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| Reflection times with catching up |
I got ricied today really bad while journaling. By accident I pressed a link in my browser and next minute you know I'm viewing Calgary weather, and lost my entire journal. That is not bawling.
Again from the top
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I just finished putting up all my digital photos from the trip. There are a couple days of pictures that I don't have. I do have the other 10 though and a few hundred photos online. Definitely have a look at all of these as they will give you a really good idea as to what it was really like in the Ukraine
http://www.tapestrycalgary.com/media/thumbnails.php?album=1
http://www.tapestrycalgary.com/media/thumbnails.php?album=4
Thursday July 14th
I got a bit behind with journaling the last few days so I will start by playing a bit of catch up on here. Today it feels like we have a routine going in the Ukraine, which was more than I could say for the first week. With having a set schedule everyday as far as the English school days were alot more structured. I would usually wake up around 10, quickly polish some breakfast. Even get a quick work out in on the park at DCU. When Kent would pick us up we would either meet some our students like Victor and Trevor did today, or Kent/Rachel would take us out shopping for a bit. Today the rest of the group kept pretty relaxed and did some english planning at Kent's before our lessons.
Lessons went really well again. Today I gave as review and as an open class for questions. We did alot of vocab of things around the house, and clothing items,etc. Bible study was on the Bible, which went really well again. The last hour, the games hour, is always alot of fun. Games and songs. It's always funny to get a random group of people singing songs, and playing games.
By today all of us were really comfortable teaching our classes, and with our students. The two relationships that I felt really grew, were the one between us and our translators, and the I.P. team. Both of these two teams were a huge blessing, and a joy to work with. I look forward to staying in touch with both of them and hopefully even getting back over to work with them again.
After Class we always go out for dinner as a group, to vedge out a bit, and spend some time reflecting on the day. We went to Yo-Mi-Yo which is right on the river(well more like water reserve). It's a very nice place. Big grounds all around the main building which is like a big lodge. There was live music inside, and a huge patio around the outside, which is where 95% of people were sitting. Since we were a big group(12) and the patio was full we were inside, which was nice and relaxing. The food was the best we had eaten since been in the Ukraine. Very good quality and the service was expentional which is rare for that part of the world.
Friday July 15th
Last day of english lessons. The day started off again like usual except for when Rachel came to pick us up today, we went to another Market. That was alot of fun. I bought some socks and a pair of sunglasses. Today was a really good day for me to get to know Trevor, as we walked around all day together. I think we were all a bit exhausted from walking and the sun, but after polishing a burn, and a meal later we were ready for our english lessons.
Today being the last day, I basically left the whole class as open. I was very tired so I'd admit that I wasn't quite as enthusiastic as I would have liked, but the class still flowed well. Victor and I taught about Jesus today as a closing to our bible lesson. The whole week had been geared towards this day, where we our hopes were that substantional enough relationships would have been built that the students would carry on with I.P. once were gone in future bible lessons and english clubs. With the survey that the students did we found out that more that 70% of them were interested to keep on with both studies. That was an encouraging number for all of team tapestry to hear. The last hour today rather than being games and songs, it was more of a lesson based hour. Victor started the hour of by giving his testimony. A song and then Natasha(I.P.) Gave her testimony in Russian. Another song. Then my testimony. I was nervous burgers for this prior to getting up there. I don't know why. I guess it was more the anticipation and the tiredness of myself that was behind these feelings. Anya my faithful translator was with me, and I gave what I would say was my best testimony. The most relaxed and all from the top of my head.
I never realized until today what it really meant to me and to them to be sharing these parts of my life with them. It was a really good feeling.
Although we would see them at the bbq tomorrow morning. Today was a big closing for alot of us with our students,etc. It's amazing at how well in a weeks time you can get to know eachother.
We went to "The Three Fat Men" Restaurant which is just across the park from the community center where we were teaching. This was a big group. 20 of us, with a couple students, I.P, Kent, Translators, Tapestry... I wasn't a big fan of the Pizza, but talk to Victor and you'll receive another story. Say it's sausage, and Victor will eat it by the... anyways, he'll enjoy it.
Saturday July 16th
Last full day in the Ukraine. And a good one at that. Met all of our students at 10am for a picnic just of the river(well more like a reserve,ricies).. Spent alot of time getting to know some new people that were there. Like Olga's daughters. Those two. Kids are kids no matter you are in the world. Sometimes not being able to speak the language makes for some interesting situations, but good thing there mom is a translator.
Alot of ball, Lunch, some songs. We had only planned for the picnic to go until noon, but it was easily 2 by the time we were out of there. We walked over to Marina and Natasha's apartment where we had a debriefing time with the I.P. Team. These were some really special times. We spent some time prayer walking with them to wrap up our time together. Back at Kent's flat we spent a couple hours there debriefing with Kent. It was about 6 now, and Kent thought before supper that it would be appropriate to take us out for another adventure.
So he dropped us off about 10 minutes away from his house by the Amstor, and Mcdonalds. Two teams. Same teams as the market day, and we had to race back to his house. Food/taxi, anything. I flagged down a taxi right away, and needless to say we made good timing. We told our driver the biggest landmark we could think of near Kent's, and just pointed from there. 15 Greiven later, we arrive at the same time as Kent. Victor, Cerena and Linsdey were along a few minutes later. If I say we got ricied for supper, would you understand what I meant? Lets just say the food was incredibly below average, and our server, was dead like I'd never seen anyone before. What a night to end of the Ukraine. That night was our good bye's with Rachel and their two kids, Tessa Princessa and Sam Sam. It's actually hard to beleive how good Kent and Rachel were to us, so it was sad to not be able to give them more of a thanks then we did, but I know that they know how appreciative we were.
Back at DCU, I spent my night playing chess with Trevor and Nick. Ryan always goes undefeated 7 games in the Ukraine. After Packing, and shower and bed.
Sunday July 17th
This is the longest sunday of my life, and early mornings come, well early. Our flight left at 9:30am from Donestk. That was a smooth flight, to start our travelling off, with a couple hour layover in Kiev. Even that went smoothly. Next minute we're on a flight for 10 hours heading to Canada. Even that went smoothly. Lack of communication, and tiredness, and temperature made for an interesting time in Toronto. We couldn't get onto a standby flight, so our layover was scheduled for 3 hours. With a day of delayed flights, being late in the day the flight we were scheduled on, was affected, and it was already an hour later by the time we boarded the plane. Now trust in Air Canada to give you problems at the end of a long day travelling. It's almost midnight now, but with the 7 hour time change, we were feeling pretty below the grid. Once on the plane, we sat for about 20mins, and then the Pilot comes on to give us an update that it's only going to be like another 30 minutes as they give the plane a tire change and a few other things. The plane started getting really hot as they had to remove to cooling unit for a bit, during repairs. That was not bawling. Flight left, and was a nightmare from elm street. Not that once in the air, the flight was really that bad. Just bad service, uncomfortable ride, and tired. We did though finally arrive in Calgary, at like 2:30 am. Our team of supporters I guess started large, but slowly weedled down until there were 4 left.
That takes me to today. I'm glad to be home. I finally got to sleep at about 5am last night, and not being able to sleep in today, is having it's effects, but I'm holding out. I am right? I'm going to finish up this journal, and come back in a couple days to give more of a follow up as far as reflections in the aftermath. After all it was only 8 hours ago I was struggling on that last leg from Toronto.
Paka,
Ryan |
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