Another photo from our trip to Lviv

Trip to Lviv

If anyone is making plans to come for a visit, we will have to include Lviv on the itinerary. We joined 36 ten year olds and 2 teachers, from the school Beth will be working at, for a 2 day excursion. On the way, we visited 2 castles, saw some fascinating art and artifacts, and listened to some amazing history. Okay, the last part is a little bit of a stretch since the tours were all in Ukrainian, but nonetheless, it was very cool. Our language is starting to show signs of life, though it's mind-boggling how hard it is sometimes to speak simple sentences. We keep telling ourselves it's barely been 3 months.
Western Ukraine has some incredible landscapes and scenery. There are castles and unique places scattered in nearly every region. Ukraine has been independent for almost 15 years now, yet for the last 600-800 years the country was ruled by different countries. And so, Ukrainian culture and language basically existed even though there was no real country. There are influences from Polish, Romanian, Austrian, Hungarian, Slovak, Russian cultures all throughout the country. In the west however, these influences run even deeper, except from Russia, and there is a greater influence of the church in the lives of the people. Lviv is no exception. The city looks more like old Europe than Kiev. In one day we visited 4 churches in the center of the city and could have seen about 12 others, if we had had the time. We hope to find time to get back to Lviv. More time is needed to see this magical city that was once the capital of Western Ukraine.
This week was the end of the year for the students in Zalishchyky. We may have some trouble finding kids to work with as most go and have rest in Crimea, the Black Sea, or in the Carpathians. We plan to work at a summer camp located near the city, where children from the region attend weekly and bi-weekly camps. Another goal of ours is to increase the attendance at an English club that one of our friends started. A second goal is to establish a club to help kids improve business, entrepreneur, and computer skills. It will take us some time to figure out exactly what the students in town may need from us in the next 2 years. We would like to establish programs that are sustainable and will last beyond our time as volunteers.
We hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer

...3 months later!

It has been sometime, but yes, we are still alive! For the last 3 months we were living and training in Rzhishchiv, a town south of Kyiv on the Dniper River. Each day was filled with Ukrainian language classes in our teacher's living room, attempts at cooking various lunches from borsch to spicy pasta, technical and project training with our facilitator, and late night dinners with our fabulous first host parents. Two to three times a week we co-taught healthy lifestyles or civics at a local school. At the end of our training we helped plan and facilitate a Family Day - a day of planting trees, sports, dance, art, and at picnic to end a healthy day. We enjoyed the environment, learned more than we can imagine, and fell in love with the people.
After three months of intensive training we were sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers on May 25, 2006. In total there were 62 of us, from 22 to early 60's. On Friday we left Kyiv with our coordinators (each PCV has a Ukrainian coordinator to help facilitate projects and work) for our +13 hour train ride to Zalishchyky. By 8 am on Saturday we were settling in to our new host home. For the next two years we will be living and working in Zalishchyky, which is located in the far south of the Ternopil Region in western Ukraine. Scott will be working at Zalishchyky Secondary School #1 named after O. Makovey and Beth will be working at Zalishchyky State Gymnasium. We will be teaching at the schools and working on projects with other organizations in town, including at local orphanage/boarding school.
The city/village is very old and historic, as most places are in Europe. It is over 600 years old and is essentially a peninsula as the Dneister River winds around 3 sides. Across the river is a different region of Ukraine and hosts mountains that surround the city. It is extremely beautiful and we will have lots of pictures to share.