Exploring more of Kiev

On Friday, I met up with Katie downtown.  We bundled up because it was a cloudy and cold day.  I have needed to wear my big pink puffy snow jacket now because it is so cold.  Anyone can find me in Kiev though because I stand out.haha  After strolling by the stores downtown we decided to go find The House of Chimeras.  We used Katie's GPS on her phone and wondered up and down some streets until we finally found it.  We didn't expect it to be in the middle of a lot of surrounding buildings.  There is a legend behind this house.  Don't quote me on this though.  The architect was asked to build an apartment building.  While he was designing it his daughter either drowned or commit suicide in the river of Kiev.  He went crazy after this and had a lot of nightmares involving water creatures.  As a result he sculpted these creatures into the building.  It is pretty cool looking, but very creepy at the same time.

This building is also located across from the Ukraine presidents office (The Ukraine White House.haha). We took pictures in front of that too.  I was so proud of myself because I could read the sign!  It says "President Ukraine".  Now you can see how hard russian is....

 After we looked around those two places, we headed back to the center of the city.  On our way we walked through a park and found an old man sitting all alone on a bench.  We decided to have a nice chat with him.

haha tricked you!!  This statue was pretty cute though.  I wish he was a real old man.  This was a fun day being able to explore some things that we still haven't seen in Kiev.

Thanksgiving in Kiev

        Since my plans fell through for my last vacation I was stuck in Kiev for the thanksgiving weekend.  I wasn’t took excited about that until I learned that one of the embassy families, the Page’s, who is also in the international branch was going to have a Thanksgiving dinner at their apartment and they invited all who was going to be in Kiev to come.  Katie and I met up at the metro, picked up some potatoes at a grocery store and headed to their apartment to help with the meal on Thursday afternoon.  When we got there we could tell which apartment was theirs because it smelled SO GOOD!  We walked in and the kitchen was busy with people and food.  I helped peel some potatoes and Katie set to work on the pasta salad.  All the food was layed out on the kitchen table and it was time to eat.

There was two different turkeys to choose from, lots of mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and salad.  

There was four sets of Elder and Sister missionaries that were also invited to eat along with a few other ILP girls that were in town and another embassy family.  We had lots of fun chatting, filling our bellies, and playing games.  I loved playing with the Page's little boy and girl.  They were having so much fun being in a house full of people that gave them attention.  Once it got late enough I was able to call my family and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving!  I was so grateful for this chance to have a traditional american thanksgiving.  It gave me a little piece of America and will help me get through this last month in Ukraine. 

My New Host Family

I can’t remember if I posted about this on my blog before, but I had to move from my first host family’s house at the end of September because I lived too far away from my school.  I was really sad that I had to move because my host family was great to me, but I could not travel two and a half hours every day to school.  I was moved into an apartment with an American girl who is working here (not through ILP) and her Ukrainian roommate.  I was only supposed to stay there for a few weeks while they looked for a new host family for me.  Well a few weeks turned into a month and then I found out that they were never looking for a new host family for me.  I was having a pretty rough time in this new living situation so I finally told my head teacher, Dianna, about it.  She then got them to find me a new host family.  I was called by Oksana on Wednesday morning and was told to pack all my stuff because the next day I would be moved after I was done teaching.  I was very excited to have the opportunity to live with a Ukrainian family again.  I packed everything and was ready to move.  A car picked me up from school and Dianna, my administrator Alina, and I picked up my stuff at my old apartment and headed to my new host families apartment.  I now live on the blue line of the metro so I have to figure out public transportation for a third time.  I can’t believe I have had so many problems with my living situations.  But this new situation is AMAZING!!!  I have only been here for four days and I absolutely love my new host family.  There is Edik (Ed), Marina, Nadia (9), and Vika (6).  I share a room with the two sisters, but I have my own bed and it has an actual mattress!  I can sleep now.  They are the sweetest people.  Ed knows English pretty well and Marina know a little too, she is just shy when it comes to speaking it.  The girls are also learning.  Marina holds something up and says the word in Russian and then asks me to say it in English.  We are teaching each other.  We spent Friday night getting to know each other.  They wanted to know all about my family and where I was from.  I showed them pictures of my family and friends and they showed me pictures of their vacation to the Black Sea.  Marina teaches gym classes at our house so there is a room with mirrors on the walls and there are exercise balls.  They are also very conscious about health.  They cook very good, healthy food.  I am very excited about this because I have not been eating too great since I’ve been in Ukraine.  They are such a nice family and I already love them so much.

            Marina is a friend with Alex and Lily’s host mom so she invited them over after church to have a picnic with us.  It ended up being too cold outside and the girls are getting sick so we decided to have a picnic at home.  We got to help make the food.  It was so much fun.  My host mom called it Cooking Club.  We made soup and Veriniki.  

