"Spaciba!"

Quote of the Day: "They pull off their turtlenecks so well!" -Ryan Dierker
Quote of the Day: "WHERE is WES! WHERE is WES!" -Alexi (one of our Ukrainian guides)

Beyond their unrelenting kindness, one thing that we are increasingly impressed with is Ukrainian style. As stated in Ryan's quote from above, we are constantly admiring the European clothes. They are always dressed up and looking so nice!

The start of our day was really special. We had the opportunity to visit an orphanage of little kids who had bad parent situations. The children we met were some of the cutest kids I have ever seen. They put on a performance for us where they sang and danced. So talented! We took so many pictures and decided we wanted to take all of the orphans home with us! Then we toured their building, saw their dormitories, and met with the head advisor of the orphanage. She was so so kind and you could tell that she loved what she did.

After our lunch (where they served us about 5 servings-plates kept coming and coming! Nothing unusual about Ukrainian culture..) We went to another student group, called Dovira (Trust), who volunteers around the city, promoting others to volunteer as well. They work with kids and put on theatre productions for them, and many other activities. Talking to all the people we are meeting, it is so interesting because under the Soviet Union, volunteering didn't exist within their country. But now with them gone, volunteering is on the rise again. They say the older generations don't understand their work, but that the idea of volunteering to make a difference is becoming more popular with the Ukrainian youth. Hearing about the differences between Soviet and post Soviet rule is so interesting! Each day we learn more and more from the people.

Afterward we were so fortunate to be able to see the Ukrainian ballet. This is truely a once in a lifetime experience! It was beautiful and now we all want to see more ballets when we come back to the States.

Each night we get different visitors to our hotel from our new friends who we've met throughout the week. It is awesome to get the opportunity to sit and talk to them more about their lives and their culture. Once again, all of them are so so nice and giving. We've exchanged so many emails and facebook accounts! We all hope to keep in touch with our new Ukrainian friends.

Wes has taken some amazing pictures. Because of this, he is oftentimes lagging behind to capture everything. For our Ukrainian tour leaders and translators who have to keep to our strict schedule, one English phrase that they have definitely made use of is "WHERE is WES!" We all laugh and made this the quote of the day from above. But without him, we wouldn't have all the amazing pictures that we are looking through right now! Make sure to check out the couple that are posted on the blog. They are spectacular.

We are loving this country so much!

By;Grace


Special shoutout to Julia Carleton for her comment on our last post! :) Thanks! We miss you!