After a nap in the office I fell asleep at 6:30 on the train. I struggled to stay awake on the bus ride home, my head almost hitting the man next to me as I lulled in and out of sleep. Once home I fell asleep for another three hours and by nine that evening I was ready for bed. I slept until 10 am and now that it's 3:30 I think I need a nap. It could be because I am studying Russian grammar to make myself feel productive. More likely it's that my last good night's sleep was on June 19, the last time I was actually at site.
People tell me I'm special. I worked an unprecedented eight camps this summer. Camps that led me up Ukraine's second highest mountain, camps that took me from western Ukraine all the way to Eastern Ukraine and camps that helped me set the 'cutlet's consumed in two months' record. It was and will be my most productive time in Peace Corps – time when I actually felt like I accomplished something, whether teaching about the biology of HIV/AIDS or how to make friendship bracelets.
My journey started in western Ukraine in a town named Kociv. Scratch that. My journey actually started June 1st with a series of five camps within my oblast. Those ended June 15, and by June2 0th I was off to Survivor Camp. My dad told everyone that I was being dropped off in the middle of nowhere for six weeks and I had to "survive." It drove mom crazy and she repeatedly asked me how long camp actually was and if I'd have basic provisions.
At Survivor Camp we taught about 40 Ukrainian students the basics of camping, cooking over a fire and healthy lifestyles. I was a healthy lifestyles teacher, though I only ended up teaching once. A combination of rain and the camp organizer falling in love with one of the students ensured that the lessons didn't happen regularly. We did climb Pipivan, the second highest mountain in Ukraine. We did walk into town almost daily to prepare meals for 50 people over a camp fire. And we did celebrate the fourth of July and Ivana Kupala. This was actually my favorite camp of the summer, in part because I love the outdoors and western Ukraine, and part because the volunteers I worked with were so great. I'm a survivor.
We arrived at the second camp sweaty and tired. Two hot bus rides for a total of 10 hours plus and hour taxi brought us to Givoron, where Camp Big Bang has been held for the last seven years. Like Survivor Camp, Big Bang is an English Language camp. Big Bang is for younger students – most in high school. Topics like government & civics and volunteerism are taught along side art & culture and music. There were over 120 kids at this camp with 24 volunteers teaching and leading groups. I taught Art & Culture.
Big Bang was more intense than Survivor only in the lack of free time. We got up, we taught, we walked to town, followed by leadership activities and team competitions. Every night ended with a disco and by that time it was 10:30, time for the volunteers to "relax." There was really no time to get away from anyone. Luckily, it was once again an awesome group of volunteers and a highly organized camp. By the time camp ended ten days later or so I was dead tired and ready for a short coma.
No coma for me. I left a day early from Big Bang to catch a train to Slovyansk, where my Peace Corps BFF lives. I arrived to a budget crises and Meg's apartment turned into a calling center. Basically, the grant didn't come in on time because of a screw up, so we were short some 35,000 griven. By making calls to other volunteers whom we could temporarily borrow from, we were able to collect over 20,000 amongst ourselves.
Camp HEAL was an HIV/AIDS and Human Trafficking Education camp. This camp by far was the most educating camp I attended. Students not only left with a higher awareness, but the ability and desire to do something in their communities. It's not often you hear a student say they need to teach their peers about HIV/AIDS before it's too late. That they feel personally responsible to do what they can to stop the epidemic.
I taught Healthy Living and the Biology of HIV/AIDS at camp and I have to admit, I loved teaching biology. It's one item on a growing list of reasons to consider nursing when I get home….eventually…maybe….we'll see. The one problem with the camp was how tired I was by this point. I had been going since June 1st and my last really good night's sleep was probably June 18. None of the beds I had been sleeping in had any support and not only that, besides fitting two people in a small tent, the smallest room I slept in was for five people. I wish I had more energy for cheers and competitions, but I over-estimated myself in the beginning.
