Nobody Can Do (The Peace Corps) Like I Do!

I pulled up to my new home around two in the morning,

And I said to the driver, "Are we there yet? - I'm still learning."

Looked out at my village, I was finally there,

To declare myself to Shatsk, as the new Volunteer!

Well, I was allowed to swear in 🙄 and am finally at my permanent site. My assignment is the Shatsk Village Council, a municipality of a village of 5000 people. Shatsk is the most populous village in the NW corner of Ukraine, in the middle of the Shatsk National Nature Park. If I could climb a tree, I could see Poland and Belarus. The whole region has less than nine thousand people. 58.2% of the working-age population is employed, with an 8.75% unemployment rate, and 33.1% of the working-age population are economically inactive. The park has 241 species of birds, 150 of which nest here. And annually, the park sees one million tourists between the end of June and the beginning of September. The park has somewhere between 22 and 32 beautiful lakes, 60-ish lodges and hotels, 185-ish eco lodges and cottages! Tons of opportunity for fishing, swimming, canoeing, funning, and fighting off mosquitos.

My specific work/volunteer expectations, so far as I currently understand them, are working on large scale infrastructure and strategic business development. Specifically, some of the projects I'll be working on are:

1. Helping to manage the implementation of 96 km of sewage line and the construction of three waste water treatment facilities.
2. Helping to manage the implementation of 4 km of road improvement and the acquisition of an electric bus.
3. Helping to manage the implementation of a village-wide recycling education campaign. 
4. Helping to develop a project for alternative energy and solar water heating for my village.
5. Helping to develop a project to create a fire brigade and acquire two fire engines. 
6. Helping to develop a project to remodel and reprogram the defunct community center.
7. Helping to develop projects to extend the tourist season by offering other activities throughout the year.
8. Helping to develop a project to create a car-camping campground. 
9. Helping to develop a project to create a new border-crossing into Poland to increase European tourism.
10. Helping to implement a children's summer camp in a nearby village.
11. Helping my colleagues improve their English.
12. Teaching a class on pollution and resources at the Forestry College.

No big deal. It'll be interesting to see what of that list I'll be able to talk about at the end of my service.

Aside from that, there's been a lot of cultural shock to talk about. People here are absolutely shocked when I tell them I'm an atheist and that I don't want children. This society is surprisingly religious. I think while communism tried to kill it, it became a rebellious thing "to believe" and it's a symbol of resistance against communism. Also, family is an insanely high priority here and people just can't comprehend that offspring are not a part of my plan or desire. Literally. Like, dropped jaws, and breathing that stops, while they attempt to process what they just heard. I can see them thinking: it's more likely that Andrew doesn't understand what he just said than it is that we understood what he just said.

I have sufficiently established just how foreign I am, and there are also things foreign to me. The ones that make me laugh daily are the morning handshakes from the men. Guys, upon seeing another guy for the first time that day, shake their hand. Every day. For years and years. And women are not included... It's strange and I kinda like it. I wish the gals were included, though. The other is with the drinking. If you're not drinking alcohol, you're drinking water. Even if it's soda, juice, milk, whatever - it's called water.

The language is still a struggle... I learned it well during our training, but I'm now 15-ish hours away from my training site and folks here speak a different dialect, with a different accent. Most of the time, it seems like a completely different language from what I learned. They seem to understand me, but I can't seem to understand anyone.

There's an oddity in local language that I didn't learn on the other side of the country. It's a word meant as a prompt to continue or a validation of agreement. The word sort of translates to "well/so what/you bet" in English, and is academically pronounced as the English word "new" but in my new hood, it's accent-ally pronounced like the English word "no." So, I'll be in the middle of stumbling through my sentences, or have just made my point, or sometimes I'm just standing there, and someone blurts out, "No!" It throws me off my game every time. Such a strange thing, and it'll take me a while to get used to it. If I ever do. No.

Aside from telling me no all the time, the people here are amazing. I share an office with the lawyer, the financial manager, and the project development manager. I could not have asked for better people to be working alongside. They are overflowing with character and I love it! On top of that, they make me feel like I'm being accepted into their group (what with the 9 am shots, and the 30-minute coffee breaks with the great gals on the first floor, etc.) and it's pretty wonderful!

Here are a few pictures of where I'm living.

 First floor of the guys dorm at the Forestry College! 

 A kitchen without a sink.

 The water quality here is so poor, my counterpart commented that I'd be cleaner if I swam in the lake than I would by taking a shower...

My room! Only noisy when the drunk kids stand on my window sill to get access to the fire escape so they can climb up and smuggle in girls and more booze. 

Everything is awesome! No.