Way-Back-Wednesday #20: Happy Birthday, Margie!

I've thoroughly enjoyed staring at my personalized calendar (thanks Tina!) for the whole month of February.   It hosts two of my all time favorite pics...pics that mean something because of the people in them and the memories they symbolize.

February's pics

Amy, Rose, Lydia, Karen, Anna--circa high school graduation in 2005

taken on the last night of choir tour in Prague--circa 2004

There is of course way more to those pictures than I have time to talk about right now.  Let's just say that if you thought I had a lot of pictures of Darren (from this post), you'd be rolling at some of the pics I could come up of those special girls :) another day, another post.  

So, also on the calendar for the month of February was a special day that only comes once every four years: 

 Do you know anyone born on leap day?  

Because I do.  And she's quite the special lady.

Meet Margie.  The most southern and sweet lady who watched me grow up at 15 The Downs from the day I was born to the day we moved to Oklahoma.  

Happy Birthday, Margie :)

Margie lived across the street from us in Tuscaloosa and watched both my brother and I grow up.  She came to every dance recital, children's acting camp performance, Nutcracker show, graduation, and everything in between.  She created the altar flowers for church every Sunday at University Presbyterian Church, usually picked from her own beautiful garden.  My mom, Margie, and I sat together in "our pew" most Sundays (except the ones where I faked being sick to sleep in...).  Margie's driveway was the straightest and flattest driveway in The Downs, which is where my brother and I learned how to ride a bike, rollerblade, skateboard, you name it.  She is known for her desserts--still to this day!  Her pound cake has always been a Frost Family favorite--probably because of the Paula Dean amount of butter it takes.  I wish I had more scanned pics of us growing up with Margie, but they aren't here with me in Ukraine.  Just know that she's a special, special lady :)

How old are you today, Margie?  20 years old? :) 

The.Hunger.Games.

I finished.  I read all three books cover to cover {hmm, digital page to digital page?  That definitely doesn't have a ring to it...}.   If you don't know what the phenomenon of the Hunger Games trilogy is, you can read the wiki page here.  Or, if you're more of a movie trailer person, this gives you a glimpse of what the first book is about.

After finishing this trilogy, I realized that I don't like series to end.  I have a problem actually finishing the last book (this happened when I read Harry Potter too).  On Sunday morning, I woke up and finished reading Catching Fire {book 2} in an hour.  As soon as I finished the second book, I picked up Mockingjay {book 3} and couldn't put it down until I was 50% of the way done {or 3 hours later}.  

Then, I stopped reading it cold turkey. 

I picked the final book up again last night (Monday night) and read until one am when I was 87% done.  One of the meds I took yesterday must have made me not sleepy because I couldn't fall asleep even though I was quite tired.  I feel like most people would have picked up the book and finished it then and there.  But, I didn't want it to end!  Maybe I was scared to know who Katniss would pick in the end.  Whatever my reasoning, I lay in bed, determined to finish the book this morning.

I don't think I've picked up a book in quite some time that had me hooked from the first or second page like Suzanne Collins does with The Hunger Games.  I didn't even know what the trilogy was about, other than it was set in the future.  This genre of books {futuristic} doesn't usually fall in my go-to pile of 'chick lit,' but I kept hearing talk of the books and decided I wanted to see what it was all about.  

Overall, I think my favorite books were the first and last.  However, I'd like to go back and reread the books at a slower pace now that I know how they all end.  Collins knows how to create a page-turner, and I found myself skipping details to read the next paragraph because I knew she would give away important info.  Then, I had to go back and reread the paragraph{s} I skimmed because I wanted to soak it all in.  

I have been wanting to see a movie in the Ukrainian theater, but all movies in Ukraine are shown in Ukrainian...and since I learned Russian, I probably wouldn't be able to understand most of it.  When Harry Potter 7, part 2, came out last summer, I wanted to see it at the theaters here but never got a chance to.  My thought process of seeing a movie in Ukrainian: preferably see an action-packed movie with minimal {important} speaking lines.  Extra bonus if I've read the book.  So, I think The Hunger Games will be perfect.  Just gotta wait now... :)

I feel pretty crappy today.  My head feels so fuzzy and heavy that I may give in to a nap right now.  I did enjoy some Cheez Its from home though for a treat for feeling so lousy.  Glad I can still eat with this bout of sickness :)  Off to zzz land now...night night.

