maxim

So I'm way busy trying to get some massive amounts of homework done for my online class right now, but I thought I'd take a break and check out all the pictures I've taken the past two days during our halloween parties. They are cuuuute, and if I have the time I'll upload them later. 
But for now, here's two. 

This is Max. He's nine years old and could easily be my best friend. He's hilarious and I absolutely love having him in class. He loves to talk, and is so good at communicating in english. He struggles sometimes trying to find the right words but always tries so hard and doesn't let me help him until he figures it out. He's so good! I can just sit with him in class and have a full on conversation, which is so amazing. This kid speaks russian, not english, but has learned so much. 
One day we were talking about America, and I showed a picture of the white house and he said, 

Max - "That's a big house. I don't like big houses. But I don't like small houses either, I like (hand gesture for so-so) houses. Well I like big houses, I just don't like.... (goes over to the window and pretends to wash, then gets out his fake vacuum and starts making vacuum noises.)"
Me - "Oh cleaning houses?"
Max - "Yes. I don't like cleaning a lot."

This may seem like any normal conversation, but that is a ton of language for one little kid to know, in their second (sometimes third) language. I'm amazed every single day at how much these kids learn and actually understand, its amazing. 

Anyway. I love max, he's the best. Well one of them. I have too many favorites. Sometimes he shows up to the school like an hour early, so we just hang out and we all joke with him. And I always try to get him to draw me because he said he loves to draw. So I asked him what his favorite thing to draw is and he said "..girls." I've yet to receive that picture, and I've assigned it as homework numerous times. 
On America day though he did want to make his own american flag but we weren't doing that so I told him to do it as homework and he brought his next time, glittered red stripes. Loved it. And hung it up on our school wall that says "Welcome to Little America."

Also I really wish I could load videos on here. He does this little scream that is hilarious. And I videoed him today. Can somebody tell me how!?

Okay kind of realized that its a little weird that I'm just doing a blog post on one kid.. It seems like I'm obsessed with this boy. I promise, I did not become some weird cougar who is in love with nine year olds. I could literally sit here and write soooooo much about every single one of my kids. I love them so much and they have seriously impacted my life in many ways. They're all amazing and I'm so lucky to have them.

#ilovechildren

ps. I was a bunny for halloween. We sang little bunny foo foo many times. 

meow

Host family got a cat! If you know me, you know how much I don't like animals. And for some reason I am always stuck in situations where I have to deal with them. When I lived in Paris, the lady I lived with had two huge dogs [& they licked the dishes in the dishwasher.. not okay.] And here my host family has a massive dog, Sultan, who I despise. But my entire host family (except for babushka..) are huge supporters of their pets. They love this dog. So for my host mom, Oksana's birthday, she decided on getting a cat. A little 3 month old kitten. 

 When we drove home the night they had gotten it we came inside to grandma and vova laying in bed cuddling up with it, just loving it to pieces. It was actually the cutest thing I've ever seen. They love this cat and I actually think its precious the way they do. 

I know, really strange.

Don't get wrong, I'm still freaked out by the thing, it has claws that can scratch me to death. And that is honestly one of my biggest fears. Kittens. And their claws. 

But I think I'll survive this one. And with the cat in the house now, Sultan's stuck outside most of the time. Big plus. 

{ignore how freaky and psycho I look. . just got done with halloween parties part one at school. supa tired. but how ukrainian does this cat look? so funny.}

I was gone when they had gotten the cat during the day, but when they picked me up later that night they were telling me all about it and I asked what they named him and they hadn't decided yet so I said, "name it samanta" [no 'h' on purpose, thats how foreigners pronounce my name] and my host mom said, "but it's a boy," and I said, "so.. name it sam!" She thought that was hilarious, then explained it to Gena my host dad in russian right after. 

So I'm hoping to get a cat named after me over here in Ukraine. It would've been nice to get maybe one of the kids parents to name their kid after me, but if a cat is all I can get, I'll take it.

