Day 110 - Rainy Day Games in Ukraine

I walked out of the temple today to this HUGE downpour of rain accompanied by some awesome lightning and thunder :) I only had on a t-shirt and a skirt/ shorts, and I did not feel like walking all the way home in the cold and wet :P So me and Larissa decided to wait it out over at the patron housing place just right next to the temple. We found this sort of game-room and looked at some games they had... Scrabble! We talked about how horrible we are at that game, but then we realized it was actually RUSSIAN scrabble :D We decided to take on the challenge, and it was a blast! Soon we were making rules like the "P" could be either be read "Rrr" (like in Russian) OR "Puh" (like in English) and it had to sound like a real word in any language. We forgot the second rule after a while and just made up our own words to go on the board. After a while, some of the people from Romania came upstairs into the game room too. One knew English pretty well, and we all decided to play Russian Monopoly :D It was SO much fun! None of us knew what anything really said but we made our own rules about it all. It ended up being a ton of fun and I ended up not doing so bad! (After going deeply into mortgage and then FINALLY landing on the win-all-the-money-in-the-middle-of-the-board space :) ). Anyways soon we had to go, but it was all a ton of fun! When we walked out of the patron housing, the sun was setting and all the rain had stopped, so the clouds were all pink and purple and grey, right next to the temple; it was a gorgeous sight!

Day 109 - Haircut!

Just kidding, it was only a trim to get all those dead ends off, but it was still exciting to go into a Ukrainian salon all by myself and just hope for the best! The lady cutting my hair knew enough English to ask some simple questions in English, but I'm not sure she understood everything of my answers. "Where are you from?"... "How long have you been in Ukraine?" "What are you here for?" The typical ask-a-foreigner sort of questions :) I enjoyed telling her a five minute run-down of my life's story while she clipped my hair up to focus on the first layer of hair. I made sure to tell her in a few different ways, "I only want a trim... OCHEN choot choot (Very little)" Heh I was so concerned that she might misinterpret and cut like five inches off or something. But she didn't, the lady seemed really nice and even related to me of a few of her friends that live in Chicago (or somewhere like that). Anyways, I came out of the salon looking basically the same as when I walked in (just with cleaner ends to my hair), so I was pretty happy about that. It cost me 40 grivna (maybe 5 dollars) for the hair trim, and then another 35 grivna (like 3 dollars) for something else.. maybe layers? Anyways I thought it was a decent price.

Day 94 - Frisbee Man with the Bunny Rabbit Teeth

We had church at a different place today because of Stake Conference, so we afterwards a small group of us decided to go to the park, because it was a pretty nice day outside. There were a lot of cool things happening in the park that day; a bunch of boys maybe around 12 to 13 years old all with yo-yo's just yo-yoing to some music on a stage, little kids on Shetland pony rides, those little electric cars driving by on the sidewalk, bubbles, scooters, roller-blades, weird looking bicycles, a ton of little dogs... it was just a really neat atmosphere. And the kids! I don't think I've seen so many Ukrainian children in one place in my whole entire time being here! You only rarely see a kid with his mom on the metro or the street or market, but here they were just everywhere! Riding the ponies, doing all of those things I mentioned earlier.

We went and sat on these two benches that were pulled up parallel to each other and sat staggered so our feet were on the bench across from us. This old babushka started yelling at us, "Dyevuchka!" (A name I'm very used to being called here in Kyiv) Igor translated later, he said the lady said something like "What are you doing? You're putting your disgusting feet on the place that people sit!" She did finally leave when all of us took our feet down. When the coast was clear, we put our feet back up on the benches (we're such rebels!) and just kept talking.

We met some other cool people too, then there was this guy selling frisbees on the bench across the sidewalk from us. I was wandering if they were any sort of special frisbee, because my dad loves frisbees, and it would be neat to bring him one back from Ukraine. Our Ukrainian friend went and asked, they were just normal frisbees made in China. Later while we were talking I noticed the frisbee-man throwing his frisbee up and catching it. I told the others, "That guy is a salesman who knows what he's doing!" Carly said, "Oh he just looks like an old guy playing with a frisbee!" But he saw us watching him, and once he started talking to us, I knew we were in for a shpeel (sp?). He found out we were American and connected something in his book to that fact, though it was hard to understand completely because everything had to be translated through our friend. He told us all about it, really enthusiastically, but I just enjoyed watching him talk. He had the worst teeth! It seemed all of them were rotted down except his two front teeth, which were really long. It gave him an almost rabbit-like appearance, which sort of added to his effect as a salesman. He said if one of us went really far he'd show us something neat. He just threw his frisbee really hard, but explained that it was really good exercise. He connected that to his book too. Anyways, after his shpeel he asked me if I wanted to buy a book, I said "Maybe tomorrow, I have no money today". He walked away after that :)

