It's been a week

Dear Readers,

It has now been a week since I got home, and it has been filled with highs and lows. It of course was wonderful to see my family and friends. Every day at l'Arche during prayer intentions I would say: Ya khochu pomolytycya za moyu cim'yu i moyi druzi v Kanada--I want to pray for my family and friends in Canada. And finally I got see them.

It's also been a little bit tough coming back. One of the first things I have noticed is the difference in food. I had a Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich the other day, and it was just really gross and fake, but I ate it anyway because otherwise I wouldn't have had breakfast. The culture of convenience in which we live where we must have everything right now is really frustrating for me having lived in Ukraine for three months. Our culture of convenience leads to so many problems, one of which is that we substitute garbage like McDonald's, Wendy's, and yes, even Tim Horton's, for real food. And, when it comes to food, this leads to all kinds of health problems. But it also leads to a culture where people get so stressed over the smallest things. Since everything must be the way I want it exactly when I want it, if I don't have what I want when I want I have to get all bent out of shape. It seems to me that this attitude is quite prevalent in North America. For those who are like this, God help you if you go to Ukraine, or to any developing country for that matter. You will be confronted with frequent water issues, internet issues, and all other types of issues. But you just can't get all bent out of shape over them. If you did, you would go crazy.

Another tough thing I have experienced is that many people close to me somewhat turn off whenever I start talking about Ukraine. I have so many things to share, and I am so enthusiastic about my experience, but others, having not experienced the same thing, tend not to share my enthusiasm. I saw a bunch of the other Intercordians from this year on Thursday, and that helped a lot. They said that they experienced the same thing.

But, like I said, my return has been nice. I'm back in the land of my birth and of my upbringing: the true north strong and free. I am able to see my grandmother, who is still recovering from the broken ankle she suffered a couple months ago. I have been able to catch up with many of my friends already, and will continue doing that.

Overall, I am happy to be home. But at the same time I miss Ukraine dearly, and all of the people I met, lived, and worked with. And now I am even more frustrated by the negative Westernisms which are sadly so engrained in our culture.

I have not left Ukraine entirely. I plan to attend a near-by Ukrainian Catholic Church regularly now. I went there off and on before, but now I plan to go there every Sunday and holy day (there are other and more important reasons why I am going there though). Nevertheless, that church will be a constant bridge between Ukraine and myself until I can go to Ukraine again. And I will go back to Ukraine. It's not a matter of if, but when.

Until next time,
Michael

Home!

Dear Readers,

I just want to say that I have gotten home safely. I arrived at around 2:30 yesterday afternoon.

I will write an entry later on today or tomorrow.

Thank you so much for your support over these last several months, both before and during my placement.

Until next time,
Michael

And so it ends

Dear Readers,

These last few days have been some of the busiest of my life. Thursday was my last day with my l'Arche workshop, and everyone was very emotional. Firstly, my workshop is moving to a new location because the rent at the current location is too high. And so the last week at the workshop we were moving all of the stuff to the new location. On Thursday morning, we finished that job. In the afternoon we had a barbeque, and it amounted to a typical l'Arche Ukraine party. It was very much in the spirit of l'Arche, with all of us being together, singing together, eating together, etc.... And it was very Ukrainian due to the food we ate. We had kovbasky (sausages), bread, potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers. The party was very nice.

There is a song that the members of l'Arche and Faith and Light sing here in Ukraine. It goes: Ми любим тебе, ми любим тебе, ми любимо. Хай господь бо тебе благословить, благословить (My lyubym tebe, my lyubym tebe, my lyubymo. Khaj hospod' bo tebe blahoslovyt', blahoslovyt'). It means something like: We love you, we love you, we love you. May the Lord bless you. And you can replace 'We love you' with 'We thank you', 'We welcome you', etc... depending on the circumstance, and of course you would change the singular 'you' to the plural 'you' if necessary. Anyway, this song is very special for l'Arche here because we sing it whenever someone visits, whenever someone leaves after visiting, whenever it's your birthday or nameday or anniversary, etc.... On Thursday, when they sang three versions for me, 'We thank you', 'We love you', 'We'll wait for you (to come back)', I broke down into tears, I'll admit it. My three months with them have been so incredible, and they have had an impact on me they will never know about, and probably are unable to understand due to their mental disabilities. But they are a group I can never forget. When I gave my little good-bye speech, I finished it with 'I will remember you always', in Ukrainian. The rest of it I gave in English, with one of the assistants translating.

And so, I said good-bye to them, and they said good-bye to me. Afterward I was able to go for ice-cream with three of the assistants, Khrystyna (the one who translated for me), Ivanka, and Ira (the UKU student). It was nice getting to spend a little bit of time with them that last day. I hadn't been able just to relax like that with any of the assistants to this point. But then that had to come to an end, and I said my 'до побачення'(do pobachennya-until next time) to them as well. So many times before I had said to them 'до завтра' (do zavtra-until tomorrow), but obviously I couldn't this time.

Thursday evening then Kimberley and I headed to the capital: Kyiv (Київ). Our train left Lviv at 9:20pm and it arrived in Kyiv at 7:20am Friday morning. We spent the day wandering around Kyiv. We saw the ancient St. Sophia's Cathedral, the glorious St. Michael's Church which was destroyed by the Soviets and rebuilt after independence, and some other really neat sites.

The next day, Kimberley and I went in different directions in the morning. She went dress shopping, and I went to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra-a monastery a millenium old. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see much of it. I didn't have time to go into the caves, and none of the churches were open, so I didn't really get to see much. That just means I have to come back some day. But at least I was able to try some fresh kvas--the national non-alcoholic drink of Ukraine. It was very good, and inexpensive. You can buy half a litre for 2 hryvni 50 kopyki.

In the afternoon then, Kimberley and I met with a contact I had in Kyiv. Another one of the Intercordians (Inesa in Equador) is Ukrainian and she has a cousin in Kyiv, so Kimberley and I met with her and a couple of her friends. It was really nice because she was able to show us some places we wouldn't have known about had we not been with a local. She showed us the presidential palace, the national parliament, the botanical garden, and different monuments. After a long day walking about Kyiv, we went for dinner at a real Ukrainian restaurant which was inexpensive and where the staff all speak Ukraine (no Russian!).

As for the Russian language, that was one of the big things I noticed about Kyiv. I knew that Kyiv still is more Russified than Lviv, but I really got to see it this past weekend. In Lviv, the small private ads at the bus stops (you know, the 'If you want English lessons, call this number' type ads) are all in Ukrainian. Almost no Russian. In Kyiv, while most of the billboards and everything official is in Ukrainian, nearly all of those private ads were in Russian. Even when I went to the Lavra, all of the signs were in Russian. This demonstrated that the main language of the people in Kyiv is Russian. This drove me mad because 1) I was in Ukraine, not Russia, and 2) had they been in Ukrainian, I might have understood them, or at least understand what they were about. Even the newspapers were all in Russian, while in Lviv the newspapers are mostly in Ukrainian. Although, I heard a lot more Ukrainian spoken than Russian. Or maybe it was Surzhyk, which is Ukrainian in structure and grammar but loaded with Russian words. Well, enough for language politics now. I don't want to get myself killed.

And so, Saturday evening we left Kyiv and arrived back in Lviv Sunday morning. This is where things started to get really crazy.

Canadian citizens are allowed to stay in Ukraine for 90 days without a visa. But, Intercordia booked both Kimberley and I for over 90 days, in my case 92. It's a long story, but in the end I have to leave Ukraine tonight instead of Friday, the original plan. Tonight at midnight I will catch a train to Krakow, Poland, and from there I will make my way to Vienna. Tomorrow is day 90, and so this morning when I woke up I thought I still had one full day here, but things have changed and now I have to leave tonight. Not because of immigration laws but because of train schedules. So, today my stay in this beautiful country ends. These three months have gone by so fast. It feels like I arrived here just yesterday. Now, it ends. I am very sad to leave everyone and everything here I have come to know and love. However, life must go on.

Tonight will be my going away party, and then probably at around 10:30-10:45 I will leave to go to the train station.

I will try to write while on the road to Vienna. My plan is to stay all day in Krakow, then take a train to either Bratislava or Budapest. I will probably stay one night in either Bratislava or Budapest and then hop on a short bus or train ride to Vienna on Friday, when I will meet the University of Waterloo students who have been in Ternopil the last three months. My flight home from Vienna to Toronto is Saturday.

So, Ukraine, good-bye. See you again some day.

Until next time,
Michael

The First of Many Good-byes

Dear Readers,

As I am sure you know by now, I leave to go back home next Friday, and today we had our first of several good-bye parties. After our workshop, Kimberley and I went to the Emaus Centre at the Ukrainian Catholic University to say good-bye. It was a very nice little get together. All of the Emaus Centre staff were there, as was our language teacher Oresta and some other people. It was a usual Emaus Centre party, like I had experienced several times previous. First, when we arrived. Second to celebrate Roxolana's birthday. Third, to celebrate Anya's (one of the staff) graduation from the Ukrainian equivalent of a masters degree at another one of the universities in Lviv. Fourth, to celebrate Zenia's birthday. And finally today, our good-bye party. Like usual, there was cake, ice-cream, sweets. Ya...they love sweets here in Ukraine. The staff also gave us flowers, a card signed by everyone, and some other little things.

It was really nice getting together with everyone, but also really sad. The fact is that I might not see any one of them again. The staff at the Emaus Centre are all so wonderful, so welcoming, and so friendly, and the centre itself had become a second Ukrainian home for both Kimberley and myself. It was really hard for us to say good-bye.

Tomorrow, we will have to do it all over again, but this time at our workshop. I think this will be even harder. I have spent just about every week day of the last three months at the workshop, and tomorrow I have to say good-bye. I am still not sure what I will say, but I will have to say most of it in Ukrainian because no one at my workshop knows English terribly well.

This weekend though will be very exciting because I will go to Kyiv with Kimberley! My train leaves Thursday evening at 9:22pm and arrives in Kyiv at 7:20am the next morning. Fun, I know. We will stay in Kyiv all Friday and all Saturday and then our train back leaves Saturday night at 11:54pm. It arrives in Lviv at 10:00am the next morning. We will be exhausted, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get some sleep on the train.

