Pictures from Greece

Picture in the village of Eretria (pronounced like the name of the country)

In front of the Mediterranean. Yessssss!

So tropical...after the frozen tundra that was Ukraine in the winter...

ONE of the pools!

I love Greece.

Planes, trains, and automobiles

When I was 9 years old, my parents bought me a Christmas present that normal children wouldn't have thought so fabulous. I, however, loved it and used it so much that it is falling apart. When I was sixteen, I got an upgrade of this gift.

What was it, you may ask?

This gift was, in fact, an atlas. A National Geographic atlas, to be more specific. When I was younger, I used to read through all the blurbs about every country in the world and make a list of the places I wanted to visit. The number 1 country was Greece. Last week, I got to go!

My company held a huge conference for all of our workers in this general area. It was a great time of training, fellowship, renewal, and growth. Several hundred volunteers from the States came to make so much of it possible. They were such a ministry to me. I wasn't quick enough on the draw to get in on the haircuts or massages, but I did get to be TB tested. Oh fun. Parents were able to leave their children with fun volunteers who did VBS for them all week. All of us benefitted from the worship team and a great teacher of the Word. It was great. I was so blessed.

Back to the title of this post:
It took FOREVER to get there, considering Greece is only a few countries away from me.

Itinerary:
1. Leave Poltava at 9:20 by train.
2. 4 hours later, arrive in Kiev with another family.
3. Wait with several other families in McDonald's for 2 hours.
4. Wait at the airport for 4 hours.
5. Fly for 2 hours to Rome.
6. Wait in the Rome airport for 3 hours.
7. Fly for 2 hours to Athens.
8. Wait in the Athens airport for 2ish hours.
9. Drive by bus to the island for 2 hours.
10. Finally get checked in and to my room by 4:30 am. In the bed by 4:45.
11. Up at 7:30 for the day to start.

I don't remember much from that morning...

Off to Greece!

Tomorrow morning, I leave bright and early for Greece! All of my fellow workers in this part of the world will be meeting in Greece for the next week. I'm quite excited, seeing as how Greece has been on my list of places to visit since I was 9! Never fear- there will be many a picture taken for a post-Greece update. After that, I'll be staying put here. You can expect me to be way more on top of the updating then!

Remember me?

I'm sorry for being so remiss in the blogging. Ironically, while I was visiting the States, my internet usage was somewhat limited.

Brief synopsis:
1. I was able to go home for my friend's (Amanda) wedding!
2. I was able to see all of my family and many of my friends. Notable exceptions due to time and distance: Kat and Karen.
3. I was upgraded to FIRST CLASS on the flight home!
4. I was told that I had "very good English" by a man who thought I was Ukrainian.
5. I made it back all safe and sound! I had a welcoming committee of about 20 people at the train station. I definitely missed my Ukrainian friends.

Some pictures from the wedding weekend (photography credit to Molly and Kirby):

Lovelace 1 Reunited! Kirby, me, Amanda, and Molly

Lovelace 1 + Rachel

And again...Love them.

Representing Union

Molly made this one black and white...thank goodness.

Bridesmaids

Union crowd at the wedding...representing Union again. Gotta love it.

5/7 of Jeaton 35. What a great reunion!

I love my family...

I love my family, and this week, I get to spend the whole week with them! Sorry for the lack of updates. I will correct that situation soon. Thanks for checking, even though I've been lax in updating!

Hot (pot) shower

Well, the hot water to #85 Lenina has been cut off for who knows how long. Usually, I can just deal with the cold shower, gritting my teeth and washing my hair REALLY fast. This morning, however, I just couldn't quite do it. It was 47 degrees outside. There's no heat in my building (I mean, it IS May). I could not make myself take a cold shower.

So...

I decided to heat water in my electric kettle (hot pot) in order to bathe. If that's the way it's going to be, it's going to be a long week.

Belated pictures

Last week, our Ukrainian friends threw a going-away party for Hannah and Rachel. Here are some pictures:

"Yay! Guests of Honor are here!"

Standing with the sign Tanya made. Sweet Tanya...

One more shot...

Task #1 of the evening: acrostics using the words "Poltava" and "Ukraine"

Task #2: Ukrainian Jeopardy. Nice. We use Jeopardy all the time in English classes. This was a taste of our own medicine...

