The Longest Overdue Update Ever

Hello everyone!

It has been a very embarrassing eleven months since I have updated my blog and that is just too long. As most of you know, for a very long time I had really slow and unreliable internet. However, thanks to my really sweet host mom who skypes with her son in St. Petersburg, I now have fast internet. I have an ethernet cable that runs from my desk through my window to outside then across the neighbors yard and finally leads to his son's bedroom where our modem lies. It took seven months to get fast internet and its marvelous. I can now skype, listen to music, and read the NY Times at the obsessive rates I once did in college. After reading this today, I realized I had to update my blog again and more frequently. 

I am sure that what few (if any) people I have paying attention to my blog have been wondering what I am up to. Here is what I have been occupying myself with these past months:

1). Getting my Small Project Assistance Grant Approved: I spent most of this fall getting my grant for a school radio approved. It was a grant worth over $4,000 that was to install a radio station inside the school. It was a decent amount of work, but I am glad I did it. Currently we have purchased most of the equipment and are installing it is being installed as we speak.

2). Traveling to Slovakia and the Baltics: Last Christmas I went to Slovakia and I stayed with both of my old host families and saw my friends. I have missed them a lot since I have come to Ukraine and it felt like going home.

Last month I went to Estonia, Latvia, and Finland with my boyfriend. It was an amazing trip as each country was very different from each other. We both really enjoyed it. Pictures of both trips will be posted.


3). Getting a water grant: I won a small grant for the school to get new sinks for hand washing. One sink will have a filter placed on it to drink from.The new pipes have been installed and the tile work is jut about done. You can see what it once looked like here: http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1059.


4). Working on a very successful pen-pal exchange program: I have been working a really successful pen pal exchange program with a teacher from Elm Street Elementary School named Cathie Hand. She was my mother's class's pen pal when she was stationed in Iraq with the National Guard. So far we have sent 3 batches of letters to them and they have replied to us with two batches. The kids have really enjoyed it and so have I. Mail is a great thing.

5). Hanging Out With Friends: I now live within ten kilometers of six other Peace Corps Volunteers. They are all great and I love them all. There is my friend Kris in the village of Myrne. Kris is from Michigan and wants to be a chef so of course he is an amazing cook. All of us often get together and cook or rather watch him do it. There is also Joey, my boyfriend who loves only 5 kilometers away from me. He works for the Melitopol City Council and is from Cincinnati. Kerry and Logan, a married couple from New York also live in Melitopol along with Cynden, who is from Colorado. All three of them are English teachers too. And lastly, a newbie named Kristen just came to Konstantinovka a month ago from another village. She is from Naperville, Illinois and is very happy to have so many new friends around her.

All of us at a St. Patrick's Day celebration at my house

6). Hillary: The last thing occupying my time in the last several months is my cat Hillary or Hill. My host mom's cat had kittens twice last year and is about to have more any second now. Hill and her brother Bill were products of her second litter. Bill was given away but Hill is mine and sleeps with me whenever she is allowed to. 

Hillary is in the foreground and Bill is behind her staring up

I think that gives you an accurate idea of what life as we now know it is like. I hope to publish more pictures soon.

Warsaw and Krakow

Last month my friend Sam came to see me. Sam is studying in Turkey this semester and like me, loves to travel. Sam had one caveat when coming to see me, that we go to another country, so I managed to convince her to go to Poland for six days.

I had been to Poland a few years ago, while on a class trip with my classmates from Slovakia. We visited Krakow, and saw the beautiful old city and Auschwitz concentration camp, which is not very faw from Krakow. But I always wanted to go back and to see Warsaw and lucky for me, my friend Sam was game. 

I met Sam in Kyiv on Easter Sunday and we took an overnight train to Warsaw. In Warsaw we stayed with a really nice guy named Pawel, who like me is an English Teacher. Pawel was really great and showed us the town and introduced us to his friends. We saw the very beautifully restored old town, the famous Palace of Culture that was "a gift" to the people of Warsaw from Stalin, and a really cool poster museum. Sam and I also throughly enjoyed the mall and had some very good perogies. 

The Palace of Culture in Warsaw

We then travled to Krakow, which is only a four hour train ride from Warsaw. Krakow is the old capital of the Polish empire and is famous for its architecture, salt mine, and Venetian market where you can buy lots of amber, which we did. Unbeknowst to Sam and I , we were in Krakow at the same time as the Beautification of John Paul II, the former archbishop of Krakow. Although the ceremony took place in Vatican City, thecity of Krakow had flags and pictures of John Paul everywhere in honor of his canidacy to sainthood.

The Venetian Market in Krakow, where they have lots and lots of amber

This time in Krakow, I saw the famous Wieliczka Salt Mines, which includes a very beautfiul underground cathedral. We ledt Krakow and headed back to Ukraine, to see Kyiv for a day before Sam went back to Turkey and I went back to Konstantinovka. It was rallly great of Sam to come and see me and I hope that many more of you do.