Day Six.

Today we went to the Kiev International Branch. Made up of a pair of young elders and a missionary couple as well as government workers and their families, the ILP group doubled the size of their branch. After going to Rumford for 7 years, I felt like I was home again. We got lost trying to get home, but we eventually made it back to our host families.
My Babushka made me sauteed cabbage and tomatoes and carrots- it tasted almost like the cabbage dish mom used to make. We also had some corn bread. They looked like pancakes, but more puffy and chewy. Quite the delicous dinner.

It looks and feels like autumn here. That's enough to make it a good day.

Day Five.

This is an MTV concert that was in Kontraktova Ploscha. It was so wierd to be going to a concert and not understanding a word that was said.



This is the statue at Pechers'kyi Landshaftnyi Park. It reminds me of the Statue of Liberty.


Everyone thought they were getting vanilla and chocolate icecream. Then they discovered it was chocolate and lemon. I was smart and got just the chocolate. It was quite delicious.

Kiev really is beautiful. This is the skyline towards the east, across the Dneiper.

"She's got the whole world, in her hands..."

It's Willy Wonka land! Where are all the oompa loompas?

This ostrich looks real. But it's not. All of these crazy sculptures are from the Flower Festival, celebrating their Independence Day, which was on the 24th.

This chair and table were made from whole blocks of wood. Pretty fantastic.

Maybe my prince will come. But then Nikki and I would have to share him. Bummer.

All of the flower sculptures were in shapes of fairytale characters or... other flowers.

Today was a long day. We went all over the city for hours, getting lost and then finding our way again. Tomorrow I'm going to church at the international branch- I'm pretty excited to be around other people who speak english!

Day Four.

Today we traveled to Central school. Like the name implies, it is right in the middle of Kiev. It is probably my favorite of all of the schools- it is newly built, so this will be it's first year in use. After spending 6 hours there doing training, we all went to go get food. In the process, we split up into smaller groups. This is the St. Sophia Cathedral. It's only 2 Hyrvnia to go inside, but it was closing by the time we got there.


Another cathedral. I'm not sure which one this is.


This is what most of central Kiev looks like. Compared to this, I live in the ghetto.

Second successful self ordering! After 6 hours of training, it was well past 5 pm and I hadn't eaten since 9:45 am. All I wanted was food. We found this cute little Cafe, and as soon as we said "english" they brought out an english menu. I feel quite ignorant. It's like being mute and deaf!

This is Anna Milne and myself. Kendra, this is more for you so you can see what she looks like (not that you were asking). We get along really well- I wish I was teaching with her! We're at different school's though.

Some cool statues on this building that is almost exactly across from Central school. I love all of the statues and the architecture here.

Today was very tiring, and pretty stressful. We went through a lot of technical aspects of our trip, and worked for a very long time. Another girl, Nikki, and I, traversed the city by ourselves. I was quite proud of us- we got off and one the metro, walked around, and didn't get too lost. In just a few days I'm actually starting to get my bearings (to a degree).

Day Three.

I experienced a rather embarassing restuaraunt ordering session today. We walked into this Pizza cafe (they had American-like pizza, but also a lot of Ukrainian food) in Palats Sportu, all 15 of us, and tried to order. Because their menu is in Cyrillic characters, it's impossible to even sound out the words unless you know the phonetics of the symbols. Of course, we don't. Well, we didn't have any of our native coordinators with us, so Jessica, our head teacher, walked up to the counter and tried to order. Luckily, they very quickly realized she was American and handed her a menu that was in Russian and english. We then had to pick what we wanted, point to it on the menu and hope we got what we ordered. It was quite humiliating, as all of the staff kept coming out of the kitchen and laughing at us. I got my food though- a crepe with mushrooms and cheese, and this fresh cucumber/tomato/cheese/dill salad. With a bottle of water it was all 30.30 Hryvnia, which is roughly 3.60 US dollars. It's quite inexpensive and delicious.s

I wanted to put a picture of what my room looks like. My camera is not very good, so this is about the only decent picture I was able to take this morning. It's little, but so cute. I love the plants, they make me feel better.

