Katie is back in Britain, leaving from the airport where, one year ago today I first stepped onto Ukranian soil.
I HAVE BEEN IN UKRAINE FOR A WHOLE YEAR!
Sorry, had to get that off my chest. It has gone so quickly. And yet, when I look back at certain times, they seemed interminably slow, and I didn’t think I’d make it another month, let alone my whole service.
I figured that I should make a tally of what I’ve done and learned in the past year, so here it is:
In the past year I have been mugged, attacked by a dog, had food poisoning three times, and witnessed an assault that I did not stop. I have been colder and more isolated that I have ever been in my entire life, and there were times when I have never felt more alone. But, in the past year, I have gained an intermediate level in two new languages, been to six new countries and nine of Ukraine’s oblasts. I’m probably halfway to a Slavic studies degree.
I learned how to lead climb and got a grant to build a climbing wall. I’ve learned more than 30 new songs on guitar. I’ve learned which vegetables and fruits are harvested with each season and how to prepare for the winter. I learned how to cut and grind meat, can vegetables, dry herbs and make tortillas and salsa from scratch (because if you want Mexican in Ukraine, you do it yourself).
I’ve bantered with babushkas, survived marshrutkas and have been beaten with birch branches in banyas. I’ve watched amateur boxing in an abandoned building, spectators packed in and bundled against the cold, watching sweating combatants wearing tennis shoes. I’ve been packed into every form of public transportation, and broiled, froze and stood for hours on them, yet kind of relish the discomfort.
I’ve helped smuggle cigarettes.
I have more attention than I ever should from hotter women than I should ever have.
I've taught a lot of seminars, clubs and classes, created a web page, wrote a lot of Olympiad and teaching materials and talked a lot about my country.
I’ve climbed on castles three times as old as my country. I’ve basked on nude beaches, sweated in packed discos and drunk vodka with Ukrainians. I’ve climbed mountains in Slovakia, caved in Hungary, and biked in Poland.
I’ve explored abandoned catacombs in Odessa, dove off cliffs into waters filled with Greek ruins in Sevastopol, been to a massive concert in Kharkiv, played poker for the first time in Poltava, heard the most breathtaking music of my life in a cathedral in Lviv, and danced traditional Ukrainian dances under the streets of Kyiv.
I’ve worn a speedo in public.
I’ve had both cops and train attendants try to get bribes from me. I’ve gawked at the flesh parade that is Krechatic Avenue. I’ve taught them a little about how to salsa and they’ve taught me a little about how to play the piano. I’ve seen a BMW idling beside a horse-drawn cart. I’ve seen a woman herding goats near a store that sells flat screen televisions. I’ve eaten so much pig fat I could never drown.
I’ve learned to love Ukraine in every season but winter, and have learned a little more about how to understand its people.
I’ve had my hair trimmed with a straight razor, have eaten homemade cheese and ate liver from a cow I saw alive only hours before.
Hot water, running water, electricity and a land line are all options now.
I danced ten feet from the stage at a packed Moby concert, sang “Razom Nas Bahato” in a crowd being broadcast to millions during Eurovison and quietly heard Yuchenko speak on Maidan during the Orange Revolution, realizing I was now part of history.
I have learned a lot about being an American in the world.
I have learned a LOT about teaching English as a second language, a lot of professional skills, including how to manage people, coordinate their schedules, and work in a bureaucracy, and am slowly learning how to teach adults.
I’ve made out with a beautiful Ukrainian while standing in the snow on a condemned
bridge, overlooking a gorge carved by a frozen river.
I rappelled off that bridge a few months later.
I’ve had the best jam, apple juice and watermelons of my entire life.
I’ve written more than 170 blog entries and finished a novel.
I have learned to appreciate beets and cabbage
I have really learned to appreciate McDonalds.
But mostly, even though its cliché, I’m learning about myself. The Peace Corps experience is so intensely social and so intensely political that it’s made me learn a lot about how to act in groups, how to learn from others and how to be humble, hard as that still is. More importantly, I’ve learned more about the person that I want to be.
Actually, I’ve learned and done so much, this list doesn’t begin to make a dent, so I’ll stop.
But I will say this: it’s been a hell of a year.
Thanks to all those who have helped me get through it, particularly my family (and all the emails from mom!), Bean, Sarah, the Zhytomyr crew, Carrie, Sean, Seth, Liz, Susannah and Diana. Thanks to all my friends who have been emailing me from the homefront and letting me know how they and America are doing, and offering words of support. I wouldn't have lasted without all of you.