On the Other Side of the world!
Two weeks have passed since I left home. It feels like I just left for the airport and yet I also feel like I've been here forever. After our staging weekend in Washington DC we flew to Kiev where we stayed at a Soviet retreat center in Prolisak. We had a basic crash course in heath and safety standards and culture adjustment, received the first round of immunizations, and we were placed into learning groups for our assigned language. I am learning Ukrainian with my cluster. At first I was kind of hoping for Russian because I thought it might be more useful in the future, but now I am glad to have Ukrainian. Ukraine is growing and hopefully will be a bigger part of the global economy. Knowing the language gives me an advantage for possible future jobs. On October 4, our cluster and 4 other clusters took a bus to our training sites. As we drove in to each town we were greeted by a crowd of host parents and locals who were excited to see us and take care of us for the next 3 months. The 5 of us in my cluster are living in a small, small village about 3 hours outside Kiev called Mryn. The population is around 900. There is a main road that runs through town and a few side streets but basically the main section of town is about 3 football fields long. We thought our language teacher, Olena, was teasing when she said we couldn't get lost, but she was so right. It literally takes 2-5 minutes to get to any place from any place in town. Each of us live with a host family in the same apartment building. Of course I was nervous about living with a host family because I didn't want to be a burden and since I didn't know the language it would be difficult to communicate. But when we got off the bus in Mryn and Olena introduced us to our new families, my host mom, also Olena, ran up to me and kissed me and hugged me! I was so surprised but glad that she was excited to have me in her home. Soon my host dad came home from work. His name is Tolia and he is a huge man. I was kind of nervous at first because of his size, but soon found out how friendly and warm he is. It was actually his birthday the day we arrived. That evening we shared family pictures and tried to communicate as best we could with miming and the best thing the PC gave us, my Ukrainian-English dictionary. I have become good friends with that book.
There is so much to tell but I don't even know how to describe everything. One thing that my cluster has come to appreciate is the fact that although we are in a very small community, we all have unlimited hot water and gas heat. There is a gas reservoir underground here that stores gas all year and then on October 15 each year the gas is turned on and all the houses are heated. They have been testing the pipelines this week to make sure everything works well. It has been cold, but not unbearable at all. But I have definitely realized that I am a California girl. I love the cold and that's what I wanted, so we'll see how I stand up to the below freezing temperatures soon. In each apartment there is a Kolonka or water heater. My host dad showed me how to turn it on and anytime I want to shower or need hot water we can just turn it on. This really is a luxury because at most training sites the volunteers have to boil their water for a shower. Our time is divided into language classes, technical and cultural training and also just time with our host family. Our intensive language class is exactly that—intense! We usually have 4 hours a day and so far we have covered at least a semester's worth of material. When we leave our teacher's apartment we must look like zombies because our brains are all mush. But somehow things are sticking and I am actually able to communicate with my host mom and dad. The first weekend was really challenging because all of Tolia's family came over for his birthday dinner as well as the volunteer that lived here with the previous PC group in the spring. Annie was practically fluent and had only been here for 7 months. I was encouraged by her but also completely intimidated. I felt like a mute child sitting at dinner with everyone because all I knew how to say was "my name is Brittany and I don't understand" and there's only so many times you can tell people your name. After a minor freak out and questioning my decision to do this and my ability to stick it out, I was reminded that it was only the 4th day of my 27 months. That gave me a little better perspective on where I should be with language. Annie even said I knew more than her after the first week. Nevertheless, there is nothing more frustrating than the inability to communicate basic thoughts and needs. My host mom has been so great though. She is a master mime and will repeat things as many times as it takes for me to understand. And my host dad likes to find all my mistakes in my homework and quiz me on what I've learned. I have a hard time understanding him most of the time, but I can't wait to understand him better because I know he is funny and I want to get his jokes.
On Wednesday we had a medical day where the Medical Officers visited us and our link-cluster and we went more in-depth with the heath issues. We connect with another cluster in Nosivka about a 30 minute bus ride away for days like this. We were each given a medical kit with all sorts of medicine that will help us in any situation. I got my last 2 immunizations, one was Tetanus and my arm still hurts from it. While we were in Nosivka we had some extra time to buy cell phones! I now have a way to communicate with the outside world. Mryn doesn't have internet and not all the phone lines can call international so that has been a challenge. But now I get free incoming calls and I can call out for less than 20 cents a minute from 8pm to 8 am. I just have to be in a spot that has service, which is limited.
On the whole I am having a great time. As frustrated as I get with language class and as confused as my host mom and I can get trying to talk to each other, I am so happy to be here. I am absolutely "in my element" even though I'm completely out of my element. Is that possible? I don't know but whatever is going on here, it's great.
