the haps...

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I should be asleep....

because it is almost two a.m. in America. I have been home almost a month and it has been stressful, yet magical. I have been able to step back, destress and just breathe again. I go back to Ukraine on August 12th. It will be bitter sweet. I so miss my friends there but it feels amazing to be back again with the family and friends here. I have a whole new group of teachers to meet and I will miss the ones from the past two semesters but it is a new chapter, with twists, turns and craziness and for that, I am thankful and excited.

home james....

I am back in Idaho as of last Sunday. It was very emotional leaving and very difficult. Yura is in a good place and I am so proud of him for all of the changes he has made and for how far he has come. We had a barbecue the last night I was in town with all of the teachers and students and it was fitting. I miss everyone alot but am having fun here. I am back in Boise currently and got the nails done yesterday and am getting tattooed and a new haircut today. It has been so much fun seeing friends and family and everyone has changed so much in almost five months. On a final, specifically pray for my friends Ashley and J.C. as they have thier court date for Grisha today...www.fumia.blogspot.com P.S. back in Ukraine August 12th...see you all soon. :)

the end of a trek....

It has been over five months and I cannot believe it has really gone that fast. I am leaving next Sunday and it has yet again, been a growth period here but in the same breath, amazing. It will be strange to be back in America and Idaho. It is always hard to say good bye and I will miss the boy terribly and all of my friends here. I have learned some hard lessons and had some amazing moments that are written across my heart forever. This last week is a little crazy and I cannot believe that in one week, I will not be waking up to someone remonting, someone yelling in russian outside my window and cold showers...shashlevo...

answers in Norway

I had to get out of Ukraine for a little while. We have a week long break and being there was starting to wear on me. I threw this trip together within a matter of days and it has been the best thing. I was ready for more adventures and time away. I flew in to Torp last Friday waited two hours for a little train to the next town where my hotel was. I got there and wandered around and had one of the best burgers that I have ever had from a pakistani resteraunt. I found my hotel and fell asleep. Woke up and found my ten hour train to stavanger. The countryside is so amazing here and I am so glad that I came. I finally got off the train and met my dad's cousin and his family. My sisters and I are almost all norweigan and it has become increasingly important for me to know about where I came from. There is something magical when that happens. As it turns out, we think my father has a half brother here that we have never met. The pictures of him look so much like my dad and the details fit. I sat down and spent a good hour talking to my grandmother's only living sister and got details. I had a thousand questions. It filled in a lot of gaps and the details helped to explain some things. I am going back there today to talk with her while my second cousin's family is at work and school. We went out fishing on the North Sea yesterday and took Siri, their youngest child with us. It was so awesome to be on the water. It is hard though, because there are three little girls here that are so amazing sweet but they do not speak any english and only norweigan...and guess who does not speak any....yep me. Anyway, stay tuned for details and photos.....

with a melted heart....

I write this. It has been a really interesting week. We have one more week of classes and then a week long break. I so need it. I was going to travel but I found out that as long as I am under the six month mark, I can get in and out of the country without a problem. I will be going home in June for a while (maybe a semester as student levels dramatically drop in the summer) and will return mid-summer. I tried to call the number for oxana to go and see my kids and it is not the right number. I have searched on youtube and google for some sort of lead as the where the center is. I have seen my kids in those videos being interviewed. It feels a little like part of me is missing. I really need to take the morning and go to the last location where they were (the were in the process of moving last sept.) and start asking questions. The metro stop is about an hour away and then there is the walk to the building...but it will be worth it. In other news, we did shots last friday with the doctor and they seemed to help. I stopped counting after the first one (which was lidocaine to numb the area). We did them at the base of the spine in my back and it does feel better. We are going to hit the front this Friday and hopefully....On a final, I spent the night with the boy on Sunday. We are learning to care about each other and bare our souls to each other. It is work every day because of the language barrier but it is so worth it to me. We stayed up late watching a movie in Russian and sitting next to each other on the couch. It was sweet. He was so honest and I so love him for that. It hasn't gotten physical (more than a brief kiss or an arm around me) and it probably won't for a while by our choice. He was falling asleep, so I sent him to his bed and I slept on the devan in his front room. This is so hard to explain....I feel like I am really getting to know him on such a deep level and that we have something to build on. The physicality will come later. Every day, I love him a little more. He worries that I will judge him for his past but I always tell him...we all have a past and it is what makes us who we are. Also, without our pasts, our paths probably never would have crossed and I am so thankful every day that they did. I so love this boy....:)

I suppose.......

that I should write. It has been a crazy week. We had mid-terms and I am just thrilled that they are over. We have another month and then I will have another week off. I am excited. The sun showed itsself two days ago but today it is pouring rain. I went to get pizza with my friend Julia and then we went and got all of my other little errands done. She is wonderful. :) I met up with Yura a Friday night and we talked for a long time about us. I am really in love and I feel like I have met my match. We match each other on intellect and the chemistry is definitely there. He asked some hard questions though like would I leave him and go back to America? It proved to me that he had thought about us. I understood everything that he said in Russian and I really just need to get busy reviewing russian. I went to two out of four lessons. The Ukranian roots are still there so I have a good foundation. On a final, I spoke to the doctor and the shots that he has prescribed me to give myself are a medicine that I have allready taken in America that did not work. I e-mailed him my x-rays and he has not responded. I have been researching bone graft sites and healing time and have not found much that is helpful. I am still praying about that one. Pictures soon as I am buying my new camera tonight...and I promise to update more...

boogers...I mean burglers....

