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.