Updates finally!

The last few days of camp were filled with much busyness - lounging by the pool, playing at the sea, games with the kids, and dance parties. Then there was my long journey Smila to meet with my best friend, Theo. The rest has been a bit of a blur so as you can see, not much time (and laziness) is to blame for my lack of updating. I was contemplating not even updating today but I feel like if I wait any longer, I'll never update.

So after meeting up with Theo at her peace corps site, we headed up to the capital city of Kiev to hang out for the next couple days before the arrival of her family. I met a good chunk of her fellow peace corps volunteers, stayed at a porno apartment, drank from a bucket of vodka and redbull, met a midget, had my head lit on fire, and you know, just your usual nights out. Upon the arrival of Theo's family, we moved into a posh apartment near the president's house in Kiev where we stayed for the next couple of days. They had a laundry machine which was probably the most exciting thing about that apartment. My clothes, which had not been washed since the beginning of July could now be rid of camp ick.

After Kiev, we headed to Theo's host family's village for a day trip. The village, just an hour north of Kiev, is where a number of volunteers lived during their first 3 months of training. So the image I gather in my head whenever I hear the word village is primitive huts and technologies. Of course, it is the year 2012 so even villages in a developing country have things like running water, electricity, and tv's though this isn't the case for everyone. Theo's host family happens to be the main seller of meats and cheeses in their village making them a bit wealthier than the average. The family raises 3 cows, some pigs, chickens, and basically grow all their own vegetables in their garden. Hence, everything they served us was made from fresh ingredients raised or grown right from the land. The food was AMAZING. I take back what I mentioned earlier about Ukrainian food. If made right, it is sooo tasty. No wonder Theo put on a few extra pounds during training. I would've probably gained double freshman 15. Besides the amazing food, we were also given a tour of their village - the local school, the one night club, the cathedral, and the park. Overall, the village was very quaint.

Back in Smila, Theo took us all to something called Banya. I don't think I've ever experienced so much nudity in my life. Portions of my time in Banya also seemed straight out of something you might find in the book Fifty Shades of Gray. I'll just leave it at that since this story is much better told in person..haha.

I'm back by the sea now but at the Sea of Azov which is along the eastern coastline of Crimea. Theo has an Eco conference here this weekend so as she is working, her family and I are chilling in a very nice resort hotel overlooking the sea, going swimming, and basically preparing our bodies for our next paradise destination in Santorini.