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Caroline–RPCV Ukraine 2010-2012
Caroline Mackenzie, PCV, Ukraine 2010 - 2012
17 May 2012 | 3:47 pm
Hello Everyone, I am very very proud today. I have completed my Peace Corps service! All the paperwork is processed and Caroline is an RPCV It has been a very very emotional week saying goodbye to my Ukrainian family; there is a new lake in Luhansk because of all my tears! 1) Olya, Director of School #1 in Molodogvardeyst 2) Lyudmilla, my tutor, and Alosha her son 3)Alosha, Lyudmilla and Caroline 1) Kurt, Anya, Elena, Cary, CLM, Maria, Adil 2) May 9 (VE Day) FRIENDS: Will, CLM, Artiom, Wyoming, Maxim, Amy 3) Dr. Yuri- having fun being the Shashlik chef The farewell party at the Train station (the Train station police were VERY upset that we had champagne!) 1) L to R: Tayana, Lena, Marina, CLM, Natalya, Irina, Vera 2) L to R: Irina, Christina, Vera,[…]
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It's a Great Day
The Pecking Order
13 May 2012 | 10:15 am
My mother told me this story last Friday, via Skype:“A friend of mine’s daughter just died. On her deathbed the woman could only say, “I am 53 years old and I have wasted my whole life”. It was the saddest thing I ever heard, perhaps because I too, am 53. My life is rich and full and I could not ask for anything further. I have no husband, no children, and no home of my own. I own neither jewelry nor an automobile, and I am as poor as a church mouse but...I do know the secret to being happy.To live your life to the fullest is to give and give and give. Period.To that end, I would like to tell you all that we have reached our target goal of $800 for the English Books for Novomoskovsk library project. My[…]
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Ukrainian Easter Celebrations, the Euro Cup 2012 Kickoff Party, and Victory Day in Kharkiv!
Джингер (the Jinger)
13 May 2012 | 9:50 am
Still catching up on my spring photos from Kharkiv.... Ukrainians celebrated Easter here a week later than America, because they follow the Eastern Orthodox calendar. They bake traditional Easter cakes called "paskas", which looks like a giant Funfetti cupcake but is actually more like a sweet bread with raisins. Here are some photos from the Easter display in Kharkiv's Freedom Square (Площадь Свободы).
The display was huge!
with the Easter egg tree.
GIANT Easter eggs and cakes :D
Since I'll be working as a UEFA volunteer for Euro Cup 2012 in Kharkiv, I was invited to attend the Kickoff Party along with the 400+ other volunteers. We met at a place called Chateau Ledo in downtown Kharkiv and hung out for a few hours. I wanted to meet the other people who will be working with me in Ticketing, but[…]
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Help Needed!!!
Life As We Now Know It
22 Apr 2012 | 3:01 pm
Perhaps you can remember me posting last year about asking for donations for a camp. I am part of a Peace Corps group made up of volunteers called the Gender & Development Council often called GAD. Every year volunteers in GAD hold three camps, two are for girls called GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and TOBE (Teaching Our Boys Excellence).Last year I went to Camp GLOW with five of my students and my counterpart. We had a great time.The girls learned about leadership, volunteerism, project design & management, sexual health, HIV/AIDS, and others. Most of these topics were thing my students have never learned anything about previously.Myself with the other camp counselors and some campersThe counselors dancing to "All The Single Ladies"On the last day we had a public service campaign for the Ukrainian anti-trafficking hotline 527My students loved what[…]
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Easter and a Moment of Reflection
With A Camera © Jeffrey Thomas Ball
16 Apr 2012 | 11:17 am
A conference in a nearby city and the bus travel involved made waking up at 3:00am a bit tough but Easter celebrations here are an amazing experience that you just can’t pass up.
The alarm on my phone is ringing for the third time after me hitting the snooze button repeatedly. It’s that dreadful alarm sound, the one that irks the core of your brain even if you hear it somewhere else. But this time I’m getting up, throw on some clothes, grab the tattered backpack of my camera stuff and out the door.
I know I’m gong to make it on time after seeing a few shadows in the street carrying baskets of Easter bread, “Paska”, to be blessed at the church. I’m alone this morning, a much different experience than the one I had with my host family[…]
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Fall Projects and Peace Corps Come To A Close
Megan's Peace Corps Adventures in Ukraine
8 Nov 2011 | 8:47 am
Dear Family and Friends,As I type this message the days I have remaining in Ukraine are sadly few. My how the two years have flown by! My last week in Velyka Lepetykha has been quite an adventure already with goodbye teas, final greetings on the street and a mix of emotions! Before I close out my service though, I would like to write one more update blog on the activities that have kept me quite busy these last few weeks. The weekend of October 7th-9th all female PCVs in the Khersonska Oblast were invited to a fellow PCV’s site of Chaplinka, southern Khersonska Oblast. Stephanie is a devote member of the Gender and Development Working Group of PC Ukraine and hosted a weekend mini GLOW camp for our Khersonska female students. GLOW stands for Girls Leading Our World and is[…]
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