What happened to June?!

Really? Only five days until Mom and Dad pick me up at PDX? Even though I'm nervous about coming home, my packed suitcase is next to the door. Yeah, you might say I'm excited to see everyone I love...

But before I'm swept up into my three week trip outside of Ukraine, I wanted to share my summer schedule and a few pictures.

Summer in Ukraine is fabulous! I look forward to shopping at the market to pick up fresh fruits and veggies (and, believe it or not, I am a huge tomato fan now!...yes, I've crossed over). I finally understand why PCVs in Ukraine feel so rewarded after surviving the bitter winter. The summer really is refreshing, in so many ways!

This month, I made two trips to Kyiv. The first trip was to pitch the mentor program to the country director and staff, which did receive approval and our first meeting is this Friday (right before I depart). I have been thankful for current PCVs support and response to the mentor program idea...over 40 volunteers have expressed a willingness to help!

My second trip to Kyiv was for "warden" training. In case of an emergency, I will communicate with the PC office and PCVs will either evacuate to my site (depending on the circumstance) or I will lead the PCVs in my oblast to safety. Hopefully, I will never need to use this training...

So, while I was in Kyiv, some friends and I turned it into a girls' weekend! We went out to pizza, got a little shopping in, and had our fair share of "girl talk". In the picture below is (from left to right): Sarah, Miranda, Molly, and Christie.

On Saturday, Molly, Miranda, and I spent some time in the Chernobyl Museum. In April 1986, the largest ever nuclear accident occurred near Chernobyl, Ukraine. The immediate result was about 30 deaths and over 100,000 people had to be evacuated to avoid radiation exposure. The horrific thing about this is that the accident was kept a secret from citizens of the then-Soviet Union until radiation particles were detected in Sweden. Eventually, over 300,000 people needed to be resettled to avoid exposure and the area continues to be mostly uninhabited. The museum itself had powerful images, but with little explanation about what the images represented. Here are some pictures from the museum:

Here are some pictures from towns and villages nearby. I think it is fascinating to see nature reclaim the man-made structures.

Last week I spent time in Cherkasy at a soccer camp. With about three hours of soccer camp each day, the other volunteers and I spent a lot of time at the river, cooking delicious meals, and just spending time together. I was so tired after camp!

Then, last weekend I went into Kirovograd to spend time with other volunteers. Here's a picture of Alia, me, and Sarah. Alia and Sarah are both TEFL volunteers from Group 33, so they will be leaving Ukraine this fall. I will be sad to see them go, but we were discussing a possible trip to India this fall...we'll see what happens...

And here it is, the picture you've been waiting for - my red cruiser! Yes, complete with a basket and a bell! I bought this bike a few weeks ago and have spent plenty of time riding on the tractor trails around town.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I'll be meeting my friend Grace in Kirovograd...I love visitors! She'll come stay at my place through Thursday. I have so many plans for her including, an all-night graduation celebration with my 11th graders, a breakfast with a teacher, and dinner with Volva and Oksana. Then, we'll begin the journey to Kyiv on Thursday, have the mentor meeting on Friday, and I'll fly out Saturday morning - Portland-bound!

June 27-July 6: at home for the big wedding!

July 7-July 11: Spain with Liz and Kelsey

July 12-July 14: Paris with Liz and Kelsey

July 14-July 17: Krakow on my own (which reminds me, I need to book a hostel!)

I'll fly into Kyiv on July 17 and make my way to Camp Big Bang (July 19-August 6)

August 7-August 15: Camp I Know in Crimea (I'm taking three of my students to an environmental camp + camping...WHOO HOO!)

August 17-August 21: in Kyiv for an "In Service Training" Topic: Promoting Volunteerism for Grass-Roots Development (my counterpart, Lena, will also attend)

August 21-August 24: Travel to Lviv (western Ukraine) to visit friends

August 25-August 28: Leadership Camp at my friend Christie's site (just north of Kyiv)

September 1: First Day of School!

Wow, this summer is going to speed by! I don't know if I'm ready...

I'll try to upload pictures along the way, but I can't make any promises because I'm not sure when I'll have access to Internet.

Thanks for your support and take care,

Natalie

"Last Bell"' Out with a Bang!

