Grants, humor clubs, and camping trips.

Hello Everyone,

Well, not too much to report this time because I just posted on Wednesday.  Since I last posted, I have completed the first draft of a SPA grant (Small Projects Assistance).  If the grant gets approved, we will be starting a volunteer center in our city.  Pretty exciting stuff.  I have been working a ton trying to get all the details organized and everything written up.  Wish us luck.  Other than that, I was in both newspapers this week from the interview last week.  Pretty cool stuff.  People have come up to me in the street to say, "Hello" in English to which I reply, "Hello, how are you?" - most of the time I get a blank stare in response but it is still cool to be greeted like that.  I am still waiting to get a copy of the TV interview - I will post it when I get a copy.  That will be pretty cool.  On Friday, I went to a KBH competition.  This is a humor competition where teams from neighboring towns and cities come to compete.  It was a lot of fun though I did not understand many of the jokes.  Good atmosphere and lots of laughs.  Maybe next year I will understand more of the jokes.  After KBH, a group of 12 of us went to a restaurant for the evening.  It was a lot of fun.  We had some traditional drinks then I took a taxi home around midnight.  My organization is great - full of good people that want to help however they can. 

As I mentioned in earlier posts, I will be going on a 10 day backpacking/camping trip in the Crimea peninsula with an organization in town from Oct 10 - 20.  It is going to be awesome.  We will pack all the food we are going to eat for ten days in our backpacks.  We will hike all day every day in the mountains.  I can't wait.  And at the end of the trip, we will spend 2 days on the beach before taking the long train ride back to our city.  Well everyone, not much more to report.  I hope everything is going great back in the US.  Until next week. 

Conor's Noteworthy Noteables:

1.  First SPA draft submitted!

2.  Getting ready for the camping trip.  Lots of little purchases. 

3.  I have been attending a Karate group 3 times a week at the local school.  Good times - it is nice to have a good workout. 

4.  I now have another Club.  That makes 2 on Wed and now 1 on Sat.  The new one will be for intermediate speaks so that should be fun.

5.  It was Nate "old man" McBride's birthday on the 24th.  Happy birthday!  The McBrides are Awesome! 

6.  Found a place that sells frozen chicken nuggets.  I never thought I would be so excited about something so simple but after eating eggs every day for months, it is nice to have some variety.  lol

*Click to view large version*

KBH (Humor Competition)

Birthday Party

Newspaper Article 1 

Newspaper Article 2

Week of Surprises.

Hello again.

Well, I am starting to sound like a broken record but....this has been another crazy week.  It is hard to get into a routine when nothing ever goes as planned and things tend to pop up out of nowhere.  Sorry I did not post on my regular day (Sunday).  Lots of crazy personal crap...So....lets catch up. 

 

 

The week started as they all do.  Me alone in a small city in Ukraine - just trying to figure things out, learn the language, and help however I can.  I have been working on a grant to start a volunteer center in my community.  It is coming along slowly but surely.  With the language barrier, it can be tricky to work out some of the finer details but I am used to that at this point.  We have worked out most the details so I know what the plan is however how we are going to execute the plan is not clear at this point.  Come-on Russian skills!  Get better already!    I had my first English club this week.  It was supposed to be for around 10 kids around the age of 10.  Things never go as planned - I had probably 25 people show up with ages ranging from 4 years old all the way up to 55.  I couldn't help but chuckle at this.  It went fine - we just went over simple greetings and introductions and I gave the little kids some candy at the end.  Needless to say, I now have 2 groups.  lol  It will be interesting to see who shows up tonight.  Word may have spread like wildfire and I may have even more people.  yikes.  It will be fun tho. 

 

 

So, between working on the grant and the English club, I have also been going to a Karate club 3 times per week.  It is fun and I get some much needed exercise.  Every Sat, Mon, and Wed at 7 pm.  Good stuff.  It is organized by someone I met the night I met all the army guys (previous blog). 