Speaking of sleep, I haven't slept well in nearly two weeks. I was sick most of last week, and I even had to take Thursday off. Then I never really had a good night's sleep on the weekend because I was always up and about doing something, like on Sunday I woke up at 6:30am to go to Ternopil after going to bed past night. But, this Sunday into Monday morning I'll be able to sleep for as long as I want in my bed, which will be very, very, nice.

Well, that's all for now. I have only a week and two days left. Cheers.

Until next time,
Michael

Quick Update

Dear Readers,

I haven't had any time to write an entry lately because I haven't had internet in my house. Right now I am in Ternopil visiting the University of Waterloo girls here. I arrived here at noon, and I will leave for Lviv at 9:30pm. I won't get to Lviv until 11:52. I probably will just take a cab from there.

I will right a real entry as soon as I have time.

Until next time,
Michael

Week Ten

Dear Readers,

I think today I will share with you an aspect of Ukrainian culture which until this point hasn't really bothered me that much. But as the temperature rises, this little quirk gets more and more annoying.

You see, in Ukraine, everyone over 25 seems to be deathly afraid of wind blowing in their face. They all fear that they will get sick from it somehow. And for some reason, the belief is that women are more likely to get sick from it.

So what? I will tell you what. Imagine you are in a little bus. Remember those mini shuttle buses that used to go around Square 1 in Mississauga? This little bus can't be much bigger then those shuttle buses. Anyway, it seats 15, including the driver. Now, imagine it is full, and not only is it full, but there are 15 more people standing crammed in there enough to make living in a sardine can seem comfortable. So, there are 30 people in this little bus, some of whom haven't bathed recently. Now, imagine it is, I don't know, the middle of July. And so it is hot! It is warm enough being outside, never mind crammed with 29 other people in this little mini bus. In this little bus, the inside of the windows have all fogged up. Here's the kicker: imagine that none of the windows are open!

This was my ride to the workshop on Friday morning. There was one window at the back open, but a man closed it fearing for his life. I was standing on the other side of the marshrutka, and I opened one of the windows a little bit. Even though it was really warm outside, the wind in my face from the open window felt like a blast of winter, which by the way felt great. And that was when the marshrutka was stopped at a rail crossing! That just tells you how hot it was inside the marshrutka. A few minutes later, a young woman standing beside me tried to close it. She was having a difficult time, which made me happy, so I pretended not to notice. My uncovered arm not pressed up against anything was sweating, so you can only imagine that I was drenched pretty much everywhere else.

I mentioned that everyone over 25 seems to be afraid of wind in their face. I say that because I notice that people my age open the windows. It must have been the images of the flashy American and Western European convertables which converted them. Everyone older than them grew up in a very different world, closed off from everywhere else.

Oh Ukraine, how I will miss Thee.

In other news, this coming Wednesday there will be a group of core-members and assistants from l'Arche in Italy. And so, we will have a big get together with all of the l'Arche workshops in Lviv and the Italian l'Arche members in another city. I don't know where exactly, but it will for sure be a load of fun.

Until next time,
Michael

The Intercordia Difference

Dear Readers,

I will wait until tomorrow or Sunday to write my usual weekly update. Instead I will share my part of my journal entry from yesterday.

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Day Sixty-nine - 16 July 2009

Today I think I found out really the difference between Intercordia and most other volunteer organizations. This morning like on most Thursdays Kimberley and I went to the orphanage. But today was a special day. There was a group of foreigners coming, and so some of the children had prepared a display of traditional Ukrainian folk dancing. Of course, neither Kimberley nor myself knew this was going to happen. Furthermore, this group of foreigners was from Alberta of all places. Some of them even live 500km north of Edmonton! They were a group of teenagers going around to difference places seeing different kinds of folk dancing. Anyway, after the little performance, the group from Alberta opened up their suitcases full of stuff for the children. Although this group wasn't a volunteer organization, their attitude was the same. They of course had the best of intentions, and no one can deny them that, but they were still the ones from the first-world country going to the poor to help them, or do whatever they were doing, and then leaving. Again, I repeat, their intentions were of course good, and they performed a good deed. Still, they didn't really do what was needed. What the children need is love, stability, and family. Not balls and flags and pencils.

In the long run, it doesn't matter if you're a disabled person in Ukraine, a troubled youth in Nicaragua, a child made an orphan by AIDS in Swaziland, or a university student in Canada. We are all human and we all need the same thing: to love and to be loved. Only by loving others and by being loved by others can we be happy. I think the staff at the orphanage realized this truth, or at least part of it, as well. They didn't look overly excited when the children were being given all of those toys. They know what the children need, and it isn't more stuff.

So what is Intercordia about? It is about learning how to love and how to be loved. It is about making a real difference in the lives of others, and allowing others to make a real difference in your life. it is day sixty-nine of my three month placement, and month ten of my involvement in Intercordia, and only now have I finally tapped into what Intercordia really is. And furthermore, this wasn't somethign that I was thinking deeply about, instead it simply dawned upon me amidst rather unusual and unexpected circumstances.

---

This was just a thought, a very underdeveloped one at best, but something I think I can build on.

Until next time,
Michael

Week Nine

Dear Readers,

So another week has come to a close. My week began on a less positive note than most. Last Thursday (2 July) my Grandmother broke her ankle, but due to my internet issues I didn't find out about it until Tuesday. Although she suffered a rather nasty break, I hear she is recovering well. Please pray for her.

But other than that, things went well. On Monday we had our monthly 'Community Day' (День Спільнота). Every first Monday of the month, all of the l'Arche workshops in Lviv come to UKU for the usual 11:30am Divine Liturgy and then afterward we all talk about what our workshops are doing, and discuss any l'Arche news. It is really nice because it is the one time a month everyone in l'Arche here gets together. I always enjoy seeing the assistants I don't see every day.

In the evening, Petro suddenly got the idea to go swimming in a nearby lake. It is only about 10 minute drive away, but by then you're way out in the country. Lviv is nothing like the GTA. Once your exit Toronto, you just keep running into city after city after city. It never ends it seems. Here, there is Lviv, which is a city of about 700,000 thousand, and then there is nothing. Just villages along the highway. Nothing that you can call a city, or even a town really. So, Petro, Natalia, Hanusia, Danka (7 year old host cousin), and I went swimming in this lake. We were there for only half an hour, but it was still really nice. I haven't swam in a few months, and I haven't swam in a lake for a few years. This lake was really deep. Once I was 15 or 20 feet from shore, it was over my head. Petro said that the lake is 70 meters deep at some points.

Tuesday was the Feast of St. John the Baptist. In case you are confused and thought that St. John the Baptist feast day was on June 24th, don't worry because you're correct. The Ukrainian Catholic Church (and the three Orthodox Churches) in Ukraine follow the Julian calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar used in the Western Church (and also 13 days behind the civil calendar used everywhere). So, according to the church calendar, Tuesday was June 24th, not July 7th. Anyway, St. John the Baptist is a major feast, so I went with my workshop to the local church for Divine Liturgy. It was a new church, not yet finished inside, but it was still very beautiful. The iconostasis was stunning, and the choir was beautiful. This made me think, again, why can't new Catholic churches in Canada (and in the United States) look like churches, and why can't Catholic church choirs sing Catholic church music? Sigh...

After Liturgy we went back to our workshop and continued celebrating. One of our assistants is named Ivanka, which is the feminine version of Ivan, which is Ukrainian for 'John'. So, it was her name day. In Ukraine, like in pretty much all Catholic and Orthodox places, name days are a big deal. In my own life, September 29th (Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael) is far more joyful than October 6th (my birthday). A friend of mine once explained it quite well...your birthday reminds you of your mortality, but your name day reminds you of your immortality. Anyway...we celebrated Ivanka's name day first with a lunch a bit fancier than normal, and then we had cake, we each offered her a kind wish individually, and of course, we sang 'многая літа' (mnohaya lita-many years) for her. After that, we danced in the main room instead of our usual afternoon activity.

Wednesday was an exciting day. The founder of Faith and Light and l'Arche in Ukraine Zenia Kushpeta visited my workshop with her niece visiting from Sudbury. Zenia is actually Canadian, of Ukrainian descent. She grew up in Toronto of all places. Everyone was really excited to see her. Zenia is a hero for everyone in l'Arche and Faith and Light here, and for good reason. She came by just to say hi before she leaves. She leaves for Canada for a month today.

Later on, Kimberley and I had our final Ukrainian language lesson. So, in accordance with Ukrainian tradition, we gave our teacher flowers and chocolates. These lessons were really helpful, and I wouldn't have learned as much Ukrainian as I have without them. My host brother Pavlo said that of the three Intercordians which have stayed in his house, I have the best Ukrainian of all of them. Of course, there are several reasons for that, but my lessons here certainly helped.

Zenia's birthday is next week, but because she leaves today, we at the Emaus Centre celebrated it yesterday. It was a very nice little party, featuring the Emaus Centre staff (Roxolana, Marta, Anya, Sister Lukia, Olya, Andrij), Kimberley, and I. It was also a surprise for her. I only found out about it the morning of! Kimberley and I were supposed to go to the orphanage yesterday, but we found out last minute about Zenia's birthday party, so the orphanage visit was called off. After the visit, Kimberley came to visit my workshop. Last week I visited her workshop, and yesterday she visited mine. Her visit was nice, as visits usually are. The core-members love visitors.

That brings us to today, Friday. Like usual, workshop ended at 1:00 instead of 3:30. In a few minutes, I will go to visit the second 'Faith and Light' family: Pani Marta and her son Yurko. For various reasons, I haven't had an opportunity to visit them yet, so finally I get to visit them today.

This weekend will be very exciting. On Sunday, we celebrate the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul (June 29th...see note above about the church calendar here). This is of course a major major feast day, celebrated with great solemnity in all churches of ancient origin (Catholic and Orthodox). Sunday is also my host parents' 21st wedding anniversary! I have no idea what they have planned, but it will be a very nice day.

So, for now, that is all. I hope you all have a good weekend. No I am going to visit Pani Marta and Yurko.

