay with them for a few months. I hope I wasn't too much of a pain and I'm sure you're glad to have the house to yourselves again.
Gotta run.

One Last Post...for a while

2007-03-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is my last post until I am able to do so elsewhere. Hopefully I can get on the internet at some point in Philadelphia. From what I am told, I won't have internet or phone access for about the first 10 days out in Ukraine. I will send updates as soon as I am able to.

I posted my mailing address to the side, but this frustrating thing won't cooperate with me and therefore does not look very legible. Here it is again. This will be my address through June:

U.S. Peace Corps/Ukraine
PCV Paul von Rohr
48A Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street
01030
Kyiv, Ukraine

Off I Go.....

So Long, Keg Zoo

2007-03-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

My precious Keg Zoo (named by TJ and Heather after a keg of beer exploded in the backseat 2 days after buying it) is now the padawan learner of Haacky G. I will own another Ford Escape someday. This car treated me well! So long!

Goodbyes & Farewells

2007-03-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

I spent Thursday wrapping up some things on the computer. I still need to strategically choose 500 songs to throw onto my ipod. As far as movies go, I'm going to bring some seasons of The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of Queens, Futurama and Da Ali G Show. I am also bringing some essentials: "Lost In Translation", "Borat", "Goodfellas", "The Godfather", "Napoleon Dynamite", "Anchorman", one or two more comedies, and thanks to Shawna "The Departed".

After finishing my computer stuff, Shawna and I went to see "300" which was a really good flick. After the movie I had to choose my last supper and the winner was Outback Steakhouse's Alice Springs Chicken. It was a heavenly dinner. This morning was full of depressing goodbyes. I had an emotional farewell with Shawna. I said goodbye to Brian & Bill and...my car. I dropped her off at Brian's this morning and it is crazy how attached one can get to a piece of machinery. That car and I have been through a lot together.

Now I am doing laundry, I picked up my dry cleaning and somehow now need to fit 2 years worth of essesntials into one oversized duffel bag, a backpack, and my laptop carry-on. Wish me luck as this is going to be a huge challenge. I am about to eat a Lou Malnatti's pizza for lunch that was shipped to me by the always amazing Jessica in Chicago. After that, I need to take care of my banking situation and pick up some last minute things at WalMart. For dinner, we are heading over to my brother's house for a Mexican feast. I then need to get back home and pack up my room.

I fly out at noon tomorrow. The stress is coming to an end and it's actually a relieving feeling. The only crappy thing is I think I am getting sick. It figures.

2 More Days

2007-03-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

So since Brandy has yet to email me pictures, this is the only one that has surfaced from some guy I don't even know, at least it has all the boys in it. Observe the stickers that Andy made quoting the funniest movie ever Borat "Kiss Me I'm Sexy Time". This may become the only picture that documents the historic St. Patty's Day going-away bash....

Last night I went out for drinks with Shawna and met up with Lindsey and some others. Today I had lunch with Brian at the pickle barrel one last time. I ran more errands for about 2 hours, came home, changed and went to Mackenzie River for some beers and pizza with Andy, Lindsey and their boys. It's always a blast riding around town in his VW bus.

I have made pretty much all of my farewell phone calls at this point with the exception of a select few. All of these goodbyes are taking its toll on me; it can really get exhausting. Saying goodbye to Brian, Andy and Lindsey really sucked.

The Last Week

2007-03-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday: I met up with Andy, Lindsey and Brandy (who was in town from Iowa). We went to the very crowded Yellowstone garage and watched some live music. From there we met up with some other people at Hooligan's and had some dinner and more drinks. We then walked down to the Crystal and had a great time dancing and karaoking. I tore up some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and The Killers. From there we stumbled to the Railyard to watch more live music. Just when I thought the night was over, Kevin convinced a select few to go up to the rims and drink some beers over the city lights. I'm so glad we did because that turned out to be a great time. Finally at 4am the evening ended and I ended up crashing at a friend's house due to having one too many St. Patty's Day cocktails. I took some great pictures, but somehow they all got deleted. When Brandy gets home she promised to email me her copies.
Sunday: I get dropped off at my car and head over to Andy's to drop off his beer stein and say goodbye to Brandy. I then head home to take care of some things on the computer and then my cousins and brother and his family stop over for a turkey dinner.
Monday: I woke up finding myself overwhelmed with things to do. I went to blockbuster video to pay some late fees, I went to the bank to talk about options with my checking account and I had to close my Visa card. I bought Mar and Carrie's wedding gift. I stopped at several places finally finding a Power of Attorney form, I stopped at WalMart and stocked up on some things. I came home watched some Rocky Balboa and ate a great corned beef and cabbage dinner. After dinner I went up to Bullwackers to meet my bother and Toad. We ended the festivities around 10:30pm. I came home, downloaded some music onto my laptop while watching "Sideways".
Tuesday: So far today, I helped my dad sell some things on ebay, we went to get the Power of Attorney form notorized so he can file my taxes for me and now I'm off to mail Mar's wedding gift, buy more stuff at Target and come back to study my CD-ROM. I really want to meet up with Shawna tonight, but I also want to watch "Blood Diamond" in 65" surround sound glory with my dad. Decisions decisions.

T-Minus 7 Days...and counting

2007-03-17T16:02:00.000-07:00

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Exactly 1 week from now, I will be landing in Philadelphia; time is flying.

Yesterday was my last day of work. I am officially retired for 1 week. Everyone I worked with in that department was so awesome and I will miss them. It's crazy how attached you get to people when you spend 8 hours/day with them for 5 months. Thursday they took me to lunch at the Olive Garden, Friday Jennifer made me my most favorite food of the gods thing in the world, her spinach and artichoke dip, and they all gave me a gift bag with the following contents:
- Vitamin C, airborne and Echinecia (because I am always paranoid of getting sick)
- 2 disposable cameras (1 for Italy and 1 for Greece so I can send pictures to them if I make it to those places they are dying to go)
- An old school cassette walkman (because I am always complaining about my ipod)
- A fifth of vodka (speaks for itself)
- 2 Montana shot glasses (see above)
- A book light
- 3 Paperback books (my personal favorite being "The Italian Boss's Secretary Mistress" with Fabio on the cover)

Last night I was having beers with my brother one last time and the girls from work showed up and surprised me. It was a blast hanging out with them and my life is complete now that I saw Fern karaoke Cheeseburger in Paradise. I will miss all of you. Thanks for making the last 5 months fun!

