As of late

It's been a little while since I have updated this little B L O G. So I will do a little photo catch up of the past  week or so..

Chapter 1: 

frosty glass and good food.

The bus

-you will find these little spots all over the bus where people have scratched/chipped away at the ice so they are able to recognize which stop they are at.-

Another successful visit to 

New York Bagel 

-Chevre Bagel with a side of Catching Fire-

Dinner at 

'Flower Blossom'

The famous/delicious Ukrainian dish, 

Varenyky

-potato stuffed dumplings-

Dessert

-warm delicious apple pie and ice cream-

Chapter 2:

A visit to the wrong botanical garden..

Saturday 2/4, my group and myself met with our coordinators and we visited the lovely Kiev indoor botanical gardens to enjoy the tropical warmth and the thousands of beautiful blooms!

NOT!

Oh dear, somehow we ended up at the wrong botanical garden that was actually anything but flowering plants - it was also anything but warm tropical weather and in one section we were being rained on by the glass ceiling above!
Don't get me wrong I love plants of every kind, I consider myself to be quite a green thumb but this was a little disappointing compared to the picture in my head of multi-colored blossoms and blooms and warmth and lovely smells! Luckily we were all good little sports about it and enjoyed our tour,.
All in all I did enjoy being around living greens as opposed to the cold snow covered city streets!

 ooey-gooey greenery photo

 John and Becki lovin' the tour!

shed a little light

 little bird

 giant

Calcaneous!

Afterward the hungry majority of us ventured off to a mall called 'Dream Town'.

Lunch - served!

Unlike China, there is pizza in this country of Ukraine! Oddly enough, pizza and sushi joints make the majority of the food court section of the mall but hey, I am down with it.

After lunch one of my awesome teachers Larissa and myself wandered the mall, somewhat to shop but mostly to spend as much time as possible in the warmth! A few hours and a couple purchases later... we ventured back into the snow and parted ways homeward bound.

This is where things get fun. It ended up being a very cold but pretty night so whilst waiting for the bus I took out camera and snapped a few night time shots. 

- ferrari kiev-

- nightly snow fall-

-icicles of death-

Distracted by photo taking I barely noticed the bus arrive so I quickly jumped on and sat, thankful to be on my final transport home. I soon realized that I walked onto an unknown bus going in the complete opposite direction of my home! I jumped off first chance I had and crossed my fingers I would remember which street to turn back down so I could find my stop and again, wait for the bus, the right bus this time!!

The walk back to the bus stop was actually very enjoyable, it was snowy and the hustle and bustle was starting to slow down. If I wouldn't have gotten lost I would have never seen this,

ha that was a joke, it was cool to see but will I ever shop there? Not outside of my dreams.

Chapter 3:

Sunday is a funday.

Cami, Marie and I are the appointed ysa leaders for each of our groups and had a meeting Sunday morning at 9 to coordinate with the branch some various activities and temple visits.  We decided on taking a taxi since it usually takes us an hour or so to get to church via metro and bus so we called our coordinator and had her get us a cab, we decided we ought to leave an hour early just to be safe.
The taxi picked us up in front of our apartment at 8 a.m. sharp, we arrived at the church at 8:15. Arriving so early quickly realized that we were locked out and that nobody would show up until nine since the first meeting doesn't start until ten. It was a very chilly Sunday morning, we would have frozen to the snow covered steps of the church if we hadn't found shovels and gone to work shoveling that snow right off the walks and steps! Nice little sabbath service if you ask us!

After a long day at church (actual church was great but lets be real, we got there super early and it was fast sunday, that equals one long day) we really looked forward to two things, eating and taking much needed naps. Unfortunately we were unable to do either of these things right away because when we walked into our apartment we found we weren't alone! In there was the landlord and a technician, we knew they were coming during church to fix our furnace but we did not expect them to still be there when we arrived - also they had torn apart nearly everything but the furnace! All our furniture in the hallway was moved away from the walls, all the counters in the kitchen were moved to the middle of the room, even our room was getting some work down so that left us the sitting room which was bed less (therefor napless) and food less.

It turned out they got us a new fuze box (our fuze would blow out 7 times a day) and had some rewiring done and new, better outlets put into the kitchen, hallway and our bedroom. They also put in two new light fixtures in the hallway which makes the biggest difference since we usually get ready in front of the hallway mirror in the dark. 

