Monday, August 11, 2008

I'm Alive

Seriously quick entry here. I have less than 10 minutes until I have to run to the train station, but I wanted to let everyone know that I am doing well and will write up a long, detailed post when I return home from my travels. Might not be for a couple more weeks though. Life is good...hope the same is true for you. Bye for now...

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

You know you're bored (pathetic) when...

…you’ve spent your last 33 hours watching an entire seasons’ worth of Grey’s Anatomy episodes (25 in all). I can see why it’s popular—it definitely has an addictive quality about it—but I feel the need to bring all of you “Greyniacs” back to Earth. The show, while entertaining, lacks originality. Shows like Weeds, Breaking Bad, even Flight of the Conchords; these shows are trailblazers, started from scratch with no readymade formula for success available to them. Grey’s, in this Peace Corps volunteer’s opinion, is merely standing on the shoulders of the many, many other successful hospital dramas that came before. The dialogue is catchy, the cast is attractive and the characters are well developed, but I can’t shake the feeling that each week’s script follows some algebraic equation that was worked out long before Grey’s hit the scene. Good summer time viewing but nothing to write home about (unless it’s in this blog). Oh, and the episode where Meredith almost dies—lame. You just can’t expect to build any real suspense when the victim is the shows namesake. I’ll give Grey’s Anatomy 2 ½ out of a possible 4 steaming hot bowls of borscht.

Now onto the real reason you come to this blog…me! As usual, a relatively uneventful past 10 days or so. I spent some time visiting two of my good friends, and fellow volunteers, who respectively just moved into fresh digs. Unlike myself, who has nothing new to report on the housing front, both Nathan and Lindsey have spacious accommodations of their own where they are free to come, go and do as they please…but that’s where the similarities end. Lindsey lives in a beautifully appointed apartment in a city of 50,000+; whereas Nathan has an old, barren house in a town of 424 (425 including him…). Lindsey’s apartment came with a washing machine, DVD player, Dolby 6.1 surround sound, a microwave and an incredible shower complete with hot water; whereas Nathan’s house (much closer to the norm for PC housing) has a table, a few chairs, no running water (not even a sink), a coal burning stove and an outhouse. He does, however, have neighbors that bring him meals at least twice a day and check in on him often just to make sure he’s happy. Quite the contrast, but each does come with its own set of perks. Needless to say though, both Nathan and I will be paying frequent visits to the Four Seasons Джанкой as long as Lindsey is willing to have us.

Alright…one somewhat embarrassing/adventure filled story before I go. On Thursday morning, after a brief shopping trip to the bazaar, I boarded a hot bus back to my village as I always do. I knew it was my bus instinctively; same overweight, cigarette smoking bus driver, same peeling paintjob, same ripped up seats. I sat impatiently as my butter began to melt, wondering why it was taking us so long to pull out of the bus station but really thinking nothing of it. I also wondered why I didn’t recognize any of the villagers, but again, thought nothing of it. Finally, 20 minutes later than usual, the engine sputtered into gear and we were on our way.

The first sign something was wrong came only seconds into our trip. My bus always turns left out of the bus station but for some inexplicable reason we had made a right turn and were headed north. Still not quite confident in my language ability, I convinced myself that maybe we were just making a big loop, would be turning around any minute, and that there was no need for me to make a fool of myself by asking where exactly we were going. 5 minutes later, headed towards the middle of nowhere and not quite as certain of my story, I decided to suck it up and asked an old man why we were going the wrong way. He looked at me, muttered something in Russian and laughed. Then he alerted everyone aboard that I was on the wrong bus and that we needed to pull over so I could catch a new one headed back towards my village. Embarrassed, I climbed off the bus, but not before spilling 2 kilos of potatoes on the floor and leaving half of them behind in my haste to avoid further humiliation.

My butter now fully melted, I copped a squat on the side of a dusty highway in the hot sun...waiting…waiting for my salvation, but being left just another sweaty, stoopid foreigner as each car, truck and horse drawn carriage passed me by. Exactly 56 minutes later, my salvation finally arrived in the form of giant, shiny bus that I managed to flag down. The driver agreed to drive me back to the station, whereupon being dropped off, I asked 5 people which bus went to my village, climbed on an eerily familiar looking bus and 15 minutes later (after a left turn out of the bus station)found myself back in Ishun. Lesson learned…you can’t judge a bus by its fat bus driver.

Ok…that’s all for now. I need to go eat breakfast and quickly throw some clothes into a backpack. I am headed out to the eastern part of Ukraine to visit some friends and to get some much needed R and R (ha). Hopefully I come across a high-speed internet connection out there and will be able to upload some pictures for you all to check out. Oh, and I’m still waiting for some questions from you for my Q and A entry. Пока! (bye)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Housing Update/Film Review

No house, no apartment, not even an abandoned chicken coupe and no prospects…thank (TBD) for my newly found perspective, right? In all honesty though, I really have no reason to complain. Sure I am eager to live on my own…to feel like an adult again…but I am so fortunate that I live with an extremely warm and humorous woman, my babushka Maria, who sees to it on a daily basis that all of my needs, even those I didn’t know I had, are met. Whether its dressing my sore knee with a handkerchief soaked in vodka, waking me up at 4:40am to ensure that we get the best spot at the beach (its in our village), preparing a special bath just for my feet to make certain that all of the syphilis I apparently picked up on a recent trip to Simferopol was properly washed away (I had her repeat it s-l-o-w-l-y 4 times just to be sure I heard her right) or never letting me leave the dinner table until I eat a piece of congealed pig fat to ward away Tuberculosis (hello TB estate!), I know I have a friend and protector in Maria.