I learned some fun facts about Ukraine. It sounds like I'm going to a different planet or something. Check out some of these superstitions the Ukrainians have:
- Never shake hands in a doorway. It's a form of insincerity.
- Never whistle indoors. Your money will fly out the window.
- Never look a baby in the eye or tell the parents how cute it is. It is bad luck for the baby.
- Never give an even number of flowers. It symbolizes death.
- Never refuse a drink. It is the same thing as refusing a hand shake here.
- Ukrainians like to feed people. If you finish your plate, they will refill it and if you don't eat it all they take offense. I have to strategically remember to leave one morsel of food on my plate when I am done, I guess.
- Never shake a woman's hand unless it's offered to you.
- Take your shoes off when entering a house. Most of the time they will give you slippers when you enter.
- Ukrainians love to make toasts. If they do, you are expected to make one as well and a simple "cheers" or "thank you" is not good enough.

There are more, but those are the most entertaining. I'm hoping by writing them out, it will help me remember all of this.

The Final Stretch

2007-03-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, I leave a week from Saturday. Wow.

I finally got my flight information emailed to me yesterday. I leave Billings at noon on Saturday the 24th and arrive in Philadelphia at 10:15pm. Training starts Sunday afternoon so a group of people are hoping to take in some sights before we start. The bus leaves at 11am on Tuesday, March 27th to take us to the airport and we fly out of New York City at 6pm for a 7-hour flight to Frankfurt Germany and eventually arrive in Kyiv Ukraine at 1:05pm (they are 9 hours ahead of Montana) on the 28th.

I'm still doing my best to learn as much Ukrainian as possible before I leave. I had a great weekend. Friday I went out with Kevin and some friends to visit some of the bars one last time. Saturday morning, Shawna and I drove up to the mountains in Red Lodge and spent the night there. We came back Sunday afternoon and I met up with my niece and nephew to take them to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. I ended up winning the grand prize at skee ball (460,000 points baby!). Skee ball is so fun; I wonder why they never made it into a bar game. At any rate, it was nice to spend time with my brother's kids befroe I take off. Last night, my brother and I did some bar-hopping which was also a great time. On top of that, I watched a great movie called "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" with Robert Downey Jr. and Rosario Dawson. I liked this movie so much, it entered into my top 5 films of 2006 list just after "Blood Diamond". So all in all, with one weekend down and one to go, I'm having great success. This weekend coming up should be both crazy and emotional. My goal is to get some pictures taken so I can post them on here.

The NCAA Tourney starts tomorrow and it really sucks I won;t be here to see how it all play out. I joined the pool at work anyway for the hell of it and have Ohio St. playing Wisconsin in the championship with Ohio St. taking it all. I was just stoked that UNLV finally made it. The first victim is Georgia Tech Friday morning. GO REBELS!!!

The Last Few Days

2007-03-06T19:48:00.001-08:00

Overall, I had a productive weekend. I finished watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Star Wars movies so that's out of the way. I am now ready to be de-nerded for 27 months. I went to Bruno's with Shawna Saturday night for one last fabulous Italian dinner. We also saw "Zodiac" which I highly recommend to everyone. Sunday was spent reading Peace Corps posts online, filling out forms and studying history and language lessons. Some new words I picked up:
I can do it myself
I can't
To sleep
To drink
To eat
Hello
How are you?
You are welcome
Give me, please

I can also now count to 10.

The language is coming along rather nicely. I'm sure I will still be in for a rude awakening when I arrive in Kyiv. After reading through all those posts, it is clear that pretty much everyone is starting to freak out. I don't think I've ever been this stressed out and on-edge before. It's amazing how many things need to be tied up before one can escape the country for 2 years. Things like medical records, bank accounts, credit cards, cell phones, taxes, absentee ballots (since an election will be held in my absense), finding a power of attorney, etc. Add to that stressing about fitting 2 years worth of essentials into two 50 lb duffel bags. I cancelled my car insurance and Netflix subscription last week. I'm renewing my subscription to Entertainment Weekly so my parents can mail out back issues to me periodically. I also called out of paranoia to make sure my visa and passport are in order...everything is good to go. Slowly things are getting knocked out, but everyday becomes a little more nerve-wrecking. It is said that it is normal to have days of doubt and frustration where you question what you are doing. I read the booklet entitled "On the Homefront: A guide for volunteers' families" and it totally freaked me out! That book was really dark and dreary and scared the hell out of me. I guess none of it was new to me, but to read it all in one quick read really hit me hard. Today was one of those "doubting days"...all day. At day's end, I'm back to being excited and that makes all the difference. Plus, hey, it was 70 degrees out today...spring is here!!!

Jessica Jessica JESSICA!!!

2007-03-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

My little buddy Jessica is upset that I don't mention her enough in my blog. Hopefully this will make up for it.

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW APARTMENT AND LEAVING THAT LOSER BOYFRIEND OF YOURS!

(you best be sending me the most letters and gifts of all)

My First Ukrainian Conversation

2007-03-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

So over the last 2 days at work and over drinks with Shawna last night (Isuccessfully passed her test), I memorized all of the vocabulary and phrases that were on this handout entitled "My First Ukrainian Conversation". I wonder what the Peace Corps is trying to do to us because when you take all of this and try to make a paragraph out of it, any normal human being, Ukrainian, American, or any other nationality would recommend me checking into a mental institution. Here is what I know how to say now...

Excuse Me please, who is this? What is your name? Good afternoon, my name is Paul. Yes, I am American. I like fruit, meat and milk. I like juice a little. I don't like vegetables. No, thank you. I want vodka. Delicious! What is this? This is my family. Where is the bathroom? There? Here?? Thank you very much! Good night and good bye.

