The life of a newly sworn in Peace Corps Volunteer

Many people (including myself) envision Peace Corps volunteers saving the world one village at a time, with their summer camps, community projects, youth projects, various seminars on how to do this or that or how to improve one such thing, writing grants to build this or install that. All in all, the life of a Peace Corps volunteer equals out to be busy all the time. So what am I up to at present?

Nothing. Not unless you count all those episodes of classic Doctor Who, Boardwalk Empire, and the Walking Dead I've finished watching. By those standards I've been up to a lot.

Now now, it's not because I'm slacking or my community isn't interested in doing anything. No, it's because I've arrived at my site at the end of the semester, kids are going home, teachers are scrambling to get their grades in the register, people are shopping for the holidays and frankly, there just isn't any time to even consider a project at the current. Everyday I am told to come to my college for one thing or another that doesn't usually take more than an hour and then my counter point gives me this look that's a cross between concerned mother and a person who is showing pity towards a child who has no toys to play with and says "go have a rest now". So I go back to my comfortable (and extremely awesome and practically better than any apartment I've have in the US) and watch my TV shows, do my Insanity work out (that shit is INTENSE) and patiently plot my schemes for after the holidays end. 

Seriously though, my apartment has more room than I know that to do with (as well as more beds than I know what to do with--you read that right. I have about 5 beds in my apartment and I only have theories as to why. So far though, I have only slept in one). The first night I was here, unpacking all my stuff, I got a little overwhelmed. There were so many cupboards and closets and places to put all the things and I just don't have enough things to put in them! I got it sorted out though, no worries ;) 

Not that I have been completely slacking. No, no. My counterpart (the teacher who is my official contact person for everything I need and who I will be working with the most) is a real "get goer", much like myself and we have sat down and gone over project ideas that i'm interested in and we discussed what she's interested in, which turns out that she wants me to jump right on HIV/AIDS projects with her students ASAP after the holidays (time to start studying and applying for shit) and tomorrow we are going to the vice director to show her the list that I so dutifully wrote out with notes and action plans on all the projects that I am interested in doing. So I have been doing stuff, and it's rather exciting stuff to. I do love planning. 

Oh, right, a little bit about my site! Well, I live in a town named Bohuslav that is home to about 16,000 people. I live right on campus in an apartment building that houses mostly teachers from the college but also some other working people and police officers. I live about a 10 minute walk from the center of town where they have just lighted up a giant New Years tree (they celebrate Orthodox Christmas here on January 7th, which puts News Years first, hence the "New Years" tree instead of a "Christmas" tree). There is an actual grocery store about a 15 minute walk away, but also a lot of little grocers around. My favorite is a little shop named "Mango" that sells fresh fruits and vegetables at prices comparable to the bazaar. I have also made friends with a shop owner across the street from my apartment and she finds it particularly amusing to listen to me stumble over Ukrainian as I try to buy chocolate from her. She totally thinks that I only eat chocolate, I'm sure of it. I only buy it because I've been invited over to people's houses and you can't go empty handed! Really, I'm not eating it all while watching Doctor Who in the dark alone. Really.

There is a river that splits the city (I forget what it's called but it's the same river that splits Kyiv so I should really know what it's called). Speaking of Kyiv, I am a 2 hour Marshrutka (bus--but not really. It's really just a van that someone put bus like seats into) ride away from the capitol which is radical dude. The bazaar is on the other side of the river and is a lot more crowded then what I am used to from being in sleepy little Kozelets. I had a thought to try and make friendly with some stall owners (because that's what's recommended so that people don't rip off the American with the "foreigner tax"), buuuuuut I don't see that happening because everyone was so busy running around everywhere that they just got frustrated at me when I tried to make idle conversation as they were getting my order. Oh well, maybe I'll have better luck next time. 

Bohuslav has a lot of little cafes, and shops and a church that I haven't visited yet and is just really cute. I like it. 

My college houses about 1,100 students. It is a Pedagogical College for the Humanities and has departments for music, physical education, economics, teaching English as a foreign language, art, primary school and pre-school education, social work, and I'm sure I'm missing some others but pretty much all these students are learning how to either teach their respected disciplines or work in them (such as the social work department). My teaching schedule has me working with the pre-school and primary school teachers, as well as the social workers and economists. 

