KIEV

Today a man got squished in the trolley bus. It didn't make my day. He fell unconscious and 2 men drug him off the trolley. The doors shut and we left. I hope I never get squished!

LOST

Today me and an ILP teacher that lives with me, Marina, had to to find the school today, by ourselves. We take a trolley to the metro station, "Metro Minska," and then walk to the school. We were able to find our trolley and headed to the metro. We got off, crossed the street, and looked hopelessly at a crowded square of people as the snow fell. We walked. Our walk turned to a trudge. We peered out over the vast city of white, slushy, dirty buses. Everything looked the same; the people, the buildings, the apartments, the streets, the signs..just everything. I decided to call one of the local coordinators for our program. We started to talk. She asked where I was in order to help me get to the school. ...of course I don't know where I am. She asks me what metro I'm at, but come on. I am in a foreign country! I can't read one blasted sign. No. Not one. She then tells me to hand the phone to someone. I gave the reply, "To an old lady?"...why....why did I ask that? haha I looked. There was a man selling something on a table on the side of the street. He looked safe?... as safe as a street seller can look I guess. I walked up to him and motioned from my mouth to the phone. He took it and talked to the woman. He then handed me the phone and started doing all kinds of hand motions and speaking Russian. I gave him a confused smile and walked. We just walked. Finally, the other ILP teachers decided to meet us. They found us, and 2 hours later we made it. Glad that is over!

MONDAY

TODAY I saw a woman get squished inside of the trolley.
It shouldn't have made my day, but it did.

Cram em' tight!

Kiev is the capital of a European country. There are about 3.67 million residents. Hundreds of flats (apartment buildings) line along the city. Some are hundreds of years old and most of them have bars on the windows. They look pretty sketch, but some of the bars are for decor, believe it or not. I guess it's soviet style..
Me and some of the other ILP volunteers decided to stay at our head teachers' apartment the night before church. Notice apartment is singular. We made the hour and a half journey there and walked in the door. 1 bunk and 2 beds. 25 people. 2 rooms, 1 small kitchen, 1 toilet, and one bathroom. 25 PEOPLE.
It was interesting.

We lined up along the carpet. some kids were hanging off chairs, some decided to sleep on the wood floors in the kitchen. ....and might I add the bath tub. Yup, that basically sums it up. We crammed. Our ages ranged from 17 to 22. Sounds like a crazy party? No. It was a ridiculous, RIDICULOUS idea. Over the night, some people got 15 mins of sleep, others got at most 3 hours.
We got up at 7:15 and made the 2 hour trek in the slush and snow...in our skirts and tights into the white abyss of Kiev, Ukraine.
We are DEDICATED.

KYIV, UKRAINE January 22

Today was Sunday. My head teacher and other fellow ILP teachers decided we wanted to make the 2 hour adventure to church together. Our group of 25 people journeyed to the head teachers' apartment to stay the night before. I took a trolley, walked to the metro, rode the metro, walked, caught a bus, and walked to the apartment. It took an hour and a half.

Sunday morning:

8-walk to the bus, ride the metro, catch another bus, miss the stop, and finally walk to the LDS branch building. ...this took another hour and a half.

All in all, traveling to and from church took the course of 5 1/2 hours.

I think it was worth it.

KYIV, UKRAINE

I have made a few observations from the past four days that I have lived here:

1. All women dress up. No matter the weather, I"m talking four inch slush and 24/7 snowfall, women wear 4+ heels.....ALL women. No exceptions.
2. Fur is in.
3. Don't wear tennis; not with pants and certainly not a skirt!
4. Look angry. It's normal.


Rules I've Broken:
#1- I wore my boot cut black jeans, and a sporty waterproof jacket. ....Come on. It's waterproof!
#2-Fur? I thought that was in Anastassia's day?! Maybe? ...like 50 years ago? Anyway, apparently I'm not in the "in crowd."
#3-I didn't bring any boots. So what have I done? I wear my tennis every day....even with my skirt.
#4-I like to be a happy person so..I smile. I wave. I say thank you or "spaciva."

Rules I will continue to break:
Welp, probably just about all of them.

Europe Here We Come!

O

The Work of an Amazing Mom!

It was time for me to go back to Idaho for college. Almost 1,000 miles away!! I did NOT want to go. We both drove up and unpacked my things...and...well I broke down basically. I didn't want my Mom to leave me. I know. I know. I am a college sophomore and I don't want my mom to leave? It's true. I love my mom! She is my best friend. SO...after my Mom saw how much of a mess I was, she got a hotel room for the night. Not just any hotel room, but, an Italian Suite!!....It was one of the only suites left. We thought, what the heck? Let's do it.