That's pretty much everything I know in a nutshell. You do the math.

Great Quotes

2007-02-27T21:39:00.000-08:00

This is an exceprt from a fellow volunteer's blog that he wrote the day he left. I thought it was so good that I would rip off the entire thing and post it on mine to share with you all.
Enjoy...

I'll leave you with two quotations about the Peace Corps. The first is from The Great Adventure: "David Crozier lost his life in an air accident while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Columbia. In a sadly prophetic letter to his parents, he said, 'should it come to it, I would rather give my life trying to help someone than to give my life looking down a gun barrel at him.'" My sentiments exactly. The second is from a current Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Ukraine: "The Peace Corps isn't for everyone…just the sexy people."

Good stuff.

The Eagle Has Landed....again

2007-02-27T16:02:00.000-08:00

My staging packet arrived in the mail yesterday and I do believe this is the last mailing I will receive before I leave (unless they mail me my plane ticket to Philadelphia). The package is a lot bigger than I expected and I haven't had a chance to sort through all of it; priorities...I'm watching The Two Towers in 65" surround sound glory. Inside this lovely staging kit is instructions for booking my flight, a handbook for the families of volunteers, another CD-ROM which I have no idea as to what's on it, a bunch of forms I need to fill out and bring with me to Philly, baggage and packing advisories, and information on a Correspondence Match Program where once I'm situated in Ukraine, I can correspond with a U.S. classroom and teach them about my exxxxcelllent adventure. Once I go through all of this, I will give more detail if I find anything exciting to share. The good thing is since I received all of this, my passport and Visa must be good to go and ready for me to pick up in Philly as well.
Like I said, I have been busy taking advantage of the big screen tv while my parents are in Chicago and catching up on some of my favorite movies so I haven't gotten to the internet posts. It looks like there is a lot of good advice and questions in them though and I plan on tackling them in the next few days. I did, however, spend the day at work learning my first batch of Ukrainian words. It's a good thing my job is so brainless that I can take advantage of the time and practice up. This is really going to help me find time to study. At any rate, these words and phrases are what I learned today (I plan on only learning the essentials before I leave)...
Yes/No
Please
Thank You
Thank You Very Much
Excuse Me
What Is Your Name?
My Name Is...
There/Here
Brother
Sister
Mother
Father
What Is This?
Bathroom (a definite essential!)
Water
Juice
Milk
Coffee

Not bad for a day's work. On top of that, I greeted my co-workers with a little "Good Night" in Ukrainian as I left work. I think they thought I was nuts, but they know I have been studying during work time and they are supportive.

Well, I gotta finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy tonight and order a pizza (lovin' the bachelor life right now!). Things are finally starting to come together and I am growing very anxious and excited!

One Month Mark

2007-02-25T21:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm at the one month mark and I'm under 4 weeks until I leave. I sweet talked my way into 3 more weeks of work...my last day is going to be the 16th so I can have one week off to psych myself up. I have started researching the history of Ukraine and am learning a lot. That country has been through so much and so much blood was spilled over the capital city of Kiev. I am excited to actually go to Kiev after reading so much about it. I won't bore you guys with the details about it here, but if you get bored you should check out a Ukrainian history book from the library or read up on it via the internet because it really is interesting stuff. I am continuing my shopping spree. I recently bought some more clothes, I refilled some perscriptions as they recommend taking 2 refills with you, I'm still getting my laptop ready and I'm starting to view my favorite films for what seems like the last time. My parents are in the midwest visiting some people and that leaves me the house to myself. I am eternally grateful to them for letting me stay with them for these last few months, but being 32 and living at home is not the easiest thing in the world. With that said, in their absense, I have converted their living room into a space age bachelor pad complete with the ultimate home theater experience. I am currently watching all of the Lord of the Rings movies and have all the Star Wars movies in queue. I am planning on strategically choosing only 5 movies to take with me so my other favorites need to be watched one last time. I'm also enjoying being able to play my guitar loudly as if I'm rocking out one last encore. On a side note Martin Scorsese finally won an Oscar tonight!!! I was so happy to see The Departed dominate the Academy Awards.
That's about it. I'm awaiting my travel itinerary to arrive in the mail and tomorrow I need to sign up for personal article insurance which will cover my laptop, ipod, etc. I also need to jump online and read through about 200 new posts on our group's message board. I'm sure I'll post again later this week.

The Laptop Chronicles: Part 2

2007-02-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

A few people have complained that I have not posted in a while. I apologize, but the truth is, there really has been no new developments. I am waiting for my staging package to arrive, I have been very very slowly studying Ukrainian history, the language, and reading the handbook.
I did receive the new laptop. My buddy TJ came into town last Tuesday and we met up for some beers and he hooked me up with the goods. I transferred all of my junk over to my new laptop and sold my PC to my friend Brian.
That's all I got at the moment. Until next time.

On the Subject of Packing

2007-02-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

So worrying about what to bring and what to pack is already the highest contributor (besides girlfriend stuff) to my stress level right now. I've come to the conclusion that I will need to have my mom ship out a box of clothes/shoes for me. I have too much neccesities that have priority over clothes (what did I just say?). So I have a small stack of items sitting in my room which includes the books I mentioned in an earlier post, power converter, flashlight keychain, my new digital camera and my new backpack which I may need to exchange. Also, each volunteer is supposed to bring one DVD movie to contribute to the Kiev headquarters office. A list was made so no one duplicates. Everyone is bringing serious movies so to spice things up a bit, I decided to contribute the Austin Powers trilogy. I should be gettting my laptop on Monday and then need to buy a buncha crap for that too. It's looking like it will never end.
I discovered this guy's blog who is currently serving out in Ukraine. This guy is frickin' hilarious. His website is www.cliffgardner.blogspot.com and here is a sample post from him on the subject of packing (obviously before he left)...

