Two Dollars A Day

Photos and thoughts from the past and present and dreams about the future.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Greetings from Belgium

Am enjoying my holidays here and am seeing quite a lot. Everything is lovely and I'm taking a lot of photos, but it's the old fashioned way as opposed to the digital varient. I have been promised photos from Paris though and will post them when they arrive from Stateside.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Pics, Photos, and Stuff

As many of you know, my own digital camera bit the dust almost a year ago in some freak Yalta hail storm, so I have been at the mercy of my fellow travel companions to bring along this form of technology that makes it oh so much easier for me to share it with you. Thankfully, my clustermate brought her camera along and left the photos on my computer before she went back to site, so these are all courtesy of her graciousness.

I have been dreadfully ill for the past 3 days, which is rather unfortunate considering that I have a busy weekend ahead. Tomorrow I must head out bright and early for a mandatory training to learn what to do in the event of a catastrophe in Ukraine (natural disaster, civil unrest, political upheaval--like that will ever happen!). After that is over, I head back to site to quickly pack for the next few weeks, as I am heading out to Kyiv in the evening for the weekend before popping over to Paris and Belgium. Yes, life is hard.

When I do get back to Eastern Europe, I gotta hang out in Kyiv for another few days to redo the TB exam. Keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll post the results when I am back at site, in a few weeks.

Till then, enjoy the only pics you're likely to see for awhile, since I don't think anyone is bringing a digital to Paris.

Odessa Pics



Me. And some art.

Odessa Pics



The famous Potemkin Steps of Odessa. Made even more beautiful by the authentic Ukrainian man crossing the street.

Odessa Pics

Odessa Pics



View from our hotel window.

Moldova Photos

Moldova Photos



Why my clustermate almost didn't make it home: taking unauthorized photos of former Soviets.

Moldova Photos



The dude on ALL the money

Moldova Photos



Just in case you wanted to know how the Orthodox do it...

Moldova Photos

Moldova Photos

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Moldovan Wine

Easter weekend is a long weekend in Ukraine because Monday is a day off. A clustermate and I decided to check out Moldova over that break.

Because she knows volunteers there it made things easier--finding out where to stay, what to do, etc. Informing PC about this trip ended up being quite more of a hassle than usual. Typically, you send in a form and they call you when it's been approved without any questions. As soon as I told my RM about this, she asked if I had a VISA for Moldova. "As of January, Americans don't need one," I answered. "Where will you be leaving from?" she asked. "Odessa" I replied. I was not expecting this line of questioning and was told to contact our Safety and Security staff.

The issue that concerned my RM and everyone else at PC was this tiny strip of land to the east of the Dneister River in Moldova. In the early 1990s a civil war broke out and a separatist "country" emerged--Transneister. Despite having created their own boarders that are patrolled and their own currency, no one else in the world recognizes them as a separate nation. Hence for that reason, and the supposedly overt Sovietness about them, Volunteers are not allowed to travel in that area, so we needed to find a route from Odessa that would go around Transneister.

Thankfully the Safety and Security guys did that work for us and several options emerged and we got approved and were ready to go.

My first impressions of Moldova were that it was different than Ukraine. There were soft rolling hlls in all directions and it seemed a bit more clean than Ukraine. Of course there were grapevines for as far as the eye could see, Moldova probably being most famous for its wine. We passed tiny villages with animal and fruit stencilling on front of their homes. It was similar to Ukraine, but much more "cozy"? "cute"? "pastoral"? Perhaps it lacked the typical Soviet blocks apartments that I am so used to seeing in all but the tiniest Ukrainian villages.

The capital of Moldova (and here you can pick up a bonus point if you know the name of it) is extremely different than Kyiv. There are no skyscrapers to speak of. Even a lot of the tall block Soviet buildings seem to be on the outskirts of town or towards the ends of the main drag. And here too they add a certain quality to the rest of the city instead of taking it away.

We did not spend a long time in Moldova, but enough to meet some volunteers serving there, eat some Moldovan food, walk around the city, and run into the one Moldovan I know within 10 minutes of being in Chisinau. On the way back, we stopped for a couple of nights in Odessa before heading back to reality and back to site.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

PCV Lingo

Just like any other job, we have our own vernacular that we use that may be hard for other people to dechiper or understand. Typically they are acronmyns, or cute little made up words. Here is your guide to trying to figure out what I am talking about from time to time:

Of course, you should already be familar with PC and PCV. But what about these others?

