I also received a huge package of information about my exchange. Here's some highlights:
Our team will consist of twenty members, two Project Supervisors, Iryna and myself, and eighteen participants, nine participants from across Canada and nine participants from Ukriane. The Ukrainian participants come from all parts of Ukraine and all are between 18 -20 years of age.
My project supervisors will be Russ Mackenzie from Port Alberni and Iryna Petruk from Ostroh. . They will help coordinate group activities during both the Canadian phase and Ukrainian phase
Russ hopes to have CWY volunteers in the fields of First Nations, health care, alternative education, economic development, family services and the arts with a cross-cutting theme of environmentalism or sustainability while in Port Alberni.
Work on your Ukrainian. Be able to recognize жінки and чоловіки to avoid potentially embarrassing situations – unless, of course, you have a bladder of steel! This will be a multi-lingual program, so if you haven’t already, take some time to listen to spoken Ukrainian. Take out CDs or books from the library, enroll in a class if you’re really keen, and watch some Ukrainian language movies! You can even put up post-it notes around your house with the names of household items in Ukrainian (e.g. телефон , ліжко, плита, мило…). Language learning can be tough at times, but it will be so worth it to be able to share in the language of our counterparts and to feel independent and capable when we’re in Ostroh. And even if you know nothing right now don’t sweat it, we’ll all be learning together, as long as you have the motivation you’ll do великий!
Sending mail to Ukraine is somewhat reliable but expect non-airmail packages to take more than a month to arrive from Canada (parcels go missing much more often than letters).