&the kids

also, today was crazy and fun and I had me camera on my all day so that I could take pictures with the kids. So for the last five minutes of every class we set up my camera on a self-timer and took all sorts of pictures. They were crazy. And it was so fun

ukrainian futbol

this week we got tickets for a soccer game, so exciting!
I love going to games, and obviously love me some soccer boys, so it was destined to be a good time. 
We all met up and walked to the stadium along with the entire population of Kiev. 
Who knows why I'm still awake, but here's some pictures. bye

 Україна, Україна,Україна

 oh you know, just a full swat team road block because of all the gaf attacks in the stands.

 making friends with the locals, as usual.

literally everyone always knows we're americans. I think we fit in pretty well... so I don't understand why people always give us weird looks. And then they want to take pictures of us constantly. These guys kept offering me their sunflower seeds, obviously they were drugged sunflower seeds. So I said het [no]. Ukrainians are not very familiar with the phrase "don't take candy from strangers," because strangers have literally given me candy in the street. then I gave it to my host brother... oops.

also caught some pda action down in the metro without even knowing it. nice

time slipping away

Time has gone by so so fast already. I have been here in Ukraine for a month. An entire month. Yet it feels like I have been here way longer. And at the same time, just like I got here yesterday. How does time do it? The older I get the faster it seems to go. Its already October, how did we get to October?!
Today was super relaxing. They weren't holding regular meetings today at church, they were broadcasting conference, so I didn't go. Which meant I didn't have to set any alarms, and could have the whole day to myself. I slept in super late, the latest I have, then got to sit in bed reading scrips and writing in my journal for most of the morning, until Vova came in to play. We made some little thing out of folding paper.
Me and kim were supposed to be making dinner for our families tonight, but nothing had really been said about it. We planned on making tacos / burritos for them, since we love mexican food, and they don't really have it here. Oksana asked me for a list and she looked it over, translated everything, then decided on which store we needed to go to get everything. I went with her to the 'Metro,' which was basically a costco. It was enormous. We found everything we needed, except for avocado :( and then she cooked the meat and we took everything next door.
They didn't really understand the concept of serving yourself, it took a couple times of explaining and demonstrating.. but they finally all grabbed tortillas and dished themselves up. The little boys loved it, they ate a ton, and so did our host moms. But the dads weren't so into the idea of it. I'm not sure what it was, but they didn't really eat much, ended up not using tortillas and just eating it all with a fork. Which was fine.
Also, I put rice and beans on the list, because usually you have rice and beans with mexican food.. but we didn't get any of that at the store, she said she had some rice and Natasha next door had beans. So we had sticky rice and baked bbq beans with and in our tacos and burritos. A little different... but still good.
After dinner the boys played upstairs and me and kim went into her room. I heard somebody playing the guitar so I went down to check it out. Dima, Kim's host dad was playing so I just sat and listened. He and Oksana passed it back and forth playing. And their son Misha also came down to play. I love love love when people play music. We just all sat there, in their tiny kitchen, talking and laughing, yelling at the boys, taking shots of tequila (obviously not me). It was great. I'm seriously so lucky to be living with these people, they are so great.

okay for some reason my videos won't load on here.

help me

voicebox

Who would have thought that my lost voice would actually get progressively worse instead of better? Well my voice is now reduced to a whisper. 
How are you supposed to teach that way? 

I've been home looking through old pictures and videos on my computer. I could do that all day long. Also babushka has me bed ridden so thats pretty much what I get to do. 
I've had a really great life. Seriously, I'm super blessed. Its so amazing to me the experiences that I've gotten to experience. Though this one has definitely been one of the hardest, I know it will be one of the most beneficial experiences for my life. I continue to say that, "I'm not a teacher...this isn't what I was cut out to do.." But I've realized that at some point in our lives, we all have to be teachers. Whether we like it or not, whether we're good at it or not. Whether its through a calling in the church, or being a mother, or actually teaching, we will all be teachers. So I'm happy that I'm here, and learning not just a lot about myself and about culture and the world, but about teaching, and how important that skill can become. 
I don't usually write a lot on my blog. But I just felt like sharing that. Deep, I know.
Now here's some pictures and videos. [whoops, side note, the video wouldn't upload.]

 my favorite lunch; crepes.

 had to gargle this stuff. Steaming hot water and black licorice flavored medicine mixed together. Also, had to do it with my eyes closed.. because the black licorice burned my eyes. Literally

Also, I really miss rexburg. Like a lot. Thats not always normal.. 