I was so excited that she taught us how to make this because Veriniki is my favorite food in Ukraine.  Now I can make it when I get back to America!  It is really easy too.  While the food was cooking, we played a game.  The game had cards with categories and words and phrases on them.  One side had English and the other side had Russian.  If we spoke English the Russian speakers would read us the phrase in Russian and we would have to guess what it was.  We would do the same in English.  It was a lot of fun and a good way to learn Russian or English.  After playing for a while, we ate.  We set the table up in the workout room and dug in.  The food was delicious!  After dinner, we played some more of the English/Russian game.  Then it was time for Lily and Alex to head home.  I am having such a good time with my new host family that I just can’t stop smiling.  My last month in Ukraine is going to be awesome!

Ballet

On Saturday I got to go to a Ukraine Ballet at the opera house in Kiev.  It was a lot of fun.  I went with Alex, Lilly, Megan H, Peter, Elysia, Riley, and Sarah.  We sat all the way up in the balcony, but we were on the front row so we could lean on the padded railing in front of us and had a really good view.  The ballet we saw was Snow White.  It was really cute because there were so many little kids at the show.  When we got there we checked our coats in at the coat check and then had to figure out where we were sitting.  We showed someone our tickets and were told we had to walk up to the fifth floor.  We climbed up all the stairs and then got into the theater.  Sarah, Riley, and I sat across from the others so we waved at each other before the show started.  The opera house is very beautiful inside.

The ballet was very enjoyable.  The dancers were very good and we were all very impressed.  My favorite were the seven dwarfs.  They did a great job portraying their characters even when they didn't talk.  It was a very cute performance.

 The leads were very good too.  They seemed so young, but I don't know if that is because I was sitting so far away so they looked so little.haha

After the show was over we bundled back up and headed outside.  As we were walking it started to snow!!  I was so excited.  Of course it didn't stick to the ground, but it means it will soon!  I can't wait.  I have heard that the snow in Kiev isn't that pleasant though.  I guess we will see.

So You Think You Can Dance

There is a show called Танцюють всі! (Everybody Dance!) which is the Ukraine version of So You Think You Can Dance.  One of the girls in my group has a host sister who got us tickets to go see the live taping of the show last Friday night.  There were buses that drove us to the place were it was being filmed so I had to hurry from teaching to the bus stop.  We waited for the bus to come and then filled the bus up.  It drove us down the street and we realized that the venue is just a short ways down the block from where we teach!  We laughed about that for a while because we could have just walked there.  The show was being filmed in an old airplane hanger.  We got inside and put our coats in the coat check then we took pictures in front of the big sign they had in the waiting area.  

The show The X Factor is also filmed in this same place. They were letting people inside the stage area by announcing the seating over a loud speaker.  Of course we had no idea what they were saying so we just kept on showing workers our tickets and they would point us to where we had to wait.  Our tickets were for the Fan Zone.  Once we were let into the studio we hurried to the front of the stage so we could get a good standing position.  The stage looked exactly like the stage they use for the show in America.  The viewing area was just a lot smaller.  

The stage crew was checking all the lights and set up so we stood waiting for a while for the show to begin.  We did get yelled at a few times to not step over a line of tape or else we would get hit with one of the moving cameras.  The hosts finally came out on stage and did some last minute mic checks before the show began.  I got the girl host to smile at me by waving to her.  The show started and they did everything the same as the show in America only I couldn't understand what they were saying.  They even had the same theme song!  The judges were introduced.  One of them is a man from England.  He speaks only english so they had someone translate all of his commentary.  The dancers danced and the judges judged.  We had to guess if they either liked the dance or didn't.  

Two of the choreographers spoke english.  When their dance was being performed they were led up through the crowd to the front of the stage by us and watch.  They had a translator by them so when the judges spoke they knew what was being said.  We would lean over and try to listen in so we would know what was going on too.  When they would head back to their seats we would congratulate them.  Some of the girls I came with would even get excited and touch them.  It was pretty funny.  The dances were good, but I think the people that are on the show in America are a lot better.  One of the dances had doors in it.  That had already been done in America!  We said they stole our idea.  

Overall the show was very entertaining and a lot of fun to watch live.  It ended around 10.  Then we learned there was a half hour break and then they would film the result show.  To me this sounded like the show was rigged.  How would they already have the results that fast?  It was going to be another long show so we decided to leave early.  We did not want to get stuck somewhere because the metro stopped running late at night.  When we exited the building we had no idea how to get out to the street.  Then some guys told us to sit in this big van bus.  We climbed in, but were kind of scared that it wouldn't take us to the right place.  Some of us were joking around that we were getting kidnapped.  But luckily they dropped us off at a metro stop and we all made it home safely.  I had so much fun, but now I really want to go see a live tapping of So You Think You Can Dance in America!  You should look the show up on YouTube and see if you can find me in the audience.  We were right by the cameras!

