Hello!
When is the last time you thought, “I am so blessed?” I hope you will take time to think about how blessed you are every single day. You and I truly are so blessed.

This last week I spent in Kiev, Ukraine. I’ll give you a recap of the week’s events.

Wednesday- We left our apartment at 10:00 pm and boarded the train at 1:00 am to head to Kiev. Fortunately we were on a very quiet train and we were able to sleep peacefully through the whole night. And, this particular train was very nice because they gave us bedding and sheets and pillows. (The first train we took to Riga didn’t have any of the above and we sat squished and uncomfortable for a 12 hour train ride.) So, we felt like this was luxury. It was actually really funny because we were sitting next to some really nice Russian girls who we chatted with, and one of them asked, “So, you probably think this train is pretty bad huh?” I laughed and said, “Actually, we think this is luxury compared to the one we were on going to Riga.” She laughed! I ended up inviting the girls to attend English Club with the missionaries, since it’s free and they said that they’d like to improve their English skills. That is a very common theme amongst the Russians I have met. Most have a strong desire to learn English. Sometimes I wish that we in America had a stronger desire to teach our children a foreign language. Granted, there are some requirements for foreign language established in the education system, but I don’t think they are enough to really get our students speaking as well as they should be. Quite frankly, I think we are really behind in a lot of areas of our education system. Allow me to explain briefly: Here at Klass Centre the students take History, Science, Math, Music, Private Music Instruction, Dance, Drama, Art, and English as the core subjects. How many 4th graders in America are taking all of these things? I would submit that there are not many. Unfortunately the children here at Klass Centre are here from 9:00 am to 7:00, 8:00, or 9:00 pm every day, so they don’t get much opportunity to be with their families. But, the students and teachers are dead serious about what they are doing. They aren’t messing around. And, if a student doesn’t pass their exams at the end of a year, they stay in the class another year. Doesn’t that make sense? I don’t know…I kind of have a problem with the “No Child Left Behind” system in America. It seems like we’re hurting our education system by letting lots of kids glide through the system. That’s just my two bits. Anyway, hopefully we can keep up with the rest of the world, because at least here in Russia they are preparing their students to make a difference in the world and to really succeed.

Enough on that tangent! Back to Thursday. We arrived in Kiev in the afternoon about 3:40 pm. We went immediately to the Head Teacher’s apartment to drop off our stuff and then headed into downtown to exchange money and get some food. Now, this turns out to be a pretty crazy night, because the Head Teacher in Kiev told us to be back at 7:00 to get the key since she would be leaving but some people didn’t listen very carefully. My Head Teacher and the other Head Teacher of Moscow 1 didn’t think it was very important to get back on time, so we ended up getting there at 8:00. Ummm…should it have been surprising that the Head Teacher had left? She told us to be there at 7:00. Hmmmm? Anyway, I was pretty upset because I had raised my voice a few different times about getting back to the apartment by 7:00, but no one listened. What can you do? So, we had a decision to make since we had no key to the apartment and all of our luggage was in there and we had a train to catch in 30 minutes. Either we could stay the night with Moscow 1 and be completely squished, but we would have all of our bags, or we could go to the other Head Teacher’s apartment by train (as originally planned) without our stuff and have beds to sleep in. I chose the latter. So, I went to her apartment with my toothbrush and my contacts, and that was about all. Fortunately I have become pretty good at making do with what I have, so I ended up turning my dirty shirt inside out to use as a towel so I could shower. It felt nice to have a good shower and it was great to get a good night’s rest. We actually had kind of a scary encounter with a couple of drunk men on our way to the apartment. They started following us and tried to talk to us in English but we knew they were trouble, so we just kept walking quickly. Unfortunately they followed us right to our apartment’s front door, and I was the last person to go in. They tried to force their way into the building as they shared a few explicit words that I had not hoped to hear. Miraculously I was able to force the door shut, even though the one guy had his leg in the door. I just pulled as hard as I could and yelled, “STOP!” I know it was the Lord’s tender mercy…because they did stop and we were all able to stay safe. It definitely made me nervous though. Yikes!

Friday morning we (Amanda, Lindy, and I) headed by train again into the city to meet back up with Moscow 1 and our Head Teacher Jessica. We went to the Lavra Caves which are in a beautiful monastery in the heart of Kiev. In the caves they have buried saints that are hundreds of years old, and you can actually see skeletons. It’s fascinating. You go through the caves with a little prayer candle to the light the way. I was a bit sneaky here and actually got some video camera footage while we were in the caves. I’ll definitely have to share when I get home. It was cool!

We then walked to “Big Mamma” the guardian of the Motherland of Ukraine. She literally is a “Big Mamma”. She sits on the top of a hill that overlooks the city. She is in the WWII Memorial Park and Museum. We ended up going into the museum, which was fascinating. I think it was especially meaningful to me since Grandpa Wright served in WWII. When I went through the Holocaust room my heart was sickened. It was a very heavy experience. Also very humbling. They also had one room with thousands of photos of people who had died serving in the war. Overwhelming to think that the hatred of one man and his followers could cause the premature death of millions of individuals. As I looked at each face in the photos I began to realize that each face had a name, a story, a life, a family, friends...and in fact, each face was a human being just like me. What a powerful reminder of the sacredness of human life.

Afterwards we went to Puzata Hata for dinner (we ate there the first night too...and....the last night too....yes...we ate there every night. How could we not? It was delicious and so cheap!!) They serve delicious traditional Ukrainian food for super cheap. I didn’t spend more than $5.00 for any of my meals there!