 

 

Since the title of this blog is named "week of surprises"  -  let me explain:  The English club was surprise #1 then the next day I was sitting in my office working on the grant when the head of the education dept walks in my office to inform me that i will be giving a 30 min presentation to 30 teachers from 30 different schools in the area and that I will be giving this presentation in 2 hours.  It turns out that the English teachers from 30 schools in the area are all meeting today and they want me to discuss the differences in education systems of the US & Ukraine.  Crazy.  So I frantically grab my friend Google and start searching for any and all relevant information.  I knew many cultural differences and some educational differences but it is difficult because I don't know the Ukrainian education system.  I am a Community Development volunteer and do not work in a school.  The presentation went great and I will be traveling to many different villages in the area over the next 4 months to visit English classes, help students prepare for the English Olympiad, and be a judge at English competitions.  That will be really fun.  I gave all the teachers my phone # so I might be very busy soon.  I said I would be happy to visit their classrooms or just meet with them individually to practice their English over a cup of tea.  I also found someone that is willing to be my Russian tutor - Awesome!   I need all the help I can get. 

 

 

So that was surprise # 2.   Surprise # 3 happened the very next day (Friday).  I was in the office working on the grant when the vice mayor called me and said, "Conor, the town newspapers will be interviewing you in 1 hour - good luck"  Lol  Just kidding.  He did not say good luck.  He assured me that it was only for information about me, Peace Corps, and my current activities in the community.  Lucky for me, I had someone that spoke some English to help me out.  I think it went ok.  I will try and get a copy of the article and post it on the ole' Blog.  The next surprise happened in Kiev but that one is personal.  Lets just say that I now know how the people of Hiroshima felt when they saw a large bomb fall out of the sky.  Surprise # 5 happened yesterday (Tuesday 9/21).  I was again sitting in my office trying to catch up on work on the grant because due to all the surprises, I felt I was behind.  Again, the vice mayor calls me up and says, "The media is here and they want to interview you"  I think to myself Dejavoo - was the last interview a dream?  What gives?  So I ask him, "is it a different newspaper?"  He replies, "it is the local TV station"  I think...Wow...ok...what?...5 min....ok.   Lucky for me, I was dressed nicer than usual.  This particular interview was all in Russian.  I think I did alright.  I will hopefully get a disk with the footage on it.  I will post it if I can.  I thought it was great that the camera guy was someone that I met over a month ago and have had tea with him a couple times.  We will play backgammon one of these days. 

 

 

Well, I need to get going.  Unless there are any unforeseen surprises, my next post will be on Sunday (like usual).  Stay classy America

 

 

Conor's Noteworthy Noteables:

1.  Trip to Kiev.  Found an Irish Pub - no Guinness but they did have Murphy's Irish Stout.  Good enough.  Huge surprises in Kiev - it was good to kick back with an old Irish friend. 

2.  Random media interviews with no time to prepare.  I am getting used to it.  They went alright.  Hopefully I can put the video and the articles on the blog.   

3.  Met some really cool Ukrainians on the train ride to Kiev.  Very nice people and they spoke some English. 

4.  The grant is coming along just fine.  I really hope the grant gets approved.  It could really help my new counterpart, org, and the community.  Cross your fingers.

5.  It was my Dad's B-day on the 14th.  Happy Birthday Dad!  I wish I could have been there with you guys. 

6.  I was invited by the PC head of security to become a warden.  Meaning I will be the contact point / go-to-guy in my region if there is a countrywide emergency. 

7.  I keep trying to skype friends and family back home.  Erin!  I will keep trying.  Josh, you are next.  I can skype cell phones for cheap but I have to call from a WIFI café in town and can only be there around 5 pm my time which is 8 am your time. 

 

I will try to post photos when I have more time. 

 

 

Shoes, birthday parties, and working together.

Hello. 

 

This week was a pretty good week.  I am getting to know the community more and more as the weeks pass by.  I like what I see.  The older generation in the community have a very interesting perspective on how the world works where as the younger generation is very progressive.  The contrast is startling.  The older generation came from a mindset which can be summed up from a famous quote from the days of the USSR, "any initiative will be punished" (this definitely does not apply to everyone).  Contrast this to the youth in the community that are really starting to fly and embrace the freedom that an independent Ukraine has to offer.  I have seen the youth organize themselves in many different activities and clubs with little or no outside assistance.  It is inspiring to see.  When I was in high school, I don't remember ever seeing any student organized clubs that did not have some sort of assistance from the adults in the community or from the local school and I certainly never organized anything like what I have seen here.  For example,  there is a pop dance group in town that practices multiple times per week with little assistance and was organized by the youth themselves.  It is fun to see the youth take charge and I will help them however I can. 

