March 6, 2003
I'm in Ukraine!
The flight was fine, we all arrived with all of our luggage. We are currently
in Kiyv (the outer part of the city, sort of like the outer sunset of San
Francisco) staying in a dorm. We will be here for a
week. We're having more general orientation, as well as individual interviews.
I'll start language classes tomorrow, "survival Ukrainian" although I
think most people in Kiyv speak Russian. ANYWAY, by next Tuesday I will find
out my placement. Next Wednesday we'll go to our cluster sites, which we all be
near Kyiv. That is when the host family part starts. We'll have about
four hours of language classes per day (at that point, either Russian or
Ukrainian) and have an internship, 11 weeks in an NGO where we'll have two
specific projects. The internship will be done in groups of six.
The dorm is very nice, running water and electricty and all! I'm still
rooming with Karen, my roomate from Chicago,
who is from San Francisco. We have
all our meals at the dorms this week. The food has been good, I've decided to
stick with vegetarian, at least for now. Last night I had mushrooms and beets
instead of pork. The rest of the meal was potatoes, and a salad with cabbage
(of course) carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers. We also had blintes for dessert.
For breakfast I had yogurt and cereal that was kind of like granola and coffee
(instant).
The Peace Corps training staff is very good. They love their jobs, and are
really happy to see us volunteers. Most of the staff are either former peace
corps volunteers or Ukrainians. The country director, Karl Beck, spoke to us
this morning. He is friendly and knowledgeable.
So far I'm in excellent health and happy to be here. I'll write again at the
end of the week, when I know more!
Oh, the weather. It is about 28 F, and snow on the ground! It's fun walking
though the snow all bundled up. I've taken a few pictures. Most of the time I'm
inside, where it is warm to the point of being too warm. Drinking lots of
(bottled) water.
love,
Delilah
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