It's a small world after all...

This is another one of those weird posts that I have been dying to write all weekend and never got around to, but now that I actually have time to on Monday evening...all that I want to do is curl up at 7:30 pm and go to sleep.  BUT, I'm powering through my tiredness and writing this funny story.  Actually, it's two funny stories...two funny small world stories as the title tells you!

Story #1:

Last week I traveled to Poltava, Ukraine, for a warden training.  What is a warden you ask?  The official PC definition: 

"Wardens are an integral component of the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) system! They are appointed by the Safety and Security Coordinator in collaboration with their regional manager.  The warden is responsible for coordinating the immediate response to an emergency among the volunteers in his/her designated oblast."

Basically, if a disaster of any kind occurs, I will be called first and it's my duty to contact all of the other volunteers in my oblast and alert them of the situation at hand and what we need to do from there.  One of my fellow sitemates, Ricky, is finishing his service in November and he was one of two wardens in our oblast.  It's somewhat his duty to find a replacement for his job...and PC typically likes to have one warden living in the big city or oblast capital.  

So, last week I went to warden training in Poltava.  I knew one other PCV going to that training...she is a fellow group 41er.  Everyone else was from older groups, which made me a bit nervous because I figured they all knew each other and here comes Lydia...the newbie. But, I was just as excited to meet new people.  

Upon arriving in Poltava around 7 pm on Tuesday evening, I got lost trying to find the PCVs apartment we were all staying at.  Finally...I arrived and was greeted by 3 charming faces who were more than anxious to learn all about me.  It was a "what's you life story in 5 minutes or less" jam session.  Sitting in Alvi's apartment was Jeramie and Danny.  After I gave them my life story, I was just as curious about their stories!  At some point in my 5 minutes of being there, I remembered that one of my sitemates, Rob, had talked about a Jeramie at some point in my few months of living in k-grad.  The conversation went a little like this:

Rob: "Jeramie something sdlskdf blah blah blah." 

Lydia:  "Oh! My brother's name is Jeremy!" (trying to fit into the conversation)

Rob:  "Oh cool...this Jeramie is a girl."  

Talk about foot in your mouth.  We all got a good laugh about it. 

So, resume introductions at warden training.  As it turned out, I was meeting the girl Jeramie that I had heard about!  Sweet!  While we ate dinner in Alvi's kitchen, I questioned each of the people sitting there...nd boy was it a good thing I was sitting down for the interview.

Lydia: "So Jeramie, where are you from?"

Jeramie: "I'm from south Texas."

Lydia: "Oh cool!  What city?"

Jeramie:  "You've probably never heard of it..."

Lydia: "I've actually been a lot of places in south Texas...try me."

Jeramie:  "It's called McAllen, Texas."

McAllen...as in the place that I've driven through and stayed in for the past umpteen spring breaks on McFarlin's Mexico mission trip?  THAT McAllen?  I couldn't believe it.  Could. Not. Believe. It!  

I could tell her that the Sam's Club in McAllen without a doubt will lose power sometime while we're shopping there during the week...and it usually happens when the cooks are halfway through ringing up their merchandise.  

I could tell her that the Walgreens next to First UMC where we stay is not open 24/7.  

I could tell her about eating at Olive Garden or Fudrucker's with the Chacon family.

We could talk about walking across the border to Rio Bravo and Nuevo Progresso and going shopping.  

But instead, we just gawked that the other knew a bit about our past in a very odd, but comforting way. We talked more about McAllen and South Padre Island and Schlitterbahn and Mexico and everything going on south of the border now.  It definitely brought up some good, good memories as I thought back to all of the times that I've had in and around McAllen.  Talk about a small world...and that's the end of story #1.  

Story #2:

Not as long, but I woke up to another small world story this morning...this time in my email inbox.  By the way, I love, love, LOVE having an email (that isn't junk mail) waiting for me in my inbox.  Even it just says hi, you don't know how much it can make my day.  Anywho...this is the email I had waiting for me.  But first, two little background stories.

Background story #1:  My cousin Denise was at the OU/Texas game on Saturday with a friend of hers.  Along with every other woman at the fair, they decided to run to the restroom before kick-off.  At some point that morning, Denise had commented to her friend that her Aunt (my mom) would be at the game but that it'd probably be impossible to meet up with her.  So, while standing in line for the restrooms...my mom hurried past and Denise caught sight of her.  "Lenaaaaaa!  LENAAAA!"  My mom wheeled around and lo and behold there was Denise.  They snapped a picture (shown in the previous post) and my mom headed off to the game. 