Until next time,
Michael

The Long Awaited Update Part 3: Pochayiv, Spring of St. Anna, Zarvanytsya

Dear Readers,

Last weekend, I went to three of the most important holy sights in Western Ukraine. I went with Petro, Natalia, Hanusia, and Roxolana to Pochayiv, the Spring of St. Anna, and Zarvanytsya.

We left for our first stop, Pochayiv (pronounced Po-CHAI-yiw) on Saturday afternoon at 4:00, and arrived there at 6:30. Pochayiv is a city about an hour drive north of Ternopil, but it is famous for the Monastery situated there. It is the holiest sight in Western Ukraine for Orthodox Christians. There the Virgin Mary appeared during a Turkish invasion in the 15th century and returned the Turkish fire against the Ukrainian Cossacks and destroyed the Turkish army (or so one of the stories about the place goes). Her footprint is still visible in the rock where she stepped down. Today, it is under the control of the Russian Orthodox Church (which is by no means non-controversial), however in the past at different times it has also been under the control of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The main church is absolutely gorgeous. I was there during the Saturday evening Vigil service, so I attended some of the service. That too was incredible. The monks are amazing singers! And the church was packed, jammed packed! Something I found really interesting was that I was able to understand much of the service, even though it was in Slavonic. At least I was able to understand as much Slavonic as I can understand Ukrainian used in Church.

We slept in the house of one of the locals Saturday night. My host cousin Marichka happens to know them, so we had a contact. They were really great people too. Nothing like Ukrainian hospitality!

On Sunday after breakfast, we drove to our next stop, the Spring of St. Anna. Along the way we stopped for Liturgy at a nearby Greek Catholic Church. There are no Greek Catholic Churches in Pochayiv because the Soviets destroyed them all, so we had to drive half an hour to the nearest one. It was a lovely little church, and the Liturgy was very beautiful.

After Liturgy, we went to the Spring of St. Anne. This spring is known for miracles which have occured there. It stays very cold all year long, and people go there to pray and to dip themselves in it three times. There were hundreds of people dipping themselves and swimming in this freezing cold 8 degree water! It was really something to see (don't worry, I have photos of all of this). There was also a really great icon shop and book store, so I went shopping! I didn't buy that much though. In case you were wondering, this monastery is also controlled by the Russian Orthodox Church.

We then went to a museum dedicated to Major Archbishop Josyf Slipyj. He was head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church from 1944 to 1984. For many of those years, he was tortured in Siberia. After nearly 20 years in Siberia, the United States government negotiated with the USSR to release Major Archbishop Slipyj in return for a Soviet spy caught in the United States. The Soviet authorities thought he would die soon because of what he did with them, but instead Slipyj lived another 19 years in Rome, and reunited a shattered Ukrainian Catholic Church. It had been liquidated by Stalin in Ukraine, and the rest of the Church around the world was in shambles. Major Archbishop Slipyj united the bishops of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and even was able to form a Synod. Right now his case for canonization in Rome is open.

Our final stop was the famous Zarvanytsia monastery. This one is Catholic. There are also miraculous springs there and there is a miraculous icon of our Lady. The Soviets did everything to destroy this place. They destroyed the churches, and they tried to pave over the spring, but it didn't work! The spring bursted through the concrete. The church there is rather new, but also very beautiful.

The weekend was an incredible experience. These four places are all so important, and it was amazing to be able to visit all of them. They all represent so much of the hard ship that Ukraine has suffered, but still say there is hope.

I must now go. Tomorrow is the feast of St. John the Baptist and I will not be able to go to Liturgy, so right now I'll go to one of the big churches in the City Centre for Vespers.

Until next time,
Michael

The Long Awaited Update Part 2: Canada Day, Thursday, and Friday

Dear Readers,

Here is part two.

Canada Day was very nice. For the most part, it was a normal day, except afterward I went out for dinner in a really neat restaurant literally underneath the Opera House. After workshop, I met with Roxolana and Kimberley and Marta and we headed to this restaurant. Marta is another employee of the Emaus Centre. She's Ukrainian by birth and nationality, but she knows English so she tagged along. At the restaurant, we met with Zenia (the woman who started Faith and Light and l'Arche in Ukraine) and her niece Melania, who was visiting Ukraine, but she is actually from Sudbury. We had a very cordial dinner together. Unfortunately, Zenia couldn't stay for dinner, but it was nice to say hi to her anyway.

This must have been the most expensive dinner I've had since getting here. I got a salad, baked kebob, and apple pie for desert. The whole meal costed over 100 hryvnias, which is too expensive for most locals, but for us it still wasn't that much. Maybe 15 or 20 dollars. Anyway, I was completely stuffed.

When I got home, the celebrations continued! Petro bought wine and cheese for this festive occasion, so Petro, Yurko, Denys, Pavlo, Babsa, and I drank wine, ate cheese, and talked about Canada. We talked a little about politics, history, culture.... I told them how we won the War of 1812, despite what Americans will say. I briefly touched upon the current controversy about who actually has the rights to the Northwest Passage (Canada, the United States, Denmark, and I think Russia all claim it's theirs, or at least they all want it). It was a pleasant evening overall.

The next morning Kimberley and I went to the orphanage. Afterward, because my workshop was going elsewhere, I went to Kimberley's workshop Nazaret. They are a load of fun. The the core-members there are younger than the ones at mine, so they have a lot more energy. It was very loud and energetic, and a lot of fun. After lunch we went for Dance Therapy, which is something I can explain at another time. It is, well, interesting. I could take it or leave it, but the core-members and most of the assistants love it. It gives them a chance to do something different and laugh at themselves and at each other.

Friday was another wild weather day. I went to UKU in the morning because Kimberley and I were going somewhere else that day. When I left my house, it was raining so I took my jacket. By the time I got to UKU, it wasn't raining so I left my jacked in the Emaus Centre office. Kimberley, Roxolana, and I went to another workshop just to visit, but when we got there it started pouring raining there again. I had to go back to UKU in the pouring rain with no jacket. It wasn't fun. At least Kimberley had an umbrella, which provided some relief.

After lunch we had our check-in meeting, and went home. I had to prepare for what would be a very good weekend.

That's the topic of part three.

Until next time,
Michael

The Long Awaited Update Part 1: Skhidnytsya

Dear Readers,

For the first time in nearly two weeks, I have the opportunity to sit down and write a real post! I have a lot to cover, so here we go.

First, my trip to the town of Skhidnytsya (Східниця) with my workshop was incredible. And don't worry, I too had a terrible time trying to pronounce it at first. I was there from 25 June - 28 June with members of my workshop "Busy Bees" (Бджілки-Bdzhilky) and from the "Nazareth" (Назарет-Nazaret) workshop. Nazareth is actually Kimberley's workshop, but she didn't go this time. Anyway, we had a great time. We left Lviv at 10:00am on Thursday 25 June and we arrived in Skhidnytsya at around 12:30. After unpacking our stuff, it was time for lunch in the diner. We stayed in a nice little resort-like place, so we got to sleep in nice beds, we had hot showers, and good meals. I was told we were going camping...this wasn't really camping.

After lunch we picked wild blueberries. Here, they are called 'chorvynytsya', which comes from the world 'chornyj', which means 'black'. I have never picked wild blueberries before. It was a lot of fun. After doing this for a little while, we continued on walking to a small waterfall. It is a neat little waterfall, and the water is good enough to drink. Who needs bottled water when you can drink fresh water from a river??

On a side note, Skhidnytsya is famous for its water. There is something about it I am told so that it is very good for your health. When Brezhnev was leader of the USSR, he wouldn't drink water unless it was from Skhidnytsya, in the then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. So, he had it flown in by helicopter every six hours, as it must be fresh in order for it to have these special qualities.

After seeing the waterfall, we went back to our little resort-like area and relaxed and had supper in the diner. I don't remember what I ate, but it was good. Everything they served there was very good! But afterward, the fun began. We made a camp fire, roasted sausages, sang songs, and even danced a little bit.

To be honest, I cannot remember what we did on Friday 27 June. I know I have a lot written down in my journal, but I don't have it with me at the moment. Anyway, I remember that at night time we had a really good thunderstorm and rain fall, so we danced under the porch of one of the houses. We all must have been dancing for two hours before we had tea and went to bed. L'Arche here finds any excuse to dance. It's a lot of fun.

Saturday was very similar. Although I was able to nap in the middle of the day because I was exhausted. Again at night time we had a wicket thunderstorm, but this time we didn't dance so much. We instead played board games inside and then looked at all of the photos from the past two days, as we were going to leave the next morning. We must have had around 500 photos, and 15 videos. It was really amazing seeing them all and looking back over the great time we had together over those past two days. I can't help but think how much I will miss everyone here once I go back to Canada.

Sunday 28 June afternoon we came home. After three hours on our l'Arche owned bus and a 30 minutes on a steaming hot marshrutka, I finally got home! I was completely exhausted! It was about 5:40pm, just in time for me to change my shirt and rush off to Liturgy at 6:00. I wasn't able to get to church in the morning (it's a 15 minute walk to the local church). On Friday one of the l'Arche assistants went to the church in Skhidnytsya to ask when Sunday liturgy is. She was told 10:00am, so we got there for 10:00am on Sunday. But, at that point communion was just starting, which meant the liturgy must have began at 9:00am. So, I decided that I should go in the evening in Lviv. So I did.

When I got home, the internet wasn't working. On Saturday evening there was a wicket thunderstorm, and apparently it blew some important piece of equipment so hundreds of households are without internet, including mine. We may not get internet for a while, so I guess I will have to visit UKU more.

Now I will write the second part of 'The Long Awaited Update.'

Until next time,
Michael

Week Seven and Eight

Dear Readers,

Sorry, but as it turned out I will not be able to write an actual entry today. This weekend I will go to Pochayiv in Ternopil Oblast. The main point of the trip is to visit some of holy sights in Western Ukraine. I will write about it as soon as possible. As for the last 8 days, I will write about those as well as soon as I can. But this is what I did:

Thursday 25 June - Sunday 28 June - I was in the Carpathian mountains with several l'Arche members.

Tuesday 30 June - Found out we will be without internet at home for a while most likely.

