MoldovAnn

The phone rang Wednesday afternoon. I happened to be home for a few minutes between the millions of things I’m trying to do in my short week in Columbus. But I hesitated to answer, since no one would be calling for me on the home phone. But I picked up. “Hello,” I said. Hesitation on the other end. “Is this the Merrill’s?” Oh great, telemarketers, I thought. “Yes,” I snapped. “Um, this is Mike, Will’s nephew.”

My cousin Mike figured he’d either get voice mail or just maybe my dad was back and would pick up, but a female voice was the last thing he expected to hear when he called with the sad news that their Uncle Jim had passed away.

Jim was my cousins’ uncle on the other side of their family, not related to me by blood but a relation nonetheless. He and his wife had a farm north of Columbus that we visited occassionally when I was growing up – I loved the open space, the horses, the woods, their big collie. His wife Virginia passed away 2 years ago, right after they closed on a house in town near their son. She never actually lived in the house, and so when Uncle Jim moved in, I can’t imagine how disconcerted his world must have felt, without her and in a strange new place. He couldn’t bring himself to sell the farm, though, and he drove up there 2-3 times a week (scaring the living daylights out of his children, no doubt, that their 89-year old father was making the 45 minute commute along the busy highway). He stopped at thrift stores and bought a piece of furniture now and then to put in the farmhouse, after everything else had been moved out. His kids brought up a cot, figuring it was better to have him sleep there if he got tired instead of driving back to Columbus.

He loved Wendy’s, and his granddaughter snuck a Frosty into the hospital for him earlier this week. He passed quietly, 90 years old, ready to join his beloved wife, sister and brother-in-law who have all died in the last 4 years.

My visits to Columbus are always jam-packed, this one no exception. But for some reason, I hadn’t managed to get Friday night plans finalized yet. Now I know why. Uncle Jim’s six nieces and nephews all came to town, from all across the country, for the funeral. I got to spend Friday afternoon and evening with most of them, and will see the others today. It’s been a decade since I’ve seen most of them, the last time was at their parents’ 45th wedding anniversary. I am embarrassingly out of touch with them, and I listened with amazement last night – doctors and teachers and pilots and researchers. A talented and successful bunch.

Scott will be back today from his trip to Japan with his new bride. She’ll have quite an introduction to the Merrill family!

Two awesome weekends in a row – woohoo!

Independence Day weekend was great, but more than we could handle. Igor and I went to the Kyiv auto market on Saturday afternoon (completely unrelated to the weekend festivities, but an interesting side adventure on its own). Not a lot going on, being a holiday weekend in late August when most of the country is on vacation at the sea. But I learned some colorful new words as we walked around among the rather tough-looking men who seem to spend a lot of time there. I tried one out and got a shocked look from Igor – will have to save them up for moments when shock factor may be needed.

We had “dinner and a movie” night at Sasha’s, where we watched the hilarious “One, Two, Three” with James Cagney. Sasha said it’s hugely popular in Germany, but none of us Americans had even heard of it. Some of the jokes haven’t survived the test of time, but for those of us who grew up during the Cold War and still sometimes find it hard to believe we now LIVE in the land of the former Evil Empire, it was a fun flick to watch.

Being the popular people that we are, Igor and I went to an Independence Day party after movie night, hosted by a Ukrainian-American woman. Igor and I find the diaspora crowd very interesting, but that really deserves its own post. The party was interesting, let’s just leave it at that for now.

Sunday we went to the Flower Festival, where different neighborhoods around Kyiv create beautiful works of horticulture art. The theme this year was Fairy Tales, and most of them were really impressive.

This seascape, with an octopus king and little fishies, was my favorite.

But the crowds of people were really too much for us. It was difficult to move around, almost impossible to see some of the displays, and truly impossible to walk back up out of the park against the flow of people coming down into it. We scouted out an alternative route down and along the side of the hill, and ended up just below the Lavra, by the holy spring I had heard about but had never walked down to see.

There was a lovely rose garden, and a heck of a lot less people, so we enjoyed the elbow room and a calm walk among the roses.

Bill enjoyed the bench.

Smart guy – we still had the hill to walk back up!

We rounded out the day with dinner at our favorite “Sushi Ya!” restaurant, which always hits the spot. On our way home, Igor and I stopped at the grocery store for a couple of things, and were intrigued by a special display of Indonesian and Vietnamese teas. We bought a little of both and dragged our exhausted selves home to try it out. Well, it was as black and strong as espresso, and just one cup get us both wide awake until 2 am! So much for our plans to get up early on Monday to meet Bill and Eilene for the Independence Day parade. We were still asleep when Eilene called at 8:30, and although we felt really bad for bailing on our friends, we were still exhausted and also not really ready to face another immense crowd of people. Bill and Eilene stuck it out as long as they could, but I guess they eventually had enough of being pushed and shoved and stepped on, too, and left before much of the parade was underway.

