I love Lutsk

We arrived in Lutsk 2 days ago after a very packed bus ride. It was so great to get here and to stay with Ivanna in her castle. The first day we took some time to rest and explore the area around Ivanna's house. It was really nice to have a slower day for once and catch up on some much needed rest. In the evening on our first night we went for a walk where Ivanna's grandson started to speak English to us. This was really intresting since we had just spent 10 days with him at camp and he didn't talk to us once. He was really funny he said "oh it is so easy to talk to Christy and Jillian in English", he then later said he was going to teach us Ukrainian so that when we returned home we wouldn't remember English anymore. It was a really great day. Then yesterday we came into Lutsk as Ivanna lives in a village outside of town. We had some lunch and then went to meet with a local politician that Ivanna has begun to connect with. He is also a business man and so we met him at his brand new tennis, sport and relaxation complex. It was really beautiful and he was a very interesting man to speak to. He spoke a lot about the importance of partnerships but not about the finacial aspect of things but how to support one another. After our discussion it was decided that we would be interviewed by the Lutsk news. This interview will only be posted on the internet I believe but we will find out for sure later on today. So this interview will mainly be to talk about our partnership and to talk a little about how the YMCA works in Calgary. It should be interesting. Also today I have a mini workshop planned for the YMCA leaders and so community stakeholders. We will hopefully gain some insight into some future plans for the Lutsk YMCA. It has been a very intresting visit so far. Tomorrow we will travel to Dubno where I am excited to see one of my Ukrainian mothers from 2 years ago. We may not be able to write again until Kiev, so until then.
Christy