naked man has a friend.

On Tuesday I will have been here for three weeks. Wait, what?! This completely blew my mind this past week. Wednesday will be my fourth Wednesday here, and it was hard for me to realize I’ve only been here two full weeks. It seems like it has been months! Not in a bad way, though.

I honestly can’t really remember what all happened this week. It seriously flew by. Cherish and I went to one school on Tuesday and another school on Wednesday to talk to students in their English classes. We didn’t really know what to expect when we first showed up to the first school on Tuesday. We kind of just got thrown in and were told to talk to the children about whatever we wanted. It turned out surprisingly well and was actually pretty fun. On Wednesday we went to the other school, and luckily the English teachers there had lessons for us to teach. I got to teach 8^th, 3^rd, and 1^st grade. I was a little intimidated at first, but then I got more relaxed as the day went on. Let me tell you, those kids were so full of energy and exciting. I honestly can’t wait to go back.

 

Our other children at our school seemed to be a little better this week. I think they are kind of starting to understand what strikes are, and when they don’t get strikes they get star stickers. It never fails, the kids always come to us crying. That’s actually how we know we are about to start teaching. We hear the chorus of cries coming down the stairs. It makes us feel great. The kids almost always leave smiling though, so we must be doing something right. Maybe it’s the magic words “It’s time to go home!” that get them smiling, but I’m just gonna think that it is because I’m such a fun teacher (;

 

Teaching itself seems to be getting easier. I think I’m finally getting the hang of how it is supposed to be done. Getting little kids to talk in a language different from their native tongue is very hard though. They have no clue what you are saying and kind of just give you a stare like “why are you speaking to me like that?” It’s quite encouraging. Not. It’s tough, but I am liking it. The other day during snack time one of the kids pulled out a newspaper from his backpack, looked at it, and then said “What the hell?” It was hilarious. Cherish and I looked at each other and tried so hard not to laugh. We definitely did not teach him that.

 

Most mornings for breakfast we normally have kasha. The kasha we eat typically contains either rice or buckwheat with milk warmed up. Not my favorite thing, especially the buckwheat one, but it’s food. The other day our host dad, Andrei, knocked on our door and asked if we wanted breakfast. We told him we did and he said we could either have potatoes or pumpkin kasha. He told us the kasha was really good so we told him we would try it. We tried it and ended up liking it a little so that’s what we are for breakfast. After we finished eating we informed him that we liked it. He then responded “Oh good! Now I can finally try it!” Andrei had used us as little guinea pigs. It was hilarious. We got a good laugh out of that one.

On Friday our cook at school tried to poison us. Okay not really, but it seemed like it. We are usually given juice to drink everyday at lunch, but on Friday we walked into the room we eat in and we saw what looked like milk in our cups. We got really excited! I don’t even like milk but I was excited. I had a few bites of food and decided I was going to have a little “milk.”  Cherish decided she wanted to have some too, so we lifted out glasses and right before I took a sip of it I got a whiff of it and immediately put my glass back down. Cherish obviously didn’t smell her drink and her face said it all. It was quite apparent that milk was not in our glasses. We eventually figured out it is a Ukrainian drink that is normally really good, but the kind we got was spoiled. Of course I wanted to be able to say that I tried this weird beverage, so I took a little sip. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to drink milk without thinking about this stuff ever again. It was awful. Then last night when we got home from the day’s adventures our host dad had it sitting on the table for us to drink. Needless to say, we politely refused. But we did try it again…we can’t get over our first tasting.

Saturday most of the girls all got together and we went to the Water Information Center and it was really neat! I sat on a giant toilet, walked through a fake cave, and stood inside a giant bubble. Then we went on a river boat ride and got free ice cream. It was actually really relaxing and nice. We saw about twelve brides on Saturday while we were walking around the city. It was insane. I decided that I want to be part of a Ukrainian wedding. They look like a ton of fun! Plus it gives me an excuse to wear the super high heels! We walked around a park, struck some poses, and saw all sorts of government buildings that looked official and scary. They were gorgeous though.

 

Oh and also on Saturday Cherish and I had Monster Energy Drinks. I never really drink energy drinks, but I was dead tired so I had one. One time I had a Monster and I climbed a mountain. That was a fun night. Anyway, we never talk on the way to our marshrutka stop because we climb up stairs and walk uphill the whole way. But after our energy drinks we talked the whole way up! It was pretty funny.

 

The other day while we were waiting for our trolleybus to come, Cherish and I were talking and a man came really close to me and just stared at me. I turned to look at him and he said “It’s my life.” I just kinda looked at him like “Why on earth did you just say that to me?” I was so confused. I had no clue why he said that to me. Then he said “I love you.” It was pretty intense. Haha, just kidding. It was so strange. Luckily after that he walked away. I haven’t seen this crazy man since…thank heavens.

