You would think that we would have encountered most of the challenges we will face this year already…but this country has brought some new ones across our path. It’s not an easy place to come into and easily find your way around. We were warned that they are not particularly hospitable to Westerners, so we knew it would be tough. They speak Ukrainian and Russian here – both of which use the Cyrillic alphabet. You would think we’d be used to those language barriers by this point, but really, this is the first country we have been to that didn’t have most things translated into English. So we’ve been adjusting to the new challenge. In a few select locations on the metro, the phonetic spelling of their words are written out in the Latin alphabet so we can at least recognize the announcement of our Metro stop, praise God! But only once you get onto the metro. I have been here for over a week, and I just figured out yesterday how to decipher their cryptic signage at the metro stops to know which direction train I need to take. It was a proud moment for me when I didn’t need to go through charades with a random Ukrainian in order to figure out which side of the platform I needed to stand on!
But the charades have been fun, and those we have talked to have been very helpful, and friendlier than we expected. A couple of times we have gotten into some great conversations with the few we’ve met on metro platforms that actually spoke broken English. When the introductions begin, it brings me more joy this month than most. For the first time this year, EVERYONE I meet understands and remembers my name when I tell them. Tonya is a very common and VERY Russian name! 
People look at me surprised and expectantly when they hear my name…thinking perhaps I know their language or have some family history relating to Russian culture or ancestry. Nope…parents just liked the name. It’s quite hilarious.
The people here are different than every other place we’ve been…not surprising. The culture comes across as quite cold initially – you are met with a sea of cold expressionless faces in packed metro trains, people dressed stylishly in black and gray…suits, heels, leather, everything to the nines. Always with at least 20% of them carrying one or more flowers though. Kiev has flower shops just about every ten steps. Perhaps they just express themselves through botanical means…because I can’t read much from their faces. It is a great honor when I earn a smile out of one of these people I meet along the way. They don’t give those out to strangers without some effort on the receivers end – and even then, not always. I didn’t realize this until I met a cute little waitress at our local coffee shop who was actually quick to flash a big smile across her face. Her pleasant reception was notably different than most everyone I had met thus far. It was refreshing, and something you’d never know you would miss until you experience a culture without it. Just a 
simple smile. I don’t really know why this demeanor seems to so permeate this culture, maybe it’s some expression of joy that is missing…maybe it’s just cultural. It’s a tough adjustment for us though. We don’t really know how to withhold expression, so we end up becoming something of a spectacle when we travel around this city. Probably doesn’t help when some of our group breaks out into a synchronized step routine, but hey, we try 🙂
We’re starting to find our niche here. We have a 3 bedroom apartment in the main housing area of Kiev…with 14 girls staying there! When we boarded trains to come to Ukraine, ministries were still very much in the air for half of our teams…ours included. We have a great former World Racer contact in Kiev that was helping us get connected with ministries in Ukraine, so we just came in hopes of getting teams connected once we arrived. Of the four teams staying here in Kiev, three of them now have very good and very solid ministries that they are serving with this month. Our team, however, has had some trouble getting connected with a more full time ministry. Four days a week, for three hours in the evening, we alternate helping a Ukrainian teach
er at a Christian learning center teach English, and on Fridays, the healthy members of our team have the opportunity to play with AIDS babies. We’re thankful for what we do have, for sure – but we do have quite a bit more down time than normal. In month ten, that down time is quite a bit tougher to translate into creative self motivated ministries. We’ve come up fairly empty handed in trying to find more organized ministry opportunities thus far, but as we meet more people, we are praying more opportunities to serve come up. I know God has a lot He still wants to teach us and many things He wants to do through us, so keep me and my team in your prayers as we keep serving in and getting to know this country!
