Surviving the First Week

My posts aren't funny like David's...so sorry to all of you readers who were excited for more funny postings. David has another one coming soon that you won't want to miss though, so check back!
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The first week has gone much better than I thought. We are adjusting to the very different living conditions and have had an awesome time getting to know the people here. I am so grateful for the church - it gives you instant friends wherever you go. The Ukrainian members here are especially wonderful. I have already become really good friends with several of them. On Wednesday night, we went to the ballroom dance instructions at the church with Olya, her husband Alex is the one who arranged for our housing here and picked us up from the airport. We traded off holding Tay and dancing with David. It was really fun.

On Thursday I did laundry for the first time here - and I thought that I hated doing laundry at home where I have a big washer and a dryer...

In the evening, we went with the bishop's wife, Natalie, down to the city center and met her husband, Max, and went over to watch some of a soccer game. Kiev Vs. Donetsk, it ended in a tie 1-1. The intensity there was even more than at a BYU football game!!! This is a holiday weekend in Ukraine, so David didn't have to work Friday and he has Monday off too - yay!

Max, Taylor, & David
Here is our apartment window - David went onto the little balcony to take the picture. You can see how far down it is - 8 floors, scary! (For some reason this picture keeps going sideways even though I put it straight up - sorry!)

Dina, one of the wives who lives in the same apartment as us (and is due to have her 2nd baby any day) made pizza yesterday - mmmm!

Last night we went to the supermarket in downtown Kiev with the bishop and his wife and then had dinner at their apartment afterwards. It was pasta with veggies and chicken - mmm, it tasted like home! We also attempted to make strawberry shakes using vanilla icecream bars, some expensive strawberries, a pan, and a hand mixer. They were actually really delicious! The missionaries stopped by and we sent them home with some - they were quite excited. :)

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Today (Saturday), we went to the Chernobyl museum in downtown Kiev. It was a really nice museum and it was also very sad to see. Tay started screaming in the middle of being in there and David took him outside - he screamed for like 30 minutes and I could hear him from inside and upstairs. He finally fell asleep. Oh that silly little boy... :)Other updates: the macaroni I made was fine, but not so great - sad! Tay is sleeping much better, but still not great. Oh well, I'll take how he is now over him screaming for 3+ hours in the middle of the night!Tay is borrowing this little Ukrainian hat (along with some other clothes and toys) from Mark, the bishop's son. You can't go out without a hat at this time of year!!!