I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane

May 26, 2011
There is a song called I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane by Chantal Kreviazuk and a few of the lines really describe how I've been feeling lately.  No matter how many times I listen to this song it pulls at my heart every time:
All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
Already I'm so lonesome I could die
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Every place I go, I think of you
Every song I sing, I sing for you
Now the time has come to leave you
Dream about the days to come
Obviously this isn't the whole song but these few lines really pertain to my experience here in Ukraine.  Of course I am excited to go home and be with my family and friends again.  But I am so sad to leave this place. Change is a strange thing to cope with.  I was finally starting to feel comfortable with my host family and my schedule and now I have to pack my bags and head home. I have been here for almost 5 months.  It has been my home.  Now I'm packing my bags and I don't know what to feel.  A part of me wants to be excited, but another side of me is screaming at me saying why on earth are you leaving this place?  Going home I will have to find a job, figure out college plans and get back into the swing of things.  I have been so care free for these past few months.  Coming to Ukraine has been an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.  I will never forget all the life lessons I have learned here, the friends I have made, or the places I have traveled to.  Ukraine has taught me that you do not need much to be happy.  The people here do not have very much but they make the most of what they do have.  They are so giving and so humble.  Being away from home has really taught me to appreciate the simple things in life, things I hope I never take for granted again.  Most of all it has made me realize how much I love the examples my parents have set for me.  They truly are shining beacons in my life, without them I would not be the person I am today.  They set the way and I will be forever grateful for that.  I hope one day I can be as good as parent to my kids as they are to me.  I also have learned that now is the time, you don't know what tomorrow will bring so you might as well make the most of today.  I am so lucky with my family, they are so good to me! Thank you to all of my siblings, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, and extended family for all of your support.  Your letters and emails have made all the difference. Time is quickly coming to a close, people are starting to say goodbye and whether I'm ready or not my plane heads home to America on June 1st.  
To sum up my feelings Kaitlin said it perfect:
I am leaving:
Ukraine in less than a week
All the adorable kids who won't remember me a year from now, yet I'll remember them for the rest of my life.
My dear sweet babushka
Teaching companions 
Native friends and coordinators
The most fantastic host family in all of Ukraine
What? Am I really leaving this place that I have lived for 139 days and learned to call home?
I am kind of freaking out.
Just a teeny tiny bit. 
I am excited/nervous/sad/scared/anxious/lost/overwhelmed (yes you can feel that all at once)  
Only a few more days here and I hope I can make the most of every moment.  

How do I adjust to real life again?  It has been 139 days since I left my home in Boise and headed to Ukraine.  I had no idea what to expect and things have been more amazing than I could ever hope for. Soon I will have to say goodbye to this beautiful place. I won't get up each day to my babushkas voice telling me its time for breakfast, I won't have to travel 40 minutes to my school, I won't take buses and metros to get everywhere, I won't be with the wonderful girls I have come so close to, I won't be able to teach the kids I have fallen in love with, I won't be with my host family anymore and I don't know when or if I will ever be back.  Frodo said it best "How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back.  There are some things that time cannot mend, some hurts that go to deep that have taken hold." My Ukrainian adventure is fast coming to close.  I have cried, laughed, learned, taught, danced, traveled, and experienced so much! Thank you ILP for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow so much.  I will remember this experience for the rest of my life and cherish it always.

BBQ-ING Ukrainian Style

May 21st 2011

Saturday was such a great day! It started off with all of our group and Kayla's group meeting up and heading to a BBQ/ talent show our coordinators put together for us. We were out in the woods right next to a little lake and it was absolutely beautiful.  The food included hot dogs, chips, and fruit, what could be better? While we were eating I kept feeling like we were camping and that I needed to be setting up a tent! I guess that means I miss camping or something =) After eating we had our own little talent show:

Ameri wrote some lyrics to 'Hey There Delilah' about our time in Ukraine for Igor and Tanya.  We had never practiced it before... so it was ... interesting.  Props to Ameri for writing a way cute song though!

    

Tanya and Igor did a little skit to "there's a hole in the bucket." It was the cutest thing ever! 
Kayla's group did handstands and a little dance! They are so talented! 

Center school did a little puppet show! It was a really cute story about a little 'roll.' Very creative guys!

Rockie jammed out to the boombox! 

Tanya and Igor are the best Native Coordinators ever!  I love them to death and I'm going to miss them so much! 

They gave all of us personalized certificates that congratulate us on completing the semester and give us rights to come back to Kiev whenever we want.  That was super sweet! They also gave each of us flower head dresses.  Each one is different and unique because they had a group of children with autism make them for us.  Can you say COOLEST gift ever! I love it so much! 

After this BBQ was over we all headed over to the Robert's house for another BBQ! It was just as amazing as the first! These people are so nice to feed us all the time! Along with feeding us we played some Rock Band which was a BLAST! I have missed Nintendo a lot since I have been here! It was so fun to just hang out with everyone and play around.  I cannot believe how fast time is flying by! 

