I’m Home!

Dai greeted me with a hug and pushed my cart to his car. I was very thankful, as I was exhausted and had little energy. We went to the apartment where I would be living for the next year, to drop stuff off, show me the place, and allow me to create a smaller bag, to take to his house for a few days. This took a little while—I had a lot of stuff packed in there, and it was hard to decide what I would need for a few days. I really was tired! My new home had a couple “Welcome” signs that Vala (Vall-yuh) had made for me. And some fresh flowers—not so fresh in the pictures, I took the pictures later.

Dai explained a couple things to me about culture and practicality and then off we went to the school. I met a couple people at the school and saw my new classroom—1A. Cute little room. It looks like I will have no more than 15 students for each course—6th grade math, Algebra 1, and Pre-Calculus. The school is not too archaic. They are currently renting part of the building from the deaf orphanage. Kiev Christian Academy hopes to have their own building sooner than later.

Dai then took me to his home, where I stayed for the next three days. This was a huge blessing! I was able to acclimate to the new culture, in an “American” home setting. Tuesday, the day I arrived, I forced myself to stay awake all day—until 9:30PM. I ate an apple slice, some bread, some cheese, and some ham for lunch, oh yeah, and a Kool-Aid popsicle that I spilled all over myself. Neva (Dai’s wife) and I ate our lunch together outside. The weather right now is quite nice—moderate temperatures, sunny, and blue skies. I can’t remember what I did the rest of the day, probably read some, I helped out with dinner—we ate cabbage and pepper salad, and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.

In the evening, Neva (Dai’s wife), Kayla and Kerah (two of Dai’s children, the girls), Jessica (another American missionary), and myself played a game of Guesstures. This kept me awake until 9:30, which was when I decided to go to bed.