Starting Summer Off Right

I don't want it to sound like I didn't enjoy my first year teaching, but when I finished up on the last day I was out of there faster than a bat out of Hell. I headed straight home to pack my belongings and then headed to Kutaisi to catch my flight to Kiev with Melody and Randi. You shouldn't be surprised, what else would I do the moment I had free time again?

No matter where I go they treat me like royalty

Kiev was a great place to visit and just a short flight away. We got in bright and early and settled in at our hostel. Once we hit the streets we were instinctively drawn to visit a beautiful golden domed church near by our hostel. It turned out to be an 11th century masterpiece and quite a looker. Afterwards it was straight on to find some food to eat. While ordering our food we discovered that food was insanely cheap and from that point on we just never stopped eating.

I couldn't tell you how long I stood and stared at this amazing view

Later that day we made our way out to the LDS (Mormon) temple in Kiev where we spent a wonderful few hours. It was a beautiful building and we met a lot of very kind people there. Afterwards we walked an eternity until we reached a McDonalds where we could use the wifi to hail a cab (and eat more cheap food while we waited). Even the taxis were very inexpensive. We paid at least half of what we would've paid in Georgia, and cabs aren't even expensive here.

The LDS (Mormon) temple in Kiev

The next day was a Sunday so we found out where the local church members were meeting and we went to attend Sunday services with them. It ended up being a special meeting and they even had a visiting church leader, M. Russell Ballard,  from Salt Lake who spoke at the end. Following church we wandered through a sculpture garden park with some eccentric art and made our way back home. Later that evening we went to another church meeting where we unexpectedly met a friend of Randi's from Utah. That night ended up in a Tex-Mex restaurant eating delicious burritos.

Sunday in the park with these goons

Monday started with an early morning visit to the Lavra monastery complex which is one of the most sacred sites in the Russian Orthodox church. We wandered around for a little bit and then the next thing I know some priest was waving us into a church courtyard and bringing out an old crown for us to try on (it was too small, too heavy, and really hurt to wear). Once we'd all kissed the crown he had a younger man take it away and then proceeded to take us on a two hour tour (all in Russia) of the entire complex. There was a lot of walking but it was great (and confusing) fun. At one point he took us into the workers cafeteria to feed us and we ate with a bunch of locals. Following our lunch he took us down into the catacombs on the pilgrim's prayer route where we saw more (clear) coffins and deceased people than I could count. At each coffin he would saw a memorized prayer and kiss the coffin. It was an interesting and reflective experience. Afterwards he motioned that he needed to go and we were left to explore a few other places alone. I was amazed by his kindness to take so much time to share something so important to a small group of foreigners who he couldn't even speak to.

View of the monastery from the bell tower

Later that night we met up for Chinese food with a local Ukrainian who Melody and Randi had met in Armenia who happened to bump into us on the sidewalk outside of our hostel that morning. Turns out her office was 2 floors above our hostel. It was quite the chance meeting and she was very gracious to become our defacto tour guide after work for the next two days. With her we learned more wonderful things about Kiev and she also shared her first hand experience with the revolution which took place in 2014. She really made the rest of our time in Kiev so much better.

St. Michael's Church not the craft store. 

The rest of our time in Kiev was a blur of more food, more churches, and more long walks around the city. I loved every minute of it. I was reminded of Georgia quite often but there were many very clear and distinct differences some due to Ukraine's less isolated location and others related to their own history and culture. If you mention Ukraine to and Georgian they will tell you how great of friends the two countries are and I wouldn't doubt them for a minute.

No one wanted to play with me...

After we made it back to Georgia I still had plenty to do. The next day I headed back to Skra and visited my old host family. On Friday I met the new volunteers again and helped deliver another training. It was also the day that they found out where they would be serving in Georgia- spoiler alert, one of them is coming to Poti! Friday night found me back in Tbilisi going out on the town with some of the departing G14 volunteers and then Saturday I was up bright and early to head to Kutaisi for another group project (I barely made it in time to help with the take down and clean up). Over all it's been a long and exhausting week. Either way though, summer is off to a great start!

My new Ukrainian embroidered dress shirt #Awesome