 

 

On Friday, I had the opportunity to attend the birthday party of one of my friends that works for the local government.  It was a great time.  In Ukraine, birthday parties are organized and thrown by the birthday boy/girl instead of by friends and family (like in the US).  My counterpart, a couple coworkers, and I all pitched in and purchased a painting from one of the local artists in town for the occasion (just so happened to be my counterpart's friend so we got a discount).  We also purchased some flowers which continues to amuse me because the flower business in Ukraine is huge!  There seems to be more flower shops than any other type of store in town.  People buy flowers for everything - birthdays, funerals, weddings, first day of school, tea with friends, anniversaries, and every single holiday (there are probably twice as many holidays here than in the US).  I realize that people buy flowers for these occasions in the US but the extent to which flowers are purchased here is enormous.  I went to someone's house the night before the first day of school and I noticed that the streets were flooded with people holding flowers.  I explained to my counterpart that I can count on one hand how many times I have purchased flowers and he gave me a look of empathy.  I tried to explain that it is simply not as common where I am from but I could tell the message was not received.  lol  I could tell he felt bad for me no matter how many times I tried to explain.  Anyways, we made our way to the government building for the birthday party and I wished my friend happy birthday.  The party was held in her office and all of her coworkers came over to her office with flowers and gifts then proceeded to start giving toasts.  I thought it was interesting that the birthday boy or girl gets to call on anyone at any time to give a toast about the birthday boy/girl followed by a stiff drink.  After numerous toasts given by various people, the birthday girl looks at me and says, "give a toast" so everyone stops talking and stares at me with a lingering anticipation to hear the American speak.  I think to myself, "here we go,"  and gave my toast all the while praying that I would not get my Russian mixed up and end up insulting everyone in the room.  My toast went ok though there were many comments that I did not understand - then everyone took another drink.  I ended up giving 4 toasts for this particular birthday party and as far as I know, everyone had a great time and nobody was insulted by my broken Russian.  There was one gentleman at the party that told me he had a bad experience with Americans at his factory some 10 years ago and accused me of knowing more Russian than I let on.  He was obviously not a fan of yours truly though after many toasts and drinks, we seemed to get along just fine and he even shook my hand before he left.  I love that part of my job - when you meet someone with preconceived notions of Americans or simply negative views of Americans, and you get them to realize that not all Americans are greedy capitalist pigs or war hungry or rich etc etc... 

 

 

This weekend I traveled to Donetsk with my counterpart to do some shopping.  Since I have to walk everywhere, my shoes are already a bit worn out (even though I just bought them before I left for Ukraine...sigh).  We started at the Bazaar without any luck because of my enormous size 51 shoes (15 US).  My counterpart was determined to find me some shoes so he called his brother that lives in Donetsk for help.  We me up with his brother and went to 12 different shoe stores.  Those of you that know me, know that I can't shop.  I get exhausted after 5 min of shopping.  I tried to explain that it is ok, I don't need to find shoes right away but no dice.  My counterpart is a very nice guy and was determined to find shoes that fit so 4 hours later...we finally stop.  I don't know what it is about shopping that gets me so exhausted but damn!  I think I will have to order some shoes from the US and have them shipped. 

 

 

On the work front, I have an English club setup for about 10 kids at the local library.  This will be fun - my first lesson is this Wednesday.  I am not a teacher so I will have to do some major planning to make sure my club is both entertaining and educational.  Wish me luck.  I will definitely buy some candy for the first class to help grease the wheels while I get the whole teaching thing down.  This should help my Russian and help me meet people.  I have also been discussing a project plan with my counterpart which I will be writing a grant for this month.  It is difficult to discuss details when you don't know the language so hopefully we can find a translator for some of the more complex stuff (scope, budget, action plan, time frames, etc).  I hope to start writing tomorrow.  Again, wish me luck.  Well, I need to get some sleep.  I hope everything is going great in the good ole US of A!   Drop me a comment so that I know people still read this thing. 

