Summer Summer Summertime

So, in my last (and extremely lengthy) post, I told you that I would dedicate a post specifically to what I have been up to this summer.  To be perfectly honest,  I haven't done a whole lot of anything.  Working in a school means that I will be getting my summers off, just like the students and teachers.  So, I really haven't been able to actually start work yet.  My summer has actually been a pretty good one though.  Here's my summer, in a nutshell.  

In my first few weeks at site, I helped some students paint a map of Ukraine and the Donetska Oblast on two of the walls at our school.  The idea originated from the the World Map Project, which is great project that a lot of Peace Corps volunteers do at their sites.  My site-mate, Jessica, started it at our school last year.  It gave me a really good opportunity to not only be a part of a great project, but also to get to know some of the students.

After that, I went to Camp SLAM.  Camp SLAM is a camp that was started by volunteers here in Ukraine who are a part of the healthy lifestyles working group (which I am now a part of).  Basically, this camp was created to teach Ukrainian teens lessons on healthy lifestyles and also how to play American sports such as ultimate frisbee, football, and baseball.  I can honestly say that being a part of Camp Slam was one of my favorite experiences so far in Ukraine.  I got to meet a ton of volunteers and also interact with a lot of Ukrainian students from my oblast.  We had a blast.

 Rocky and Kurt leading the human elephant with some of the campers.

 Some of my team (the Crazy Banana's) doing one of the ropes courses.

 The Camp SLAM counselors

Me and my new friend.

Jessica and I invited the other volunteers in our oblast down to stay with us the first weekend in August.  Nine people ended up being able to come.  Let me just say that Jessica nor I live in big apartments, so as you can imagine the chaos.  We spent two days at the beach floating around on an air mattress and two nights grilling out by the sea.  Of course me being the horrible and forgetful photographer that I am, I forgot to take pictures most of that weekend, but here are a few I managed to get.

 Sedova Beach

 Beach fun

 Corn on the cob by the sea

 Grilling out

Sunset

After our group beach weekend, things slowed down pretty drastically for me.  I was able to volunteer a couple of days with the special needs center in my town, but other than that, I really didn't have much to do.  So, I spent my time reading, taking walks with friends, and cooking dinner with my site-mate.  Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of those things, but I enjoyed that time immensely.

About two weeks ago, I took part in what is called in-service training.  This is training the Peace Corps holds at different times throughout the year to address different topics.  This IST was on volunteerism and was held in Kiev.  I went with a girl from my town who works for the Director of my school.  Basically, it was 3 days of conferences and presentations.  I actually learned a lot about how Ukrainians view volunteerism and how to implement projects successfully in Ukraine.  Although the days got a little boring, the nights were a lot of fun.

 Brewskies with pals

 Ukrainian food

 Grace on the piano.

 Jesse and Grace having a Where's Waldo look-a-like competition.

The after-math of too much fun in Kiev.

This past weekend my friend Rachel came to visit me.  We drank wine, cooked Mexican food, and laid out all weekend.  It was absolutely perfect :)

Later this week, I am off to Kiev (again) for an environment training.  It's also my birthday on Friday and I am looking forward to spending it with friends out on the town. I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes :)