Dear Dr. Thiers,

This is Nathan Weiss, one of your former students from the Public Affairs program at WSU Vancouver. I took Comparative Public Administration and Comparative Public Policy from you a few years ago.

I currently live in Ukraine and work as a Peace Corps volunteer in their Youth Development Program. My site is in a small village in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the southern part of Ukraine surrounded by the Black Sea.

I send you this email because I was reminded of our discussion of elections in the Comparative Public Policy class. I'll outline a bit of what I've been gleaning from the news and from Ukrainians themselves.

Tomorrow is Ukraine's first presidential election in five years, and although the system on the surface looks democratic, it's everything but. I feel that for Ukrainians they only have the illusion of a choice when there really is only the continued oligarchy that is in place now, and that has been since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The two main candidates have been in and out of politics since the inception, and both of them, particularly Yulia, have managed to get away with countless crimes.

Having studied the different systems like we did really made this whole experience in a foreign country a lot more interesting and fulfilling. Although the political situation isn't particularly hopeful in Ukraine at the moment, it's still interesting seeing how the people respond.

Mostly what shocked me at first, but doesn't surprise me anymore is seeing how people relate politics to criminal activity. For people here in Ukraine, my perception is that there isn't a whole lot of difference in their eyes. When I asked a Ukrainian about who they were voting for, one said that ") I see no good in any of the candidates. No matter which liar wins."

When I suggested write in, the same person said "my name is too good for that paper." It's anecdotal evidence for sure, but it appears that Ukrainians have almost no faith in their political system right now.

Anyway, I simply wanted to pass along a few words and to let you know that the course material you taught is still going to good use.

Hope you had a great holiday season and are having a good start to the semester.

Nathan

Many apologies for the long delay in posting. Basically me posting a blog depends on me being free at school and having some quiet time where I'm not working with students.

Good news for me this year. I seem to have finally found somewhat of a fit in my school. I'm actively co-teaching English several times a week as well as participating in after school sports clubs.

Summer was probably the best summer I've ever had. It started off with a super cool party with my eleventh graders, where I overate to excessive amounts. I also drank with them for the first time. The food is always my favorite part of Ukrainian gatherings. It's so delicious. Typical party foods include home-canned veggies, cabbage rolls with meat and rice inside and cured fish. Honestly these are not foods I would have considered before I came to Ukraine but it has changed me. The summer continued with an awesome camp and a trip home.

I've thrown the idea of extending my service in Ukraine, but as time goes on I become more and more interested in going home and starting to build a life for myself back in the states. The more I live here the less I feel like I know my own country. So I'd like to do some traveling in the US and see more of what is going on in the rest of the country. For example, I think it's a bit of shame to have never been to the capitol, so I'm going to make it one of my priorities next summer.

In other news, I have roughly 243 days left in my Peace Corps service. Still seems like a lot. haha.

Nate

As promised, here is a link to my pictures taken on my trip. I'm working on Captions, about halfway done, hopefully they will all be captioned soon.

Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/nathan.m.weiss/Europe?feat=directlink

So as most of you know I spent a couple weeks traveling around western Europe! I met up with a good friend I went to school with at WSUV and we spent time traveling in Spain, Italy and Barcelona. All in all the trip was 14 days away from site, and 12 out of the country. It was a great experience. I'll post some pictures this weekend and I'll provide a link here, but I did want to write a couple things about it before I post the photos.

Barcelona was probably overall the best of three cities. The food was relatively cheap, the buildings and architecture are gorgeous, and allegedly there is also a great beach, although when I went the weather was too cold to enjoy it. However, I did ironically go to see an orchestra that featured both a Ukrainian conductor and a Ukrainian pianist playing Rachmaninoff's second concerto. It was a great performance and had a lot of special meaning for me because it was the first piano performance I've seen, other than my own performances, in an incredibly long time. It further cemented my decision that I definitely want to come back and pursue studying piano.

Next stop was Milan, which included an interesting trip to some modern dance. I had never seen any ballet before, much less of the modern type. It was an exciting concert. Even more exciting was the packed theater on a wednesday night. In the states, at least in Vancouver and Portland, the crowds at cultural events are usually not very well attended. It was different in the three concerts I went too. The other highlight of Milan was The Duomo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Cathedral. It is the most breathtakingly beautiful single building I've ever seen. I've always liked Gothic architecture and the Duomo has only heightened my appreciation of this art form.

Next stop was Paris. Surprisingly, the biggest highlights for me were not the Eiffel tower, the Mona Lisa, or the famous Notre Dame. Instead there were two other highlights for me. A sculpture in the Louvre named "La Pudeur" (http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=2642) And a cathedral named Saint-Chappelle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Chapelle). The sculpture I can't really explain why I like it so much, just something about the design of it is breathtaking to me. The cathedral was special because it was so incredibly detailed in every way.

In short, the trip to these three countries was a wonderful experience and I do hope to return sometime.

Nate

Tuesday was an interesting day for me.

