What we are thankful for

Being that it is so close to my favorite American holiday, (besides Cinco de Mayo of course,) it has been a day that continues to go through my mind everyday. For obvious reasons too, I mean, if you have ever been lucky enough to be invited to a Thanksgiving day dinner at the Twohigs you would know why. Food is a thought that passes though my mind unconsciously about every 2 or three minuets, so that means that recently my minds menu has been full of turkey, stuffing, potatoes etc etc etc. So have an extra slice of dark meat for a brotha over here in Ukraine. And Grandma, I can't wait to join you again for Thanksgiving dinner in 2013!

The 5th form

We have been featuring Thanksgiving as a theme in our extra-curricular activities at the school. For English club we had kids make the traditional hand shaped turkey and on each finger they wrote something they were thankful for, and the same on leave shaped cut outs that we used for decorations in an English teacher's conference that the school hosted. We were so lucky as to be asked to participate in the conference where our vice principal/ english teacher, Tanya, hosted a lesson. The conference is meant to be a chance for all of the teachers to get together, share information, plan events, such as the national Olympiads, where one of our students took 2nd place in the Oblast last year for English. After, the school had prepared a concert for the teachers who came from all over the region called a "rayon." Many students put on great plays, sang a whole bunch of songs, recited poetry, and all in English! As part of the concert we were asked to present as well so we did a small recreation of a modern day Thanksgiving in the US with a small informational intro and a game of "pin the waddle on the turkey," obviously our take on the classic and fan favorite, "pin the tail in the donkey." It was a lot of fun an I was really glad to be a part of it. They also had a surprise for us where they students did a presentation of the US which even featured our towns. As a picture of Nobska light passed by on the projector I had of of those realizations of time and place which occur pretty much everyday. I am really sad that my time here in Oster is almost over, just now I am starting to develop really strong relationships with the kids who I know consider, "my kids." They are so friendly and follow us around everywhere, I think its every teachers dream to have kids follow you down the road trying to pick up more information from you, to be walking and a block away you hear a group scream in unison "MR PATRICK!... HELLO!" What teacher would be crazy enough to leave that? I can only hope that the site I go to in a week an a half has a fraction of the charm and awesomeness that is the town and people of Oster Urkaine. If you are every passing through the area, stop in!

4th form at the concert

You would think that being here in Ukraine for over 2 months now, I would have lost that shock of remembering where they heck I am and what the heck I am doing, but it still happens. I will be reading a book, listening to music, or doing work and look up for a second and it hits me like a sack of potatoes, (get it? potatoes? because I am in Ukraine?,) I think to myself, oh my god, I am in freaking Ukraine right now! Thats so crazy! I don't know if thats the way it should feel here but I am happy that even now, this adventure is still a surprising adventure.

Teaching the 5th form

This being said, we move back to what we are thankful for. A projected departure date that is set for December of 2012 seems totally intangible to me. I mean, I will be 25 when I get home, and I cant even imagine being 25. A lifetime away from my home, I think, as, I am sure many other world travelers and soldiers have pondered about their friends and families. And as old as it makes me feel to say, I ponder my old life in the states; looking at pictures. It makes me realize what I am thankful for, and that is the people who I had to say goodbye to and all the love and care I received from them. I am thankful for all of the Thanksgiving, and at the time the "unimportant" dinners I was so lucky to have with my family. It doesn't help that I got the new Tigers Jaw album came out, I miss my friends.

4th form

Enough of the sappy stuff and into the goods! We have been working for the last few weeks on our community project to help raise money for the reconstruction of the football (soccer) field. It has been a lot of work; meetings with the mayor, interviews with and without translators, cooking, packing candy, and advertising our events, but it is almost over and we have done a phenomenal job in my opinion. I heard the record for fundraising in a training community project (only 3 months) is about 1,300 Ukrainian Grivna and we have already surpassed that by organizing a bake sale at one for the schools, selling baked good at the bazaar (where we got some pretty funny looks), and a lottery at another school which will be finished this week. Though the bill for the ambitious committee working on the field is pretty bug, we are confident that our work will help to ease the pressure.

Bake sale

It is important to remember that as volunteers, we are not donators, and to say our fiscal resources are limited is an understatement, but don't worry, what do you think Peace Corps is training us in?! The approach to our work is community participation. What we are there to do is to do needs assessments, isolate an issue, and find a way to motivate the community to act on it. So in reality the community had all of the resources for us to do our project we just had to get it rolling. You cant expect to just throw money at problems and expect them to go way- I think thats the kind of development approach that spans across all disciplines; to quote a good friend of mine Eggy- "Get into it!"

We found out yesterday they have out permanent sites picked out for us, but of course we cant know for another week and a half, when training ends and volunteering begins. As for that I'll keep you posted- and I miss you all.