We finally got up to watch the end of the parade on TV and we heard the air force jets on their fly by (which sounded quite impressive, I have to say! even though we didn’t see the actual planes, we couldn’t have missed the sound). We celebrated Ukraine’s 18th year of independence at home, quietly yet proudly.

This past weekend we celebrated another holiday – Bill’s birthday! We were delighted that he and Eilene accepted our invitation to visit Igor’s family for the weekend and to celebrate his big day in Korosten with us. Igor went up on Friday, and Dad, Bill and Eilene headed up early Saturday morning. We were greeted, as usual, by a gorgeous table with enough to feed an army. We worked hard on it, and finally we all succumbed to food comas in mid-afternoon. A round of naps was thoroughly enjoyed by all. In the evening we went to the lovely city park, which seems to have something new every time we visit. The weather was perfect, there had been lots of weddings throughout the day, and there were still many families and groups of friends picnicking, strolling, and just generally enjoying the beauty of the park. There were some new signs encouraging people not to litter, which really impressed me. I hope they have some influence!

Sunday we started the day with a visit to the Korosten market. Eilene has been wanting to buy some Korosten china, but the factory recently closed its doors for good and my beloved factory shop has closed down, too. I asked Igor’s mom is she knew anyone with a garage full of china (since the factory was notorious for paying its employees in product instead of with actual currency), but she couldn’t get ahold of anyone right then. She told Igor about a couple stands in the market that usually sell Korosten china, so we went on a mission, which quickly expanded in focus.

Dad remembered that he needed a jacket, since he’d forgotten to bring one with him on this trip. Igor took him to vendor with leather coats and in a matter of minutes Dad was the proud owner of a really sharp leather jacket. Being the full-service kind of place that it is, the vendor walked us over to the nearby seamstress, who within the hour had shortened the sleeves and resewn the buttons – total cost, coat and alternations, under $120!

Bill got a new leather wallet, Eilene got a lovely Korosten china coffee set, we both got cool baskets. Oh, and Campsey’s got a 40-liter pot to make sauerkraut and Dad got a french press so he can finally have coffee at home. All in all, a very successful trip to the market!

The only challenge was packing it all in the car with enough room left for food Igor’s parents heaped on us – bags and bags of fresh tomatoes (last of the season!), pears and apples. No surprise, we somehow managed to get it all in!

We visited Igor’s dad in the village for a few minutes, and were delighted to see a half-dozen okra plants had grown to a decent size and produced a bit of fruit. Bill and Eilene had brought the seeds at Easter time, so it was probably a bit late for planting, but nonetheless, they got a couple handfuls of okra this year, and hopefully we’ll have an even better harvest next year. The American pumpkins were true to their origins – supersized! Next item we want to introduce to Ukraine: acorn squash!

As we walked around the farm, admiring the garden and the growing animals, a little black kitten romped along with us, following us like a puppy dog. Igor’s father said she had shown up a while back and he couldn’t resist her, so he’d been feeding her, letting her inside the house and even trained her to use a litter box. She just loved everyone, purring like a fiend when I picked her up and scratched her. Ivan invited us to take her home, which thrilled me. Igor was a bit reluctant, but with the added pressure from my father and our friends, he caved pretty quickly. She was the most relaxed I’ve ever seen a cat in a car- curled right up and went to sleep for most of the 2 hour trip, purring away. Not in the least bit fazed or nervous. No crying, not even a little peep.

After dropping everyone else off, we stopped to get cat supplies, including flea shampoo, and headed home. She didn’t fuss a bit when I clipped her nails (front and back!), but of course the flea bath was more than any cat could take. But she survived it, and even seemed to enjoy the blow dry a bit. She scarfed down a full bowl of food and spent the rest of the evening curled up with us on the couch, motor running! We were starting to get nervous about whether or not she’d use her box, and so we were quite relieved when we heard her scratching around in it early in the morning. She slept with us all night, and is still curled up close to Igor snoozing away. It’s going to be hard to go to work today!

Ivan was calling her Cheetah, but we haven’t decided yet to keep that name or go with something different. She’s all black, with rusty highlights behind her ears and on the back of her neck, and she’s got one white whisker. Panther seems like the more appropriate namesake, but it doesn’t seem to be sticking either. She’s way to sweet and loving, and just the tiniest little thing, to be a panther, I think. Any suggestions?

