Life is VERY good.
What a great life we have. Being in the Temple with so many good people who are serving and dedicating their lives to doing good things for others.
When we do have some time not in the temple, we have many options of things to do. We can stay at home and take care of "home" stuff, get office work done for temple, visit or play with other missionaries, go shopping, visit one of the great restaurants around here (from so many different countries and regions), or head into town for cultural things. I am going to show you some of the things we have been able to do and see during the last couple of months since we have blogged.
In March we went with some friends and saw the National Ballet of Georgia.... It was a beautiful event with ladies looking like they were on skates their steps were so smooth, and men who were doing jumps and steps with not only their feet but with their knees as well... I will include a link so you can see them..... the ladies in white are so smooth and gentle compared to the intense men.
Then in May we got to go see the Virsky Ukrainian Dance Company which was a lot lest militaristic and very Folk Dance oriented. There are so many videos on them but most of them are just one dance. They were so varied and technically difficult, that I will give you a video that is a general overview and then you can go to a variety of others (on the right of the YouTube page) if you are wanting more.
The colors and costumes were so beautiful, but the agility and skills of the men were breathtaking. It was extra fun to go to the concert because Jess and 2 of her girls had just arrived that day for a visit and they got to go with us, At the end of the week, they said that the dancers were their favorite activity of the visit. It was an amazing Performance.
Don't they look darling in their Ukrainian headbands!!
It was so fun to be in the audience as well, because so many of them were wearing their vyshy vankas (Ukrainian Clothing) I tried to get some pics of the clothing of the audience, but they didn't turn so well, but here is one family.
The costumes of the performers were SO beautiful. What a great culture. I love them.
They even had young performers who were dressed as beautifully as the adult performers.
What a great experience.
We have also visited
Mamayeva which is a Cossack village
Pirogovo
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF FOLK ARCHITECTURE AND LIFE OF UKRAINE
and
The Museum of Corruption
the
Mexhgoirya Residence
The Cossack village
was the smallest of the places we visited, but it was a great representation of what life was like during that time of settlement.The girls visited it with us and their favorite experience was the singers, learning some of the games they played, the blacksmith, and of course the horses!!!
Pirogovo is huge!!
It contains several different sections in the park that represent different areas and time periods of Ukrainian history. We went on a beautiful day and the weather was perfect as we were shown many different styles of homes, schools, and places of worship.
And Brent got to try one of their instruments!!
There are lots of windmills and the cool thing about the windmills is they are movable!! They are huge, but are on round disks and have an attachment that allows them to be rotated depending on the direction of the wind.
this is just one section of the museum, so you can see how big it is.
We loved our walk and learning all about it. I think we will return!
The Museum of Corruption
is the estate of Viktor Yanukovych and was created and lived in when he was Prime Minister and then President of Ukraine. It is now a museum displaying Yanukovych's desire for opulence and my take away was "Me-Me-Me". He wanted everything that anyone else had and the very most expensive form of it. (sounds like a 4 year old).
He used a LOT of money to try and make himself happy.
This is the map of the estate. The house that I posted above is number 16 in the center just above the word posted. That gives you a feel for how big the estate is.
This is the gathering room. Notice the piano in the bay window. It puts the room in perspective.
The Spiral staircase in the entryway.
The view from the railing around the bar-b-que (below.)
Why have a grill when you can have A GRILL. This was one of the outside bar-b-que grills. There was also one in the dinning room in the middle of the table. Why bother to go outside when you can grill right at the table.
The best part of this month was my going home for Dani's new baby and having Jess and her girls come here.
It was a great blessing to be able to go home and help the Owens family for a week and get to know little
Zander Bennet Owens
and spend a little time reconnecting with family.
Having Jess and the girls here was truly a sweet experience. In addition to the activities mentioned above we also:
Learned to make Ukrainian Dolls with sweet Tatyana
Going to a puppet show
The puppet theater is huge... and beautiful. Like a princess's castle.
Eating Pizza at 4 different places
Experiencing THE LAST BARRICADE
Visiting many different Rynoks to get all the souvenirs they were looking for
Going to the temple
Putting puzzles together
playing Svintoos (swine) a Russian card game - It is kind of like Uno, exept you have pigs that tell you what action to take.
Singing with the missionaries
Maggie and Lucy sang a special number in Sacrament meeting
These are the new Ukrainian Dresses they wore when they sang
Playing Volleyball
And just spending a lot of time together, playing, hugging, and just being together.
Like I said, LIFE IS GOOD!!!
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