She has helped me in more, well, conventional ways too. Over the last week, Maria has been my constant companion as I have attempted to find a solution to my increasingly frustrating housing search. Once it became clear that all of the traditional methods were exhausted, she even ushered me door to door throughout most of the village asking for their help in finding me a place to live. Unfortunately, this too bore no fruit but the gesture reinforced how lucky I am to have Maria on my side (or just how badly she wants me out of her apartment!). Any doubt as to her intent, however, was laid to rest when she assured me that I am welcome to stay as long as I like…or need. At this point I have gotten over my disappointment and am comfortable with the idea that I will most likely be living here through August at the very least. My school has assured me that they will work diligently to find me an apartment and I trust that they will uphold this promise. The Peace Corps is also helping by using their contacts in my area to inquire about available housing…I figure (hope) something has to come of these efforts in the next 6 weeks. I will be sure to keep you informed…

Now onto the good news! I had running water for nearly 30 hours…in a row…before it shut off again. I was able to take my first real shower in nearly 5 weeks, albeit a cold one, and by shower I mean I stood under a faucet that more leaked on me than anything…but it was a shower all the same. It’s interesting how things that I defined as necessity only 4 months ago are now the little luxuries that I so look forward to but seldom get to enjoy. Again, thank you perspective. Other luxuries I would include in this list would be drinking cold water (almost as dangerous as an open window…you do know that drafts kill more people annually than cigarettes, don’t you??), waking up with less than 6 new mosquito bites and finding a public toilet that consists of more than just a hole cut into a concrete slab.

On a wholly separate note…God Father III has to be one of the worst movies ever made. I spent the better part of the last two days watching the entire trilogy—I had obviously seen parts I and II before—and was left so disgusted at the end of Part III that I’ve lost some appreciation for the greatness of its predecessors. I won’t give anything away for those of you who have not seen it, and I implore that you don’t, but are you really going to tell me that within the span of 5 minutes Michael Corleone, a man who trusts no one, goes from barely knowing Sonny’s bastard son to making him his protégé? Garbage. And Andy Garcia gives one of the worst acting performances of all time just outpacing the one given by Sophia Coppola. I just cannot get over how underdeveloped and haphazardly thrown together the plot was either…so disappointing. Baseketball (IMDB it if you need to) is Oscar worthy by comparison. Alright, rant over.

So that’s pretty much my week in recap. The next month or so should prove to be more exciting as I plan to do some traveling around Ukraine, and within Crimea especially. I also hope to post some pictures at some point…I need to buy a flash drive first. Hope you all have health, happiness, wisdom and so on…Miss you all.

PS...Here is my address in both English and Russian for those of you who want it:

Jordan Brown
Post Office Box #135
Main Post Office
Krasnoperekopsk
A.R. Crimea Oblast
9600
Ukraine

Дҗордан Браун
А/Я 135
Гловпочгамп
Г. Красноперекопск
А.Р. Крым
9600
Украина

Packages and letters should arrive here using only the English version, but why not live a little and give your Russian some practice?

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Writers Block in the Eastern Bloc

I am sitting here knowing that I owe you an update, an accounting of how I have spent my time since I last wrote, and yet the words just won’t come. Perhaps it has something to do with the previous week being one of the least eventful of my 27 years—a week spent rereading Atlas Shrugged and ambling about the Ukrainian countryside aimlessly—or maybe the perpetual food coma that I have been in since my arrival is finally taking its toll. (Nothing brings more joy to a Ukrainian babushka than a taut waistband for which she can take the credit) Regardless of the reason, I will do my best to fight through this writers block and give you some sense of what I have been up to as of late and why I might be homeless come Thursday...

As I mentioned above, much of my time this week has been spent rereading Atlas Shrugged and I can’t help but feel incredibly ironic in doing so. Here I am living in a tiny Ukrainian village, a Peace Corps volunteer, working towards a collective ideal (in some sense), but I spend my days glued to one of the greatest tributes ever paid to “the virtue(s) of selfishness” and individualism. More sinful is that I cannot remember ever enjoying a book this much, even in spite of the context in which I am reading it, or maybe because of it. I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that my social principles and my tastes in literature seem to be in contradiction, but if any of you have read Atlas Shrugged you’d know that contradictions do not exist, only false premises. I’ll let you try and figure out what that means…or if it means anything at all.

Now that you’re all thoroughly confused (I am too so don’t worry) I’ll tell you why I may be out on the streets in a matter of days. Before panic sets in (Mom) let me say that I won’t be homeless, but I am having an extremely hard time finding an apartment of my own. My rental contract with my host family expires this Thursday, and while I know that they would be happy to have me stay for a bit longer, I am eager to live on my own. Being able to cook for myself and not feel guilty when I leave a forkful or two on my plate and having sole say in when I wake up in the morning are two of the more compelling reasons why I feel this way. That said, I really do love my host family and am hoping to find something nearby their apartment.

Unfortunately I am having no luck in finding reasonable housing anywhere in this village and may have to resort to looking in the nearby city. I had one promising lead but word leaked to the landlady that I was American and she jacked up her asking price by about 500% and is unwilling to negotiate. I also found a 3 building estate that is pretty sweet, but 3 members of the family that lived there previously died from TB so I’m thinking that’s probably out of the picture as well. I am meeting with the director of my school tomorrow hoping that he can use his pull to find me something that might not otherwise be available, but I am not getting my hopes up. Ultimately I know that I will find something …it has just been a much harder process than I initially envisioned.

What else can I tell you? I made American style Mac and Cheese for my fam and a few select neighbors this week and it went over reasonably well. It could have used more salt, but I’d call it a success. Also cooked up some traditional Ukrainian eats with my babushka…rice and meat filled blintzes fried up in butter and served with a dollop of mayo. Yes…they were every bit as delicious as they sound. I have a feeling for every pound I have lost since I got here (I’d say 6 or 7) I’ve probably added 10 points to my cholesterol level. Free samples of Lipitor are welcome.

