A Trip to Kiev

Wow! What a day! I am utterly exhausted, but I'm so glad I got to go to Kiev. I spent the day with Cheryl, catching a Marshrutka (or however you spell/say it) to Kiev at 7:15. It sped to Kiev in record time and we stopped at Jon and Ruth's so Cheryl could do something concerning her broken computer, and they fed us breakfast.

After that we spent the afternoon running from place to place, making the most of the day. We went through the radio bazaar, a patch of narrow walkways through booths where they sold all manner of computer parts and electronics, and with help, Cheryl was able to get a phone and the new battery pack for her computer. I got lessons on how to ride and navigate the metro.

Cheryl is a natural teacher, I think, and I learned a lot from her. We walked all over the place and rode a bus or two, went to two grocery stores, and Epicenter, the gargantuan Home Depot of Ukraine, which looked and smelled so "normal" that I almost got homesick.

Along in the afternoon, when we got to the big grocery store which is sort like Sam's club, we stopped at a restaurant called Pasatahata. It was a small cafeteria-like place, and ended up with borsht, eggplant, and liver :) What a combination! But I loved it, actually. I didn't realize it was liver until Cheryl mentioned it...but it wasn't too strong, and I was plenty hungry from all that walking, so I relished every bite.

It was chilly and overcast all day, (around 50 F) and when we came out of Metro (the Sam's Club place) it was raining. Jono was in Kiev too, with his van, and he and Jon and Ruth had come shopping, as well as a girl named Sveta (a different Sveta) and Natasha from Rzhishchiv. All this stuff piled in the back...We jumped in the van (it would be impossible to take that stuff on the metro and marshrutka) and I was stabbed with a keen sense of delight at being bundled up in a car on a rainy, chilly afternoon...I've always loved that at home, and it gave me the same thrill here.

So, as happens pretty often around here, plans changed (or were there actually plans to begin with?) and instead of riding back with Jono and Cheryl, since they were going to be pretty late bacause of somewhere Jono had to go on the way back to Rzhishchiv, I took a Marshrutka back to Rz. around 7 with Jon and Sveta (Ruth stayed in Kiev.) It was raining and got dark while we were on the bus, and I sat kind of dazed on the bus, tired but happy and thinking back over the hazy activities of the day.

I think God really gave me grace through Cheryl today. She let me yak and be anxious and just listened...and then offered a little kind, practical advice. I got dizzy while on the metro and realized I've been a little weak and haven't been eating a lot of protein...it's so easy to just fill up on bread and sweet stuff here. And I also have been scraping by with a lot less sleep than usual. She reminded me that taking care of my body physically really can affect my attitudes and all that. I've been so anxious and worn out, and my jaw was really bad today, which in turn affects my head, neck, and eyes...I won't go into more detail, but it did dawn on me that I do have to pay attention to what my body needs. I'm not superwoman.

With that said, I think I'll go to bed. Thank God for a good day. He's doing so much with me, and sometimes I feel like it's selfish adn that it isn't affecting people around me for good. I'm just a mess. But He says that even those weaker parts of the body are valuble, so I'm trusting that word. Thanks for the encouragment...