My brother Scott and Angela eloped yesterday! Yeah!!!!

Igor was especially proud that they chose Ukraine’s Independence Day, August 24, for the event.

My “Aha!” moment of the month was realizing there is a card reader built into my laptop – d’oh! No more excuses for not uploading my pictures because I can’t find the camera cable! So I am finally, slowly but surely, catching up on my photos to Flickr. I’ll post some highlights here eventually.

Last weekend was great. Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day and we went for a long stroll with friends Bill and Eilene, starting at the Lavra and then on to the new Holodomor (famine) monument. I had only seen it from afar, so walking up close and around the plaza I had mixed feelings. There was some controversy last year about the huge amount of money spent to build yet monument to the 1930’s famine. It wasn’t really clear why anothe rmonument was needed not very far from the simple yet elegant monument at St. Michael’s Cathedral. The new one certainly doesn’t touch me the same way. They did a really fantastic job landscaping the hill below the monument, though, with stairs and paths down connecting to the paths all along the hillside. The, honestly, impressed me much more. There are several sets of stairs going down below the monument plaza, which were roped off. We looked over the side of the plaza, down one level to kind of courtyard, where old tools and canoes and other items were strewn about. A man was working on some of them, and we went down to check it out. He snapped at us that the museum wasn’t open, the courtyard was off limits still. I translated for Bill and Eilene, and when the man heard us speaking a foreign language, he seemed to warm up a bit, or at least he stopped yelling. I asked him if the things were old, as we all looked at them closely and admired them. This really won his favor, and he got interested in telling us a bit more. He showed us the flour mill he was working on, and demonstrated how it worked by cranking the handle, which turned the millstone, and he pointed to where you would pour in the grain and where the flour would come out. He invited us to come back on opening day, August 24 (Indepedence Day), and we promised we would be there.

We continued on with our stroll, with a quick stop in the underground shopping mall at Ploschad’ Slava (Glory Square). Eilene and I found a huge box of Ukrainian motif cross-stitch patterns at the Ukrainian book store and we just went nuts! We both bought enough patterns to keep us busy for the next couple of years, I suspect, while still drolling over the beautiful patterns for shirts (which are far beyond my skills, that’s for sure). The walked continued through Marinsky Park, to European Square, past Indepedence Square, and down Khreshatyk. We ended up – tired, hungry and thirsty – at a cafe where we relaxed and did some people watching. We were looking forward to quiet evening at home.

As we were heading home later, a friend of Igor’s from Korosten called to ask where the Fortress is. Turned out he was in town for the weekend with his new girlfriend and wanted to see the place Igor has raved about so much. He tried to explain how to get there, but when Vlad called back about 10 minutes later, we realized it would be easier to just take them there ourselves. Many native Kyivans don’t even know there is a fortress right smack in the middle of the city, so we weren’t surprised when Vlad said he kept asking people where it was and no one could tell him. So we met up with them and took them to the fortress. The main exhibition hall, which has an incredibly impressive collection of Trypillian artifacts was closed for an exhibit change. We were afraid the fabulous collection would be taken away, but the ladies assured us a different exhibit was changing and the Trypillian items would still be on display. We’re curious to see what will be there next! So we suggested Vlad and friend check out the smaller exhibit hall, in a different building. We went to the little building near the exhibit halls where we’ve always bought tickets before, but were re-directed to the actual ticket booth at the entrance to the grounds. Looks like they’re getting kinda fancy, maybe even professional! So Igor and I walked over to the booth and checked out the schedule and prices. We asked for two tickets.

“No,” said the lady in the booth. “It’s too late, we’re closing.”
I paused, checked the sign again, checked my watch.
“It says the museum is open until 6. It’s only 5:10 now.”
“No, it’s too late. You won’t have time for a tour.”
“But we just want to look on our own, we don’t need a guide.”
“There’s not enough time.”
Finally Igor chimed in, tired and grumpy after our long day.
“We can manage it. We’ll be OK. Two tickets please.”

I was getting a bit slap-happy, started laughing and asked the lady if the museum doesn’t need to earn any money? There budget is OK these days? On pretty much every of the numerous occassions Igor and I have been to the fortress, we always get a lecture from the ladies about the poor state of the museum’s finances, so it just seemed utterly ridiculous that they would be turning away 2 paying customers. Then again, I’m sure she was at least partially concerned for us, that we wouldn’t get our money’s worth out of a 45-minute visit (I’ve run into this before, especially from older women,). It’s sweet that she was concerned, especially since the tickets cost 7 UAH each, less than $1. But it still makes me chuckle that the employees of a cash-strapped museum would refuse to sell someone an entrance ticket!

So we passed the tickets on, walked Vlad and friend to the door and headed again for home. His phone rings; another friend from Korosten is in town for a seminar and wants to meet. Igor (much to my guilty relief) sends me on home while he goes to meet Olga. He calls soon after and asks if it’s OK for her to come to our place, she doesn’t have a place to stay the night. Of course! So I whipped together some dinner, and having company was the perfect excuse to bake a chocolate chip cake. It was a fun evening, but man were we ever exhausted when we finally collapsed into bed!

Sunday was brunch at Arizona BBQ, always a pleasure, followed by a quick stop at a arts & crafts booth I like in the underground shopping mall at Bessarabska Square (such a great use of space in a densely packed city – go underground! Wish they’d make some parking garages that way, too). Eilene and I got some fabric and thread for our new cross-stitch patterns, and she loaded up on yarn for the hats she’s knitting for cancer patients. We finally ended up at home, blissfully vegging on the couch until bedtime. Whew!

The week has been equally busy, although with fun social stuff. Saw “District 9″ one evening – a lot more gore than I care for, but a good story line. Looking forward to the sequel (will it take 3 years to make?). Also went on a “Caribbean Cruise”, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce, along the Dnipro River. It was OK; the best part was hanging out with Igor and friends Bill and Eilene. Igor commented that there were a lot of “huntresses” on board, or “working devushkas”, as Bill put it. Dad hooked up with a couple pretty quickly and disappeared for the rest of the evening.

Igor and I are in week 2 of a “drying out” phase. We decided it was time to take a break from alcohol – too much of in the past few months, and way too many of the corresponding calories. Considering the main selling point of the Caribbean Cruise was the free “tropical” cocktails, we weren’t sure how our resolve would hold up. But we stuck to our non-alcoholic beer (which was surprisingly thoughtful of the organizers to have available!). When we got home, Igor commented, “Well, we made it through our first event without booze. Kinda boring, but we did it.” I don’t think it would have been more exciting or entertaining if we had been drinking, though. But it was a pleasant evening, something different to do.

The coming weekend will be chock full of fun stuff – Sunday is Flag Day, Monday is Independence Day, so lots of events planned throughout the long weekend. Saturday is the flower festival at the park by Rodina Mat’. Sunday is a flag-raising ceremony at Marinsky Palace. And after the parade on Monday morning, we are looking forward to checking out the new museum at the Holodomor monument.

Today is Easter in Ukraine, and for all Orthodox Christians. We spent the weekend in Korosten, and had a great time (as always). Our good friends Bill and Eileen joined us, which of course was a big hit with Igor’s family- fresh ears for all their stories, fresh taste buds to appreciate the fantastic cooking, and fresh hands to take a try at some preparing some traditional dishes. Bill and Eileen both love to cook, so we made a special request to Igor’s mom for a lesson on preparing pelmeni (meat dumplings) and vareniki (dumplings with non-meat fillings, we made them with potatoes this time). It was a blast.

We rented a car to make the trip easier (and because I don’t trust any public transportation on a holiday), which meant I was the designated driver and had a good excuse to not drink the requisite obsence amount of alcohol. We arrived on Saturday at lunchtime, which was fantastic and overwhelming. Eileen’s mother and step-father live on a farm, and apparently have a lot in common with Igor’s parents, so it was fun to talk about the things familiar and the things different. We went to the village house to take a basket of goodies to Igor’s father, who took it to the middle-of-the-night mass to be blessed. He’s got the whole she-bang now out there – 5 sheep (one lamb born not too long ago), 2 pigs, rabbits, chickens, and his cow recently had her first calf, a beautiful cappucino-colored little guy.

This morning, Easter Sunday, started early, as always. Igor’s father is the religious one in the family, so he went to church at 2 am. I picked him up from the village at 7 to bring him to town for the traditional big Easter meal. He’s been “fasting” (as they call it) for 40 days, which means no meat or dairy products. And he was on total fast (ie, no food at all) since Good Friday. So by the time Easter finally arrives, he is SOOO ready to eat! They had slaughtered a pig and a turkey last weekend in preparation for Easter, and the table was full with meats in various forms – multiple kinds of homemade sausages, baked turkey, potatoes baked with pork (which Eileen said was like a stew), and of course the beloved Ukrainian salo (pork fat). It’s still too early for the most vegetables, but the green onions were ready in the little greenhouse in their yard. We had lots of fabulous salads – radishes and green onions, boiled eggs with green onions, Chinese cabbage with green onions… all utterly delicious! And of course the traditional Easter eggs and Easter bread.