 

 

Conor's Noteworthy Noteables:

1.  Getting to know my new NGO.  Good people.  I hope we have a successful project. 

2.  Ukrainian birthday party.  Awesome

3.  Trip to Donetsk - always fun to explore big cities. 

4.  Bought my train tickets to Kiev for this Friday.  I joined the Peace Corps Tech group - we will meet in Kiev to discuss technology related needs/issues/etc...

5.  Still may or may not go on a 10 day backpacking/camping trip in Crem. 

6.  Found my first sandwich place in Ukraine!  Whoohoo.  Who would have thought I would be so excited about something like that.  lol  Donetsk!

7.  Just hand washed my jeans.  I would not recommend it. 

8.  It is starting to get cold.  I gotta admit, I am a bit nervous about my first Ukrainian winter. 

 

 

 

Almost 6 months in Ukraine!

Hello all,

I have been in Ukraine for almost 6 months!  Thinking back about all the experiences I have had since I arrived in March, it seems more like a year or two but at the same time it seems like the time has flown by.  I remember having butterflies in my stomach constantly at staging in DC and for the first week or so in training.  I remember when I first met my host family and not being able to speak hardly any Russian yet living in a complete stranger's house.  I have fond memories of my first day of language class and meeting my cluster mates.  We have all come a long way but sometimes it still feels like I don't speak any Russian and am new to Ukraine.  I wonder what it will feel like when I can speak and understand everything that is going on around me.  Will it still be exciting or will life start to become mundane and repetitive?  Probably not considering my job description and the fact that Ukraine can be extremely random even for the locals.  Sometimes it seems like my Russian skillz are improving drastically earlier this week when I had a 30 min conversation with someone from the Kazak org in my city yet at other times, I feel like it is a struggle to simply talk about the weather.  Go figure.  We will have a large group of new volunteers arriving in Ukraine in a couple weeks and in 3 months (after their training) one of them will be living in my city which will really put things into perspective as far as how much I have learned etc...  It will also be nice to have a site mate (a fellow volunteer living in the same city). 

Since returning from Krivoy Rog late Sunday night (1:00 am) I have yet again had a crazy week.  I often find myself in situations where I have to be somewhere at a certain time but have no idea why and what I will be doing.  It is a funny situation because Peace Corps Training taught us that it is important to integrate into our communities and a good way to do this is to say "Yes" to every invitation to do something but with my Russian skillz the way they are, I don't always know what I am saying yes to.  I have talked to numerous other volunteers about this and they seem to get themselves into similar situations which means it is not just me.  It is not longer weird tho and is kinda exciting.  I did not even realize how comfortable I have gotten with this "not knowing" until I was on the phone with Amy and she asked me if I had any plans that evening to which I replied, "Yes, I have to meet someone dressed in camo behind the government building tonight at 7:00 then he will drive me somewhere and we will do something."  Amy then asked who I will be meeting, where I will be going, what I will doing?  I replied, "Dunno, I forgot the guys name but I think he has an NGO and I don't know where I will be going or what I will be doing or when I will be back"   Then it struck me - Why is this comfortable?  In the states, I would never do anything like this!  I only met this guy for one minute earlier that day after talking with the vice Mayor of our city and I did not understand what he said only that I should meet some guy at 7:00.  This has happened so many times that I guess I have grown comfortable with it.  lol  I just bring my backpack with me at all times complete with water, peanuts, an umbrella, Russian dictionary, a camera, and an open mind;  you never know what you will be doing or for how long so you have to plan for everything. 

