Show me your city,Sviatohirsk Cave Monastery, and the grocery store

The concert!!!

Team Ukraine ready to go!

The Football Stadium

My Personal Tour Guide Olga

Katya and I

Friday night was "Show Me Your City" night where the students had to take us to the city and show us using only English. It was a lot of fun. There were probably about 30 of us. We all stayed in one group. We started out in Lenon Square. In Lenon Square there was a concert going on. You all know how I love concerts, so I was standing there moving my head to the music and the Ukrainians were like "you know this song." I said "no." They started to laugh. The concert was a celebration for the city and apparently the president was there. Well the biggest excitement in Ukraine is the Sports Stadium so that is where they wanted to take us. So we walked about an hour to the sports stadium. On the way, we past beautiful scenery, lots of statues, and amazing buildings. Olga was my personal tour guide. She knew a lot about the city. She told me a lot but I don't remember everything. We finally arrived at the stadium and it was HUGE and very nice. In front of the stadium is a big football (soccer ball) that moves. It was really neat. The students knew so much about this stadium. After there we all got on a trolley and rode to the American Embassy (McDonalds) and ate dinner. McDonalds was packed. There are no lines you just have to push your way up there to order. The workers understood what we were saying so that was great. After we ate we took the trolley back to our flat. It was a really good night. There is so much history here in Donetsk.

Pushing the Football!

On Saturday we had to wake up early and take a 2 and half hour bus ride to Sviatohirsk Cave Monastery. It was a beautiful place. This monastery has been around since the 16th century. We had lunch there. We walked into the church while service was going on. Then of course, I had to go to the bathroom. So we found a bathroom inside the Monastery and what do you know there are no doors. They were squatty potty's with no doors. I was laughing so hard. One of the girls with us could not do it. I have seen every type of bathroom. There was a beautiful river that we sat by and talked. Then we decided to walk up to this huge statue. It is a statue of ___________. (I am not sure what his name is. Will put it in when I find out.) The walk was long and uphill. It was very hot that day as well. As we were getting close there was another church made out of only wood. They did not use any nails. IT was beautiful. We finally got to the top with the statue and the view was amazing. That was my favorite part of the day. It was worth the hike. The truck back down was much better. We had some ice cream then headed back. On the way back we stopped at a sunflower field so we could all take pictures. So the bus driver just pulled off the side of the road and we got out. After a few minutes, the bus drive turned the bus around and left. Yes that is right the bus driver left about 20 people on the side of the road. We were like what is going on. Our tour guide said he forgot something back a the monastery he will be back. SO we had to hang around at the field for about 15 to 20 minutes. All we could do was laugh. I still cannot believe the bus driver left us on the side of the road. When we got back Margaret's husband Jim made homemade chili and corn bread. It was amazing. We were so happy. It was a great day.

The Montastery

The Beautiful River

The Church made out of only Wood. It was Beautiful!

The View from the top!!

Another view from the top.

Sunflower Field that we stopped to take pictures then the bus driver left.

My Favorite

Love

The Bible verse we were learning. I believe it was John 1:1

On Sunday, Katie and I decided to go to the church that meets here at school. It is all in Russian. My friend Katya, translated some of it. It was fun but obviously we could not understand anything. I think next week I will go back to the African Church. After church we had lunch and laid around for a little bit. Then we decided to go to the grocery store on our own. So we walked to the bus stop and waited for trolley 11. It took a little while for the trolley 11 to show up. So we got on and we were so proud of ourselves. We took the trolley to the Amctop store. We went to get a buggy but they were all chained up. We did not know what to do. So we waited to watch someone else do it and you have to pay for a buggy. You put in a 50 cent coin and it will unlock. We were all laughing so hard. Once we got our buggy we went shopping. It was fun to be able to walk around on our own and look for groceries. We ordered bread from the bread counter. The lady was saying a lot of things but we could not understand her but we got our bread. We were very proud of ourselves. After we were done shopping we had to catch the trolley 11 again. We stood outside for a long time. I am not sure how long  but it was long. Finally a trolley showed up and it was packed. We did not know if we would be able to get on but we did. Plus we each had a huge bag. Then at the next stop a men got out of his seat to get off and all the older women were pushing and shoving each other to get that seat. My arm and grocery's got got up in all that. I was thinking I don't want the seat I just want my food. Then the next stop and older women was getting up from her seat and before she got up she tugged on my shirt and told me to sit in her seat. I thought that was very sweet. So I finally got a seat. The next 5 or 6 stops people kept getting on but no one was getting off. The trolley was very packed. When you ask a  Ukrainian how many more can fit on they always say one more. Finally our stop was coming up and there were about four rows of people in front of the door. So we pushed our way to the door. We got off safely. Then we had to walk the long path home with our big bags of grocery. It was a work out. When we got home we made a pizza and we cut up a watermelon. Dinner was very good. We accomplished a lot today. I think we are becoming Ukrainian.

Denaya waiting for Trolley # 11 with all of our groceries

The grocery store we know how to get to:)