Sunday Cherish, Alexis, and I along with two other girls from the Kiev 2 group, Karen and Amberly, had dinner with our “grandparents,” or in other words an elderly couple from church who so kindly took us in. It was nice and relaxing and it was so great to have Americans food and speak English the whole time! It was awesome getting to know them and the other two girls.

This week we started Dance Party Friday’s. Cherish, Alexis, and I decided that after a long week we needed to have a little fun.

http://youtu.be/mMhXOIZCtl8

I saw naked man again on his balcony. He had a friend. He was naked too. I ran inside.

i saw a naked man.

At the beginning of the week I thought this blog entry would be lame and completely uneventful. Butttttt, that is definitely not the case anymore.

We started teaching this week, and let me tell you. The first day was HARD. The second day was HARD. And the third day was HARD. Basically, I realized that this was going to be hard. Well, I guess I should say that I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t know what to expect when teaching, and it’s just different from what I expected. I am really enjoying it though.

The kids are adorable and they do not understand a thing I am saying to them. Hopefully I will be able to teach them a little English before I leave, and let’s pray it’s nothing bad. Hahah, just kidding. I would never.

On our free days, Cherish and I just hung out at the school with Alexis so we could have wifi and we had a marvelous time! I honestly wish we had a camera recording us at all times. We would be the number one TV show in America. We’re hilarious. We even started a book of quotes. Hopefully when we look back at it we will be able to remember why it was all so funny and the stories that went with each.

On Thursday it rained. Which meant we had to walk in the dark and in the rain. All the way home. We walked to the trolley bus stop and thank heavens for the first time all week we didn’t have to wait very long. We rode it to our stop and got off into the darkness. This is when I discovered I definitely did not wear the most practical shoes for walking in the rain. I was literally falling out of my shoes because they were so wet. It was a miserable walk home. We got soaking wet and it was cold outside. And you know in the movies when you see the person standing on the side of the road and a car drives by and hits a puddle and splashes them? Yeah. That happened. It was a humbling experience...

Saturday all the girls in the group met up and we went to basically what I am calling a Ukrainian Costco! It was huge and full of everything we could think of. Including the best junk food and chocolate ever. We loaded up on the good stuff and went back to one of the schools to eat them and talk about our vacations. I think I went into a sugar coma from all the food, but it tasted so good!


After we talked about our vacations we talked about what all girls always talk about to have a good bonding experience. Boys. We all had our little stories to tell about things that had happened and stuff like that. Let me just say, some of the girls have fairy tale boys in their lives and I want to know where I can buy one. I am just a little jealous. I had such a good time with everyone and I pretty much decided Saturday was one of the best days so far.

Saturday night I left the school with Cherish, Alexis, and our head teacher Samantha. We hopped on the first mashutka we saw even though we didn’t know where it was going. Turns out it wasn’t going where we wanted it to. We had a mini panic attack then we figured out it took us to a metro stop so we were all good. On the mashutka we had our first conversation with drunk Ukrainians. It was so funny. They were trying to talk to us in slurred broken English and the girls taught us how to say some things that should not be repeated. It was absolutely hysterical though. We could not stop laughing. They showed us the way to the metro though, so that was nice of them. I’m actually a little surprised they could make it down the stairs without falling. It was impressive.

I think I must be sending out some sort of vibe to the guys on the metro, because I have had two stalkers in two days. The first guy gave me this, as Alexis calls it, bad boy I want you type look. It was a little creepy. Alexis saw him give me the look and all she said to me was, “Did you smile at him?” From what I remember I never did…but who knows. I know I’m not really supposed to smile here. But sometimes it’s really hard. Then today, on the way to church as I was walking out of the metro car thing a guy was right up on me. He had plenty of room, so I don’t know what he was doing. Then we went up the escalators and Cherish and Alexis kept saying he was turning around to look at me. I swear I saw him go over to go the opposite direction on the red line, but the next thing I know Alexis and Cherish were pointing him out to me right by where we were. Then the metro came…and of course with just my luck we ended up in the same car. I couldn’t help but laugh. And I’m not just saying that. I was literally laughing out loud. Which probably didn’t help my situation. He stayed on the same car as us until almost the very end and I kind of started to get a little freaked out. But he got off the stop before us. At one point it was just me and him sitting on the seats and he started to make a move to scoot towards me, luckily Alexis jumped in and sat between us. I was so thankful for that. I’m thinking maybe I need to change my perfume or stop smiling or something, although these guys do make for funny stories.