After these great gentleman left (after a few games of charades to figure out that they really don't want us to unplug or move anything around in the kitchen) we decided it was time to feast on food, REAL GOOD FOOD!!! and that, we did! I need not say more about the meal, the photos will speak volumes.

Chef Marie

 Happy family

 The meal

Chicken delicioso, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, pasta covered in creamy spinach sauce - made from scratch! 

Ok, ok. I realize to some this may not look like the worlds most incredible meal, but it was to us! After two weeks of grilled cheese, eggs, pasta and oatmeal dinners, dreams came true on this night. From now on Sundays are days of home cooked feasts! Those other foods are getting kicked to the other less holy days of the week. 

I feel like I caught up on just about everything! 

Soo...

The End.

for now..

New york bagel and goodbyes

Two things:

a) Across the street from the institute building is a little shop called New York Bagel,

 ^delicious everything bagel with real cream cheese and veggies^

Needless to say, this discovery made me verrrrrrrrry happy. I am a very big Einstein fan at home and not expecting to see bagels and then stumbling upon this joint (they serve omelets and an array of delicious desserts from brownies to cheesecake) has made me a very happy camper and is most definitely the most pleasant Kiev discovery I have made thus far! 

b) I just said good bye to my little brother Elder Ty Tillotson 

Oh man, that kid is so awesome! 

Saying goodbye was so silly, I was all tough at first... then I would sob... then I would be fine... then the sniffles would hit me and then the tears and then... yeah, I am a baby.

He is not dying, he is serving the Lord! How cool is that? I am so excited for him. So thrilled as well! He is awesome. I will miss him like crazy and I am a tiny bit bummed I didn't get to see him off in person buuuuut I am very grateful that I did have the chance to at least see him and plus - if I were there face to face I would be an even bigger mess than I was talking to him on FaceTime! 

^what a great family I have^

            

That's all for today (:

 

 

Long awaited.. the weekend!

We ordered Pizza in Thursday night!

holla!

Unfortunately it was really cold by the time we got to eat it.. talk about BAD service! Just kidding.. I maaaaay have given the wrong apartment building to the poor pizza delivery guy (we are building 21 NOT 32!!! just incase any of you wanted to drop it.. again)

Friday night Marie and I hopped on a bus headed to a spiffy little office building (right next door to a Ferrari showcase room! Man, those things are spifffffffyyyyy!) where institute, local ward meetings & Friday night FHE are held. all church related activities take place on the 5th floor.
Come to find out this floor is where church was held for many (if not all) of the members in Kiev before the temple and church house were built. Now it holds institute a couple nights a week and YSA (of sorts) friday night FHEs, Sunday it serves as a ward house for the locals in that part of town (we attend the 'international branch').
Marie (who is one of the HT's I live with and love) came to Kiev for her first ILP experience five years ago, fhe was extra fun because I got to meet some of her old friends from the last time she was here! One of her friends Serge just got home off of his mission and speaks pretty much perfect English - he was called to southern Russia but he had a lot of American companions - it was nice to have someone local to interact with that could understood us and our humor (Americans - we are strange people).
After a little devotional and some treats we played a wonderful internationally friendly game of 'signs'. If you haven't played it, you should -hours of good fun are to be had!

Saturday morning Kiev 2 groups coordinator Tania came to our apartment and taught us and some of our teachers how to cook Borsch - a famous Ukrainian soup! It is made primarily from beet root, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, tomato sauce.. and other stuff? Yes. I don't remember the rest. You throw it all in a pot, cook it up and serve it with - you guessed it, a dollop of daisy! Yes! You top it off with a spoon full of sour cream! and it is delicious. What's even better its that it is even better (repetitive much?) the day after and since it was cooked in our kitchen we have the left overs and that was my yummy Sabbath snack, mmmm.

After our cooking lesson most of our teachers went out for a night on the town, a couple of us - the smart ones - boycotted the cold, stayed in, built a fort, got out lots of snacks, watched a bunch of movies and most importantly stayed warm!

Don't get me wrong, I am ALL about exploring! and I will do lots of it! However, I am all about not getting sick again.. and as Cami and Marie know it is good to pace yourself with these things so you don't end up feeling like you have 'run out of things to do'! 

