Photographs

This'll just be a long picture post. :)

There's a bookshelf in the room I sleep in.. and there are Canadian flags. :) How cool. 

You don't know the meaning of escalator until you've been to Ukraine. 

Notice how you CAN'T see the bottom?! and I had already been on it for a while.. and these things go FAST. 

Kenna doesn't love escalators at all.. especially the giant Ukrainian ones. 

So these red & white thingers are "walk under at your own risk." I thought it was because of the usually impossible thin layer of ice on EVERYTHING.. but I found out later that it's actually because of falling icicles. 

So we thought it was all funny till the branch president at church said that we should NOT walk in these areas because 200 people have died this winter in Kiev from falling icicles.. SCARY! 

I know I sort of look homeless in this picture and it makes me feel dumb for teaching in such a state.. but anyways. This is Aria. She saw my camera and wanted a picture with me. She's to DIE FOR. She hardly says a word.. but she is so expressive with her face and her gestures. And she's tiny.. and adorable. She's a favorite part of my job. 

Opera. On my first touring day in Kiev I saw this sign and got so excited because I recognized it. Opera was the first written Russian word I learned. 

Just a gorgeous building. 

Saint Sophias Cathedral. 

Another pretty piece of architecture. 

All sidewalks look like this, and if they don't its PURE ice. Walking in Kiev is nearly impossible.. 

An actual original building down town.. 

I saw a Jag down town and thought of my Dad.. too bad it turned out blurry!! 

Saint Michaels Cathedral, Ukrainian Orthodox.
It was gorgeous inside. 

Independence Square!! The famous signature of Kiev!!
Too bad it was so foggy outside. It was pretty awesome to see around there. 

This is how they push strollers and wheelchairs up stairs.
They are on every single staircase.. how smart is that!? 

I used to think my phone was ghetto..
 now my Ukrainian phone is pretty much a dinosaur. 

"Well that's a problem.." 

The great gate is on their 200 Grieva(?) bill.. Cool. :) 

I love to see...

THE TEMPLE!! 

So I got off the bus on my way to church and BAM its the Kiev temple!! 
I had no idea it was RIGHT beside the church!! 

This is literally the view as soon as you exit the church! 

Here's the chapel we go to, I had no idea we'd have a real one..

I picked up a HYMN book and then thought, "well thats a problem.."
 luckily they had them in English too. :) 

I am really tired at the moment so I apologize for the briefness of the post. I meant to post about this on Sunday and never really got to it. Sunday was an amazing day. I was expecting to go to a native ward in some foreign rented out building with a few members and to have to repeat my favorite lines in Russian all day, which are, "I'm sorry I don't speak Russian," and, "I don't understand." However when we got on the bus we met two missionaries!! American ones!! English speakers!! GLORIOUS!! So exciting. Then when we got off the bus we could see the temple! My day was made. SO great. Then when we were walking in the church, an older couple said, "watch out! It's slippery!! and welcome to the international branch!" MORE AMERICANS!!! YEEEEES!!!! we walk in, 50-60 people. 2 Ukrainians. Even more Canadians, but mostly Americans. The whole thing was in english. EVERYONE SPOKE ENGLISH!
I can't tell you how this felt. It looked like home (it was a mormon chapel.. they ALL look similar), it smelt like home, it sounded like home, it was warm inside, the people were like home, EVERYTHING was like home. I felt like I stepped right back into North America for 3 hours. Amazing. I am loving every single new experience here in Ukraine, even the not so nice ones, and I was even looking forward to the different experience with church.. but having this one piece be home couldn't mean more to me. It felt perfect. We were invited to the temple, which is also run by americans. :) I felt nervous about that one a little when I thought that it might only be in Russian.. but no-- just one more amazing blessing from God.
We met other BYU/BYUI/BYUH interns in the ward and made some friends. We also got to know many senior missionary couples. Every 4 or 5 ILP teachers or Interns here in Ukraine get assigned to a missionary couple in the ward and have kind of "grandparents" you could say. A time to get taken care of in an American way again. How cool is that? It felt like we were given a whole new support system. The branch president and RS president acquainted themselves with us and made sure we had their contact info and made sure we knew that they were there for us, we also met another american who now lives here and knows her way around perfectly and speaks Russian.. she also made sure we knew how to get ahold of her at all times.. she had actually done ILP a few times before. We also got set up for institute. It is at 7 on tuesdays and sadly a bunch of us teach till 7 every night so they made another morning class just for us! We also got set up for FHE. Amazing, once again.
I feel so bad for a few of the people that chose not to come, and those who won't take the time out of their weekends to make it happen while we are all here. We are so taken care of. God is so good to us. They told us that while we are here in Ukraine, church is a huge part of the experience. I can already say that I know that to be a fact.

