I'm back! Yes, back to blogging and back from my trips. I think that this is the longest I have ever gone without blogging since I started my blog. Our last big family event was the wedding. Not long after the wedding I left for Ukraine on the 15th of June to be exact. Mr. Jackson took me to Jacksonville to catch my flight. I flew from Jacksonville to Atlanta. In Atlanta I went to board the plane, they scanned my ticket and said I HAD NO SEAT ON THE FLIGHT. I had to go wait in another line and there were several people before me. All of us had been bumped because the flight was OVERBOOKED!! A mom of a guy standing beside me came off the plane to check on him. He didn't make the flight either. This mom saw me crying at the desk and she told the guy PLEASE GIVE THAT GIRL (ME) MY SEAT BECAUSE SHE OBVIOUSLY NEEDS TO MAKE THIS FLIGHT. I said thank you and ran onto the plane. I really needed to make that flight. By the time I got to the gate in New York, the plane was boarding!! I flew first class from New York to Kiev. It was wonderful. Lots of food, plenty of sleep and very comfortable. I arrived in Kiev the next day the 16th of June. I made it through passport control, picked up my luggage and went outside to wait for my friend. Vitaliy arrived a little later. He is my friend and translator and his friend Dima drove him to pick up my luggage (it was very heavy). He also bought me some coffee and a piece of pie and then showed me the other airport that I was flying out of later in the day. He then had to leave because he was taking finals. I walked back to the airport and sat around for a few hours from about 11:30 to 2:15. Then it was time to board the plane for Simferopol which is the capital of Crimea which is somehow still in Ukraine. I talked with a very nice lady and her children on the plane. They were from Baku and going to Yalta for vacation. Her children spoke English very well!! I arrived in Simferopol a little while later, gathered my luggage and met Igor. We boarded a bus that drove us about 2/1/2 hours to Yalta. This is where we were staying. I slept the whole way there because by then I was EXHAUSTED. We arrived and were met by the lady with the flat. We walked there and looked at the place. It was nice so we said we would stay there. We paid our money and then unpacked our things. It was a two bedroom flat with a kitchen, bathroom and frig and it was only $24 a night. Not bad!! It was walking distance from the shoreline. We walked to the shore every evening. It was very pretty there and busy with people. We had a market nearby and bought food and made sandwiches for lunch. We went to many castles and other neat sights. We went to a botannical garden and Sevastopol which is a navy city. I was also able to meet with and visit one of our former interpreters, Yegor. He lives in Yalta and Igor and I had dinner with he and his mom. It was so nice to see him. I will not go into all the stories from the trip. We met many rude people there but the mountains were beautiful. The Black Sea was awesome. It was so clear and it was also VERY cold. I did swim but not for very long. We saw lots of sights and then left on Sunday for Dzherzhinsk on the train. The train was so HOT. There was no air conditioning and the windows didn't open either. Igor tried to open one of the windows and it broke. The two ladies in our compartment said not to say anything to the conductor because they would charge a large amount because I was a foreigner. We didn't! We arrived in Donetsk on Monday morning at 5:30 AM and caught a taxi to Dzerzhinsk about 1/1/2 hours away. We arrived as the translator camp was starting. This first week was a week to get ourselves and our translators ready for the camp with the kids the following week. We had a good week that week, everyone had to do presentations. We also had devotionals in the evenings. We played soccer some too! My translator and friend arrived on Thursday. I enjoyed visiting with Tanya. She stayed for a few days and went to the lake with us on Saturday. Vitaliy also arrived with her. It was great to have he and Lyuda as my translators during the camp week. The children LOVE him!! We had a great group of kids, many of the same ones I had last year so I was thrilled!! I enjoyed so much playing soccer with the kids in the evenings. We had so many kids come. Many of them came to the night classes too. I was also thrilled to meet with Vanya's mom and Granny on Sunday afternoon. Igor went with me to translate because Vanya was helping an adoptive couple in another town. I was able to see Vanya the day I left Dzerzhinsk. I stayed with Gayla and Viktor, my Ukrainian parents. They are wonderful people and I enjoy my home away from home!! I was also able to meet Igor's parents. They are such wonderful people. His dad was always trying to get me to eat. His mom washed my clothes for me. They were very kind people! I always love seeing everyone! It was great to see all our interpreters friends. I was the emcee at Friday's program. Dasha helped me with the translation. I have so many pictures from all the trip and will try to share them. I went back to Kiev with Lyuba, Terry, Igor and Vitaliy on the train. I was then able to stay with Vitaliy for a few days and see some more of my friends from Kiev. I went to the Percherska Lauvra an underground monestary, did some shopping and went bowling too! It was a nice trip. It took me two days to get back home due to flight delays. I was to be home on July 7th but arrived on the 8th, finally. I was glad to be off the plane. We left a few days later for the mountains and just returned late last night. It is nice to be home. This is your update...sorry if I lost some of you in the length. I will post pictures tomorrow.
