I can't believe I'm here!

Okay, so I noticed that I am long winded… I just like to give a lot of details. But, because I figured y’all wouldn’t enjoy reading super long blog posts I will shorten things up and only tell certain stories.

So main things y’all will probably want to know:

My host family: Nastia is my host Mom and Andrei is my host Dad. They have 3 children, Danya (8), Marsha (6), and Tonya (4). My host family is awesome. The Mom and Dad speak some English. I feel as though Andrei feels more comfortable having conversations with us than Nastia. Andrei is HILARIOUS. He acts out a lot of what he is saying in English and Jenna and I die laughing every time. Nastia was pretty intiminating when we first met her but she is really really nice and I haven’t had any problems what so ever with her or Andrei. The kids know very very little English. We still have fun with the two girls though, they like sitting in my lap and laughing at me trying to learn some Russian. Marsha likes helping me try to speak Russian. She says the word and after I butcher the pronunciation she says it slowly having me copy each part of the word or phrase. She then will laugh and say “No!” and repeat the word again or giggle and say “Yes!” with a big thumbs up. The kids are great, Danya, is slowly starting to warm up to me and Jenna. So hopefully he’ll hang out with us more.

House: The house I live in is incredible! It is Huge!!! Most of the other girls in my ILP group are living in apartments, with no hot water. We not only have hot water but we have a dang nice shower. It is nicer than mine in the USA. That was definitely a surprise and not normal for the Ukraine. Jenna and I lucked out, and I am so thankful for that! However, the towel they gave me to use is so small that it doesn’t even wrap around my body… and I have to share with Jenna, but I don’t mind. It is what it is! My bed is… well it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world and it squeaks like crazy, but after walking all day long I always crash. I will definitely be getting a massage when I get back to the states, and a good foot rub. :) 

                                                    This is my House... Yes, all of it. 

Food: The food here is AWESOME! I had no idea what to expect and I have enjoyed almost everything that I have tried. Our family has a cook, Olga. She doesn’t know any English except the word “food”. In which she comes to our bedroom door and says “food” and points to the kitchen. The first day I got here she made literally a feast of food for Jenna and I. We usually aren’t big eaters but we tried to eat as much as possible. I’ve eaten a lot of potatoes, some mystery meat that was really good, chicken, potatoes, eggs, potatoes, kasha or porridge type stuff, ham or maybe it was turkey sandwich, potatoes, something that looked like a pot sticker, noodles, potatoes, bread, cheese, potatoes, honey, rice, potatoes, bread with apples and cherries in it, pig fat (it had a weird texture), vegetables, potatoes, pizza (which is definitely European), McDonalds and ice cream. It’s a good thing I like potatoes. :) I mostly drink water but I have had a few other things. My family makes a fruit juice that is basically just boiled water with fruit in it.. it looks gross, and doesn’t taste very good just because there isn’t any sugar in it so it’s not like juice I usually drink. Milk, from a bag, it tastes different but I enjoyed it. And some Sprite, that I had a fun time trying to buy in a store.

:) 

Traveling: Every day, I walk up some sketchy stairs and up a hill to get to the bus stop. It takes Jenna and I about 10-15 minutes to get to the bus or mashutka stop. I’m sure the stairs and the walk will not be so fun when it starts snowing. Then we take a 10 minute mashutka ride to the Roshen chocolate factory (very convenient but very dangerously delicious), then it’s about a 15 minute walk to the school that Jenna, Alexis, and I will be teaching at. *scroll down to section about school for more information about this* Going home from the school we take a trolley bus and walk. Y’all should be proud of me for mastering public transportation. ;) I’ve also taken a Metro and a normal bus. It’s been pretty interesting, especially when people start talking to me in Russian. But, I guess that means I don’t look that foreign… or maybe they just figure I know Russian… but I’m going to stick with I don’t look that foreign. Oh, I now own a Metro pass, a trolley pass, and Ukrainian money (Hryvnia).

