My new home in Kulykivka

It has been 9 days since my departure date, and I am just now getting settled into my new lovely home in sweet small town, Kulykivka.  This town has approximately 5,866 people residing in it with an additional 7 “foreigners” to the town: 5 of us Trainees, and Natalia (our language facilitator) and Roman (our technical/cross cultural facilitator).  I cannot speak for all of us Americans residing here right now, but I have liked what I have seen so far.  It is definitely different than home, but I thank God for putting me in a home where I feel completely comfortable.  My host mother інна has really taken the role of “Mother” and has been taking excellent care of me.  Катя, my 15 year old host sister, has also been a huge blessing.  We had an instant connection (probably because she is the only one who speaks English, but also because we are both interested in each others’ culture that we never run out of things to say—plus she has an excellent taste in music!).  ігор is my host dad, but I have not gotten to know him other than what Kate has told me about him.  He has been in Kyiv for work and will return home tomorrow. 

Today is what I would call the “first day of training”.  I am literally back in school taking the biggest crash course ever.   I am learning Ukrainian, and boy is it freakin hard!  Not only is it difficult, but the people in our community speak Surjek which is a mixture of both Ukrainian and Russian—Like really, can you make this any more difficult?!  We have to figure out what word goes to what language?!  Just so all you know, It is Tak—not Da.  Poka is a Russian word (I could go on for awhile…)   Anyways, getting back on track, Natalia is not messing around when it comes to learning the language, I bet you I will thank her for that in 3 months but right now my brain feels like it is about to pop!  With homework, trying to learn how to roll my Rs, getting to know my host family more, settling in, and getting to know town, it gets pretty tiring and I am only on day 2 of week 1 of our 12 week training!!!

Tonight I am memorizing what I am going to say to the school teachers and administration today and tomorrow:  Here is my notecard- try reading that!!!  (how you are saying it is probably how I am saying it!)

But I am also going to put up post-it notes on all the furniture around the house so that I can learn words quicker/easier. 

Cutting this short, I just want to let you all know that I am still in my “honeymoon phase” of culture shock, but I definitely know I am not in America anymore. 

It is hard to:

·         Not smile all the time (especially when people just STARE at you)

·         Communicate when you don’t speak the language

·         Be the darkest person in a town of 6,000 (actually, it isn’t hard at all- I am getting very very pale)

·         Walk around town for 2 hours when it is approximately 30° outside plus wind

·         Eat potatoes all day when I don’t even like potatoes

·         Be in my room knowing it was my host parents room before I got here

·         Learn the language

But all of these are easy to overcome especially when my host mom makes me DELICIOUS Pilaf for dinner with the addition of red pepper flakes in it – thanks to Mary!! (all 3 of us put some in our bowls!)

Trying to keep this short (which it obviously isn’t), here is a summary of my living conditions:  I have a queen size bed which is super nice and comfy along with a fat heavy pillow (I am glad I hand carried my pillow from home across the world with my stuffed animal, Rusty because it makes me feel at home),high speed internet, hot water (except I have taken freezing cold showers since I have been here—not by choice), 2 pet cats (Macar is the cat pictured beside this- he likes to sleep with me),  a very nice roof over my head,  I eat 3-4 times a day (each time there is enough food to easily feed 2+ people), and a nice mini garden/farm area on the side of the house.  I live about 10 minutes away from the school I will be working at and 2 minutes from the soccer stadium, 2 minutes from the train tracks, and 1 minute from the cemetery.  The chocolate here is phenomenal and have spent most of my money on buying chocolate for me and Kate.  I can honestly pass on any meal, but if you give me any Ukrainian sweets—I am all up on it!  I have had this sweet cake like cookie with custard like filling, chocolate chip cookies, homemade brownies, wafers, and chocolate!  Mmm…. Don’t worry mom, I am brushing my teeth and flossing!

The map I made of my community

This Saturday We are going to Kolychyvka to meet with our link group and to buy cell phones (for me, I will just be buying a sim card).  It should be nice to see some other familiar faces!   My host mom wanted to go into chernihiv this weekend with Kate and I to get McDonalds so that I can get some “homey food”  HAHA

Anyways, this is really long and rambled, so if you have made it this far—thank you for putting up with me for all these years!

Me, Kate, Luda's sister, and Robin (the other girl PCT)

Until next time,

Мене взаті морган і я амеріканка з штат салифория.

Пока!

I will try and write more this weekend after my trip to Kolychivka!

пружеет

I am not even sure if that is how you spell "pryveet"  but, this is my stab at it. it is supposed to say Hello!

After a long journey full of planes, buses, lines, lack of sleep, heavy baggage lifting, and many different name games,  I have set foot in Ukraine!

