blinchekee...

today was a bit rough in the world of lydia learning russian. i know that i will have rough patches along the way. today was definitely one. ill back up and tell yall about yesterday...then today.

we have been learning how to say parts of the family...brother...sister...aunt...uncle etc. alo been working on our presentation for the local government. i had a rice dish with pork im guessing...super good. my host sister doused the whole thing in ketchup...so i followed. he rice reminded me of a mexican rice packet you would find at the govcery store. had a little kick to it which was nice! ukrainians do not typically have particularly spicy food so i was excitd to have this. my host dad has not been home for two or three days... he is at work. not quite sure where...but he is a serviceman or pensioner...the mom and sister looked jup those words n the russian english dictionary. any clue what they might mean?when the older sister was in town...i thought she told me he was a security guard. thoughts on this subect would be appreciated!

so today! breakfast might have been my favorite meal ive had sinceive been in ukraine. its called blinchikee. it was basically a fried pancake...uh...maze...ing. my host mom had a skillet of oil that she would drop some of the pancake mixture in it sizzled for a few minutes...and then she would turn it over. it was submerged in the oil by te way. they came out golden brown and delicious. six were put on my plate...about te size of a silver dollar pancake. i could barely eat three they were so rich. i have chey every morning for breakfast too...hot tea!and the host mom knows to put the sugar bowl n the table. i am from the south..cant drink tea (hot or cold)without it being sweet

after bfast...i left for my teachers apartment whch is around the corner. maybe a four minute walk door to door. everyone else in my group walks for ten to fifteen minutes to get to her apartment. we usually review what we went over the day before for the first bit of class...then she introduces a new subject. we only had class for an hour and a half this morning (we have to have four hours of russian class each weekday) so that meant we would have to have two and ahalf hours this afternoon. we met with the mayor of oster at ten am with our teacher zhenya and our cultural teacher luda. we had prepared our presentation of who we are...where we are from etc. in russian t tell him about ourselves. that went smoothly. after that we split into two groups. there are two schools in oster. one is the schkola...the other is the gymnasia. im still trying to figure out the difference between the two.

i will be working at the gymnasia with jamie (james) and brendan (two of the guys in my cluster). the other two people in our oster cluster (cassi and mark) will be at the schkola. we will observe classes...hlp teach a few subjects...do a few clubs etc. at both of these schools at our time in pre service training here in oster. i LOVE my school. we had another presentatio with the principal, vice principals, language teacher, and a few other people at the school today. my host sister actually goes to the gynasia so i may get to help teach a class she s in! the school has 420 students in it with fifty somteachers i think. there are grades one thru eleven here. we were shown a few classes with students in it and each time we walked in...all of te kids stood up and said (in unison)good morning or hello! the third graders nearly stole my heart they were so cute when they said it!

after our intro at theschool....jamie and i had a tutoring lesson with our language teacher zhenya. typically...we will meet with her one on one each week. however...this week is all sorts of messed up so we are doubling up. tutoring went well...jamie and i have the same learning style which is incredibly helpful in a groupmate. i have to see how the word is spelled so that i can pronounce it. i simply cannot just hear it and copy how to say it. luckily,my teacher understands this and is always willing to write it on the board for me! huge huge help.

after ourtutoring...we had our final two and a half hours of russian class for the ay. and this,my friends, is where everything went downhill. we started learning about how to conjugate verbs...and pronouns. i have a hard time identying parts of the sentnce in english...let alone in russian. we all stared atpoor zhenya with giant eyes and these blank stares. i need to wrap up this post so that ican study some of it. my brain is almost at full capacity for the day. i know i will get it...it is just goimg to take a little time.

thanks for reading to the bottom if you are still ere. i know it was a long post...but i was trying to put off studying!night night :)

russian lingo...day 2

i got my ukrainian cell phone today! i can actually make calls to the states for not very expensive. and texts too. bt i havent figured out how much it costs to receive a phone call or text. it is free to call other pc volunteers with that same brand of phone here...its called life. let me know if you want the phone number and i will send you the info!

russian class today was good...we have a presentqtion on thursday to the local government or school administration...im not really sure. the point is...we are having to learn how to introduce ourselves...tell where we are from...what we are doing here...what college we went to...how we are qualified to be youth developers...etc. we were disectimg question by question...and then we paired up with a classmate to do it dialogue style. biggg mistake. it was like we were hit with the stupid stick. imy brain went on overload mode and did all but shutdown. whem i gt home tonight my host sister helped me practice though...huge huge help. she got a few laughs in too along the way...but i was alughing at my pronunciations as well.

tomorrow we will have a visitor...the guy in charge of all of te cluster language teachers.

i haven t proofread any of this entry...but im tired and want to go to sleep...so im just ing to post it...regardless of all of the errors. in other news...i think im allergic to one of the cats at my house. ive sneezed a lot today and my nose feels very weird! i let it take a anp on the foot of my bed ysterday...bad idea!

k toodles. dobredien! goodnight!

russian lingo...day #1

today marked our first real day to be in language lessons for four hours. it is literally like going back to being an infant...knowing nothing but thee simple words that are the same in both languaes. i have familiarized myself with the alphabet...and can pronounce everything when given enough time. i can even sound out and spell words...it just might take me a second. today we also learned the basics of an intro conversation in russian. kak dela? meanin how are you? (sidenote: that is the phoenetical spelling...my kindle cant type in russian. not quite cool enough!)

i am checking my email and facebook fairly regularly (daily) so please drop me a line if you get a chance :) havent really felt homesick yet...ive just got a lot of time on my hands. read my nicholas sparks book safe haven in about 48 hours. not sure which book i will tackle next. maybe th hp series :)

i watched a ukrainian version of fear factor with my host sister this weekend. it was quite emtertaining...even tho i couldnt understand a lick of it. i plan on treatimg myself to an epsode or two of friends tonight :) afteri go over my notecards one more time. tomorrow our cluster group will hopefully go get ukrainian cell phones! excited for that.

i love my cluster group...feel like we all get along really well and that we lucked out with our teachers. our anguage teacher is SO patient with us...even when we ask the same question abut tem times. i would definitely lose i if i were her. and our cross cultural facilatator seems ready to help us at the drop of a hat. very excited amd blessed to have them as my teachers! m host family continues to amaze me. the sweet mom (gala)thinks i need to eat all the time. and shes caught on that meat isnt really my thing...so she has a few pieces of chicken for me in the fridge. i try whatever she makes for everyone else...i even tried a piece of chicken liver :) tonight it was some little dough with meat in it that was quite good. i think it was sausage. my host sister (christy) is fourteen and in her fourth year of english class. i think that is why they sigmed up to be a host family. the dad andrew is quite funny. hewont say much to me...but then all of a suddem starts on this lomg russian sentence that i have no clue what it means.christy looks at him like hes crazy...seems like a typical teenage daughter/parent relationship to me :) even halfway across the world!

they constantly show interest in me...even when i cant understand them...which means so much. i truly cant wait to carry on a real conversation with them some point soon!