The last couple days have been beautiful but COLD! 

After almost a week of snowy overcast weather we have finally got some blue skies. Before everything here looked grey but when the suns out it is like a whole new city!

Church was great as ever today. I can't express enough how much I love this gospel and that it is here in Kiev Ukraine! I love that I get the opportunity to really  make an effort to get to church every week it makes me feel much more appreciative of what I have at home (a five minute commute as opposed to the hour via metro, bus and walking!), we are so blessed!

Speaking of church and being blessed - Ty is giving his farewell talk probably as I am typing this! I am so proud of him and I will miss that kid so much even though he lovvvveeesss driving me nuts like when he eats my food or acts like he is tougher than me and picks me up in awkward ways and when he pesters me... oooohh he just loves pestering everybody like most recently the pennies in the water jug (mom - you know what I am talking about!) Regardless, he is my brotha and I love him so much! He is an awesome guy and will be an awesome missionary. I bet your talk is rockin' right now (neither Alyssa or Preston will FaceTime me into Sacrament... those jerks)!

Well...

I need to take more photos! The temple looked so lovely today against the blue sky! It is just hard to get my hands to want to come out of my pockets, they are so warm and cozy in there and don't appreciate the cold as it tries killing them swiftly and silently! 

I will get tougher though. My hands will get tougher (or I will just start remembering my gloves). I will take pictures. And you will see them. Eventually.

To close, here are some pictures of the death-avtor. 

I love our scary elevator.

Don't worry about me..

 I have my public transportation etiquette almost down that is - don't smile at people or look at people for that matter, and walk with purpose. If you are lost - don't look it. I thought the whole smiling thing was an exaggeration but really, people are very stone faced on the street here and especially on the metro. I have found (like I thought I would) that in more intimate settings these people are very kind and loving. They have lived under some pretty rough conditions for such a long time I wonder if that contributes to their public demeanors..

I came down with something yesterday so I have spent the day home sleeping a ton and taking care of my self - I can't really afford to be sick here!! I am feeling better but man the temperature drop we are experiencing this week (by monday high will be around 0 degrees) makes me a little bit nervous! I have been here one whole week now and goodness it feels like a whole lot longer. I am in charge of 12 teachers and three schools, it has been challenging getting everyones schedules in order and making sure each school has the appropriate resources.. It has been a lot of work! Each week to come should be a little bit easier once everyone has some experience and are more familiar with the teaching method.. I am so excited for that! 

I am so happy I am here. It has been kind of tough but I love it! I love living in a little two room Ukrainian apartment and walking everrrrywhere I go. I love the public transportation which I think I have become a miniature pro at. I live closest to the Red line, pretty close to where it connects to the Blue and Green. Each school I take a different line to get to and not to mention different buses. I have become more comfortable with the feeling of not knowing where I am because I know that people around me are willing to help - all I have to do is point to my stop and they point me in the right direction.

One thing that really impresses me about Ukraine is what happens on the buses. When you board a bus and take your seat, all you do is take out your money and pass it to the person in the seat in front of you. If you need change, the change will make it back to you. I don't know I noticed how awesome this is until I realized that would never happen at home! People don't trust each other like that, especially on public transport! I love taking the bus because if somebody behind me taps my shoulder I know they are handing me their money and if there is more than the usual 2.5 grivna I turn around and put up one finger- they nod and I know they need change back so I just pass it along and hold up one finger to the person in front of me, after making it to the front the appropriate change comes back to me and I give it to the owner. Yeaahhh.. Ukraine is pretty cool.

Dirty bath water

Today is the first day I have experienced Jack Frost clawwwwing at my nose, yiiikes it was COLD! By Monday the high will be 2 degrees (fahrenheit). THE HIGH PEOPLE!!
Speaking of this strike of insanely cold weather, I am under it! I woke up today feeling a little groggy and by the end of it.. noooo bueno. I am giving myself the day off tomorrow - even though I really wish I wasn't, I feel like I am abandoning my teachers but if I don't nip this in the bud it could take me out for the count. I'm loaded up with emergan-c, vitamins, ni-quil and lathered up in vicks vapor rub under layers of sweats and fleece! I will overcome!

Since I am not feeling super dandy this post will be a random bunch of pictures and things I have to say.