Day 93 - Helping Hands in a Kyiv Orphanage

My FHE group got to go to an orphanage this morning to volunteer! We were all divided up into different projects; some of us moved wood and branches off of the property, some cleaned up trash outside or planted flowers, some cleaned floors and held the babies. I was assigned to painting the windowsills and doorways in and going to the laundry room. We all got to wear these nifty "Helping Hands" jerseys to; on the back is written "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (except in Russian or maybe Ukrainian?). We all looked so shnazy in our little jerseys! I felt SO cool being able to represent the Church in that way!  I'll post some pictures later (most likely stolen off facebook, because I only got one or two pictures of the whole event :P). Anyways, it was really a good experience for me for painting too. I didn't think it would be so hard, but I learned real quickly that painting is not something that comes easily or naturally to me. By the end I had paint on my pants, my shirt, my elbow, my hands, the bottom of my shoes, and some in my hair too! I got most of the easy-to-get-out spots cleaned up (like my shoes and shirt), but I have yet to fully scratch the paint off of my jeans and elbow :P. It was fun getting to know some of the others that I hadn't met before too, there are a LOT more people that speak English in my FHE than I thought! We all had a really great experience there, and I'm so glad I was given that opportunity, definitely a recommended experience if you're ever in Kyiv :)

Day 89 - I love the Rain!

SUCH a beautiful day! Maybe not sunshiny, but it was warm enough to rain! School was normal, home was normal, the Metro rides were normal, but my day slowly progressed somehow to become something great! I had been debating (strongly) about not going to the temple today. Earlier I just didn't feel like it, and I tried to excuse myself by saying I'd be going this Saturday with my Branch. But I am so glad I went! There were all these older Ukrainian people, so they didn't speak more than pretty basic English. It was alright though, because it gave me opportunity to really meditate and think about the things I want to do better in my life. By the time I had to go, I didn't want to! I walked outside to the now-running fountains and brand-new bright yellow flowers. It was just too beautiful, I didn't want it to end! I sat there for a while, but finally decided I should probably be heading to institute soon (I've missed it just about every other week that I've been here :P). I sang out loud the whole entire way to the bus stop. I waited for my bus to come and could help but half-way dancing to the music in my head. I just felt so happy! I saw some Elder missionaries and THEN I ran into Anetta and Julia (the family I go see on the weeks I skip out on institute), they were headed to the church building! I wished them a good day, and they wished me the same. I told them that now it would be, now that I had run into them :) It really did make my day to see them. Anyways, bus ride, metro ride, walking a ways, I ran into Igor too! I finally made it to institute. We talked about Jeremiah, about how God knows him, how He knows each of us. He knows me better than I know me! Those aren't just empty words either, I really believe it! And logically, if He knows me best, who better to receive help from than Him? Anyways, a group of us stayed around to play and sing on the piano until the guy came and said he had to lock up the building (Ana, my new Ukrainian friend from last week was one of us :) ). I walked home in a downpour of rain. I couldn't help but smiling the whole way. This random other girl walking the opposite way was smiling too, and we both laughed as we crossed paths. It was really a fabulous day :)

Day 83 - Piano, Pasta, People and Legos! :D

Okay, one thing most people know about me is that I absolutely LOVE piano. Last Saturday at Conference, I was talking to Sister Powell and it turns out her kids are in need of piano lessons! I've been their music-teacher at church for a while now, so I know most of them pretty well. Anyways, yesterday was my first day teaching piano over at their house, and it's already a great learning experience for me! Who would have thought that four different kids could all be at such different levels of piano :P (PS any ideas for teaching a three year old piano??)

I can't get paid while I'm here in Ukraine because of my Visa, but the trade is food for extra piano-teaching experience, which is just a double bonus for me! We had pasta, with garlic bread, and COLD water! Haha you wouldn't think it's so amazing, but I rarely have real pasta with real garlic bread here, and I never ever get cold water! So it was an awesome treat for me. 

After dinner I ended up hanging out and talking with A, their oldest daughter. We sat in her room with all her toys (my favorite, Littlest Pet Shop!) and talked about random stuff. The other kids started trickling in until all five of us were in A's room just chatting away. The parents came in after a while too and we all just talked about random things (like AFV and random funny moments). We had "family prayer", then the little one's all had to get to bed. 

