spasibs and pajals.

2 weeks! less than really.

less than 2 weeks!

in 2 weeks:

i will leave my host family :( im pretty sad about the cat.

i will know where i will spend the next 2 years of my life!

i will be an official PCV( peace corps volunteer, pc is all about the acronyms. its a little ridic actually)!!!

i may live on my own or with a host family or even in a dormitory. I may be the only volunteer at my site or i could be joining other volunteers.

i am really hoping to get my own place for multiple reasons and i told pc that during my interview so hopefully i get that. the next 2 years will be interesting to say the least if i have to eat salo, fish, and ridiculous amount of butter all the time. but there are pros and cons to every situation and like a true pcv i will make the best of my situation. of course though having a penthouse apt in crimea wouldnt be the worst thing.... we will see. who knows!?

i know these next 2 weeks will go by really fast, especially since we are super busy. we have our summer camp, community day, a report to write, our language proficiency exam ( which i am pretending to study for now... da, nyet, da, ...), thank you visits and more im sure.

this past weekend i ventured into kyiv, for possibly my last time for awhile, and we found a beach! i know, a beach? thats crazy! but yes a beach. its actually an island in the middle of the Dniper River with a bunch of beaches and food and drink stands and babushkas in bikinis. its fab. only i didnt know thats where we would end up so i didnt really get to go into the water. but ill be prepared for it next time. so instead we just hang out on our blankets had some drinks and snacks and a grand old time.

heres some pics to make you jealous...

southern california beaches you've got nothing on these bad boys. except well cleaner waters, free bathrooms, drinkable drinking fountains, less speedos, and well a current. oh well ill take what i can get!

fritters

its been almost 3 weeks since ive posted anything. i wouldnt even know where to begin if i was going to recount everything. so i wont.

theres been some holidays. they are crazy for holidays here. which meant no school which for me meant less work. so i appreciate that. there was of course more meat jello. more vodka. and as always more chai.

we are more than halfway through our training. which is hard to believe. in a little more than 4 weeks ill be at my site and (hopefully) on my own. in my own place. weird. ive never actually lived alone so it odd that ill be doing it for the first time here.

i feel good about being here now. though honestly i cant say that everyday. things here look the same as they do at home yet they are completely different. plays tricks with your mind.

i really need to do laundry but i dont want to.

i should really clean my room but i dont want to.

my host mom thinks im sick so ive been banished to my room to drink hot chai and sleep. i tried to tell her it was allergies but she didnt buy it for a second. i told my host sister it was allergies. allergies to what she said. she didnt buy it either. not to mention she is in medical school so needless to say i lost that battle.

and because every post deserves a picture...

vodka: check

meat jello: check

love is in the air. i know because i can smell it.

i am currently the witness of a very tragic love story. a love that will never be. its between bohnie the indoor male cat and our female outdoor cat, we will call her ho, as in bag. so for the past few days bohnie has been entering my room in the morning as i do my daily routine. he goes up on to the window seal and there he waits for ho. Ho then appears and they continue to just stare at each other, longingly, through the glass. then bohnie starts crying, trying to open the window, break the window, or walk through the window. He also makes these really disturbing sounds. its a cross between licking and sucking. its unpleasant. yesterday evening he got so riled up that he almost knocked over ceramic pig ( his name and what he happens to be, how convenient!) so this morning i made sure to leave my door shut. when i went to leave he was sitting by the front door. when i opened the door there she was.

how precious cat love is. ah. except when it involves noises no one should hear.

we've been here 3 weeks. though it feels like much longer.i feel like ive been here for months.

peace corps time is definitely not in sync with the time tables i am used it. these past 3 weeks i feel like done so much and so little at the same time. i know once training is done the time flow will change again but i cant imagine how 27 months is actually going to feel.

the thing i am struggling with most ( and it feels weird to already have things to struggle with as its only been 3 weeks but im telling you time is not the same as it once was) is the language. the cultural differences i can handle. adapting to how they do things and how i would prefer to do things has not been too hard. but the language. you would think with prior russian knowledge i would be a step ahead. but that is not the case. i cant wait until i actually know what is going on around me. and to be able to properly reply to a question and put my thoughts into words they will understand.

i am excited though for our one month mark. i do have big ideas for myself and my time here. and if even half of them become reality id be really happy.

******

i've shown you my kitchen. now here is room!

and i havent forgotten about the count. i have had my first sip and thats all it was, a sip of vodka. but it was honey vodka, and it was tasty. they love honey here. have i mentioned that my host dad beekeeps on the side. so we have honey all the time. its thicker here and grainier. and as for tea if 1 week i was at 70 for sure i have surpassed the 200 mark. hopefully soon the 2 will match :)

babuskas are better than google search

maybe they know where the sun is.

this is why

my pants

are tight.