Rest and Relaxation

This has been an unconventional week, to say the least. Tuesday started out super fun because it was Kate's birthday! Since we were planning on going to the mall that morning, we got up extra early to get our workout in. Tanya made cute heart shaped fried eggs for breakfast and then we got dropped off at a metro station so we could make our way to our favorite place--Ocean Plaza!

We spent most of the morning shopping. I have to say, I really like the shops here a lot better than the ones in the US. Unfortunately, I am lacking the funds I need to carelessly buy every piece of clothing I fall in love with: the sad life of a poor college student in Ukraine. I did, however, buy a semi-matching outfit with Kate. We've been toying with the idea of getting some sweet harem pants and at one store, we found the perfect ones. Do not be alarmed if you see me wearing black and white, paisley patterned pure awesomeness in the future. And a shirt to complement the craziness, of course.

We ended our shopping morning with really expensive gelato. It was good, but I think I'll just wait until we go to Germany to get some more.

Yay! Overpriced gelato!

Kate thought we were heading back to eat the school lunch, but why would I do that to someone on their birthday?? Unbeknownst to Kate, I had been conspiring with Alysha to provide cheese, chips, and salsa for a Mexican birthday lunch surprise! Kate was happy to have "nachos," but I think we're going to have to put to rest our hopes for legitimate Mexican food in Ukraine. When your salsa is closer to ketchup (although pretty good ketchup, just not salsa) than what you were hoping, it's better to just wait it out to get the real stuff.

The red blobby stuff is actually ketchup disguised as salsa, but it's
pretty darn good with potato wedges

The rest of the day continued as usual. Teaching was good, especially because we had fewer kids than usual, meaning we only had two groups rotating instead of three. That night we had a great dinner consisting of homemade raviolis, and this amazing cream and pastry cake.

Making ravioli happiness. All the pasta is colored with
natural things, like carrots and whatnot

Full of ravioli happiness

Nineteen candles--Kate's getting old

What was unusual that day was the sudden surge of violence between the protestors in downtown Kiev and the police. Public transportation (metros, buses, etc.) was closed and so many of our fellow teachers had difficulty getting back to their homes from the school. Luckily, we are usually driven home by our host family, although the traffic was a lot worse than usual due to the closing of public transportation. Because of the events on Tuesday, we have been sitting pretty at our house for the last few days. We have been cautioned to avoid going outside our houses, not necessarily because it is intensely dangerous, but because we want to minimize the risks of anything at all bad happening. Since Tuesday there have been a lot of deaths and injuries, but there have also been steps taken towards peace and resolution. ILP continues to watch the situation and we are updated daily on recent happenings and how they affect us.

FYI-this is what our host family does to stop
the car beeping without putting on a seatbelt

For Kate and I, it's mostly been a party. We are lucky because many of the teachers live by themselves, with families that hardly speak English. But here in our little village, Kate and I have been having a pretty good time. We've had pedicures and manicures, experimented with hair, played with the baby chinchilla, eaten amazing homemade bread, watched (and cried over) Pushing Daisies, worked out (we're almost twenty days strong!) and generally enjoyed some much needed rest and relaxation. However, today we watched "Groundhog Day" for the first time, and I think we're beginning to feel our lives are becoming a little like that, the same thing, over and over.

This picture reveals a lot: Kate doing my hair (because I can't do it myself,)
beautiful mani to the left, and Pushing Daisies on the laptop.
The perfect setup

I'll probably find a way to bring one
of these things home with me.
Can you say hidden apartment pet?

 

Homemade bread and fab new outfits make for a wonderful morning

On Friday we were able to get out of the house for a while because Kate wanted to buy some exercise clothes. We went to a nearby shopping mall and walked back with Tanya. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the air was a crisp fifty degrees. It was incredible! I was so happy to be outside and walking through a forest and around a lake--it was a much needed break from being indoors constantly.

Just a casual nature shot on our walk

Sorry our eyes look demented. We haven't seen the sun in weeks.

Part of the cute path we run on,  although it's
a lot cuter when you're not gasping for air

The only bummer to being at home so far is that we've been told to stay home from church tomorrow. Kate and I are so close to it that I think we would be fine going, but of course we'll listen to ILP because they know best. Hopefully the situation will be on the mend enough by Monday that we will be able to resume our normal schedules. It's been an interesting experience, but be assured that we are all safe and in good hands!   

With All My Love

Another busy and wonderful week! It's been a lot warmer (like 40 degrees kind of warm) but unfortunately it's been overcast all week. Growing up in California, I never really understood what it was like to miss the sun. Now a sunny day is automatically an awesome day because it doesn't happen too often!

