Merry Christmas!

We are Peace Corps Volunteers. Swearing In was on Thursday at the Teacher's House in Kyiv, a beautiful old building near the Opera House. The US Ambassador was not able to speak at the ceremony, but he came and addressed us beforehand. His speech was extremely interesting; he talked a lot about the current political situation in Ukraine and what the future may bring. It was quite the most interesting speech on the subject that I've heard....although I guess it's the only speech. It's not like I'm watching CNN or reading the NY Times. You all may very well know more about what's happening here than I do.

The Swearing In ceremony itself was quite impressive. Several of the Peace Corps training staff (those who have been whipping us into shape over the past 3 months) spoke first, and then Sheila Gwaltney, who is the Deputy Chief of the United States of America Mission to Ukraine (what a long title that is!) administered the oath. All we Trainees stood up at once, raised our right hands, and repeated after her:

Volunteer Oath

I             , do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States of America against al enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps of the United States of America, serving Ukraine to the best of my abilities and demonstrating the respect and consideration due its people. So help me God.

A couple of impressive Ukrainian officials spoke, welcoming us to Ukraine, and Karl Beck, who is the Country Director for Peace Corps Ukraine, gave a closing speech. And then we were volunteers. There was a nice reception, and our host families had come to see us "graduate" and say the final goodbyes.

I don't feel any different now. Training has been long (oh so long), and I'm incredibly glad it's over. Even I was getting cranky and mean towards the end of it all. Now comes nerves and the stress of becoming acquainted with a new family, a new town, and a new school...but without all the support that Peace Corps gave us the first time around. Now I'm on my own, more or less. But I should do OK.

And I got my LPI results, although I'm not completely happy with them, surprisingly enough. Why am I not happy? You'll laugh. I'm not happy because I think my score is higher than I deserve. I scored an Intermediate High.

So today is Christmas. Yesterday (when I typed most of this) we had our official celebration with the whole Peace Corps crowd. Interesting fact that might give you a Christmas laugh:

For the past couple of weeks, my cluster has been taking Russian folk dancing lessons. Why, you ask? For the Christmas Talent Show. Our Russian teacher loves talent shows, and so was determined that we'd have a fabulous act. We had costumes any everything, borrowed from the Cultural Center in Berezan.

Best comment I've heard so far on our performance: "When Russians do this, it's beautiful."

We got lots of laughs and applause, though. Out of 8 performances, we were definitely in the top two. One of these days I'm going to manage to get some digital pictures from a friend and I'll send them along.

So today is my last day in Kyiv before heading to Chernomorskoe (spelling is probably off still). Hopefully I'll have lots to tell you all next week. I should also have a new mailing address. (So if you're planning to mail me a letter, wait for a bit.)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

The final days of training

I...am now a redhead. And not just boring "red." Oh no. This is a shocking, magenta-red. No one was ever naturally this color. Everyone tells me I look great, hot, and "a little bit crazy."

I just had to go look in the mirror again, because it's just that fabulous.

When did this happen? Well, yesterday was our big end-of-training language test. It's called an LPI, which stands for Language Proficiency Interview. (At least, I think that's what it stands for.) The LPI is some sort of standard measure of fluency in a language; I think it's an international standard. All trainees take the LPI at the end of training, and again at the end of service. If you're curious, you can probably to a search to find descriptions of the levels.

I'll find out next week what my score was, but I expect to be Intermediate Low. Before I actually had the interview I thought I might manage Intermediate Mid, but then I forgot everything and stumbled over everything I tried to say. Usually when I'm talking to a native speaker they'll help me along with words I struggle with. (In Russian, every word can take about 6 different endings, depending on how the word is being used, whether it's plural or singular, and whether it's a masculine, feminine, or neuter word. These endings are called cases, and they are a bitch.) Anyway, during the LPI the interviewer does not help you figure out which case, or even let you know if you fished out the right one. This really threw me. Then there's also the fact that you're being recorded and there's a big fat tape recorder sitting in front of you.

