Finding Joy in My Journey: One week in Ukraine and I give into "the blog"

So after an amazing week here in Ukraine, I have decided that I need to make a blog. It's been awesome so far and the kids are fantastic!
The week started off with us four teachers arriving in Kiev, being greeted by the two sweetest ladies, Taunya and Olia. We then traveled to the boarding school where we would be staying for the first two weeks. We had a day to prepare for what was to come-- the children.
This past week has been good, bad, and just a little ugly. Well, maybe not really ugly. We all didn't know what to really expect with the kids. A group of about 30 kids ages 6-15 all knowing different levels of English. But I was excited to see how it would go!
I got the cutest and sweetest kids for my home group, the 9 and 10 year olds (or so I thought). They just came up and all hugged me. So cute. The first day was pretty great! The kids are all so beautiful and fun.
To make a long week a little shorter, us four teachers spent each evening this past week thinking of activities for all the kids and preparing crafts for them to do the next day. Then we would go to class rotations from 10-2 each day. It's a new experience each day. The kids are crazy but so cute and fun all the time.
Anyway, that very briefly catches me up to today. And today technically started our first weekend here Ukraine. And we got to go sledding with all the kids! We traveled to a forest close by that is honestly the most beautiful forest I have ever seen! We pilled out of the bus and the sledding began. But not just any sledding, it was sledding on plastic bags. Believe it or not, these bags were better than any sled I have ever used! We picked up some serious speed sliding down the little hill. The kids and us teachers were having a blast.
After a little over an hour, we were on our way back to the school for 1st lunch. Yes, I said first... It is the coolest thing here. We get 2nd lunch and 2nd dinner! It's pretty much a cooler name for "snack" and "dessert". But Ukrainians know how to name their meals ;) We have had some pretty awesome food while being here. Most of the food we eat is potatoes, some kind of meat, soup and LOTS of bread and pickles.
This evening, us teachers went out to the store for the first time on our own. Of course, for chocolate and other delicious things. The cashier tried to speak to us in Russian and we just stared blankly back, like the oblivious Americans we are ;) haha
And now I am going to post a bunch of pictures of the amazing week I have had and call this first post good. Hopefully this will be a usual thing, me updating my blog and all.