New Tea Quilt on the Horizon

My friend Manette sent me 300 tea bags (the empty kind...) so I could have tea with my Ukrainian friends and colleagues. I saved all the bags and when I get home I will begin constructing the quilt. I am playing with the idea of quilting the national folk art pattern seen all over Ukraine.


Tea bags drying on the clothes line
 

Traditional Ukrainian x-stitch pattern

One from the Heart

My community English club (well, Veronica, actually) is planning a huge goodbye blowout for me and it is supposed to be a surprise, but of course there are no surprises here. I know when it is and where it is and I am going to have to act like I had no idea it was going on....ha!

SO...I've been wondering what to give to my community groups and couldn't think of anything because they have just given me so much. How can I repay them for the past two years? They have given me their trust and friendship and respect and what could I possibly give to them that would mean just as much? Well, after a lot thought I knew it was a gift that could not be bought, so decided to give them one from the heart.

Marshmallows at Midnight

I am leaving Ukraine in 4 short weeks and I feel as if I have so much to do and won't have enough time to do it in...and I can't understand WHY I feel this way! Yes, there's a ton of Peace Corps paperwork and documents but nothing I can't handle...but for some reason it feels overwhelming.

For a while I was worried about getting Miss Mouse home and that was stressful. It took about a week and a half but the office finally found a plane that would take us home. Unfortunately I can't get close to home but must land in NYC.  It's about money, time of year etc...there are so many crazy factors involved with flying an animal. After my flight was confirmed I set about trying to find a way from NYC to Providence. No planes from JFK to Greene at that time a night. Buses and trains do not allow animals unless they are service animals. Huh. I could have rent a car but after all the traveling did I really want to take a chance driving while exhausted? (I did this once a few years back. I drove with school mates from NYC to Connecticut, then drove myself home from there. At the time I was living in West Gloucester, just over the state line. I was so tired I got pulled over at midnight in the little town of Putnam, CT for failure to "drive right". The cop thought I was drunk...said I was driving over the center line...what center line?  This is a rinky-dink town about 2 miles long! So, happy not to have gotten a ticket, I went on my way and resolved never to drive that tired again. So, after a few days of wondering how the heck we would get home, my nephew stepped up to the plate and said he'd pick me up. He must love me a lot because we're talking Friday night traffic into Queens. Gotta love family!

This may not seem like a lot stress, but for the past 2 months I have been working towards getting Miss Mouse ready to fly home. There is a crazy amount of things to do...international pet passport (yes...Miss Mouse has a passport now), locator chip inserted under the skin of her neck, vaccinations, and documents, documents, and more documents. The hardest part to all this was/is trying to find the correct information. No one knows their job so I end up talking to 4 vets plus several government officials. It's all so maddening and who would have thought it would be so hard to adopt a cat?  It's like I am trying to take home a child or something.

All this stress has led to loss of sleep. So much so that I find myself getting up in the middle of the night doing strange things. Last week I got up and retrieved a small pillow from the couch and stuck it under my bed pillows putting me in a very uncomfortable sleeping position. When I woke up the next morning the little thing was on the floor and if not for that I would have forgotten the whole incident.

A few days after that I woke up in the middle of the night again to use the bathroom and afterward made my way into the kitchen to eat some marshmallows. I would have forgotten this too but when I got up the next day and went to turn on the laptop, there was a note on it that said "marshmallows at midnight". Not exactly sure what I wrote that for but figured it would be a good blog title.

Miss Mouse (International Jet Setter)

Peace Corps Proud

Peace Corps Ukraine

Having said this before I like to reiterate how much in awe I am of the staff here in Ukraine. I also wanted to say how much I will miss my regional manager, Natasha Nikoleyeva, who is absolutely wonderful and caring in every way.  She and the others in the Kiev office show such kindness and respect for all the volunteers here. It takes a lot of patience to deal with 300 Americans (500 when I first came) and the staff do an amazing job. Thank you Peace Corps Ukraine!

Natasha and I

In the News

Once again our English clubs have made the papers...and the radio! The Novomoskovsk website also carried the story and it can be translated using the web. http://nmsk.dp.ua/ (Second article) The article talks about the library's English clubs (Open Borders) and the availability of English books and movies. I am very proud!

The End is Near

Last weeks's COS conference has come and gone and I am reminded of how impossible a task it must seem to take care of so many volunteers coming in to and going out of, a country of service. Our group (Group 41) had 96 volunteers at the conference and most of us are heading out within a few weeks of each other. (I say most because there are 17 people extending their service...a record number I am told!) Hat's off to the the staff of Peace Corps Ukraine for the all hard work and dedication you all have for helping us transition into and out of service. (And for all the big and little things in between). None of us can do the work we do for Ukraine without your help! THANK YOU!

It's the Little Things

I was in Chernihiv all this week for my COS (Close of Service) conference. Chernihiv is northwest of Novomoskovsk yet impossible reach as the crow flies. Getting there would require a bus to Dnipropetrovsk, a train to Kiev, a bus to Chernihiv, and another bus to the hotel. Phew. That’s a lot of traveling for me. It was like going from Providence to Montpelier via Albany.

 I don’t know how it happens that I love to travel but hate the going. I used to love travelling. There was a time when the most fun for me was in the getting to and the coming back from. Now I find it is simply exhausting. I think the part I hate the most is the not sleeping part. If I am away from my apartment and sleeping on a train or a hotel bed or where ever…I just can’t seem to get to sleep.  This made the conference long and boring and all I could think of wanting to do is lay down for a nap.

 When I joined the Peace Corps I was told about all the possible challenges I would face. I could live in a village of 100 people and have no indoor plumbing. The heating system could be a central wood or coal stove that needed to be stoked by hand every 2 hours. I could end up living on a farm where the closest source of food was the chickens and cows or what ever else needed to be slaughtered. I could have perhaps ended up in a place where no one spoke English at all (I think the scariest thing because my Russian skills are so bad). I could be isolated. I could get depressed. I could get homesick. The potential challenges and hardships I could have possibly faced were endless. There are thousands of things that were told to me but mainly it is the small things that really get to you in the end. And no one ever said anything about the little things.

          The trains are so hot it’s like sleeping in a 250 degree oven.

• The trains are so cold it’s like sleeping in a freezer.
• Back-breaking seats on public transit.
• Overcrowded public transit
• Overheated route taxis.
• The public toilets are…no, I am NOT going there.
• Cabbage cabbage and more cabbage.
• The time it takes me to drive from Providence to New York? 4 hours. That same distance by train from Dnipropetrovsk? 8 hours. (Sometimes 9).
• Going to the post office scares the shit out of me.
• Ditto the hair dresser.
• No warning when the water will be shut off. Or the electricity.
• I can walk faster than a bus.
• People bumping into you or slamming a door in your face with no apology.
• The homeless animals (I feel this is a BIG thing but thought it needed a mention)
• And the biggest little challenge of all: How much does that train ticket cost?

    

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