Week Thirteen

     Holy moley, I've posted a lot recently! But every stop of that vacation deserved its own and definitely more. Getting back into teaching mode after our long vacation was kind of difficult for me, especially because I got pretty sick over vacation. But life goes on and children get cuter, which makes everything worth it.

     On Saturday, Big Tanya took some of us to the Lavra, which is why Kyiv is known as the Golden Dome City. The Lavra was originally a few caves built in the 11th century by a monk outside of Kyiv, but eventually became a HUGE complex of caves, churches, and monasteries. We went in some caves that contained mummified monks, of which I didn't take pictures (but I do make a smokin' babushka). I just don't do mummies. The caves were definitely interesting to see, but I also felt kind of disrespectful because most people were there to worship, not ogle. We found a spectacular overlook of the Left Bank of Kyiv, which is where I live, went in several of the churches, and got to climb the bell tower. We got to the top of the bell tower right before this half hour bell concert thing, which was unbelievable.

     Kyiv is a beautiful city, even though it's not spring yet; sometimes you just have to search for it a little. After some dinner with Kyiv 1, some of us girls went over to the Little's apartment to watch the Relief Society Broadcast. The Little's are a family in the International Branch that moved in the same weekend we got here - I absolutely love them!  

     I've been trying to not think about going home, but no longer. Today is my two week mark - I'll be home in exactly fourteen days!