Kiev

Last Sunday morning, the team left Vinnitsa. We drove five hours to Kiev. A good portion of the team is new this year and hadn't toured the city, so we spent the afternoon in the city, exploring and souvenir shopping. 

We celebrated Kristine's 25th birthday on the bus. Yes, candles on a bus! Masha and Eunice were so thoughtful and also brought the things to make Kristine's favorite coffee drink while on the bus. 

Rainy Kiev. It rained the whole drive there, but stopped almost as soon as the bus parked. After that the day was sunny, hot and humid!

This is a public bathroom in a mall in Kiev. I had to pay 2 grievna to use this and it smells worse than it looks.

Euro Cup things are EVERYWHERE. Ukraine and Poland are hosting right now.

Russian Orthodox Church

 We went to a famine museum, there in memory of three forced famines during Ukraine's history during the 1930s-40s. 

We lit candles in honor of those who died in the famine (25% of Ukraine's population during one of the famines!)

All around the museum, names of people who had died scrolled on the walls. There were little platforms all around the room with huge books on them that listed every person who died and their cause of death (they had about 900 pages of names)

 A view of Kiev from the steps of the museum

My very first Ukraine roommate, Kristine, seven years later.

We arrived at our hotel after the famine museum, hot and tired. Everyone changed and cooled off and then we met for a worship service. 

After our service, we had a Georgian meal. We mistakenly thought that the food on the tables when we arrived was the meal in its entirety, so we consumed meats, cheeses, fruits and bread before realizing that it was the appetizer. Oops. I think there were four courses after that. 

On Monday, we saw the team off to Paris. It was SO strange hugging them goodbye, leaving them at the airport, and riding in the huge coach bus with only four of us as passengers.