Day 115 - Not getting lost

I decided to try walking home from school last Saturday (School was fun! We had a party-day because it was our sixth day of school that week :P). I ended up getting quite lost, but I found some pretty cool sights! I don't know what the statue is below, but that was pretty cool, and right next to it was this big old park/ cemetary that I walked past. I forgot to take very many pictures, but here's a couple of the things I saw! In the end, I hopped on a city bus that took me right back to my home metro station :) That's one thing that I've realized; I'm never really lost in this city of Kyiv. All I've got to do is find my way to a Metro and vuala! I'm basically home already :)

Day 102 - Old Town Village Museum

 

I got my first sunburn of the year on Monday!! :D My Summer can now officially start! :) We (about 20 of us) ILPs were out in the sun for about three to four hours. We saw this whole series of houses that they took from all over Kyiv and preserved there in this huge outside museum! We had to travel quite a ways to get there, but we DID finally make it! There were a lot of really nice and helpful people that we met on the way, and on our way out too! Like these two girls and a guy with a baseball cap that I met on the way in, it was fun to hear their stories and how they came to learn their English :) Anyways here's some pictures of the place, I definitely recommend it as a fabulous experience to have in Kyiv, just make sure to go on a nice day and BRING SUNSCREEN!

Day 82 - Sugar Overload?

At school, we had doughnuts for our "Kitchen" activity (We divided each doughnut into four parts), and I was pretty hungry at that point, so I had two fourth portions of the doughnuts. I had lunch; veriniki I think it was, then came home and decided I felt like eating a ton of fruit, because we had all this dried fruit out, and it was really tasty and I knew I'd be having cake for Anetta's birthday that night. At Anetta's we had cake, white-chocolate covered bears (provided by the sisters), ice-cream, and fruit juice. Right near the end of the visit, I started feeling really off; my skin hurt really bad and I was feeling slightly dizzy, and I couldn't figure out why. Sister Smith said it could have been something I ate, like food poisoning, but all I could think was maybe it was the doughnuts and fruit and cake and chocolate bears and ice-cream I had eaten that day. I'm not used to that much sugar, but I've never really had issues like that with sugar before. Whatever the reason, I was in this weird sort of pain all the way home. I couldn't pin-point the pain, which almost made it harder; it was like my whole body was aching. I felt like an old lady getting up and sitting back down on the Marshutkas (little buses) and Metros. I can't believe how much of a struggle it was to get home. I thought I could trick myself into thinking it was all nothing, but that didn't work. I did say a lot of prayers though and even started saying, "I think I can, I think I can" as I started going up that endless uphill climb back home. I did make it though! And I was SO glad at that. I felt super fever-ish all night, but by some miracle the only pain I could feel this morning was a lack of sleep :)

Day 78 - On the Run

Just started up running again today! I've been post-poning it because of the cold or because I have a cold or because it's too hot or because of any other number of excuses. But today I set a specific time I would go running, and decided if I was at all up to it, I would go at 4 on the dot. Lo and behold, my alarm went off at 4pm (16:00 o' clock on my phone :) ), and I was out the door with my sweats and tennis-shoes a minute later. It felt so good to run! I was told by some other ILP's that running in Kyiv is a sort of anomaly to these Ukrainians and that I'd probably get a few funny looks. The streets were crowded and there were no other runners in sight. So of course I got a few, but it didn't seem the kind of look that said, "What're you doing?!" as much as, "Hey a runner!". I'm sure I could have interpreted the looks as the former, but I'm happy thinking they meant the latter :). (I hope I've got the definitions of former and latter right, correct me if I'm wrong!) Anyways, I'm definitely going to have to keep up this running business, it feels great and I get to see a lot more of Kyiv that way! Today I got to run past Maydan (where I was on Wednesday). The place makes so much more sense to me now!  Before, all these areas were just that; areas and points in my head. Now I've got lines between at least a few more of those spots, and it is so nice to have better bearings on this place.

Days 65 - 72 - Stories and Pictures!

Day 65 - March 24 - Tour Bus!

Got on the tour bus and drove ALL day. Earplugs were probably the best thing I brought for that, I really slept okay for the night portion of our trip. We were at the border to Hungary for over 6 hours though! That was the night time though, so I got pretty good sleep until the passport people came and had to check our passports. We did make it to Budapest safe and well the next day though.