Folk Dance Concert

 May 24, 2011
About a month ago we all got tickets to go see a folk dance concert on May 20th.  We weren't really sure what to expect but our coordinators told us it would be really neat.  Well the concert hall was HUGE and so many people were there!  

We got in and found our seats and then the show began. There was dancing and singing and an orchestra playing.  It was absolutely beautiful! The people were so talented. Here are some pictures from the show =)

I Love to See the Temple

May 24 2011-  Since we are heading home soon we decided that we wanted to go to the temple one last time before we came back to America.  We have been so fortunate to have a temple so close to where we live.  We all headed to the temple for the 5 o'clock session.
We had the privilege to hear from the temple president again.  He is a really cool guy!   He talked about how to get the temple inside of us.
1. Pray with temple words 2. Read the scriptures with temple eyes                                         3. Thank your ancestors.  I didn't realize that this is the first temple to be 

built in the USSR region! How cool is that =)  The session went amazing of course then afterwards we decided to take some pictures around the temple.  It was a beautiful day outside.  I'm so glad we decided to go one last time. I am definitely going to miss the Kyiv temple a lot and all the friends we made there!  My life is good. I've been blessed with so much. I owe it to my ancestors to do their temple work. 

Young Single Adult Conference!

May 24, 2011- We took a 2 hour bus ride through the most gorgeous mountains overlooking the Black Sea.  Finally we arrived in Sevastopal and it was buisness as usual.  We were so completely lost.  All we knew was we needed to find a bus that would take us downtown.

We were quite the site walking back and forth not knowing where to go.  We finally chose a bus to get on but we had no idea when we needed to get off.  We ended up getting off late so we had to backtrack. From there we had to catch a ferry.  We found the dock alright but we had no idea where to buy our tickets or where we needed to wait to get onto the ferry.  There was a little boy nearby with his mom who happened to know some English and he helped us get on the ferry. The waves

 were at high tide so the boat was rocking like crazy! It was a super short ride but really fun.  We got off the ferry and all we knew was that we needed to find a bus to take us to Marsukoba.  Where that bus was we had no idea!  We walked around a bit then waited at what we thought was a bus stop.  Twenty five minutes later we decided to walk up further to find a bus.  We flagged down 2 buses but niehter of them knew what Marsukoba was.  We were at a 

complete loss at what to do or where to go.  I have never felt so hopeless in my life! We were starting to 

give up hope of ever getting to the YSA conference when a bus came up and knew where to take us.  He drove us to a bus station where we got on another bus that took us to Marsukoba.  We finally found the conference! I have never been so excited to arrive somewhere.   Once there we had to register and get into our rooms.  Ameri and I were rooming together.  The room was in this little cabin with two beds.  After we got settled in we headed down to dinner to find our groups.

I was in group 'siem' or seven.  We were all given different groups... which made things really hard because we don't speak any russian and barely any of the people there spoke any english.  After dinner there was a fireside but 

Auvi, Derrik, and I decided to go down to the beach and watch the sunset instead.  It was absolutely beautiful! I felt like I was inHawaii again!  Afterwards we headed back up for a dance, it was Greek themed so everyone was dressed up in togas.

  It was a pretty fun dance despite the fact they kept the lights on.  The next day the sun woke me up and I headed down to breakfast.  Our rooms were so freezing, it was warmer outside at 7am then in our room under our blankets! Kind of ridiculous.  After breakfast there was a seminar then later we headed down to the beach.  It was kind of chilly outside so we 

were sitting on the beach in pants, shirt, jacket and tennis shoes! It felt so wrong but it was still really fun! That night the temple president held a fireside, it was on preparing yourself to go to the temple.  It was a really

 cool talk, and he spoke in English so that was really nice for us.  Afterwards we had dinner then went straight to the talent show.  It was interesting to see a talent show in Russian.  We didn't understand anything but it was still fun! They ended the night with

 another dance which was so fun.  Then we headed to bed for another cold night in our cabins.  The next morning we got up and ate breakfast and then packed up and headed back to Sevastopal.  This time some people from the camp helped us get a taxi which was so nice! We made it back to the train station then took the 15 hour bus ride back to Kyiv.  It was so nice to be back in a nice bed with home cooked meals.  The vacation was very much needed and I loved every moment of it! I can't believe how many places I have been able to travel to! Only a few more weeks until I go home! 

Yalta!

May 17, 2011-After staying in Poland for 2 1/2 days we got back on our beloved bus and headed back to L'viv to take a train to Kiev.  We left pretty early and didn't do anymore site seeing in the morning because we were not sure how long the border would take this time and we didn't want to miss our train in L'viv.  Well we got to the border quick enough and then the dread started to set in.  None of us were looking forward to sitting for hours on end doing NOTHING.  We decided to play a 'get to know you' game.  One person would ask a question and then we would all go around answering it.  It was pretty fun and it helped pass the time.  Ironically enough we got through the border in just 3 hours!