After dinner we walked around and took some pictures of the White House of Ukraine and then headed back to the Head Teachers apartment to get our luggage. We then took a 30 minute train ride out to the other Head Teacher's apartment, and again we ran into the drunk men. Fortunately, my head teacher Jessica was with us that night so she scolded them in Russian and they laid off. Go Jessica! That night was good and we all slept very peacefully. Let me insert here a thought about the two apartments we had seen so far while in Kiev. Both were falling apart. Wall paper was peeling off the walls, the floors were filthy, and the bathrooms were grimey. I realized that I am SO lucky to live in Moscow, to have a computer with internet access at my fingertips every day, to have a cleaning lady to clean our apartment, and to have clean roommates. Wow! How lucky I am!

Saturday we decided to split off from Moscow 1, because we wanted to do our own thing. So, we went to the famous souvenir street, and amazingly heard lots of English. It’s always refreshing to hear someone speak English, since you hear it quite rarely in Moscow. I found a spoon for my spoon collection at the first booth and then just walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere the rest of the time. It was funny because the man I bought the spoon from said, "I love you!" That is common for the vendors to say, because they speak very little English, so it's kind of their way of saying, "thank you!" As we were going along the souvenir street I saw a staircase hidden in some trees and I said, "Jessica, do you want to go see where that staircase leads to?" She agreed, so we climbed up a very rickety wooden staircase that was falling apart...but can I tell you that it was worth it? Holy cow! There was the most beautiful lookout point over all of Kiev!!!

After a few hours of shopping we went to the metro, and as soon as we got inside a monsoon-like rain hit! Seriously, the water came pouring down in buckets! Holy cow! We were grateful to be inside where we were dry and warm. So, we waited for about an hour in an underground shopping mall. I had a delightful visit with a Ukrainian man who was sitting near us...because he heard us speaking English and struck up a conversation. Afterward we headed to the Golden gate and St. Sofya’s cathedral once the rain had subsided. Awesome! We then ate at Puzata Hata one last time. Yum! And, afterwards we decided to go see the river. I forget what it’s called. Anyway, it was perfect! We caught it right at the sunset and we found our own little private beach. We just soaked in the moment! One thing that I noticed that was very different about Ukraine compared to Moscow is that although it is very beautiful, everything is in its natural state. They don’t mow their lawns or trim the trees or do any kind of maintenance. They just let everything grow wild…so it’s very back to nature. In comparison, Moscow is very well kept and preserved. The reason I mentioned this is because on the way to and from the river we got to walk through a very beautiful forested area that was untouched. SOO GREEN! Funny story too: once we arrived to the river we noticed a few older men bathing in the river. Why was this so funny? 1. They were literally bathing...with nothing on (but don't you worry...I didn't look any longer once I saw one bare bottom.) 2. This river is supposedly highly contaminated from Chernoble...so it was interesting that they didn't really care. 3. When they saw us, they just kept bathing...no worries about anyone else. Haha! It was really quite hilarious!

We then headed back to the apartment. That night I had a terrible night’s rest. The room was super humid to the point that I felt like I was sleeping in a tent and all my clothes were damp with dew in the morning. Yeah…crazy! Also, when I woke up my eyes were stuck together with crystallized sleepies. Gross huh? Yeah, that hasn’t happened since I was a little girl! It definitely was a rough night for me. And, to top it all off…I had a terrible dream about a spider. Ughh!!!

Sunday morning I woke up at 6:00 am because I couldn’t sleep any longer, and I showered to wake myself up and to get the sleepies out of my goopy eyes. The Moscow 2 girls (my group) left for church at 8:00 am and arrived there at 10:00 am. It was so neat to be in the little tiny International Branch. It was Fast and Testimony meeting and one good brother stood and bore his testimony. He was Ukrainian and his testimony was pure and powerful. I got tears in my eyes as I listened to his humble testimony.

After church we headed to the train station and waited. Once we boarded the train Jessica and I were split up from Lindy and Amanda. We ended up sitting across from 7 Russian students at Moscow University. They were very nice, but I knew it was going to be a LONG night when I saw them bring in two GIGANTIC bags of beer and a large bottle of vodka! Later we found out that they were celebrating one of the guys’ birthdays. They drank the night away and by 12:30 were finally so drunk that they fell asleep. Thank heavens! I could not sleep with them making so much noise. Get this; the birthday boy bought us American girls ice cream. He also gave us a box of chocolates, and then he asked me out on a date. HAHA! Because he was sooooo drunk I decided not to say “no” but to just say, “We’ll have to see.” That satisfied him enough. He said, “You are good good good American girls.” Haha! It was really quite funny! I had to wait until he was knocked out cold before I could fall asleep because I was worried about falling asleep with him being so drunk. Anyway, it ended up being just fine. But, all the Russians asked for pictures with Jessica and I and we built a pretty good friendship, even though most of them were probably too drunk to recognize what they were doing anyways. I doubt that they remember us at all today.

I seriously didn’t get more than 3 hours of sleep (if that), so I was pretty exhausted the next day. I am grateful to be back in Moscow. It’s so nice to have my own bed to sleep in and to have the luxuries we have here at our school. I am so blessed!!

Teaching is going great! We are in the process of getting ready for Spectacle which is a big performance for the kids to show what they have learned in English class to their parents. I found out last week that I’m supposed to do Spectacle with my 4A/B class, so that will be interesting, because it’s kind of late notice. But, we started rehearsing "Seize the Day" from Newsies yesterday, and I think it will come off quite nicely!

Oh, and last night we attended a soccer game. It was FREEZING cold but it was fun! You would be shocked at how heavily guarded the games are. I felt like we were in the Sound Of Music when the VonTrapp Family singers sung at the festival where there were hundreds of nazis guarding the event. Haha! Pretty interesting!

I only have 4 little weeks left and I’m going to make the most of them!
I look forward to seeing everyone again...family and friends! Thank you for all the love and support! I am so blessed to have so many good people in my life! :)