Would typhoid really be that bad?

Just kidding... I know typhoid would be awful.

However.

My arm that got shot up with typhoid innoculations is about to fall off. It hurts VERY badly today.

I thought I would give everyone a little Ukraine information. It has recently come to my attention that many people know very little about Ukraine. Let me enlighten you:

*Ukraine is not a part of Russia. It used to be a part of the Soviet Union. However, Ukraine gained its independence on August 24, 1991. So, yes, there are ties to Russia, but it is not in fact a part of Russia. The surrounding countries are Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova.

*Not to add more confusion, but there are two primary languages spoken in Ukraine: Ukrainian and Russian. No, they are not the same. They are similar (more so than, say, English and Ukrainian), but not everyone speaks both. They both use the Cyrillic alphabet. Ukrainian is used more in the west and Russian in the east. I'll be in the east...guess what I'm going to learn.

*The capital is Kyiv. In English, we typically spell it Kiev and pronounce it "Kee-ev." Really, though, it should be "Keev." Other major cities are Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Dnipropetrov'sk. That last one is the largest city nearest me. I just recently mastered pronunciation. Scary...I know. Yalta (as in the site of the post-WWII talks) is located in Crimea, which is an "autonomous republic" attached to Ukraine, jutting into the Black Sea.

*Mark Twain visited Ukraine when making his tour through Europe. When writing Innocents Abroad, he wrote about Odesa: "I have not felt so much at home for a long time as I did when I "raised the hill" and stood in Odesa for the first time." I thought that was neat that Mark Twain liked it enough to write about it.

There's so much history to Ukraine and so many stories that the Western world knows very little about. Never fear: I have taken it upon myself to educate you. Get excited!

Ouch!

Shot day 2 is done. Thank the Lord.

Highlights:
1. TB test is gross. Thankfully, it's over. And- I got a red crayon band-aid.
2. Strawberry smoothies for lunch on Thursday.
3. REALLY great day-long sessions on the Persecuted Church. It changed my life. I wish all of you could have been there.
4. Regional time: This is when we meet with the others going to our parts of the world and talk about issues specific to our people groups. These are always so encouraging; they get me excited about my job. Most of our classes are general and cover information that can be applied in most situations but have to be modified for specific locations. Regional time makes it a little more specific.
5. It rained! We were in a drought, so it's great that we finally got some rain.
6. We threw a surprise birthday party for one of our friends. We made cupcakes without any measuring cups or potholders or spatulas, and our mixing bowl was a tea pitcher. It was good training!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Pictures...

Here are a few pictures to help tell the training story:

This is the view from my back window. It's really pretty... there are lots of woodland creatures.

This picture is for Amanda and Molly...they know why. Ryan can also feel involved; however, I don't think he'll approve.

My mortal enemy. We battle it out every night, and it usually beats me out.

This is us being really serious students. Someone looks like a marsupial...guess which one of us?

SORRY!

Sorry that it's taken me so long to update! Here's my problem:
1. We're in class 8-4 with an hour for lunch.
2. There are 360+ people here, so everything tends to take a while.
3. By the time we're done with everything, I'm too braindead to write anything.
4. I have to be in the library or computer lab to have internet.

But, I apologize and promise to try harder!

Here are some things of (possible) interest:
1. Today was shot day #1. I only had to get one: polio booster. I sat in the chair, she said, "Hi Erin. Here's your polio booster," grabbed my arm, bam with the needle, and I was out the door. The whole process was about 30 seconds.
2. I'm really excited about the weekend!
3. I have a great view of the lake from my window.
4. My air conditioner is trying to freeze me out at night- not during the day when I'm actually hot but at night when I'm in fact not warm.
5. There are two families that live in my building (with me and three other girls), and both families have precious little babies. Love them...

Thanks for reading and praying! I'll hopefully be able to put pictures up soon.

Best things

I've decided that the best things about training are:
1. New friends that I've made and the old friends that came with me.
2. Orthodox worldview sessions.
3. Smoothies at lunch time.

That's how focused I am...

