Alright, so I know what you are thinking. Long time no blog, right? This time the blame doesn't lie with my usual blogging procrastination. To be honest, this is the first chance that I've had to sit down and catch you guys up. And boy, do we have a lot of catching up to do.
This summer has been busy. If this summer was a superhero, you could call it Super Busy (You see. This is why I don't make jokes). Really though, I have been going pretty much non stop since summer began. Here's a brief (I am not making any promises) rundown of my summer.
In reference to the setback that I mentioned above, it deserves it's own paragraph. Around 7:00 a.m. on the third day of camp, I am woken up by a loud banging on my door. I get myself together and take a look through the peep hole. It's a large, shirtless man standing outside my door looking ticked. Normally, I wouldn't answer in this situation (safety first), but Jesse was here and the guy looked old. I thought I could take him if he wanted to swap fisticuffs. I opened the door and was immediately greeted by the man yelling at me in Russian. My language is not that great at the best of times, but at 7 a.m., well he might as well have been speaking that made up language from Avatar. I told him that I didn't understand and that only lead to more yelling. I finally realized that we was talking about water and thanks to his mediocre charade skills, I realized he was saying that water was leaking into his apartment below me. I put two and two together and realized that he thought it was my fault. I tried explaining to him that their was no leak in my bathroom and that we hadn't used any water that morning. Well, that wasn't an adequate response for him. He wanted in my apartment to see for himself. I wasn't stoked about letting him in, but by that time I had had just enough of chubby, old, shirtless Russian man and his bellowing, and frankly I wanted to get him the H E double hockey sticks away from me. He comes in, sees that their is no problem, and is still not satisfied. I decide to call the English teacher who lives in my building and get her to come help. She comes to help and admits to me that she is afraid of this man. We go downstairs to his apartment where he shows her the leak. She tries to explain to him that I don't speak the language that well (Duh) and that he shouldn't have treated me like that. By this time, my temper is raging and I'm wishing that I knew more Russian so I could give him a stern talking to about manners and scaring the poop out of young American girls who are frightened enough of your shirtless scary body. After a lot of phone calls to my landlady (This would be the same landlady who walked in on me taking a shower my first week at site and who also took it upon herself to rearrange my kitchen when I was outside talking on the phone. Needless to say, we aren't pals.), she agrees to send over some plumbers. The plumbers come and decide to go ahead and replace some stuff just to appease the "whiny Russian man" (Their words, not mine.). I have to miss my own camp in order to sit here as the plumbers rip apart my bathroom. 3 hours and one HUGE mess later, they are gone and I think the problem is over. I was wrong. The next day, I don't have water in my apartment. Me, being the naive American that I am, I think that the water is just out like it was last Summer. It's two days before I realize that something is wrong. I finally ask the English teacher is she has water, to which she replies that she does. Come to find out, my charming, shirtless downstairs neighbor was still having problems with the leak so he decided to turn my water off and not tell me about it. Apparently, it's no big deal to turn of the water of the foreign girl, who barely knows your language, and not try to inform her about it. What I was able to take away from this was that I needed to learn more Russian, specifically swear words.
Oh, and you might be asking what Jesse was doing during all this. He was actually providing me with some much needed comic relief by pointing out that shirtless, scary, Russian man had a third nipple.
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| Morning Yoga |
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In one of the classes, the students were asked to list one thing that
they can change on one side of the hand, and something they wish that they could change on the other |
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| Some of the campers during their American football lesson with Jesse |
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| They were way into it. |
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| They also loved Duck, Duck, Goose |
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Jesse and I along with our fellow volunteers Jenny and Rachel and the
Ukrainian English teachers who helped out. |
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| The "flash mob" in my town. |
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| The camp wouldn't have been complete without a talent show. |
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| The last day of camp. |
So, I lied. This isn't going to be brief.
