 |
| 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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment