So, my trip started on a Sunday. I left Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, and met up with two friends, Nat and Jeff, at the airport in NYC. Together we traveled to Moscow, where we had a layover. Moscow's airport was plenty nice, and many things were also written in English, at least in the international terminal. For instance: much like an american vending machine, they had a juice dispenser. Large on the front what I assume is the Russian word for juice, "cok" while on the side was the English word, "juice." Of course, if you looked at it from the corner as we did, you saw a vending machine of "Cok Juice."

The trip, combined with the time change, meant we arrived in Kiev on Monday. Meeting the bride and groom at the airport, we took a taxi to their apartment where we were staying the night. We wandered around locally for a short time, exchanged money, got a feel for the city, and saw a Chernobyl monument near their place. After the groom's sister and brother-in-law arrived, we took the subway into town and got to see some of downtown Kiev, which was quite nice. That night we fought the jet-lag to stay awake as long as possible, chatting for several hours, with many laughs. We even spent some time reviewing an English/Russian phrase book. The "Romance" section was particularly interesting. It had "pick up lines" like "I don't normally come here" and useful romantic phrases like "harder, faster." The favorite romantic phrase, and what became a re-occurring joke for the week, was "I'll just finish this myself." ;)

Tuesday, the grooms remaining family arrived. We once again went into the city via subway, to see even more of Kiev, and drop our stuff off at the hostel were we spent the night. It was interesting, girls in Kiev were generally quite attractive, and what's more they seemed to get rather dressed up (by US standards) for just going about their day, which further increased how attractive they seemed. One such stunning girl was on the subway with us on our ride into Kiev. I got a smile from her, and decided to try and talk to her... but took some time working up the courage to hit on a girl sitting, as she was, on a subway between my best friend's father and grandfather. My friends translated for me the phrase 'Nice boots' to start with... but I of course assume it was something more like "nice boots, let's have sex." I did work up the gumption to say that (the "nice boots" part) to her, in English, as I got off the train, and got a huge, gorgeous smile. Not bad for day one. "Nice Boots" then became a oft-used euphemism for pretty girls, and me, the lone-single of the men, getting to know them.

Wednesday we spent more time touring Kiev, which again, was just a great city. In the late afternoon, we were picked up by another groomsman, Andrey, who was recently returned from a business trip to the US. We spent the night at his house, getting to meet his family. Andrey knew Jeff from Thunderbird/PUC, and Nat via Jeff, but I hadn't met Andrey previously. He was obviously from the get-go someone who was a kindred spirit and close with all of my best friends for good reason, and it was wonderful to finally meet him. His family was simply awesome. Despite having a 3 month old, his wife graciously fed us and helped hime take care of what basically amounted to a few more children in Nat, Jeff, and I (thanks to the language barrier).

Thursday we rented a car and spent most of the day driving down to the Black Sea, where we stayed in one of Valeria's parents apartments. It was gorgeous, the apartment, the view, the sea... I can't say enough about how amazing beautiful everything looked. Jeff got some good news he had been hoping for that night, and we celebrated with some drinks, and a late night walk down to the Black Sea and a swim.

Friday we took the scenic route to the resort where the wedding was to occur. We stopped at the top of a nearby mountain, with gorgeous views overlooking the Black Sea. We also drove through Yalta (where FDR, Churchill, and Stalin had their infamous WW2 meeting). The resort they were married at was similarly beautiful looking. I'd wax-eloquent, but I feel adjectives are losing effect to explain how stunning they beauty around us over there was. Friday afternoon we had a wedding rehearsal, and got to meet the bridesmaids and many of the wedding guests. We taught them some American Football, Nat and Jeff brought out their guitars for some social lubricant inspired sing-a-longs of everything from "Hey Jude" to "Rapper's Delight." We then danced and drank late into the night, starting the celebration of the upcoming nuptials.

Saturday was the big day. The legal wedding occurred earlier in the day, in the nearby town. While Brent and Valeria were in the courthouse, Jeff, Andrey and I bought some little prank items for their honeymoon suite, which we later decorated with balloons, diapers, and condoms. After some post-courthouse pictures. We then went back to the resort, and held the actual ceremony. It was outside, beautiful, and... well, I can't really describe it, it was just right. The reception was great fun, from the Sinatra accompanied meal, to the toasts (this time with minimal tears from Nat or I), to the kidnapping of the bride (who we won back in part via dance-off) and later the groom (who the bride got back after, in part, correctly identifying my nose and calf as American-feeling), the contemporary dance one of the bridesmaids treated us to, even our performing of "Stickshifts and Safety Belts" went off without sounding terrible; and we all danced into the wee hours of the morning. A lovely group of people having a lovely time together. A great start to what I'm sure will be a long and happy marriage between Brent, aka BJ, and Valeria.

After a fond farewell to everyone, Sunday we spent the day driving back to Kiev, got a few hours of sleep at Andrey's, then flew back to the States all day Monday, and yesterday morning I made it from JFK to home here in the midwest. I made so many memories, and this quick day-by day recap fails to really describe or point out any of them. But I really just wanted to write out what I did. I had such an amazing time. And recommend Ukraine to anyone who has a chance to visit. I'm hoping to make my way back out there myself soon.