Blog Entry for September 27, 2010

Today was the first day of DTS. It was pretty spectacular. Kyle and Anya spoke for a bit and Lance, our DTS leader guy, gave the rest of the lectures. We had an intercessory prayer time with the Biblical Studies group from upstairs and did some chores and ate food and such. I cleaned a nasty stove and got some unidentified substance all over me, but it was all good. :D

In the evening, we walked over to “the office.” It’s a few minutes from base. We had supper there and sat and talked. Afterward, Jessica, Marta, the two new girls in our apartment (Marsha and Oksana), and I walked back to the apartment. We got a little lost. :D Actually, a lot lost. We just kind of meandered around and asked people where the super market was until we eventually found the RIGHT super market and the right apartment.

Some little boys tried to talk to me about a dog. I know this because I know the word for dog. It’s, like, one of the only words I know. Hah! I now know yes, no, dog, God, Lord, carrot, and what. It’s rather hard for me to remember new words, especially since they’re written with a different alphabet. I can’t really see what the words look like. I can’t wait until I know my Cyrillic alphabet! All I know so far is that the Ps are Rs and the Cs make the S sound and K makes the K sound. T is T. I and E are the same or very similar. I still haven’t quite figured that out yet. I think H might be N. The X with a line through it makes the “zh” sound. So, I guess, I know a little bit, but not enough to read words. The only word I have successfully read is market, which is written “MAPKET.” So, yeah, the boys asked me about the dog. I think they asked if it was mine. I said, “dog?” and “no,” back in Russian. Oy.

We all say “oy” a bunch, too.

So, the base is a boat, and it is super duper. Sometimes it sways on the waves. It’s a weird feeling, but it’s pretty fun. I’m enjoying getting to know all the people here. I don’t know what they say, usually, but I can watch them, and it’s pretty great. A lot of the Ukrainians know a little bit of English. We all get along quite well. Some of the DTSers are really good at English. Svinge is from Azerbaijan and she speaks phenomenal English. Erin is from Atlanta, Georgia and has been a missionary kid in Russia for seven years, so she speaks both English and Russian. I stick around her a bit. :D

Oksana speaks a little bit of English, but Marsha doesn’t. But, all in all, we get along quite well. It makes me pretty happy. I’m making friends. I tried playing Fooseball with some of the peoples. Oksana and I won twice, but that was mostly because she was pretty great and I had occasional luck.

Last night, I showed Oksana and Marsha my Mario and Metroid games. They were cheering me on and yelling at me in Russian. It was pretty epic. Also, Marta can sing songs like, Undignified, Big House, and Pharoah Pharoah. She learned them at camp. That was all fun. Lance knows Trogdor. And Erin is just all-around awesome.

Blog Entry for September 26, 2010

So, I’m all moved in to the apartment. I will be sharing it with four other girls, two of which (Jessica and Marta) I have already met. (The others come in to Kyiv, today). It’s not the most glamorous apartment at all, but it is definitely perfect for us. It’s comfortable and convenient, and will be easy to make feel homey. There are four beds and one convertible couch. The kitchen has a few cups, a stack of miss-match plates, two forks, two butter knives, a handful of soupspoons, a ladle, a bottle opener, a cutting board, some pans, and a pot. We were provided with eggs, butter, bread, water, and cheese for breakfast. Marta and I made breakfast this morning. We toasted the bread on the stove and topped it with our eggs and cheese. It was delicious! We had stopped in at the little grocery store around the block last night and purchased mango juice and coffee.

We also purchased some laundry detergent for washing our clothes in the bathtub, but there’s a rumor that the ladies next store have a washer and Marta said that perhaps we could exchange detergent for some use of the washer. I do hope so!

Jessica and Marta are pretty fabulous. They are 24 and 17 years old. Jessica is from New York and knows a little bit of Russian. She has been to Russia before. Marta is Ukrainian and knows a little bit English. So, we all get along pretty well with the language barrier. Hopefully they’ll be able to help me learn some Russian. I currently know only a couple of words. I can say hello, thank-you, and good-bye. And scarf. I can say scarf. In Russians it’s pronounced “sharf,” so it’s pretty easy to remember. Once I can read/type Russian, I’ll be able to know this stuff for sure. :D

So, here’s a little video of the apartment.

We went to church this morning. It was all in English because it’s an international church. It was small, which was nice. I got to meet a few people and have a second cup of coffee. Worship was excellent, and so was the sermon.

After church, Anya and Lance, our DTS director, took us to a pizza place. It was delicious. They don’t make your typical American pepperoni and cheese pizza. Mine had ham, corn, and tomatoes on it: a tasty combination. The crust was lighter than a typical US pizza and the sauce and cheese were quite different. It’s all good.

We have orientation and registration earlier, so I’ll end here and take a little nap before it’s time to go. :D

Off to Ukraine!

So, the Alaska trip was awesome, and now I have a great new adventure! I am on my way to Kyiv, Ukraine to take part in the Discipleship Training School (DTS) with YWAM. I'm super excited, of course, because I know that God has some big plans for me. :) He has already done some major things in the preparation for this trip (funds were completely provided for and that blasted visa of mine came in).

So, yeah, visa. As many of you may know, I tend to be somewhat of an airhead, not always, just, you know...sometimes--especially when working on administrative things, like applying for a visa. It took three tries to get that visa. The last try was a drive to Washington, D.C., with my mom. We had to do some running around, but we were able to get everything together...ten minutes before the consular closed. That was last Wednesday. They gave a receipt saying that the visa would be available September 22, two days before my trip. So, the past week was, understandably, a bit stressful. But the visa did come. And now I am in the airport ready to go do some awesome!

It's the first time that I have ever flown by myself, so leaving Mom and Dad was a little bit frightening. Everything is going smoothly, though, and all jitters were gone once I was checked-in and through security. I'm not really stressed or scared like I expected. I'm at peace and happy and excited. Yay!

So, once I got out of security, I met a woman from the Philippines named Cynthia. I asked where she was going, and she said New York. I told her that I was going to Bible school in Ukraine. Upon hearing this she lit up and said, "Oh, would you please pray for me then!" It seems she had been having troubles with citizenship and getting a job--something about the recession. So, I talked to her and promised to keep her in my prayers. It was all quite neat.

Then, I met an elderly lady who was a missionary in Japan. She wished me well on my trip and she's sitting next to me in the airport right now. :D