A Day in the Life--July 25, 2012

This blog is going to be a little different.  Monday I decided to photo document what we see everyday as we head to the Service Center - Using the metro to get there and the bus to get back to our apartment.  This is reality............and we love it.  

Sunrise July 23--Out our front window

Car parked at the exit from our apartment building--New York Drift Police

On the way to metro

Russ Theater--seats 1600--two blocks from our apartment

Under street passage

Fresh from the garden

Selling herbs

Neighborhood butcher

Gary's favorite bread--lavash

Entrance to Lukianivska metro

Pretty girls waiting for metro

Tolstoy Station (we now call Bud Station)

Famous street where office is located--lots of museums

Look close--mosiac wall outside of Gary's office door on building in alley

Favorite girls in office--also in English class

Our favorite tartar salad

Favorite waitress

Ugliest car in Kyiv--takes metallic to limit

McDonald's at Independence Square

 Our favorite singing bus cashier--always happy

Stairs to our grocery store

Shoe repair by our apartment after the fall.

 Market down the path from apartment

 Sunset out our bathroom window

Flowers for sale in underground shop by metro

July 18, 2012

Never underestimate the power of Budweiser to not only ruin lives but your surroundings as well. We went to bed last Monday night not even imagining the transformation that we were going to witness in the morning.  On the way to the metro we saw a large bus that had been covered in a red Budweiser static decal. Then on down the road we saw a tram that was covered as well. And then when we came into Tolstoy Station all of the beautiful marble walls were covered with the Red Budweiser decals and also a metro train had not escaped the attack.  You can’t escape it. I think you may all know what I am talking about because I’m sure that this “Bud” phenomenon is not limited to this area. As a matter of fact, I heard yesterday that the Budweiser destruction has hit Idaho Falls as well. I’m not even going to post a picture as it is too disgusting and I would hate to give them more advertising. 

Saturday we headed out for our adventure of the day. We went 1.5 miles to Volodymyrs’ka and then headed down to Tithing Street and St. Andrews Church. We first stopped at the Museum of Ancient History of Ukraine which was very interesting and educational. Then we headed down Tithing street where we stopped to admire the many vendor's displays at the real street fair. This is where there are many local artists with their works and you can buy Ukrainian national souvenirs--embroidered shirts and dresses, painted pottery, a variety of folklore figures and Gary's favorite, shopkas. Along the street there are also many artists displaying their artwork. Luckily the ones we liked would not fit in our suitcases. 

Gary in front of the Museum of Ancient History of Ukraine

Man in shopka (Russian hat)

Just before we arrived at St. Andrews we came to Desyatinskoy Street, where there is a well-known monument to the heroes of the movie "For Two Hares", Prone Prokopovne Serkova and Svirid Golohvastov Petrovich. The monument is located here as the main action of the film took place just outside St. Andrew's Church. 

Monument of Two Hares

The sculpture captures the moment when Svirid offers his hand and heart to Prone. There is a folk superstition connect with this monument--if you rub the ring on her finger, it's certain that you will get married.

Superstitious Ring Monument

At the top of the stairs of St. Andrews there is the most incredible view of Kyiv. The Deniper River, the beaches, the East Bank and the Podil (Low Town). This whole area gives you a feeling of 19th Century Kyiv.

View of Kyiv from St. Andrews

St. Andrews Church

I also learned  a little more about the Podil (Low Town) from our adventure last week. Andrew's descent runs from Vladimir and Tithe street to Kontraktova area. The Kontraktova area is one of the oldest squares in Kiev, and was there in the times of Kievan Rus. After the destruction of the upper town, it was a central part of the city.

(picture of Pidol from St. Andrews) 

Street down to Podil

Along with the 19th Century Opera House, the square has a large monument to Skovoroda. Also on the square is the building of the former monastery of Sinai, which now houses the National Bank of Kiev and the region, and the restored monastery bell tower. So after this day we had connected our last two Saturday adventures.

 Monument to Skovodoroda

Opera house and National Bank of Kyiv

Sunday on our way to church, Gary tripped on the stairs at the metro and landed hard on the concrete. Fortunately he only broke his right wrist. I say "fortunately" as the fall was a pretty hard one and could have been so much worse. Monday we went tot he American Hospital and had x-rays and his break was such that it didn't need a cast, just a brace for 2 weeks or more and some pain killers. So we had our first experience with going to the hospital in Ukraine. We later found out that you pay at least ten times more service if you want it in English. We should have just found a missionary to interpret and gone to the Ukrainian Hospital.