On Friday, May 29, the official last day of school, we had a concert at the Palace of Culture. I was prepared this time and dressed appropriately for the occasion (PHEW!). When I arrived at the Palace of Culture, Vika (far left, the music teacher), Lena, and I snapped some photos before heading into the concert hall.

Ivana, my Ukrainian tutor's daughter, sat next to me at the concert. Isn't she adorable? She was all fancied up with her curly hair and a huge white bow (fashion report: which most of the young girls are sporting nowadays)...

We all stood for the Ukrainian national anthem, as the graduating class of 24 students stood on stage.

Our director was the MC of the event and students would bring her flowers after accepting an award (reason for the wingman holding the flowers).

Vlad and Ania, two of my 5th grade students, passed around little bells to each graduate. Apparently, it is tradition for the younger students to wish the graduates good luck, health, success, etc. and then the graduates ring their bells for a few minutes. I was a little teary-eyed watching the graduates!

Nastia, one of the best English students, is planning to attend a university to study medicine. Both of her parents work and live in Moscow as doctors and she lives with her grandparents in Novoukrainka. Sweet girl!

2009 Graduating Class of Novoukrainka's Gymnasium n. 7

Then, it's time for the teachers to party! I'm with Tania at the teacher's celebration at school.

Here is our school dog, who is often found in the cafeteria constantly being fed. What a life!

I wasn't expecting another award, but sure enough, I was called up to the stage to accept an award (I'm not exactly sure how it is different from my previous award). But, many students presented me with flowers to congratulate me.

Lena, Sasha, Yura, and I left the teacher's celebration early to have a BBQ at Yura's house. Here is Yura's property, looking up from the river. You can see his house straight ahead (if you follow the path). Beautiful place!

Lena, Sasha's daughter and one of my 10th grade students, and I hanging out at the BBQ (otherwise known as "shashleek," the shish-ka-bobs that are made).

Flipped over a boat for our table! Here, Lena and I are with Aloyna (Yura's wife).

Lena being silly! Yura (physical education teacher) is busy on the grill and Sasha (foreign literature teacher) is relaxing.

The famous "Shashleek" (before grilling and consumption).

Yum! The delicious shashleek is finally ready! Rather than cooking it all at once, in Ukraine, I think it's typical to slowly cook the shashleek throughout the day, so we continued to have hot shashleek throughout the afternoon.

Lena, pretending to be the chef!

I enjoyed all of the celebrations we had on the last day of school! It was hot, but we were continually hit with rain showers. We started shashleeking at about noon and at 6pm, we finally had to call it a day because it poured down rain on us! We were soaked! In for some tea and then we all caught a taxi home. The following day, I made my way to Kyiv and stayed with my host family, Tania and Ania. I love spending time with Tania and Ania, they're as close to family as I have in Ukraine....and we certainly laugh a lot when we're together!

While in Kyiv, I received the green light to launch a mentor-type program for new volunteers who accept their invitation to serve in Ukraine. Time to get started!

Wow - this has been a long post and only covers four days! I hope you enjoyed!

Love,

Nat

Happy Birthday, Dima!

Last week, I attended Dima's 8th birthday party! I searched my town for a gift and ended up deciding on a set of Superman Walkie-Talkies, which were definitely a hit!

Here are some of the kids that were at the party (from left to right) Petya, Bogdan (Dima's brother), Nastia, Tolya, and Sasha.

Here are Dima's godparents, Olya and Kolya.

Viala (a neighbor) and Oksana (Dima's mom)

Dima's parents, Volva and Oksana.

Artom and Petya having chicken-fights on the log...overlooking the river in town.

Me with the Birthday Boy!

Time for some street racing! Bogdan was sweet enough to let me join in on the fun and borrow his bike.

I was taking too many pictures of the boys showing me their "tricks", so Nastia asked me to take a picture of her.

The kids loved taking pictures with my camera...here's me and Bogdan.

Oksana was so excited to show me her flowers, she requested that I take photos. Here are some pictures, in honor of Oksana and the wonderful hospitality she has shown to me.

Yum....Strawberries!

Here are some pictures around Novoukrainka in the Spring! It has such a different feel in the Spring (compared to when I first arrived in December).

My house...I love the tulips out front!

The main street in Novoukrainka

The flowers on the trees that line the main street. Just gorgeous, I think!

My School

At the birthday party, we ate a ton of food, played outside, and I certainly had some language practice! Good times!

Take care,

Natalie