Eastern European Tour, Part 1

So, this blog post has been a bit daunting, and for that, it is long overdue. Sorry about that. But for the sake of the fact that I still have to write about Sweden, and Easter is coming up, plus another trip to a different city... yeah, I'd better attempt to get caught up. Here we go--Easter Europe, part one: Budapest and Vienna :)

The night before I left, I came home from teaching to find all of this on the counter waiting for me:

My host mom was so worried about me "starving to death" on the bus, that she went out and bought ALL this food for me! I tried to fit it all in one backpack but could barely do so. It was so cute! (and delicious)

Needless to say, I felt very loved. This trip was off to a great start!

The "Castle" that we found whilst exploring 

The next morning it was off to the Vokzal to find our tour bus and begin our adventures. After a VERY long day and night of a 25 hour bus-ride, we finally made it to Budapest. They dropped us off in a parking lot and turned us loose to the city for a few hours. We just walked around and explored. It was a little cold and overcast, but we didn't care, heck, we'd just survived a Ukrainian winter! This was child's play. :)
After our exploring we met back at the bus for a walking-tour, and the Ukrainian leader of our bus surprised us by finding us an English tour guide! We were ecstatic. On the bus, there were many times when a Russian tour guide would come on and babble words we could not understand for sometimes 2 hours at a time. We thought that this would be the case for the entire tour, but luckily, we were wrong.

Rollerblading right on the town square
is a perfectly acceptable thing
 to do in Budapest, apparently. 

It didn't take me long to realize that I completely LOVE BUDAPEST. It is such a friendly city. It is all about recreation and getting out and enjoying yourself. There are parks everywhere, and walking/running trails too. There is even an entire island on the river dedicated to solely recreation, ie running trails, and no cars are allowed on it.
There were so many people out walking their dogs, rollerblading, riding bikes, etc. I loved it!



Budapest is divided by the river into two cities: Buda, and Pesh.  One side is all flat, and the other side is set on a hill, and this was my favorite part. We hiked to the top of this hill and the view was marvelous. Pictures can't really do it justice, but I tried:

The view was worth the hike!

After a while the sun decided to come out, and we enjoyed the evening just exploring the other side of the city with our ENGLISH tour guide. That was my favorite part, just walking around the little cobblestone streets and watching our tour guide greet all of her friends in the shops and on the streets. Everyone was so friendly, or maybe it was just because it was our first time outside of Ukraine for so long? We were a little bit in culture-shock, and I had to keep reminding myself that I could take off my "Ukrainian stone face" and be a little bit more myself in this city.

We met up at the bus and were taken to our hotel, where Anna and I made a tasty backpacker's dinner (soup and mashed potatoes) and collapsed in bed. What a day!

The next day I woke up feeling a little bit like a kid on Christmas morning. I was practically jumping up and down-- this was it, the day I would finally get to go to VIENNA!

We hopped on the bus and were on our way, only a few hours away.

We spent exactly 4 hours in Vienna.

Was I content? Was it everything I hoped it would be?

Absolutely.

Let's be honest, I would have been fine just staring at a brick wall, as long as I knew it was in Vienna. I was just glad to have made it there after dreaming about it so long. I knew nothing remarkable would happen, there would be no huge parade or fireworks, and there would be no "Shvenn"...(ask me about that one later). But, I was content just being there, because it is such an amazing feeling to know you worked your tail off and now something you have anticipated and hoped for has finally happened. 

It was a gorgeous day. We didn't get an english tour guide this time, so we just explored, and had a blast in the process.

Janelle and I

I don't think we ever quite figured out which church this was, but it was beautiful.

On the Metro trying to find Marie Antoinette's palace

After getting a little lost...we found it!

The gardens behind the palace were HUGE

Our group in the *FREE* bathroom that we found...ha

After 4 hours of exploring my lovely city we were back on the bus and headed for Prague. I don't have time to write about it now, as I have to go get ready and teach the little munchkins, but...I am pretty proud of myself for blogging this far, so I'm just going to post this. 