We took the bus to church today. Only we got off four stops too early. Just when I thought I was becoming a good at public transportation. So, we ended up walking 2 miles to church. And I’d just like to say I did it in 3 ½ inch heels. So go me.

Oh and one more funny bus story. The other day I was on the bus and a woman came around to collect the money. She came to me and asked me for the money, so I gave it to her. She said something else to me and I responded with “ya ne penny mayo” or in other words, “I don’t understand.” Then she proceeded to mock me and completely make fun of me for not speaking any Russian. It was the funniest thing. Even though she was making fun of me all I could do was laugh. Everyone on the bus was laughing to. Although, she kept saying to me “Ya speakin da Deutsch?” and in my head I kept thinking, “No, I don’t speak German.” It was the weirdest thing. I’m pretty sure I spoke English to her at least once. Anyway, that was my first experience being made fun of in Russian.

STRIKE A POSE.

I looked out the window tonight and saw a naked man on his balcony. The crazy naked people frenzy has begun.

i've survived so far.

After my last post, I decided that I should probably start adding pictures to make it more interesting. So this one will have pictures.

So much has happened since Wednesday and my brain is going crazy trying to sort everything out. I have no idea where to begin. If I went over every detail this would get very boring very quickly. So I’ll give a little short overview of the past few days.

On Thursday we had another training/orientation meeting at our school with the rest of the girls. We went over how to make lesson plans (which is really hard when you have no clue what you are doing), the different levels we will be teaching, and a few other things I’m sure are important that I can’t think of right now. When we were done going over everything I got to FaceTime my mom from my phone. She cried. My little sister was getting ready for school and was mad at me for calling at such an inconvenient time for her. She got over it pretty quickly though. It was nice to get to talk to “see” them again. After I finished talking to my mom Cherish and I found ventured out to find a store where we could buy shampoo and conditioner. We finally found one and I got what I needed. We went to the register and the woman rang us up, I paid, and then she spoke to me in Russian. I responded with “ya ni peni mayo” which means “I don’t understand.” She gave me an exasperated look and handed me my change. When she handed me my change I gratefully said “speciva” or “thank you” and she gave me the biggest smile! I was proud of myself. We found our way back to our trolley to journey back home. Once again we made it! We are getting pretty good at finding our way around.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Cherish, Alexis, and I went to our school for the majority of the day to work on lesson plans and get acquainted with our school. Yeah…it didn’t really happen like that. Cherish was really sick, so she mostly slept while Alexis and I did some lesson plans and jammed to some good music. We also talked to our parents and some friends which was really nice. Galya brought us some really yummy pastries for lunch and we devoured those in ten seconds. Then we went back to lesson planning, which turned into girl talk of course...hahah..that was fun (;

 

 

Saturday all the girls in the group got together and we went to downtown Kiev to the flower festival. It was so neat! The flower arrangements were absolutely gorgeous! We had a lot of fun just walking around and seeing everything. Okay, well I guess I should say that it was also hot. Very hot. And I don’t do well with heat. So that was a little miserable…but other than that it was great!

 

We went and got food and gelato after we left and I was so thankful to finally have something like ice cream. I’m a little addicted. Since Cherish and I hadn’t talked to our family all day, we went to McDonalds to get WiFi. After some time we decided we wanted to get something to eat…only we don’t know how to order anything in Russian. In the process of trying to say something in Russian, a (very very attractive) guy sat next to us and said the Russian word in English. We got so excited! He helped us order chocolate milkshakes. He’s our new best friend. Just kidding….but seriously. I wish.

 

 Oh and on a little side note, McDonald’s is ALWAYS packed with people. You end up crammed at a small table with people you don’t know right up on you. Kind of like the public transportation here except at McDonald’s you get to eat. But I’m not complaining. I kinda like it, as creepy as that sounds.

Today we went to church and that was quite an adventure. It takes about an hour and a half to get there. I’m used to commuting to church, but not that long of a commute. It was a great church service and the LDS Temple is right on the branch grounds. It is so cool to look outside and see the temple. On our trek back to the metro after church we got honked at. For a few seconds I thought I was still in America, but then I looked up and saw the language I didn’t understand. Men are the same in all countries I guess.

 

Our host dad took us and our “little sister” Tonya on a walk after dinner to the lakes and it was gorgeous! We got ice cream and walked around the wooded loop. We came to this natural pool and he said, “This is where the crazy naked people come to bathe sometimes.” I decided I needed to try it out at some point before I leave. I mean, what kind of adventure would this be if crazy naked people weren’t involved?