Dancin' in the Moonlight

     I'll say it now, I wasn't the one doing the dancing. You can't prove it and the cameras my friend claims to have installed in my apartment didn't catch a thing.

Inside the National Opera of Ukriane.

     Actually, I was here last night. A couple of weeks ago when I was in the States, I received an invitation to go to a ballet with a friend and her coworkers. Ballet? Yeah, the Brian from a year ago was wondering what has happened to him. You can count that as one of the things I've tried now. Fortunately, it wasn't a penguin-suit affair. Just nicely dressed people out for a pleasant evening. Turns out, I enjoyed it. The music more so than the dancing. But I did appreciate the choreography and skill that went into all the dancing.

     Living here has really changed the way I think about life. Especially about food and new experiences. A year ago, you'd have struggled to get me to even think about trying a burger with all the trimmings (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, sauce, eggs, etc). But on Thursday night, I did just that. On Monday night, I was invited by one of the students from English club for dinner at a local beer-n-burger place. First off, I was surprised that those exist here in Ukraine. Second, I was surprised at how good the burger really was. I wouldn't mind going back there again. It is called the 3B-Cafe. The three B's are beer, beef and burgers. I know they do two of those well. If you're ever in Kiev, I recommend checking it out.
     Along with the changes, leading is something I'm less stressed out about now. Monday night, it's true that I was running around trying to get everything ready in time for English. But the actual standing-in-front-of-people-and-talking part wasn't bad. It seems I'm getting used to it. Thinking on my feet of what to say seems to be going better.
     Two new things that have happened this week are meetings of a new Bible group. Yuri from the Liberty team asked me this week if I'd be interested in hosting a Bible reading group at my apartment. It's not a full-fledged Bible study. Just a chance for a small group to read different passages and talk a little bit about their impressions. Tuesday, we had five people including me. Today, the number grew a bit to six plus one five-year-old kid.
     So, after two full weeks being back in Ukraine, what's happened? Stuff. And lots of it. Let's take a tally. Church, meetings, lessons, fun, ballet, photo sessions, a new Bible group, and walking all over Kiev. It looks like I'm back into the thick of it. Things are moving at their normal pace again. Plus it looks like my summer plans are starting to fill up. More details on that later as they become more clear.
     Oh, I also made this. I sometimes get questions about what food I eat and this is one of the easy things I make. Gourmet Grilled Cheese.
     Finally, since I haven't done one in a while, here's a photo dump of some interesting things I've seen over the past two weeks. If you haven't already, check out my photo album here of the things I've seen over the past eight months. If you have checked it out, look again. I try to upload new things every week.

This is how you know it's been a busy night at English Club.

Random cross-walk in northern Kiev.

The aquarium at the Ocean Plaza Mall.

The Volodomirsky Church, Icon of the Mother of God.

Howie Mandel advertising for American football in Ukraine.

The mural in the Teatralna metro station.

Looking up the hill towards Universitet metro station.

The upscale part of downtown Kiev. Shops, restaurants, expensive cars.

Her shirt reads "Bless Texas."

Advertisement for English classes.

The other side of the advert.

Still working on the construction outside my building. But now with 100% more crane.

     I think I'll end this post here. I'm out of things to tell about now. Have a good weekend and I'll talk to you and soon.