I went to school, helped my English teacher, surfed the internet a bit. A couple interesting things happened in the afternoon. First was the annual student-teacher soccer game. The teachers did very well, though I think most of their edge was psychological. My school has some incredible athletes, I think they just get nervous because they've never won. The students have unfortunately never won this game. Not suprisingly I wasn't asked to play with the teachers. My soccer skills are embarrasing, and I don't think they wanted them. I may have actually caused an upset.

While I was walking home I heard a voice coming from a random house, I looked over and saw a familiar face from last summer. I ended up being invited in to enjoy some homemade wine and chicken. It was with a couple guys that are true magazinkaites, born and raised right here, now in their mid 30s, great guys. We had long discussions about politics, the world, and our different ways of life. This continued with another long dinner at another. I've never had such delicious home made foods as I've experienced in this country. The best probably is the fish. All of it is freshly caught and cured using delicious methods. The food might be my favorite part of Ukraine.

Of course, even though I say the line is blurred between Ukraine and home, never for a second to I say, "well I'll just stay here forever." Ain't happening. Though I did have an interesting conversation with my teachers today about it. They say "look, your life here is so easy and care-free, we'll set you up with one of your daughters and you can live here forever!" The easy and care-free part is true, but there is also the reality of intense, searing boredom. It's both more interesting and less interesting than you might imagine.

It's also very saddening. On Friday I headed to my town's disco to "Обшаюсь" a verb which is pretty difficult to translate, but basically means to have an informal chat. So I arrive and pull out my sunflower seeds and start talking to anyone and everyone. I'm trying to promote this idea of going and not smoking and drinking to the rest of the village, although I don't know how well it goes over. The most common question I get is "why even come if you aren't going to drink and smoke with the rest of us?" My answer is simply that I'm bored at home and that I want to meet people and talk with them and work on my Russian in the process. Unfortunately simply because I go I become associated with what usually goes on there. So my compromise is to go and make it clear that I'm not drunk and I have no intentions of drinking. It's kinda so-so, but eh, I guess it keeps life interesting for me, I'm not the best at developing routines and following, I'd much rather be constantly mixing it up, which has both positives and negatives. In Poland it was different. Bars, clubs, and discoes are much more respectable there, in Ukraine, it's literally the opposite.

It's a tough place to be in, because I want to feel like I'm a part ofthe community, but I'm not very comfortable with just showing up at people's private houses uninvited, but that is the norm here.

March is always one of my favorite months of the year. The many reasons include: it occurs right after my birthday, February 26th, the days start to get longer, the weather starts to get warmer, and this year, it held one of my favorite vacations ever, a trip with 5 other volunteers to Krakow, Poland!

It's hard to explain how different it is to go to Poland from Ukraine. It is quite dramatic in the most subtle ways. For example, suddenly customer service exists. In Ukraine it is considered odd if you smile or are friendly to a stranger, even in a service capacity. In Poland it's much more like America in that there is a priority of making the experience pleasant for the customer/shopper.

We spent the first day of our trip stuck at the border on a bus for about 4 hours while our bus, and the bus in front of us were thoroughly searched. Because cigarettes and alcohol are so cheap in Ukraine compared to Poland (Poland is in the EU), smuggling is a big concern. After the long stint at the border we were finally in Poland. Not far from the border we made our first stop in the city of Lublin. our first order of business was to find something good to eat, so we walked until we saw a sign with Guinness and Fish and Chips, and knew we had found a good place. We proceeded to have a delicious plate of fish and chips, and also had a great conversation about the things to come, and how much we enjoyed sitting in a bar in western Europe.

The evening continued with us dropping off our stuff and staying at a nunnery in Lublin, which in itself was a fascinating cross-cultural experience. The nuns were extremely friendly and let us stay for the price of 25z a person, which is about $8, fine by me for sure. We proceeded to spend the rest of the evening celebrating our arrival in Poland, dining on street food and some delicious пиво.

Early the next morning we headed for Krakow, a beautiful bus ride through the Polish countryside. We arrived in Krakow and spent the next four days there. Some important parts of the stay included seeing a string quintet in a beautiful cathedral, seeing a great cover band, visiting Auschwitz, visiting a huge salte mine, eating KFC, and just in general spending time with some of the most awesome people I've ever come to know. The longer I'm over here, the further away home seems and the line becomes blurred between Ukraine and home. At this point, coming home to my place really was like coming home.

While we were in Poland we celebrated our one year anniversery of service in Ukraine. It's hard to even grasp that it's been a year, the longest I had ever been away from 14714 NE Bonanza RD was about 2 weeks. Now I've been gone for over a year in an unfamiliar enviroment, with unfamiliar people, an unfamiliar language, and a completely different way of life. Although I can't say for certain I've changed the people around me, I myself have definitely changed.

More to come.

A few hours ago I returned from a weekend trip up to Днипропетровск (Dnipropetrovsk), in central Ukraine. One of the biggest cities in Ukraine. It was a beautiful weekend in the city, with snow almost the entire time.