Ski Trip to Slavske {part 5, the final one!}

This is the last post for ski trip entries.  Sad day, I know.  These are random pics that I forgot to post in other entries because they were taken on my small camera and in a different folder on the computer.  

Today's update on the medical front of Lydia: sick with round 3 of this viral infection.  Last night I started having horribly watery eyes (literally, just gushing tears for no reason) and a deep chest cough.  I rested my voice like the doc told me to all weekend (including missing a trip to Kiev and a working group meeting!)...but to no avail, this is all part of the original virus.  When I woke up today, my head felt like it was going to explode.  After taking some migraine medicine and my headache subsiding a little, I thought I could go into work.  I called the PC doc to see if there was anything I could take.  Good ol' Dr. Valeriy informed me of three things I could go purchase at the pharmacy: a pill that will help my chest cough, thera-flu for the other symptoms, and nasal spray.  

"Nasal spray?" I questioned.

"Yes, it will help you be able to breathe through your nose."

I then began laughing uncontrollably.  Poor Dr. Valeriy couldn't begin to understand my fear and loathing of nasal spray that stemmed from my childhood pediatrician wanting me to squirt liquid up my nose. 

After explaining to Dr. Valeriy that I hate nasal spray, he still didn't understand why a 25 year old volunteer couldn't give it a try.  I mean...I couldn't exactly explain to this very smart doctor that I haven't tried using nasal spray since I was probably 6 or 7 years old when my pediatrician wanted me to use it for allergies.  

Since nothing that I could say to this man would make my case any more valid, I assured him that I would consider trying it, all the while still laughing uncontrollably at how absurd I was being. 

But, I did buy it.  And I do have it to hand it to Dr. Valeriy: the man was right.  It did help.  I've been able to breathe out of my nose for 7 hours.  But, I'm definitely not switching to it for the long haul.  Enough about being sick...onto the pics!

Bennett and I on the {loan} chair lift

one of the ski doggies, waiting for a skier to drop a piece of meat on the ground...

tourist trap of having your picture taken with big birds...while you ski?

dance party after dinner...wish this weren't blurry!

Meet Morgan.  She has a pretty awesome wolf hat.  

Michael, about to show us some of his cossack moves

more mad dance moves...

most times when PCVs get together, a dance party oddly ends up happening.

see the wolf hat?

Lydia, Kym, Christina

sweet homegirl Jeramie 

Michael, and the wolf.

El Fin!

It's meltingggggggg....

The snow that is.  Although in my head, I heard the the title of the blog more like how the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz would say it.  In fact, I even looked up the video for it just to give myself a good laugh.  

But really, the snow is melting...at an alarmlingly fast pace I might add.  This means that the water has nowhere to go, except to make larger and larger puddles lakes.  The view from my kitchen window went from this....

to this...in a a few days!

and from this...

to this!

 But, with the warmer weather (it's 36 degrees Fahrenheit right now), you know what that means?  

My old men playing dominos are back!

And just because it was meowing very loudly at me as I opened my kitchen window to take pics, one of my {obnoxious} neighborhood cats who thinks I might feed it.

Sorry kitty, not today.  

In other news, I've finished book 2 of the Hunger Games trilogy and am just over 50% done with book 3.  Holy cow, those books are something else.  I don't remember the last time I was that hooked on a book by page TWO.  Shall I finish book 3 today?  I think I've read for 4 or 5 hours today...but I really don't want to go out in the splash zone outside.  Happy Sunday :)

Valentine's Day kiddos

Excuse the past few days of skipped blogging.  I ended up having another round of sickness...though this one is hopefully almost over.  Tuesday, I taught all of my clubs like normal...and since I was sick two weeks ago for Valentine's Day, we celebrated Valentine's Day a week late!  I made a Valentine's Day powerpoint with random pics collected from searching google about things we do in the US for Valentine's Day.  Thanks to my parents and the Louy Fam, my kiddos had authentic Valentine's Day cards AND conversation hearts.  Words cannot explain how much my 3rd formers LOVED this candy.

