The Ukraine
Yes yes yes. Today, after a LONG day in the Political Science department subbing for a fellow TA and then talking and chatting with just about everyone I came home to see a packet at the top of the stairs, waiting at my door.
Oh, of course I did a little dance, got the rest of my mail, and came inside. To my own surprise, I did not immediately rip it open, but took off my coat, laid my things down, and did a few other small things. I was even oddly conscious of this, I mean, I have waited SO LONG to find out where I'd be going, what would it hurt to wait just a little more?
So I ripped the thing open and skimmed my invitation letter to see if it would answer the one question I had on my mind. Sure enough, in the first paragraph. Ukraine. Unbelievable. I suppose in this situation it's a bit of a good thing, and a bit of a bad thing. Yes, Eastern Europe was my first choice, but my student's assurance today that she would look after me in Armenia was nice. As were the thoughts of Bulgaria and Romania. But going to a place where I already know who is president? Who'da thunk it? In some ways I feel that the Ukraine has a thing or two to teach us about democracy working. 2000 election, anyone?
But regardless, I will be going to the Ukraine (well, once I call the office and accept, fill out the VISA and no-fee passport handouts, get some passport photos done, write a resume and another mission statement or something), I will be teaching English as a foreign language at a "university, college, or institute," I will be leaving for my orientation site (in US) on September 30th ("dates subect to change") , and be beginning my service right before Christmas. In the VAD (I am once again in acronym hell, VISTA? NCCC? PSO? EST? COS?) it says that I will be living in a small or medium sized town. I always thought that I'd be in a big city because I was under the impression that most universities and such in most other countries were not in smallish town places, but who knew! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I end up in some place like Odessa. At the very least away from Chernobyl! The sight of the two headed kitten skeleton at the Kunstkammer in St. Petersburg was enough for me.
In the following weeks, I will obviously be doing my best to learn the most that I can about the Ukraine, and following through with all the things that I need to do in order to get there, and reading a pretty thick Volunteer handbook that I think I'm supposed to read before I give them the ok. I don't know?
Anyway, I am over the moon and may even head out to Toledo to pick up a Lonely Planet or whatever else I can find. Language wise, I did get what I want: Cyrillic alphabet. And my chut-chut pa-ruski will come in handy. But first, who am I going to call about all of this?
Oh, of course I did a little dance, got the rest of my mail, and came inside. To my own surprise, I did not immediately rip it open, but took off my coat, laid my things down, and did a few other small things. I was even oddly conscious of this, I mean, I have waited SO LONG to find out where I'd be going, what would it hurt to wait just a little more?
So I ripped the thing open and skimmed my invitation letter to see if it would answer the one question I had on my mind. Sure enough, in the first paragraph. Ukraine. Unbelievable. I suppose in this situation it's a bit of a good thing, and a bit of a bad thing. Yes, Eastern Europe was my first choice, but my student's assurance today that she would look after me in Armenia was nice. As were the thoughts of Bulgaria and Romania. But going to a place where I already know who is president? Who'da thunk it? In some ways I feel that the Ukraine has a thing or two to teach us about democracy working. 2000 election, anyone?
But regardless, I will be going to the Ukraine (well, once I call the office and accept, fill out the VISA and no-fee passport handouts, get some passport photos done, write a resume and another mission statement or something), I will be teaching English as a foreign language at a "university, college, or institute," I will be leaving for my orientation site (in US) on September 30th ("dates subect to change") , and be beginning my service right before Christmas. In the VAD (I am once again in acronym hell, VISTA? NCCC? PSO? EST? COS?) it says that I will be living in a small or medium sized town. I always thought that I'd be in a big city because I was under the impression that most universities and such in most other countries were not in smallish town places, but who knew! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I end up in some place like Odessa. At the very least away from Chernobyl! The sight of the two headed kitten skeleton at the Kunstkammer in St. Petersburg was enough for me.
In the following weeks, I will obviously be doing my best to learn the most that I can about the Ukraine, and following through with all the things that I need to do in order to get there, and reading a pretty thick Volunteer handbook that I think I'm supposed to read before I give them the ok. I don't know?
Anyway, I am over the moon and may even head out to Toledo to pick up a Lonely Planet or whatever else I can find. Language wise, I did get what I want: Cyrillic alphabet. And my chut-chut pa-ruski will come in handy. But first, who am I going to call about all of this?
posted by Molly | 2:40 PM
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