As predicted, July has been a much more productive month so far.
1. On the 4th of July Becky (my new site mate, ie other Peace Corps Volunteer who lives in my town) and I had a picnic bash down by the river. We came prepared with such American classics as potato salad, pasta salad, cheeseburger bites (adapted from Ukrainian food), ice cream, the Declaration of Independence, and our bathin suits. About six Ukrainians came to partake of our delights. A good and patriotic time was had by all.
2. I went to Ukrainian camp. Twice a year the Peace Corps puts on a camp for volunteers to brush up their language skills. Heading into the week I was pretty intimidated (not gonna lie), but as it turns out there were more camp games and activities than hard-corps (hehe) language lessons. My camp team was called the Zli Bilochki (that's angry squirrels for those of you who can't read poorly transliterated Ukrainian). There was singing of songs, playing of cards, and eating of exorbitant amounts of free food. The holiday of Ivana Kupala fell during camp. This is one of the most fabulous holidays the world around. You sing a bunch, wear flower wreaths on your head, and hold hands with your beloved while jumping over a fire. The superstition goes that if your grip breaks your love was not meant to be. Sadly, I was not jumping over any fires this time around.
3. Baseball camp! Why Ashley, you may be thinking, I thought you were bad at sports and generally uncoordinated. Yes ma'am or sir you would be correct. Luckily, my job at baseball camp was to walk around being an American, something I am extremely good at (not to toot my own horn). Everyday for a week we played two games. I only struck out once! I was on the green team, aptly named the Mojitos. We ended up tying for 5th place out of 6 teams, but we had a good time doing it. One day we all decided to paint Mexican flags on our arms (do mojitos even come from Mexico?). Flag tattoo plus blazing sun equaled a lovely and quite pronounced white rectangle on all of our arms the next day. It's the price you pay for team spirit I suppose.
1. On the 4th of July Becky (my new site mate, ie other Peace Corps Volunteer who lives in my town) and I had a picnic bash down by the river. We came prepared with such American classics as potato salad, pasta salad, cheeseburger bites (adapted from Ukrainian food), ice cream, the Declaration of Independence, and our bathin suits. About six Ukrainians came to partake of our delights. A good and patriotic time was had by all.
2. I went to Ukrainian camp. Twice a year the Peace Corps puts on a camp for volunteers to brush up their language skills. Heading into the week I was pretty intimidated (not gonna lie), but as it turns out there were more camp games and activities than hard-corps (hehe) language lessons. My camp team was called the Zli Bilochki (that's angry squirrels for those of you who can't read poorly transliterated Ukrainian). There was singing of songs, playing of cards, and eating of exorbitant amounts of free food. The holiday of Ivana Kupala fell during camp. This is one of the most fabulous holidays the world around. You sing a bunch, wear flower wreaths on your head, and hold hands with your beloved while jumping over a fire. The superstition goes that if your grip breaks your love was not meant to be. Sadly, I was not jumping over any fires this time around.
3. Baseball camp! Why Ashley, you may be thinking, I thought you were bad at sports and generally uncoordinated. Yes ma'am or sir you would be correct. Luckily, my job at baseball camp was to walk around being an American, something I am extremely good at (not to toot my own horn). Everyday for a week we played two games. I only struck out once! I was on the green team, aptly named the Mojitos. We ended up tying for 5th place out of 6 teams, but we had a good time doing it. One day we all decided to paint Mexican flags on our arms (do mojitos even come from Mexico?). Flag tattoo plus blazing sun equaled a lovely and quite pronounced white rectangle on all of our arms the next day. It's the price you pay for team spirit I suppose.
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