Easter Weekend

April 26,2011
This long weekend started off with Jennii and I teaching a double shift on Friday. This meant we taught the morning group from 9-1 and the afternoon from 3-7.  We did this as a favor to the morning teachers because they willingly taught a double for us a few weeks ago so we could get better.  I was super nervous for it.... I mean it's hard enough trying to make it through 4 hours of teaching but 8? Thank goodness I had 

Jennii right there with me because she kept me positive and energetic =) Teaching in the morning was actually a lot of fun! The kids were fun and silly and there was only half as many of the kids we have in the afternoon so it was super nice.  We got done teaching the morning half and had a few hours to eat and get ready for round two.  Somehow I made it through the next 4 hours of teaching... not sure how I did that without falling asleep but I did! Needless to say I have never been so exhausted in my 

life! Kids wear you out! But I'm glad we could give the other girls a break =) So after teaching I headed home for my 3 day weekend! I spent the first night staying up really late watching Gilmore Girls =) On Saturday I slept in and then spent the whole day at home with my host family basking in the sun.  It was about 70 degrees here! It felt like heaven!  I was outside about 95% of the day playing with my host brother, reading, tanning, sleeping, eating, catching butterflies, playing soccer, etc.  It was so fun to hang out with my family because I don't usually have a lot of time to spend with them.  We also spent some time painting eggs and making Easter cake. It was a very relaxing Saturday =) Then on Sunday we got up and headed over to my host Uncles house and spent Easter with them.  I played with the kids, went on an Easter egg hunt, ate delicious food, and soaked up the sun.  It was definitely weird not being home for Easter, I'm glad we had an Easter egg hunt =) It was funny because my host mom hid the eggs and 

in the end we couldn't find one! This reminded me of how Dad can't ever remember where he puts all of his eggs.  I told my Host mom we should have made a map of where she hid them and she just laughed at me.  Since I found the most eggs I got some chocolate as a prize =) On Monday I slept in and took my sweet time getting ready and then headed out to hangout with Natalie, Auvi, and Ameri.  We all met at Khrishatic and decided to people watch for a little.  After only being there for a few minutes we noticed a guy that was cleaning off his bench before sitting on it. He noticed us looking at him and waved to us, so we of course waved back.... bad idea.  He then 

proceeded to come toward us and since we don't speak very much Russian we just sat there awkwardly while he, Artem, rambled on and on and tried to use some English here and there.  We finally found a way to escape and as we were getting up to leave Artem put his fingers up to his lips, meaning he wanted a kiss before we left.  We all just laughed and walked away.  Gotta love people watching =) We then headed over to Friendship Arch.  They have a few amusement park rides over there and we decided to try one out.  It was called the Matrix and looked a lot like the Magic Carpet ride.  It turned out to be SUCH a fun ride! The seats were really big so while it was going around and around you would just bounce around in your seat.  I forgot how much I love going on rides! After the ride we headed across the bridge to go spend some time at the beach, little did we know it was a nude beach... JUST KIDDING =) It was so nice out and there were so many people out making sand castles, playing cards, tanning, and reading.  I could have spent the rest of my day there! I definitely plan on going back another day! We spent some time soaking our feet in the freezing water and then headed

 back across the bridge. I absolutely love 3 day weekends =) It's amazing how much the sun has opened my eyes to how beautiful Kyiv is and that I really am going to miss it here! This weekend we head out on our 10 day vacation to Poland and Crimea, and then after that we will only have 2 and 1/2 weeks left of teaching! I cannot believe how fast time has flown! Since I have such little time left I have decided I am going to LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT =)

 Here are some more pictures from my weekend =)

 Left: After spending a night barbecuing this was our view =)


Right: Vova was trying to teach me how to skateboard, he is super talented

 Left: This loving dish is called 'blood of a pig' still think it looks good? Think again :/


Right: Easter Eve barbecue, the food here is AMAZING

 Left: Looking out over the river above the beach


Right: Behind me is the bridge we walked across to get to the beach, do you notice the SUN! =)

 Left: Natalie and Auvi being so silly! Gotta love height differences =)


Right: Sorry I cut off your face Nat!I love these girls <3
 Happy Easter!

