Blame the Strawberries for everything

So this has been one crazy week! On Sunday, I went into Donetsk (a very large city) to meet the other volunteers in the area at a pot luck dinner that one was hosting... Everything was going great!!! I arrived a bit early to help with the setup and all... and I was really enjoying myself. Well about halfway through dinner at 7:45 I start breaking out into hives and by 8 2/3s of my body is just infested with these hives that look like I have shingles. So I go to the hospital after contacting the PC Med office and have to get an IV and some drugs to stop the reaction. I end up spending the night because It was taking a really long time to work and luckily another volunteer stayed with me. The next day Dr. Sasha arrives at noon and we head back to Kyiv on a 7 hour trip (and we were flying). So I've been in the medical office all week doing tests and monitoring the hives. It wasn't until Thursday that they really started to disappear. SO normally I would head back to home after but I have to take an overnight train to a training that starts Monday morning and the train back to the Novo-E would be overnight. So I'd get home... spend a night... and then hop on a train and what's the point to that! SO I'm in Kiev for the weekend. I've done some great exploring of the city and have enjoyed walking around and seeing all the PCV's. Although I think my host mom thinks that I'm dead and never returning home... It's been quite the week and I'm ready to get back... I thought I would never say this as a Peace Corps volunteer and might shoot myself later for it but... I mean there are only so many times that you can check your email and see who is online! I shouldn't be complaining though. I love Kyiv and it's a great city though It's a bit pricey... Take care folks and don't worry... I received great medical care and I'm cured... We think it had something to do with the strawberries....

I SURVIVED!!!

So camp is over and I have survived. The last week was challenging but also really good too. I planned a day for the kids. I called it the color olympics. We had relays, a scavenger hunt and a drawing contest. It had it's high points and it's low ones too. Some of the games the kids really liked and went really well. However the scavenger hunt left two of the teams a little confused and exhausted. I had planned a game of capture the flag, a personal favorite of mine from the elementary school days, but the translation part was already not going as smoothly as I had hoped with the previous games so I chose to scrap it. Maybe when I go to the camps out west in July with some older students I can give it a try. Also, it was like the hottest day of the camp so by the end of the scavenger hunt the kids were wilting. All in all it was a positive though somewhat frustrating experience for me because I learned what does work and what doesn't here. I had a lot of fun planning it though I was completely exhausted after the day. My Host mom and I get a long great! She loves to show me how to cook with all of the delicious fruits and veggies from her garden and I help her in the picking. Yesterday we watched the Championship Football (Soccer) game in Ukraine... It was between the Kiev Dynamo and our very own local Donetsk Shakhtor (Шахтёр) and our team won!!! It was a great game. They won in the extra minutes at the end from the penalties!!! My host mom is a big fan of the shakhtor and she was very into the game... My Host dad Has been in Donetsk the past two weeks for a recertification class but he's very funny! I'm hoping to go have dinner with some of the volunteers in Donetsk on Sunday. It'll be good to see some other americans and get out of the Novo-E for the day to the big city!!! Take care everybody and just to let you all know that I haven't changed my cell number so feel free to call! Love you all!!!

I'm Rocking the Село!

Hey there faithful readers! so I'm in the Село (pronounced celo- village) now called Novo-E, that's my nickname for it, and I'm totally rocking it! Life is going well. I've settled into my office at the school and have been working at the camp for the little kids for almost 2 weeks now. This means that not only am I physically exhausted from playing soccer for hours on end but I also can not think by the end of it either with the consistant russian overload. Every day when I get home at 2 I take a nap but i think my stamina is building because yesterday and today I haven't needed a nap!!! Little victories I keep telling myself. But all in all I like my site. I'm gald I'm in a small village and not a large city... I'm going to have a much more involved experience and my Russian is going to be great by the time I'm finished. Oh and guess what... I told my director that I was going to piss a letter to my friend. Apparently the verb for to piss and to write are the same word just with an emphasis on different syllables. I couldn't figure out why she was laughing at me because I knew what I was saying.... I just didn't know that the verb to piss was so close to to write. Oh well... I guess I'm just extra talented now because I no longer need a pen to write with. All in all I'm doing well.... It's been warm here but it's not too humid so It's livable. I'm learning to cook all sorts of Ukrainian goodies so when I'm home in December I'll be sure to cook up a storm!!! I love you all and Mom I hope you feel better soon!!!