Surprise! Look who came to visit...

That's right, folks!  Mom and Pops graced Ukraine with their wonderful presence.  It was fabulous. Simply fab.

Their trip started off in Germany visiting some friends from our Alabama days.  Those friends now live in the picturesque, mountain town of Garmisch, Germany.

one of the views from their house...not too shabby, eh?

Soooo pretty.

After a few days in Germany, they came  to Ukraine and we were reunited for the first time in just over a year :) I ended up surprising them at the airport, which was a welcomed surprise because they didn't have any grieven {Ukrainian currency} yet and would need some to pay for a taxi.  I am still recovering from pneumonia and maybe mono as well {a whole 'nother story in and of itself}, so most of their trip, I sat around a lot of the time and let them do the exploring.  My energy levels are nowhere near where they used to be, but I'll talk about illnesses in a different post.  I'll let the pictures do the talking today.

One of the entire reasons for them coming--Ukrainian pysanka eggs {click here if you don't know what they are}.  Mom was in heaven when she saw this giant one in K-grad.

Visit to the host fam's home in Oster. 

Mom, Pops, Andrei, Gala, and Christy

Pops was most shocked at the amount of dishes I wash by hand on a daily basis. 

Mom got to go in the root cellar at the host fam's house.  I was never allowed to go down there because it was too cold...guess that rule doesn't apply to moms? :)

Pops was most excited to go to the post office in Oster and mail post cards.  I was less than thrilled on that dreary, cold day.

We didn't take much luggage to Oster.  Important things that were left behind when we needed them: gloves.  Mom and I shared a pair of mittens while walking around Oster on the coldest day of the trip.

One-mittened Lydia, outside of the gymnasia school where I taught during training.

dinner in K-grad with some of my fellow k-gradders.  

Angie, her mom Dorothy {who also happened to be in town for Easter!}, Mom, Lydia, Vicki, Dan, Pops, and Phil

this picture deserves a post in and of itself.  Photo credit goes to mom. See if you can find something that doesn't belong...

doing pysanky eggs at my office

obligatory pic with the map in my office, and counterpart, Olena

the kittens were born while my parents were here too.  

SO SO SO cute.

Easter meal at Olena's

"The Frost's Take Ukraine"--could be a book.

Pops needed a pic of me with my OU wall art.  

This is what I did most of the trip.  Rest.  

on their last night of the trip, Mom trimmed my hair...this was the first time I've had it cut {other than me chopping off my bangs} in over a year.  

good job, Mom!

Obviously, there's lots more to elaborate on, but this gives you a good overview of their stay :)  they arrived back in Oklahoma last night safe and sound.  Gotta get to work now...toodles!

One last thing...we got to watch some of the kids from my work practice in their dance class.  They are amazing.

Reason #831 I love my host fam's house

There's nothing like arriving home after being gone for a while.

Random Frost Family tradition: after a long trip, we return home to a Snoopy beach towel {that is probably 25+ years old, which is as old as I am btw, weird.} hung up in the bathroom.  The towel has something along the lines of, "Happiness is a warm blanket" written on one side, and my family is going to have to help me out with what's written on the other side! Totally blanked on it now.

Anywho, the home that I was talking about is my host family's home in Oster.  When I get off the bus and walk the 15 minutes down hill to their house, I know I'm home again.  The dog greets me at the gate.  The cats dart in and out of the open door.  Food is offered before I even have time to take off my jacket.  It's feels so good to go there and be home.

And then, there's my bed.  A queen-size bed that I can roll ALL over and still not use all of the available room.  It's glorious.  That's all.

I got to visit one of my old teacher's Lyuda.  She's a TCF (culture/technical teacher) for Peace Corps trainees.  It was fun to get to chat with her and catch up on life. I also got to meet the new group of volunteers that are living in Oster.  I can remember how excited we were the first time a real PC volunteer came to visit us during training.  The questions we bombarded them with were probably ridiculous. 

