Network much?

I just returned from a very productive weekend in Kiev. I headed down there on Friday morning. I took the 5am train from Ktop to Kiev so I could get there by 730amish to meet up with some fellow volunteers. We had to show up at the conference by 930am. I walked to the train station from my apartment at 445am in the morning. I wasn't sure at the time if that was a good idea. It was pitch black outside but surprisingly warm. Fortunately, there were other people out. Not many but enough. Someone was actually walking behind me the whole time to the train station. It is about a 25 min walk to the train from me. It just doesn't make sense to pay 20 UAH to go to the train station when it is so close but this is one of the cardinal rules in Peace Corps safety...DON'T WALK ALONE IN THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING! I don't think it is put that way exactly but something like it. Either way I broke the rules. I will break them again on Saturday when I walk to the train station again to go to Kiev. I will be in Kiev just about every weekend for the next few weekends. I am in a bunch of working groups. I am trying to be involved in a lot of things. I want to work on projects and be involved in everything I can. I can bring a lot of things here I think.

So the conference took place at the Hotel Kiev Rus in Kiev. Very nice hotel. We met some people from different organizations in the Lugansk and Lviv oblasts. I met some people from EEF as well. The conference was very beneficial. The project that they did was very successful and right up my ally. It is all the things that I want to do here in my city. (for example, community centers, education for the blind, traffic signals for the blind, training people on how to work with people with specials needs, etc) And the woman who got me in touch with the people that put this conference on her director invited us to come to her organization and talk more about our needs in our communities. FANTASTIC! This could mean that we have an "IN" into these organizations in Ukraine or close by that can help us put together a project for our communities. Or atleast be a contact so we know someone in the organization. Anyway all in all it was a great conference.

On Saturday I attended the GAD meeting. This is a working group put on by other Peace Corps volunteers. In this group we discuss things like gender and development, counter trafficking, LGBT issues, Womens rights, etc. It is a great group of people who are excited about what they are doing and they are very motivated to do it. I joined mainly for the counter trafficking subcommittee. One of the reasons for joining Peace Corps was to do something with human trafficking and being in Ukraine is a sign that I should do something. Even more so that they have a working group geared towards this issue. We got to meet a woman from IOM who works in the counter trafficking department. So it was a great weekend for networking! It is very important to have contacts in this country.

Back to KTOP! Had my first real English lesson and I realized that I was right. It is really difficult to teach English to someone who knows nothing and I couldn't imagine doing it with more than one person at a time! So I am ixnaying (sp?) the beginner English clubs. Only advanced welcome!! Maybe next year...right now too much!