Busy, Busy, Busy

Actually, I am very busy right now! Who knew that volunteering could be so demanding! Anyway, sorry for not posting sooner, but in the past three weeks, I have been swamped. As a group (cluster of 5), we are required to do a “community project” with one organization. After meeting with a few groups we decided to work with the Department of Internal Affairs and Public Relations. They need us to develop a forum (seminar) for 20 local NGOs (non-governmental organizations) who want to know how NGOs in America effectively advocate for their communities to their local government. Yeah, I pretty much didn’t even know what that meant, but that’s our project. And lucky for me I am in a group with four other people who know more than I will ever need to know about the subject. Since I don’t know anything about it, all of my internet café time has been spent researching my portion of the presentation. I can say that, today, I know 100% more than I did 2 weeks ago, and just enough to be the panel “expert” on the subject. Sparing you the gory details, our project has gone from a 3 part seminar series, to a single session 2 hour session, to a ½ hour presentation split by the 5 of us. It got rescheduled once already. Oh and, by the way, even though we are learning Russian, since we are working with a government agency, the presentation needs to be in Ukrainian (the official language). Luckily our interpreters also speak Ukrainian (not everyone does both), but we had to relearn the name of our project the “Cross-sector Leadership and Cooperation Forum”. Check THIS baby out: “Форум Межсекторного Лидерства и сотрудничества” (pronounced: forum mezh-sek-tor-nah-vah lee-der-stva ee sot-true-den-yeah-chest-va). Say THAT one time slow! Anyway, we have been working hard on the project and actually had our first rehearsal this afternoon. Of course, three of us were ready and the other two weren’t, which has been pretty par for the course so far. Did I mention how much I HATE counting on other people- especially ones who have failed me in the past! Nonetheless, we will meet again on Saturday to rehearse with our interpreters. On Monday night I expect the vodka to be flowing in celebration of getting this thing done!
In non-project news, we had a group picnic on Sunday which included all of the Ukrainians we have met since we have been here. Host families, professional organizations, English clubs etc. We got almost 100 people including some that took a 3 hour bus to get here. Coincidentally for me, the picnic was across the street from my house. So I walked there. I call the park “the scary woods”, but others have termed it the “rape me park”. If you are familiar with the Sopranos, it IS the Pine Barrens. A forest with no lights and a huge creep factor- Blair Witch style. The picnic was fun, but we were sure to be out of there before nightfall!

Well, I came to the internet café tonight to work on my project, but the internet is down and it is too late to get a bus to another café. I will have to work on it tomorrow.
Sasha is working in St. Petersburg until June and Misha (the college student) has finished the year and moved out. So, now it is just me and Tanya who has been working one night a week, so I have the house to myself on Friday nights.
In addition to our project I am also working on an “SDL” or self-directed language project where I am developing a walking tour of Chernigov for English speakers. Plus, I still have regular language class every morning which has really been going pretty well recently. I am more and more confident in my abilities. Hey, I even got a bus driver to make a stop for me! [ah-stow-nove-ka nah oo-leet-sah alex-eevka poce-lay most-ah po-zhol-ist-ah].
We are going back to Kiev on May 29. Food is still good/great. People are still good/great. We are all getting a little itchy to get out of training and to our sites. I will find out my site on June 13^th.
I watched “The Godfather” with Pavil the other night. Dubbed in Russian, but still a great movie. And last night on Tanya’s computer I showed her my house in Clifton Park on Googlemaps streetview. She was so impressed! And I was too, a little. Won’t post again until after the presentation on Monday [pree-zen-tat-see-oo na pon-nah-dale-neck].
Удачи [oo-dach-ee],
Sim