...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.