guess ie written enough. if you read this far...please ecuse all of the mispelled words. my fingers dont always hit the right button and i dont wsant to correct this whole thing! tata for nw :)

my first real day in oster

oster...the place i will live for the next three months. it has about seven thousand people livimg in it. today, my cluster got together at ten am to go over some culture things,make sure everyones host family is going well, etc. it was loads of information (but good info i need!) and we also got about ten pounds of study materials and resources. good thing my teachers apartment is about one hundred feet away from my house! after going home to eat lunch at one thirty, we decided that our cluster group would meet back up and walk around the city. zhenya (my lcf..language and cross cultural facilitator) joined us luckily. she walked us down the main road and to the city park... saw the two churches (one of which is one thousand years old...i think!)...went to the store to get some snacks and such, etc. dont know if my family will go o church tomorrow or not... but they do have two icons above their bed.

i got a milka candy bar at the store... pretty excited to eat it at some point. well... think that is all for now. i would like to study a little before supper. this blog update brought to you by my kindle... hence the no capitalization!toodleloo

couldn't be happier...

i am in my bed at my host family's house. let me tell you a few things that made me really happy today.

i figured out how to get facebook to work on my kindle. this thimg never ceases to amaze me. thanks again crow fam :)

it snowed today...and i LOVE snow. erego, great day.

i arrived at my host family''s house and was greeted by their oldest daughter who speaks english. she doesnt live here...but it made today much better.

and perhaps the thimg that i have been most excited about...UNPACKING!!!! i have wanted to do this since arrivimg in dc...and i finally could today. how thankful i am that its finally done and my mass of clothes are finally organized is truly unexplainable.

first cluster group meeting tomorrow mormimg at 10 am. thankful to get to sleep in. that's all for tonight...ps, it' hard to do capitalization and punctuation on my kindle..sorry for all of the errors!fare thee well. off to read the newest nicholas sparks book.

My Cluster Group Assignment!

Today was another full day at our Arrival Retreat in Chernihiv. I had my first Russian language lesson which went surprisingly well. I really LOVED my teacher...her name is Zhenya. There were actually about 10 of us in a language lesson this morning...but my cluster group will be composed of 4 other people (1 girl, 3 guys). These 4 people plus our language teacher (Zhenya) will be my extended family for the next 3 months. The city that we will live in is called Oster (pronounced Ostyer I believe)...which is about an hour northwest of Kyiv (the capital). It is actually located about halfway between Kyiv and Chernihiv (another large city)...so hopefully I will get to to do some exploring in those cities before I am moved to my permanent site for 2 years!!

We also had our first serving of borscht today for lunch...quite scrumptious! I'm pretty sure I consumed at least 7 pieces of bread today. Ridculous, I know. Let me TRY to explain :) For breakfast, there was yogurt and granola (which is more than plenty for me to eat in the morning), coleslaw, 2 soft-boiled eggs (I gave mine to the guy sitting next to me), bread (white and wheat), ham, cheese (I made a ham and cheese sandwich on 2 pieces of bread), hot milk, a juice box of fruit punch type stuff, and hot tea/coffee. That is about enough food to last me all day...and that was for one meal. For lunch, we started off with veggies on a plate (cucumber, red peppers, and tomatoes), bread, borscht (which had special rolls that were to be dipped in it...amazing!), and just as I was eating the last of the borscht, the main course came out...chicken and potatoes! It was too good not to eat, but I literally felt like I needed to unbutton my pants after that. It was all so scrumptious that I hated to waste any...so I basically didnt :)

Well, I need to go to bed now. More to say...but it will have to wait! Goodnight! I meet my host family tomorrow...YIPPEEEEEE :)

And the language I'll be learning is...

I made it safely to Ukraine! Finally! We left DC Tuesday (March 21, 2011) at 1:30 pm...headed to the Dulles International Airport that was about 30 miles away. It was utter chaos in the lobby at 1 pm when everyone was supposed to be meeting up with their travel buddies...think 106 people, with 100 of those people have 2 {heavy} checked suitcases, and most people having 2 carry-ons as well. It was a giant disaster. I have pictures, but the internet is a little shotty right now and I don't want to try to upload pics yet. More interested in getting a blog entry posted before I pass out from exhaustion!

It took us at least 2.5 hours to get everyone's baggage unloaded off of the 3 charter busses we took to the airport, checked-in, and through security. We flew Lufthansa from DC to Frankfurt, Germany...which was about an 8 hour flight. Luckily, it was overnight flight and I slept a little bit (read 2 hours maybe). Then we had a layover for about 2.5 hours (and had to go through security again) and finally left on another Lufthansa flight headed for Kiev this time! On both of the flights, we were given this combination of meals: dinner on the first flight (I got veggie pasta...not too shabby! I even ate zucchini...), breakfast on the first flight (fruit--yum! and some bread), and then breakfast again on the second flight (this was the interesting meal...eggs, potatoes, and spinach in one container and bread and a macaroon of some sort I think...). I couldn't eat the spinach or eggs...but the potatoes were great! After finally arriving in Kiev, we then were greeted at the airport with a ton of other PC employees holding up signs and helping us get our luggage. They threw it all in the back of this giant green u-haul type box truck, and we loaded up onto three charter buses (sidenote: people who went to Eastern Europe with me in 2004, the buses were very similar! They had a 2nd entry door halfway back, and 5 seats across in the back row. I, of course, sat in the back row with my new friends.). We were then on the charter bus for a good 2+ hours...going to our destination which I'm not sure what the name of it is. We are at the PC Arrival Retreat...and are staying at 2 different hotels very close by. Tomorrow morning, breakfast will start at 8 am and at 9 am, we go to our "cluster groups," which is the people that we will be in class with for the next 3 months. Would you like to know what language I'll be learning? I can't decide if I should post it or not yet...or maybe let the anticipation build up a little :)

Upon arriving at the hotel, we put our 2 pieces of checked luggage in a holding room. My shampoo and conditioner and face wash are in my big bags, but I have NO clue where they are packed...so I had to borrow or make due without. Luckily, my good friend Hayley was willing to share :) she's my Bama girl. They've split us up at the hotels by what we'll be doing here in Ukraine...so all of the Youth Development people are together. Quite nice actually!!

On Friday, we will meet our host family for the first time! Eeek! Can't wait. That also means that we can finally unpack some of our stuff for the first time. I am absolutely DONE dealing with luggage. When we arrived at the airport yesterday, they informed us that if our carry-on bag did not fit in the compartment that we could not carry it on with us...but that they would check it for free. That sent everyone in a PANIC because our bigger carry-ons typically had our business attire for the next few days, chargers, toiletries, etc. It turns out they could have fit, but I was just as happy not to have to deal with dragging it around (it probably weighs 40 pounds). We think that they told all 106 of us that they would check them for free because there really wouldn't have been any way that everyone's luggage could have fit overhead and at our feet on our long flight. So...long story short. All of my worrying and freaking out about luggage is done with! I don't have to meet any weight requirements or anything else for a long, long time!

