My day started by going to church with Dima, he is a member of a Protestant church. It was a great experience. Although I didn't stay the entire time (because church runs from 11am-2pm), I stayed long enough to see what it was like... they had a very up beat choir with a band (guitars, drums, keyboard) and the members of the congregation were all up singing. Although I couldn't understand what they were saying (of course), the atmosphere around me and the people there made for an excellent experience all on its own. Following church I had a Skype date and then went home for soup, bread with mayo, cheese, sausage and green onions... I will say that the mayo is better here... I think because it is somehow made with more natural ingredients (this is saying a lot because I Love Hellmman's Mayo!!!). So you may think that this is all I had, but no I was also given a plate of pasta with sausage and cheese!! Of course it was all amazing! Now lately there has been some friendly 'yelling' between Slava and I over the portions of food she is giving me... this woman plates enough food to feed the both of us and I try (with the Very little Ukrainian I know right now) to tell her that the food is great but that I just cannot eat it all (even though I do because how could I not it is soooo good!) and so I attempt to take my plate over to the pot or pan and put some back in before sitting to eat, but she tries to make me keep it all and if I do get some back she ALWAYS grabs a spoon and says 'a little more'... I say no and usually 'win' as I can be very persistant, although she then shrugs her shoulders and sighs.
After lunch I studied for a bit and took a short nap before heading to the stadium to meet Jess to work out... this has been interesting for us as we have very old play ground equipment to work with, but we have figured it out for the most part!!
I then went home to study some more and for dinner I had soup (because there is always some kind of soup with every meal!!), raddish salad (which by the way I was unaware of how delicious raddishes were) and PEROGIES!!!!! Sooooo Good! After dinner Slava helped me with my homework and then we went for a walk to get some fresh air before bed... We stopped to talk to this lady from the building and I believe I was witness to some apartment gossip because they were speaking normal and then the other lady started to whisper and kind of look around and both of them were making facial expressions that involved some eyebrow raising and the kind of 'ohhh....' (attitudeish response)... funny cause I have NO idea if this is a correct assumption, but I have become very in tune with peoples body language here as a method of survival, so I may not be too far off on this one. There was one point later in their conversation that I did feel a little uncomfortable as I knew that Slava was telling her that I am a student and had 2 jobs in Canada before coming here and that I live on my own and that I have student debt (I knew this because we had just had this exact conversation the night before, so it was familiar) but from the reaction of this lady and then Slava's response, I wasn't sure what else was being said about me and that made me feel a little out of place and kind of like 'the rich Canadian girl'... A part of me wonders if this lady questions why I am here and that if I cam here then I must have lots of money... I am sure that this crosses peoples minds from other counrtries, and as I am aware that I do have privilages that allow me to do these types of things... that it is hard to expalin (even more so with the language barrier) that it still takes a lot of work as a Canadian to get here (Ukraine) and that it is still Very expensive for the average person, very much including myself.
All in all it was a good day!
xoxo
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