Oh, so want to know where the inspiration from this blog title came from?

..Freshly drawn for a nice soak..

Did I still bathe in it? Why yes, yes I did.

If I look at that water too long it makes me question too many things so moving on...

Last night I had a yummy creation of toasted bread, mustard, cheese and tomatoes (a Chris Goering original).

This is a picture of a sign in the metro that switches from the blue line to the red line. My stop is  BOK3ArbH, you know.. in case any of you want to come visit me sometime. 

Signing out - 

Amanda

And so it begins!

I have quite a bit to catch up on, but since I have so much else to do and so little time, you are getting the shorter, sweeter more illustrated version!

Sunday morning twenty something ILP-ers trekked (and it is a trek let me tell you) to church by metro, buses and of course lots of walking. We attend church at a wonderful little chapel sharing the same property as the beautiful Kyiv temple! After a forty minute travel from the apartment to the end of the red line on the metro and from there another 20 minute bus ride to our actual stop, the temple was a wonderful sight for so many reasons!
Though I was bringing in the tail-end of the group, we only missed the first twenty minutes which is pretty good for our first day tracking everyone down and managing to find it with out any help from our Ukrainian friends!
Sacrament meeting was amazing. I adored it. The speakers, all fairly recent converts, touched my heart and dare I say I felt the spirit more in this day than I have for a while. It's amazing that within minutes of arriving to sacrament the spirit could testify so sweetly and strongly that this church is indeed true, not just in Utah but here in Ukraine - it is the only true church upon the whole earth! It testified to me the power of missionary work and its importance, and how we can all be missionaries through our examples and our willingness to share the gospel with others. These speakers, the two sweet young Ukrainian women and the man from Turkey upon hearing the truth each embraced the gospel so strongly and based their lives around Christ with out any hesitation, they are amazing examples to me. I know I am supposed to be here at this time and no I will learn and have much to learn about the gospel for myself!

..some of the group!..

Church was awesome. I am so thrilled we have it hear to attend each week. They have institute and family home evening, after this first week of settling into teaching schedules I will look forward to attending those as well!

We had to break the Sabbath. We literally had no food in our apartment and it being evening time and our last meal being the veggies and chips the branch supplied for munch and mingle, it had to be done! 

Forgive us.

The grocery store made me so excited though, our cooking resources are endless! Whole aisles of artisan bread and cheese! Pastas, chips, muesli, crackers, yogurt, kefir, veggies, fruit - I even found one of my most favorite fruits from China! Ooh, I am such a foody, I love food. They have really good fruit juice here too so I guess I am a juicey now as well! 

 Cami and myself (notice my ginormous bag)

now with John - one of my teachers who enjoys foods like frog legs and horse meat

We ended our long, beautiful, super cold Sunday with a delicious pasta dinner. Lights out and in bed my 8:30 - we. are. CHAMPIONS!

-SIDE NOTE- Last night, I was pretty positive we were being bombed. After my heart nearly jumped out of my chest and I was trying to figure out how to gather all 12 of my teachers in the rubble we realized that the load window rattling cracks were from a VERY RANDOM fire works display going off two blocks away?! What the heck Kyiv! Are you trying to give me a heart attack??

Today was the first day official day of teaching for my teachers. I can only visit one school per day since the travel for me to any school is forty minutes to an hour long so I spent ten hours at Nyvky school (+two hours traveling too and from) with six of my teachers doing my best to help them feel more adjusted and familiar with the teaching routine and method. It is a whole different story once you get into it and are actually in front of the kids! Everyone is doing great though. It will take us this week and then some to really get it all figured, but I know it will get better. My group is great. I couldn't ask for a better bunch.

Tis late and another long day is ahead, so like always - good morning Utah and good night Ukraine!

 ..on the way to the metro..

 ..the most epic landmark on my way to Nyvky school..

 ..outside attire (notice my amazing, practical, so worth telling Ty to get it for me for Christmas FANNY PACK)..

 ..inside attire + awkward stance do to being a nerd and using the 2 second camera timer..

take a deep breath

That's what I keep telling myself. Everything will fall into place, all will be well.
Ok that was a little bit dramatic!

Since it is so late, I think I will leave this posts to a few preview pictures. Tomorrow after church (!!!) I will elaborate on this grand-long day.