First Day!

After nearly 3 full days of travel; from 13 hours of plane rides, to 18 hour layovers, to 12 hour train rides, taxi's, and vans... we have finally arrived in Ukraine, and what a trek it has been.

First of all, I would like to say that British airlines are AMAZING. I loved their food, and the plane was HUGE. They gave us full-on meals with English tea, and I watched quite a few movies on the way over. We didn't get to explore London, but did end up sleeping there in the airport during our 18 hour layover - it actually wasn't that bad, I didn't mind. Once we got to Kiev, Alexandra was able to barter for a taxi to bring us all to the train station (therefore bypassing the bus stage). From the moment I walked on board the train and into our box compartment, I automatically thought of Harry Potter and pretended I was on the Hogwarts Express :P At night, we turned the padded benches into beds (there were two fold down beds above the lower benches)I took pictures and I hope to post them soon, although at the moment I am having a few computer issues (Andrea, now I know how you feel!)

Colleen (our host/organizer) was waiting for us when we got off the train (in Donetsk) and drove us the rest of the way to Donetsk Christian University. We drove past many beautiful buildings and sites on the way there, including Russian Orthodox churches with gold-plated domed tops, beautiful long stretches of parks, and even mafia headquarters here (although we couldn't see past the huge wall surrounding his extensive territory :P) It was pretty awesome nonetheless.

I've already fallen in love with the campus here, and it feels like I've been here forever. It feels strange to be on the other side of things, and I don't feel like I'm as far away from home as I am. In fact, quite a few things remind me of the states, even if there are differences.

Right now we are preparing ourselves for the work to come, as we start teaching classes on Monday. We've been learning different teaching tips, lesson planning, 'Survival Russian' (for our trips into town), and just any information on Ukrainian culture that we will need to know when interacting with students. I'm looking forward to starting, but feel inadequate at the same time. I know it will be difficult, and almost feel overwhelmed when I think about all the things we will be doing, and all the full days ahead. I'm glad I'm an assistant, I can't imagine being in charge of so much - and I realize now just how lucky we are to have the Russian speaking individuals that we do.

I wish I knew more Russian... :P