Saturday, August 30, 2008

starting fresh – 08.21.2008

i realize that i’ve been pretty bad about keeping up with the blog for the last couple months. a lot has been happening over here, and similarly to working in dc, it’s been hard to come home and try to sit in front of a computer and collect my thoughts. it is really amazing how tired a person’s brain can get from trying to both understand and then communicate in another language throughout the day. despite that, i think i am finally at the point where i can feel that i’ve successfully passed the first stage of this journey and am starting to get more and more settled. i’ll try to summarize the high points here, and then keep up with the blog every couple weeks like i planned to do before.

basically, the last few months have been about wrapping up the last bit of training in chernihiv and starting life in my new site in crimea. i’m not sure i realized it then, but being able to look back now at those first three months in chernihiv, i can see that they are going to mean a lot more to me as time passes. when else in your life are you going to be surrounded, not only by so many Americans who have come halfway around the world to try life in a new country, but also by the incredible support of people that started out as total strangers speaking an unknown language and became so much more. although the pictures i took show a lot of proud, smiling faces around the square in chernihiv that final day, there were tears on many of those same faces when it came time for our group to say goodbye and head off to our new sites (my host mom included). i am very much looking forward to having the language skills to be able to tell them how wonderful a host family they really were.

as for my new town of sovietskyi, crimea, i am not sure that i could have asked for a much better situation. i am the third volunteer in town (all with the same organization), so everyone generally understands that i might do some things that they consider pretty strange (like always putting my bag on the floor instead of on the chair beside me, or smiling and saying hi to basically everyone on the street). my counterpart already knows the vast majority of the information that peace corps passes on since he is going through this for the third time, so he feels free enough to joke around with me and most other people (not that i could ever relate to that, of course). and my primary organization, the business promotion center ‘perspektiva’, would like to do some interesting projects over the next couple years, including some of the following possible ideas

- write a strategic plan for the organization to address its need for long-term sustainability

- work with the hospital to develop a rayon wide tuberculosis testing process

- start school newspapers around the rayon, especially in some of the smaller villages, that can help students develop a variety of skills (ie. computer, journalism, civic action, carry on school & cultural traditions, etc)

- support the creation of a rayon-wide strategic plan

- help the central library and a local youth club with their ideas for the future (ie. media center, increase in foreign literature, other ways to expose the youth of sovietskyi to new possibilities, etc)

- and a few others, especially after finalizing the new priorities of the organization

So although the last few months have been a lot of fun, they have also been fairly busy trying to understand the needs and priorities of my new community, and adapting to the overall pace of life here. in that time, i have lived with a new host family who helped me get acclimated to town, started playing soccer with the local men’s team (i made it here just in time for the last game of the spring season, and the new season just started last weekend), started making friends with the kids who play soccer almost every day near my new apartment, headed to the beach at feodosiya, visited the old fortress at sudak (and the beach close by at novy svet), attended two crazy birthday parties and a tatar wedding, spent a few days with lauren and her family in yalta, met the volunteer who only lives in a town about 20 minutes away from me, and headed to kyiv for a 4 day project management and design training with my counterpart. not to mention that i have moved into my own apartment and am now living on my own for the first time in five years. oh, and did i mention that i have had some amazing Russian practice because only a couple people speak much English around here :)

overall, i am very much looking forward to the next stage of the adventure. work is starting to sort itself out, lauren is enjoying her first week in zaparozha, i’m figuring out the process of regular internet access, and a lot of the little everyday challenges have already been conquered (washing clothes by hand, ordering meat and cheese from the deli counter in a foreign language and in grams and kilos instead of pounds, asking for directions and actually understanding the answers, etc) . the language still causes the most difficulty by far, but that should get easier once i have a tutor in September. after that, we’ll see where the road leads…

while i am updating everyone on my life here in Ukraine, i also wanted to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to the following people back in the states for things that have happened since my last post. just to let you know that someone halfway around the world is thinking about you, and i look forward to catching up more over the phone soon…

- to my sister, who not only got rewarded and promoted for her hard work, but is now living it up on her own for the first time!

- to kevin and emily for making the big decision to head to houston in another month… all the best in preparing for the defense and then the move!

- to piya and ryan for their big day and starting their life together!

- and of course, to lauren and david for their first and newest addition to the family! (i got the announcement in the mail a few days ago, and i see you’re already brainwashing the little guy with the VT shirt :) )

i hope everyone else is doing well, and i’m looking forward to replying to emails and catching up soon!