Parents come to town.

My parents visited last week. It was kind of weird to have them in this country. I met them at the airport on Saturday afternoon. I got there early and they got in late. I wanted to make sure I was there and settled. And I like to watch people come through the doors. I did the same thing with Allison. I waited there for them to see them walking through. Our airport is small so it doesn't take too much time to exit after the plane lands. I was so happy to see them. It is funny, so much time has gone by but it felt like no time passed at all.

We leave the airport and catch one of the many buses that comes and goes to the airport from the train station. It is only 25 UAH. A cab costs 200 UAH. The only problem is you have to wait for the bus to fill up before it leaves but it usually only takes a little while. So many people use the bus to go back and forth. So it took about 20 minutes and we were off.

When we got to the train station we had to take a metro to the hostel where we were staying. Now I don't want to spoil the ending of this story but try to remember that my parents are in their 60s, my dad has had many surgeries and my mother has a heart condition. I certainly didn't remember all of that so maybe you will. I treated my parents like they were just other volunteers or friends that were my age. I had them taking buses, riding metros and sleeping in hostels. What was I thinking?

Anyway, we get to the train station and then get on the metro. Now my mom has had about enough walking. Not to mention the BAGS! Well yes we took the bags up and down steps and escalators. The few that exist in Ukraine. My father gets on the metro and before we have time to get settled the train takes off. Well I am familiar with the way the subways are in Kiev so I strategically place myself accordingly in the train meanwhile my mom and dad are just standing there as if they were not in a moving apparatus. We take off and my father damn near flies to the other end of the train car. He falls onto the man sitting down and my mother falls on him. The bags go everywhere and all I can do is laugh. My dad takes it like a champ and I am still laughing. People all around are looking at us and probably thinking I am an idiot for bringing not only my parents who have no business on a subway but also BAGS.

So then we get to Khreshatick which is about 3 stops on the metro. Now we head up the escalator to the street. Now we are in Independence Square. The main attraction in all of Kiev. The Times Square of Ukraine. We are about 8 city blocks from our hostel. My parents are walking up the street with their BAGS. Unfortunately, there is a lot going on in the center and we can't walk on the road so we have to go underground. We have to use the STAIRS. My parents want to kill me and I am pretty sure if we walked any slower we would be going backwards.

We get to the hostel and I assure them that there is an elevator. We've literally done planes, trains and automobiles and they are just DONE. We get there and we find the elevator. It is big enough for one person. Maybe two! I shove my parents in send them to the WRONG floor and then send up the bags. When I figure out the right floor I send them up again and then the bags.

We get to the hostel and we check in to the private room. There are many volunteers around. My parents are happy they are not walking anymore. They put their things down and then we decide we are hungry and we go to eat. I take them next door to the pizza place. They enjoy this. On our way back I decide to grab some groceries for later and for tomorrow morning so we can just relax. My mom comes with me but my dad wants to head back to the hostel. Halfway there my mom has to use the bathroom and I tried to send her home because in Ukraine it is very difficult to find public restrooms. (however for the record I did very well with finding them while my parents were in town - in fact I had no idea Ukraine had so many public toilets) So I hurry up with the groceries and get my mom back to the hostel where my dad is waiting. I come to find out later he almost didn't make it back because he got lost. What a day it was! We slapped in a DVD at the old hostel and then went to bed. My mom of course couldn't wait. She conked out before the movie was in the DVD player.

We didn't do much the rest of the week. I took them to see my host family in Chernigiv on Sunday. Monday we went back to my site. My mom came to my tutors house and had a nice visit. We had some tea and talked to my tutor and her husband. Well I talked and translated for my mom. My dad met my counterpart. I showed them my bazaar and where I buy food everyday. They slept on the awful divan that I sleep on every night. We cooked in my tiny little kitchen. They showered in my interesting looking bathroom and my sit down shower only tub. They experienced the sardine can marshrutka during rush hour. They ate Ukrainian food and met Ukrainian people. But most importantly they spent some time with their daughter.

The End!

Not just another day in the neighborhood...

