Good day, gentle reader. Christopher and I just returned from a relaxing weekend with our friends, Kristen and Jordan, at my piano teacher, Luda's, dacha. A dacha is a country home where people often grow vegetables for the winter and go to relax and breathe fresh air. Luda and Pavel, her husband, as well as their two sons, Anton and Andry, were wonderful hosts. Their dacha is in a small village in Poltava Oblast, on a clean river, the Vorskla. We swam in the river, walked in the forest and fields, picking and eating wild strawberries, then ate meals made of fresh vegetables from their and neighbor's gardens. We had shashlik, (shishkobabs) on Sunday - see photos that Jordan took from the weekend. We drank samohon, the homemade vodka, then were mercifully saved by the sons to go visit a fishing hole with some friends. 7 or 8 or us packed into a VW Jetta and swam in a dark watered pond, speaking Russian, Ukrainian, English, beer. :-)

Later that night, we went out again with the youngins', walking around the village, drinking the ubiquitous warm beer. There was to be a dance later at a community center and after some prodding, Jordan agreed to sing karaoke. He graced us with a strong rendition of "My Way."

I still marvel at people's willingness to open their homes to random foreigners, to share what they have without reserve and with joy.

A couple of brief updates.

I’ve been working gangbusters and just completed preparing for and assisting deliver a counter-trafficking law enforcement practitioners conference. It was so interesting on so many levels, to meet law enforcement officers from Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, England, Australia, etc. etc.

There’s info about the conference, among many other things, in the newsletter I’m helping IOM produce. Email me if you’d like a copy.

Another note – remember the “photographers” I wrote about earlier, who take one’s picture, then mail it? I was feeling adventurous last week and stopped to talk to them. After verifying that my understanding was correct, I got my photo snapped, gave them my work address (which has changed and is updated on the Contact section of my website), and am still waiting for the photo. We’ll see if it’s a scam or not.

It’s summer here and the see-through white pants are back! I have seen at least 5 different specimens of thongs, up close and personal. Not to sound horrible, but at least Ukrainian women tend to have nice, trim bums, because one sees so much of them in warm weather.

I went to Uzhgorod last weekend with my fellow PCV, Susan. On the train, we met new PCV’s on their way to Uzhgorod, where they will live for the next two years. Boy, am I jealous! What a beautiful, relaxed, European city, full of diversity (i.e. not everyone is Slavic/white) and people speak lovely accented Ukrainian and Russian, in addition to Hungarian, Romanian, maybe some Slovakian. We visited a castle, beautiful outdoor museum, took photos of charming houses with beautiful exteriors, pretty façade details. We drank beer at outdoor cafes and Susan kicked my arse in checkers. Very relaxing.

That’s all for now. Hope to provide photos at some point soon.