The Ukraine

Our video is up!

The girls of Kiev 2 are looking to ENERGIZE their lessons and have a group meeting.

ONE STEP CLOSER

A couple days ago, I had a breakthrough in the case of my "mystery smell"!!
I had smelt it the other day during opening while I was teaching for Mindy! Surprised as ever, I started to follow my nose. I smelled one kid--Alex. Nope. He smelled like sweaty boy, like little boys usually smell. I smelled Zhenia. Nope, wasn't her. And then I smelt Dima....AND THAT WAS IT! Dima was wearing my hot man smell! I got really excited.
This was a serious breakthrough.
When I taught Dima's class I made a special effort to have him sit by me. Boy, did he smell good!
After classes, I asked one of our coordinators to ask the parents what he was wearing. She did...
Unfortunately, the father was picking him up and he didn't know what it was, but said that he would ask his wife.
I am very excited to find out what the smell is.

Dima (The Quiet Hero) is in the middle.

Update to come---cross your fingers that the mom will tell us what it is!

Love,
Ameri

Self Portrait

This week we had open class.  I get nervous just teaching by myself, add parents watching and I'm a mess! Side effects of this dreadful week are usually, but not limited to, anxiety, panic, stress, no appetite, no sleep etc.  After having 2 days of this I got home tonight and I was pretty tired and hoping to get to bed early to catch up on my sleep... my plans did not work out. I was hoping i would be able to sneak into my room and my bed.  My room is right across from the kitchen so this is highly unlikely.  So as I was sneaking toward my bedroom of course my host mom stopped me and asked her favorite question, "Mindy, are you hungry?" I always feel really bad when I say no, and tonight we had company over so of course I said yes thinking I would hurry and eat then slip out to my room.  Well I started eating and was about to slip away when my host mom asked me to play Titanic for them.  I love to play the piano but I get really nervous when I have to play in front of people.  I was able to make it almost all the way through the song then my mind went blank... this always seems to happen in the same spot in this song and its super frustrating.  I of course went bright red and said sorry I couldn't remember it, they just laughed and smiled and said "mindy its ok!" By this time I realized I actually was not too tired so I decided to hang out for a little. Little did I know that while I was sipping my tea Misha, Jennii's host brother, was drawing a portrait of me.  He comes over to me with his big drawing pad points to the picture he has drawn then points to me, meaning "this is a drawing of you."  I try and be nice and tell him it looks just like me because I don't want to criticize him for trying.  He then continues to show the rest of the guests his drawing and they all BURST out laughing! Here is the portrait of me, see the resemblance =) 

And here is the artist holding up his masterpiece of me =)

All in all it was a pretty good night! 

<3 Mindy

Spring is in the air!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My host sister just licked my face!!!!!!!!

*One or both of these photos may have been staged but it doesn't change the fact that she full on licked me before the pictures were taken as proof.

peace and blessings.
Natalie

Dear Mannequins,

I'm not much of a shopper--throw me into a situation where communication is limited, and shopping is even harder for me.

I bought a couple things this week, only because I was passing by and I loved what I saw on the mannequins. Pointing, and apologizing for my lack of Russian, and using my phone for them to show me the price, I got a new pea coat and some leather leggings. Both times the women stripped them off the mannequins and sold them to me. 

Dear Mannequins,

I'm sorry. I liked what you were wearing, that's all. I didn't want you to be embarrassed by being publicly stripped down. Know that it was not my choice. I would have been fine with the women giving me something that was tucked away somewhere, instead of your display clothes. Please forgive me. I hope you are not insulted or ashamed. I know that something will replace what I bought, and you will be covered once more. Thank you for your willingness to stand there and listen to me apologize.

Sincerely,

Ameri

Someone confident is someone beautiful.

My title is just a title. Don't read too much into it, read it and apply it. (or to not insult those of you who are already confident just smile and pat yourselves on the back)

As for my most awesomest post I want to share with everyone a picture I took and now will forever treasure.
I also dedicate this to Kenzie because she introduced me to Kinder Surprises.

Now don't turn up your noses to these kinds of treats. While trying to find these little gold mine's look for an egg shape in a wrapper like the one in the picture! It's a chocolate egg and whaaaaaaaa laaaaaaaaa you crack the egg and find.... a toy!!!!!!!! I confess I only bought two of the kinder toys shown in this picture but as you can see they are well worth it! I got the smurfs from Kenzie (maybe I'll add pictures of all the kinders Kenzie has) (it will shock your socks off) but the dinosaur is Yevgeni, my little buddy cause he was my first. That eagle thing will be donated to our store items. :)
My point is, we don't have these back home... for me, I've heard some say they have them where they live but not me so just adding to my list of reasons why this place is great.

peace and blessings
-Natalie N.

a real car?!

Today I realized what has been missing in my life.
Cars.

Honestly though for two months I have been in nothing but buses and metros. I drove in a car today and I had an overwhelming feeling of joy.

