… and we’re off!
Well, the time has finally come. After a year and a half of patience while making our way through the Peace Corps application process, we’re off! I’m nervous, excited, and ready for an adventure! Our first couple of months, Alex and I will be PCTs – Peace Corps Trainees. We’ll be living with a host family and spending most of our weekdays in classes. We’ll be learning either Ukrainian or Russian, and we will also be receiving technical training to prepare us for our youth development positions. We will be stationed within a few hours of Ukraine’s capitol, Kyiv (or Kiev), and will be training in a cluster with 4 or 5 other PCTs. We may not have much internet access during training (or during the rest of our service, for that matter!), so please be patient – we will update the website with blog posts and pictures whenever we can! Remember, no news is good news! We don’t know anything yet about our permanent site – Peace Corps’ unofficial motto is: “be flexible!”
In Ukrainian: До побачення! (Pronounced: do pobachennya! Stressed syllable in bold.)
In English: Good bye!
Or, an easier version: Пока! (Poka!) Bye!
(By the way, the picture is for those of you who doubt my ability to prepare for Ukrainian winters!)
Good luck to you both! And stay warm!!
Wow! I can’t believe that it’s already time for you to leave. I hope you saw the game today, and that you’ll find some way to watch next weekend! I miss you already.
Best of luck with keeping warm and settling in.
Much love,
Sarah
You are looking stylin’ with that gear on! Good luck – travel safely – speak well – and you will be in my prayers and thoughts! I miss you both!
Emma, well done — your bum will stay warm for sure in that coat:) We are looking forward to seeing you again on Thursday at your arrival conference! Have a safe trip — do skopava!
Looking good, Emma! Safe travels to you both and I look forward to hearing more.
Love, Betsy
I knew you would be able to find the right Ukrainian style. You already look like you belong:)
So glad that hat I got you will get good use. Alright, here’s hoping that the two of us being out of the country at the same time will cause the Heels to win the National Championship!
Looking forward to following your adventure. Reading your blog brings back lots of memories from our staging in Seattle. Enjoy the ride guys!
I love reading the posts. For some reason I couldn’t comment on the one you wrote in Philli. Hope the flights over were good. Enjoy Kiev.
Love, Mom