This week has been really eye-opening. I've had a lot of realizations about the importance of family and friend relationships. I often find myself afraid to open up and show people I love them because that puts me in a vulnerable position. But like my dad says, as long as you're being the best you can be, it doesn't really matter what other people think about you. Life becomes so much more when you allow yourself to express the way you feel to the people you love, and that's just beginning to really click with me.

During this week, all the snow disappeared! It has been a little rainy and a lot slushy, so Kate and I have been able to bust out our rain boots! Kate was nice enough to let me borrow a pair of hers for the trip, so my toes were nice and dry. Of course, I immediately stomped through every puddle I could find, because why not?

Check out those sweet rain boots

I'm not really the lovey-dovey type when it comes to kids. Maybe that's from having five younger siblings; I just see them as tiny people. It's definitely been a work in progress to work with young children who change their minds every five seconds and will scream and pout and whine at the smallest thing. (We have learned to not give them choices. If you're using paper, give them all the same color if you don't want a riot to start!) I have felt my patience stretch and grow, and I'm starting to see all of the beauties the kids have, despite their little baby flaws.

For instance, one day during snack time, one boy noticed that his chair was starting to break. He brought it over to me, but there weren't any other chairs, so he just had to stand at the table to finish his snack. Just a couple minutes later, another boy sitting next to the first boy got up and pushed his chair over to where the first boy was standing. He allowed that boy to sit and now the second boy was the one standing. I almost started crying. The second boy is maybe six or seven years old. He had absolutely no prompting to do what he did. I don't know how well these two know each other, but I do know they are in completely different classes. If I were to guess, I would say that the second boy hardly knew the younger boy. I was struck by how sincere and kind the second boy was towards someone he didn't even really know or have reason to be concerned about. I understand a little more deeply the idea that we must all be like little children because they are so much like Christ.

On Thursday my long awaited package from my family arrived! It was filled with Valentine's cards, Thin Mints (praise the heavens,) peanut butter M&Ms (man's best friend,) fun goodies for the kids we teach, mints (my favorite addiction,) and an assortment of other treats. My sweet mommy also included some warm fuzzy socks for Kate and me! I was so excited and it made my day and week and month and year infinitely happier!!

Best day of my life

Look at those cute little socks

 

That night, we all decorated 48 cupcakes that Tanya made. She really loves cupcakes since Kate showed her how to make them. I learned how to fancy frost and we enjoyed a cupcake at 10pm with some tea. New addiction: herbal tea. I don't even need sugar in it, it's yummy just the way it is.

I frosted that bad boy all by myself

Pajamas, check. Makeup off, check.
Midnight sweet snack? Check.

Friday was Valentine's Day (as I'm sure you know) and I must say that it was my best one yet. The entire day was focused on serving others. This was a big change from previous Valentine's Days. Usually I'm sadly contemplating my aloneness and feeling awkward around couples, but this time it was not about me. Kate and I got up early to make heart-shaped pancakes for our host family. We also wrote them Valentines and sprinkled paper hearts around their bedroom doors, down the stairs, and on the table. It reminded me of the nice breakfast I always have with my family, and I was happy to share the tradition with my host family.

Super proud of my super fluffy pancakes

School was fine, but what was great is that Kate and I made little Valentine's Day goodie bags for all of the kids. They were so excited and it was a lot of fun explaining to them what we had included. We had a nice rest of the evening eating a yummy stew and watching Pushing Daisies (which incidentally is an adorable show and you should watch it now.)

Saturday was amazing. Kate and I went for a pretty hard 30 minute run around the little lake near our house. The perimeter is maybe a mile so we ran around it a few times. There were a few deterrents, like stinky roads, stinky mud, and terrifying dogs, but on the whole it was nice to be outside, exercising our bodies.

See that semi-frozen lake to the left?
There are people on it...fishing

That afternoon we went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Kate and I were running a bit late (even though we live the closest to the temple,) but we made it just in time. It was so wonderful and peaceful to be away from the world for a bit. I hope we get to make it there more often.



This temple becomes more beautiful each time I see it

Sunday is always awesome! Usually, Kate and I spend an hour or two in nursery, but today we were asked to sub in the primary. We taught the kids ages four to six, a class that consisted of a four year old and a six year old. That was interesting. Those kids were really fun to teach, although they got us off track constantly. They were so hilarious that most of the time I could not control my laughter. But they were so sweet and sincere; I would not mind teaching them again!