I got to say hi to a few of the babushkas who live in the apartment building across the street from my house.  They complimented my Russian {nice ego boost} and asked where all of my cluster mates live now.  Even though it was pouring rain when we stood outside talking, they still had to catch up on all of their gossip.  Babushkas in Ukraine are about as gossipy as a group of middle school girls.  

Can't wait to go back and visit my host fam's house again soon.  Christy {one of my host sisters} showed me how to make a bead bracelet I've been dying to learn how to make.  Super excited to buy more beads and start making them.  

It snowed/sleeted/rained/hailed in Oster today.  Nice April Fool's joke, eh?  Not so much.  

I splurged and had Domino's pizza today in Kiev.  Super yummy margarita pizza.  If only I could get some Papa John's garlic sauce or Kraft Ranch Dressing.  :) 

My energy level is still lacking after the pneumonia.  Walking for 10-15 minutes has been tiring me out. I feel so old having to sit for a while and recuperate after something as simple as going to the store.  

Gotta get going now :) much love. 

Unfettered.

--to set free or keep from restrictions or bonds.

There are a few words in Russian that have special memories that go with them.  I can think of three right off the top of my head right now.  As I was reading Marley and Me last night in bed, I came across one of these words {in English}: unfettered.

I'll be honest.  Up until a month ago, I didn't even know what this word meant in English.  BUT, at Russian language camp (you can refresh your memory here), I learned this word...both in English and Russian.  You see, when we arrived at Russian language camp, we were broken up into groups of 4-5 people.  Our group was assigned a Ukrainian teacher and we were then given our group name.  Our group name was "Вольны как ветер" (volʹny kak veter), which translated to "unfettered like the wind."  There were a total of 12 groups at Russian language camp, each with a different group name we were supposed to learn.  The next meeting, we had to present a small skit to help everyone remember our group name.

What did our group come up with?  Here was our skit:

person 1:  "Что это?"--Shto eta?--What's that?
person 2:  "Ето птица!"--Eta pa-tit-sa!--It's a bird!
person 3:  "Ето самолет!"--Eta sam-mo-lay-ot!--It's a plane!
person 4:  "Нет!  Ето SUPERMAN!"--Nee-et! Eta SUPERMAN!--No! It's SUPERMAN!
all persons: "Он вольны как ветер!"--Ohn vol-nee kak vay-ter!--He's unfettered like the wind!

It was cheesy, but it worked.  And I will never forget what unfettered means :)

The other two words that I will forever relate to memories in Ukraine come with more of a story.  One of our first weeks of pre-service training (the first three months I was in Ukraine), our Russian teacher Zhenya showed us a popular Russian cartoon: Masha and the bear (Маша и медведь--Masha ee mee-yed-ved).  This was probably the second week of class when we barely knew how to say hello and goodbye in Russian.  The cartoon doesn't use too many words though, and she told us to listen for one word as we watched the first episode: ещё (pron: yay-show).  If you want to watch the video, it's below (hint: you can skip to 4 minutes and still figure out what the word means!)

ещё--more!

It's a cute video.  And that word forever stuck with me...and is used quite often in my every day life.  

The other word that strikes up a funny memory in Ukraine?  The word for rain--ДОЖДЬ--dohsh-d.  This funny story also happened during training, probably around the middle of our time spent in Oster.  One of my clustermates, Jamie, and myself were wandering downtown in Oster.  At the central park, we happened to run into a family we knew in the community.  As we stood there smiling and pretending like we understood everything the family was rambling away at us (when we honestly had no clue what they were saying), it started to rain.  We had just learned some of the weather vocabulary and were excited to put it to use.  The family had a little boy with them and as we stood there awkwardly not understanding a word the parents were saying, the small boy (2 or 3 years old) said, "Дождь!" in the most perfectly clear and articulated manner. I think that was the only thing Jamie and I understood in the 5 minutes we stood there "talking" with the family.

