In Kyiv still. Things are quite fun here. Last night we went to the market and I decided to purchase a pair of the lastest european fashion shoes. Fortunately I had my own personal translator as Tatiana (Tanya) seemed to like hanging out with me. I didn't mind it made things a lot easier for purchasing and finding prices since I only know skilke which means how many(much) but when they respond I can't decipher the numbers.

Yesterday afternoon we went on a boat ride down the Dnipra river. It's about the size of the Mississippi except it's not so muddy. The ride was fun but towards the end as the sun was setting it got rather cold. Another cultural difference is the fashion in which they decide to publicly use music. The people here are very passionate about their music and they show it. VERY LOUDLY!!! We had an hour and a half of loud blaring Ukrainian music. I think I may be able to sing in the language before I can speak it.

Today we visited the largest greenhouse in Europe. The only larger ones in the world are in Russia. The area under glass was 44 Hectares and it keeps growing. It will likely be 50 by the end of this season. Their production is amazing. It was like walking into a gardners paradise. I think we should teach our 4-Hers how to grow veggies in greenhouses via hydroponics. It seemed the fruit was perfect no bugs, no blight...

This evening I'm hanging out with our leaders as they decided to go downtown and I happened to hang out after everyone else left to find this out and got invited. Wé are seeing the town totally differently as a smaller group. We rode the minibus to the Metro and got out at independence square where we visited a very western looking mall though there were many people no one had bags. Everything was waaaay to expensive for the average Ukrainian. On a side note this happened to us in Sao Paulo at a mall where only the "rich" Americans had bags. We are currently at an internet cafe and will be going to the local TGI Fridays for cheese strips shortly.

I'm looking foreward to tomorrow when we spend the day in a nearby village and get to have fun with the locals. I keep asking the leaders if we can find a local place where they folk dance so I can try out my Ukrainian/Russian dance moves/acrobatics. We haven't done that yet and won't likely because of the size of our group but if we split away like this again there may be the option.

I'm staying healthy fortunately as most of the group is currently experiencing the second part of culture shock which is different food and schedule shock which leads to serious Gastro Intestinal disturbance.

I had the opportunity to call my parents last night. Unfortunatly my connection was cut off but I really had nothing important to say except say hi to Spuds and Trixie for me and I was wondering how they are getting along and that I'm not getting married yet (this is a common joke as we young male Americans who like to travel are targets for young beautiful Ukrainian women they don't want to rob us more like they want a marriage liscense and a passport and hope love comes later).
That is all for now.