What a crazy busy weekend we had! Friday was packed full of running from required hospital exams, TB x-rays, orphanage visits, English school visits and meetings with the University! It was so busy we didn't have time to eat all day.. which is becoming a common occurrence with us! Saturday was a great day, and we had so much fun, despite the fact that it snowed so hard all day. It was so pretty out with all of the snow and wasn't even very cold, which was a nice change. We first met with Nastia, one of our guides here Kiev, and she took us to the History of Kiev Museum. It was great to get to learn a lot about the history of the city and the wars that took place here, so we can understand the magnificent city in which we are living.
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Typical gun from the wars here in Kiev
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After the museum we had a Christmas party/concert to go to. Here in Ukraine, they go by the Orthodox calendar so Christmas is not celebrated on December 25th, but is rather celebrated in the New Year on January 7th. It's like we got to experience the Christmas spirit all over again! The party had lots of dancing, musical instruments, and singing. Every song had to do with Christmas until one 10 year old girl started to sing and it was a song in English. We were excited to hear an English Christmas song until we realized that it was Christina Aguilera's hit song Beautiful haha. It was hilarious for us because it was so random and everyone else assumed that the song had to do with Christmas!
We had a great night later on because one of the girls helping us out while we are here came over to our apartment with one of her friends and we cooked and hung out together. We just cooked something simple - pizza and potatoes and salad. She has promised to come over and teach us how to cook vareniki (perogies), borscht (beet based soup), and holubutsi (cabbage rolls). The more people we meet the more excited we are about being here in Ukraine and on this study abroad.
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Cooking dinner with the girls!
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When people say the sidewalks and roads here are icy, they are not lying!! So far the score is ice 5 and us girls 0. It's really getting the best of us! The local people are always running to our aid... especially when we take a huge spill (Nonika... haha)! The people are awesome and so friendly for the most part. Lots of them speak English and love talking to us so that they can practice. We had the opportunity to go to an International Ward for church today, and as I was outside in the hall I started talking to a man who was wanting to practice his English. So we started talking and he even promised to teach us to play the guitar and other instruments while we are here some nights at the church as he is a music teacher at the University. We are getting very well acquainted with the local busses and metros, pretty soon we might even be able to do it without getting lost! It takes at least an hour to get from one place in a city to another and each bus or metro costs about 2 grivna, which is cheap - only 25 cents! The exchange rate is 1 dollar to 8.08 grivna, and food here is dirt cheap!
This has been an eventful weekend and we cannot wait to start our program tomorrow - at 6am! Talk to you all soon!
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| Graffiti walls! |
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| I just love the look of this cathedral with all the snow, so pretty! |
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| Beautiful Temple! |
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| Kyla, Me, Nonika, and Nastia - such a sweet girl! |
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| You could say it was a little snowy today.. |
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