Our Favorite Tourist Site- National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine

We have been to this outdoor museum twice. It is our favorite place to visit only being about a 15 minute Uber drive. 

This place is a 360 acre area outside of Kiev. You can see a portion of the Dnieper River among the trees from the highest spot on the grounds. 

The historical society has gone around to the different villages and have brought some of the historical homes, dating back to the 1800's to early 1900's, to this site. Some of the churches date back to the 1600's. One church was built on the site as a replica. A village was set up that included homes from the 1950's and 1960's. A lot of the homes we were able to go inside. 

The first time we went was during "The Honey Festival." We were able to watch outdoor Ukrainian Folk Singers while we ate lunch.

This little girl was a 4 minute friend. She loved having her picture taken. Many of the visitors dressed in Ukrainian Shirts and dressed for the occasion. 

These villages represent the Solboda and South Ukraine regions. Each village home is constructed a little differently and have their own unique designs around the windows and door frames.
 

The white home is from the Bolvoyna Region and the right upper home was from the 1950's era.

The roofs are thick piled reeds (straw). 

The right lower home is from Carpathia Region and the singers were part of the outdoor show. 

Storage huts from Solboda

Reconstructed Building from Polissa (upper right)

Church from Carpathia (lower left)

House and Beehives from Polissa. (lower right)

One thing that amazed us was the fact that these homes were pretty well maintained and preserved. 

They also had outdoor grill food vendors. The food was very good.

You can actually rent bikes, golf carts (tour carts), scooters, or small motorbikes (like mopeds) and see the sites that way.

More photos from Ukraine just a site I found.

Website for Museum

There are many windmills located on the property. Some of the windmills you could turn the whole windmill at the base of the windmill so the wind could turn the turbines efficiently, and some of the windmills could be turned only at the top portion of the windmill along with the turbines. 

Our time there was very pleasant and if we had visitors, this is the one place we would take them. The museum is also open all year long....so winter would be interesting.

 

Humanitarian-- Dnipropetrovsk Trip and Zaporozhe Children's Area Clinic August 2021

 

We traveled about 6 hours to Dnipro (shortened) it is on the Dnieper River south of Kiev. We picked up some pediatric endocrinological surgery equipment for the Zaporazhe Children's Clinic. This equipment is used for a scope to go down the throat and into the lungs of children who have swallowed items. 

The doctor explained how the children would swallow things and how they would have to retrieve the item by inserting a tube down their throats. The doctor even had a coffee can full of items that the children had swallowed.

There was almost everything you could think of. The worst ones were the batteries and the needles. One 3 month old sucked on his mother's finger and swallowed a ring. One young teenage swallowed a small pocket knife. One infant swallowed a needle. There were many kopiyok (coins), buttons, tacks, jewelry, small magnet beads, and plastic jewels...those are very hard to see with an X-ray machine. 

We stayed in Dnipro and had a wonderful dinner at a cute downstairs restaurant called "Mama Carla".

We walked along the river and saw many people out and about riding bikes, scooters, long boards, and a group of young children and 2 leaders in a roller-blading club.

This area is in a different mission. It is the Dnipro Mission. We met with the Mission President and his wife. They had just moved into a large apartment overlooking the river. The city is on a small hill with the river bending around about 3/4 of the city. 

Below is a little of what the cities do. We find painting icons like this throughout the Ukraine. We saw a Yoda statue at the Botanical Gardens. A bug (Bug's Life) statue at a restaurant garden in downtown Kiev. Kyiv is also another way they spell the city's name, and an iron work of art on top of an auto shop.

Downtown Kiev (Kyiv) June and July 2021

Kiev has some interesting artwork of mosaics on their buildings. This one is my favorite. It is located by the registrar office where we had to register for temporary housing. 

We walked after our registration and found a beautiful park called "Mariinskyi Park" There next to it was the "Mariinskyi Palace" where the government is. It is a beautiful building. 

The palace is usually heavily guarded and many demonstrations take place there or other government buildings. We did not investigate and found a cute area of restaurants to eat. I found my favorite restaurant called "Vatra" We have been there several times. They have this honey cake to die for. 

Here is a recipe I found online but I have not made it yet. It sounds like it would take a long time to make. not all bakeries make it the same, so you have to find the right kind. I like mine with plenty of sugar.      Honey Cake Recipe

We went to the Opera and Ballet Theater in Kiev the second week we were here with other missionary couples and some members of the church whose husband's work for the Embassy here in Kiev. We were able to see the Ballet "Swan Lake".  The theater was grandioso, and the Ballet unbelievable. We had second row seats and social distancing. It was like we were the only ones attending.

Kiev is a very busy place. Many cars and trolleys and buses. The tunnels to the subway (metro) run very deep underground. Sometimes in the busier sections of the city you have to walk using the underground tunnels to get to the other side of the streets. There are usually shops of all kinds, small markets, phone supplies, convenient shops, and many, many flower (KBITKA) shops. Sometimes when it rains real hard the tunnels get flooded. We have ventured out taking buses and the metro into town. It is a long process and you have to give yourself time but the adventure is worth it. 

