Winter

It’s snowing in Kyiv. *sigh*

I have been super busy at work and haven’t had anytime to post on my blog, even though there is a lot I want to post about – like my trip to youth centers in Crimea, the international conference on Peace and Tolerance Education I attended in Crimea, and some meetings and discussions I’ve had with Chornobyl-aid organizations. But I am overloaded at work. Things to do: prepare one briefing on the status of civil society development and volunteerism in Ukraine for the UNDP Resident Representative; prepare one project proposal on youth development to submit to UNV headquarters; prepare and conduct briefings for 4 new UNV volunteers; finalize recruitment of an international consultant to conduct a final evaluation mission for the UNV component of Chornobyl Recovery and Development Programme; facilitate said final evaluation mission so that the final report is ready by end of November; plan, organize and facilitate the annual UNV retreat; and prepare contingency plans for managing the work of the UNV country operations assistant, who will be out of the office indefinitely due to a family emergency.

Furthermore, we still have to register our wedding in Korosten, but this can only be done on work days, and I have no idea when we will both be able to take a day off to go to Korosten to take care of this. We also need to make hotel reservations for everyone there, and plan the party. I still don’t have any outfit to wear at the wedding. We don’t have rings. Anyone want to be my wedding coordinator?

Something good that _is_ happening is that I have started exercising regularly again. I am embarrassed by how flabby and weak I’ve gotten in the last 3 years; I had been doing so good with my weight and exercise in the US. But I’m starting to get back on track, working out 3 times a week with some colleagues and a personal trainer. I’m sore as hell, but it feels good to be physically active again. It’s going to be awhile before I can back anywhere near the shape I was in 3 years ago, but I know I can do it.

Hopefully I will get my head above water this week and can post more on the weekend.