Hmmmm…bought a French press a couple weeks back. 99% of the coffee here is of the instant variety and is pretty nasty so I thought I’d indulge myself a bit. Problem is that pre-ground beans don’t seem to exist here so now I have to go out and buy a hand grinder if I want to be able to use my press. Not too pricey of an item but still more than I had hoped to spend just to enjoy some decent coffee in the AM. Speaking of food and beverage items, I thought I’d list some of the random things that you can’t find in Ukraine:
• Brown Sugar
• Chocolate Chips (ridiculous, I know)
• Root beer
• Vanilla extract (thankfully I brought some beans from home and with a cup of vodka and a few weeks time I’ll have my own)
• Peanut butter
• Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Pancake Syrup
• Cream Cheese
• Graham Crackers
• Barbeque Sauce
• and the list goes on…

I am not missing any one ingredient as of yet but I am sure come month 9…14…22 I will feel differently. Definitely could go for a Buddy’s pizza and trip to Red Coat though. A Chimay, tenderloin tip app and Red Coat burger sounds more delicious than you can possibly know.

So how’s that for beating a wicked case of writers block? Managed to write one of my lengthier entries and still have some good stories left in the arsenal. I think I might do a question and answer type post in the next couple of weeks so if there’s anything that you’d like to know that I haven’t covered, and I’m sure there is, just email me or leave one in the comments section. Hope this finds everyone happy and healthy…and if you’re fortunate enough to be so, I wish you the wisdom to know just how lucky you are.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Barnes & Ignoble

Здравствуйте! My apologies for the long delay in between posts...my school is undergoing a slew of summer repairs and included among them is the repainting of the computer lab. At the moment I am braving the fumes just to give you all an update...the things I do for you people. Anyway, I have had a pretty solid last 10 days or so. I've made a friend or two, explored more thoroughly my new village and the adjacent город (city) and have taken a couple excursions within Crimea. I am also in the midst of a frustrating apatment/house search but I will get to that in a bit...

First, one of the more humorous stories of my past week. I took a bus ride down to Simferopol, the capitol of Crimea, to check out the city and get some good pizza among other things, but mostly to buy some books written in English. I have torn through the handful of books that I brought with me from home and have a long, slow summer in front of me so getting some new reading material was a high priority. (Quick aside-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer is fun and easy read...I recommend it highly. Thanks Nai) My counterpart/friend Svitlana knew of an outdoor book market where she thought we might have some luck so we headed that direction not really knowing what to expect. There were 60+ small book stands filled with all sorts of Russian literature, but unfortunately no one had or knew of where I could buy some English books. I was definitely bumming but we decided to stop at one last stand where I asked in broken Russian if they had any books written in English. The old man working the stand lifts up his head and beckons to a shoddily dressed, cigarette smoking, greasy looking character who is perched on some crumbling Soviet era fountain nearby…I know it sounds like some cheesy movie but that’s what makes it so great. Anyhow, the old man motions for us to follow this guy, so we do. We follow him into some giant building, up a staircase, through a series of corridors and out a door into overgrown field/parking lot and finally over to one of those giant, rust encased shipping containers. Our friend pries open the squeaky doors, climbs inside and emerges with a small box of books, completely covered in grime and dust, but nonetheless all written in English. It would have been far more apropos had he handed me a nondescript package wrapped in butchers paper and tied off with some string but I digress…I probably had only heard of two books in the entire box (which I bought…The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Jackdaws by Ken Follet) but I grabbed two more that looked like they might hold my interest, haggled the price down by 15 гривна which is the equivalent to about $3 and we were on our way. Definitely one of the more unique book purchasing experiences I have had…

Simferopol otherwise is a very cool city. Kind of has a bit of a Mediterranean vibe to it and had the most delicious pizza I have had since coming to Ukraine. It is only a 2 hour busride away from my village and being that I have a good friend that lives nearby, I will most definitely be making frequent returns. Sevastopol and Yalta are next on my list...hopefully I will make it down to both sometime in August.

I am beginning to feel a lot more comfortable living my new village life. A great deal of that has to do with me realizing that I need to readjust my expectation of happiness and more specifically just what happiness here means to me. Will many days here register a 10 by the standard I had lived by back home...no, at least not conventionally; but if I realize that the beauty of this whole experience is held in fetching water from the well, in learning to adjust to differing standards of cleanliness, in being alright with losing my privacy, then I believe I will be able to find happiness just about everywhere I look. Even on this new scale I know there will be days that fall somewhere south of 5 but there will be far more 8's, 9's and 10's of a nature that I would have never known back in the bubble. This certainly doesn't mean that the taste of a Ruth's Chris filet with béarnaise sauce isn't everpresent in my mind or that I don't look forward to buying a beautiful new suit when I move back home...but for the moment this is my life and I am learning to love it for the very reason that it's just so different from the one i left back home.

Ok...that took a little longer than I anticipated so I will keep you waiting with bated breath for the tales of my housing search. Hopefully I will have some good news to report by then as to date it has been a bit of a stuggle to find something adequate--even by my new standards. Hope this finds everyone well. Happy 4th!

Monday, June 23, 2008

A Thimble of Borscht...

Greetings from Northern Crimea...Life here is hot and sticky. I am mostly enjoying my new diggs but am definitely living a life more in step with what I, and most likely you, imagined the Peace Corps to be. Very small, very isolated, water and gas work when they feel like it and the language barier is all too real. While I feel like I am able to communicate and get basic ideas across I am more or less helpless to have any meaningful conversation. Yes I know it has only been 3 months and I know that I am doing well with Russian...blah blah blah...but that really isn't of any comfort when you go days without REALLY communicating with another person. My host Babushka is an extrmely warm and funny woman and I like her very much...but she keeps a running commentary going all day long...seriously...and it is probably the most exhausting thing I have ever dealt with. I understand none of what she says, which I know she knows, but she still keeps going. Eventually I am sure I will be grateful for this but for now its a little much to bear (bare?). Still I am happy even though this will easily be the most difficult two years of my life...past, present or future.

