Arrived Safely

So I have been receiving many inquiries about my journey and being here in Ukraine. I don't have much time left, however for those of you actually reading this here is a quick update!

I arrived in Ukraine and spent my first two days at an old Soviat Retreat with the remainder of my Peace Corps group (75ish). We were split in to clusters of 5 people. So far, everyone in my group seems really cool. We are learning Russian! On April 2nd we were bused to our communities with our cluster mates. I am in a decent sized town called Myronovka. I am very lucky and currently have access to any amenity I may need or want. I live with a very kind Babushka (Vira)in an apartment not far from my language instructors home. I have about a 20 minute walk to an from class everyday. Thus far, we are primarily working on language. I have four hours of language training a day, 1.5 hours of personal tutoring a week, several hours of technical coaching a week, and many hours of studying afterwards!

I am supposed to begin teaching classes in 4 weeks, eek! I will also be doing some sort of community project and summer camp for kids during the next three months. After these three months are up I will be moved to my permanant placement somewhere in Ukraine. Everything is still very new, however when I have things figured out more so I will be posting pictures and write more about my experience!

Peace Corps Goodbye Party in Salt Lake City

Before I left Salt Lake City I had a goodbye party. Most of the people that I cared about coming did, and I really enjoyed myself! Below are a few photos from the party.

Natalie & I

Power Trio (Casandra, Joshua, and I)

Brad & I

Group Photo

Not-Natalie, Natalie, Jenny, & Me

Jack, Muyly, & I

Natalie, Doreen, Dijean, and Me

Naomi, Theresa, & I

Brad & I

Leaving On A Jetplane

I moved from Salt Lake City and am now a temporary resident of Colorado. Most of my time spent here will be organizing, packing, and buying a few necessary items. I will be visiting Boulder for a few days and then be leaving to staging which will be in Washington DC. My address for the first three months is listed below. Please, only send letters. No packages or boxes will be accepted. After I move to my official placement then I will have a new address and the availability to receive packages and such. I do not have a phone number yet. I am hoping within a week of moving to Ukraine I will get a cell phone. I am also looking into Skype but that is yet to be determined. Hope to hear from everyone!

U.S. Peace Corps/Ukraine
PCV Jessica Jackman
P.O. Box 298
01030
Kyiv, Ukraine

Or, if you need a physical address

U.S. Peace Corps/Ukraine
PCV Jessica Jackman
111A Saksahanskoho Street
01032
Kyiv, Ukraine

Quick Update

Since receiving and accepting my official Peace Corps invite I have stayed very busy! Its amazing how much you realize has to be done to prepare for moving across the world when you actually have to do it! The sheer amount of paperwork it requires to cancel memberships, power of attorney for financial affairs, student loans, passport, visa, resume, questionnaires, letters of resignation, life insurance, and packing lists is exhausting.

Secondly, the actual packing part is equally as annoying. Figuring out what to do with your stuff for over two years is a pain. Luckily, I don't have that much stuff. It makes me curious about how people who own much more than I do (which is most people) handle packing. Also, I am leaving Salt Lake City for two years and truthfully will probably never come back other than to visit; there are a lot of people that I want to spend my time with before I leave. I am also working until the end of the month and it therefore takes up more of my time that I would like to give. I suppose it is a necessary evil as this job was necessary to enable myself to do the Peace Corps.

On top of all of those things (as if they are not enough) I rolled Djibouti and he/she (haven't given a gender to the name yet) didn't survive. I, on the other hand, escaped relatively unscathed! Not sure how I managed to walk away from rolling my car twice, however I am grateful non-the less. My parents were kind enough to let me borrow one of their cars for the remainder of the month that I stay in Salt Lake City. As I am leaving in less then two months, it seems silly to buy a new car. Renting one for that time frame would be far more expensive than it is worth. So, although I rolled Djibouti (my car if you have not figured it out yet), I did walk away with extra cash for my travels. A blessing in disguise I suppose.

Anyhow, not much more is going on except the above mentioned items. I am leaving Salt Lake City on March 4th. I will post my address and contact information for Ukraine about a month prior to departure (just in case it changes). Thanks for stopping by!

Official Peace Corps Invitee

It has been an inordinate amount of time since I last posted. Again, my life has fallen into something of what I deem a boring routine. This is all about to change very shortly however. After having spent the last 18 months as a corporate drone, I am finally leaving! The following lyrics drummed through my head for the last few months. I think that it sort of pertains.

Map of the World

By

Monsters of Folk

There's a map of the world
on the wall in your room
Green pins where ya wanna go
White pins where ya been
there isn't even ten,
you're already feeling old
Pretty faces stare back
from a magazine stack
that you read when
you're feeling bored
Look through a telescope lens
it doesn't make sense
you think you've been there before

Some far off feelings
Some up close kind of ache
White screen reason to
look the other way

There's a place by the lake
that you go when it's late
it was summer and the crowds were gone
and you sit all alone with
With your thoughts, gettin stoned
just waitin for some peace to come

Like the thing thatcha
tried that you thought that you liked
for a minute then it all felt wrong
So your changing again
All your clothes, all your friends
It's the same as it ever was

That far off feeling
That up close kind of ache
Some white screen reason to
look the other way

It's a road that you've paved
over Indian graves and
you wonder why your dreams are crazed
So you cling to your wife,
your kids, and you life
There's nothing that you're gonna save
Put the razor to your face,
Hot water for a shave
Kill the shadow of yesterday
Clean shirt, clean pants,
clean slate second chance

You're going by another name

Some far off feeling
Some up close kind of ache
That instant karma
That always comes too late

I applied for the Peace Corps in July of 2009 and recently received/accepted my invitation to serve in Ukraine. Barring some unforeseeable disaster or something of the like, I will be leaving March 29^th. The time it is taking to depart seems to be idly pacing itself at the slowest possible rate. Looking back however, the application process seemed to fly by! The time frame in which I submitted my application and received my actual invite was approximately 7 months; it will be a total of about 9 months from the click her to submit and the “I’m Leaving On a Jet Plane” outcome. Apparently the 9 months it took me is about the shortest time it takes most volunteers. Many of the other upcoming volunteers I have spoken with applied 1 to 2 years prior before actually receiving their invite! I am thankful it did not take me that long.

My job title will be Youth Developer. I’m still not really sure what that means. The Peace Corps tends to be very vague in almost everything. It could range from working in secondary schools teach HIV and Drug Abuse Prevention, creating outside activities for kids to be involved in, mentoring at risk youth and orphans, to maybe teaching some English. I don’t even know where in Ukraine I will be! The first three months will be living with a host family while I train. After that I will be sent to my placement site for the remainder of the two years. I will be learning either Ukrainian or Russian. I am hoping to pick up both. I have recently started to study Ukrainian in an attempt to not sound like a complete idiot when I move in with my host family. Yes, it is true. I will spend only 2 days at “staging” in the US. I will then immediately fly to Ukraine and be placed with my host family. I would like to have at least a few necessary words and phrases down before I arrive.

Anyhow, I will likely be making my blog private shortly. I have been told that this might be necessary with being in the Peace Corps. Let me know if you will want to be added. I will post again soon with updates on things like address, finalized items and whatever else may be of interest. Cheers!

I concur!

I agree fully. Enough said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-karel-bouley/its-not-maine-its-the-pro_b_345248.html

Portraits

Looking through my photos I came across a bunch of portrait type of photos and thought they looked really cool. People fascinate me and I really like portraits, so I decided to post some of my favorite portraits of friends, people I have met traveling, and just fun ones.