Onboarding, Language Refreshers, Swearing In, and TGVs. Oh my!

03 June – Training

Roommate number 2 and I decided to skip breakfast, as the day before’s had been inedible. We stopped at the café across the street from PCHQ, and got a French-style breakfast of coffee and croissants. We then had a two hour safety and security refresher, where our SSM (Safety and Security Manager) went over all of the vitally important rules and regs. Our SSM is very good, with over 50 years of military and law enforcement experience. He’s the reason why we don’t worry.

After that, we had a brief break, before we were “onboarded.” It was an elaborate ceremony, involving the Ukrainian National Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner, a Ukrainian tradition of greeting visitors with bread and salt, and speeches about why we are so important to Ukraine. Our new CD (Country Director) then told us that we couldn’t be sworn-in as PCVs, but that we could be “onboarded.” He gave us “airline tickets” to our “destination” (site) in Peace Corps Ukraine. When you scan the barcode, it says “WelcometoPCUkraine.” The staff of PC Ukraine is all Ukrainian (except for the top three positions), and they had a lot of amazing things to say to us. One staff member told us about how we, PCVs, are a symbol hope for Ukraine. He said that, when we were evacuated, the Ukrainian people were wondering what America knew. Then Crimea happened. Then over a year happens. And now, here we are. There are 15 PCVs in Ukraine right now, a 50% increase from 31 May, when there had been 10.

After that, we had lunch – we walked across the street to that café and got sandwiches – and met with the PCR Coordinator, who told us what was different for PCRVs. Then we broke into smaller groups and met with our RMs about even more policies and procedures, specifically what we have to and who we have to notify when we are going to be away from our sites after midnight. We learned a bit about grants, as PCRV have less time in country, they don’t have much opportunity to find and create grants. After that, we all had warden training. Wardens are part of the “phone tree” – their job is to keep tabs on PCVs in country and to make sure that correct information is given to PCVs. As there are so few PCVs in country, we all have to have some preliminary training, in case we become wardens in the future.

Then, a bit early, we were done for the day. We trooped into the PC Lounge, where we decided what we were going to do for dinner. We asked an RM, and he was able to direct us to a very small market, where we were able to buy things for dinner. I found out that there was a refrigerator in the room, so I was able to buy enough food for more than one dinner. We ate dinner and all hung out for several hours, talking about everything and nothing.

04 June – Language Refresher and Field Trip

I decided to try breakfast at the hotel, because my group was saying that they managed to get edible food from the restaurant for breakfast. Roommate number 2 and I wandered into the restaurant and found the boys already there, being ignored by the hostess/chef. We all ordered coffee, and decided not to tempt fate with the awful breakfast, planning to stop at the café. After a few minutes, the hostess/chef leaned over my shoulder and asked if he could make the girls omelettes. We nodded and he eventually brought us omelettes. As he was completely ignoring the boys, we shared our breakfast.

At the PC, we had our context update, where we learned all about the changes to Ukraine since Maiden. There have been a lot of good changes to Ukraine. We learned about Ukraine from the Ukrainian perspective and the American perspective.

After that, we had a brief break and had a language refresher. I was able to pull a lot of vocabulary into the session that I thought I had forgotten. After that session, the group went to lunch with our language teachers. We walked over to a small restaurant, which had a “biznes lunch” – a plat/prix fixée lunch. We had to order in our language, and ask some questions. We all got the same thing – borshch and cutlet. We got three courses – salad, soup, and main – and they were all very good. The chef decided to give us a treat – dessert – which was very nice of him.

After lunch, we went to the downtown ticket office, where you can order train tickets. It is a lot more convenient than the station itself. After that, we wandered back to the office, and waited to learn about the afternoon meeting – who was supposed to be in it. The TEFL volunteers didn’t have to go to it, so we wandered back to our hotel, to get ready to go for a long walk downtown.

After a nice break, three of us went for a walk. We walked downtown, down to Maiden. We got to see the changes to the square, and the proposed monument. We went to the Roshen store, bought some candy, and went back to the hotel. We stopped at a small food market, where we got dinner, and then hung out for the rest of the night.

