After a very intense 10 weeks of training, 53 other volunteers and I were ready to “swear in” as official Peace Corps volunteers. But, first, we attended a 3 day conference in Kiev.

On Monday, the 15th of June, we left our host families in Baryshivka. We were very sad to leave, but excited to begin our lives and work in our new communities. In Kiev, we met up with the other Peace Corps volunteers from Group 36 – the 36th group of volunteers in Ukraine. That afternoon, we all found out where we would be living for the next 2 years. Our regional manager, Oleg, told Alex and me that we would live in a small town named Sofiyivka, and that we would be working at the lyceum and school. We were very excited to live in a small town that was located close to some bigger cities like Krivoi Rog and Denipropetrovsk. There are other PC volunteers that live nearby, also, and we were happy to know that we could visit some American friends every now and then.

On Monday and Tuesday, ... Читати далі »

My first 10 weeks in Ukraine were spent training in a town named Baryshivka.  Baryshivka is in Kievskiya Oblast, slightly east of Kiev. I was in a training group with Alex and 3 other volunteers: Ben, David, and Julieann. Peace Corps wanted us to learn Russian, so every week day we had language class for 3 hours. I also had one hour of tutoring with my teacher every week. Natasha was an excellent teacher - very kind and patient. I learned a lot of Russian in just 10 weeks, although I still have a lot more to learn!

Our group also had a great technical teacher, Lena, to help us practice things we will be doing at our work sites. As youth development volunteers, for example, we will be teaching classes in Ukrainian schools. Lena helped us learn more about the school system, and she gave us a lot of advice when we were planning and teaching classes. I co-taught five classes about healthy lifestyles and civics in a 7th grade class at Baryshivka School #1. Our group also planned an ... Читати далі »