The convenience of a car.
The comfortable-ness (add that to your dictionary) of a car.

The air condition, the radio, the seatbelts.
It just felt right.

I just want my car and an open road.

And, a subway sandwich and Bon Jovi CD.

Love!
Auvi

A cheap-o's haven

Food in Ukraine is SO cheep. End of story. While we were in Lviv, we found a hamburger joint that sold burgers for only 6 Hryvnias. Remember that 8 Hryvnias is a dollar. So we got this huge burger for less than a dollar. Even McDonald's can't beat this.

Take a good look. I hope you noticed the corn, carrots, and onion slices.

And here's another view, just in case you didn't get it the first time.

They say the first bite is always the hardest

Love, Jennii

Rockin' It Out

Friday's are absolutely the best days ever because when you head to school that day you realize that after 4 hours of teaching its the weekend! It's one of those bittersweet moments where your excited it's Friday but you sort of wish you didn't have to teach. Tonight after teaching we headed over to the Hydes and played some rockband. Nothing like rockin' it out the night before L'viv! So excited to finally go traveling!

 <3 Mindy

Those Who Can't Teach, Head Teach

A few weeks ago, Auvi was sick and afflicted to the point where teaching wouldn't be a good idea. That's where I, the "amazing" head teacher that I am, stepped in.
I taught for Auvi, and decided to do a kitchen lesson. I made muffins in the microwave. I made some before class to make sure they would work. They did! Ooooh they were super good, too.
Class time comes, and I make bomb muffins. The kids were so excited. There wasn't enough room for mine, so I just put it in the microwave by itself after I had pulled the kids' out. The kids and I were having a great lesson, putting powdered sugar and sprinkles on our muffins. While the kids were eating, one student pointed to the ceiling and said, "TEACHER!" ....I look up and there is smoke in the air. I had forgotten my muffin!! I open the microwave and a big puff of gray smoke came billowing out of the microwave into my face. Coughing and coughing, I opened a window while the kids were coughing and choking (holding their throats for dramatic effect) In the other room, Rockie, Kami, and Kynde all thought that I was just being super imaginative in my lesson, as if we were "pretending" to be choking. They were all really impressed with my creativity until they realized I smoked the kids out of class.
Our coordinator, Larissa, came in and ushered the kids into the next room. I followed, feeling like a fool.

They say those who can't do, teach. Dewey Finn of School of Rock says that those who can't teach, teach gym. (or in this case, kitchen) This experience showed me that those who can't teach, head teach. *Sigh*

Love, Ameri

sniff sniff

somebody totally let one rip on the metro tonight because i sniffed it unintentionally and thought 'awful' then crinkled my nose... While walking home (because I missed my trolley... again) I saw this written on the side of my building and thought it was funny. *whisper the obvious to you*: (it says 'awful')

peace and blessings
natalie

Keeping things warm

A new found obsession;

Wearing warm tights under jeans.

“At first they are constricting, but then they become a part of you.”

But, seriously. TRY IT. They keep you warm outside, they help with love handles and when you bend over you don’t have to worry about pulling up your pants, because Wa-La, you have another layer. Best thing ever.

I’m so in love with wearing them.

Dasvendanyos!

Auvi

Chocolate anyone?

Last Friday, one of the ladies that work at our school, Vitoria, came in and asked us if we needed anything. The first thing out of my mouth was, "Chocolate." I shouldn't have opened my big mouth, but after a confusing ten minute conversation, she left and we went on with our lesson prep. Well everyday this week, Tanya, another lady that works at our school, has brought us candy! I feel like Vika said something to her, and I almost feel bad ... almost. I was just joking, but hey, as long as they're giving it to us, I'm not going to complain. 

Today she brought us chewy fruit candy.

And this is the lovely lady herself, with her bag of candy.

Guess what! Tomorrow's Friday!

Jennii

Buff man on the trolley

I woke up today with snow falling outside of my window! I was excited because snow is like the best type of precipitation. Think about it, its the only one you can throw at people! However snow does make for traffic delays also and it has been snowing quite a bit lately. So like usual the trolley buses are late, but with the added snow more people are taking the bus. I get on the first trolley of the day and whew! No problem. Then I get on the most packed bus I have ever seen!! It was insane crowded! People were falling out of the doors when they opened. 

So to get to the best part- I was standing by this bigger kind of buff man about late 40's on the crazy packed bus and he asks me something in Russian. I don't know what he said, but I knew what he meant. He wanted to get off at the next stop and was wondering if I was too. I said no, and so then he makes the gesture that he wants to trade places with me. I am like yeah right dude, there is no way I have enough room to play ring around Kynde in the trolley. But he started moving around me, so I started moving around him. I got stuck between him and this other lady! The next thing I knew my feet were off the ground. I was being lifted up in air by this Russian man! He picked me up and put me on the other side of him. I just started laughing! He was explaining to my friend Kamila how little I was after he picked me up off the ground and moved me. Today I found out how much fun it is to be a small person on a trolley!

