Where am I going?

This summer, I will be traveling to Ternopil, Ukraine for my Beyond Borders placement. Before I get there, I would like to know about the area: geographical location, language, culture, food, climate, politics, and other pertinent information. Through conversations and my own interest, I have come up with a few topics to address in preliminary research as I try to get to know the place that will come to be my home for the summer. I would not like be perceived as a tourist since I will be traveling for much more than the trip. Nonetheless, I am very excited about the new environment so below you will find information (from Wikipedia and various travel websites) about the location, landscape,  climate, flora and fauna, language, and, of course, food. I'll save politics and religion for another day.

Flora and Fauna:

Many animals and plants common to Canada are also found in the Ukraine, including sunflowers, oak and pine trees, deer, elk, squirrels, muskrat, lynx, brown bear, hampsters and seagulls - there's really something special about having to guard your French fries from these vultures of the sea.

(http://www.outdoorukraine.com/content/view/103/201/lang,en)

Location: Where am I going?

Ukraine is in Eastern Europe, close to Austria, Romania, Belarus and Poland. It is just west of Russia and makes up the north coast of the Black sea.

A map of Ukraine (compliments of http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/ukraine/). Ukraine's relation to Turkey Point can be fount at:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Norfolk,+Ontario&daddr=Ternopil+Oblast,+Ukraine&hl=en&geocode=%3BFa-T7wIdCvaIASll0p7WW0swRzFQQPaIhAYBAQ&mra=ls&sll=46.55886,-26.015625&sspn=107.916099,316.054687&ie=UTF8&z=3

Landscape:

Ukraine has mountains in the south and west but otherwise has a mostly flot or rolling landscape with many rivers (www.tryukraine.com/info/nature.shtml). Hoverla, the highest peak of the Carpathians, is 2061m. Famous rivers include the Dnipro, Dnister, and Dunay (Danube) (www.tryukraine.com/info/nature.shtml).

Climate:

I will be staying in the area of Ukraine that has a temporal continental climate, much like ours. (In the south, Ukraine has a more Medeterrean climate.) Since I will be traveling there in the summer, I expect a lot of rain, thunderstorms, and temperatures around 25 C.

(www.worldtravels.com/travelguide/countries/Ukraine/climate)

Language: It's as easy as A, B, V

The official language of the Ukraine is Ukranian. Russian is the second most common language and is the second language of many Ukranian speakers. Below is the Ukrainian alphabet paired with English translation. At first, it seemed comparable to English . . . then I got to C (which is actually , pronounced as V).

The image of the alphabet below was copied from http://www.ukraine.com/forums/language/11949-ukrainian-alphabet.html

Food!

This is a meat and potatoes country. In the Ukraine, it's common to have roast meat (goose, pork, beef), with root vegetables, some kind of potatoes, and various sorts specialty bread (especially around Easter time). Cabbage roles and perogies are also popular dishes, as is Borscht (a cabbage, vegetable soup). (www.tryukraine.com/info/nature.shtml)

To me, many things about the Ukraine seem familiar: the food is pretty much what I would eat at home or what family friends would make, and the environment (from weather to landscape to wildlife and plants) also seems Canadian. I think these familiarities, especially the outdoors, will be a huge comfort to me and I am excited to learn more about the culture that is specific to the Ukraine as well.