Sometimes, you just have to smile and nod.

Better late than never :)

I am home safe and sound after a long hiatus of marshrutka rides, metro rides, bus rides, long and incredibly cold walks in the snow/ice, a visit to my wonderful host family, and most importantly, Russian language refresher!  I arrived home last night and made myself my first bowl of easy mac :)

 

It was phenomenal (thanks Hayley and 'rents!).  It tasted just like home.  

I went to work today and got our summer plans started for numerous summer camps and Europe trips and English clubs. However, today, the subject of the post is on a small victory I obtained:

I finally have a new PO box lock!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has only taken a month for them to find and install a new lock.  The good news?  The key works and I didn't have to pay for it! The bad news?  They only gave me one copy.  I'll be going to get a copy made very soon :)

Waiting for me in my PO box was a package slip (for a package from my bro and sis-in-law!), a letter from my Pops (complete with Zits cartoons and a $5 bill that I plan on showing students tomorrow), and a large squishy envelope from an address I didn't know.  I would normally not be able to contain myself from ripping into all of the packages, but since I had two other things to open, I managed to save my brother and sis' Christmas/birthday package to be opened on a skype date late tonight or tomorrow.

Upon getting home with my loot, I remembered that sweet Lyndsay had told me to be on the lookout for something in the mail.  The mail is still WAY backed up over here and I wondered how long it would take for it to get here.  This is Miss Lyndsay Jain, who in my phone is also known as Tarzan from a summer camp we did together in Toronto :)  Get it?  "Me Tarzan, you Jane."    

 Lynds and I on Senior Recognition Sunday (2010)

Also taking part in the package sending was Lyndsay's sweet boyfriend Matt Schlegel (or Schlegel as I have always called him!).  I have known Schlegel for a long, long time...like maybe since 2005?  I was trying to think back and remember the first time we met and I honestly couldn't remember.  Pretty sure the first trip we traveled on together was Choir Tour 2006 to Washington D.C.

3-d movie...Matt's in the blue striped shirt.

Ever since that trip, I have been all over the United States and Mexico and Canada with him...and Lyndsay accompanied us on a lot of those trips the past few years!

"The date train's a comin', the date train's a comin'..."--Juners 2008

caught in a bit of downpour in Glacier National Park (in Canada!)

at the double Quincieniera in Mexico (with Chris!)

surprise going away party, when I was about to leave for Ukraine...

Anywho, you see how much these two mean to me.  I could continue on, but let's just say that they are two of the sweetest and most genuine people I know.  They both have a love for life that is simply contagious and makes you always want to look on the positive side of things.  So, as I opened up my package, this is what I found...

I instantly recognized their own separate handwritings and was so excited to read their sweet HANDWRITTEN notes inside :)  And boy do they know me well...pics from home and Reese's Pieces?  

Inside the large red envelope (which was the last thing I opened) was one of the sweetest surprises ever:   

a Christmas card signed from a lot of my kiddos and friends at church :)

it made me laugh out loud and smile from ear-to-ear as I read each and every note on it.

Thank you LJ and Schlegel for going to all of the trouble of getting everyone to sign it.  And thank you to everyone who signed the card!  It absolutely made my day!  And let's just say that the Reese's were an added bonus :)

Way-Back-Wednesday #17: Happy Birthday, Kym!

Today's Way-Back-Wednesday post doesn't go too far back because every picture available for today's post only comes from my time in Ukraine!  However, there are definitely some good pictures and stories to tell with the photo montage.

Meet Kym. 

also known as Kira, Ken, Kim, and a slew of other names. My fave: Kymmy Gibbler.

