And I'm back...

So, thanks to my friend Nick, I now have high speed internet in my apartment, which makes it possible for kellyinspain.blogspot.com to be up and running again. Yes, I realize that I’m no longer in Spain, but I really don’t feel like moving everything to a new address and blogspot is telling me that kellyinukraine is already taken. so hai bude (let it be). First, I also want to thank those of you who called me on my birthday. It was so nice and comforting to hear familiar voices again and to hear what is going on in your lives. I was reminded of how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends and family.

Anyway, I guess I should give a little update, since the last post was in September of last year. I have now been living in western Ukraine for eight months. I live in a little town of 34,000 called Sarny. I work at Sarny School Collegium, and I teach English to students in 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th form. I love my school and I love my students. It’s now summer in Ukraine, so life is pretty good. The fruits and vegetables from the market are like nothing I’ve ever tasted and the flowers are absolutely beautiful. I even made my first Ukrainian cherry and strawberry vereneky today (scroll down to see the pictures). They definitely weren’t as pretty as my host mom’s vereneky, but they were delicious. I even took some to my neighbor Baba (grandma) Katia to try and she approved, which I feel is huge. I mean, these baba’s have been making vereneky their whole lives and Katia thought mine was good. She might have been trying to appease me, but I was proud of myself nonetheless. Since I’ve been in Ukraine, I’ve gotten the chance to travel to some different places around the country. My coordinator and some of my friends call me the “traveling frog” because apparently there is a Ukrainian tale about a frog that travels a lot. I have gone to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, Lutsk, Berdychiv, Rivne, Lviv, Ostroh and this weekend I am going to a town called Oleska to see a castle! I’m going to be doing some more traveling this summer and next week I’m having a nature camp with my sixth graders, so I will be sure to post those pictures for you all to see. I hope you enjoy the pictures, and keep checking the site because I will be updating it more often now that I have regular internet access. I would love to hear from you if you all have time. My mailing address is:

Kelly Guthrie
PO Box 23
Sarny, Rivnenska Oblast
Ukraine 34500