I'm pretty beat right now. So I think I will go try to get to sleep. There is still snow/ice in some spots on the grass and other areas! It was definitely a bit windy when we all unloaded outside of the hotels...I felt like I was in Oklahoma again! And I'm definitely glad I have a lot of coats and layers. It is late spring right now...and there is still snow on the ground! There was also a giant pond we passed that was still frozen. Pretty crazy! I think I better head to bed. Goodnight! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Much appreciated :) been a great day and I can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Oh, and I guess I'll go ahead and tell you...I'll be learning...

RUSSIAN :)

I (finally) made it to DC!

Let's just say, today was a day to go down in the books. I have waited for this day, to finally GO, for the past year. But I really have waited many, many years for this opportunity to present itself. Today's word of the day is finally, in case you haven't figured it out :) I'll probably use it at least 10 more times in this post. Just be prepared.

My day started at 9 am when my dad came to start waking me up. I finally (1) got up at 9:30 (completely groggy because I took a Dramamine to go to sleep last night). Took a shower...couldn't eat because I was so nervous/filled with anticipation! My mom was finishing sewing in extra lining into my down coat. Mitchell came by to say farewell :)

And to draw on the car (excuse the dirt...) and we were off to the airport by 11:35 am. Flight was supposed to leave at 2:30 pm. More on that later.

After getting my bags checked, my parents and I waited for friends to come see me off. They left right after church...so it was at least 12:30ish by the time they got up there. Amy and Susan Carruth were the first to arrive :) started tearing up immediately. Here's a pic of Amy and I from Eastern Europe 2004.

Lydia, Karen, Amy, Melissa, and our adult sponsor, Heather.

Then others started showing up :) so touching to see all of these people when I'm leaving.

Front row: Tino, Dymir, Susan, Cary, Lydia, Lyndsay, Katie, Ashley

2nd row: Sarah, Amy, Marissa, Maddie, Allison, Sarah, Sydney, Shannon, Bennett, Nathan, Jeff

3rd row: Pirtle, Stephanie, Schlegel, Scott, Britney, Gracie

It was overwhelming to say goodbye to everyone...and it totally didn't feel real (it actually still doesn't feel real, that this is finally {2} happening). Let's just say, that tears were shed, hugs were given, and lots of smiles were shown. Love each and every one of you. Don't have a pic on my camera of my parents and I, but hopefully Mom will send me a few!

I got through security, feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and honestly just wanting to sleep. Then, I found out my flight was delayed. Turns our Chicago had grounded all of their flights for the time being because of a severe thunderstorm passing through the area. That put a damper on my flight to/from Chi-town. Great...

Let me take a side note and say this: for the past week, I have felt like something was going to go wrong with my flight. I was supposed to be meeting Hayley for the first time in DC upon arriving...she wouldn't have her cell phone with her...and I just felt like something wasn't right. So sure enough, that proved to be the case. Getting back to the story...

I quickly called my brother to see whether I should try to get a different flight or stick with the Chicago one...knowing how backed up O'hare can be, my brother convinced me to go with the sure fire plan of arriving in DC at 11 pm (as opposed to 9 pm). This flight took me through Houston now. Approximately 5 minutes later, after getting settled in at my new gate number (still in OKC), the OKC Airport fire alarms start going off. There are maybe 10 people at my gate, no airport personnel, and no one knows what to do. The sirens are going off as well as a voice telling us to evacuate the building. And NO one has any clue as to what we're supposed to do. The emergency doors leading outside are locked because they lead out to the tarmac. lol...so we all just stood around in the middle pathway of the airport. Quite entertaining really. Eventually, the sirens go off and they come on to tell us that the fire alarm was actually just a test. Don't you normally tell people that before you start it?

OH, I forgot an important part to the story. While my support crew was saying goodbye at the check-in counter, a screaming child was also checking in. Amy looked over and said, I bet that kid is on your flight. And she was unfortunately correct. However, I didn't end up TAKING that flight, so it worked out quite nicely. And the family of the said screaming child had one of those airport rental carts that they left at the door...so I took it and put my 40+ pounds of carry-ons on it. It was glorious :) and served as a good foot rest too...

My flight finally left at 5:05 pm, and I flew straight to Houston on one of those tiny 2-1 seater planes. Realizing that I would arrive there and have to SPRINT across the Houston airport to another terminal, I was incredibly nervous. I had facebooked Hayley, explaining that my flight was delayed and that she'd need to get her own taxi. Little did I know that her original flight was also 2 hours delayed as well. Perfect! I made it to my flight (practically running) and didn't have time to grab a drink or supper. BUT, I made it...and might have been sweating, but I got on the plane! As I was giving the lady my boarding pass, she asked me who else I was traveling with because I had so much stuff. Whoops... :) On the plane, I had a nice gentleman help me put (read squash) my carry-on bag up top. And I lucked out and had one of the few empty seats on the plane next to me! Perfection.

Got to watch the sunset while on board...

I arrived into DC National airport at 11 pm...and hoped that Hayley's flight was still the same! She got in around 11:30...and off we went to the hotel. I've got a great picture of Hayley with all 8 suitcases of ours (2 checked bags each, plus 1 carry-on and 1 personal item). That will have to be for tomorrow's upload. Upon arriving at our hotel, we saw what looked like another PC volunteer looking tired and carrying a heck of a lot of luggage...and sure enough there was Ben! Turns out none of us had had time to eat dinner, so we met back up a bit later to order pizza. During our time in the lobby, we met maybe 10 other people with PC :) fun times. My roomie for my 2 nights in DC is Noelia, a Texas girl! She also went to school in Boston so it was nice to have instant connections.

I'm pooped and ready to sleep...thank you for all of the kind words over the past few days. I have felt incredibly loved and can't wait to share my story. Hopefully more tomorrow :) PC stuff starts at noon. Night night!

My last post from Oklahoma for a while!

Greetings friends,

Tomorrow (which is really today) is the big day!!! I am finally off to DC to meet up with some of the other PC volunteers who could not get an early flight on Monday for staging. I'm quite thankful I don't have to wake up early Monday morning and get on a plane...only to arrive in DC and get whisked away doing PC activities.

My mind is a little fried at the moment...kind of on overload. My mom is still up (of course...the Frost women are night owls at heart...) sewing some extra lining into my down jacket. This is typical btw, for my mom and I to still be up working on a "project." I think this entry calls for a few bullet notes because my brain is all over the place right now.