Today I went to the beach. I was told it was a little bit of a walk, which it would have been had we arrived after the first 3 miles. 2 miles later i asked if we were near and was told we were and sure enough, 3 miles later we were there. It was a nice little lake though and the 70 something year old babushkas in bikinis made the trek worthwhile...Thankfully we were able to hitch a ride 3/4 of the way home and even stopped for some lemonade at a friends doma which was welcomed. Played some ping pong afterwards...destroyed my babushka (that's right). From here on out its just me, a big bowl of borscht, some cookies if im a good malchick and whatever else the Peace Corps Gods decide to send my way today. Hoping for some cookies though...shortbread with some chocolate fudgy icing on the inside. Im enjoying the cookies here in Ukraine if you weren't aware. Alright...time to run. Just wanted to say hello. Miss you and love you....

Thursday, June 19, 2008

It's Official...

So I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. The swearing in ceremony took place on Tuesday afternoon following a not so fun two days of boring seminars and other bureaucratic BS. The ceremony itself was nothing special and to be honest, it didn't hold much meaning for me. I am pleased to be finished with the training portion of my Peace Corps service and very excited to be moving on to(actually already in) my new home, but the actual pomp and circumstance of it all is lost on me. We're not here to gloat about our accomplishments...we're here to make an impact on the lives of those we come in contact with and to do it with humility. Still...it feels good to have 3 hours of language classes and all of the other training behind me.

I received the results of my language interview a few days past and to my (and others) complete amazment I placed somewhere near the top of all of those who came into their service without prior langauge training. I scored an intermediate high on the scale and must say that I am pretty proud of myself. I may not be able to regurgitate sentences in a classroom setting, but when pressed to use my langauge in real world applicable situations I get the job done. This has definitely been evident in the past few days. I met with my counterpart from my new home (she is a Russian teacher at the school where I will be working and acts as both a friend and a liason between myself and the director) and found that she speaks ZERO english. I am one of the very, very few volunteers in this situation as most of their counterparts can at least make small talk in English, but so far we have had little trouble communicating. In fact, now that I am over my initial fear of being unable to fall back on English I am really happy because I know that my Russian will improve dramatically over these next two years.

As for the village itself...I would say small and quaint would nicely describe it. At the moment we are without running water and will be for the remainder of the summer and the gas isn't working currently either. While showering has been a chore and cooking as well, I really feel like I am getting the full Peace Corps experience for the first time. I didn't realize just how spoiled I was living in my training site in such a posh apartment with every ammenity I was accustomed to having as an American. Now I have to walk out to the spicket (sp?) to fetch water, sometimes having to wait in a line of 10+ people...and I have what seems like thousands of chickens running wild in my front yard. WHile very different from everything I have ever known I think I am already adjusting well and looking forward to the next two years.

I already have begun to work at the school (currently using the internet here) and feel really welcomed by all the teachers here. We have been able to communicate in Russian and some English and so far I haven't encountered any of the dirty looks or harsh words I was told that I might. The school itself seems to be in good condition and has an adjacent stadium where I can run and exercise. It will take some time for me to feel as comfortable here as I did in Nizhyn, but these first 24 hours have gone just about as well as I could have hoped for.

For those of you who looked up Crimea on the internet and saw pictures of palm trees, beautiful beaches and mountains just know that the Northern part of the peninsula where I live is nothing like that. It is very flat here and reminiscent parts of texas. That being said, I am still very lucky to be living here and will make sure to get down to the beautiful South of Crimea as often as possible. I am also lucky to have another cool volunteer serving less than 10 miles away from me and a good friend only 40 minutes away by train.

Nothing else too new or exciting to report. I will hopefully have a mailing address sometime soon for those of you who want to write me or send me care packages...hint hint. I also will be keeping the same cell phone number...011-38-063-140-9289...so feel free to drop me a line...but if you're poor like me I won't be offended it you don't. More than likely I will be able to write more here than I was able to previously but I am not sure how often I will be allowed into the school over the summer months...we'll see. Miss you and love you all and look forward to catching up with everyone in the coming weeks and months.

ps..Sorry I missed your calls yesterday Sheru, I was out exploring and forgot to bring my phone. Try me back when you can...

Saturday, June 14, 2008

No idea if my last entry posted...

Wrote a long entry...not showing up on my computer. My apologies if it posted 15 times. will try and fix the problem soon...if not i promise you'll hear from me in a week or so. miss and love you all!

Last Post from Nizhyn

Hello All...

Two days from now at this time I will be en route to the "resort" (in name only) where I will be officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and a day or three later it's on to Crimea! It's bittersweet in that i have really enjoyed my time training here in Nizhyn. I could not have asked for a nicer, more supportive host family and was blessed with two outstanding teachers. Most of all i will miss the friends I have made in the other volunteers studying with me. We have spent nearly every waking hour of each day together since we arrived in ukraine and it will be strange to be apart from them...I can only hope to be as fortunate in making friends in my new crimean home. Time will tell...