Background story #2:  Remember when Hayley got married this summer?  Here's a picture of us from OU/Texas two years ago...

 

Hayley was one of my dearest Interior Design friends who moved to Dallas to finish school...but that didn't keep us from staying in touch.  I visited her fam in Altus one weekend and got to hang out with her sweet parents.  I also went on my first trip to Vegas with her fam.  Frances, her mom, will email me every few weeks telling me that she's reading my blog and usually comment on something that I wrote about.  But, this email was a bit different!

"Lydia,  I was reading your blog this morning and ran across the pic at the OU/Texas game of your cousin Denise and your mom.  I was so surprised!  I was standing in the same line about 4 people behind your cousin when that picture was taken!"

I couldn't believe it.  My mom and Frances have never met so they wouldn't know each other...but what are the odds of that happening!  Such a small world. 

In other news, I start my first English clubs tomorrow and on Wednesday!  Happy thoughts and prayers would be much appreciated.  OH!  AND....I think I have a tutor!!! Meeting with her tomorrow to work out the logistics.  I'm actually pretty ready to get back into studying Russian...never thought I'd say those words.  My last news:  made homemade pizza tonight.  Here's the proof: 

Homemade pizza crust (recipe here), with tomato sauce (homemade), pineapples, green olives (shocking, I know), and tomatoes.  Oh, and cheese (duh).

This was dinner the night before.  Mashed potato with fresh broccoli (not normally available here---it was super cheap too!  a crown/head/whatever it's called was around 50 cents USD!), a little cheese, and some caesar dressing (no ranch here).  

The end!

55-17. Enough said.

What a glorious game.  I only wish I could have been there to watch it in person.  However, the highlights from yesterday's OU/saxet game can be found online...click here if you want to see some pretty awesome moves thanks to the Sooners :)  no corny dogs or funnel cakes for me this year...I'm banking that my family and friends ate more than enough for me at the State Fair of Texas though.  This year marked my sister-in-law Tina's first OU game to go to...and what a game she picked!  I can't imagine how loud the Cotton Bowl Stadium was.  Luckily, my brother and mom sent me some pics to show me all the fun I was missing out on!  Boomer Sooner, baby.

Jeremy and Tina arrived in OK on Thursday...only to leave on Friday morning southbound on I-35 (along with about 40,000 other Sooner fans!).  With my brother at the wheel, my mom tried to keep the gasps (due to his crazy Boston driving skills) to a minimum.  Lunch was at Rudy's in Denton, which is without a question where the traffic begins piling up for OU/sexat weekend.  Since you can't go to OU/saxet without heading to the West End on Friday night, the fam had dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse.  

Jeremy (brother), Tina (sister-in-law), Mom, and Pops at dinner on Friday

Oh the sights you'll see in the West End.  

Since the game was at 11 am on Saturday, the fam decided to take the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit--I think?) to the fairgrounds with the help and expertise of Dallas resident Mitchell Crow.   Gotta love Momma Crow and Mitchy (PS--Mitchell, since when is your hair that long!)

Like father, like son...Pops was probably beside himself on the DART due to excitement for the game.

At some point, the Frost clan must have run into cousin Denise...this was a surprise to see in my inbox!

Tina, being introduced the goodness of State Fair foods.  Do they even have State Fairs up in the northeast??

Mitchell and mama Donna 

 Jeremy and Tina 

Mom buying stuff at the Fair...can't wait to hear what she purchased.  Without a doubt there are probably hysterical stories that go along with it.

Frost Family seats at the game... 

 

Boomer Sooner Baby :)

The Golden Hat...proud property of the Sooners now! 

 Celebratory dinner at Bubba's (if you've never heard of Bubba's in Dallas, you've got to try it.  Home-cookin', southern style, greasy goodness.  I promise, your tummy will thank you.)  

Jeremy, Kevin, Pops, Tina, Mom, Mitchell

I woke up to a message this morning from Kevin saying, "I'm about to have dinner with your ma and pops. This will be my first Frost for a night adventure. Super excited." That made me smile sooo big Kev!  There are definitely times when I miss my friends and fam, but this picture made me so happy to see them all together.  

 

The end of Boomer Sooner weekend.  On the DART back to Mitchell's apartment.  All smiles for the way home!

I can't wait to hear about the Frost Family adventures from yesterday.  There's only one...

Oklahoma!

Video from my pink boots adventure...