So A. and I talked for a while longer before deciding that we should most definitely go work on the Lego house she had just started (which was in her other room/ the guest room). We worked on that for a long time (it's a pretty detailed house, with stairs, a doorbell, and even a barbecue-grill outside!). But I eventually decided I should probably be heading home (it was already past her normal bed-time). We were just about to finish the roof, but we decided we could finish that next week. 

So I've decided that that's my current equation for a fabulous day. I just need to be able to share my love of something I think is wonderful (like piano!), eat some tasty food (like pasta!), have good people around to talk to and be with (like the Powell family! :) ), and do something that really brings me joy (like LEGO's!!). Yep, pretty sure that's all I need in life, thanks for reading! :) 

Day 81 - Saving the Worms

I was standing at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change, when the person next to me bent over to pick something up off the ground. I imagined that he had picked up a kopeck (the highest value kopeck is equivalent to about a nickel). He went over to a grassier area and bent over again. "Ah he's hit the jackpot today!" I smiled inside. The walk signal changed (making a fast clicking noise), and everyone crossed the street. I was following behind the picker-upper-guy when he did it again. I watched him carefully this time. He picked the object up with his pincher fingers -it was something almost string-like - scooped it in his hand, then set it in the dirt area by the sidewalk and kept going on his way. I observed as I passed the same area; it was a worm! I almost cried I was so happy :) It made my entire morning!

Day 78 - Breaking the Language Barrier

Friday night I went to FHE, where we played "Psychiatrist" (and had SUCH a blast at it too!), then I went and played the piano for a while. When I was heading out, I somehow got into this conversation with this lady, her name is Ana. She speaks such little English, and I speak such little Russian that the whole conversation took a super long time to figure out. Basically what I got after about ten minutes of talking is that her name is Ana, she’s Maxim’s mom, she teaches piano (and loves it!), and had some music for me if I want to have it. There was a lot more between, like how I absolutely love music - Ya (I) OCHEN (VERY) lyoublyou (love) musik! (music!), or how Maxim learned piano for three years, but then didn’t like it so quit. I really loved talking to Ana, I could tell she enjoyed the conversation too. Eventually someone came and asked if we needed a translator. I asked Ana, and I think she said that she didn’t; It was too fun trying to talk to her and recall the oh-so-few words that I even know in Russian. He translated a little anyways, saying that Ana didn’t know when she could get the music to me because she hardly ever sees me. We figured next Friday at FHE would work perfectly. We all headed out together and Ana and Maxim ended up walking me almost all the way home. Maxim didn't talk much, but Ana talked enough for the both of them :) We talked and laughed and learned words the whole way. My perception of the “gift of tongues” has definitely changed after my conversation with her. I in no way was able to fluently talk to her, but the “language barrier” between us seemed to be quite broken as I forged this new friendship even without understanding hardly a thing being said. That night, I had some great conversations with Lena and Sasha and George-o. We talked about how sometimes you can say something and people don’t understand it, but when you let them see what you mean, it sticks so much better. Recalling back to my experience talking with Ana, I didn’t understand a majority of the words she was saying, but after she explained in many ways, I would figure it out. I’m not sure she ever actually said, “I am so glad to have talked with you this night, thank you for letting us walk with you.” But I really felt it in the way she talked and smiled and laughed with me. Oh, and Friday night? That was her Birthday :) What an awesome thing that I was able to be a little part of it! I feel truly blessed for that absolutely amazing experience!

Day 76 - Beauty through Tired Eyes

The night before Wednesday (Day 76), I stayed up till 1 in the morning. I thought then that I'd just take a short nap and wake up on time (to watch my Mom's wedding over Skype at 4am). As you might guess, my nap didn't end up being all that short. I ended up waking up late (5:30ish). But I made some phone calls and at least got to talk to my Mom for a moment, and that was good. Anyways, everyone in the house started waking up within the hour, so I gave up on getting back to sleep at least until Lena, Sasha and George-o headed out for the beauty-exhibition (explained later). Eventually I ended up giving up on the idea of sleep all together and decided I would probably be able to function all right on the nearly five hours of sleep. I had already set up for a teaching sub at school that day, so I had a full day ahead of me completely free, though it was to be a very exhausting day.

At around noon, I decided to head out to the beauty exhibition that Lena and George-o were working at. It was a GORgeous day; warm, sunny, bright and ultimately absolutely spectacular. I really wished I had had a camera with me so I could capture some of the moments there, but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyways.Going across the river was probably my favorite of the moments. The last time I rode the metro across the Dnipro River, it had all been frozen and cold and I could see little dots of people walking across it on the ice. This time, the sun was shining on the water and I could see the Lavra's gold domes and "Big Mama" (the big statue by the Lavra) looking over the river. It was really an amazing sight.