(l to r): Ira, Hannah, Anya, Rachel, and Tanya

Rachel, Nastia, Hannah

Ukrainian family portrait with Vova. I have to say, this is a favorite.

Back up...birthday post

Well, last Monday was my birthday. Here's a document of the festivities:

Rachel was assigned to take me for a walk while 30 Ukrainians sneaked into the house. When we got back to the house, Ira, Tanya, and Nastia were in the foyer, singing 'Happy Birthday' and waiting for me with tasks. The tasks all had challenges in Russian: offering vocabulary, matching nouns and verbs, fill-in-the-blank, SING A SONG, and translate.

This was my translation task. It took me a loooooong time. But, I have to say, it was very sweet.

The tasks formed a path, leading from the front door to my bedroom door. After I completed my last task, I opened my bedroom door and found about 26 Ukrainians crammed in there! They then sang a song (see picture above...this was their cheat sheet) to me! It's part-English, part-Russian.

Then, they presented me with this certificate for a good effort in trying to speak Russian. They're too kind...

Ukrainians always take their shoes off when entering a house. Problem: they were trying to surprise me by hiding, so they couldn't leave the shoes by the front door. They had taken everyone's shoes and thrown them out on the balcony. So clever.

Ira-party-planner-Varyanetsa. She's fabulous. She planned this whole thing while studying for and taking finals all week!

Part of the Party Crew! People came and went at random intervals. This crowd stuck around for a while.

We taught them how to play Spoons. We had to use Uno cards instead of face cards, though.

Other side of the room...check out the really intense faces. They were focused.

The Rachel-and-Hannah side of the circle. Nastia (3 from the left) stuck in to the end...up against the 3, experienced Americans. Impressive.

Oops...Marina wasn't quite fast enough. She was so close, and yet, no cigar. Or rather, spoon.

The part of my sweet birthday crew that stayed to the very end. Precious.

I had such a wonderful birthday!

Lots of faces

Rachel is so good at remembering that we need pictures. Usually, in the classrooms, I'm in hyper-focused mode and can't see much past what lessons need to be taught. I get in the zone. Rachel, however, has been great about remembering to get pictures with our classes. The Lord has provided so many open doors and opportunities.I thought I'd post some pictures for your enjoyment.

This is our 8 am class from Thursdays. Hannah spearheaded the business lessons for this class. We learned that being punctual did not pay off for us: the students didn't show up until 8:30, so we stopped killing ourselves to get there on time...

These are the flights of steps to climb at university #2. Hannah's famous question: Are we not there YET?? Also, we named the lady in this mural Lyuda.

This is our 10:00 class at university #2. Feisty little precious ones.

11:00 class at university #2. Secretly one of our favorite classes!

Our favorite of the 'colleges.' This class, however, was a late-in-the-game addition to our teaching schedule. We love them, but man they are sassy!

Ok, this is part of the class that I've been with the longest. They were my first students in Poltava, and I have a special place in my heart for them. 2 of them are fairly regular attenders of our Wednesday night class. Please pray that the Lord will continue to draw them to Himself.

This is another late-in-the-game addition. This is the English club from Ira's school. We've led their club for about a month and a half. So sweet and so eager to learn. Several from this class have been attending our Wednesday night clubs and have heard the Truth several times.

If you've been following this blog for long, you've seen pictures of these girls several times. This is our Saturday English/Bible storying class. They are so precious. Please continue to pray for their sweet little hearts to be drawn to Him.

Bible Bowl

About a week ago, Hannah, Rachel, and I spent our Saturday afternoon cheering on our friends from church as they competed in a Bible competition/drill type thing. It was really fun! Of course, we had to have Maya and Ira help us understand what was going on, but it was fun, nonetheless.

Entertaining ourselves pre-competition

The youth from our church "competed" against the youth from a sister church. They all did an awesome job answering obscure questions from the book of Judges and from the gospels. They had this board thing with a spinner.

Homemade board/spinner combo

If they got a question correct, someone lit a candle to represent their points. There was this one guy who was responsible for keeping the time...with a cymbal from a drum set. GRRRRR...it was so loud! We were in a room that was shaped kind of like a cavern, so that sucker was really really LOUD. And, Max got a huge rush every time he hit it.

Our team: (l-r) Tanya, Vova, Oksana's back, Al'ona. Not pictured: Dima and Stas.

In the end, our church kids won. We were so proud of them!

Hanging out with Olya at the competition

Cheering section! Zhenya and Marina.