tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155593562024-09-02T10:55:56.495+02:00Small Fish in the SeaThis my recount of Peace Corps from a small town in Western Ukraine.
The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-51547810787658049952008-02-12T16:50:00.001+01:002008-02-12T16:51:33.599+01:00Just updated my books read and a suggested partial packing list in my secondary page. Check them out, leave comments. Will try to get more up on the main blog soon.Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-44460159013742550602008-02-12T16:13:00.000+01:002008-02-12T16:14:38.847+01:0027.1.2008January is almost over and the start of February will be starting with a conference for my entire group to signal the beginning of the end. The conference is signaling the end of service, which will actually happen sometime in April or May. But that doesn’t mean this past month hasn’t been at all just looking toward the end. I haven’t truly been able to think too much about that as I Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-22782488527671603782007-12-06T15:47:00.001+01:002007-12-06T15:47:13.897+01:00MusingsI got to thinking about the Peace Corps motto the other day. “The hardest job you’ll ever love.” I guess it was because there have just been frustrations recently with how much good I can actually achieve here. I can’t compare to other countries, but there are many times it feels like the work I’m trying to do is not always appreciated or wanted, and have heard some of these feelings from other Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-51131522700264549922007-12-03T22:13:00.001+01:002007-12-03T22:13:22.202+01:00Winter has definitely come for those who have kept up looking at my photos over at Flickr. Although it is hard to tell exactly what kind of winter is coming. Today has seen a lot of weather that was not especially cold, but more along the lines of miserable with wind and rain most of the day. But there also was about a week where it snowed or there was at least snow on the ground and below Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-36353084156699787612007-11-15T00:11:00.000+01:002007-11-15T00:13:00.725+01:0013 November 2007So it has been months since I actually got down and put something into my computer to detail what has been going on here. It isn’t that I’m absolutely swamped, or that I’m just lazy and bored, but I have been busy and at least a little lazy at points in keeping this updated. But I did need to read what I had last read to catch up where I left off. Obviously I did short shrift to Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-14820867131965113632007-09-06T14:28:00.000+02:002007-09-06T14:34:57.368+02:0021/8/2008I left off at the part where we took the money and ran off to Poland. Yeah, sure this was the end of June when we did this and it is currently the end of August and I’m typing this on a place back to the U.S.A., but the story is good so read along, or just skip down a couple paragraphs. After having the travel agency make a royal screwup in the visa process, we changed plans and looked Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-35923651376340429042007-08-14T22:27:00.000+02:002007-08-14T22:33:09.004+02:00So wow, it’s August and it has been months since an entry showed up on these pages. Apologies to those who have wondered what happened to me, life has come at me pretty fast these past few months and it’s hard to believe it is almost time for school to start again already. For those of you who follow international news and saw there was a Phosphorous spill in the oblast I live in, don’t worry I Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-7653138077124936272007-05-14T22:00:00.000+02:002007-05-14T22:06:16.625+02:0014 May 2007It’s been a full month (wow) since I last posted, that isn’t saying I haven’t been up to stuff, it was more I was waiting until I had good news and then was swamped with other things and didn’t have a time to sit down and put something down as a post. So yeah, that good news, I am now declaring April over and am quite happy about it. As you can see directly below this post, it didn’t Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-12832410453669600912007-04-15T21:31:00.000+02:002007-04-15T21:33:16.466+02:00This may go down as one of the more eventful months in my Peace Corps service and I haven’t even had a major project yet to include in the reasoning. That is next Saturday. This isn’t even including the political on-goings in Kyiv either.On the 8th was Easter; most of you probably already knew that, may have even celebrated it yourself. Here in Ukraine, at least in western Ukraine, it is a big Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-41521236734308679122007-04-05T23:08:00.001+02:002007-04-05T23:08:38.263+02:00I have a big project coming up that I’ve probably talked to death, but it can take over my life at times and can be a rather good reflection of my service here.Last week there was a professor from the Lviv Technical Forestry University that came out to look at several of the sites we are wanting to plant trees. As seems to happen so often, things don’t go exactly as I would like, some of my Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-1037292454308027502007-03-25T18:16:00.001+02:002007-03-25T18:16:48.856+02:00I had recently posted a notice here that I would be updating soon. Here it is, hope it isn’t too late.Over the past two weeks, I have had busy weekends and this one isn’t looking any quieter. A couple of weeks ago I needed to make a quick trip to Kyiv for the Environmental Group I am on. Quick means I slept on a train going to Kyiv Friday night, had meetings Saturday and Sunday and slept on the Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-37226287003814526142007-03-13T21:42:00.000+01:002007-03-13T21:44:01.204+01:00A quick, partial list of books I have read in Ukraine. Some of them make me look almost smart. Others are just fun super easy books to read. Enjoy it all in my supplemental materials. New Blog post should be up soon.Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-33842388695282230702007-03-08T15:18:00.000+01:002007-03-08T15:21:15.309+01:00My time in Ukraine has now surpassed one year and I guess I should give some reflections on what that time here has meant, because it has undoubtedly changed me in some ways and reinforced me in others. Obviously I won’t be able to consciously acknowledge all of them now, or maybe even never, but there are some changes that have been obvious and don’t know if I would even need to spell them out Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-17134619515161757792007-03-05T22:46:00.000+01:002007-03-05T22:52:06.728+01:00First of all, let me admit that I spy on you. All of you in a little way. My counter, which you can all see at the left hand side records where people come from, you can look at it yourself, on a nifty map. It is cool, because it shows people from all of the world have stumbled upon my humble site and maybe even read a little bit. But the other parts that you don't all see is I can see how you Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-85788987365222788212007-02-28T18:56:00.000+01:002007-02-28T18:57:43.808+01:00I started writing this a few days ago and didn’t get around to finishing it. Things have been busy, looking back over it, I don’t have any real odd or exciting stories to tell, more just some day-in-the-life stories that may be of interest to you. My big project I’m working on is coming along, preparing for a grant I’m hoping to get that will allow us to plant a lot of trees here in Dobrotvir. I Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-26553834239650965002007-02-08T14:51:00.000+01:002007-02-02T18:05:31.819+01:00First of all, I need to make a clarification on my last post. I am, in-fact, an adult and can fully decide whether I wear a hat and am able take care of myself adequately. I at least haven’t died after more than 26 years; I am in fact quite healthy. The last post was meant tongue-in-cheek and wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously. The last thing I want to do is make people worry about my Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-47453994445069254432007-01-31T15:39:00.001+01:002007-01-31T15:39:55.939+01:00Ice. One thing it does do is keep you honest. Don’t pay attention or respect it enough and you will fall. I fell.Winter as I heard it described has finally started to descend on Ukraine. After an unusually warm start here I didn’t even need my heavier coat, snow has started to fall. My feelings on the topic are mixed; on one hand the now whitewashes just about everything and gives it a clean lookEzrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-16661787419132534202007-01-17T15:06:00.000+01:002007-01-17T15:08:59.793+01:00I have been trying to get this typed up for weeks now and keep getting distracted, busy or a host of other rather lame excuses. But the basic idea is that Over about the past month I have been back in the states where I attended a wedding and visited home, came back to Ukraine and have had plenty of adventures along the way. What would have been digestible stories over time has basically merged Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-16371041569899213102006-12-23T05:20:00.000+01:002006-12-23T05:27:40.873+01:00I'm currently sitting in a hotel room in Chicago. But I am too worn out to fill in the blanks, so expect it in the future. Enjoy what is here. I'll get more down later.16 DecemberSo while that name day is over it is high time for the next holiday this month, on the 18th-19th. Basically the Ukrainian St. Nicholas Day for those of you who celebrate it in the states. Otherwise commonly known as Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-74283639336052882772006-12-13T17:12:00.001+01:002006-12-13T17:15:31.501+01:00(Note: I posted a partial packing list for potential Peace Corps Youth Development Volunteers in Ukraine in my supplemental materials section)A couple unrelated stories for you: I often say every day holds some new lesson for me in this country, whether it be cultural, professional or personal. Today one of those lessons was cultural, it is not entirely uncommon sight to see a funeral procession,Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-73734684548077630942006-12-08T12:03:00.000+01:002006-12-08T12:09:36.816+01:00In religion and teaching I have never been a fan of preaching, sitting in front of the class or congregation and talking or sitting I the class and congregation and just listening. But at the same time in my work here I wonder if I am having any impact at all, or whether that impact is something I may just never be able to witness personally. In that same vein, is preaching more effective or justEzrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-86221890506726657382006-12-01T15:17:00.000+01:002006-12-03T11:22:26.822+01:00When I start getting comments that I haven’t updated in a while and it doesn’t feel like it was that long ago, I realize how time has flied, even if most of the time I don’t feel like I have accomplished all that much. A big part of the reason for my rather tardy update is I have been at least a little bit busy, traveling to Kyiv last weekend to work on the Ukrainian Peace Corps newsletter that Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-21246412535560229422006-11-11T12:21:00.000+01:002006-11-11T12:22:40.602+01:008 NovemberSince the last time I sat down, I have been through a Halloween party and visited a different country. Also stopped by an English class for Forest Institute grad students, met them at a party a week later, had no email (so sorry if I haven’t replied to any) and met a bunch of volunteers from my group. Put it that way and my time seems to be fairly busy. If I could only convince myself Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-74103554009396023712006-10-28T12:11:00.000+02:002006-10-28T12:12:32.874+02:0025 OctoberA second collection of thoughts rather than a cohesive train of thought.Centralized hearing, part II: So you all heard about my complaints about centralized heating once already (if you haven’t, just scroll down and come back), but wait, there’s more! I have never once really fully understood the rationale and thought put into how the water is run around here, but one of my favorite Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15559356.post-58058475398178438452006-10-20T12:59:00.000+02:002006-10-20T13:00:32.041+02:0019.10No central theme here, just a couple casual observations:It is often the little things in life that can make one most happy, like heat. For example, life has been getting colder over the past couple days especially. There has been frost on the ground the past couple days, that means that winter is right around the corner and it is obviously getting colder outside (and inside). Yet in this Ezrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08318622986149511533noreply@blogger.com1