There and Back Again: A Kristina Story

It's been almost a year since I stepped on the plane that whisked me away to Ukraine. I've just realized that I never really wrote about the ending of my journey and the nightmare/dream that it was. So buckle up, kids because here's my ending adventure, six months late.

Since I was going to be picked up around 1AM, I just decided not to go to sleep. My beautiful host mom Tanya stayed up with me and we cleaned and drank tea while we waited for the school van to pick me up. I had already said goodbye to Sophia and Nikita, as well as my host dad, Alex. Finally, my ride came and I said goodbye to my sweet host family and the house I had called home for five months.

We spent the next hour picking up all the other teachers and then we were at the airport. A small disclaimer: I really don't mind airports. I kind of like the hustle and bustle and the promise of new places and adventures. Think on that when I tell you that this was the worst airport experience of my life. Waaay worse than being denied boarding on our way to Ukraine. Every step was slow, slow, slow. Plus, we teachers had an extra step since we had overstayed our visa-free time. The schools paid the fee, but it took everyone at least an extra half hour to go through all the paperwork.

I was one of the lucky ones who went through first. I got to the gate around 5:40AM and our plane was scheduled to leave at 6:10AM. I legitimately thought the other teachers wouldn't make it. They did....at 6:08AM.

Our next stop was Amsterdam. We had a five hour layover there, so I had convinced the other teachers traveling on my same flight to leave the airport and explore the city for a couple hours. I had combed the Internet for all the information on the airport and what we should do with our limited time. However, after the awful Kyiv airport scare, I was rethinking my plan to leave the Amsterdam airport. Luckily, I decided to suck it up and go explore.

We got into Amsterdam around 8AM and immediately found lockers to dump our carry-ons in. The sweet thing about the Amsterdam airport is that the train station is right beneath it. Another beautiful thing about Amsterdam is that there is SO MUCH ENGLISH! In Ukraine, good luck finding someone who can speak English, and forget about English translations. Everyone in Amsterdam was so friendly and helpful; we were on a train hurtling towards the city center in no time. An example of Amsterdam friendliness: we couldn't figure out why the doors of the train weren't opening, and a nice man pushed the obvious button to get them to open and then said, "Enjoy your time in Amsterdam." I wanted to cry. Also, I was going on 24 hours without sleep so that's cool.

On our way to Amsterdam

So sleep deprived

I'm pretty sure this is the train station...but don't quote me on that

Once you leave the center train station, you're right in front of one of the many canals that criss-cross all across the city. I had read that we should take a canal boat tour to get an initial sense of the city. So we all boarded a boat and settled in for a beautiful tour through Amsterdam. We met some pretty cool Canadian ladies and we passed by several museums and the Anne Frank house. My favorite part of the trip: I was looking up through the boat's glass ceiling as we passed through a gate and this old man sitting up on the gate made eye contact with me and smiled and winked. I think I'm in love.

I'm on a boat

After our fantastic tour, we used our last half hour or so to walk through the Red Light District. If you don't know what that is, go ahead and look it up. I don't really want to explain it here. It was definitely interesting. We also spent our last Euros on some yummy waffles and finally headed back to the airport.

Red Light Distric featuring: my fabulous hair

Giant Nutella? I need no more convincing.

If you're not jealous...you're lying

Once again we were off! We had another two-hour layover in Minneapolis and then back to Salt Lake! It was SO WEIRD being back in the States. I loved it, but I was definitely disoriented and shaking. Plus I was jet-lagged and grumpy. My wonderful roommate picked me up from the airport and brought me my favorite BYU things: an Asiago bagel, fudge, and chocolate milk. Then we headed to Chipotle so I could have some decent Mexican food, and within the next couple weeks, I was back at BYU!

