13 November 2007

So it has been months since I actually got down and put something into my computer to detail what has been going on here. It isn’t that I’m absolutely swamped, or that I’m just lazy and bored, but I have been busy and at least a little lazy at points in keeping this updated.

But I did need to read what I had last read to catch up where I left off. Obviously I did short shrift to my summer, since I didn’t include much in the way of camps I participated in, one being a multi-cultural camp I helped with and a second being an environmental camp. You can find photos from both at Flickr, so go take a look, if you want more details send me a note and I can fill in holes.

More recently I got back from my first trip to Eastern Ukraine, and some of the fears I had of only hearing Russian and people from the east being meaner were unfounded. I took a weekend trip to celebrate Halloween in Kharkiv (Kharkov, Russian spelling) and had a good time, in and outside of the party. Pictures for that are also up. Probably the hardest part of all if it is just the sheer amount of time it takes to get there. I needed to board a train to Kharkiv from Lviv in the west Friday at 8 in the morning and we did not arrive until Saturday at about 4:30 in the morning, which made for a long day. Thankfully there was a 24-hour café; only problem was it closed at 8 in the morning. No one could figure out why it closed, especially since it was there was a sign written in English and Ukrainian stating it is “non-stop”. Oh the life.

The main reason going to Kharkiv was the party, however, Peace Corps was concerned about the potential for trouble and was trying to discourage people from attending, being said, there were still around 100 attendees and as far as I know, not a problem was reported. I had the idea ranging back a bit to try and acquire a military uniform, fortunately Ira’s father was willing to give me some of his old uniforms that were lying around so I was able to get as dressed up as you see in the photos for free. The only thing it cost was were the confused looks I got from people as I walked down the street. They weren’t really sure what to make of me, since I didn’t really look the military type, but had the full uniform to play the part. I didn’t go overboard while dressed up, was a little concerned it might attract attention, but most people I knew and who saw it thought it was a good job. I thought it was fun.

Going back a little further chronologically, my parents visited the first part of October for about 10 days. It was a good visit, nothing went exactly as I had planned it, but there was a general order to it. They had a chance to visit Europe, meet people I know and experience what life can be like in Ukraine, the good and not so good.
We started out when they flew into Kyiv and ended up leaving that night on the train to Lviv. I had hoped we would have a little time in Kyiv to start out with, but I was stuck with the unavailability of tickets. Once in Lviv, my parents got to meet Ira as she met us at the train station before we were whisked away to the bus station to go to my town. Once there, we were able to relax for a bit and my parents caught up on sleep they hadn’t been able to do earlier. Sleeping on a train that bumps around was a new experience, I think. We spent more time in Dobrotvir, than I expected, but it worked out in the end as they were able to adjust a bit to the time change and get some energy, attend teachers day with English teachers from my school and meet other people from my town.

From there we started to see a bit more of the touristy parts of Ukraine, mainly Lviv and later Kyiv. One of my only regrets was we were not able to meet up with my first host family Ira also came along with us for the trip to Kyiv, which was great and we even were able to get a little extra information by going to a graduate school fair that was held that evening, most conveniently. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of schools that caught either of our attention. The fair was for schools worldwide. I’m still undecided if I will go back to school when I finish my Peace Corps service. Right now I am leaning towards waiting at least a bit so I can have a specific goal and degree in mind before I start.