Black Sea, here I come!

Most fascinating way I've found to waste time today (no, really): watching YouTube clips from/homemade music videos of "Ne Rodis' Krasivoy." Which are in Russian, of course, but randomly are mostly labeled in Spanish.

However, I don't have time to waste time, because...I AM GOING TO THE BLACK SEA TOMORROW!!!! (Sense some excitement?) I'd really been regretting that I'd never made it to the sea while I was here, but I didn't want to go by myself...not nearly as much fun. But the Yukhemetses and Nadia's brother and his family are going this week, and I'm going to sorta-kinda be part of their group. (They're driving, I'm taking the train--which I think is a better plan because I would be Person 16 in the van for at least 12 hours.) We're renting apartments down in Skadovsk, a town in Khersonska Oblast on the Black Sea (not quite Crimea, but cheaper). They don't have room for me in their apartment (once again, I'd be Person 16), but Nadia made a few calls and I'm going to be sharing an apartment with some cousins of hers. And really, we're planning to spend all our time on the beach anyway. :)

I'll be down there until Monday-ish, and then have a few days free until Sunday the 26th, when I need to be in L'vivska Oblast for COS Conference. There's no point in coming back to Balaklia when I'm already partway in the direction I need to be, and besides, I have a lot of vacation days I've never used. So I came up with the crazy idea of travelling in the direction of L'viv through the south-western side of Ukraine, stopping in cities with Bible colleges/seminaries, and visiting them. I really liked my time in Donetsk, and it made me curious what other Bible colleges in Ukraine are like. Besides, I don't plan to spend all my time visiting the colleges...there's also just a lot to see. The current thought is to go to Odesa (Odessa Theological Seminary) and Uzhgorod (Wesley Bible College), although I may go straight to L'viv from Odesa. Don't know yet...still putting it all together!

(And, by the way, both "Odesa" and "Odessa" are correct spellings. A single s is the Ukrainian version, and a double ss is the Russian version.)

So today is my day to get all my ducks in a row--figure out housing, plan where and when I'm going, pack, write a resume for a workshop at COS Conference, register for the GRE, make homemade granola for the trip, hang out with Andrey tonight (his English conversation partner--me--just keeps going out of town!), and fill out my Peace Corps Activity Report. Tomorrow I do whatever I didn't get done today, and head for Kharkiv. I leave from Kharkiv tomorrow night, get into Kherson on Wednesday afternoon, and from there take a bus down to Skadovsk. It's an adventure!

Well, then...time's a-wasting! I'd better keep going...