The New Year.

I don’t know about you, but it kind of bothers me when people say:

  • “Fuck (insert year here)!”
  •  ”(Insert year here) is going to (insert positive adjective)!!!)”

Any year can suck, but it is unlikely that you took away anything positive from it. Likewise, a year can be fantastic and still have its low points.

My year in review:

January-

February-

  • Quit 365 project
  • Quit Old Navy after almost 7 years of working for the company. I loved pretty much every moment of it and working on my leadership skills.
  • Scheduled my flight for Peace Corps staging in Washington, D.C.

March-

  • First experience in a particular persuasion.
  • Paid off my debt using my 401K
  • Gave my cats up for adoption :(
  • Sold my first adult purchase: My car.
  • Arrived 4 hours late to Peace Corps staging after missing my plane by 10 minutes. Then amused when people told me there were glad I made it after following my FB statuses detailing my misadventure.
  • Moved to Ukraine. My first time outside of the US.

April-

  • Began to really learn Russian. So hard for a native English speaker.
  • Dealt with adjusting to Ukrainian food and survived.
  • First shot of Ukrainian vodka and bonding with my clustermates over beer, fish jerky and Basketball.
  • Taught my first English lessons in a Ukrainian school.
  • First time cooking pizza. In a Ukrainian oven. With drunk Russians overlooking the process and not making it easier.

May-

  • Russian improved, but still sucked beyond basic communication purposes.
  • Improved drawing skills
  • Taught 2nd grade English. So difficult.
  • First time navigating the Kyiv metro by myself. Not an easy task when it is in Ukrainian and the Slavic alphabet. I succeeded and made it my bitch.
  • First piece of mail in Ukraine. From Malawi of all places :)
  • Introduced Ukrainian host family to American pancakes with host mom overseeing the process and questioning the recipe.
  • First PCV crush takes root.

June-

  • Implemented my first summer camp as a volunteer and collected some of my first PCV gifts from Ukrainian students.
  • Took my language proficiency interview. Scored intermediate-mid.
  • Learned to make deruny. Then learned how delicious it is.
  • Learned that I had a better connection with my link cluster than my actual cluster. 
  • Left my first Ukrainian home.
  • Voted TAG (Training Advisory Group) rep for my group.
  • Swore in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer on June 16th.
  • Moved to my new home in Ochakov, Ukraine despite teaching in a village outside of Ochakov. PS: I live on the Black Sea.
  • Learned my dad had cirrhosis and a hernia. 

July (the month of getting tanner than I had been in years)-

  • First summer camp experience as a PCV in southern Ukraine as a PCV at Camp Bereg 
  • Met my first international friends. They are from Brazil.
  • Had a beach weekend with other PCVs from my group.
  • Found out my dad’s condition was worse than originally thought.

August-

  • Back to Camp Bereg for the last session.
  • Had a perfect Sunday with like minded people.
  • Went home on Emergency Leave due to dad’s near fatal condition. 


September-December-

  • Start teaching at a Ukrainian school.
  • First awareness project. Focus on human trafficking.
  • Wrote my first grant. It was for textbooks and technology.
  • Voted VP for Safety and Security Council.
  • Created survey for SSC (Safety and Security Council) for all PCVs in Ukraine.
  • Created survey for Group 41 TEFL PCVs.
  • First Ukrainian national crush and let down.
  • Taught myself Russian cursive.

For me, 2011 was a pretty nifty year that had some crappy situations imposed on it and I like to think this year will be similar. It could just be the crazy optimist in me, but I think it is all about the lens you use to look at the world which determines your perspective. I prefer to look at my world with a dose of realism tinged with a positive outlook and small sense ambition.  

On that note, I thought that this year I would create a list of things I want to accomplish. Not because I can’t do it at any other time of the year, but because I simply feel like it and like the idea of having the end of the year being a tidy deadline. I am not sure I would constitute this list as one of resolutions, though I am sure it is in many ways. It is just a list of things that I think would be neat to do this year.

  • Vacation with my counterpart
  • Show my Ukraine to an American friend or family member.
  • Make PC Snapshots of Service successful as a blog.
  • Make MACulture Dance a success in the realm of international class penpals.
  • Take my counterpart to a PC summer camp as a counselor
  • Institute a new grading system for English classes
  • Visit Moldova
  • Help with Camp GLOW in Romania
  • Be an organizer in a PC-sponsored summer camp in Ukraine
  • Go to a Western European country for vacation
  • Visit Turkey
  • Participate in 2 Living Library projects (hosting one of them)
  • Meet with new PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees)
  • Improve my Russian. Meaning that I can understand a majority of conversations and participate actively in them.
  • Learn basic Ukrainian.
  • Meet more people in town.
  • Have a successful English club of some sort
  • Host a great World AIDS Day.
  • Be better at hand washing laundry. As in, do it more often.
  • Lose another 30 pounds.
  • Eat less candy and drink less soda.
  • Be a better friend to other PCVs. By that I mean I need be better at keeping in touch.
  • Be nicer to my camera by taking it out on photo adventures more often.

That is really all I can think of for now. I am sure there is more, but this imported Jack Daniel’s is making it a little harder to think than usual.

Make the new year good for you and don’t let the middle of the year limit your resolutions. You can choose to make life changes at anytime. You don’t need a new year to do so.