And time passes...

Well! Im a bit lazy at updating, I know. Ill probably end up starting all my posts with an apology of this sort. This is how I am with writing in my journal too...

Life at home is getting better everyday! I get along really well with my host family. Vlada and I have a lot of fun hanging out. They pretty much have down the things Ill eat (rice, pasta, fruit!, potatoes, bread, cereal, soup, pastries, ketchup, and most meat) and the things I wont eat (beet soup, nasty ukrainian drinks, buckwheat, caviar, fish ((its all real and blood and guttsy looking ewww)) their version of sour cream, and poppyseed bread). I am NOT a picky eater. Ask anyone I know!! But I swear...they took everything I dont like in America and eat it here all the time! Like I said though, the food in general is getting much better.

School has been an interesting ride. I was freaking out a bit the first and second days just because we were thrown straight into it! We've taught classes by ourselves from that first day! And there really isnt anyone to oversee our teaching. We have a head teacher, but she comes over only once a week. So you can see how I was stressing out at first, but its gotten much better and easier! Which I am sooooo thankful for! I am in charge of teaching 3 lessons each day...Arts & Crafts (my favorite!), Drama, and Gym. I teach kindergarten. Our school is from 4pm-7pm, Mon-Fri. You may think that teaching would be impossible, but we just repeat everything and use simple phrases. Once they have those phrases down we take it a step up and challenge them a bit more. Its amazing how easily we can communicate! They learn so well!! I can really see how this will help them in the future, theyll be so far ahead of the other kids when they start taking English at school.
Here's a picture of me and the other teachers..


I live so close to the school I walk there everyday! I really enjoy those walks. Its down this beautiful road with trees down each side, old and new buildings, cars everywhere (sidewalk included), and people everywhere too. Its a good time to put my ipod in one ear and listen to lovely familiar sounds, and soak in and watch this new world that is so different from what Im used to.
Speaking of cars...they have some pretty awesome ones here. While a lot of them are the cute and/or crappy little European cars, a lot of them are also very nice. Ive seen people lock and unlock their cars with their fingerprints! And most of the cars here have side mirrors that fold in, which is extremely necessary and needed with all of their narrow streets here.

There are pigeons everywhere...seriously, at least one every five feet.
Oh and everyone smokes here! Ive become so used to the smell...I dont cough, hold my breath, or even really notice it anymore. Which for some reason I feel is a little sad...

So a couple days back I got onto one of the city buses, nothing new, and sat down in one of the seats. On city buses there is a person (usually a woman) who comes by and makes sure that you have a city card, which is what I have, or money to pay. She comes by and checks my card, then goes and checks others. After a couple of minutes she comes back to me and starts talking (though it was more like yelling) to me in Russian. I was like 'I dont understand, I only speak English.' She stops talking, gives me this annoyed look, grabs my arm, hauls me out of the seat, pushes me into the aisle, and sits down in the one I was just sitting in. Apparently, that was HER seat. Many many thoughts ran through my head at that moment...ones like, 'oh no you DID-NT!' 'if we were in america id...sue you!' and 'why i oughta...' but I just did what I normally do in these situations (which come up more often than you'd think) and that was just laugh, b/c I really do find most of this experience quite funny, and sit down somewhere else.

Whenever I plan on going out, I always wear a scarf, because its impossible to know when you might come across a cathedral. They are everywhere here!! Just last night I discovered this beautiful thing, right down the road from where I live!


Im going to go back and go inside sometime this weekend for sure! Maybe right after I finish this blog...just because I can...haha.
Anyways, back to the scarf thing. Its mandatory for a woman to wear a scarf in most cathedrals here, but even when its not mandatory its just a respectful thing to do. I went into this cathdral

the other day, while mass was starting. It seems casual, but serious at the same time. Mostly because everyone stands, and there's a lot of people coming in and out, but its all very silent except for the prayers being said by the priest (in another language of course) and the angel sounding singing coming from a choir that remains to be seen. While everyone was doing their spiritual thing, I couldnt stop thinking about how much I wanted to go up to the very high looking second floor, or go up that secret staircase, or through that other very well hidden door. I was dying to explore it allllll!
When i was in Chicago I went into the only openly run Opus Dei cathedral, and this kid let me in through the back when nobody was there and I got to explore the whole thing by myself. Too bad I cant expect to have the same thing happen here...

Oh, and Ill mention this too because I find it EXTREMELY awesome. Across the street from that scary looking cathedral down the road is the headquarters of the Ukrainian version of the CIA! Ah...see? I told you it was awesome.... Haha I hope they dont consider me a suspicious looking person if I go and walk around the (outside) of the building for a while, trying to see all that can be seen. Yea, sometimes I just LOVE life...

So this is what I dubbed the 'theme song' of my trip to Ukraine. Ugh, I seriously LOVE this song. I gave it this theme song BEFORE I actually came here though...so it hasnt quite fit it perfectly so far. ^_^ Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt. Maybe Ill have to find another song to balance the perfectness of this song. But for now, here it is:


Love and miss you all!

~Breanna