As promised, here is the video that was filmed the day I was completely unprepared for a tour at an incredibly nice school here in k-grad. It was pouring that day which meant my hair was a disaster and that my pink rain boots were the only option for footwear (at least in my opinion!). Of course, Ukrainian ladies daintily stepped over and maneuvered around puddles...all the while in their heels! Oh, Ukraine.

I love some of the phrases that the boys use. They really have quite an immense English vocabulary that I was incredibly impressed with! Let me know your favorite part of the vid and your fave saying too :) Enjoy!

the picture says it all...

I may be over 5000 miles away, but I still had to partake in OU/xaset weekend paraphernalia :)

I've been out of town, but promise to be updating frequently for a few days trying to play catch up!  Also, I finally got the video to work of the Cossack dancers, so scroll down two posts if you didn't get to see the video last week!  I promise, it will amaze you the moves these guys have.  Watch til the end, it will be worth it!

One last tidbit for the day.  Remember how I told you that they filmed me as I walked around and received a tour at the boarding school here in k-grad (go to this post)?  Well, I got to watch the video they put together...and I'm currently uploading it on Facebook as I write this.  Then, I'll copy it on the blog where you can watch it.  It is thoroughly embarrassing of me, but gives you a good idea of an incredibly nice school we have here in k-grad!  

Boomer.Sooner.Baby...

all the way from Ukraine!

Dominoes.

Every day, come rain or shine, there is a group of older men who gather in my courtyard to play dominoes. They are very dramatic and emphatic with the playing of a domino, making it come crashing down on the table. I enjoy watching them from my window, with the view seen below.

The black shaggy dog always sits there too. I took this picture a month or two ago, creepin' from my balcony. I have yet to actually get up the courage to go talk to them while they're playing. I simply nod and give them a "здравствуйте" {hello} while trying to act like a Ukrainian (who is actually an American) as I pass by. Pretty sure they can see through the act. It's probably the pink rain boots that give it away.

I wonder when they decide to call it quits for the winter. With a foot of snow? Maybe two? I'll keep you posted :)

Until then, have a happy Friday...and happy Teacher's Day here in Ukraine! Ukrainians have no shortage for holidays...that's for sure. Toodles :)

my pink rain boots and my first ukr. cossack performance!

I love my pink rain boots. And I especially love them here in Ukraine because when I wear them, I'm guaranteed good stories. Like this one time in Oster...we had an impromptu meeting with the school director. It was raining quite hard that day...the school was a good 15 minute walk from my house. Logical sense that I wear my rain boots, no? At the meeting, she shared with us that we would be giving a speech at the last bell ceremony. She laughed (somewhat joking, but not really) and said, "Hopefully Lydia won't wear those boots to the ceremony." Obviously, I know better than that. It was a running joke from that day on anytime I wore those boots. I'm also fairly certain that my host mom was not too fond of them. She was an amazing host mom, never criticized me for what I was wearing...except the boots. She ended up hiding them in the hall closet and would truly only let me wear them if it was pouring.
Let's flash forward to today. I saw the weather forecast...rain all day. I debated, do I break out the rain boots for the first time? I knew deep down that the looks and comments I would get would be great. I get stares just for wearing my black Teva flip flops...so pink rain boots are guaranteed a double-take.

I went for it. Standing at my bus stop: pink rain boots, red raincoat (I know, it clashes, but it's all I've got), aqua blue umbrella. I stand out...there's no doubt about it. I'm fully okay with it though. When my marshrutka #134 came by, I flagged it down and got on. Lo and behold, a lady from work was on the bus with me. She spots the boots...and instantly comments on them...which draws attention from the other 20 people on the bus. No big deal. We walk in together, I head up to my office on the 3rd floor. I see two more ladies that work on my floor who, I kid you not, turn around to do a double-take at the boots. Then, Olena (counterpart) spots them.

"OOOOOOOh Lydia! Look at your boots!" (That sentence was in Russian).

Yes, they're rain boots. It rains a lot here in Ukraine, and I plan on wearing these. They sell rain boots at stores and at the bazaar...what I don't understand is why people don't wear them. Instead, all of the ladies in Ukraine still wear their normal three inch heals...dodging giant puddles and flowing rivers in the streets. Don't worry...I haven't gotten to the best part of the story for today.