Day 66 - March 25 - Budapest, Hungary

Day 67 - March 26 - Vienna, Austria

- Pictures- 

Day 68 - March 27 - Dresden, Germany

- Pictures - 

Day 69 - March 28 - Prague, 

- Pictures - 

Day 70 - March 29 - Prague

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Day 71 - March 30 - Prague/ Bus home

- Pictures - 

Day 72 - March 31 - Bus and Home!

- I'll update this post later :)

Day 59 - Awkward Moments

We were riding the bus to the Metro today when the bus driver yelled back, "Divichka! (Girl!) Blah blah blah blah blah" All these people looked back at me and the other three I was with. None of us understood a word, but I figured the bus-driver was in fact talking to us. It turns out one of us hadn't paid (passed up 10 grivna for three people, but got 4 grivna back instead of just one... it was just confusing), so Malory passed up three more grivna for the bus-driver.

When I made it down to the metro, it was packed. I did find a seat though which was nice. I was reading a magazine from church (the Liahona), so I was totally in my own zone on the way home. But then this lady started speaking Russian to me about something. Once again came the faces; people probably wondering why the heck I was in such a stupor about what this lady was saying to me. I said, "Do you want to sit here? Ya ni ponimayu Boruski. (I don't understand Russian.)". I finally figured it out though when she rubbed her hand over her belly (like a pregnant lady) then pointed at my seat. I'm pregnant, let me sit there. I felt bad for the confusion, "Oh! Izvinitye! (Sorry!)" I got up and let her have the seat.

I got off the metro, a little frustrated now at getting pushed around and talked to. At that point, I was feeling pretty down, I couldn't understand anyone. There were a TON of people there at my metro stop, and all of the running escalators were going up, just filing tons and tons of people out of there up to the tunnel that led to the sidewalks and streets above. I finally made it to the escalator and when I looked down behind me, it was just this sea of people all trying to get on the escalator I was now standing on. I turned back around to face the right direction going up the escalator, and lo and behold, there was this guy this probably drunk or just extremely friendly Ukrainian guy that wanted to talk to me. He kept talking to me talking something about futbol (soccer) and gymnastica (gymnastics?) and Ukraine. He pointed to himself and said his name (which I can't remember), then pointed to me. I made up a name, "Ya Madeline", that was the first other name I could think of at the moment. He put out his hand and probably said something like "Pleased to meet you!" I didn't want to be blatantly rude, so I nervously shook his hand back. The next thing I knew he had kissed me right on the back of my hand. Bleh! I pulled it away fast and wiped it on the back of my coat. He laughed, "Izvinitye, Izvine (I'm sorry, sorry)! Blah blah blah blah funny, funny!" which is the only thing I heard him say in English. He asked something else that I couldn't understand, I think he was wondering if I was going to the big event, whatever that was. All I did was shrug my shoulders and say, "Ya ni ponimayu". He kept talking until we got off of the escalator and said, "izvinitye" and "funny" a couple more times. I nodded and smiled, but I was relieved when he finally said, "Paka!" (Bye!) I went my own way trying to smile like I totally knew what was going on. But I didn't.

I walked home cautiously noticing ALL of the people walking the opposite direction as me to the sports stadium (there were SO many!). In reflection to my day, I realized that I had a choice, I could either be totally frustrated with all of Ukraine and everyone's failed efforts at trying to communicate with me OR I could laugh at it all and just call it an... experience.

When I got home, I related the whole event to my host-mom and we just laughed and laughed about it all. She said it was a compliment; she says I have a very European face (IS that a compliment? :P :D ) So maybe I totally made a fool of myself today in all of my mis-understandings, but I did have some good laughs in the end because of it :)

Day 28 - Lost Phone

Long story short, I know I had my phone when I was on my way to church last Sunday, and I know that when I was leaving the bus on my way home, I did not have my phone with me any more. I was certain that it had fallen out of my pocket at church or maybe on the bus (we were packed in that bus). I'm going back to the church today or Friday to check and see if it didn't make it's way to the lost and found, or if it's still there in the coat closet. As I've talked with some people I've sadly learned that sometimes when you leave stuff in the church coat closet, things tend to "walk" though. I'm pretty sure I just left it somewhere in the church, or dropped it somewhere on my way to and off of the bus. But ultimately, I think it's a good eye-opener for me that I need to be way more careful about where I leave my important belongings.