I post about all of the silly things that my esl students say and tonight was no exception. We were studying the repetition drill where they must memorize a sentence to correspond with the picture. One of my students had a picture that said "I grabbed a vase and struck the burgler on the head" but he said booger instead. I started to laugh and told them why. When you are in situations like that....you have to explain. There is no such thing as a poker face. I love my students. I have had a lot of fun so far and we are almost to the half way point. In other news, I went and saw our doctor that American English Center uses for my hip. He was a funny little man. I showed him the norco bottle and the lidocane patches and he said that he had to look the drug up. He looked it up and said okay...I know what it is. He prescribed an over the counter with a codene base and then told me to call him in a week. He told me that the hip/harvest site was inflamed and it could have an infection. He told me to take my temperature tonight and then he told me to take the pills. Infection? After all of the antibiotics that I was on for so long just two years ago? He said that if that did not work, that he would like to try steroid shots with a little lidocaine. Okay...whatever works. Prayers that it will get better on its own...:) The language is coming along but I learned Ukrainian and my language is too good for the beginning class and sketchy for the advanced since russian and ukranian are a little different. Technically I feel like I fall somewhere in the middle. I learn fast though so maybe I will go to all four lessons each week and brush up on vocab in one and sentence structure at the other one. Alot of people here have given up studying the language but I really feel like I need to be studying to be happy here and communicate with my friends. On a final, the move went well and I had some great friends who helped and then hung out for the night. I have some amazing Ukranian friends here. I am getting settled. The landlord is coming tomorrow so that we can get things fixed around here for ex. the lock to the front door and the shower. I have a list of stuff to buy that we need for the house on Friday (my day off). This week is packed. I also have a meeting with Yura on Friday. He is doing better but I still continue to pray for him. I so love that boy. Stay tuned....

many........

of my friends from America have written and said they were worried about me. I am okay. It does take a thick skin to live here in the beginning. I am learning to make routines and am finding out what I need to be happy and who I want to be. Life will forever remain a journey and you have your good days and bad days where ever you may be. I got back from Pryluky yesterday and taught for eight hours after a three hour marshrootka ride. I was so exhausted and then Yura wanted to meet. I ended up falling asleep, not meeting with him and slept most of today. I have to go teach tonight and I think that meetings with friends will be reserved for days off. On the flip side, Pryluky was amazing...but cramming so much into two days was exhausting. It was really good to see everyone and catch up and as it turns out, I have a bit of a fan club there with the men who play volleyball with Sveta (my friend). :)

rolling forward......

I am thoroughly amazed at how quickly time is going here. I am waiting for February to be over soon. The weather is a rough thing to deal with but it is teaching me patience. It has been a crazy week. I had had to stop, breath and just pray so many times this past week. I had a pretty serious arguement with one of the boys after he asked me for money for the apprenticeship. I was pretty ruthless last night and I know he did not understand. I was not in the mood to explain it to him. I feel like he should have told me to my face what the problem was and then we could have talked about it. I had no patience for someone who did not trust me enough to sit down and talk to me and work something out. I needed time and that is what I got today. I taught one class today and then came home to hang out and just rest. My roommate got way too openly frisky with a boy all day yesterday which left a bad taste in my mouth as well but she is gone now. She went to work in another town and I officially start teaching tomorrow night on independence square. It is all working out. I struggle with life every day but soon, that will wear off. I am trying to stay disciplined with Russian and am going to pryluky to see the crew next weekend. I think that everything is rolling along...stay tuned.....

been here..........

almost a week. It has flown...this is going to be a short update since our internet at home does not work as of yet. I finally got here after many delayed flights and met an amazing girl going to austria on the way. :) awesome!! I have seen all of the boys, finished my tattoo and started learing "old school style". I am excited. I live around the block from Yura and spent a very sweet afternoon with him last Friday. Stay tuned on that one. Lauren (my roommate) and I observed our first class last night and it was awesome. They are long hours but it looks like so much fun. Everyone here has been great for the most part and I am excited to be here, even though I am so rusty with russian. I love and miss you all and watch for future updates! :)

another update....

I am down to two weeks and two days until Ukraine. It is going way too fast but I am excited. I watched my baby sister celebrate her 32nd yesterday (I love you little sister and h.b. :) ) In other news, we took baby Korban (my 14 month old nephew) to the hospital for an overnight stay tonight. He spiked a fever of 103. today after a week of amoxicillan and a pneumonia diagnosis. Hopefully he is home tomorrow. I miss our youngest member of our family and hospitals are no fun. On a final, the celebration of Ukranian christmas this last Wed. was so much fun and it made me miss those holiday gatherings around the table in Ukraine...soon enough.