• At 5:30 pm today, one of my best friends Mitchell rang the doorbell to mi casa. He lives in Dallas...and it is busy season for accountants, so this was a big deal for him to leave RIGHT after work and drive up to see me off :) He also happened to arrive just at the moment I was about to burst into tears because I couldn't get everything to fit in my carry-on. I pride myself on being a good packer, and it was NOT working for me. After dinner, he got it all to fit :) looks like I'm not the best packer in the world after all. Thanks, Mitchy :)
• Many last minute errands were run today by my parents. Kudos goes to them being able to help. Couldn't have done it without them.
• My church's spring break trip down to the Rio Grande Valley got back tonight around 10:30 pm. Mitchell and I went to greet them...so glad to see them all :) Many, many hugs.
• Some of my friends and church family are coming up to the airport tomorrow right after church to see me off. My flight leaves at 2:30 pm. Anyone who knows me, knows I'll be getting there at least 2+ hours before the flight. Call me crazy, but I like to be prepared. And I'm OCD.
• Tonight is my last night to sleep in my bed that I love. With all 1324035 pillows. I'm taking one pillow with me (my little pink one). BIG deal! I plan on sleeping well and sleeping in a little!
• I have never been so tired of packing in my life. From packing up my stuff, to packing for a garage sale, to packing for 27 months, it's all annoying. And I'm sooooo ready to be done with it.
• I didn't get all of my Friends DVDs ripped to my computer. But I got a heck of a lot of them :) Seasons 1-6 (ish), some of 7, some of 8,
• I am SO so so ready to meet some of the people that I have been communicating with for the past 2 months as we all eagerly learned about each other's lives through Facebook, blogs, even some texting. I'm not used to having "virtual" friends that I've never actually met in real life, so I truly can't wait to meet them tomorrow night and on Monday.
• I arrive into DC around 9 Sunday evening. I'll wait for my PC bama friend Hayley to arrive, and we'll grab our luggage and head to the hotel. Our official PC activities start Monday at noon. FINALLY!!!!
• If you are wanting to send me anything in the mail for the first few months, it will have to be strictly flat envelopes. NO boxes are allowed for the first 3 months we are in Ukraine because we will be with host families and spread throughout different cities...making it too hard to get packages delivered. Here is the address that you would use to send letters, or postcards, or flat envelopes:

U.S. Peace Corps/Ukraine
PCV Lydia Frost, Group 41
111A Saksahanskoho Street
P.O. Box 298,
01030
Kyiv, Ukraine

Корпус Миру США / Україна
PCV Lydia Frost, Група 40
111А-стріт Саксаганського
PO Box 298,
01030
Київ, Україна

It has been suggested to put both the English and Ukrainian on there. (Btw, totally just copied that off of my fellow group 41er's blog. Thanks, Amy!)

Well, I have everything printed, ready to go, just have to throw last minute stuff in my carry-ons. My checked pieces of luggage weigh 44.50 and 44.94 pounds. Right under the line!! You could bet I would use every ounce possible :)

Thank you for all of the support and love. It has been a big journey leading up to tomorrow, and I can't wait for my new adventure to begin! Expect a blog post in DC!

Love, Lydia

PS: Forgot to tell you all my PC resolution! Anyone who knows me, knows that I love pictures. I have always wanted to do the "picture a day" challenge as a new year's resolution...or a sunset a day challenge...but obviously those have never happened. They just didn't feel right. SO, here is my resolution: I want to take a picture every day that I serve in the PC. I think that it would be a great book and montage of memories that I could put in a bound format and have for years to come. And it will also encourage me to upload them onto the blog...which I've kind of been slacking lately. Please please please help me with this challenge! K, toodles :)

Just to give you an update...

It's been a crazy past few days...and as much as I'd like for the next few day to be spent relaxing, I don't see that happening. However, I am trying to have everything moved out of my house tomorrow (Thursday) and settled into my parents house. That would be the only chance that I could "relax" on Saturday :)

Couldn't be doing all of this without the help of my mom and dad...truly.

I know it's a Wednesday, but I'm too tired right now to do my blog post I had intended for today. So maybe tomorrow or Friday. My living room looks like quite a disaster right now, even though I know where everything is and it is organized in MY crazy way. I think just about everything is clean and ready to be packed...I'm now wearing the most random outfits because I only have pieces of a wardrobe left. Quite entertaining.

I've got seasons 1, 4, 5, and part of 10 ripped onto my computer thus far. Going to finish up season 10 hopefully tonight/in the morning...and then I'm going to do a few favorite movies that I can't live without...

Home Alone

Home Alone 2

Italian Job

National Treasure

National Treasure 2

I may need to go purchase Burlesque. I saw it in the theaters and absolutely loved it. And I definitely want to have the Harry Potter movies. Speaking of HP, they do not make any of the Harry Potter series available on Kindle. What in the world?! Do they realize how much money they're missing out on? I was planning on forking over at least $50-75 for the 7 books on Kindle...so who knows how many other people would as well. I have 2 great gift cards for my Kindle thanks to the Crow family and to Miss Ruthie Cole. Can't WAIT to buy some books :) just have to decide which ones...

Thinking about all of my church family that is on the Texico mission trip right now...wishing I were there with y'all! I'd much rather be doing physical work than packing up my stuff!

My dad pointed out to me that I was having my week of lasts...but did I think about all of the firsts that I'd be having as well? My first time to meet all of the new PC Ukraine volunteers. My first time to truly have no clue about the language of the country I'm in (I really am excited to learn another language. I specifically did not want to go to a Spanish speaking country because I knew the language...enough to get by at least!). It will not be my first time to stay with a host family...but it will be my first time to be truly "on my own" with nobody from home right by my side. Call me crazy, but all of that sounds so amazing. I really can't contain my excitement much more. I just want to be on the plane Sunday...but I know it will come soon enough.

This is just a lot of rambling...so I'm going to go ahead and hit the hay. Night night :)

My last Monday in Norman!

It hasn't really hit me yet that this is my last full week in the United States for quite some time. Am I excited? Duh. I just wish I could snap my fingers and have everything done! However, I did get a lot accomplished today with the help of mi madre. We set up a new bank account that will reimburse me for so many ATM fees a month...big selling point. I also got to go to dinner with some of my Interior Design friends...Beth drove all the way from Tulsa, Jenna from Mustang, and Kristen just lives a few miles up the road from me :) It was great to see all of them though and catch up on their lives.

I have been lazy and not feeling like uploading pics to my computer...so I finally decided to do so tonight. Enjoy the picture montage of my trip to Dallas/Ft. Worth a few weekends ago :)

The first thing on the list was dinner with my Construction Science buddies :) Greg, Chase, and Josh (l to r). Josh's wife, Lindsay, also got to come to dinner. Totally failed and didn't get a picture of everyone at dinner. Josh and Lindsay are about to have their first child though...and from what I've seen on the blog, the nursery is going to be ADORABLE :)

This picture of Greg, Chase, and Josh pretty much sums them up. We can never manage to go anywhere without causing a scene...and this was the case that night at dinner as well :) all in good fun though.

Testing out the self-timer on my camera! It took a few attempts but we got it...thank you for being a great host Greggers :)

Saturday lunch was spent with my sweet, sweet interior design friend Casey! I got to see her hubby and new puppy too!

On the front porch of Casey and Collin's house! So cute.

After lunch, I headed to Mitchell's apartment (that I DID NOT GET A PICTURE OF...), where we got ready for a surprise evening. Where did we end up? At Dave and Buster's! Kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese for adults. Pictured above is Kevo :)

Also part of the surprise was my friend Rachel, who lived on my dorm hall freshman year! Here she is with her FIANCE, Alex! These two literally grew up next door to each other...how cute of an engagement story is that?

Rachie and myself :)

And last but not least, the video of one of the games we played. Kevin (of course) knew how to play the game...so we waited until it was just about to win and started taping. I'm off to do another trial run of packing...eek! Wish me luck!