Day 27 - Post Office, Doughnuts, and Bums

Today was one of my first days being completely on my own in Kyiv. But honestly, it was kind of nice! I had to go to the post office to send some letters and a box. There were some people filming in the post office for some reason. It seemed to be a silent film or something, because all they did was record this guy putting stuff in a box then later him weighing it, then later him paying for the package to be sent. Otherwise, my time waiting there went really slow. The only other real exciting event was when I asked a lady if she had a pen I could borrow. I spent about five minutes trying to recall the Russian word for "pen" (ruchka), which at the moment, I couldn't remember for the life of me. I finally figured I'd just ask in English and try to pantomime what I needed. Turns out the lady I asked could in fact speak some English; she was so nice though, she let me borrow her pen and asked if I needed other help.

On the way home, I decided I should probably get something of a present for my host-family for Valentine's Day. I was thinking chocolate or a cute little card or something, but I saw a doughnut stand and thought, "Sure, that works!" So I got half-a-dozen doughnuts. It was a challenge to carry the box right-side up while not getting it squished on the metro, but I managed to get off the metro and up the escalator with the doughnuts and box all still intact. There was this bum sitting with a sign at the bottom of the stairs. I passed him and went up the stairs out to the street. About half-way up those stairs I had this idea that it might be nice to have given him one of the extra doughnuts, sort of as a Valentine's Day gift; but I didn't. I reasoned that I was too far and it would just be awkward to turn around and go give him one. But I promised myself that if that old babushka was sitting at her spot on the street near my house, I would give her a doughnut. I was secretly really hoping that she wouldn't be there because then I could fulfill the promise to myself and still not have to go through with my awkward action. I made it to the street and looked down the sidewalk; there she was, sitting right on that staircase (where she always sits). My heart beat faster and faster as I took the sidewalk toward her. I knew I had to do it, or I'd forever hold myself guilty for passing up the opportunity. She looked right at me, and then I knew I couldn't turn back. I didn't understand what she was saying, but I pointed at my box of doughnuts and asked "Would you like one?" She replied, "Blah blah blah blah blah, Da Da!" I took that as a yes. I opened the box and let her pick. She said some more stuff I didn't understand. I just said, "Pajalusta, Happy Valentine's!" and took my box of doughnuts the rest of the way home. 

I couldn't stop smiling at myself on the way home; it was SUCH an awesome feeling! I totally recommend it sometime, being awkward and giving gifts to strangers; haha it'll totally make your day :) 

Day 22 - I love Music

Just a tip: when going to a foreign country, remember to bring a music player and a good playlist of songs. Sometimes it is really head-ache proning to not understand most any of the dialogue happening around you. Right now, I'm sitting at home trying to work on lesson plans for next week. Julia's watching "Lion King 3" (Which is the same as Lion King 1 and 1/2 in America) in Russian, her and the lady that comes to clean on Thursdays keep talking to each other, and it's difficult not knowing half of what's going on. I'm currently very grateful for my headphones and some good songs to listen to. Now off to those lesson plans... I've got to get those in to my head teacher by tonight :P

Day 7 - Candy Cane Tape = Danger

There's this red and white striped tape everywhere throughout Kiev blocking off sidewalks, sometimes even forcing me to have to find another route to my destinations. I didn't really know why it was there for the longest time (okay for maybe two or three days), but I definitely found out yesterday. We were walking down central Kiev when we saw these icicles randomly falling from this building on the sidewalk ahead of us. If you look really close you can see someone with an ax hanging from the roof-top knocking them down. Heh, they're not in the picture, but there's a couple guys smoking to the left that're watching this and laughing every time an icicle shatters to the ground. What an awesome pass-time :)

Day 7 - Don't take Pictures with the Birds!

I was walking out of the Metro yesterday, going to just tour around Central Kiev for a little while. This girl with two white pigeons on her arm came up to me and asked if I wanted to take pictures with the birds. I remembered Maddy telling me a story about the other day when she had someone dressed up in a big costume came up to take a photo with her and then asked her to pay up something like 20 grivna. With that in mind, I asked the girl if it was free. She nodded her head, and just to clarify I said, "no Grivna?" She then shook her head and sheepishly said, "10 grivna for picture with bird". I smiled and said, "Nyet spaciba, baka!" which is about the extent of my knowledge of any Russian at them moment. Later I was talking with my host-dad and he said that that sort of thing is a big trick. They really mean 10 grivna per bird taken in the picture, and a lot of times when you have one bird on your arm, a swarm of birds will come. You take the picture, then you end up having to pay 10 grivna for every bird that comes and lands on your arms, and that really could add up quick.