All aboard; Ukraine in the fast lane

So time is flying by and including this week, there are only 3 more weeks left until swearing in. We continue to get more and more information everyday, which is a turn for the better since until now we have been planning out lives day by day. When it seems that we cannot possibly any busier, it does, things are crazy, but the end is in sight! Pretty soon I will know, and where where I will remain for my real Peace Corps service! I am so excited to find out where. The deal is December 9th (I dont remember if I have already written this but o well) we all head down to Kiyv, sit in a big room, they tell us a name of a town after which we get all excited even though we have no clue where that is yet, we meet our counterpart who has come all the way to the city to accompany us back, they throw an electric heater, a fire extinguisher and a smoke/ carbon monoxide detector at us and some of us ship out that very day, the rest of us will leave the next day.

In other news, I had my Site placement interview, which is your one 20 min chance to tell Peace Corps all your awesome qualities and skills so that they can appropriately place you where you will be able to rock and roll as a volunteer. The two interviewers were really nice and had really done their homework. They had researched all my great information and we talked about using black and white photography as part of my project or english club at the site and they made it seem like I may be placed somewhere that would have access to a dark room; dream come true, but I haven't got my hopes up, kinda.

Also the kids at my school are officially the coolest cutest kids in the world, and I am sad that I am moving on to another school soon though I am sure they going to be just as cool and cool. Last week after classes the school held the Mr. and Ms. Autumn contest which happened to be gnarly. It was mostly my 5th formers who were all dressed up in dresses and ties. They had to do a bunch of different events such as talent show, stringing beads on a needle and thread and separating sunflower seeds, which are addictive as I have found out. Everyone on the street eats them and I am currently snacking as I type. It rocked.

Yesterday I took another trip to Chernigov which was a blast. I got to hang out with a bunch of other Peace Corps trainees I hadn't seen in a while and it was a beautiful day. I got up while it was still pitch black dark and got on the bus at 6.20. The sunrise was amazing, the kind of sunrise that you would imagine over african planes, the kind of sunrise that if captured by and artist, could only be captured in pastels, the kind of sunrise where sailors take warning. It was a sunrise I could deal with watching everyday. Just as light starts to come over the vast yellow feilds you can start to make out the mountains of hay that speckle the landscape. You pass cows, rows of trees, and small villages where even at 6.30 on a sunday morning whole families are seen outside chopping and stacking wood for the winter that is right around the corner. I do not know what it is, but I am starting to get the feeling that old women singlehandedly support the bus system of Ukraine or at least this region. Every time I get on the bus, out of all of the people 90% of them could claim babushka status.

When the sun finally does rise you know why the Ukrainian flag is what it is. Those vast fields show their true golden color until they meet a horizon of clear blue sky. Riding on the bus is something I will always love wherever I go, and I find that they are always worth far more than they cost. I think bus is the best way to see a country.

Sean and I with the Mayor of Oster after a community project meeting.

As for new buys, I picked up a pair of fur shoe inserts for my winter boots that are one of the gnarliest things I have ever come across, and they only cost just over a dollar. For some reason people sell lots of old keys so I picked up a nice skeleton key, one of many that I am sure Ill buy, and as for gifts, I have started to compile a collection of old soviet military issue metals which are going to blow all your faces off. I hope everyone is healthy and happy I miss you all greatly and I hope you have an extra slice of dark meat and scoop of mashed taters for me on Thanksgiving!

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venga ya!