I know a few of you have asked about the orphanage where my community project took place last week so i will give a quick overview of the place and what they do there. There are approximately 30 "youths" living there, most of whom were taken away from their parents due to poor living conditions or inadequate care. Most of the children are probably aged 12 and under but there are a few as old as 17. The facility itself is extremely nice, very clean and situated on a huge plot of land with a beautiful forest. The children all seem to be very happy there and are lucky to be somewhere that they are given the love and attention they deserve; still, it is sad to see a young child without a parent. As for the project...we brought students with us from local schools and formed 5 different teams so that the students and children from the orphanage could mix togther and get to know each other. We held all sorts of races (wheelbarrow, 3 legged, etc), had face painting, friendship bracelet stations and other field day type activities...the day ended with a candy filled pinata and water balloon fight. Good times indeed!

It took nearly 3 months to happen but I finally feel like i've had a pretty adeventurous few days. I spent most of Thursday and friday with my friend Emily in Kiev blindly searching for some computer store that had a charger she needed for her laptop. We tried unsuccessfully to find it on thursday but managed to navigate the subway system on our own and get all over the city. The friendliness of Ukrainians puts Americans to shame. Every person we asked (in russian of course) for help went out of their way to walk us where we needed to be or to another person who was able to help. Even though most of the day saw us walking around frustrated in a torrential downpour i still felt it was a success just based on our gaining confidence in talking with people and taking Ukrainian mass transit. On a slight downer I got pick pocketed (never felt it or saw the person) but fortunately for me they only got copies of meaningless peace corps documents! Must have been an unpleasant surprise for thief...

Friday was a far more successful day. We took a 7am train to kiev and our langauage teacher (and friend) Lena managed to get ahold of the computer store and get better dierections for us. Lucky for us she did because they were extremely complicated complete with an access code to the downstairs door and other details two novice russian speakers never would have been able to understand. Again we triumphed over the kiev metro system, made our way to the store, bought the charger and made it back to the train station with 45 minutes to spare....only to find out that all of the trains were sold out until 6pm. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise though...we walked around kiev all day talking and laughing....watched all of the people in town for tonights Paul Mccartney concert (which I wont be going to unfortunately)...ate a great meal at an outdoor cafe...did some more people watching in a beautiful park and made it back home before dark. My confidence in being able to make my way around this country has grown enormously and i had two of my best days in ukraine in the process. success.

Last but not least...i had my final exam of sorts this week for my language studies. I was required to have a 30 minute interview only in russian and will be graded based on what level of russian proficiency I achieve. Needless to say i was somewhat panicked, but once the interview began my language skills took over and had no problems. No one here would mistake me for a native speaker but i feel now that i have made a ton of progress in just 3 months and will be just fine when i get to my permanent home. They hand out the results of the exam on monday but i have no doubt that i scored at or above the predetermined level for trainees. I will pass on the info as soon as i can.

Ok...got to run. I really don't know when I will have internet access next. from what i have heard my new village is very close to a large city and i anticipate i will get there sometime next weekend to check in--no promises though. Also, thank you so much for the calls and emails this week...please know that i really appreciated it. Stay tuned...

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Short Entry

The internet here in the local cafe is giving me problems so I will post a quick entry...Overall I had a really good week. We successfully planned and ran a summer camp and I could really tell that the students enjoyed being there. The smiles, hugs and thank you's helped to reinforce that what I am doing over here is important and appreciated...definitely helped to recharge the batteries. We also held our event (field day) at the local orphanage this week and managed to pull off a great event. Despite the rains that necessitated that we completely change our plans at the last minute, everyone involved had fun and the officials from the Ukrainian Ministry of Education who came to watch told us that they were impressed. Good stuff.

Also was extremely happy that my Wings brought home the Cup. The last two games of the finals were actually shown live here (at 3am!) so I woke up in the middle of the night and managed to watch silently while my family slept 10 feet away. I almost lost it during game 5 but was never worried about the outcome of the series and my boys didn't let me down. It was kind of surreal to watch the celebration from Ukraine but very cool. Again...Championship DVD's and T's are welcomed.

Alright...thats all for now. I will try and blog one more time before I am sworn in as an offical volunteer next weekend. Miss you all...

Monday, June 2, 2008

Take 2

So I am pretty frustrated at the moment...just spent a loooong time writing out a detailed post of what y'all have missed out on over the past 2 weeks but somehow it got deleted just as I was about to publish. Oh well, no worries. Anyway...hello peoples! What's new? Enjoying the warm weather and the Wings I hope. The weather has cooled a bit in my hood of the Kraine over the last week and I am a much happier volunteer as a result. I'm savoring these last few weeks of relative mild weather as I don't think I will be able to keep so cool the rest of the summer...more on that in a bit.

First let me extended my deepest apologies for the long delay in between this post and the last. As my time in Nizhyn as a trainee is winding down I have been becoming increasingly busy. I have been planning, and now running, a summer camp at our school while simultaneously putting together a community project at the local orphanage (all with the other volunteers in my cluster). This is in addition to our normal language class workload and all of the other schtuffs we do as volunteers. It honestly hasn't been too bad but my time has been limited and I have valued sleep over the internet...nothing personal. I cannot promise that the next few weeks will be much better either but I am hopeful that there will be plenty of time for blogging this summer once I'm at my permanent home.

Speaking of which...I now know where I will be spending the next two years of my life! I am not sure how much any of you know about the geography of Ukraine (look at a map if you need to) but I will be living in a relatively small village in the North of the Crimean Peninsula. Crimea is in the South of the country and is surrounded by the Black Sea. From the looks of it, I will be about 15 minutes away from the Sea and feel like I lucked out big time with my site placement. I really don't know much about the specifics of my village or my job there so I am reserving judgement until I arrive but from what I know about the location I am very happy. I do know that my village has around 3,500 people and there is a good chance that my home will come complete with an outhouse and a shovel for all of the coal I will be loading into my furnace come winter. I cannot say that I am excited about the prospects of having an outdoor office, but it is the Peace Corps and I am willing to sacrafice a bit to be able to live in Crim.