This is the "Red University" in the heart of the city. It is also one block from the Church Offices. 

Below are the long escalators to the metro. There are two flights of escalators. The metro is run very well and goes all the way out to the road the temple is on, but you have to take a 20 minute (HA....Roads are so crowded at times that it takes longer than 20 minutes) ride to the temple site. But it is an adventure.

Once we went down with a missionary couple on the metro and one the way home two stops before we were to get off the train stopped and everyone got off. We didn't know what was happening, so we got off with everyone else and the train disappeared into the tunnel, then another one came with a crowded train and we squeezed into it like sardines. 

We sometimes have to go downtown for team meetings. We have take Ubers for rides, but next time we will try the bus and metro. It might take a little longer, but we like adventures. We figure if we get lost we will call Uber...that mode of transportation is very good here.

Language Barrier: since we started Russian lessons in 2019, here it is Ukrainian and little different. 

We get by, surprisingly. Most of the younger generation speak a little English. When we don't understand we just make a weird face and say something like, "only English" so then the people either ignore us or try to explain by actions. It is interesting.

  

 

Humanitarian and Welfare...What We Are Doing June 2020

The first onsite project we went to was in Brovary, Ukraine. This clinic is for blood donors. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was able to provide freezers for saving the blood supplies. Now that this facility has this equipment other hospitals around Kiev come to purchase the supply. The hospital itself does not have to purchase the supply when used in their own hospital. 

The second project we visited was in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. This was a clinic that requested some therapy equipment for Autistic children. This clinic provided a school program for children ages 3-18. This gives the mothers/fathers time for themselves. 

We traveled further west to Ivano-Frankivsk where we had a closing ceremony with the doctors and staff. The church had donated an anesthesia-breathing apparatus. Here is the Facebook link: Ivano-Frankivsk Hospital Facebook Page

Next we visited an ophthalmologist hospital outside of Lviv in a forested area. The windows were all donated several years back from the church.  We are trying to fill another project by bringing an ophthalmologist to do some training. This is a longer project and takes a lot of planning. This room represents a prep room and recovery room for the children who would receive operations. There are 7 of these rooms which are in poor shape, but they are not used because of COVID. On the other side of the building are more private rooms with updated beds and tables. 

The children's hospital in the forest. 

The Lviv Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Next we went to Lviv. Lviv reminds me of an Austrian town. The inner city has cobblestone roads and is famous for their Opera and Ballet Theater. There are many quaint places to eat either inside or outside. The city is bustling with foreigners and locals. There are many churches within short distances of each other. We were only able to stay there for dinner and get in the van again to our next destination of Lutsk

 Our next project we unloaded some equipment for another children's hospital in Lutsk. 

Here is the link for their Facebook page

Lutsk Children's Hospital Facebook Page

LVIV Opera and Ballet Theater

Brother and Sister Blau's Arrival in Ukraine (June 2021)

We arrived in Kiev, Ukraine on May 29, 2021. We first were called to Latvia, (Baltic States) Mission in Oct. 2019 for MLS (Mission Leader Support). That changed in Nov. 2019 to be Humanitarian Welfare Specialists in Belarus. We arrived there toward the end of February of 2020. We were there 2 weeks and then sent home because of COVID-19. We worked from home in Utah during that year and into 2021. Once things let up we were called back to the Europe East Mission to be Humanitarian Welfare Specialists involving the countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Turkey, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. Only 2 couples are right now in the Europe East Mission in Humanitarian and Welfare for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Because of COVID all the missionary couple's apartments had been closed, so for now we are staying on the temple grounds in the temple apartments. The picture to the left is our backyard. 

On our walk to the market stands a neighborhood Orthodox Church. There are churches everywhere. What amazed us most was the dome shape. So unique to us. The beautiful colors and the gold on top. Most of the churches inside are one mass room with very ornate decorations depicting Christ and Apostles. It is amazing that the churches are nestled in among the tall apartment buildings. Each neighborhood has a playground for children. Some apartment buildings have grocery stores (markets) on the bottom floors. We have about 7 markets within walking distance, 2 McDonald's, a Home Depot type store, and an open market for fresh vegetables and fruits. We found that Uber (Bolt, and Uklon) was our choice of travel to get to and from town or the malls. Uber is very inexpensive here and mostly convenient. Some drivers are aggressive and we just close our eyes, and some are patient with the crowded streets and get us to our destination in safety. If you order a "Comfort" Uber you get air-condition...a little more money, but worth it. 

Our neighborhood is totally apartments. There are some nice big homes also, but for the most part there are a lot of apartments. There is an area we like to walk to where there are many families. Most families have 2 children. Each apartment building has a playground. There are many preschool buildings here too. Downtown there are taller apartments. Some are total concrete while the newer ones are modern and colorful. There are many parks around Kiev and we have yet to visit some of them. We did go to the Botanical Gardens here and climbed a hill that overlooked the city and the Dnieper River.

 Once we got over jet lag and had a few meetings downtown, we settled in quite comfortably.