Thoughts and Imaginings

Halloween Costume

2009-11-09T22:17:00.003-05:00

So for halloween I was Yelena Prikrassnaya from the Russian fairytale the Firebird. My costume was made from a sheet I got at a DI. I borrowed a sewing machine and sewed it. It's based on the traditional Russian sarafan. It went together really quickly so it's not that great--example...the hem. But oh well. Then I embroidered firebirdish things on the front. I think they're pretty cool though the silver thread was a pain to use. Then I sewed ribbon on the straps. The crown (kokoshnik) was made out of craft foam and bead that I sewed on with the wire I took out of the ribbon. Total cost of my costume...$5...and I look oh so cool!

Cabbage Magic!!!!

2009-11-09T22:05:00.003-05:00

Have you ever wished you could make magic color-changing potions like Harry Potter? Well, now you can with one magical vegetable—cabbage. We’ve likely all turned up our nose at this vegetable in our food. It’s the star ingredient in dishes from coleslaw to sauerkraut and kimchi to cabbage rolls. In fact, cabbage was one of the first plants cultivated by humans beginning in Greece and Italy. Conquering Roman armies believed cabbage could cure wounds, so they took cabbage with them as medicine as they marched across Europe and Asia.

Wherever cabbage spread, people came up with legends and myths about the cabbage. Greeks believed that cabbages sprung from the tears of a king who killed his son. Scottish people believed that on Halloween a girl should pick the first cabbage she saw; the shape of its root would tell her what her future husband would look like. Germans said it was impolite to talk about cabbages while looking at the moon because the man in the moon was put there for stealing cabbage on Christmas Eve. Everyone believed that somehow or other cabbage was a magical plant.

And now you can try your own hand at cabbage magic. First, collect your materials: five see-through glasses, measuring spoons, some powder laundry detergent, baking soda, vinegar and most importantly—cabbage.

But you’ve got to make sure you get the right type of cabbage. There are hundreds of types of cabbage from the tall, Chinese bok choy to the tiny, little Brussels Sprout. Our potion calls for the red variety. Red cabbage is a tight, ball of purple leaves a bit smaller than a volleyball.

Take a few leaves and rip them up into pieces. Put them in a clear glass or plastic cup. Make sure its clear and colorless so you will be able see the magic. Fill the cup with water like you were pouring yourself a drink. If you leave this cup for a while the water will start to turn purple as the cabbage juice seeps into the water.

But if you’re not feeling very patient and want to see something truly amazing, put the cup in the microwave for a couple minutes. Be careful; when it comes out the water will be very hot and purple. There are chemicals in the cabbage called anthocyanins that give red cabbage its purple color. When the water is heated, theses chemicals that make the cabbage purple are released into the water, turning the water purple. But if the water is purple what color is the cabbage? If you leave the cabbage to soak, after about an hour, you’ll see that the edges of your cabbage pieces turn a ghostly blue-grey as the anthocyanins sneak out into the water. If you left it all day long, you’d have ghost cabbage.

Now that you have your cabbage juice, pour a half-cup of water into each of the other four cups. Into the first cup, mix two tablespoons vinegar. To the next one, add ½ tablespoon baking soda. Put a tablespoon of powder laundry detergent in the third. Make sure you wash the spoon in between each measurement! Leave the last glass as a control. The control will show you what the mixture would look like if you just added the cabbage solution to regular water, so you can get a good scientific comparison. Mix the solutions until the additions are mostly dissolved.

Add two tablespoons cabbage juice to each cup. You will notice that each one changes a different color. Wow, you’re a real wizard! Want to know how we did it? It goes back to the real potion masters of the world, chemists. Remember how I told you there was a chemical called anthocyanins in the cabbage that made it purple? Well, this chemical changes color based on the pH of a solution.

What’s pH? Nearly every solution is either acidic or basic. The pH scale goes from close to 0 up to 14 and we use it to explain how acidic or basic something is. Distilled, perfectly pure, water would fall at 7 on the pH scale, meaning it is neutral, neither acid nor base. If a solution’s pH is less than 7, it is acidic; the lower the number is the more acidic it is. However, if a number is higher than 7 it’s a base; the higher it is the more basic it is.

Believe it or not, you have acids and bases all around you. Every time you wash you hands, you’re using a base. You can tell soap is a base, because like most basic solutions, it’s slippery. Acids on the other hand can be identified by a sour taste; lemon juice is a great example of an acid. Can you think of other acids or bases?

Our cabbage solution starts close to neutral. The laundry soap is slippery and it changes our solution to green, so bases make our cabbage solution green! Vinegar is a solution of water and a chemical called acetic acid—that’s right it’s an acid. So will it make our solution green? No, the vinegar mixture turns pink.

Now are you ready for the real magic? Take the cup containing the baking soda solution. It should be a blue color, showing that it’s slightly basic. Add your pink vinegar solution. Watch out! It fizzes and turns purple. The acidic vinegar and basic baking soda have canceled each other out and we’re back at neutral.Try adding the green solution. What do you think will happen? That’s right the whole thing turns blue-green because it’s basic again.

Don’t you wonder what other things in your house are acids and bases? What is milk? What about apple juice? Grab your witch’s hat and cabbage head and try your hand at some colorful brews.

Long live Swinewarts!!!

2009-08-02T20:24:00.004-04:00

Alright so yesterday, we threw the most amazing birthday party that ever has been or ever will be. Let me give you a brief run down so you can all be jealous jealous jealous!!!

So it all began with our amazing owl invitations. We blew up balloons and taped ears and feet to them and drew an owl face and wings on them. Then we got fishing wire and taped them to people's porches, rang the door bell, and ran. Of course, Aimee and I were completely dressed up so as to be unrecognizable if anyone actually saw us. It was really fun.

Then Emily and I spent the last week making preparations. We planned some pretty amazing stuff. My dad built an amazing Quidditch pitch. And we gathered up some costumes.

The party started off badly. The kids didn't show up on time so we did some practice Quidditch and I was starting to freak because we'd had it planned to the minute. Finally we decided to just start. We took the kids inside and we helped them pick out a wand. We had gathered, cut, and sanded sticks into wands. My mom, who was playing the French witch assistant headmistress of Swinewarts, Eleanore La Fee, helped them pick wands to try. They took turns trying wands. On the right wand, suddenly there was a magical sound. After all the wand chooses the wizard.

Then we had them all sit down to be sorted. But this was a special year at Swinewarts for this was the year of the Biwizard Tournament. So we did the Goblet of Fire instead of the sorting hat. I lit the end of a shishkaboob thingy and then lit the goblet which was a brass amphora thing with tin foil stretched across the top and alcohol poured on top of that. It burst into beautiful big flames. Then we put the names on another skewer and passed them through the flames. They caught flame for a few seconds but didn't burn. (It's one of my new favorite magic tricks...) Then I read out which was in which class.

One group was Errius headed by the bold Australian Professor Bruce Butterbutt (he doesn't care much for formality and he really doesn't care for the name Butterbutt...so you can call him Bruce) played by my dear sister Emily.

The other group was Bolshevniki headed by...you guessed it...ME! I was playing potions professor, Zababa Yaga, the granddaughter of the famous Baba Yaga (is not true zat she eat so many people...I sink she only eat maybe ten peoples.)

Then we went to the classes. Emily and I taught Care of Magical creatures teaching them about magical birds and making origami owls. Erin, the eccentric Professor Trilany, taught Divination reading doom and ice cream in everyone's futures. My dad, headmaster Stanley Snodgrass, taught Herbology where they planted magic corn and jelly beans. Just before Quidditch, a crop of corndogs popped up right where they had planted the corn and we ate them while mixing up some exciting potions made of Veritasirum, Dragon's Blood, Love potion, Polyjuice Potion, Mrs. Scower's Magical Mess Remover, Felix Felisis, etc. Then we played Quidditch. My team won by catching the Snitch. Then we went back to classes with Emily teaching ancient aboriginal runes. I taught my potions class in which we mixed Yozhik Juice (purple cabbage juice) with asphodel (laundry detergent) which turned bright green. Then we added juice of the erumpent horn (vinegar) and it turned pink. Then we added powdered Billywig Stingers (baking soda) and it turned blue and foamed. It was pretty cool. My mom taught Defense Against the Dark Arts where they learned how to defend from a dementor.

Then we had cake and ice cream and then the tournament began. First they got an egg. Strangely enough, they didn't figure out to crack it open very quickly. But when they did, there was a note written in code which they had to crake just as they had the egg. It lead them to the next challenge which for my team was getting a hippogriff feather. Fortunely, they had been informed that hippogriffs liked to nest under the bridge. There they found feathers and cds hung from underneath the bridge. The CD was a prophecy of where they needed to go next. My group was headed to the Quidditch pitch where they found three riddles on top of boxes. They said,

" The beginning of eternity,

The end of time and space

The beginning of every end

And the end of every place.

I am the beginning of sorrow, and then end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me, yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always in risk, yet never in danger. You may find me in the sun, but I am never out of darkness.

I dwell in bitterness, and accompany bliss. I evince blackness but never the light. I am found in goblets but never in a glass. I make oil boil."

Under the box was a pair of clippers and a note from Bertie Botts. We went to the bean plant where there were pods of fruit leather with jelly beans inside. Then we got a letter that sent us into the forbidden forest where we were going to decode runes. The runes went to different places where they had to make the potions to collect the foam and report back. Of course through out this whole affair, dementors kept appearing and had to be scared away. It was quite scary towards the end as it was dark and we were running through the woods.

We mixed a last few potions, downing them with toasts to Swinewarts, the teachers, and muggles before everyone went home. It was awesome.

Alright, I admit it...I'm a loser...

2009-07-25T22:03:00.002-04:00

So, I just spent the entire day in driver's correction school. And I have one thing to say..."I AM TERRIFIED!!!!" Not because of the stories of collisions with trains in which cars were engulfed in flames. Not because of the drunk driving stories, in which every rib in a persons body was broken. Not because of all the head on collision stories that made me want to hurl my cookies.

None of these terrors even kissed the edge of the terror of meeting people who could be driving in the car next to me...

Now, truth be told, I do live in Virginia so we have an disproportionate number of rednecks represented...but my goodness, these all people are terrifying. I don't think there were more than two people in the entire class who I would trust to drive. I mean their answer to every questionable situation was lay on the horn and flip the other driver off. Does that strike you as good judgement?

Half of these people should have failed the test given at the end of the class except that the teacher told them all the questions and gave them the answers durning the course of the day and then gave them a few minutes to study prior to taking it. And with all of that you still only had to get 80% right and you could get back on the road. Some of these kids, it was the 5th offense and all they were really interested in learning from the teacher was exactly how many drinks they could have and still legally drive without getting a DUI. (For all those of you who are interested I could have 4...possibly only 3 since I am a woman who's family hasn't drunk alcohol in the last 100 years so I might have lower resistance...I found that incredibly useful since I plan to next drink....NEVER).

Now, the teacher really does deserve credit because he did teach useful information and he was actually as interesting as he could be for 8 hours (hour 4 found me slipping out the Russian notecards...but that wasn't his fault). I do feel like I could be a safer driver now that I have taken the class, but those other folk...I'm not so sure about. I really wish someone would come up to me and tell me it was really a personal class just for me and all those other people were just actors because I'm scared to drive in Virginia now...I'm absolutely terrified to drive in Utah.

С другой стороны...I miss everyone. And I really really really miss Ukraine. I'm so glad to be back with my family, but just every once in a while I think about stupid stuff like walking to school past the tank, eating kasha and cheese, or riding the metro and I just kind of want to hold my Cheburoshka doll and pretend it's Styopa. It's hard to have left a place that you loved so much and not have anyone understand. I know I talk about Ukraine way too much. I'm really sorry and I'm working on it. But I sometimes when I talk about it; I don't miss it so much.

Anyways, sorry for the diatribe/confession. I will hopefully have something better to report after I can drive again...2 more days...

I'm still alive but too busy to post anything...

2009-05-19T07:39:00.002-04:00

So, it's not that nothing has happened in the last week...far from it. It's just that I'm much too busy to write it all out. I've actually fallen behind in my journal writing. But all sorts of things have happened. I went on a vacation to the middle of nowhere Ukraine and ate and ate and slept. My mom came. The world celebrated the completion of the my second decade on this Earth with particularly exciting celebrations happening in all former Soviet Republics. I met the patriarch of the Ukrainian orthodox church. I danced with a Ukrainian in traditional costume. It's been amazing. But time is short so that's all I can say. Love you all as evidenced by the fact that I'm actually coming home from Ukraine. Seriously if I didn't love you all so much. I'd totally stay here with Vanya...

2009-04-30T04:37:00.002-04:00

I'm going to really try to keep this short. I went home with Vayna and we had some great discussions. Volodya was waiting for me to say something in Russian all night, but I had nothing to say sadly.

The next day, Vanya was in my room really really early (probably finishing his homework). I turned over in my sleep and scared the living daylights out of him. Megan and I went to Lavra to paint and we walked around the side and saw some cool new parts of it. It was really deserted because it was so early in the day and we were in a deserted area. We walked through this forested area and came up to this church on the corner of Lavra. I kept thinking this is unreal. I'm walking through a forest in Ukraine. After a bit more exploring, we settled down to paint. Then we heard something and we saw this procession coming with crosses, icons, and stuff. One lady stopped and talked to me and Megan. I couldn't understand her at first but after a minute I figured out she was saying that "Stand and follow us." We didn't have any head scarves or skirts otherwise I think we would have gone. Then another guy came by and said "Христос Воскрес!" I totally blanked on the answer so I just nodded and said "Да, да." It was totally awesome. We had a bunch of people ask us for direction or the time so we must have looked pretty Ukrainian. I went to the school and got a bunch of letters. Igor, Tanya, and Larissa were all drooling over my cinnamon rolls. Which I can't blame them for since they did smell, look, and taste amazing.

Friday, was in Natasha's words, "Today you remember always." It started out like anyother day, playing with Stypoa. I went to the school and found out game night was cancelled which was really sad because I'd gotten permission for Vanya and Misha to go with me. I played Accident de Train with Maintenance. It went pretty well. Then I broke the news to Misha and Vanya. They were both bummed and suggested we just stay at the school. So we did. We played games, looked at Misha's music videos, and I burned my whole palm. I call it my map to the well of souls because it really covers my whole left hand. I kept trying to play with them despite my hand though my temper was getting short towards the end because they kept getting mad at me for being slow. when I had to play cards with one hand. We took the bus home and it took along time so I was almost crying when we got home. I was still trying to be though and I managed pretty well until Natasha heard I had burned my hand and asked to look at it. She freaked out at Vanya for not making me come home right away and then she got out some cream and had me put it on. It hurt so bad I started crying. Vanya freaked out. He kept saying "it's okay, it's okay." But I think it was as much for himself as me because you could tell from his face that he was freaked to see me cry. Then he came back a few minutes later with chocolate for me and Sasha got out my bed because I couldn't do it myself. I stayed up and worked on my Kiev movie. I already feel homesick for Kiev when I watch it. I'm going to miss my family so much. I don't think it would be so bad except that I know that when I leave, I probably won't be able to go back to see them.

I woke up the next day and Styopa wanted to play albom but I couldn't really draw with my left hand so I got to pen out and started drawing with my right hand. Natasha came in and saw what I was doing. She said she wanted to make me something. She made potato pancakes that we're delicious. Then I left and went to the train station for the biggest frustration my entire time in Kiev. Then we went to Piragova and had a great time. It was a gorgeous day. When I got home I was fed constantly and Volodya instructed me on how to touch hot objects. Then Vanya tried to convince me to stay with them until Agust and go to Egypt with them. It was really funny because he only knows his months in Ukrainian so he had to keep running in and asking what month it was in Russian and the he'd run in and tell me. Then we watched Soviet cartoons. My favorite was Карлсон и Малише about a man with a propeller on his butt who was fueled by jam. It was rather incredible.

Sunday was stake conference which was awesome because our stake is trilingual. So one prayer was in Russian (and I understood most of it) while the other was in Ukrainian. Half the hymns were in Ukrainian. And all of us we listening to english translation on the headsets. There was actually also a group watching Russian sign language. It was pretty amazing. We also found out that President Ukdorf and Anderson are coming to Kiev on temple business on May 28th so I'll get to see them! Then we went to the Mellers for dinner and I got to talk to Erin and Annie on the phone which was really really fun. When I got home, my family told me we were going out for pizza. Styopa in a restaurant was crazy but it was really really fun. That night Vayna was waiting for me to watch cartoons with him but my family called so he ended up just making pathetic faces at me while I talked to them. I asked if he wanted to talk to Emily and he said, "No!" and ran from the room. He was afraid she would make fun of her.

Monday, Maintenance was my best class. We made a movie called Criminal Graffiti starring Misha. Then I went home and wrote in my journal while Styopa drew.

Tuesday, Natasha tried to persuade me to stay with them until July so I could go to the моря with them. Seeing Styopa at the sea would be awesome. Then I made fruit pizza with the kids. It was pretty cool. I'm totally counting down the days of Maintenance. I finished reading Screwtape Letters and started Til We Have Faces. C S Lewis is the man.

Wednesday, nothing exciting happened until the evening, then I went to Taylor's house for his birthday party. It was really fun to see where he lived and have great Ukrainian food and hang with the Pozniki teachers. We did some crazy things like jumping over a fire and playing round the world ping pong. It was awesome.

You know you need to take a shower when your scalp starts coming off in chunks...

2009-04-21T05:38:00.006-04:00

Be prepared...I think this might be even longer than the last blog post...my life is just so amazingly interesting...to me at least.

Last week, I AIMed Annie which was wonderful and made me super happy. Then I came home to Styopa running out to meet me with his tights slid down around his knees...the little foolagin. Then Vanya seranaded me on the baiyan (fancy accordian).

