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.