Hey everybody! This is my blog for my family's trip to Ukraine (obviously, hence the title), so I'll be posting on it every once in awhile, giving updates. So, short introduction, but I suck at them, so I have an excuse. Just kidding! But lets get started! Woo woo! (<- I have no idea where that came from. The depths of the post-OCD mind, I guess.) Anyways, we arrived safely in Kiev on Thursday, February 2nd, where someone picked us up and drove us to our flat in the center of town. It was freezing once we got off the plane. We were like, "how are we going to be able to live with this cold?" It was almost impossible to enjoy our time we had in Ukraine's capital when it felt around -10 degrees. We sucked it up and toured Kiev anyway, going mostly to random, famous, gorgeous cathedrals there. We did visit the Fulbright Ukraine office our first day, and had some trouble navigating the metro, but we managed. It was really deep in the ground, not to mention heated, so I enjoyed that (or the heat, anyway). Pretty soon, however, it was Monday night--time to head to Zaporizhzhya. My parents and I met a Ukrainian professor who was traveling to Zap. to teach a class (she goes for a week, twice a semester) at the Kiev train station, and greatly helped us out with the train. It was so confusing, finding where we were to board the train when all of the announcements over the loudspeaker and the signs were in Ukrainian (or Russian. I can't tell the difference), but luckily we had Marina with us. Thank goodness! The train itself was cozy but small, with bunkbeds and bedding that the train lent us but I didn't use, preferring my sleeping bag. :) We arrived in Zap. at 5:20 am in the morning, where some English-speaking history professors got us a van and took us to our flat, a cozy, modern, and incredibly warm little place with a 36 inch flatscreen, one bedroom, living room, and kitchen. For the few days that I was in Zaporizhzhya, I left the apartment twice due to the temperature, but I did start my homeschooling! We've been going from subject to subject; first two pages in spelling book, then random math problems in the homework, after that reading the science text and asking the questions after the page, finally some history lecture-thing with my dad and then problem 1 on that section (and that can take me quite awhile. But that how I roll, history-wise). It takes longer than you'd think; rounding my parents up to try and explain the material to me is a long process. ;) We took the train back to Kiev on Saturday night (someone from the university helped us to get to our correct train), and arrived in Kiev at 6 a.m last Sunday. A taxi took us to our flat-for-a-night, and there we stayed until around one. At two my parents and I left to go to Myron-the director of Fulbright Ukraine-'s apartment, for tea, conversation, and stories with the other Fulbrighters here, which was nice. There was a guy there my age, so we and an 8 year old skipped the stories and headed outside, where we played some games before chilling on the staircase and playing games where it was warmer, trying not to be too loud and disturb the Ukrainians in the building. (I'm sorry, but this blog that I'm typing now is so... un-personal! I'm not adding the bits of "me" that I'm told are missed back home! The ramblings, and not overusing the words where and and! Grr... I'll try and personalize it, kay?) The metro took us to a hotel where (there I go again!) we met other Fulbrighters, then headed off to the US embassy! It was quite an experience, let me tell you that. ;) We had to check all of our electronics, and since we had already checked out of our flat-for-a-night, left our baggage at the entrance too. My parents, the other Fulbrighters, and I were shuffled to a conference room, let in by a Marine officer locking and unlocking the door, and the meetings started. I sat through meetings from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m, with a few coffee breaks. In one of which I met the U.S ambassador for Ukraine! He was nice and sorta funny, and told us that we're in Ukraine at a fascinating time. :D Anyways, I'm back in Zap. for now. I'll post some more later! (oh, and the paragraphs that I'm putting in aren't showing up in the website, so I'm not being obnoxious on purpose. ;) ]