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  Kremenets, Ukraine
Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Hello one and all! Sorry it's been so long since I last informed you of my whereabouts, but there were some computer related issues, and plus I was busier than I've ever been ever. But well, here's the jist. I'm now an official Volunteer with a capital V, as opposed to the mere trainee I was before. Training ended on December 19th.... highlights included
*a Jeopardy style competition between two schools in our community, which got really fierce... competition is huge here
*a farewell party with our host families at the local teletubbies themed cafe, which included rousing games of both telephone and charades
*a full week of me eating nothing but top ramen... and not by choice
*a fun farewell and Christmas party with my clustermates and Ukrainian teacher (who's now a good friend)
*a visit from Saint Nicolas, who inexplicably left a toy lobster under my pillow

After training ended, we were all whisked away to this "resort" (I can't imagine going to this place for relaxation purposes) for a week, where we were filled with more crucial information than we will ever need

Christmas party

. But, all 108 of us were together in this freezing place, so it was fun as long as we weren't in a meeting. Somewhere in there was the swearing in ceremony, which was held in Kyiv and consisted of many, many hours of speeches from the ambassador, the country director, and various Ukrainians, followed by us taking an oath, promising to be good volunteers. Our 'coordinators' (the teachers who are hosting us at our permanent sites) showed up to the event and remained at Prolisok (the non-resort) with us for a few days. They too were drug to many a meeting, and it was rather awkward.

On Christmas Eve, we had a talent show (which wasn't as bad as it sounds!) and then we were treated to a dinner of tomato and mayo salad, cabbage rolls, mushrooms, and some sort of meat that I didn't touch. Not exactly reminiscent of home! But we had a dance party after that, so all was well.

Christmas day is not a holiday here. It consisted of everyone getting onto various busses and trains and saying goodbye to one another, because we all had to go to our new communites. Dramatic eh? It was a rather emotional time, because we've been living in little clusters for 3 months, and those people become like your little family unit.

My Bedroom in Kremenets

Today is my second day at my permanent site. It's called Kremenets, and is located in the Western part of the country (woohoo! that's what I wanted). It's a town of about 23,000 and it's a very historical place. There are the ruins of a castle from the 12th century and a total of 12 churches, some of which are quite elaborate. The town is located in a little valley, with woods on the hills. It's quite picturesque really, and I was stunned when I first arrived on site visit a month ago. The school where I will be working at is one where the parents pay a little bit for their kids to have extra English lessons. There are only 120 students at the school, in 11 grades. As far as I can tell, I'll be teaching 5th through 10th graders, but everything is really up in the air right now. The winter holidays are about to begin, and a new semester will start after that, so things could change at a moment's notice.

I have to live with yet another host family for another 3 months, and they couldn't be more different from my previous host fam. This new family has three sons who are 11, 14, and 15. But they are quiet boys who do their homework, at least so far. The house itself is insane. People love to show off that they have money here, and that applies to the building of a house as well. This family owns a successful shop in town, so they are doing quite well financially and built themselves a 2 story, 6 bedroom house with heated floors. It's either one extreme or the other here- a cramped apartment where everything is breaking all the time, or a huge luxury pad. Looks like I'll be experiencing both ends of the spectrum. They are nice people though, very thoughtful and hospitable, and I'm sure I'll enjoy my three months with them and their luxurious house quite well. After that, I'll move into my very own broken apartment.

Well, mere seconds remain of my time on this computer, so that's all for now. Hope everyone is well and had a very Merry Christmas!!

Oh, almost forgot, I now have a mobile phone, but because this site is open for all to read, I won't post the number here. Write me a separate email if you think you want my phone number.

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