Days One Hundred and Twelve to One Hundred and Fourteen.

Our farewell party was a sad night. Even though it was really fun- we had a talent show (always embarassing, but amusing) and got to hang out all together, but it was bittersweet. I'm not sure I'm ready to come home in just three days.

The coordinators from each school wrote a card to each of us and gave us these traditional Ukrainian headbands.

Jess and I. I'm so glad that she lives in Utah- and not too far from Provo. I'm going to miss seeing her every day.



Tania and Igor and I. I'm so excited- Tania is going to be in Boston for the Christmas holidays because her son lives there. I'm going to try to see her in the few weeks I'm home. Since it takes at least an hour to get anywhere here, driving three hours will feel like nothing in a nice car.



The coordinators singing a traditiona Ukrainian song. It was so beautiful.



Singing a scene from the Sound of Music. It was so cute.

Days One Hundred and Seven to One Hundred and Eleven.

Kiev vs. Barcelona

The score after the first 30 seconds. It was insane. Sadly, Barcelona still won.





The loudest fan section.



Anna and Emily.



These guys were behind us in our section, and kept wantng to take pictures with us. We only used Mckells camera for that, hence the reason I don't have any. It was quite amusing.



Aren't thy adorable?



The three of us.



Ura and Marina.






Me, Jess, Mckell, Anna, Emily.



The only mowed, green grass in Kiev.



Outside the stadium on the street.

Days One Hundred and Four to One Hundred and Six.

On Saturday I got to go to the CIRCUS. Our Russian teacher told me that the Circus was one of the main things any visitor to Ukraine should go see. I can't remember ever going to a circus before, but it was unlike anything I expected.



The trainer was so cute with these guys- every time they'd do something right, he'd hug them around their gigantic necks. The one in the back was massive- he couldn't even fit his whole body on his stool.



Lions, tigers and bears, oh my! Well, not all at once. The girl trainer took Simba up on a swing at one point- I half expected him to attack her. I don't know how I feel about training wild animals like that. I feel so bad for them. [When the bear got taken up in the swing, he was so scared he peed everywher!]



It was so wierd seeing this giant bear prancing around these dogs. It's just not right.



These guys were incredible. They were probably the best part of the whole circus.



Maybe I should get really buff and learn how to do this.



They're like giant, spiky hampsters.



This was so wierd. She rolls out a cage filled with mice, a cat and a chicken. Then they have to sit in their various posts and then the porcupines had to walk on he round wheels and make the whole thing spin. It made me kind of sad.



I couldn't stop laughing when this group came out. They jump around and do insane tricks on these giant rubber wheels. This girl is double dutching on it right now.



Lynsie- and then the rest of the group.

Days One Hundred to One Hundred and Three.

My kindergarden singing Once There Was a Snowman. They're only this good when a camera is in front of them- maybe I should always pretend to film them.



I decided to make my room festive and build a giant Christmas tree. I think I used most of our green paper, but it was completely worth it. Each day the kids are making different ornaments to decorate it with.



Jess and I took the trolley that goes by my street to the very end of the line. We rode it for at least and hour, so I got to see a lot of the east bank that I hadn't yet seen. It's amazing to me how quickly the enviornment changes in Kiev. This area was very rough and was falling apart, while prior to there were nice, neat apartments.



Inside of the trolley. Some are a bit nicer, but in general this is how they look.



These railroad tracks were insane. On the way back home from the market, we actually ended up walking the bridge over these [our trolley just stopped, and after about ten or fifteen minutes, the driver comes in and tells everyone to get off- that was the beginnng of being lost], but I couldn't take a picture because it was already dark out.