Last week, Olena had a lady come to the office for chai. I found out she is a teacher at a school here in K-grad; she also runs the Euroclub at her school, which Olena runs at my center. The lady asked if I would like to come have chai at her school next week (this week), so being the polite Peace Corps Volunteer I am, I say of course. So, at 10:30 am today, Olena and I headed over to the school to meet Olga. As we open the doors to the school, I am greeted by four 10th form boys dressed in suits with name tags on and big, goofy grins on their faces. Olga is standing with them, dressed in a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt. And here comes Lydia, marching in with her bright pink rain boots on. Hysterical, to say the least. Oh, and also greeting us open entering the school? A professional photographer and a videographer. My outfit besides my pink boots was nice and up to par for Ukraine standards, but I giggled to myself the whole time thinking about how these boots always bring along a great story.

I was given a tour of what turns out to be one of the coolest schools I've ever seen. It's a boarding school that has students from all over the Kirovogradskaya oblast, who do not have to pay a penny (or a kopek in this case) for their school or boarding. Every student in this school (I think it's basically teenagers...not little kids) is there because they want to be. They have tested at a high enough level in English, math, science, etc., to make the cut for being at this school...and as long as they keep up their grades and attend classes, they can stay there. The school features dormitory rooms for kids that do not live in K-grad, but my understanding is that 1/4 of the kids at school do live in my city while 3/4 are from other towns and villages in our oblast. I was given the royal treatment as we went from the library to the cafeteria to the dance hall (they specialize in choreography classes...love it!) to the workout room to the computer lab to the dorm rooms.

Pause. The dorm rooms...I will have to go back and take pictures of. There are 2 bunk beds, which means that 4 kids stay in that room. I literally thought the room they showed me was like a "model" room for display because it was so spick and span. Nope. We then saw 4 more rooms...and I eventually asked the boys giving the tour if these rooms were actually lived in at the moment. Everybody's bed was made the exact same way; there is no clutter or dust on anything. I was so utterly shocked by this that they wondered if it was like that in America. They probably think American's are slobs now...but in Ukrainian standards, we practically are.

Resume story. So, while Olena and I got a tour of the building, the four boys narrated every room along the way (in very, very good English). It was so cute to see how proud they were of their school. The school director (an adorable old man who has taught at the school for 40 years) tagged along for some of the tour adding in his two cents to the boys memorized and well-rehearsed lines. I might add that the cameras followed us the entire way, for an hour.

The crowning glory of my tour was when we entered a math class room. As is customary, all of the students rose and greeted us. I then had to sit at the desk at the front of the room and tell the class a few things about me and what I'm doing here. They were so cute (and probably just a bit excited to have a break from math) and asked questions about my family and where I lived (all of this is being documented keep in mind...in my pink boots and all). Eventually, one of the four boys in charge of my tour handed me a piece of paper and a pen to write the students a letter. There's absolutely no telling what I wrote on the letter because I was so confused as to why they wanted it. I know I said something how great it was to see kids have a passion about learning and their education, which is true. It was a breath of fresh air to see students actually want to be at school and enjoying it. So, that was my time at the boarding school here in k-grad. I can't wait to go back under less formal visiting restrictions and actually talk to the kids to see what their every day life is like.

My last news of the day: I got to see my first Ukrainian Cossack dance!! Phil and I went to the Kirovograd Oblast Philharmonic performance tonight (thanks, Phil!) and it was one of the coolest performances I've seen in a while. It had everything from an actual philharmonic string orchestra to vocalists to an adorable little girl playing the violin to teenage dancers...and then they brought out the traditional Ukrainian Cossack dancers and musicians. People were filming and on their cell phones during the performance...so I guiltily took out my camera and filmed some and I'm so glad I did. Enjoy it :)

I don't think the video is going to post for some reason, but it's on my facebook account. Otherwise, stay tuned...I'll try to figure it out soon!!

Pooped.

I am exhausted.  I don't know how teachers do it.  I know I'm a little out of practice (albeit the 8 or 9 times I taught during pre-service training), but man...standing at the front of the classroom and yelling speaking very loudly takes it out of you.  Today, I taught at the Kirovogradskaya Oblast Teaching Training Site on the subject of HIV/AIDS.  For almost three hours...I tried to cram about 15 lesson plans into a two lesson time block.  The teachers were incredibly receptive before lunch; after lunch was another story.  But, I don't blame them.  They're full, sleepy, and tomorrow is their last day of the three week training...they're ready to go home.  I really don't know how my teacher friends (both here in Ukraine and those in the states) do it.  Brav-oh.  :)

So, what did I do as a little reward when I got home from teaching today?  I watched two episodes of the Glee Project.  I must have already been in Ukraine when this show began to air.  But, nonetheless, I discovered it over here.  Basically, the directors of Glee knew that there would come a day when the shows main characters would need to graduate from high school.  The object of the show was to find some hot new kids that could potentially become cast members.  Over 40,000 kids auditioned...12 made the show.  One of the episodes I watched today featured this number.  It starts off a little slow, but keep watching til around 1 minute.  I promise, your jaw will drop.