Early June- The day that my camp ended, Jesse and I got on a train and headed to Kiev because I was heading home. That's right, home as in Sweet Home Alabama. I was so busy with planning and doing my camp, that I hardly had any time to be excited or get nervous about going home. It hit me like a ton of bricks a few days before I left. I was going home to see the family and friends who I hadn't seen in one year. I was going to be able to hug them and kiss them and feel them. I was going to see Collins' for the first time since she was 3 weeks old. It was all too much for me to grasp. I left early in the morning from Kiev, had a layover in Amsterdam, and then a 9 hour flight to Atlanta. All in all, it took me around 15 hours to get home. I got to the amazingly large Atlanta airport at around 5 in the evening. It took me around an hour to get off the plane and to get through customs. By this point, I was absolutely giddy. The next thing I know, I see my Mom, Butch, and Ryan waiting at the end of a long corridor. At this point, I started running. The tears were streaming down my face as I jumped into my Mom's arms. Everyone around us was cheering for us, but I didn't care. All I cared about was being back with my wonderful family.
The 8 days I was home were filled with a lot of hugs, a lot of laughs, and a lot of food. I spent every waking moment I could with Collins trying to make up for lost time (we were instant bff's). I went shopping with my mom and watched trashy reality television with Shelby. I had margaritas and a giggle session with Ryan. I had long talks with Butch. I swam with my Dad, Kim, and Matthew in their new pool and ate entirely too many grilled goods. I had dinner and long talks with friends who have been through a lot the past years. I saw my cousins and met their new babies. I drove a car and sang country songs at the top of my lungs. I saw my grandparents and cried over how much they had aged in just one year. I had enough Mexican food and sushi to sustain my cravings for the next year (make that the next month). By the end of the week, I had a sore throat and an extremely full belly. As we all knew they would, the 8 days flew by like the wind. Before I knew it, I was back at the Atlanta airport saying goodbye to my parents. I was sad, but not nearly as sad as I thought I would be. This is probably because I had left my heart back in Ukraine and I was ready to get back to him.
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| Prettiest little girl in the USA |
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| This note was waiting for me when I got home. |
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| Big brother and I having a margarita fiesta |
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| A sushi reunion with some lovely old friends. |
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| My wonderful family |
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| Best friend |
The rest of June- I came back to Ukraine with a suitcase full of American goodies (65 lbs to be exact) and newly motivated for the year I have left. I met Jesse and gave him his American treats from my overly generous family. After that, we headed to our pal Simon's remote site for a little reunion with him and our friend Kim. When we were done there, we said goodbye to each other for four days. Me and my giant suitcase somehow managed to make the 18 hour journey home (thanks to Jesse and another nice Ukrainian gentleman). I unpacked, rested up, and before I knew it, I was off to Crimea for an English camp.
Jesse and I spent 10 days working at Intercamp. It's an English camp run by a Ukrainian organization which annually requests the help of Peace Corps Volunteers. The kids and teachers we were working with had some of the best English I have encountered in the country. It was extremely refreshing to work with students who actually wanted to learn English. We spent our time on the serene Crimean beaches teaching kids how to play volleyball and Frisbee. We taught English lessons and had sing a longs. Hearing a bunch of Ukrainian kids singing along to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" has to be one of the coolest things I've experienced in Ukraine. Jesse bonded with the youngest campers who were between 7 and 10 years old. It was quite precious seeing them follow him around. Before we knew it, the camp was over and Jesse and I , along with our friends Sara and Edward, were off to explore Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a gorgeous town in Crimea that attracts a lot of tourists. We took a 3 hour bus ride from camp and then a short ferry over, and it was definitely worth it. I can't put into words how beautiful that city is. For starters, it's right on the shores of the Black Sea. The city and it's surrounding areas are full of cliffs, quaint cafes, and cheesy souvenirs. We spent our time exploring beaches and local tourist attractions, such as an old Soviet naval base. We spent our nights gorging on seafood and drinking famous Ukrainian wine. It was such a relaxing few days and we really hated for it to end.
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| Yevpatoria, Crimea |
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Some of the younger campers were not stoked
about having to introduce themselves. |
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| Jesse, Ed, and Adam performing at the local watering hole in Crimea. |
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| Entrance to an old Soviet naval base in Sevastopol |
July-August After Sevastopol, I headed back to my site where I had a week to do laundry and re-pack before I headed out to my next camp. My next camp was Camp MASCOT, a creativity and art camp in a city called Mykolaev. In order to get there, I had to take a 10 hour overnight bus. I've never been more afraid of peeing my pants in my life. As I'm sure you can imagine, the ride was cramped and uncomfortable. Luckily, I did not pee my pants and made it safe and sound to Mykolaev.