Today was a bit tiring for me – it’s kinda boring to be the only sober person in a group of really drunk people, but it’s exhausting to be the only translator in a multi-lingual group. I love being part of the cultural exchange, don’t get me wrong! New guests always ask interesting and different questions, and I love being part of the dialogue. But when they get all excited, and everybody wants to talk and ask questions and give answers, it’s hard to keep up and I get really tired and grumpy. I had a few moments today that I regret, when I snapped at Igor’s family and at him, but I hope they understand that it’s hard when everybody wants me to translate for them at once.

I just have to pause to say the sky is absolutely gorgeous tonight. For all the things we dislike about where we live right now, one good thing is that we are up high (10th floor) and have a fantastic view of the setting sun. It’s like a giant rainbow out of my window right now – from indigo to cranberry. Just gorgeous.

And back to the weekend. Igor’s college roommate and best friend Sasha called yesterday from the hospital to tell Igor that his daughter had just been born. Igor is godfather to Sasha’s first child, Viktor, who is about 1 1/2 years old. So we made a quick stop at yesterday to buy presents for all involved parties, namely the newborn baby and her older brother, which were delivered today after the feast in Korosten.

In short, it was a great weekend- extreme calories (although we decided any foodstuffs blessed at church were calorie-free), lots of booze, great friendships established, lots of hugs and invitations to visit again.

Tomorrow I’m off to New York for a conference. It’s a quick trip, just a week, with no visits to Ohio. But two Peace Corps friends are in New York and we’ll be celebrating Emily’s birthday together. It’s hard to believe we were last all together four years ago, in Moldova.

Speaking of which, Anya and Grisha called today to wish us a Happy Easter. Anya was again in charge of voting in Tvarditsa and with great satisfaction reported to me that the recount of her district had the same results – that is, no errors under her leaderhship. Who would have expected otherwise?!

The sun has set now, it’s been a long day with lots of adventures and impressions. I’m ready to curl up with a good book and call it a day. Tomorrow is an early start and a long day. Hard to believe I’ll be in the motherland tomorrow night…

I’m back home in Kyiv, wondering when that magic moment occurred and Kyiv became “home.” It is home because my husband is here, first and foremost. My work and friends are here, too. I love being in Columbus, too, my other home, where my family and friends are. And I’m always amazed at how quickly and easily it is to reconnect with those close friends I see once a year, if I’m lucky.

I slept for something like 14 hours Tuesday night, and enjoyed a quiet day with Igor on Wednesday. He took me to the fitness club he joined recently, and signed me up as well. It felt great to have a good workout, and I’m looking forward to us getting in shape together. There are saunas in both the men’s and women’s locker rooms, which of course was the big selling point for Igor. I was kind of bummed we couldn’t use the sauna together, but as I was in mine I heard sounds on the other side of the wall and started to wonder… “Igor, is that you?” Sure enough! So we sat in our respective saunas and chatted through the wall, being the only people in either one. It was cute.

I’m back to the office today, which will be great. I miss my colleagues!

I’m in Columbus. It’s always great to be here, but overwhelming, as well. So many people I’d like to see, things I’d like to do, and even less time than usual. I’ll be here 48 hours, and since I’m physically and mentally exhausted after 9 intense days in DC, I just can’t do it all this time. I’m also missing my husband like crazy.

This is the season of never-ending holidays in Ukraine. Or at least it starts to feel that way to me by about this time every year. We’ve had Latin Christmas, New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas (Jan. 7), with one more to go – the so-called Old New Year, which celebrates New Year’s Eve by the the Julian calendar, even though the region changed to the Gregorian calendar 90 years ago. Man, those Slavs will think of any excuse for a holiday!

We spent both New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas with Igor’s family, as we usually do. It was the usual festival of gluttony and sloth, ending with several doses of something to calm the stomach. Fun was had by all. Igor’s father fulfilled his life-long dream and, in the year of the Cow (as it is called in Ukrainian), he bought himself a cow. (It wasn’t actually his life-long dream to buy the cow in the year of the cow, it just worked out that way.) So, his farmstead is now complete – pigs, sheep (his second lamb was born last month, almost one-year to the day from the first one, which was born on the morning of our wedding), a goat, chickens, turkeys, rabbits and a cow. He’s convinced he’s going to keep us all alive during this economic crisis with the products of his farm – let’s hope things don’t get that desperate.

They slaughtered one of the pigs in the last few days of 2008, so the big excitement for everyone during the holidays (except, of course, us vegetarians) was the homegrown pork, salo, and other various pork products. I’m sure it’s all quite tasty.