The good news is that I’ve got pretty much everything I need for Ukraine. The bad news is that I’m not sure how I’m going to fit two years worth of heroin in my suitcase.
I should probably tell the people who google PEACE CORPS and UKRAINE that I was kidding just then, at least about the sweet lady H.
In the past few days I’ve purchased a lot of helpful crap. My favorite items include:
--Yaktrax! Now, when I’m running around in the inevitable blizzard, at least I won’t fall on my boney yet still somehow cute butt! Cobblestones hurt, so I’d say this is a good thing!
--Super hangers! Take THAT, slacks! I am your boss and you work for me. Don’t ever forget it.
--A personal breathalyzer! See, from everything I’ve read, alcohol use is much more widespread and socially acceptable in Ukraine than in America...try to get your mind around that one for a second...and since I don’t want to be rude to my hosts by turning down shot after shot of vodka, I thought I should at least give myself the capacity to know how drunk I’m getting with a cool little gadget from Sharper Image. Tucker Max-like exploits might very well ensue.

Changes Already

2007-01-31T20:52:00.000-08:00

So I keep hearing about this theme that things are never set in stone in the Peace Corps. Even if they say your job will be this, when you get out to your country they can very well end up putting you in a completely different job. This is what I have heard, but didn't put much weight on it.
Today I got an email from the Ukrainian office and the subject line read "Staging Location Change". Anger stepped in immediately. I was really looking forward to seeing Washington DC. That anger quickly turned into excitement. I was hoping if it got changed it could at least change to Chicago so I can see some people and take care of something I need to do for someone out there that I really care about.
So where are they sending me? Philadelphia. Yeah. Hopefully they change their minds again soon.

The Laptop Chronicles

2007-01-27T21:06:00.000-08:00

This post was supposed to read "I Am Officially 100% Out Of Debt", but things changed and the money went elsewhere....
It was Thursday late evening and I woke up remembering my old buddy TJ who I used to work with here in Billings; he now lives in Laramie, Wyoming. TJ is the techiest (if that's a word) guy I know. He works in the IT world and rebuilds computers. I must have been having a nightmare about laptops or something. I called him Friday morning and asked if he would be able to hook me up with a laptop for a good price. The conversation resulted in him getting me a brand new slimline Dell for $625...fully loaded. He is coming to Billings on business February 5th and he is dropping it off to me then. So now I feel better that I won't be the oddball out there without a laptop.
Today I rented the movie "Everything Is Iluminated" and I'm about to watch it. A lot of people in our group recommended it. It stars that hobbit Elija Wood and it's set in Ukraine. I guess it paints a pretty good picture of what to expect. At least they didn't tell me to watch the movie "Hostel" saying the same thing. From what I remember that was in Ukraine as well.
In other news...
I've been seeing a girl out here and we just had the big discussion about what is going to become of the relationship since I'm leaving in 2 months for 27 months. It's pretty obvious how that discussion ended up seeing how I am on the internet on a Saturday night. There are so many loose ends to tie up in the next 2 months, this is just the beginning.

Some Pictures That Were Sent To Me

2007-01-24T17:18:00.000-08:00

In case I don't get any pictures on this day, this is the former group at their swearing-in event. This happens after our 3-month Pre-Service Training.

This is a shot of Kyiv where our training will be held when we first arrive. It is also the capital of Ukraine for those of you who don't know your geography.

Another shot of Kyiv

This is one of the many cathedrals in Kyiv.

Most of the bars/night clubs in Ukraine are located in old bomb shelters like this one.

This is a typical Ukrainian meal. Everyone says I am going to starve to death, but in reality, from what I hear from those out there, they love to eat and not exactly healthy food either. The volunteers out there now say they have put a good amount of weight since arriving there. I'm in trouble. From what I read, dinner in Ukraine is quite the event. There are toasts at every meal and they are mostly formal unless the host states otherwise.

This is one of the villages that I might get stationed at. From what I hear they are all very similar.

Today's news

2007-01-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

Holy Crap!!! I can read Ukrainian...well sorta. Today at work I brought a print-out of the Ukrainian alphabet and the pronunciations. Every hour I would memorize 5 letters and I wrote out the letters about every half hour. By about 2pm, I had the whole thing memorized. I quizzed myself throughout the day, mixed up the letters, wrote it out backwards, etc. I came home all excited and picked up some literature in Ukrainian and was totally able to sound out words and understand what they meant. It was an amazing feeling and I am totally in the zone to learn more.

Here it is...

2007-01-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

So this is the Ukrainian alphabet which I need to learn. I keep having flashback to when I was a wee little frat boy and they made me memorize the greek alphabet. Who knew that would come back to help me out in life?

What's new?

2007-01-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

In the real world...my Bears advance to the Superbowl and Martin Scorsese gets an Oscar nomination today. What a year this will be if both parties end up winning!! I'm sad that football has come to an end for 2 years...this is the perfect way to go out though. I suppose I need to start following soccer now.