Today is a day I haven't had in quite some time. Just when you think you have it all figured out or that you are done learning it's either Peace Corps, Ukraine or something else that reminds you that you don't! I started the day in a mood. In fact, the last three days I have been moody. I don't like to feel that way so I know exactly when it comes and goes. I mean you can't be happy all the time, right? Maybe you can and I missed that seminar. Either way the "mood" has settled back in. It has rained for the last three days as well so the weather and I "got the memo"! I worked out this morning and went to my office. My intention was to be productive and get some things done and that never actually happens the way you plan. I checked some emails and caught up with a few friends online and then found some interesting organizations in Kiev by research which was quite a surprise. I met with my Ukrainian friend who helped me with my Russian homework and then we left together. I was intending on paying my cable bill and buying some train tickets for my parents arrival into Kiev this weekend. But when I was at the cable company I realized I didn't have my wallet so I guess I am not paying my bill today...haha joke is on you. So I walk the rest of the way home because I have no money so bus is not an option. I get home and there is my wallet...YES! Saved by that bell. This is another reason why I try not to be moody because when you are in a bad mood sending out all of those bad vibes into the universe she comes back to bite you in the ass! So I just knew that my wallet missing was a reminder to snap out of it!!

So I decide that even though it is rainy and cold and I am finally home in my warm apartment and my wallet is safe that I should go back out and buy some train tickets. You never know if they will sell out so the sooner the better. Now going to the train station is an excursion. You never know how long you will be there, what events you might witness and how much money you will spend! Now another thing I have learned is if you ever go anywhere with me and there is a "line" involved you should get in the opposite one as me. I have a tendency to get in the wrong line each and everytime. In particular the line I was in today I was only one person behind when this woman comes over and tells me she was behind the girl in front of me but because she can't stand up in the line she was sitting down until it was her turn. Now you must know that "lines" in Ukraine are something special and there is always a story. So I let her go and I am thinking that she will be a few minutes. 25 minutes later she is still trying to get tickets to this city in Ukraine. I tried not to pay attention in the beginning of the conversation and now I was just irritated. Then another guy comes over and asks if he can go in front of me and ask a question....You should have seen my face. And if anyone knows me when I am irritated you want to stay away. Now people don't talk down to men in this country and I was like look dude if you want to get in front of me you better make it fast!

I decided after 25 minutes that I was going to try another line. 30 people had gone through the train station in the time that I stood behind this woman. So I changed lines and got taken care of faster. Even the man who told me he would be "fast" wasn't that fast. And he waited all that time behind that woman to ask a question? I mean really!

This place is so interesting sometimes. The funny thing about this is that it is not anything abnormal.  This shit happens every single day to someone. Whether it is a PCV or a Ukrainian. No different than what you go through in the USA or somewhere else in the world. It just so happens to get on my nerves today! And it was just a friendly reminder that I don't have it all figured out. Keeping me on my toes. It just made me look at things. I analyzed again my PC service and why things like this can be so challenging. I realize that everyday is challenging and that just getting through the days and their ridiculous turn of events is probably what keeps us going. I mean we like this stuff or we wouldn't do it. I don't think we (I) ever realized what kinds of things would be challenging. Everyday something reminds me that I don't have a damn clue. Somehow that is ok. I kind of like it being ok. It wasn't ok in my old life. Not sure what the difference is or if there is one. It might have just been me thinking I needed to know everything.

Last week I had a meeting with the disabled children's center in my town. I am thinking that my center needs help trying to figure out what to do with the kids when they come and how to figure out how to get the kids to come there. So I put together some ideas for these things and come in ready to present it to the staff and the kids parents. Meanwhile...I was there for ideas on "how to get money"! Should have known. Apparently, my center is equipped with all kinds of things and ideas on how to entertain children. I am not sure they care if more kids come to the center. I don't know what they want and I leave the meeting slightly defeated. There was some good that came of it. They did have their first round table discussion that included parents which was impressive. That was my idea! And they are interested in looking into volunteers for all of these awesome ideas they have. We will see how this evolves. I was super excited about it and I think I can find my mojo again. I was just defeated in the meeting. I was trying to get them to understand their wants and needs and the difference and think about how they can get what they need on their own. They just kept coming back to the idea of getting computers and they want me to find the money. I can't just do that and I need to figure out to make them understand this.

I think I had high hopes and expectations again this year. My last few months at site and I am trying to make an impact that I will be proud of. I want to have this BAM project happen and be remembered forever. I don't think that is how it works.

Accomplishments...

Today is the day after I ran my first marathon. It is funny how you think you might never do something and you end up doing it. I didn't even like running before I moved to Ukraine. I loved working out but I was more of a spinner. But coming here and not having the gym situation I was used to forced me to do different kinds of cardio exercising. So I tried running. People who run always rave about it. They say it is the best time of the day when they can just put all their problems aside and run for a while. And it is a great workout. Well I tried it sometime last year I started. I started off slow. Just running here and there. I even ran in the winter time with my yak tracks and all. I ran in the snow even snow that hadn't been broken in. I made my own footsteps in the snow. I think about it now and I can't believe I had that motivation.

