so i'm finally trying to do a update on life some 7 months later after my most recent relevant post. i figured a video might be more time conscious than a overly long essay filled with grammatical and spelling inaccuracies. So anyways, here is Part I.
I know a burning question in all y'alls minds right now is, "what to get Mr. Matt for his birthday?", well I have a potential answer that'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside to boot.
I'm currently fundraising for a grant project I've started for my community. In a nutshell, it's to ideally create a new English textbook and resource center as well as updated needed technology in my small school.
My project can be found through the Peace Corps Donation page and seraching for my project code:
Literally any bit you can donate will help towards realizing this project. Not to mention donations can be tax-deductable.
If you have any further qusetions, feel free to let me know via email and I'll try to get back to you in a timely fashion. Feel free to share this with friends or family that you feel might be interested in also supporting my community.
Here are some of the kids you'd be assisting for most of their public education!
Just a quick update seeing how I'm failing at the whole blog posting this recently.
But... there is a camp is in the works for students (including my own) from all over my oblast, Poltava that will take place this summer. It hopes to facilitate leadership and help develop project design and implementation skills for future leaders of Ukraine (aka my students and others in da best oblast).
So... if this catches you eye and you got some bucks to spare (however big or small), feel free to pop on by to this link:
Being just two hours away from Budapest, why the hell not pop in. We spent two and a half days there and I feel we could have done a lot more.
Vienna is cool/hip/modern with interpreted old things. Example, every other street was a Canon or Nikon store and literally there would be a Rolex store and then an old Catholic church.
But I guess if you count the museums, palaces, theme parks, and being served iPads for menus, I think we coved a lot of ground. It was a tad more expensive than it's Hungarian brethren but the Euro was a currency I was much more confortable converting and managing over the Hungarian forint (my meal was 2500HUF, wha?).
The city is remarkably clean and organized, so if you know anything about me, that makes me smile. Their biking system was ridiculous, with separate roads, lights, and sounds. Portion sizes were good and we managed not to get lost.
Our only regret was meeting an American on the train who suggested we visit the Secession Museum - that man owes me 8 Euro. You know I'm one for modern art but when it's just like sticks stuck in the white floor or large white boxes that flicker, I'm sorry, I don't get it.
quotes
"we better hustle to the vokzol (2 hours early), we wouldn't want to be late"
"you're going to wan to shoot yourself in the face" in Чоп
"do you have a map with you?" - immigration officer
"you brought a tripod?"
"funky monkey"
"I'm in luck!"
some "woo girl" decided to scream right by the mic
yes... ukraine does a "count up", and yes, we were just as befuddled.
i guess i shouldn't have assumed that everyone partakes in a count down but come on, who would have ever though, a count up? in retrospect, it does actually make more sense, with seconds adding up to the new year. oh ukraine, you always surprise me.
kiev had their electric ish in order because it was a led central.
but honestly, in the words of the famous barney stinson new years in kiev was "legen...dary".
by the end of the evening, I ended up finding a few things...
i found my twin
i found my sitemate
i found my cluster
i found a sparkler
i found fireworks
i found a mask
the day after was also a site to see. i'm not quite sure if kids here actually believe in santa when you can find 20 of them roaming around khreschatik