After getting off the metro and walking some more, I finally made it to the exhibition site. Lena's assistant came and met me outside so I could get a pass to go into the exhibition for free. The whole thing was pretty mind-blowing; It was kind of like the fair back home, except instead of rides and other things, there were just booths and booths of businesses and people selling products and services; anything from hair supplies to nails to cosmetics (it was a beauty exhibition). It was fun being able to see my host-mom at her work, she demonstrated facial-cleansing products on a volunteer's face, and talked about stuff (though I'm exactly sure what) with the people who sat to watch and listen. It was nice talking to George-o there too. I found out (well actually just finally connected the dots) that he's the guy who created/ designed a lot of the products (or maybe all of them?) that Lena's business uses. He told me he would give me a 1% discount if I wanted to buy something there :) I said I would think about it. Lena's Italian tutor, Olea, was there too. She was there to translate for George-o when someone wanted to talk to him (George-o speaks Italian and English pretty well, but not so much Russian or Ukrainian). Olea knows 4 or 5 different languages, and she says she finds all sorts of jobs where they need her as a translator. Definitely something to look into; I just need to become a pro at this Russian-speaking or some other language first ;P

Anyways after a long while at the exhibition, I decided to make my way home. I was starting to feel extremely tired. In fact, on the way home I stopped paying attention to where I was going and ended up getting a little lost. Which stunk, because at that point I was having a hard time even putting one foot in front of the other. I had gotten off at a red-line metro stop, and instead of transferring to the green line below ground, I took the escalator up. I knew how to get to the station from there though, so I just had to walk a little extra ways to get there. Again, the sights and scenery were beautiful; I passed this big statue/ waterfall, and a huge dome coming out of the ground and I'm sure some other awesome stuff, but can't really recall any details like that, because, as you know, I was pooped. I did eventually make it home safe and well though :)

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

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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 41 - Looking Up :)

Okay, so basically since I got here to Ukraine, there's been this sheet of snow or ice or slush or puddles or something on the ground that causes me to have to watch my feet everywhere I go. But these last few days have been amazing! The sidewalks are clear (or at least more clear) of snow and ice and all that stuff that's been keeping my eyes glued to that grey and white path right ahead of me. Walking around Kyiv, there is SO much that I've been missing on all my daily walks. There are so many old buildings, that look like they've stood through many tests of time (and probably have). But right next to those old tattered buildings, there are these very modern, very shiny buildings that also stand out to me. I wish I could have taken more pictures yesterday on my small exploration of Kyiv, but I felt odd taking pictures of every building and thing that I saw. Anyways, I'll have to post some of those pictures later. (Oh which reminds me, I found my camera!)

Also, about my expeditions. Sometimes I have some time to kill but I don't quite feel like going anywhere in particular. On those days, I'll take the Metro to a random stop, then try to find my way to another stop a ways away. It's fun piecing together parts of this city that way. Honestly, I don't know which direction I'm going usually, but I figure if I stay around the center of Kiev, I'm BOUND to run into another Metro at some point. When I really need to, I ask a random Babushka (old lady), "Izvinitye (Excuse me), Gdye Metro? (Where's the Metro?)"

Yesterday, this one lady totally made my day, she was SO happy. When I stopped her in her walk (to ask for directions), she was looking up at the buildings around her and just smiling.. SMILING :) People around here don't typically smile unless they're with their family or good friends. On the street, it's basically an anomaly to see anyone really smiling about seemingly nothing at all. But she was, and when I said, "Izvinite," to see if she would stop and help, she said, "Zdrasvite!" to me and kept walking. I think she thought I was just saying a happy greeting, but then she realized that I was needing help with something, and she stopped and turned back to me. I asked, "Gdye Metro? Do you know?" She preceded to explain to me with a ton of Russian words (some I even understood!) and hand gestures to explain to me where the metro was. She seemed to be conversing with me, asking me questions or something. I just told her, "Ya ni punimayu.. (I don't understand) ..Ya Americanka," and hoped that would suffice. After talking a while longer, she spoke in English, "You understand?". I said, "Toot-toot" (a little) then I ended the conversation with, "Spaciba, Paka!" Looking back, I probably should have said, "Do svidania" (A more formal goodbye), but I think she understood. Anyways, after talking to her, I just kept smiling. My whole day was definitely worth it for even that one moment conversing with the smiley babushka :)