Trainee: Person who is in training and has not been sworn in. Also sometimes seen as PCT (Peace Corps Trainee).
How used in a sentence: "When did the new trainees get here?"

Cluster: Group you are placed with for 3 months during training and study language for 6 hours basically every day together and have technical together. Perhaps work together.
How used in a sentence: "My cluster was in the Zh--- oblast"

Clustermate: Person who was in your cluster. These usually become either intense friendships or someone you avoid. Thankfully, my group all got along.
How used in a sentence: "My clustermate and I are going to Moldova"

Link: Every cluster gets a "link"- another cluster typically geographically closest to you where you pair up for Saturdays and have tech. training.
How used in a sentence: "Who was in your link?"

Linkmate: Not commonly used. A person who was in your link. Again, typically if you got along, good friendships are made.
"All my linkmates live out west because they learned Ukrainian."

LCF: I actually forgot exactly what this stands for, but this is a person on contract with Peace Corps who teaches language during training--moves to your cluster town too and deals with all host family concerns. Talk about the toughest job....
"My LCF now works in the Peace Corps Office full time"

TCF: Similar to LCF but handles technical trainings and can live either in your town or link's town (there is 1 TCF for every 2 clusters). Also in charge of overseeing Peace Corps Trainees at their training job sites.
"My TCF is a very serious woman."

Host Family: family that volunteers to have a Peace Corps Trainee or Volunteer live in their home. We currently get 2 host families--> I during training (3 months) and 1 at site (for me 3 months, now 1 month).
"My first host family was great."

PST: Pre-Service Training- what being in a cluster is all about-- training that occurs before volunteer is sworn in.
"During PST I had little free time."

Site: The palce where you will be assigned as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Combo of town and school, university, and/or business.
"I love my site!"

Site visit: Time while still in training were you go to site for the first time and meet the people you will work with and live with.
"I fell off the train on my site visit."

Sitemate: the PCV(s) who are placed in the same sity, town, village as you. Can be from any group currently serving in country.
"I had 4 sitemates when I arrived in N--"

Coordinator: Person assigned at your site to help you make the transition and who typically signs any important forms from Peace Corps. This person can be switched from who was originally assigned.
"I get along well with my coordinator. He's a cool guy."

RM: Regional Manager. Immediate Peace Corps "boss." This is your go to person for any problems of a Peace Corps nature or if you are having serious difficulty at site. This person you must also inform of your whereabouts when you are away from site overnight. I'm not joking.
"My RM called me the other day to let me know my trip was approved."

AFS: Absence from site. This is a form that needs to be filled out when we want to leave site. Typically now you can just send a text message to your RM when you are going away for a weekend or whatever, but if you will be missing work you need approval from site (coordinator) and then approval from RM and ultimate approval from CD.
"I gave my AFS to my RM."

CD: Country director. The head honcho. Always an American.
"The CD has a lot of power over Peace Corps Volunteer policy incountry"

PCMO: Peace Corps Medical Officer. These are the folks ink Kyiv that give you shots and meds, and that you call when you are sick.
"I called the PCMO on duty and he told me to take some pills from my medical kit."

Sick Bay: Where you stay if you are sick. It's a room with 2 beds in Kyiv. The beds are very soft.
"I only stayed in sick bay once."

Mid-Service Med: Mid way through your service you are told to go to Kyiv and get a phsyical and check up. You need to stay for two nights in order to get tested for TB. You also get to see the dentist.
"My mid service med was in January."

Med Evac: Medical evacuation. When PCV or Trainee is sent home to another country to have surgery, an operation, or something worked on that can't be done in country. The Volunteer/Trainee has 42 days to get better and return to country before they are removed from the program.
"He got med evaced to Bangkok!!!"

Med Sep: Medical separation. This is if you get sent home due to some medical reason that could not be solved in country. The "sep" part means that you are not able to come back.
"I heard that she got med sep'ed for an STD."