Liza and Nastia

Margaret, Nastia, and Diana

Nikita and Andrei

Ivan and Yaroslav

The kids only ate a few of the hearts in class and I was confused when I asked them what they were doing with the rest of the candy?

"Taking it home to our families!"

I couldn't believe these kids were willing to share this candy with their brothers, sisters, and parents.  Definitely underestimated them :)

On Tuesday, I went home exhausted from teaching, but ready for the rest of my clubs on Wednesday.  However, no kids ending up coming to English clubs on Wednesday, which was good for me because that was when I started going downhill fast.  My throat hurt, my voice was giving me problems, and I felt nauseous alllll over again like before.  I went home Wednesday evening and fell asleep around 9 or 10 pm (way early for this night owl!).  I was supposed to play some English games with kids on Thursday morning at a school here in K-grad, but I called the teacher and informed her I had no voice to instruct games.  I slept all day Thursday.  Barely ate anything.  Friday was a bit better, but I called the PC doc just to update them on my illness, that is all still part of this viral infection.

I can speak pretty normally today, but am still trying to rest my vocal chords...doc's orders!  I managed to get all of my dirty laundry done today and have spent most of the day reading The Hunger Games book 2: Catching Fire.

Two of my sweet sitemates, Dan and Vicki, brought me homemade chicken noodle soup (that I'm saving to eat tomorrow!) and homemade cornbread (which I ate over half of today...).  Vicki asked the question, what have I been doing for 2 weeks of basically being in my apartment?  The answer: read and watch tv shows online.  I am now up to date on Glee, Modern Family, and the New Girl.  And, I'm on the second season of Desperate Housewives.  You could say I've had a little time on my hands.  :)

The weather has finally warmed up here...which means that all of the snow/ice is becoming giant {monstrous} puddles.  You know what that means...this girl will get to break out the pink rain boots soon! Unless it drops below freezing again...

I gave myself an hour-long manicure today.  I've never actually used all of the tools that came in my mani/pedi kit my sister-in-law got me...but I put them all to use today :)  and then used some of my LUSH cuticle cream that Kym got me for my birthday.  My hands felt like a million bucks!

Off to read more now.  Toodles :) and a shout-out to all of my McFarlin kiddos on the team-leader retreat!  Wish I were there with y'all :)

Ski Trip to Slavske {part 4}

Get ready for a photo overload.  There are simply too many good shots from the mountain to not post them all! And I could have split this up into two posts, but I know Dan is about to bust at the seams looking for a few key pics :)  you'll find them later on in this post.  

So, day 2 and 3 of skiing in Slavske.  Day 2 was primarily getting a lay of the mountain.  Day 3 was pure and utter enjoyment of the mountain.  On these days, we skied on Zahar Berkoot, which is a more advanced mountain than day 1's skiing adventures.  

The dotted line down the middle of the picture is the (only) chair lift.  The ride lasts THIRTY minutes.

On this mountain, you'll find one very {very} long chair lift and 3 t-bar lifts.  You can also hop on the chair lift from halfway up the mountain, which we did a few times.  A full-day lift ticket set you back 180 UAH (a little over $20 USD) while a half-day lift ticket cost 100 UAH (around $12 USD).  On day 2 we skied a half-day, while day 3, Dan and I skied the whole {absolutely perfect} day.

taken from the ski lodge at the bottom.  The run on the right side of the picture originates at the top of the mountain!

On the ski lift...the horizon point in the background is deceiving...you've still got another 10-15 minutes of riding once you pass that point!

Just past the horizon point from the pic before.  That's a t-bar lift in the far side of the pic...

and another t-bar lift on the right side of the mountain (if you click on the pic, you can see people riding the t-bar lift)

from the top!  

Kym, Lydia, Dan

so much fresh snow!

Dan ready to shoop down the mountain...

Lydia, ready to hit the slopes :)

Gotta save the best for last, right?  Dan did this shot entirely on his own.  I simply asked him to be a guinea pig so I could get the settings right on the camera.  The pose....all him :)  

Ukrainian Dan