Educators on the Edge

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Kiev Walkabouts

Victory Day - May 9

We had the day off from school so we decided to explore more of Kiev. The botanical gardens, we heard, are especially beautiful in the spring. It was our main destination, but saw a lot of other sights along the way. We took the Metro from our neighborhood, Svyatoshyn, to Shulyovska three stops away. From there we started walking. We did a lot of walking that day! I think we covered about 20 kilometers (10-12 miles).

We passed the entrance to the city zoo

and the circus.

The next picture shows the outside of a hotel. "Ibis" must be a chain of European hotels because I remember staying at one in Paris in 1979 while on a school trip. And that's why I took the picture.

This is where we stopped for lunch, "Oliva!", an Italian restaurant.

As it turned out, the botanical gardens were closed for the holiday. I took this picture of the sign by the entrance gate. I also took a few pictures through the fence as we walked the perimeter of the property.

An advertisement for Ukrainian Airlines.

I'm not sure what this next building is, but it had some beautiful mosaics across the front of it.

A WWII memorial with fresh flowers placed around it for Victory Day.

A selfie in the park!

It was a great day. We decided to take these walks more often when the weather is nice. It was a good way to help us understand the layout of the city.

Ladies Day Out - June 8

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon Joyce, Kristina, Jessica, Traci, and I decided to go out for lunch and do some shopping on Andriyivsky Uzviz (Andrew's Descent), a cobblestone street in Kiev lined with souvenir stalls, Ukrainian crafts, and Soviet memorabilia.

The street is named after the apostle Andrew, who is believed to have climbed the hill here, affixed a cross to its summit and prophesied that this would be the sight a great Christian city.

Saint Andrew's Cathedral at the top of Andriyivsky Street

We ate lunch at a small bakery/café known for their fresh homemade sweet and savory strudels. I decided to have the vegetable strudel so I wouldn't feel guilty about having a big piece of chocolate cheesecake for dessert. The other savory strudels included chicken and cheese, onions and salmon, and cheese and mushroom. The sweet strudels included cherry and apple. They also had an assortment of cheesecakes and other pastries.

You could watch the baker assemble the strudels through the window.

We ate on the outside porch of the bakery.

It was a very busy day on the street; there were lots of vendors and lots of shoppers.

A beautiful mural depicting Ukraine.

Me, showing off my new Ukrainian headdress, and Traci showing off her new Ukrainian blouse. We all came home with some special treasures from the day including the memories we made being together.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Spring School Activities

School Picnic-May 24

It was a beautiful sunny day.

Thank goodness for some shady areas

Yummy ice cream on a hot sunny day!

Several local artists and crafters had booths set up. A portion of their sales went to the school parent support group.

I had to have it.

High School Prom- May 31

The prom at Kyiv International School is sponsored by the Student Council. As student council co-advisor, I have attended/chaperoned a lot of events this year. The student council officers went all out for this one. It was held at a club in Center City, Kiev.

KIS Student Council Officers and the DJ

The crowning and cake ceremony

The food was amazing. There was also a hot food buffet and a sushi table. The kids devoured the sushi as soon as it was put out!

Student Council Advisors- Miss Katie and Mrs. Barton (Jay is an honorary member-he attended every event with us)

Our prom picture

Waiting for our taxi- it was a long night!

Graduation June 7

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Spring Break 2014: Spain

April 18-26, 2014

FIRST STOP: MUNICH, GERMANY

Our flight was from Kiev to Malaga with an overnight layover in Munich. We arrived at the Munich airport and took the train to the downtown location where we had booked a hotel near a well-known beer garden, the Hofbrau Haus. We had been to the American version of the Hofbrau House in Pittsburgh, but this was the "real deal". Even though it was Good Friday, the restaurant was open and the place was packed. However, in observance of the religious holiday, there was no German Oompah Band playing that evening.

Taken from the train as we passed by-another sign of my European ancestry

The Outside of the Hofbrauhaus

The Inside

It was so crowded that we had to walk around for a while watching and waiting for a spot at one of the many large tables where strangers from all over the world became friends before the meal was over.

Here we are with our new friend, Nickoli from Switzerland.
It's uncanny how much he looks like our friend Nick in Myrtle Beach!

The waitresses walked around selling these huge yummy pretzels.
One was enough to share!

Our Hotel

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it was very nice on the inside, and they had an excellent breakfast buffet in the dining room on Saturday morning.

Saturday

After breakfast, we took the train back to the airport to wait for our friends Keith and Marybeth who were coming from the USA. From Munich we would all fly together to Spain that afternoon.

DESTINATION: MALAGA, SPAIN

When we arrived in Malaga around 5pm it was sunny and warm. The resort where we stayed was south of Malaga along Costa del Sol, actually closer to Marbella than Malaga. The next two days would not be as beautiful weather-wise. Of course that didn't stop us from having fun.

Our resort- Miraflores

Our Spanish hacienda for the week

The resort is built on the steep, rocky coastline

A view of the Mediterranean from our bedroom window

Easter Sunday

We may have been in Spain, but we had a Ukrainian Easter morning. I brought chocolate eggs and a traditional Easter cake called "Paska". It reminded me of raisin bread, so we sliced it, toasted it, and ate it for breakfast while Keith read the resurrection story from the Bible. We had good intentions of finding a church, but jet lag and not knowing our surroundings yet, kept us from venturing out until later in the day.

Around noon, we walked down the hill and crossed the highway over to the beach. Here we found "Antonio's", a small restaurant which happened to be open. It was cool and rainy, so we ate Easter dinner inside. We would return later in the week for another meal. It was that good!

Antonio's

The coastline

Monday

Our plan for Monday was to take the train to downtown Malaga and take a tour of the city on bicycles. Unfortunately it was another rainy day (downpour rainy!) We took the train there anyway, a long 45 minute ride, and only ever got as far as a sidewalk café right outside of the train stop. Thank goodness it was tented. We ordered lunch, and waited for the rain to stop. We ordered cappuccinos, and waited. We ordered wine, and waited. After almost 3 hours we got back on the train and returned to our condo! We never saw Malaga again until we went to the airport the following Saturday.

Monday evening the rain stopped and we enjoyed tapas and wine for dinner on our backyard patio.

Tuesday

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day and left early for our guided tour to the mountain village of Ronda, home of the oldest bull fighting ring in the world. We joined a bus full of other tourists for an hour ride up into the mountains. It was one of those hairpin, hair raising road trips as we drove almost 2400 feet above sea level. If you were brave enough to look out of the bus window, the view was breathtaking (literally), but beautiful.

Future matadors?

The gorge between Old Ronda and New Ronda

We had lunch on this terrace

We visited this Spanish winery

Wine spigots built in the wall...I love it!

Mary Beth found her own barrel of wine

The following pictures show the colors, architecture, and sights of Old Spain:

Wednesday

On Wednesday we went to a little seaside village one bus stop away from our resort. It was market day. After purchasing a few souvenirs at the market we walked around the streets and down to the beach. It was a bit breezy and chilly, but we got our feet wet in the Med, if only for a few seconds.

This village was also home to a restaurant that was supposed to have the best paella in Malaga. We intended to go there for lunch but it didn't open until 4pm. Jay and I were the first (and only) guests when they opened the doors. In fact, we had the place to ourselves for most of the time we were there.