Wednesday 1 July - CANADA DAY! Went out for dinner with Kimberley, Roxolana, Pani Zenia, Pani Zenia's niece visiting from Canada, and Marta.

Thursday 2 July - Went to orphanage. Had a troubling experience there. Don't worry, I'm fine. Afterward went with Kimberley to her workshop instead of my own.

Friday 3 July - Went to another workshop with Kimberley and Roxolana. Had check-in meeting afterward.

Tomorrow, 4 July - Sunday 5 July - Will go to Pochaiv to visit their famous monastery, and see other important holy places along the way. Excited!

I will write about these events in more details later. Don't worry!

Until next time,
Michael

Not To Worry

Dear Readers,

In case you were wondering, everything is okay. I just haven't had any time to update my blog recently because I have been without internet in my house, and I haven't had much time in the computer lab at UKU.

I hope to be able to write my next update later today.

Until next time,
Michael

Carpathians this weekend!

Dear Readers,

Tomorrow (Thursday 25 June) I will leave for the Carpathian Mountains. I am going with some members of my workshop and some members of Kimberley's workshop (but not Kimberley). It should be a lot of fun.

Since I will not have access to internet, I will not be able to write my usual weekly update on Friday. I will get back on Sunday, so I should be able to write my next entry then.

Until next time,
Michael

Week Six

Dear Readers,

I am now on day forty-two. In a few days I will hit the half way point of my stay here. I'm not sure what to write about right now though.

I realize that I have only six or seven more weekends here, and I have yet to go to Ternopil or Kyiv. Those two cities were the two absolutely must sees I decided upon before my departure. I want to go to Ternopil because there are a bunch of Canadians there, including some from the University of Waterloo. I want to go to Kyiv because it's the capital, but most of all to see the ancient churches there. There is a monastery in Kyiv almost 1,000 years old, and the main church St. Sophia's is just as old. Although St. Sophia's Church is Orthodox, I really want to go there to pray. Just being in a church so beautiful and so old will be an amazing experience. Also, the patriarchal cathedral in Kyiv for the Ukrainian Catholic Church is currently under construction. The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church Major Archbishop Lubomyr recently moved from Lviv to Kyiv. However, the construction of the new cathedral is being hampered for a number of reasons.

Kyiv is really far though, about 600km. It's a whole weekend trip, or perhaps I will want to take off a few days during a week so I can stay there for 5 or 6 days. I'll have to start planning this very soon, since I am very quickly running out of time.

There are many problems with Ukraine, to which I have alluded in previous posts. There is a great deal of corruption in politics, business, etc.... Many people don't make enough money to support themselves, and so there is an exodus of Ukrainians (especially Western Ukrainians) to the European Union. Some go legally, many illegally. The country is locked in a constant struggle between Western Ukrainians who want to become more western, want to join the EU and NATO, and Eastern Ukrainians who want to move closer to Russia. However, there is something special about this country (or at least the area in which I am living) and I cannot say that I look forward to leaving. The people I have met and worked with thusfar are all so wonderful and cheerful. People here are more cheerful in general. It really is amazing, considering that a good salary might be $200 per month. While people here are materially poor, they are spiritually very rich. It reminds me of the story when Blessed Theresa of Calcutta was to give an address to a graduating class at an American university, and the man who introduced her mentioned that she was a woman living and serving in one of the poorest lands in the world, and will give a speech to a group in one of the richest lands in the world. Blessed Theresa began her speech by stiffly (but charitably) correcting this. She said that India was one of the richest countries in the world, while the United States was one of the poorest. She of course was speaking in terms of spirituality, which is infinitely more important that any material possessions one may have. I believe something very similar could be said about things here in Ukraine.

When I go back to Canada in seven weeks, I will return to my country which refuses to teach her children her history and heritage. I can see what it means to be a Ukrainian here. There are songs, styles of dress, food, and much more. I am not sure though what it means to be Canadian. I can see that to be, say, an Italian Canadian is to retain Italian culture in Canada, or to be an Indian Canadian is to retain Indian culture in Canada. But for me, my family has been in Canada for over a 130 years. My Mom's side came over from Eastern Europe (originally they are Dutch) in the 1870s, and my Father's side came over from Ireland even prior to the Great Famine. My roots are Canadian, but I don't know what it means to be Canadian. We have a great history, but no one knows it. We have many patriotic songs, but no one teaches them any more. Even our national anthem is sometimes attacked because it includes references to God, gender exclusive language (although the 'Thy sons' refers to ALL Canadians), and the Cross (in the French version). We seem to at best ignore our heritage, or at worst reject it. There is a certain spirit here, an aliveness. This no doubt has to do with the fact that for most of Ukraine's history she was occupied by foreign powers, whether they were Austrian, Polish, or Russian. And so the people had to try very hard, and even at times at the risk of their own safety, to teach their children Ukrainian songs, Ukrainian poetry, and the Ukrainian language. In Canada, we have not seen war on our soil since the War of 1812 (1812-1815), and we have had a much smoother time gradually gaining the independence we have to day. But this seems to have its cost.

I love my country Canada and her history and her institutions. I much prefer the parliamentary system with a constitutional monarch to the American President-Congressional system, or even a parliamentary republic like what exists in most European countries. I think it is amazing how Canada came into existence. We never had to fight a revolution or make any declaration of independence. I love our Queen, Her Majesty Elizabeth II. What few Canadian patriotic songs I do know I am proud to sing. Sadly, very few Canadians know them, so I can never sing them with fellow Canadians.

I think I have a better idea of what it means to be Ukrainian from my six weeks here than what it means to be Canadian from my 20 years of living there. Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

Until next time,
Michael

A thought: The informal 'you' vs. the formal 'You'

Dear Readers,

I had a little bit of an awkward encounter with my host grandmother, and it had to do with a feature of the Ukrainian language which is no longer part of the English language. I don't think it is a huge deal, but I thought I would write about it anyway.

Those who know only the English language are probably unfamiliar with a certain feature of many other languages, that is the use of two different words where in English we have only one word 'you.' Many laugh when words like 'thou' and 'thee' are used since they are considered archaic and comical, but historically 'thou' is the second person singular, while 'you' is the second person plural. In English we just use 'you' to denote the second person singular as well now. You may remember from French class the words 'te' and 'vous' which both mean 'you', but are used in different circumstances. 'Te' is the singular 'you' (or 'thou'), while 'vous' is the plural 'you'. 'Vous' is also used in the singular when used in a formal setting, for instance if you were speaking to someone you just met, or to someone in a higher rank. Ukrainian in that sense is no different. Instead of 'te' and 'vous' though, Ukrainian has 'ти' (ty) and 'ви' (vy).

Now, 'ви' is always used when using the plural 'you' so that is easy to remember. And it is usually very easy to know when to use ти as opposed to ви in the singular. You would use 'ти' when speaking to people with who you are familiar, or when they are younger. You would use 'ви' when speaking to people with whom you are unfamiliar, with someone who is older, or when someone who is of a higher rank. So if I were to meet a young child for the first time, the child would address me using 'Bи', but it is perfectly okay for me to answer using 'ти.' However, if that person I just met was the same age as me, I would answer back using the formal 'Ви'. If I were speaking to my boss, I would always always always use the formal 'Ви'.

When my host sisters addressed me with the informal 'ти' early on in my stay here, I was very relieved. I felt much more comfortable since they were comfortable addressing me using the informal 'you'.

Now, there is only one person with whom I don't know exactly how to address. That is my host grandmother. Because she is a senior, I address her automatically using the formal ways of saying hello, which is on the same level as the informal 'you' and formal 'you'. Even when she initiates a greeting, she uses the formal way of saying 'hello'.

Anyway, yesterday in the kitchen, she was going about being herself, and Ukrainian, which for the North American seems very bossy, but in reality it isn't. I was feeling a little uncomfortable. Then all of a sudden she said 'Do you want to eat' using the formal 'Ви'. This threw me off, and it made me more uncomfortable because I assumed she would use the informal 'ти' when speaking to me.

Now, I will not dwell on this, because it probably isn't a huge deal, but is one of the things you have to deal with when in a new culture. In this case it wasn't so much that I didn't know the language, it was that I knew this aspect of the language but didn't know what to do with it, and what to expect from others. That's more of a cultural thing rather than a linguistic thing.

Until next time,
Michael

My Host Family

Dear Readers,

I must apologize for the lack of photos. I have been taking many, but unfortunately the internet connection in my house isn't that great, so I haven't been able to upload them onto facebook or onto this blog. But, I can share with you this one photo, of my host family.

Top row: Yuriy (Юрій) (19), Marta (Мартa) (11), Pavlo (Павло) (18)

Bottom row: Halyna (Галина) (11), Natalia (Наталія), Petro (Петро), Anna (Анна) (9)

No one here seems to call anyone by their actual name, so here is a list of what we actually call the family members:

Yuriy: Yurko
Halyna: Halya
Natalia: Natalka
Anna: Hanusia. She said that we can also call her Anya.

Aren't they lovely?

Until next time,
Michael

Week Five

Dear Readers,

It is about 9:20pm here as I begin writing this entry. Today was a very full day. It started out as usual, as I had my workshop from 10:00-1:00. Then I went to UKU for lunch and my weekly check in meeting. I would have written this entry there like usual, but I didn't have time. After my meeting, I went back to the Emaus Centre (the Faith and Light head office) and ended up helping translating something from Ukrainian into English. Well, sort of. I didn't actually do the translating, I just helped out with getting the wording right for the English translation. That was a bit of a chore, since the Ukrainian was written in such a way that it was very difficult not to get an awkward English translation.

Afterward I ran into Petro at UKU (remember, he works there) and Natalia was there also. Their plans were to go to the market to buy groceries, then go to their cottege in the suburbs to fix up some things, and then go home. So, I went with them! It was actually pretty neat. It was my first time in a market here. First, we went to an indoor market to buy meat and cheese, then we went outside to buy produce.

We then went to their cottege in the suburbs, which is really a very small house on a small piece of land. They also have a small garden there. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there. Petro just wanted to clean up some things around the yard.

Now, about my week...