05 June – RMs and Travel

Friday was another breakfast at the café across the street, I hung out in the lounge with the rest of the group, taking advantage of the wifi. After a while, we went to our language resource meeting, where we talked about the resources available to us. After that, we met with our RMs, to go over how we were going to get to our sites the next day. We were given important documents, policies and procedures. After that, we went to the small grocery store and bought lunch, before wandering back to the lounge to eat it. After lunch, we waited for our ‘surprise.’ We had been told that the office had a surprise for us, and to bring a jacket. Our surprise was a boat trip on the Dnieper.

(above picture copyright: Peace Corps Ukraine)

The whole staff was on the boat with us, and we were told that the CD was going to give a short speech, and the we would be able to eat snacks. The CD started with a joke – “if you get seasick, raise your left hand” – before adding “and if you want to stay in Peace Corps, raise your right hand” as we had been cleared to be sworn in. Just like last time, I was sworn in by the CD. After our small ceremony, we had our boat trip up the Dnieper. It was really cool, and I got lots of pictures of riverbank Kyiv.

After the boat trip, we decided to go on another long walk through Kyiv. 4 of us walked down to a museum in downtown Kyiv, which was showing Boarderline art (Boarderline. Ukrainian Art 1985-2004"). It was very edgy and, in fairness, creepy. It was fascinating as it showed the art processes of around the fall of communism in Ukraine. It was a very unique museum. After that, we split up into small groups, and I went back to the hotel for dinner. The other PCV and I stopped at a small market to pick up what we needed for dinner. We had dinner at the hotel, talking about everything and nothing, before decided that we had to get ready to leave in the morning.

06 June – Olexandryia

There is TGV service to Olexandriya. Ukraine is in the process of investing in high-speed rail between cities. While Olexandriya is not a large city, it sits along the route of several much larger cities. Therefore, TGV service.

I had the 7.15am train from Kyiv Saturday morning, so the PC driver met me and my roommate (who had the 6.44am train to her town) at 6am to take us to the Vokzal (that’s Russian or Ukrainian for train station). The driver put my bags on the train, wished me a pleasant journey, and I was alone. The hotel had given us a takeaway breakfast, but no coffee. No coffee and a 5.15am wake up call are not a good combination.

The train ride was long and boring, if a bit scary, as I wasn’t sure where exactly where my stop was. I got a text from one of the volunteers the hotel had put omelettes on the menu, which is really good, as they are the only edible things coming out of the kitchen. The good news about the 7.15am train was that I arrived in Olexandriya before 11am.

I had my two large and heavy bags with me, and I was having trouble with the one that doesn’t stand upright on its own. I dragged it down off the train, and just before I could panic about not being able to get my second bag, a familiar face popped out, grabbed my big, red bag, and hauled it off the train as if it weighed nothing. A second later my counterpart (CP) was giving me a hug and we were waiting for the train to leave so we could cross the tracks and go to the flat. My director met us at the car, as I am living in her apartment. It is a beautiful apartment. I have a lot of American-style amenities, and it is a very short walk to the school.

After dropping my stuff off, we went to the school, where we had lunch, and went over the lesson from the day. My school is midway through an English summer camp, and they make plans and go over everything at the end of the lessons. All instruction is given in Ukrainian, so occasionally one of the teachers would pause, and ask me how to say something in English, as they needed to use English on parts of the form.

After that, my CP and I went back to my flat, and made plans for the late afternoon to go shopping. We were planning to go to a wifi café and then shopping, but I decided to go to the café early. I’m glad I did, as I was able to chat with my parents, and let them know that I was safely in Olexandriya. After that, I spent sometime online, before calling my CP and making plans to go shopping. I needed some basic supplies, and food for dinner.

After dinner, I got a shower, and then watched a movie while writing up my week.

I am thinking about changing the format a bit, and instead of writing down my day long-form, to instead have little anecdotes about my day - the odd (yet tasty) soup at my school, my troubles getting internet, that sort of thing - probably several per day.