The next day, we got to the school early. It was the birthday of of one of the morning kids so we got cake, crazy bees, hazelnut candi

es, and korovki (my favorite, they are these little sweetened condensed milk candies). The morning kids were kind of on a sugar high and this one kid named Glieb was giving Audrey a hard time by running around the table. I was in there getting something so she asked me to help. All I did was stand up and say "Glieb!" He stared at me in terror and backed right into Audrey. We had lunch and the head of ILP came to visit. He watched me teach which was interesting since we were dying Easter eggs and it was probably the lesson I've been the most scared about all semester. But it actually went pretty well. The kids were totally entranced by the process because it is very different from pisanki. With maintenance, I played Clue. It went really well until Valera, Liza, and Sasha realized they could cheat and started showing eachother their cards. Then Misha threw a fit and wouldn't play and convinced Vanya not to play either. Fortunately this all happened after the guy who was watching left. But it still was one of my better lessons with them because they were all into it and it did actually take like 55 minutes so there was only a short making stuff up period. After school, Vanya and I fed a tiny little cat and Valera's mother gave us a ride home in their really nice car. It was crazy because I was holding some farmer's cheese and a chicken wrapped in plastic bags in my lap. (the next day I ate that chicken...). It was fun because the three boys were in the back chatting it up in Russian and Misha was telling them he had gotten his yellow belt in karate and I said, "Misha, you didn't tell me that!" He got this terrified look on his face and said, "You un

derstand me? I am sorry." We got home and were having dinner. By the end it was just me and Volodya staring at eachother so I th

ought, I have to speak Russian. So

I said, "Мы с Меган говорили об у кого есть самая хорошая семья в Киеве. Я сказала у меня. Но она сказала, это я! У меня Зина, кто готовит за меня. Я сказала, нет, у меня Стёпа. И она сказала, "Да, да, ладно, у вас есть самая хорошая семья в Киеве." You could hear Vanya and Sasha wip around in their chairs in the other room. Sasha came running in and said, "Annilyn! You spoke Russian! We know you can but you do not say stories in Russian. You say very good Russian." After that, I

went and took a shower. I had to trick Styopa by telling him to go find Sima in the kitchen and then closing the door really really fast. I could hear him scratching at the door but sometimes you have to be heartless, when you haven't had a shower in 5 days it's one of those times.

The next day, Megan and Amanda and I went to Souvenir St. I got some plain wooden eggs to paint and a Ukrainian family doll from the guy that sold me my laquer box. I knew he painted the dolls himself so I asked if he would sell me some plain dolls. He didn't have any but it showed me which kind I could get if I came back and told me the prices. I also got two rings one with a firebird and the other one says, "Господи спаси и сохрани мя" which

means Lord, save and preserve me. We went around St. Michael's cathedral and got kerchifs for visiting churches. Then we went to the school. I stayed late and pulled the membrane off the egg shells so we could make mosaics the next day. Ten I went home and had the chicken and played with Styopa.

Friday morning I went to the Russian art museum. It was fascinating...probably only to

me. Two of my favorite pieces were a painting of a holy fool walking around barefoot in the snow and this picture of this upper class girl in European dress who was running away into the servants quarters and all the servants who are all dressed like Russians are staring at her. It was so cool to see the weird Europeanization of Russian. After that we went to Volodimir's cathedral. It was incredible. It has these frescos that are a mix of high renaissance, iconography, and art nouveau. My favorite was the picture of Christ coming inot Jerusalem and all the people laying down their clothes. I think it was made even more powerful by the Христос Воскрес sign in the apse. I made deviled eggs with everyone. They were all way wierded out by them when they saw it. But then we made it and they said, "Okay we will try it." And then they tried it and they all loved it. After school, Misha and Vanya took me and Megan to see some graffiti. It was crazy because they were telling use that there were narcomen there (men on narcotics). On the way home, I was singing to myself and Vanya started singing the Винни Пух song. And I said, "Yes, I'm Vinni Pookh." He was all surprised that I knew who Binni Pookh was. So then he told his mom and they started quizzing me on all the Soviet cartoons I knew. So then Natasha said, "When Mattvei wakes up, go into the room and get all the cartoons and educate Annilyn in our movies." We watched 4 different cartoons. My favorite was Левёнок и большая Черипаха (Lion cub and the big turtle). The song was stuck in my head all weekend.

I got up early and ate some Deviled Eggs. I cleaned the kitchen and left to go to the meeting. The meeting was absolutely pointless. But we got Reese's Peanut butter cups...the only American

candy I miss at all. Then we went to Souvenir St. We met up with Eugene and talked for a while. It was awesome. I got a picture of him finally. Then I picked up my dolls. I got a ten piece one and a five piece one. They are really cute, I'm excited to paint them. Then I went home and (this is a story I heard later from Natasha) when he heard the phone ring Styopa who was supposed to be taking a nap said, "Nanninnin?" Then Vanya picked up and said, "Annilyn?" And Styopa started singing "Nannininn!" and Natasha was like, "Tikha tikha, you are supposed to be taking a nap!" Then I came in and it got worse. Fortunately I was smart enough to keep quiet and he did eventually fall asleep right next to Mattvei. It was adorable. I played Sinbad legend of the 7 seas with Vanya. I drew on my doll. When Styopa woke up I showed it to him and explained who everyone was. He took the Annilyn doll and gave it a big hug. He was also really happy that I had drawn him eating kasha. He would forget who it was and I would ask "Кто ест кашу?" and he would smile and say, "Ты!" and point at himself. Then we went to the forest for shashlik. It was fun. We cooked hot dogs and chilled around the fire. When we got home Natasha showed me how to make meat, пасха, and кулич. It smelled amazing.

Sunday, I got up early and got ready. It was good I had the nursery less

on otherwise I wouldn't have gone to church because you could see that Natasha and Styopa were really really sad to see me go and they had fun stuff planned. It was really neat to see all the people walking down to the church with their gorgeous baskets with the cakes and eggs and stuff. I was really really sad when I got home because they had gone to the church and gotten their basket blessed and colored eggs without me. But Natasha had saved some of all the food for me. It was delicious. Each thing was better than the one before. I played cards with Vanya and Volodya. It was the Russian version of Bluff. It was really fun since we were playing in Russian. Vanya was really afraid that I wouldn't be able to understand but I beat them the first time. Vanya was amazed. Volodya just told him "Vanya, she's not stupid!" Then we went to shashlik with Megan's family. We had chicke

n that was to die for but dedooshka told me that if he'd made the sauce himself it would have been better. It was awesome. We played Ukrainian baseball that is my new favorite game. I got in trouble for throwing my egg shells away because they were holy egg shells (they were blessed by the preist that morning) and they were going to feed them to their chickens for good luck. Apparently it was alright though because mine was a weak egg so it didn't really matter. We went home and ate Easter food. Vanya and I played battleship. It was a total reenactment of the Cold War. The Russians won. But only by a hair.

So the next day, I woke up to Sima climbing up the side of my couch and Styopa saying "Allo! Allo!! Allllloooooo!" I though, "Maybe I can ignore them and keep sleeping" and then I thought, "Maybe that will lead to me getting peed on." So I got up. Then Vanya came in and wanted to play Uno (Russians and their fascination with Uno I do not understand). Natasha got mad at him because she thought he had woken me up to play cards. He was getting a royal telling off before he could say anything to defend himself. Then Vanya, Sasha, and I had breakfast. It was delicious. I was the only one who ate the eggs because the other two don't like mayonaise...I don't either except here...like the bread, chocolate, sour cream, mayonaise is better here. You have to make sure to get the домажний (home) kind though not the Европейский (European) because that stuff is just like ours and is nasty. Vanya played the Байан again for me. Then we got all packed up and r

eady to go. We piled in the car...me, Vanya, Volodya, Sasha, Styopa, Natasha, Mattviechik, all the stuff for shashlik, a guitar, a baian, Easter food, chicken food, glass bottles, and cake for the present in a little 5 person car (good thing car seats aren't needed here in Ukraine though they wouldn't let Styopa sit up with me they told him the militzia (police) would take him away if they saw). We went to the store and Volodya bought cheese and some ketchup. It was funny because it was just like taking a car trip with the Schills with mommy worrying if we had everything, Daddy saying let's just get on the road, Stuart poking Aimee and Aimee squealing, and Erin shhing everyone because she was trying to work on h

omework. I was starting to worry that maybe it would be a total let down to actually meet the Grand babushka because Megan and I have imparted to her character this magical aura and maybe she would turn out to just be a regular person and it would be sad. But when we got there...oh my image of Baba Yaga was totally rocked because she now has Baba Tanya's image. The woman really was incredible. She was all shrively and tiny and hunched. She had the classic old Ukrainian face with hairy chin and moles. And she was wearing a rainbow kerchif, a purple spotted jacket, a yellow paisily shirt, a green plaid skirt, orange tights, and black shoes that were at least twice her size but probably fit her two hundred years ago (and the outfit only got better when she put on the camo jacket on top later because it was xолодно). And she lived in this little house in the woods with a well (a real well that Vanya and I drew water out of with a bucket and a crank and all) and a squat dunny and a whole room full of icons. She really liked speaking with me but she was hard to understand because she asked really hard questions. Then she started saying things like..."The Soviets said..." and I started to get worried. Then she asked "Ты любишь Америку?" (you like America) I said, "Да." and she made a face and Volodya said, "Она родилса и выросла там." (Well, she was born and raised there.) It was interesting. I couldn't tell what she really thought of me. I did catch that she holds America responsible for all the casinos in Ukraine. She was saying, "In the Soviet time we did not have casinos or crime or porn

or anything bad." (Megan's response was "Or FOOD!") But I don't know if she never really disliked me or if I won her over when she saw me playing with Styopa but she kept trying to feed me (Vanya said if we saw her coming with more food we should climb the nearest tree and hide) and she worried about me being to cold and fussed over my sitting on the ground (according to Ukrainian superstition I can no longer have children because I have sat on the cold ground, the old woman was going to go get me a chair to save me but Volodya told her my great grandmother was an Indian and they are adapted to this so I'd be fine) and when I left she kissed my hand a blessed me (or maybe I misunderstood her and it was a maladiction of the worst kind). Anyways, we had fish shashlik, tea (made on a samovar I think and I think it may have actually been tea I'm afraid), cake, and butterbrod. It was all delicious. We played Ukrainian baseball again. Volodya tounced me and Vanya. Then he said I will teach you two how to play and hit the ball but I caught it on his third turn and so I instantaneously won by getting 1000 points. Volodya shook my hand and said Молодец.

Here, I am going to explain this game to you so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. You have two sticks a really short one an a bat sized one. You dig a small trench and lay the short stick across it. You take the other stick and flip the short one into the air. If they catch it they get 1

00 points and your turn is over. Where ever it lands, the other team has to throw from and try to hit the long stick that you have now laid across the trench. If they hit it your turn is over. If nothing happens to end your turn, you go on to the next level which is hold the short stick in one hand and hit it with the other stick from the other hand. If you catch it now, you get 500 points. If you don't catch it you throw it towards the other stick and the person at bat measures how many stick lengths away it is, for every length they get 10 points. Then the third round, you throw and hit from the same hand and measure how far it goes. If you catch the stick on this round you get 100o points and win instantly because you play to 1000. It is really really fun.

I also played Fox and Rabbit with Styopa where I was the rabbit and he was the fox chasing me. He wouldn't actually catch me though so it made the game hilarious, especially to Natasha and Baba Tanya who were watching me try to slow down so he'd catch me and him slow down so he wouldn't. We were almost running backwards. Then Vanya, Natasha, and I harvested birch bark that I am going to paint on. Natasha said she made a birch bark painting when she was staying with a family in Switzerland like I am staying with them. Then I sat on the porch and listened to Vanya play the bayan (I really really like accordian music since coming here...be prepared when I get home). Then we got back in the car for the ride of my life. We spent more time on the opposite side of the line than we did on the right side because the traffic was so bad going back to Kiev and Volodya had no patience so he would go into the other lane until he saw a car coming, then he would ride the bumper of the car next to us until they scooted over enough for us to straddle the line. Natasha was screaming "MY CHILDREN!" at him the entire time.

And Vanya poked me and said, "Why you like this?" and made a frowny face...he didn't understand "I am in fear for my life." Once we got back in the city it was much better. We drove past Church, Babin Yar, Lukianivska, St. Michaels, St. Sofia's, Lavra, and Big Mama, then across the river and home. It was awesome. At home, Vanya and I rematched in Battleship (American numbers and Russian letters this time)...the Americans won because the Russians lost a ship in the red tape of the Soviet system had sent it into uncharted waters. They said it had returned and I had to bomb it too but I got no clues as to where it was. So then they won. But being honorable folk, they did conceed that I had really won because it was their own stupidity that lost the ship. So we tried a high five but totally missed and ended up doing a handshake because we thought there was no way to miss on that. Then, I took a shower!!!!! Almost a week with out a shower, I have skills.

So Tuesday, I got up and played with Styopa (I always do, I don't know why I still bother writing that). He tore my puppet apart and spilled my paint water everywhere. So I wasn't all that surprised that I had a feeling of impending doom as I walked to school. But nothing bad ended

up happening. I worked on stuff, went to the store for kitchen stuff and actually understood and talked to the cashier. Then I made cinnamon roll dough with the kids. It smelled amazing. Megan and I walked home because it was still sunshiny and beautiful. I got Styopa to clean his room (a miracle) and then we had a riotously good time playing tip me over. He would say, "pаз, два, три"

and then push me and and I'd fall over and he would laugh and laugh and laugh. Then he climbed on me and lay down

on my legs and I'd lie down and he'd be sitting up and then I'd sit up and he'd be lying down. It was awesome. Then I went and ate this fried califlower with smoked cheese. It was amazing. I beat Vanya's egg. Vanya called me in and wanted me to film him on the bayan. He was being really cute. I don't think he finished all his homework though because he kept stopping to tell me about Ninja Turtles.

This morning, Natasha had left the last big piece of пасха for me because I'd said I liked it. So I had that with my breakfast. Styopa's teacher came and Mattvei was sleeping and Natasha fell asleep on the ironing board. I felt so bad for her. I did all the dishes. Styopa's teacher left and

he came and found me. He dragged me into the kitchen to watch him eat. Natasha wrote out the recipes for the Easter food for me in very nice Russian print so I'd actually be able to read it. And I actually did understand it which was excellent. Then Megan and I took Styopa outside to play at the park. He was excited out of his head when Natasha told him. We fed pigeons and played in the песочик (sand). He loved it. He was really sad though when we said we had to go to school.

Odesa!

2009-04-14T04:39:00.003-04:00

Hello from Kiev!!!!! Here are the events of the last incredible week...there really hasn't been a normal week here yet. Wednesday, I was supposed to go to Lavra to paint with Megan and Cassidy but Megan, and almost all the other teachers got food poisoning from the chicken at lunch so she wasn't able to go. We went though and it was really fun, thought Lavra wasn't designed for painting because there were no benches with good views. But it was still fun. Then I made gingerbread with my classes. I baked it with Maintenance and realized I was in trouble. I did some quick math and realized the dough I had made was going to make somewhere near 250 cookies. That's a whole lot of gingerbread, especially for Russians who don't really like ginger. I went home and played мяч with Styopa until the мяч rolled under the piano.

Thursday, I woke up to Styopa running in yelling "Наннин!!! кушайте!". Apparently, he was supposed to eat but when his mom called him he decided it was time for me to eat too. Megan and I went back to Souvenir Street. The prices have already shot up. I was getting really depressed because I didn't think I'd be able to get myself a doll because it's already like 150gr ($20) for a really badly painted mass produced one. But as we were on our way back I saw some that looked really good so I decided to stop and ask how much they were expecting to hear like $300. But they were actually reasonably priced just like they had been earlier in the season. I soon realized I was back in one of Eugene's shops even though it was actually Anatolli that helped me this time. He really does have the best deals and the most artistic stuff. I had a hard time choosing because they had real fairy tales on dolls where as the other people just have like pretty standard pictures that could go in any fairy tale. They had the Frog Tsarevna, the Firebird, Tsar Sultan, all the classics. I got a doll with Yemelia and the Pike on it because it's Styopa's favorite and Natasha tells it to him all the time when he is eating. And the picture of Yemelia looks a bit like Styopa because he's walking funny. It's beautiful and I love it. Right as we were about to leave we saw Eugene so I asked him about plain dolls I could paint. He said he could sell me one so I got it. I am kind of thinking I might order more from him because I'd really like to do a couple. I was thinking because they come in 5 pieces maybe I'll do one of me, Sasha, Vanya, Styopa, and Mattvei though Megan says I should wait and see if we can find a 7 piece one and do her and Misha too. I'd also like to do a traditional one. And one of the story of my adventures in Ukraine though for that I might need a 100 piece doll. Then we went to the school and cleaned. We got an amazing picture of me when I found these magnifying glasses and then found the head to a giraffe puppet one of the kids had hacked off. We made a gazzilion gingerbread cookies. We gave some to everyone. I was really happy because we gave some to my friend the cleaning lady. I don't know if she liked them but she was tickled that we gave them to her. That night, my family was going crazy. Volodya came in holding Mattvei like a butchered chicken by his feet. Then he would flip Mattvei over and say, "Daddy is your best friend, isn't he? Isn't he? Yes, Daddy is your best friend." Mattvei would just look at him with this pained expression on his face and Volodya would laugh. It was pretty funny. Then Sasha started telling jokes and translating them into English. So then I told a joke and she translated it into Russian. Everyone laughed. Then Styopa was done eating so Volodya got him out of his highchair and was swinging him by his ears. Natasha who was already mad that he'd been swinging Mattvei around started telling him off and said, "How would you like it if I did that to you?" Volodya said, "I think it'd be fun." So Natasha stood up on a stool and tried to lift Volodya off the ground by his ears. Gosh I wish I'd had a camera.

