Peace Corps Volunteers Eric and Sandy Jacobs in Ukraine: Things We Miss and things we don't



"Television. It’s been a pleasure to be without, to be honest. We’ve read some wonderful books, ranging from historical non-fictions like The Founding Brothers, classics like Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago, and modern tales like The Kite Runner, Casino Moscow and Siberian Dreams"

Peace Corps Volunteers Eric and Sandy Jacobs in Ukraine: Things We Miss and things we don't

Monday, July 11, 2005

Things We Miss

Things we miss:

* Good wine in the form of cold, white Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand and deep, rich red Rioja and Ribera del Dueros from Spain and Sangioveses from Italy. For now, we must settle for an occasional splurge on Moldovan or Crimean Cabernets. They never talked about these kinds of sacrifices in on the Peace Corps website!

* Gulf seafood – all of it. Apalachicola oysters, stone crabs, blue crabs, shrimp fresh off the boat, grouper, snapper, amberjack, scallops and everything else. So good, yet so far away.

* Easily accessible bathrooms, the type which don’t require planning your liquid intake hours in advance to ensure you’ll be in the right place when you just have to go.

* Hugging our nephews and niece and watching them grow.

* Tour de France daily coverage (thanks dad for the emails!).

* Hurricane watching.

* Making beer and cheese.

* Baseball games and keeping score.

* And of course most of all, all of our family and friends.

Things we don’t miss (at least yet):

* Driving. Especially commuting to and from work in traffic.

* Drip coffee. The German-based Jacobs instant coffee really isn’t so bad once you get used to it. Maybe it is the name? And when we need a fix, we can have an espresso or cappuccino at one of many cafes in Vinnitsa.

* Hot summer weather in Florida.

* Air conditioning in our apartment. Most of the time, you just don’t need it here. Although it would be nice on the trams and trolleybuses in the summertime.

* The dryer. Let’s face it – we’re lucky to have a washing machine.

* Television. It’s been a pleasure to be without, to be honest. We’ve read some wonderful books, ranging from historical non-fictions like The Founding Brothers, classics like Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago, and modern tales like The Kite Runner, Casino Moscow and Siberian Dreams. In fact, we highly recommend the last two as fascinating reads for anyone wanting a snapshot of life in the post-Soviet world. We’re saving the big classics like War and Peace and The Brothers Karamazov as a distracton for the long winter ahead.

When this story was posted in July 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:



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Special Events for RPCVs Join the NPCA in DC for Advocacy Day on July 28 NPCA to hold Virtual Leaders Forum on July 29 RPCV's "Taking the Early Bus" at Cal State until Aug 15 "Artists and Patrons in Traditional African Cultures" in NY thru Sept 30 See RPCV Musical "Doing Good" in CA through Sept RPCV Film Festival in DC in October

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July 17, 2005: This Week's Top Stories C. Payne Lucas writes "Can we win the war on HIV/Aids?" 11 July Director Vasquez hints at expansion in Bangladesh 17 July Why didn't I spend my life helping others? 17 July John Beasley returns to the islands of Micronesia 17 July Jennifer Field to study glacier melting 17 July Tucker McCravy works with Serendib in Sri Lanka 17 July David Vick writes "Waging civilized warfare" 16 July Tom Petri says Nelson helped to promote civility 16 July Peace Corps Director Visits Volunteers in Mongolia 15 July John Bridgeland writes "An example for Boomers" 15 July Robert Blackwill says India and US have a great future 15 July Peace Corps debuts new internet recruitment tool 14 July Eight New Country Directors Appointed 13 July Shelton Johnson Honored for Buffalo Soldier program 13 July Bill Lorenz leads trek for Sudanese refugees 12 July Emilie Pryor says Peace Corps ignores Lariam problems 12 July DDN is Award Finalist for reporting on PC Safety 11 July Randy Lewis to hire 200 people with cognitive disabilities 10 July Maryland needs people like Tom Lewis 10 July Dan DeWayne puts on music festival 10 July

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July 9, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Mike Honda says Democratic Party in paradigm shift 6 July Peace Corps Suspends Program in Gabon 8 July Thomas Tighe says Thailand is faring better 8 July Michael Parmly appointed top diplomat in Cuba 7 July Paul Timmreck got his start trailing garbage trucks 7 July Shays says London explosions should be wakeup call 7 July Tom Murphy says: Be Vigilant, But Not Afraid 7 July Gov. Doyle saddened and outraged by London Attacks 7 July RPCV Films organizing Film Festival 6 July Terez Rose writes Aid for Africa – Will the G8 Help? 6 July Carl Youngberg takes ballet to Honduras 6 July Kafatia faces a mandatory eight years in prison 6 July Bill Moyers says LBJ hated FOIA law 6 July Andy and Trudy Anderson work with The Hunger Project 5 July Thomas A. Dine deplores the attack against reporter 5 July Mime Troupe tackles history, politics and the World Bank 4 July Francis Mandanici says investigation could lead to impeachment 4 July Beth Bedinotti says motherhood is "toughest job" 1 July Director Vasquez Visits Volunteers in Eastern Caribbean 1 July

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July 8, 2005: PC suspends program in Gabon Peace Corps announced the suspension of the program in Gabon citing the high cost of the program. In addition, a 2003 Inspector General report documented safety and security costs of $1 million that would be necessary to keep the program operating successfully. Background: In 1998 Peace Corps Volunteer Karen Phillips was was found murdered in the weeds about 100 yards from her home in Oyem, Gabon. Her killer has never been brought to justice.

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