"This Has Gotta Be the Good Life"

April 26, 2011              About a month and a half ago my head teacher Ameri found out that One Republic would be doing a European Tour in April.  This meant that they were coming to Ukraine on the 13th.  A few of us decided to get tickets because we love One Republic.  We went and bought are tickets and then decided it would be really fun to get all dressed up for this concert because it was being held in a really nice club called the Crystal Hall. For the next few weeks we all searched for some really cute outfit to wear.  The concert was on a Wednesday night and started at 9.  So after teaching we hurried and changed and got all ready and headed over to Crystal Hall.  Getting ready took a little longer than we expected and by the time we got to the hall 

there was a really long line out the door. We thought that this was a line for people who hadn't bought tickets; we were wrong.  It was the line for the people with tickets.  We hurried and got in line and anxiously waited to get inside, not just because we were really excited but also because it was raining and we didn't have umbrellas or hoods.... not the best planing on our parts.  I guess we forgot the nursery rhyme "April showers bring May flowers."  Finally after waiting for 40 minutes we got inside and checked in our coats and found a spot on the dance floor.  I really was not expecting the place to have that many people in it considering it was an American band.  Boy was I wrong.  It was the most crowded concert I have ever been too. Then again I have only been to 3, but still it was super crowded.  We got all situated and then had to wait for One Republic to come out.  The concert finally started at 10, and they played about 14 or 15 songs.  It was a really good concert, they played all my favorites: Marching On, Goodlife, Apologize, 

Secrets, All the Right Moves, Say All I Need, etc.  The best part about the concert, other than the fact that they were amazing live, was that they let you take pictures! Everyone had their cameras and phones out.  I took a bunch of videos but of course none of them turned out... at least I got a few decent photos =) The concert got done and then we had to go through the miserable rush of trying to get our coats.  Imagine 1500 people all trying to cram into one little hallway to get their coats. That is pretty much how it went... not the funnest 

endeaver.  We finally got our coats and headed outside and realized we didn't have enough time or energy to make it to the Metro before it closed so we decided to take a cab.  Our driver was super cool and knew really good English.  Surprisingly enough he said he had been a singer in New York for a while and he let us listen to his CD.  He was a super nice guy =) I was so thankful we were able to drive instead of walk because after standing in heels for almost 3 hours my feet were pretty tired.  All in all it was one amazing concert =) 

It Has Been Foretold...

April 15,2011
Last Sunday we watched the Sunday morning session of General Conference and afterwards a few of us headed over to Rockie's house to hang out before going to a Relief Society birthday party later that night.  Rockie has the sweetest babushka *grandma* ever! She is such a sweetheart. She made us an amazing dinner and afterwards wanted to read mine and Jennii's fortunes.  Jennii went first and while she was gone Kami played with my hair.  She is so talented with her hands! This was the final outcome! It was super cool. I felt like Kira Knightly in Pride and Prejudice when Jane is doing her hair for the ball.  Hopefully one day I will learn to braid my own hair. =) 

 There ended up being about 7 braids 

in my hair =) super cool.  Jennii finally came back and it was my turn to have my fortune read.  She started off by getting my birth date and from there made a 3x3 square and put in how many times I had each number ranging from 1-9.  From there each number meant something.  I turned out to be a number 6 overall which meant: I am good with my hands. This is what the fortune looked like in the end.  

The 1's mean: I have a strong character
The 2's mean: Lots of energy
Since I didn't have any 3's it meant: No math skills, more of the artsy type (I didn't need a fortune teller to know that =))
The 4 means: I will be healthy and well off
Not having 5's meant: I have no logic and I like to daydream (I always knew there was something wrong with me... guess I'm lacking logic =))
The 6's mean: Love to work, good with my hands 
Not having 7's meant: I have a lot of freedom with my life
The 8 means: I have a strong love for my parents and responsibility to care for them
The 9's mean: Good memory


Some other notable points:
Family is really important to me
I will want to give money to others, service
I must find a job I will be happy with
I think a lot, must pray to God
Good with people
Teach 
Don't be lazy
Like to have things NOW
Find a husband who listens to me
Children will mean a lot to me
Develop talents
It was weird how just from getting my birth date she could give me all this information about myself and how a lot of it was right! It was a really cool experience =)

