Hello from Ukraine! haha okay here is bits of an email that I sent out to my family...please excuse the awful grammar and spelling, and ya everything about it! I tend to write in the middle of the night here, when I am exhausted and jet lagged and well confused as to what time it really is!
Everyone:
Anyways, I am doing soooo well. My host family is extremely wealthy(I seriously lucked out on that one). I am walking distance form the school and know where everything is. On top of that they are very kind to me and take care of me, for everything. Haha my english is getting choppy, because I have been listening to choppy english for the last few days. They both know english and I will be teaching their kids. I will put up pictures soon. They took me today to an American Restaurant haha, and then roller skating! haha so much fun my "little brother" taught me how to roller skate backwards haha...mostly I just mimicked him. They want to skype with me to you guys one day. Anyways, I don't know how to thank them enough for all they have done for me. I keep trying to think of ways. They have 2 cars and 2 nannies (one for Dasha (little girl) and one for Dana (little boy and the n is pronounced like a spanish n with a tilde). I will be teaching from 3-7 monday through friday. Lunch is at 1 and then russian class if I chose to attend is at 2 ish... I will have to prepare about 3-4 lessons evveryday. Is it weird that I am thinking in a Russian accent now hahaha....
So, in all, the only culture shock I had was when I got off the plane and was on a bus for about 3 hours and the head teacher and coordinator basically didn't tell me anything. For some reason they don't like to plan too far ahead...so because I knew nothing, I was seeing the worst parts of town, I kind of freaked inside. But, I seriously have the best host family ever! They want to take me every where.The only thing I worry about is not having time to get to know the other girls well, and be on my own more. Because I live furthest away from them all. Oh well I am sure it will work out.
I have tried tons of different foods so far. I couldn't even begin to tell you the names, but everything that I have had has been good. I just have to keep reminding them that I am lactose in tolerant. I feel awful for one girl in my group who can't have glutton. Horrible huh? I don't know how I am going to learn Russian, because I can tell my host family really wants to improve their english. And I can tell they really want their kids to speak it often too. Oh yes Dasha is 4, at least that is what she told me, however, I think she might be 5. I'm not sure. her birthday is December 21st I believe. And then Dana is 10. They are sooo cute! Vika (short for Victoria) is my host mom and she is 26, she had dana when she was 19, and then, Oleg (you would have to hear it to know how to pronounce it) is my host dad, and he works in real estate. Vika works at an electronic store with a friend.
Seriously though, their home is like a wealthy American apartment, or called a flat here. 4 Large bedrooms, small kitchen, living room, and then closets, and two bathrooms, one large and one small. My room is normally dashas room and it is all princesses!!! it makes me so happy to have a princess room haha! Dasha wants to be rapunzel (tangled) I told her I love belle haha!
mmk, so I think I am just going to send this email to everyone, I just jotted down things that I thought, sorry it is a mess. I am probably going to have to work on my english now haha. I did learn quite a few russian words though! Dasha loves dogs, horses, and dolls (barbies/bratz). So she says sebaca (dog) and other words repeatedly.Their dog Nelson goes everywhere with them, even to restaurants haha! He is like a mature wedgie! I love him!
Oh, we had some training today and then we went and got phone cards. They gave us all phones while we are here. We are only charged for outgoing calls, so if on you would like it for emergencies I can give it to you, otherwise call me on skype! I have wifi often, at home and at school for sure, and then many places around here offer free wifi (one of th eonly things I noticed is in english). Then we went to the market and figured out how to tell the difference between fizzy water and still water. Okay so the still water starts with and H, which in russian an H makes an N sound. Therefore I think of it as non-carbonated. Then the carbonated water starts with a C, which makes a S sound, but since it starts with a C then it is okay. Sometimes they are colored water bottles like if it is a green cap it is still, blue means carbonated. Awesome huh?!
Everyone here drinks bottled or filtered water, even natives...uh mostly everything is about the same price in the states. except food, it can be extremely cheap. But their street vendors are fun to look at they even have underground ones. I feel like people on the street are not as hard faced as I thought, but some of the older people have an attitude that can come off as rude. I noticed that men are not gentleman here. They can be very kind if they know you and they are more gentlemanly, however strangers they can just be so rude! Oh i know yes, no, and thank you in Russian, I have used those words often today haha.
Okay, I think this is enough for now! I am so grateful for technology, for facebook, email, and skype! I will post pictures soon and write in my blog. Let me know if you have questions I will answer them when I get the chance to! Miss you all!