Since our trip to someplace (anyplace) warm and sunny didn’t pan out, Igor and I decided to spend a night at a spa center just outside Kyiv, creatively called Spa-Center. Since we sold our car not long ago, we headed to the bus station where various buses depart in a northwestern direction from Kyiv to find something that could drop us in the vicinity of the hotel. Lo and behold, right as we came out of the metro, the Korosten bus was pulling out directly in front of us. The driver slowed down, opened the door and yelled out a greeting to Igor – an old acquaintance! Although his bus was full, he let us stand in the aisle for the 15 minute ride to Vorzel. As we walked up the long driveway to the spa, we both laughed that we were probably the first people to arrive at this up-scale spa by foot.

We checked in, changed to our bathing suits, donned the hotel robes and headed to reception to get set-up with access to the spa center. And boom, the lights go out. It was still early afternoon, so there was plenty of natural light, but then the smell hit us. Something was definitely burning. As we descended the stairs we quickly realized the problem – the door to the utilities room was wide open and the stench was coming from the electrical panel. That was more than a blown fuse. After about an hour or so, Igor asked at reception if we should pack up and head home. No, they assured us, the power will be back within the hour. To their credit, it was back on in about 30 minutes. Of course, it went again several hours later, but by that time we had already thoroughly enjoyed the spa facilities.

We enjoyed the novelty of sitting in the steaming outdoor jaccuzi while snow fell around us, then took a quick dip in one of the pools. Igor was anxious to get to the highlight of the experience for him, the various saunas. They have a steam room, a Finnish (dry) sauna and a Russian banya. You can get a “treatment” with a venik by one the spa workers, or you can buy your own birch or oak branch and go to work on yourself with the leaves. Igor opted for this, and pretty much got the full experience – getting on a good sweat in the banya, swatting himself with the birch branch, and then stepping out of the banya and dumping a bucket of cold water over his head. That whole process is too extreme for me, but he did convince me to let him do a gentle “massage” with the birch branch a couple of times. Not bad.

After a couple of hours, we were thoroughly relaxed. The transformer blew again just as we were leaving the spa, and the electricity was out for another hour or so. I was a bit afraid to actually stay the whole night there, not feeling particularly confident that the place wouldn’t catch on fire at some point, but thankfully no more transformer problems.

We easily caught a bus back to Kyiv the next day, and decided to check out an appliance store before heading home. We’ve been talking about getting a juicer, and I did some investigating a few days earlier. I had found that for a little bit more, we could get a food processor that includes a juicer, instead of just a juicer. Well, one thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were lugging home a small space ship, I mean large kitchen “combine” (as they are called here), that does everything except wash the dishes. Oh wait, it has some self-cleaning mode too. We tested the juicing function first thing, and Igor got a little carried away. Next thing I knew, we had several liters of juice from all kinds of things – beets, carrots, parsley, cabbage (that’s particularly disgusting, I might add), apples and I don’t even know what else. The machine works great, and we found some combinations with beet juice that aren’t too bad actually.

Once these holidays are over, we are going on a mostly-juice diet for a while – we both feel fat and out of shape. There’s not much we can do for more physical exercise at the moment, since it’s damn cold with plenty of snow, but we can work on our eating habits and get back on track with eating healthier. I love the holidays, I enjoy the time with family and friends, but I’m ready to get back to work, to a schedule and a routine. One more trip to Korosten this weekend for an early celebration of Old New Year with friends, then the holiday season officially ends and we’re back to normal.

С днём благодарения!

Today is a working day for us here in Kyiv, even at a place called American Councils for International Education (we are taking Friday off, though). We’ll spend this evening with at the Campsey’s, with dad and some other Americans. This will actually be my first Thanksgiving dinner with Americans since I’ve lived in Ukraine, and it will be Igor’s first “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner – turkey and all!

I am very thankful for so many people and things. First and foremost for my wonderful husband; I couldn’t ask for a better partner in my life. I am thankful for my family – parents and siblings both by blood and by marriage. I’ve been thinking about mom a lot lately, and I am especially thankful for the last conversation I had with her 2 days before she passed away. It was an “unscheduled” phone call, I’d had an “unknown” caller on my cell phone and thought I’d better check with my parents if it had been them calling on a Thursday about something important. Nothing had happened, thank goodness, and it was a really nice conversation with just my mom. I am thankful that my last memories of her are so warm. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over three years now since I last saw her and hugged her.

I am thankful for my wonderful friends, all over the world. I am thankful for my great colleagues and a job that I love.

