I'm still alive!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been extremely busy since the last update. First, I'll give you the latest about the blog, then the latest about me. I'm going to start updating it regularly, once a week on Sunday. I don't have time to update it more often than that and Sunday is my day off (sort of). I will also need to add a password to access the blog. Because of Peace Corps regulations I either have to submit every post to them to be approved or I need to put a password on the blog. They don't want any Ukrainians to read it and possibly be offended. If you read my blog and would like to keep reading it, please send me an e-mail so that I can send you the password. You can feel free to share the password with anyone who would like to read the blog. This will go into effect next week.

Okay, enough about that. After leaving home I spent a few days in Philadelphia with Peace Corps staff and the other volunteers coming to Ukraine. There were 72 volunteers so things were kind of crazy over there. I didn't know anybody, but neither did anyone else so we spent lots of time getting to know each other. We spent most of our time in training sessions learning about Ukraine, learning about how to be safe there, and learning about the cultural differences. From Philadelphia we flew to Frankfurt and then to Kiev. When we got to Kiev we discovered that half of our bags had not made the journey with us. It was actually pretty amazing, out of 72 of us only four people got all their bags.

Of course, the remedy to this situation was filling out paperwork - in Ukrainian. It was pretty crazy at the airport. Imagine 72 Peace Corps volunteers who have been traveling for over 24 hours in the Kiev airport trying to fill out all these different forms in Ukrainian. Oh yeah, and if you made a mistake on the form you had to start over again. Because no one actually knew exactly how we were supposed to fill out these forms we made a lot of mistakes. Once we did get the forms filled out correctly there were more forms. Of course, no one knew how to fill those out either. We never did manage to get through all the paperwork. Eventually, the Peace Corps sent a few people over to take care of the situation. After that there were no more forms, all we had to do then was get our passports stamped and leave the airport. There was just one small problem - one of the members of our group has the last name "Castro." After we got that sorted out we left the airport (after about five hours).

Next it was time to head to the Peace Corps retreat which was two or three hours away. We were all pretty exhausted by the time we got there and we just crashed. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any of Ukraine because it was pitch black by the time we left the airport. The next morning we got up early (every morning we got up early) and got going on a few more training sessions. In our spare time we got to walk around the retreat and see the countryside in Ukraine. After a few more days of training sessions we were all split up and sent to our clusters. Even though there are 72 volunteers in my group, we were all split up into clusters of about 5 and sent to different cities to do our training. This was a little bit scary and a little bit sad. After spending the last 4 or 5 days meeting 72 new people we were being split up and sent to different places. We said goodbye to the friends we had made and got ready to make some new ones.

Next, off to our new cities and to our Ukranian host families. I was sent to Chernihev with five other volunteers that I didn't know very well, my friends were assigned to different cities. When the bus arrived we got out and waited in the square for our host families to come and pick us up (we were about a half hour early). It was kind of strange waiting for people you had never met to come and pick you up so that you can live with them for the next few months. When we would see people walk by we would wonder, "is this my new family?" We all laughed about it and the best way to describe it is to say that we were like puppies hoping someone would walk by and take us home with them. My family did come and I discovered that they speak virtually zero English. I speak very little Ukrainian and so communication is still difficult. It took me half an hour to ask where I can hang my towel and an entire afternoon to make it to the bank that ended up being just down the street.

Aside from the language barrier they are very nice and make me feel welcome in their home. Their home is also very nice. When I got on the plane to come to Ukraine I thought I might be getting my water from a well. Instead, my family has hot water, a washing machine, and internet in the home. I am the only volunteer that I know of who has access to all of these things. Space is at a premium in all of Ukraine, there are usually many people living in very small spaces. I like it here and am starting to settle in.

I go to class six days a week, most of the time is spent in language training and the rest is technical training and other miscellaneous things like medical visits or meeting local officials. I am working very hard on the language training. One of the girls in my cluster has a master's in Russian and another is a linguist. It is hard to keep up, but it motivates me to study more and learn Ukrainian faster. It is important for me to spend lots of time studying anyway so that I can communicate. I'd like to be able to talk more with my host family, but even more than that I will need to communicate when I leave Chernihev in two months to go to my placement site. I will probably be there without any other volunteers or Peace Corps staff.

In the technical training sessions we learn how to teach English in the Ukrainian universities. This includes a few days a week observing and teaching at a university here in Chernihev. I start observing next week and then a few weeks after that I will begin teaching. I need to get back to studying right now, but I will tell you more next week. I really need to spend every spare minute studying so that I can communicate.

I have been getting lots of e-mails from everyone which is great, but I am too busy to respond to most of them during the week. You will probably get most of your replys on the weekend. I also have a cell phone now. If you want to call me send me an e-mail and I will give you my number. I still haven't managed to call to the US yet, but hopefully I will figure it out soon. Talk to you later!