To be continued................

To be Like Him

Yesterday, we had the unique opportunity to do a service project, through the church, at Babin Yar. I am ashamed to say I had never even heard of Babin Yar before. After doing a little research, I was a little apprehensive-- I wanted to serve but I was not sure if I would be able to handle being there-- standing on the very ground where 100,000-150,000 men, women, and children were brutally murdered over the space of a few short years. Upon arriving, it was difficult to imagine that such horrors actually happened there-- it is such a beautiful park, and spring is starting to creep in slowly in Ukraine, so everything is beginning the transition from dull brown to this vivid, glorious green. It was a gorgeous day, despite being overcast-- birds were singing, and the air was fresh despite being in the middle of a city. Apparently, the leaders of the project did not expect so many volunteers to show up-- they didn't have enough supplies! So we took turns with what we had, raking and raking the layers of leaves and garbage that had collected on the ground and then been packed down under an entire winter of snow. It was truly humbling, to say the least, just being there, and seeing the ravine where everything happened, and being able to honor those people by doing something as simple as raking leaves.

As I raked I tried to wrap my brain around the situation. It just brought my mind over to how lucky I am to live-- I almost felt guilty because of it. All those lives taken so unfairly-- and here I was with such joy and happiness and blessings, and a whole future ahead of me. Why did they have to die, why not I? Here am I so lucky to experience living when so many of their lives were taken. I tried to imagine what they would have to say to me, if they could-- I kept thinking about that. I think they'd say something like......Yes, we are gone... our lives were taken, even stolen, from us. But you have yours-- so live. Remember the past, but do not dwell on the sorrows of it--only learn from them. Take your life-- that beautiful gift you have been given-- and live it. Be grateful for every breath. For every opportunity. Do not squander it away.

It was definitely a jumble of thoughts, but it inspired me so much. It made me want to be stalwart, to amplify my life and do good, to seize every moment and never take anything for granted. I think that's what they would want. For us to honor their lives-- honor them by doing all the good that we possibly can with ours.

[This is one of my favorite works in the entire world. It seemed fitting...

From The Redeemer by Robert Cundick]

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies . . .

Things I definitely took for granted about America before these past 7 days:

1) You don't have to PAY to use the bathroom (what the heck?! I did in fact pay to use a squatter this week, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you? Welcome to Europe?)

2) Free WATER at restaurants 

3) Free refills of that free water

4) ICE in that free water

5) No Smoking in hotels

6) Swimming pools and hot tubs at hotels 

6) American contintental breakfasts at hotels (as much as I LOVE saurkraut and salami in the morning...)

7) You don't have to wear a noobish passport belt everywhere you go 

8) People actually form lines for bathrooms, restaurants, etc, instead of just shoving you out of the way

9) Top sheets on beds.

10) US currency. I can't wait to go to a store in America and really know how much I am holding in my hand..instead of having to stand there stupidly attempting to convert from Grievnas to Crowns in my head and make sure I'm not getting ripped off 

Let's just say that currently, my wallet contains a few US dollars, Greivnas, Forints, Crowns, AND Euros. Yeah... what?

Okay, I now realize that this post sounds a little bit like I'm just complaining. I really loved visiting Europe, I promise! It was amazing and I definitely had the time of my life.

Needless to say, I have now gained a lot more appreciation for many things about my dear America. :)

Trains, Blini, and Fungiformpupilli

So L'viv rocked. That's pretty much all there is to it. It is a gorgeous city out in Western Ukraine that has a European feel to it along with plenty of Ukrainian charm, and I absolutely loved every minute of it!
Our trip basically consisted of exploring the city and eating food. Everyone in L'viv speaks Ukrainian, not Russian, so we just kept our mouths shut. Luckily, a native, Igor, came with us, and he was able to keep us functioning by translating things and ordering everybody's food for them whenever we went anywhere.
Here are a few of the highlights that ensued that made this trip so awesome:

