First Month as Site
Trip Start
Mar 02, 2003
1
9
41
Trip End
Jul 04, 2005
Rivne,
Ukraine
Wednesday, July 2, 2003
I've been meaning to post for several weeks now, but I haven't been able to actually sit down and type something. Instead of typing directly into travelpod, this time I'm typing at home and will upload this tomorrow. Today was a monumental day for me. Today my hot water boiler was installed. I bought the sucka the first week I was in Rivne. Taras, the current director of Ecoclub, and the owner of my apartment, picked it out because it is, after all, his place
Independence Square -Shevchenko
. Then the saga began of getting it actually installed. Now, I sprung for the boiler because after a few days of boiling water on the stove and carrying it to the bathroom for my bath (this process usually takes minimum two hours) my back started hating me. I could barely get out of bed in the morning, let alone bend over to do my laundry in the tub. Hence, the boiler. Money well spent, I believe. Taras took it upon himself to find someone to install the heater in my apartment. When his Uncle Sasha was unavailable to do this, Sasha's friend, Victor volunteered. It took a month. First, there wasn't time. Then the drill broke. Then Taras forgot to call. And finally yesterday and really, today, I got hot water. I came home this evening to find Victor leaving and very excited to show me what he did. Not only did he install the boiler, but as an added bonus I also have a mobile shower head. Unfortunately I can't hang it from the wall as of yet, but honestly, who cares?!!! I can bathe whenever I want and it only takes the twist of the faucet to make water hot. I even started soaking clothes for laundry tomorrow. Usually this would also take and hour at least. It's beautiful, shiny and white and it's hanging on my bathroom wall. Hallelujah!
Ecoclub
My job is interesting
Me with Ecoclub peeps and Regine at Astoria
. It's so hard to explain what I'll actually be doing, as honestly, I'm not quite sure some days. Right now we're working on a couple projects. We're putting together a letter of inquiry for a grant. We're trying to do a little organizational restructuring as the term "efficiency" currently does not exist in Ecoclub's vocabulary. I'm working on a project with Andriy, one of the Ecoclub peeps, about biodiversity. We're planning a project that will eventually involve making an area within the Rivne Oblast into a natural preserve. I'm really excited about this project, however, there's a lot of holes in it, and we still have a ways to go. In August we're insulating two orphanages in a town south of Rivne called Ostroh. This is a huge project that will take a couple weeks in August and then again in September. Now, I know, it sounds interesting, (I hope) but what am I doing here? Often times I think that no one is listening to what I have to say. They speak some English, and my Ukrainian gets better every day, but there are barriers that simple language cannot cross. Birthday parties at the office. Sure, no problem, but when it involves three bottles of vodka and four people drinking (me included) there may be an issue of getting things done. We're still working on letters that were supposed to be sent out months ago. Ummm. Yeah. Also, no one ever knows what the other people are doing. It's a small organization, 5 people on the payroll, and still if I ask one person about what the others are working on, most likely the answer will be, I dunno. AAHHH! Frustration. I wonder how different my experience would be if I were in Africa and had to dig ditches or was working with farmers in Ecuador like I originally thought I would be doing. Physical stress, yes. But would I be concerned about my effectiveness as a volunteer? I know I'm doing good for them. I know I'll do more good, and maybe I'll leave satisfied in two years, but some days are really tough.
Ukrainian in New York
Today I was sitting at "Astoria" a restaurant here in Rivne with three other PCVs. We had just finished our lunch when a woman approached us because she heard us speaking English. I'm not even sure what her name was, but she answered a very philosophical question for the four of us - Can an American live a regular Ukrainian life in Ukraine? And can a Ukrainian live a normal American life in the States? Well, this woman emigrated from Ukraine to the US 8 years ago and since has been living in NYC. She's in Rivne visiting her mom and said that she couldn't wait to get home. She mentioned she'd been looking for some sort of sedative since she got here, because the culture was too much for her. As she mentioned this I couldn't help but wonder about my sanity...When we told her that we'd be here for two whole years she couldn't believe it, and added that she doesn't know how we'll be able to survive in such a backward, stubborn country. On the contrary, she also told us of how easily she had adapted to living in the Big Apple, and that she wouldn't give up her life there for anything. I think she must have forgotten about initial culture shock, and if not, then I think all volunteers in Ukraine are in big trouble. We had a great chat, I told her to have a knish for me when she got home and that was that. I think there are varying degrees of normalcy within one's life here in Ukraine. I'm still looking for my own, personal normalcy. Perhaps the hot water was a step in the right direction. Who knows.
This week Taras is going to visit his parents in Russia, he'll be back next week and then him and Tolik, my coordinator and another Ecoclub peep, will go to Crimea for two weeks. Andriy is going to the Carpathians with his wife, and Natasha is in St. Petersburg. As a Peace Corps volunteer I can't leave the country until the end of August, and technically I'm supposed to stay at site, period, for the first three months. Weekends are flexible, as demonstrated by last weekend's trip to Kyiv. However, I can't use vacation yet. Official travel it is. Maybe I can find a summer camp run by another volunteer that I can work at. We have a lot of those here in the summer. Anything to keep busy. I can't marvel at hot running water for the entirety of next month!
Ok, folks, I could go on. I will go on later, but for now send me postcards. If you didn't get my email containing my contact information and plea for mail, let me know and I'll send it to you. I got my first card today from Lee, Alec's mom, so you all better get cracking. My wall is bare and needs decoration. Hope to hear from you all soon.