I started off the weekend with a 4 kilometer walk to the village with a train station. *begin rant*

My "unique circumstances" as a volunteer in a tiny village give me the privilege of walking 4 kilometers everytime I want to catch a bus that isn't at 6am or 1pm. This means that if I want to leave on a Friday in the evening after school, I need to do the walk. In the winter it's not so fun, but such is life. Many volunteers live in the epicenters of transportation meccas, but some of us live where long treks on foot are the norm. *end rant*

So I took a train to Dzankoi Friday, then took an overnight train to Dnipropetrovsk. I arrived fairly early Saturday and explored the city with a friend. We're both from small villages and are always amazed at the gap in living conditions between people in the city and people in villages like ours. Some highlights of the morning included walking across the dnipr river on foot at 7am, eating a McDonalds egg mcmuffin sandwich, exploring the gigantic bazaar, and starting my "Where in Ukraine is Nathan" video (search where in the world is matt on youtube for more info, I'm doing a mock/serious version just in Ukraine).

That afternoon we spent at the circus, which was super cool. The circus featured a lion trainer with 7 real lions. It was my first time at a circus, and it definitely was not a disappointment. Probably the most hilarious thing about the circus was the fact that a half liter of beer costed 1/3 of what a bag of popcorn costed. A beer costed 5UAH, approximately 68c, a popcorn cost 15UAH, 3x as much.

That night I went to my first expensive club in Ukraine. It had a 100UAH cover. I can't lie, I saw some of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in my entire life in this club. The ratio was probably around 6 girls to 1 guy, with probably 4/6 of those girls being 9s or 10s. However, I guess it's just me, but no matter how beautiful the women are, they can't make me like being in a loud club where all people do is drink and dance, two things I don't even like doing excessively. However, these are important experiences for me to have I suppose, it's worth it just to see the atmosphere and how people act in it. I guess it's my fly-on-the-wall mentality coming out, sometimes I just like to observe and not even be involved. I didn't stay at the club long, left after only a couple hours with one of my friends that kinda had the same opinion I had.

All in all it was an interesting weekend, highlighted by some fascinating new experiences.

Nate

After the reunion ceremony, I walked home and then went to the disco again. This evening it was packed and had a larger crowd because of all the graduates that where in town. As typical, whenever I attend a disco, a lot of the 16 and 17 year old girls spend a lot of time trying to catch my eyes. Fortunately, as I've proven time and time again, I have remarkable restraint when it comes to forming relationships. I talk and talk and talk, but I also don't do anything else. This is particularly true for my relationships with students, there can be no good coming from me having a relationship with a girl under 18. Even over 18, there are still many difficulties. I leave this country in less than a year and a half, and the prospects in my town aren't interested in a short term relationship. It just keeps things fairly interesting I suppose, Magazynka is always interested in something I am not willing to give it. Every action I do is scrutinized to the utmost. I can't help but think how stressful a relationship might be if I decided to go down that road in this small small village. Marriage is no joke to many of these people, it's their livelihood to combine incomes. Especially teachers, teachers here, right now, make barely over $100 a month. It's a tough world and collaboration is important to survival.

Nate

I spent this past weekend in it's entirety in my village. This is the first time I've spent a weekend in my village since the first month I was here back in June of '08. It was a very good decision. I do feel like the community here accepts me more when I don't leave them as soon as I'm able to do it.

I played sports with my students and attended the disco on Friday, attended the my school's wrestling club and also my school's class reunion on Saturday, and worked at my house cleaning up the yard on Sunday. My reflections on the activities.

Many of my students are incredible athletes. Even the seventh graders take me down with no difficulty. It's very humbling to be picked up by a seventh grader. The trainer is incredible, he completely understands me and enjoys helping me out, even though I'm completely weak and have never really been in shape. The 11th graders at my school are amazingly in shape, even a little scary. One of them can even practically do pushups with his hands while doing a handstand, if that makes sense. Not an ounce of fat on any of the kids that I wrestle with. If I can come out of my Peace Corps experience with a good knowledge of fitness and how to do my own routines on a regular basis, I'll consider the service definitely worth it. I'm rapidly learning the value of keeping up a regular routine, and I hope to develop lasting habits.

Later that evening I dropped in on the club for my town, which is also popular to the surrounding towns. It only occurs a few days a week, on Friday and Saturday. There wasn't a huge crowd that night, but I did get to meet a few interesting people. I'm still not sure whether I should go or not, as many of my clearly underage students openly smoke and drink, and I feel that by attending I am in a way condoning the behavior. On the other hand, I am not engaging in these activities, so I feel it's important to go and show that it's possible to go without abusing alcohol, nicotine, and who knows what else, and still have a good time.

The most interesting part of the club in my town, to me, is the complete divide between the way the two sexes behave. Probably 80% of the men at the club on Friday were completely drunk, some more than others, but honestly I didn't speak with one guy who didn't have some alcohol on his breath. However, with the women, it is completely the opposite. It's extremely rare to see Ukrainian women drink in public in my village. So they're all sober, hanging around these guys that are completely drunk. Maybe this is common in the states, I don't know, but it is interesting to me that the behavior is so different.