Oh yeah...one more thing. Here's a preview for what Way-Back Wednesday is going to be this week :)

My last week in Norman...a Q & A session.

As I am sitting here listening to my computer whir as it rips a Friends DVD to my computer, I've been asked a heck of a lot of questions this past week or two. So...I figured I would re-post them on here so that others who have wondered the same thought, no longer have to wonder! Please don't be afraid to ask me any questions. Email them to me, text me, facebook me. I will do my best to get it answered! Enjoy :)

Sidenote: this morning was the FIRST time I can remember in a very, very long time to go see a mission trip off at church and not be GOING on the mission trip. However, there were a few pluses to it...like the fact that I came home at 7 am and got back in bed...and got to sleep lying down, as opposed to in a church van seat. That was great :) It was weird not to jump on a van with them, but I can't wait to see what is in store for the 105 people going to south Texas this week.

A Question and Answer Session with Lydia:

1) Do you get paid?

--Yes and no. While in Ukraine, I will have a Ukrainian bank account that gets money deposited in it each month from the government. I believe it's somewhere around $200. This will cover my meals for the month, any types of transportation I need, incidentals, etc. My housing will be covered for me, so I don't have to worry about that. Upon completing my 27 month service, I get a readjustment allowance. This money is used for my discretion however I want. Buying a car, getting settled in a new city, traveling in Europe, whatever. I think when taxes are taken out of it it's somewhere around $5000 for my 2 years of service. Retired PC Volunteers feel free to chime in if you know what the answer is.

2) Are you scared?

--No. I couldn't be more excited. In fact, excited doesn't describe it. Ecstatic is truly the state I'm in. However, I do wish I didn't have to do this last week of getting everything sorted and put away for 2 years. It is incredibly overwhelming to me to think that my house that I have lived in for over 5 years will no longer be mine when I come back. But it also means I get to decorate something new when I come back...which is obviously something I love.

3) What do your parents think of this?

--They've been incredibly supportive since the time I told them I wanted to apply (Thanksgiving 2009), and for that I am eternally thankful. Are they apprehensive? Sure. But they are backing me 110% and I could NOT have made this journey without them. Thanks, Mom and Pops :) And I'm also ecstatic for when they come visit me.

4) What exactly does a youth developer do?

--Great question. I wish I knew the answer to it :) ha. Seriously though, it varies from person to person. There's a chance I could be working at a high school, there's a chance I could work at a community place (I'm picturing a YMCA type thing?). I have no idea. I won't know that until I get to Ukraine and they see what my fortes and weaknesses are.

5) What language do they speak there?

--Ukrainian and Russian. The country is still incredibly divided on the languages they speak. The northern and western parts (generally) speak Ukrainian...while the southern and eastern parts (generally) speak Russian.

6) Which language do you want to learn?

--I really don't care. If I had to pick, probably Ukrainian. This would make my brother happy because if I learned Russian, he would be the only Frost who didn't speak Russian. That is very tempting to be able to rub in his face :) kidding! I also want to learn Ukrainian because the place that I hope to be stationed somewhat near (where I've been before) spoke Ukrainian.

7) Where will you live the entire time?

--Another question I don't have an exact answer to. The first three months are spent in Pre-Service-Training (PST). I will live with a host family outside of Kyiv (the capitol, also spelled Kiev), and be in intense language and cultural classes all day. After the swearing in ceremony, I will be taken to my city that will be home for the next 2 years. That is the part that's still up in the air.

8) Will you have internet?

--Don't know. I will have access to internet more than likely, and may even luck out to have it in my home! Keep your fingers crossed :) the great thing about my kindle? It can check email and facebook for me for FREE (it might take a while, but I'll sit and wait for it to load).

9) What kind of money do they use there?

--The Hryvnia (UAH) is the currency in Ukraine. Things are WAY cheaper there...I can't remember the stats right now. I'll post them later if I can find them!

10) How long ago did you apply?

--The entire application process from the time that I submitted my application to the time that I leave for staging in DC will be right around 1 year....which is what they tell you from the get-go. So they really aren't kidding! Apply earlier than you think you need to.

11) What are you doing this last week that you're in the states?

--I am finishing packing, moving stuff to my parents house (one trip at a time...), hanging out with my parents (I kind of neglected them the past few weeks except when I needed help. Sorry :/), eating my favorite meals (mom's taco salad, panera {which I managed to have 3 times last week}, mom's homemade vegetable beef soup, plenty of sandwiches {goodcents}, etc., doing a trial run of my packing process (that will be an entire post...keep your fingers crossed I don't have 300 pounds of stuff...), maybe painting at my house, and hopefully relaxing a little!

12) I saw that everything was purchased on your wish list...is there anything else I can get you?

--a check or cash is honestly the easiest thing at this moment. There are going to be lots of things I have to purchase upon arriving in Ukraine (a surge protector, a water purifier, etc.)...so rest assured, it will be spent on something useful!

Okay...that's all the questions I can think of right now. I'm sure there are others, but I'm tired and it's late. I need to upload pics tomorrow also...please feel free to leave responses with more questions! Don't be bashful. Night night blogging world... :)

So I've been busy...

With only 9 days left to go, I've been a LITTLE consumed with other things. I'll sum them up rather quickly.

1) Having a surprise party at church on Wednesday night after Ash Wednesday. This will deserve an entire post to itself, but I have yet to upload pics. Let's just say I've never felt SO blessed in about a 2 hour time period. Thank you to all who came out :)

Being anointed with oil by my Bible study leader, Daphne Fix.

2) My computer should NOW be able to rip dvds to it successfully (thank you Younkins family...y'all are always there to save the day!). So, for all of my PC group 41ers, I plan on trying to get my complete series of Friends ripped to my external hard drive before we leave. I'm hoping to get movies from other people because I doubt any one else has ripped all of Friends. Comment on this please if you have!?!?

3) One of my very good friends, Bert Snider, is in Japan. When I got into bed around 2 am last night, I saw the news on facebook about the earthquake. He's doing fine though...was not affected by the earthquake or tsunami at all. Such a relief to hear he is well! However, still such a hard time for the rest of the people in Japan and Hawaii. Praying for them...

Bert and I...circa Mexico 2008 :)

4) Had breakfast with one of my best friends who lives in Houston now, Mr. Darren Gore. He's in PA school and I'm so proud of him...but that means I don't get to see him much. He surprised me at my surprise party which was incredibly nice :)

Darren and I circa 2005...at Disneyland on choir tour!

5) I'm sure I'm forgetting other stuff, but I am off to go to my last high school lunch at the church. Chick-Fil-A today! Then, I will head up to the airport to drop off the adult drivers for Texico who need to pick up rental vans. I can then stop by a few places on my way home for some last minute shopping :) duh.

6) The Texico mission trip leaves tomorrow. First trip that I can remember going to see them off but not getting to go with them. It will be a sad, but happy day. Can't wait to see all of the things waiting for them in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. God has some good things in store!

Happy Friday :)

12 days...

Woowee! That seems crazy. Less than 2 weeks til I am on my way to staging in DC. Today was a very productive day...which is good, because yesterday felt very UNproductive.

