It was hard being yanked out of my site so quickly, and probably unnecessarily. These appointments in DC could have waited two months. I’m working on my attitude to try to turn this lemon into lemonade. I’m having trouble with this. My dear colleagues voted me the "Toughest PCV" in group 36, a special honor. But this has been one of the toughest changes yet. I only had two months to go. I could have prepared the English Club and other projects for my leaving, had a smoother transition to a new PCV, done some goal setting and planning for the future. Instead I was taken out in one fell swoop, like a deus ex machina on a theater stage. But this is not theater; it's real life. And that's what feels so bad.
The only good side to all this is that my daughter Elissa was here in DC and between appointments we explored Washington, a really great walking and touring city. On Saturday we spent several hours at the National Museum of the American Indian, an absolutely stunning
museum, from its brilliant architecture to its fine exhibitions. It's a testiment to the persistence of cultures and the human spirit in the face of horrendous oppression and adversity. The American Indians, our first people, are still with us, working hard to preserve their cultures into the future, for all time. It's a lesson for the present.
Elissa has returned to Toledo and I remain here in DC, but my heart is in Starobelsk. I am not sure what’s coming next. More tests, more doctors' appointments, and then what? I am working on my attitude. I didn’t have to be booted out of Ukraine, as it were, but now I think it would be painful to return and have to go through all the goodbyes again. So I am taking it one day at a time. I am a working PCV until 18 May, no matter what happens. I was assured of this before I left Ukraine. Once a PCV always a PCV. That is the only comfort right now.
The only good side to all this is that my daughter Elissa was here in DC and between appointments we explored Washington, a really great walking and touring city. On Saturday we spent several hours at the National Museum of the American Indian, an absolutely stunning
museum, from its brilliant architecture to its fine exhibitions. It's a testiment to the persistence of cultures and the human spirit in the face of horrendous oppression and adversity. The American Indians, our first people, are still with us, working hard to preserve their cultures into the future, for all time. It's a lesson for the present.Elissa has returned to Toledo and I remain here in DC, but my heart is in Starobelsk. I am not sure what’s coming next. More tests, more doctors' appointments, and then what? I am working on my attitude. I didn’t have to be booted out of Ukraine, as it were, but now I think it would be painful to return and have to go through all the goodbyes again. So I am taking it one day at a time. I am a working PCV until 18 May, no matter what happens. I was assured of this before I left Ukraine. Once a PCV always a PCV. That is the only comfort right now.
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