The people of Ukraine

Another blog post and this time under 6 months.  Part of the Peace Corps mission is to learn about the culture that you live in.  After realizing that over the last 5 weeks I haven’t left my site or seen any other Americans, I realized how lucky I am to be a part of this town, country, and culture.  So I want to tell you about some of the people I have met here and how lucky I am to have all of these people.  2 years ago I would have never thought there were so many people in Ukraine let alone a tiny little village that would take me in, be good friends, and watch out for me. So thank you to the following.

First and always, my family here in Ukraine.  I am so lucky to have a second family here.  My super talented and smart Brother Bohdon, my caring Mama and Papa, and my beautiful and hilarious little sister Rita.  Sadly I live some 14 hours away by train from them and don’t get to see them nearly enough I am lucky enough to write to them and always know if I need anything I always have them.  Bohdon recently finished in the Top 3 in a music competition and will head to Lithuania in mid June! 

Next, the people that I work with here have allowed me to fit in at school; this has been beyond wonderful considering it is where I spend the majority of my time.  Marina Ivanava has been an angel to me.  I have needed plenty of help here with so many random things and she has always been there.  Natalia Olexavana, our schools’ vice principal, has also been wonderful- helping me plan projects, co teaching with me, and giving me things to do when I run out of ideas.  Nickola Nickolivch, our director has also been a great boss.  I hear stories from other volunteers that they never talk to their directors and feel awkward around them.  I am lucky to have a director that plays basketball with me, invites me to his parent’s sauna, and frequently checks up on me to make sure all is well.  Vika Vicktorivna has helped me with running and organizing my sports club.  While I only mentioned 4 people at my school the entire staff, the cooks, and cleaning ladies have all been super nice and helpful.

I am also lucky to have some really good friends here.  Sona, Roma, Dema, Mischa, Anton, Sasha, Andre, and Vitalik have been a ton of fun and keep me entertained.  We tend to see each other every day at night at school playing basketball or lifting weights, a couple of them have even started taking English classes with me. 

                                                              Anton, Roma, Dema, Sona

In the town next to mine I am lucky enough to have Marina and her husband Maxim and their kids.   I am invited there often to be their guests and just hang out.  I love visiting them and try to head there as much as possible.  They will be running a small organization that will receive a Peace Corps volunteer next month. 

Finally I want to briefly how awesome my students are at school.  For who knows why my kids are always super excited to talk to me and see me.  Special thanks for those who come to my clubs and are quiet when I am stumbling through a lesson in Russian.

                                                     Me and my kids outside of our school

So those are some of the people that I have been lucky enough to meet here.  I only mentioned some of the people but I think it proves my theory that if you go anywhere in this world you will find people just like you, people that will take care of you and offer their friendship.

As for past and future talk, last weekend was a huge holiday here, Victory Day, celebrating the end of WWII.  Last Sunday our town celebrated the completion of a brand new monument in memory of the victory, it is named “future hope.”  Our town was home to 2 battles between the USSR and Germany.  When they built the monument and dug into the earth a few months ago they actually found 36 bodies from the battles.  Pretty crazy to think about that.  On Sunday Sona, Dema, Anton, Roma and I went camping along the river.  It was a great time, I even introduced them to baseball.  Plenty of laughs watching them figure out how to put on the gloves and get the ball back and forth between themselves. 

                                            Me, Roma, and a solider at the monument ceremony

 Our new WWII monument

As for the future I just got done planning a 10 day camp that I will be putting on at my site.  Nothing to major just a few lessons a day and American games.  I am still working on the Ecology camp that I will be running.  I also signed up to work at an English camp where I will be doing art projects with the kids, I will be working with my friend Sean who I have not informed yet that I have no artistic skills.  That’s about all, 2 more weeks of school and then the summer I guess. 

Tiffany is due any day now with my nephew Tucker.  Looking forward to getting the good news, wish I could be there and really wish Tom could be there as well!  Wish everyone the best, love hearing from anyone.  Hope all is well.

Bob