My village also appears to be about 5 miles outside a fairly large town of maybe 75,000 people...also good news as I am sure there will be internet there along with anything else I may need. But wait...there's more. Another volunteer from the same group as mine (the group that left from Phili) is 15 miles from my site and two of my good friends are within 2 hours. There's always a chance I could get to my site and find something awful awaiting me, but as of this moment I am very much looking forward to the next two years.

Other than that big piece of news things are the same as they ever were...same as they ever were. Russian is still Russian. We get along more or less but I wouldn't say our home is a happy one. I will have plenty of time over the next two years to improve our relationship however and am looking forward to the process. I am sure living away from my American friends and without the luxury of having translators will speed up the learning curve. We'll see.

Miss you all...and looking forward to receiving lots of Wings Championship T's and DVD's just as soon as I get to my site. Also a happy belated B'day to Brad and Nicole if you're reading this...Lots of love.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Quick Update

I only have a few minutes to post in between my Russian classes but here are the highlights of this past week:

-I have been living without hot water entirely and for the majority of the day yesterday had no water at all. It really isn't as bad as you would imagine and the experience has made me feel more like a real Peace Corps volunteer that I had previously. There is also a pretty good possibility that I will be living w/o hot water at my permament site so its better to get used to it now.

-I had my site placement interview last week and feel that it went very well. There really is no way to tell what kind of impact what I told them will have in the placement process but I am hoping that I will wind up in my own house on the Sea with wireless internet and a washing machine like I asked...In all seriousness though, I was able to tell them how I envisioned my next two years going, the type of community in which I would like to live and the housing situation for which I am hoping. I will be finding out next week where my permanent site will be and promise to pass it along.

-Paul McCartney is playing a free concert in Kiev on June 14th and barring some unforeseen problems I will definitely be going! They expect somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 peeps to be there so it should be a pretty exciting evening. Should make for an interesting blog entry...

-The weather here is hot and sticky...very uncomfortable. Yes, I know I am in the Peace Corps and have no right to complain about such things but you try sitting through a 3 hour Russian class in sticky, wet clothes in a room with no AC and tell me how you like it. That's what I thought...

Everything else is normalno. No major changes. I am following my Pistons and Wings as closely as possible...feel free to pass along any updates if/when you have the time. I will try and post something new before the end of the weekend. Miss y'all

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Finally!

So I finally have a cross cultural gaff to report that is appropriate for readers of all ages and will pass through the censors at the FCC. As you know I am studying Russian and being inundated with new vocabularly words on a minute by minute basis. Some are easy for me to process and regurgitate on command but others get all jumbled together and on occasion I get them confused...usually with no negative or humurous consequence. This past Saturday however, was not one of those days.

So I am sitting in a cafe called "Prince" that is located in the town center with one of my fellow Peace Corps peeps. We go there at least once a week and hadn't really had any problem ordering because we mostly rely on just pointing to the pictures on the menu. On this day though I decided that having almost 2 months of Russian under my belt it was about time that I order for myself aloud. Standing miles outside of my comfort zone I told the waitress that i would like the ice cream with hot fudge while miming how i would like to eat the ice cream so she could get the point. Unfortuantely, the word for "ice cream" (at least in my head) sounds pretty similar to the word for "youth"....so yeah, pretty much i had just ordered a dish of youth with chocolate sauce and had showed my waitress just how i planned on eating said youth. I have never seen someone look so confused in my life and finally, after realizing that that I had asked for youth but still not knowing what the word for ice cream was, i resorted back to opening up the menu and pointing. I don't know how well the story will translate over the blogosphere but it was one of the funnier moments I have had since i have been "in country". And yes, the ice cream was delicious. Hopefully that story buys me a little time while i go out and embarrass myself again for your enjoyment.

As for the day to day details of my life...nothing to new or exciting to report. Last Friday was yet another holiday (victory day) and we were given the day off from classes. I spent my free day with my fam at their "Dacha" which translates in english to a cottage. Their cottage though is only a mile away from the apartment where we live and they use it mostly as a place to keep their chickens, to plant their crops (they also have 3 other large fields) and to just relax. Part of the day was spent getting the ground ready to plant tomatoes and potatoes which is actually pretty gratifying and enjoyable work, and the rest was spent preparing and then consuming a ginormous feast. The highlight of the meal were the kebabs (sashliki) that we prepared and then slow roasted over a giant pit of hot coals...ochin vacousny. The remainder of the day was spent playing chess (im still fairly awful but I won my first 2 games this week and am feeling pretty good about it), tossing around a football and listening to Sweet Dreams Are Made of these by the Eurythmics about 100 times on repeat (my host cousin like the song....a lot). Definitely one of the better days I have had.

Tomorrow I have my site placement interview and will hopefully have a better idea of where I will be spending the next two years afterwards. I will keep you all updated on the developments and by request, will try and give you, my loyal readers, an idea of what life is like in ukraine and what the people here are like. (I just have to be tactful as there may or may not be some Ukrainian readers among you...but there really isn't much negative to say!) Alright...that's all for now. Go Wings

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Hello all...

I apologize for not having blogged in the past couple of weeks but my life here has been keeping me rather busy. From Birthday celebrations with my Ukrainian family(they're all impressed that I don't make a face when I am taking down Vodka and Cognac shots) to trying to make sense of one of the 38,000 prefixes and suffixes in the Russian language my time just flies by. I honestly wish that I could sit here and tell you some wonderfully entertaining story about a drunken night out or some funny cross cultural mishap that I stumbled into but I really don't have much to share. I spend the bulk of my time these days with my face in a Russian book, in front of my computer watching Arrested Development or with a fork full of food stuffed into it.

