Days til COS medical and Halloween: 16
Days til I leave Lviv: 34
Days til my COS: 37
Days til America: 42
There's a lot to do these last few weeks: parties, paperwork, packing and a whole lot of goodbyes.
How does it feel this close to COS? Surreal. I'm not sure what the future will bring for me and I'm ok with not being completely organized with my life going home. Leaving an experience like this is difficult because you can't imagine your life in any other situation. It's similar to the feeling of coming to peace corps only you're not filled with the ideas of a new place, language etc.
I think sometimes what I would tell someone applying to peace corps or someone who has just found out that they're coming to Ukraine. What would I say to help them along?
In all honesty, I'm not sure there's anything that you can say over-archingly to prepare someone for it. There's so much about Ukraine that is so specific and living here is a real challenge in a lot of ways for someone from the American mentality. I don't think I could've better prepared for my experience here, a lot of living in peace corps is just learning as you go; and I don't think any one person is more prepared than any other. When I think of me two years ago, I would've told myself to chill out about the language. It will come, though it will be difficult. As one of my friends said when we were talking two weeks ago, no one has a bad or good experience in peace corps based on language skills. We all do enough to have a good experience and language won't tip the scales one way or the other, it generally just ends up being a status symbol.
You will survive. Whether it's village life or riding a really crowded marshrutka those moments are temporary and you will survive. Your service will be made of small small moments and you won't remember most of those tiny moments. My memory of Ukraine will always include the bad smells and crowded marshrutkas, but it will include a whole lot of other things that have nothing to do with my struggle in daily life.
I'm making it seem like life here is a battle and it is in so many ways, it's not that that's a negative thing. Americans always have a negative connotation with struggle. I find it to be challenging, stimulating and I feel like in some ways I get a real taste of life outside of teh first world here. I view life as a battle here, I really do and often express to my friend if I feel like I'm winning the battle or Ukraine is winning. Most days I am, but there are spurts where Ukraine can get me day after day. But winning feels really really good.
So, people coming to Ukraine, be ready to fight and struggle and be ready to be challenged. Love all the moments you are surrounded by those who care enough about you to help you through the struggle. Make an effort every day to make a good impression on those around you. My best story of the week comes from the secretary at my school. She told me she was waiting for a bus and had seen me walking in the center of town with a group of friends. We were hanging around a statue waiting for a friend to join us and my friends and I were joking and laughing and running around. She told me she had seen me laughing and smiling and it changed her whole day. She thought it was so wonderful how happy I was and how I was enjoying being with people I loved and wasn't afraid of showing that publicly. Sometimes, I think the best gift we can bring as Americans is a sense of positivity in an otherwise doubtful and malcontent world. I'm proud that the thing people will remember about me here is my kindness and my positivity. That's a pretty big accomplishment. We can all bring something about ourselves that is uniquely american, our work ethic etc. Do your best to figure out what it is you want to show to the people you interact with; that's the best preparation you can do for peace corps and maybe for life too.
Days til I leave Lviv: 34
Days til my COS: 37
Days til America: 42
There's a lot to do these last few weeks: parties, paperwork, packing and a whole lot of goodbyes.
How does it feel this close to COS? Surreal. I'm not sure what the future will bring for me and I'm ok with not being completely organized with my life going home. Leaving an experience like this is difficult because you can't imagine your life in any other situation. It's similar to the feeling of coming to peace corps only you're not filled with the ideas of a new place, language etc.
I think sometimes what I would tell someone applying to peace corps or someone who has just found out that they're coming to Ukraine. What would I say to help them along?
In all honesty, I'm not sure there's anything that you can say over-archingly to prepare someone for it. There's so much about Ukraine that is so specific and living here is a real challenge in a lot of ways for someone from the American mentality. I don't think I could've better prepared for my experience here, a lot of living in peace corps is just learning as you go; and I don't think any one person is more prepared than any other. When I think of me two years ago, I would've told myself to chill out about the language. It will come, though it will be difficult. As one of my friends said when we were talking two weeks ago, no one has a bad or good experience in peace corps based on language skills. We all do enough to have a good experience and language won't tip the scales one way or the other, it generally just ends up being a status symbol.
You will survive. Whether it's village life or riding a really crowded marshrutka those moments are temporary and you will survive. Your service will be made of small small moments and you won't remember most of those tiny moments. My memory of Ukraine will always include the bad smells and crowded marshrutkas, but it will include a whole lot of other things that have nothing to do with my struggle in daily life.
I'm making it seem like life here is a battle and it is in so many ways, it's not that that's a negative thing. Americans always have a negative connotation with struggle. I find it to be challenging, stimulating and I feel like in some ways I get a real taste of life outside of teh first world here. I view life as a battle here, I really do and often express to my friend if I feel like I'm winning the battle or Ukraine is winning. Most days I am, but there are spurts where Ukraine can get me day after day. But winning feels really really good.
So, people coming to Ukraine, be ready to fight and struggle and be ready to be challenged. Love all the moments you are surrounded by those who care enough about you to help you through the struggle. Make an effort every day to make a good impression on those around you. My best story of the week comes from the secretary at my school. She told me she was waiting for a bus and had seen me walking in the center of town with a group of friends. We were hanging around a statue waiting for a friend to join us and my friends and I were joking and laughing and running around. She told me she had seen me laughing and smiling and it changed her whole day. She thought it was so wonderful how happy I was and how I was enjoying being with people I loved and wasn't afraid of showing that publicly. Sometimes, I think the best gift we can bring as Americans is a sense of positivity in an otherwise doubtful and malcontent world. I'm proud that the thing people will remember about me here is my kindness and my positivity. That's a pretty big accomplishment. We can all bring something about ourselves that is uniquely american, our work ethic etc. Do your best to figure out what it is you want to show to the people you interact with; that's the best preparation you can do for peace corps and maybe for life too.
