But first, a major catchup blog... If I can remember what all I have done...
October 23-24: Teaching
I don't think that anything extra special happened during these two days... Just more days with barely any kids to teach.
October 25: HALLOWEEN PARTY!!!
Oh my goodness! I had SO much fun at the halloween party. Probably more fun than my students, but who's counting. I dressed up as Rapunzel, and loved every second of it.
 |
| Our kids and there parents brought us lots of treats! :) SOOO good! |
 |
| Miss Rachel and I with our kids. :) |
 |
| Oh my goodness. :) I can't even begin to tell you how much I love these boys. |
 |
| These girls might just be my favorite. :) |
 |
| Halloween was a blast! I love parties, and conga lines with kids! |
 |
| Miss Rachel, and Miss Amanda |
The majority of this day was spent sitting in an airport... We may or may not have had our flight delayed for six hours, but it's okay. We made it to Bulgaria eventually. Once we got to our hostel we wandered around the city and found us a McDonalds where we ate dinner, and I had the best McFlurry! It was twix, and OH SO YUMMY! That night I started to really get sick. All of my efforts to keep from catching the dreaded cold going around my students failed, and I probably kept everyone up all night with my coughing... Sorry about that.
 |
| I left a note for my host family. :) |
 |
| Waiting at the airport. |
 |
| The best part of the delayed flight was watching the sunset. :) |
We woke up and had a yummy free breakfast at our Hostel (Hostels are honestly the bees knees). Anyways, after eating yummy eggs, waffles, kiwi, and all sorts of other goodness, we were on our way. Our first stop for the day was a free tour of the city, and let me tell you: BEST DECISION EVER! We saw so many things and learned so much about the city, and our tour guide was awesome. Oh, and did I mention it was in English? Well it was, which just made it 100xs better. :) For lunch we had Subway, and I began eating more than my fair share of gelato. Go ahead. Judge me. IT WAS SO GOOD! For dinner we ate at the Hostel again, and it was so yummy. After that we pretty much just hung out until our midnight bus to Burgas (a city along the coast).
 |
| This is at our hostel. :) Pretty awesome, right? |
 |
| I even learned how to play chess. :) Although I lost. |
October 28: Burgas, and Sunny Beach
Well, after a long 5 1/2 hour bus ride, we arrived in Burgas. In the dark. Taxi drivers were determined to give us a ride, but we declined since our Hostel was within walking distance. After a little bit of time spent figuring out just where we were and where we needed to go, we started walking... And walking... And asking for directions... And walking some more. We probably walked back and forth for at least an hour before it got bright outside, and then we finally found our Hostel, which was less than pristine. We found the door, and pushed it open (it was supposed to be locked). Then we went upstairs where were heard snoring and couldn't find the office. So we went back downstairs and waited outside some more. Than we decided to just ring the bell and see what happened. Well, this man comes down the stairs (he was the one who had been snoring) and we tell him that we have a reservation. Well, there were still people in our room (since it was only about 7 in the morning, and checkout wasn't until 11). He had an open room though, and told us we could sleep in there until our room was ready. So we go upstairs to a room with 5 bunkbeds, and a guy fast asleep in one of them. He handed us some sheets and then we laid down and took naps (for about 3 hours). When we woke up we decided there was no way were going to stay there. The doors didn't have locks, the bathroom didn't have toilet paper, we didn't have towels, and we were freezing. We went downstairs with all our stuff and talked to the man in charge. He understood, and we left. Luckily in our efforts to find our hostel, we had passed by another one just up the road. So off we went. There was a room for us, and it was perfect. We got ready for the day and headed off to the bus stop. Then we were off to Sunny Beach, the popular tourist spot... Or the once popular tourist spot. Turns out if you go during the off season, it is COMPLETELY abandoned. We are talking buildings boarded up ghost town abandoned. It was weird. Well, at least we got the beach to ourselves. We took pictures, walked down the beach, and climbed on the dunes. It was pretty fun. We were getting hungry though (since we hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before) so we left, and stopped at a convenience store on our way to the bus stop. We took the bus back to Burgas, and walked around. We found a pier, and there were thousands of Jelly fish! It was crazy. After that we wandered around the little strip in town, and then when it got dark and things were closing, we headed back home for the night. Oh! And then we watched Hocus Pocus! :)
October 29: The Galleria, and the Strip
We woke up and got some breakfast by the bus stop, then we jumped on the "free" shuttle to the Galleria... Well the bus wasn't free... but it was cheap, so it's okay. Once we were riding for quite sometime, we decided we were lost, and asked a Bulgarian boy for some help. He was way nice, and told us where to get off, and how to get to the mall. He was awesome. We walked to the mall, and then found the food court where I ate Burger King. (I was missing my American food...) Then we wandered around the mall for a few hours. We ate gelato, and got some snacks. After a couple of hours at the mall we went back to the bus stop, where we realized we had no idea how to get back to the Hostel... Whoops. We tried to ask some teenagers, but they were being dumb, and pretended not to speak English, by speaking English... Cool. Whatever, we found a bus, hoped on, and luckily it took us right where we wanted. We wandered around the city, and went back to the strip where we wandered around some more. I ate some chocolate covered doughnuts and a gyro. And it was SO good. :) Then we headed back to the Hostel.