The next day, Megan and I went to Baban Yar, where the Natzis killed people, mostly Jews, but of course some other people, communists, gypsys, even the Kiev football team because they refused to lose to the Germans. There was a giant Soviet monument that was really ugly in classic Soviet realist style. But I have learned since coming here that often that style is really appropriate. This was one of those times. In the museum of the Great Patriotic War, they had some clips of Baban Yar and it was inhuman what was done there. Megan and I wandered through the park until we found the actual ravine where they buried the bodies and it is really sad. It is all full of trash either because the Ukrainians don't care or because they purposefully want to forget. We both immediately thought that it's too bad that we couldn't make that an eagle project to clean it up. It was a very somber experience, but really neat. After that we went to school, made more gingerbread. I made postcards for my family with Maintenance. The kids were actually all really into it. They also were really amused that I lived on Sugar Hollow and all asked why it was called that. I told them, "Okay, you have to pay attention because this is a funny story. Not now, but a long time ago, people used to bring in lots of sugar to the place where we lived because they were making moonshine." Of course that confused them so when they asked "What moonshine?" I said, "Vodka." They all laughed and laughed and said, "You make vodka?" I said, "No, they used too. Now we make apple juice." They just kept giggling and saying, "Vodka...hahahaha." Megan and I tried to go to this play put on my the Ukrainian ward that meeting in our church building but we got lost and got there way too late so we just hung out in the institute until we got kicked out. So then we headed to the train station and waited in McDonalds and used the bathroom. Finally, we met up with Amanda and Audrey. We were talking to them about all the food we'd brought and I said, "We brought bread and cheese and nutella and peanut butter and cookies and chocolate and monkeys...wait did I just say monkeys?" They said yes and I couldn't remember what I had meant. We laughed really hard. Finally I remembered that it was supposed to be gingerbread cookies, I don't know why monkeys came out. At 10:30 we got on our train to discover we were in the same car as a Ukrainian school excursion and they were all planning to get really drunk. When they pulled out the vodka we knew we weren't going to get any sleep.

But never the less I think the train is the best way to travel because I did sleep a little and I woke up in Odessa. Audrey also woke up to a suprise, she was sleeping next to a drunk Ukrainian apparently they had been talking and the conductor had yelled at them so they had lay down and kept talking and had fallen asleep. We gave her no peace about that the whole weekend. We went to our hotel and dropped off our stuff. Then we went to Top Sandwich for lunch. I got a Shvarma with cheese that was delicious. Then we went down to the pier and saw the giant golden baby and this cute little church. Then we walked back up to got to the Archeological Museum. We saw lots of cool Greek and Scythian stuff. There was a whole room of gold coins and jewelry that was way cool. I was totally geeking out over it but I think the other girls were kind of bored. They were amused when I make this squeaking noise when I saw this one Greek face with pointy ears. After that we went to a park and fed pigeons gingerbread crumbs. Then we were exhausted so we went to the church to watch Conference. I think I made it through two talks and then I was out. I woke up at the intermediate hymn and decided I was not going to fall asleep again, but before the first talk was over I was out and very embaressingly snoring I am told. After that we met up with the boys for dinner at Fat Moses. Then we went back to hotel to discover our rooms were totally ghetto. The shower was not enclosed by anything it flooded the whole bathroom and the water smelled like rotten eggs but since I had not had a shower in almost a week (remember we have had no hot water) I took one anyways. I'm really hoping not to get some dreadful fungus! We watched Lord of the Rings 3 in Russian because it was on. Then the boys got back from going out clubbing with some girls they had met on the train. They had been really into the girls until they lit up their cigarettes and then they totally lost interest so they totally ditched the girls and came back to the hotel to tell us the tale. I lay down next to Audrey and whispered Russian in her ear so she wouldn't miss Dennis too much. It was a really fun day.

The next day though was even better. I woke up all chipper and ready to go but everyone one else was still asleep. I had a great time annoying them with my sunny attitude as they stumbled into the bathroom when they finally got up. I also got to feed more gingerbread crumbs to the pigeons on our balcony. We had a lot of gingerbread! When everyone was finally ready, we all headed down to the beach. We found this cool little cave thing that was labeled вход in graffitti so we went exploring and discovered it was an entrance to the catacombs that go all under Odessa. We explored a little ways all holding on to eachother in a chain because only Cees had a flashlight. It was way creepy but awesome. Then we went back and walked down to the beach. I rolled up my pants and took off my shoes and went for a wade in the Black Sea so that I could say I did it. Everyone else is going to wait for Crimea when it isn't quite so cold. It was quite an experience wading in my coat. We walked all the way down to Arcadia, the big beach. Because it's still so cold, there wasn't really anything going on but you could tell that in the summer it will be hoping. We caught the tram back to the train station where we were going to catch a marshuka to the catacombs. We were all walking single file through the market and when we got to the bus it turned out Cees and Hazhir were gone. When they finally caught up with us they said they had almost been arrested because Cees only had a copy of his passport. Fortunately the cops were actually really nice and let him go after searching him. Cees is finding that his pledge not to cut his hair in Ukraine is getting him into all sorts of trouble because he totally looks like a homeless weed smoker. So we finally got on the bus and I started to freak because I was the one leading this exhibition and I was starting to think maybe my guidebook was wrong and we were on the wrong bus or maybe I'd miss the stop. I was way stressed out and kept looking out the window so much that my face got sunburned on one side. But everything went perfectly. I saw the big statue and we all got off. We saw our friends from the train as they were leaving. Audrey got called, "My love" and Cees and Taylor got glares from the Ukrainian chicks they had ditched. We went into the museum and were trying to figure out where we were supposed to pay and get the guide and whatever when we saw a door going down. No one was anywhere around so we just headed down. It lead down a bunch of steps into the catacombs. This part (several miles north of the original place we went in) was the headquarters of the resistance movement in Odesa when it was under Romanian control in WWII. Because the partizans could so effectively use these catacombs, the Germans had to send a lot of extra troops to the area to maintain some kind of control. There were lights in this part and old Soviet stuff and models of how the people had lived down there. We didn't know if we were supposed to be there or what we were supposed to do so we just explored around and had a great time. We never saw another living soul. We left and went to the bathroom at this cafe. I was just about to go in when my family called so I stayed outside with everyone's stuff and apparently missed out on some local flavor when the guys inside offered to buy everyone in our group a drink. We got back on the marshuka and rode back to Odesa. Amanda and I wandered the market which was huge!!! I got some fresh squeezed pomagranite juice from this guy that looked like Tevya. It was way way good. We went to the train station where I paid to use a squat toilet (extra for toilet paper) with sketchy stuff on the floor. It was quite an experience. We were really tired so we went over to the park to sit down and enjoy some cookies and crackers. Then we got back on the train. This time it was a really chill train full of old people so we were the ones getting yelled at to go to bed.

The next morning, we woke up really early back in Kiev! Sleeper trains are totally the best mode of transportation ever. I wish I could do a sleeper train trip with the Schill family because it would totally replace car trips as the way to travel. Because while it is really fun it has plenty of misery built in...like the toilets that are forever out of paper and the water that you can't drink. Anyways, I went home and met Vanya in the elevator on his way to school. Then I met Volodya in the entry. He asked how my trip was and said he was on his way to Kharkiv. Then I put my stuff down. Styopa caught a glimpse of me from his highchair and yelled "Nannininn! Idi sooda! Nanninin! Nanninin!" He started yelling all sorts of stuff. He wanted me to sit down but his dad was getting something from under the bench so he started yelling at his dad and then at me and then at his dad and then at me. Volodya and Natasha were laughing so hard. Natasha told me the day before Styopa had spent half the day going to my bedroom and knocking at the door saying my name and no matter how many times they told him I wasn't there he'd head back and do it again. I'm going to be really sad to leave him. We talked about Odesa and then I played with Styopa. I was totally exhausted so I told him I was going to bed. He said, "No, here on Sasha's bed." So I lay down with Styopa on Sasha's bed and he lay there for about a minute before he poked me and told me to sing. He thought we were playing sleeping bunnies. So we did for a few minutes then I told him I really had to go and went and got in bed and pulled the covers over my head and ignored him until he went away or I was dead to the world I'm not really sure which happened. I got up a while later and went to the school. I had to stop to buy sixty eggs for class. The lady gave me a really weird look and asked me if it was for Easter. The coordinator at the school explained how they do eggs. They boil them with onion skins to make them red to represent Christ's blood. When I got home, I was ordered about by Styopa until I got a classic Ukrainian dinner of kasha, fried fish, cabbage, and beetroot horseradish sauce (it's way good and is coming back to the US with me).

This morning, I helped Styopa eat his food when Mattvei pooped. Styopa does not like eating his food so Natasha has also sorts of tricks to get him to do it. So as soon as she left he got up to go play. I said, "Нет! Кушай!" (Styopa, eat!) He said no and went to get up so I got down close to him and said, "Если ты не кушаешь кашу, Баба Яга будет кушать тебя." (if you don't eat your kasha, Baba Yaga will eat you.) He looked at me in terror but started to eat. When he would want to play again I would say, "Хочешь Баба Яга тебя кушать?" (Do you want Baba Yaga to eat you?) When he got bored and finally answered "Да", I said nibbled his hand and said, "Я кушала тою руку, если ты не кушашь я буду кушать тою ногу" (I ate your hand, if you don't eat I will eat your leg too.) He finished his kasha and Natasha was very impressed.

First week back and thoughts...

2009-04-07T05:30:00.004-04:00

So, my first week back was actually terribly miserable. I got the flu with all the trappings and then gave it to my host mom for which if I could have felt more miserable I would have because she didn't need anything else to add to her stress. But teaching actually went well, mostly because everytime anyone ticked me off I just gave them a big wet willy kiss and then they haven't been back since...hahaha (not really). We did have an awesome April Fool's Day. We arranged the room mirror image backwards with the chairs on the opposite side and then calendar going backwards. The kids got really confused. The best was when I asked what yesterday was an pointed to the sign on the left and it said Thursday. Sasha gave me this look that just said oodles. And then we all did the actions to the songs backwards. Head sholders knees and toes was a riot. Then I told my maintenance class that all games had been outlawed and we were just going to read. They freaked. Then I made them read my dad's finance text book that he'd sent me. They really freaked. They kept asking, "You say you this rule?" And I would just just sign and say, "Tanya. You know she's really mean." They were so mad when I told them it was a joke. Then I taught them magic tricks so they forgave me.

Thursday, I went to Russian class and learned to pray in Russian which was way exciting. On the way home there was this lady that was laughing at us on the metro she thought it was so funny that we spoke English. After we got off the metro she disappeared until I got to my building then all of a sudden she was back. Turned out she lives in our building. She invited me out for a coffee or a beer. I politely declined and spent a sober night drinking pretend cok with Styopa.

Friday, I went to Petrivka and looked at books. I bought a poster map of Ukraine with historically important people on it from this really cute old man who helped me get change for a 200 grivna note. And I got Crime and Punishment in Russian. It's amazing...the names make sense when they are written in Cyrillic. That night we went to game night at the Branch Presidents. I played Cranium and had to act out gravity and tofu and decided I should stick to the Creative Cats. Then on the way home I tripped over a cinder block. It went rolling and this guy in a cab by us yelled, "You break Ukraine!!!" (in English) It was hilarious though I now have a giant scratch on my leg that sends Styopa running for the air pump every time he sees it. (He uses the air pump to pretend to be a doctor).

Apparently, though that was a bit too much for me. I was up all night with a fever so the next morning I was exhausted. I also hadn't eaten anything in a few days so I could barely stand. But it didn't stop me from going to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War (WWII). It was fascinating. WWII was really really awful for Ukraine. Not only were they part of the USSR which suffered the most losses of any country (20 million people out of the 60 million lost in the war), but Ukraine was actually occupied which meant they also experienced the holocaust with the added terror that Hitler hated Slavic people and communists. The museum was really well set up and powerful even though we couldn't understand most of it. I could read a couple of the journals and it was just really sad. It was really interesting to see the war from another angle. Because I don't think we really remember that the Soviets were really on our side during WWII because the cold war started before WWII was even over and because they were fighting on the Eastern front while we were more on the Western Front with France and England. I'm really excited for May 9th now (and not just because I will finally get fireworks on my birthday like Erin) but because apparently there are big WWII commemoration celebrations.

Then we went to the school to learn how to make borshch and vareniki. They were really fun and delicious. I can't wait to make you all Ukrainian food. Though I'm going to really miss the cheese and the smetana and with out them it won't quite be the same.

That night, Megan and I went to her house for the день рождения дедушки (our Grandpa's birthday). He had a fun time teasing me and telling me that the rest of the food was for me. I got a great opportunity to whine in Russian which really cracked him and the Grandma up. They tried to make us drink martinis which was exciting. The food was beautiful and all really interesting. The mushrooms were probably my favorite and Yoova told me with pride that they had gathered them themselves in the forest...good think none of them were poisonous. Then I got to help Styopa down 9 flights of stairs which was fun. Then we went home and Vanya and I finished watching Robots.

Monday, I learned that what my Russian book said about loosing hot water in the summer is true and apparently it's our turn. For the next two weeks, we get to use the electric kettle for any warm water. Vanya and I had a fun time trying to get water the right temp to wash our faces. The cold water is really really cold.

Tuesday, I played with Styopa all morning and I got to eat Styopa kasha. Dang that kid eats well! I could totally live on that stuff. It's like grains in kefir with sugar, kind of like rice pudding. then I went to school in a jacket and capris!!!!!! Это весна!!!!!!! I'm so excited.

So this morning I was working on my scholarship essays and it really struck me how much has happened to me in the last year that I would never have expected. I can remember on my birthday last year going to breakfast with Daddy and picking out my computer and talking about how great BYU is and stuff that would happen. I didn't know any of the people that I was going to me at Zion Ponderosa, I didn't know any Russian, I didn't know how freaking amazing my roommates were really going to be, and I didn't know I was headed to Ukraine. I was really sad not to be 18 any more because I thought 18 had been the perfect age for me. But 19 has been the most AMAZING year or my life. I have met so many amazing people, done so many fun things, learned to read another alphabet, and learned another language well enough to talk to babooshki on the metro. It's so crazy! Those are my thoughts...that and that I LOVE UKRAINE!!!!!!! And Styopa... and Vanya... and all the the Zhdanovs... and my fellow teachers... and Aimee... and Emily... and Erin... and of course Stuart... if Mommy and Daddy don't know I love them they are crazy... and all my other friends back at home... I LOVE LIFE!

Eastern and Central Europe in a week continued

2009-04-03T06:56:00.003-04:00

So we went to Hungary and drove all the way to Budapest. We went on this tour with this guide who was one of the most monotone people ever. But then we had free time. We got off the bus and walked to the Hero's Square where there was a big World Peace Day demonstration going on. Then we went to a hookah cafe for Turkish food it was really good and very in keeping with the hippy bohemian day we were having. Then went to try to go back to our hotel but the bus we had been told we could take didn't exist so we ended up asking a million Hungarians and then taking a couple taxis. Our driver was really cute and let us stick 5 people in the car.

The next day I had goulash for breakfast. We got on the bus and went to Austria. Vienna is a really beautiful clean city. Our tour guide was really funny. He explained why Austria developed so differently from Germany. Because it was a catholic state so it developed with a much more philosophic approach to life. He showed us where Hitler spoke and explained why he doesn't likes Sound of Music. Then we went to a cafe and had apfelstrudel. Then we got back on the bus and got lost for several hours so it was really late when we got to Prauge.

We got on the bus and went to Prague. We met up with our tour guide who was really nice and showed us all around the city and we got to see the famous clock go off at noon. And then he took us to a brewery for a Czech lunch. It seemed appropriate since Prague is famous for being the beer drinking capital of the world. The average person drinks a liter and a half a day. Then we went to the Mucha and Dali museum and saw amazing art. Then it started to snow/slush so we went into a chocolate shop for some shelter and tried some samples. Yum. Then we went to an internet cafe and I emailed home. Then we met up with the group to go on a boat tour down the Valtava river. It was really fun and beautiful because it was right at sunset. Then we went to the hotel and tried to play some games together but we were all so tired it didn't really work.

Then we went to Dresden. It is a weird ghost town like city. But I got to see some cool buildings and eat a real German brawtwurst.

We went back to Prauge, toured the other side of the river where the palace is. It was beautiful. The weather was so nice we all got sunburned. We walked across the bridge. Then we got back on the bus where we started to go crazy after 5 hours of Russian soap opera. We got to the Polish boarder and I couldn't find my passport. I thought it must be under the bus in my backpack but when I got to the hotel, it wasn't there. People started telling me I was going to be deported, that I would have to stay in Krakow alone, that I would have to go to Warsaw for two weeks...basically Ukrainians are really mean about passports. I really wanted to cry.

The next morning we went to figure out what to do. We went to a police station and the police man was really nice. He told us where the consulate was. We went and I was able to get an emergency passport in 40 minutes. We made it back just in time to meet up with the group and buy a Polish bagel thing and get on the bus. I now hate Poland. When we got to the border, we had problems filling out the forms wrong and so it took along time to cross. We were running really late when we headed out. So the Ukrainians told us to sing hymns and the bus driver took off. We were flying down badly paved roads in rural Western Ukraine praying for our lives. It was ridiculous. But we made it to the train 3 minutes before it took off. I was totally out on the train until the next morning.