So, we were walking in Ploscha L'va Tolstoho (Leo Tolstoy Square) to the Metro today after lunch, and what to my amazment but a Pennsylvania license plate in the Ukraine. Who would have thought? I figured Kendra would appreciate this.

A group of us went to the store today to try to buy necessities, such as toillette paper (some houses apparantly don't have any- mine doesn't have trashcans- that could prove to be an issue...), lotion (though I can recognize some brands, all the details except the brand are in Ukrainian, so distinguishing between soap, body wash and the numerous kinds of lotions is quite the difficult task), water (I've never drunk this little before; everyone has to drink bottled water), and notebooks to plan our lessons (a staple in America, not so much here- I had to search for at least twenty minutes before I found a notebook with lined paper instead of graph paper... who writes on graph paper?) While some items that I consider common are not available here (such as peanut butter- anyone want to send me some?!), there is one thing they have plenty of: Vodka. They really love it.

We have two main native coordinators- Tania and Igor. They're married, and one of the cutest couples ever. This is Igor. They're almost flawlessly fluent in english and entirely devoted to the program. They love it, and us.

There are three schools that are under the Kiev 2 group that I am in. My school is the Pozniaky school. We visited there yesterday. Today we went to the Obolon' school, which is farther north in Kiev. This is a group of us outside of the Metro station in Obolon'.

Day Two.

While I told my host family last night that I did not eat meat, their gasp of disapproval caused me to backtrack a few steps and say, "well, I don't mind fish. I could eat that". Little did I know what a mistake that would be. Breakfast. My breakfasts usually consist of fruit, cereal, soymilk, pancakes, oatmeal... you get the picture. Not so here. This morning was fried, bony fish. Not to mention mashed potatoes, pickels and tomato slices. Luckily we did have a delicious drink with smashed strawberries in it (they think I'm crazy for wanting to drink plain water all the time). It was quite the wake up call, literally.


This is the view from my balcony. I absolutely love it. There are just thousands of apartments, all looking the same. Surprisingly, it's quite pretty. I'm living in the south-eastern corner of Kiev in an area called Kharkivske Shose. You have to cross the Dnieper river north-west to get to the central area with all of the stores, cafes, etc.

This is downtown Kiev. Notice how all the cars are parked on the sidewalk? It's bizzare.

This is one of the apartment buildings above all the shops. Seeing these made me feel like I was finally in Europe.
They don't waste time here immersing us into the culture. Once we were done downtown, our coordinator Tania said, "well, you all know how to get home, right?" We all hesitantly agreed. Sensing our discomfort at the prospect of wandering around Kiev alone, she said to me, "you get on this the green Metro here, go eight stops, then get off at Kharkivs'ka. From there, walk home". Easier said than done. But, somehow Jessica and I traversed the underground and outdoor markets, park and streets and made it back to my apartment. The church pictured above is our landmark to get us home.

Mom, don't freak out. We have cell phones and public transportation cards that they all gave us. I'm actually using the old cellphone, becuase Tania gave me a SIM card to put in it. (You can call me on it, actually, and it's free for me. You'll have to pay though, so I Skype is still a better option).

Day One.

After flying from Salt Lake to Chicago, Chicago to Dusseldorf and Dusseldorf to Kiev, I arrived to my final destination, thouroughly beaten. It was a day of firsts- my first time through customs, my first time in Europe, my first time being surrounded by people who don't speak English. Needless to say, it's been quite the overwhelming trip so far. I left Salt Lake at 11:00 am on Monday, and didn't arrive in Kiev at my host families apartment until after 6:00 pm today. Dad, you're a scary driver, but mild compared to those here! We drove on roads that looked like they were barely wide enough for two people, let alone a van. Somehow we made it though. I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet, but once I do I will post them so everyone can see where I live. It's beautiful here. The landscape reminds me of Maine, but the apartment/housing styles are very new to me. My host families apartment has a couple small balconies, lots of stained glass doors and curtains and all the appliances are miniature (compared to American standards). I really like it though, and am so grateful to have arrived safely and been placed in such a kind family. Hopefully by the end of my stay it will feel like home (and I'll be able to understand more Russian so communication won't be so difficult).