Flying tomorrow

Ok, so you thought the last post was goodbye, but this is really goodbye . . . It's only been a day and a half of staging but already I feel like it's been two weeks. The Assistant Director (think I got that right?) of PC came to speak to us, and will visit Ukraine in a week - and said that by that time we'll be essentially a year older. I believe it (so much to absorb, so overwhelming) - and yet, the country director (also visiting our staging, both visits are unusual and special) said that on the plane ride over, somewhere between Frankfurt and Kiev we transform from functioning "adults" to two-year-olds. And I believe that too. Partially because we'll have about that ability in terms of language, partially because the next 12 weeks will be meticulously planned out for us by the PC, and partially because we'll be living in host families who, no matter what the volunteer's age (even if it's 60) will carefully supervise us and make sure we are warmly dressed and very well fed.

We have 110 people in our group, which is HUGE for a PC group, but I gather not completely out of the ordinary for Ukraine. We'll spend the next twelve weeks in "clusters" of five, learning the language and culture and participating in "internships" (I opted for no-English immersion classes, we'll see how that goes) . . . and I'm not sure about internet access, which is part of why I decided to go ahead and pay the high hotel cost for wireless tonight and get my internet fix one more time. We'll be taught in our language facilitator's home, and meet with another cluster every Saturday to discuss how everything's going. All this concrete detail is making things v. real for me, and I try not to miss too much of the lectures by staring off into space thinking Holy crap I am actually leaving and doing this and aaah. Sometimes the details make me incredibly excited (I may work in summer camps!! I've always wanted to be a camp counselor!!) . . and sometimes anxious (hadn't worried about a whole host of things until we all listed our fears today) . . and sometimes inexplicably emotional (it's like I'm pregnant, every stupid video we watch, and every cute story about our Staging facilitator's life in Paraguay sets me off). But overall, especially after calling home after the incredibly long day, I'm feeling ok about things.

I also heard from Katie A., my PC twin starting off in Mozambique, and despite a general absence of giraffes in her life so far, she is doing well. So we'll all be fine. So thank you all for the calls, visits, e-mails and blog comments in these last weeks before I leave . . I think I'm ready. And, along with the feeling that I've been here for two weeks, I do miss you all a lot already, so we'll have to keep in touch as much as possible. Ok. Goodbye for real, now. And as my baby neighbor Owen will say (when prompted), take care!!

Goodbye America!

I am on my way to getting close to almost being ready. Staging is on Thursday, in Arlington (ten anti-climactic minutes away), and then we fly out of Dulles on Saturday at 4:30, to Frankfurt and then to Kiev. I am going to Ukraine more technologically advanced than I have ever been in my life, which seems ironic given the Peace Corps circumstances; I have a "flash drive," I have 3,528 songs after copying every CD in the house to my laptop, and I will (hopefully) even learn how to "back up" tomorrow . . .

I have two huge bags, one teetering around the 50 lb. limit, and the other around 40 lbs, but I can't fit anything else in without breaking the zipper. My carry-on is kind of intense, am attempting to squeeze every book, random photo and leftover item into it, along with my computer . . . but only enough liquid items to fit inside of a quart-sized bag. People on the various list-serves are complaining about having 30 lb. bags . . so we'll see how well the Ukrainian gender roles stand up when men are called upon to help me.

Speaking of Ukrainian facts, here are some quick ones from former PCV Ken Bossong:

"1.) People in Ukraine are much poorer than Americans. The average American family earns about $30,000/year but the average Ukrainian familyearns about $1,000/year.

2.) There are very few fast-food stores in Ukraine -- only about 75 McDonalds throughout the whole country. There are no Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Popeye's, Wendy's, Roy Rogers,or other such stores in Ukraine. . . .

6.) Most people in Ukraine speak either Ukrainian or Russian or both. However, most Ukrainian students begin to learn a foreign language whenthey are 7 or 8 years old and it is usually English. So many Ukrainian students can usually speak more languages than American students can. . . .

9.) Ukrainian women never shake hands with men -- it's one of the customs here. Also, at parties, if adults are drinking wine or other types ofalcohol, women usually do not pour the drinks -- only men are supposed to do that.

10.) When Ukrainians visit each other, it is the custom to take one's shoes off when coming into another person's house. Sometimes, people bring their own slippers with them and put them on when come into a friend's home.

11.) It is very common for Ukrainians to give each other flowers when they visit one another or on special occasions. For birthdays, Ukrainians will often give a person a single rose with a very long stem. However, it's considered very bad luck to give someone an even number of flowers (i.e.,2, 4, 6, etc.) so Ukrainians are careful to count the number of flowers when they buy them. . . .

20.) Ukrainian students are taught to be very respectful towards their teachers and usually stand up whenever the teacher walks into the room. They also ask fewer questions in the classroom and wait for the teacher to ask them to answer something before talking. Teachers are usually called"Pon" or "Pona" (which means "Mr." and "Ms.") but with their first name, not their last name (e.g., Mr. Ken)."

So! That's where I'm headed. But as for where I've been, I've had a very nice couple of weeks saying goodbye to everyone (it was nice even though it was sad), and I had a great goodbye party on Saturday night.


I will miss everyone a lot - thank you to everyone who's come to say goodbye!! One volunteer mentioned in an e-mail that Ukrainians love to see our pictures from home, and will remember names and details - so remember, if you make it over in the next 27 months, you'll have fans waiting.





Love you all!! Keep in touch, and I will see you in 27 months with two more languages to talk to you in.

Packing for two years and three months

Hi, this is my blog . . . and I swear it will be interesting just as soon as I do something besides packing. I'm leaving in eleven days to go to Ukraine, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and I'm attempting to figure out everything I need and to get that stuff into two bags that don't weigh over 100 pounds (together). Unfortunately, there are a lot of distractions, like staring at the wall . . or wondering how all these TV shows (that I'll see the first episode of but nothing else) will turn out . . or checking my e-mail to read the latest comment from one of the various Ukraine/Peace Corps listserves I'm on. About every thirty seconds I get a new e-mail from one of the listserves, with topics varying from "OhGod where-are-we-going-again?" to "Is Ukrainian wine supposed to have flakes in the bottom of the bottle?" to "Wow my name is Sarah too, there are a lot of Sarahs in this group!!!!!!"

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this, while in Ukraine . . . I'm sure there are internet cafes of some sort, and my snazzy new laptop has built-in wireless (no card! I had to ask the tech guy like five times before I understood that the wireless was INSIDE the computer), but I'm trying not to hope for too much.

I'll be living outside of Kiev or Chernihov for three months of training, with a host family . . and then on December 23rd, I move to my (probably rural) site where I'll live for the next two years - live with another host family for three months, and then possibly move into an apartment. Don't know if I'll be learning Ukrainian or Russian (possibly both), but I sure won't be using my Spanish major (it seems that all of us, on the various listserves and facebook groups, know Spanish. The Peace Corps moves in mysterious ways.)

I should probably stop talking right now - but this should be your warning: as those of you who've gotten mass e-mails from me when I'm traveling know, if I can talk this long about nothing, I can basically write a novel when something actually happens to me. So, I'd love to see your comments, and to have contact with all of my many loved ones in America, but if it turns out that I have regular internet access and start to really fill this thing up - don't exhaust yourselves. Take breaks. I don't want you getting sick of my blog a month into this - we're in this for the long haul.