Five days ago I took the oath and swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer after almost three months of four-hours-a-day language training, teaching healthy lifestyles, civic engagement, and leadership skills in Ukrainian, making friends with the street animals, technical sessions, planning and running a mini camp, facilitating an English club, assisting with English classes, and living with an absolutely amazing host family in the quaint village of Kozelets, Ukraine. We had chickens and geese and pigs and one slightly slaughtered pig who, I have to admit, made an amazing soup after I overcame the shock of seeing his corpse laying out in our living room. It was not a drill. In addition to leaving my host family, I had to leave my dear little group of fellow misfits- The Wolfe Pack- as we all dispersed across Ukraine to our new homes for two years.
I realize there has been a hiatus in this blog, and I apologize for this. While living in Kozelets, I had very limited access to the interweb, and quite frankly, we were too busy to even find time to sleep properly, much less write a blog after trying to differentiate between the eight different ways to say "to go" in Ukrainian every day. Don't buy it? This was just one wall out of the house we had covered in Ukrainian words and grammar: Level Unlocked; BadAss Status.
I am thankful to my little Wolfe Pack for keeping me sane in these first few months and putting up with my never ending need to sleep. I am thankful for the laughter, the tears, and the friendship we now share thanks to this adventure we're privileged to be on.
As for my Ukrainian Mama and Tato, I am forever grateful for sharing recipes (vareniki for tacos) , conversations (complete with elaborate pantomimes), laughter, helping with the language, showing me the wonders of the bucket bath when the hot water is determined not to work, and accepting me as family without a second thought. I will cherish my Ukrainian family for the rest of my life.
I am now living in Cherkasy, a city with a population of 300,000 on the Dniper River, with a new host family, while I become acquainted with my new surroundings. My new host mother has given me my first Ukrainian nickname, Samichko. She and her daughter refuse to let me go more than a couple hours without trying to feed me or offer me chi (tea), while her husband reminds me of the need to wear slippers inside the house else I get sick. I am beyond blessed to have been spoiled with this many kind, generous, loving souls since I have been in Ukraine. My host sister has already taken me around the city and insisted on taking pictures of me in front of the local landmarks, like this beautiful Orthadox church near the center of town. In addition to the new host family, I have begun working with the local youth resource center and have introduced them to the game Humans Vs Zombies, which will now be used for a fundraising platform (nerding = awesome).
So what happens next? Not even I know the answer to this, but oh, am I excited to find out.
The hard work has paid off: I am a Peace Corps Volunteer.
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