I may have mentioned this before, but... I love Ukraine.

These are just a few of the reasons why.


GOOD FRIENDS
Bogdan and Galya are among the best.





LAVRA MONASTERY.
Established in 1051. We visited the caves where monks once lived and were buried.








GREAT PARKS
and Soviet Statues, which someone are always entertaining.



THE BOAT RIDE ON THE DNEPR
plus the great company of Bogdan and Jenya, who always manage to make things interesting.

Turkey pics

We just got back to Kiev yesterday. My friend Kristin flew in today, so she's taking a quick nap before we hit the town. So... not much time for writing, but I wanted to post some pics here.
You can see part of the wing, but this is from the plane.

 

We saw a guy leading camels across the street.  
Then saw this guy make camels out of sand.

We visited the Church of St. Nicholas, Mira, and Kekova.





We saw the Cleopatra baths a Pamukkele.





Galya's friend took us to a nice dinner near a beautiful waterfall.


We cruised around on a yacht and saw an underground city.


Made friends with some very cool girls from Belarus.


Watched some soccer with some locals. (Turks are pretty serious about soccer. They put big TVs in the street to watch, so they wouldn't miss anything while they were working.)

Kennan (and his friends) taught us some magic tricks.

Went to a foam party at a discoteka.



Basically a pretty great trip.

Turkey

Somehow, Galya and I ended up here and we're staying here. Basically, it's pretty amazing. Handsome men. HOT, HOT sun. Beautiful clear water and nice beaches. Good food. Nice 4* hotel with a strong air conditioner. Crazy discotekas. Basically, it's pretty much perfect. We even saw a guy leading 3 camels (a small family, maybe. mom, dad, and baby camel) across the street on our way back from an "excursion" to Mura-Kekova.

Kemer is pretty small and peaceful. The people are friendly and it's safe, even at 4:30 when we're walking back to our hotel from the club. It's a tourist town and most of the tourists are from Russia, so the people have adapted and most of them speak Russian fairly well. I haven't met any Americans the entire time we've been here, but I saw a family from Canada. Everyone assumes I'm Russian and, since it's not their native language, they don't notice my accent. :) We spent too long at the beach yesterday, helping some cute young men from Istanbul practice their English, so I am suffering from a beautiful, red sunburn. I'm hiding out in the air conditioned internet cafe this afternoon, while it's still really hot. Somehow, I'm sure I'll work up the strength to go out tonight. Turkey is playing in the World Cup finals and the people go a little crazy watching the games. It's one of the most entertaining things I've seen so far. The won the one of the semi-final games the other night, so they shut of the main street and everyone hopped into their cars and drove up and down the road. Honking horns, waving Turkish flags and soccer jerseys out the window... Very entertaining. I'll post some pics when I get back to Kiev. :)

AVID reunion #3: Drive-in Night!

Went to Garduno's and the drive-in last night with the old AVID kids. Like they say, Canyon really gets it crackin'. Watched "The Hulk" and "Iron Man". They were pretty much the same movie, but the costumes were different.

Canyon's AVID Class of 08

I love these kids. A lot. I really love these kids and am very proud of them. Not only did they all manage to graduate (some barely!) but most of them are headed to college and have real plans for the future.
And a few more pics, just to show how cute these 08 grads really can be...

Well... the pic of Reg and Kehau may not quite show CUTE, but it definitely shows some personality. :) I always looked forward to the picture messages they sent to me during their AVID class. It feels good to be remembered.

Reggie and Donna, who are both headed to UNR in the fall. (Still a little disappointed that Reggie decided not to become an Aggie, but I couldn't be more proud of him if I was his mother.)



Britt with former AVID President and 07 graduate, Mr. Evan Fincher.

Kehaulani, who always looks beautiful.

Mario and Curtis, who always look... cool.

I am very happy for all of these kids and even more excited to see what life has in store for them. I can't wait for AVID Reunion #3: A graduation celebration. We're going to the drive-in theater! Aww... the drive-in. It's an AVID dream come true. :)

Summer!

The school year has FINALLY ended and my plans for summer vacation are in full swing. What's on the itinerary?

Ukraine--

Kiev

Odessa

Greece Turkey

Maybe Egypt, Romania, Bulgaria.

Then back to Ukraine for a few days before I fly back to Vegas. I'll keep you posted. :)

Matt is America's Next Top Model

Seriously. You can tell he's been practicing in the mirror. Matt's not only good looking, he's also got all of the poses down pat.


Here's innocent.

Here's mysterious.

Here's happy.

And with a cute baby as a prop, the pics get even better.