I did get to have interesting conversations with my peers in my village. I guess part of my Peace Corps experience is learning to develop relationships. I'll be honest, it's never been a strong point of mine, I'm always focused on the task at hand and not the people. The pace of my village and the way people operate is more than just a different country, it's like being on a different planet.

The class reunion was also very interesting for me. Instead of having separate reunions for different years, my school simply had one big ceremony for everything. Mainly because the crowd is pretty small, it's pretty difficult for a lot of these people to come out, transportation is difficult and most of them have families now. We watched slideshows of graduating classes. It was fascinating to see the change that has occured over time in Ukraine in and appearance.

After the slideshows all the students shared where they are. Most of them all are very succesful, having completed university after finishing their studies here in Magazynka.

More to come in another installment this week.

Nate

So I'm sure you've all been watching the news lately. For the first two-thirds of January Russia cut the flow of gas to Ukraine and the rest of Europe over a complicated dispute that involves the governmentally monopolized gas companies, the current drop in the price of natural gas, the historical dispute between Russia and Ukraine which stems from that fact that Ukraine is part of the former soviet union, the reliance of Russia on Ukraine for gas transport, the alleged theft of gas by Ukraine from the pipes transporting it, and many more issues. I'm not even going to attempt to explain how these factors all caused the abrupt gas shut off on the first of January, but I will say that it's a very complicated issue that is difficult for everyone to understand.

How could have the crisis affected me? Not at all really. My town doesn't use gas as a source of heat, in магазинка(Magazynka) it's all coal and electricity, at least this time of year. During our Russian Language training last week we had a round-table discussion about the crisis in Ukraine. One of the members of the Peace Corps staff said a very important issue for Russia is "saving face." Russia, like every other country in the world wants to look strong in the international scene. And it might be doing things like shutting off gas to Ukraine and invading Georgia to accomplish this. It's interesting to be in such an active part of the world.

What else is in my news? I'm actually back at my site, and will be for some time. My role hasn't been big at my school lately, mostly limited to helping with computers and playing sports with the kids, but I get the feeling more than ever before that what my school really wants from me is just to be here and be involved, so that's what I'm doing. My evenings are spent cooking, watching TV Series, playing guitar, reading books, and studying Russian. I can't stress enough that Peace Corps is a great time to get away from the distractions of the world, particularly if you live in a small village, as I do.

Ukraine is a fascinating country to be a volunteer in because we have volunteers in million plus population cities, and we have volunteers in 400-odd person villages. This leads to vastly different lifestyles within the country, so it it's incorrect to say there's an average lifestyle for a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Ukraine, we're all over the place as far as living conditions.

Sometimes I wonder, what if I had been placed in a city? It would have made my service completely different, however, I'm sure Peace Corps placed me in a village because I am from a big family, I know about starting wood fires (now coal), I'm relatively healthy and don't have a medical condition that requires that I be near a hospital, etc. But I still wonder at times. Then I think, it's only another 16 months, one of which is vacation days. It's nothing I can't take.

On another note, the creative team behind Skype deserves a pulitzer prize. The ability to communicate with my family for free over the internet has made this a much easier journey. I try to be on skype every weekend and my username is nathanmichaelweiss . If any of you would like to talk to me, I recommend you get a mic or a headset and install the program. You're able to call anywhere in the world for free for an unlimited amount of time over the internet.

Nate

This weekend I'm staying at a friend's house that has internet. Because of this I've been doing quite a bit of surfing/downloading/news reading/wikipedia browsing.

During this adventure I have come across several different success stories, news bits and phenomenons that reflect an idea that has been marinating in my brain for a couple years. The idea is music is not dead, it's just leaving the realm of physical media. The major things I've seen online that have intrigued me are: Marie Digby's success through videos on Youtube and a quote of David Byrne's.

If you haven't heard of Marie Digby yet, I suggest you search her in Youtube and take a look. Her video acoustic cover of Rihanna's song "Umbrella" has garnered over 10.6 million views since she posted it in May 2007. This means over 18,000 people a day have watched this video since it was posted. Many news stories online have claimed she "feigned amateur status" to garner the popularity and views she recieved. It is a fact that she was discovered and signed by a major label before her explosion and popularity (http://news.aol.com/business/story/_a/youtube-phenom-has-a-big-secret/20070906074609990001).

This article is fairly critical of her status as a pretend amateur. The videos speak for themselves more anything else. The sound quality is poor, the performances are not mistake-free (Umbrella noticably has an awkward pause at 1:43) and the camera angle could definitely be better. But why, with all these problems does this video hypnotize and attract the masses?The answer lies in within the performances themselves.

Digby's performances possess a quality that a lot of music today lacks. Simplicity in favor of overproduction. The stripped-down versions of the songs enable the listener to really focus on the singer and the content. It helps that Digby is also very attractive and has an incredible voice, although this is far from the sole reason her videos have such vast appeal. In addition to simplicity, her stage/video presence is unsurpassed. Digby commands you to pay attention. I'll bet that when you watch the video for the first time you won't look away once. I don't know how she does it, but it's fascinating. Clearly Digby is on the cusp of something that new that is happening in music.

