Calm before the storm, hopefully, I really want a storm

Alright, here’s the quick lowdown on what’s been up since I finished camp. I came back from camp totally wiped. I slept for pretty much two days, and then did my best not to do anything for the next week so I could get over what at that point was a two week long cold that was getting worse. Of course, I tried to do nothing, but my counterpart had other ideas. She wants me to make ‘friends’, so I got a text on the first full day I was home telling me one of her teacher friends was waiting for me so we could go for a walk. Well, realizing my need for friends I complied and went to meet a rather attractive girl from Russia who’s my age. We had a good walk and she showed me pictures on her camera of the runway modeling gig she had in Norway. Then she invited me to the salt lakes with her the next week. So we went and had a really nice time, despite the awkward language barrier. It was shaping up to be a good ‘friendship’ but she was only in town for a couple of weeks before she headed off to Crimea, then on to Russia where she lives with polar bears. The day she left, and only when asked who she was traveling with, she informed me she had a boyfriend.

The next week I went back to my stomping grounds of Svatagorsk and observed a Peace Corps run camp. It was run solely by volunteers on the theme of HIV/AIDS prevention. It felt good to be back where I had spent the last three weeks. Despite the exhaustion and sickness, I have tons of great memories of that city. Got to meet several volunteers and actually speak English with Americans, which was amazing. I felt a little awkward not having any official role at the camp so I did my best to find odd jobs.

Left the camp early because it was made aware to me that I had been given a ‘study’ at my school and it needed to be cleaned before Monday, when the state was to come and inspect our school. I was a little nervous since I’d heard teachers refer to their classrooms as studies, which made me think I might have to prepare an entire classroom before Monday. Turned out just to be a small office with a desk and a couple of closets. Awesome! This means I have a place to go prepare lessons, somewhere to keep my bike, a place to change clothes after riding to school, and a place to invite teachers to have tea. I really am lucky to have an office.

Since my ‘study’ preparation only took an hour, I was free to go to Kiev that weekend and meet up with my cluster from training. We rented an apartment and just chilled for Saturday and Sunday. It was great seeing them again and getting to speak more English with natives. We spent Saturday evening just people-watching on the main boulevard soaking in the last bits of summer. It was so relaxing. I also loaded up on some souvenirs for my family and got some more movies, music, and shows on my hard drive.

Came back home and started trying to get the last few settling in tasks accomplished. Managed to get a usb modem with internet service from a mobile carrier. So I pretty much spent the next few days updating everything on my computer, reconnecting with as many people as possible and catching up on the news. I got all this set up through a friend, Anna, I had met at one of the graduations I went to earlier. She and her husband, Maxim, are pretty health conscious and like to run, so Maxim showed me a good quiet track they typically run on. It felt good to get back to exercising, and we’re going to try to run twice a week from now on. Maxim was heading to Donetsk on business on Tuesday so he invited me to go with him so I could shop for bike parts. We were successful and I got my first taste of Donetsk, a perfectly sized city that is the center of the region I live in.

The next day I went back to Donetsk to meet with a couple of volunteers I had met at the camp the week before. Went shopping and found some deals on a basketball and shoes, got a webcam, and found the freewheel which I was wanting for my bike.

I spent the next weekend working on my bike. Seriously, I spent almost every hour of daylight working on my bike or being entertained by the people gracious enough to let me use their tools. It was as if their fee for their time and tools was for me to come have lunch or supper and do them the honor of visiting. It really almost made me feel guilty. But Ukrainians always put you in a position to be nothing but rude if you refuse. They’re crafty these people.

After getting my bike in order, skype set up, a new toilet seat, reminding myself I’m American, getting my phone to actually connect to my computer, eating the box of oreos and cooking with the Italian dressing my nana sent, and thoroughly cleaning my bathroom, I felt accomplished, though none of these things had anything to do with my job or Peace Corps. I started feeling pretty slackerish.

I hadn’t talked to Peace Corps or my school in over a week, and was starting to wonder what was up, especially since at this point the first day of school was only a week away. I called my counterpart and we worked up a speech for me to give at the county-wide teacher’s conference on that Thursday. I took care of some documents Peace Corps needed with my Russian tutor on Wednesday. Then on Thursday I gave my speech, which was rather humorous since at one point the crowd thought I said ‘toys’ instead of ‘clubs’, when I really said neither. They laughed, I laughed, I told them I’d only been speaking Russian for 4 months, they gave their support, and all was well. My director gave me the flowers some students gave him, so I win.

Afterwards a reporter interviewed me for the paper, and turns out he’s been a counterpart for Peace Corps in the past, and works with a major environmental organization. Networking is so easy. The best part about this guy is he organizes a bike race every year. I missed it by a week. Disappointing. After the meeting my Russian tutor informed me I was to introduce myself at a meeting of all the foreign language teachers the next day. This went a little better since 90% of these teachers could understand me in English. They gave me chocolate, I win again.

I’m feeling better now that I’ve reconnected with the school and had a conversation with my regional manager. Everyone seems pleased with me at the moment, which is all I can ask for. I was stressing about not having my lessons planned out, but when I questioned the person in charge of scheduling what to expect, she said the schedule wouldn’t be ready until after the first week of school. So I’m just outlining my lessons for now until I know what ages I’m teaching so I can choose the appropriate topics and activities. I don’t feel as much of a slacker if my school doesn’t plan any farther ahead than me.

This past weekend I was invited to the ‘grand show’ at the opening of Donbass Arena in Donetsk, the “best arena in Europe” according to President Yuschenko. At this point if you’re still reading, thank you. I’m going to cut it off here and add a couple of posts over the next couple of days of the stories that I couldn’t go too in-depth in this post. Sorry for just recounting events and focusing much about impressions. I expect my posts to become more about thoughts and feelings once my schedule becomes a little more monotonous. And sorry, but I’m writing this blog partly as my journal to keep up with my doings in Peace Corps, not just to entertain you J. So be looking for a couple more posts this week.