Sad News

Well everybody I'm disappointed to report that I will be unable to go to Ukraine this summer. There are various reasons but I can sum it all up by saying that the program was not giving me many answers to practical questions, and the specific sub-program I was going on was brand new and not well organized. The fact that I'm a girl came into play in that no other volunteers were girls, so they would all be staying safely at the seminary while I would be somewhere else (they hadn't even figured that out yet, with the clock ticking to go time.) Lastly, I would be spending 2500$+ on this short trip and with the program being so poorly run and with LA looming on the horizon, my mom and I both decided that this was becoming a bad decision.
Am I disppointed? Yes. Sad? You betcha. But I'm also a little relieved because the past 2 weeks have been very stressful for me. As time got closer to leaving the USA, I thought that the program directors would stay in touch more and answer my emails, etc.--but instead they remained as elusive as ever. This is nothing against them, by the way. It's the notorious Ukrainian way of running things. Their sense of timing is different. And a lot of these directors do not even speak English. But it would have been a lot of $ for my mom and I to invest in such a short program that may or may not have even been what I was looking for.
I'll get to Ukraine someday, no doubt. But when I go I'll do it in a safer and more concrete fashion to be sure!

I'll be a bit busy the next few days so you guys may not hear from me by phone or email, etc.--but of course I'll start hounding you all again in a bit.