9/19/2010
Hello all! We arrived in Washington DC on Friday and we met up with some PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) by chance. We rented a Super Shuttle from the airport to the hotel and there were very many PCVs there. We had little to no sleep the night before and we arrived at the hotel with no time to make up for it. At 11:30 we started a six hour class where we turned in our forms and paperwork, listened to coordinators of all types and did projects and skits to prepare us for our trip.
The next day we were packed up and leaving for the airport by noon. Our flight didn't leave until 5:45PM so you'd think two people would have no problem getting through customs and ticketing. However, there were not two but seventy-six of us which made the process a bit more difficult so we only had about an hour and a half to spare when we got through everything.
We had a two hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany and all of us had to go through the customs and security checks again so two hours were just about exactly what we needed to finish thee process. The Frankfurt airport was very efficient and fast though so, perhaps if we had landed at another airport it would have been a bit more stressful. We boarded a plane on the Frankfurt tarmac and flew off to Kiev, Ukraine.
Ukraine from 35,000 feet looks suspiciously like any other part of the world coincidentally. When we landed the airport and all the people within it reminded us that we were no longer in the US. The Frankfurt airport, except for the German posters and signs, looks like any airport in the US. The Kiev airport looks similar to America but with a subtle Soviet style that sets it apart from anything you'll find in the US. We dragged our very heavy bags and loaded them through the airport across a large parking lot where they were loaded into an 18-wheeler. Then Shannon and I, along with two large busloads of PCVs headed North to our training retreat in Chernihev.
A quick side note: Our group to Chernihev had about eighty PCVs. It could have had 30 more people with it but those PCVs Visas did not come in on time and so there were 30 people who were treated to a two day vacation in Washington DC, all expenses paid.
Our retreat was located at an old Soviet-era resort or sanitorium (which doesn't mean what you think it means). The PCVs were assigned three to a room and, as that might be awkward to the third member, Shannon and I were separated. She to an all-girls room and I to an all-boys room. I roomed with Dave and Dominic who were very nice and fun. Shannon roomed with Lilli and another girl that I don't remember but I"m sure she'll correct later. The toilets had a handle on the top of the tank that you pulled up to flush. The showers, as in many houses (doms) in Ukraine had no shower curtain. It has a white metal shower basin and a hand-held shower head. It did, however, have hot water which not all places have so we could take a nice hot shower and wash many many hours of travelling off us.
The retreat had a nice little diner where we were fed Ukrainian food by Ukrainian women. We ate potato soup and a tame version of borshch. There was rice and chicken for dinner, hot sweet milk with pasta for breakfast, soup and bread for lunch etc. The food was really good and reminded me of home in Alabama where my Mom would cook similar meals (maybe not borshch or hot sweet milk and pasta though).
We had class everyday for two and a half days most of which was taught by Ukrainians who work for Peace Corps. We were broken up into smaller groups called "clusters" (Shannon and I were J Cluster) and we were told the language in which we were to be trained which, for Shannon and I, happened to be Russian. At first we kind of went "Aaaw..." but then we realized that we hadn't really learned that much Ukrainian anyway and most Ukrainians speak both Ukrainian and Russian (sometimes at the same time) so we started learning Russian. Other classes were on health and safety, Ukrainian history and culture, how to behave around your host families and we met with Peace Corps officials in Ukraine.
The night before we left, we were told what city and what families we would be living in/with. We were posted in the town of Kyinka which is a village of about 3000 people. The only downside is that Shannon and I aren't living with the same host family. Our directors tell us that they would have placed us together but that the paperwork did not show us to be married. Also, more importantly, they recommend couples live apart during training in order to pick up the language more quickly. It's not ideal but it's only for training and we'll definitely be living together afterwards. In the meantime, we now have two host families. I am living with a young couple. The father is 27 and is named Bogdan and his wife is Elona. They have a wonderfully cherubic four year old daughter named Veronica. There is too much to say about the warmth and kindness of these people so I will just say that they have made me very comfortable and happy while I am here.
Shannon is living about an hour's walk from my house on the other side of Kyinka with an older family with an adult daughter. The father is named Ivan and the mother is named Maria. As of this post I have not met them yet so I do not remember their daughter's name but, again, I'm sure Shannon will clear this up soon.
So, for three months we will go to language and cultural training six days a week. Our language teacher (LCF) Victoria is from Odessa in southern Ukraine and has a temporary apartment in a house in Kyinka which we travel to daily for school. Veronica is very nice and is really helping us learn Russian quickly. The first night in my host house I had no idea what my host family was saying and they talked to me the whole time saying only one English word an hour. They would ask me a question, I would shrug and they would ask me another question. I would ask them a question, they would shrug and ask me a question. That was yesterday. Today, Wednesday, I came home from school and I could understand a lot more and could speak to them more effectively. I am hoping by Saturday to abandon the English language altogether while I am around them (unless they ask for a word in English which happens from time to time).
Speaking of Saturday, we are going on a field trip to downtown Chernigev where I hope to buy a phone and a guitar. When we return, Bogdan and Elona have invited Shannon over to spend the night and we are going fishing and Elona will teach Shannon to make Ukrainian borcht. I am really looking forward to it more than I can express. I see Shannon for most of the day but the nights apart are hard on us both and I miss her and wish I could share my experience with her but we tell each other about our day when we see each other at class and we laugh at the wonderful situation we've gotten ourselves into.
I miss you guys back home. I really do. I hope you are doing well and Shannon and I will be able to communicate with you when we travel to Chernigev this weekend. More posts to come. We love you! We miss you! Keep us in your thoughts as you are always in ours.
