The Metro! A LOOOONNNG way down!
Another golden topped cathedral. More pictures to come!
Jon and Adam stopping for a picture in the metro.
Independence Square. Water fountain. Much needed in the heat!
Jon getting a taste of almonds from a man at a market downtown. We ended up buying a huge bag of almonds and have been snacking on them all week!
The Market. Huge mural in the background. Pictures are slightly weird....
Jon, Rachel and I downtown.
At the metro by our house - Svatoshen - Cybertown. Great flowers for sale there!
August 14th, 2010
We are melting! I didn’t think that moving to Ukraine would be THIS similar to our first months in Puerto Rico, but, the weather is brutal. It has been 100 degrees nearly every day this first week. We are on the 10th floor of our apartment building, so I don’t know if that is bad because heat rises or good because we get the occasional –very occasional- breeze. Weather-wise, things are fairly miserable right now. Luckily, we have stolen a couple fans from the school, but are obligated to give them back in a couple weeks when kids start to come. It is my thought that public transportation is going to be considerably more bearable when the cooler weather comes. Right now, the b.o. on the metro could kill a person and the marshootkas (little slow busses that drive you around town for $.20 and stop every other block) are stifling. Normally, the Ukrainians don’t believe in the “draft” and do not open windows or crack doors for fear of a breeze getting them sick… but now, because of the 100 degree rarity, even the babushkas don’t complain with an open window or two on the trolley bus. Thank goodness!
Okay, enough about weather! Everything else has been wonderful. We love our little apartment. It is pretty little, especially compared to some of our friends, but we are looking forward to making it our own and changing it slowly into a home. One bedroom, an office with a pull-our bed, a very nice kitchen, a bathroom with an excellent tub for taking cold baths, 2 enclosed balconies, a living room with another pull-out couch, and a built in chin-up bar for Jon. We have plenty of storage and were able to put everything we brought in its place and store away the oh-so-many suitcases that we checked in. So, that was great. The location is perfect for us. We are close to the school – only meters away – which is what we requested since Jon will be staying late with sports and such.
The school… I think that it is going to be great as well. Right now, the school grounds are definitely in summer mode as there are many projects that are still in progress and rushing to be finished and cleaned up in the next couple of weeks. There is a new turf going in on the field, a new bubble gym being built, a new section of pod classroom and offices off the MS/HS wing, new flooring in the classrooms, a shipment of 40 Smart Boards that need to be installed, 50 new computers that the Tech. guy is building, …. And probably a lot more that I don’t even know about. So, things are moving and grovin’. … and may I add, a heck of a lot more efficiently than they moved in PR, which is a treat. Jon is falling into his role as the AD and I think with each passing day becomes more and more comfortable and excited about the year to come. My counseling room is still a little up in the air so I haven’t totally started to unpack and set up yet… but maybe that will be settled by this week. I am excited to get my flowers up and my turtle rug out!
The people have been wonderful. We have been so luck y to meet some great returning staff already that have showed us the ropes and done a great job of making us feel welcome. We have eaten out with different friends nearly every night we have been here – that is going to have to stop – but it has been a great way to walk around town and get some exploring done too. I know that the friendships we make here will last a lifetime, I can already tell. And that is a great feeling and such a blessing.
Kyiv is great! Of course, when the weather cools off a little it will be more enjoyable to tour around, but what we have seen already of it is very encouraging. We did take the metro downtown one day with Rachel (the new Preschool coordinator) and Adam (the returning MS/HS counselor) and that was really great to get out and see some of those icons that we have already seen in tour books and internet pictures. We took a boat tour on the river this morning with all the new teachers that got in a couple days ago. That was a little cooler option to seeing the sites and fun to be on the water.
Thanks for keeping up-to-date with the Mudds Blog! We are happy to share our adventures with you and hope to give you a taste of our life here in Kyiv. Hope all is well where you are! <3
We are melting! I didn’t think that moving to Ukraine would be THIS similar to our first months in Puerto Rico, but, the weather is brutal. It has been 100 degrees nearly every day this first week. We are on the 10th floor of our apartment building, so I don’t know if that is bad because heat rises or good because we get the occasional –very occasional- breeze. Weather-wise, things are fairly miserable right now. Luckily, we have stolen a couple fans from the school, but are obligated to give them back in a couple weeks when kids start to come. It is my thought that public transportation is going to be considerably more bearable when the cooler weather comes. Right now, the b.o. on the metro could kill a person and the marshootkas (little slow busses that drive you around town for $.20 and stop every other block) are stifling. Normally, the Ukrainians don’t believe in the “draft” and do not open windows or crack doors for fear of a breeze getting them sick… but now, because of the 100 degree rarity, even the babushkas don’t complain with an open window or two on the trolley bus. Thank goodness!
Okay, enough about weather! Everything else has been wonderful. We love our little apartment. It is pretty little, especially compared to some of our friends, but we are looking forward to making it our own and changing it slowly into a home. One bedroom, an office with a pull-our bed, a very nice kitchen, a bathroom with an excellent tub for taking cold baths, 2 enclosed balconies, a living room with another pull-out couch, and a built in chin-up bar for Jon. We have plenty of storage and were able to put everything we brought in its place and store away the oh-so-many suitcases that we checked in. So, that was great. The location is perfect for us. We are close to the school – only meters away – which is what we requested since Jon will be staying late with sports and such.
The school… I think that it is going to be great as well. Right now, the school grounds are definitely in summer mode as there are many projects that are still in progress and rushing to be finished and cleaned up in the next couple of weeks. There is a new turf going in on the field, a new bubble gym being built, a new section of pod classroom and offices off the MS/HS wing, new flooring in the classrooms, a shipment of 40 Smart Boards that need to be installed, 50 new computers that the Tech. guy is building, …. And probably a lot more that I don’t even know about. So, things are moving and grovin’. … and may I add, a heck of a lot more efficiently than they moved in PR, which is a treat. Jon is falling into his role as the AD and I think with each passing day becomes more and more comfortable and excited about the year to come. My counseling room is still a little up in the air so I haven’t totally started to unpack and set up yet… but maybe that will be settled by this week. I am excited to get my flowers up and my turtle rug out!
The people have been wonderful. We have been so luck y to meet some great returning staff already that have showed us the ropes and done a great job of making us feel welcome. We have eaten out with different friends nearly every night we have been here – that is going to have to stop – but it has been a great way to walk around town and get some exploring done too. I know that the friendships we make here will last a lifetime, I can already tell. And that is a great feeling and such a blessing.
Kyiv is great! Of course, when the weather cools off a little it will be more enjoyable to tour around, but what we have seen already of it is very encouraging. We did take the metro downtown one day with Rachel (the new Preschool coordinator) and Adam (the returning MS/HS counselor) and that was really great to get out and see some of those icons that we have already seen in tour books and internet pictures. We took a boat tour on the river this morning with all the new teachers that got in a couple days ago. That was a little cooler option to seeing the sites and fun to be on the water.
Thanks for keeping up-to-date with the Mudds Blog! We are happy to share our adventures with you and hope to give you a taste of our life here in Kyiv. Hope all is well where you are! <3
