Weekend fun in Kyiv

I don't think I've ever lived in a place where every day is this exciting! On Friday, me, Megan, and Peter opened up my Ukraine book and picked a site we wanted to go that night- and that site was Babyn Yar. Oh my gosh, amazinggg! On September 29, 1941, Nazi troops rounded up 34,000 Jews, marched them to the Babyn Yar ravine, and massacred them all over the next 48 hours. Over the next two years, thousands more lost their lives at Babyn Yar when it was turned into a concentration camp. It was dark when we got off the metro by Babyn Yar, and Peter used the Russian he knows to help us find our way there. We had to walk through a forested park area, trying to find our way only by moonlight (it was a beautiful night!). We finally found the ravine itself and the massive memorial statue that overlooks it- it was incredible! The longer I studied the statue, the more I could understand the feeling of pure agony that occurred at the very site I was standing on. It is one thing to read about the Holocaust in history books, and a whole 'nother thing to stand on the exact site where thousands were murdered. It was very touching and humbling. Even though it was dark when we got there, just as we were about to leave, the lights around the ravine came on and lit up the statue. Gahhh, it was amazing! By far the coolest thing I'd seen since I got here. After, we caught the metro into the city center and ate at an adorable Ukrainian restaurant, then came home exhausted and happy.
On Saturday, our local coordinator Oksanna gave us a tour of some main sites in the city. We went to St. Michael's Cathedral (gorgeous!) where we all had to cover our hair, and we lit candles to put on one of the little prayer trays. We walked down souvenir street, which was ADORABLE! Cobble stone roads, beautiful art for sale, street vendors lining both sides of the road, beautiful old-fashioned buildings- gah! We took an hour long ferry ride on the Dniper river, then had lunch at McDonalds. We walked to a statue of the man who brought Christianity to Kiev, then to the friendship arc that symbolizes the unity between Russia and Ukraine. Or something like that. We had lots of random photo shoots everywhere, of course :) I picked the worst day to forget my camera at home! We walked to Independence Square, then kind of split off and decided to go back to souvenir street where I bought the best 2 pairs of earrings everrr. Love! Me and Megan split from the group around 9 to catch the metro home and dye our hair. Overall, we walked around for about 8-9 hours that day. Hopefully worked off all the potatoes we've been fed. I loved it!!!! Kyiv is so great.
Today, I walked 10 minutes to take a 10 minute metro ride to the bus stop to get on the 20 minute bus ride to get to church, which happens to meet right next to the casino. Classy, right? haha. But it was so great to be around other Americans at church, no matter how small or where we were! And to hang around other people from my group that I don't get to see as much. I love our group, they're the bomb :)
Tomorrow, another week of teaching and fun begins, and the good times keep on rolling. I'm so happy this gets to be my life for the next four months.