My Adventures Where in the world is ….

One night we heard a commotion outside.  We had our windows open some so that is probably why we heard it.  There was a group of teenagers gathered in the parking area across the street.  They had music playing and they were having a great time together.  I think one of them must have just gotten a video camera because they were hamming it up for the camera and taking pictures at different angles.  It was fun to watch them.  They were just having such a good time doing nothing but singing and dancing and being together.

So I took a photo a couple of weeks ago with my missionary phone and perhaps it is a little better representation of our hill.  I just figured out how to download the pictures so here it is.  If you look across the street and up you can maybe get a little better perception of how steep it is.  See the cars – they park literally wherever they find a spot.  Sometimes they box each other in – it is so crazy to see where they get to and wonder how they will get out.

I took another picture the other day.  It is of an interesting building we pass every day.

This appears to be all the same building – not sure what it is as we pass across the street and not in front of it. The top part is very old and the bottom some newer but in the middle there is this very modern glass structure that seems so out of place to us.  You can also see how the land goes up in this picture.  This is actually at the top of the worst part of the hill and it is easier to climb this part – perhaps because of what we have already climbed.

 

Here in Ukraine International Women’s Day is a really big deal.  Men take the day off work.  Most federal offices and post offices are closed, banks are closed, and schools are closed.  Early in the day (Wednesday this year) it was almost eerie how quiet it was as we walked to work.  Almost no cars on the road at 8am and almost no people either.  Later it was a different thing.  Looking out my window there were large groups of people walking around – families as well as just large groups.  Sister Clendening said some were “protest” groups – but they are quiet and just carry a few signs – not at all like in the United States.  Over all it is a day to celebrate.  You see flowers everywhere and balloons and people going out to celebrate.  Of course, Ukrainians love to celebrate so any excuse is a good one but this is almost as big as New Year’s is.  We even had fireworks at night.  Many restaurants had free or reduced prices for women and the clubs mostly had get in free for women as well.  It was really incredible to see how they celebrate women here.

Then on Saturday our branch had a celebration for Women as well.  Elder Morgenegg was asked to come early and if he wanted to bring something to share.  He made his famous Maple Walnut Rolls and they were a big hit.  The other men also brought or made goodies.  We had a wonderful program first and then the treats which included: a cup with a fruit pudding in it, a cake with a delicious fruit topping that soaked into it, another cake with a crunchy topping and these delightful little puff pastries with apples inside.  The had a red drink which I thought was cherry juice (a big deal here and we love it) – it was not and I am not sure what it was but one of the missionaries said it was red rose leaf tea.  I didn’t dislike it but I did not love it enough to have seconds.  The men were so proud of themselves and they should be.

At the beginning they had several things that they did.  The counselor in the Branch Presidency was in charge but he had a returned missionary young man conduct the meeting. We sang appropriate hymns:  “Love at Home” at the beginning and “Families can be Together Forever” at the end.

The Counselor, Brother Kazachikov, first gave a tribute to women and to his wife.  We didn’t have translation for all of it but what we got was so sweet.  His wife is a beautiful woman with such a beautiful smile – her face is always a smile in fact and although she doesn’t speak any English (nor does he) they are very friendly and welcoming.  Then the missionaries assigned to our branch sang a song. Here is a picture of them – it is not very good because I took it on my missionary phone and it doesn’t take high quality photos.

Then they had a very funny skit with two brothers from the branch.  One dressed up in his Sunday best coming home from work, the other dressed in one of his wife’s dresses, tights, shoes and a scarf who is playing the wife.  The wife gives her husband a welcoming hug and a gift.  He opens the gift and then throws it aside and sits down and starts eating the meal she has prepared.  She immediately sits and backs away from the table with her arms folded.  We couldn’t understand the words but we got the message.  He obviously did it wrong.  They argue – he puts on the tie she gave him – she tightens it as much as possible until he is almost blue – he tries to apologize – she puts on her coat and starts to leave – he works hard at apologizing and finally wins her back – they hug and go off arm in arm.  We were all laughing so hard.  What good actors – and on Sunday they are both so serious – he often teaches Gospel Doctrine.  Very funny.

Then a cute young boy and girl who obviously are trained dancers danced for us. Here is a picture I took after.

Then there was a game.  The young man who was conducting invited a young man up and put him at the chalk board and turned the chalkboard around.  Then he invited up some others and gave them each a balloon.  He gave some instructions and then gave them each a marker and turned the board around to reveal an alien the young man had drawn.  Then he invited up our young missionary with the police hat to choose the best drawing.  They were all hamming it up and it was very funny.  Then we heard lots of popped balloons as the children got the balloons after.

Then they showed a video they had secretly made with all the brethren in the branch individually giving a part of the special message to the women.  It was taken on a green screen and then they added lots of assorted flower backgrounds.  Elder Morgenegg doesn’t know what he said but he was a part of it all as well.  It was so nice.

Then the men all got us and sang a song that they really hammed up.  It was so funny to see these serious men so silly.  The counselor was the funniest.  He is always so nice but so serious and he really go into the singing.  Here are some pictures taken of various parts of the singing.  The man in the center who is using his arms the most in a suit is the counselor.  His wife was not able to be there but it was videoed and shown in Relief Society the next day.

I understand other branches also had celebrations but I doubt any topped ours.

This is such a great branch to be a part of.

So Saturday was such a nice day we decided to go for a walk along the river again.  On our way I took a picture of the playground in our “gated community.”  Here is a picture of it – seems like a nice place.

Then we went for a walk along the river.  It was such a beautiful day but since it only got up into the 50s it got a little cool when the sun started going down and we were glad for our warmer jackets.  It was our preparation day and this was our exercise so we wore our jeans and that was nice as well.  We still had our name tags on so we were official.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that was our walk.  It was still a beautiful day when we returned but it was getting cooler so we were glad to go inside and be comfortable.  We had left our windows open and it was comfortable inside but we soon were closing them as well.