Once we arrived, we threw our luggage in the back of this GIANT truck and headed out to a town where our training orientation would be held.  After being introduced to some of the Peace Corps staff here outside the gates of the airport, I realized that I had totally forgotten my backpacking backpack at the baggage claim.  With my lovely zebra glasses on, messed up hair, and my silly mistake, I am sure I left a first great impression!  But come on, I was running on lack of sleep people!!

I am loving it so far, even though it doesn't really feel like I am here since I am surrounded by 105 other Americans (and staying in a hotel) in a city called Chaouorfndva  (that is pretty much how it sounds to me), but it is about 2 1/2 hours north of Kyiv.  Tomorrow my cluster group (of 5)  will be taking off to a place where we will be for the next 3 months (I will find out where that is tomorrow).   I do know I am learning Ukrainian, and I am actually quite excited!

Before leaving DC, I was lucky enough to have some time to check out the monuments with some other volunteers which was so cool!  (I guess I should really say trainees, not volunteers).

All the luggage heading toward the airport

Last American meal: Chipotle with Sam, Becca, and DuVale

Rebecca and I walking in the gate

Yea, I got to enter a plane from the outside! Bucket list #77: Check!

I have thought about what I want to do during the winter time, and so far I have come up with becoming flexible and learning Russian, too. 

Until next time,

Ciao!

1 flight down 1 more to go!

Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy....

Ok, not really sure what that feels like, but I did feel stressed as I realized that there was NO way I could carry all my luggage by myself.  After a little freak out, we put everything in the car and headed for chef burger for breakfast where I could sit and figure out what I will do.  (yes, my life has revolved around food for the past 2 weeks...)

As dad was driving, I was literally taking things out of my bags and saying "you can send this to me" or "I don't really need this".   

Once I got to the airport, I ended up checking one of my carry-on  bags in too.  So all I had was my "purse" my pillow and a whole lot of clothes on.  Security sucked, but it was worth it.

So long story short, after a long day of travel to DC I:

• Almost lost the one and only business jacket I have (but found it about 50 ft. away from me on the luggage carts)
• got to check in my "purse" (which is quite large) because there was no  more overhead space -  Talk about traveling light!!  
• Snuggled with a big man and an older woman all the way to Chicago
• Met Noelia at the airport and together we hauled our luggage to the curb to take a taxi to the holiday inn at Georgetown  (quite the site!!)
• Walked over a mile to find a place still serving food
• grabbed a drink 
• met some other volunteers
• and woke up this morning having NO idea where I was.

All in all, the travel day went smoothly!!!  Thanks for the prayers!

Today is orientation, and tomorrow I am off for THE Ukraine.

Here are some pictures!!

My luggage minus my "purse"

sissy took me out for some cheesecake and to go see Hairspray right before I left!

Thank you California for the down-pour before I left

Last American Dinner: Burrito w/ Tapatio and a red stripe.  

(It ain't California, but it still was tasty!)

3 lovely ladies 3 great "in progress" playlists. 

*For the next 27 months I will be receiving the favorite songs of Carly, Danielle, and Maddy where I will then add the songs to their "playlist" so that when I start to miss them, I will become joyous by listening to their top picks (and maybe even do a little interpretive dancing).

Until next time,

Bon Voyage America!

Farewell to Mamma

Countdown is now 3 DAYS!

This morning I said farewell to my mom, as she left to go on another surf trip with her lady friends in Sayulita.  She woke me up nice and early to drink a delicious cup of Joe with her.  Nothing better than the smell of good coffee when your eyes are not even open yet! As she drove off in the driveway, I ran back into my bed that was still warm.

I am so ready to go, and I am at ease now that my bags are backed within the weight limits. Plus, I am checking things off my to do list every couple minutes which is SUPER!

Decided to get personal property insurance (rather be safe than sorry), finished my painting and put all my paints & brushes in a pile for my brother to take next time he is home, and I got to eat all my favorite foods (minus an el faro burrito- but that may happen later today).

The next couple days will be filled with cleaning my room, getting rid of more stuff, and last minute adventures!  Halia is taking me to Hairspray at the Dean Lesher tomorrow night right after the two of us grab some delicious cheesecake!

Also, there is no better way to take off to Ukraine than to help out at the Martinez Relays and then go watch Calvin play some baseball.   Oh Martinez, I will surely miss you.

Until next time,
Got Gumption?

The many status updates in 1

Envision a room with bright colorful walls that make you already go WOW.   Now add a whole lot of furniture (because it is used as a storage room with the rest of the families' old furniture.  Now take that and add a whole lot of CRAP plus some spewed out all over the place trying to be placed into 2 check in bags, and a carry on.