In my world?....confusion. Apparently this blog of mine is now linked to about 50 different Peace Corps sites so I really better watch what I say on here now. How that happened, I have no idea...the magical internet fairy must have taken care of this. Yesterday I spent some time responding to an email that was sent to me. The Ukraine office wanted me to complete a skills inventory packet to, I assume, get a better feel for where to place us. I also got an updated contact list emailed to me earlier this week. Ummmmm...somehow the group I'm going out there with has doubled in size. The current list reflects 68 people shipping out with me to Ukraine. I give up on posting photos at this point. I had no idea there would be this many people going with me, but the more the merrier I guess. I'm sure it will be nice to have a HUGE American friend base out there for networking and other things. The odd thing is that there have only been about 20 or so people chatting in our Yahoo group. Where are these other people? Is there another group I don't know about, but am supposed to be part of?? I guess as long as I am in with these 20 people, it's better than nothing. So what have we been chatting about lately? Mostly packing issues, money issues, tax issues and arguing about how much of the language to learn before arriving in DC. My last Yahoo post posed 4 questions to the entire group....
1. What is everyone doing about money out there? There was no general consensus. I guess you can store up to $700 cash in a safe deposit box in the Kyiv headquarters. Some people are keeping their funds in their American account and using their ATM card there even though it is discouraged due to fraud issues. Some people are bringing travelers checks even that is discouraged due to the local banks taking such a high percentage. Some people are bringing some cash with them and having their friends/family bring more when they come visit. Others are opening a Ukrainian account. Others are bringing just enough cash to buy a cell phone and other incidentals, but really want to live without worrying about cash and live like the locals do. A lot of people plan on just pinching their weekly allowance enough to save up for travel and other entertainment. If I understand correctly, we get a weekly spending allowance on top of our living allowance and we also get 1/3 of out "big pay-out" immediately in payments of $250/month or something like that. The Peace Corps opens a local account for us where our earnings will be deposited weekly. I know I plan on buying a guitar when I get out there as well as things like blankets and a few other essentials. Which brings me to the next topic....
2. What's this business about sleeping bags now?? Apparently it is strongly recommended to bring a warm, lightweight sleeping bag with for traveling and the very cold nights. Seeing how we can only pack a limited weight and have limited space, I am lost for words. About 90% of the group has already purchased one and the others (including myself) are considering just buying one out there after we arrive. The same goes for these things called YakTrax which strap to your shoes for walking on ice. Do I seriously need these?? I have lived through some brutal winters and from what I understand, the winters in Ukraine are similar to those in Wisconsin so I'm thinking I can handle it.
3. What about travel? Does anyone plan on doing some traveling in their free time and vacations? Everyone said yes, after we are settled in, of course. It even sounds like we have a group interested in hitting up Dracula's castle in Romania, Rome, Greece and Amsterdam. That pretty much sums up all the places I want to visit. My friend Andras will be in Budapest over the summer so I plan on hooking up with him as well since Hungary borders Ukraine.
4. (I snuck this one in there hoping to find someone on my side) Is anyone NOT bringing a laptop? Not one person said yes. So apparently, I am the only one not bringing one at this point. I tried to sell people on the points of theft (you can get cheap insurance), weight of carrying it everywhere (they sell super lightweight ones), lack of internet (everywhere has internet now), and wanting to get away from the technology of the US (fat chance...it will be extremely beneficial in our work assignments, journaling/blogging, putting pictures on CD's to send to people, watching DVDs, listening to music and so on and so on and so on.) One volunteer currently out there said that bringing her laptop was the single best packing decision she made and couldn't imagine living there without one. Okay then, I still don't see how I'm going to be able to afford a freaking laptop computer. I have exactly 2 months to go and my employment is not guaranteed at this point. I have sold just about everythign I own including my car which I sold to my friend who is letting me drive it until I leave (sweet deal). Ultimately, my plan is to just stash away as much cash as possible and see where I am at come mid-March. If I don't have enough...so be it. I figure, life won't be over and I'll survive. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES.

I have done some shopping. I bought a really nice backpack/carry-on for the rides and short training trips. I bought some warm sweaters since all the stores are clearing out their winter clothes. I bought a small ipod that holds 500 songs. I need to carefully choose 500 of my favorites out of about 20,000 MP3s. I knew it was essential though for the long rides/flights and those lonely nights. At this point I really wish I would have asked for more of this stuff for Christmas. I got a power converter and that was about it as far as practical things I can take with me. Now I am scrounging around at the last minute buying all this junk. At least I'm not the only one stressed about what to pack and what we might forget.

That's all I can type right now. I need to upload some tunes on this ipod so I can sell my computer and then I need to try to learn this damned Ukrainian alphabet.

Meet the Gang

2007-01-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

I'd like you to meet my new "family" over the next 27 months. We will all be heading to Ukraine together and according to past groups will grow super close and become besties. We all do our training in Kyiv as a large group and then break into groups of 4 throughout the country. We then meet up again periodically throughout the year and I hear it is usually quite the party. They all seem so nice up to this point and I think I am lucky to be serving with these people. As you can see they come from various age groups and backgrounds...

This is Geoffrey. He has become somewhat of the leader of our group since he is about to embark on his third term. He previously served in Mongolia and the Philippines. He lives in Washington state.

Sarah is 24 and from New Jersey. Her degree is in Social Work.

Zach (right)...ummmm....I don't know anything about.

Stephen is from California and, like me, has lived all over including Alaska, New Mexico and Utah.

Monique (right) is 23 and has a BA in History. She now lives in Santa Cruz, CA.

Megan is from Denver and will be working with me as an NGO Advisor. She just got her Masters from the University of Denver

Mary-Anne is 22 and will be working in Youth Development.

Laura (right) is a graduate from San Diego State and currently lives/works in LA (woo hoo!)

Kim (left) is from Long Island, NY and just graduated with a degree in International Business

Katie is from New Haven, Connecticut

Jonathan is from Charlotte, NC and has a business degree. He's also working in Business Development.

Jen is 24 from Wisconsin. She has a masters in school counseling

Jason is 27 and a grad student from Minneapolis, MN and will be working with me as an NGO Advisor

James (right) is from Ohio and will be working as a business educator

Hung-Chee Chan is 56 and was raised in Hong Kong, but lives and works in San Francisco

Eryn (left) is 23 and from Portland, OR. She has a BS from the University of Oregon

Eileen (middle) is from Rochester, NY and has a BA in Fine Arts/Photography.

David (59) and Rebecca (51) - David is a retired salesman and Rebecca is a retired business consultant.

Daisy (on the right) is from Santa Cruz, CA

Adam - I think this is the Adam from Seattle

Also heading out to Ukraine with me we have.....

ADAM #2 who is 26 from Fort Smith, Arkansas. He's a Case Manager for a Homeless Center

ADAM #3 who is 23 from Tennessee is a substitute teacher and a football coach

MIKE who is a Web Developer from Boulder, Colorado

SHANNON who is 24 from Colorado with a degree in theater

PATRICK - don't know anything about him

TERI from New Hampshire

MARY who is 55 from Columbus, OH

BRIDGET who is 58 from Kansas City, MO and currently a bank officer

MICHELLE from Salt Lake City who has a degree in Anthropology

JOSEPH from San Antonio, TX whose degree is in Politcal Science

JAMIE who is 27 from Utah and works for the Sundance Film Festival

(I gotta meet this person!)

