I found out this morning that The Peace Corps turns 49 today. Congrats! (Below, a very, very small village in Eastern Ukraine – Senkov – on a lovely summer day.)

From ukraine (year two)

It’s hard to imagine that it has been so long since I’ve served in Ukraine, and quickly looking over my pictures from my two years over there makes my heart soar. However, my life was much more variable then than it is now. Long, cold, lonely winters dominated much of my experience … But, the seasons would turn, the weather would smile, and just as I would be freezing my ass off alone one day, the next day could give way to the adventure of a lifetime.

Indeed, this next pic serves to contrast my life abroad quite well. Just as the Ukrainian countryside would glow in the summer, it’d knock you down in the winter like no other. (Below, the Eastern Ukrainian town of Kupyansk-Uzlavoy)

From ukraine (year two)

So, for PC’s birthday, I would like to send out my love to Irochka and all of my fellow homeys from Kharkov and Chuguev. Also, my compatriots who served with me in the Peace Corps – you dudes and dudettes rock like no other. If it were not for you, I would never have made it through the winters, and would not have fallen in love with the summers.

And now, I will return to my cubicle, thousands of miles from the Ukrainian snow, missing those icy winds blowing from the Eurasian Steppe.

From ukraine (year two)