Ya lublu tibya, Larushka

I am so grateful that I have been able to share this journey of a lifetime with one of my greatest friends, Laria. She and I have relied on each other so much here and my experience in Ukraine would be drastically different if she wasn't here with me every step of the way. We both cannot believe that the time has already come for us to say goodbye. I am sad to leave, but like Laria, I am ready to be home and see my family again. We arrive in Boise around midnight on December 19th and we cannot wait to see the smiling faces of our families!

 

Momma Jill to the rescue :)

My host siblings!

I am really going to miss my host siblings a lot now that my countdown to America is coming ever so close.

The other morning, my two year old host brother Yegor knocked on my bedroom door really early in the morning and said "Hello, Jill!" (which is the only English he knows) and then he continued to ask me in Russian if he could come up to my room. I was still in bed but I just answered 'da' which is yes. His little feet make the cutest sounds when he tried to climb up the stairs and it was funny to listen to. Anyways, he came up to my room, crawled into bed with me, pointed at my laptop, and asked me in Russian if I had any cartoons. Luckily I had one, and it happens to be my all time favorite movie: UP! So Yegor and I spent the morning watching up and hanging out. It was a lot of fun and it definitely made my day to feel so loved and needed by a little heart.\

Out to Grandpa's Village

This past weekend my host family invited me to come along with them on an outing to their grandfather's village outside of Kiev. I have met this grandpa before, his name is Vasya and from what I had seen of him before he is a sweet man with a caring disposition. Anyways, the car ride was well, long and in close quarters. The kids sang the whole way and the mom was studying English on her ipod and talking to herself.  for those of you who know me, you will completely understand why this car ride was rather difficult. haha but either way, we made it to the village which was extremely different than any of the sights I have seen here. But as we were driving through the village, it is impossible not to notice how most of the houses are quite small and in bad shape so that was what I was ready for. Well, grandpa Vasya is like some sort of sausage king here in Ukraine (yes, seriously) so he is completely loaded and his house was spectacular!!  I spent the day watching Tangled (in Russian!) with the kids, playing around in the backyard, relaxing with the family, and enduring the never ending awkward moments.

What a guy heh?