::A Day in the Life::

"This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." ::Lamentations 3:21-24::

***This post is meant to be long and give you an example of a day in my life in Ukraine.

Every day is truly an adventure in Ukraine, and I love it. Yesterday (Friday) was a very busy day for me, but a really good day. It seems I can make all the plans in the world, but they never go as planned. Some days I look back and think of what could've been done to make it more efficient or what I can do differently in the future, but really, it's just life in Ukraine. If it's not this, it's something else...that's the adventure!

I started the day off with a meeting with our coordinator, Dougle, at a coffee shop in the center of the city. We have been going through the book of James as a devotional, and then we just talk about whatever is going on. It's a good time for our team. Our Russian class starts at 10am at a university not too far from the coffee shop. Today was a perfect example of a typical Russian class for us. We spent the majority of time going over three questions which all translate to "Where?" in English, or more specifically "To where?", "From where?" and the basic "Where?" Each question has to be answered a different way. Yep, that's Russian for you.

After class, I met up with one of the missionaries, Katie, for coffee. We talked for a little over an hour, and then I headed off to get some lunch. I had in mind this Georgian place that sells what can best be described as grilled cheese croissants. They are SO yummy. However, after paying our teacher for the week of classes, I had only 5 griven in my wallet; the equivalent of a little over 50 cents. So I went looking for an ATM.

Some ATMs will only give out 200 griven bills when you pull out large amounts, but I knew of one not too far that would give nothing bigger than 100 (8 griven=1 US dollar). This makes life a lot easier, because so many places need close to exact change. An ATM a few weeks ago gave me 800 griven in all 20s, because it was out of big bills! It was great! So I try that ATM, but it won't take my card. I knew I had a 10ish minute walk to a different metro stop, so I figured I would find one on the way. The next ATM I tried told me it "Couldn't make the Transaction," and the third ATM was only in Ukrainian. I don't like agreeing to things I don't understand, so I kept going. Finally, right across from the metro was a line for a working ATM. I got my money and asked for a receipt. The machine then made me ask a second time as it told me "Consider Saving the Forest by Not Printing a Receipt!"

By now, I had long since walked past the Georgian place, and it wasn't worth the trip back. I was near a McDonald's (which I had eaten at for only the third time on Thursday), and a sandwich place I had tried only once before with a bad experience. But, armed with more Russian, I was ready to give it another try. I asked for a chicken sandwich, picked one of the two bread choices offered (having no idea what they were, just repeating one back), and watched as she began making my chicken sandwich.

She began by buttering the bread. Okay, I'm thinking, sure, butter on a sandwich can work. She layers on the chicken. A little processed, but very edible. Some other kind of meat. Must be more chicken? Cucumbers go on. Now we're talking. Common, and actually quite tasty on  sandwich. Cabbage. Not a big fan, but I can eat it. Unidentified, green slimy stuff. Uh-oh, here we go. More of it, slathered all over. Can't figure out how to tell her I don't want any more. Some funny black stuff. What is that? Mayonnaise-based sauce. Sometimes good, maybe there's enough to hide the other flavors.

I get it to go, pay and decide to take this sandwich outside and eat on a park bench. It was a really beautiful day. All of this took much longer than expected. I eat as much of the sandwich as I can so that it's not wasted, then buy orange juice and a Twix in the metro to get rid of the taste in my mouth. Next time, I'm just going to bring a list in Russian of exactly what I want on my sandwich.

The metro took me to some of the missionaries' home, where I was meeting Olivia to prepare for a Bible study I'm helping her lead tonight. I stayed for English Bible study, which was also at their place, and they even fed me dinner! It was wonderful, and I am so grateful. Cody, one of my teammates, led the Bible study in Mark and did an awesome job, then we ate sopapilla cheesecake. It was heavenly. An hour-long trip via the metro finished off my day, and I was home around 9:30pm for the first time since 8am. I love that tired feeling after a busy, but really great day. 

Every day in Ukraine comes with a new adventure, and I am so grateful to be a part of it.

-ej