I knew the day would come...

It's 4:34 pm and absolutely pitch black.  In fact, it's been dark outside for at least 30ish minutes.  Maybe it's the fact that I'm tired right now, or maybe it's the fact that I sat through a two hour Ukrainian play today, or maybe since it's dark outside, all that I want to do is go to bed.  At 4:35 pm?  Stay strong Lydia. Winter has only just begun...

You see, I've never experienced the whole "getting dark at 4 pm" phenomenon.  I've heard stories about it and the tricks it plays on your mind, but today was the first day that it really sunk in.  On my way towards the center of town this morning, I passed the small field where traveling circus' set up shop for a week or two when they grace K-grad with their presence.  The frost on the trees and grass was so thick and glisten-y that it looked fake.  As I made my way to meet Lyuda (more about her in a sec), I had to watch out for little patches of ice here and there.  It rained all day on Tuesday...or Wednesday.  I forget.  Nonetheless, the puddles are still evident and now like mini ice-skating rinks.  So what was I doing heading towards the center of town this morning?

I was invited by Lyuda to go to an opera here in K-grad...or so I thought.  Lyuda went on the trip to Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany with my work during fall break.  She works at the school here in K-grad that we would probably call a votek school in the states.  She teaches hair and nails at the school and comes to my beginner English club.  After our club on Tuesday night, she brought her traveling manicure box with her and gave me a lovely mani for this weekend! I even got bling on my fingers for the very first time ever.  Only on my ring fingers though...is that to symbolize something?

Hard to see I know, but the nails are a light bronze-y color with white glitter flowers.  It's always fun to get your nails done...but my nails weren't long enough for a French manicure this week.  Maybe next week.

So on Tuesday night as Lyuda and I walked to the marshrutka stop post manicure, she invited me to go to the opera on Thursday at noon here in K-grad.  She told me where to meet her, and we said see you Thursday.  She warned me that the opera would be in Ukrainian...to which I assured her that I would just enjoy seeing it.  Even if it were in Russian, I doubt I'd be able to understand that much!  

That leads me to this morning.  I headed to meet her at 11 am and in the meantime had found out that Phil could come too.  Tickets were 15 grievna (about $2.00 USD) and I knew that he enjoyed doing theater stuff like that.  We walked to the theater with about 150 girls from Lyuda's special cosmetology school and were immediately greeted by the director of the theater, who let us in free of charge.  We also got bombarded with 5 different programs/calendars of different kinds...none of which I can read.  It was the thought that counts though :)  

As the orchestra got ready in the pit, I wondered what we were about to watch.  The curtain rose and lo and behold this was more of a musical than an opera.  There was acting, dancing, and opera-style singing.  Turns out I misunderstood Lyuda...instead of her saying "opera" she said "operatta"...whatever that translates to :)  We were able to follow along for the most part.  A very mixed up love story with multiple characters involved.  I could understand some parts of the Ukrainian, but definitely none of the singing.  And 150 high school age students sat and watched this with us...without being on their cell phones.  That was one of the most amazing parts to Phil and I.  

Don't worry, we got a picture with a few of the characters after the show.  Have to wait to get the picture from Lyuda though.  Maybe next week :)  

And, in case you thought I'd forgotten, today's Christmas clip comes from one of the funniest Christmas movies:  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Although there are lots of clips from the video I could show, I chose this one because I had to explain what the word "pledge" meant the other day in an English club.  Maybe I'll do a patriotism lesson in my English clubs one day!  Have to remember that sometime when I'm searching madly for a lesson!  I have to run to the train station now to buy a train ticket for Maria who's coming to visit this weekend.  Fa la la la la...toodles :)