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!
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..
