извиняюсь за задержку

Hey hey hey!  Sorry for the delay.  It's been awhile since I've been keeping you folks updated.  Well, who reads this thing anyways?  If you do read it, where those comments at?  I'm busy trying to stay warm, and integrating here.  Time is gold around here.  It's funny, because reading blogs, from other volunteers all over the world, it seemed like when you're finally at site you'd have all this free time.  My question is:  Where is it?  I'm busy as heck over here, but I guess with a more structured program, like "Teaching English as a Foreign Language" being in the classroom everyday, is better than having to be bustin' Houdinis and pulling projects out of your (you know where)!  Haha anyways, I like showing pictures, so here are a few.  I'll start with the ending of summer.
Where did I leave off at?  Summer camps.  Oh yeah, now I remember.

So here's a run down on what happened after summer camps.  You better pay attention cause this is coming in hot.

1)  I got a tattoo.  As you already know.  I love them, so it was only a matter of time before it happened here.  Plus, it was like waaaaaaaaay more cheaper than it would have been in the states.

2)  I attended Russian Langauge camp.  It was fun.  I got to hang out with some bozos.  Learn this awesome language that is so much fun to speak when you're incoherent.  Also, I got to leave site for a week without dipping into my personal days.  Here are some pictures.

Can you find me?

как всегда

3)  Got to hang out in the big O.  Baller style.  I won't indulge more.  It was really just a bunch of whackness.  Posing, wearing sunglasses in the house, fighting, dancing, more posing, sleeping, and talking, a lot of it.  It was a nice time.  Also, a lot of the folks that don't live near Odessa could go to the "beach" there and swim.

4)  Got to visit Sofia Park in Uman, Ukraine.  It was very beautiful, but peep these pictures to already confirm what I just said.

5)  Crimea, Ukraine.  If you don't know what's up with Crimea, then you're dumb.  It was crazy to think that Crimea is a part of Ukraine.  Its such a different dynamic down there. Crimeans are so proud of the beauty that they live in, I don't blame them.  Also, not to mention, my former LCF, Zhenya, is from Crimea, so we went down to visit her.  I met up with Jacque and Danny, old clustermates, in Simferopol.  We pretty much tore it up.  We got also got to meet Zhenya's family at her birthday party.  Papa Zhenya was teaching me some knife tricks.  We got to swim in the Black Sea in Sudak. It def was nicer than the beach in Sergivka.

Me, Jacue, Zhenya, Danny

Night out in Simferopol

One of the knives handcrafted by Papa Zhenya himself

Did I mention that Simferopol was a clusterfuck?  No, well here we've got out clusterfuck faces on.

That's the sum of the first summer here in Ukraine.

Let me just end with this last bit.  I'll call it "The shit I do for my country!"  WARNING:  below pictures or just the first one is a bit graphic, so view with caution.  Jump to whatever conclusions you want.  Just letting you know that I was the only one hurt in the process.

Summer Camps

So for the month of June, I traveled around the country to help with a few summer camps.

YAMPIL, SUMS'KA OBLAST
For the first weekend, I went 11 hours north, from where I'm at, to help my friend Jacque with her camp.  It was a new camp that she had to get started up at her site.  So I went and helped her for the first two days of camp.  The thing you need to know about Ukraine is that the first day of things usually never really go plan because of some unforseen concert or something.  This time was no different.  The first day was off schedule because, first off, the breakfast was served late.  Then at about 11:00am there was a two hour concert at the theater in town.  Being a PCV, we learned the "go with the flow" attitude, and learn to adjust as you go.  Also, with work-related things, once the work day is over, you need to let the struggles of the day go.  Tomorrow will be a new day, and new challenges, struggles, and victories.

SERGEIVKA, ODES'KA OBLAST

On June 11, I went with some friends down to work at Camp Bereg.  It was a camp fully staffed by PCVs and it was a great location, near the Black Sea.  We also were very fortunate to work at a sanitorium that had a pool.  I haven't swam in a pool in forever, so it was nice to do it.  The children were amazing.  We worked with about 20 children ranging from ages 7-16.  It was interesting because it is an "English-speaking" camp, so having to work with such a wide range of ages definitely produced a challenge.  Like I said, the children were amazing and more than willing to work, and just have fun with us.  I even taught some of the older kids some Hawaiian words.  They were loving it!  One kid, Bogdan, he kept asking me to sing in Hawaiian.  These were such bright students and such a breathe of fresh air to work with people that wants to learn.  It was definitely a huge contrast to just generally teaching.  Here are some pictures.  I don't have much, I'm still waiting, but enjoy:

ULANOVKA, KIROVOGRADS'KA OBLAST

Camp Express Yourself was the last camp that I worked it.  It was started and ran by the lovely volunteer, Heather Johnson, who's live there.  It was the second year that this camp has been ran, and it consists of 80 children ranging from ages 12 - 16.  We had a total of 8 PCVs, and 10 Ukrainian teachers that helped with this camp. 

It was a two week camp, but I can't express enough how great this camp was.  It was very well-organized, and stuck to the schedule, which is very rare in Ukraine in general.  Also, the children were so ecstatic to be there and learn from us, that it made being a teacher worthwhile.  We taught Spanish, Journalism, Drama, Music, Dance, Yoga, Sports, and Environmental Studies.

I can honestly say that working with these kids has definitely made my service, thus far, worthwhile.  And the two weeks that we worked there was a gratifying experience.  It was emotional having to say good bye to these kids.  Here are a few photos.

Here is my month of June, and beginning of July.  Stay tuned for the conclusion of this crazy summer!