Can't Stop Now

Oh my dear lovely blog, how I've neglected you...

Im officially under a month now till I come home! Of course, I have mixed feelings about this, though they tend to lean more towards me being happy, okay, and satisfied about leaving. Im not quite ready to leave yet, but in...26 days, I will be.

After my trip around Europe,

Lyviv

Prague

Germany

Prague

Prague again...

coming back to Kiev was pretty depressing. But its been almost 4 weeks since then and my spirits have come back up. Everything is going so well...I have so much fun! Us ILP teachers hang out all the time and its always ridiculously funny and great.

For the Harry Potter premier we found a theater that was actually playing it in English! A bunch of us, including me, attempted to dress up a bit with the stuff that we had at our schools. I was able to scrounge up a witches hat and Harry Potter glasses, I looked pretty legit compared to the others hahaha. The theater was so small that most of the people watching the movie were us teachers. The projectionist managed to switch up 2 segments of the movie so an entire hour or so of it was out of order! At first we were confused as to how and why Ron suddenly wasnt with Harry and Hermione and why there was a snake attacking them, but then we figured...yea, the projectionist screwed up (probably because the directions were in English ;) )...and we laughed because we should have known that something like this would happen. It really wouldnt have been complete without something going wrong.

Yesterday we had our Thanksgiving (or Spasibagiving) and it was perfect. We all signed up to bring a food item...mine was corn, because thats about all I can be trusted with when it comes to cooking food...but other people actually made homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, cornbread, apple crisp, and delicious carrots cooked in brown sugar. We had mashed potatoes too, and our meat was chicken instead of turkey (b/c we couldnt find any). It was fantastic! We watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie online and then turned on Christmas songs for the rest of the evening. We also played some games...Signs (which if you dont know what that is, its the BEST game to play with a big group and you dont need anything to play except yourselves) and speed Scrabble. It was actually the first Thanksgiving Ive had where I wasnt at home with my family, but its still one of my favorite Thanksgivings!

About 6 or 7 of us go to Institute every Wednesday night and we've made this sort of tradition of going to this one bakery afterward. Its an adorable little place and its also half off after 8pm on Wed, which is why we first started going there. Sometimes we even invite some of the native Ukrainians that go to the English speaking institute with us to come. We always have such great discussions.

It still hasnt snowed yet here! Though I just checked the weather and its supposed to snow a bunch this Tues, Wed, and Thurs. Dont ask me whether Im excited for the snow or dreading it, because I honestly couldnt tell you. Actually...its probably a lot of both.
At the beginning of this week it rained so much I though the city was going to flood! And if it had rained on more day it probably would have. I was totally unprepared the first day and ended up walking in usually ankle deep water in my flats! The next day I decided that I would conform and wore boots over my skinny jeans. I say conform because literally EVERY woman here (who isnt a babushka) wears boots.

There's this endless obsession with English speakers here in Ukraine. I am not kidding you. Whenever Im with a friend, or friends, and we're talking to each other (we normally are b/c we dont really get to speak English at home) every single person around us will turn and look at us. Or they'll like move closer to us and listen to what we're saying. Like, literally tilt their heads closer to us. Or, if they speak English themselves, they'll start talking to us. I haven't gone one day without having at least one or two people talk to me and ask me questions. Its insane! Ive gotten used to it of course, but I still find it crazy. I dont like or not like the attention...sometimes you have some really nice conversations and meet great people, but I swear at least 1/3 of the men here are always drunk and reek of beer and have no problem at all talking to you (whether they speak English or not) and that's when it gets annoying.

But like I said, its not always that bad. For instance, the other day, I met this pretty...hahah interesting guy. I was at the internet cafe (why is it always the internet cafe??) and was buying my ticket thing when he heard me speaking English to the employee. (I had meant to say 'spasiba' but got distracted because I dropped a Hryvnia and ended up saying 'thanks.') Anyways, he starts talking to me and ends up telling me he wants to take me to get ice cream at this place at Kreshatyk. Usually I can get out of these situations with some sort of excuse, but sometimes I cant...because it would be really obvious that Im trying to ditch them. So I end up saying yes and we head there. I learn his name is Alex and he's half Russian or Turkish (I didnt quite understand) and half Serbian and he plays on the Serbian national basketball team. ( Which may seem hard to believe but if you had seen him, you wouldnt have doubted it for a second. Also, he was wearing the jacket to prove it.) He was nice. At one point, I somehow choked on my ice cream and could NOT stop coughing...it was pretty funny. He patted my back and was like, "Ill go get you some water..." I managed, through my coughing, to say "No! I'll be fine! Sit down." Because really, water is not free here. I didnt need him buying another thing for me. Afterward, he walked me to the metro and that was that.

