It's been an amazing first week living in Ukraine!
I am now a resident of Staryi Bilous in the Chernigov Oblast, which is about 20 minutes by bus southwest from the city of Chernigov. (Different maps have alternative spellings). Chernigov is a city of about 300,000 people about two hours north of Kiev. My village has a population of about 2,000 residents. I don't have access to the internet in Staryi Bilous, but when we are back in the city for some training (like today) I can post an update.
We have almost been with our host families for a week. Mine is great, and I feel very welcome in the home! I am here with Mama Nadia, Papa, 3 pigs, 2 goats, 1 dog, a bunch of chickens ,and I thought 3 cats - but tonight there is an extra one in the house, so that head count is still up in the air! The dog, pigs, chickens and one of the goats live out side (check out the pictures)! The cats are constantly going in and out, and the baby goat spends all but sunny afternoons inside.
I am Mama Nadia’s fourth Peace Corps Trainee. My host parents seem pretty used to having someone invade their space. Mama Nadia is a good cook, and we have been having a lot of Borch (chicken and potato soup) with bread and cheese (fresh goat cheese that she makes from their goat milk)! Since they use their own chickens in the Borch, any part is fair game - including (and I hope limited to) organs, arteries and the neck. Thankfully, I have not had to eat the traditional meat jello which many of the other Americans have been served!!
Our week days start at 8 am and include at least 4 hours of Russian lessons. Then, depending on the day we might have cross cultural lessons, community development lessons, and individual tutoring. After a few days of class, I am now able to introduce myself, say where I am from, where I went to school, what my majors were, list hobbies and talk about my family. I also can count to 100 and ask simple questions.
Yesterday we had a meeting with our local village official, and next week we are going to be planting trees and establishing a village park with the school. The following week, we will be doing a village river clean up. We hope that these will be good ways to become integrated with the community, and give even more ideas of the needs of our community.
Yesterday we had a meeting with our local village official, and next week we are going to be planting trees and establishing a village park with the school. The following week, we will be doing a village river clean up. We hope that these will be good ways to become integrated with the community, and give even more ideas of the needs of our community.
- Martin, the baby goat
- Mama Nadia wearing the Beaver hat!!
P.S. Did you know that Ukrainians peel their bananas from the bottom!?