Remember how last Friday I mentioned that I had no plans for the weekend? Boy, did that change come Sunday morning. At around 10:30 in the morning, Petro's brother Taras came over to invite me to spend Sunday and Monday with him, his daughter (13 year old Olena), and my three host sisters at his cottage in the Carpathian mountains. So, I decided to go. I went the Carpathian mountains for the first time!

The drive was about 2 hours, and was really nice. On the way, we stopped to go to church, and then we stopped again by a river to eat lunch outside and go swimming, except I really didn't feel like swimming. When we finally got the cottage, I wasn't feeling well at all unfortunately. However, the scenery was beautiful. It isn't Rockey Mountains beautiful, but there are endless miles of high hills, forrest, and farms. Taras and I went to visit one of his friends down the street, while the four girls stayed at the cottage. At Taras' friend's place, there were 2 people who could speak English reasonably well. Everyone at that house is related, and they also have relatives in...Mississauga! That was a really neat connection.

So, we stayed there for an hour and a half I think, then we went back to the cottage. When we got to the cottage, I felt no better, so I had a little nap while Taras and the girls made supper. It was Olena's 13th birthday, and Taras made sausage and cabbage salad. After my nap, I felt a little better, or at least good enough to eat.

After supper, I went to sleep, or at least I tried. Taras and I shared a bed with no mattress, and it was one of my worst nights of sleeping I can remember in a very long time. Some time in the middle of the night, I woke up, and lay in this hard, uncomfortable bed, unable to fall asleep. Then, at around 4:00am, my dinner from the previous night came up the way it went in, which of course was very pleasant. Although I felt a little bit better, I simply couldn't sleep the rest of the night.

We came back on Monday, with another stop at the same river for swimming, and luckily I was able to sleep in the car. After that, I felt much much better. We got home, and life went on.

This week I experienced the frustration that comes with not being able to speak to people. After workshop on Wednesday, I went to UKU for my Ukrainian language class, which was to begin at 5:00. One of the assistants (Iryna, Ira for short) at my workshop also had to go to UKU, because she had an exam there that evening (yes, she is an UKU student). It takes about 20 minutes to get to UKU from our workshop, and the whole time we could barely talk at all! She knows Ukrainian, Polish, and Italian (she lived there for six months), and of course, I know English and troshky (a little) Ukrainian. Actually, I think her English is about the same as my Ukrainian. Our conversation was, well, interesting, and most of it was us laughing at ourselves, at each other, and at the whole situation. Sometimes I would actually whip out the little French or Latin I know because the words I needed are closer to Italian in those languages than they are in English. It actually worked. When we got to UKU, we both went to Emaus where there were people who knew both English and Ukrainian. That was a relief.

On Thursday morning, Kimberley and I went to the orphanage instead of our respective workshops. We were there for two hours, and just played with the children the whole time. Their ages ranged from 2 to 4, or something like that. It was fun, but I think two hours was about as much as I could handle for that day. After that, we both went back to our workshops for the afternoon portion of the day.

So, that was my week five, in a nutshell. Only seven more to go.

Until next time,
Michael

On the Lighter Side of Things

Dear Readers,

I thought that you might enjoy a more humourous post.

Last night I was sitting at the kitchen table with my host sisters, their cousin Olena (around 13 I'm guessing), my host mother, and host grandmother.

We were playing our vocabulary game again (we tell each other what things are in Ukrainian and English), and Halya asked how to say 'shirt' in English. So, I said 'shirt.'

I guess that 'shirt' is a rather difficult word to say for Ukrainians, because neither the 'i' nor the 'r' sounds in 'shirt' exist in Ukrainian. My host sisters sort of got it by replacing that weird 'i' sound in 'shirt' with a Ukrainian 'e' and by rolling the 'r'.

Anyway, my grandmother was really struggling, and she starting saying something like 'шит', and kept saying 'шит' when I tried to help her prounounce 'shirt'. This was mildly amusing for me, of course, because in Ukrainian, ш = 'sh', и = 'i' as in 'bit'', and т = 't'. So, here was this elderly lady saying "шит, шит, huh, шит?" It was about 10:00 at night, and I was tired...I found it amusing. I had to try hard to hold myself from laughing.

Side note:

'Shirt' in Ukrainian is 'майка', which last week confused me because it is remarkably close to 'Майкл': my name in English transcribed into cyrillic (as opposed to 'Michael' translated to Ukrainian, that's Mykhailo-Михайло). So, when Marta was pointing at my shirt saying 'майка, майка,' I responded by saying 'Ні, Я Майкл,' (No, I am Michael). Needless to say, Marta and Hanusia found that very funny, and we all laughed at me.

Another side note:

Hanusia's actual name is 'Anna', but everyone calls her 'Hanusia.' I have no idea why.

Until next time,
Michael

Week Four Complete

Dear Readers,

Week four is now complete, and I can't believe it! They say that the first month of the Intercordia placement is supposed to be long and hard and not too enjoyable, but I have had such an amazing time so far. The time has just flown by!

So, what went on this week? Monday and Tuesday went pretty much as usual. I got up in the morning, went to the workshop for 10:00am and stayed there until 3:30pm, and came home. Wednesday was a really long day though. After my workshop day ended at 3:30, I came to the university for a Ukrainian language class at 5:00. For the next few weeks, I will have a Ukrainian language class from 5:00 - 6:30 on Wednesdays at UKU. Anyway, I was exhausted all day Wednesday, though I don't know why. Maybe it was due the lousy weather.

After our language class, we finally went to see Pani Maria and her son Vajdik. Vajdik has no intellectual disabilities, but he has severe physical handicaps so he cannot really speak at all nor can he walk. His mother has had to push him around in a wheelchair for the past 25 years and he is really a full grown man, so she has really bad back problems from all of those years of pushing him and carrying him from bed to the chair to the bathroom.... Nevertheless, they are both so cheerful! Vajdik I am told is one of the most wonderful positive people you'll ever want to meet, and if he was able to he would become a monk. Vajdik loves going to church and going to different churches, so when we started talking about the different churches in Lviv, he got very excited. His mother too is very cheerful and grateful for Vajdik, and for Faith and Light which have supported them in different ways over the past seventeen years. I was really glad I was able to go see them on Wednesday evening, even though I was exhausted and hungry.

Thursday was also a long day, although not as long. After my workshop Kimberley and I went to the psychiatric hospital again. However, it was a really bad time to go, and after 20 minutes there they had supper so we had to leave. So, after 20 minutes on the marshrutka (sardine conditions of course), and 15 minutes of walking, we were only there for 20 minutes. Then, Kimberly and I got to spend another 40 minutes on a sardine can of a marshrutka and 30 minutes of walking to get home! Thankfully though, I wasn't nearly as exhausted as I was on Wednesday, so it wasn't too bad.

Yesterday the washing machine guy came and fixed our washing machine at home. The bathroom (which also serves as the laundry room) floor was covered in clothes to be washed, as the washing machine had been out of service for a week. I am just glad to know that I will have clean clothes to wear on Sunday for church. By the way, this Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, so it is extra special.

That brings us to today, Friday. Like usual, I had a half day at the workshop, so we finished at 1:00. Afterward, I came to UKU for lunch and our weekly check in meeting. For lunch I had green borshch (borshch without beats) , hrechka (buckwheat) with smetana (sour cream), and crepes filled with sweet cheese (I can't remember the Ukrainian word for crepe). It was duzhe smachno (very tasty).

Speaking of food, my workshop coordinator Iryna asked yesterday asked me if I would like to prepare the meal on Tuesday (we get Monday off--Pentecost Monday). I gladly said yes. Then she asked me to make a salad that I like from Canada to have with the hrechka (buckwheat again...yes we eat a lot of it here) and kovbaca (sausage). I thought that caesar would be good. Of course, caesar salad isn't in any sense a particularly Canadian salad, but I haven't seen it here at all, so I thought it would be a good choice. Iryna told me then to bring a list of ingrediants. This morning when I showed her the ingrediants, she either hadn't heard of them or she said she hadn't seen them at all, which I took to mean they were out of season (namely, romaine lettuce). The olive oil was way out of the question: too expensive. She suggested then that the salad on Tuesday would be cabbage and cucumber. I am just as glad with that.

Cultural side note: We eat a lot of cabbage here. Quite often at home, we'll have a cabbage cut into 6 or 8 pieces and everyone will just take one or two pieces and eat it raw. I was delighted when I saw my host sisters and still younger host cousins eat it like that. When I was their age, there was no way I would eat raw cabbage like that. End of cultural side note.

In my host family there is a rotation of who gets to wash the dishes. It is very convenient here because there are seven in the family, and seven days of the week. Still my host father Petro asked that I choose a day, and he suggested to do it on Friday with Hanusia, the 9 year old. I thought that would be a good idea, so tonight I'm washing the dishes with Hanusia.

Thus ends my entry for today.


Appendix: A day in the life of the Busy Bees workshop on Naukova Street, Lviv.

You may be wondering what a day a the workshop is like. Actually, I know that at least one of you is wondering that, since you sent me an e-mail about it. So, here is my answer.

We start the day at 10:00am with prayer time, which goes until about 10:30. First, we sing three songs from the Faith and Light songbook, then a passage from the Gospel is read and discussed, and finally we go around and everyone states their prayer intentions. Today was our last workshop day until Pentecost, so today's passage was the story of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Then Iryna (our workshop leader) says who will be doing what for the morning work. There are always three people cooking (one assistant, two core-members), then the rest are divided between bead work and icon making. If you work with beads, you are essentially making necklaces or other things with beads. The icon people for most part sand the wood which will be used for the icons. When the time comes, we'll actually attach the icon images to the blocks of wood. I have also lacquered icons which are put together.

At 11:30, we stop for 10 minutes of stretching. Everyone stands in a big circle in the main room and we go around the circle, everyone leading the group in a different stretch. After exercises, we go back to work.

Then, at some time between 12:30 and 1:00, we have lunch. The work of those three who were cooking all morning is now brought to fruition. After lunch we have tea and sometimes cookies or chocolates.