Kym Starno, one of my bestest friends in the PC, was in the training village next to mine.  I will never forget the first time my cluster group met her cluster group.  We had probably been in country a week and a half.  The Kozelets group (Kym's cluster) was coming to our village that day for a lesson.  As we sat in our teacher's apartment with the windows open, we heard a very strange noise slowly getting louder and louder.  Turns out the noise was coming from four incredibly loud and boisterous girls and their lone guy of the group, Matt.

The Kozelets group: Kym, Anne, Mary-Kathryn, Matt, and Maria in the front

I thought I wrote a blog entry about "how sweet the Kozelets group was" but I couldn't find it just now.  If I did in fact write one of those entries, at the time I was probably lying.  The first session that we were all together I didn't say one word the entire hour.  They were so overwhelming and so completely polar opposite my training cluster.  I can remember letting out my breath after they left that day wondering what the next few months would be like.  If someone had told me then that some of the Koz. group members would be some of my sweetest and closest friends, I would have laughed in their face.  But, I'm lucky to call them friends now :)  They are quite the bunch, that's for sure.

Back to Kym's birthday photo montage.  I have more awkward and embarrassing pictures of Kym and myself from ALL over Ukraine and Eastern Europe too.  I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  

First time in the Black Sea together--Odessa, summer 2011

Alien night at Camp Bereg, summer 2011

Kym, Lydia, Theo

Second time in the Black Sea together--Camp Bereg in Sergiivka, summer 2011

PEPFAR (HIV/AIDS) training w/some of our clustermates, September 2011

Kym, Jamie, Lydia, Mark, Maria

Sight-seeing in Kamyanets Podilsky, September 2011

EuroTrip with my work, Dresden, October 2011

Hello Kitty earmuffs.  Eurotrip, October 2011

Squash in Kym's apartment hallway, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!  There is so much that I love about this picture.  Words can't even explain it...Kym, Lydia, Matt, Mary-Kathryn

doing my "special" make-up on my birthday, December 2011

My New Years work party, December 2011

Olena, Lydia, Kym, Mary-Kathryn

Happy New Years!!! Celebrating in Kiev...2011/2012!

Matt, Kym, Lydia

Words can't describe the relationship I have with Kym.  She is the best travel buddy ever (she brings half the toiletries, and I bring the other half!), she has the most gung-ho attitude where nothing is impossible, and she can literally make me laugh uncontrollably just by being herself.  I feel like I've known her my entire life.  You are a blessing in my life and I hope you've had a happy, happy birthday :) love you Kymmy Gibbler!

a pretty cool website...

A PCV posted on facebook about this very cool website where you can enter ingredients that you have in your kitchen...and it will tell you a bajillion different recipes you can make with them!  Somebody was thinking when they designed this free website.

http://www.supercook.com/

You create a username and password and start clicking away at the different ingredients you have in your kitchen.  I should not have started this project at 9:36 pm when I'm already done cooking for the day.

Today was a good day in that I feel like the HIV/AIDS project we're working on at my work has finally become plausible.  Grant writing is an incredibly tricky business of which I have NO experience (in fact, the entire grant writing process terrifies me in general).  But, HIV/AIDS education is incredibly needed in Ukraine which has one of the fastest growing percentages of HIV positive people in Europe (I think I quoted that statistic correctly...).  Up until today, the project had been a nagging fly constantly buzzing in my ear that I couldn't manage to grab ahold of.  BUT, today, someone up above was looking out for me and finally gave me that "aha!" moment where things finally started falling into place.  I have a grant coach (a fellow PCV in Ukraine) who has helped me the past week really get some things in order for the grant.  I could not have done it without her (thank you, Stephanie!).  Keep your fingers crossed that the rest of it keeps falling in place...

I skipped the gym today.  Bad Lydia.  But, I did go twice over the weekend.  And, I walked a heck of a lot today with Dan and Vicki to buy our train tickets for the ski trip.  It was snowing most of our walk...which made me that much more excited to ski!

Today's word of the day is something I need a translation for.  I kind of understand what it means, but I'm hoping my dad or one of my Russian teachers will give me the actual translation for it.  Ukrainians say it ALL the time.  Olena defined it as "it's all okay."