Grace and Peace,
Brittany
Two weeks have passed since I left home. It feels like I just left for the airport and yet I also feel like I've been here forever. After our staging weekend in Washington DC we flew to Kiev where we stayed at a Soviet retreat center in Prolisak. We had a basic crash course in heath and safety standards and culture adjustment, received the first round of immunizations, and we were placed into learning groups for our assigned language. I am learning Ukrainian with my cluster. At first I was kind of hoping for Russian because I thought it might be more useful in the future, but now I am glad to have Ukrainian. Ukraine is growing and hopefully will be a bigger part of the global economy. Knowing the language gives me an advantage for possible future jobs. On October 4, our cluster and 4 other clusters took a bus to our training sites. As we drove in to each town we were greeted by a crowd of host parents and locals who were excited to see us and take care of us for the next 3 months. The 5 of us in my cluster are living in a small, small village about 3 hours outside Kiev called Mryn. The population is around 900. There is a main road that runs through town and a few side streets but basically the main section of town is about 3 football fields long. We thought our language teacher, Olena, was teasing when she said we couldn't get lost, but she was so right. It literally takes 2-5 minutes to get to any place from any place in town. Each of us live with a host family in the same apartment building. Of course I was nervous about living with a host family because I didn't want to be a burden and since I didn't know the language it would be difficult to communicate. But when we got off the bus in Mryn and Olena introduced us to our new families, my host mom, also Olena, ran up to me and kissed me and hugged me! I was so surprised but glad that she was excited to have me in her home. Soon my host dad came home from work. His name is Tolia and he is a huge man. I was kind of nervous at first because of his size, but soon found out how friendly and warm he is. It was actually his birthday the day we arrived. That evening we shared family pictures and tried to communicate as best we could with miming and the best thing the PC gave us, my Ukrainian-English dictionary. I have become good friends with that book.
There is so much to tell but I don't even know how to describe everything. One thing that my cluster has come to appreciate is the fact that although we are in a very small community, we all have unlimited hot water and gas heat. There is a gas reservoir underground here that stores gas all year and then on October 15 each year the gas is turned on and all the houses are heated. They have been testing the pipelines this week to make sure everything works well. It has been cold, but not unbearable at all. But I have definitely realized that I am a California girl. I love the cold and that's what I wanted, so we'll see how I stand up to the below freezing temperatures soon. In each apartment there is a Kolonka or water heater. My host dad showed me how to turn it on and anytime I want to shower or need hot water we can just turn it on. This really is a luxury because at most training sites the volunteers have to boil their water for a shower. Our time is divided into language classes, technical and cultural training and also just time with our host family. Our intensive language class is exactly that—intense! We usually have 4 hours a day and so far we have covered at least a semester's worth of material. When we leave our teacher's apartment we must look like zombies because our brains are all mush. But somehow things are sticking and I am actually able to communicate with my host mom and dad. The first weekend was really challenging because all of Tolia's family came over for his birthday dinner as well as the volunteer that lived here with the previous PC group in the spring. Annie was practically fluent and had only been here for 7 months. I was encouraged by her but also completely intimidated. I felt like a mute child sitting at dinner with everyone because all I knew how to say was "my name is Brittany and I don't understand" and there's only so many times you can tell people your name. After a minor freak out and questioning my decision to do this and my ability to stick it out, I was reminded that it was only the 4th day of my 27 months. That gave me a little better perspective on where I should be with language. Annie even said I knew more than her after the first week. Nevertheless, there is nothing more frustrating than the inability to communicate basic thoughts and needs. My host mom has been so great though. She is a master mime and will repeat things as many times as it takes for me to understand. And my host dad likes to find all my mistakes in my homework and quiz me on what I've learned. I have a hard time understanding him most of the time, but I can't wait to understand him better because I know he is funny and I want to get his jokes.
On Wednesday we had a medical day where the Medical Officers visited us and our link-cluster and we went more in-depth with the heath issues. We connect with another cluster in Nosivka about a 30 minute bus ride away for days like this. We were each given a medical kit with all sorts of medicine that will help us in any situation. I got my last 2 immunizations, one was Tetanus and my arm still hurts from it. While we were in Nosivka we had some extra time to buy cell phones! I now have a way to communicate with the outside world. Mryn doesn't have internet and not all the phone lines can call international so that has been a challenge. But now I get free incoming calls and I can call out for less than 20 cents a minute from 8pm to 8 am. I just have to be in a spot that has service, which is limited.
On the whole I am having a great time. As frustrated as I get with language class and as confused as my host mom and I can get trying to talk to each other, I am so happy to be here. I am absolutely "in my element" even though I'm completely out of my element. Is that possible? I don't know but whatever is going on here, it's great.
Grace and Peace,
Brittany
posted by Brittany at
7:16 AM
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