No, seriously. I'm learning all kinds of great information and am really enjoying my time here. My brain is always a little bit fried, though. Comes with the learning territory, I think.

Week 2

Week 2 has begun. I'm tired already! Sitting in classes ALL day is really exhausting.

I go to class from about 8-4 every day. There's a break in there for lunch, of course. Don't worry. After classes, we're all strongly encouraged to exercise daily. My favorite thing ever... And, we have various and sundry homework assignments. I kind of feel like I'm back in college because I'm reading all the time. Oh, and we have the same food service provider as Union. Any and all Unionites are free to chime in on that.

A friend and I went around taking pictures for prayer cards yesterday. I think we came up with some good stuff. I'll let you know...

I'm heading to class. I'll try to get better at this updating-while-at-training-business- even if it's not terribly interesting.

Up and running

First day of training under our collective belts. So much information... My brain is going to collapse.

Facts:
1. I have to have a will. As in, last will and testament. Creepy.
2. I've had lots of shots before traveling to foreign countries. Alas, I will have to have more. Apparently, they will administer up to four in one sitting, AND they give two at a time. Fun.
3. We walk all the time. I guess it's good training for life without easy access to personal transportation.
4. The cafeteria has really great smoothies.

Hopefully, I will have pictures of some kind in the near future.

Travel Tips

Rule #1: Don’t travel with me.

That’s basically it. Trouble follows me! I made it to training all in one piece, but this is what happened:
I got to Atlanta, and my flights were so close together that I had to run to my next gate. I got to see my friend, Nathan, because our gates were right next to each other. While chatting with him, my flight was delayed. About 20 minutes later, it was delayed again. About 10 minutes after that, it was delayed again. That should have been a tip-off.

When we finally boarded, the pilot greets us and just casually mentions that the reason for the delays was a mechanical malfunction (something about a circuit board?). Not to worry- the problem has been fixed. I get comfortable- I had two seats to myself- and start dozing a little.
About 45 minutes into the flight, the captain comes over the intercom again and says, “Ladies and gentlemen, the problem that we thought was fixed in Atlanta is, in fact, not fixed, and I have been advised by the control tower to return to Atlanta.”

I would like to point out that we were halfway to our destination. Ugh… We made it back to Atlanta and were told that we would all deplane, trot down to a different gate, and then board another plane.

I had met another girl on the plane who was also headed to training. We compared notes, and I called the lady in charge of all of us traveling and filled her in on our situation. She asks us to check and see if there was any way to be rerouted to another airport, because the shuttle that we were supposed to take from the airport had already left.

We checked. No dice.

We reboarded and were good to go… then we had to wait in line behind about 17 other planes, waiting to take off. That took about an extra hour. After an eternity, we finally made it to Virginia. Then, we had to make many calls to find out what to do about transportation to our final destination. We found out that the drive was about 2 hours!

To wrap up: we found our ride, rode for two hours, and FINALLY made it! And, our driver was even kind enough to stop and get us dinner!

Countdown...

Well, the countdown has begun. Here are some basic numbers to keep you oriented:

2.5- days until I fly to Richmond for training

2- number of months until I finish training

84- days until I fly out

85- days until I land in Ukraine

Monday morning, I'll leave for two months of training in Richmond, VA. I'm supposed to be finishing up some pre-training assignments right this very minute. I'm not... I will get back to it in a few minutes. Following training, I'll have exactly 3 weeks before I leave for my assignment. I already have a MASSIVE list of things to do in that very small window of time. Yikes!

A few more pictures:

Precious friends... We were in between scheduled events, hanging out in Katie and Ryan's "classroom."

Nastiya, me, Tanya, Elizabeth, and Julia: These were just a few of the sweet students that Elizabeth and I taught. They didn't really need teaching so much as practice.

Elizabeth's and my class playing "Apples to Apples." It was a HUGE hit, for anyone who was wondering. After playing it the first time, they got a little impatient every time Elizabeth or I tried to teach something that didn't involve playing the game! L to R: Alex, Yulia, Tanya, Oksana, Nastiya, and Katya.