"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

Today was awesome and horrible all at once. Sometimes horrible in an awesome way, sometimes horribly awesome.

It was awesome that I got up in time to go to the church to clean it, and horrible that no one else showed up besides my two chicas and I, and the door was locked. More time for shopping, yet we still had good intentions for the day.

It was awesome that Dominoes is right next to Andrivsky Street, where we were going on the hunt for matryosha dolls & nativity sets, and horrible that we all felt compelled to order ourselves small pizzas. And horribly awesome that ehhh we ate it all.

Andrivsky Street is my new favorite place (picture below). It is supposedly the oldest street in Kyiv, and the street is cobblestone, and it is lined with charming old buildings and little vendors selling all sorts of souvenirs. It is steep and winds up to this cathedral that looks like it is out of Candyland. Also there was a dog pile. A literal dog pile. Like 10 mangy dogs all cuddled up in a corner with some babush watching over them and covering them with old blankets. My favorite part though was all of the oil paintings on canvas lined up the street! Hundreds. I have a passionate love for canvas art. They were beautiful. And the artists were right there touching them up! So talented.

I didn't take this picture, I googled it. It was another day where I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera along!

So in the states if someone was in a giant panda or a squirell costume it would be an enjoyable occasion and you would laugh and take pictures. If you are on the metro in Ukraine, it is scary and you should avoid eye contact. My girls were chased by Shrek and Bart Simpson last week because they took a picture and didn't pay them. So they warned me to not take pictures, but we got harassed anyway. Panda man came up behind me and was tickling me or trying to pick pocket me, I am not sure which, so I just yelled " DON'T TOUCH ME!!" And startled him enough to where he backed off. And then Squirell man leaped onto the escalator in front of Janelle and did these creepy hands at her and would walk down the steps as she attempted to get on,, and I think she yelled at him ,and we waited till they were a ways up before we got on again. I felt like I was in a bad dream. What the heck. But seriously. What the horrible.

We then went to the National Art Mueseum, and to be horribley honest I think I preferred the canvas paintings on Andrivsky to the catholic religious relics displayed. What is interesting though is how old they are!! We think things in the states are old, false. These paintings are hundreds of years old. Next we I think we are going to try the Modern Art museum, we heard it was interesting. Anything to get out of the cold! We were out all day but it was FREEZING.

I am so grateful to the ward members here in Kyiv! One couple had us all over for dinner and we had lasagna and delicious salad and CAKE. We were in heaven. We had bonding time. I love my girls. They are AWESOME & so much fun. What was horrible was when I took off my hat from being out in the snow and cold all day, my hair was seriously matted. Not tangled, matted. Tressa had to comb it out. Thank you Tressa for rescuing my hair.

Tragedy struck when I decided to lay on the bed that we put our coats on. I haven't laid on a real bed in a month and a week. I sleep on a horrible hide-a-bed. It's title is fitting. I do want to hide it- in a dumpster. The bed was from heaven. No lumps, no springs, long enough. Then all of my chicas laid on it. And simultaneously both loved and hated our lives. I miss a bed so much. I didn't know if I would be able to pulled my stuffed with cake body off of it. I did. Comforted by the thought that in 118 days I will be able to snuggle my lover in a real bed, with a real mattress, and a real comforter. It is the simple things that make life good my friends. Also, blog posts that turn out to be novels. Also, when you realize you ate dinner 2 blocks from your house and walked home instead of taking 2 different metros.

Ok. I am through.

luvs,
Kayla

PS: NEW OVEN IS INSTALLED!!! It is electric!! Goodbye matches. Hello modern technology.