There are 6 English teachers and I've had the pleasure of meeting them all. One of them will be leaving for Italy at the beginning of February to live with her husband (who's Italian) so I will miss her. She invited me over to her apartment and we chatted over delicious Ukrainian food and coffee and I met her mother who is a doctor and can speak a bit of English so our conversation was a mixture of Ukrainilish but it was nice. 

My counterpart has also had me over to her house for Ukrainian food (I finally had Vereneky--a sort of dumpling!). She has a daughter who is currently working as an intern at a hospital in Kyiv. She graduated from med school to be a doctor which is pretty cool because she's the same age as me. From what I have gathered of the education system here, students are able to either stick with a general education and graduate from a secondary school, or they can split off and go to a "college" or specialized school to start learning/training in a profession of their choosing at the age of 15, which puts them graduating medical school at 23 instead of 30 like some people in the States. I think I like the system here a little better. 

Pictures!

My Town

WWII monument in a park that's right outside my college

Student's dorm ( I don't know why the snow is colored)

Entrance to my college

"Bohuslav college for the Humanities"

Student's New Years tree

They decorated the school!

And the windows!

The English department:

My desk! I have a desk!

The lady in the gray shirt and dark short hair to the left of the picture is my counterpart Ludmyla. 

The sports students had a little festival last week that they invited me to! They gave out certificates to those students that did exceptionally well. Between every certificate presentation they had a performance by each of the sports clubs as well as some singers which I'm not sure has anything to do with sports but one of them sang the crap out of a Beyonce song. I'm beginning to think that all Ukrainians can sing because this isn't the first time that I've been to something official and there was seemingly random singing going on that was more than spectacular, if not out of place.

Sports celebration

The director of the college

soccer club

dance team (and I WILL find out where the Victoria's secret is...I will)

Cheer leaders

Wrestling 

singer

the group 

My apartment:

my xmas tree <3 td="">

my living room/workout room

couch that pulls out into a bed (bed number one that can sleep two)

my bedroom (the big bed is actually two single beds pushed together. The fourth bed is pushed up against the window)

my adorable tub!

my toilet closet

kitchen looking out to my enclosed balcony where I hang my clothes to dry

Kudos to anyone who can guess what I was watching :)

my entryway 

I heart my apartment!

Swearing in ceremony! That was exciting. We left Kozelets early in the morning and arrived in Kyiv around 10am. We had two days of PEPFAR (HIV/AIDS awareness) training as well as presentations from working partners with the Peace Corps. We were scheduled to go to the embassy on the last day to do the actual swearing in but due to the protests happening (and still happening) our country director decided to swear us in right then and there in the hotel. Surprise! He decided to do this in case we weren't able to make it to the embassy the next day but we were able to make it so we swore in twice. I was horribly disappointed that the embassy didn't have a Starbucks in it. I think all embassy workers would agree that Starbucks should be a must in all US embassies around the world. 

Training director, Irena Krupska 

Jake, busting out the Ukrainian national anthem like a badass

Singing/playing the American National Anthem

Out patient and god sent LCF's who we wouldn't have made it through training without

Natasha!

Second swearing in

Ludmyla and I

Surprise swearing in

Ludmyla, Doug (country director), me

Well, tonight I am going to a concert that one of the students is playing in. Tomorrow is Monday and thus will begin another week of trying to find stuff to keep me busy! ;) 

If any of you want my mailing address, just FB message me and I'll send it to you :) 

Oh, and it was mine and Mike's 6th month anniversary yesterday! Here's to surviving the rest of my service and a wonderful life together. Love you!

-Jamie

Luck o' the...Russians? Hmm, yes quite.

It's been a long time since I've blogged. I originally wanted this to solely be a travel blog, hence why I haven't posted nothin' in a while. No travel, no post and my life has been pretty void of traveling. However, I have had various requests throughout the year to start this thing back up, despite my current stationary lifestyle. I informed them that if I started back up I wouldn't be posting about anything much interesting, just my life happenings and crazy rants. Apparently that's good enough though. I considered it all year long. Since I have been finishing my last couple of terms for my BA I haven't had much time to think about it, but now that i'm practically  done with my degree I started to consider it harder and now here I am. So here I go. Post one after a long hiatus.