As we opened the door, the room was dim-lot, we walked in further and saw the rose petals that had been sprinkled on our bed. Ooooooh romantic. And of course, to top it off, our JET JACUZZI. There was complimentary sparkling cider, wine glasses, and popcorn. Awesome!!! Who would have thought an Italian Suite would have worked out so great! Me and my mom just sat and relaxed and talked all that night. My mom, with her brilliant mothering sense got me through. I love you Mom!!

EUROPE!!

My family and I have planned a trip to Europe this coming August. We had two foreign exchange students that came to live with us two years ago. We plan on going to visit them and their families in Holland and Germany. These two girls are like my sisters and I haven't seen them for awhile! I am a traveling girl and have always had the knack to explore and adventure new places. We are in the midst of planning all kinds of adventures. I am so excited to see these girls and have an awesome month!

Jen and I have been roommates the past 6 months. We're bot from Arizona, but hadn't met each other before we came to college. I love Jen. Every day is a new adventure with her. We do EVERYTHING together. I mean everything. We are a little crazy when we are together and no one probably understands us, but I love it. I don't know what either of us will do when we have to separate for the summer. This sounds a little cliche, but I am serious!

EAGAR, Arizona

I just finished up my semester at college and drove home for the summer to Eagar, Arizona. I love my little town. As we drove in the wind was blowing 70 miles an hour. Good ole' Round Valley in the spring. The grass was yellow and one might think that there is not much to look at, but that is how it has always been. That is how I know it and I like it. When I go here I feel I'm at home. Everyone knows everyone. Our neighbors will come over frequently and borrow a few eggs or will borrow the oven or a pie dish. Everyone is family here. I have all my family here. I have 4 aunts and uncles as well as my grandma that live within 2 or three blocks. There are definitely a lot of family reunions we would say. I guess those are just a few things that I love about this little place. I have noticed that since I have moved away to college I have truly been blessed to live here and call Eagar my home!

Free money?!

It's kind of funny how much you change going from a kid in high school to college student. I had a $10 gift card at K Mart and so I decided to go spend it! I walked into the store and saw things I hadn't seen for awhile...LOTS of food; stacked to the top of the store! Lots of chocolates and candies. I guess I don't go shopping all that much. I found myself asking myself if I needed to buy appliances for the kitchen, or if I needed a toothbrush, or shampoo. Then I found myself in the socks section! You realize that $10 can really go far. I decided to branch out and finally ended up buying a new kind of wheat thin crackers. They looked pretty nifty and the bag looked creative, a can of honey roasted peanuts- I love these and used to eat these all the time. I haven't had them for awhile!-, and a box of Oatmeal Squares. Delicious! And it only took me an hour! Wow. You've got to love the college life.

The TUTUTS of Four

Our senior year these girls and I decided we wanted to start a bucket list. Yes......we went down Main Street looking like crazed psychos on roller blades. We decided to go at 2 a.m. Oh yeah...we were going all out. It was freezing outside, but so worth it! I hadn't been on rollerblades since....well probably when I was about 8 or 9. It was a rocky start, but we had so much fun taking pictures and going crazy. There weren't many people up at that early hour, but whoever was witnessed what great lengths girls go to create some fun in a small town.

Hamblin Threesome

These are my WONDERFUL sisters Jess and Blake. Our family is big on being involved in music

and the arts. During the summer I can remember nights where we would all go into a room and sit there for hours while Jess and Blake practiced songs on the guitar. We sang in

all kinds of harmony.....we would definitely experiment with things. It got pretty interesting sometimes.It's funny to think about all the fun little memories in life. The simple moments are definitely the most precious moments in life...especially with family. I love them.

Moment of BRILLIANCE

The other day I was in math. I'm a shy person. I don't do well with starting a conversation let alone keeping one up. I sit by this young man that seems to have a shy sense to him as well. I learned that he had lived in Italy for the past two years and knew Italian. I got super excited! You see, my seminary teacher had served in Italy and had so kindly taught us an Italian phrase. I knew Italian! I had practiced this phrase and had it down. I was feeling bold....and feeling that I could show off a little bit of my "talent" I basically shouted; hand gestures and all . . . . the PHRASE. He got suddenly red...his eyes were big as he covered his mouth and just sat there with the look of (Wow.... that was really embarrassing. Please don't say anything else.) He never told me exactly what I said. I don't even know this guy.

Well shoot.

Blogging? What?

After the unrelentless pressure of my roommate and sister, I decided to start a blog....so I thought, what the heck? I need to start blogging! I'm HORRIBLE at keeping up with my journal or anything like that so who knows how great this will work out!