I had one last check-up to get my retainer/mouthguard in fine-tuned order before it gets totally abused for 2 years. I clench/grind my teeth at night (totally inherited that from my mom...) so I had to get a heavy duty splint (I'm not sure what the technical name for it is). It is super thick and was very awkward to sleep with at night. But now I am used to it and love it...can't sleep without it in fact! So whoever gets to be my lucky roomy while I'm DC for staging will get to experience this :) I'm sure every one of my friends/youth girls are laughing at this because they know it is a trip necessity for me. It also reminds me of a certain story that never gets old to tell...flashback time.

I'm pretty sure the year was 2002...I was a freshman in high school. McFarlin had this GREAT event called High School Week at the Church. If my memory serves me correct, Amy Carruth, Rosemary Sebestyen, Anna Sebestyen, Alison Swenson, Karen Kesinger (and maybe Scott) are hopefully realizing what story I'm about to tell. During High School Week at the Church, the high schoolers got to stay at the church for an entire week during the school year. You ate all your meals at the church, got taken to school in the really cool 15-passenger vans with McFarlin plastered on the side of them, had time to do your homework at night (or just goof off as the case usually was), etc. SO...we were in a room with some of the older, cool girls in high school; keep in mind, we're the dorky freshman girls who are excited when anyone older than us even acknowledges that we exist. We were staying up late one night and being loud (hello...high school girls...loud? Never!) so Scott (our youth director) had to come yell at us to be quiet. The problem? He forgot to take out his retainer. He's probably 34 years old at this time...and he came in to yell at us but had a lisp when he talked. So..."Shut up girls, it's time to go to bed," sounded horribly funny when it came out with a lisp, causing us to laugh and be even louder. Major backfire on his behalf.

Here's a picture of an event that was much like High School Week at the Church. Scott would be the really cool one with the microphone, followed by my friends (l to r): Kyle Haskett, Nora Hall, me, and Darren Gore.

In other news today, I took a self defense lesson! My mom and I have meant to take one for a few years now but never got around to it...so with less than 2 weeks in the United States, arrangements were finally made to get a private lesson. I had a great instructor who truly taught me a lot and I feel much more prepared in the event that I would ever have to use any of the skills I learned tonight. We'll hope and pray I don't. I will be happy to show you some of the moves I learned if anyone wants to see! My instructor was a petite lady (prob. 5'2", 115 pounds) who could have EASILY put me on my back in an instant. It's all about being aware of your surroundings, not putting yourself in stupid situations, and playing it safe. Thanks so much Ms. Rose!

My mom, dad, and I ate at Panera today. I am truly going to miss getting the broccoli cheddar soup in a breadbowl. All 600+ calories of it. Then, my mom and I came to my house to get 2 pieces of furniture ready to move. Thanks to Mr. Tino Herrera (not only the middle school youth director, but one of my best friends) and Mr. Trey Pirtle (aka, Pirtle...one of my first kids I got to watch grow up in the youth program) for coming and moving the furniture. :) I'll end with a few pictures of us over the past few years, in preparation for tomorrow's post....it's a Way-Back-Wednesday! Toodles :)

Tino and I, circa 2008. Juners mission trip...eating gorditas at the Soriana!

Pirtle and I...Camden, NJ 2008

Tino and I--Juners 2008

Pirtle and I on the Camden trip on our shopping day in NYC. This picture was taken at the INFAMOUS Times Square TGIFridays. We sat right by a stairwell and watched at least 17 people trip going UP the stairs.

Tino and I, Mexico Spring Break trip...2009

Pirtle and I-Toronto summer mission trip 2009. At Niagara Falls!

Tino and I, choir tour 2010. Pensacoloa, FL. I still owe Tino a post about his trip to Haiti...so look for that in the near future :)

Pirtle and I--Juners 2010

My week of lasts...

This is the week where everything really starts to sink in. The week where I have my last time of everything. While I am sad, I know that it is all getting me ready for what is about to come. Here are a few of the lasts that I am talking about:

1) Today, I had my last dentist appointment for who knows how long. Got a clean check-up though which is good! Let's just hope my Sonicare toothbrush continues to work well in Ukraine and I think I should be in good shape! And PS, if you've thought about getting a Sonicare and haven't for one reason or another...I HIGHLY recommend it. They're amazing.

2) Last night was my last time at youth group. This has been a regular activity of mine for the past 9.5 years...both when I was in high school as an actual youth, and then for the past 6 years as one of the volunteers who helps out on Sunday night activities.

3) Tonight will be the last night at a women's Bible study I have been a part of. While I was gone for many of the meetings (I like to get out of town...what can I say!), I have also learned a heck of a lot from the books we've gone over.

4) Wednesday night will be my last night at FISH (Followers In Service to Him)--the high school leadership team at church. Just like Sunday night youth group, this has been a vital part of my life in Oklahoma.

5) For the past few years, we have had Friday pizza lunch at McFarlin for the high schoolers to come relax and see their friends. Occasionally, we even got up the nerve to cook! That was a rarity though.

So there are a few of the things going through my head this week as everything comes to a head. My to do list seems to be growing every day as I remember one thing or another that needs to be done. And I'm slowly packing up all of my stuff! I think have almost 10 boxes done!

For all of my friends out there who wonder how in the world I'm going to pack all of my stuff on my packing list (keep in mind not EVERYTHING on the packing list will end up going with me...that was simply things I'd like to take)...take a look at Kimberley's blog. She is a fellow Ukraine group 41-er, who posted a blog about the same time as me last night (around 1 am). I died laughing upon watching the video...so go watch it. It's called "Packing like a pro," and I promise it will leave you astonished.

For other group 41-ers (the group of us whose departure day for Ukraine is March 21) who are reading my blog today, my mom and I went to Target last night for nearly 2 hours. I remembered reading in someone's blog (who is already in Ukraine) to hit up the Target One section before I leave. Holy cow am I glad I did. I got ALL SORTS OF FUN STUFF for the kids in Ukraine. They have silly bands...in every shape imaginable. Silly putty. Slinky's (real, metal ones!). And those cool things that every kid loves: a capsule that has a compacted sponge in it that when you place it in water it expands into an object of some kind. All for really cheap obviously, because they're in the One section!

I have had a few people ask me about my wish list today. Since it is almost time for me to leave, I needed to go ahead and order the remaining things on my wish list so that I would receive them in time. If you would still like to help me out with these purchases, a check or cash is probably going to be the easiest thing right now. There are also items that I am waiting to purchase until I get to Ukraine that I could put this money towards. Things like a surge protector, hair-dryer, a fan for the summer, etc.

Over the past few weeks, I have felt incredibly blessed by the sweet gifts that I have received. My Aunt Linda, who not only came and helped out at the garage sale, gave me money for GOOD socks! I know, who gets excited about socks, right? But Smartwool socks might be the best invention ever. Try some if you don't believe me. Thanks, Aunt Linda :)

Two sweet friends from church (who also happen to be dating :) ) surprised me with my United States map, Russian phrasebook...and UNO! Thank you Schlegel and Lyndsay :) They also introduced me to Il Dolce, Norman's only gelato shop. SO. DELICIOUS.