Oh, and btw, that's a guy singing.  Impressive, huh?  He dressed up as a woman for a previous episode and the producer of the show wanted to see it.  I could talk about Glee all day...but I won't bore everyone who doesn't watch the show. 

I'm going to go take a relaxing {scalding hot} bath to warm up before I crawl in bed for the night and pass out :) fare thee well blog world.  Night night!

A friend comes to visit!

My apartment is straight up cold.  There are a few reasons for this: 

1)  It gets no direct sunlight due to the courtyard that my apartment looks over.  This was great during the summer because it meant it was cool and I didn't even have to open my windows.  This is not great when I want clothes on my balcony to dry in less than 2 full days.  

2)  This is an old apartment building made out of cement.  As soon as you walk into it, it has got to be 15-20 degrees cooler than outside.  

3)  My apartment is on the first floor.  Warm air rises, cold air sinks.  You do the math.

I could probably turn on my electric heater that PC gives us, but I feel like a baby because it's still September.  So, instead I just bundle up.  This morning when I crawled out of bed, I put on my North Face "light" long underwear bottoms (the same ones I've sweat in all week when I've jogged.  nbd.), a pair of studio pants (lounge pants) over them, a t-shirt, and my Eastern Europe 2004 long sleeve tee on top.  And I was still cold.  You can see your breath outside in the mornings now just to give you an idea (fyi: highs have been in the 70s, lows in the 40s or 50s lately).  Anywho, just had to have a pity party because as I sit here at 10 pm, I'm cold.  

In other news, a friend of mine visited K-grad today!!!!! It was gloriously fun to see Theo, whom I met at Camp Bereg.  I also got to spend a week with her at the environmental training I went to in Kiev (which I still have on my list of things to blog about.  give me a little more time...).  When I describe her to people, I often use the words, "I want to pick her up and put her in my pocket."  She's adorable...AND, she just chopped off 10" of her hair to send to Locks for Love.  

Her counterpart took tried to get the flower stands in the background...kinda missed.  

Theodorable :)

Theo lives in Smila which is about 2 hours north of me.  She went on a photo excursion a while back with another PCV in my city, Karin, and today was the day that the photo exhibit began featuring some of their pics.  So, Theo came to K-grad with 4 of her students in the 11th form (seniors) and her counterpart.

We ate at my new favorite pizza place in K-grad called Mania's.  Their veggie pizza (never thought I'd say those words) is to die for.

I'll leave you with one more Lydia factoid: The best news I've discovered lately is that I can go three days without showering.  Count it. 1. 2. 3!  I only do this when I haven't gone jogging.  However, since my apartment is fairly freakin' cold (refer to the beginning of the post), I FREEZE when I get out of the bath.  And actually, I freeze while I'm in the bathtub.  So, to discover that my hair can last for 3 days without having to get wet was a miracle.  Now, I'm in no room to complain because I actually have an incredibly luxurious PC set up which includes: hot water, running water, and a bathtub.  So, how do I go 3 days without shampooing?  Curls and a braid, which also conveniently fool Ukrainians into thinking I spent a lot of time on my hair.  I'll go more in depth on this discovery another day...just had to share the news :)

El fin!

P.S.  There is a cat meowing INCREDIBLY loudly outside in the hallway.  Totally normal in my life here.

Cat's outta the bag...

I got up this morning, went for a jog around the school track, came home, took a bath/showered, made and ate breakfast (and by "made" I mean: yogurt with granola and coffee), worked on my HIV/AIDS lesson for Wednesday, answered emails, did a little Facebook creepin', and worked more on lesson planning.  I then put lunch in the oven (baked potato with one of my veggie burgers) to warm up, ate lunch, got finished getting ready for work, and was out the door by 12:45 pm.  There are 7 stairs outside of my door (I guess I'm kinda on floor 1.5?).  Somehow in the process of going down the said 7 stairs, my ankle gave out/rolled which meant my knee gave out and I basically ended up crumbling on impact.  I'm completely fine because this is a somewhat normal occurrence for me (maybe once a month?).  I was more mad at how DIRTY my pants now were from the horribly graceful fall.  {sidenote: the stairs have probably never been cleaned in my lifetime.  Luckily, I was wearing jeans as opposed to my black pants that I almost put on today.}  Back to the story...

