Ukraine is game to you?

first of all: rattails. i forgot all kitchen stuff that i wanted to bring: i.e. spices, caraway seeds for irish soda bread, measuring spoons, etc. so once i get notified of my permanent site, expect to see some of those things on my wish list. BTW i can't receive any packages until i reach my permanent site, which won't happen until December. it would be great if there was a holiday around that time of year to give everyone an excuse to spend lots of $$ on care packages for me. i did remember to bring two bottles of hot sauce. and i'm ready to mine my own salt if necessary.

second of all: let's go through my stages of packing.

before a.k.a chaos

during a.k.a organization OCD and sorry dad for taking over the living room

during2 a.k.a watching bravo and admiring my soviet union hat

after a.k.a asking the cab driver to get a pic of my luggage @ the hotel staging event

i did it! both bags just a hair under the max allowance of 50 lbs/bag (thank you, restaino)

after the last pic was taken, it was time to begin the staging event which is actually just a crash course 8 hour orientation that allows us to meet as many in our group as possible, do ice breaker activities and gleam cursory information on Ukraine. it was like a hyper training session that will mirror the next 3 months. we're honestly really lucky to be a part of an organization that focuses so much on whipping us into the best little development professionals that we can be.

once staging finally wrapped up, all i wanted to do was crash in my glorious hotel room and bask in the TV and double bed, but I guilted myself into venturing out since this would be my "last night in america". our training coordinator repeated, in many different ways, that this was it for the next 27 months. it hadn't hit me until she kept saying these things today that this IS it. it's terrifying and i had more than one instance of "WTF am i doing here". but then i found some other volunteers and we decided to wander around georgetown until we landed at an extremely good italian restaurant.

My actual last supper.

the food and company greatly alleviated my anxiety but i'm sure it will rush back to me tomorrow, and the next day, and everyday for a very long time. i just hope i don't start crying in the security line tomorrow; that was a little embarrassing today.

as a nod the to 10 core expectations of the peace corps, here are 10 quick facts from today:

1. there are 61 people in our group and we'll all be educators in Ukraine
2. i still don't know if it's acceptable to say "the" ukraine
3. i won't have much internet access for the next week-ish. when we arrive in ukraine, we'll have a 2 day arrival retreat in Chernihiv (where i'll learn if i'll be studying russian or ukrainian. obvs i want russian but it's a core expectation of every volunteer to be 'flexible'. )
4. there's also this hybrid language that mixes ukrainian and russian and we could be placed in a community that speaks this. we won't be trained in this hybrid language, so the best we can hope for is to understand 1/2 of what they say. fun.
5. after the arrival retreat we break into clusters of 5-6 PCT (peace corps trainees) and will be placed in a village with a host family for the next 3 months.
6. there's one other ohio girl here
7. there were about 5 references today to "ukraine is game to you" segment from seinfeld. thanks martell for making me aware of it.
8. things most people here are nervous about: the weather, language barriers and outhouses.
9. i plan on draining the holiday inn of its hot water tomorrow, as i have no idea when my next hot shower will be
10. i signed up to pen-pal with a classroom in the United States! if you're an educator and you'd like to set up a pen pal partnership between my classroom and yours, just let me know!

and finally, massive love out to the finnegan family today, as we lost one of our best ever. i'll continue to wear the cross of st bridget necklace she gave me, reminding me to always strive to act in a manner that would make auntie jo proud. i've been so lucky to have so many amazing finnegan women to look up to and try to emulate.

now back to enjoying my last bit of american football...oy