I am thankful for ice cube trays and tomatoes picked from the vine and homemade wine and the internet and public transportation and warm clothes and sunny beaches and my iPod (OK, my dad’s iPod until I replace the one I killed) and decaf coffee and my cat and warm fresh bread and blue cheese and podiobooks and chocolate-covered halva and so very much more.

Igor’s birthday celebrations lasted nearly as long as our wedding celebrations. After our own celebrations on Thursday, we went to Korosten for the weekend, and 2 more days of fun.

Friday night with spent with friends at Anatoliy’s farm outside Korosten. I drove up after work, while Igor had come earlier in the day by bus. It was clear I was a more than a bit behind in the celebrations, but since I was driving, my fun was limited to the fabulous food. It’s not so fun to be sober amongst a bunch of drunk people, but I still managed to have a good time until about 11, when I’d had enough. We finally made it home close to 1 a.m.

Saturday we took Igor’s family to the awesome pizzeria. The owner lived for awhile in Italy and learned the art of pizza-making there, and has even built a special clay pizza oven. Actual Italians have told me it’s awesome pizza, and considering it’s the only decent restaurant in Korosten, it’s always our place of choice for any time we eat out. Good food and good times were had by all.

We noticed an odd and disturbing theme in Igor’s presents this year – a sake set, a flask with matching shot glasses, and a set of 6 malachite shot glasses. By the time he opened the third alcohol-oriented present, Igor was starting to worry that he might be an alcoholic (or at least his friends seem to think he’s a drunk). We now have enough booze sets to open a bar, I think. Is this a bad thing? Maybe not! But I’m glad I didn’t buy him the martini shaker and glasses. Those can wait until next year.

Our buddy Michael came up to Korosten Saturday afternoon, and we drove to the nearby forest so Michael could fulfill a long-time fantasy of mushroom gathering. I thankfully waited in the car while Igor, his parents and Michael tromped through the forest hunting the little fungi for a couple hours. My punishment came when we got home, when several bags of mushrooms were deposited before me for cleaning. Michael, anxious for the “full experience”, happily pitched in, and Igor, probably out of guilt, sat down to work too. In an hour or so, we had a big bucket of gorgeous mushrooms ready for cooking! And yuuuuummm, were they ever tasty. We had enough that we brought a bag back to Kyiv with us, and Igor added them to a fabulous pot of borscht that he whipped up. Yummy.

Sunday we hit the Korosten market, looking for a few bargains. Michael, photographer that he is, staked out the bus stop and photographed and talked up folks for a couple of hours. We finally headed back to Kyiv, Michael trying his hand at driving in Ukraine. He did well, but wasn’t ready for Kyiv traffic. But we made it home safe and sound.

All in all, a great, long and fun celebration of Igor’s birthday. Next weekend we head off to the Carpathian mountains. I hope the leaves haven’t all fallen yet!

We started the multi-day celebrations of my darling husband’s birthday today. We were awoken at 7:15 by some friends calling to wish him a Happy Birthday – we are both accustomed to the fact that there is no sleeping in on your birthday! That was just the first of a slew of calls he will get all day long from friends, relatives, and colleagues.

We’ll be in Korosten for the weekend, celebrating Friday night with friends, Saturday with family. Sunday Igor is taking Michael to the forest for mushroom hunting. I, happily, can finally be excused from this activity. I just don’t get any thrill out of it, but Igor, his parents, and millions of Ukrainians anxiously await mushroom season and gleefully spend hours skulking through the forests in search of mushrooms. Me? I think it’s hot, uncomfortable, boring, and an endless battle against mosquitoes. Of course I’m more than happy to help with the eating of the delicious mushrooms! That’s more my kind of sport.

I didn’t manage to get his birthday present here in time to give him today (a digital camera ordered from the US), so today he got a new camera bag with a lovely picture of his soon-to-be camera. When I left for work this morning, he was already scouring websites to learn all about his new toy. It should be here in a couple of weeks, when a friend comes back to Kyiv. Nothing like a bit of anticipation!

So, my darling – З днем народження!

The heat wave is officially over - and it’s freaking cold! The cat suddenly is interested in my company now that she’s cold – normally she tolerates us only because of our ability to open the refrigerator and spoon canned food into her bowl. But when she’s cold she becomes the nicest of lap cats.

Igor went to Korosten yesterday, and I’ll join him today. The car is in the shop because the motor burned out, leaving us without windshield wipers. It came as no surprise that they couldn’t find a new or used motor for our 1984 BMW, so they’re trying to repair our motor. Hopefully it won’t cost an arm and a leg, since the car itself is barely worth an arm, or a leg for that matter.