I did get to experience Orthodox Easter here in Ukraine which basically involved me getting woken up at 4am to have a massive feast with my fam, taking a 3 hour nap, having another epic meal, taking another nap and more or less alternating those two activities for the remainder of the day...I'm seriously thinking about converting! (I'm kidding--no emails dripping with guilt neccessary) There are a bunch more Ukrainian holidays coming up this month and I am hopeful that they take the same form as Easter...those of you who know me well know that sleep and food rank pretty highly on my all time top 10.

I also tilled some earth this past weekend with my peoples to prepare one of my family's plots for potato(e) (just in case you're reading this Dan) planting season...good times. It felt good to get dirty and I was rewarded afterwards by roasting kebabs over a pit of hot coals and with a glass of Crimean wine. Also got destroyed by my cousin in Chess...4 moves to check...I went out a bought a board this afternoon. Again...good times.

I am heading off tomorrow to the Oblast (essentially a state) center to catch up with a couple of friends that I haven't seen since we went to our respective sites and am very much looking forward to a days worth of relaxation and laughs. Maybe Chernigiv (where I'm going) will provide me with the anecdotes that I know you all are so craving...lets hope.

Alright, I've got to be going but first wanted to say a word or two about my friend Matt Lash who passed away earlier this week. Matt was one of the best human beings I have ever had the privillege of meeting. He was selfless, brave, fiercely loyal to his friends and had more charisma than any person I have ever met. To have lost him this early in life is beyond unfair and I will miss him every day. I love you Matt...

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Back on the Upswing

So I know that my last post was probably a bit of a downer but it was how I was feeling at the time and I wanted to be honest with all of you. The large majority of you who are reading this blog are my closest friends and family and I feel an obligation to you to be open, honest and straight forward in these posts. As I have previously written, my 27 month journey here will be filled with plenty of highs and lows and i am prepared for that ride (at least to the best of my ability) and i hope that you all are as well. So with that said...things are looking up once again. I knew they would, I really only had one and a half bad days but they really sucked and I needed for something good to happen..and it did! Really it was something i did for myself. i decided I needed to change how I viewed my language training, change up the way i study and have a talk with my language teacher--all 3 decisions have proven to be fruitful and I am feeling much better about Russian than I did earlier in the week. Don't get me wrong...it's still unbelievably difficult for me, but I am here and not going anywhere soon so I figure a positive approach probably will work out better for me. so far so good.

Also had a great visit to Kiev (Kyiv) yesterday. We spent about 9 hours walking around the city, people watching, visiting the Peace corps offices and generally not using our brains...felt great. It may sound strange, but being in Kiev made me feel much farther away from home than being in my small town does. Just an observation...nothing bad...thankfully i really haven't had a bout of homesickness yet and hope that i dont for sometime. 3 or 4 volunteers have already headed back to the states so I know not everyone has been able to remain free from those feelings. Thankfully i am surrounded by good people here so I am confident the next 2 months should remain fairly pain free (with the exception of russian class of course).

Alright...as usual i am running short on time and need to get going but I miss you all (in a good way) and look forward to getting a chance to respond to some of the emails I have been getting. Again...please be patient...I beg of you. Oh, one question...is Kwame still in office? I cannot imagine that's even possible but knowing Detroit I am fairly confident I know the answer. Das vidanya...

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I joined the Peace Corps to become a better person than I am and yet today I feel lesser than I was. In all honesty I knew that the honeymoon period would not last forever so in many respects I am prepared for how I am feeling today, and yet it is still tough. Don't you worry people...there is ZERO chance that I will not be seeing this through, but I would be lying to you all if I did not share my honest feelings. My brain freaking hurts! I don't mean that as a matter of speaking, it seriously hurts. Bits and pieces of my language training are sinking in but I feel so overwhelmed by the volume of information being thrown at me that sometimes my mind just stops working. I think (hope) this is normal for a new Peace Corps volunteer to be having these feelings but I cannot wallow in them...it will only bring me down (farther down than I am feeling today).

Please don't read this and worry...please consider the gravity of the changes I have endured over the past month and i think you will agree it is pretty normal to have a bad day or two. Whatever that doesn't kill me will only make me stronger...as cliche as that saying is there really are few truer words. Speaking of almost dying...I taught my first class yesterday and if it wasn't for my brilliant partner Lauren (3+ years of Russian Langauge classes under her belt) I dount I would have survived the experience. The lesson (about the dangers of smoking) actually went over pretty well in our minds but that was not the feedback we were given by our teaching adivsor. It's kind of disheartening to finally get your first lesson over with and then be made to feel like you performed poorly...maybe I'm just being over-sensitive, who knows. 16 hour days (study time included) tend to do that to you...no joke...

Anyway...I still am extremely happy with my host family and consider two of my host cousins to be friends. I went over to one of their homes on Sunday night for his 18th Birthday party and had the best night of my Ukrainian stay. I was made to feel as though I was a part of their family which did wonders to cure my case of the blahs. I also discovered I enjoy shots of Cognak...good to know. Too bad Monday had to come and ruin everything! All and all I really still do feel positive about my being here. I know there will be lows far lower than what I am feeling today and am hopeful that the highs (like Sunday) will make the struggles all worth while. You all have given me such great feedback which really serves as motivation for me...keep the emails coming...you have no idea how I look forward to reading them. And please do not be offended if I do not respond to each of you in short time. I get on the computer once or twice a week and for no more than 45 miuntes or an hour each time so be patient...Miss you all!!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Russian is HARD...not that I didn't think it would be, but seriously...its hard. Not like the 4th hole at Lincoln Hills hard, but like playing Augusta National from the tips and trying to break par. The good news is that I know it will click eventually and I just to need to get busy memorizing all of the five hundred million grammar rules that this beautiful language has. Everyone here is in the same situation that I am though so we will all suffer and persevere together.