The next morning, we got off the train and I COULD READ SIGNS AGAIN!! And I COULD UNDERSTAND PEOPLE TRYING TO SELL ME THINGS! I was so happy I wanted to run and jump and skip! I love Kiev! We rode the metro home. I tried to call them to tell them I was coming but no one answered so I was afraid how I would be recieved by a sleepy household. But when I got to the door and buzzed up you could hear the heartbreaker smile in Vanya's voice when he said, "Annilyn?" When they opened the door. Styopa mauled me. For the rest of the day he would not leave me alone. He even stood outside the door when I went to the bathroom. That night, Vanya, Misha, Volodya, Megan, Styopa, and I headed в лесу (to the forest) for shashlik (Ukrainian barbeque). We played Volleyball, ate bootterbrod (open faced sandwiches), chopped wood, and then had the actual shashlik. After that we had tea and chocolates and the boys sang to us and played the guitar. It was really really fun. Unfortutuantely we ran out of gas so we had to walk home. I carried Styopa. It was a beautiful night.

Eastern and Central Europe in a week

2009-03-30T04:49:00.004-04:00

So I just got back from our crazy week long tour of Europe...here is the story though I'm going to have to do it in parts because it's a really long story.

It all began on Friday when I decided that Я люблю семью Жданов! Меgan brought over her gift for the baby, a hat for the baby and a hat for Styopa she had crocheted. We played with Styopa, he was being his adorable self. Then we went to the пошта where the lady was actually helpful. Then we went to school. I made towers, DI style with spaghetti and cups and toothpicks with the kids. I played Who am I with Maintenance and they thought it was pretty funny. I got to trot out all of my Russian pop culture knowledge as I made up the names. Misha was Вини Пух, Vanya was Чебурашка, Liza was Ранетки, and Valera was Taylor (their other teacher). When we went home, Vanya annouced with glee that it was каникули! (Vacation). So he and Sasha were all excited we discussed baby names, looked at a magazine, translated a book of sayingings and had Styopa wet his pants and sit on me like 4 times. It came time for dinner and we didn't have anything to eat because Volodya is in charge of buying food so Natasha won't have to and the man only eats apples and peanuts so he's not the best at shopping. So we found a bag of a couple frozen plemeni and all got an apple. We were still starving when we finished so I got out my crackers from school and we had a snack as we watched Jane Eyre in Russian. I fell asleep in the middle because it was such hard work to listen to the Russian. It really was a great night. I was kind of really sad that I would be leaving the next day.

So the next day I got up and packed and played with Styopa. We made up two new games Кастор (fire, but it sounds much more menacing in Russian). First we had to use a two man saw of hands to saw the wood and then we had to chop it and then built the fire and lit it, blew it, and then we cooked the shashlik. The other game was What animal am I? Styopa or I would name an animal and I would pretend to be a лошадь, лягушка, слонь or белка. I was impressed at my own knowledge of animals in Russian...all thanks to Styopa I think. So then we had breakfast, oladi made of everything but flour because we didn't have any...I'm not sure Volodya doing the shopping is making anything easier. So then I played with Styopa and then I had to go. I got up to go and Natasha called everyone together. Vanya said, "Sit down!" So I sat kind of awkwardly in the entry way. I tried to ask, "What are we...?" but only got the response, "DON'T TALK." (It's a Ukrainian tradition to have a moment of silence before a journey.) After that I left and went to the Фора for supplies and then I went and met Megan. It didn't feel real. We lugged our чемоданы в вокзал на метро. It was not fun. And we got there really early but we met up with Amanda and Audrey so we all went to McDonald's for some last warm food and a bathroom. Then they gave us out our ticket in groups. Megan and I were supposed to be together. But when we got on the train, not only were none of the groups actually together but one girl was by herself in a room of random Ukrainians. She was freaked and wanted to be with her friends in my cabin so I agreed to switch...and those who are kind and charitable like me are blessed, that train ride was one of my favorite things on the trip. The lady on the bed across from me helped me put my coat and stuff away and then asked where I was going. I said Hungary she got confused but we finally figured it out. Then she asked, "Ты студентка?" (are you a student?)

I answered, "Да, но сейчас я преподаватель англиского языка." (yes, but right now I'm an English teacher).

She said, "Oh, you speak very well in Russian!" It really doesn't take a lot to impress these people. She started talking to me like I really knew Russian. It turned out she was really Ukrainian and said I should be studying Ukrainian because it's prettier. I tried to explain it was hard to find a teacher. She said, "I will teach you." So randomly through the trip, she would tell me Ukrainian words and make me repeat. I took a short break from Valentina and went and played Up the River Down the River with Taylor, Megan, Amanda, Cassidy and Megan. I won by a hair. Then I talked to some people. Then I went back to my room. Valentina and I talked about everything, Ukraine, my family, her family, the Carpathian mountains, children, icons, religion, the Book of Mormon, how I needed to get a boyfriend that was older than me and taller, how I didn't look American, really everything. Half of it was going over my head too. Then she got out dinner and told me to eat. I got to try chicken on bread, pickles, eggs, and kielbasa all from her dacha. It was awesome but I couldn't eat fast enough to please her. It was really awesome. Then she sent me to get tea and I didn't know where to go. I asked the coordinator and she got all confused about how I knew I supposed to get tea and what I was doing talking to a Ukrainian lady. She didn't know I could speak Russian. Then I went to the bathroom which was creepy and nasty. Then Valentina was asleep so I hung out with the obnoxious Americans. Finally I went back to my room and all the Ukrainians were asleep. I went to sleep too.

In the middle of the night, the train stopped suddenly and a water bottle fell on my face and I got a royal bump. Everyone woke up. Valentina made me watch the Carpathian mountains out the window. I went to the bathroom and came back and saw Megan and was headed to talk to her and I heard from my room, "Елена! Идий суда!" (Elyena (my Russian name) Come here!) I swear Russians love to boss me around. She showed me some classic Slavic houses. Then she started singing in Ukrainian. It was unreal. Just as I was falling asleep the lady in the top bunk started sleep talking in Ukrainian, weird. Oh, yeah I forgot to mention that they were all sleeping in their underwear...it was quite an experience.

The next morning, we woke up. Valentina gave me some pumpkin seeds which I could not manage gracefully so I would just eat them whole when she wasn't looking. But I had to crack some of them because everyonce in a while she'd hold out the trash bag to me for the shells. Finally we got to Чоп and got on the bus. We drove the boarder of Ukraine and Hungary where we waited forever and Taylor (our token male on the trip) found out his Ukrainian roommates were smugglers as we saw the boarder control tear the seats out of their car and 100 packs of cigarettes fell out. To be continued.

2009-03-20T06:31:00.002-04:00

Okay, I'm going to attempt to keep this short. Basically, the big news is my host mom had a baby!!!!!! It was really weird when it happened because Natasha finished cooking dinner, called us all in and then we started eating and she said, "It's so sad that we're all here and I have to leave but that's life. Poka!" I turned to Sasha and said, "Where is going? To the store?" She said, "No, to the hospital." "TO THE HOSPITAL?????? As in the woman is having a baby???" "Yeah." I was aghast that she was in labor and finished cooking dinner and then took a marshuka to the hospital. Vova put everyone to bed and then left in the car, I assume to meet her. The next morning Vanya announced "We have a brother!" That evening Natasha was home and I got to see the baby. He's adorable. We don't have a name for him yet. Vova wants Valera. Natasha want Timosha. Styopa calls it Anton. Sasha calls it Slava. Vanya wants Yura. My vote is Yaroslav Vladimirovich Zhdanov though Vanya said we should name it Annilyn but I said that's not a boy's name.

I made a quilt on a duck tape and boards frame. All of the frame came from dumpster diving. One piece I think might have been a hoe used by some peasant at the time of Prince Vladimir. It turned out really well. The baby now sleeps under it.

Styopa has been way way cute. I'm going to be sad to leave him when we go on vacation next week. He and I have found a new game, Баба Яга! (baba yaga) one of us is Baba Yaga and scares the other one. His real Baba came over and he said "Baba, Baba!" and started making scared faces. She was all confused until I said, "Baba Yaga?" and he said, "Da". Zina said, "Я не Баба Яга, я твоя хорошая Баба!"

Я ЛЮБЛЮ КИЕВ И РУССКИЙ ЯЗЫК И БАБУШОК И ВСЁ ЗДЕСЬ!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-16T05:36:00.004-04:00

Оk so the title says, "I LOVE KIEV AND RUSSIAN AND BABOOSHKAS AND EVERYTHING HERE!!!!" If you can't guess I'm really happy with life right now. Kiev pretty much is my favorite place ever and I can't remember why a month and a half ago I ever didn't like it. Oh yeah, I've been here two months which I have decided is not a reason to celebrate since it means I am a month closer to going home, not that I don't want to come home I just don't want to be done with Kiev.

So, monday I told the maintenance kids futures with the cards like the kings game. It was great. I wore my headscarf like a gypsy and we found out that Liza loves Misha. Valera is going to kill his brother and marry his sister in law. And I'm meant to marry Valera so maybe I'm the sister in law. It gave us lots to talk about and was awesome.

Tuesday, was a really happy day. I got to chat with Deidre and Sarah which was great. I played with Styopa and Vanya got ticked with me because I was singing while he was trying to do homework. His ticked voice is really cute. Then we had варенки с капустой. Maybe my favorite thing here. Then I played with Stypoa and was making different birdcalls. He did not want to go to bed but Natasha said he had to. He said, "Я спи сууууда!" (Styopian for I will sleep here) and he lay down on Sima (the cat) and waved his hand for me to continue entertaining him. Natasha and I could not contain our giggles. Finally he got off to bed and I helped Vanya with his math which was hard because Russians do everything differently so I had to translate the problems into American and then figure out what to do.

Wednesday, I woke up and the sky looked like the Ukrainian flag outside my window and it was actually warm. I went with Megan and Amanda to souvenir street. I got a Ukrainian shirt!!! I can now actually look like I'm out of a Russian fairy tale. It's way way way cool with the national pattern of Ukraine embroidered up and down the sleeves. I had a bunch of people compliment me on my taste in lacquer boxes again though I think it really annoyed them because I really liked looking but I clearly didn't have the money to buy the ones I was looking at. And I was actually thinking I might buy one so I was only pointing at the small ones. But I have a knack for picking out Soviet master miniature painters whose work cost hundreds of dollars at any size. I think I'm going to talk to Eugene about getting some blank dolls and stuff and painting my own. We wandered into St Andrew's Catherdral where they were ordaining a new priest. It was way cool to watch. After that we went down artist's alley and Megan and I were art nerds together critiquing the compositions and lauding the techniques. Then we went up through the park down to Khreshadik where we caught the metro back to the school. At the school, Megan and I freaked Audrey when we had a half Russian conversation about our plans for the next day. "Ты хочешь идти в пошта?" "Что?" "Пошта." "When?" "Зафтра." "Да, да!" "Хорошо." (Do you want to go to the post office? What? Post office. When? Tomorrow. Yes! Okay good.) Audrey just stared at us like you all are insane. That night we had shashlik that Vova had made! YUM!!!! Vanya was quizzing me on words in Russian. I knew a lot of them which frusterated him because he wanted to know more than me. So then he started asking random words he knew but I didn't like moon. I turned around and asked him 'fridge'. He said, "I do not know. But you don't know in Russian" I said, "Actually I do. Холодилник!" He was way impressed and every 5 minutes for the rest of the meal he would ask, "What is word?" And point at the fridge. And I would say, "Fridge, Vanya" And he would repeat it to himself a few times before going back to eating. He's such a funny kid. Natasha and Sasha also had a funny converstation about Lenin that night. Sasha kept trying to hold her hand out like Lenin and Natasha would say, "Нет! Это Гитлер!" (No! That's Hitler!!!) The idea of making Lenin look like Gitler (that's how they say it here) was really offensive to Natasha. She and Sasha got into a discussion of whether or not Lenin was a good guy. Sasha's vote was that he was bad, Natasha was all for him though against Stalin. It was fascinating to listen to them. I love eves dropping here.

Thursday, I almost wrote that nothing happened, but no, something happens every day here. Thursday, we were singing Old McDonald and Kyrill was choosing the animals. He's just barely started with us so he doesn't know that much English so the other kids were whispering suggestions. Igor whispered "Zombie, zombie." Megan said, "Zombie is not an animal. It has to be an animal." So Igor started saying, "Zombie cat. Zombie cat." So Kyrill turned to me and said "Zoombie Kat". I said, "Okay." The other teachers and kids and stuff made "oooooh ooooh" sounds but I threw my arms up like a zombie and proceeded to make the sound of an undead cat. It was like a howl scream totally cat thing. All of the teachers started laughing so hard we could barely make it through the rest of the songs. The story is now famous because all of the teachers have been telling everyone how I did the most amazing zombie cat noise ever. They keep asking me to recreate it but I don't think I could if I tried. Zombie animals have now been banned from Little America School.

Friday, I went to Петривка a metro station with a book market. Megan's host mom had told us about it. We wandered up and down the rows of stalls of books and dictionaries, and DVDs. I got some stickers for my kids. We wandered for a loooooong time. and finally came to the end of the stalls. We turned to go back to the metro and saw there were more ROWS of books. We went into the used book area and found all sort of amazing things. We found books in every language. I got a book of Сказки that has Little humpbacked pony, firebird, Tsar Sultana, and a bunch of others in Russian. It's awesome. And I found a book of Skazki from the Urals that has malichite casket and such in English. I got both books for less than $2 from this little old man granted they are both old Soviet age books but they are awesome. Then we went to go get Megan a purse. She wanted the one in the window so I had to ask the lady if we could see it. Then the zipper was broken. Megan showed the lady who turned to me and said, "She wants this purse? I have it in other colors." When I said she really wanted the blue one, the lady said, "Ладно, часто." She tried to fix it but it didn't work so I she came back and started talking to me about going to see this master and waiting. And I said, "Maybe tomorrow?" She said no we should just wait a few minutes. She herded everyone out of her shop and motioned for us to follow her out. She took us over to this belt fixer guys shop and we waited while he replaced the zipper completely. It was very exciting. That night, Taylor played volleyball with Maintenance, so when I came to teach them, the whole room stunk of Ukrainian boy (most of it was coming from Vanya). I could hardly breathe. That night, I went home and got in the elevator with this guy that looked like a Russian mafia boss. Right as I got in he turned to me and said "What floor?" I thought, if I answer he'll totally know I'm American and kill me! If I don't answer he'll be frusterated and kill me! I decided to go with the answering option so I said, "Шестой." He pushed the six button and the doors closed. That was when I remembered our light in the elevator is broken. I had to stand in the dark with this terrifying big man and count the flashes of light as we past the different floors praying the whole time that I would make it out alive. When the doors opened. I leapt from the elevator. I think the mafia boss dude probably just thought I was weird but I was terrified.

Saturday, I got up early, I could hear Styopa calling me through the door but I had wedged it shut with a shirt. I got up to let him in and found I couldn't open the door. I called back, "Styopa I'm coming." as I tried to fight the door open. It was really stuck. Vova came and got Styopa and I was still fighting with the door. I couldn't figure out how to tell him I needed him to push on the door so I just had to keep fighting with it. Finally I got it open and went off to the Relief Society party. It was fun. Then Megan and I went to the Украина mall. Where I found Анастасия (Anastasia!!!!!) We went tot the end of the red line to the market. We wandered for a long time in the slush. When we finally found the building, we were exhausted. We wandered through a few rows of very very very Russian coats (if I was staying here, I would totally get one but I think I'd stand out at BYU) then we found a bench and flopped down next to some babushki and people watched. We finally mustered the strength to walk and went back out to the real market and bought a kilo of cookies because we were stupid Americans and I don't know how to stay a fourth of a kilo so the lady got confused and just gave us a kilo. Fortunately they were AMAZING!!! I am currently eating a Ukrainian Tim Tam Slam (Passionate Kisses) with them and they are the best ever!!!!! I might have to bring back a kilo because they totally have even Tim Tams beat. They are thick cookies dipped in a lot of dark Roshen chocolate with little crunchies in it. YUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!!!! Take that with a glass of Milo...yum. Then we went to McDonald's for the free bathrooms (everywhere else here you have to pay and it's extra for toilet paper sometimes). Then we went to Palatz Ukraina where we met Anna and Misha (Megan's host family). They got in for free because some guy though Misha was cute (if only he knew...) We lucked out too and got 80hr tickets for 40 so we were sitting put close for 5 bucks. It was an awesome show, Украинский хор (Ukrainian Choir). But it wasn't just singing. They all wore traditional costumes and did dances and we got to hear a bandoora (Ukrainian national instrument). It was AWESOME!!! Megan and I were taking lots of pictures. At intermission I heard the guy next to us say, "The girls next to us are foreigners." At the end of the show we got up to leave and he cornered us in the hall on the way out and was saying something about "страна" (country). I said, "Я не понимаю" (I don't understand) which is usually enough to get them to leave you alone. He repeated, "What country are you from? Latvia? Estonia? Oh! I know you're German!" I said, "О, мы американки!" (Oh, we're American) I was tickled pink that he wouldn't immediately assume we were American, though actually a lot of people think Megan and I are German maybe because more Germans come here than Americans or maybe because we aren't your typical obnoxiously loud Americans. Anyways, this guy asked us if we like the show and I said, "Да, это очень хорошо". We went home on the metro. Misha told us this story he made up. It totally sounded like a Russian fairy tale. He and I also had a discussion about Кназь Владимир which I totally want to get ahold of. He said he'd help me understand it. So we need to get together and watch it. That night, I watched the first part of Anastasia. It's awesome!!!!!! It makes me so happy.