Once I got taken out for hot chocolate by a guy from England...haha and you can bet I enjoyed that. Another time, when I was heading to the train station to go to Budapest and Prague a guy named Slava carried my suitcase the entire way there (with me glued to his side in case he wasnt as trustworthy as he seemed, but seriously...it would be hard to run away on the metro carrying my 50 pound suitcase..) and then he wished me good luck in Russian and kissed me on the cheek. So yea, you mix the good with the bad and you get a place thats just like the rest of the world.

I think Riah is starting to like me and care for me a lot! Either that or Riah's worried that she'll be blamed for the death of a stupid American girl because she never seems to be wearing just the right clothes to go outside in, sleeps too little, doesnt eat enough, and still! for some inexplicable reason doesnt understand the Russian being constantly yelled at her, even though its been months. I dont know which one it is, Riah's a hard woman to figure out lol. I really do love her though...even when a couple times a week she'll wake me up by yanking the covers off me, yell at me for 5 minutes, then lay the covers back over me so that every part of my body up to my neck is under the blanket. Im assuming she does it because she thinks I'll get cold. Which is really sweet...though that can be a hard fact to remember when its 5 o'clock in the morning and you were in the middle of a really good dream. I think our relationship could be tentatively described as a love-hate relationship. ;)

Well, I'd better head out. Till next time!!

No Longer A Tourist (though I really never was...)

Now I've really been slacking. Its been what...almost 3 weeks since I last posted? Dang. (Sorry Mom.)

Well Ill start with the most basic of beginning conversational topics-the weather. As soon as October started, the cold came with it. The high temperatures usually reach 40'F (or maybe we'll get a warm day of 48'F) and the lows either below or at freezing. Im able to see my breath at 4 in the afternoon! Its absolutely ridiculous and honestly frightens me a bit. I mean, what will November bring...let alone December??!!

Normally cold weather wouldnt bother me so much, but the problem is its a 20 min walk to the metro every morning and then after a 30-40 min train ride it takes a good 15-25 min walk to wherever Im going...unless I have to take a connecting marshutka (bus) to my destination. And I ride the trains at least 3 times a day, usually more. So there's no jumping in the car and jumping out into the warm building like back in America.

The metros, bless them, are always warm though thanks to the trains and hoards of people riding them. And I mean hoards! The trains are ALWAYS busy and unless youre at the top of the line you'll rarely get a seat. When I think back to the trains in Chicago...they seem like a ghost town in comparison. A typical metro ride will consist of being pushed into the train then for the rest of your lovely journey, your squashed between a 30yr old business man, a hooker with sharp heels (that youll be lucky not to have come in contact with your own feet at one point), a super tall 25yr old guy listening to his music, and a babushka with her bags of vegetables digging into your side. But I have to admit, I still consider trains to be one of my most favorite modes of transportation.

Oh and while we're on the subject of the types of people you'll encounter on the trains, Ive noticed something about the older men here. Theyre very touchy with the younger women. Not in a 'necessarily' bad way I guess...(depending on what level of a feminist you are). For some reason they feel that they have the right to grab you with both hands by the waist and physically move you out of theyre way. Or, if your hesitating to get on a train because youre afraid its so crowded that the doors will shut on you and break some bone in your body (we've witnessed hands being broken, and heard rumors of ankles), the men will grab you and push you on in front of them, making the decision for you. Im not a top level feminist, but I AM pretty high up there...and this, this pisses me off.

Ive gotten some questions about what my school/teaching situation is like, so I'll clarify things a little bit for all of you. Im in a group of 9 girls, including our head teacher Michaela, who was a teacher in Kiev last semester like I am now. There are two other groups like us in Kiev. In my group, we teach at two school in different parts of the city. Mary and I teach at central by ourselves (with Gabby teaching there with us on Tues & Thurs). Everyone else teaches at Nivky school. In two weeks though, Mary and I will be moving to a different office building to teach at which is apparently bigger and nicer than where we are now. We also might be teaching new kids and possibly loose the ones we've been teaching. Which makes me extremely sad! I've really gotten attached to the adorable little boys we teach... But yea, hope that answered a couple questions.

