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?