Then Spring came and I was all of a sudden training for a 5k relay with some PCVs and then a 10k in Prague with more PCVs. After the relay marathon in Prague my eyes got big! All of a sudden I wanted to travel the world doing marathons. The energy there was so awesome. I thought I would do a half marathon in Switzerland or something in the fall. However, summer came and I spent a lot of time away from site but still had the motivation to get up in the morning where ever I was and run a few. Then before I knew it I was running for 2 hours without skipping a beat. Then I decided to test my luck with a 20 mile run and when I could do that I signed up for the Kiev Marathon.

It wasn't until about 3 weeks ago that I started to lose motivation to run. Probably because work had started again and I all of a sudden had a lot to do again. Not that I didn't work over the summer but it was easier. It was structured. I knew what I was doing and what I had to do so I did it. Camps are easy that way! You show up and have fun with kids! Now I am back to site and stressing about coming up with projects and that made it difficult to find joy in getting up to run. I knew that I had so much to do and that was weighing on my brain. So running for 2 hours was starting to look like a waste of time. So my training fell off a bit. But in the end I did it. I ran 42.195km yesterday in 4 hours and 48 minutes. I was shooting for a lower number but I am just happy to have finished under 5 hours. With minimal training and my first marathon I will take it! It was pretty grueling. It was painful around 30km. I had to mentally fix myself to keep running. I really wanted to just stop. But I didn't.

There were quite a few PCVs there cheering us on the whole time. I ran with Tammela Platt and another one of our PCV friends Nikita. We ran the whole time together until the end and we broke up according to our own paces. It was a great feeling coming across that finish line. You feel like you can do anything after that. I was high off the adrenalin for a few hours after that! I had to take a 3 hour train ride home though which wasn't exciting but such is life in the PC. I slept for about an hour on the train. I hadn't eaten anything with substance all day. I snacked on bananas, apples, bread and lots of water as we were running. But I just didn't feel like eating. I didn't pee for 6 hours. That is impressive!

Today I rested. And by rested I mean I worked my butt off all day. I stayed in my house but I was majorly productive. I cleaned up the water mess in my kitchen. My electricity went out while I was away and the freezer thawed out all over my kitchen floor. I was trying to figure out how I was going to thaw out that freezer and well there you have it...problem solved! I mopped my floors, cleaned out my refrigerator and did some laundry. I read some grants and answered some emails. And finally I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday...belated but none the less! And now I am catching up on my blog.

That is it for today! 

Another busy year...

So summer has certainly ended the weather outside tells me so. The last two weeks I spent at site were nothing like I thought they might be. I spent time getting back into the swing of things at work and in my personal life. I had many dates with friends, meetings with colleagues and lessons with my tutor. I have met new friends and I have new ideas for the next 9 months so some time for planning has ensued. I didn't account for the holidays. Silly me! The day of Konotop was quite fun. Very much like it was last year. I spent 7 hours in the center walking around and checking things out, listening to the music played at the concert, dancing at the disco, watching the dancers compete and then the finale of fireworks! I didn't stay for them last year and I can't remember why but they were awesome. Reminded me of my days at Ocean City, MD at the beach for July 4th weekend. Didn't think they had it in em! Apparently, Ukraine knows how to put a party on.

Our city was visited by Karaoke of Maidan a few weekends ago as well which brought out many people in our town. This is a big deal for Ktop! This organization you will usually find in Kiev looking for the next singer so to have them in Konotop is a big deal. The city was overly packed that day and you couldn't even get close enough to what was going on in the center. Whoever it was that won did a mini concert for us at city day. It was pretty cool!

Today is not only the 10 years anniversary of 9/11 but two of my very good friends are having a birthday today. Lyuda, my Ukrainian friend in Konotop, and Tricia my old friend from New York. Today I will be celebrating Lyuda's birthday with her. We are going to have a picnic and then I am not sure what will follow. You never know but today is Sunday so I will need to take it easy. Not only am I training for a marathon but I have to work tomorrow!

Next weekend should be a blast. Many PCVs will be in Kiev for the marathon and the many working group meetings that are taking place in the office so there will be people everywhere. I am looking forward to finishing this race!

