I just returned from a trip to Ukraine and have to share this life changing experience as I can’t shake it from my mind and heart. Even though it’s been nearly a week since my return, my head still reels from everything I saw, tasted, experienced, and felt there. I only hope that the words I share here with you are enough to convey the magnitude of beauty, simplicity, and purity that I surrounded myself with for a week. My life has already been affected and I know there will be many more changes coming forth.

The interesting thing is…the trip went nothing as planned. I did have one goal in mind (maybe I’ll share that with you some day…) when I went there and that didn’t happen. I also went with a hefty set of assumptions based on what I had read, from what I had heard from friends, and from what I’ve heard from people who have lived or still live there. Even with all that, a few of my assumptions were correct and others were completely wrong. What I came across was a land, a society, a family that made me take pause in this hectic life I currently live and have me ponder who I am and who I want to be.

For the following few days (or weeks…depending on how much free time I get) I will share the events of the day (from the daily journal I kept) in that small town about 210 km west of Kiev and the thoughts and emotions that were evoked from these. Each day filled between one or two pages from this notebook and each even will have about 20-30 descriptive sentences surrounding it as I try to convey the impact of all of this.

Prepare yourself for a journey. A journey I took not nearly as prepared as I had hoped to be. I had just barely learned most of the alphabet and each letter’s pronunciation so I could at least try to pronounce the signs I saw in hopes I’d be with someone that spoke English (only one person over there that I went to see spoke English…and not too bad I must say. Her son in 4th grade had a couple years under his belt and that was it!). Yes, I felt a little ashamed to be this unprepared but I’ll make sure that does not happen again.

I traveled over there alone and spent the nights in a small hotel and the days a friend and her family. I was fully immersed in small town Ukrainian life and I liked what I saw. Each day was spent doing what needed to be done. Shopping for school, preparing dinner, keeping an eye on the kids, eating fresh food from the garden, stopping at the market to pick up more provisions. As the week wore on I found myself reading signs much more easily, getting around easier, enjoying the days more and more, and feeling less of an outsider.

Would I go back? Yes…and I plan on it. When? I have no clue but I already miss the people there and want to be there as soon as possible.

For now, I shall look at a couple pictures from my trip and then doze off as I try to shake the cold I caught upon my return.