After spending the morning at the hospital we met up with Jay and Marcia Stuart (cousins and temple missionaries) and had lunch and then visited the park "Vladimirskaya Gorka." This is the place where on September 13, 1991, Elder Boyd K. Packer stood with Elder Dallin H. Oaks and 41 other people on the hillside overlooking Kyiv and the Dnieper River near the base of the stature of Prince Vladimir who brought Christianity to Ukraine 1,000 years earlier (988 A.D.) and dedicated the land for the preaching of the Gospel. It is noteworthy that on the same day, statues of Lenin, who was a symbol of communism, were being pulled down in the capital city. In offering this prayer, Elder Packer said, "In this land, we see the day when there will be scattered in the villages here and there a member and yet another member and then a gathering and then a branch and in due time, stakes of Zion set firmly and permanently upon the fertile soil of Ukraine. And in due time, the spires of temples will be seen across this great land." These are the words of a seer and a revelator.

Vladmir's Statue

View from Vladmir's Park

He also said just 20 years before the dedication of the Kyiv Temple, "We remember those who have lived here in generations past and are now gone. We pray that this moment might be the beginning of an emancipation of their spirits in the world beyond through...sacred...ordinances. We pray that there will be an outpouring of the Spirit of Elijah, that the names will come forth, the records made available, and the ordinances performed for them in temples...in this land." This is indeed happening here today as faithful members of the church from all over Eastern Europe come to the Kyiv Temple with the names of their ancestors to perform these sacred ordinances for them. We feel so blessed to be a part of this exciting time in Eastern Europe when these prophecies are being fulfilled.

Quote for the Week is by Neal A. Maxwell. "Temple attendance is not a guarantee that we will become better, but it provides a powerful and pointed invitation to become better. The ways of the world receive constant reinforcement--should not the ways of heaven?"

Kyiv Ukraine Temple

July 11, 2012

Ever since we have been here I have been wanting to get on the old beat up tram and see where it would take us. Just get on and ride to the end and back – what an adventure. It passes by right in back of our apartment and we can hear it going up and down the tracks day and night. Every time we have planned to do just that something comes up and we don’t have the time. Well, on Saturday we decided to go out early, while it was still somewhat cool, and do just that -  ride to the end of the line in both directions. And what a lot we learned. When we headed South we passed by the Circus which is a huge round building. I have now decided that I want to attend the circus as I have heard they are great here and it reminds me of when I was little and we used to go about four blocks up to Yellowstone to watch the circus in a “Big Top”. Since it is less than 2 miles away and the tram goes right there you can bet that I will be going there before too long.  Now, to get Gary to go will be the hard part. Also at the end of the line south there was a huge fabric store and a 3-story electronics store, and then of course your usual bazaar and fruit and vegetable market. We then headed back past our apartment and turned east. We ended up in “Low Town”. When we first took the tour bus of Kyiv and drove through low town we both commented on how much it was like New Orleans, old but very quaint and sits right on the river. It is also really quite artsy with an Opera House, ancient buildings, and great restaurants. As a matter of fact that is where we go for Mexican Food. We had no idea that it was 2 miles from our apartment at the end of the tram line. So now we have learned a few new things about a city whose streets are far from organized and where the people spend most of their time getting places underground and you have no idea where you are. We now know that we live at the top of one of the seven “descents” in Kyiv and walking distance from all the action in town.  So, who needs the metro anymore.  We live:

1.     3 miles NW of Gary’s office which is surrounded by at least 25 museums and the Tereshchenko University and the family homes of the Tereshchenko’s (sugar magnets of Ukraine) 

2.     2.5  miles NW from the National Opera House

3.     2.5 miles from Independence Square (where all concerts are held – free of charge)

4.     2.0 miles West of the Bibi Yar Park

5.     3 miles SW of Low Town

6.     3 miles NW of Khreshchatyk

7.     3.5 miles W of the Larvra

8.     2 miles N of St Sophia’s Square and Church,  St. Michaels and St. Andrews

9.     3 miles NW of the National Philharmonic Hall

10.  A few blocks from the Monastary and St. Nicholas Church

11.  2 miles NW of the Golden Gates of Kyiv

12.  3 miles from the Olympus Stadium

This list could go on and on and I can’t even begin to list all the historic places along the way and in between. There is always an exciting adventure just waiting to happen if you have the time and desire.  This is an amazing city and it is the people and the history that make it so interesting.

Last week the Saints from Bulgaria arrived at the temple. We met a darling girl named Elena Shuvalova who was from Estonia but served her mission in Bulgaria. She is now getting her master’s degree in Linguistics, speaks English, Russian, Estonian, and Bulgarian. When she finishes she hopes to become a translator. Needless to say she was very helpful at the temple being able to communicate with and assist everyone there. When we ate at the Stuart’s on Sunday she came along with three of the International Language Program students. We had the opportunity to assist her on the bus and metro on her way to the train station. She was on her way to Estonia to visit her family. A two day trip on the train. I have included a few pictures of the Kyiv Temple that were taken before the dedication.  It is such a beautiful temple.  I am really enjoying my new calling at the temple.  It is forcing me to work harder on my Russian and it is such a wonderful humbling experience to be around such wonderful people. The Temple Missionaries are great and the patrons are such a great example of faithful people

The International Language Program is a great program for university student’s that would like to travel and to teach English to elementary students. The students come for 6 months in the fall and spring and six weeks in the summer.  They live with families and teach in the immersion programs at the schools.  At the end of their stay they get to travel through several countries before going back to America. They attend our International Branch and it is very delightful to get to know them.  Most of them come from Utah and Idaho Schools, but also other states as well.  It is a great program for those wanting to see a different culture. 