After lunch, the three who cooked all morning wash the dishes, while everyone else has free time. Some do some more beadwork, some play baloon volleyball in the main room, some play fooseball. One of the core members Myron really likes the accordian, so every day after lunch he grabs the accordian and starts making noise with it. He asks me if I like his music, so I say that I do. He is really funny. He'll stand right in the middle of the baloon volleyball game with the accordian.

At around 2:00, we have our afternoon activity. Sometimes we'll go out to play soccer, sometimes we'll stay inside and do some different kind of beadwork, sometimes we'll draw things. Sometimes people are doing different things. It is really laid back, as opposed to the less laid back morning of work. I say less laid back, because I can hardly call the mornings stressful or hard.

At 3:30 or so, we finish, and everyone goes home or to wherever they are going. I really like the workshop and the people that are there. The core members all have different personalities and so it has been really interesting getting to know them all.

Remember that Canadian guy I mentioned last week? He's still here! And he's really annoying. That scary guy who is always in the St. Michael's College library computer lab would have had his head by now if he were here.

This weekend is a three day weekend, and I am very excited!!! We get Monday off because it's Pentecost Monday. I don't have any plans though. I want to buy a pair of jeans, because the one pair I brought over is a little bit old, and starting to fall apart. I hope to do that this weekend. But other than that, I don't have any plans.

Do know that things are still going great, and I am sad that I am here for only another two months. I wish I could stay longer!

Until next time,
Michael

Week Three

Dear Readers,

Dobriy den', from the Ukrainian Catholic University.

I am writing this update in the computer lab. I have my weekly meeting with Roxolana and Kimberly in just under an hour. This morning I went to my workshop, but it was a short day. On Fridays, we end at 1:00pm instead of the usual 3:30. There is a fellow here in the computer lab wearing a bright red Canada jacket. Really, it is just too obvious. I was just joking with Yuri's girlfriend (also an UKU student) about how foreign he is. Haha.

It is now day 21 of 90. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. I can already tell that I am going to miss Lviv, my host family, my workshop, and all of the friends I have made. But, now to the important part of this entry.

This week, I attended three big celebrations. And so, I got a small taste of Ukrainian culture. On Sunday, I went to a Greek Catholic monastery for my host brother's cousin's priestly ordination. The Liturgy was held outdoors at the end of a major pilgrimage. There were thousands of people there! Things went pretty smoothly for the most part, but when communion time came around chaos ensued! Elderly Ukrainian ladies in church are really pushy, and really tough. You don't want to mess with them. The second and third big celebrations were both yesterday. That same priest celebrated his first Divine Liturgy yesterday in his hometown, and so it was again a major family affair. After the liturgy, there was a dinner which lasted over two hours. There was enough food to feed everyone five times! It was insane. It was a typical Ukrainian celebration. Plenty of speeches by family wishing the new priest all the best, plenty of singing Ukrainian folk hymns, and of course, at the end we sang 'Mnohaya lita'--'Many years'. They even got me to say something, and another one of the priests there served as translator. That, I didn't expect. I was a bit surprised, but I managed to say something, and I think the translator made sense of what I said.

The third big celebration was my host father's birthday. So after an afternoon of lots and lots of eating, I got to take a 1 hour car ride home and do it all over again! There actually wasn't as much eating. It wasn't a formal sit down meal. Instead, it was an informal back yard party with barbeque, badminton, music, alcohol, and dancing. It was something very similar to what may happen in Canada. My host father works at the Ukrainian Catholic University as a journalist, so he a had a bunch of co-workers over, and they brought with them their spouses and children. There were lots and lots of children.

Speaking of children, my nine year old host sister Hanusia is the cutest little girl. One of the things she does is walk a play stoller around with a doll. She feeds the doll, tucks the doll in at night. She changes the doll. She is already practicing to be a mommy. Now, her face just lit up like you wouldn't believe last night when she was able to push around a real stoller with a real baby inside. That was very cute.

As for more serious business, I went to an orphanage on Wednesday. My reaction to the whole experience is very mixed. On one hand, the building they are in is in good condition, the staff are devoted, and most importantly, the children all seem happy. They were all playing about like regular children. The sad part of it all of course is the fact that they are in an orphanage. Many of these children are the children of abusive alcoholic fathers. There is a really big problem in Ukraine of alcoholism, albeit moreso in Eastern Ukraine. The Soviet era did so much damage to the morale of the people, and at times alcoholism was encouraged. The result is that way too many people are addicted to alcohol, and then they abuse their wives/girlfriends and their children. There are bottles of wine you can purchase for about a dollar and a quarter, and you can buy a bottle of beer for 50 cents. So, you can imagine that it is dead easy to get very drunk without spending a whole lot. Of course, combine that with addiction, and you have disaster. I saw two people stumbling drunk in the middle of the road coming back from the priest's first liturgy yesterday.

Going back to the orphanage, one story in particular was especially heartbreaking. There is one little 6 year old girl there who's mother can not afford to raise her because she spent all of her money on a kidney operation she needed. That was in a way a real wake up call for me. That would never happen in Canada. But in Ukraine, things are very different. One can thank the corruption for that. I think the story of that little girl will be the source of one of my academic reflections. Speaking of which, I have to write that this weekend. I will not post it on facebook though. It serves to, among other things, help me with my final academic paper when I get back to Canada.

This weekend I will visit a 'Faith and Light' family. Faith and Light families are really mothers with disabled children who have been abandoned by their husbands because of the disabled child. Kimberley and I will visit one family every weekend. The family we have is a mother with a 25 year old son who cannot speak or walk. She lives in a beat up apartment (Krushchoki--will explain some other time) and she is really weak because she has had to carry her son into bed, out of bed, to the bathroom, etc... every day for the last 25 years. And her son is a full grown man. You can imagine how difficult it must be for one women to be able to do that every day. Our visits are really an attempt to give her any kind of support. We give her moral support by being there with her and her son. We also help out a little bit by taking her son for a walk around the park, or whatever. I'm not really sure what to expect when I go there tomorrow. I will report on that.

That is really it for now. My weekly check up meeting is in a few minutes, then afterward I will go to the Dzherelo Centre for theatre. Druzi from all workshops are preparing a little skit to perform publicly, and there is a session tonight. I haven't gone the last two weeks, so I think I should go tonight. It should be fun. The Druzi are really great, and the non-handicapped assistants are all really wonderful people.

Until next time,
Michael

P.S.: Do forgive any spelling or grammar errors. I wrote this in one sitting without editing it.

Ти хочеш їсти?

Dear Readers,

I am in the middle of week three, and I am starting to understand a bit of spoken Ukrainian, слава Богу! I am not anywhere near able to carry a conversation nevermind understand a conversation, but I can understand and formulate basic questions. For instance:

Ти хочеш їсти? - Do you want to eat?

Знаєш як йти на УКУ? (or something like that) - Do you know how to go to UCU (Ukrainian Catholic University)?---I was asked this today by the lady who runs the workshop where I volunteer. I had to go to the university for something.

Де ти живеш? - Where do you live?

I also know a bunch of other things, such as most of the colours, and numbers. Unfortunately my vocabulary is still extremely limited, so most of the time I haven't a clue what people are saying. But, when someone says something to me I think I can understand, I know to say: Не так швидко, будь ласка-Not so fast, please. Thankfully, I am picking up more and more as the days pass.

This afternoon I went to an orphanage here in Lviv. It was both delightful and heartbreaking. The children are wonderful, but their stories of course are tragic. I will write more about that on my weekly update on Friday.

Tomorrow is the feast of the Ascension of our Lord, so we get the day off! I'm glad, because I don't know how else I would have been able to get to church. I hope to do some more exploring downtown.

Папа (papa-an informal way to say 'goodbye'),
Michael

Week two is in the books

Dear Readers,

I have no finished my second week here in lviv. Right now it is 6:00 in the evening, and a thunderstorm has descended upon my neighbourhood of Riacne (Рясне). The last two days have been quite warm, and so the thunderstorm hasn't come as a great surprise.

This week I began my actual placement at the workshop after my Ukrainian lesson, although I ended up going only twice during the week. I went on Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, one of the druzi (друзі) hosted lunch in her apartment building ('druzi' is Ukrainian for 'friends': in l'Arche Ukraine, they call the core members 'friends') . Then, yesterday and today the druzi from my workshop were away for a weekend excursion to the Carpathian mountains. Yesterday after our Ukrainian lesson, Kimberly and I went to Vira's academy to visit her English class. The students, all of whom were women to my surprise, were shy to speak to us in their broken English, but their teacher urged them on. A few of them spoke up and asked us some questions, but everyone got a chance to hear two native English speakers speak English.

After my Ukrainian lesson this morning I attended the Divine Liturgy (Holy Mass) in the Ukrainian Catholic University chapel. Priests from the university serve the Divine Liturgy daily, which is a wonderful thing that I wish more students and staff took advantage of. Only 8 people attended the Liturgy this morning!

Then I decided to explore the downtown core of Lviv on my own! I had only been there with others thus far. It was a bit of an adventure. When I was on the streetcar, a lady came up to me and starting barking orders at me. Having not a clue what she was saying, I said 'I don't understand Ukrainian' to her in Ukrainian. That didn't help, because she just kept going, and seemed to grow more inpatient. It turns out she was checking to see if we had stamped our tickets. The lady who was with her gestured that to me, then I gladly showed her my stamped ticket. Only then did the first lady finally clue in that I actually don't understand Ukrainian. Some others in the streetcar had a chuckle, and I heard "Він не розуміє Український" (Vin ne rozumiye Ukrayins'kiy), which means "He does not understand Ukrainian." That I did understand! O well. It was a learning experience. If anyone comes up to you in a streetcar and starts barking orders at you, just show that person your stamped ticket and they should stop barking at you and go away.

At the actual workshops I already have had to do some conflict management, which was somewhat challenging given I do not know the language. After lunch on Wednesday there was a balloon volleyball game in the main room, and it got rather intense. Some of the druzi starting making fun of one of the other druzi because he wasn't as quick in reacting to the balloon. I tried to put an end to it, but my efforts were futile. Though, it wasn't long before one of the girls that volunteers there (who, by the way, is much louder than I am, and knows Ukrainian!) did a better job.