Sunday, I got up early so I could ride back the three stops to the beginning of the green line so I could say I rode the whole thing in one shot. When I got back to our stop, a little babooshka got on and sat down next to me. She saw my notecards for Russian and said, "Oh I have those for German! What are you doing?" I said, "Я изучаю русский язык. (I am studying Russian.)" She looked at me and said, "На каком язык, вы говорите?"(What language do you speak?) I said, English and she went off about everything. She would lean over and pat my hand and whisper conspiratorially to me in Russian as if we were best friends. She told me all about how she was going to visit her brother who had the flu. She said, "Я буду сказать ему что я познакомусь американский преподаватель англиского языка кто зовут Аннилин. И она изучает русский язык." (I am going to tell him that I met an American English teacher who was named Annilyn and she's studying Russian.) But she said, "It's hard for us to say your name what is your Russian name. You should be named Elyena. That's my granddaughters name. It sounds like Annilyn, yes?" I have now, looked that up on a Russian baby name sight (you can't find Russian names on English sites) and Tanya (that was her name) was inspired because Elyena totally describes me. The first thing it said was, "Elyena loves fairy tales." So yeah, my name is now Елена (which is the name of the princess in the Firebird). Oh yea, so when she left, Tanya leaned over and said some long farewell patted my hand again. I said, "До свидания" and she left. Then, I went to church. I actually got to go to sunday school. When I went home, I made Key Lime Pie. They all were fascinated. After I baked baked it, Vanya stuck a knife in it and then licked it and you saw his face light up. Later, when he actually got a piece he was pulling all sorts of controrted sour faces. I said, "Is it good or not?" He said, "Yes?" Sasha said, "Vanya, you dork. She said, Хорошо или плохо и ты сказал ДА" He said, "It's so sour I can't think." It's was funny. I also watched Anastasia with them in Russian with English subtitles. It was funny because we got to the "There's A Rumor in St. Petersburg" and Sasha said, "This isn't Russian, is it?" They also thought it was funny to have Rasputin sell his soul to the devil and cause the Revolution. That's giving his role way too much importance. When we finished they said, "That was...interesting."

This morning, I got to listen to Barratino (Russian Ponochio) told to Styopa. It was really fun.

When I get back to America, I'm going to be amazing...thank you Vanya.

2009-03-10T06:40:00.003-04:00

So Monday, Vanya decided that when I get back to America I'm going to be amazing. So he started teaching me his tricks. He taugh me to twirl a stick in my fingers and made me practice all night long. If he turned around and I wasn't practicing. I got the look and he would say "Аннaлин (that's my name in Vanya accent) Are you amazing when you go to America? No. Praktik. (Vanyan for Practice)." I was trying to study Russian so was writing with my left hand and twirling a stick with my right-hand. Finally both hands ached and I told him I couldn't anymore, Sasha called him a садист which I gather is Russian for sadist. She was so right...as you will see later on.

Tuesday, Megan and I went exploring around the Универсам и рынок (supermarket and market) around my house. We got a cake pan from a little vendor in the market. The Универсам is almost American in it's selection and it's cleanliness. I made whirly gigs with the kids. It was way fun. I played with Styopa who is getting better at my name. He's so cute. Я люблю моего Украинского брата.

Wednesday, I played with Styopa and studied Russian. Then I went to school On the way I stopped at the Фора and got milk, sour cream, and butter. I stuffed it all in my coat pockets and looked like a total dork but was having a lot of fun. We made flag poles in class. I did the American flag on one side and the Ukrainian flag on the other side. The kids really got into that. Arina (one of my kindergartner's was way excited to tell me her flag wasn't either of those her flag was blue, white, and red. Apparently, she's Russian. I'm not sure I always understand how you decide here where you are from. My host family has Russian parents but Vanya says he's Ukrainian and Sasha seems to think she's Russian. With Maintenance I did a ring toss kind of game where they had to throw the ball into one of the bowls with a vocab card on it and they had to tell me before which bowl they were going to throw it into. When I got off the bus I was think ing about class and didn't think about the fact that I was walking through the bus stop and totally turfed it on the nasty dog poop covered asphalt. I can now say from the experience of having my face smeared through the ground that there is a reason we trade our boots for tapochki when we go inside. But it was still really funny so I started laughing. Vanya was just staring at me until I started to laugh and then he started cracking up. He made me jump across puddles and walk along on the bike rack bar. I felt so ridiculous that I couldn't stop giggling. This guy in a car parked by us asked Vanya what was wrong with me. He answered, "Она американка." (She's an American.)

Thursday, I had oladi for breakfast. Yum. They are my favorite. Megan and I went to find the post office. We wandered all over. Finally we crossed the street and right as we were about to give up we saw the sign that said Пошта up above the building. It was right where we had started. We went in and tried to figure out where to go. There were people standing front of all the signs so we just got in the longest line. We were getting all these crusties from the babooshki and we didn't know why. We started wondering why so we started watching what was going on. The people would go up. Show the people their passport and get money. All of a sudden we realized there was no one under 70 in our line. We were totally in the pension line. We went to another line and I handed them my letters they looked at them like "What the heck is this?" Fortunately I had written США in big letters on them so they finally figured it out and asked me if they were going to America. I said yes and they got out the stamps and stamped them and told me where to put them. Hopefully they get to the right places. After that we wandered in the direction we thought the the metro was. We were totally off. We walked for forever. I thought I had gotten my excersize for the week but I was wrong! We made women's day cards. Kindergarten got really confused because I wrote "To: Mom" on it. They thought I had two moms. Kostya claimed he had 999 moms. That is some serious polygamy but Prince Volodymir had 3,000 wives so maybe Ukrainians are down with the whole thing. Megan and I got Шашлик (like kabobs) from a little stand. It was way fun and the guy we ordered from was way cool. Then we went to Russian class. I was kind of bored. When I came home Styopa dressed up as me in my boots and scarf and took pictures of Everyone. He and I played kashoo (his favorite game) until dinner when I had plemeni (like meat filled pirogies) They were way good.

Thursday, Megan and I found a material store and art supplies. I bought oranges at the market. We ate potato wrapped around meat and shashliki ketchup. YUM!!! Megan and I figured out we are totally related which is funny since our host families are related. We got flowers and chocolates for Women's day. Tasia gave me a dafodil and Leonid gave me a tulip. And we got cake and more chocolates. With maintenance, I did fortunately-unfortunately with a pig drawing on the white board. They would tell me what happened to the pig and I would draw it. The best part was when he met an evil sexy pig. And I did fortune telling with the Kings game. I wore my headscarf as a gypsy scarf. They thought it was hilarious. I stayed late at the school and had some bonding time with the cleaning lady. She liked our flowers. She taught me how to say 'Happy Woman's Day' in Russian. When I got on bus I had lots of stuff and some guy gave me his seat. Sasha asked me how my day was and I said, "Awesome. I like this holiday." She helped me find a vase for my strange bouquet, a rose, a tulip, and a dafodil. I sang songs with Styopa and played Uno with Vanya and Sasha.

Saturday, I got up early and made cinnamon rolls. They loved them. I think Natasha ate 8 by herself. The dedooshka came over and invited us all to go on an adventure on monday. I played with Styopa until Megan called. Then I went to the store for presents for Women's day. I got flowers for Natasha and watercolor pencils for Sasha. I went to the material store several times trying to figure out how to make a baby blanket for Natasha. Finally I mustered the courage to face the people. They were laughing at me. I didn't know how to say a meter and a half so I had to act it out. I now feel really bad for the Mexicans living in America. They are so brave. Then I went back and watched the Russian Three Musketeers with Vanya and Sasha. Then we had плоф dinner. Vanya said "Мне ненравится плоф." (I don't like this plof). But I loved it, when Natasha asked if I wanted more, I said, "Да, мне нравится" (yes, to me it is very pleasing (direct translation is awesome)). Natasha totally cuffed Vanya. After dinner Vanya and I listened to his CD player. He translated the Russian songs for me. I was way impressed. Then he made me try to translate an English CD. The first song was about magic, elves, and the shadow of the moon so I couldn't do it. He got fed up with me and left but then the next song was about season and I totally could do it. I wanted to call him back. A little later h said he wanted to teach me all his tricks. I said "Okay." He proceeded to try to teach me to jump up, do pull-ups, and do those Russian kicks. I totally failed at all of it. So then he started making me do "Практик" (excersizes). The little sadist had me doing excercizes and making a fool of myself for 2 hours. I couldn't tell him no because he'd flash me that heartbreaker smile and say "Aнналин, you must praktik or you will no be amazing in America." He told me he was my trainer and I should call him 'ninja' "Only not when mama or papa are here!" When I didn't hold myself straight enough for excersizes, he would smack me with a stick. Fortunately Styopa wandered in an would give me hugs and stroke my hair in a comforting manner. Finally, Styopa came in and brought my camera which distracted Vanya. He decided to take pictures and try to make it look like I was awesome at doing push-up so he made me drop to the ground. My whole body is totally bruised.

Sunday, I woke up and was getting ready for church when there was a little knock at my door. It was Vanya with a potted tulip and a big smile. Then Sasha came in with a picture she painted for me. It's way cool. They had all woken up early to wish me happy Women's Day. When I got home Vanya made me kakoa and I had a piece of torte. Then he and I played Uno and дурак (an awesome Russian game). Then he made me do praktik again. Ouch! I got the idea to distract him with chocolate that I'd gotten from the school for Women's Day. It worked for a total of 2 minutes then he got the idea of putting the chocolate on the floor and I had to do a push up and eat it. I couldn't do it so then he put a couple of books under it. He left the room and I ate the chocolate. When he came back he said, "Анналин, you do it?" I said, "Yes." He gave me the look. I said, "I kissed Gulliver! See how happy he is." He totally didn't believe me. Then we went to the store. Vanya discovered we have the same size feet so I can wear his roller skates. I skated around the apartment. Then we had dinner. The dedooshka made me eat salted fish he'd made. It was actually way good but I couldn't eat as much as he wanted. We actually had a whole feast. I had cutlets, egg salad, califlower, salat iz pomedora, bananas, stuffed peppers, and 2 kinds of salted fish. Apparently I wasn't eating enough so Vova took the plate of salted fish and scapped half of it onto my plate. I freaked because that is the only thing I really can't eat and it gave me a huge amount. I started choking it down. They gave me a piece of rye bread and it wasn't actually to bad until I got an eyeball half way through. Then it started being really really nasty. Finally I finished. I felt totally bloated. But Vova pulled out the torte, chocolates, and tea. He also gave me a bunch of magic flowers that opened up when I put them in water.

Monday was a day off for everyone but ILP teachers. So we went to роллики (ROLLERSKATING!) It was totally the dedooska's idea and he was way excited. We all got in the новая машина (we got a new car on Sunday!!!) We drove all through Kiev which was way cool. I videoed Lavra and Big Mama as we went across the river. It was way cool But then we had to catch up with Yuva and we sped up and were weaving through traffic and I thought I was going to die. Then we got there and we had a great time skating even though I'm way sore. I was way impressed that Yoova can skate. The man is over 70 and was way good. Vanya causes so many accidents because he was crazy and unaware. Misha was a total wuss. It was way fun though.

So that's the news from Kiev!~ Hope you all are doing well!

Goodbye Winter!!!

2009-03-02T04:52:00.003-05:00

So...Wednesday Lubko and Yarema fought over what to do with their food. Lubko one of my little Russian boyfriends wanted to give the last of their creme filled croissants to me. During this, Daniil came in and said "Goodbye" ran up and kissed me. When Vanya and I went home, his mom wasn't there so he asked me if I wanted to play Uno. We started to play when all of a sudden we heard "Ваня делай уроки!" (Vanya do your homework--the number one call in the Zhardov household) Vanya looked at me and said, "Mother not here, and now he says!" We finished playing and went and had dinner. Vanya and I had a great chat about Япониш (Japanese). He showed me how he can write upside down when he wrote "Я устал, я лежусь спать" (I'm tired, I'm going to bed.) I wrote back, "Я тоже" (me too).

The next day Megan and I were going to the Russian art museum so I had to leave early. I had been reading a book with Styopa while I ate my fish and potatoes for breakfast (not my breakfast of choice) and when I went to leave he cried and said, "Наналининанана, идий суууууда!" (nanannaananilininana (that's my name in Styopian) Come heeeeere!) I gave him a hug and said "Я буду игать с вами вечером" (I will play with you tonight). I didn't think he would understand me. Then I snuck out the door. The art museum was closed so we went to the Ukrainian Natural history museum and saw lots of rocks. We also went to the archeological wing and saw lots of cool ancient Ukrainian stuff. They had a cool map of Kiev through the reign of the 4 major kings of Kievian Rus. We also saw a demonstration (like the political kind) across the street. I wanted to go over and see what it was about but we decided to play it safe and stay away. The banners said something about Ulia Timoshenko but I don't know if they were for her or against. I taught then walked home through the snowy darkness. As soon as I got home Styopa met me at the door and dragged me into his room. We read and ate 'кашу' (Styopian for каша, porridge what he eats all the time. It's actually the right word just it's always in the accusative case for Styopa because his mom says he's eating kashoo and doesn't understand cases). At one point I was really tired and I lay down for a minute. Styopa thought I was dead and poked me. When I opened my eyes he pulled me up and gave me a big hug and a kiss. We had dinner with the whole family which was way fun.

The next morning, I left early to meet Megan and I got there early so I hid in the entry way to her house behind the door and when she came down I followed her being really quiet. When I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold back the giggles much longer I reached out and put my arm around her right as her phone rang. She thought it was me on the phone so she really really freaked out that some Russian guy was grabbing her. It was awesome. We went to Andrivsky Uzviz (St. Andrew's Desent also known as Souvenir Street). We met this one guy (Eugene) who spoke really good English and asked where we were from. When Megan said Utah, he said, "You are Mormon's maybe?" When we said, "Yes", he said "You Mormons always like these" and went and got the Nativity dolls. They were beautiful and was really right they were exactly what we like all day we found ourselves looking at different Nativity dolls. He showed them all to us and told us "I met some of your young men (missionaries) and they said they liked them but they would like them better without halos so I tell my artist." So he had Mormon dolls with scenes from the life of Christ in them. He also told us about the history of laquer box styles, Kiev, football, the weather, Virginia, and Russian artists. We left without buying anything but we told him we'd be back the next day at 4. We continued down the street. I bought a lacquer box with the firebird on it. The guy who sold it to me painted his own dolls and I had a fun time talking to him. When I was trying to decide which box to get I would point at them and he would tell me how much. I kept choosing the really expensive ones and he kept trying to show me the less expensive ones because he could tell I didn't want to spend that much. Finally, he said, "You know lacquer boxes. You choose always master painters. They are more expensive." So then he got out the small ones and I got one of those. It's small and round (which is traditional of Kiev) and painted by an old Soviet master painter. The guy gave me a good price because I opened his table. Here it is good luck to give your first customer a really good deal and I got there right as he was starting to set out his stuff so he said with a customer so early it would be an especially good omen. By the time we got to the bottom, it was freezing cold. We went to Pazata Hata for blini, kapoosta and kartopla.

The next day was awesome. We went to a ward breakfast where we ate blini. Then we went to Saint Sofia's and took a tour. I was really proud that I could follow all the history of Ukraine that is immortalized in that cathedral. The frescos are original from the 11th century. I learned several interesting things. Like marble used to be worth it's weight in gold so Yaroslav's tomb cost 6 tons of gold. The church was left unattended for almost 5 hundred years under the Tartar Mongols and the Poles and trees grew up inside the church. I also learned that when you walk from Zoloti Vorota to Adrivsky Uzviz you are crossing the whole of Kiev during the Kievian Rus period. We got to climb the bell tower and the weather was nice so you could actually see everything. After that we went to Souvenir Street. We got there right at 4 and Eugene ran up to us saying, "You're right on time!" Then I went home and made Navajo Tacos for my host family. It was really really fun. Natasha told me how to get to the Goodbye Winter Festival. An ancient Ukrainian festival where they burn winter in effigy and eat blini in the woods. Megan and I went and I got a блин с икрой (blini with caviar) and Шашлик (a Tartar kaboob). On the way home we walked by Roshen Фабрика имени Карла Маркса (The Roshen Candy Factory in the name of Karl Marcs) it smelled way good.

Once there was the sun...

2009-02-24T06:03:00.003-05:00

Oh goodness, I can never write all the stuff that has happened in the last week so I'll just put the highlights which still promise to be extensive. Monday, I got a package from my family. There is a Ukrainian custom which our native coordinator enforces with glee which says you must dance for your letters. So I had to make a fool of myself to get it. But, it was worth it for the package contained hot chocolate and even better "The Adventures of Styopa, Vanya, and Sasha", a book written about my host family's adventures in Texas. I took it home that evening and showed it to Vanya and Styopa. We were looking at it when Sasha got home, Vanya called to her and explained the story to her in Russian and then we finished going through it. Then I started translating it into Russian. Vanya has decided I am the human dictionary so as I was working on translating the book, he was working on his English homework. He would come ask me to translate words. Sasha was getting really frustrated with us as I was dancing around the room trying to explain 'the way'. She said, "Ваня!!! Здесь словарь, делать уроки!" (Vanya!!! Here is the dictionary! Now do your homework!).

Tuesday, Natasha and Styopa were listening to music in the kitchen while I was working on my lessons (little cardboard dancing men). Styopa would sing "LET MY PEOPLE GO!!!" at the top of his lungs. Turns out none of his family actually knew what the song was about or even what that meant so it was good that it wasn't a bad word. I found it very amusing.

Wednesday, I bought a Russian fairy tale book of Pushkin's skazki. It is gorgeous. I finished making my men and they debuted in my class in an awesome way for Parent's Day. Then for maintenance I introduced vocab words and I have agreed that for every word they learn in English, I will learn in Russian.