So we arrived in L'viv at 6pm... our train was not due to leave until midnight... so we decided to hang around L'viv for a bit.  We were all

 really excited to go back to the crepe place because we loved it so much! But since our luck is so good the crepe place was under construction and not open! Figures.  So a few of us decided to go to McDonalds, eat some dinner and then just sit until we needed to leave.  We seriously sat there for a good 3 1/2 hours just talking! It was pretty great.  Well we got on the train and headed home.  Once in Kiev we had about 10 hours to go home, repack, relax, and shower before we had to be back at the train 

station to head out to Simferopal.  It was a 15 hour train ride and surprisingly I loved every hour of it! I pretty much slept or read the whole time =)  We arrived in Simferopal and then had to find a bus that would take us to Yalta.  It was about a 2 hour ride through the most gorgeous mountains.  It is so tropical and beautiful! We all thought we were in Hawaii! Once in

Yalta we took a car to our apartment for the night and then set out to explore!  

 Me and Nat riding up the Gondola.

 The first thing we did was a gondola ride to the top of a mountain to see over all of Yalta! It was a little overcast but still really warm because of the humidity! Our little cart was green =)  After our ride up the mountain we wandered around on the dock of the Black Sea! There were so many people 

 walking around and selling things! It was so nice to just walk around without any destination and just enjoy everything!  Later that night we  sat down and saw this speed boat that would take people on a 5 min ride! I of course was all for doing this because #1 I love boats #2 it was a boat ride ON the Black Sea #3 It was once in a lifetime #4 only 3 bucks =)
I finally convinced a few to come with and it was so very worth it! The ride was really short but we were going so fast and we got sprayed with water and it was just soo much  fun! After the ride a few girls wanted to head back up to the apartment for the night but Auvi, Ameri, Nat and I stayed out and played around.  I mean we only had one day in Yalta so might as well enjoy it right? We walked along the dock, ate some ice cream, rented bikes and raced them, played follow the leader, and laughed so hard! It was such a fun night =)

 The next morning we had to head out to Sevastopal.  I was so sad to leave Yalta! It was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was beautiful and sunny as well! Someday I will live somewhere tropical and sunny!
Below: Us waiting for the bust to take us to Sevastopal! =)

The Sharlee Game =)

May 15 2011                                                                               

Other than seeing Auschwitz and trying to catch up on sleep from our never ending bus ride we did go exploring around Krakow! Of course mother nature decided to be nice and give us some sun... couldn't she have done that when we went to Auschwitz? Oh well.  We wandered around for a bit and then decided we wanted to go see Oscar Schindlers' Factory.  We had been told that on Mondays it was free.  Well we arrived at the Factory only to find that along with being free every Monday it was also closed the first Monday of every month. Go figure.  We got some pictures of the sign though =)

 After seeing his factory we headed over the river to the other side of town.  Sharlee, a girl from Christina's group, wanted to come with us to Poland and we were so glad she did! Sharlee loves to take pictures of anything and everything! I mean why not? You probably will never be here again so why not catch EVERYTHING on camera! That is what started the Sharlee game.  Some of us decided to jump on the bandwagon with her and take pictures of anything and everything.  Since this is the case I am just going to show a bunch of random pictures.  Enjoy!

Me and Sharlee: the maker of the game =)

I love to get pictures in phone booths, it 

always reminds me of Harry Potter.

I may or may not have visited the Ministry of Magic 

while I was in Poland.. =)

It was so green and beautiful while we were there! All the trees and flowers were in bloom, oh how I love spring =)

We also wandered across the bridge, the river was beautiful! It seems every European country we have visited has a river that runs right through the city.

Do you believe in magic

In a young girls heart =) 

 After wandering a bit more we decided to go look at a castle and found out apparently it is the second largest in Europe.  Not sure what the name is ... but it was beautiful and huge!! Oh to live in a castle =) Below the castle there was a carnival going on that we played around at for a few hours so that was a lot of fun. Below are some pictures from it.  All in all it was a pretty relaxing day! =)

The castle really was enormous! 

There were so many people there walking around! They even had their own cathedral built inside the walls! Makes me wonder... did they ever leave the castle walls? 

There was a story behind the dragon.... but I can't recall what it was.  But it was pretty cool to see! 

There was a dragon's den you could go in as well, but we could only find the exit... maybe you have to be a dragon tamer or dragon lover like Hagrid to be able to find the entrance.  This particular dragon would breath fire every few minutes. Pretty exciting =)

Walking around town =)

These are everywhere! they look like statues right? WRONG! They are people posing.... they sit there for hours pretending to be statues and if you want a picture with one you have to pay them.  They  are so smart! I do not know how they stand so still! They looked like real statues! I could never do that lol

Below is our adorable little Hostel Decco =)

We stayed in room Arabella!

Our little room of bunk beds that went around the

cute little room =) Although I must say all the 

pictures of Arabella on the walls were a little creepy!

This was the little lounge area, complete with 

TV, couches, bean bags, computers, and movies!

 Poland was BEAUTIFUL and I hope to come back someday! =)