It has been a little difficult at the workshop simply because I can't really carry a conversation yet. I know a few phrases, and I know a few verbs, nouns, and adjectives, but I can't really put them together. But I am trying to learn more. I intend to study Ukrainian every evening and practice with my host sisters. I counted to 100 with Marta the other day! But if anything, this will help me be humble, which is a good thing! I must embrace this inability of mine.

I hope to be able to write more often, perhaps twice or three times a week, but I cannot make any promises.

Until next time,
Michael

Week One: Completed

Hey everyone,

It is hard to believe, but I have completed my first week here in Lviv. It has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life!

I am glad to say that I am finally over jetlag. The last few days were really tough because I was really tired and a little bit sick, but now I am over whatever I had and I feel great! I knew I was over jetlag this morning when I got off the marshutka and I wasn't completely exhausted. I actually was energized after being on that stupid thing for 45 minutes. And by the way, I took the marshutka from home to UKU and back all by myself today for the first time. It was a bit of an adventure, especially coming home, but I made it! It was especially adventurous coming home because I was one one of those marshutkas which is really just a large van, and it was absolutely jammed packed. I wouldn't be surprised if there were 25 or 30 people on the marshutka. In Canada, safety regulations probably wouldn't allow more than 14 or 15 on. The sardine can-like conditions wasn't the issue though, but instead it was the fact that I couldn't see out the front window, so I had no idea where I was going! Luckily, I know the landmarks so I could see where I was just by looking out the side windows. I have been here one week, and the only thing I haven't enjoyed is the public transit system, but hey, no one does. And it's a part of the cultural experience afterall!

I have now gone around to visit all four of the l'Arche workshops here in Lviv. Normally, l'Arche begins as a community of disabled persons and their assistants, and then only later do they start up workshops. Here in Lviv, things have worked the other way. They have not been able to start a community where people live together simply because they haven't found a suitable place to do so, but they have the workshops. The four workshops combined are considered one l'Arche community because they have the l'Arche spirit. It is only a matter of time before a suitable piece of land is found and the money is raised to start up a proper l'Arche community. On Monday I will start my placement at the Busy Bees workshop in the afternoon, after my Ukrainian lesson in the morning. Starting a week Monday I will volunteer at the Busy Bees workshop full time from 10:00-3:30--the hours the workshop is open.

Aside from visiting the l'Arche workshops, I visited a psychiatric hospital for children and the Dzherelo (Джерело) Centre (pronounce the dzh as 'j' in job and roll the 'r' and you will sort of pronounce it correctly). We (Kim, Roxolyana, and I--I will explain who these people are later) happened to get to the psychiatric hospital just as the children were having play time, so we got to spend some time playing with the children. After their initial curiosity, the boys invited us to play soccer with them. It reminded me of many a recess at elementary school. The girls were a bit more shy and stayed off at the swingset playing amongst themselves.

The Dzherelo Centre was really nice. Yesterday we visited the l'Arche workshop there, and then this morning we were back for a tour of the building. The Centre is a really a one-stop building for any kind of support one could want for disabled persons. As I said, there is a l'Arche workshop there. Also, there is a daycare centre for disabled toddlers, facilities for rehab for physically disabled persons of all ages, facilities to aid speech impediments...it goes on and on. This centre is funded entirely by private donations, most of which come from Ukrainian Canadians. Actually, just a few weeks ago Her Excellency the Governor General visited the Centre. There is a hallway lined with pictures from her visit. I smiled with great pride (the good kind) when I saw those photos.

The highlight of our trip to the Dzherelo Centre on Thursday was karaoke! The druzhi (core-members), assistants, Kim, and I all sang traditional Ukrainian folk songs. Well, Kim wasn't. She can't read Ukrainian as well. Anyway, that was a lot of fun. Afterward I was told that the assistants (volunteers, most of whom were university age girls) were all impressed by my Ukrainian reading ability. Hey, what can I say? Haha.

Now, I should give you a list of names just so you know who everyone is...

Kim - The other Intercordian in Lviv this summer. She is a student at the University of Western Ontario in London.
Roxolyana - Our main support person and the administrative assistant at the Emmaus Centre (the central office of all of this stuff). She is a first generation American of Ukrainian descent. Her parents were forced out of Ukraine during the communist era. She speaks both Ukrainian and English fluently, so she has been our translator.
Pan Petro - My host father.
Pani Natalka - My host mother.
Yuri - Host brother. Age 20.
Pavlo - Host brother. Age 18.
Halya - Host sister. Age 11.
Marta - Host sister. Age 11.
Hanousia - Host sister. Age 9.
Vera - Kim's host sister. Age 19.
Katya - Kim's other host sister. Age 14.

Vera actually turned 19 today. She will host a birthday party tomorrow evening at her house, and I will be there. Многая літа! Many years!

On Sunday, Pan Petro's step-brother will be ordained a priest, and I will be there at the ordination!! It will be my first Greek Catholic ordination. He will be ordained at his monastery about 30km away from here. Yes, he is a monk.

Do know that I have been thinking of all of you back home, and I miss you. And please pray for all of us Intercordians. There are some who are having a really hard time.

Until next time,
Michael

My first bus ride, and more!

Hey everyone,

I just came back from my first trip into the city centre of Lviv. I went with Pavlo, one of my host brothers. While we were there, we walked about some of the touristy type areas. We walked down some streets where there were different shops set up with all kinds of neat things.

I am surprised that the city wasn't as crowding being a Saturday afternoon, especially because the Lviv Days are being celebrated. The Lviv Days are celebrated yearly to commemorat the founding of Lviv, which was nearly 800 years ago.

I also got another sharp reminder that I am no longer in Canada. In order to get there, we had to take the bus into the city. That of course was no big deal. However, the public transit system in Lviv is, well it could be better. The publicly funded transit system isn't that great. So some brilliant person got the idea to start a business driving privately owned buses down the same routes to compensate for the lack of public transit. However, these aren't really buses. They are really just large vans you have to pay to get on. They only seat about 14 people and have a bit of standing room. Also, ceiling is low, so you have to crouch down whenever you stand. I realize I probably will never be able to sit down on one of these things because there will probably always be enough women to fill up the chairs, and it is seen as incredibly rude if a man does not give up his seat to a woman. Not, I am not at all complaining. Hey, they are dirt cheap to take. To ride a bus costs the equivalent of about 22 cents.

Another interesting thing I've noticed about Lviv is that the drivers are crazy! Well, at least compared to Toronto standards. People wave in an out of traffic at high speeds with no seat belt on. People cross streets without really looking. It all reminds me of, well, Montreal! Except people in Montreal talk funny. No really, western Ukrainians and English Canadians think alike. A man was driving along with his left tires on the sidewalk, and he honked at people to get out of the way. I immediately thought "He must be French." Then Pavlo said: "He must be Russian." Okay, I guess that I am not a very good sample by which one can judge all of English Canada, and Pavlo probably isn't the same by which one can judge western Ukrainians, but you get the point. I get the sense that Pavlo is very pro-Ukrainian. He's not anti-Russian, just really Ukrainian. By the way, he is 18, and just finished his first year at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. His English is pretty good, so he has been my translator and person to talk to.

I wrote more about the buses and comparing Russians to French Canadians, and not as much about Lviv. That is because everything was so new and different, I cannot really express it all right here right now. Do not worry, as time goes on I will be able to fill you in with more things about the city.

And yes, I have begun taking photos.

Until next time,
Michael

Good evening, from Lviv!

Hey everyone,

Good news! I made it here to Lviv no problem. Both of my flights went off without a hitch, and we flew through customs. I got to my summer home here a few hours ago (it is now 7:00pm).

I am living with a family of 8! Mom, Dad, Grandma, two teenage boys, and three girls all under 10 or 11. I have met everyone so far except for my host father, but he won't be back until Monday. He is on retreat somewhere, I think.

I have had my first meal in Ukraine. Grandma made borshcht, saurkraut, and barley. And it was very good! I think I scored major brownie points when I led the grace by singing 'Christ is Risen' in Ukrainian.

The language issue hasn't been a huge huge deal so far. My two host brothers speak pretty decent English. But I will undergo formal language training for two weeks at the Ukrainian Catholic University starting on Monday. I go two hours a day for two weeks, then I work at the Faith and Light workshops full time. It should be exciting.

If my writing seems choppy and incoherent, it probably is because I haven't slept in 28 or 29 hours. I will definitely get a good night's sleep tonight!

Until next time,
Michael

Departure Day: Some Thoughts

So, today is the big day. Today I leave for what will be, pardon the cliche, the adventure of a lifetime. Today I will meet Kim who I will be working with this summer, and I will say goodbye to my family for three months. Then, at 6:20pm, my airplane takes off.

It is hard to believe that I leave today. As I sit here at my computer, I look around and everything is familiar to me. The window beside me to my right, the dog looking outside the door to my left, the cars going down the street, the airplanes flying over my head (remember, I live next to the airport). The sounds, the smells, they are all familiar. It will be a quite a shock when I get to Lviv tomorrow afternoon.

I am nervous, I am excited, but I am not worried. Faith is a wonderful thing. It allows you to look at everything in the light of the Eternal. I can see that God has put me in this situation for a reason ordained from all eternity. I don't know how things will unfold, but I do know that it will be for good; for my good, and for the good of others. So, I am not at all worried. I am nervous though because I don't know how things will unfold, and because I will have to learn a new language, a new culture, and a new way of life. I am excited however for these same reasons. I will get to spend three months in Ukraine: how exciting is that! I will get to learn a new language, a new culture, and a new way of life. It helps that I have many contacts in Ukraine which probably will make everything go a little bit smoother. This I can attribute only to providence.

Most other Intercordians have already left, and some of them have even posted on their blogs. They have landed safely and are getting settled in. This brings me great comfort. Hopefully in the next few days I will write my first entry from Ukraine with a similar report.

I have two hours left at home until I head off to the airport, so I should do some last minute preparations.

Thank you all who have supported me, whether you have prayed for me, supported me financially, wished me kind words, or all of the above and more. Everything means a lot to me.

Good-bye Canada, see you in August! Hello Ukraine! Добрий день Україна!