I have a ton of good ideas for this year. I just finished an awesome meeting with my Special Needs Working Group.We are trying to put together a training conference for professionals in Ukraine that work with people with disabilities for next spring/summer. This is going to be a great project to work on and one I can't wait to see completed. I am working with two organizations in the states to help make this happen so I feel really good about it. Me and my site mate are working on a HIV/AIDS training as well for Konotop. We want to train the professionals here on new information and how to teach it to our city. We want to put on a concert in early spring/summer right here in Konotop. The ideas and thoughts have been flowing and I am so excited about the many different things we can do with this project. This may be all that I can muster for the next 9 months but if I can pull both of these off this will be exactly what I wanted to do with my service and I can go home happy!

One crazy summer...

It is Tuesday, August 23rd. Tomorrow is Ukraine's Independence Day. I just returned from a month of being on the road. I have been traveling for months now. I left back in May and have only actually been in my apartment a collective 9 days since May 26th. This has been the best summer of my life. I don't remember when the last time was that I could wake up anywhere and do anything and not have to be somewhere. Except of course, on a train or bus that was taking me to another place. Unfortunately, this wasn't an everyday thing. I worked 4 camps this summer and attended the Russian language refresher so I certainly worked a lot for a wondering PCV but it sure beats the 8am - 6pm shifts at the old hedge fund in my former life!

I've been working what seems like my whole life. I've never taken a summer off to lifeguard or be a camp counselor. I always had to have the high paying bank job. Well I've killed a few birds with one stone this year. I have now been a camp counselor...several times. I've directed a few too. Even did some lifeguarding. I wasn't sitting a top a lifeguard stand at the white sandy beaches of Miami Beach or anything I had to settle for the rocky, dirty make shift sand of the river bank or the sea but none the less!

I started out this summer working camps and making my way around the west of Ukraine. I think I wrote about this already. Spent some time in Russia too! Over the last month I spent a week at Russian language refresher then made my way to the parts of the west I haven't seen with my pals Stephanie and Hailey. We started off in Shotsk, Ukraine. This is my friend Jay's site. Up in the most Northwest oblast. We headed out to a lake resort near there to spend the weekend with a few other 38ers. It rained more or less the whole time but it was a pretty little resort town and a gem for Ukraine. We made the best of it. We played some football, walked around and ate, drank, danced and when the sun did come out for a few hours we did a little sun bathing.

Next we headed to Lviv. I've been there a dozen times but didn't see the city the way we did this time. We climbed the clock tower, went to the huge cemetery and actually went inside the opera house. I stayed at a different hostel and had some decent sushi! Hailey's boyfriend met up with us and we hung out with the guys too. They pretty much crept up behind us most of the way. They are balls of fun so it was all good!

Then we hopped on a bus to Berejani. This town is about 3 hours Southeast of Lviv in Ternopil oblast. A friend of ours just got moved there and we were headed to check him out. His town is quaint. We met some Germans while we were there that were working a farm outside of the city. That happens a lot in Ukraine. They were nice and spoke great English. We hung out, watched movies, checked out the Polish memorial that overlooks the valley and made some good food. Just an old fashioned PCV hang out.

After two days there we got back on a bus to Ivano Frankivsk. Been there already too but again did things a little different. We hung out with the volunteer that lives there and he showed us a few new things like the church and a few memorials and a restaurant that overlooks the whole city. We only had a few hours there and we were off to the next town...Kolomia.

We went to Kolomia to climb Mt. Hoverla which was the highlight of the trip. We stayed at a PCVs house in the city. This was a really cute town as well. Man PCVs have it good in the west!!! We rented a van that took about 8 of us to the mountain about 2 hours away. We got up early and headed there straight away. We took the somewhat easier route to climb this mountain that is really only 2000km high but boy it was tough. It was a whole lot steeper than I was expecting and I never stopped long enough to rest. We started with the group and then me and my friend Abe somehow past the pack and we were headed to the top just him and I. He was my motivation to keep going because without any kind of steps we were almost rock climbing the whole way. It was a great work out though and it only took us 1 1/2 hours to reach the top. We got there about a 1/2 hour before everyone else. We had some lunch and drank a lot of water and then headed back down. It was a beautiful day. It was not too hot but sunny and no clouds in the sky. It was certainly hot climbing but once at the top after you cooled down it was quite chilly. The scenery was magnificent! On the way down Abe and I thought it was a good idea to run most of the way. It only took us an hour. My quads still haven't forgiven me for that but at least they don't hurt anymore!

After that it was time to go our separate ways. I took a train out to Kiev from Chernivtsi another town I had already been to and then met up with Amanda there to head to Krivoy Rog. That is my cluster mates site. We worked a camp together and I went down early so that I could see her city before heading to the camp and also to help her with whatever pre camp stuff she needed to do. All the volunteers trickled in over the next few days and then we were off to camp.