I can't say thank you enough for the kind words that I have received from everyone lately. It would take forever to list everyone...so please know that I am thinking about each one of you!

2 weeks. 14 days. Holy cow.

As I type those words, everything in my mind starts spinning. I've told a few people lately that I have good days and bad days...days where I feel confident that I will get everything done, and days where I feel like NOTHING was accomplished. Accomplished might not be the best word, but I feel like it wasn't as productive as it could be. And that is truly my American mindset kicking in. That is one of the things I am most looking forward to in another country...being able to sit down, let the day happen, and not worry if I'm late to something or don't get everything checked off my to do list. On all of my trips to Mexico, a term was created at some point to explain the laid back, siesta kind of days in the country that I call my second home. It's called "Mexico time." If you say you're leaving the house at 8 am, it will really be 9 am when you finally get out the door (especially if you are a Juner and living with the Chacon family. That's just how things work in a family with 4 women and 1 man! Poor Jorge...). So when we would plan something (an event, a get-together, etc.), we always had to clarify if it was Mexico time or American time. Speaking of Mexico...

This is the first spring break trip in 10 years that I will not be a part of. Although the group is working in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, it is still a spring break trip. And it's the first one for me to miss in my time in Oklahoma. I was placed on one of the teams, not knowing if I would get to go and be a part of the mission trip...but as it turns out, I simply have too much to accomplish before I leave on March 20. There were too many other variables as well...what if I got sick? What if I broke my ankle? What if, what if, what if?! So, on Tuesday night of the past week, I finally said the words that I would not be going. It was INCREDIBLY hard for me to give that up, and anybody who knows me knows that I do not A) miss an opportunity to travel, B) miss an opportunity for a mission trip, and C) miss an opportunity to get to spend time with my kids at church. But I cannot dwell on the fact that I'm not going. My group will do an amazing job on whatever task is placed before them. And I hope that they form so many inside jokes and great memories that their van rides are never silent, but always filled with laughter. I'm going to go ahead and change subjects because I don't want to start crying again...

On a brighter, happier note, I am the EXTREMELY PROUD AND BLESSED OWNER OF A BRAND NEW KINDLE!!!!!!!!!!! I keep pinching myself wondering if I really own one. But I do. I will tell you the story quickly, and then go pass out in my bed.

My mom called Saturday morning around 10 am, telling me that she was kind of worrying about how all of my stuff was going to fit in my old bedroom at my parents house. This was a ploy to get me over to their house. I said I'd come over...how about later that night? Well...I'd really like to get it over with so maybe you could come before the basketball game today? Will do. So, I head across town and we start investigating where my (10 years of) dance costumes can go in my parents closet. While in the closet, the doorbell rings, and my mom and I are completely enveloped, unable to hear it. With my dad yelling at us, the dog going crazy, and a slew of other things happening, I had no clue of any of the commotion at the front door. We walked out a few minutes later with my dad holding an Amazon box for me. I get rather excited and explain that this is my gift from my Interior Design friend, Kristen. She had told me a few days prior that she wanted to order my SLR camera case off my wish list. How sweet! I figured it was about time that it be arriving and I wasn't expecting anything else. As I head to the kitchen to dig in (getting presents in the mail is like Christmas to me. I turn into a little kid, especially knowing it's something PC related!), my mom says to hold on a sec...she wants to record me opening it. Ummm...okay? I explained that I knew what the present was and that she didn't need to capture me opening it. However, she was dead set on doing so. Little did I know, she was actually calling one of my best friends, Mitchell Crow (pay attention to his last name, it will be important in a minute). Now we need to take a side step and get a little background info...

Apparently, for the past month, Mitchell had been facebooking with my mom about wanting to get me a Kindle. My mom, knowing me oh so well, said that she didn't think I would want one. I like REAL books, that I can hold in my hands. She highly discouraged him to find something else to get me as a going away present. And Mitchell was b.u.m.m.e.d. He thought it was SO smart of him and that he knew me (oh so well) that I would really end up using it. All of a sudden, on this past Tuesday, it was made aware to me that a Kindle has wireless internet abroad. DING DING DING. I had never really even looked at getting a Kindle, but if I could check my email without having to be connected to wifi while in Ukraine? Shoot yeah, I'm in. Mitchell called me Tuesday, and I explained to him of everything I had just learned about the Kindle. After he hung up with me, he called my mom and was probably very emphatic when telling her that I now wanted a Kindle. Long story short, Mitchell and my parents had to keep me from purchasing this new toy for the next few days while Mitchell ordered it. This shouldn't have been that hard because I don't make split second decisions, especially on something that costs $200. However, I am now down to crunch time with purchases on the internet before I leave because I refuse to pay overnight shipping. Also important is how many people were involved with this process.

1) When I was in Dallas a few weekends ago, Mitchell had Kevin ask me if I was going to get an e-reader of some kind. I, of course, said no...that I thought it really wasn't for me.

2) I wanted to hold a Kindle in my hand before I bought one. This is when my dad's best friend, Jim, enters the picture. Jim has a Kindle...and lives half a mile from my parents. I knew I would be able to borrow his...but my parents beat me to it. They informed him of what was happening and that he needed to lie and say I couldn't borrow it for a few days. The conversation went a little like this:

"Hi Jim, it's Lydia. I was wondering if I could borrow your Kindle for a little bit and play with it?"

"Oh, sure. That would be fine."

"Okay, great. Can I come get it today?"

"Well, I don't have it right now. I loaned it to somebody."

"Oh! To Janna (his neice)?"

{This is the part where I thought something was right...I caught Jim off guard by asking WHO had his Kindle. Ha :) he wasn't prepared for that question!}

His response was a simple and no-more-questions-please tone: No.

3) Mitchell contacted Jill (another friend who got in on this crazy circle!) and told her that she needed to tell me not to buy a Kindle. That it wasn't worth it. This was moments after she wrote on my facebook status that she had researched all the e-readers out there and that the Kindle was the way to go.

I'm sure there are other instances, but overall, this was quite the endeavor to keep as a secret. Now we can go back to the story...we were at the part where my mom is secretly calling Mitchell. What my mom didn't realize was that on the iPhone, you cannot be ON the phone and take a video at the same time. You can only take snapshots. This was INCREDIBLY frustrating to her and she demanded my phone to video this moment. I literally was thinking, all of this to open a present? I had no clue.

I open the box...and inside is a gift wrapped package with a little note on the outside. It read:

"I hear it gets cold where you're going...Gotta keep your gadgets warm and protected too!!"

I thought, "Oh, how cute and clever!" Just what I needed for my SLR camera. And what do I pull out of the box? A neoprene sleeve for a Kindle. I was so confused by this...thinking that they had to get the boxes mixed up or something. I hadn't realized that there was another package underneath the first. Upon discovering it, I see a note on the outside of it that says:

"Hmmm...So when you're flying as high as a Crow you can have something to read." There's the important last name part I was talking about. At this point I flipped out and knew what was going on...my mom hands me the phone with Mitchell on it (who is at work on a Saturday...) who has been listening to the ENTIRE conversation unfold. You pulled one over on me Mitchy. :) That takes a lot to do! Thank you to the whole Crow family for my wonderful gift and the great story that accompanies it. If only I could tell it in Ukrainian... :) maybe someday!