Until next time,
Michael

One Week

I find it difficult to believe that I leave in only one week. When I signed up for this back in September, early May seemed so far away. Now, I have begun the one week countdown.

I am very excited, and quite nervous. I have tried to prepare the best I can, however you can never really prepare for these things perfectly. No matter what I do, I will probably realize that I should have packed something I didn't pack, or that I should have read something I didn't read, or whatever. So, I am not going to sweat over this too much.

I am starting to really think about the every day items I will need, and so I am stocking up. This morning I bought a headlamp, a super absorbent travel towel, and a travel pocket to clip on to my pants--to prevent pick-pocketing. I have my reading list set up, my Ukrainian language books ready, and my journal to write in hopefully every night.

Also, I have decided to give my host family a small gift when I arrive. I will give my host father a bottle of Canadian rye whiskey, and my host mother a bottle of pure maple syrup--distinctly Canadian items. I figured the whiskey would be received especially well, considering it's Ukraine. The Ukrainian word for 'water' is 'voda'--one letter away from 'vodka.' Coincidence? I think not.

I still have one pesky exam to write on May 6th. That one lasts from 2:00-4:00 in the afternoon. Then, I am home free for the summer! Until the next evening of course, when my plane takes off.

A few nights ago I was sitting in my living room reading a book and I had a 'holy crap I am leaving next week moment.' I find I spend a majority of my waking hours at home reading books that have nothing to do with school. I won't be able to do that in Lviv! I'll be able to read of course, and I plan to, but I won't be able to read at home! Oh well, such is life. I will get over it.

As for reading, I will bring along my Bible (duh!), Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for pleasure reading, and a book called Poustinia for spiritual reading. Catherine Doherty wrote Poustinia to bring Eastern Christian spirituality to western Catholics, like me! She was, among many other things, the wife of an Eastern Catholic priest.

I have to go do other things now, but I will continue to update the blog, both before and during, and hopefully after my stay.

Until next time,
Michael

Thank you very much! Дуже дякую!

I have now reached my fund raising goal of $2,500, and I cannot thank all of you enough. In thanksgiving, I would like to recognize of all those who donated.

Kevin and Laureen Hayes - My parents, who have supported me in this project and in all other worthwhile projects I have set out to achieve.

Fr. Nino Cavoto and his parish (Our Lady of Sorrows Church-Etobicoke) - Fr. Nino is one of the most loving, gentle, and devoted priests I know. His parish is very beautiful. Visit it some day!

Daniela Petchik - A super awesome U of T mediaevael studies MA grad who I ran into by chance (aheh, divine providence) one day at Croissant Tree on Bay Street last year. We were never able to have too many good conversations because she had to go back home.

Albert and Alma Wiebe - My amazing grandparents from Alberta. They are model grandparents, model parents, and model Christians. Lovely people!

Ken and Marcia Janzen - My mother's sister and her husband. Always a joy to see them whenever I go to Alberta or whenever they come here.

Marie and Dermot Sweeny - The parents of my wonderful friend Siobhan. She is also doing Intercordia this year.

Mary Hayes - My grandmother who I have lived next door to my whole life. I am going to miss going to Church with her this summer, and I think she will miss going to Church with me.

Harout Kevork - My grade 12 calculus teacher. He was one of the most influential teachers I had in high school. It is too bad he is going to retire in the next couple of years.

Mark Palmieri - One of my best friends. It is too bad that Croissant Tree on Bay Street is now closed. I miss my Thursday afternoon arguments about politics, theology, and philosophy over coffee.

Laura Giovinazzo - An awesome co-worker of mine for the last three and a half years. We had to deal with many interesting things at the pool together.

Alison D'Souza - A wonderful friend of mine, and a former Intercordia participant.

Nikita Pchelin - We sat beside each other in grade 11 chemistry when he first came to Canada from Russia. Not only did he donate, but he hand wrote a letter and he sent me an icon of St. Tikhon, the patriarch of Moscow who brought Orthodox Christianity to North America. Although I am not Orthodox, this gesture meant a great deal for me.

Bruce Crowther - A long time friend and co-worker of my father. I don't see him very often, but whenever I do he is always in a cheerful mood.

Chiara Ubertino - A lovely fellow student at the University of Toronto.

Rick Wiebe - My uncle on my mother's side.

Tim Wykes - My cousin on my father's side. We spent many weeks together for many summers when we were younger.

Johanna Miller - A really awesome McMaster graduate, passionate about what she does.

Blaise Alleyne - A really cool guy, with really cool hair!

Abigail Sequeira - A U of T engineering grad. I hadn't heard from her in a while. It was really nice to reconnect.

Aidan Loureiro - My GO Train buddy. She has made many a GO Train ride far more enjoyable than it would have been had she not been there.

Therese Miller - One of those out of the blue donations! I had yet to meet her and she sent me a donation. Thankfully I have since met her. Really cool person!

Of course, there are so many of my friends who, although they were unable to donate, encouraged me and prayed for me. There are so many of you, and for you I am very grateful.

Until next time,
Michael

My Flights are Set!

Dear Readers,

I now have the itinerary for my flights to and from Ukraine!

On Thursday, May 7th, I leave Pearson International Airport in Toronto at 6:20pm on Air Austrian flight 72. After eight and a half hours, I will arrive in Vienna, Austria at 8:50am on Friday, May 8th. After a few hours in Austria, I take-off again at 1:15pm on Air Austrian flight 381 to Lviv. I land at 3:35pm.

I leave in 20 days!

Until next time,
Michael

Preparation Updates

Dear Readers,

I thought that I would take some time to write about how my preparation is going.

First, I am really excited to go! I am nervous of course, but I cannot wait to go to one of the most culturally rich places in the world. I am really excited to see the cities of Lviv and Kyiv. I am also looking forward to working with the children at the Faith and Light workshops. Since the workshops are located at a l'Arche community, I will probably work with some of the adults there as well.

A fellow Intercordian from the University of Waterloo who is going Ternopil, Ukraine this summer found this great video on Ukraine. It is definitely worth a look.

As for actual preparation, I now have a Ukrainian tutor. I cannot believe how it happened! Divine providence was definitely at work. He is teaching me some basic spoken Ukrainian which will basically help me get a head start. While I am in Ukraine I will have some formal language training, although I do not know the details of it yet.

Next week a bunch of us are going to Mountain Equipment Co-op to go shopping to prepare for our coming trip. I feel somewhat guilty though since I do not have to worry about buying a mosquito net or other things those going to Africa and South America have to worry about.

Before I forget, I got my shots last week. And by 'shots', I mean 'shot'. I only had to get a Hep A vaccine. The others have to get vaccines or prescriptions for at least some of the following: malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, traveller's diarrhea, whooping caugh, etc.... One girl last year who went to Ecuador elected against getting vaccinated for whooping caugh, and sure enough she got it!

As for the academic bit, we have finished our final seminar. Now we all have to write our research paper, due April 16th. I haven't had to write a paper like this since first year, so I am a bit nervous. However, I'm sure it will all work out in the end.

That's all for now.

Until next time,
Michael

Fourth, and final, all day preparation seminar

Yesterday we completed a very significant part of the Intercordia program: the preparation seminars. We have come together so much as a group since our first seminar way back on October 18th, 2008. I am so priviledged to have been able to work with such a fantastic group of people, and I am going to miss these seminars. But, we must move on. We still have one last academic session together, and a going away dinner. Then, we're off! Of the eight of us, only two will be in the same country, and even they have different placements. I'm going to miss the group, but I must move on.

The actual seminar was very good. I think it was the best one of the four. In the first session, we discussed culture shock. We discussed the stages of culture shock, its symptoms, and what to do to minimize the negative effects. This session was very helpful since it dealt with what will be the core of our experience when we are abroad.

I won't go into too much detail, but Clara told us about the U curve pattern of culture shock. When we first arrive, we will probably be at the top left part of the U. This is the euphoric stage. We are in a new place, we are excited, we are really set for an adventure. She likened it to falling in love. However, this will not last. Eventually we will begin to be disillusioned with the culture. We will begin to realize some things that we think are strange or maybe even wrong, and we will not like it. We will also start to feel homesick. Then we will hit the stage where we are hostile to the culture. This is the bottom of the U. At this point we may even be angry with our new culture and we may want to get together with the other foreigners and complain, complain, complain. I took this stage to be the make or break stage. If we don't get through it, we will end up just frustrated and we will miss out on a lot of great stuff. For instance, some people had just stopped going to their placements and stayed home and watched movies. They later really regretting it. However, if we are able to get through this, we will begin to adapt. We will by now have a decent grasp of the language so we can communicate more effectively. Добрий! Good! We will also be more able to pick up social cues, which are ever so important. We may even hit the top of the right part of the U and assimilate into the culture. I doubt we will be able to get to that point since our stay is only three months, but hopefully we will be headed in that direction.

That was just a brief sketch of the U curve analysis of culture shock. We looked at it in much greater detail yesterday, but I won't bore you by going through every little thing.

After this session, two members of l'Arche Daybreak in Richmond Hill visited us. There was one core member (a disabled person) and her assistant. I feel awful because I cannot remember either of their names, but they were a great. They talked about what it was like to live at l'Arche. They talked about the community life, how new assistant members (non-disabled) react when they first join. It was an interesting session. After it we had lunch.

After lunch and an icebreaker game (the human knot!), we discussed some emergency protocols. These deal with what to do when we do not know what to do. For instance, who should we contact if we do not feel safe, or if civil unrest is a problem. Do not worry, the supports Intercordia has in place are solid! If anything happens, we will be well taken care of.

We did some other things, such as brainstorm recruiting strategies for the next cohort of U of T Intercordians, and of course the last two told their life stories. And like always, the contents of those stories have no place on this blog.

That was our day. Like I said, we are all sad because it was our last one. But this is just a part of the program, and a part of life really. Now we can set our eyes on actually leaving! The fact that I am leaving for three months has really started to sink in for me. This Friday will be my last shift at work before I leave! I have worked at the local pool for three and a half years now and I have worked there the last three summers. I am going to miss working there! But I know everything will work out in the end. As for actual departure dates, we should know it very soon.

So, that's all for now. I don't really have anything else to say.

Until next time,
Michael