The second week of June I headed to the city of Izyum (изюм, it means "raisin" in Russian) in Kharkiv oblast with my friend Shannon for an arts day camp. It was a really nice, relaxed camp and I met a few other really cool volunteers. There were six volunteers total, and the two volunteers who lived in Izyum are a married couple. We'd head to school at around 10am and split our 30 or so kids into three groups. Throughout the week, we learned about Mexico and mexican culture, made piñatas, drew charcoal portraits, made found art sculptures, collages, and learned how to dance the macarena. We were finished everyday by 2pm or so and would head back to their apartment and hang out and relax. Shannon came back to my house with me and kept me company for a couple days before heading back to her site.
I really like Kharkiv's train station. It's the prettiest one I've been in, with areas to sit outside and fountains.
Pretty grates.
Izyum
Arty garbage cans.
We took cover under this sculpture when it started to rain.
The walk up the hill to the monument.
You know you're in the east when...
It started to rain again, so we took shelter under a tank. This is my friend Shannon, checking out the inside of the tank.
More weaponry.
The final monument.
Note the Russian and Ukrainian flags in the distance.
The finale.
Some of the ancient babushka stones. Disregard the water droplet in the corner of the photo.
I really like these.
The third week of June, one of my friends and former cluster mates came to visit me all the way from Lviv! It was nice to have another American to hang out with, especially when one of the female shop keepers would burst into giggles when he and I walked into the store where she works. Fun times.
Then at the end of June, I traveled to Kyiv to meet up with my parents! It was nice to see them for the first time in nine months or so. More on this in my next post.
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