It's that time again

Dear friends,

I have begun yet another blog (I seem to do that frequently these past few years...). If you're still game for reading, here you go!

Yours very truly,

Erin

I'm horrible

I know. This really is the MOST despicable time lapse ever. In the history of blogging.

My sincerest apologies.

In my defense, I have been a little busy. I went and got married! Yay! I have a whole list of blogs that I'm intending to write about all manner of things, but it's so intimidating to think about tackling it all at once.

I'm also thinking I'm going to need a new blog address (you know, seeing as how I have been getting my name changed legally...) and title (Brad's not an Amerikrainian, although we did christen him with a "Ukrainian" name: Bradislav. Sounds super Slavic, right? Yeah, we thought so, too).

I don't have wedding pictures back yet, but when I get them, I'll be sure to post some for those of you who couldn't be there (or for those of you who were and just like to relive important moments via photos...hi Mom!).

I'm working on it. Promise!

It's my birthday!

Yay! I love birthdays. Especially when it's mine. :)

I was thinking this morning (as I was getting ready to meet Brad at Chick-Fil-A for a birthday biscuit!) about the great birthdays I've had through the years. Here's a little run-down on some of the highlights:

1. 4th grade: My friends and I were picked up from school in a limo! We had a "Star" themed party (of course, I was the star of the show). The limo was talked about for several days after that. Way to go, Mom.

2.. 5th grade: We lived in the Middle East and thusly had a Middle Eastern hoopla which included a room FULL of Muslim women, sans sharshifs, DECKED OUT and ready to party. Henna was involved and a lot of dancing.

3. 15th birthday: Surprise party! It's usually pretty difficult to completely surprise me, but, once again, way to go, Mom!

4. 21st birthday: I lived it up big. I got The Complete Sherlock Holmes and a mutual fund. I did have a sparkly tiara to wear.

5. 22nd birthday: My roommates blindfolded and kidnapped me. I remained blindfolded for TWO hours until we arrived at Lambert's in Sikeston. Surprise that I never saw coming. (<-- I wrote that and then realized that it was a terrible and unintended pun. And then I left it because it made me chuckle a little.)

6. 23rd birthday: Tornado warnings in Jackson, so we (roommates, Brad, and Hunter) were hunkered down in the hallway of the apartment, waiting it out. However, in the midst of the tornado, I got a phone call, letting me know that I would be moving to Ukraine for two years. No big thing...

7. 24th birthday: I was in Ukraine, and my Ukrainian friends threw me a surprise party! It included a lot of tasks in Russian. Stress...

8. 25th birthday: Spent on the road between Poltava and Kiev, in an effort to travel back to America for Amiee's graduation. It was the same day that public transportation was having some sort of strike and my marshrutka was FLYING across country. It was one of my least favorite public transportation experiences ever. When I got to Kiev, I wanted to kiss the ground (but not really because...ew) but rather went to bed at 6:00 p.m. because of my 3:45 a.m. check-in time. Good times.

9. Today! 26th birthday! Breakfast with Brad at Chick-Fil-A. Surprise office decorations, courtesy of Amiee (pictures will come tomorrow...Lord willing). Scones with my boss. Phone calls, cards, Facebook posts, and a cook out at church (this wasn't solely for my birthday, but it was great fun). All-in-all, it's been a pretty good day.

I love birthdays.

I love my mom.

I do. She's just the best. She's super smart and clever and thoughtful and wise. She never forgets important things (it's true), always has the right gift for every occasion, and always knows exactly what you need and also exactly what you want (even if you don't know exactly what those things are). She travels oceans/braves blizzards to see you in Ukraine or drives 3 hours to Jackson to take care of you when you have a migraine and can't get out of bed. One of her super powers is finding a way to keep in touch- no matter where you are or how limited your technological resources are. She knows how to fix basically anything, as well as clean any kind of wicked stain you can acquire. She plans the best birthday parties and vacations (I'm not EVEN kidding). She has a scripture for every occasion and will pray for any and every need that comes her way. She's an encourager and a comforter. She's so brave and strong and mighty, taking care of so many responsibilities. She's pretty much magical.

She's the best. Love you, Mama! I'm so glad you're my mother. Happy Mother's Day.

No one will second-guess Alabama being in Tornado Alley ever again...

I wrote my last post while sitting in the windowless, interior hallway during a tornado warning. Thankfully, we had no tornado damage- just a lot of flooding. You should have seen my street. And by "street," I mean, lake.