What better way to address this problem than by buying a plane ticket to Turkey the day after Camp HEAL ended?! My friend Jonathon and I decided it would be the perfect time to fit a trip in and landed in Istanbul on August 9, two days after Camp HEAL ended. I would live in Istanbul in a second. I didn't expect such a cosmopolitan, modern, European city. It has the history, the architecture, the transportation system and the funk to make it one of my favorite cities ever visited.
After a day in Istanbul we headed to Goreme in the Cappedoccia region – in the center of the country. The landscape is a mix of the badlands, canyons and something all its own. They call them fairy chimneys, but they are basically old caves from volcanoes that take over the landscape. Entire cities are built into these caves, including our hostel. We even explored an underground city where people could have survived for years if attacked.
When I say 'we' I mean more than Jonathan and I. We had plans to meet Greg and Eileen and they had randomly ran into Ashley, Leah and Nick the day before. Ashley, Leah and Nick had randomly run into Derrick in Istanbul a few days earlier, so we had a group of eight volunteers from Ukraine pretty much from that point on. We hiked around the caves and canyons and ate amazing food until we moved on to Olympus the following day.
Olympus is a small town in southern Turkey, located on the Mediterranean Sea. My brother looked it up and used the words "frat party" to describe it, and that's not too far off. There isn't a whole lot to do there other than go to the beach and party at night. The beach was beautiful. It was a cove surrounded by mountains with a turquoise sea.
This is where we held the Lie-low Olympics. "What is a Lie-low?" You ask? I was once so uneducated myself. A lie-low is the word Australians use for float. When in Istanbul we bought a beer for a couple and in return, got two lie-lows. Olympus seemed like the perfect opportunity to honor the Olympics with our very own Lie-low Olympics. Events included fitting all eight of us on two lie-lows, a two person balance, and cliff jumping to name a few. The opening ceremonies were a highlight and I'm sure that half the people on the beach were hoping we'd drown.
Other Olympus highlights include tequila night and dancing at the club, the Chimaera fires (natural fires coming out of the earth), Leah's and my quest for water, and getting invited onto a yacht. Originally we wanted to get on the yacht so we could walk the plank. Actually, that was all we really did want. Instead we were given Raki – similar to a Jaegermeister but a shit-ton stronger – and food. I was asked if I saw normally because apparently they thought I might see only in blue. Nice line. Then they covered Ashley in Olive Oil and told her that her skin would be soft and beautiful in ten days. Then we jumped off the boat and swam to shore.
We took a day trip into Selcuk to an amazing hostel, though more like an oasis. We saw the old ruins of Ephasus and strolled around town before relaxing at the hostel pool or under a pomegranate tree with a drink from the bar. It was so relaxing that Jonothon and I decided to stay an extra night. We took a bus out two mornings later for Istanbul – a trip that was supposed to take eight hours but ended up taking more like 15. We made it to the hostel just before midnight and met another volunteer, Justin, who was trying to figure out how to pay for the hostel because his wallet had been stolen at the bazaar earlier in the day. We helped him out and slept for five hours before flying back to Kyiv.
I have never travelled in a big group before and it was definitely different, but in a good way this time around. I wouldn't always want to travel in a big group, but after so many camps I needed more of a relaxing vacation than an exploring vacation. The group really put the trip over the top. I got to know some volunteers I didn't really know before and we had an awesome time together.
Back home not too much has changed. Inna got a new car, but I found out today it is only because the militsia gave an incorrect document for the last car. The last car, which my family has owned for three years, was actually stolen so now they have to go to court and try to fix everything up. There is a new store down the street and it is super nice! The owner has family in Jackson, MI and didn't even know there was an American living down the street from him for the past year….weird. The five hectares of watermelon my family planted obviously did well because I've eaten about two watermelons a day since I got home. It's better than potatoes, of which I have all but avoided since arriving home. I did get a lecture about not eating enough which prompted me to daydream about a sign I saw near the sea advertising apartments. We'll see how that goes.
Other than that, the roosters still crow, the geese still attack and I'm still not tan enough. Life goes on and now that I know I'm a survivor, I know I'll make it by bez problem.
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