Adjustment

I'm starting to get used to being in Ukraine, but I have to admit that the adjustment has been an extremely bipolar experience. Most days I'm thrilled to be here and enjoy the fact that every day is an adventure. Sometimes it can be a bit much and I really wish I could communicate better and be more independent. It is definitely more difficult than I expected it to be. I have visited many foreign countries and thought most things wouldn't be so different here. I can tell you that living in a foreign country is an entirely different experience than visiting one.

When I first came here I really did not know how to do anything at all. I like to make the analogy that managing your daily life in the states is like playing catch. It's really not that difficult and you can mostly survive on autopilot. Trying to adjust to life in Ukraine is like having 200 baseballs thrown at you simultaneously! Even the simplist things you need to learn all over again. Each task is like a ball you need to catch. Imagine if nothing was automatic and required your full attention. I am starting to get the hang of life here, but some days I still have my arms over my head while I get pelted with baseballs! It is a good thing though, if the Peace Corps were easy it wouldn't be worth doing. One of the reasons I wanted to join was so that I would be challenged in ways that I have never been before. I have not been disappointed!

On Tuesday I teach my first English class. Surprised? Me too! We observed a class at a University last week and on Monday we will observe the class that we will be teaching ourselves. We will have a chance to talk to the instructor about exactly what we will be doing. Most of us really wish we had more than 24 hours to prepare, but the Peace Corps has an expression for this: "experiential learning." Come to think of it, we have been doing quite a lot of experiential learning. Anyway, we will be teaching two days a week which will be good preparation for us before we leave for our placement sites.

In addition to our language classes, technical sessions, and the classes we will be teaching we also have to work on a project at the University. Basically, we come up with some way we can help out like holding a seminar to show teachers how to use the internet as an educational resource. We come up with the idea and discuss it with the admistrators, teachers, and students and then make it happen. We also have to write a grant so that our project will be funded. It is sort of a trial run to get us prepared to do these types of things when we get to our permanent sites.

All of this stuff has been keeping us pretty busy. Some of the volunteers like to compare training to boot camp. We have been told by other volunteers that once we finish our training things will be much easier. We will get much more time to ourselves and we will be more in charge of our own lives. Right now our entire day is scheduled for us then we go home, do a big pile of homework, and go to sleep. It is really difficult for someone like me to not be in control of what I do and how I do it, but I imagine it must be even more difficult for some of the more experienced volunteers. They have come here after a lifelong career in academics, education, or business and have to start over at square one.

Even though it sometimes feels like we are being treated like children we realize that it is because in a lot of ways we are like children. As experienced and independent minded as all of us are, the truth is we don't really know how things work here in Ukraine. We are just starting to learn and it is already clear that things work very differently here than they did in the United States. As we get our education we are "growing up" and soon we will be able to live in Ukraine as adults. We are getting this education both inside and outside of school.

A few days ago I had what we call a "cultural moment." After I did my laundry and was frantically trying to iron all my clothes the 13 year old boy that I live with asked me "Why do you have so many clothes?" It seems like a simple question, but it is not. People in Ukraine typically have only a few outfits. That is accepted and normal here. I must have looked awfully silly with that big pile of shirts trying to iron them all. I could have tried to answer his question by explaining to him that everyone in the US has this many clothes (and usually more). That maybe we have so many clothes because it is an indicator of wealth and status. Maybe we use our clothes as a way to express ourselves. Maybe we have so many just because everyone else does. I have to admit, that as I stood there next to my giant pile of wrinkled shirts none of these seemed like very good explanations. After he asked me this question all of these things went through my mind, but I just stood there blankly for a second while I considered these possibilities and simply said "I don't know." He shrugged his shoulders after getting the answer he must have expected and walked off. Some things are just not so easy to explain. What I didn't tell him was that I left most of my clothes in the states!