I'm back!

I'm so sorry for not having updated this past week; I've been out of town.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I certainly did! I had a great time visiting with other workers with my organization and eating American food. Oh man...I definitely needed that. We also kicked off the Christmas season and watched Christmas movies!

I'm so thankful for all of you who keep up with me, even if I can't keep up with you. I pray for so many of you on a regular basis. Thank you for your participation in my life!

I'll update again soon.

It's been a day... Part I

Actually, it's been a -couple of- day(s). Let's start with Thursday.

I get migraines. I have since I was 16. Over the years, I've learned to recognize triggers, and sometimes I can preempt migraines. I'm pretty good at taking care of them after they start.

Unless they start at 6:00 am. Here's the thing: migraines that start at 2:00 am are far easier to manage than the ones that start at 6:00. You can take hefty migraine medicine and still have a few hours to sleep it off if they start at 2:00. If they start at 6:00, no such luck.

Thursday morning started with a 6:00 am migraine. I took medicine, but seeing as I didn't have time to sleep off the migraine/medicine combo, I woke up 2 hours later with the remnants of a migraine AND a medication hangover. Misery. I got up anyway and started getting ready for a day of teaching English at the Transport College. I was looking forward to the lesson, despite my physical condition. I got ready, took the trolley bus to the school, and found the classroom. Then, I waited. And waited. I called the professor just to make sure I wasn't confused. Lo and behold, she was out sick and had tried to get someone to call and tell me. Ok...

I left and started walking back home. On the way, I was accosted by a very happy drunk. Please keep in mind that it was 10:30 in the morning. It took me a while to shake him because he kept following me. I told him in Russian that I didn't understand and that I speak English. He then proceeded to speak German -very loudly- to me. Yes, that makes perfect sense. I finally got rid of him, but I felt like Jason Bourne (you know, stealthily making sure he lost my trail...wasn't hard. He was drunk.).

I then decided to go ahead and get my rent money ready. I have to pay rent in dollars, which meant that I needed to go find a specific ATM that will allow you to take out money in dollars. I had to walk for a while to find it (it started raining in the meantime), only to find that the machine was, in fact, out of dollars. Really?

I walked back home. Sad and useless in Ukraine on Thursday, November 20. My migraine was starting to return, and I realized I needed some Coke for the caffeine factor. I dashed out to the little corner store across the street to get one (of course, I had just finished off another Coke the night before). I get to the store and 2394879845 people are crammed in there, and they're buying the store out of...that's right, ladies and gentlemen...Coke. I had to trudge further to another store to get it. Gee whiz...

Thursday night, a major quandary befell me. I walked out my door and found a little gray kitten waiting on me. If you don't know me well, you should know that I LOVE cats. Most people don't. I do. Always have. I've been wanting a cat since I got here, but I realize it would be far too complicated to have one. I was so torn, because I wanted to adopted Little Kitty right off the bat. I chose to keep walking and go on to prayer meeting. Little Kitty kept following me and giving me a hard time, practically begging me to keep her.

Such trauma in my life. And, I accomplished absolutely nothing. What a day...

It's back!

Miraculously, my internet got fixed- sort of- overnight. Yay! I couldn't even believe it.


I'm still having trouble uploading pictures...I'm not really sure how to fix it. I'll just have to work of creating my "word pictures" until it starts working. :)


Couple of interesting things:
1. I thought I was buying tuna yesterday...nope. Sardines. I now know how to spell "sardine" in Russian.
2. I had a semi-conversation with my landlord. Small victory- I'm starting to be able to communicate on a very elementary level.
3. I'll be teaching in the Transport College tomorrow. We're talking about life in the States, especially Thanksgiving.
4. Saturday, I'm going out to my friend Ira's neighborhood to do some informal English lessons with the kids that live near her. Please pray for sharing opportunities.
5. I'm partnering with the college students at my church here to start an English program for the student community. Right now, the plan looks like the classes will be on Monday and Wednesday nights starting in January. Please pray as we plan for and begin this program. It will be a large part of my work here...so it's very important.

Thanks for staying involved and in touch! I appreciate the comments and notes of encouragement, even if I can't always respond.

Internet down...

Hi friends.

My internet is down. I don't know when it will be up again or when I'll be able to update again. I'm praying that the answer to both of those variables is "soon," but we'll see.

Thank you for your prayers!

Three week mark, two universities, and one unbalanced washing machine

Today marks three weeks of Ukraine. Well, technically, it marks three weeks since I left home, but that's neither here nor there.

I'm heading to my second university today. I'll sit in on some classes and talk with the professor about what she'd like me to do each week. I'm looking forward to it. The school is a college for those pursuing work in the railway industry, which is alive and kickin' in Ukraine.

My washing machine was perfectly balanced and practically noiseless until yesterday. I think I'm going to have to throw my weight around and show it who's boss (yeah right- that sucker is about 2384989435 times my weight. Gee whiz...).

