Good People Everywhere

We are back in our Ukrainian city after a month and a half away. During our travels we attended a 5-day Peace Corps Russian language camp, visited with our first host family, went to several “mid-service medical” appointments in Kiev, spent four glorious weeks at home, and most recently enjoyed a Ukrainian vacation at the seaside. Only now do we have the pleasure of reflecting on the richness of our travels and the blessings of so many wonderful people in our lives.

For starters, the day before we were to leave, way back on the last day in June, our local host “mom” (who’s the same age as Peter) made a special trip to our apartment to deliver a package, even though we had spent the previous day together at her dacha. She was annoyed at herself for forgetting to give us this package then. We were touched that her package contained three small gifts, one for each of our children, whom she knew we would be seeing when we got to Seattle.

Our Russian language camp allowed us to reconnect with other Peace Corps volunteers, many of whom we’d not seen since swearing-in, as well as with our lovely language instructor, whose gentle grace and fine instruction were the centerpiece of our initial 12 weeks of intensive language training. We then had a fine overnight visit with our first host family, at which they also gave us gifts to take to our children, as well as a gift to bring to my mother, whom they had never met. We found this again to be very thoughtful. (Is this a Ukrainian custom that we should be aware of?)

Then it was off to Seattle, plus a brief trip to California, for nonstop and wonderful visits with our children, families, and friends. We couldn’t have asked for more. We were relieved and happy to discover that not only had home not changed significantly in sixteen months, but neither had we. We were able to slip right back in to our former life, and are grateful to many friends and family whose help while we’re gone makes that possible.

Our travel back to Ukraine included some excitement at Charles de Gaulle airport – two unattended bags near the gate for our connecting flight necessitated cordoning off the area and exploding the bags. The two explosions were clearly audible by the hundreds of us who were being held back by armed security guards. This delayed our flight and ultimately separated us from two of our bags, which eventually were delivered to the Peace Corps office in Kiev on our third and final day there before we got on the overnight train back to our city.

Less than 24-hours after arriving home, we joined two of Peter’s co-teachers for 6 days at a Black Sea beach town two hours away. We thoroughly enjoyed their delightful company and experienced a real Ukrainian vacation. We enjoyed daily dips in the sea. Peter (as most of you know, not a sun worshipper) did more sun bathing in that week than he’s done in the last ten years. In addition to lots of relaxing visiting – in English – we made a significant dent in our NYT crossword puzzle book.

We’re now catching up at home, surviving the 98-degree weather, and getting ready for the new school year which begins September 1. With one year already under our belts, and most upcoming classes being repeats from last year, we know what to expect and look forward to it.