--Leaving for the train station. I was so excited I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. My host mom is so fantastic; she packed me about 6 sandwiches just for breakfast (ha, ha...) and as I left she handed me the bag of food and said, "Katroosya, I packed some herbal tea for every night. Every time you have some.... remember us!"
.............I love my host family. :)

--Britney trying to order "Cherry" ice cream, but getting "Chai" (tea) instead (oh, the joys of not knowing the language)

--Riding my first train. It's official: I. LOVE. TRAINS. The fact that I didn't get much sleep wasn't really an issue, because I just loved the whole experience of just being there.

--Our traveling companions. We were in 3rd class, which is just open compartments that everybody shares. Not as bad as it sounds. We were kept company by a drunk man who tried so hard to speak English to us but could never get through a full sentence coherently without laughing hysterically, as if we were the most hilarious people he'd ever laid eyes on. Good times.

--Our hostel. "Mister Hostel," was great except for the lack of toilets. There is apparently a whole science to using a squatter, and unfortunately we all had to master it

Our "inspiring" view from the Hostel

--Got to go to church on Sunday. The missionaries were able to translate the testimonies for us, and the spirit was so strong. It is the same everywhere you go. I love it.

--Women's day. We all woke up and were instructed not to leave the room until we were told it was okay. Turns out, Derrick and Igor had woken up early and trekked in the cold over to McD's, to get some tasty breakfast-- Blini and Seerniki! Those champs! (Yeah, the food at the McDonald's here is so much cooler than in the States)

--And of course, on of the most memorable moments on the trip was our visit to The Golden Boar. We visited a lot of amazing places to eat, but this was definitely our favorite of them all.  It is this awesome little place on Rynok Square that is made to look like a Castle (pretty sure it WAS a castle once upon a time..who knows) all of the walls were stone or brick, and there were Medieval looking things everywhere. I grabbed a menu, and upon seeing the extremely strange, exotic things you can order, I knew I was definitely feeling adventurous. I decided I was going to try cow tongue. Yes, indeed. Why not? Derrick and Igor were feeling daring, too, and so they ordered them, yeah I'll just say, Rocky Mountain Oysters. Yummy. Yikes. It surprised me how quickly I made up my mind though, that I was going to try them, too. Is something wrong with me? I am like the complete opposite of a picky eater, so much that I didn't even hesitate when offered...um, that is definitely strange. Whatever.
Well, once my plate arrived, I was still feeling okay. Until Derrick saw them. Yes, the Fungiformpupilli. I really was completely okay with my meal until I saw what he was pointing at--"Are those tastebuds?!!"
ack, Derrick! No!
Shoot.

He was right. You could definitely see the tastebuds....

I was a little grossed out, but I still made sure I ate the whole thing. It was so delicious and yet so revolting at the same time.
It was hilarious watching Derrick try and "get himself in the zone" throughout dinner, trying to get his dish down.

By the end of the night, everybody had succumbed to peer pressure and tried them, (even if it was just a teeny tiny little smidgeon of one), and we were sufficiently grossed out.

Sadly, our dinner had come to an end.
Except not so sadly, because we all had kind of ruined our appetites, just a bit. Thank GOODNESS Derrick had some gum, because I was just a little big sick from all the extremely new food items I had just ingested. It was such a great night! But I definitely won't be trying any of those dishes again anytime soon. :)


--Basically, L'viv Rocked. That's pretty much all there is to it.

Tomorrow morning we leave for our Eastern European Tour! Budapest, Vienna, Dresden, and Prague. I think I may die. I'm hoping my camera stays alive for it all!
And here we go. :)

The Antidote for Forgetfulness

My parents requested I share this one on my blog, so here ya go, my lovely little followers, I hope you enjoy :)

My host parents left a few weeks ago to spend a week in Israel (those lucky dogs). Whilst being gone, their "babuskha"  came to stay and take care of things (aka cook heavenly meals all the time-- the JOY). This fantastic woman and I bonded very quickly, which was awesome considering she didn't speak ANY English at all whatsoever, and whenever she tried to tell me something I never had a clue what she was saying.

