So here we are in Kiev, Ukraine. It is a huge city. It reminds me a lot of New York City but a lot cleaner. We moved into a big apartment downtown. We are on the 10th floor and we are living with the other all girl team, BLING. There are 14 of us in this apartment – lots of estrogen lol. I think it will be a fun and challenging month.
For the first time in 10 months I have fully unpacked my belongings (what little I have) and put them in dresser drawers. I feel so much at home! I love it. There are 2 bedrooms. All 6 girls from Bling are sleeping in the bigger bedroom. 4 girls from my team are in the smaller bedroom and the other 4 girls from my team are sleeping in the office/study. We have a cute little kitchen with a stove and stainless steel fridge! We have one bathroom with a real bathtub/shower…and hot water!! We have a real washing machine!! We have a spacious living/dining room area. We have a sunroom, foyer/hallway and 2 balconies that overlook the city. It is beautiful! I love it!! It kind of feels like I`m on `Friends`(the tv show). I wake up every morning looking out the window and still everything is just so surreal to me. I have to remind myself that yes, i am living in an apartment here in Ukraine – crazy!! It is awesome!!
There are 2 other teams with us here in Kiev. We all have different ministries (or will eventually). Bling and us (GWs) are living in one apartment, Tikvah is living in a house across town and Manna is living in a studio apartment in another part of the city. We all meet up on Friday nights and for church on Sundays. So it is really cool to have 3 other teams around to hang out with this month because usually we are always alone with just our team of GWs. And 3 of my best friends on this race are on the teams that are here in the city with me this month!! Bekah Kraft is on Manna, Becca Billings is on my team and Natalie Smith is on Tikvah. It is so fun to meet up in the city and hang out with my girls!!…just like home!
The other day we all (4 teams) kinda took a tour of the city. We have to take metros everywhere we go. It can get confusing but we are starting to get the hang of it. Gotta love public transportation and subways and taxis and busses! Everywhere is jam-packed and crowded, but cheap to travel! So yeah we went to some catholic cathedrals in town. Saw some weddings take place. There was this huge concert taking place in the square downtown. It was called `Stalker Fest` with all these heavy metal bands playing. There were teenagers everywhere dressed in camoflauge, black jump suits, black paint on their faces, gas masks…it was pretty wild – definitely a sight to see! We also came across another group of young guys break dancing on the street. They were incredible!! They had such an amazing talent. We got hung up watching them for about an hour! It was so cool. I took some sweet videos of it. So yeah our day out on the town was sweet. I have a feeling we will be doing that a lot this month. There is a WWII museum that we will be visiting as well.
We have been here in Kiev for several days now and we currently have no ministry contact. I have been making phone calls to a lot of different people I met at church on Sunday and contacts that they have referred me to. So I am currently awaiting a whole bunch of phone calls back as to whether they need help or not. There are a lot of opportunities to help University students with their English. I am persistently trying to keep in contact with this lady who works in human trafficking because I am extremely interested in that, as well as 6 others on my team.
I told my team that if all else fails and we dont ever have a specific ministry contact this month not to worry. Because here we are in a huge city with millions of people and if anything we can prayer walk in the city or bake food at our house or make sandwiches and hand them out to the homeless downtown. Or we can have bible studies with the other teams and minister to each other. There are a lot of options and opportunities that we can come up with as a team on our own without having a specific ministry contact here in the country. (Although I am still persistently seeking one!) Everyone here has been so friendly and helpful. We have already plugged ourself in a church so there are opportunities there as well! Clinton (a previous world racer) has been helping us since before we even got here to Ukraine and has met up with us almost every day since being here in Kiev. He has been an incredible contact for us. He took us all around the city and helped answer any and every question we have ever had. Thank you Clinton!!!!
So yeah…that is pretty much where we currently stand. Im really excited to see how this month is going to unfold!!!