Thursday, I took the metro to Lukianivska where I always smell something delicious on Sundays. So I wandered the market and then ordered a gyro with cheese. It was really crazy Russian fast food. There was a guy taking orders and making all the stuff at the same time. He cut the meat off this huge hung thing on a stick and caught it in a dust pan, threw it in a flat bread with sauce, cabbage, and other stuff and then threw it on the grill for 5 minutes. It was everything I dreamed it would be. Oh yeah, and it snowed and was gorgeous. And I got to enjoy it because I jumped on the red line (not my usual green) and road it out to the end. The red line on the left bank is above ground because it is newer so it wasn't built to be a WWII bomb shelter so I could actually see stuff. That night, the dedushka came over and yelled at me for writing on my lap. Finally he dragged a stool in and made me write on that. He's so cute. We just found out he was an officer in the Soviet Army and he showed Megan his old pictures. I really want to see them.

Friday, I watched Russian comedy like DI. They had lots of amazing ideas I wished I could use. I miss DI. And I learned a new phrase in Russian. I'd heard Natasha say it a couple of times and then all of a sudden Sasha said it. So I asked her, "What does 'yolgi polgi' mean?" She laughed and said word for word it is fir tree branches but it's like 'oh my goodness'. So that's one of my new favorite Russian phrases.

Saturday, I painted postcards and listened to Sasha read the Little Humpbacked Pony to Styopa which was incredible because it's all in verse and it included another of my favorite Russian words in the name of the main character "Иван дурак" (Ivan the Fool). It's so awesome to listen to Russian fairy tales in Russian. Then Sasha and I watched Brother Bear. The best part for me because it was absolutely ridiculous was part where all the bears are sitting around telling stories and there is a Russian bear. He mumbles something that is supposed to sound like Russian, but next to the actual Russian of the dubbing it just sounded ridiculous. Americans really don't understand Russian at all. Anyways, that evening, I went to Палац Украина (palace of Ukraine, it's a big concert hall thing) to see Ukrainian folk dancing. It was incredible!!!!!!!! It was interesting to see that Ukraine (despite most appearances) is not completely heterogeneous. they had distinctly different Russian, Turkish, German, and Gypsy dances. I decided that it may be true that most white people don't know how to dance (the German dances were kind of boring) but Slavic people are a total exception. The guys at least really really really know how to dance. It looks so cool and fun. And it's crazy because while the kids in my classes can't do it as well as the professionals, they all can do those amazing traditional kicks and stuff. Think the dancing tavern from "To Life" in 'Fiddler on the Roof'. Maybe it's some kind of Popeye thing, if you eat a diet of pure cabbage, you are gifted with incredible dance moves.

Sunday, Megan was sick so I had to go to church by myself. the subway broke between the last two stops. I was alone in the car and had no idea what was happening and being so far underground I didn't even have cell phone service. It was very scary. Fortunately it only took 7 minutes to start back up (yes, I was timing). So when I got off I couldn't remember what маршука to take. I started to freak out and said a little prayer. I looked up to realize the people I was following were all carrying scripture cases. I have never been so relieved to see scriptures in my life. That evening I went to a fireside about personal histories given by the missionaries which are here writing the history of the church in Ukraine. Did you know the first missionaries came in 1991, like a month after Ukraine declared it's independence from the Soviet Union? They were really fast. In 1998 the temple was announced though it took another 9 years until they were able to break ground but it's going to be finished next year! The only unfortunately thing is that in a city with some of the most incredibly beautiful churches in the world, our temple is pretty ugly. Anyways, it was really cool because it was given in English and then translated into Russian so I could kind of follow. Then I went home and got to try my first salo (raw pig fat, the reason Ukraine and Russia are not now Jewish, Prince Vladimir just couldn't give it up). It was in a soup made by the dedushka which was good though I don't really want to know what else was in it and I didn't really enjoy the texture of the salo. I talked to Sasha about her grandpa and the end of winter festival next sunday where they are going to go into the forest burn winter in effigy and eat millions of blini (I'm trying to figure out how to get an invite). Then I got to try some Торт which translates as cake but it's more like layers of pavlova or merange with hazelnut spread between them and choclate icing. It was way good and I want to see if I can figure out how to replicate it because I don't think one would make it home but it is very traditional of Kiev.

Monday was Men's Day and Veteran's Day. I gave Vanya some Harry Potter Uno cards because they don't have Uno here but they all love it and he loves Harry Potter. I gave Volodya a card I made with a mug. It seemed to make him happy though nothing could touch how happy I'd made Vanya and Sasha with my gift. It was really fun to play Uno with them and eat pickle, kielbasa, and ketchup pizza that their mom had made. We played in a mixture of Russian and English and was funny to follow. We were using enough English that their mom wouldn't send them to do their homework because they were 'practicing their English' but we were really playing in Russian. Then, Sasha and Vanya started telling each others futures with the cards. It was hilarious. Apparently I'm going to marry Снег sounds like 'Sneg'--Snape in English. I want to teach them the Kings game but by this time our games had devolved into just Russian and their mom made them do their lessons. Oh yeah, and this day was the day I started writing this post. Hence the title is because it was so sunny it was gorgeous because it had been snowing for the last 4 days or whatever and the air was full of microscopic water crystals so the world literally sparkled. Everyone (and I really mean everyone) was smiling because it was so beautiful. Unfortunately the title for this post was prefigurative for once again 'winter has killed everything' so it was only a brief moment but I made the most of it.

Tuesday was uneventful actually. I worked on lessons. I was making myself Milo and poured the milk into a cup and Megan thought I was pouring myself a cup of сметана (sour cream). She freaked out and was very relieved when she realized I was not that far gone yet. She'd been starting to consider how to drag me forcibly onto a plane back to America before I went totally crazy and Ukrainian (though I don't think even they drink the stuff). All the teachers think I'm a little weird because I have stewed cabbage and sour cream for lunch like every other day. Taylor (one of the other teachers) was sick so we had to do some improvising. So I taught the old kids for an hour and a half. We made bread pudding which was fun. The coordinator was aghast that I was going to feed it to the kids when she saw the mixture. She asked her son, Ivan (who is 6 so he's not in the class), "Ты хочешь кушать?" (you want to eat it?). He shook his head in a big way. He's so cute, all the girls have a crush on him and I can't blame him. He's adorable. He always tries to stop me from leaving the school and yesterday he gave me a picture of a cat and a tree. Then I played with Styopa at home and discovered I have actually learned to roll my р almost like Natasha when I say 'рыба' (fish).

This morning, I ate blini with sour cream and jam (my favorite way) and played with Styopa. We built 'красивый замок' (a beautiful castle) as Natasha called it. And we made all the animals which lived in the castle drink tea. Styopa would pour and I would bring the animals to drink. All the animals made Russian walking sounds; I have been so tainted by this experience! And then we made a picture of everyone eating. Стьопа, мама, папа, Ваня, Аннилин, и Саша кушают кашу и пьют чай в кухне где лампа и окно. (Styopa, mama, papa, Vanya, Annilyn, and Sasha eat kasha and drink tea in the kitchen where there is a lamp and a window.) Oh, yeah Styopa is learning my name. Currently, it sounds something like Annannnininininnninninininin!!!! It's adorable though doesn't always get my attention the way he wants.

I'VE BEEN IN KIEV ONE MONTH!!!!

2009-02-16T04:46:00.004-05:00

Okay, so life is here is just starting to feel normal. Wednesday, I had a normal moment went I was crammed on the marshuka (little bus) so tight you can stay standing even when the bus dodges between the cars on the street because there is no room to fall over. (Personal bubbles do not exist in Ukraine.) And since there isn't any room to go up to the front of the bus and they don't want to waste time paying the driver and then finding a spot, you go to your spot and then pass the money up. People here are very honest and helpful to each other in that way and the bus drivers are extremely talented being able to swerve through traffic and listen for when people want to get off and see when people want to get on and give some one 48 grivna in change (all in 2 grivna notes) when they pay with a 50. It's no wonder every bus has an icon of the saint of transportation affixed to the front of the bus. So anyways, I was standing in the middle of the bus and people kept passing me money and telling me how many tickets it was for and then I would pass the money back. And after five minutes I realized, "this should feel really weird...but it doesn't" and then I felt weird.

Thursday, morning, I had to cancel my excursion because I was so stressed out about my holy terror class. So Megan and I were really depressed as me walked to school. Then we passed the little bakery stand that always has these donuts out tanting me. And that day I just couldn't take it so I made Megan stop and I asked for two. They were delicious. They had jam inside. And they only cost like 13 cents. Which means I could get a dozen for like a $1.50. That evening, I went to Russian lessons put on by someone in our ward. We were running a bit early so we headed over to get some dinner. We got these Kievite Corndogs. They are hot dogs inside scones, they are quite delicious. A bit of grochitsa (mustard) would have made them perfect. When I got home, there was someone trying to get in the building but they couldn't figure it out. So I buzzed up and Natasha opened the door. I got into the elevator and they followed me but didn't push a floor button. I got out on my floor and they followed. I walked over to my apartment door, starting to be way creeped out and they followed me again. After I rang the doorbell, they asked if I was going to visit Natasha, I said yes and they laughed and said we are too. Aparrently, one of the ladies is staying with us now. I'm not really sure who she is or if it's permenant. I feel really bad because she's sleeping on the floor but if she's here for good, I'm not giving up my bed.

Friday, I went to president Hyde's for game night and ate burritos. Yum! Unfortunately, we got lost on the way and wandered around in the slush. It was kind of nasty. When I got home, I sat down for tea and Masha (mystery woman) sat on the end of the table. She and Natasha talked straight until 12 without pause so I was stuck there listening to them but only understanding a couple of words (they were discussing something about Natasha's Down's Syndrome organization.

Saturday, I got up and was reading when Vanya came in. He showed me this way cool book about legends. Then he showed me his piratetology book. He had decoded this message, but it had come out in English because the publishers hadn't bothered to translate it. So he didn't understand it. So we translated about half of it together then his mom called him so I finished it. He's such a funny kid. Now that I've been his teacher he likes talking to me so it's way fun. All day Saturday, he was getting in trouble for talking to me when his mom needed him. For breakfast we had candied french toast! DELICIOUS! Then I went to the store and got a box of chocolates for my host family for Valentines and my one month anniversary. I also got a loaf of bread and some honey tea. I love the bread here. It's so good and cheap.

I read before I came that bread is practically worshiped as the giver of life in Ukraine...I am considering joining the cult while I am here. (I am currently munching on loaf...yum yum yum). Bread, honey, and irradiated milk...my favorite simple things here. You know what sounds really good...bread with honey on it with a glass of warm milk...I might have to go get some milk when I finish this. In case you are not so fortunate as to be familiar about what is so awesome about such simple foods. In Ukraine (in most of Europe) milk is super processed so it doesn't need to be refridgerated and it has this slightly different taste that I love, every one else thinks I'm crazy but I like it better than American milk. Then the honey (which I kind of worship at home anyways) is slightly grainy and bright yellow...like neon...and they let you eat it by the spoonful! Now if only those darned homeland security people hadn't confiscated my peanut butter I'd be set with pb&h sandwiches. Peanut butter is one of the things I really miss.

Alright, sorry for the wanderings of my mind...back to Saturday. I went home and Sasha's godmother was there having tea. Vanya came and met me at the door and told me to say "Privet!" to them because he had concocted this grand scheme where they would never realize that I didn't speak Russian. I think my accent ruined his plan but he was sure that it was working until his mom explained who I was. Then Styopa went down for a nap and Sasha and I pealed beets and potatoes and carrots for dinner. We had a fantastic dinner for her birthday. We had stuffed peppers (pickled peppers), kielbasa (not like you're thinking...like a hot dog only fat), calat iz kapusti (cabbage, egg, mayonaise, and who knows whatelse), calat iz kielbasi (potato, egg, kielbasa, peas, mayonaise), plof (a rice pilaf thing), and salted fish (it looks beautiful like a dessert but DON'T take a big spoonful! It's raw fish covered in potatoes and beets and it's a little hard to swallow). After dinner, I gave Sasha her present. I'd given her Hound of the Baskervilles because it was one of the few books I could find that I knew what it was and had actually read. Her mom was really excited and said it was a good book. I also made her a book mark and a CD of English folk songs like Lord of the Rings stuff. And I painted her wrapping paper with fairies. She put it up on her wall which made me happy. Then we had chocolates, tea, and cake (like coffee cake with berries and apples and stuff in it but no spices). Everyone came over so we had like 17 people in our kitchen...crazy! I drew Volodya. Vanya saw so when his dad went to bed he snuck into his spot and combed his hair and made cute faces at me until I drew him. It was hard though because the kid does not hold still. Finally, I went to bed.

Sunday, I went to church. Taught nursery. I taught about the loaves and the fishes and used little duck crackers. It was fun. Then I went to the Muller's (they are true saints letting us invade their apartment every Sunday). Then I went to Megans. We made brownies for her host family. They asked us if it was a traditional American food. I guess it is...brownies from a box...pretty American. I also talked to Anna about how to help the kids. She gave me some good ideas and some books. Sadly she said her really good books are all in German. Then I called my family to talk to Erin because. SHE GOT INTO BYU!!!!!!! Next year is going to be amazing.

Monday morning, Megan and I went to the store. I got my bread and a thing of honey. Then we went dumpster diving for things for shop. It was awesome.

Adventures...

2009-02-11T04:27:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, I went home with Misha and Vanya. It had snowed that morning. Vanya and Misha had gone out first so as I came around the corner I scooped up a handful of snow. They'd had the exact same idea...so a half hour snowball fight ensued. Misha came home with us and asked me to play darts with him. I whooped him (140 to 20) in 3 turns so he quit playing. He asked me why I never played games with Vanya and I said "Because Vanya always has to do his homework." He said that wasn't true so I sat down with Vanya and started playing chess. 3 minutes into the game, we hear, "Ваня, ты должен делать уроки!" (Banya, you have to do your homework!) I gave Misha a very meaningful look.

Thursday, I found out I was switching to Elementary which is going to be a pain. And they have been teaching them all wrong. So it's going to be a big big pain. Megan and I went to the store and bought пломбыр (really creamy ice cream) to drown our sorrows in.

Friday, I worked on lesson plans all morning. I got to talk to my family!!!! That was the biggest excitement of the day. That night, I ate some delicious potatoes with mushrooms and kapoosta and I talked to my host mom about whether or not I will stay with them after the baby comes in March. After that we had a full out tea with break and jam, chocolate, and lemons in sugar (my favorite teeth rotter). I worked on my talk for sunday.

Saturday, I worked on lessons, talk, Russian, and made postcards (they don't actually have them for sale here). Then I got to eat varenki (like pirogies) with farmer's cheese in them. They were divine!!! I have to figure out if they are possible to make in the US. Later, Megan called and asked if I could come over and play games. We played some Russian game with him only kind of explaining the rules. Then we taught him Egyptian Ratscrew and Vanya came over and played with us. Then we played Chinese checkers. I totally creamed Vanya, making up for his winning at Chess. Then the babooska fed us omlettes with potatoes and sour cream. Then Megan and I recorded English listening excersizes. I got to be Harrison Ford and use my manly voice. I laughed really hard at all the mistranslations in our dialogue and wondered if my Russian book is the same.

About this time, the dedooshka walked in and said, "Добрый вечер!"(good evening) So I said, "Добрый вечер!' He looked at me in amazement and said "Ты говоришь по русски?" (You speak Russian?) I answered "Только немношко."(Only a little) and he started going off about how I was amazing and Megan didn't know any Russian and it was really frustrating and I started to get really lost. He showed me his fish he was pickling and told me that he was going to go put it out on the balcony and tomorrow it would be delicious. And I started to be really afraid for Megan. So anyways, now I have a old Russian man for a friend.

The next morning, I was so worried about over sleeping I was waking up all the time. Finally at 6 I let myself wake up and work on finishing writing out my talk. Then I started to get ready for church and Styopa woke up and came in. When I was ready to go, he decided to help me get dressed. He passed me my scarf. I said, "Спасибо, что ещё нужно?"(thank you what else do I need?). He pointed at my hat. "Шлапа?" (hat) "Да." I put on my hat and said "Ах, хорошо." (Very good). Then he pointed to my scriptures. "Ой, сумка?" (oh, my bag?). I got him to help me lift it. Then I actually went to leave and he was way mad. Megan and I got on the metro and there was almost no one else on. By the time we got to the second to last stop, the last man got off. I looked up to the next car and there was no one in there. I looked back to the car behind and there was no one. I whispered to Megan, "We are the only ones around." She was kind of sleeping. So I got up and ran from one end of the car to the other and spun around in circles and made a complete fool of myself. It was awesome. Then we got to church, I was called as a Primary Worker. Then I did a miserable job giving my talk. You'd think I would have gotten better but I'm afraid not. Then I found out I'm really the nursery leader. So I went to nursery. After church I went to the Muller's for Hawaiian haystacks and chocolate chip cookies. Yum American food. Calvin asked me to play chess with him. We played two games. The first I beat him really quickly. The second he was in check almost the entire time but I just didn't have the heart to tell him so we played down until he had just his king and I had my king, queen, and two pawns and were at a stale mate. It was really cute. Then I went home and had soup with bread crumbs (one of my favorite meals here). Natasha played the piano, and I danced with Styopa. Then I was reading a book with him and he peed on me, darn little kid. Because I had been so nervous, I went to bed really early and I felt kind of bad, but I think I paid my dues been peed on again.

Monday, Audrey (one of the morning teachers) got sick so I taught allllllllll day long!!!! Ugh. I taught elementary too. UGH UGH UGH!!!!! We will have to see if I can survive them.

Tuesday was fun. I stressed out all morning about Elementary. Taught. And then went to Romeo and Juliette, the ballet. Tickets were $1.25...for the Russian ballet...in the most amazing theatre...it's like the best ballet in the world and I only paid a dollar twenty five! To think I used to get excited over $2 tickets at BYU. I sat in a different seat every act though (we should have bit the bullet and paid the $3 for the really good seats). Though it was kind of fun to move around. And my last seat was actually really really good. When I got home, my family was kind of ticked off because it was 10:45 and they usually go to sleep at 10:30 so Sasha and Vanya had had to stay up. Vanya gave me a look that was berating but also one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. He is so cute. He showed me where the left overs were for my dinner. I heated them up and had a very Ukrainian moment when he handed me the ketchup and I thought, "I don't want this, where's the sour cream?" Sadly, we are out of sour cream so my Ukrainian condiment urge had to go unfulfilled.

