the beginnings of the GRE saga, plus a lot of other stuff

Happiness is seven new CDs of music--one of a Ukrainian rock group "Jeremiah's Tears" that I bought in L'viv, three country/oldies mixes from Tif, and three of Ukrainian/Russian Christian music that I got from my neighbors in the dorm at DCU. I'm still uploading the latter group into iTunes, mostly because it takes a while to get the Russian and Ukrainian song info typed up correctly (yes, I am a stickler for properness and like it to be in the correct alphabet; yes, I have a little cheat sheet for what the computer keys become when I put the Ukrainian settings on; no, I can't type as fast in Ukrainian as I can in English...not yet, anyway, but I've gotten much better at it). Currently I'm listening to a choir from Kyiv singing hymns in Russian (the current one is "We praise Thee, O God"); I'm excited because I've known pretty much every song they've sung so far, but a teensy bit sad that they're in Russian and not Ukrainian and I know the Ukrainian versions better. Guess I'll have to break out my Russian hymnal and practice.

Please keep the Yukhemets family in your prayers--I called Nadia this afternoon to see if I could go over and do laundry and she told me that Viktor is taking Valera to Kyiv for a couple weeks for treatment on his eyes (he doesn't see well but neither does he like to wear his glasses). So both prayers for them traveling and for Nadia with the other nine kids at home. And Nadia suggested that another day--any other day--might be better for me to come over. :)

~*~

Update on where I'm at these days, life-wise:

Basically, I'll be around Balaklia (as far I know) until the last week of August, when I head out west for COS (Close of Service) Conference for PC, where I'll get to see everyone who's left from Group 29 and get info about finishing up my time here.

I start teaching at the beginning of September, which is also going to be a busy month, company-wise, as Brandi's coming to visit me for a week or so, plus another friend from college might be visiting (more on that later if it actually works out).

My official COS date is December 13, and I assume I'll be coming home around that time, give or take a few days either way for the best deal on plane tickets (PC offers either a ticket to your home airport--Grand Rapids, not Lakeview!--or money for you to get your own ticket; it's usually more cost-effective to take the latter) and if Jason and I can time it so I could fly into Chicago when he's on his way back to Michigan from grad school in Wisconsin and drive back together (tickets are much cheaper into O'Hare than into any Michigan airports).

Then, I have Christmas and adjusting-back-into-US-life time, which will probably involve trying to spend time with lots of people and finding a car and learning how to drive in Michigan winters all over again. My current plan is to live with my parents for a few months and substitute teach (one could say I'll be joining the family business, almost). After that, I'm looking into going to grad school for my Master's in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), most likely back at MSU.

So where does that leave me right now? Studying for the GRE, which I'm hoping to take in Kyiv in September. I took a practice test yesterday before I started reviewing, just to give me a sense of where I am, and, to no one's surprise (I expect), my verbal score was pretty high and my math score was not bad, but fairly mediocre, because I haven't even though about most math beyond the absolute basics since senior year of high school, and definitely not since statistics class in my first semester of college. So that's August's major plan: study for the GRE (in between neighbor kids coming over to play cards, which keeps happening).