 |
| I touched a jellyfish. :) Don't worry. It wasn't the tentacles. |
 |
| I really missed the beach. Even if the sand wasn't quite the same. |
 |
| And a picture of me. :) You're welcome. |
October 30: Bus to Plovdiv and City Tour
We woke up early, and caught a bus to Plovdiv, a city about 3 hours away. Once there we walked around, and eventually gave up, found internet, and called our hostel to call us a taxi. Taxis in Bulgaria are SO cheap! I loved it, we took them more in one week than I have in my whole life. Once we got to our Hostel and got settled, we headed out to another free tour of the city. :) Yay for free tours! I love Plovdiv. Underneath the city is the ruins of an ancient Roman civilization. SO COOL! We walked all over the city. We also ate more gelato, and had way too much fun.
 |
| This little boy became my best friend on our tour. :) |
 |
| The view out our window. |
 |
| Run to the store, equals lots of cheap snacks. |
October 31: Wonderful Bridges and Aspens Fortress
We woke up, got ready, ate French Toast, and had a wonderful tour guide drive us around to cool sights just out of the city. :) We learned some Bulgarian words, and laughed SO much. Who knew Bulgarians were so cool? We were in the car and talking about things we were learning in Russian, when I said my favorite word. ложка (loshka) or spoon. I love the way it sounds. So we were talking about our favorite words. Rachelle said her favorite word was собака (sobaka) or dog, and then we learned the bulgarian word for it. Well... This is where things started to get interesting. куче (kuche), and for a puppy кученце (kuchentse). Katie accidentally said джудже (dzhudzhe - jujche) and our tour guide told us that does mean something but he couldn't remember what... About 30 minutes later he yells out midget! Well, then we spent the rest of the day laughing about the bulgarian word for midget. That night we had some yummy free food at our hostel, and hung out for the rest of the night.
November 1: Bus to Sofia
Well let me just tell you about this little adventure that we had. We got all ready to go, but then breakfast wasn't ready yet... So we had to wait until it was cooked, and then eat really fast so we could catch our bus. We had directions to the bus station, and we asked the girl at the hostel just to make sure we were going the right way. Well we are walking, and we get to this one point, and we aren't sure which way to go. We ended up going to the train station instead, and couldn't figure out where the bus station was. We had these sweet little Bulgarian ladies trying to help us. All the while time is ticking away. Eventually we had all of 5 minutes to catch our bus, and there was no time to waste. So there we are, 3 American girls, running down the roads of Plovdiv, with our luggage in tow, hoping and praying that we will somehow manage to catch our bus. Well, we figured out where the bus station was (basically right across the street!) and ran as fast as we could. Looking at our tickets we tried to figure out which number our bus should be at. Well, we saw it, right as it was backing up. Lucky for us, I knocked on the window pointed at my ticket, pointed at the bus, and pointed at the three of us. Eventually he got the hint, opened up the door and made sure we were in fact supposed to be on that bus. He kindly opened up the baggage area under the bus, and ever so kindly helped us on to the bus. There were even a sweet Senior Missionary couple that thought they were supposed to catch that bus, and were so grateful that we were able to stop it. Turns out they were scheduled for the next bus that left an hour after ours, but it was nice to meet them. :) I always love seeing missionaries!
