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.

1 comment:

AK said...

Hey Jordan, I'm glad to hear you're doing well! I'm actually sort of envious of everything you're doing over there... :) If you send me an address sometime, I'll send you some real letters. In the meantime, I'll keep reading your blog. Take care of yourself, kiddo. I miss you.