Photographic Evidence
Hey kids, it’s me again. You really should check out my pictures I posted on my facebook. These serve as proof to myself and others that I really truly did do at least one crazy impetuous thing in my life….drop everything and spend a summer in Eastern Europe!
Enjoy the pics. This is Ace signing off.
Hump Day
Hey kids. So this Saturday is my hump day. My Ukraine experience is half over. I approach this momentous day with mixed feelings. I’ve absolutely loved being here. All the new and exciting things I’ve experienced will be forever etched in my memory to dust off and fondly revisit later in life.
I’ve seen and done things thus far that I never beleived I would see or do in the flesh. Castles. Paul McCartney in concert…downtown Kiev…free. (Kindly withhold your skepticism, for though it sounds unreal…it happened) Chernobyl Museum. Ukraine in the summer. More mullets than I can count. I can only imagine what the next few weeks have in store.
Alas, here’s where the mixed feelings come in and I’ll just say it straight and plain. I miss you kids. The whole living with 8 other girls in the same room is really grating on my nerves. I miss you, my closest and most treasured friends. I miss how you make me feel like the most hilarious person around (and rightly so…for I believe I bring hilarity in healthy doses) I miss feeling that people would rather have me around than not (and rightly so…for I believe I am pleasant company) I realize I say this at the risk of sounding a little down in the dumps. Don’t worry your little heads. I’m ok. I just thought I’d give a shout out to tell you guys how grateful I am to have friends like you. Always inclusive, intuitive, protective, inventive. You guys rock.
I want you to have as much fun as you possibly can these next few weeks so we can tell each other all about our great adventures. These next few weeks hold some pretty incredible things in store. Next weekend I visit the Black Sea while I stay in a town called Odessa. And here’s the big news……I’m going to Egypt for one week at the end of my stay here in Eastern Europe. Sadly this fantastic trip to Egypt means that I will not be going to Nauvoo if in fact that trip is still a go for all of you. This saddens me, however when else am I going to get to go on a trip to Egypt for $700 (that includes the charter flight there and back from Kiev, the resort stay within walking distance to the white sands of the Red Sea, and breafast and dinner every day among other awesome things) Pretty unbelievable.
So, I’d love to hear your thoughts. We have internet at the school where we live now so I can check it more often and write longer entries. Maybe I’ll even post some pictures…if I can figure out how to do that.
Until next time, this is Ace signing off.
The phenomenon that is a vacation within a vacation
So here I am sitting in an internet cafe in the main train station in downtown Kiev about to board a sleeper train headed to Castle City. It’s our first weekend after a week of teaching and we decided to go on a vacation. The place sounds incredibly cool. We plan on seeing two castles that are over 1,000 years old. There are also catacombs beneath one of the castles we’re visiting. I’m incredibly stoked to go into those. It’s funny, the constant feeling that I’m a character in one of my favorite novels. Visiting outlandish places I’ve never even heard of. I’m loving every minute of it.
The teaching is also going great. The kids surprise me every day with how smart they are and how funny they can be even while English is their second language. This one boy Igor made me laugh to myself the other day. We have a rule during class that the kids are not allowed to speak Russian or any other language during class, only English. When they speak Russian we take away points. So Igor decided he was the self-designated Russian police. If another kid spoke Russian he would gasp and point at them and say, “Jessica! Nastia spoke Russian!” Naturally Nastia would deny it. So then Igor would take a vote. “Who says Nastia spoke Rrrrrussian” (when they’re excited they roll their r’s a lot) Then he’d count the votes. “See! 4 to 1! (the one vote was still Nastia in denial) Nastia spoke Russian! Minus one point!” Oh man. They’re so great.
Well, I’m off to catch my train. Until next time, this is Ace signing off.
23 Things To Do While I’m 23
1. Get a passport and use it.
2. Do something incredibly brave and out of my box.
3. Get a job I care about.
4. Take a cooking class.
5. Read the paper/watch the news regularly.
6. Run a race.
7. Be in a play.
8. Fall in love.
9. Only buy things (especially clothes) that are going to last.
10. Travel to three new places.
11. Share the gospel more freely and assist one convert to baptism.
12. Visit five new temples.
13. Stop drinking Diet Coke and friends, except in social situation, of course.
14. Find a cause I’m passionate about and volunteer.
15. Be more eco-friendly.
16. Road trip with no plan.
17. Read only really great books.
18. Paint something huge/take pictures and then do something with them.
19. Be better at my calling.
20. Set up a successful couple.
21. Get over my fear of the Great Salt Lake.
22. Make the things I’m most passionate about my main focus.
23. Blog about my fabulous life.
From Girl’s Night…
We are not a sport or a corporation. We are a war. A young man desiring our acquaintance must storm the nunnery.