Not long after discovering Digby online I wandered around searching up on one of my favorite musician/producers Brian Eno. I discovered that he often collaborates with another musician by the name of David Byrne. While reading Byrne's wikipedia entry I came across a gem of a quote by him that I believe really sums up a lot of the reason why Marie Digby has been successful. "Luckily, music remains more or less unaffected — there is a lot of great music out there. A new model will emerge that includes rather than sues its own customers, that realizes that music is not a product in the sense of being a thing — it's closer to fashion, in that for music fans it tells them and their friends who they are, what they feel passionately about and to some extent what makes life fun and interesting. It's about a sense of community — a song ties a whole invisible disparate community together. It's not about selling the (often) shattered plastic case CDs used to come in."

I feel this quote is linked because that's the way Digby became popular, through a community, the Youtube community. I'm sure there was some paid advertising, but I feel like the word of mouth(which is now often through the internet) is still the strongest medium of advertising today. If something is interesting and different, you'll tell your friends. The larger point is that if an artist(s) can find an innovative way(s) to communicate to his/her/their audience , careers can be made and talent can be discovered, or at least "discovered" through creative advertising.

On a completely different note, literally, I heard an incredible song by Charles Ives on my iPod yesterday while walking to a bus. It's a song called "General W. Booth Enters into Heaven," set to the poem of the same name. It's a biting, intense song dealing with the reality of death and the mixed emotions everyone has about facing afterlife. I read the biography of General Booth and the text of the poem, and this is definitely a powerful read and listen I recommend.

I recently returned from a trip to Egypt.

I have a few pictures I took up here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66223&l=b7eff&id=560562740. More to come soon.

So this week I had my first real event at my school. I hosted an English club, but had a disappointing turnout. As it turns out, my school may not actually need me to do after school activities. Although it's typically what Youth Development volunteers primarily do, the after school time here at my school is already pretty full.

This means I'll be focusing on other things, such as grants, private tutoring, and teaching classes.

Since I arrived in Ukraine, I've not been playing piano as much due to lack of access to a good instrument. This is disappointing to me because I love to play the piano, and it has always been a huge part of my life. However, this has allowed me to devote a lot of time to improving my voice, and also playing the guitar. After I arrived at site, one of the first things I did was look at acoustic guitars. I bought one and started playing every day. I had done a little bit of this in the states, but never to the extent I do here. If you want time to improve your artistic abilities with something portable I can strongly recommend peace corps. It's a great way to isolate yourself and totally focus on one thing, whether it's writing, playing an instrument, needlework, painting, etc..

In addition to my acoustic guitar, I was also given an electric guitar by a former volunteer. It works great and many a night have I played extended solos.

I have an exciting day tomorrow, where I'll be performing three songs, Hotel California, Yesterday, and Engine Driver (Decemberists). I will play my electric guitar and sing them in front of my village. My singing has improved immensely since I arrived in Ukraine, but I still have a bit of a phobia when it comes to mikes. Fortunately the songs I'll be singing I've performed many times for other volunteers and people in my village.

I also encourage any of you on Facebook to check out my profile, I have a several pictures of my time in Ukraine on there.

Living Conditions:

I'm sitting at my desk in the computer lab here at school. My major concern is checking up on my social network pages and replying to emails. I hear the din of kids walking through the halls, see teachers coming in and out of the computer lab. I'm currently researching information about grants, as my school is interested in an outdoor sports court.

So I live in this backwards, primitive village. Yet I still have access to decent internet at my school. There are 7 decent computers here, all with internet access. The speed is about 40kilobytes download per second, decent by my standards. However, in the same school, there is no running water, even in the kitchen. All the water must come from buckets outside. The school is heated by a huge coal furnace, which requires intensive amounts of labor to keep burning. Although electric heat could be an option, the building would be prohibitive to heat in this manner. The wiring is old and outdated, there are no carpets to retain heat, and the walls are made of concrete, not exactly easy to wire and install a central heating system in. Ironically internet is possible, but the comforts of the states are noticably absent.

At my university every single room had a projecter, a screen, at least one good PC, many computer labs, both for general use and specific use, etc. etc.

At my school here in Ukraine there is a different situation. Although we do have internet, which is a great thing, the teaching aids stop there. The teachers at my school still use chalkboards, as most rooms don't even have a white board. There are definitely no projecters in my school. The textbooks are poorly written and outdated. The teachers lack the visual aids, resources, and support to always command the attention of the students. Although I'm not saying the situation in the states is great at public schools, there are definitely more resources for creating an enviroment that demands attention from the students.

Although they lack a lot of resources, there are still many wonderful teachers at my school, and I look forward to working with them in the months to come. I hope to bring in some money and resources to fix the issues, but the main obstacle for me is to see solutions instead of problems. My approach to problems is normally quite pessimistic, and doesn't include a solution and action. I'm definitely changing the longer I'm here, but the change isn't exactly fast. It's always easier to complain and whine about a problem than it is to take action and fix it.

Greetings again, and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I spent mine with some friends in the Kirovagrad Region, and had a wonderful time eating and socializing.