When I was deciding to come to Ukraine, I felt so right about it. Even as problems arose at the airport, I felt so calm and assured that this is the place for me at this time in my life. Basically, this last month has been a game of me trying to figure out exactly why I need to be here. I don't think I have a definite answer yet, but as I look over my life in the past month, I see so much growth and progress. I have time to think and reflect on who I am and what I want to become. Being here makes me understand that anything I want to do, I can do, as long as I work hard and as long as it's the right thing for me to do. I have drawn closer to Heavenly Father, and I've realized that the world isn't such a big and scary place, after all. I never really thought it was, but now I know for sure. My love for life and my desire to make the most of it has exploded and I'm so excited for what the future holds. But one of the most important things I have learned, and continue to learn, is to live in the present. I spend a lot of time looking towards what will or can be, and I often forget about what is right now. Being here has allowed me to slow down and enjoy where I'm standing. Every marshrutka ride is a blessing, every pile of buckwheat is an experience, every minute of teaching is a minute I'll cherish. Because the bad makes you as much of a person as the good makes you (if that makes sense.) It's not a study abroad to Paris, or a fancy internship in Washington D. C., but it's Ukraine and I love it and it's teaching me about myself and my life and everyone around me. And it's only been a month.

Also, I can now count in Russian, so that's pretty cool, too.

Where Does The Time Go?!?

Time is speeding up and so many things are happening! Each day I'm so tired, and blogging just seems to be one of the last things on my priorities list. Between journaling, emailing, and Skyping, I feel like I tell all of my stories multiple times. If you really want to know everything, you'll just have to read my journal, which most likely will not happen, so sorry if this wasn't as in-depth as you were hoping! I'm usually a very open person, but most of the time my desire for eight hours of sleep a night wins out. I'm a wimp I know, but I can use all the beauty sleep I can get!

I'll just do a little review of the highlights of the past two weeks.

Let's see. Church has been great! Kate and I haven't had any more mishaps getting to church, which is always a good thing. Three Sundays ago (that's including today,) my group of teachers was invited over to dinner at the First Counselor's house. It took us a while to find it, but it was so worth the cold! They are an American family, and you could smell America when you walked in the door! We had good ol' pulled pork sandwiches, complete with salad, ranch, and chocolate chip cookies! I have never been happier...

The Kiev 1 group of teachers...we're all young and lookin' fine

Enter the coldest week of my life. That whole next week was freezing. The school was freezing, outside was freezing, everything was freezing! Since that means Kate and I are mostly confined to the indoors, we've developed some new "habits." First of all, we have started exercising, if you can count trying to do five pushups and then collapsing on the floor as exercise. Seriously though, we are a sad, sad mess. In Ukraine, we hardly walk anywhere since most of our transportation is taken care of for us, and we eat so many sweets! So we made a little workout calendar with prizes and everything in an effort to not become beluga whales. (Nothing against beluga whales, it was just the first thing that came to my mind and it's a fun word to type. Beluga.)

Also, we have been mediating! I read about this cool app called Stop, Think, Breathe. You check in every day and assess how your feeling mentally, physically, and emotionally. Based on your answers, the app provides you with several five to ten minute meditations focused on either uplifting or maintaining your mood. It's really fun and easy, and I feel like it really does bring my day into focus. It helps me to clear my mind and be silent and restful, which is something we don't do very often. Everyone should try it! I promise if you give it a shot, you'll love it!

During the last half of last week, it got incredibly cold. This meant that half the usual number of kids showed up to school. Even the kids in my host family missed school for a couple days (for one of those days, school was actually canceled.) This was a nice change because such a small number of kids meant that one teacher was always on break. It was good to slow things down a bit.  However, the cold also meant that our host family's car broke down in the middle of the week! Luckily, they were able to fix it because using public transportation in the bitter and windy cold is not one of my favorite things to do.

Introducing small children to the art of selfies

Drama might be my favorite because I can make small children
wear hilarious costumes

That Saturday was a busy and super fun day. I woke up early in the morning because it was the day I could register for Summer Term!! I love registering for classes. That might be weird, but I just love thinking about all the new and fun things I'm going to do and learn. I'm especially excited for Summer Term because I'll be taking some really fun classes like Social Dance 280 and Beginning Tennis. Of course, I'll do some "real" classes like the second half of the Book of Mormon and Western Humanities 201, but I'm still really excited for those classes. Book of Mormon is obviously amazing, and I'm taking the Humanities class from the same professor I had for Honors Writing 150. She is a great teacher and I am excited to take another class from her!

But that was just the beginning to a long day. Kate and I met our group in Old Town Kiev (not sure if that's really the official name, but let's roll with it.) As we were walking to the bus stop, a guy was getting into his car and he said something to me in Russian. After telling him that we didn't speak Russian, he gestured to the car and he was offering to give us a ride since it was so cold. I headed toward the car immediately, which I think scared Kate a bit. I figured since he was our host family's neighbor he was pretty harmless. It worked out pretty well, except I totally butchered the Russian word to say 'Thank you' and they laughed at me. But, oh well. We had Domino's Pizza for lunch, and while it wasn't very Ukrainian, it was very tasty and a much needed reminder of home.

