So. The second performance we did this year was a medley from musical Newsies. I auditioned for the lead role, Jack, and I was able to play the part.
Here is Alex and I after the performance. My stage makeup was a little messed up, as I was sweating throughout the whole thing.
We had only three weeks to pull this 10 minute medley off, and in the end, it was really good. Take a look for yourself in the video below. It's kinda long, but cool.
Alex is trying to hide behind me as I pose for a picture but is looking like ... well... I really don't know.
This post is dedicated to the pictures of my family:) We took almost an hour to say good bye...it was sad, but we also knew we'll be seeing each other soon.
Alex, Uncle Sasha, Aunt Halia, Mama Olia, Robert, Babushka Maya, and I.
Sad kids...
Four generations!!
Babushka Maya with her two oldest great grandkids.
And many more pictures together.
Robert showing Mika how to mix cards.
Katya, Babushka Olia and Babushka Maya.
And still being dramatic.
Two beauties:)
Alex and Babushka Maya. He always loved hugging her:) and she really appreciated it:).
All right, not so sad any more.
It was so wonderful to see family! It always is. I really hope that we'll get together again soon, on either side of the ocean.
Pretty much every city/town that we have visited in our European travels has several sides to it--a beautiful touristy center, poor part with graffiti and rubbish, a well off housing area, and an industrial region. Kyiv is no exception. While we love seeing beautiful churches and fortresses, the majority of the city does not look very well maintained if you go outside of the touristy area. Things have been getting better though in the last twenty years, that's for sure. But there is still a lot of unfinished constructions, dirty streets and untaken care of roads. The country is struggling, and it is clear. There is a huge devision in income between two groups of people--the very rich and the poor. And people are not sure how things are going to get better in the current political environment. I do feel quite removed from the worries and stresses of the Ukrainians, but my heart still hurts for the people who don't want to give up and want to keep working towards a better future. The whole needs to make changes though and not just a few honest people...
As we were driving around, Katya was taking lots of pictures with my or Katia's phone. So I'll share a few.
City-hero Kyiv. Every city that suffered during the WWII is called city-hero.
This is what many parts of the residential "sleeping" areas of Kyiv look like. Multi-story buildings with little space in between them.
The amount of cars on the roads has definitely increased ten fold in the last two decades. Many people use public transportation every day still, but as you can imagine, parking next to all those multi-story houses is a problem...
This is what the old-style Soviet multi-story apartment buildings look like. They usually have nine floors and balconies that people either leave open to the air or that they frame with windows to have more storage area and a place to dry clothes when it's raining.
The roads in Kyiv are much wider than in Lviv, but congestion is still a problem in the city.
And since Kyiv is a city-hero, there are many monuments throughout the city to commemorate those horrible but victorious years of our history.
New churches are still being built, in a very interesting style. I think a lot more people nowadays go to church, even if not regularly, than when I was growing up.
We found this fun sign pointing in different directions around the word, such as Taj Mahal or Gdansk in Poland or LA.
And even with all the modern developments and renovations that the city had undergone prior to Euro 2012 tournament that Ukraine and Poland hosted, there are still so many areas outside the city that remained untouched by the progress;). This is quite a gem, a relic of a car "Lada", a very popular Soviet make of a car that my grandpa used to drive and we thought was the best car ever. Apparently they still make Ladas nowadays.
We saw a lot of REAL and interesting sides of Ukraine and I am glad that the kids were able to do that. Seeing life that is very different to our routine life is an amazing experience for them that hopefully influences their formative years for good:).
On the way back from the ethno village, Mark and I got to ride in the car with Andriy, Katia, Halia, and Petrusik. As our route home took us pass the Kyiv LDS Temple, Katia pointed to this beautiful building and suggested we stop by. So I said, of course, yes!
As we turned towards the main gate, we passed by the security guard. We stopped and Andriy asked him if it's okay if we go walk around. And he said something like "no, you can't". And I had to chime in at pretty much say something like, "Whaaaaaaaat?;))) sure, we can. We can walk around the temple grounds here just like around any other temple in the world". It was Saturday afternoon, the temple was not closed, but I think he was a bit weary of people just driving in and maybe not behaving respectfully on the temple grounds. I assured him we knew what we were doing.
This is Kyiv temple. It was announced in July 1998. But it took twelve years for it to finally be dedicated in 2010.
It looked glorious in this beautiful Ukrainian weather!
I was so grateful my family was supportive at visiting the place that is important to me.
We took a few more pictures and then went inside to the front desk. I had never been inside the temple wearing just casual clothes. I came up to the front desk and asked if my non-member family could step in for a minute. They said that, of course, they could. So Katia, Halia, Petrusik and Andriy came inside to see how beautiful, light and magnificent the temple looked inside! It's one of those mysterious places for many people, but to us it's simply a very sacred place.
I found this neat short video about the reasons why the Latter-Day Saints build temples.
I love to see the temple. And going inside is a very special experience indeed. We always feel so close to Heavenly Father when we go to the temple.
On the way back home, even after such a short visit to the temple, we had a very good discussion about our believes and what other people believe. It meant so much to me that my family was open and willing to accept so many ideas that are close to my heart:).
So one day my aunt Halia, organized us all so we could go visit one of the ethno villages (open air museum) near Kyiv. The kids were happy to be together, although Mika couldn't come as he was at a special Saturday lecture-camp for teenagers.
We had to mix up some cultural sightseeing with playing;)
So did the grown ups. Here is Katia and I.
Someone labeled this picture on facebook as "mafia".
And here is the whole group--Andriy, Katia, Halia, Sasha, Lyana and Robert.
Back to playing. Do they still have seesaws in the states?
Katya jumping as usual.
And this is where Petrusik kicked over one of the wooden statues;)) And was noticed by one of the staff but didn't get into too much trouble.
We went into one of the preserved huts that had been transported in one piece from some villages in Ukraine to show the people what 18-19 century houses looked like.
Lots of embroideries:)
Just waiting for the rest of the crew on the porch.
One of the wooden churches.
And then we wandered into the special pottery hut where kids could make their own clay pots. So we decided to stand in line and let the kids do it.
Mark was a good listener. The potter was speaking English and Mark understood it all.
He was really enjoying:)
Here is Mark, the potter, with his finished vase:)
Katya was next:). She was kind of shy about the whole thing, but did a great job!
We got to watch the kids make pots three times!:)
And even recorded this little video, that might be a bit long (and we'll see if it works).
Petrusik was last and kudos to him for waiting for so long and observing Mark and Katya make their pots first.
On the way back home, we called my mom who was staying at home, to get the vareniki ready! It was a huge treat for the kids, who love them:)