I had a very productive meeting with my counterpart today. I actually was able to tell her my feelings about how everything is, and she was very helpful and receptive to my ideas. My language is almost to the point where I can communicate without having to pop open a dictionary every other sentence. The difficulty of being a YD volunteer is that my job is multifacted and I have to guide it. Nothing happens in Ukraine unless I take an initiative. My latest plan of action is four-fold.

1. Attend fourth grade Russian language to improve my speaking ability and learn more grammar.

2. Begin taking a more active role in the English classes at my school, co-teach instead of observing with the occasional 10 minutes of co-teaching

3. Begin private tutoring for the students that excel in English

4. Start work on my project.

I will continue with another installment of my mini-essay series in Ukraine. This time I will focus on popular subject of complaint for me. I'm sure you've heard me complain about it before, but have no fear, I have some positive ideas to introduce to the discussion after my hours of thought.

2. Living in a Small Village

For the first 23 years of my life I grew up in a suburb of a large city; and now I live in a village of around 500 people. This dramatic change caused quite a shock in me, and I'm still reeling from this in many ways. The first change I noticed was that I am no longer anonymous. I've never been much of a person to socialize with people I don't know, and this hasn't really changed. What has changed, since I arrived in Magazynka, is how much others know about me. Everyone I speak to or see on the street knows where I live, what I'm doing here, and what I did last evening. I can say with honest certainty that most people in Brush Prairie Washington did not know or care about me, it's just not the way things are in the states. It's different here, I am probably the most interesting that has happened to my village in years, and no matter what I do or say, it's fascinating to the people in my town.

A popular analogy for the life of volunteers is "living in a fishbowl." I definitely feel this. Although I would like to modify this slightly, Magazynka is more like a fishbowl with a light above it in a dark room. I, the fish, can't really see or understand much of what goes on, but the people in the room see and know what I'm doing. The Ukrainians are ok functioning without a light, but I need it, and it stands out. This doesn't particularly frighten me, it's just a vastly different way to function on a daily basis.

I enjoy change. One of my favorite activities in my house is to move around furniture and reorganize items. This change to a small village is like a change of furniture in my mind. However, grasping the differences people have because of their different enviroments is extraordinarily difficult.

I understand why they are different, but I'm not the most emphatic person out there. In the past, I've preferred to follow a set of rigid guidelines in my mind about how people should be, and I spend time with those people. Peace Corps is definitely changing this. Firstly, no Ukrainian matches this idealistic model. Secondly, of course this model is based around myself, and I'm learning that people in Ukraine do not have the same kind of self-centered nature that people do where I'm from. Instead of your well-being being always related to yourself, it really does matter how your friends and family are. I see this through the way people give so many gifts, the word used often used for for greeting others also wishes good health, students all help each other during tests and during class exercises (much to the dismay of many volunteers) and many more examples. The identity and idea of self is very different in Ukraine, and naturally this is changing my concept of self as well.

Is it worth it living in a small town? I've listed lots of positives, but there are negatives as well. My access to internet is limited to my school, which is better than some volunteers, but still isn't what I would like. I am lonely during the week. It's not that I don't have people I could be spending time with, it's just that I'm exhausted after communicating in Russian the entire day. Another negative is the physical lack of modern day facilities such as a wired phone line, indoor plumbing, and a dedicated area for bathing. However, I surprisingly have been more bothered by lack of internet at my house than I have by the other inconveniences. Once you live a certain way, it becomes surprisingly easier to continue living that way.

Greetings friends and sorry for the extremely long delay.

I'm coming up on my 8th month anniversery in Ukraine, I can't believe it's already been this long. On one hand, I feel like I just got here. On the other hand, the USA seems like a distant memory.

Latest news:

I'm working at my school now. I haven't done much besides just getting to know people and observing classes, but I like to to take my time before I plunge into something big. There are a lot of opportunities here, and I do plan to make the most of my service.

I wanted to enumerate a few of the most interesting things I've discovered in my time in Ukraine in an ongoing series. The first mini-essay will be on traveling.

1. Travel in Ukraine

When I lived in the states, I probably took about 10 buses in my entire lifespan. Like many Americans, I drove or rode in a private car everywhere. Ukraine is different. I rely solely on trains, buses, taxis, and hitchhiking to get around.

I rode on my first train in Ukraine, unless you count a commuter light rail a train. I actually like riding on trains here. The prices are very reasonable, I can travel 688 miles for only about $30 in the third class car, which isn't too bad. Though they do really pack people in. Fortunately I left my privacy and need for personal space somewhere near Kiev about six months ago. Ocasionally there are drunk passengers that make noise, but overall it's not a terrible experience. Though the bathrooms are quite scary, with always wet and slimy toilet seats, never any toilet paper, and never any soap next to the cold water sink.

For buses, prices are fairly reasonable here, I can get a bus that goes 8 miles for 8 griven, which is about $1.30USD. They are old soviet buses that travel slowly, but are extremely reliable. Some of the buses have to be around 40+ years old with probably half a million miles. They are marvels of technology, these old Soviet Buses.

