It's a...POMANDA!

Yup, that has become my new nickname-Pomanda. For some reason, the kids can't say my name the right way. It's really funny because when the younger kids see me, they always say "Look (to be said like "Luke") it's a Pomanda!!" It's really cute when they say it because of their accents too.

The kids have been really fun to teach. For the first 20 minutes, all of the classes combine and they pick songs to sing and play games. The funniest song has been "Old McDonald" because they will pick THE MOST random animals that they could think of, and we would have no idea what "sound" to make for the song. They choose animals like porcupines, swans, dolphins, spiders...it's hilarious. 

Audrey and I had our first attempt of making Blini the other day-they turned out waaayyy to thick-almost like a tortilla. Our host dad makes really good blini and he showed us how to do it, but it was a little hard because he doesn't speak any English, and they don't have any measuring cups. So we thought it was 3 cups of flour, but the cup he used must have been really small because they did NOT turn out the way they were supposed to haha. 

One thing I have learned while living in Ukraine-NEVER eat the food they have at the street markets! I was warned about it, but I didn't think it would be so bad. The meat didn't even taste bad, but I got food poisoning from it. Now that I think about it, I really don't even know what kind of meat it was at all. Other than that...the food is pretty good :), although it can be really bland sometimes.

More fun in Kyiv

The weather has been much warmer and things are going well! Last week we went to a soccer game-Kyiv's team Dynamo again Spain (Valencia). That was really exciting-the crowd was crazy and we all had such a good time. Although trying to get to the metro after the game was a nightmare. There were so many people and we were all just being pushed toward the street; most of people were drunk and trying to ask us questions, and then they would get all confused when we started speaking English. I'll just say that I have a bruise on my leg because the crowd was so crazy that night!

The other day when I was at the grocery store with Audrey (my roommate) I accidentally spoke Spanish instead of Russian! haha. When the lady asked how many bags I wanted, I said "dos" instead of "dva." It was really funny-never thought I would speak Spanish on accident, I thought for sure it would be English. I always seem to have interesting experiences at the grocery store. The first time I went there, the cashier started yelling at me in Russian and I had no idea what I was doing wrong. She then made sure I understood that I had to follow her, and she showed me that I needed to get a price-tag thing to put on the produce I was going to buy. I was used to having them just do it when you pay for it in America! I also got lectured by a Babushka in a grocery store once-I think maybe I was standing in her way? I don't know. 

It's always funny when things like that happen though because, for the most part, I have no idea what they are trying to tell me. I'll tell them "I speak English" or "I don't understand" in both English and Russian, and sometimes that we still try to talk to me. They usually get really frustrated and then walk away or STILL keeping trying to talk to me. It's really funny to me that some people will still try to talk to me even after I tell them that I don't speak Russian. I just kind of stand there and stare at them until they are done and then shrug my shoulders because I have no idea what they are saying.

The other day we went to our head teacher's apartment (Cassidy) and looked through the closests there. We found some really cool old clothes, hats, and books. It was fun to rumage through a really old Ukrainian apartment and find all that stuff. 

One month in Ukraine!

Teaching in Kiev, Ukraine has been a great experience so far. The kids are great, and I enjoy teaching much more than I thought I would! The city is beautiful, although it's been really rainy and foggy since I've been here. I can't beleive I have been here for a month already! I feel like I have just got the hang of things around here, and knowing where I am going! The metros aren't so scary anymore now that I know the Russian alphabet and can read where I want to go. 

The food here isn't too bad-I got kind of lucky with my host family though, because they have a bigger family, and I also have an American roommate, so we have to make our own food. It's great because we can make food that is similar to what you find in America, but we still get to eat all of the Ukrainian food that our host mom makes. One of my favorite foods here is blini-it's kind of like a really thin pancake that you fill with jam, cottage cheese, or whatever you want. My host dad taught us how to make it too :). 

My host family is great. I live with the parents, Sasha (14-boy), Kristina (8-girl), and Vania (5-boy). They are all really nice. Sasha likes to play darts and soccer with us, and the younger kids always want to play card games. I'm pretty sure that I've played either "Uno" or "Phase 10" almost every night since I've been here! My host family is very traditional and they don't speak much English, especially the parents, so it's been interesting, but I've learned a lot about the culture.

Well it's kind of hard to sum up the past month, but I've seen a lot of really beautiful things here, and I'm having a great experience so far. We went to a Russian ballet, the circus, Lavra, and different churches. The people here are nice, but that was not my first impression! haha. They are just very reserved in public, and don't smile at strangers or talk much. It was a little depressing at first, especially with the winter season. Everyone wears black, or dark colors, and it's been really gloomy, especially because the sun goes down earlier here. The metro is always packed with people, but it is SO quiet; people just sit there and look at the ground, and don't really say anything. Now that I've gotten used to it though, it all seems normal to me. When I am at home or at the school, the people are very friendly and fun to be with.