After we got to Sofia, we went to our hostel and checked in. We got to stay in the same room that we had earlier in the week. :) It was awesome! We wandered around the city looking for Souvenirs, and ate even more gelato. SOOOO GOOOD! I miss that yummy gelato! That night we ate dinner at our hostel, and played Scrabble with a guy from the Middle East. I lost, not that we were keeping score.
 |
| FREE WATER!!!!! :) Straight from the wall. It was hot too. |
 |
| Hot Chocolate. :) |
November 2: Sofia, and flight back to Kyiv
We woke up, packed, ate breakfast at the hostel, and then hung out until we took a taxi to the airport. At the airport we arrived just in time to start checking in. :) It was quite perfect. Once we checked in we went through security, and then hung out at the airport. We waited and waited and waited for our plane, because once again, it was delayed. Stupid WhizAir! Eventually we got back to Kyiv. Then we took a Marshutka (bus) to the metro. Then we took a metro, and then we transferred metros. Then I got off at my stop. And then I walked home. It was so nice to be home after our trip. :) My host dad even smiled at me when he saw me, which was awesome, because Ukrainians don't smile.
 |
| While at the airport, I practiced my french fishtail skills on Rachelle's head. :) |
November 3: CHURCH!!!
Sometimes I forget about just how much I love church. :) Being in Ukraine going to church is much more of a sacrifice than it was at home. I have to travel for about 2 hours just to get to church, and then church is 3 hours. After church is over I have to travel about 2 hours home. So I spend about 7-8 hours just to go to church on Sunday. It's crazy, but I love it. And I miss it when I am gone.
November 4-8: Teaching
Teaching was teaching. It was nice to see my kids again. :) I missed them, all of them.
November 9: Temple, and Christmas Lights!
I woke up and went to the Temple! :) it was wonderful. I love the temple and the spirit that you feel inside. It is SO wonderful. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have always had to have a temple so close to me. One where I can go whenever I want. :) What a tremendous blessing that is.
That night some of us went to the Center of Kyiv, where there was a big party. With a live band. And cotton candy bigger than my head! And CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!! I miss the holidays so much, and I am so glad that I get to be home for the Holidays this year, because next year? I will be on a mission!
November 10: Stake Conference and Mission Papers
Can I just say how exciting this day was? I went to Stake Conference, which was great. Then I had dinner with my wonderful Home Teachers. :) After I went home I skyped my mama and my daddy, and talked to them about a mission. Well, long story short, by midnight I had started, and almost finished my papers! Needless to say, I am excited!
November 11-12: Teaching
Teaching was teaching. Again. Although, still trying to get over being sick was miserable.
November 13: Sick Day
So I took the day off. It was nice to sleep in, and be lazy all day. It also helped me to feel a lot better. :) Thanks Tessa for covering for me!
November 14-15: Teaching
Teaching, teaching, and teaching some more. I am impressed with just how much my kids know. They impress me more and more each day!
November 16: Stayed home
Well, as much as I love seeing the city, I decided to take one for the team (the team being my body) and stayed home so I could continue to recover. This stupid cold has kicked me in the butt!
November 17: Today!
Well, today was awesome. I went to church. Learned about Gratitude. Felt grateful for everything. Found out the Mission President knows my Great Uncle and Aunt (Uncle Jerry was sitting next to him when he met his wife). How cool is that?!? :) After church I went home and relaxed, and then I went to an awesome fireside with the Temple President and his wife. :) I love Ukraine, and I love getting to spend time with such great people! After the fireside I came home and skyped my family. :) And guess what?!? I get home on Monday, December 16. The very next day, December 17, I have a doctors appointment, dentist appointment, Bishop interview, and Stake President interview!!! :) Holy cow I am SO excited. :) If everything goes well, I could have my call before Christmas! :)
Well! Now you are once again updated on my life. :) For more updates (mission related) you can go on over to sisteramandarobertson.blogspot.com :) It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself.
I'M GOING ON A MISSION!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) A MISSION!!! ME ON A MISSION!!! :) :) :)
Southern Belle in Europe
No comments:
Post a Comment