Borst is not just for breakfast!

Greetings and salutations from the town of Kulikivka (Spelled Кулкивка in Ukrainian) Sorry for taking so long to respond, but things have very busy so far. Kulikivka is a village of about 6,000 people in northern Ukraine, just about 100 miles south of the border with Belarus. The locals speak a mix of Ukrainian and Russian called "Surgeit". They do not like to be called Russians, though none of the Americans here have made that mistake!
The Peace Corps has placed me in a local family living in the outer part of town. The host family has been very friednly to me. My host brother Vlad is about 17 years old and loves to take me out with him to hang out with his friends. We have boxed, played soccer, ping-pong and watched episodes of Mr. Bean together. My host sister has my acting translator on weekends, and my host mother and father have been very friendly. But my Ukrainian isn't enough to talk to either one for long, so our dinner-time conversations have been very limited so far.
My favorite person has been Iryna Krupska, our Ukrainian & Russian language coordinator. She I only talked to her in orientation, but she is a very funny and knowledgeable person. Iryna was in correspondence with us for a few months prior to coming to Ukraine.
At this stage of training, we PC trainees have been broken up into 4-6 person clusters and sent to small villages throughout Ukraine to learn either Ukrainian or Russian. We'll stay in our towns with host families for the next three months, then be sent to our work sites in December.
So far, food has been very good. I've eaten plenty of tomato salad, brost, bread, mashed potatoes, sausages, cabbage salad, soups, and Ukrainian tea cookies (pechoven). My favorite has been green brost (залиникї ьорш) as well as the many Ukrainian chocolates. Leftovers for breakfast is not uncommon either.
So far, the biggest bummer is not being able to ride a bicycle. At least, not until I can ferret out a helmet. Nearly everyone rides a bicycle in this town. However, I heard rumors that there is a bicycle shop in the nearby town of Chernihiv so next weekend I'll give it a look.
Otherwise, the battle to learn Ukrainian continues. Take care, everyone, and До побаченя!