Livin and Workin

Hello,

    It has been a long time since my last post.  Since my last post, we have had our first Volunteer Center meeting.  We used the grant money to buy a computer, projector, and some supplies for the organization.  Things have been moving along just fine.  We had a few glitches at the beginning but I guess that is to be expected with all new projects and organizations.  All in all I think it went pretty well though definitely not how I originally expected it to go.  My counterparts seem to be pretty happy with how it went and the youth that came to the trainings seemed to enjoy it as well.  Things just work differently in this culture.  When I think of training a group of young people on various topics of volunteerism - I think organized PowerPoint presentations, clearly defined goals & objectives,  planning, preparation, and meetings before the training actually starts.  That is simply not how things work here.  My counterpart told me a week before the training that everything was ready and that I should stop worrying about it so I thought – who am I to tell them how to do things in their culture?   It ended up that the first training was delayed a week, nobody brought the presentations, we did not meet before hand, and there was mass confusion.  I had to run to the nearest internet access point to download the presentations only to find that nobody bothered to download the software required to use our presentations.  lol  Once again, things do tend to work out here.  Someone found another laptop to use that had the software installed though we then found out that we did not have an extension cord for the projector so I had to run to the nearest store and buy one.  Needless to say, we had a few hiccups with our first meeting but people enjoyed it and even learned a thing or two.  We all agreed that we need to be better organized for the next meeting but today is Thursday and the meeting is on Saturday and we still have not met.  lol   This will still be a beneficial project even if it is not how I would have imagined it.  The more I learn about the culture, the more I think that an "American" style presentation probably would not be well received here.  I need to have faith and trust the people I work with because after all, they know how things work in Ukraine far better than I.  I just wish I could contribute more to the project but my Russian is simply not good enough. 

Other than that, I have continued to facilitated some English clubs in my community and find them to be some of the highlights of my week.  The kids are great and really enjoy learning English.  I try to make the club as fun and educational as possible which is easy to do because the kids are so nice.  Things have been a bit difficult lately so having such an awesome club is great.  It has been soooooo cold here it is ridiculous.  It is so cold that my nose runs and then freezes on my mustache.  lol  TMI?  Amy was sent back to DC for medical reasons though she will be medically cleared soon so hopefully she will be back with in week or so.  I have been frustrated because I want to help my organization more but am limited because of my Russian.  I have also been missing family and friends back home.  It is times like these that I have to concentrate on why I decided to join the Peace Corps in the first place.  In training, the Peace Corps showed us a graph showing the emotional roller coaster that is Peace Corps service.  It is filled with huge ups and sometimes huge downs.  Part of this might be because all volunteers want to accomplish a lot in their respective communities and it can be difficult when you realize that due to cultural differences, the ever-present language barrier, or whatever the reasons might be – you might not accomplish what you originally thought.  That is not to say that the volunteers accomplish any less than they originally thought – simply that the accomplishments end up being completely different than expected.  Different cultures have different priorities and goals – often what volunteers see as a problem is not viewed as such in the local community.  For example, many people in my community think that AIDS does not exist or is only limited to drug users when in fact, 2% of the population has HIV/AIDS.  Also, many accomplishments are not measurable – how do you measure cultural exchange, showing people that their negative stereotypes of Americans or certain groups of people is not accurate, or the relationships that are made throughout Peace Corps service? 

Anywho, not much else is going on.  I keep busy.  I will be heading to Kharkov in March and might be doing another 10 day camping trip in the Spring.  I hope all is well back in the US.  Take care everyone.

   

Conor's Noteworthy Noteables:

1.  I received a package from my Aunt.  Awesome!  Thanks Kelly!  Cheese dip, spices, recipes, chips, and tortillas!  I made some soft shell tacos for some of my friends.  It was deeeeeelishous.  Oh how I miss spicy food. 

2.  I took another Language Proficiency Exam and scored significantly higher than I did after PST (pre-service training)

3.  I am looking to start a Debate club.  Should be fun and will be 100% in Russian. 

4.  I met with a couple new organizations in my town.  Always interesting.

5.  In the next few months I will try and start studying for the GMAT.  I am not sure what I will do after PC but I want to have options.
6.  Went to a concert in my city with some friends.  Very cool.  It was nice to see a more liberal croud.

Church in Kiev

Friends at Language Refresher (Chernigiv)

Volunteer Center

Interesting Building in Kiev

Amy and I