Yesterday, tornadoes pummeled Alabama. My home, Alabama. The last time I checked the death toll, it was around 170, just in Alabama. Tuscaloosa was all but obliterated from the map. My hometown of Huntsville, along with the rest of the Tennessee Valley (in North Alabama) is without power for the foreseeable future. They're looking, realistically, at a week. One of the main power plants for the area was hit. When I talked to my parents yesterday, they told me that the water processing plants have been imploring residents to conserve water, as well, because they are unable to purify water at a fast enough rate.

When the tornado hit Union three years ago, we discovered a strange emotional phenomenon which we called "tornado guilt." This was experienced primarily by those who were not injured during the storm and who did not lose much (or anything). They felt horribly guilty that they didn't suffer with the rest of us. There was no reason for that; none of us who went through the actual tornado or lost things would have wanted it to happen to anyone else.

Weirdly enough, even though I already went through my own tornado, I felt tornado guilt yesterday. I felt like I should have been there to go through it with my parents. Why? Who knows...it's not a rational feeling at all. My parents were really glad that Sister and I were in Jackson. Mom and Dad have an AWESOME storm shelter, so they were completely safe throughout the whole ordeal. Nonetheless, I still felt like I should have been there.

Union students are taking donations for students in Alabama, particularly at the University of Alabama. I felt like I'd come full-circle as I went through my clothes and rounded up things to send to my home state; this is exactly what people did for us just a few short years ago. I guess it's a tangible way to a) help and b) deal with Tornado Guilt.

I'm so thankful to the Lord for His protection for not only my parents but also my friends and all of my extended family (that's right, we're ALL Alabamians). He's so good.

Tornado warnings are kind of like WWII air raids

I've lived in Tornado Alley for about 2/3 of my life. I think because Alabama is not Kansas, many people don't realize that North Alabama is right smack in Tornado Alley and gets those suckers right and left. Spring is peak tornado season, and you start recognizing warning signs: greenish-gray sky, unnatural clamminess in the air (although, Alabama- and Tennessee- are naturally quite humid places, so clamminess is sort of par for the course), squirrely-ness in all the critters, in my Tennessee town there's also an increased inability of the local inhabitants to normally and safely maneuver their vehicles...

Anyway, I take tornadoes very seriously. A super massive F-4 tornado all but destroyed my college campus in 2008, and I was most definitely present when it did so. I don't mess around when those sirens go off. Much like WWII air raids, those of us who have a healthy level of respect for funnel clouds realize the following:

1. You really should seek shelter immediately. Not even kidding. You should also know that the sirens will keep going on and on and on- no matter how much stress it causes you.

2. You must put on shoes. I have a story about that...

3. Pack a bag of essentials that you would need if something happened to your house (i.d., money, valuables, cell phone AND charger...have stories about those things, too)

4. It is quite terrifying to be sitting around and wondering if your house is about to be smashed to bits at any moment.

5. Have chapstick on your person. Otherwise, you might be reaching for it for the rest of the night- only to be constantly reminded that you lost it. Along with everything else.

We've had 4 tornado warnings in the past week. One of them had roommate and me sleeping in our hallway for half of the night...it's messing with my blood pressure, y'all.

Sightseeing in Kiev! (For, like, the 27th time)

It's a good thing I like visiting Kiev (note: I said "visiting"- I decided early on during my time in Ukraine that I wouldn't actually like to live there. I prefer living in my "big village" of Poltava.) BECAUSE I've done it a lot now. However, it's really fun to go with folks who've never been before.

Our last full day in Ukraine was spent hanging out in Kiev...seeing the sites...buying the souvenirs...It was extremely cold (never fear: I had layers and my hat.), but we were champs and used up our entire hour and 45 minutes in the souvenir market.

Here's Amiee posing in the exact same spot where she face-planted in the mud 3.5 years ago. Ah, good times. She managed to stay upright this time around.

Tower at St. Sofia's (Orthodox church)

More St. Sofia's. The bottom part of the building (that you can't see) is actually the original structure from the 1100's. It's oooooooold.

Amiee and me...and St. Sofia's. I got a lot of pictures of St. Sofia's, apparently.

St. Michael's.

...and this is a picture of me back in the States, sporting one of my finds from Kiev. The little guy on the t-shirt is a Soviet cartoon character. Nastia used to get me to practice my Russian by watching episodes of Cheburachka and Crocodil Gena. This is Cheburachka. Yea, me, for snagging this awesome shirt!

Sorry I don't have truly awesome Kievian pictures. It was RATHER cold, which made me forget to pull out my camera.

Thanks for sticking with me through the super drawn-out chronicle of the Ukrainian Adventure 2011. It's finally wrapping up, and I will do my darnedest to update more frequently.

