Highs and Lows

Things I'm not loving about Ukraine right now:
-Learning how much I don't like cats. This time I woke up to cat throw up all over the sink. And poop down the hall. It smelled lovely.
-My host mom's dogs. Now I know why I am not allowed to see them. They weren't locked up when we got home today and our host mom was gone. Kalley opened the door and one of the dogs tried to kill us! Seriously. We hurried and closed the door on it and sat in the dirty hall outside our apartment for almost an hour waiting for her to get home. The whole time, even with our silence, the dogs growled and barked their heads off. We ended up just leaving anyways to go to Institute.
-Walking down the stairs to the metro station and being overcome with the most muggy, smelly feeling of my life. So much for showering. Then you get closer to strangers then you should ever get to anyone. Smashed together with a mix of b.o. (seriously Europe, please hop on the deodorant bandwagon), alcohol, bad breath, and smoke. Not something I've gotten used to. The metro itself is a cultural experience.
-Being in charge of planning trips. When it looks like everything is working out perfectly, something falls through. And being an accountant for 18 girls money on the said trip...scary business.

Things I am loving about Ukraine right now:
-Doing baptisms for the dead in Russian. My first time in a temple in another country! I got to go to the Kyiv temple on Saturday. It was beautiful, wonderful, peaceful, amazing, and perfect. Everything I needed.
-Institute/FHE with the young single adults. Our last young single adult activity we played catch phrase with some Ukrainians that spoke pretty good English. One boy started humming the tune "born on a mountain top in Tenessee..." This conversation proceeded in the intense settings of catch phrase!
Me (yelling with much excitement): Davy Crockett!
Antolly: Yes! I mean no....it's Betty Crocker!
Me: Betty Crocker? Do you know who that is?
Antolly(completely serious): You mean that song ISN'T about Betty Crocker? What?!
Me (now laughing hysterically with everyone else): That song is about Davy Crockett! A mountain man! He killed a bear when he was only 3! Betty Crocker is a brand of cakes mixes and stuff!
Oh the laughs language barriers bring.
-Knowing the Russian alphabet and feeling awesome as I read signs everywhere! Even though I can't understand the words, reading them and practicing the alphabet is like cracking a secret code! It is awesome.
-The Pecherska Lavra, a monastery where mummified monks lay in glass caskets and you walk around with candles to see them. More to come later.
-McDonalds in Ukraine. I finally went and boy was it wonderful. My favorite hot fudge sundaes....they put in cups made of cone! Why do we not do that in America? And it was cheaper. I'm such a sucker for McDonalds, and I'm willing to admit it.
-Babysitting for an American family in my ward who provided me with salad, pizza, and root beer floats(perfect for remembering Clara). And I got to make a surprise phone call home with their international phone.
-BREAD. I'm addicted. I crave it all the time. And it is so cheap here. Our host mom provides it with almost every meal but Kalley and I still find ourselves sparing 20 cents on a loaf at the supermarket just to snack on!
-Being able to find my way around my apartment here in the dark! It feels more like home when you can do that.
-The peace the gospel brings us wherever we way be. The happiness we can choose to have no matter what is going on around us.
-The fact that I am leaving for Poland tomorrow night!

Do'svidaniya! (goodbye in Russian...impressive I know). Talk to you later once I've been all cultured in Krakow, Poland!