GREG from Washington DC who will be working as a business educator

SUZI from San Diego, CA

NORMA from Colorado

PETER & MARCIA - a married couple in their 50's from Seattle

Maps of Ukraine

2007-01-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

So this is what Ukraine looks like. Similar to states here, they refer to them as Oblasts. Kyiv is where I will be stationed when I first arrive. I would love to end up in Odessa which is a beautiful location right on the Black Sea. You can see the surrounding countries here for those of you who need to brush up on your geography (click maps to enlarge)

Falling Behind

2007-01-09T21:57:00.000-08:00

So I spent tonight trying to catch up on the various discussion boards and chats that I missed out on. From what I gather, everyone seems super nice, we are all stressing about the same things, we are sharing the load as far as books, movies, and other luxiories so we can trade when we all get out there. The worst part is I am slacking in the department of language training. Some of the people currently out there say to not stress about it and just learn the alphabet and words like "bathroom", "hello" and (get this) "beer". The rest will be drilled into us at training. One guy is spending 2 hours/day learning Ukrainian and one lady is taking a Russian class to be somewhat fluent in both languages. What am I doing?? don't ask.
One guy who is serving his 3rd term with us gave us a list of things to bring...check it out...

A queen size top bed sheet
A role of duct tape
A swiss type knife
A camping coffee perculator or french press
A short wave radio
Rechargable batteries to fit cameras
A meg lite type flash light
A roocksack
A insulated drinking container
Something that reminds you of home a personal item that reflects youthat can just remind you of home.
The card game UNO
Kites or a hobby that you have
A flask for that vodka you will be drinking
A photo album of you and your family and the family home
Addresses of family and friends both on paper and email addresses
Pens and Pencils bic are best.
A set of needles and thread different sizes.
A pair of work gloves or hand gloves or mittons
Vegetable seeds tomatos, onions, cukes maybe you can plant them orgive them to people in your community. Light to pack but packs apunch a bunch of food.
A shower towel. Don't expect that at our arrival we will be providedwith towels. Bring at least one and a hand towel.
Do not worry about books PC has a library has many books both fortechnical and paper backs.

How much of this do I have??? don't ask. I wish I had this list before Santa came over.

I did use my Barnes and Noble gift cards this weekend. I bought a book on Europe which includes hostel information, train and bus info, and everything you need to know about every country. While out there I wanted to visit Dracula's castle in Romania, the Greek ruins and beaches, Rome & Venice, Germany (the motherland) and Amsterdam. How much will I most likely get to see based on my current financial situation??? don't ask.
I also bought a couple paperbacks (The DaVinci Code and The Devil and the White City) both of which I have been wanting to read, but couldn't find the time. I picked up a study bible and a book on U.S. History to try to educate myself and become more spititual while out there as well.

Sometime this week I will try to post information about the people that are going with me as well as mailing information.

new package

2007-01-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

I received a new package in the mail today. Inside was a map of Ukraine, a language sheet entitled "Your First Ukrainian Conversation" which lays out the basic Ukrainian words with pronunciations, mailing guidlines for me to share with my family and friends (which I will do before I leave), a CD-ROM which includes a virtual tour of Ukraine and a 30-day language lesson plan (I just keep wondering what if after I am done with all of these lesson plans, I end up in a Russian-speaking part of the country and have to start all over again? I also stress about getting alone time on a computer where I can practice the language which is a difficult thing to do at this point in my life). Finally, the package included a letter confirming my staging event which will take place in....................WASHINGTON DC!!!!! I really was hoping for that location so I could check out some sights. I assumed they would ship me to Chicago for staging since that is where the previous Ukraine groups ended up. It would have been nice to see Mar, Jessica, Julie and a few others, but I am really excited about spending a few days in DC. The second half of the letter stressed how from here on out I am officially a representative of the Peace Corps, the government and the United States and to act like an adult and be professional and presentable 24/7. The pressure is on.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

Well, 2007 is here and I am under 3 months away. A few weeks ago I stopped at the public library to stock up on some books on Ukraine as well as proposal-writing and fundraising seeing how that will be a big chunk of my work there and my experience is limited. I just feel I need to get a head start and get a foundation set up. Aside from reading and researching, I've been receiving emails from Peace Corps Ukraine which included contact information for the 25 or so others that are heading out there. I also met a girl at the library whose sister and brother-in-law are also serving in Ukraine. She gave me her email address and we have been chatting over emails. It is good to have someone to seek advice from...especially someone from right here in Billings, MT. We are really hoping to get together when I arrive. The thing she (and several others) recommended most to me is to bring with me a laptop computer. Okay, I do not own a laptop because I have a home PC. I am already stressed about money and do not need this added to the mix, but it is something I really need to consider. I also started studying the Ukraine Welcome Book which was emailed to me. It is about 100 pages of things to know about Ukraine volunteers and the country itself such as how to pack, dress, safety procedures, geography and history, etc.
So really I have just been keeping busy reading, studying and taking the first steps at my language lessons via the internet. I have not heard anything about my Visa and passport. I don't know if that is good or bad. Since I screwed up the mailing, I am hoping everything got to the right place. I won't receive the documents until I report to staging so I am assuming they will only contact me if they did not receive something from me. I guess we'll find out.