Taxis are also very cheap in this country, though not on a Peace Corps budget. They are great though for safety. It's not safe to walk on the streets after dark here alone. Not just because you could be robbed, but there are no streetlights, numerous manholes without covers, and many drunk motorcyclists/car drivers. The taxi drivers are a bit crazy, but no more so than taxis in the states.

I hitchhiked for the first time in this country. It's amazing how different the attitude is towards hitchhiking here. It's a common thing to do, I believe because there just isn't the disposable income to support the amount of gas that people use in the states. It's actually very environmentally conscious, in a way. Peace Corps doesn't recommend hitchhiking, but if you live in Ukraine for long enough without a car you'll run into situations where it's necessary to do. Particularly if you live in a small village without any buses after 1PM.

However, rarely do you see a car on the road that isn't completely stuffed with people. It's beause salaries are much lower. A teacher makes about $200 a month here, so about $2400 a year. Car ownership is a luxury and not a necessity. It definitely has changed my perspective on what is necessary. Is personal ownership of a car necessary for comfort? I'm not so sure anymore, Ukraine always causes me to reexamine my previously held notions of what necessity truly is.

So here I am in Magazynka, I've been at my site for almost three weeks.

What can I tell you about it?

First I can talk about my school.

It's a beautiful school, with kids that have been waiting for me to arrive for 6 months.

You got it, 6 months. It's some pressure for sure. It's embarassing to me in a lot of ways because I don't feel that I'm very interesting, and I like to feel like I am somehow earning attention from others. But that just isn't how it is here. Most of the kids here have never even seen an American.

I just finished attending/participating in their 2 week sports summer camp. The kids were great, but I'm still unclear about what I'll be doing during the school year, as are most volunteers at this point I believe.

I've always been less of a leader and more of a commentator/follower when it comes to big decisions and taking action. That's the biggest challenge of Peace Corps for me, is asserting myself and making important decisons, even when I can't predict all the outcomes. Peace Corps is teaching me that I can't always be in control of everything that happens. And that I have to just step up and try things that I don't have full confidence in. It's very humbling and difficult, but it's an important part of my growth as an individual.

I acquired a guitar last weekend and am working on learning to play guitar and sing.

Sheer boredom has pushed my abilities remarkably, and I am quite impressed with my progress. My current project is to learn all the words and melody to "Hotel California." This is no easy task. First I had to drop it down five full steps, because I'd need a serious operation to be able to sing it in the same key as it is when the Eagles play it.

------

My host mom just walked in and gave me a speech about the terrible prices of potatoes this year. I have to agree with her. A buyer just offered her 60kopeks a kilo for potatoes.

I'll translate it into dollars and pounds for ya.

60 kop = ~.12c

2.2 kilo = 1 lb

so we're looking at around 5c a pound for potatoes.

Potatoes are easy, but this is a fairly small farm, I think they probably have around 250 pounds to sell.

$15 isn't a lot of money anywhere, even in Ukraine.

Yesterday I arrived in my new home of Magazynka, Crimea.

I was promptly introduced to school administration and we talked, sorta, about my role in this town. My Russian at this point is still a bit on the weak side. It's hard to explain exactly what I want to do yet.

Yesterday was their graduation ceremony for their 16 year olds. It was fascinating seeing their way of celebrating graduation. In Oster it was interesting, but Oster is still fairly close to Kiev. Now that I'm so far away from Kiev, it's becoming more clear to me what life in rural Ukraine is all about. It's definitely like nothing I've ever experienced before.

So I finally discovered the location of my site at site announcement a couple days ago.

I will be placed in Crimea, which is in the southernmost part of Ukraine in the Black Sea, in the small village of Magazynka (population 424!).

Crimea has a very fascinating history, having been controlled by multiple countries over the past several hundred years.

This is definitely an interesting turn of events, as Crimea is considered one of the best spots to be placed in all of Ukraine. Mostly because it is further south, so that it isn't as cold and dark during the winter.

I'm a bit tired tonight and have much work left to do, but I will update with more info as soon as possible.

So, I'm not sure all of you are aware of the PC process. So I'll lay it out in a little bit of detail.

First you go through a long application process. It can take anywhere from 3 months to a year and a half. Mine was especially long, about 18 months. Mainly because I signed up at just the wrong time. So I had to wait a while for another opening.

After the application process, I went to a small retreat in Philadephia to basically meet up with the other volunteers and get introduced to Peace Corps in general. We also signed papers to make ourselves official federal employees (I'm offically a Peace Corps Trainee - PCT right now) and other legal paperwork.

After this we all went to JFK airport in New York to fly to Munich, and then Ukraine. After arriving in Ukraine we went to another retreat. Mainly to introduce ourselves with the country and the staff of Peace Corps Ukraine. After this small retreat all of us went to our separate host families.

This is currently where I am in this process. Peace Corps calls it the "home-stay" experience. I'm basically just familiarizing my myself with the language and culture through extensive lessons and practical application, as well as gaining experience in my eventual field of work.

