Breeze in the Bathroom‏ E-mail -- March 26, 2012

Hello from Ukraine!!!!

As my title is really weird and you're probably wondering what it means, I'll explain. So in Ukraine, bathrooms in apartments are a little different than American bathrooms. We have one room with just the toilet, and then the room right next door with the shower/bathtub, sink, and washing machine in it. So in the bathroom with the toilet in it, for whatever reason we can feel a breeze in there. So this morning (a particularly windy morning) I was listening to the wind outside, and feeling it in the bathroom! Don't ask me why, we can't figure it out. That's just one of the culture differences here, two rooms for the bathroom. Another difference is that no one really has beds or bedrooms. You sleep on your couches, which are pull out couches. It's actually really economically sound, you only really need 3 rooms, a bathroom, kitchen, and living/bedroom. We also pay for the plastic bags when we go shopping, so if we're buying something small usually use just put it in your purse. Speaking of grocery stores... they have serious security guards here. Not mall cop uniform ones, but ones that wear suits and have hand-held walkie talkies. They stand at the end of the aisles and look really intimidating. Zach will enjoy this one...cashiers at grocery stores get to sit! In really nice comfortable rolley chairs! Living in a different culture really is a lot of fun!

Something else interesting, everything in Ukraine is done in cash, so we take money out of an ATM and that's the only time I use my card. Money here is an 8 to 1 ratio with the US dollar. For every 8 hriven, it's 1 dollar. There is also no sales tax, kinda cool.

As for the language. Mom, we get General Conference here a week late because it's on DVD and if they showed it real time it would start at about 5 in the afternoon. We do get to watch it in English with Elder and Sister Mayberry. They're a senior couple that serve our mission and five others as the medical advisers. They spend a lot of time at our branches and will show us General Conference in English on his computer. As for understanding Ukrainian/Russian. Understanding is still really hard at this point. It also doesn't help that I live in the capital of Sergick and nobody speaks pure Ukrainian here. I hear a lot of Russian, and my companion is a Russian speaker so I actually understand a lot of Russian at this point, but learning Ukrainian is still my primary focus. Sister Jacobson always asks our members or investigators to speak in Ukrainian as much as possible, but some of them don't even know Ukrainian. Sometimes it's really beneficial that I don't understand a lot, we've met a lot of interesting people with a lot of interesting ideas. There are a lot of superstitions here and you have to be careful not to offend people.

So health wise, I've been sleeping really well, jet lag really didn't get me after the first few days. I've lost 10 pounds my first week in Bila, we walk everywhere. We also eat better here, there's really no fast food. My feet hurt a lot for about a week. Last Friday we spent all day on the street and by the end we both just laid on the ground, elevating our feet on the wall. We also bought icy-hot, well, Ukrainian version. It was really fun trying to explain what we needed to the pharmacist. That's another thing, there are pharmacies everywhere here! Apparently when people feel the beginning of a cold, they medicate hard core and stay inside until they feel better. I wish we could do that but it's not very conducive to missionary work. I bought new boots at the reenik on Saturday. A reenik basically is an open market, it was crazy and totally awesome!

Well, there's not much more to say. We get up, exercise, study, walk to center, walk, walk some more, go to appointments, then walk home, study, and then sleep. I'll send some pictures.

As for what I need, I could really use a cook book full of recipes. Preferably not one you buy, but recipes you use. This can be a birthday present, take your time with it. As for immediate things. Taco seasoning, Enchilada seasoning, and sage. (Those are requests from Stan, an American in one of our branches, although I really want some taco seasoning too) Also some peanut butter M&Ms. Don't send peanut butter, I'm not craving it yet, and I don't want to start, otherwise this will turn into a vicious cycle. Some velveeta and shells would be cool too. When you send a package just address it to the address at the mission office, but just put my name, not the Kyiv Ukraine Mission! The custom fees will be huge!

Love you! Have a good week!

If you want to know anything specific in my emails, just ask, I'll try and answer questions.

Sister Daniel

Who Says Ukraine Is Cold? E-Mail - March 19, 2012

Hello Family!!

I hope everyone had a great week, it sounds like it from all of your emails. Mom, Alise on facebook is a member here in Ukraine in one of my branches.  She has the calling to play the piano in sacrament meeting. Something I really wish I would have had more diligence learning. The church actually pays for her piano lessons and right now she plays the hymns right hand only on the keyboard in our building. She's super nice and is a great example of the people here. Our branches are awesome, they're all so new. The oldest members of the church here have been members for about 13-14 years. Together there is about 70 people who come regularly, and about 40 who are less active. We cover both branches so we're at church for a total of 7 hours every Sunday. Zach, we definitely have coat racks here in Ukraine.

It's actually been really gorgeous here the last few days. It hasn't snowed since last Sunday and it's probably been in the 40s or 50s. The only difference here is that there is a certain dress code in Ukraine.The babuskas (grandmas) yell at you if you don't abide by it. And that is that you wear tights, boots, coats, scarves, hats, and gloves until they say winter is over. Which might not be until April. And you better not wear short sleeves until then either. It's intense. And really, really, warm. The heat here is interesting. All of the buildings are heated by hot water running through the pipes. On April 15th, they turn off the hot water, and then every one has their own boiler for individual hot water.

