Traveler, Writer, Aquarius, Peace Corps Volunteer
The evidence
<< previous next>>
Believe it or not, I'm actually in Ukraine. It has been one incredible ride so far, and much more of a rollercoaster than a straight shot. Ups and downs, twists and turns, highs and lows. And yet here I am writing from Ukrainka, which is a small town of about 75,000 people an hours south of Kyiv on the Dniper River.
So... let me get up to speed. I left Philadelphia Tuesday morning to a tearful hug and goodbye from Dad (his tears, not mine, but it was hard not to) and got on the plane to Chicago. The passengers were mostly at-risk high school kids who were doing some special program where this is there last shot to earn a GED before they flunk out of the system. However, the person I was sitting next to turned out to be a missionary named Sarah who worked in Costa Rica and has spent most of her life working with families in developing nations. The irony wasn't lost on either of us. We talked the entire flight, and when I got off I met two other volunteers who arrived at the same time and we shared a shuttle to the hotel, where everyone was getting in, registering, and finding their rooms. My roommate was Doug Grey, who is a 28-year-old journalist from Boston who has lived in London and San Francisco and has the same taste as I do in music, books, etc. We got along swimmingly.
Chicago went by very fast (another theme of this trip so far). We were only there until Thursday afternoon. Most of the time was spent in orientation. To be honest, my emotions were all over the place. I went from psyched to nervous as hell to happy to scared to excited to ambivalent. This actually went on until about a day ago.
I've got to cut this short because someone else is waiting to use the computer. But in short, I sat next to a Russian mercenary alcoholic on the flight from Frankfort to Kyiv who smelt like ass and begged me to get him a drink -- which I didn't do -- and I wasn't sure if he was going to freak on me or not -- which he didn't; I was in Kyiv from Friday night until Sunday evening getting background and one day of language training; and then last night I moved into my host mother's house in Ukrainka, an hour south of Kyiv on the Dniper River. She's a babushka who speaks no English. It's an adventure trying to communicate, but I should be fluent in Russian in three months (four hours a day in the classroom and full immersion -- it's like three years packed into three months).
Anyway, gotta run. Plenty more later. Peace out, peoples...
Other interesting stuff
Stay in touch
Lewkraine Productions
"Making the world a safer place to play."