Monday...Tuesday...Wednesday...

2009-02-04T11:25:00.003-05:00

Monday, was nasty nasty cold. I felt totally happily miserable...because that's how you're supposed to feel when your in Eastern Europe. So I walked around in my head scarf feeling miserable and giggling about it. Yes, I am crazy.

Tuesday, I woke up and everyone was gone. So I had the whole apartment to myself. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to practice my vocab lists for Russian because no one was around to laugh at me. So I sat in the kitchen saying Russian words to myself over and over and over again. I learned 60 new words. Then I went to school and taught the kids about Groundhog's day. The 'h' is very hard for them to say so most ended up saying 'groundpog' some even started calling it a 'groundpa' and got themselves really really confused. But most of them thought it was a bear though I tried to explain it was like a rabbit. Igor was really funny because we were talking about how groundhogs live in the ground like rabbits and he said "Rabbits no live in the ground. Rabbits live in water." I think he thought it was a frog. So we started having this big fight over where rabbits live. Finally I drew a rabbit and he consented that they live in the ground. That night, Natasha and Styopa were both gone, and while their mom was away, Vanya and Sasha were partying. They played music really loud. And Sasha sat and talked with me the whole time I ate dinner which was really long since I'd been given a huge plate. We talked about all sorts of stuff. She has to memorize an English poem for class (Rudyard Kipling...I'm glad they aren't that mean to us...) so I helped her with that which was really fun. Oh yeah I forgot to describe our adventures that morning...

Megan and I needed to get money to pay for our trip so we went to try to find an ATM. Anna (Megan's host mom) said there were 3 behind my house so we went there. The first one didn't actually have any money in it. The second one had this totally scary guy with a gun in front of it and I just wanted to run but Megan said let's try it. So we walked up there...the dude moved his gun and said something in Russian...and we ran away. The third one was being serviced. Finally we went to the grocery store (gastronom) and found one. While we were there, I got a lion bar (delicious) and a bread cake thing shaped like a rooster (very Ukrainian...not so delicious). Then we started looking for places to get Euros. There are 1000 money changing stations in our area...none of them had Euros...I don't know what they are actually used for but it's not money changing. But I got really good at asking "У вас есть юро?"

Anyways, today...I went to the art museum that is free the first Wednesday of the month. It was way cool They had some serious names and a huge exhibit on Eastern art with some way cool Muslim paintings of people. Probably my favorite was the Winter Scene by Pieter Brugel the Elder's studio. Then I taught. In one class we had extra time so we made a card for Megan who is sick today. They were way cute because they were so excited to write the letters even though most of them didn't know how they looked. It's a way cute card. Well, that's the story from Kiev.

Weekend of Adventures

2009-02-02T03:44:00.005-05:00

So life was beautiful on Friday. I played with Styopa...got peed on. Did I say life was beautiful? Beautiful and real and stinky sometimes. I actually didn't notice until he started saying "Писал..писал...".

I thought "Wait, I know what that means I think...it's to write when you put the emphasis on wrong...OH NO! "Стьопа, ты писал?"

Smiling in a silly way and sticking his tongue out he said, "Да."

Okay, let's figure out where. "Где ты писал? На полу...на деване...на мене!" (where did you pee? on the floor...on the couch...on me!)

Which yielded another very silly "Да."

So I got myself cleaned up and then left early for school. I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some juice, milk, and two treats. One was this chocolate piece of heaven called "Сонет" that was like a cross between fudge and brownies and mille feuille and who knows what else. And then I got a "Сказки на яйке" (fairytale in an egg) which is like a kinder egg (chocolate egg) with a Russian fairytale character in it. I got the tsar! I was so happy, that I had absolutely no Russian face and everyone was staring at the crazy grown up who was smiling at the child's treat. But it was worth it.

Class went really well. I made paper boxes with the kids. The greatest moment of triumph was when Olisia tried to give Ivan a candy and he just turned to me and said, "What I do?" I was like "YES!!! I am more interesting than the distraction!" But I talked so much that we didn't finish the boxes in any class so all the kids were a little mad with me.

After school, Cassidy and I went to President Hyde's house for game night. On the way we saw a fire dancer in front of the Golden Gate which was way way way cool (look for a video on facebook to be forthcoming). There, we played Apples to Apples. I left early to get home before everyone went to bed because it's a long ways back to Kharkivska (my beloved stop) on the metro and then I still had to walk home.

Saturday, I got up late with the rest of my family. I ate breakfast. Drew a picture of onion domes. Then it was time to go. Megan and I met early at our accustomed meeting place (by the Soviet tank in the park). We went and found a place for Megan to put grivna on her phone and then went to Palatz Sportu for blini!!! Я люблю блини! We both got блин с джемом. Yum yum yum. Then I bought a head scarf at a stall in the metro. It's beautiful and I love it. Then we rode the metro over to Arsenalna and met everyone else and went to Lavra. It's this really amazing cave monestary which is kind of like the Vatican of Orthodoxy. It's the place where the history of the Slavs was written so it's a really really really important place to all slavic speaking people. We all had to cover our heads and where special skirt things to be able to go in. And we had to get candles because it's really dark. It's not a place I'd suggest for anyone who's claustraphobic but it is way cool. There are all these really famous dudes mumified (naturally, it's the magic of the caves). I even got to see Ilya Muromets...he's not as big as the fairytales say. Then we went around through the area looking at different churches. It's gorgeous, all the golden domes and icon frescos, just amazing.

We were getting the beginning of the cold front so we went to this museum that was a surreal experience. It was an old Soviet exhibit (complete with the framed picture of Lenin enshrined on the wall.) of incredibly small art. Apparently there was this artist that liked designing things at impossibly small sizes. There was a chess board on the end of a pin. A camel caravan with a palm tree inside the hole of a needle. The world smallest book (of Taras Shverchenkos poems, of course, this is Ukraine). And a gazzilion other things all small enough that there was no way to see them except through a microscope. So you walked around the edges of this room in a line looking through these microscopes at these things hoping and praying that you wouldn't get pink eye and if you took too long looking at one of them the 5 minute lady would come by and yell at you in Russian about how everyone needed a chance. It was crazy.

After that, we listened to the bells calling everyone to services and then went to the refectory cathedral to watch the service. It was amazing. The churches (the ones that are still used) all smell of honey and spices from the candles so it's nice just to walk in. And they turned off the lights so the icons all glowed. Those big Byzantine faces of Christ are really incredible in the candlelight because of all the gold. And then there was all the singing between the priest and the monk choir and then the regular choir. It was incredible. I really need to study up on how the services work because aside from being amazed, I couldn't understand anything.

After that, we were all really hungry so we headed back to Khreshadik to Pazata Khata for dinner. I love that place so much. This time I had fried potatoes, cabbage, cake, and cabbage varenki (pirogies). My greatest moment was ordering the varenki because Tanya (our native coordinator) was helping everyone get what they wanted and she asked if I knew what I wanted and offered to help me but I said "No I can do it." She gave me a look like "yeah, right" which I'm sure after dealing with the 12 kids before me was entirely merited. But I went up and said "Веренки с капусту". The lady behind the counter asked me if I wanted sour cream and Tanya went to translate but I said "Да, с сметану, пожалуйста" before she could. She was amazed and I was very happy. The food was delicious and again only cost 3 dollars for a feast. After that, I went home.

The next morning I got up early to go to church. I had left my hat at the school on Friday and it was nasty cold so I was decked out in my headscarf like one of the little babushki headed off to church. I felt very Eastern European, though I think I got more stares than ever because young people don't go to church here. Church was great. I helped in Nursery for the 3rd hour. It was weird to be with English speaking children. After church we went to the Muller's house for spaghetti and had a great time there. They are so nice to let us all hang out together at their house and to feed us. After that, I went home and took a shower!!! Number 6 since being here!!!!! It's sad that I still can keep count. Then I talked to Vanya and played with Styopa though I was a little wary of letting him sit on my lap. Then I had tea and tried these little sausage and dill bun things that were really good. Volodya (yes, that is my host dad's name!!!!!!!!) invited me to go running with him Monday morning. I was way excited.

Unfortunately, I forgot to charge my phone and so it died in the night and the alarm didn't go off so I woke up 15 minutes too late. I was so bummed though I was kind of terrified of going with him since I don't really run and I'm pretty sure he is intense. But it would have been way fun. Fortunately he got back before I left for school so I was able to kind of explain to him what had happened. I learned the word for alarm clock just for the occasion.

I have learned quite a few random words being here. First off кушать (kooshet) to come eat is said to me all the time and said to Styopa even more so I now know how to conjugate it in every form. на станофки (na stanofki) is at the bus stop...it's what you should say if you want the bus to stop...Megan and I learned this after we had an adventure with a bus that didn't stop at our stop. блин (blin) like the crepe things is actually a mild swear word like shoot or dang it it took all the teachers a long time to figure out how serious a swear word it was because the first person that tried to explain it to us compared it to some really really bad words so we were all terrified to talk about pancakes but it's not that bad.

Well, I think that is enough for now...woah I wrote a lot. And I included paragraph breaks this time. I won't always because when I write it and paste it in later the computer eats them but I will try.

Monday...Tuesday...Wednesday...Thursday...

2009-01-29T11:30:00.004-05:00

Alright, here is a quick run down of my week. Sunday night, Sasha asked me to draw her. We had a lovely chat and she drew me after I finished her. It was really fun. Monday was relatively pleasant. My host dad was freaked because since I had lost my voice I wasn't talking to him in Russian and I was coughing. So he made Natasha ask me what was wrong. I told them that I was speaking too much at school and so I had developed the cough. They went and got me a lemon and honey (the honey here is awesome) and cut the lemon in slices and made me eat the whole thing dipped in honey...rhine and all. Yes, I know I'm not going to have any teeth but it did help. Monday night, I got food sick again. Tuesday, I hated the world but particularly the Kievian part of it and didn't eat anything all day long. My host mom freaked out but I don't think Ukrainians understand what you should eat when your sick so not eating anything was the easier solution to trying to explain..."Please don't give me anything fried, pickled, covered in milk, or sopping in oil. And don't make me eat a whole plate heaping with stuff." She asked me what was wrong and I said everything is different. She asked me what we eat in America and I tried to explain that it's mostly the same just cooked differently. I don't think she understood that but she understood that I said something about potatoes and from the last few nights meals, I think I may be eating potatoes for the next 4 months...heehee. Wednesday, I felt much better. I got up early wrote a (I hope) grammatically correct note in Russian to my host mom. She'd left out some oladshi for me which happen to be my favorite Ukrainian food. So I found some smetana (sour cream) and started eating. But then I noticed there was some jam on the table. It looked way sketchy but I really wanted jam so I ate it anyways (anyone still wondering why I'm getting sick?). Then I met Meagan to go to the art museum my guide book said was free on the last wednesday of the month. When we got there we found a sign that I set to translating from Ukrainian into Russian into English. 5 minutes later we realized there was a sign in english at the next door but I had translated it correctly. my guidebook was off by a week. It was the first wednesday of the month. So we decided that we'd come back next week. But we decided to try the blini stand across the street in the park that my guide book said was the best in the city. So we went up and decided what we wanted and I ordered using instrumental case!!!! блин с шоколадом!!! Go me! I got one with honey and Meagan got one with jam. They were sooooooo good. So...much to the chagrin of the Russian lady in the stand...we were back 5 minutes later for 2 chocolate blini. They were delicious as well. They warm the topping up so they are melty and runny in the middle of the blini which is rolled up and served in hot dog bags because they are that big. Such fine food. That night, I went to institute which was really fun. Then today, I had a good day. I made bears in pajamas with my kids which they absolutely loved. So that was really fun. I really really love the basic reading kids because they can actually talk to me. Today we talked about wearing socks to bed and where bananas grow. It was funny. Well, that's all the news from Kiev. Hope you all are doing well! Much love!

Sunday...and the elevator adventure

2009-01-29T11:16:00.002-05:00

Alright so already, things are looking up. I have to say I love church. It made me feel so much better today. I heard just what I needed to in every class. The relief society lesson was on Elder Whirthlin's talk, "Come What May and Love It" which I heard my mom teach in Australia and I can remember thinking at the time, this is going to be important to you, so remember it. But the details that I remembered that time were much more general so that this time hearing it again, it really could speak directly to my heart and give me the comfort I so needed. After church, I was able to go to a member of the branch presidency's house for lunch. We had pasta and spoke English, which was a welcome respite. Not that I don't love Ukrainian food and Russian all the time but you need something familiar every once in a while to bear you up and refuel your courageous spirit. I definitely feel like now I can go back to eating cabbage, potatoes, and pickled fish with renewed vigor. Best of all, he had an embassy phone that could call the US so I got to call my family!!! This was the greatest of the Lord's mercies today. Just the night before, I had plead with Him saying, "I think I could keep going, if only I could talk to my family. Please let me talk to my family." And today I got to! It made me unspeakably happy. The only less wonderful moment today was a very Ukrainian moment which is hilarious in hind-sight when the elevator to my apartment stopped working. When I got home, I went to get on and a babuska said "Elevator (I still don't know that word in Russian) не робатает". I started poking around for the stairs, going down the lit hallway only to find apartments. Then I saw the stairs...the dark abyss in the corner. Seriously there were no lights! And it was 5 pm so it was dark as pitch outside so the few slit like windows didn't help. So I got out my cell phone and could see for about 1 foot in any direction. So I groped my way up the stairs. I miss counted and ended up going 7 levels up. So then I went down a level. But the door on my level was locked or actually I think it was nailed shut. So I had to grope my way back down six flight of stairs to the main floor. I buzzed back up to my apartment and tried to explain what was wrong but Vanya didn't understand because he didn't know the word for elevator in English and I didn't know it in Russian and my frantic gestures were to no avail. So finally he just buzzed me in again and said "Okay, come up and I will understand you". Only I still couldn't. So I just stood in the lobby looking stupid until finally my host dad came down. Apparently at some point the elevator had recommenced operation and he was thinking I was a retard. Unfortunately, I was so flustered that I don't think I countered that assumption at all with my babbling in English since he only speaks Russian. But it was an adventure. So the two take-aways are God is great, Soviet housing stinks. (And as a side note: Annilyn is amazing at alliteration).

Traveler's Tip #1 Never travel to 3 continents in the same week!

2009-01-29T09:07:00.002-05:00

My biological clock has been blown to pieces. I am usually pretty good about jet lag...here, I've been awful. I've been here almost two weeks and I have gotten no where on getting onto Kiev time. My body is convinced I've gone back to Australia, so even if I stay up until 12, I can't sleep past 3AM. And normally I might try to just exhaust my body and beat it into submission but I have already been sick sick sick so that's not an option because the only way to get better seems to be to sleep and sleep a lot...in the middle of the day. Add to that the fact that I've not only had the cold kind of sick but I've also had Khlemnytsky's (Ukrainian folk hero who actually ironically is the guy that accidently sold them out to Russia) revenge all night long starting at 1 in the morning after eating something that didn't agree with my stomach. It's amazing how much harder it is to be positive when you feel like hurling. Walking to school that morning, everything made me mad, the ice, the stray dog poo, the smoggy sky, the charcoal like pill my host mom gave me when I said I didn't want breakfast because I felt sick, the car that stopped to let me cross the street, even the little litter picking babustka who smiled at me. I had a very good Russian face that day. Fortunately, my lesson went well. But I crashed as soon as I got home and slept for 2 hours and woke up with a fever. But I am starting to be afraid that because I've been sleeping so much my host family thinks I don't like them so I am trying to be friendly. I played with Styopa and Vanya and watched a movie with Sasha. The movie was in French about American money in Japan with Russian dubbing...maybe that induced the trippy dreams last night. Anyways, later that night, I went to bed and slept how you sleep when you have a fever...not really well with really really strange dreams. When I woke up at 3 I decided to just try to over power my body so I stayed in bed staring at the ceiling for hours and hours until I could hear Natasha feeding Styopa. Then I got up and started cleaning my room. I was supposed to go meet Meagan and Christina and we were going to explore the shopping center and market around our area but when the time came, I still felt awful. So I went to try to call them but my phone is out of grivna so I couldn't call out. Finally Meagan called me and told me Christina had gotten herself lost. I tried to help but wasn't very effectice. Meagan said she's call later and see if I was feeling better and when I wanted to meet for the ballet. Then I went and had blini (like crepes) for breakfast with my host family, which were relaly good. then I went to try to get things together to do my laundry. But I felt really awful so I decided to take a short break. I didn't want to fall asleep so I lay down on the floor which is concrete and impossible to sleep on right??? Well, I was reading and I can remember Styopa coming in and climing over me and then all of a sudden I was waking up to Meagan calling me. She said it was 3 and sh'd call back at 5 and see how I was feeling because from my groggy answers she could tell I wasn't yet ready to meet them. I can't remember if I tried to get up or not but I slept feverishly (more weird dreams) until I woke with a start to find it was 6:55 and the ballet would start in 5 minutes. I had slept though Meagan's phone call and there was no way I could go now. It nearly killed me. Add to that the fact that I'd slept for almost 7 hours and totally set myself back in any attempt to get on the right time. But I was feeling a bit better. I think my fever had gone away. And I got to take a shower! My 4th one! Two showers a week seems a pretty good average here.