I will. For real this time.

I'm just trying to draw this out...and out...and out...

I really will wrap up all of the Ukraine pictures. Probably within the next two or three days. I'm about tired of having it on my to-do list everyday and never getting it checked off. Here are some of the 10 or 11 pictures that I snapped on our last day in Poltava. I wasn't thinking very photographically at the time, unfortunately.

Vova taught Alex, Juliana, and Julie to write their names in Ukrainian and Russian in between classes. The Ukrainian students found no end of entertainment from this.

Our evening program on the fourth night centered around discussion groups, using the game 'Soularium' (produced by Campus Crusade). Lots of great conversation was had, Vova shared, the girls on our team (minus Alex and me) sang, and we hung out for a looooong time afterward.

Amiee, Victoria, and I were missing Nataly. :(

Our sweet friend, Anya, who we got to see so infrequently but always loved spending time with. She came out to visit with us our last night.

Some of my favorites! Nastia, Yulia, and Olya.

Dasha. She's such a nut.

Our week in Poltava was truly blessed; we had tons of work to do, not too much sleep, and fantastic new friends.

I realize that last sentence sounds VERY lame. It's ok. I'm a professional wordsmith, guys.

Photojournalism...sort of...

...but not really. My bff, Kat, is actually trained in photojournalism, so she's going to laugh and potentially roll her eyes when she reads that title. Despite that, here are pictures of Day 3/Night 2:

Juliana (blonde hair, far left) and Matt (dark hair, far right) chatting with their groups. If you squint, you can see Vova's head bobbing over the top of everyone else's heads.

Switch to the other side of the room: Julie (dark clothes, back to the camera) and Alex (back table, blonde hair) doing the chatting on the other side of the room. This class was super great to talk to and spend time with.

Evening Program #2 was Game Night. Big hit! Ukrainians love a good game! We set the room up into stations. There were originally four...almost 90 people showed up that night, so we had to last-minute add another station! We had almost NO room, but everyone had a great time. This particular game requires the team to stand on the table cloth and then flip it over, using only their feet- and they're not allowed to step off of it.

Stas likes to "pose"

This game requires the entire team to travel from the start line to the finish line, but they have to have their feet touching at all times. If anyone loses foot contact, the whole team has to start over. Yikes!

I didn't get an action shot of this game, but the goal of the game was to keep a balloon in the air for a certain amount of time. However, after you've hit it with one hand, that hand goes behind your back and you can't use it again. After going through that round of the game, everyone has to hold hands and keep the balloon in the air. Sounds simple and basic, but this was always the rowdiest game to calm down when it was time to rotate stations...

In this game, the team has to get the dowel rod from standing to the ground without anyone losing contact with the dowel at any given time. It's actually quite tricky.

Friends: Alina and Dasha

Alex and her new little friend.

This was actually not staged. Completely candid.

Sweet (married!) friends: Maya and Vova. Check out Vova's shirt from last year's Union group!

Dasha and Celia: same spirit, different nationalities.

Night 2 went exceptionally well. Lots of great conversation was had, connections were made, and we hit a much larger number of attendees than we could ever have expected. SO good!

I WILL update soon.

Promise. I haven't had a chance to be with my computer (where the pictures are) and sit down and commit time to documenting. I WILL finish documenting Ukraine.

Just not tonight...sleepy...

And she updates...many days later...

Sorry for the delay...I've been beyond tired this week and couldn't even muster up the energy to blog the past few days. Isn't that pitiful? I thought so, too...

Anyway, our second day in Ukraine was also quite full of classes (I think Team A had 5 classes on Tuesday). We started our day at a different school than our primary focus school. Because we were working with a lower-level group of speakers, we had to tweak our lessons ever so slightly, but it worked out just fine. Matt was a huge hit with the female set, which was pretty funny to watch. The group really perfected their presentations of their pictures and life stories. I know they got SUPER tired of it before the end of the week, but the Ukrainian students absolutely LOVED getting to learn about their lives and see pictures of everything.

At the end of our day, we had a class to teach at the private school (it was the same school where we had worked with the little guys the day before). They divided us into two groups because there were two small classes of about 5.

*Semi-funny story: one of our teammates (she really will remain identity-less, so I'll call her Z) had a super upset stomach when we got to the private school. I helped her locate the bathroom... Let me paint a picture for you of our location; you know, to set the stage for this story. This private school is located in the bowels of a building that houses lots of offices for various and sundry businesses. However, like most Ukrainian work places, the hallways are pitch black (theory: flashback to the Soviet Union. Ukrainians really just don't turn on lights except in the room of immediate use, so hallways are almost always completely dark.). We were stumbling and tripping in the dark on the uneven floors. The bathroom was a floor up from where we were teaching, and I promise you that the walkway into the stairwell had prison bars. I kid you not.

