Left my heart in Scandinavia...

They always say that good things can arise even out of the most terrible of circumstances. 

That is definitely what happened, because after an emergency surgery and lots of anxious prayers and scary foreign hospitals.. three friends were given permission to go have the time of their lives. :)

You see, what happened was this. In Ukraine, you must leave the country after about 70 days or so in order to keep your visa valid. Well, we had a huge Eastern European tour planned, and only a few days before we left on that infamous bus ride,my dear friend Britney was rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery on her appendix. Scary?? I think yes!  Consequently, she had to stay home from our EU tour, as recovery time dipped right smack into the middle of it. 

But the fact still remained that she had to leave the country, and the other fact remained that we are not allowed to leave the country except in groups of three. 

So, Britney, Derrick and I were quickly given permission to go! 

And thus we hopped on the cheapest Wizzair flight, which just happened to be to this amazing place: 

Stockholm, Sweden.

3 friends. 

One weekend.

A lot of growing up (it is hard to plan a trip without your parents and get there from a country in which you don't speak the language! Get from home to the vokzal, to the right mashrutka, to the right airport, to the right terminal, to the new country, to the right bus, to the right city, to the right metro, to the right stop, to the right hotel. 

But did we do it?
Absolutely.

sorry it's so blurry... we accomplished as much of this stuff as we could!

falafel=pure joyousness

Can't go on a vacation without the ice cream!

Heaven.

I love it here!

And all because of a spiky appendix. ;)

And Part 3... finally!

(wow, this is taking a lot longer than expected! If you're still reading this, props to you :)

Day 6: Free day in Prague
My favorite part of this day was the Lennon wall. I took probably a million pictures. This is a wall that people would come and paint on lyrics from John Lennon and the Beatles during Soviet times, and I didn't even know it existed until we stumbled upon it! I found out that the soviets would come and paint over the lyrics, but by the next day there would be more artwork, inspring lyrics, and other quotes all over it, and so eventually they just gave up. People have been adding to the wall ever since, and it is constantly changing. (is that not the most awesome thing you've ever heard?! I thought it was pretty cool)

And our exploring continued...

Up and down endless quaint little streets such as this

 hiking for the views..

 lunch for only 50 crowns

We walked literally ALL DAY, and couldn't have done so without a few rests in-between!

Once again Prague is BEAUTIFUL at night

....well into the night. It was our last night in Prague, and we wanted to spend as much time there as we could. We wound up on Charle's Bridge, and knew it was time to head back. It was sad to think our trip had come to an end, but we were grateful for the experiences we had been able to have.

Goodbye, my lovely Prague.. hopefully I will see you again!

And that, my friends, is the conclusion of our adventures in Eastern Europe, in the longest chain of blog-posts I have ever done! WHEW. Congratulations on getting this far!

Eastern Europe left a great impression on me, and I left a part of myself in each of the places we visited. Maybe someday I'll go back, but for now...I am grateful to be exactly where I am!

Easter European Tour, Part 2

When I left off, we were just boarding the tour bus from Vienna to head to Prague. Yes, we did in fact visit 3 countries in one day... Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic...just wow. It was an exhausting day, but totally worth it! After arriving to the hotel in Prague, Anna and I completely collapsed in our hotel room.
Day 4 arrived. I woke up early, had breakfast, and headed out to this optional tour to the Sychovy Castle. It was . . alright, but I'll be honest, I felt pretty ripped off. It ended up costing about 50 bucks for us to go, and we couldn't even understand the tour guide, as she was of course speaking Russian. So it was basically us looking at old things in this drafty castle, being shuffled around by a lady who reminded me exactly of a female version of Mr. Filch.

Sychovy Castle

Back to Prague for us, where we spent the day with an ENGLISH tour guide! It was so great. Here are some of the places we visited with him:

"The smallest street" in Prague.. has it's own red/green light, you have to push a button and wait for the green man to appear so as not to run into anyone coming from the other direction.. pretty great.

The Venice of Prague! Beautiful!

These people enjoying their lunch don't know that underneath their feet
is the very place where the bodies inflicted with the Plague
during the Dark Ages were piled...

Charles Bridge! Definitely one of my favorite places in Prague.

The Astronomical Clock! The people of Prague are so proud of their lovely clock.
 Legend has it that the king had the clock-designer's eyes gorged out after he created it,
 so there would never be another clock like it in the world....

After exploring with our tour guide, it was time for the dinner cruise! I was pretty dang excited. A dinner cruise along the Vltava River in Prague? What? So surreal! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the cruise:

After the cruise a few of us did a little more exploring.... Prague is beautiful at night.

Old Town Square

Day 5: Day trip to Dresden, Germany

This city was basically completely destroyed during WWII, and has since been rebuilt from the ruins. We didn't have a tour guide, and so we spent the day exploring wherever we felt like, and of course the occasional Gelato... (sarcastic emphasis on occasional...I definitely have a chronic addiction)

Holding Rodya up in front of an old church that I think survived

At the "Zwinger"

It was cool to think we were just "spending a day" in Germany, as if it is just the most common and natural thing for us to do. I loved Germany, and I am excited to go back in June!

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. :)