Normally you think the Peace Corps sacrifices would be, well, normal: no running water, no electricity, eating insects, etc. Ukraine does entail the first two, but only on an intermitent basis, so they're more an annoyance than a sacrifice.
Cold weather aside, Peace Corps Ukraine doesn't seem to require TOO many sacrifices, but I'd like to point out a few some Zhytomyr volunteers are making at the moment:
1) Leave-without-pay days, once liberally granted, are now allowed for emergency use only. Many in my group thought we'd be able to use leave-without-pay days for summer travel once we'd used up our vacation days, and so burned through most or all of our vacation days last summer. In my case, I only have six days left, which was a slice across the jugular for all of this year's travel plans. Every other Group 27 Zhytomyr voluteer is in the same boat, so for all of us: No travel.
2) Two Zhytomyr volunteers tested postive for tuberculosis during mid-service medical (I, thankfully, was not one of them). They are now both on a nine month cycle of medication, during which they cannot drink alcohol! So for those two volunteers: No travel. No drinking.
3) One of those two volunteers also tested positive for displasia (abnormal cervical cells). She will have to undergo treatment for it while she's being treated for the tuberculosis, during which she will be unable to have sex with her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend is not happy. Neither is she.
So for her: No travel. No drinking. No sex.
Suddenly eating insects seems quite pleasant.