Life at home is as interesting as ever. Riah continues to yell at me in a never ending stream of Russian, whether she is happy OR annoyed with me. Though she has taken to petting my hair when she is really delighted with me, so now I have this urge to get her to pet my hair all the time...
The other day I was on the balcony getting something out of my suitcase when I turned and accidentally knocked a pot of compote (homemade juice with fruit in it) onto the ground. She didnt seem very happy about it, or at least that's what I inferred because she started yelling at me louder than usual. Then 10 min later she sat me down for dinner and I ate my normal amount of food, but when she gestured to ask me if I wanted more and I said no thank you, she got that annoyed look in her eye and put the rest of what was left of dinner on my plate, then yelled at me to eat it. I took it as her version of a consequence of spilling the compote and forced myself to start eating it. I was seriously sitting there trying not to laugh though at how ridiculous the whole thing was. I was like 'How the HECK did I get myself into this situation? Im sitting here in a flat in Ukraine, being forced to eat a ton of food by a babushka as a punishment, waiting for her to walk out of the kitchen so I can run to the balcony, open the window, and dump the rest of the food out and down 15 floors to the ground below. I CANNOT believe this...'
It really was amazingly funny. Unfortunately, Riah didnt go out of the kitchen. (Though I dont think I would have chanced it anyways because of what would have happened if I got caught.) And so I finished the food, after which Riah seemed to forgive me because she started petting my hair again.

Ill have you know...Riah's food is pretty decent. I eat most all of it. There have only been a FEW things Ive had to throw out the window because theyre simply impossible for me to eat without having them come back up. There's a grassy area with trees below the window, and though it really isnt THAT often that I throw food out..the pigeons seem to know to congregate there.

Im not allowed to wash the dishes. At first I tried to sneak doing them, but Riah caught me once and yelled at me so intensely I haven't tried since. Is it really that bad that I want to clean my dishes so that a 70-75yr old grandmother wont have to?? Im thinking no, but Ive found that following her rules is definitely the better way to go about helping her and keeping her happy and pleased with me.

Well I'd better get going...there's about 10 minutes time left for me to use the computer. (Im at an internet cafe lol...)
I dont think Ill get another post up for a couple weeks because this Friday Im leaving on a trip around Europe! We're going to Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, and Lyviv. It's a long needed vacation from teaching English every Monday though Friday...and when I get back there will be only a month and 21 days till Im back in America! Crazy huh??
I love you Mom, Riley, Grayson, Hannah, and Dad!!!!!!! And all the rest of my lovely family and friends out there!!!!

Sorry no pictures (since Im at an internet cafe) so Ill leave a song/video for ya. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv2OyI0nXEE&ob=av2e
Ugh never mind, I lied. Its not working. But I refuse to be beat so Ill just leave up the link.

Till next time...

Babushka's and Immune Systems...

I know its been forever but this time it wasnt because I was procrastinating, it was because I litterally couldnt get my hands on a computer! Also, Im apologizing beforehand for any mistakes in this post, I dont have time to spellcheck or reread.

Since last time I posted theres been a big change. After some interesting misunderstandings I have a new host family! A babushka to be exact, (grandmother in Russian). Babushka Riah. Even though Ive been living at her flat for half a week, I only just met her last night. She was in one of the many villages outside of the 'thriving' metropolis of Kyiv, taking care of animals and crops possibly...? Im not sure exactly.

I havent been living alone for this past week though. Before last night when Babushka Riah came home, Marina (a 38yr old single woman) was my only roommate. She speaks a good bit of English and is very kind and outgoing. The first night I met her, she talked my head off for 2 hours. Listening, replying, and trying to translate/finish sentances in English is extremely trying on the brain, let me tell you. Then she force-fed me this apricot cheese stuff, (ok, not really, but she clearly wasnt going to let me NOT eat it). It was honestly just not good...I was able to eat about half of the 2 by 5 inch chunk of it before I resorted to dropping it into my cup of water bit by bit when she wasnt looking. But I really like her! She's a great roommate!

Now lets talk about Babushka Riah, (rye-ah). I had heard stories about her before I met her that left me a bit anxious. For example, how previous teachers would have to hide in the bathtub if they wanted to read late at night or finish their lesson plans, how she sometimes yells (she only speaks Russian so I can understand how this would be intimidating), she likes to dance randomly and will make you dance with her, and how, in general, she's just a force of nature and you WILL do what she says. Some of the stories were also about her interesting cooking, but I was pleasantly surprised when the first meal she made for me was absolutely delicious! The best borscht Ive had since Ive been in Ukraine and eggs sizzled to perfection on top of white and fluffy bread. And this morning! I had a potato soup, similar to the borscht from last night, and a thick and eggy crepe that tasted like heaven...
She danced a bit before I left this morning. Just thought Id add that, haha. I have no doubt we will have some awesome and hilarious experiences together in the future.