I also can’t say enough about how much I love my friends at the Service Center that work so hard at improving their English while teaching me so many lessons about life in the process. The question has become “Who is learning the most?”  I really think that I am.

I love this quote by George Q. Cannon: “The Saints should always remember that God sees not as man sees; that he does not willingly afflict his children, and that if he requires them to endure present privation and trial, it is that they may escape greater tribulations which would otherwise inevitably overtake them.  If He deprives them of any present blessing, it is that he may bestow upon them greater and more glorious ones by-and-by.” I know that His promises to all of his children will come to pass.  I know that the Book of Mormon is a witness of the Savior and his atoning sacrifice and that anyone who reads it will feel His great love, and know of his great sacrifice.

 12th Century Lavra

 Low Town

Students drawing the Opera House in Low Town

Restored Opereta House

 Olympus Stadium where Euro Cup Finals were played

 The building that houses the circus

Tram that runs behind our apartment

Some of our temple missionary friends at TGI Fridays

Kyiv Ukraine Temple

Celestial Room

Staircase

July 4, 2012

We have just started our fourth month in Ukraine.  This week our hearts have been in Pocatello thinking about all of our friends and Stake Members who lost their houses in the Mink Creek Fire.  We know that their faith is strong and know what a great support system they have in the people of Pocatello.  You are in our prayers and thoughts.

Thursday, the day of the fire (which we didn’t hear about until Friday) was Constitution Day in Ukraine, which is a pretty big holiday.  We took that day to visit some of the various Memorials around the city.  There are thousands of monuments erected to World War II. This city is filled with historical monuments erected to honor people and events that have had a major impact on this country.

 

Babi Yar- The site where fascists executed thousands of Jews and POWs in 1941

The Old Arsenal--Built from 1783-1803 and is the armory that was fired on in the revolution of 1917.  This was Gary's favorite and you can see the bullet holes in the outside walls and in some of the holes you can see the lead from the bullets still there.

Museum to the Great Famine of 1932-1933.  This famine was man caused. Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, set in motion events designed to cause a famine in the Ukraine to destroy the people there seeking independence from his rule. As a result, an estimated 7,000,000 persons died of starvation  in this farming area, known as the breadbasket of Europe, with the people deprived of the food they had grown with their own hands.

National Memorial Museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945--where in addition to the Memorial Complex there are 8000 exhibits showing the history of World War II.

And then coming home from all of this we learned about the fires in America leaving hundreds homeless. This is a aerial shot of the area consumed by the fire in Mink Creek...

And on a brighter note.... Saturday Night we went to the final concert of the Ukraine Philharmonic Orchestra and it was a fabulous concert. We love beautiful classical music and this was some of the best. As we walked back to our bus stop in Independence Square the Elton John Concert was just starting so even though we were leaving at 5:00AM for Lutsk we stayed and watched the concert (with about 500,000 other people.) It's not every day you can see an Elton John Concert for free. It was the concert before the Final Game of the Euro Cup so was projected on the huge screens that were used for  the games in the "Fan Zone". It was a great concert and topped off a great evening. Luckily most of the people were staying around to party after the concert so we had no trouble at all getting back to our apartment.

The games are now over but we are still reaping the benefits of having them here. Street signs, English announcements on the metro and busses, flowers planted everywhere, trash containers in public places, and street improvements. And the amazing thing is that most prices did not go up. I think the people that visited here found out what a beautiful, unique city we have and the people here are amazing. 

Sunday we spent another wonderful day at the Lutsk Branch. The people there are so wonderful and appreciate our limited ability to speak their language. What they appreciate is that we try.  Unfortunately our driver that was going to take us to the country village on the way back to Kyiv had to stay in Kyiv so we will have to make that trip another day. The sunflowers were all blooming in the fields, more and more poppies, and gorgeous hollyhocks, another beautiful drive.

 Hydrangea at the Monastery

Lutsk

My favorite, hollyhocks, on the way to Lutsk

Sunflower fields forever

Poppy fields

I have been enjoying my time at the temple while we have been here and Tuesday I was called to be an ordinance worker one day a week. It will mean having to catch the metro at 5:45AM but I am really excited to work with all the wonderful workers and patrons. The Kyiv Temple is the busiest temple in the world (per capita). People come here from all over Eastern Europe and stay a week at a time to do the ordinance work for their ancestors. They are such faithful, humble people and a joy to serve. I am now learning all of the script in Russian which is challenging but possible with the Lord's help. Quote from this week is from Doctrine and Covenants 98:1-3. "Fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks; waiting patiently on the Lord...Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you:...all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good."