Camp was a sweet time. We had all University students so everyone was in their 20s. It was weird working a camp with a bunch of adults. You can't really tell them what to do perse. They all listened and they were respectful but after working with young teenagers it is quite different. I even found a group of runners. They did run 2 hours with me but they did a pretty good job. They are running the 10k in Kiev on the same day that I am running the marathon so it was good to have some people to run with in the morning.

The camp was a different kind of camp. Chris was implementing a new idea of role playing and he used ancient Greece as the theme. They had to vote and make decisions and try to save their government and their city. It was pretty cool. I was working the administrative side of the camp and didn't really get a chance to understand fully what was going on but the kids really enjoyed and they were really into it. We even had a toga party!

The last few days I spent in Crimea. The southern most oblast in Ukraine. This is where locals and even out of towners go for vacation. The Black Sea! We camped on a beach called Fox Bay which is a nude beach actually. It was quite the hippy scene. I felt like I was at woodstock only not that crazy. I never camped on a nude beach before. It was a lot of fun though and the scenery around us was beautiful. I woke up to the sun rising every morning right in front of our tent over the sea. Mountains surrounded us so we were in a little cove.

Now I am back in Konotop. I can't believe how fast the summer flew by. As much as I enjoyed it there were a lot of times I thought about the things I need to accomplish in these last 10 months and it has been pretty stressful. I have also been giving my after life a lot of thought (after PC). I have no idea what I want to do after this. It is hard to imagine sitting in an office from 8am to 6pm after an experience like this. I have even found myself considering an extension here in Ukraine. I am sure you (my family and friends) are thinking you better come home but there are things I want to do here and I want to know that I have done them before I can say good bye. It really is true that you don't really have that much time here. Two years is not that long. It is just enough to find your happy place and then you have to leave again. When you finally make those bonds and finish those projects or find new ones that you wanted from the beginning you have to leave. I never thought I would want to stay. It is funny how life works out sometimes.

Camp Extravaganza

I just returned from almost 3 weeks away at camps...again. The first camp of this month started on July 11th and ran until July 15th. This camp, Camp SLAM, I directed and fundraised for so it was very special to me. It took place in Konstantinovka a city in Donetsk Oblast in the East of Ukraine. We have a blog which says it all.. http://campslam.blogspot.com/ check it out! The camp was a great success. Just like anything else there were some schedule issues in the beginning and our Ukrainian counterparts didn't necessarily agree with all the content of our lesson plans so we made some changes there but all in all it was a success. Everyone enjoyed themselves, campers, counselors and our Ukrainian counterparts. We even changed the minds of our Ukrainian counterparts on some things which is nice. At each camp I have worked we always put the kids in groups randomly so they don't hang out with their friends. Initially our counterparts are always against this process but after a few days when they realize that the world won't end because they can't hang with their friends they meet new friends and they have so much fun that they don't want to leave camp. My counterpart actually said to us as we were leaving camp that she understand now why we do that and it is a great method! Success! They will have this camp again next year too which again is Success...sustainable success!

We played a lot of sports. Not enough some of the counselors might say but we introduced a new sport to the kids each day for an hour and then we had them play each other in a volley ball tournament. We had two lessons a day on healthy lifestyles topics, teambuilding activities and night time activities which usually consisted of a talent show based event and of course a disco!

Directing the camp was a lot of fun and I felt right at home in my responsibilities. This is what I like to do. I had an opportunity to teach at this last camp and it made me realize that I don't particularly like that side of the coin. I am much better and happier in the chaos of organizing than trying to get students to listen to me. At Camp Excite I was a teacher and in my group I actually had a student from last year. Her name was Nadia. I can't remember my blog post from last year but my guess would be that I talked about how one of my students had a bad case of ADD and I couldn't get her to stop disrupting class by talking ALL the time. Well I had her again and not much has changed but her English which is AWESOME. And I just found out that she is only 14 and going into the eighth form. That is pretty impressive. She can be a BIG pain in my butt, however, she has come such a long way in some respects since last year and it is truly amazing to see that in her. She also knows that I can't stand that she always disrupts class and promises me that she will try to control it. It is actually pretty hilarious how she just gets up and walks away while you are teaching or turns to her classmate and starts having a conversation as if you are not there. This is why I could not be a teacher! Oy vey. Kudos to the teachers.

