That was 34


Blog, Woodworking

The 34th year of my life was emotional. I was presented with a whole host of new situations, good and bad, which I suddenly needed to cope with. Overall, my gut says that things went well which is all I really ask for. Ukraine Early in the year, February 24th to be precise, my life […]

November 22, 2022

My Heart Cries Out


Blog, Peace Corps

My heart cries out for my people. I saw the news as it happened last night. Russia launched an unprovoked attack on my beloved Ukraine. All the reports in recent weeks pointed towards this needless aggression, but the feeling of that happening hits different and all at once. Ukraine does not deserve this. Ukrainians deserve […]

February 24, 2022

Ten Years


Blog, Peace Corps

Ten years. Let that sink in. Where were you ten years ago? What were you getting ready to do? Can you even imagine? Any given day, I couldn’t tell you without looking it up. But today I know. Today I know that ten years ago, I was leaving to forever change who I was. I […]

September 17, 2020

Preserving and Canning


Blog, Home, Kitchen

I always thought my family was a bit different than the families of my friends. The traditions we kept, I just assumed they were ours. At times, I was embarrassed by them or didn’t know how to explain them. I figured other people would think the traditions were weird. Little did I know, more people […]

October 31, 2018

Kvass


Blog, Peace Corps, Recipes

Let’s take a few steps backward and talk about Peace Corps, it’s been a while and I’m feeling nostalgic. If we go back six years, I would be in the summer of my second year in Ukraine. Likely packing for baseball camp in Khmelnitsky or Camp Excite somewhere in Sumska Oblast. My days would be […]

July 4, 2018

@PutinRF_Eng please come protect me!


Blog

Владимир Путин, иди сюда и защитить меня. Я говорю по-русски. Vladimir Putin, come here and protect me. I speak Russian. I’m appealing to you, Mr. Putin, because you’re interested in protecting Russian speakers now and I’m one of them. If it helps my case at all, I learned to speak Russian while I was in Ukraine […]

April 7, 2014

An Open Letter to Ukraine


Blog

An open letter to the Ukrainian People, I’m proud of you. From the beginning, I’ve been watching you. I’ve kept my eyes on the news and I’ve gobbled up every piece of information I can find. Some days, I would even read the same story multiple times, but from different sources hoping I could find […]

February 25, 2014

If I hadn’t Joined the Peace Corps


Blog

What might my life be like, if I hadn’t gone off to Ukraine with the Peace Corps? This question ran through my mind every single day I was there. I thought about it for hours upon hours. I’d sit on trains thinking about it, staring out at the Ukrainian countryside and sweating because everyone refused […]

September 25, 2013

Travelling Friend, Almost


Blog

A few weeks back, I was excited for Lyuda. She messaged me to let me know that a family living in Chicago had contacted her about an au pair job. For those of you who don’t know, an au pair is typically a young woman who lives in a home and raises the children. For some […]

February 19, 2013

Reasonably Priced Beer


Peace Corps

I’m the only American in Konotop, everyone else has left me. It’s a weird feeling. It’s almost hard to think back to September two years ago when we all met each other at once. It was a blur. Jacque and I go back the longest. As I’ve mentioned from time to time, we’ve been together […]

November 13, 2012