Busy Weekend

Before I knew it, it was already Friday. The week flew by so quick leaving me with just a few days. I knew I wanted to make the most of them. Friday I had an appointment to get my nails done which is about a 30 min walk so I had to get up a bit earlier to get a head start. I really enjoy walking everywhere and try to take the least amount of public transportation. Throughout my daily walks I noticed that a lot of the gates, fences, and decorations are in yellow and blue - the colors of the Ukrainian flag. They seems to take pride in their country, or least that's what makes me believe. My nail appointment took too long but it somehow it flew by. I only paid $13 for a full french manicure. Can't beat that price!

Later in the day I met up with Jane and my other cousin Yana and another friend for a Quest Game. Quest Room is basically a room full of hidden tasks that you have to figure out and complete in order to move forward to the next task or room. Overall we did a pretty good job but definitely stalled on a few tasks. After that we headed out for some food and drinks with the girls. Everyone I met so far

is really cool and nice. We somehow always end up talking about the comparison of America and Ukraine. The one thing that really stood out to me during our comparison was education and careers. In Ukraine, most if not all of your education, including college, is government funded. A lot of times, you graduate with a degree and never end up working in that field. There is no such thing as you get more money if you graduate with a more complex education. I was shocked to find out that mostly everyone in the medical field actually gets paid very little, where as in America, its considered to be one of the higher paying jobs. The country is fairly poor yet somehow the coffee shops are full and restaurants needs reservations. Everyone lives equally, although it almost feels unfair how this system works, but it works.

The following day we took it a bit easy and rested most of the day from the busy week. In the evening we headed to my aunt's apartment for dinner. She fed us so much food, probably the most I ate in one day. I also tried homemade wine made by my uncle. It was so good and so strong! It was nice to hang out with family who I haven't seen in a very long.

In the evening we decided to go out for some drinks and dancing. It was a lot harder to get into places than I expected. One place was

fully booked with reservations, so we took a taxi to the next. The next place called the Hangover didn't let us in because " we didn't have a good reason" to come in as the bouncer told us. We assumed we didn't pass face control based on how we looked and dressed. On to the next place. Finally, we got in and danced for hours although the vibe was different than going out back at home.

The weekend passed by too quickly and I couldn't believe it was Sunday already leaving me with 4 days before I move on to the next destination. I was excited for Sunday because I was looking forward to check out the Hillsong Church in Kiev. The service was amazing per usual at Hillsong. After church, I met up with my cousin and her friend to continue the day with more exploring. We checked out some landmarks and churches to learn about some history before we headed to a museum to visit a friend who was working. By the time

we left the museum, we were pretty hungry so we headed to eat some sushi made by Ukrainians. The gist of sushi is there but its definitely not as good as our sushi restaurant make them. The weekend was coming to a close and we parted ways with Jane's friend to head home for another week of adventure.

Its definitely helpful having family here who welcomed me and were my tour guides during my stay here. I really enjoyed the stay in Kiev and hope to return to see my family sooner than later. Although I'm really sad to go, I couldn't be more excited for my next destination to see so many of my friends from the US all in one place!! So long Kiev!