Moscow, Russian - November

Red Square.

Jon in front of St. Basil's Cathedral.

In November, Jon made a trip to Moscow, Russia with the boys’ soccer team. He went as the Athletic Director to job shadow the AD in Moscow. Had a great time, learned a lot and got a little touring done with the team as well.

Tblisi, Georgia - October

An old monistary built into the hill. Just on the other side of the hill from Asurbijan.

A very competative game of Backgammon.

I bought some wool flowers for the baby's room.

Exploring.

From the top of Tbilisi.

Luckly, there was a festival going on in the town.

Just another hike - this time to a waterfall close to the Russian border.

We made it to the top! It was a beautiful day.

Great friends and great views!

Just beginning our walk to the top.

Happy New Year! Since it is the beginning of another year, I thought I better get caught up on last year first! Of course there has been quite a lot happening since I last posted – since that was in October – crazy. I’ll hit the highlights. First, in the middle of October, Jon and I went to visit our good friends Andy and Kirsten in Tbilisi, Georgia. We had the week off, and they did as well, so it made for the great touring together, challenging card game tournaments and even the chance to carve some watermelons together in preparation for Halloween. We had a great time with them and were so thankful for their hospitality.

The highlight of that trip would probably be our 2 day excursion to Kazbege. We had rented a driver to take us to this small Georgian town up in the mountains. The mountains are extreme and rugged. Our driver drove us to an old monastery and from there we made the all day trek up towards a glacier. At the time I was 3 months pregnant and it was by far the hardest climb of my life. But the view from the top was worth it and the bed and the end of the day was even more appreciated!

Here are some highlight pictures from our stay.

Halloween 2010

Jon, the team mascot, The Kozak. Me, ahhh... the pregnant cheerleader. Goooo Kozaks!! :o)

A month worth of catch-up

Movie night on the roof of the school. Everyone brought something warm to share: soup, hot chocolate, tea, etc. It was a great time!

ICA, the little church we go to.

Adam and Kris Runyan and their newest addition, Nyellie.

This is the "baby hospital", ISIDA. Alyssa and Ken Chapman pose with their, now almost-1-yr-old, in front of the hospital where they had Rawly.

Some pictures from Jon's trip to Sofia, Bulgaria

Our night out at "Swan Lake" the ballet. Jon and I in front of the Opera House.

The inside was beautiful!

Friday, October 8th

Well, so much for the weekly posts. I know that you are thinking the same thing! Now that it has been more than a month since our last post, I thought I better get to updating! A lot has been happening since September! Jon had his first Athletic Director Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was a success! He had a great time and met a lot of great administrators from around Europe and Eastern Europe. He came back with a better grasp of his job here and some ideas of where he wants to move to next!

One of the past weekends we went to the “Savka House” which is about 45 minutes north of Kiev (towards Chernobyl) located in a small village “off the beaten path”. The House was a great cultural experience. A family owns the land and buildings and have restored them or brought them in to display the life before Soviet times. The Papa and son taught us how they grind their flour, make their own boots, wash their clothes, heat things, distill their own alcohol, etc. While the Mama and grandma made us dinner… and more dinner. There was a big group of about 30 teachers and admin that went and we had a great time sharing the day with each other.

The weather has changed! Fall is gone it seems and winter, or pretty close, is here! It will be a little more bearable when the city turns on the heat!! We just got a little heat pumping through the school today. So that means it should be to the rest of the apartment buildings by the end of next week, at the latest, let’s hope. It has been in the mid-30’s – 40’s most all week. It seems extremely cold compared to our tropical paradise that we left, but we are making-do with layers and layers. The sun is out today, which we are finding is a rare treat!

We went to “Swan Lake,” the ballet, last weekend. It was very nice. Jon and I had great seats on the first balcony right in the middle. I think we paid $8.00 each. It was a great price, but I don’t know if I can drag Jon to too many more ballets. There was a time towards the end when I turned to him and asked if he was enjoying it. He replied with a cringe, “I haven’t been able to get past the butt cracks and tights yet.” So, maybe I’ll get him to go to The Nutcracker with me closer to the holidays, but more than that, I may be pushing my luck.

Papa Savka showing us an old bee hive in a tree stump.
The traditional Ukrainian Christmas Tree!

