So now that I have internet here is what has been going on. I will post some pictures of everything tomorrow. Please excuse typos because I am NOT double checking this time!

2/13/09 - Today we travel to Dnipropetrovsk to spend the weekend with Mike and Linda. It was a 4 hour bus ride. I got to spend moist of the ride sitting by myself. The big buses are like village to village metros so they pick up people along the way for short distances. Eventually a rather large burly man came and sat with me. I was sitting by the window which was cold and since he did not smell too bad I did not mind the body heat of the burly man. I mostly read and listened to my ipod. Mike was at the bus station to meet us and we went to McDonald's for supper and met Linda there. We had a nice meal and then headed to their flat. Upon arriving Mike had roses for each of us for Valentine's Day. When finished the day with a movie and bed.

2/14/09 - This morning started off with waffles! It was amazing, we had syrup and everything. Shortly after that we had a financial meeting with Mike for around 2 hours, I hate numbers. We then headed to TGIFriday's for lunch. We were all so excited! So Ukrainian Friday's DOES NOT equal American Friday's!!! Service was SO slow but the food was good. I got a chicken bacon burger and Hannah got a cheeseburger and we then split them. Later that evening we had some worship time, wow English is amazing! It was so nice to be able to sing along and know what was being said. Then Mike and Linda surprised me with birthday cake and gifts since my birthday is the 18th. It was amazing to have a sweet cake because they do not use as much sugar as American's when baking. For internet we walked to the mall next door and used the dark and creepy way to exit their building. So on the way back we used the same entrance. Erin had the keys and Hannah had the flash light and I was just in the middle. So we came through one door and locked it behind us. We were then locked in a small corridor and were heading to the next door. As Erin was trying to unlock the door Hannah saw a drunk man sitting a foot away and freaked out and told us to hurry. Neither of us saw the passed out man and thought she was just creeped out. But buddy, when Erin got that door open Hannah shoved us through! We then finished our evening with another movie.

2/15/09 - Today we joined Mike and Linda at their church and it was a nice service. We then had lunch at McD's and then they put us on a bus. It felt like they we sending their kids off to college. So yet another 4 hour bus ride. This time however the bus took the back roads at the rest stops were smaller and NOTHING like at home. So by the second stop I need to use the bathroom. Hannah got off with me and we went in search of the bathroom and found none. So we got back on the bus and waited for it to take off again. But the longer I waited the more I needed to go so I asked Erin to come with me since she knows the most Russian. So we tried to find the driver to see if he would wait since the stops are only like 5 minutes. We walked up to him where he was talking to a women who before we could say a word told the bathroom was far away. The driver then pointed across the parking lot. Erin told him that I was sick and he graciously said he would wait. Not that I was sick, but hey use what will work! So we started across the parking lot for the bathroom. Now for those who think they have normal bathrooms with toilet paper, think again. You are lucky if you get a toilet seat! Thankfully I was raised a country girl and have no problems using a squatty potty. The rest of the evening was uneventfully until we reached home and had no internet.

2/16/09 - So we went back to our normal routine. Today was pretty easy with only two classes, one we love and one that well, we don't. I love the Transport school! They love to learn and really enjoy whatever activities we do. The Agrarian college is not a class we enjoy but we go where we are told. The class this time was small which was nice and we played jeopardy which they really enjoyed. We then did some grocery shopping and headed home. We had some chicken we wanted to cook so we decided to make fried chicken. We had everything ready and were just letting the oil heat. Well we did not realize just how hot the oil got and Hannah threw in some chicken and it burned immediately! Smoke filled our flat and I rushed to open all the windows, mind you it is snowing outside. So Erin took the pot and stuck it out the window for like 5 minutes to help cool of the oil. Another 5 minutes later we set it on the cabinet and flipped the burnt chicken over and the oil was still cooking the chicken. There is no telling how hot that oil was! But we tried again and it turned out great. But as Hannah said, "Fried chicken, so not worth it!" The resting of the evening was spent freezing while trying to get the smoke smell out of our flat.

