Saying Goodbye

It was very hard saying goodbye to my host family.  They have done so much for me since I have been staying with them in Ukraine.  I really appreciate them for being so willing to put up with me for this last month and make my time enjoyable.  As a thank you present I had my family send me some Disneyland things.  The girls each got Mickey ears with their names on the back.

My host dad got a Disney Imagineering t-shirt and my host mom got a mickey mouse bell Christmas ornament.  They loved their gifts.  One of their dreams is to go to Disneyland.  They thought it was so cool when I told them that my dad works for Disney.

On our last day together, it was St. Nicholas Day.  They took me to their church and I got to see a traditional Mass.  This is what their church looks like outside.

It was a very cool experience, but the service was extra long because of the holiday.  After a little while I got bored because I could not understand what was being said.  Vika and I went to sit down on the benches along the side of the church.  After a while Vika fell asleep.  It was pretty funny.

I am really grateful for them to have brought me to this though.  I got to experience another part of this Ukrainian culture before I came home.  I am going to miss my host family.  They were so gracious when they were saying goodbye.  I hope that in the future they get to host another person from  ILP.  They were fantastic!

Spactacular

For the end of the year performance at our school all of the different English classes put on a show for all the parents on Friday.  Our theme was Christmas Around the World.  Each of the ILP teachers picked a country and wrote a script going along with the traditions of that country at Christmas time.  Since most of the students are young and know very little English the scripts were very simple with each student only speaking a few words.  I chose to have my group of kids be in France.  We all wrote our scripts and then gave them to our administrator at the school to go over.  She did not particularly like what we wrote.  She said we gave the kids too much to say and do.  So instead she took all of our countries information and then made her own script.  We all just laughed at this and let her do her thing.  So for the last month we have been rehearsing with our classes, helping them memorize their lines, and teaching them Christmas songs.  They all practiced so hard and we were very excited for this performance.
The big day finally came.  The teachers had to be at the school early to clean up everything, go through all the shelves, and organize for the next group of ILP teachers to come in a few weeks.  Then all the kids showed up at the school around 4pm in their costumes and ready to go.  Each group had to dress up according to what country they were from.  The parents were in charge of the kids costumes and they all did a fantastic job!!  The kids looked so cute.  Whenever a student would walk into the room we would gush about how cute they looked.

 Haley, one of the teachers here, made a video of our time spent teaching in Ukraine.  They showed it to the parents right before our performance.  Here is a link to watch it on youtube:

Then we took all the kids downstairs to the room we performed in.  It was full of parents and it was really hot.  But the school decorated the room very Christmasy for us.  Then the spectacle began.  My head teacher, Dianna, filmed the whole show for us so hopefully I will get a copy of it.  The kids did such a fantastic job and all the parents and teachers were so proud!  Afterwards, we took all the kids back up to the classroom and they each got to pick out a final prize and then we had to say our final goodbyes.  It was very hard to say bye to these kids.  They were so much fun to teach.  I will always remember them.  This experience in Ukraine will defiantly be one that I will never forget.

МАМАЄВА СЛОБОДА Pictures

Here are a few pictures of what I did with my host family last weekend:

Cute Girls

So last night my host family did not get home until about 9pm.  After we ate supper I went back into our room and read.  Then my two host sisters came in.  I could tell they were pretty tired because they were goofing off and laughing at every little thing.  They started playing with their pillows.  I could not help myself because they were being so cute that I had to take pictures.  Of course when I took out my camera they just started being more silly.

They also had a blue balloon that they would blow up as big as it would go and then let go and watch it fly around the room.  They would crack up about that.  Nadia then figured out that if you pinch the end of a balloon closed it makes an obnoxious high pitched squealing sound.  So she kept on doing that too and laughing.  I didn't like that so much....haha.  Then they played on their jungle gym and wanted me to take pictures.  They were trying to do the most complicated poses.

After that, they pulled out their Harry Potter books that they have.  Of course they are in Russian, but they have pictures of the characters on the covers.  They thought it was fun to point at each of the people and quiz me on who it was.  I was very impressed at how much Harry Potter they know at their age.  Then Vika would open the book and want me to read it.  I would make a weird face and she would just laugh and then go get the next book.  This went on for a good while.  Finally their dad came in and announced it was time for bed.  We did not get to bed until about 11pm.  I am so glad I got to spend this time with these girls during my last week here.  They are so cute!  I am so grateful I got to live with Nadia and Vika during my time here in Kiev.