After three months of being a PCT, in June, I will be "sworn in" as an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). This will involve me moving out on my own to start my work.

Yesterday I had my "Site Placement Interview." It was actually quite informative and interesting. I met with the country director, lead youth development specialist, and regional manager for one of the areas of the country.

The country director here is fascinating. We are actually quite alike in many ways, and it was refreshing to have such a personal conversation with someone in such a high position of authority. She likes classical music, especially Beethoven, and even more, she knows music. Our conversation was very interesting, and perhaps one of the higlights of my stay here so far.

After this I had an interview with the youth development lead specialist and the regional manager for part of the country. This was a more technical interview, with a discussion of my skills, and how to line them up with my site. Not too much to say about this really, it was more of just them getting information from me about what I would like to do. I said my main interests for work are in recreation (sports and music), and also civics (basically like social studies here in Ukraine).

That's essentially been my past couple days here in Ukraine.

More to come when it happens.

Today I had my consultation experience with students. I co-taught with the asian woman in my cluster. Our students were very receptive to our information about career possibilities based the students' personalities. It was actually very encouraging.

Other than that, I'm just trying to catch up on language and figure out what I want to do at site. My cluster has site interviews this Friday. I guess the most important thing for me at this point is access to some type of musical instruments and to be close to other volunteers. My cluster has really become like my family at this point. I really hoped to be placed near them.

Peace Corps is like starting a new life. I have a small amount of contact with people back home, but I can no longer be truly be dependent on them for anything. I have to depend on myself, and people that I hardly know. It's very scary at times, especially coming from someone that has been close with their family for their entire life. But it is a growing experience. If I don't push myself I will never change. I am changing all the time in Peace Corps. In fact, I believe I have changed more in the past month than I did in the entire year before it. It's a very interesting experience.

Today the my cluster went to Kiev. The trip went fairly well. Got to meet a few current PCVs and discuss how everything has been for them.

Also found where the concert hall and opera are in Kiev. That was a big plus. I look forward to attending those soon for concerts.

Kiev is huge. It's hard to explain how strange it is for me to be in a city like that. Particularly being around the tall and old buildings. It's just something I haven't ever seen. Portland has a little bit of that, but it's still a very new city in comparison to Kiev. Most buildings in Kiev are either from the Soviet era or from before then. It's very interesting to see so much history in action in just the different building styles.

Other than that I'm just preparing for another busy week of Russian, summer project preparation, and hopefully some fun as well.

I am now 1.5 months into my service in Ukraine.

There is much to tell, my universe has been completely changed as a result of being constantly pushed out of my comfort zone. However, it is for the better. Peace Corps schedule is very exhausting, but does push you to be productive with your time. My typical day involves, or should involve, work, planning, and studying for about 10 hours all but one day of the week. The language training is extremely intense.

I also have been co-teaching classes in the local school as well as observing the classes of my group here

My cluster (the 5 people that live in my town) and group 34 are great. I have some new friends that I'm sure will be lasting relationships

My "cluster" here in Oster, Ukraine consists of a 22 year-old asian woman from New York, a 23 year-old caucasian woman from Lousiana, a 23 year-old native American man from southern California, and a 24 year-old caucasian man from Florida. It's a very diverse group. Our perspectives on the experience are all very different.

I hope to post more in this blog. Please contact me if you have any questions about what I'm doing. The more specific the better.

Last week I recieved my invitation packet from Peace Corps.

I'll be serving in the Ukraine as a Youth Development Volunteer from March 2008-June 2010.

Wading through the paperwork is a somewhat arduous process, but I look forward to my March departure. Perhaps the paramount struggle for me through this process is that I feel as if I am somehow underqualified for the position.

Currently I'm writing out my training I've recieved that applies to a youth development position. It's not much. Hopefully I have enough knoweldge from other fields I can throw together to be able to teach some kids.

Two days ago I recieved a bulky packet in the mail.

This packet contained all my previously submitted dental paperwork.

A letter with the paperwork explained that I needed to return to the dentist and have five fillings.

I started those today, fillings aren't too bad. Fortunately my dentist was extremely attractive, so I was distracted enough by her good looks to not be bothered by the drilling that was occuring in my mouth. She also smelled amazing. I'm not the biggest fan of heavy perfume, but when an incredible smell wafts into my nostrils, it's so intoxicating.

Fillings seem like such a small incidence when you think about leaving everyone and everything you know for two years. I've lived in the same house for 22 years, born and raised all in the same area. The longest I've ever been away from home is two weeks. It's hard to think about being gone for so long.

I'm currently navigating the maze of paperwork after Peace Corps nomination. It appears the Corps wants to be sure I won't join with a major medical problem.

The hardest part of this process, to me, is that I'm basically stuck with my hands tied. It wouldn't make sense to start a serious relationship, change jobs, or move out. I pretty much have the same life I did before I graduated, except without homework.

I've considered starting a new job, but that may be challenging to adjust too, and $10.25 an hour positions with full benefits aren't very common.

Honestly, once I hit graduation I hit a mental brick wall, impeding my general sense of what I want to with myself.