I have noticed throughout the years that I have some of the most ridiculous good luck. However, before that good luck comes a'knockin' things always seem to plummet down a spiraling tunnel of shit for a couple minutes before taking a sharp turn for the best.  


I graduated a couple weekends ago and it felt great. After four years I finally had my degree and I was going to start grad school in the fall (that's right, they accepted my sorry ass into the MA TESOL program, yahoo!).
I had two summer jobs lined up and ready to go.
After a year of "it's your's! ...oh wait just kidding we have no funding...Gotcha! You still have it!", my graduate tuition is going to be paid for by the department I currently work for as part of a graduate assistant program.
I was going to travel to a part of the US I have been wanting to go to forever (although since the East coast seems to be having a bit of trouble with heat i'm a little glad I didn't go).
Life was looking great.
Until I had  4 credits sneak up on me out of nowhere that need to be completed in order to receive my BA. That's right, I made my family sit for 3 + hours watching as 6000+ students they didn't know walk up and receive their empty diploma case for nothing.
DESPITE having two advisers in my department go over my DARS report (my university's system for tallying up credit requirements) and telling me I was on the right track. I guess there was some sort of miss-communication or something because I am for sure 4 credits behind and there ain't no way around it. It's an accreditation issue for the university; all undergrads needs a minimum of 180 credits to graduate and I've got 176. Le sigh. Thankfully all my specific degree requirements have been taken care of so I just need four credits of anything, upper or lower division.  


So, I panicked and scrambled to get into a low level online course (I'll be damned if I'll let this get in the way of my summer vacation!). I'm taking a 100 level women's studies course online. So far it's been easy breezy and i'm not too worried about it as far as school work/effort goes. I am pissed that the university decided it needs an extra 250 dollars for "online class fees", totaling my tuition this term to over 800. All paid out of my pocket (and some of my mom and step dad's pocket--thanks guys!). Oh well, life shall go on.


But like I said, life plummets before taking an unexpected turn. Here's some more examples


I had applied for a teaching job in Chile once I found out that I wasn't going to have the funding I thought I would for grad school. I had a really good interview, the contract the lady drew up  for me was a amazing, and I truly thought that I was going to have to learn Spanish over the summer. Unfortunately the owner of the school did not have the projected enrollment she thought she would so I didn't get the job. However, around that same time I found out that I had the graduate assistant position. Plummet and turn.


Another example, I was told back in November by a dear co-worker of mine that student workers were not allowed to work over 1039 hours in the fiscal year (which runs from June to July for us), otherwise we would have to resign because the university would have to pay back benefits. I panicked and tallied up my total hours for the year so far and I was already at 600. I doubled checked with our lady who deals with HR and she confirmed it. So since November I have been working a measly 14 hours per week, BARELY getting by with 500 dollar pay checks PER MONTH (shit shit shitty shit shit). Luckily I had financial aid otherwise I wouldn't have made it. HOWEVER, I found out a couple days ago that there was a miss-communication (this seems like a pattern with my uni). Turns out my dear co-worker was not considered a student worker but rather was under some other category that rendered her unable to work over the 1039. Student workers, however are not eligible for benefits no matter what and can therefore work up to 130 hours per pay period. I've been living poor for NO REASON. I have since then been racking up the hours like mad. A plummet with a slight turn (if I had been working 130/month hours for the past year I wouldn't have batted an eye at the amount I have to pay for my summer class).


I'm still going to Japan in August though! I'm planning on mostly staying in Tokyo, but hopefully going to Shizuoka to see an awesome friend as well. I am also going to try and drive over to Montana's Glacier National Park to do something camping and climbing and visiting my most awesome roommate Jenn. 
We'll see though. That's one hell of a drive from here and I wasn't the best pilot last year when I did it with friends. 


Today is fourth of July so I feel like I should end this with something patriotic so here ya go 

couldn't have said it better myself!

Happy fourth everyone and expect more posts in the future!

-J

Too much structure can be too much

so um, my camera is broken so there won't be
any pictures that I've taken shown for
a while.....

I have been battling over skype with Citi Bank Japan these past couple days to try and figure out how to set up a transfer from my account to my host families account (JASSO - the scholarship I was getting while over there-- ended up paying out March's portion even though I 1. didn't sign for it and 2. am no longer there. But now I can pay back my host family so I'm not really complaining).