Suprising as it may sound I really don't have all that much new to report. My days all blend into one another and I have nearly zero down time. I am either eating, being taught Russian, studying Russian, attempting to speak Russian and getting blank stares in return or playing Uno...and eating. I really cannot say that I have one favorite dish but the national food, Vareniki (spelling is wayyy off) is excellent. They are pretty much meat filled dumplings and are topped of with lots of Mayo (something I love but I apologize to certain others who may have just lost it all over their keyboard...you know who you are). I am fortunate to have a great cook in my host grandmother and so everything I am served tastes delicious. Lots of meats and carbs.

As for the toilet paper, it is pretty much rough brown paper towel but you get used to it after a while. There is no way that Cottonelle would flush down the toilets here so sending me some would be kind but moot. I have more anecdotes but my internet time is about to cut out so I will leave you with my new cell number:

011-38-063-140-9289

I get free incoming calls so dont be shy. Again, remember the 7 hour time difference. Look forward to hearing some familiar voices soon. Miss you....

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Quick hello (part II)

Unfortunately I am rushed for time again but I figured some news is better than no news at all...So life is honestly pretty good here. That isn't to say that I haven't had to make some major adjustments in order to be comfortable but the transition has been no where near as difficult as I would have thought. (I don't believe in jinxes fyi...yet) My host family has cable TV (complete with a Russian version of Married with Children...every detail indentical...just in Russian), hot water, fantastic food and thanks to me a serious Uno addiction. There are obviously things that I miss about home--friends, family, my teams and Buddy's Pizza--but each day here brings with it new experiences that I would never have a chance to know back in the States.

I think I mentioned this in a prior post, but I am learning Russian and am totally enthused about it. With all of the new developments taking place in Russia and all of the former Soviet Republics, Ukraine included, I cannot imagine a more important language to have under my belt moving forward. The langauge training is tough, however. I would guess that the first 5 days of classes covered well over a half of semsester's worth of college language course work. The fact that there are only 5 of us guarantees a ton of individual attention and that makes a lot of difference. Plus living among and with Russian speakers (my host family speaks zero english) makes it easier to practice what I have learned. I know the next 10 weeks or so of training is only going to get tougher but I think I am up to the challenge...

I bought a cell phone yesterday but the store did not have the Sim card I needed so I will have to wait until tomorrow to be able to send an receive calls. I promise to post the number here as soon as I get it. All of my incoming calls are free so call all you want (within reason). Keep in mind that it is 7 hours later here...EST. I am really not suppossed to be getting mail during the first 3 months so I will refrain from posting my address here...if anything changes I will be sure to post that as well.

It's getting late and I have to do some studying before bed...if anyone has any questions you can post them on here and I will do my best to answer them. Hope everyone is happy, healthy and not flipping out over the Tigers 0-3 start. I will try and post in the next few days...miss you all.

Monday, March 31, 2008

A Quick Hello...

So i promise to write in great depth when I have some real time to sit down and think, but while i have a second at the computer i will give you a quick idea of what my life has been like over the past week, what i am doing and who i am living with...

My training in Philly was a whirlwind filled with policy speak and cliche getting to know you games...but they were necessary and helped to break the ice. 64 of us had a chance to settle our nerves and talk through all that we were feeling, which was pretty much the same and very therapeutic. The two days passed by quickly and we boarded busses to leave for JFK in NYC.

The next day and a half was spent on airplanes (Lufthansa is hands down the best airlines i have ever flown) and on benches sleeping in the Munich airport. A long couple of days but not all that bad. My luggage all made it with me and considering not everyone could say that i consider it a huge success!

After landing in Kiev we headed to some hotel-ish type place in the woods and went through 2 more days of policy and debreifing. I found out who would be in my cluster (the group of people i will be studying with and living in the same town as)...all very good people...and found out that i would be learning Russian, a very nice surprise.

I will write more later...bering rushed. All is well. Love you all.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Day 1...

What the hell have I gotten myself into?!?!? Just kidding...I flew into Philly today for a 2 day orinetation of sorts and everything thus far has been great. As you would expect, all of the volunteers are extremely down to earth and really interesting people. My roomate is a fellow Michigander, Royal Oak native and Detroit sports fan which has made the transition easy and fun. We hit up a Belgian Pub tonight where I was able to enjoy one of my favorite beers (Delirium) and watch the Pistons play...could life be any better? I think not.

All in all today has been everything I hoped and needed it to be. There was the obligatory paper work and Peace Corps policy lecture that was loads of fun, but more importantly, I am surrounded by great people and am on my way to developing a support system that will sustain me for the next 27 months. I will obviously miss all of my family and friends (you're my family too) but I am thrilled to be less than 24 hours in and already feel so comfortable with my new Peace Corps family. No doubt there are tought, trying times ahead but I am up to the task and am ready to test my resolve. I miss you all and hope to be able to update again sometime in the first week or two of April. Thank you for your love and support...I am blessed. On to Ukraine!

PS: For some reason the time stamps on my posts are off my 3 or 4 hours so just ignore them until I figure out how to fix it...that is all.

Friday, March 21, 2008

A little less than 36 hours from now I will be boarding a plane for Philadelphia and from there my new life begins. A million thoughts are running through my head right now...some good, some scary but all very real. I think it is natural to second guess a decision of this magnitude, one that takes me so far out of my comfort zone, but when I delve deep inside I know that I am making the right choice. These next 27 months will push me to be the very best person I can, to go far beyond the the artificial boundaries I have set for myself and have been so scared to leave. I am ready. I am ready to succeed. I am ready to fail. I am ready to go. I love all of you and will keep you close to my heart throughout my journey, wherever it may take me.

Monday, February 18, 2008