Oh, and later that day, my handy dandy camera case arrived!! I am so excited to be able to slip my camera in it and not have to lug a giant camera bag. Thank you Kristen :)

Seeing as to how it's past 1 am, I am going to submit this and sign off. I have a full day tomorrow and really for the rest of the week as well. I did NOT proof read this blog, so if there are mistakes you'll have to forgive me. I needed to write though before I went to sleep. Toodles :)

Organizing...

As I'm counting down the days, I realized I needed to do some sorting of stuff to take to Ukraine. Until today, I had been throwing anything I was (considering) taking with me into a large suitcase. Since it was now overflowing (I'm too embarrassed to show you a picture of it) I decided I needed to finally do something about it. I HATE it when things are messy and that has been the state of my room for the past week in preparations for the garage sale. But now, I do not have that excuse.

Thank you Wally & Cathy for my amazing sleeping bag. I am SO excited to use it...so excited in fact that I had to try it out at my parents house yesterday :) and thanks, Pops, for taking the pic!

What's that red thing in a space bag? That would be my SLEEPING bag. I didn't even get all of the air out of it. You're not supposed to leave down sleeping bags compacted, but for the airplane rides it's going to have to be like that! Pretty cool if I do say so myself.

And what is that brown thing in a space bag? My down coat from Mountain Hardwear.

My last gadget of the day is from the wonderful Carruth Fam. It was suggested to take some type of portable speakers for your iPod/iPhone...so I found these on Amazon.

It is literally about the length of my iPhone and is SUPER powerful. I was majorly impressed with how loud I could play music today when I tested it. They also got me some other neat things off my wish list, so thank you Carruth fam! I played with my Swiss Army knife last night (and maybe possibly nicked my finger on one of the blades when I was seeing all of the tools on it lol) and let's just say that it can do just about everything. I think I'm going to need to take the instructions with me just to know how to use all of it's features! Like opening a can!

Thank you to everyone who has helped me with this endeavor so far. I have felt so blessed and loved by everyone's encouraging words. I will leave you with one last question. Please, please respond!

I have never wanted to get a Kindle or anything like that because I like reading real books and having them sit on my shelf. But, I can't take many books with me...if any, other than my Bible. I didn't realize that they made a Kindle that had 3g capabilities...and after talking with a Ukraine PC volunteer (thank you, Monica!) she explained that you can in fact get wireless internet on it in Ukraine. So, for people who have Kindles, what do you like about them? Not like about them? How do you use yours most? Please email me back or leave a comment on here with your thoughts about them! Thank you!

Way-Back-Wednesday #6: 19 Days...WOW!

That seems crazy to me that I am only going to be in Oklahoma for 19 more days. And that 19th day is actually March 20, which is when I leave to go to DC for staging. But that is not the point of today's post. Today is about one of my best friends...who now happens to live in the big D. The one and only, Mitchell Crow. Mitchell has thought for sometime now that he deserved a blog post dedicated to him...and since he just took his first of the CPA exams on Monday, I thought it was an appropriate time for a little dedication :)

The story of how Mitchell and I met is one for the books in my opinion. Jill Sowers had come over to my house one night in January of 2007. It was still Christmas break at OU, so we were debating what to do that night as our break came to an end. She said that there was this guy named Mitchell who was wanting to come over and maybe watch a movie or something. Did I care if he came over? Yes. I had NO clue who he was, and Jill knows I'm very apprehensive to letting some stranger come over. He had lived on the same floor of the dorms as us the year before, but I still had no face to put with a name. I hemmed and hawed, and finally said okay to letting him come over. A short while later, he arrived and rang the doorbell. If my memory serves me correct, I was still a (little) perturbed at Jill for the entire situation, so I probably made her answer the door. And in waltzed Mitchell....if I only had a picture of that exact moment. He's wearing his designer-esque jeans, a button down shirt, and ostrich cowboy boots. And then he opened his mouth...and his great accent came out :) We introduced ourselves...and I couldn't wait any longer to inquire where he was from with an accent like that. After all, I was originally from Alabama and when I moved to Oklahoma got made fun of for my accent ALL THE TIME. I asked...and he says, "Oh, a tiny town in Texas you've probably never heard of." I replied, "Try me, I've been through a LOT of Texas." Mitchell: "It's called Pampa...it's up in the panhandle." I nearly fell out of my chair. My mom was BORN in that tiny town in Texas that you've probably never heard of. We hung out that night and said our goodbyes. A few days later, I was in the drive-thru at Raisin' Canes, and I look in my rearview mirror to see who is behind me...MITCHELL. I quickly called Jill to obtain his phone number and called him as we sat in the drive-thru line together. I'm 100% sure he thought I was a freak. And from that moment on, we've been best friends.

Mitchell and his (super patient) brother Matthew taught me how to water ski on their family boat. It was literally the three of us on the lake for a few hours doing the exact same thing over and over where I would manage to get up on the skis for about 3 seconds and then fall. Mitchell and Matthew on the other hand have been doing this their whole life, as is obvious from the pic of Mitchell above.

OU/Texas 2007: the first of many OU/Texas games together....

OU/SAXET 2007 (the year we had the best seats ever...)

A 21st birthday celebration at the Mont. Sidenote: that was one of my favorite shirts ever, and I managed to part with it for the garage sale!

Mitchell, Lydia, Kevin...oldie!

Another 21st birthday celebration at the Mont.

Lydia, Jill, Mitchell...Mitchy looks like a baby!

wayyyyy old!

Tacky Christmas picture. Look familiar? It's already been on the blog before but it was too good a pic to not repost :)

Snow pic!

OU/Texas 2008-- in the West End the night before the game.

Also, OU/Texas 2008: the year that we were on TV! A few people texted me right after this was on TV saying that they saw us...little did we know that it was during a HORRIBLE play.

My graduation reception where we displayed our Capstone projects for Interior Design. Please look at Jill in the background :)

Team Sparrowhawk :) we went on a camping trip and floated the Illinois River in northeastern Oklahoma. It was a cloudy, cold, and miserable day for floating, but it ended up being a great trip!

The boys surprised the girls with a fun evening outing to the ballpark! We cooked out and watched an OU baseball game on the sidelines. So much fun :)

OU/Texas 2009

OU/Texas 2009--wayyyy high in the stadium!

more recent!

Goodbye party for Jill and Ashley as they move to Boston!

OU/Texas 2010. The time that Mitchell got to be a Frost for a day! He even sat through a dog show at the State Fair of Texas :)

This last thing on the blog is a video of Mitchell at OU/Texas 2009. We were eating dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse the night before the game. This particular location was in the West End and was packed with OU and Texas fans. Many chants and snide comments are bantered back and forth as is typical the night before the game. Mitchell decided that he wanted to lead a chant since he had NEVER done that before. I quickly moved aside to video it. El fin :)

Can't wait to take more pics and form more memories when you come visit me in Ukraine!!!!!! Love you Mitchy :)