It's interesting, my internship class teacher said the first two periods of culture shock are the honeymoon when everything is new and exciting (this is the only period you really have when you go on vacation for less than a month) and then the plunge when everything stinks and you hate the world and you compare everything to your country and find it lacking. This he said usually sets in when you realize this is not a vacation or an adventure but regular life. It can be set off by several things often the first day at work or sickness. In my case, the two came at the same time and then I continued to get sicker so now I'm really really suffering culture shock. I still really think I will like it here it's just a matter of struggling through these next couple of days or weeks.

Teaching Kids

2009-01-22T07:30:00.002-05:00

Teaching has gotten better. We're starting to figure out which kids go well together and which kids to keep apart. I have a couple of favorites. Andrew is a problem child because he's really smart and his parents know English so he's ahead of all the other kids and gets bored but when he is well behaved he is a joy to have in class. Artiom is way way cute when he wants to do something because he will fold his arms and then jump up and down saying "Pvick me! Pvick me! I vant to do eet. I being goood." Nastya and Anya are both adorable little girls that are very well behaved. Barvara is way cute too though she doesn't speak very much. Sviat is the cutest kid in glasses ever. Ilya works well with certain kids and badly with others but when he's good he's golden. Our biggest problems are actually not the hyper kids because they usually lead the other kids in speaking and if you can channel the hyperactivity it makes our job a lot easier it's the kids who are tuned out. Alice, Anya, and Ivan are all off in their own Russian world so that the English can't penetrate so we can't get them to do anything with us. And it's weird because they can speak when they are plugged in they just rarely are. But "iz fun" as they say. They all have the most adorable Russian accents. So it's a constant struggle but it's fun. I'm loosing my voice from talking so much though. Three hours of constant talking is hard stuff. As for adventures, Tuesday the morning teachers all went into the city to wander. We went down souvenir street which was way cool and took the funicular back up. Then we went to a cafe for hot chocolate and then went to the Branch President's to watch the inauguration of Obama. The next day the papers had a picture of Obama with the caption "новый пресидент америки" which was cool to see. Wednesday, I waited at the school so that I could go home with Meagan, Vanya, and Misha. The two boys were showing us the fast way home because we had aparently been going ridiculously out of our way to get on the metro and then walk to the school. It was quite an adventure to be led through the dark streets of Kiev by two 11 year old cousins. Wow. But the way is a lot faster so I am indebted to them. Then I had an awesome dinner of kasha, sausage, and vinegrette (beets, onions, and other vegetables cut up with vinegar on them soooo good). I got to take my third shower here! It was awesome. Today I think I'm going to go to the store and then go into Kiev to see some of the monuments. I've finally figured out how to really use my guide book so that should be good. Thanks for all the comments, it's really encouraging to know I have friends back in the US!

2009-01-20T02:11:00.002-05:00

Okay, I'm back. They called me and I knew I was going to be late but I decided to go anyways. So I walked down to the metro station (it's about a mile so it takes a while) and got on. Soon I was kind of dozing. All of a sudden I heard palatz sportoo so I jumped off the metro right as the doors were closing...only to find they had been announcing that was the next stop. So by this time I was going to be really late. I was trying to decide what to do when this guy comes down the stairs chanting something. I thought maybe he was collecting money because I'd seen a little boy doing that earlier but when I listened to what he was saying I heard, "Don't learn English. We are Russian. The Soviets were awesome. The Americans brought this depression upon us." and I started to freak out thinking "He's going to kill me!" So I edged closer to the two babuski I was standing next to hoping they'd protect me and as soon as the next train came I ran and got on. But it was headed back. So I decided just to go home. On my way, I had another interesting encounter when I ran into some Russian guys. I can usually intimidate most guys by being so tall, but Russian guys are tall to so they were scared. They were right in my way so I had to go between the two of them and they called out to me, "Девушка, девушка, где вы ходите?" (young lady, where are you going). It was extremely terrifying. But I didn't make eye contact and just kept going and they didn't follow me. I was really really happy to get home that night. And I got to eat borscht which was delicious. The next day I had to teach. It was a fiasco because none of us knew what we were in for. I had to teach in the kitchen but I wasn't teaching kitchen because we decided not to do it this week so I was trying to teach games and all of the kids were throwing a fit because they wanted to eat. This situation was exaccerbated by the fact that I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep because my stupid body believes that in changing time zones again I've gone back to Australia and therefore need to get up at 3 when I went to bed at 11 and this was the 6th night I've done that so I was getting really sick from lack of sleep. So when I finished, I went home and crashed on my bed and slept for 11 hours. This morning when I woke up, my host mom knocked on the door and said, "Bы гивёте?" (You're living?) When I said I was, she answered, "I vas first day? Yes?" Goodness life is getting hard. I think I am now going through culture shock. The first week was fine but now that I actually realize I'm staying here and have to teach kids everyday I'm kind of freaking out. But this too shall pass. Let's hope it does quickly.

Kiev continues!

2009-01-19T07:23:00.002-05:00

So saturday we went and saw the city. It was really fun. We saw the Golden Gate (the ancient entrance to Kiev 900AD), Saint Sofia Cathedral, and Independence Square. And we went to the most awesome Ukrainian cafeteria. You pointed at amazing Ukrainian food and they gave it to you and then you went to the kaca and paid (2 dollars for a HUGE meal, varenki, borsht, dill bread, potatoes, the exchange rate is awesome) and then you went and sat down at one of huge, very Russian, very unprivate tables. It was sweet. Sunday, I went to church at the international branch so sadly it was in English. But the speakers were both actually Russian. One guy gave an awesome talk about how Satan could be compared to this radio sport that he used to play when he was younger where you would stick radio signal messer-uppers out in the field so that your enemy couldn't find their way to the next spot. He's the institute teacher too so it'll be fun. Then after church we went to the Branch president's house for brownies and a security briefing. They said Kiev is actually comparatively safe when compared to Philadelphia, New York or other US cities of comparable size. But he said that crime is on the rise because of the depression which is hitting Ukraine hard. One of my friends told me her host mom said we have to be careful because last month a lot of people weren't paid so they are desperate. He said also that political demonstrations tend to happen during depressions so we need to be careful. I was really tired so I decided to go home. I started walking back with two friends. But pretty soon we didn't really know where we were. They begged me to ask for directions but while I knew how to ask I wasn't sure if I'd understand the response so I was really really nervous. Finally, I mustered my courage and asked a less angry looking babushika (everyone here looks extremely angry because smiling or talking in public is not done). I asked very haltingly where the metro station was. She smiled and nodded encouragingly and then took me by the arm and dragged me over and pointed (I love babushki). We were 100 feet from it. So then I got on and went home. Pretty soon it was time for me to leave for the fireside but the other girls hadn't left yet so I wait for them. to be continued....

Kiev

2009-01-17T12:01:00.002-05:00

The actual post is a comment on this because I can't get the site to let me paste.

Christmas

2008-12-07T23:28:00.002-05:00

I am so excited for the Christmas season. It is my very very favorite time of the year for many reasons. I love making gingerbread cookies and lasagna, watching silly Christmas movies, and doing the towel theatre. But most of all I love that this time of year people don't look at you funny for being exuberant about service. I love thinking of fun things to do to serve and giving people little Christmas surprises but this year I'm afraid I'm going to be too stressed out to do anything really special. I really hate that finals have to come right before Christmas. For me commercialism is not so much an interfering factor with the Christmas spirit as stress is. I have so much stuff to get done I feel swamped. What makes it worse is the guilt of not doing all the cute Christmasy things I want to do. So this year, I'm going to have to figure out a way around the Christmas time problems. I really really do want to honor my savior in my little gifts because he gave us the greatest of gifts, eternal life through his sacrifice. So this is my goal to figure out little things that I can do when I have a couple minutes so that it won't add too much to my stress but I can still feel like I am trying in some small respect to show my gratitude for his incredible sacrifice.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T15:21:00.003-05:00

Because of thanksgiving and other experiences, I have recently been thinking about all the things I'm grateful for. I can truly tell that my Heavenly Father loves me because of all the miracles I see around me everyday. I am grateful for the world which he has given us to live in. I am grateful that it has diversity in its landscape, in its people, and in its experiences. In my geology class we have been learning about the way in which the earth works and it is incredible to realize that even something which seems as steady and solid as a mountain has been and still is being shaped and molded. This world has so many intricate parts that must all come together in the right way for us to be able to live on it. When I also consider the chemistry class, I've been taking, it gets even more complicated, not only are the rocks in the mountains moving but the molecules and atoms in the rocks are in constant motion. Without the rules that hold everything together, it would never work to say that solid objects are made up of atoms that are mostly empty space. So our physical earth is an amazing gift from God.

Add to that the amazing differences in people that we have. Everyone has different talents that make our world amazing. My roommates are all artists, and I think just how amazing it is that they all have that gift so that they can help beautiful our world. I also think it is amazing how we have so many different cultures in this world and I'm really grateful for the opportunities to learn about them.

I am also really grateful for the experiences we can have on this earth. I am grateful for the opportunity to come to BYU and to be able to study all sorts of different subjects. I'm so grateful that I was put in my family to be raised. I'm so grateful for my parents and siblings who have always been so good at letting me know they loved me. I am grateful for the opportunity to travel that we have in this modern age. It is really amazing how fast we can get from one side of the globe to the other.

This is just a short list of the things I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for.

Trials

2008-11-28T13:19:00.002-05:00

Recently, I was reading in John and I came across a metaphor that really stuck me because it seemed really applicable to things I've been dealing with recently. In John 16 Christ says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." (John 16:20-22). I really was stuck by the idea of trial of the woman in travail. I think our trials often work that way that we have to work through hard times to have the blessings that are awaiting us that will bring us infinite joy.

I have been planning for a while to go to Eastern Europe to teach English. My plan was to go next winter but recently I got the impression that I needed to go in January. This kind of impulsive thing is so uncharacteristic of me that it has been really hard for me. I really have to do a lot of things that are contrary to my nature to make it work. Added to this some obstacles to going seem just impossible to overcome. But everytime I conquer one of these obstacles, I feel really happy and proud of myself and I know that if I can get everything in order, this trip will bring me a lot of joy.

I am glad that our Father in Heaven gives us trials that bring us joy.

Why do we seek him?

2008-11-17T01:01:00.003-05:00

"Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled" --John 6:26

I was reading the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand and after he feeds them they all hunt him down and follow him. But Jesus says they follow him only because he fed them and they are expecting more food. He teaches them "I am the bread of life" and they all look at him like "Okay. when are you going to give us more food?" Then he tries to teach them about Moses giving their ancestors mana but he will give them "living bread" and they start whispering to each other "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" When they realize he isn't passing out free food they all disperse.

I know we totally do that today, in two ways. First of all, we relate to these people in a very literal sense. Often (especially as college students we go to things because there is free food. So we ned to think of other lesson this teaches us. To question our motives for following Christ. Are we going for the food? For the social experience? To look like a good person? Our works aren't going to do us any good unless we are following Christ for the right reasons.

Master the Tempest is Raging

2008-11-01T00:59:00.004-04:00

Last Sunday, my roommates and I went to a musical meeting where a pianist and violinist played a beautiful arrangement of one of my favorite hymns, Master the Tempest is Raging. This hymn is one my favorites because it really seems to describe my life sometimes. The words describe being tossed around by life. Around now with all the midterms and projects, I sometimes really feel that I am completely on for the ride and completely out of control of my life. But as the scriptures remind us, Christ is Lord over all the things in this world and he can bring peace. I have faith that if he can bring peace to the elements and calm the waves. He can calm the waves in my life and calm my troubled soul. This brings me great comfort to know that if I don't feel in control, there is still one who I can count on to help pilot me through the turbulent storms of life. Here is a website with the words and tune of this awesome hymn http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/a/mastertt.htm.

Art

2008-11-01T00:38:00.002-04:00

How does being an artist fit in with the gospel? That is a question that I think a lot of the students in the art department here at BYU ask themselves. We know that we have been given these talents by our Father in Heaven and so we need to use them to help build his kingdom.

One way I think we can see art's relation to the gospel is by visiting religious exhibits and just looking at religious art like we did on Thursday. By studying the religious art of the past we can learn the rich heritage of symbols that artists before us have used that we can employ in our own works.

One of my favorite pieces in the show we saw was the picture of Christ Subject to his parents which was full of so much symbolism with the cross, the water jug, the wheat basket, etc. I was also very intrigued to learn why Joseph is always shown as older. I had never even considered Jesus' siblings as being Joseph's children from a previous marriage. That was a very interesting idea which helped to understand the traditional representation of Joseph.

I think it is really important for artists to know as much as they possibly can. Great art is not created when artists have mastered just art but when they apply their mastery of disciplines outside of art so create something truly amazing. This certainly applies to the religious artworks which we saw. The artists had mastered symbolism and scriptural knowledge to create such amazing pieces.

And all these are the beginning of sorrows...

2008-10-12T15:37:00.002-04:00

In Matthew 24, Christ prophesies of the terrible things to come in the last days. He tells of Anti-Christs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestileces, earthquakes. And then he says, "All these are the beginning of sorrows" (24:8). Holy cow, we're in trouble! Recently I've been thinking of all the scary things that have gone on in the last couple of months, hurricanes, Russia's war with Geogria, the economic craziness and it is scary. Yet, this is just the beginning of our sorrows. But the message of Christ is "Be not afraid, only believe" (Mark 5:36). Amid his prophecies of fearful things, he also includes hope; "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world" and "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved". It is nice to know that while we are enduring these frightful things that seem to be swirling around us these days, Christ is always there to help us and give us comfort. He has given us so many things to help us through. He has given us the scriptures to warn us of these things, living Prophets to warn and guide us in what to do, and the Holy Ghost to comfort us. All these things together can prepare us for anything, and "when ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30). I'm so glad.

Whose image?

2008-10-03T20:07:00.003-04:00

I was reading in Matthew the other night and I came across the famous story of Christ paying taxes. It goes like this. Some people come to Christ and ask "What thinkest thou? It is lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?"

Jesus answers, "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money." They bring out a coin and he asks, "Whose is this image and superscription?"

When they answer that it is Caesar's he gives the moral, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things which are God's."

This got me thinking, what things do we need to render unto God. I came up with some ideas and then I had a thought. In this story the people are told to render unto Caesar the things which have Caesar's image ingraven on them. What bears God's image?

Genesis 1:26-27 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." So that which we should render unto unto God is ourself! I thought that was really cool.

Painting Christ

2008-09-27T03:33:00.004-04:00

The other day, I decided to decorate my New Testament folder. I decided to paint a picture of Christ. This is the second time I have done this. Both times I have been impressed by the feelings I have gotten while doing it. It is by far the hardest thing I have ever tried to paint. I feel so inadequate to the task because in getting ready to paint Him, I have to think about what he is and what he means to me.

He is the Son of God. He is my Savior and Redeemer. He was the only perfect person to live on the Earth. My older brother who loved me enough to suffer and die for me so that I could return to be with my Father in Heaven again. I love him and want to follow him with all my heart.

How can I presume to capture even a fraction of this in my painting? I understand very well the stylization of the Iconographer's style. I feel like I can create a symbol which means Christ much better than I can actually represent him. Much of art history really inspires me because so much of the art of the past was created to honor and worship God. As an artist I feel I can learn a great deal about worship from the examples of these earlier religious artists, whether or not they are Christian. Art in the past was often very very expensive and the money alone does honor. Often I think since the time of the Reformation, Protestant (and therefore LDS) churches have frowned the idea of lavish ornamentation. But I think that it is a definite worshipfulness about it, much like the woman who anointed the Lord. Another thing I like about historical religious art is the symbolism. Images like the good shepherd, Peter with the keys, and even the image of the halo allow us to visualize and therefore better understand abstract ideas.

The picture I decided to paint was a very common Early Christian symbol of Christ, that of Christ as the good shepherd. This image I find to be very true to my image of Christ because I often feel him in my life reaching out to me when I feel lost. It is not quite done yet.

Consider the Lilies

2008-09-18T00:03:00.005-04:00

The other day, I was reading Matt. 6. Then in Sunday School the lesson was on Pride. The teacher quoted President Ezra Taft Benson who said "Pride is the Universal Sin" and defined pride as enmity. We went on to discuss how we battle pride in our lives. This discussion immediately made me think of what I had read in Matthew. When I went back and looked it seemed that the entire chapter was about pride. Christ starts out on a religious theme discussing seeking "the glory of men" (Matt 6:2) and "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" (Matt 6:3). This section seems to me to discuss the "holier than thou" attitude. In two ways, first that we seek to convince ourselves of our piety through extravagant gestures to build up our pride and secondly that we seek to build ourselves up over others by showing off to them our devotion. At then end of this section Christ reminds us of the greatness of God and our own insignificance saying, "your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him" (Matt. 6:8). He then demonstrates the proper form of a prayer. The prayer of the Savior is very humble asking for forgiveness and admitting the power and glory of God.

The next poignant passage I came across was "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt. 6:19-21) If our treasure is the things of this world, our heart will be set on pride. "No man can serve two masters" (Matt 6:24); we cannot serve ourselves and God.

Then Christ begins to compare us to the animals and plants. He reminds us that our Father takes care of the sparrows and the lilies. I loved the image when he says "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow' they toil not neither do they spin:And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" (Matt. 6:28-29). This made me think of art. As artists, we love to exhault our creations, but it is true that even the greatest painting and sculptures cannot compare to that which God created. But not only in art, we make a huge fuss over new scientific advances in machinery, but we can produce nothing which remotely compares to the complexity and effectiveness of a plant leaf.

The final parting thoughts are "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt 6:33). These same words are echoed in the Book of Mormon particularly when we are talking about pride as Jacob 2. One of Christ's messages through out the ages has been that we should forget ourselves and press forward with single to the light of God. But to have that eye singled means we cannot be looking down from our pride-built pedestal on our fellowmen. We must remember that we need to look up.