Mama Savka welcoming us into her house where she will serve us dinner. Fresh out-of-the-oven bread for starters! (The news crew was also there while we were there... they may have filmed me struggling to grind grain into flour, sure hope not... it wasn't pretty)

Tim and Allison are a new couple to KIS this year. Allison gave birth to her twin girls last month in the states. Grandma Savka rocked them all afternoon while they slept and we ate!

The meal being dished up!

Most of the Savka family.

Pirogova, Ukraine

Along the streets of downtown Kiev. A street of paintings. Good inspiration to get me painting again... now I just need to know where to buy a canvas!
Jon standing in front of the old Soviet government buidling. Looking serious of course. Now there is a Ukrainian flag hanging to the right - kind of a slap in the face we were told. Huge building though!

A couple of weeks ago outside the Opera House. We do have the schedule of events that take place there now. We are going to have to make it a point to go to a couple of operas!

A glimps into Ukrainian. This is a metro sign. Our metro stop is up there. In English is sounds like Svitoshin. But in Ukrainian it looks like "Cybertown". That is how we remember it at a quick glance at least.

Jon in a little house that is set up to resemble the "old days".

Pirogova man playing a tune for us.

Old wooden church standing in Pirogova.

Probably the signature sight of the Open Air Museam - the windmills.

Traditional garb.

Great clothes for sale. Young, old, and everything in between.

Great crafts and ladies selling them.

Another shot of the windmills with a nearly cloudless sky.

One of the many traditional houses with thatched roofs and beautiful wild flowers out front.

A few from a few steps back.

Our "Shashlik" in the forest close to our apartment.

I get to hold Rawly, the Chapman's boy. He looks a little nervous, but don't worry - he likes me! :)

Our dinner!

Monday, September 6th

Happy Labor Day!

While all of you are not laboring in celebration, we labor in celebration. Ukraine has a labor day at a later date, so we look forward to that.

First full week of school, check! Things are going well. Jon and I both love the administrative roles that we have. Jon is busy, busy during the day. Running from one building to the other, checking on uniforms, late bus schedules, practices, pumping up balls for the soccer coaches, gathering deposits from kids that want to go on CEESA trips, talking with administrators about getting the field finished, etc. He sets up extra-curricular events for staff like basketball, swimming, ultimate Frisbee, etc. He e-mails other QSI schools to get their input on tournaments they want to host or events they want to attend. He is busy, busy. But doing a great job! Everyone is thankful that he is so organized and seems to be level-headed and in control. I think that he likes the change of pace and looks forward to making his own schedule each day and crossing his list off as he goes.

Things are starting to pick up in the counseling office as well. I have a couple scheduled meetings with kids this week that have been referred by their teachers. Today was my first day doing a guidance lesson with the 5 year olds. We read, “Have you Filled a Bucket Today?” and then played a little game, did some actions, and practiced filling each others buckets. The hard part was that not everyone speaks English in the Kindergarten classes. So, I don’t know if they got as much out of it as I think they did… but oh well! J I finish with 5 year olds tomorrow and then move on to 6 year olds later in the week. So, it should only get easier... hopefully! They are cute though and it is fun to get back in the classroom. So that was great! I am getting toy donations from people throughout the school, so finally things are filling up a little in my “office”. Maybe we will be able to start with the sand tray next week. All great fun things to try! J

The weekend was busy with activity as well. On Friday night we had Rachel and Holly over for BURGERS and TATER TOTS! It was great! Then we went to the Chapman’s (Alyssa and Ken and Baby Rawly) to watch Spiderman III. It is great to have such wonderful people to hang out with. Saturday was our adventure day. 9:00 we met at school and hoped on the bus to take us to Pirogova. Check it out: http://iloveua.org/article/110 or http://www.kiev.info/culture/folk_architecture.htm . The day as great: perfect weather, and a great group of us. There was a festival actually going on so there were great craft tables set up and vendors and artisans selling all types of Ukrainian art and trinkets. They had a program scheduled of singers, dancers and performers dressed in traditional dress, so that was entertaining as well. We picked up a couple Christmas presents already and some things for ourselves.

After we returned, we met up with some others for “Shashlik” (kabobs) in the forest next to our house. We had a little fire and Ira brought meat and vegetables for the kabob sticks. It was fun to pretend like we were camping… with the occasional Ukrainian deer (wild dog) coming around. Sunday we went to ICA, our church, and then out to lunch with a handful of people as well. We are really enjoying our new friends, the time we get to explore outside of school, and our work. So, things are going well here in Kiev.

A little shout-out to our new “cousin” Brigham! Welcome to the family buddy!