договорились
pronounced: do-gah-va-ree-lees

Google translate says it means "agreed."  That makes sense...because most Ukrainians say it at the end of a conversation.  In my head, I pictured it meaning something along the lines, "until we talk next time" because the root of the word (говорить) can be seen.  So, what do you think Pops and Maria?  


I'm gearing up for next week when I get to go to Russian Language Refresher which is supposed to be a fun and useful PCV experience.  Twice a year, the PC in Ukraine hosts Russian and Ukrainian Language Refreshers where PCVs get together with some PC staff to have a week of Russian/Ukrainian classes again.  I am really, really hoping that it will give me the boost of energy I need to get a tutor. Ukrainian Language Refresher is going on this week in the Rivne oblast (way northwest).  My Russian Language Refresher will be held in Chernigov (north-central).  AND, double bonus...I will get to see my host family for the first time since training!  They live about an hour and a half away from Chernigov and I'll stay with them on Friday night after training.  I am so so so excited to see them and see Oster...hopefully covered in snow!  More about Language Refresher later.  Toodles :)

Happy New Year, Ukraine Style!

I can't believe that Christmas, my birthday, and New Years have all come and gone in a week. It was a whirlwind of days with so many different celebrations I had trouble keeping my memory cards empty to document things!! That's a good thing though in my books.  I just got home from Kiev today in the late afternoon after staying up late and welcoming in 2012 with about 15 Peace Corps Volunteers...in addition to all of Kiev. 

The New Years tree in Kiev...they don't have Christmas trees in Ukraine.  I believe they call a New Years tree a "yolka."

Kym!

In true Ukrainian style, Kym and I rocked bright tights for NY2012.  I went with teal, while Kym went with purple. 

Cluster/link-cluster love.  Lydia, Kym, Matt, and Mary-Kathryn.  During this photo session, there was not one picture (on my camera at least) where we were all looking at the camera.  Typical Oster/Kozelets group pic.

I took a marshrutka into Kiev early Saturday morning, only to have my ceremonious McDonald's fries upon arrival :)  After some time at the PC office (where I snagged a full bottle of free hair spray in the volunteers room where people can put things they don't want/need anymore), the big group of us headed to our respective hostels/apartment to get ready for the evenings activities.  A late lunch was found in a cafe with a few brews to match.  I had a lovely veggie sandwich with feta spread, tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers.  After hanging out for a while, we decided it was time to get going.

Kym, Matt, Simon, Lydia, and Chris in the front

I went to Kym's hostel with her to curl her hair in prep for the fun evening ahead of us.  Then it was off to the apartment I was staying at with other PCVs where one of them was preparing a lovely feast of eggplant parmesan with spaghetti.  It was to die for and makes my mouth water now thinking about fixing it again soon!

I am almost a full head taller than Kym.  Especially in heels...

I could not have asked for a better or more memorable New Years celebration.  We headed to the center where they had a giant stage set up for performers and a huge fireworks display.  I have video of the fireworks show, which rivaled Disney's nightly fireworks display, and was definitely one for the books.

Matt, Kym, Lydia

Can't believe how quickly 2011 came and went...with 9 months of it spent in Ukraine!  I will hopefully be updating the blog a lot the next week, trying to play catch-up from things that I have yet to blog about that were 3 or 4 months ago...whoops :(  I am in the process of transferring all of my older pics on my laptop to two external hard-drives (to be double backed up! so OCD, I know) at the moment.  I finished A-D tonight, which included over 5000 pics.  Some are from 5 years ago, which make me very excited to have some fresh material to blog about for Way-Back-Wednesday posts.

Here's to the next year of my life in Ukraine.  Happy New Year America and с Новым годом Украина! I have much to be thankful for now and for the past year.  Can't wait to see what the next year holds :)