I don't understand why I have weak knees and ankles, but I do, and I've gotten used to it in my lifetime.  My friends in high school used to knock the back of my knees under and I would instantly crumble to a heap in the middle of the commons.  They quickly learned that they had to be ready to catch me, which they did (and for that, I'm very grateful!).  I'm pretty sure Darren or Bert loved doing this.  Also during that era, I would be in the middle of bell practice, and Bennett or Cameron (maybe?) would do it WHILE I WAS PLAYING.  Not very funny when you have 4 bells in your hands.  I'm pretty sure Kyle Haskett also did it at church events.  It was a fun game for everyone though and I laughed...as long as they caught me :)  

So, when I moved to Ukraine and was thrown into a group with people I don't know, you don't want the first words out of your mouth to be, "Hi, my name is Lydia and I have a tendency to fall, even while simply standing."  I managed to keep this lovely Lydia factoid a secret until our first trip to Kiev.  In big cities in Ukraine, there are not crosswalks above ground; instead, you go down a staircase, cross under the street, and then go up another set of stairs.  During that lovely first group field trip was when my secret slipped out: my ankle gave out when I was about 4 or 5 steps from the bottom.  Luckily, Mark was in front of me and I managed to grab ahold of him instead of crashing straight to the floor.  Pretty sure Jamie was right behind me too and tried to make an assist.  It was an epic,

"Ohmygoshwhathappenedareyouokay?" 

moment where I was thoroughly embarrassed but had to laugh about the situation because the cat got out of the bag!  We still laugh about that moment to this day.  And, my loving cluster embraced my clumsiness (if you can call it that) and probably stood a bit closer to me after that day just incase another episode occurred.

Today, when this happened, my first thought was that I was going to be late for work.  This isn't a big deal, but if I am going to be late, I like to let them know.  But how do I explain why I'm going to be late?  I came back in, turned back on my computer, opened up google translate (lifesaver) and typed in an explanation that I hoped Olena would understand.  I called her and tried to get the message across...but I'm pretty sure she thought I broke my ankle or something of the like.  I kept saying that I was fine, I just needed to find my ankle brace, and that I would be late.  I finally emailed her what was going on in English, she google translated it to Russian, got the idea, and wrote me a message back saying: rest, don't come to work today, get well, and eat more foods that contain calcium.  Loved the calcium part :)  I laughed, called her back, and told her that I really was fine to come into work.  So, here I sit at home doing some work from here for the day.  I'm going to go into work for a club meeting in a few hours during which word will probably have spread that I broke my leg or something like that. If I were still in Oster (my small training village), every babushka in town would already know what happened.  Just another day in Ukraine :)

Did you know...

...That the entire annual budget of the Peace Corps is less than the budget of the army marching band? 

Or that more money is spent in Iraq in a 5 hour time period than is spent supporting the over 8,700 Peace Corps Volunteers around the world in one year?  

Or that the Peace Corps is one of the few agencies that both Democrats and Republicans both vote in favor of?

I didn't either.

This is a neat little video (less than 3 minutes--watch it!) that gives a little insight into the world of Peace Corps and how it began and where it is now.  Click here >> Peace Corps 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps being signed, sealed, and put into action.  At the moment, I know 3 other people that I went to high school with who are currently serving in the Peace Corps.  One, Hali, is in the South Pacific and is about to finish up her 2 year service.  Another, Kyle, is about halfway done with his service in Albania.  And the last, Whitney, was serving in Ecuador.  However, I just looked at her blog and realized that she had to go back to the states because of safety and security issues in Ecuador.  She left for Ecuador about a month before I left for Ukraine, so just when she felt she was getting her feet on the ground and getting adjusted to life in a new country, she had to go home.  I can't imagine having to do that.  

I made veggie burgers for the first time ever. They are pretty good and will last me through the week for meals!  I love love LOVE my toaster oven....almost more than a microwave (gasp). It heats up instantly and I can warm a veggie burger now and melt cheese on top of it.  Or, I could eat it cold, which I also love. Ha :)  I truly like some food items cold rather than hot.  Weird, I know.  Pizza.  Rice/beans/corn mixed with cornbread.  I can't think of other things right now, but there are definitely items out there.  

I need to sort through some teaching materials for my lesson on HIV/AIDS this week.  I am also going to promote my English clubs at 3 different group meetings this week.  I also hope to make a trip to the orphanage here in K-grad in the next week or two.  Happy Sunday :)