On a side note, I have really been trying to focus on what I will miss when I am out of the states for 2 years. I am trying to get my share of good food in, I am condensing my favorite songs onto CDs which I plan on bringing and I am starting to watch all of my favorite movies so I will have my fill for a couple years. Leaving behind American cinema is truly going to be a huge challenge for me. Those of you who know me realize I am a huge movie buff. One of my bachelors degrees is in film and I have studied film criticism. I see a lot of movies...okay, pretty much all of them; every genre, every independent art film, every documentary. Between the theater and my Netflix subscription, there is little that gets by me. Every year about this time, Some old college friends and I compile a top ten list of our favorite films of the year (similar to what every newspaper and magazine does annually). To give you an example, here are my lists from the last 2 years:

2004
1. Sideways
2. Primer
3. Finding Neverland
4. Napoleon Dynamite
5. House of Flying Daggers
6. Before Sunset
7. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. Open Water
10. Super Size Me

2005
1. Grizzly Man
2. Nine Lives
3. Closer
4. March of the Penguins
5. The Jacket
6. My Summer of Love
7. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
8. Capote
9. Match Point
10. Elizabethtown

I have not seen a select few of the newer films (Children of Men, Letters From Iwo Jima, The Queen, Volver, etc.), but I now present my 10 choices for my favorite of 2006

1. United 93
2. The Departed
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. Blood Diamond
5. Hard Candy
6. Babel
7. The Pursuit of Happyness
8. The Break-Up
9. Monster House
10. Borat

some others worth mentioning:
The Last Kiss
The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada
A Scanner Darkly
Winter Passing
The Devil Wears Prada
The Notorious Bettie Page
Fearless
Apocalypto
V For Vendetta
Friends With Money
Eight Below
An Inconvenient Truth
Hostel
Art School Confidential
Mimi's First Time
Miami Vice
The Descent

What does this have to do with the Peace Corps?? Absolutely nothing other than letting you guys know what a freak I am about cinema and how much I will miss it over the next couple years. Hopefully, I am able to turn some of you onto a few good films that you may not have heard of and this way I can kill 2 birds with one stone by not having to email it to the usual people. Blogs are our friend.

Happy 2007 to all of you!

This Past Week

2006-12-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

I spent all last week wrestling with obtaining my visa and passport in between Christmas shopping, work, and several other committments. On Tuesday I went to Wal-Mart to get four 2x2 pictures taken for both the visa and passport. I had to leave work early on Thursday to get to the post office by 4pm. I met with the lady at the passport office and luckily I had everything in order. The application was rather confusing as there are different types of applications and some of the questions were vague. She gave it the stamp and sent it on its way. I only had to pay $30 since this is a government no-fee passport. Supposedly that $30 gets reimbursed to me at my staging event. On Friday, I read through the instructions again, I found out that I was supposed to get the forms back from her after she stamped it so I can mail it out with my visa paperwork in the special envelope that was mailed to me. Okay, so I missed that part of the directions. I called the passport office on Monday praying that she hadn't mailed it out yet, but she did (as I figured). I called Sato Travel (the Peace Corps' travel service) and asked them how bad I screwed this all up. Believe it or not, they said it really wasn't that big of a deal as long as she mailed it to the right office in Washington D.C. I guess we'll find out.
I finished up the visa application on Friday and as I was ready to mail that out, I read that I need to seal it up in an envelope before putting it in the FedEx envelope provided to me. Soooo, after work today I had to go to Target to buy a large envelope. By the time I was done, the FedEx place was closed so now I need to try this again tomorrow. I hope it's all taken care of from here on out. I will receive the visa and passport when I arrive at my staging event (orientation) most likely in Chicago or Washington D.C.

After work today I spent a couple hours putting together documents I was supposed to have emailed out last week. I needed to email a new resume detailing every job I have ever had, all training, language experience, college courses and extra-curicular activities, volunteer experience and personal hobbies. When I was done, it came out about 6 pages long. I also had to draft up an aspiration statement which outlined what I can bring to this assignment, what I want to get out of it and how I plan on adapting to the new culture and host business. These documents get sent to the representatives in Ukraine to help them figure out where to place me and to give my future host business a "heads-up" on my background. Once I emailed those out, I had to send a survey to a few reps in Ukraine which outlined my preferred learning style when I get to Ukraine for language training.

Now that I have emailed all of that out, I feel a little load off of my shoulders. The next thing I need to tackle is some beginning language lessons that are ready for me on the internet. I imagine it will be similar to an online college course with some audio clips in Ukrainian and Russian.

LET ME TAKE THIS TIME TO WISH ALL OF YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS SINCE I AM NOT SENDING OUT CARDS THIS YEAR. HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND!

GO BEARS!!!

The Road to Here

2006-12-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

The following is an outline of my journey so far up to this point. I had heard the application process was pretty brutal and time-consuming and the rumors turned out to be somewhat true.

It was late July 2006 when I decided to throw my name in the hat and apply. I went to www.peacecorps.gov and ordered the application. It came in the mail the following week. The initial application was rather hefty. Along with your work/education history, resume, etc, you had to include 2 essays. The first was your mission statement of sorts and the second was describing your experiences with diversity. You also had to include 2 sets of fingerprints. I went to the police station in Elgin, IL to get that done for a reasonable $10. It took me a week, but I finally got everything together and submitted it.

About the second week of August I got a call from the Chicago office and they wanted to schedule an interview at their downtown office. I spent the night before preparing and got on the train the next morning to Union Station and from there walked to the office. The lady that interviewed me was super nice and it was not as stressful as the first time I interviewed with the Seattle office several years ago. Through talking with her, my recruiter decided that business advising and business development were the best fit based on my experience. I had not even considered that option as I was initially interested in teaching English or youth development. However, after the hour-long interview, I became excited about this new direction. Though I thought the interview went well, I was unsure if I was truly confident that I had enough experience. My recruiter told me the next step is to relay the information from our interview to Washington DC and from there it was out of her hands. At that point, I was considering a move to Montana and she assured me that I was a strong candidate and not to be too worried about it.

September 13th - I finally received my nomination in the mail and a huge weight was off my shoulders. When I opened it, it was a nomination for the NGO (non-governmental organization) advising program somewhere in Eastern Europe. I accepted the nomination and awaited the next steps. I wasn't officially in quite yet. I spent the next few weeks researching the countries in Eastern Europe that I could end up going. Those included Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Macedonia, Romania and Ukraine. After reading through others' blogs, I liked what I heard about Ukraine and I also was intrigued with Macedonia. To be honest, when I first applied, I was expecting to end up somewhere in Africa or somewhere warm and did not expect this at all. When you apply, you can request a few countries of choice. From what I hear, it is nearly unheard of to end up with an assignment in a country of your choosing. At any rate, I requested Jamaica, Fiji and the Phillipeans.

