Eez my hauppy birzday!

С днём рождения!З днем народження! I am officially no longer a teen! Today was my 20th birthday and I just wanted to give a huge THANKS to everyone who wished me lots of love. It has seriously been one of the best ever. I got a jump start on celebrating because this year it was on a Sunday and I wanted to share it a bit with my kids. So, as one of our SPE's is kitchen, I decided we would bake a good ole American birthday cake from a box. It turned out fabulous despite our extremely sketchy oven which has four temperatures: 1,2,3,and4. We frosted it with a chocolate hazelnut spread similar to nutella. Oh and just a little sidenote, the grocery store close to my school has a nutella guard. There is seriously a man dressed in what looks like an FBI suit who stands in front of the shelves where the nutella is stocked. You have to awkwardly reach behind him to get anything but hey, if it keeps the nutella theft down...Anyway, so each class sang happy birthday to me and then we feasted on the cake. This is one of the younger groups, though only three kids were there Friday...Tioma, Kristina, and Igor.

As for today, it was great from start to finish, despite the fact that I had to give a talk for church. (Isn't there a rule or something against that?) Anyway, so I woke up around five to finish it and didn't even remember it was my birthday. Then, Olga krept into the kitchen with a grand gift and a big Ukrainian hug and kiss. She set in front of me a huge box of hazelnut choclates (my favorite!) along with a beautiful hairclip. It was so sweet! Then, I had to hurry to church. I had just stepped out of the Ukrainian tower of terror (aka the elevator to my apt complex) and Alison was standing there with three beautiful roses for me. I mentioned once that I loved the yellow ones with a trim of red and she remembered. It was SO thoughtful! When I reached Палац Спорту we ran into Lauren and Chantell who immediately wished me a happy birthday. At church my head teacher, Brynn, handed me the best hand-made card ever along with kinder chocolate...yum! Then Desi and Chantell presented me with a lovely box of hazelnut chocolates, which made for a great treat in between Sunday school and relief society. I loved spreading the birthday joy with everyone! Oh, and the sun was shining ALL day today. I couldn't believe the beautiful spring weather. I came home, Katya gave me that cute sand card of a giraffe, I ate a scrupmtious PB&J sandwhich, took a long nap and enjoyed a plethera of sweets. There were even fireworks for my special day! ...ok, so there are fireworks every weekend just because they can here but, I can pretend. Again, thanks for all the eCards and facebook posts and happy birthday wishes!

The Everyday Small Things

"I am asking that we stop seeking out the storms and problems of life, and enjoy more fully the sunlight." My sister EmmaLee posted this great quote from President Hinckley on her blog. I am grateful for these simple but inspiring words from the Prophet of the Lord. I understand it is a metaphore but here in Kyiv where you see the sun for an hour or so only every few days this quote has taken on added meaning. Everyone tells us that the past month has actually been abnormally sunny, though as I had never gone a day before living here without seeing the sun it has seemed dark, cold, and gloomy. I am very thankful for this change, though, because I have come to heed the words of Pres. Hinckley. I find little rays of sunshine in small, everyday things despite the drab gray that encircles the atmosphere.

One of the first things I noticed upon arriving was a huge stand of the most beautiful flowers lining the entrance to the underground metro tunnel. I have come to find out that these stands are in every tunnel all over the city. Passing the variety of bouquets is such a bright and cheery part of my walk everday to school. Also, Sergey, my host dad brings Olga a new flower after the previous one dies. So there is almost always a lovely fresh flower on our kitchen table. It is so thoughtful and simple, yet it makes a grand difference. Another simple thing that makes my day is when I ride the metro. Even though the metro is an underground form of transportation, there is about three minutes where we are above the ground to cross the lake. I will just be standing looking at the ground and then all of a sudden there is an actual view outside my window and it is so pretty. It is literally a burst of light in the midst of darkness.

Almost everyday for the past 5 weeks Alison and I have passed this pile of who the heck knows what. My projection is meat of some sort and form, though it also reminds me of Jurassic Park when the lady is digging through the dino's huge dung pile. Anyway, it was quite a joy being able to expect that odd and only-in-Ukraine sight during our daily stroll, but it has been missing the past few days. It definitely lifted our spirits and made us laugh.

Then, of course, there are my children...Though I don't always feel successful with them, I am constantly in stitches because of them, especially Barbara and her amazing toys. This is her cat barbie. Though definitely unusual, it doesn't quite beat the weird light on a stick with exposed wires coming out which she licks to make light up.

This is a message to me (aka "Kemi") from two of my follow-up girls.

I spy with my little eye...

