Monday, February 8, 2010

Goodbye, Ukraine

I am no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. I am now a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Those four initials, RPCV, will follow me for the rest of my life. I will forever be an RPCV.

I finished my Peace Corps service in November, 2009. I haven't written about it because I felt like my emotions have been too close to the surface.

Leaving Peace Corps is not quite as simple as it should be. First, there is all the paperwork. They give you two papers that must be filled with signatures. These items range from: closing out your bank account, to getting your final dentist checkup, to receiving your plane ticket home. This is impossible to do in a single day. I started mine very early and thankfully finished very early.

I am happy to say that before I left I was able to go to Lviv, finish my host sister's wedding cloth, and go to her wedding.

Here is a picture of the finished wedding cloth. I had an incredible time finishing it. I had to teach myself hardanger (cut work) for the ends.



Here is a picture of me and my host sister at her wedding. Isn't she beautiful?



Okay, back to the leaving part:

Then there's the process of packing all your belongings. Difficult to do, but then begins the more difficult task of deciding what comes and what goes. You end up with so much STUFF. Thankfully there was a wonderful PCV who took ALL my clothes. You have to remember who gave you what so that you don't accidentally offer it back to the person. You lug the extra stuff to the Peace Corps office to leave for other PCVs. You say goodbye to your friends and colleagues. I ran around asking people about letters of recommendation.

Then it's time.

My final day was spent with my best friend in Ukraine, Maryna. My friend Ira and her helped me do the final packing and cleaning. The night before I'd gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep and I was exhausted. They let me sleep while they cleaned. It was amazing. We hung out, packed, weighed suitcases, repacked them, weighed them again, and finally finished.

Going home, I was traveling with my cat. We went from Kyiv to Moscow, Moscow to New York, and New York to Seattle. My first flight was at 8:30am, so I hired a friend to drive me, Maryna, and Miau Miau to the airport. He came at 3 or 3:30 am and picked us up. We got to the airport, and Maryna waited with me until it was time for my flight. It was really great being with someone special on my last day. We really tried to stay positive. I miss her!

Finally I got on the flight and sat with Miau Miau the whole way home. It was such a long ride. She was fairly scared, so she stayed in her carrier the whole way. She only drank a little bit when we got to New York, and she ate a TINY bit of salmon on the way to New York. Overall it was not so stressful. Traveling with a cat means you have to have the vet check her over, she has to have her vaccinations and have a kitty passport :) Getting her through customs was a breeze. Total cost for kitty: $150.

Since "graduating" I've been living at home. I moved into my parents' house, stayed in Colorado for a month with friends, visited my grandmother and dad's side of the family for a week or two, and have been doing my best to see all my friends. I haven't been working, just living off of parents and Peace Corps funds. I have been going through my belongings, repacking, reducing, recycling, and selling. It's really nice to get rid of things, and amazing how much STUFF I've managed to save up over the years. I am enjoying and also stressing out about this process.

While my Peace Corps adventures have come to a close, my life adventure has not. I am, after all, an ESL professional with a passion for living around the world. This blog has changed from "PC Ukraine" to "Where in the World?" It is no longer simply a chronicle of my journey through Peace Corps, but a journey throughout my career. As such, I changed the format of this blog just slightly, and I hope you will continue on with me. Thank you for all your support.

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