Confessions of a Borscht Addict

Borscht, best thing EVER!

Well, I must admit, one of my biggest concerns about coming to Ukraine was the food. I heard stories of flavorless, jellied food, and lots and lots of potatoes......all of which is very true. However, what I didn't realize was how much I'd end up loving the food anyway!


Borscht is the best soup EVER. It's what Ukraine is famous for. It's beet soup with carrots, potatoes (of course) and sometimes chicken or beef, served with sour cream. I can't get enough of this stuff!! I order it everywhere I go, and I'm working on perfecting my own recipe so I can make it at home!


I'm also really proud of myself for everything I've eaten here that I never thought I would. Let me just name a few: veal, chicken heart, blood sausage, jellied meat, pickled: eggplant, garlic, tomatoes, and liver. The one that surprised me the most was blood sausage. It was really salty and surprisingly good......but the process of my host mom making it reminded me more of a Grey's Anatomy episode than dinner preparation.

blood sausage nom nom nom

"jellied" meat....very popular. can't see why.

Lately, I've been feeling useless here. I'm so used to cooking, cleaning, and doing everything on my own in college, so being waited on here is out of my element. So I've started cooking for my host family a lot. I try to make 'home-style' American meals, but what exactly is an 'American' meal, when we take all of our food from other countries? It's also impossible to follow any recipes here because they don't measure anything when cooking. Anastasiya doesn't even own a measuring cup. So I've been guessing at everything I make. Nevertheless, I've made some tasty dishes. (Any suggestions on what "American" meals I could make??)

Chocolate-cherry cookies for Valentine's Day!

"Panera" style mac & cheese

Peanut butter cookies!

some good 'ol pumpkin pie

Honey chicken-lime enchiladas--Anastasiya said these were 'insteresting'.....haha

Did I mention that Krysti and Niall came to visit me?? Oh! Well, Krysti and Niall came to visit me in Ukraine last week!! That was the best few days ever. I was feeling so homesick that week, so seeing my sister and her husband again was the best remedy. We went to tons of cathedrals, malls, and museums, but what I loved most was just being with them again. They stayed in a little apartment in southern Kyiv, so everyday after I was done teaching I would rush over to the metro to go on our new adventure for the day.

There was a bit of a debate with Niall about whether or not we should go to Chernobyl.... If you've never heard of Chernobyl, go google 'effects of Chernobyl' on images, and you'll see why we were debating about whether or not we should go to the site of the explosion. Apparently this tour only opened in 2004 because of the radiation levels still so high in the town of the reactor site, Pripyat. You have to wear a gas mask the entire tour, and you're not allowed to eat or drink anything while you're there... (which explains why you can't drink the water here....) And the levels of radiation you're exposed to on the tour are still not deemed 'safe', so we opted for the Chernobyl museum instead. It was an eye-opening experience. It's such a sad, fascinating story. The whole incident is such a tragic event in Ukrainian history, that people never joke or even talk about it here. It's like their 9/11. 

The desserted town of Pripyat, where the Chernobyl reactor exploded in 1986

In other news, teaching has been SO much better! The other teacher here was a lot better at disciplining kids than me, I was too weak! But the past 2 weeks I've really cracked the whip on these kids. And it's worked wonders! They know that if they are respectful in class then we get to play more. And we have so much fun together :) We play pop-bottle bowling, make mini-pizzas, and play musical chairs, listening to Bob Marley! (I've got them hooked on reggae, haha they always want to listen to the "Bob music"now)

afternoon class :)

bunch of straight up G's
This week I also went to a Ukrainian ballet, "Sleeping Beauty".  It was amazing. Seeing the inside of the opera theatre alone was worth the $3 we paid for our tickets. Things are just so cheap here. I feel rich when I walk into the grocery store and see a loaf of bread for about .30 cents.... it's a feeling I could get used to :)
We also went on a city tour last Saturday and saw some gorgeous buildings.