The next week, I received my medical packet which I was dreading based on what I had heard about this next phase of the interview process. At this point I was new into my job and did not have insurance yet which added to the stress level. I had heard trhough the grapevine that Peace Corps applicants are eligible to go to a VA clinic and have everythign reimbursed as opposed to just a small fraction of reimbursement through a regular clinic. I made an appointment at the VA clinic next to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.

October 11th - The first day I showed up there, the lady that was in charge of taking me around was pretty cool. I remember she was a big Grateful Dead fan and was really friendly to me and rather "bitchy" to everyone else. I have never seen so many crazy freaks in one building in my life. So this first day was just spent running tests. I got a Tuberculosis shot and they drew blood for a number of tests including HIV and Hepatitus. I didn't realize there was more than one day involved so when we were done with all the bloodwork (and there was a ton of it), we had to schedule a follow-up the next week. The next day there was not quite as bad as I am not a big fan of needles. This day included a dental exam with x-rays, a complete physical and vision and allergy tests. All in all, I was a healthy lad and was out of there in about 2 hours.

Now, I figured since all of my requested exams were complete that I was done with the medical portion. The next week I moved to Montana where they do not have VA clinics. Once I got settled in Billings, I received a letter in the mail. To my dismay, this letter tells me that I need to take another type of dental x-rays and I need to provide a record of my immunizations. My parents didn't have any immunization records on file from when I was a kid and I didn't have anything to prove it so I had to start all over with them. I went to a clinic nearby and got stuck with shots for Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Polio and something else. I also had to get retested for Hepatitus because they took the wrong kind of test in Chicago. I went to my dentist to get those x-rays done and to get a regular cleaning and I submitted receipts to Washington for reimbursement which I got back yesterday. They only covered about 20% of what I paid out of pocket so I currently am working on paying off my credit card bill because of this.

November 14th - I finally got medical and dental clearance along with legal background clearance; now I can just sit back and wait for the inivitation.

Novemer 15th - My invitation packet arrived. I was invited to join the 32nd group stationed in Ukraine for NGO advising. Inside was a ton of literature describing my assignment, Ukraine and what else needs to be done. As I said earler, I had 10 business days to respond and I spent all 10 to make sure I could commit to this 100%. I was skeptical about this assignment due to my experience and some of the literature I read was actually scary as it described how some volunteers are treated violently and how Ukrainians tend to dress professionally all the time. Here I thought I was leaving behind the suit and tie and now I'm right back into it. At any rate, after it sunk in and the dust had settled, I am now anxious to get the ball rolling.

Here We Go

2006-12-05T18:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first official entry. This site is intended to serve 2 purposes:

1. to keep my friends and family up to date on my 2-year voyage through Europe and a means to maintain contact with them
2. to be a resource for other volunteers and those who are considering joining the Peace Corps or embarking on a similar journey

Let's start with the questions on everyone's mind and those that I've already had to answer about 50 times:
Why in the blue hell did you decide to join the Peace Corps?
Here's my response...first off, I have been bouncing around the idea of joining the Peace Corps since I graduated college in 1999. Seeing how you need a bachelor's degree to apply, I never took it seriously until that time. It wasn't until right after 9/11 (2001) that I finally caved in and decided to apply. I had gotten through most of the interview process and found myself at a crossroad. I put the Peace Corps on hold to get married to a beautiful and amazing girl. Needless to say, the marriage didn't quite work out and I found myself back to the drawing board. The problem now was that I was 31 years-old, well into a career in human resources, a home-owner amongst other things. The question became...do I continue to live this good life always wondering "what if?". At the time I was living and working for a great company in Billings, MT, but decided to seek out more opportunity and a change of scenery in Chicago. I landed a great job in HR out there, but still was not 100% fulfilled. Prior to finding that job, I spent 3 months over the summer looking for a decent job which meant much alone time to do some soul searching. I decided, you only live once and to at least apply and see what happens. When I heard that only about 40% (or some number close to that) of applicants receive an invitation to serve, I didn't even think it would become reality anyway. I began the interview process in July and got accepted just 2 weeks ago (a very long process which I'll outline in a future post). They gave me 10 business days to accept or decline and I took all 10 days to really weigh the decision before accpeting the job yesterday. At first I started to get cold feet, but now I am really excited after taking those 10 days to read others' blogs and talking to my placement officer.
So that's all great, but....WHY???
- I found myself hitting an early mid-life crisis of sorts. I started to get scared of the fact that I may end up sitting behind a desk pushing papers for the next 35 years. I did not want to end up on my death bed without at least one exciting adventure under my belt.
-I really wanted to live outside the country and experience a different culture for a year or two. I wanted to become educated on the differences this world has to offer and not be so ethnocentric toward the U.S. In the process, I think it would be fun to learn a new language.
- I wanted to make a difference or at least attempt to make the world a better place. I figured 2 years out of a person's life is really nothing to give up when you think about the possibility of changing a whole community's life or bringing happiness to another culture or just giving a helping hand to those that need it.
- I grew so accustomed to a ridiculous way of life that I needed out for a brief time. The big screen tv's, tivos, tv schedules, cell phones, nice restaurants, cars, fake people, bar-hopping, cruising for ladies, and all the insanity this country has grown to depend on started to seem so silly to me. I just needed a break!
-Does it really surprise anyone anyway? Those that know me realize I take a different approach to life. I realize that time is flying and we only get one shot at this so, personally, I want to experience all I can and meet as many interesting people as possible, I have tried several different careers, I tried the American dream of marriage, a nice house with a white picket fence and a dog, I have lived in several places, been through some amazing and ugly moments and it just comes down to...I like change! When I look back on my life as a whole, I love to remember the places I've lived and people I have met and spent time with over the years. I have experienced more in 30 years than most people experience in a lifetime and........
WHY STOP NOW???!

There are other little reasons, but these are the main ones. I'm just in a good spot in my life to do something of this calibur and the time is right.
So there ya have it. Feel free to post additional questions and I will answer them accordingly.
This is long enough. Stay tuned for the outline of what I had to go through to receive an invitation.