After going through all the menu options in both Japanese and English until I hear the one that sounds remotely like the problem I am having:

Today our computerized phone receptionist will be
played by Lady Gaga

Generic computer phone women's voice: "please enter your account number"

Me: grumbles while tears through bag to find card; enters number.

Woman's voice: "now enter your telephone pin number"

Me: "my what?"

Woman's voice: "please enter your telephone pin number"

Me: enters pin number

Woman's voice: "we're sorry, that number you've entered is incorrect. Please enter your telephone pin number"

Me: "stupid computerized piece of..." enters number in again.

Woman's voice: "We're sorry, that number you've..."

Me: hangs up.

I called back and did it all over again, entering what I thought was my PIN number but turned out to be the wrong pin number and I was transfered to a human.

I get talking with this guy (who's English is so-so but I can manage). He tells me that in order to transfer the money I have to apply for something called a "one time pin". What does it take to do that?

Citi bank man: "I'm going to transfer you back to the computer system where you'll have to enter in your telephone pin number".

OH I'LL GIVE YOU A PIN NUMBER!!!!!
(me played by Beyonce)

Me: "but wait! I've already tri..." Too late, i'm transfered and the woman is back demanding my number.

I hang up and call back.

I get someone different. We go through the explanations and just before he's about the switch me to computer woman from hell I tell him that I don't know what my "telephone pin" is.

Citi Bank man: "oh well, if you've signed up for banking online then you should know it".

Me: "looks like I forgot it".

Citi Bank Man: " you should have gotten it in the mail on a little post card when you first opened your account".

Me: "yeah that's gone".

Citi Bank Man: "oh..."

Me: "Is there any way you can just look me up in your system and go from there"

Citi Bank Man: "no, we need that PIN number, we can't look up anything without it".

Which is complete BS because I called them a couple weeks ago about closing down the account and the guy just looked me up with my name and date of birth. But this man could not be convinced otherwise.

Solution?

He told me to download this registration form and send it in by mail then they'll manually register the account that I want to transfer to. Should take about forever to complete.

I understand that companies have certain laid out ways of processing things, but sometimes you got to break the rules a little bit. Just sometimes. Why couldn't they just look me up with name and my account number? Who knows.

Thank you for calling Citi Bank, have a nice day.

Jerks.


--In other news--

I've been working my butt off lately (not complaining seeing as how I'll be able to pay my rent and car insurance on time~). In addition to my current job at OIA (office of international affairs) I have picked up a student to tutor in English! The Middle Eastern Studies advisor heard that teaching English was kind of my thing and hunted me down and introduced me to a student from Qatar who is having some difficulties with his English studies. Very nice guy and eager to learn, but at the very most beginning level right now.

I don't know this for a fact but I don't think that they require you to learn English in the Middle Eastern countries. Most the students from the Middle Eastern countries are all in the Intensive English Language Program (and a good portion of them fail their classes on a regular basis for more reasons than just not being able to understand what's going on). My new student has been here since winter term this year and is still mastering his ABC's (but he's moving through them like a trooper!). I helped him with his English HW and could tell that he gets it, it's just being able to remember things without needing something to prompt him.
I charge him $10/hr and we're scheduled to meet twice a week (although he's very relaxed about time and was at first saying "oh, whenever you're free is fine". To which I was like "no, I need structure, when are you free"?). Canaan (the middle eastern advisor) said that he'd be shooting more students my way in the future so. bring on the tutoring~

$10/hr is less than I was charging in Japan but the way people think about money over here is way different than in Japan. If I had been asking for 1000 yen/hr over there then I wouldn't have gotten any students because they all would have been wondering why I was so cheap! Whereas here, if I had gone above $12 no one would even consider me! So why did I go with 10? Because I don't have any fancy qualifications other than what I can tell them I've done in Japan and that i'm a Linguistics student. Whereas in Japan all I had to be was a native speaker and I was in! Funny how that works out.

Oh and one interesting linguistics thing that I found out from my first lesson: Arabic doesn't distinguish between "p" and "b" sounds. "put" and "but" sounded the same to him. IT'S INTERESTING TO ME.

For those of you who don't know where
Qatar is; here you go. 

PEACE OUTSIDE
Jamie