We'd been waiting for this moment all week

 

My grandma told me to always be in the picture-I'm
there somewhere, I promise

After lunch, we headed to the Chernobyl Museum just a few blocks away. We had an English tour guide, but he was incredibly difficult to understand and so I can't really tell you many minute details about the Chernobyl tragedy. Essentially what happened was a nuclear power plant in Eastern Ukraine exploded leading to the deaths, illnesses, and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Many villages that had been around for centuries had to be evacuated because of harmful nuclear effects, and the traditions and heritages of those people were largely lost. Ukraine still feels the effects of this tragedy today. It was eye opening to see the very real hardships that people all over the world experience and suffer.

On a happier note, here are some beautifully painted buildings.
New life goal: own a yellow house

Look, a road!

Afterwards, we got a little pick-me-up at the Lviv Chocolate Factory. Their chocolate is "handmade" which still doesn't sound right to me when applied to chocolate. Anyway, it was delicious! Kate and I both got melted chocolate, which is, you guessed it, straight melted chocolate that we drank from a cup. It was amazing. I also got some little chocolates and those were good as well.

 

On a melted chocolate high.
Warning: don't take it into the freezing cold, or it will freeze.
You think that would've been obvious

Then we headed up a long, steep street to St. Andrew's Cathedral. Along the way, there were a few street vendors, but since it was so cold, there were hardly any sellers. Kate and I decided to go back the next week to do our souvenir shopping so we could decide what we really wanted.

I never get tired of these beautiful buildings

We were so cold, so Kate and I went to that huge mall, Ocean Plaza to do some shopping. After a couple hours, we met our group at the metro station and went to an organ concert in a reconstructed cathedral. I was so happy to be at that concert. Kate and I went to several classical concerts at BYU and we both missed it. Listening to beautiful live music like this gives me time to sit and reflect on my life. I don't even necessarily listen to the music; I use it to drift in and out of different thoughts. I think it's really healthy to be essentially forced to sit and stop all of your every day distractions, and just listen and reevaluate where you are and where you want to go. I always feel relaxed and rejuvenated after concerts like this, so I'm glad we had this opportunity.

Sorry about the terrible quality.
Cathedrals are not optimally lighted for pictures

Sunday was more of the same, except Kate and I were asked to help out with the nursery. There are just two little boys and it's pretty fun to play with them.

One of the cute boys in nursery. When he cried, we'd
take him to the window to see the temple.

That night was my host dad's birthday and he had a big party. Kate and I ate so much, which was good because it also happened to be Fast Sunday that day and we were STARVING! We tried rabbit, among other things, and it was a lot of fun.

This last week has brought warmer temperatures and sun!! It's been so beautiful and I loved walking outside with the snow on the ground and the sun shining and feeling the cool, but not overly cold 30 degrees air! It was also a week of success since Kate and I learned how to say 'one' in Russian so the marshrutka drivers stopped yelling at us because we don't understand them when they're asking how many tickets we want. Yay for us! We also tried our first pomelo which is this gigantic fruit that's some odd combination of oranges, lemons, and grapefruits, I think.

This was delicious. New favorite fruit?

Yesterday on Saturday, Kate and I tried going on our first run while we've been here. Key word: tried. It was relatively warm and the snow wasn't bothersome and we live in a village so there aren't a ton of cars around. But the one thing we didn't count on were the dogs. For some reason there are loose dogs running around everywhere and once we ran past them, they started chasing us! We were scared out of our minds and after some awkward speed walking/running, we headed back to the house and called it a day. I don't think you understand how scared I was--my life flashed before my eyes. So I guess we'll try again next Saturday!

Kate and I headed back to Old Town Kiev later that afternoon and I'm so glad we did! There were at least four times the amount of vendors as there had been the Saturday before! We got so many fun things, like Ukrainian nesting dolls, handmade stuffed animals, and beautiful paintings done by the woman selling them.

The beautiful dolls we bought...they each have ten pieces!

Today was church again, and of course, picture time in front of the temple! It was a bit foggy today, and it was really beautiful to see the temple stand above the busy and dirty road.

The beautiful temple

I can't even describe to you how proud I am of
this red coat 

A couple of random of things that have also happened: first of all, the chinchillas gave birth! All of a sudden, on Friday there was a third little chinchilla in the cage! Our host family also bought a piano so that Kate and I could play and now the mom is decorating it, so that's pretty cool. Kate and I have been making cakes in a mug non-stop! She has been obsessed with her chocolate cake recipe and I didn't really understand it until I tried it for myself....this recipe is amazing! Just pop it in the microwave for a minute or so and drizzle some glaze on top and you have an intense emotional experience. Seriously, all of my senses felt overloaded. I think she's ruined my ability to stay away from sweets for the rest of my life because this recipe is so easy and incredible! Onto the next week!

You can't really see it, but there is a baby chinchilla
beneath that mommy chinchilla.
I'm obsessed

 

Pixi perching on the piano