ukrainian remedies

Ukrainians have a variety of remedies for different physical ailments. It has been an adventure to learn of them, let me assure you. When my stomach wasn't feeling quite right about a month ago babushka had me lie down with my shirt pulled up while she massaged my stomach. The head coordinator here heard me cough and demanded I go home and drink a mug of warm milk, honey, and butter. unfortunately i just didn't manage to try that one out. About 15 minutes ago my host mom insisted I do a sort of dance thing with violent breathing in order to clear up my lungs. Between the twisting of my torso, flipping of my hair, attempts to breathe at the right time and with accurate force, I ended up just bent over laughing/hacking up a lung, which seemed to please my host mom.

You wish you would have seen it.

On a different note, I've had fun looking through some of my photos from my week spent in Bulgaria. I apologize to all those who are friends with me on facebook and have had their feeds blown up with my face. Except for I'm not actually sorry because dang those pictures are fun. And just so you know, I haven't even posted any of mine, so just buckle up.

But today I'm not posting any from the trip. A popular day activity for the younger generation here in Ukraine is to take portrait style pictures. And I mean heck, I have a camera and a member of the younger generation right here in my Ukrainian home. A photo shoot was inevitable.

I told her to look American.

I have taught her well.

And then the camera was turned on me and I didn't know what to do.

So I rocked the backpack like a full on 7 year old.

This is me trying to look more Ukrainian.

When my host mom saw this she said, "Maybe better if you stay American."

I hear ya momma.

Life here is great, even if going back to teaching after adventuring through Europe is super dang hard. At least one of the little girls brought me a flower today. Can you say "hashtag precious?"

peace and piano lessons
i'm helping my 8 year old host sister understand that looking at the music helps you know what to play. #mindblowing

rrw

fridays in provo. so they do exist...

Fridays are my free days. If you can ever arrange your schedule to not have school or work on Fridays, do it. And if you had to wait for someone to tell you to do so, there might be something wrong with you.
Alright, on to the point of this post! tell me if you find one.

Yesterday I spent my first Friday in Provo in about 5 weeks. Between Salt Lake, St. George, and Logan, I have spent very few weekends in Provo this semester. yeah, i'm one of those girls. sorry r.s. prez. The thing is, every weekend before this I have had reasons to leave. It was family birthday party weekend! Easter weekend! Conference weekend! That one kid I kind of knew in high school's homecoming weekend! I need to see Lindsay weekend! I wonder if that bed in Salt Lake is still as comfortable as I remember it being weekend! Well, I sat there on Wednesday (which is when I usually come up with reasons to leave for the upcoming fri-sat-sun) and realized that I had none. NONE. Sure, next weekend there's the Canyon Rim Arts Festival that my mom is in charge of and that I'm taking pictures of can't wait to see that CAMEL, and then there's the Boys and Girls Club Gala that I just can't miss and that homecoming where I actually do know the man speaking. guy? boy? boi? are they men once they come back? weird...

But this weekend? Nothing. So I stayed here. I talked with Lindsay on the phone, committed her to try to maybe get work off for a road trip we're hesitantly planning for around May-ish yeah, we're off to a good start, slept in, debated whether or not to go running for so long that I could have gone running and come back in the time I spent debating, actually DID go running beautiful day up Provo canyon, showered, watched a few guilty pleasure TV shows, went shopping at the outlets with two super cool girls, ate a burger animal-style and protein-style, watched Life of Pi, and then spent the next 20 minutes reading all about Life of Pi on sparknotes. how do people come UP with this stuff? i wish i had an imagination.

While running, remember? i bolded it up there just in case you didn't catch it. I was forced to think my own, actual thoughts because my earphones don't stay in. worse than it might seem due to my lack of imagination mentioned right up there. I wish I could tell you all about my philosophical conversation with myself, but the only thing I can remember was this mantra that kept coursing through my mind.

"Run, run, run, as fast as you can. You could probably catch me because I run like a gingerbread man."

Yep. After three months with walking pneumonia i was unofficially diagnosed over the phone by my Lindsay-friend-nurse-student and i'm going with it I have found my body to be completely unable to move at the speeds or distances I desire it to. Pleasant people, also running, would smile or say hi as they breezed past me. I could only respond with a wild look and a growl as I peered through the sweat dripping off my brow into my eyeballs. What can I say? I'm a beast. just not in the way it's usually used - that of referring to prowess or power in a specific field.

So thank Provo on the weekends. Maybe I'll see you again in about 6 weeks.

peace out

rrw