When in Ukraine..

Do as the Ukrainians do.. probably the craziest and wildest thing I've ever done. 

So here in Ukraine today is a holiday. Today is the day of Christ's baptism according to the Ukrainian Orthodox church. If you get water from anywhere, tap, spring, river, etc. you put it in a bottle and supposedly it won't go green all year long. You also go to the river and dunk yourself. (its about -10 Celsius or 14 Fahrenheit)  Lena told us all about it last night and said that the people are absolutely crazy who go through with it. As we were touring one of our coordinators took us to the spot where everyone was jumping in. Since it was our last stop of the day.. I BEGGED her to let me do it. She at first she had some hesitation and said no, but after some peer pressure from me, Emma, and Jaime, she finally let us do it.

At first this was just my sad face infront of the water because she said that it was not permitted. She then tried to convince us that women weren't allowed to go in, in anything except a bathing suit. Then after seeing a few very large women in their braziers go dunk themselves I was kind of put out. She then gave in (which I kind of feel bad about.. but I have NO regrets, after all these people sometimes will not put ice in their water in fear of getting sick) but I think she was just worried because we were all foreigners.

Large woman in her underwear

Another large woman... 
and a man who just exited the water.. as you can see. 

We kind of got a group once the Ukrainians noticed that Americans were doing it. I got all scared and was kinda confused as they all laughed and watched. There is more to that story, but you'll have to ask me about that.

It was SO fun though. So cold.. but the adrenaline helped A LOT. I have no regrets and I would do it again. When in Ukraine.. do as the [crazy] Ukrainians do.

For My Daddy

Since my Father found out that I was assigned to Kiev, he kept singing and talking about the, "Great Gates of Kiev," mostly because he had learned a song when he was younger. He said that was one thing that he really wanted to see in Ukraine if he ever came. My Mom and I thought there was no such thing until we googled it one day. It does exist. And today I saw the "Great Gates of Kiev" also known as the "Golden Gates of Kiev." However they are not and never were golden at any point in history. 

(Click to enlarge photos)

This is a monument to Yoroslav the Wise, who erected the Great Gates of Kiev. 

I am sorry, I really have NO idea what this says. 

 Here is most of our ILP Kiev 2 group and Natasha one 

of our native coordinators on the left end. 

 This shot is behind the big scary looking spiked door below.

So Here's a little history for the Great Gate of Kiev. 

There is no exact date as to when it was first built but they think it was around 1017-1024 at the same time the very famous Saint Sophia Cathedral was also built (which I also saw today.) When it was first built it was one of the three entrances into the gated city. It was the greatest fortress for the city and quickly became widely noticed. When the great cathedrals (with the golden onion looking tops) were built surrounding it, it became "The Golden Gates of Kiev." It was ruined a few times throughout history and since the 70's it went through a few reconstructions till it is what it is today. It's in independence square, which is pretty much the focal point of the city. 