A Solution to Happiness

April 15, 2011
I have learned a lot about myself while being in the Ukraine.  One of those things is my love for chocolate.  It never can  go wrong and it never seems to get old =) That being said my fellow teacher, Kenzie, discovered a combination that is TO DIE FOR.  She had the genius idea to put a chocolate bar in bread.  I'm not going to lie, when she first told me this I thought ' are you kidding me? That sounds disgusting!' Well since then I have indeed had a change of heart.  Sometimes I wonder why it never crossed my mind to think of this genius invention giving how much I eat chocolate.   It is seriously the most amazing combination ever! And it just so happens that they have these shops here all over Kyiv that make bread right in front of you and then sell a fresh loaf for 5 hryvna which is less than a dollar! I mean who can resist that? The bread is amazing by itself but with the chocolate bar it's DELISH!  I would say try it and find out for yourself what you think? But that would require me sending you a loaf of this amazing bread and a bar of the little babooshka chocolate for you to truly understand why we love it so much.  How long do you think bread lasts? I'm not sure it would still be good after 20 hours of flying.... Oh and it just so happens there is one right next to our bus stop and after a stressful day at school its the perfect solution to happiness.  I might be a little bit addicted =)

They make it in this fire pot thing! 

It is the coolest thing ever! =)

Only takes like 5-10 min

Jennii and I so excited to eat our bread and chocolate =)

What a good dinner!

 The bread is so warm that the chocolate 

starts to melt the minute you put

it on it =)

 A 15 minute bus ride is the perfect length to finish

this treat =) Afterwards we sorta feel like fatties...

but it was sooo good we don't even care =)

Arachnophobia

April 9, 2011
Today marks a very big day in my life.  I was sitting at home watching a video on my laptop when out of the corner of my eye I saw something scurry by on the floor.  It was a spider. My heart immediately started to pound.  I tried to just push it out of my mind and continue watching my show but then I started thinking 'if I don't get it now it could crawl on me during the night!' The spider was about 5 feet away from where I was sitting. I wanted to run out of my room for a few minutes and just wait for it to leave but I knew if I did that I would never get any sleep for fear of seeing it later.  I slowly stood up and grabbed my slipper and started inching toward the spider.  It of course just sat still and watched my every move.  I lifted the  slipper above my head and tried to get my arm to swing down to smash the spider but I couldn't get myself to do it! I was having an inner battle with myself.  If I were back home my fearless parents would save me from this horrid situation but I'm not at home and I didn't want to risk asking my host parents to help me in the fear that the spider would scurry away. I began to laugh at myself, "just do it!" I decided I should have a bigger shoe to kill the spider so I grabbed my tennis shoe and inched closer to the spider. Still it did not move a muscle.  I gathered all my energy and swung my arm as hard as I could at the spider.  The shoe hit the spider but it wasn't dead yet it needed another smack.  I summoned up one more swing and was able to kill the spider.  I quickly moved away from it, grabbed some toilet paper and threw it down the toilet! My heart was still racing and my hands were shaking and my mind was racing. I just killed my very first spider! This momentous occasion doesn't really change much of how I react to spiders. I am still just as terrified as ever maybe even a little bit more.  But at least I know that if I summon the courage I can kill it! =) 

Self Portrait

April 7, 2011
This week we had open class.  This is where the parents come in and watch us teach.  I get nervous just teaching by myself, add parents watching and I'm a mess! Side effects of this dreadful week are usually, but not limited to, anxiety, panic, stress, no appetite, no sleep etc.  After having 2 days of this I got home tonight and I was pretty tired and hoping to get to bed early to catch up on my sleep... my plans did not work out.  I walked in the door and was first greeted by my dogs, then my babooshka.  I then was hoping I would be able to sneak into my room and my bed.  My room is right across from the kitchen so this is highly unlikely.  So as I was sneaking toward my bedroom of course my host mom stopped me and asked her favorite question, "Mindy, are you hungry?" I always feel really bad when I say no, and tonight we had company over so of course I said yes thinking I would hurry and eat then slip out to my room.  Well I started eating and was about to slip away when my host mom asked me to play Titanic for them.  I love to play the piano but I get really nervous when I have to play in front of people.  I was able to make it almost all the way through the song then my mind went blank... this always seems to happen in the same spot in this song and its super frustrating.  I of course went bright red and said sorry I couldn't remember it, they just laughed and smiled and said "Mindy its ok!" By this time I realized I actually was not too tired so I decided to hang out for a little. Little did I know that while I was sipping my tea Misha, Jennii's host brother, was drawing a portrait of me.  He comes over to me with his big drawing pad, points to the picture he has drawn, then points to me, meaning "this is a drawing of you."  I try and be nice and tell him it looks just like me because I don't want to criticize him for trying.  He then continues to show the rest of the guests his drawing and they all BURST out laughing! Here is the portrait of me, see the resemblance =) 