...something that tickles the neck but not the ears.

and perhaps my favorite...little Dasha's

In my classroom I strive to create a safe atmosphere where the children and I can talk about all of our problems openly. This last Tuesday one of our vocabulary words was "soft". Somehow this started a conversation about hair and who had the longest. Artyom (second picture) pulled at one of his longer locks and said, "Mine is long down here!" I seized this opportunity to elevate their vocabulary even more. After all, the mullet is definitely the hot style here in Kyiv and depriving them of such mundane terms would just be wrong. So, I told the class to look at Artyom and note, "When there is short hair on top and long hair on the bottom it's called a mullet." They eagerly started repeating, "mullet! mullet!" We went on to spot who had one in our class and who didn't. Those that did bragged with beaming smiles, "I have a mullet!" One girl in braids, Maria, glumly looked down and said in the saddest little voice, "I don't have a mullet." I reassured her that the braids were as pretty as a princess and she was happy enough at that. Today I quizzed them to see who could remember the word and it was music to my ears when they started chanting, "mullet! mullet!" Ahhh...now that is fine education. Actually, since our first priority is to have engaging conversations it was perfect. My only fear is that I hear Europe is a few years ahead of us in fashion. If that means the mullet is about to come back, I really might cry.

Золоті Ворота (Golden Gate)

Before embarking on this grand adventure, Ray, my brother-in-law, gave me a mission: find the Gates of Kyiv. He sang a song about them back in his BYU Men's Chorus days and wanted to know if they still exist. For Alison and I's first solo excursion in the city we decided to find them. It was actually very easy and made for an awesome day (Jan. 28). This is a picture of the new exterior. The original gate and stone walls are inside. I'll let the signs tell of the Gate's history and details.

Alison and I paid the buck to go in and climbed to the top. This is the view. The weather here is so crazy. It looks like it was a beautiful day, the sun is out and everything. Thirty minutes earlier, however, I have a picutre of me in a nasty blizzard outside the opera house. Crazy but I love it!

I guess this is the offical "gate" part of it. It was HUGE!

Ice Cream Sausages!

Well, it has finally happened...I have found an ice cream I will never eat again. While I have come to love the wide assortment of chocolates and treats here in Ukraine, Alison and I wondered upon these fun sausage tubes of ice cream which nearly made us sick. As I had no idea how to go about eating a tube of ice cream, I decided to just cut the package right down the middle. It immediately popped like a can of Pillsburry biscuits and later my host mother informed me that was entirely wrong. We ended up just squeezing it into a bowl and adding peanut butter and nutella. While this would make for a delicious treat with American ice cream, this ice cream is already pure sugar. It also has a light, fluffy texture like whipped cream, but it melted in minutes so I was left with a bowl of reeses froth. It was fun but we definitely won't be repeating it. I have tried a few other ice creams and in short have decided to give it up...while here in Kiev anyway.

Лавра continued

Ooo la la...probably my favorite part of the monestary were the hotties in black robes...Ok so it's probably not appropriate to mock the monks but when Al and I saw them we couldn't resist a quick snap shot.

After the caves, we visited the museum part of Lavra. This is one of the cathedrals.

The group went into this chapel where the high, domed ceiling is painted beautifully. At the door there was a sign of a camera and below it was a sign of a phone crossed out. So, I assumed it meant cameras were allowed but shortly after snapping this an old man in robes came in and started yelling something. Tonia quickly motioned for us to put the cameras away. Oops! However, when he left Tonia said it was ok to take them out again if we wanted so I was able to tape us singing hymns in there. It sounded amazing. Tonia said it has better accoustics than an opera house.

This is me, Mandy, Lauren, and Anese in our lame scarf-skirts. We are outside the entrance to the caves.

Лавра

On January 26 our native coordinator, Tonia, took us on our first big excursion to the Київ Лавра (pronounced Lavra; directly translated: big and very important monastery) Caves. There are only 6 lavras in all of the world and three are in Ukraine. On our way, however, we passed the "Monument of Unknown Soldiers." It honors the many who died in the "Great Patriotic War" during WWII between the Soviet Union and Germany between June 22, 1941 and May 9, 1945.




When we reached this street leading down to the caves, Tonia told us a bit of the history behind them. She said some monks wanted to be isolated and because this hill had soft soil, the caves could easily be dug. They used it as a place to pray and they have little chapels inside. They only burried the most distinguished monks there. One way they were burried was when they "practically chose it themselves." They wanted to be alone in a room to pray and be connected with God. They were given food from other monks through a little window and when they stopped eating the food the other monks knew he was dead. Now people come here from many countries and little cities to pray and feel recovered.


As we went to go in, she told us it was custom for women to cover their heads and wear a skirt. She failed to mention this requirement before coming but a lot of the girls had long jackets. I, however, was found "inappropriate" along with three other girls. Luckily, people had extra scarfs we could tie around our waist and that sufficed. It looked dumb but it is neat to take part in some of the customs and traditions here. We each had to buy a little candle as well while walking the crowded and tiny, shoulder-width passageways. This was also cool but definitely a fire hazard as we had to follow just inches behind one another with the flames almost touching our furry hoods. Lining the halls are glass caskets of the smallest grown men I have ever seen. They were probably four feet long and two feet across. The bodies were covered of course but some of them had their hands in leather gloves peeking out. It was very interesting and, I'm sure, a very special place to many.