Kiev, Krivoy Rog, and back again.

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I did not post last week.  I have been very busy and have not had more than 5 min of internet access over the last 2 weeks but I am back in my city now so let me recap.  The journey began two weeks ago with my new counterpart (I now have a new Counterpart and NGO to work with).  We met at the bus station in Khartsizsk and took a hour long bus ride to Donetsk where me took a couple different Mashootkas to the main train station in Donetsk.  We then hoped on our overnight train to Kiev.  Just when I thought I was starting to feel comfortable with traveling via train, our compartment mates arrived (4 people to a compartment when traveling 2nd class).  Turns out, it was a train full of body builders that were making their way to a competition in Kiev.  These people were HUGE.  They were a couple in their late 20's that made me feel scrawny in comparison.  They were busy eating handfuls of pills with protein shake chasers to care too much about me and my counterpart and the next morning they actually made me some coffee and chatted for a while which was nice.  They are trying to compete in the next Mr. Universe competition in the UK and they ended up being very nice people despite the intimidating exterior.
 

After chatting with our friendly humungous gentle giants, we arrived in Kiev at 7 am and took another series of Mashootkas to the Post Grad institute of the Ukrainian National University where we will be staying for the next 4 nights to attend a Volunteerism conference/training.  This is the same place we stayed at for swearing-in.  We stayed in the student dorms which always makes me think of my experiences in college and my old college buddies even though the college experience is extremely different here.  The conference was very informative and by the end of the conference, my counterpart and I had a project plan written out.  The new NGO that I am working with already has 40 registered "volunteers" so this conference was especially helpful.  It covered how to recruit, motivate, organize, and use volunteers specifically in Ukraine.  It was interesting to me because the concept of volunteerism is lost on most Ukrainians due certain aspects of the USSR and their forced "volunteerism".  lol   If you are forced to do something, are you still considered a volunteer?  I can see the confusion.  Times have changed though and now volunteers are needed in Ukraine  -  slowly but surely the concept will catch on.  The Ukrainians I have talked to about being a volunteer are always extremely skeptical and usually assume that there is some sort of hidden agenda.  We will try to stress the importance of volunteerism in the younger age groups because they seem to be more receptive and it can help their resumes (getting work experience is almost impossible here). 

While we were in Kiev, my fellow volunteers and I went out on the town a few times.  It was awesome.  We have not seen each other for over 2 months and have all experienced some crazy and unique stuff in that time.  No two Peace Corps experiences are the same.  We are spread out all over Ukraine from small towns of 300 people to big cities of a million plus.  We speak either Russian or Ukrainian and we are all matched with very different organizations - for example  HIV/AIDS,  Youth orgs, Women's rights orgs, orphanages, schools, universities, local government, NGOs that work for the disabled, etc etc...  It was interesting to hear everyone's experiences and I think we all had a great time.  While we were in Kiev, we got most of the old Stari Belose cluster back together (the group of PCVs that I trained with) and our LCF (language facilitator during training) and went out for dinner in downtown Kiev.  We packed a ton of stuff into those 4 nights and by the end, Amy and I were completely exhausted.  This was only the beginning of our trip so after the Volunteerism convention, we decided to stay in Kiev for most of the weekend and explore the sights.  Amy got a massage, I found a Cuban restaurant, we exlpored a museum about Kiev 900 AD.  Very interesting.  I especially enjoy finding a public location like a park or a monument and sitting back to observe and think about life.  Amy and I found a nice little park in downtown Kiev that was perfect for this. This park had many people playing chess, kids playing on the playgrounds, the usual people drinking beer, and a slight breeze to top things off.  Very nice. 

After a very nice week in Kiev, we made our way back to the train station and boarded our first class train to Krivoy Rog.  This was awesome.  Amy and I had our own compartment for the overnight train ride so we did not have to worry about anything.  I had a stomach ache but other than that, it was perfect.  We arrived in Krivoy Rog at 6 am and made our way to .... wait for it ... McDonalds for an awesomely delicious yet unfortunately unhealthy meal.  It is kinda funny, I have hear from almost all volunteers that they hated McDonalds before they left the states and never ate there but now that they are in Ukraine, they can't get enough of those beautiful golden arches.  It is true, I only ate at McDonalds once very 6 months but here It is like crack and I can't get enough of it.  After McDonalds, we checked in at the world's creepiest hotel and met some of the other volunteers that will be helping with the camp.  The camp we helped with is called Camp Lead which is a business/leadership camp for kids ages 17-22  (http://www.camplead.webs.com/).  We had over 200 kids show up and I think they learned a thing or two.  Amy and I are CD volunteers (community development) and not teachers so this was a good opportunity to observe some classes and learn a thing or two about teaching kids.  There were over 20 PCVs that helped out with the camp (mainly TEFL).  I helped out however I could which meant making sure all the little things and the administrative stuff was taken care of and I also took tons of photos of all the classes and activities and made a DVD at the end for everyone.  It was a great time.  Well, I need to get going and meet up with my new NGO to discuss what I will be doing.  I hope all is well. 

Conor's Noteworthy Noteables:

1.  Spent almost 2 weeks traveling around Ukraine with Amy!  Awesome

2.  Met up with many PCV buddies in Kiev for an unforgettable week. 

3.  Ate at TGI Friday's in Ukraine with my old cluster and LCF for an out-of-Ukraine experience. 

4.  Explored an old soviet hotel.  Very creepy

5.  Sushi with Cassie and Amy.  Fantastic

6.  Went to a Ukrainian Sauna with a large group of PCVs - very awesome experience. 

7.  Toured Cassie's NGO - it is good to see an active NGO that truly wants to help the community. 

8.  Developed a project plan with my new counterpart - It feels sooo good to finally have a plan. 

9.  The kids at Camp Lead made a cutout photo/poster of me complete with a Nikon camera.  Hilarious.  Good kids. 

10.  Found some hot sauce and normal tortilla chips!  Unfortunately the salsa tastes like ketchup with a chili pepper but still awesome. 

***Click on the Photo to see the large version***

 Cluster (minus Cassie and plus Emily)

Train from Kiev to Krivoy Rog

Statue in Kiev

Lonely Room in old Soviet hotel

Long walk with Amy into the Countryside of Krivoy Rog

Sushi at last!