Finding Joy in My Journey: February 2016

Where do I even begin. Too much has happened since the last time I wrote! I'm just going to start with what my pictures tell me, which would cause me to start with the ballet. It was awesome. Getting to dress up all fancy and sitting in a beautiful opera house. We left really early for the ballet, on purpose, so that we could shop around a little bit. And in this time, we stopped to get shawarma. If you don't know why this is so significant, go watch The Avengers again. It was my first time eating it and it is amazing!! It's a wrap with meat and grated vegetables with really great sauce. It doesn't sound too extravagant, but eating it is a wonderful experience :)
We then hoped on the metro and headed to the ballet. The metro is quite a strange thing... Each day, you experience something new while riding. And I find that trying to ride it in wedges is way difficult for me. We got to the opera house and it was so beautiful outside! We walked in and went to a room where we would hang up our coats and things. So fancy. We found our section and when it was time, entered a little door to a balcony section with 6 seats. It was just like the movie Anastasia! It was such a fun experience. The dancing was amazing. It was Sleeping Beauty. Thought it would be easy to follow, but it was a little difficult and a different story in some ways. Also, from where we were sitting, we could only see the right side of the stage. So that could have played a part in the confusion.
On another day adventure we went on, we traveled to a really cool, Gothic looking cathedral. Of course I already forget what it was called. Like St. Nicholas Cathedral I think. After that, we went to the Lviv Chocolate Factory. This might just be my favorite part of this whole thing so far ;) haha It is SO good!! The place smells like chocolate and their whole menu is chocolate. Could you get more amazing? No. The answer is just no. I ordered the most amazing hot chocolate and an incredible chocolate dessert. Yes, two chocolate things. It had to be done. I have been back about 4 times I think (there was one in Lviv when we went this last weekend). Another day trip was to a park and what they call the lovers bridge. There are a ton of padlocks with couples names on them. Then we found a great burger restaurant to eat at (yup, I talk a lot about the food so just get over it).
Last week for teaching, I had arts and crafts which is the best one to have! It usually keeps the kids attention pretty well and its fun to make crafts. We made little bumble bee's. They were for Valentines because they said "Bee mine" or at least they should have. Each day is something new and unexpected when it comes to the kids. Some days they behave so well and others you cannot get them to focus or cooperate. Sometimes after teaching, I am just so exhausted and never want to see those kids again. But I'm hoping the positive things soon begin to outweigh the negative (which I know will be soon). I do love these kids, at least most of them ;) haha. It's just, when they cry when they cut their craft out wrong or when they draw something a little different than the model you made, that's when I want to smack them (not really). haha Or especially when you have 3 crying at the same time over different things and you don't always know what it is! Oh it's all fun. haha
Well this past weekend all us teachers traveled to Lviv which is just here in Ukraine. It was so beautiful! I'm already tired of typing and so this will be short...maybe. ;) We traveled there on a sleeper train, which was one of the worst experiences ever... It was hot and smelly and very difficult to sleep. It was shaking back and forth all night. I probably got about 2-3 hours of sleep that night. But at least I could get some sleep. We arrived about 6 and had that whole day to explore. We ate, saw some cool cathedrals, and then went to our hostel. It was actually pretty nice. That day, we went on a hike up to the top of a mountain to see the amazing view. We did a ton of walking this day. We went back to the square and climbed up a billion or so steps to the top of the clock tower. It was crazy high! And the stairs got narrower and narrower at the top! But the view was SO worth it. It was beautiful. We walked a total of about 10 miles that day. It's good cause we ate way too much food. ;) haha For dinner we found this place called Texmex BBQ. It was just that. Texas and Mexican food. The owner is from Texas but has lived there for 6 years. It was way good! And they had brownies and ice cream! Delicious. It felt so good sleeping that night! What an exhausting but eventful day.
Sunday, some of us prepared to go and find the church. First, we stopped at the chocolate factory for breakfast :) Waffles with chocolate and a side of melted chocolate. Mmmm... We found the church without any problem! And it was pink! It was such a beautiful building. We walk in and are greeted by a few missionaries. It was a wonderful service. We got to wear a headset and one of the elders translated the meeting. I loved it! Best part of the trip by far.
Going home on the train was not nearly as bad as on the way there. We were upgraded or something because it was so much cleaner and nicer. More like the ones you actually see in movies. I got some good sleep. I had to go directly to teaching that Monday morning when we returned though. And I was exhausted. I took about a 4 hour nap when I got home :)
Tuesday, some of us teachers went to the temple here in Kyiv! It was wonderful! There is one other girl, Haley, that is endowed and we got to go and do endowments. What an amazing experience it was. Luckily, there were couple missionaries there that we could speak English to. The names that we did were Russian, so that was really cool. And fun to try and pronounce them! haha. They told us that we can ask to use temple dresses next time so we will be able to do a session. I can't wait! I love the temple! What blessings they are for us here on the earth. Walking out of the temple, we ran into 4 sisters and then later 4 elders. We have met so many missionaries and I love it! It's been a really great couple of weeks. And in just 2 days, I will be in Greece!!!! :D I cannot wait!
And now for an insane amount of pictures! Be jealous ;) haha