School: Originally, I thought that all of the girls who were assigned to Kiev 1 school would be in one school. That is not that case. All the girls are split up into different schools. There are 3 schools total: Central School (me, Alexis, and Jenna), Nyvky School (Erika S., Afton, Alisha, and Kylie), and Planet school (Hanna, Taia, Erika L., and Mallory). I’ll give more information on my school, central school, after I actually start teaching.

                                          Jenna, me, and Alexis... Central school teachers! 

Teaching and kids: So, the first few days that I have been here, we have just been training and getting ready to start teaching which is tomorrow… or today, since I can’t post this until I have wifi. (September 3^rd, 2012). I teach the primary level kids, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 4-7 pm. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:30-1pm, I teach ELE. ELE is basically just going into a Ukraine high school English class and talking to them about anything. That is the impression I have so far, because I don’t have to make a lesson plan for that. Also, I don’t start doing ELE until next week. Primary starts tomorrow and for the first 2 weeks I will be teaching the 3 same SPE’s (Sincronized play sessions) Shop, Gym, and Drama. I’ll give more information on all of this once I actually get started teaching.

Culture Shock: I’ve been to many different places around the world, so maybe that’s why culture shock hasn’t been dramatic for me. Not knowing any Russian is terrifying especially because the alphabet is so different that I can’t even pretend to know what nay signs mean. I have learned a few words, but basically “I don’t understand” is the phrase I use most often… but in Russian of course… it sounds like “yanny penny mayo”. I got sick on Friday because of all my traveling, jet lag, and change of food. Friday wasn’t the best day just because I was throwing up all day but I somehow managed to get to the school but then I fell asleep while trying to prepare my lessons, thankfully, Alexis and Jenna were understanding. Especially Jenna, she helped me all day and kept asking me if I was feeling any better. I was so weak that I seriously couldn’t pick up my pen to write. I don’t remember the last time that I was that sick, but thankfully it was only a one day thing. On Saturday I felt much much much better, I did feel a little nauseous after I ate but I think that was just because I hadn’t eaten in awhile. Funny story: So my poor host Dad knew I was sick, with my frequent runs to the bathroom in the morning before I left to go to the school and he knocked on my door and asked if I was okay.. after a bit he came back with some medicine and a small bottle of aroma therapy type stuff. He told me to take 2 of the medicine and to smell the aroma stuff when I felt like I would throw up because it would calm my stomach. He then told me that Riley, his last ILP girl, also got sick and that it was the “tripster disease”. It cracked me up. The aroma stuff and medicine didn’t really help but like I said I am 100% better today and felt much better the next day. The main difference between here and where I have lived in the U.S. is that everyone walks everywhere and takes public transportation. I have never walked so much in my life and my legs definitely burn but it is getting easier and easier every day that I am here. Hopefully I’ll just have really nice legs when I get home ;)

Communication: Before coming to the Ukraine my family and I decided that I wouldn’t get an international plan because it cost so much. However, one of my friends told me about an app that I can get and still text message and call people from, the app is called textplus, by the way. I love this app! It is so much cheaper than an international plan and it works really well! The only down side to it is that I can only use it on my iphone when I have wifi. I currently do not have wifi in my house but I do at the school I work at and in McDonalds. Jenna and I are buying a router to have wifi in our house. So it will be easier to communicate even more with my family, especially because the time difference is crazy! I am 7 hours ahead of the east coast, 8 hours ahead of central time, and 9 hours ahead of mountain time. It gets a little bit cray cray and I think my mom would appreciate it when I don’t call her at 7 in the morning. :) You’re welcome Mom, Love you! :) 

Church: Besides leaving my house at 7:40am to get to Church at 10am, it was so great to in an English speaking branch. Our international branch meets right next to Kiev Temple. The temple is so beautiful and our church building is really big and beautiful too. Not what I was expecting but happily surprised.

So that’s about it for now. If any of y’all have questions about Kiev, or anything at all go ahead and leave a comment and  I will answer the questions in my next entry.

Wish me luck on my first day teaching!