Kynde 

Anybody want a numb bum?!?

When you get done teaching you usually feel 1 of 3 emotions: exhausted, relieved, or ready to do something else! Tonight was definitely one of those nights where I just wanted to do something else and get out of the school.  I was going to be smart and get things ready for my elementary classes but what's the fun of being smart? Since the weather is quite chilly there is a lot of snow on the ground and everyday when I take the metro across the river i see TONS of people ice fishing and ice skating and I get so jealous! So after we got done teaching Jennii, Natalie, and I were walking to FHE and I kept glancing at the frozen lake... I was longing to just run out onto the frozen lake just so I could say I did it! I brought up that it would be fun to walk on the lake but we didn't see anyone else on it so we weren't sure if it was safe or not.  Then I noticed that we were wrong! There were some people skating on the lake.  Without hesitation we ran down the stairs and onto the lake! We made a track on the ice so we could run and slide on it.  Being the graceful person I am I fell on my first try.  Then I had the brilliant idea that we should sit on the ice and take a picture... ya I dunno what was going through my head because after we took the picture our bums were FROZEN! All in all it was a fantastic Monday and I can finally say that I've played on a frozen lake!

Mindy Bradshaw <3

WANTED: Good-Smelling Ukrainian Man

Ok, gross. I'm not one to talk about gross things. But sometimes, we need to break the silence.

Ukrainian men--do not smell good. It is rare to find one that doesn't smell like he hadn't showered for days because he had been too busy drinking vodka in a house full of cigarette-smoking cats. Really. Pretty sure they don't bathe here...

Then, on Thursday, when I was on my way to Pozniaky school, the unthinkable happened. I smelled my smell.  The smell that makes me weak at the knees and want to attack any guy who is wearing it like the girls on the AXE commercials. The smell that I promised when I smelled it next I would ask the man wearing it what it was so I can buy it for my husband one day.

I could never figure out who was wearing that absolutely seductive scent. Even if I had found him, there was a really good chance he wouldn't understand me if I stumbled over to him and asked, "what ARE you weARING??" But let me tell you, that was the most pleasant metro ride I have been on yet.

Love,

Ameri

Pasta Sauce Success!

As a lover of all things pasta, the first thing we looked for in a grocery store was pasta. And, naturally, pasta sauce. You would think it would be fairly easy to find, but no. Kenz and I stared at the wall of tomato products and got this: 

 which turned out to be ketchup... I guess I should have figured that out by the "Ketchup" on the front....oops. Fail #1.
The next day we went back to find actual pasta sauce. Did we find it? Well, we found this:

 which turned out to be salsa... Not sure why this was so hard for us.
So yesterday we went to a really big grocery store and found real pasta sauce! It was actually separated from all other tomato products. And we found pesto. All in all, pretty happy ending. :)

Have a good weekend everyone!
Audrey

just cause you asked for it doesn't mean you wanted it

Jennii and I....
          on our knees begging for her to evaluate us tomorrow... anybody else feel like the day you turn in lesson plans is a hard day to be evaluated on?  If not just pretend.  Ends up we both changed our minds around the third hour of teaching and had her evaluate us anyways.  The begging wasn't all in vain though, look how good we are at it. :)

 peace and blessings - natalie

Teaching.

Some days are hard and some are easy. Some days you wonder why you are in a foreign country teaching and some days you feel like that is exactly where you are supposed to be. A few days ago I had one of the “Why am I here?!” teaching days and the whole day just seemed to be going bad.

My very last class that day is Pre-Language and they are the 3 year olds who speak no English, definitely a handful! I was trying to get everyone to settle down and read a story when the only boy in the class, Alex came and curled up on my lap. He is the cutest thing ever and sat there with me reading and had the need to just cuddle. Eventually the other girls in the class came and sat on my lap doing the same thing.

That’s that type of thing that makes teaching worth it and all the bad of that day seems to melt away.





Love!
Auvi

I Love You, Let Me Grab My Paint.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to post about something super cute that we have been spotting around town.  I'm sure you've all seen some pretty awesome graffiti since we arrived, so I'm sharing some of our favorites with you. I’m absolutely 100% positive that I wouldn’t have been able to read it without my handy dandy translator that’s always with me (Audrey). So everyone should also thank the translator :)

I love you, Little One!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Good Morning

Good morning, my darling!

And these last two are just really cute ones that we see on a random bright pink cement shed on the way to school every day. I love the snail!

Happy Monday!

Kenzie

When Adventure Calls...

This is our group. We are all different. We are all shapes and sizes. But we have all traveled to Kiev, Ukraine for the adventure of a lifetime. We teach the chillun English. We navigate this city. We party. We laugh. Yes, WE are gonna run this town this semester.

We will travel. We will interact with locals. We will have fun stories. We will have funny stories. We will have scary stories. We will have awkward stories. Yes, WE are going to do Kyiv right.

When adventure calls, WE answer. 

This is how we do Kyiv.