Last night, I went to a small group with some college students from my church. There was one guy there who had never been to that kind of meeting in his life. If you get a chance, please pray for him. His name is Roma.

Small victory

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I had a small victory. I successfully navigated one small facet of Poltava public transportation all by myself! Tomorrow is my first day in one of the universities, and I knew I would have to get myself there. So, last night, a few friends took me after church to help me get my bearings. They showed me how to get there and how to get back. In order not to forget my way, I decided to strike out on my own and make sure I could make it there and back.

I did!

I'd appreciate your prayers tomorrow...I'm a little bit nervous.

End of week 1 in Poltava

Week one is coming to a close, and I'm still alive and kickin'!

Here are some highlights:
1. I got to attend part of a youth conference. So neat to see the same things that go on at home go on here...only in Russian and Ukrainian.
2. Prayer meeting: it warms my heart to be with other believers, all praying in our own heart languages. Some prayed in Russian, some in Ukrainian, and one in English (that would be me.)
3. There are some potential opportunities to work in some schools that I wasn't planning on. I'm praying those opportunities will continue.
4. I got a cold. That wasn't the good part; the good part was that two Ukrainian friends came over to check on me, and they brought bananas and orange juice. Such great encouragement.
5. I heard from so many friends and loved ones from home. Thank you!

Hopefully, I'll update again soon. With pictures.

Whoa, life in Ukraine!

I’m not even sure how to begin catching everyone up on what’s gone on in my life over the past however long it’s been. So much has happened; it’s been like a whirlwind, and I’m not sure that I still have my head on straight.

Short version: Moved to Poltava. Moved into apartment #1. It’ was an experience that words cannot even describe. I’ll put up pictures, but they don’t even convey full meaning. Spent the first night. Next morning, began having pipe/water/plumbing issues, as well as refrigerator drama. Spent the day having those problems worked on. Returned to the apartment that night to find an unexpected person crashing for the night. Packed overnight bag and stayed at the church. Got up next morning and began apartment search. God worked a miracle and allowed us to find the most perfect apartment AND get the paperwork process finished in one day. Whew.

If you want the more detailed descriptions, see below. If not, then just remember to look for pictures in the near future.

Long version: We drove to Poltava on Thursday, October 30th. I was able to meet two of the church ladies, and they are wonderful. They both have kids my age, so they automatically moved into mom mode. Precious precious friends. The Rays and I had lunch at the church (Ukrainian food, of course. It’s really quite good for any skeptics out there.), and then set off with Oksana to move into my apartment. None of us had seen it in person because someone else had been in charge of the wheeling and dealing on the apartment.

Let’s just say that I’ve never seen anything quite like it. A few keywords: 32984729834 different decorating patterns, 3 mounted sets of antlers, turquoise toilet seat, immobile shower head designed for someone 3 ft. tall. Pictures will come soon, but unfortunately, we discovered that pictures do not capture the full effect. It’s a two-bedroom, but the landlord’s family stored a lot of their stuff in the bigger bedroom and locked the door.

I spent the first night in the apartment and was exhausted the next morning. The mattress was approximately .5 inch thick and strange noises abounded. The strangest noise, however, began very soon after I finished my shower. I wondered why workmen would be in the building, drilling at 8:15 in the morning. That seemed a little unnecessary. After about 10 minutes of the drilling, I began wondering if perhaps that noise was coming from my apartment. I moved into stealth sleuth mode and began sneaking around the apartment to find the mystery noise. Found it. The refrigerator had morphed into a live, shaking, noisy creature. Yikes!

The day that was supposed to be spent seeing Poltava turned into a day spent inspecting the refrigerator and gutting the kitchen because of a pipe problem that I didn’t know about.
That night, we had dinner with Oksana’s family, which was wonderful. So much fun. I returned to my apartment that night (Mike and Linda came back with me to ensure I made it safely) and realized that I was not alone in my apartment. That is a very unnerving feeling. I went into my bedroom, shut the door (thought about piling luggage and furniture in front of it), and called the Rays. Mike was back in a flash, and we soon discovered that the landlord (think 60-year-old) was spending the night in the locked room. He didn't see the problem.

The next day, the Great Apartment Search began. In a miraculous turn of events, we had another apartment signed, sealed, and delivered by that evening. That kind of thing doesn't happen here; nothing is fast. Not kidding. Apartment #2 is phenomenal. Much too good for me. Pictures of that to come, too.

I'll be updating as often as possible now, because I finally have internet! Thank you for your prayers!

I'm still alive

Hello friends!

I am still alive. Promise. I'm now in my city, Poltava, and am starting to get adjusted. I've had quite a lot of bizarre things happen since I've been here, but I don't have time to write about things just now. I won't have any internet of my own for at least another week to two weeks. That leaves me scrounging around to find it where I can. Yikes! Please don't be offended if I don't respond- I promise to try to get back to everyone when I can.

Thanks for your prayers!