Anyway, we got upstairs and were both coughing and gagging from the overwhelming haze of cigarette smoke. The bathroom, surprisingly, did not contain squatty potties. However, once we started investigating, we realized it would have been better if it had...None of the toilets had seats and every single one was full of...stuff...ew. It smelled bad but not the worst ever. Z was feeling really bad, so I went back downstairs to give her some privacy.

Come to find out, she had an adventure. Ukrainian bathrooms notoriously are toilet paper deficient, so we always carry tissues in our bags. Unfortunately for Z, she'd forgotten to slip hers into her bag that morning, and guess what- no t.p. According to her retelling of the story, she went through a few options:

a) Don't wipe. NO.

b) Use hand. NOOOOOOO.

c) Ask lady in next stall. Um, no Russian...

d) Dig in bag and find notebook paper. Hmmm...

She went with option d, thank goodness. She actually ended up using a sheet of paper from her sketch pad. Oi...discomfort...At the end of the process, though, she won an "I've had a real missionary experience" award.

For our evening program, we made a virtual tour of Union. We set up the room to look kind of like an airplane, passed out Union bookmarks to be used as "tickets," had our flight attendants (Juliana and Kayleigh) give the pertinent instructions, and then we each narrated pictures of ourselves in our "natural habitats." The Ukrainian students really enjoyed seeing pictures of us at school, so all in all, I think it was a hit. Vova gave a short message, and then we spent a lot of time visiting and getting to know students. Julie, Matt, and Daniel got into some particularly great and meaningful discussions that carried over into the following days. Yea! I didn't actually get pictures of that night...I know...fail...but I hope you enjoyed the bathroom story!

Matt talking about the U.S.

Alex sharing about her family and friends.

Julie leading a game/making friends.

Me and the Mary Ellen look-alike, Masha!

So, someone had the idea a while back to create a bobble head that looks like our University president. Then, someone else had the idea to start taking pictures with him in different places, Flat Stanley-style. All of the teams that went out over Spring Break took one. Here's one of our pictures. I'm holding him, even though you can't see him very well. It's weird...we know.

On the electrical outlet and how Juliana will never hear the end of it

Remember this?

Electrical outlet in the Cooperative University

Some info about Ukrainian electricity:

1. The plugs are European (not including the UK), meaning that everything is round and has some different features from outlets/plugs in the US.

2. The voltage is 220 (as opposed to the American 110) and therefore emits a stronger current.

3. Electricity in Ukraine is very unstable. Anyone remember this?

4. Sticking fingers into any electrical outlet is a) what?! Did you read that right?? (yes, in fact, you did) and b) cause for a lifetime of ribbing.

Having said that, here goes the tale:

Once upon a time, there was a girl named...let me see...let's call her Luliana (you know, to protect the guilty). She was a spunky one with long golden hair and a penchant for exploring things that are best left unexplored. Whilst traveling abroad with a group of similarly-aged friends and teaching her third English class of the day, Lulu (as she will henceforth be called) became inquisitive about matters related to foreign affairs, namely electricity in Ukraine. She had never before seen such things as rounded electrical outlets and decided it would be best to lean in for a closer examination.

In the course of her examinations, she discovered a few differences in the outlets she had always known and the new outlets in Ukraine. Besides the obvious difference in shape, these new outlets also had metal protrusions that intrigued her. What could the metal possibly be used for? Why would there ever need to be metal attached to an electrical socket-ours do not include metal...? And, most importantly, if I stick my finger in and push on it, will it retract into the socket?

Meanwhile, the rest of Lulu's team were preparing for the lesson- unpacking supplies, discussing the layout of the room, and deciding how best to divide the students. Little did they know of the internal struggle happening just inches from their elbows (yes, inches. Those classrooms are small, dear readers). That is, until Erin saw Lulu jump halfway out of her skin.

"Lulu, are you ok??" she asked in concern.

"That outlet shocked me," Lulu replied, looking stunned and shaky.

"Oh my goodness...how did that happen? How close were you standing to it?" Erin had great concern over this development, thinking that Lulu had been shocked by sparks jumping out of the outlet, which would, incidentally, be a major fire hazard and reason to run away.

"I stuck my finger in there."

Erin stared in stunned silence. She also asked "why?" over and over. The answer? Lulu just wanted to see if the metal protrusions would retract or move.