Mees ehbeccaah

I finally began teaching this week, I've been thinking about teaching these kids since September when I decided that I would apply for ILP. Our school is called the "Obolon School," I'm not exactly sure why or what it means, but we are all new here.. minus the students. So far it has been a lot of work to prepare lessons and teach the kids. Especially since you don't know exactly how old your students are until they are sitting in front of you. Our schedules have been so unorganized and sporadic, its hard not to get frustrated with the coordinators. Besides all of this, and the tedious amount of time and energy put into the work, I love my students.. out of all 8 classes I teach throughout my 4 shifts in two days I have 3 homeroom classes. One of them happens to be my favorite class of the whole school, I got so lucky there. They are all four years old and to die for. I just wish I could tape them speaking english and post it, you would love them just as much as I do.
On another note now that I have been here for more than just a few days, I thought by now things might be easing up. Jet Lag still plages us in our evenings so our days are waking up early, planning, going to work, running errands if needed, coming home and desperately trying to stay awake till dinner.
The amount of food that I am consuming here in Ukraine is sinful. It is all SOOO good. Seriously all of  it. Lena continues to outdo herself with the food she cooks, and my favorite part of the day is the tea and chocolate we have in the evening as we sit around the table speaking in Russian and English about our day. I really do love the family that we live with.. I may even be beginning to like Romashka, but I think thats still a little far fetched. haha :)

My notebook, I learned very quickly not to leave pens, pencils, or markers anywhere.. the kids draw on everything as soon as you turn your head, well they do it right in front of you too I guess. 

mopwuchaka.

So I have this water bottle... named Mopwuchaka. (MOP-whu-Chi-ka) why? Because.. thats just what it's called. Not. 

 I also guessed that these were pretzels.. they're not. I dont know what they are.. I also bought some crackers that looked like there was some sort of dip on the front with leaves in the dip. These "crackers" taste like whipped cream. No lies. 

Bottom line.. ILP teachers really need to stop trying to sound out Russian words that don't exist in either language, and Russian is hard. I don't see/hear/experience any connections. And then my host family explained to me that almost everything "official" is written in Ukrainian, and rarely spoken by anyone but elderly people which doesn't add any help to anything. On a better note today when I was trying to communicate with someone they didn't walk away.. they got very visual and there was lots of nodding. Good things. :) 

best second day EVER.

Yesterday was an amazing day! The Jet Lag was definitely the worst part. As Kenna and I were lying awake wondering what we were doing in Ukraine, I think we kind of freaked ourselves out a bit. Later on in the day when we had our first ILP meeting here in Ukraine our coordinator told us that the first time she went to America she was awake all night wondering what she had gotten herself into. That was a very comforting thought, just to know that we weren't just freaking out over nothing, or over something very big. And the other ILP teachers were kind of in the same boat, whereas others were still very much honeymooning their stay here in Ukraine. -honeymooning-
There was some luck yesterday too. I was under the impression that the school was about a 20 minute walk away from where we live, but it actually turned out to be like.. 4-6 minute walk away, and that's trudging through snow. I think Kenna and I are probably the closest ILP teachers to the school, but we all figured out that for our school (there is 3 or 4 here in Kyiv) all of the teachers-- there is 7 of us-- live in the same neighborhood. We were told in training that Kyiv sometimes spread teachers across the city resulting in sometimes having a 30 minute to an hour commute.
After our meeting we decided to explore Kyiv a little. Down the street is the biggest mall in Europe, the metro, and.. everything else you might need. However. Russian. In all 11 countries I have been to, 7 of which are not english speaking, I have never experienced such a language barrier. No one knows a word of English, and none of us know a word of Russian. (well.. I'll get to that in a sec). It got so awkward.. people would approach us and then realize we didn't speak or understand them and just walk away.. very quickly. Awkward. The feeling of being so isolated kinda freaked me out, and it almost gives you the feeling of being stupid. It also doesn't help that we dont necessarily look like tourists.
When we got home we were beat due to the long day and of course the Jet Lag. We took a nap and then woke up for dinner around 7:30. I must say, Lena is quite the cook. :) She makes fantastic food. She told us that you drink tea after dinner.. everyday. That explained why she looked a little taken aback the day before when she asked is if we wanted either tea or coffee after dinner the night before and we declined to both. She pulled out some herbal tea that she bought for us, so that we could be part of the nightly routine. This family is honestly the best in Kyiv. I'm convinced. Lena has the hardest time with english in the house, so when we sat down at the table she really took the time and effort to understand every word we said. It then turned into a fantastic Russian lesson for Kenna and I, especially when Olag came home and joined us at the table. We finally met him. He is great! He speaks perfect english, he is funny, and he is so welcoming!
The worst part of the night is when Olag and Lena found out that we were only staying till April. Until about 4 weeks ago we were all under the impression that we would be in Kyiv till the end of June. I was very upset when I found out that my trip was cut 2 months short. Apparently they never heard about it. They seemed quite upset, and Olag even said he wanted to find out exactly why our visas can't last that long with the Canadian embassy,  because the whole situation never made that much sense in the first place.
And to conclude this post.. The chocolate here is to die for. It's amazing. I thought I would lose weight here because of the weird food and the walk to school everyday.. but no. Since the school is down the street, Lena cooks amazing food, and really.. the chocolate. I'm only here for 3 and 1/2 months.. gotta try everything that I can't get in Canada and America. And there is lots of chocolate here..