This sucks...

I know I am not the only one in this boat, but after 3 trial packs for 1 bag and each time having it weigh over the maximum amount (50 lbs), I am starting to be very discouraged and wishing that I had the more skillful talent of "Packing like a Pro".

So, instead of dealing with the issue, I sit on facebook and just think about my horrible first world problem.  As I was updating my status, I kept changing it to something else.   That is why I decided to put all my status thoughts onto one blog!  That way I let my thoughts and feelings out without forcing people to read it as it pops up on their news feed!   Genius idea, right?!

1. 11 days till take off!!!!!!  WHOOO HOO!

2. Really?!  Can someone just pack for me?

3.  I still have 9 I NEED TO EAT AT places before I leave

4. FREAK OUT!  I don't even know the alphabets!

5. people shouldn't judge me for my crazy amount of scarves, but they all need to come because they are fashionable and warm, and it will just make a mute colored outfit a "Mo Betta" outfit 

6.  So ready to party this weekend the American-Russian way.

7. My entire bed is covered with stuff I slept on top of 1/2 my night stand because I had no other place to put everything

8. I can't believe I am actually leaving- so surreal

9.  Dang, I am so glad I didn't put all these on facebook- they are not even good status updates!  I just look crazy!

10.  After this, I will be the BEST packer ever!

Packing it all up

My Bedroom

This sums up my day/week right now.  Never have I seen my room this messy before.  I have gradually regressed in my cleanliness over the last 4 years.  I was a neat freak in high school color coordinated everything, alphabetized everything, and everything having a specific spot.  Once I left for college, that mentality and personality was forced to change after being put in a box to share with 2 other people.  If I still had my "neat freakish" stressed out characteristic- I would not have survived freshman year. After that year, I think I got used to the messiness- and that is how I got to this point.

Ok, I'll admit, my room will not look like this for long.   I am doing a deep cleanse/going through everything trying to decide whether or not to take it with me to Ukraine, give it away, or for those few precious objects (such as my beautiful bike "the cloud"), store it nicely and unnoticeably  at my parentals house for the next 27 months.

As I sit in my room and try to decide what jewelry to bring, what clothes to bring it becomes more and more apparent to me that a lot of the stuff has got to go. But being reassured that when I return I can buy new stuff, I am happily and humbly giving a lot away.

Still working on my packing list, but this is what I have so far:
Please feel free to give your input on things that you think I may need to bring/ things you think are unnecessary for me to bring that are on my list.




3/21/11- final items packed

Orange Check in Bag- 7lbs

-11 scarves

-converter plug thing

-sleeping bag

-black leather boots

-indoor/turf soccer shoes

-havanas

-green flip flops

-tan/red boots

-black flats

-brown moccasins

-yaktrax

-hurley backpack

- blue canvas shoes

tampons/ pads

-2 tote bags/ 1 laundry like bag

-pocket knife

-5 ou. Tapatio bottle

-zip loc bags

-micro fiber hair towel

-toiletries

          -contact solution

          -toothpaste

          -shampoo/conditioner

          -razors

          -deoderant

-6 soccer/running shorts

-6 soccer/running shirts

-blue skirt

-brown ankle skirt

-multi-colored skirt/dress

-flute

-see’s candy lollipops

-markers

-potato peeler

-2 swimsuits

-2 wraps

-4 belts

-socks

-brown leather purse

-black down jacket w/ fur hood

                   Total Weight: 50.2 lbs

Red Suitcase- 11.5 lbs

-7 camis

-tank top

-5 leggings

-yellow sweat pants

-faded teal gauchos

-blue jeans

-black fleece pants

-white pants

-black work pants

-black skinny pants

-4 shorts

-white skirt

-grey wool skirt

-5 dresses

-3 vests

--4 flannels

-1 rain jacket

-5 tank tops

-1 tube top

-5 short sleeves

-2 long sleeve work shirts

-3 long sleeves

-black skirt

-green short sleeve over shirt

-4 tights/ leggings

-blue fleece sweatshirt

-yellow hoodie

-brown sweater thing

-cream crochet crop sweater

-underwear

-bras

-socks

-pictures of family, friends, etc.

