Perpetual Change

how things are going

So I promise more is coming soon. Unfortunately, I cannot post my address or phone number on the internet for security reasons (they don't want anyone tracking us down), but you can send me an email, and I will reply back with my address and phone number. If you want to know roughly where I am, look between L'viv and Ivano-frankivs'k, on a map of Europe, or else between L'viv and Odessa, if you can't find anything more detailed.

And for all you faithful readers, I wanted to point out that the lovely posts from Blia are posted from Swaziland, a small country in South Africa. Blia is a Peace Corps volunteer fighting the AIDS plague and its orphans. We were friends in college and now we keep in touch across the globe this way, I am sure she would love some words of encouragement too. Blia, feel free to post any of your fellow PCV's blogs if you want.

As for more Ukraine news, and pictures (Sando, I haven't sent any out yet, but hopefully soon), you can check out two of my friends sites. They will give you another perspective past mine. Chris Moulder (www.thepeascorps.blogspot.com) was in my training group, but now he lives in the Poltava Oblast (very far away). And Aaron Brantley (www.ukraineaaron.com) was in my link group in a neighboring village, and he is now even further away (basically the distance of i-10 from one end of Texas to the other). So our views will probably grow more distant from this point on, and represent 3 of the 5 major geographic regions. People usually talk about East and West, but there is definitely a central (where Chris is, kind of like the midwest), and a south central (similar to the south in terrain) and Crimea (like a Florida, a world all of its own with plenty of beaches and tourists, but Crimea has mountains too).

Chris has a picture of Kelly and himself at a windmill; Kelly is a volunteer who is living in my town for the next two years. And he has another photo of our community event with both my host Mom (though it is an awful picture of her) and Tetiana, our Technical/Cultural Facilitator.

Aaron's group picture at the picnic was in a volley of about 20 camera shots, which is why I may not look too entertained. The picnic was something of a surreal event - a very interesting mix of a Ukrainian barbecue, a college kegger, and a family reunion all rolled into one.

posted by jjs @ 4:02 PM 1 comments

Country of Paradoxes

Yesterday, I was in Kyiv, and I thought, "wow, this country is so modern. It is amazing that Peace Corps is still here."

Then today, on my way back from the bazaar, a man was cutting the lawn at the bus station ...with a scythe. And then outside an apartment complex, someone was loading their furniture to move... into a hand hewn carriage with horse.

I am sorry it has been so long since I posted. A lot has been going on, and I have been writing on my family's computer, but the internet has been down for a week. A week from Wednesday, I will be sworn in by the U.S. Ambassador. I hope to post all my writings by then, so keep reading, please. It will be a lot at once, but maybe no more for awhile. Also, I will have a cell phone soon, so if you can receive international text messages, email me your number. I love getting your comments, and don't think for a second that I don't miss you all, all the time.

posted by jjs @ 6:21 AM 4 comments

Dear Readers,

I have sad news to report. I have just come back from the site visit of my home for the next two years, and IT was fantastic! I will divulge more later, but unfortunately, my training community, where I have returned to finish out the next month, is just a bit colder. The weather has been very nice and warm for weeks, but the spring rains started this week, and the temperature has dropped; however, the weather is manageable. The dampness that I am upset about is the loss of one of our fellow trainees.

We arrived to Ukraine with 46 trainees; we all made it through the first month which I understand is remarkable. However, in the last week, we have lost 3 for various reasons, and two of them were trainees for whom I was most rooting – individuals that would have done great work here.

Gloria, I hope you are reading. Our little training room seemed so big - so empty - without your presence today. I know you made the hard decision, and I am sure your family is happy to have you. I hope all is well with them. Know that we miss you and don’t have regrets. You have and will continue to do great things. Follow your heart. I wish you the best, and I hope to see responses from you often.

posted by jjs @ 12:21 PM 2 comments