I miss my friends, a lot. I'm anxious to go back in the winter, to be back up at school and around all the people that I love. 

this is where I live, two steps to the left. And thats my brother. We live right across from each other and can yell out our windows to see who gets the car that night, and take pictures of each other when we bring home hot dates. . wait I can do that anywhere in town to him. This is one of my homes. And I miss it. #ridge412

weekend in short

 just the beginning of my tea days.

 When I wasn't feeling good and let the kids do whatever they wanted during class... shh

max is such a gorgeous ariel!

 panoramic shots

 hello pretty city

 church is right next door to the temple. so stunning. 

also, Tucson temple was announced at conference this weekend!

 everytime I turn on my phone it says this. #inspiration

 communicating through google translate

 teaching each other card games in my bed..

 lunch in bed? thanks babushka

 my host family has a sauna. need I say more?

 getting street waffles with ulia, mmm

 tender mercy happened right here.

 tania showed us around the lavra

and julie showed off her modeling skillz

Also skyped with my best friend. That might have made my weekend, your the best curty. And graham and skyler.

I know I've been a total failure at blogging so far. I'm sorry. But mainly I blame it on my dislike towards the format of my blog and how it does a border around my pictures. So if anyone cares about me blogging, and wants to help me out a bit by making my blog look great, please do. Spaciba - thank you

tea time

I've had no voice for the past four days. My throat has been sore and I've been coughing a bit, but have literally not had a voice. I stayed home from teaching today to hopefully rest it so that I can be back tomorrow and the rest of the week. It's been nice to have a day off, but I keep getting tea handed to me. Every meal. And I'm a big tea hater. Do you know how much tea I've drunk since friday? Enough to fill the whole ocean. I'm loving my raspy voice, I'm a big fan of that, but please, let the tea stop.

KP

This weekend I went to a city that I do not know how to pronounce. -Kamyanets Podilsky. 
It was such such such a good get away, even if it was super short. Me and three of the other girls took a six / seven hour train ride down to the city friday night. We didn't get there until six a.m., where thank goodness, we were picked up by an english tour guide who showed us around the entire place. I learned a ton of history about Ukraine and this city in particular, but of course most of it I do not remember because I was so burnt out. 
It was super interesting to see though, it was a very different history than I've ever been exposed to. We saw some awesome fortresses and took our time walking around the city, enjoying eating on our own, and getting to know each other better. 

This is Julie, who I adore. She is so hilarious and she made me laugh real good laughs a lot this weekend. Probably had a lot to do with the wooden flute that she purchased.

obviously we made some Ukrainian boyfriends.

and I got accepted to Hogwarts.

made a great wish under the wishing arch, which came true,

just so y'know. Thank you Ukrainian saints!

They are the cutest.

Our tour guide making fun of us for wanting pictures with this

beautiful fence. Hello, its turquoise.

taytay and the beautiful park we spent our sunday morning walking through. So many gorgeous trees! And the leaves are beginning to change, so pretty.

We decided to walk to the very end of the park, and found the cutest little Ukrainian carnival.

We bought some dollar tickets and hopped on the ferris wheel, no questions asked.

Okay, best decision ever made.

We got the most amazing view of the entire city the whole ride. I loved it.

Mm, delicious carnival popsicles.

mean muggin'

the greatest picture ever taken.

We watched the sunset on top of a stone wall overlooking the city's fortress.

We had a lot of time, so we took some cool silhouette pictures too. I've also been taking karate classes over here, as you can obviously tell..

We sat on this wall for maybe two hours. And just talked forever. It was so awesome.

Hi, we're in Ukraine just hanging out next to a medieval fortress. What..?

It was a really good night out just us all together.

We ended up at a sushi / asian place for dinner. Delicious, thank you for some familiar food.

We stayed at the restaurant for almost four hours, sitting at our unbelievably comfortable couches sippin' our virgin cocktails waiting for our 1 am train to get in. 

I had a great weekend.