And here is the artist holding up his masterpiece of me =)
All in all it was a pretty good night! 

"Best. Day. Ever"

April 3, 2011
After our trip to Dresden we had the next day in Prague to do whatever we wanted.  We decided that we would sleep in a little and then head out.  Natalie was so nice to do my hair and let me wear her coat because the weather was so nice I didn't want to wear my big one.  Thank you Natalie! We headed out and just wandered around Prague with no destination in mind except to explore places we had not been yet.  We happened to run into this big wall of graffiti where you can write whatever you want on it.  Later I learned it is called the Lennon wall.  We picked a spot and all signed something on the wall.  It was amazing all the different things that were all over the wall! I decided to put up my favorite quote, "When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." - Jimi Hendrix.  It was pretty cool to put my mark up on the wall! 

 After spending some time taking pictures around this wall and adding our notes to it we headed on.  We then ran into a lock bridge.  Actually it was more like a lock wall! There were so many locks! We didn't have a lock to add but it was cute watching all the couples add   
 their locks to the bridge. We decided we wanted to head over Charles Bridge again and look at all the different shops.  Who knew that crossing a bridge could take almost 2 hours?! We stopped at every single little shop.  There are so many jewelry shops and places to get caricatures.

 While crossing the bridge you hear a lot of different things but something that we loved was listening to the 'bridge band'.  It was a group of old guys playing their instruments and singing.  They were so cute and happy! Their music was pretty awesome as well.  They even had a CD you could buy if you wanted.  How fun =) We mostly just spent the day going around looking at different shops and getting souvenirs.  At the end of the day we were pretty tired.  Ameri wears a pedometer and it counts how many miles she walks.  The final count for the day was 11.5 miles! We were out from 9 am until 10 pm! I don't think my feet have ever been so tired! But it was totally worth it! 
The next day we packed up all of our stuff and got on the bus.  We had our last little tour of Prague Castle, Stragovskiy Monastery, St. Vitus Cathedral and Caldshtejnsky Garden.  We 
were all pretty tired from the walking and busing everywhere that I didn't catch much of what the tour guide was saying.... oops! Here are some pictures from the tour: 

 Looking out over Prague. It was pretty foggy so you can't see much but it was beautiful! The building above was the town city hall.  This is where they held any kind of town business.  Below is the gateway into where the 'president' of Czech lives. 

 There are guards that stand at the gate and our tour guide told us to 'go make laugh' but we all thought he said 'go make love!' =) we all decided to take a picture with one of the guards and he was having the hardest time keeping a straight face... poor guy. =)  We then headed inside the cathedral.

 It was huge! and so gorgeous! It is not in practice anymore but it was cool to look around.

 This was a really cool mosaic.  Our tour guide told us that it was made up of 70,000 pieces! Can you imagine putting all of that together! It would take so long! It's amazing that it has been preserved after all these years! We then continued walking and ran into this Barbie exhibition! It reminded me of Rat Race when they go to the Barbie museum.  So funny! We didn't actually go in but it looked pretty fun. The last place he took us were the gardens.

They were beautiful! It had the most gorgeous outlook over all of Prague.  After our tour we packed up the bus and headed home.  We went through the whole country of Poland so that was cool! The border only took about 4 hours this time so that was nice! After a 30 hour bus ride we returned home to Ukraine.  I absolutely loved my tour of eastern Europe! It was so much fun to go to all those different countries! I definitely learned a lot! I will miss Prague the most but someday I hope to go back and see it all again!