Jet Lag

So Ken & I woke up at 2:30am WIDE awake. And for the last 5 hours we have said a variety of things which mostly consist of...

I'm hungry. 

I want pancakes.. 

I smell cat. 

There is cat hair.. on this. 

and this.. 

more cat hair. 

IM SLEEPING IN CAT HAIR. 

I want wings.. 

Is it morning yet.. 

do you hear that?! yes.. someone is shoveling at 6am on Sunday morning.. 

I'm too scared to go pee.. 

can you get me some water when you go pee?

I'm never peeing.. 

that toothpick is a lonely stick of dispair and sadness.. 

do they use vacuums in Ukraine? 

 Just chillin' at 7am with the Mother Mary.. 

Its.. хорошо

хорошо?!  I have heard this word more times than I can even count.. and I haven't even been in Ukraine for 24 hours. It means good. I think, however that it can't exactly be explained perfectly in English.. because no one says "good" as much as our Ukrainians say "хорошо." 
Since I have arrived, the shock and adjusting needed decided to hit me in the face with a freaking brick wall going 100mph. Its not all хорошо for me yet. 
I live in a tiny apartment with a very nice lady named Lena (Lee-ena), and her son, Stas (St-ash) and a kitty cat named Romashka (Oh-Mawsh). <-- I haven't really figured that one out yet, but I think thats okay, he's just a cat. Kenna and I call him Daisy. Sad thing is I think Romashka is the only thing I really dislike a lot about Ukraine so far. I guess I feel like the apartment is small enough with possibly 5 of us plus a cat.. 
Tomorrow.. or later on today I guess we have our first big meeting here in Ukraine as ILP English teachers. Its currently almost 4am and I have Jet Lag really badly so I am wide awake, I hope it goes away soon. I hope things begin to look up soon, and I have no doubt that they will. :)

I haven't seen this yet, only the not-so-nice parts of Kiev.. all cities have ugly parts. 

the 4 h's of living in a foreign country

Honeymoon

Horror 

Humor 

Home 

Honeymoon is the amazingness of the brand new country, the horror is realizing how different and scary it is and how far away you are and how you are stuck here for months... then humor is finding everything hilarious and getting over the horror. Home is feeling like you could stay in the place forever, and a piece of your heart has already lodged itself there.
I think my honeymoon.. lasted about an hour when we were greeted eagerly by our coordinators and ended when we really got down town Kiev and saw what the majority of the city was like. Horror my friends. HORROR. I have to say seeing Kenna here at the apartment was defiantly a light at the end of the tunnel.

I am OKAY. Just a little.. shocked? I don't exactly know why.. but thats okay.

hallo aus Deutschland!!

Hello from germany!! Just another lay over... and I look like a mess. Just happy the worst part of the Journey is behind me! Not a whole lot to say here.. but I saw a Hoagen-Dazs IN Germany and I thought that was cool. Probably the coolest thing to see in Germany while I am here for such a short time. Other than a bunch of Canadians. :) that was cool too.. there is a flight to Toronto right next to my flight to Kiev. 

I am also so turned around, it should be around 1 am at home right now but its 8 am.. as the day was winding down in the air, the sun decided to come up as we were landing. Such a weird feeling! y 

yup, the real deal here folks!