-red pepper flakes

-paper-cutter

-contacts

-nail kit

-loofah

-running shoes

-5 gloves of some sort

                   Total Weight: 50 lbs exact

Carry on Total Weight: 34.5 lbs

-       2 uno decks

-       Phase 10

-       Banana grams

-       What’s cookin

-       Toss up

-       2 deck of cards

-       Gifts from home

-       Sharpie pens

-       Mini sewing kit

-       Junk box

-       2 packs of index cards

-       Jewelry

-       Journal

-       Bar of soap

-       Floss

-       Hair accessories

-       Chargers for electronics

-       2 Beanies

-       2 scarves

-       Hemp/friendship string

-       Grey pumps

-       Black v-neck

-       Orange tank top

-       Yellow sweatshirt

-       Purple shirt

-       3 Dresses

-       5 tights/leggings

-       Grey cardigan

-       White/black boyfriend shirt

-       Fingerless gloves

-       Birth control

-       xyngular

-       mini speakers

-       jeans

-       quick dry towel

-       belly dancing wrap

-       bike lock

-       laptop lock

-        

-       -

-       -

Purse- weight: 23.5 lbs

-       I phone

-       Cell phone

-       Video camera

-       Laptop

-       2 digital cameras

-       Rusty

-       Headphones

-       I pod

-       Bag of liquid/gel stuff

-       Toothbrush

-       Contact case

-       Scrapbooking paper

-       Tide to go

-       Chapstick

-       Purple odwalla long sleeve

-       4 pairs of glasses
          *excessive I know…

-       Green bag

-       Face cleanser

-       Perfume

-       Eye drops

-       External hard drive 500GB

-       Rusty

-       books

-       peace corps blue folder

-       stationary

wearing olive pants, brown boots, blue beanie, cream scarf, colorful scarf, black fleece, r-comp jacket, charcoal peacoat, IC peace shirt……   Security will be fun

--Everything below is the beginning of my packing experience.  I felt that it was important to keep what was originally written, so you may ignore the rest of this post

Electronics/ Luxury

-surge protector for laptop

-laptop

-ipod

-video camera (plus accessories)

-external hard drive

-USB flash drive

-camera

- Ugandan cell phone

-extra memory cards for camera

-extra battery?

-nook

-chargers for everything

-adapter

-black mini speakers

-I phone

Clothing

-snow pants

-waterproof sweats (soccer)

-3 gauchos (blue, 2 brown)

-olive pants/jeans

-black skinny dress pants

-other nice black pants

-black fleece sweats

-grey baggy sweats

-black shorts

-skinny jeans

-2 boyfriend jeans

-crop jeans

-khaki pants

-1 warm vest

-3 stylish vests

-3 flannels (brown, red, blue)

-10 t-shirts

-10 tank tops

-4 long sleeve or ¾ sleeve shirts

-white button up long sleeve

-9 dresses

-4 other shorts

-9 skirts

-charcoal peacoat

-black down jacket

-white snow jacket

-black blazer

-black windbreaker

-grey cardigan

-5 sweatshirt like things

-blue soccer rain jacket

-2 swimsuits (just in case I lose one… you never know!)

-6 camis

-4 soccer shorts

-3 work out shirts

-leggings/tights

-socks  WOOL SOCKS!

-underwear- enough (I hope)

-2 strapless bras

-3 good “normal” bras

-3 sports bras

-4 bandeaus

          … I WILL MAKE  IT FIT!

Shoes

-Running Shoes

-black flats

-yaktrax

-knitted slippers

-havanas

-tan/red snow boots

-black leather boots

-grey pumps

-indoor/turf soccer

-green flip flops

- pink uggs

-moccasins

-red rainboots

Toiletries

-Tampons

-contact solution

-contacts

-glasses (black, purple, yellow, zebra)

-tide to go

-deodorant

-toothbrush/toothpaste

-razors

-makeup

-tweezers

-vix

-shampoo

-conditioner

--face wash

-Face lotion

-floss

-chapstick

-3 month supply of meds

Accessories

-scarves

-beanies

-jewelry

-sunglasses

-extra stud earrings (right  gauges)

-gloves (3 fingerless 1 all weather)

-5 belts

For the Job

-hostess gifts (ni'ihau shell necklaces, shot glasses from SF, possibly key chains??)

-crayola markers/ sharpie pens

-note cards

-peace corps blue folder

-English grammar book (2)

-Preston’s geography books (2)

-whistle

Other

-flashlight

-immunization history

-sleeping bag

-stationary

-hot sauce- Cholula & sriracha

-zip loc bags large & small

-pictures of family, friends, yadiyadiya

-rusty

-soccer ball

- ball pump

-hacky sac

-3 journals to write in

-bible

-mini sewing kit

-calendar

-pocket knife

-deck of cards

-hemp string/friendship bracelet yarn

-silver water bottle

-pink thermos

-tote bag to carry around

-purse

 -1 backpack-black hurley

-1 duffle bag (red one)

-map of the world

-watch

-quick dry towel (1 large 1 small)

-a fluffy towel- if room

-duck tape

-skull candy headphones

-banana grams






So chances are that this will not fit, but I will cross things off once I start "test" packing.