seablackwithink:

Happy Birthday Kim :) It was great to see you this week. Have a great day and I hope Ukraine treats you well today!

Спасибо Дженни!

With any luck I can avoid the salo and vodka. I will, however, take the pickles.

In Ukraine, you bring your own cake on your birthday. Since mine is tomorrow, and I am not a huge fan of cake, I am bringing chocolate chip cookies and chocolate chip scones.

Yum!

Oh, and I am making the no-bake cheese cake I brought back with me from the states. But it is all for me!

Double yum :)

Like, last week. 

Holy crap with the heat meows.

December 27, 28, and 29: The teachers who come to my English lessons for teachers wanted to have some classes over the holiday break. This makes me happy. I only did two classes since the teachers we busy for one of the days. One day involved my bringing in pancakes and writing the recipe on the board. It was a delicious day followed by some teachers, myself, and another PCV locking ourselves in a classroom drinking champagne. Because why not drink at school?

January 4: Kiev for a visit to the doctor and then taking a train with a couple other PCVs to L’viv! Met an PCV who is now my Words with Friends buddy. It is so nice to play people with ability to beat me, because let’s face it: I am amazing at Scrabble and Words with Friends. This day also involved making jokes about TB, which are not as funny now that I learned it really was TB. Okay, still a little funny. But only because it is incredibly likely that all PCVs in Ukraine will be exposed to it while here.

January 8: Arrive back to site from L’viv First 18 hour train ride= survived. It also involved many hours of Дурак with Ukrainians who got to practice their English with me and my friend, Davi.

January 24-27: Russian Language Refresher with 99 other PCVs in Northern Ukraine. Thank goodness, my Russian is not doing so great. But I have been studying lately, so that is good :) I leave on Monday! Another PCV is coming south to stay with me for the weekend so we can go way north together. Makes no sense, but it doesn’t need to.

January 30:  My 25th birthday! No plans yet really, but a friend of mine has her birthday on the 29th, so we were thinking of staying in Kiev for a night or two after language refresher. This will involve birthday bagels and ballet. It shall be glorious!

Also sometime during January: Help compile survey information to present at a meeting in February in Kiev. On my to-do list still. Survey ends on Saturday.

Also also: Compile ANOTHER surveys information by myself for another meeting in February in Kiev that I may or may not have to go to. I am on it! I am going to the meeting on the 2nd.

February 2: Training Advisory Council (TAG) meeting in Kiev. Present survey findings…maybe

February 6-10: HIV Preventing Risky Behaviors Training in Kiev…if our application is accepter  Accepted and going! My counterpart is stoked about the added benefit of not having to deal with 8th form for a week.  I am stoked I know other PCVs who will be there, so I will feel less awkward. 

February 11&12: Diversipedia, Camp Unity, and MAC meetings in Kiev

February 25: Safety and Security Council meeting, present survey findings with other PCVs in Kiev.

Busy, busy, busy. So that is a possible FIVE round trips to Kiev in 2 months, with four of them being definite. It would have been 6, but luckily I could piggyback two of them together. Oh, did I mention I live a 10.5 hour train ride away from the capital plus a one hour bus ride?

I also added things to my list:

• Applied to be a Pre-Departure Orientation teacher for the American Councils FLEX program. I had the phone interview today. It started out well, then I got distracted when a student came by for tutoring. Блин!
• Applied for Camp Unity
• Need to finish my Adopt a Cluster application. Tonight hopefully..

I will be exhausted. It will start come next week..

I hate cooking food that is so good I can’t stop eating it.

Being overly full is no fun.