Work here in Ukraine is much different than it was in Virginia. One big difference is that we walk, everywhere. I actually really like it now that most of the ice and snow is melted, it feels so good to just be outside. And honestly, I'd rather walk than ride a marshutka which are buses that go throughout the city that you can take. We also do a lot of street contacting. It's really interesting to meet all sorts of different people. My Ukrainian is slowly improving, I can understand the jist of most things when people are talking. Most members LOVE that I speak Ukrainian and not Russian. Sister Jacobson thinks it's funny. Also they all say my Ukrainian is so pure Ukrainian, I'll take the compliments where ever I can get them.

Mom, I don't know if you would survive here. We live on the fifth floor, and one of our less actives that we see a lot lives on the 9th floor of a building and we take elevators. If you can imagine the elevators here are not what they are in the states. You'd be walking a lot of stairs. We also stay out of our apartment most of the day. We only come home to eat, which is how it should be.

Shopping here is different too. They have the best bread, hands down. We shop at a grocery store which isn't much different than what you find in the states, but if you want something else you can go to a reenik. They are outdoor markets and they remind me of something you would see on the Amazing Race. It's something you just have to experience.

Zach, I have gotten the plane joke already especially since my companion is done with her mission at the end of this transfer. She looked up and said "guess how far away that airplane is?" About 13 months! There are somethings about Ukraine that would be considered third world, but it's amazing, the church thrives everywhere.


I've eaten borsh! It's actually really not bad.

Well, that's all I can think of. I got to go to Kyiv this week and ride the metro, that was really fun. Oh, and I have permission to write people outside of my family via email, so mom maybe you could write that on my facebook page, with this email address, that I can email them back.

Thanks!!

Love you!

Sister Daniel

Walking, Water, and One Room Apartments‏.... E-mail - March 12,2012

Hello Family,

Well, this is my first official email from Ukraine on a p-day. I think I fooled myself. You see, I've been so excited about getting to Ukraine that I forgot that it really is a different culture. We got here on a Wednesday night (I think) and immediately went from the airport to the temple. On the way we got an idea of what our mission president is like, he spoke almost the whole way there. He's a very strict guy that values a lot of honesty. Overall, he's exactly the mission president that I'm supposed to have. He also does crack jokes. Anyway we got to the temple (the mission office is on the grounds) and took some pictures. President loves taking pictures so if you've been on that website you know exactly what happened those first few days. We got to stay in a hotel the first few nights just because there were so many of us. That first night I was the first to be interviewed. It was kind of weird just because I was so tired that I was tired anymore. Sister Ebeling and I went back to our room and pretty much passed out. We didn't have an alarm clock that first night so we prayed really hard that we'd wake up at 6:30. We woke up at 6:27am. Thursday was a long day of orientation and training. We spent a lot of time together as we learned more about the mission. One thing I wasn't expecting to find out right away was my assignment. Apparently, in most missions the president doesn't assign you a trainer until you're here and he's met you. But because of the new laws associated with our visas, we have to be registered by our landlords, which means President has to assign us before we even get there.

On Friday we met our companions and headed out. I about had a heart attack when Sister Jacobson sat down and I realized that she's a Russian speaker!!! We're the only training pair that has different languages. She's from Idaho, Swan valley, and went to BYU-I. She's already done with school, but she was a math education major and a geology education minor. We had some of the same teachers! She is almost done with her mission, in fact this is her last transfer. Which is weird, this means that I'll have a different trainer that will finish my training next transfer.

So Bila Tserkva. There was one thing that I heard about Bila in the MTC and that was that it was known for it's Surgick (spelling??). Which is basically a mix of Ukrainian and Russian. Which means, there is no just Ukrainian here. In order to get to Bila we had to take a taxi, to get to a marshutka (bus) to take us here. Bila is about an hour and a half Southwest of Kyiv. It's named for a white church (that's what Bila Tserkva means) in the middle of the city. We walk, a lot. I guess that just means that I'll finally lose all of my weight. And I'll tell you, I'll never complain about potholes in the US roads ever again.

So the water. Ukrainian water is interesting, it has a light brown tint to it sometimes, therefore it is necessary to have our monster water filter. It filters the water 3 times, then it is drinkable. The apartment is basically one room. The toilet is in it's own closet size room, the sink, bathtub/shower, and washing machine are in another little room. The kitchen's actually a nice size, the living room/bedroom is the main room. We sleep on what are basically pull out couches. It's a really fun experience. Don't worry mom, I'm being safe and healthy. Our apartment is on the 5th floor and has a very interesting elevator though.

We cover the two branches that are here in Bila, along with two sets of elders, one for each. Elder Fisher is the district leader and he's training one of the elders that came out with me. Elder Greenwell and Newsome are the other companionship. They're also a new one in Bila, but Elder Greenwell was Elder Fisher's comp, and Elder Newsome is almost done with his mission. They're all really fun and we see them a lot. Mainly because our area covers both of theirs.

Ukraine is an experience, but I love it.

That's all for today!

Sister Daniel