Internet at last!

Hello all!

I have now been at my site for a little over three weeks, and I am loving it! The community is great. It's a fairly small community, but since it is the Rayon (district) Center, there are always people walking around.  I have my own apartment which has two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen.  My landlords are wonderful and have even taken me to the Black Sea on multiple occasions!  

The library where I spend my days was recently redone - and is quite nice.  There are sixteen women that work at the library, and they all take good care of me. They make sure that I have everything that I need, and that I am buying all the right products from the right people.  The librarians are equally interested in what I do with my free time, what I eat at every meal of the day, how I've been sleeping -  and of course, my views on all things Ukraine.  It is great having so many people at work, because there is alway someone to practice my Russian with! 

For the first two weeks I didn’t have much to do at "the office."  They said that they were happy I had finally arrived, but they didn’t know what to do with me.  So, I sat through multiple coffee and tea breaks everyday just trying to get to know people and establish relationships.  The library has held two seminars in the last three weeks, and I have been able to attend.  

Library Seminars

This is the room my English Clubs will be held in.

This past week has been much busier.  I have been preparing for my three English Clubs that will begin next week.  I have two groups (kids 9-13 and 13-16) meeting once a week on Tuesday or Thursday, and then I have a group (students 17-20) who are home from University for the summer.  The older group will meet twice each week.  So, I plan, prep and lead four different club sessions each week.  I also received some documents to translate from English into Russian from the city government.  In addition, I will be helping in a two-day regional festival that will be happening in late August.  It will involve my town and many other villages close by.

Friday was my busiest day yet - in the morning I had an interview with the Rayon TV station about Peace Corps and myself.  I did have a translator with me, but I was able to speak in Russian for a while!  After the interview, they asked if I would help create a TV program to help young children learn English.  They can then submit the program and possibly win a grant for new cameras and equipment!  After the interview, the town's Russian Orthodox priest and his wife came over to my apartment  with an invitation to dinner and a refrigerator!  It had been a long three weeks with out a way to keep food cool and fresh, and I am so happy that I now don’t have to go to the store everyday!  I also was able to buy a internet modem (similar to the verizon thumb drives in the States) and so I now have internet!  There are a lot of things to catch up on when you don’t have internet for over a month!  The connection is pretty slow, but I have been able to ichat/skype with people, so if you ever want to chat just shoot me an email!