The Joys of Teaching

So today some of the girls in my class wanted to sing songs for me.  I had my camera handy so I video taped them.  They got a kick out of that and kept on singing for me.  Here are a few songs we sing with the class.  You can hear their English skills, Russian accents, and just how cute these kids are!
No Bananas:

Baby Shark (sorry for my singing.  They were having some trouble with the words):

My class is so great. I think I have the best kids in Ukraine!  Hope these videos make you laugh as much as they made me.(:

Funny Video

Ok so coming home from church today Christina and I took a different route then we usually do.  This marshrutka goes on the bumpiest road ever!  I had to take a video just to show you guys what it's like to ride through Kiev.  Hopefully it works.(:

Delicious Home Cooking

Today after our stake conference, the older missionary couples invited ILP to come over to their apartments for a home cooked lunch.  They live in the apartments located on the temple grounds so we just walked across the lawn from the church building to the apartment building.  We met in the cafeteria and were then grouped up and divided and assigned a missionary couple.  My roommate from school, Lauren Howell, has grandparents who are serving in the temple presidency here.  I have met them once before at church a few weeks ago.  When we were in the cafeteria they were calling out my name because they wanted me to come over to their apartment.  I felt so honored!  I went over to their place with three other girls.  We had a nice time getting to know each other while Sister Christensen was finishing up making the meal.  We then gathered around the table and dug in.  They had prepared chicken nuggets, potato salad, jello, carrots, and home made rolls for us.  It was delicious!  I haven't had any of that food since we have been in Ukraine.  After our meal we got the Christensen's to tell us the story of how they met, dated, and were married.  It was such a cute story and so sweet to see how excited they were to tell it to us.  They also gave us some great dating advice for when we get back home!haha  Sister Christensen then brought out dessert.  She had made cinnamon rolls, brownies, and also had ice cream bars.  It was so good.  I haven't had a meal with so much flavor in a long time.  After we stuffed ourselves, we sat in their living room and they told us a little bit about the dedication of the Kiev temple that happened last year.  We also got to watch a little bit of the cultural celebration that Ukraine had the day before the dedication.  Then it was time to head home.  I was so grateful to have been invited into their home and be fussed over.  It did make me miss my grandparents though.  I have adopted them as my grandparents while I am here in Ukraine.  Hope they don't mind!  They are so sweet and I really enjoyed spending time with them.  Thanks Lauren for sharing your grandparents with me!  They say hi to you too!(:

I Love to See the Temple

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Kiev, Ukraine temple and do baptisms for the dead.  I met up with Katie and Sarah at the end of the red line of the metro.  We hopped on a marshrutka (that's what they call smaller buses here) and road it down the highway to the temple.  We arrived at the temple grounds at about 2 in the afternoon.  As we were walking towards the entrance we saw a bride and groom taking pictures out on the lawn.  They were so cute!  Then we headed inside.  The matron met us at the front desk and told us that the next baptism session was at 5pm.  We had a lot of time to kill so we decided to walk around the grounds.  It is not a very big temple so it didn't take much time, but we did see the temple from every angle.  After that the matron invited us to sit in the lunch room inside the temple.  We had some snacks to munch on, so we sat inside the warm temple and enjoyed the peaceful feeling that it brings and each other company.  We also got to meet a few of the temple workers (American and Ukrainian) that walking in and out of the kitchen.  As it got closer to 5pm we headed to the sitting room where we hung up our coats and waited for them to invite us back to change.  We were eventually brought back to the baptistry and did confirmations and baptisms.  It was so cool because all the ordinances are preformed in Russian.  Even though I could not understand them, I still knew what was being said and I felt the spirit so strong.  The temple president had a short meeting with us.  Because there were a few Ukrainians with us, he had a translator.  I loved just being able to sit inside the temple.  I have been feeling very homesick this past week.  I am so far away from home, but being in the temple felt so familiar to me and made me feel like I was home.  As I was in the Kiev temple yesterday I realized something.  I have taken the temple for granted.  In America, we have so many temples and I have lived close to a temple all my life.  The LA temple is not far from my home and I live just down the street from the Rexburg temple when I am at school.  And now here in Ukraine it takes me about an hour to get to the temple.  Why do I not go more often?  There were families there yesterday who have traveled days to get to the Kiev temple and they are so excited and so willing to make the trip.  I should be doing it much more often.  I found out that the Kiev, Ukraine temple serves 9 countries.  That is so amazing!  We are so blessed in America to have so many temples.  My testimony was really strengthened though by the examples of the European people who put aside their time to travel to the temple.  I have made myself a goal to go at least once a week when I get back up to school in the winter and I want to go to the Kiev temple at least two more times before I leave in December.  After we were finished we headed back outside.  It was dark by that time and the temple is so breathtaking by night.  I truly do love to see the temple.  This was a very rejuvenating day for me.