Musings about my future in Ukraine as an actual PCV

So, I'm not sure all of you are aware of the PC process. So I'll lay it out in a little bit of detail.

First you go through a long application process. It can take anywhere from 3 months to a year and a half. Mine was especially long, about 18 months. Mainly because I signed up at just the wrong time. So I had to wait a while for another opening.

After the application process, I went to a small retreat in Philadephia to basically meet up with the other volunteers and get introduced to Peace Corps in general. We also signed papers to make ourselves official federal employees (I'm offically a Peace Corps Trainee - PCT right now) and other legal paperwork.

After this we all went to JFK airport in New York to fly to Munich, and then Ukraine. After arriving in Ukraine we went to another retreat. Mainly to introduce ourselves with the country and the staff of Peace Corps Ukraine. After this small retreat all of us went to our separate host families.

This is currently where I am in this process. Peace Corps calls it the "home-stay" experience. I'm basically just familiarizing my myself with the language and culture through extensive lessons and practical application, as well as gaining experience in my eventual field of work.

After three months of being a PCT, in June, I will be "sworn in" as an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). This will involve me moving out on my own to start my work.

Yesterday I had my "Site Placement Interview." It was actually quite informative and interesting. I met with the country director, lead youth development specialist, and regional manager for one of the areas of the country.

The country director here is fascinating. We are actually quite alike in many ways, and it was refreshing to have such a personal conversation with someone in such a high position of authority. She likes classical music, especially Beethoven, and even more, she knows music. Our conversation was very interesting, and perhaps one of the higlights of my stay here so far.

After this I had an interview with the youth development lead specialist and the regional manager for part of the country. This was a more technical interview, with a discussion of my skills, and how to line them up with my site. Not too much to say about this really, it was more of just them getting information from me about what I would like to do. I said my main interests for work are in recreation (sports and music), and also civics (basically like social studies here in Ukraine).
That's essentially been my past couple days here in Ukraine.
More to come when it happens.