МАМАЄВА СЛОБОДА

Since I only have a little while longer here in Kiev, my host dad said he wants to take me out to see some of the popular places around the city that I have not seen yet.  On Saturday he and my host mom to me to see МАМАЄВА СЛОБОДА , an outside museum that features what an authentic old Ukrainian village would look like.  My two host sister were at dance class so they could not come with us.  We walked around the set up of the village and looked in all of the houses.  They were set up like how a Ukrainian family would have them set up.  There was a blacksmith shop where we watched a man make tools with fire.  That was pretty cool.  There was also a church in the center of the village that we went inside.  It was very beautiful and full of color.  There was a souvenir shop in one of the homes and my host mom bought me an embroidered pot holder.  We also shared some honey bread that was in the shape of a fish.haha  My host family took all of the pictures because you had to pay to take pictures per camera.  All of the photos are still on their computer so I will have to post them later.  Before we left the village we found this giant see-saw type swing that my host mom and I helped each other swing on.  It was a lot of fun!  Hopefully we can go someplace next weekend for my last weekend in Ukraine!  On our way home we stopped at Metro, a giant store that seemed to me to be a Costco and Wal Mart combined.  We picked up some food and some art supplies for the girls.

After we got home I called up Sarah and found out where they were at.  I met up with them at the center of the city and we did some shopping and played in the rain.  

We then headed out to the end of the red line to catch the bus to take us to the temple and our church building.  Our branch had a Christmas Party that Saturday night.  We had pizza and salad and there was also a talent show.  Some of the embassy families put on funny skits and a few of the older missionary couples and temple presidentcy sang songs or told stories.  It was very fun.  Afterwards Katie, Sarah, Elysia, and I headed to Katie's apartment for a sleepover.  But first we walked around the temple.  They have a nativity scene set up on the grounds.

 We were all a little too happy and too tired so things got a little bit crazy on our walk back to the bus.  Sarah and Katie had an umbrella fight.

 And we also found this lovely graffiti while we were walking under to road to get to our bus.  

 When we got to Katie's house we met the Ukrainian girl that she is living with.  She is very sweet and so nice to let us invade her apartment.  I brought all of my good American candy that my roommate sent in a package for me and we ate that and laughed and had a good time.  

Sarah even rocked her Christmas socks!  So cute(:  I am going to miss these girls so much when we got back to America next week.  I am so grateful to have made such good friends and been able to spend my time with them in Ukraine.

Snow!

It has finally snowed in Ukraine.  My host dad was talking to me last night about how surprised he was that we had not gotten any snow yet.  That conversation must have started something....This morning, it was pretty cloudy when I woke up and then when I went out to breakfast I saw how much it was snowing outside.  The snowflakes were huge and the wind was blowing.  Here is a view from outside my window:

It snowed for a good 4 hours this morning so it is sticking to the ground.  I had a fun time walking to the bus stop this morning because the wind was blowing the snow right into my face.  I was pretty wet when I finally got out of the snow.  Good thing I brought my snow jacket and snow boots!

Happy Birthday to Vika

It was my host sister Vika's birthday on Saturday.  She turned 7 years old.  I was woken up at 8am for breakfast that morning and we had potatoes with some kind of bread baked into it.  I gave Vika the birthday card I had made her.  She loved it.  She kept on walking around the house showing the family.  Then my host parents went off to work and my other host sister Nadia went to dance lessons.  I stayed at home for the morning with Vika and one of her friends.  They played games and played on their little jungle gym in their room.   Nadia came home from dance and I made them sandwiches for lunch.  Then a young boy (one of their friends) came over.  We were picked up from our apartment by another friend and her dad and he drove us to a mall with a movie theater in it.  The five kids and I got to see Делай ноги 2 (Happy Feet 2).  It was all in Russian so I did not understand anything that was going on.  I have only seen the first Happy Feet movie in Spanish so I don't even know the story line of that one either.haha  I guess eventually I will have to see those movies in English.  After the movie we went downstairs in the mall to a cafe where we met up with another family with two young girls and got some food.  Nadia had all the money so she bought the food for all of us.  It was very chaotic.  Then we went back upstairs to a children's play place and all the kids played for a half hour while I sat and watched.  After the play place, we went to trampolines with bungie cords and each of the kids jumped for a while too.  Finally, we got picked up by the family that dropped us off and they brought us back to our apartment.  There was a big family dinner waiting for us when we got back.  The kids hurried to eat and rushed off to play.  I sat around with the adults and attempted to understand what they were saying.  It didn't work out too well.  I was also so tired so I just wanted to go to bed.  After some traditional dessert everyone headed out.  Everyone else was as tired as me so we all turned in for the night.  As far as I could tell Vika had a very fun birthday.