....apparently TOO pumped to be back

So this post is already ridiculously long, but I just want to catch the old people up with my life over the last six months. It's been so good, and a lot of that is because of the person I became in Ukraine, so thank you to everyone who supported me in that adventure. Since being back, I've changed my major to Communications with an emphasis in Advertising. I love my classes, my job, my roommates, my ward, and yes, even the weird BYU bubble. Did you guys know that life is just the coolest? I think everyone should keep a blog because it really puts things into perspective. Nothing calms me down more than reflecting on my life and putting that into words to share with the people I care about. Maybe I'll try to be a little more consistent with this, but I also don't really like taking pictures and everyone knows a blog is pretty much all about the pictures. In the spirit of that, I think I'm going to make a little photo montage right now of my last six months and that's going to have to suffice. And then I'm going to follow that with some selfies because note about selfies: they're amazing. Once I finally got a laptop, every so often I'd take a bunch of selfies and now I can look back and see myself at different times in my life and that's just so cool because selfies are personal and special and fun. So don't hate on the selfies and feel privileged that I'm sharing a few of mine! Hahaha....enjoy!

One of the best birthdays EVA

Food trucks are the coolest

I guess the Provo River is good for something

Alpine Sliding Rock....one tight place

Where I truly belong: at the beach with fish tacos

Mt. Timp Sunrise Hike

Ma famille

I was the coolest Indiana Jones

BASTILLE

Getting ready for College Thanksgiving

Book Club Christmas Party

Straight chillin'

I don't think I need to say anything

Late nights and car rides

And....here come the selfies!!

Aww...baby Freshman

General Conference hood games

Am I artsy yet?

Okay, yeah that's better

My room has looked the same for so long

I don't even...

You could be this...but you playin

Ahh....I'm about to go to Ukraine....help

It's so cold in Ukraine

Please let the kids not be crazy today

Why did I buy this giraffe?

New uses for my many scarves

It's so quiet....the kids aren't here yet

That Summer Term Grind

Nothing better than Saturday morning jam sessions

What?!?! Still in my pajamas?? Yeah I'm an adult

Stay fresh.

The End Is Near

What even happened??!?!? These last two weeks FLEW BY and now I'm leaving my beautiful home in Ukraine in under 12 hours! My feelings are in a flurry! But before we get to my sentimental musings, let me fill you in on the happenings since I last wrote!

Hahaha....do you see those crazy hair accessories? Ridiculous....

Just casually walking through a forest on my way to school

The second to last week of school was pretty normal. Teaching went well and we started working with the kids on their Spectacle performance for their parents at the end of the year. It's been raining and thundering a lot, but I don't mind. It just makes things here greener which is something I love! I've also been working on my online class and preparing myself to go back to school in just a month! I've been updating my resume and applying for jobs, so wish me luck because I am basically broke after my European escapades!

In case you wanted to know what the outside of my house looked like

Look at that archway workin it

Still my house, just greener

The last week of school was a blur of eating candy, playing Hide-and-Seek with the kids, and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes! We spent a lot of the time practicing the end of the year performance with the kids and most of my "teaching" consisted of playing with the kids and taking pictures. But they could still only speak English!

He really believes I can't see him...

I know it's blurry, but look at these cuties!

Partying it up like there's no tomorrow

On Tuesday (May 27) Alysha and I went to a movie theater in Kyiv to see the recording of the live performance of "Coriolanus" a Shakespearean play starring the one and only Tom Hiddleston. It was long and a little tough to understand sometimes since I've never read the play before, but I really liked it and it was fun to be in a movie theater again! Even though the theater was really hot and stuffy and halfway through the movie the screen randomly shut off, it was still a fun evening out.

I approve of this princess

Oh Billa Market....only Kate understands the significance this building
has in our lives

Funny story: one of the Primary kids, Armon, gave us candy and back massages almost every day this past week. It's really sweet, but then when he misbehaves and we try to discipline him he reminds us that he gave us candy. When we say he still has to be good, he demands his candy back and starts hitting us on the back to get the candy out of us. It's hilarious! I'm really going to miss that kid.