(Oh, and for the record, it's pronounced BAH-booshka, not ba-BOO-shka. Yeah, I learned that one after saying it wrong and having 3 Ukrainians laugh hysterically for literally about 10 minutes. Good times.) 

So this event transpired on Friday. There I am, having a normal Friday morning... You know, frantically writing up the last of all of my lesson plans for the next week so I can turn them in to my head teacher. The usual. 

I finish them and get all my gear on in a hurry so I can go catch a mashrutka and not be late for Training. So I say paka (goodbye) to BAHbushka and leave out the door-- Pakapaka!-- and begin to lock the little gate thing. I then realize that my entire notebook full of all of my lesson plans since the dawn of time is still inside the flat, sitting on the kitchen table. Woops. 

So, I quickly unlock the door and run back in to grab it.

As I am about to leave, Babushka shows up looking frazzled. She grabs my arm, shoves me in front of a mirror, and quickly proceeds to babble at me in Russian (or maybe it was Ukrainian?!) anyway, I had NO IDEA what the heck she was saying! Is she telling me I need to get a warmer coat? I look bad? I look good? I need to fix my hair? Something embarrassing is stuck on my face? Nah, that can't be it....
This continued on for at least 2 minutes. After a few more moments, she seemed satisfied. She straightened up, smiled, and--Paka!-- sent me on my merry way. Ha. Okay, that was weird.
Well... about 30 seconds out the door I finally realized it! Of course! Ukrainians are superstitions about forgetting things! If you must run back inside to retrieve something you forgot, you must look at yourself in the mirror before venturing out again, otherwise you'lll be plagued with bad luck.
Thank goodness my Babuskha was looking out for me! It pretty much made my day. 

So, next time you forget something, remember to look in the mirror first. It'll save you a lot of grief. Trust me.

(Here's one for all of you who actually read this, and who were those little kids who never wanted
to read a book unless there were pictures in it... )

Irresistible, no?

SPRING!

Can I just say how awesome the holidays in Ukraine are??
Because they are.
This week is Blini week... to celebrate the coming of glorious spring.
Blini=heaven. (Just kidding... it actually means crepes. But for me those words are synonymous)
For all of you who know how much I LOVE anything breakfast...yeah, this week rocks!
The supermarkets are full of Blini... and everyone is cooking it, too.
Blini with ham and cheese... blini with honey... blini with chicken... blini with jam and cream and all things you could possibly think to stick inside a crepe.

And don't even get me started on Women's day... I know you all are smart and have already guessed what this holiday is all about. Yup. Honoring the amazing women of this world.
We're talking chocolate, flowers and gifts galore for all women.
There are colorful flowers of all different kinds everywhere. And the actual holiday isn't even until Tuesday. It is such an amazing change from the gloomy dusky weather we had only a few weeks ago!
I'm so excited to go hop on a train in two hours and continue to witness the celebration of these fantastic holidays!

Blini...chocolate...flowers...my first time on a train.... L'viv.... being appreciated....

It doesn't get any better than that.

:)

Февраль

There's not much to blog about this week so I won't go into any details...

Just counting down the days until our first trip!

Please enjoy a few pictures in the meantime...

Ae and I at home in the flat

Kiev Group 1! 

From Left: Tiff, Brit, Christina, Anna, Anna [ah-na], me, and Derrik

Parents day... yikes. We survived our first with flying colors!

Pazhata Hata's! 

(Delicious Ukrainian Cuisine...my new favorite place to eat)

Next weekend the fun begins (drumroll please!)-- we are finally going on our first trip! 

L'viv, HERE I COME! 

We are taking a night train Friday after classes...

 (my very first real train, I might add... something I have always had on my imaginary list of things to do in my life)

...and spending 4 glorious days there. 

Can't wait!

Пoка пока!