Anyway, I think I'll probably get Intermediate Low, which is not a bad score. It means I can hold a simple conversation, but I screw up a lot. Par for the course.

It's all nonsense anyway. What does the test mean? Nothing. You know your language ability a lot better than the tester, and what really matters is how well you can do when alone at site.

I think, because I've been out of school and working for a few years, this whole thing has been easier for me than most of the others. I haven't taken a test that meant anything in 5 years, so I have little problem remembering that absolutely nothing is riding on the outcome of this one.

But the last two weeks all we've been talking about is the LPI. Our 4 hours of daily language lessons have focused on reviewing material that might be covered during the LPI and "practicing" interviewing each other. We've also been all at the end of our proverbial ropes, completely stressed out and ragged and ready for training to be over. Well, the LPI pretty much signals the end of training. No more language lessons, no more teaching until we're at site. Just packing and saying goodbye.

All of which leads back to my hair. I have always wanted red hair. I tried to die it a couple of times in high school and college, but it never came out. Mostly it was almost undetectable. And then I grew up and went to work and it was less common to die one's hair fun colors, not to mention pricey.

Well, in Ukraine, a lot of women die their hair. And my fabulous shade of red is actually pretty common, on both young and old alike. And I thought, "why not?" (Decision-making was also helped along by having a couple of friends die their hair, too.) So on Tuesday we went and made appointments, and as soon as I was finished with my LPI I hurried over to the salon.

It was quite a splurge. It cost 47 hriven: 20 hr each for 2 boxes of hair die, and 7 hr to the woman who died it for me. This works out to about $9.00, and is a significant portion of my current income. (I get about 500 hr a month during training.)

I had a moment, as the first bit of die was hitting my scalp, where I wondered what the hell I was doing. But really I love it--and I'll probably try to keep it up, at least for a while, instead of letting it grow out or dieing it back to brown when the roots start to really show.

What do you mean Ukraine's all over the news? Seriously?

Because nothing's happened. Rather, there's been no violence, which I thought would relegate Ukraine's current turmoil to a small headline somewhere near the back of the paper. But I heard the other day that we hit the front page of the NY Times.

So I imagine you're all wondering how I'm doing, and what's up in Ukraine. First of all, everything is fine. I don't know what they're showing on the news in the US, but the big demonstration in Kyiv (where everyone is wearing orange) is peaceful; everyone is calm and happy, if cold. I know people who have gone to Kyiv and seen the demonstration, so this is not just hearsay or relying on the (blatantly) biased news. The other rallies, the ones where people are wearing blue, are smaller--Kyiv is Yushenko territory. And Berezan, where I'm living, doesn't have anything more than a new splash of orange graffiti on one of the walls. Everything is calm. People are highly interested in what is going on; the news is always on, everyone is watching the court proceedings (which have never before been broadcast) and the demonstrations, and potential outcomes are exhaustively discussed. But I have not once felt in any way threatened.

Of course, the Peace Corps is keeping a close watch on everything. We are not allowed to travel, which is why I haven't posted anything before now. (Today is a special exception because there is a Peace Corps meeting in Kyiv for those of us interested in Multicultural Awareness.) But our Country Director, the guy in charge of the Peace Corps in Ukraine, has been meeting daily with the US Ambassador in Kyiv, and we've been getting daily status phone calls, all of which say pretty much the same thing: "The situation is still relatively calm but volatile, so stay home."

So we're all feeling a bit stir-crazy, but other than that we're fine. We are anxious to hear the news everyday, and wonder what will happen in the country and how it will affect our lives here, and we're excited to be here and see everything that's going on around us. These are interesting times.

I suppose I should tell you about Thanksgiving (we cooked chicken and stuffing, apple pie and mashed potatoes), Chernomoskoe (where I'll be living come January), and what I'll be up to in the next month, but....I'm lazy, and--as always--pressed for time.

Hope everyone is enjoying the winter! (We have snow.)