Well, believe it or not, I’ve been in Ukraine for just under 10 weeks. We have one more week of pre-service training (PST) before shipping out to Kyiv for Swearing-In and then taking off for our permanent sites.
So what do we do in our last week (week 11) of PST? Well, the big event is our Language Proficiency Interview (LPI), that determines what our language level is after all the lessons we’ve had. We’re supposed to be at least “intermediate-mid,” but it’s also impossible to fail the interview. If we’re below par, the Peace Corps just tells us to get a language tutor when we get to site. Hopefully that won’t be necessary for me, but it’s nice to know that they can’t kick us out for a bad LPI. During week 11 we also have various written tests (open book!) on Peace Corps policies/procedures and health/safety practices. Other than that I think I’ll be spending a lot of time packing (again – ugh) and thinking about how to sufficiently thank my host parents for being wonderful hosts (any ideas? Let me know!).
We go to Kyiv on 6 December for the Swearing-In Conference, three days of meetings and sessions before we head off into the abyss. I’m most excited to get my site assignment on the afternoon of the 6th. And once I get to this as-yet-unknown site, I will finally get a mailing address at which I can receive more than just letters!
It will be sad to leave my cluster-mates and host family, but I’m ready for PST to end so I can start the next two years of my life as a full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteer.
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