Anywho, back to this particular night (Monday), as I am waiting in the parking lot of the government building, I ponder about how even the most uncomfortable things can eventually become comfortable, a car rolls up and a large man dressed in soviet camo gets out and enthusiastically shakes my hand. He then proceeds to speak quickly about something that I can only assume is in Russian but did not manage to pick out even a single word so I smile politely and explain that I no speaka da rooskie very well so he simply smiles and shakes my hand again and gestures for me to get in the car.  I think, ok...here comes another adventure ready or not.  I sit down in his Russian-made car and make small talk and we are off to god knows where.  I knew it was going to be an interesting night because when the car started going, my seat (passenger seat) rolled back into the back seats because it was not attached to the car.  lol  We both chuckle a bit as I prop the seat back upright.  We arrive at this old soviet block housing unit where there is a group of people all dressed in old Soviet uniforms chatting outside.  We get out of the car and immediately their conversation stops and everyone stares at me without saying a word.  I am pretty used to this response at this point but notice that these are not your typical Ukrainians.  Not only are they all in old army uniforms but they are all built like weightlifters and seem to all be in their late 40s early 50s.  We all proceed inside the old soviet building and as we are walking, the man that drove me there explains that they are all part of the old Soviet mobile army unit and have stayed very close after the fall of the Soviet Union and that they have been remodeling this building for over a year now.  We walk through a few dark hallways and up a few flights of stairs to a room full of old gym equipment.   Ten of the army clad gentlemen sit in a circle around me and proceed to ask me a series of questions.  I had to stop them a few times and explain that I am studying Russian right now and that I don't speak very well yet.  Some were amused but most had the usual "brick face" while they questioned me.  At this point I am thinking, oh shit...this is going to be interesting.  I go through the usual Peace Corps explanation - I am a volunteer from the US and am non-political, non-religious, and just want to help.  Still brick faces all around...then a long pause...then one of the older gentlemen asks, "why are you here and what do you want?".   I noticed that my mouth was suddenly very dry as I explain that I work for their city, a youth org, the library, and have been meeting with the Kazak org in town (I noticed that the Kazak org seemed to have military ties so I thought that would ease their minds).  Another long pause....the group then starts to loudly discuss things and I notice (maybe it was only in my head) that the guy that drove me there was suddenly very sweaty but they were also joking around and laughing.  I heard them mention the gov building and the vice mayor's name which was good to hear.  Then they asked if I was there to gather information probably because I mentioned that I want to learn Ukrainian culture to which I explained that I simply like traveling, meeting new people, experience different cultures, etc... etc...  A few of them leave the room for a bit and come back 10 min later.  They brought with them a 18 year old kid that spoke some English which was awesome.  We chatted for a while and people started laughing and joking around.  We discussed their organization and how they are almost done remodeling the building which will be a place for the youth of the city to go (instead of drink vodka).  They all ended up being very nice people and I ended up having a beverage with them at the local hot dog joint and they even invited me to a 10 day camping trip in Crem.  Awesome. 

Since that meeting, I have spent two evenings with them at different houses - for dinner one night and tea another night.  Turned out to be pretty awesome and I look forward to working with their organization which is a fully registered NGO. 

This weekend was the anniversary of my city so there were plenty of festivities and a big celebration/concert last night.  Amy visited this weekend so we went to all the major activities together.  It was awesome.  There was a celebration for everyone in the city that got married this year, horse racing, wrestling, sword fighting, knife throwing, dancing, carnival games, cotton candy, fireworks, traditional cooking, and the entire town participated.  Very interesting - I took ton's of photos which I will give to various parties on DVD.  The Ukrainian culture has many different roots and is very rich.  It was a good weekend though I am exhausted now.  Well, I need to get going so I leave you with some noteables and some photos.  I hope everyone has an awesome week!

Conor's Noteworthy Noteables:

1.  Amy came to visit!  We were busy with all the town activities but it was awesome. 

2.  Just about at the 6 month mark!  Time flies!

3.  Met more organizations and made a few friends.

4.  Starting to get cold here.  Hard to believe that just a few weeks ago it was in the 100s

5.  Met with the library a few times.  Hopefully I will have an English club started within the next week. 

6.  Might be going to Crem for a 10 day camping trip starting Oct 10!  Maybe

7.  Took tons of good photos of the festivals this weekend.  Will burn a disk of the photos for the gov people. 

8.  Dropping in on orgs that I met with a box of chocolate.  People are more patient with my Russian skillz when they are eating chocolate. 

***Click on the photo for the large version***

Cassie, Amy, and I in Krivoy Rog

The kids at camp made a cutout of me...Enough said.

Traditional Kazak uniform

Honey at the festival

Concert to celebrate Khartsizsk Day