The last night and the last day at camp is always special to me. It is the end and you have finally gotten to know the kids and then it is time to leave. Kind of like Peace Corps. You finally have friends and family you really care about and you have to leave. It is always sad to leave the kids and the chaos from the week. Camp Excite was interesting too because we taught lessons on gender, environment and leadership. We did talent shows and discos, chants and sports. My team won the variety show which is like a skit show. Our theme was "riding the train 3rd class to Crimea" and the kids showed all the pain in the butt things that happen on trains and it was so funny!! It is what Americans go through everytime we get on a train so it is funny that the youth here in Ukraine feel the same way. For example, drunkards on the train, the fact that older people don't like the windows open EVEN when it is hot as hell, the people who sell things up and down the aisles on the train and the conductor who constantly asks you if you want tea. It was great and they worked hard to do it. After being in last place all week it was nice to see them win something!

Well...off to language refresher. I haven't been speaking much Russian in the last few months besides travel language so this ought to be interesting. Then I am traveling the west again to conquer the cities I haven't been to and then another camp, and then Crimea for the rest of the summer. To return on Aug 22nd!

Russia

So we just got back from Russia, me, Emily, Rose, John and Kevin. Well Kevin is still there due to return shortly. It was a wonderful week. It started out in Moscow and then we made our way to St. Petersburg. We all went by train from my site in Konotop which is between Kiev and Moscow. We are close enough to the border so we left from here. It was a pretty familiar experience. The trains to Russia are the same that make their way around Ukraine so I have been on them several times. I had an opportunity to go through border control by train when I went to Hungary and this was far better and easier I must say. There were however many more patrol people than last time but apparently they aren't used to seeing 5 American's in one car! But after we advised them we were not bringing in narcotics it was smooth sailing.

We only spent two days in Moscow but that was probably enough. We headed straight for Red Square after dropping our bags at the hostel. We took the metro which looked awfully scary at first glance. It is one big circle with 15 different lines sprouting everywhere. It isn't nearly as complicated as it looks. I am pretty sure Manhattan's metro was scarier for me. But Rose and I did a fine job of getting us where we needed to be the first time around.

Once in Red Square we took some photos of the surroundings (St. Basilics Church, Lenin's tomb and the History Museum). The church was quite candylandesque but very pretty. Apparently, there are many of those churches in Russia. Lenin's tomb was interesting but we couldn't take photos inside. He was laying in a glass case for all to see. I am sure that was not him as he is in perfect condition but he must be in there somewhere.

We walked the streets of Moscow for several hours since the sun shines on Russia for most of the entire day during the summer. There are only really 2 hours of darkness and it is more like a twilight. It was difficult figuring out how to sleep or what to do with yourself when you have sun light for so many hours in the day. Everything is just off. We checked out a bazaar and stayed there for several hours, had some shashlick and looked at old antiques and books. Monday it was off to St. Petersburg.

We walked around the streets here too. Hanging out in coffee shops, checking out bazaars, took a walking tour around the city, saw the Fortress of Peter and Paul and the Great Palace of Peter Hof. I forgot to mention the mall! There is something to be said when PCVs travel they spend quite some time in malls. Checking out stores that they haven't seen since they left America or their last trip somewhere out of Ukraine. There was a dunkin donuts in one mall which I haven't seen since February 2010! We had lunch a few times at subway also a rarity. Before Peace Corps I used to travel and I couldn't wait to try the food of the country but now I travel and I end up eating things that I miss in America. However, most of the countries I have visited since I have been here haven't really had the international cuisine that I would travel half around the world to eat. I love Ukrainian food and after a lot of traveling and eating whatever I can get my hands on I miss grechka and cutlets but I don't want to go to Russia and eat that! Apparently, they have a very similar cuisine.

We spent our last night on a pub crawl because why not! Have to see the bars too. During this crawl we were told that June 23rd was one of the longest days during the white nights and that at 125am the drawbridge would open up and it is a beautiful scene. We were told to take a boat tour in order to see it and I assume you go under it as well but since we were low on funds we decided it would be just as beautiful to see it from the side of the river. So we walked to the Hermitage to see the bridge and it was in fact pretty amazing. There was only twilight at this time so it was pretty light out and the lights on the bridge and around the city were gorgeous. It was also nice to share that moment with some good friends and some strangers we just met at the hostel!

It was a good trip to Russia. It feels as though we never left Ukraine. There are places in Ukraine that take longer to get to than Moscow and St. Pete combined. I am glad I paid the $250 for the VISA there. And for those who joined me thanks for the great memories!