ET: Early termination. When a Peace Corps Volunteer or Trainee decides to go home early.
"She ETed two weeks ago."

Admin Sep: Administratively Separated. When you've done something against Peace Corps policy and are sent home. Here it is somewhat rare.
"He got Admin Sep'ed for starting a fight."

IST: In Service Training. Periods where Peace Corps offers trainings on various topics, including Language Refreshers, where volunteers brush up on their Russian or Ukrianian. Other topics can be technical trainings, methodology, civics, and so on. Also inadvertantly gives volunteers time together to drink, drink, and drink more.
"Did you go to the IST in Kharkov?"

YD: Youth Developer. One of the several types of volunteers in this country.
"Is she a YD? What does she do?"

TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language. The largest Peace Corps program of all and the type of volunteer I am.
"When is the new TEFL group arriving?"

CED: Formerlly just called Business Volunteers, they now has some snazzy name like "Community Economic Developer"
"We should get two new CEDs at our site."

COS: Close of service. The last hoorah with your group where you learna bout all the paperwork you must do before you leave country and the benefits you can be alloted after you are home.
"I can't wait till COS: August, baby!"

LA: living allowance. The stipend money you get for cost of living in country. Varies depending upon country and also city.
"It's challenging to live on my LA."

LA: Leave allowance. The moey put into your account each month for your vacation. A whooping $12 a day, total $24 a month.
"My LA will surely get me far in Paris."

VAC: Volunteer Advisory Committee. This is the working group I am a part of where elected Peace Corps Volunteers inform the Administration of issues volunteers are facing in the field and how we can improve their situation and or policy.
"When is the next VAC meeting?"

SPA: Small projects assistance. This is a grant opportunity open to all volunteers and that are reviewed by fellow volunteers.
"I just submited my SPA grant. I hope that it goes through."


So there you have it.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Student Conference

Last weekend I participated in what was probably one of the most rewarding things I've done here. I took two students to an English language student conference in Simferopol (located in the center of Crimea).

Both of the students presented and did well--they got asked questions that showed how interested others were in their presentations and they watched countless other presentations that were both at times interesting and boring (surprisingly good was the language of figure skating!). I thought that it was really a wonderful opportunity to expose the students to other Ukrainian students learning English and doing interesting research projects. One of my clustermate's was there and brought a slew of her students--which was nice--we could support each other and our students as well. A student from another local University here in N-- came (and is a friend of mine) too. She did an excellent job presenting, and commented on how nice my students were, something that I valued since it seems that the common opinion of my university locally is not very high.

The organizers of the conference entertained us with belly dancing, plays, live music, and Tatar dancing. We had an excursion to Bakhchysaray--the former Tatar capital and where the Khan's palace is located. Although we were too late to go inside and actually see firsthand the fountain built to ease the Khan's heartache over the death of a Polish beauty in his harem who died rather than acquiesce to the Khan's advances. Pushkin immortalized the fountain by writing a poem about it. I will go back and view it in person another time--and not just the palace--but the beautiful surrounding stone cliffs.

After the end of the conference, my clustermate and I took our students to a local mosque where we were permitted entry and a young Muslim man told us all about the mosque and his religion. The students seemed very interested and asked many questions. I had to grap my students and run to the train station to avoid missing our train back home. As we were walking quickly down the street, we heard him singing--calling all the faithful to come and pray. I asked afterwards what they thought--if they had ever been to a mosque before. "No," they said. As I pointed out to them before the trip, there were no mosques in N--, so why not go and check this one out?

On our way home we played cards and spoke English--which was one thing I noticed about this conference. If anyone else (or no one) accompanied them, they would have spoken Russian the whole time, but my presence required English--so they certainly had a lot of practice! And probably more spoke more of it then then they ever had.

Not only the English, or academic quality of the conference made it such a valuable experience for me, but what I appreciated the most about the weekend was the cultural exposure to groups who have been persecuted here in Ukraine. Tatars do not have a pleasant recent history, being forcibly removed from their homes during Stalin's reign and have only recently been able to come back to Crimea. Exposure to their culture and religion is something not only new to me--but also to my students.

I only hope that another such opportunity will present itself before my days here in Ukraine are up!

When I get some photos developed I'll be sure to put them up!

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