Kyiv Opera House

St. Michael's Cathedral

Pechersk Lavra

I really do love it here. The first few weeks were hard to adjust to, mostly missing my roommates Rachel and Michelle, my family, and the friendliness of Americans. But I think I'm over my 'culture-shock' now. I love my group, the food, my host family, the branch, the weather (yes, it's already warming up!), and I love teaching! I can't believe I've already been here a month. But I have a lot more to look forward to! We've planned vacations to Lviv, Romainia, Austria, Poland, Prague, Germany, and Budapest! And tomorrow I get to go in the Kyiv temple for the first time. Ukraine couldn't be better :)

Well this post was really long, so instead of writing more I'll just show you some pictures :)

The package mom & dad sent me!! they're the best :)

My group :) we have weekly parties together. I love them all <3

your weekly Polina photo, of course

The YSA Valentine's Dance! Better than ANY dance I've been to in America!

Now that all the snow is melting, these giant LAKES are forming around Kyiv!

The inside of Perchersk Lavra. Had to sneak this picture so the priest didn't see me :)

Waking up to this everyday :) blessed.

Kangaroos in Tutus and Flesh-Eating Fish

Well, during these past few weeks, I've realized 2 things: 1. I really, really love America and 2. Five and a half months in a foreign country is a very, very long time. So yes, the honeymoon phase of Ukraine is definitely over. Going to the grocery store used to be an adventure all on its own, now I just sigh as I see struggle to translate Russian labels and deal with grumpy cashiers. People here don't smile or laugh in public...the other day a group of us were walking down the street laughing and these teenagers scowled at us and even spit on one of the girls. I guess I didn't realize how friendly people are in the U.S.

In a city of neutral buildings, this beautiful red university really stands out :)

A few of us decided to scout out a good Russian museum here in Kyiv. We found one that had an art exhibition of old soviet-style paintings, it was beautiful. Unfortunately they took away our cameras at the start of the tour, but I found my favorite piece on google images. It's of King Solomon and his judgment of the two mothers. Seeing this really struck a chord with me, so I went home and read the passage in the bible. What a beautiful illustration of a mother's love. What I love most about this painting is the look in the real mother's eyes, her unselfish love.

Nikolay Gay, The Judgment of King Solomon

In other news, me and Denay decided to do this new popular thing called 'fish massage'! There's a certain kind of fish that feeds on dead skin apparently, so they made a business out of it! It was fun, but it tickled sooooooooo badly (as you can tell from these pictures).

On Saturday, a group of us got to go to the Russian Circus! I'd never been to a circus before so it was quite the experience. There were leopards, ribbon dancers, acrobats, and a kangaroo in a tutu. It was almost 4 hours long! Here are some pictures :)

Have you ever seen a Kangaroo stand on its hind legs? He's taller than a human! Freaky thing.

Okay, it was been REALLY cold this week. I'm talking -29 degrees cold! Most schools in Kyiv were closed, but of course our little English school had to stay open.....so in some of my classes there'd only be one kid that showed up, sometimes nobody would show up. But nevertheless, we were there every single day, ready to sculpt these young minds!

Also, as ashamed as I am to admit it, this week I ate rabbit.....And I LOVED it! It tasted like turkey, but more flavorful and tender. Anastasiya said it was domesticated, farm-raised rabbit, that's why it was so tender. I'm sure Libby was rolling over in her grave as I ate it :(

"Libby" stew..... YUM!

I just want to take a minute and say how much I love going church. Living in a foreign country has really made me appreciate it even more. By the end of the week, I am soooo exhausted, mostly because I'm not very good a disciplining yet, and my kids know that and take advantage of that. So by the time Sunday rolls around, I am more than ready to make the long trek to church. And each time, I try to get as most as I can out of it to last me the week until I can finally go again :)

Well that's all this week, folks. I miss everyone back home, and I hope you're appreciating you 'wussy' winters :-) And here are the "photos-of-the-week"......

Polina got into my makeup! Uh-oh...

The HUGE hamster that lives in our house! His name is "Hamstah"

Some really cool graffiti in downtown Kyiv :)