Really??

Yep. That was the entire motivation behind STICKING HER FINGER INTO AN ELECTRICAL OUTLET!

The best part?

She. Did. It. Again. Later that night, in order to test whether or not all outlets in Ukraine would shock her the same way, she stuck her finger another one.

This is a true story.

Sorry, how many classes are we teaching today?

We had a SUPER busy week in Ukraine. It was a good busy, but it was very packed. Our team of 9 (me, Amiee, Alex, Juliana, Julie, Celia, Kayleigh, Matt, and Daniel) divided into two smaller teams for the week. That way, we could cover more ground in the classroom. Boy...did we cover ground! I estimate that each team (A and B) taught about 17-18 classes each last week.

Y'all, that's a lot. In four days. On top of jet-lag. I'm just saying...

My team (team A...stands for Team Awesome, of course) taught 6 classes our first day. Six, y'all. Because our group was at the school that had- generally speaking- some of the best English speakers, we were able to do a lot of discussion-based activities. Our Union students (Juliana, Julie, Alex, and Matt) brought pictures from home (I pretty much harangued the whole team before we left the States that they'd better bring pictures or I'd haunt them in their sleep) and became champs at telling their stories over and over and over while keeping a fresh, non-I-have-done-this-72-times-already-and-don't-want-to-say-it-ever-again approach (by the end of the week, Julie was reciting Juliana's entire life presentation without a single flaw because of hearing it so much!). The Ukrainian students loved it! We also took copies of our school paper (The Cardinal and Cream) and made it famous by leading the students in games using the paper as a resource. At the end of the day, we taught two classes of little, tiny, wee children at a private school. They were presh. Monday night was spent preparing for the week's upcoming evening programs. Ooooh...intrigue, right?

Team A(wesome): Matt, me, Alex, Julie, and Juliana

Alex leading a small group in a game about the US.

Vova, Juliana, and Matt doing the same thing on the other side of the room. Where does that St. Louis arch belong? Hm...

Matt and Julie (right side of the picture) leading a group in the newspaper "scavenger hunt." It was a hit.

Julie sharing about herself/learning about her new friends in a classroom. A very squished classroom...

This picture has a crazy story behind it. If someone will leave me a comment to prove you've read this post, I'll share the story. It's a humdinger.

I took this shot to sort of demonstrate the crowdedness of this classroom. This shot mistakenly makes the room look spacious. Drat camera angles...

Team helping the wee ones with spelling words.

Julie, enchanting and mesmerizing the tots with her fancy camera. She let them take some pictures and that totally stole their hearts. Kat, you'd have loved it!

More to come. Stay tuned...

Ukraine...still alive and kickin'!

Both Ukraine and our team are still alive and kickin', actually. I'm sort of feeling all foggy and hazy from the jet lag, but I'm alive despite that.

We had a really great week. I think I might do several posts about the trip so that y'all aren't stuck reading one really long one. We arrived in Kiev on Saturday evening (March 19), after a non-eventful trip. The best part was that Nastia met us at the airport! I got to spend the entire ride to Poltava catching up with her. I tried to keep the others awake for the ride to Poltava, but I only succeeded at keeping them awake until 9:00. I gave it a solid effort, but it was me against 8 sleepyheads. What's a girl to do?

Sunday was a great day at church; it was SO good to see friends and to worship together. Amiee was asked to sing (like, 30 minutes before the service), and she did a fantastic job last minute and a cappella. The jet lag was STRONG about halfway through the service, and I was having the hardest time with my eyes. I tried to keep them from shutting, but it ended up with them rolling around in my head because of the awkward fight to keep them open. Yeah. It was awesome.

Sunday evening, we finished working on lesson plans...and Victoria and Nastia came by to visit with me! I'm so thankful that they did because I wouldn't have had another opportunity to visit, and I just got more and more tired each day after that- making me not such a fantastic conversationalist. You can ask Amiee; the conversations got stranger and more incoherent as the days wore on. During the coherent(ish) visit, however, we talked about Victoria's classes, Nastia's work, and my upcoming wedding. It was kind of a flashback to hanging out on Friday nights when I lived there, which were some of my favorite times. I promise to update with more info and more pictures soon, but I'm just sooooo tired right now. Can't...hardly...keep...eyes...open... By the time I got into bed last night, I had been awake for about 27 hours. I couldn't even walk straight. To tide you over until I can upload more, here are a few pictures:

Nastia and me. SO glad I got to spend time with her! I've missed her.

We love each other.

More people I love: Maya and Victoria

And Ira!