2/17/09 - We did not have our class at Transport this morning so we got to sleep in. But we did have a class of post-graduates at 2 at the Agrarian Academy (different from Agrarian College). We really like this school and the professor loves us and brought us canned apples last time. Well it turned out the post-grads had not organized a class yet but she had another class of beginners for us to teach. So we went for it. It was a small group of students and they were wonderful! They really got into the different activities. Too bad the class we love the most is not one we get to teach all the time. But we decided that we are going to try to talk the professor and see if we can teach that class as well. So today when we left she had some of her homemade jam for us to take. Too bad when we got home we had no clue as to how to open the jar! We met three of our boys from English club at the Christian center at 5 to play ping-pong. We were able to introduce them to several Ukrainian believers and they stayed for SMS. Too bad tonight SMS lasted FOREVER. Afterwards one of them walked us home and he said it was alright but a bit boring. The other two stayed behind to play some more ping-pong. But we planted the seed and God will make it grow.

2/18/09 - MY BIRTHDAY! So today did not go as planned. We were all suppose to go shopping but Erin had to stay home because someone was suppose come and fix our phone and internet. Around 9 AM the doorbell rang and Ira, Alona, Nastya, and Tanya surprised me and brought me flowers, balloons and a sweet roll (cake). They stayed for a couple of hours which was good when our Russian only landlord came with the repair guy. Later Hannah and I headed out to do some shopping. We ended up lost in the craziness of the bazaar and ended up without much. But we made plans to go to the mall tomorrow. This evening we had English club and this week we began to introduce Bible stories. When we arrived two of our boys from Transport were there and we were greatly surprised! Class went really well and a few of the girls had painted me a sign for my birthday! It was so sweet and turned out to a great birthday.

2/19/09 - We had a very busy day start at 8 AM with a business class at the Co-op. Hannah did an amazing job with some really dull students. There were a couple of girls that if it was my class I would have made them wish they hadn't come to class. They were just so rude! After class we were informed that Hannah and I needed to give them a copy of our degree, passport, visa and resume on file. Oh goodie. But we then went to the Agrarian Academy for 2 classes, both went really well. Prof. Tamara gave us canned cherries today. I HATE canned fruit but the thought is really sweet. Erin had one more class to teach but Hannah and I were free and went to the mall with Maya. That evening we tried to go to the prayer meeting but when we arrived outside we saw in the window that it was a Bible study not prayer so we left. We all went to bed early because of our long day.

2/20/09 - Today we had only one class and Erin had to stay home. The internet guy was suppose to come at 10, guess what, he didn't. So Hannah and I went to go and tutor Pasha at 3. Ok so here they have holidays called Men's Day and Women's Day. They are kind of like Father's/Mother's Day but for everyone. So the girls were having a meeting about what to do for the guy's service. Some how we got roped into lip-syncing and dancing to Be Our Guests from Beauty and Beast. Not sure how this happened! But hey our internet got fixed in the mean time! Tonight was also our first beginners English club. We had 18 people! We started off at the very beginning with the alphabet. Erin taught all the letters and all their different sounds. Hannah and I sat there amazed at how many sounds our letters make that we did not even realize! We were so thankful that we already know English.

2/21/09 - Today Erin and I teach a middle school age English club at Ira's house. Erin was not feeling well so I went on my own. I actually made it all the way across town (35 minute bus ride) all on my own! Class went really well and the girls wanted to celebrate my birthday ( here they celebrate birthdays all week! How great is that?!) so we had some sweets and tea. I had to leave soon after that and needed to go the mall to meet the girls and Lucy. So Kostya, being the sweet gentlemen that he is, walked me to the bus stop and rode the bus with me to the mall to make sure that I got there. Hannah, Lucy and I then went bowling! It was so much fun and for 3 people and 45 minutes of bowling it was only $10! We then all had dinner together and did a bit of shopping. Then it was home for the evening. Wow! Well that is all that I have been up while the internet has been out. Mom, hope you are happy now (I love you).