The next 10 days were filled with teaching lessons, leading games, dressing up as Spongebob (Yes, I did this), and having fun. The students that I was working with not only had great English, they were also some of the most creative kids that I have ever worked with. Every day they were given a new task or game that they had to use their creativity to complete. It was amazing to see what some of them came up with. I got to teach leadership lessons, and it was so nice to be able to talk to the campers about real issues and get their feedback on what it is like to live in Ukraine. It was a real eyeopener for me. As much as I loved working at this camp, by the middle of it, I was camped out.
I finished up there and then headed to Odessa to meet up with Jesse. Our lovely friends Grace and Nastia were staying in Odessa and invited us to come for a short visit. Odessa is one of the most popular cities in Ukraine and is also on the Black Sea. We spent our first day at a crowded beach relaxing in the sun. The next few days were spent exploring the city. One of the days we did something very American. We went bowling. It turns out that Ukrainians love bowling. They are also pretty good at it. I discovered that Jesse has a secret talent that he hadn't told me about. He dominated! We had a lovely afternoon drinking beer and playing a game that made us feel right at home.
After Odessa, I headed to Kiev for my mid service medical exam. Every volunteer is require to go to the doctor and to the dentist after one year and also again at the end of service. Honestly, you hear all kinds of horror stories about these exams. Everyone says that the dentist is brutal and that the exams are intense (think poop samples intense). All in all, it really wasn't that bad. I did get lost trying to find the dentist office and it just so happened that it was raining cats and dogs, or кошки and собаки, that day and I was umbrella-less. I arrived 30 minutes late and soaked to the bone (the plastic bag that was given to me by a compassionate older Ukrainian woman just didn't cut the mustard) The oral exam was different and included a severe cleaning that involved a lot of baking soda and salt. Honestly though, my teeth had never felt cleaner. The physical exam was quite through, but luckily I got out of there without having to do the poop test. I was told that I'm flat footed (duh) and that one shoulder is higher than the other. Other than that, I'm healthy as a spring chicken.
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| Spongebob Hayley Pants |
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| Looking pretty with some other volunteers on gender bender day |
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| My team, the Yellow Canaries |
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| Charlie Chaplain, God, and Abraham Lincoln all stopped by one night. |
The rest of August- I went to Jesse's after my mid service exam. There, we spent the week watching movies, reading, and cuddling. The weather was awful, so we didn't venture outside too much. After a week, we headed back to my site where we planned to end the summer by the sea and celebrate my birthday. Honestly, the first few days we continued with our lazy routine we had adopted at Jesse's the previous week. We both did so much this summer, so it was nice to have absolutely nothing to do. The day before my birthday, we decided to tie dye shirts using Ukrainian dye. I had my reservations at first, but it ended up going really well. Not to mention, it was a lot of fun. We ended the day by dining on fajitas and homemade birthday peach pie. We wore birthday hats and played with balloons. On my actual birthday, Jesse had to head back to site. It was really tough saying goodbye, because now that school is starting back we won't get to see each other near as often. We just keep telling ourselves that we only have 10 months left and after that we won't have to be apart anymore. It definitely gives us something to look forward to.
Sadly, my birthday didn't end well. Jesse's wonderful step dad, Will, passed away the next day. Will had been battling through a long list of health problems the past few years. He had fought hard, but unfortunately he just kept getting sicker. Finally, about a month ago he was taken to the hospital because he needed more care. Last week, Will had a heart attack and just didn't bounce back. My poor love got the call that Will had passed while he was on a 17 hour train ride home from me. Right now, he's on his way back to Oregon for two weeks to be with his loving family. It breaks my heart that he is hurting and it saddens me greatly that I won't get the chance to meet the man who had such an impact on Jesse. He's going to be greatly missed by so many.
So, if you are still with me, you can let out a big sigh of relief, because I'm done. The summer is coming to an end and school starts back next week. That means that Fall will be right behind it, which means big sweaters and lots of soup. In a way, I'm really glad that I was so busy this summer. I'm not wishing my time away by any means, but I'm definitely ready to get back to work. Last year was tough and required a lot of adjustments. This year is my second year and I have a better understanding of Ukraine and how things work. My plan is to give this year everything I've got, so that when the time does come for me to leave, I can leave knowing that I gave it my all. That's all I really want.
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