Finally the last day of teaching came. We actually didn't teach at all on that Friday. Before school, Alysha and I went to get some croissants and on the way back our marshrutka's tire blew out! That was a first and I'm actually surprised it took almost five months for me to experience that. The kids came at 4pm and we practiced until 5pm, which is when the parents came. We performed, passed out diplomas and balloons, and took pictures, and that was that. It feels incredibly surreal. I can't imagine not seeing these kids ever again. I can't fathom not taking marshrutkas to get around town. I can't believe that soon I won't hear any Russian/Ukrainian being spoken around me. I'm so excited to go home and see my family and friends and eat Mexican food, but Ukraine has become such a big part of my life that I don't know how I'll adjust to life without it.

The Pre-K Crew

This kid is seriously my favorite

He wouldn't get out of my lap--he just wanted to cuddle

Yeah getting a picture with this many kids and then adding balloons...
it's impossible

My point is made again

 

Got some fancy chocolates for my services

Like do you even see this? This is fancy right here

I came home on Friday to an empty house without electricity. The thunder storm was raging outside and my host family was with my host siblings watching another school performance. I gathered some candles and settled in with my McDonald's chicken sandwich that Nikita was so excited to leave for me. He was so excited all week that we were getting McDonald's for the last day of school.

Sitting by myself in a room only lit by candlelight gave me some time to reflect on my experience in Ukraine without the distraction of the Internet. I thought about what I would be doing if Kate were still here. I had Skyped her the night before and she told me about her awesome experiences at BYU and how she knows it was the right thing for her to come home early. Maybe that was just for her, but as I look back over the six weeks I've spent in Ukraine on my own, I can't help but think that Kate leaving was the right thing for me too. I have learned so much about myself and have become more confident and self-assured because of the time I've spent on my own and with my own thoughts. Being alone has also made me draw closer to my host family and to Ukrainians in general. I've been able to develop better relationships with some of the other teachers and with the kids. I've also come to appreciate and love the time that Kate and I got to spend together, and I am so grateful for the friendship we developed. I can't wait to see her in just a day! (She's picking me up from the airport!) This has been a really beautiful time of development in my life and although I've had some challenging experiences, I've learned that I have people everywhere who support me, and most importantly, I have Heavenly Father who is more aware of me than I will ever fully know.

Saturday was really fun, except for the morning. All the teachers traipsed around in the rain for a few hours trying to get something sorted with our visas. I still don't really know what was going on. All I know is that I was wet and cold, so it wasn't very fun. After that Alysha, Cheila, Keeley, and I went to the temple one last time to do baptisms. Then we waited at the church for a couple hours until our little branch party started. It was awesome because we had pizza and chocolate chip cookies! We also played some games, and afterwards Alysha spent the night at my house.

Sunday was a really great day. It was a Fast and Testimony meeting, which I think was perfect for our last Sunday in Ukraine. This branch has been so wonderful and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to be a part of it. We took pictures with everyone afterwards and then Alysha, Cheila, Keeley, and I headed to this place called the Lavra. It's basically some caves with dead priests. I don't really know much about it--I'll have to read about it later--but it was cool to see a part of Kyiv I haven't seen before.



The whole group (minus Kate)

Now add in some missionaries we found

I was cold so naturally we shared a cardigan

Thanks to the great branch members who gave us a ride in the rain!

We're a bunch of babushkas

And now it's Monday! It's actually my host sister Sophia's birthday today, so a ton of people are over. I'm almost completely packed and it's so sad looking at my empty room. I'll get picked up sometime around 2am or 3am so I can be at the airport by 4am for a flight that leaves at 6am! (Or 8pm on Monday California time.) Then I'll be traveling for almost a day before I arrive at the Salt Lake City airport and then the next day I fly to California! It is insane that this part of my life is coming to an end and I feel such an overwhelming mixture of happiness and sadness. But I've been told that life only gets better as you keep moving forward, so I'm ready to go!    

No big deal...just my swanky breakfast this morning