In honor of my old host family, Im going to share one of Vlada's and my funny little escapades we had over our 3 weeks of living together. (Dude...I totally botched that sentence didnt I? Stupid grammer...) Vlada and I decided to go to this

spectacular catherdral which I mentioned in my previous post. It was a Sunday, so we were allowed inside this time. When we walked in I saw two options before me. To the left was a staircase going not up, but down, and in front of me was the beautiful and enormous main hall of the cathedral. I decided to save the best for last and kept walking straight. It WAS beautiful, and I certainly spent my time taking in all of the details of the high walls, ornate decorations, paintings, and giant organ, but when we walked back out into the foyer I took Vlada's arm and steered her excitedly towards the staircase. She stopped though and we had a quick little conversation that went like this...
Vlada: You want to go down there??
Me: Yes, of course!
Vlada: I dont know...maybe first we ask someone.
Me: But there's no one around.
Vlada: Maybe we wait.
Me: Look, its not blocked! And I dont see any sign indicating that its against the rules for us to go down there.
She either saw the logic of my arguement or didnt understand a word I said and decided that it would be better to go with me than leave me to the wrath of some Eastern Orthodox monk when he found me creeping around. Vlada crossed herself and muttered what I assumed was a prayer in Russian (which I still think was a bit unnecessary) and followed me down. There we a bunch of old chairs and dark alcoves, but when we turned down one of the halls we saw these black double doors that were particularly ominous looking. We looked at each other, mentally agreed we'd see what was on the other side, then walked towards the doors. The second before my fingers touched the handles, the doors suddenly shook rather violently. I jumped back and let out a little shriek, (which I felf bad enough about doing in such a reverent place) but at least I wasnt outright insulting like Vlada who managed not only to swear, but swear in a language that I happen to understand perfectly. I took her arm figuring we would leave seeing as how the place was freaking haunted but she stopped me, laughed and said, "Sorry, it was me. I didnt know, look!" She stepped on one of the stones that was half way under both doors and they shook again. We both laughed (in relief) and I tried to open the doors again but they were, of course, locked.

Lastly I wanted to tell my family that LOOOOOOVE them!! And i miss you all dearly! I miss you my sweet little siblings Hannah, Grayson, and Riley! I miss you Mom!!! And I miss you Dad and Donna! Its harder being away from you in another country rather than just in another state going to college because of the fact that we cant talk on the phone! (Its also hard b/c this is the most difficult thing Ive done and everything is crazy and different in Ukraine. And, Im never NOT sick in some way. ((Today its a fiery sore throat, runny nose, and a wicked cough but its better than three days ago when it was a stuffed nose, wicked cough, and the stomach flu.) Yes email is nice and lovely and I cling to every word, but it is not enough!! I want to eat your faces and drink your voices. Everyday. For breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. Youre really pretty lucky that this is not actually possible.
Anyways, I love you! All of you!

Im still having a great time here, life is moving forward. ^_^

P.S. Mom! I love that scarf!! I wear it all the time...the colors are perfect <3

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

Well, I dont have much time to type this! Plus my younger host sister is bouncing a balloon on my head and showing me her barbies. She also wants to watch all the youtube videos that I like...lol..

Riding the metro is crazy! I get most of it thanks to my time in Chicago, but obviously its much harder to find out which way to travel, and when to get off!! All the signs are in Ukrainian, no English! So I end up just counting and/or remembering what the stations look like. For example my train stop is Palatz, or at least thats what it sounds like in English, and its 'the one with the red tiles.' One of the others I get off at a lot is 'the one after the one with the green tile columns.' Not a great system, but it works!

Ukraine has this distinct smell. I mean...its not bad really, only when its highly concentrated. On the metro sometimes someone will come and stand/sit next to you and i will have to hold my breath or just turn my head b/c they will reek of it. Im getting used to it though, and I probably smell like it too. But I LOVE whenever I smell something familiar. Like today...haha...(its weird, i know), but I smelled something similar to rubber and it was so familiar...I just wanted to stand there for an hour and smell it!!

Im still getting used to the food here. My stomach is on the fritz. My favorite meal I've had so far is plain pasta, they dont put sauces on anything really so I put on ketchup (their ketchup is more spicy and delicious though) and then a little cheese (not sure what kind) added on top, with (frenchish) bread on the side. Pasta with ketchup...yea...my favorite lol.

Tomorrow we're (us teachers) are going to go to downtown Kyiv where there are tons of things to do and see, like go to Independence Square and check out things on Khreshchatyk Street, which is famous in Ukraine. We also might try to find a Mcdonalds because we are missing American food SO FREAKING BAD!!!

Everything is so cheap here! I need to get a watch soon and a good one costs about $2-3!! And the food here is cheap too, most things cost about 40-70 cents in American money. Though gum is kind of new here so its always more expensive than everything else (maybe a dollar).

Just thought Id mention that when it rains here...it pours!! I need to get an umbrella too!

Im really starting to bond with my host family. Im already keeping secrets for my sister. I wont say what it is though in case they read this lol... But really, Ive already talked politics with my father. Tonight we watched the Ukrainian version of So You Think You Can dance, they really like it. And I can understand it pretty well even though its in Ukrainian. Its funny though, all the Ukrainian dancers on that show pick American songs to dance to, so my family is always asking me if I like the song.

Well I better get to bed...until next time! Das ViDaniya!