So I’ll be taking the bus to Korosten, something I haven’t done in quite a while. And for once I’m not too upset about that, maybe even a little bit glad ’cause it means I can work on my embroidery while someone else does the driving! I’m about half way done with my first cross-stitch. It’s got quite a few mistakes in it, but I’m plugging along. One important thing I learned is to not try to do it at 1:00 in the morning when I’m exhausted but can’t sleep – I ended up redoing the same little area about 5 times before I finally got it right. I couldn’t resist buying my next pattern yesterday. It’s got six colors (up from three with my first pattern), and involves two types of stitches, so it will be a challenge for me. But it’s relatively small, so I think it won’t be overwhelming. I looked again at the traditional Ukrainian patterns, for the ceremonial towels and shirts and things, but they are still way too intimidating. It’s fun to have something to work towards, though.

Speaking of goals – I went to Buffalo Expatriate’s farewell get-together last night (she’s moving back to the States). She’s been working with the International Organization for Migration, and doing research on trafficking and related issues. There was such an awesome, interesting diverse group of people at the bar. We went around the table introducing ourselves, with most people saying the usual “My name is…, I work/study at…”. One young Nigerian man introduced himself and said “I am going to the be president of Nigeria some day.” Talk about having goals!

But back to this weekend. Igor’s godson turned one this past week, and today is his birthday party. What do you wear to a first birthday party? I don’t think that this will be like an American baby’s birthday party, with lots of other kids crawling around and parents swapping parenting stories. I suspect this will be like most other Ukrainian celebrations – adult family and friends squeezed around a table overflowing with food, which will keep coming until long after you can’t eat another bite, and plenty of drinking and toasting. This would be the down-side of not having the car this weekend, as it’s always a great excuse for me to pass on the vodka shots when I’m “behind the wheel”. Maybe I’ll use the “I’m taking some medicine right now” excuse; that one usually works pretty well, too.

I guess it’s time to get myself together and head out to the bus station. Can’t wait to get to work on my cross-stitch!

Scott’s at a techie-geek conference (or in his words “big European consumer electronics show”) in Berlin this week, writing articles for the website CrunchGear.com. He stopped first in the Netherlands for a tour of the Phillips Research Labs, which is first articles are about. Very cool!

I had a lovely birthday. Lots of nice phone calls and electronic warm wishes from friends near and far. In Ukraine, the birthday person is supposed to bring sweets in for colleagues, and I decided to bake a big batch of muffins Wednesday night to take to the office on Thursday. We had fresh wild blueberries and sour cherries that we’d brought back from Korosten, so I whipped up a couple batches. With only one muffin tin that bakes 6 muffins at a time, it quickly became clear to me that it was not going to be a quick endeavor. 3 hours later, I’d had enough of the hot kitchen and called it quits. Dad sneaked a couple muffins, but most of them made it to the office on Thursday. They were quite a hit, and once word spread throughout the office, it was a great incentive for folks to come visit us up on the third floor.

I was sporting the absolutely beautiful bracelet that Igor gave me – citrons and blue topaz, to go with the presents of the last 2 birthdays, a blue topaz necklace and blue topaz earrings. The set is complete! Dad bought me the cell phone I’ve been coveting for ages. My colleague Anna gave me a really cool cookbook, with Ukrainian recipes in both Russian and English, and the most beautiful, appetizing photos!

I told Igor I didn’t want to do anything fancy this year, no evening out, nobody over, just me and my guys at home. The sweeties that they are, Igor and Dad had a cake with candles waiting for me when I got home and they sang “Happy Birthday.” Igor cooked a fabulous meal (as always). I had requested zucchini pancakes (like potato pancakes, only made with the zucchini). Being the creative overachiever that he is, he made up an entirely new recipe and combined all kinds of vegetables for the pancakes – beets, carrots, zucchini, etc. They were both pretty and delicious!

After dinner, Igor did the most beautiful thing. He told Dad that in the Far East they have a tradition that a husband who is happy with his wife gives gold to his father-in-law. Igor said “I am very happy with Ann, and I want to thank you.” He gave Dad a gold ring, which fit perfectly on Dad’s little finger. Dad got a bit misty-eyed, and finally said “I don’t know what to say.”

I can hardly believe sometimes that this amazing and wonderful man is my husband, that I get to live with him the rest of my life. What pure joy!

of Pigs… In…. Spaaaaacccceee!
Don’t know why that is stuck in my head today, but it is. I’d love to watch some Muppets right now.

Talked to the landlady again today to ask if we could stay until the end of September. It would just be so much easier if we could deal with all this a bit later. Igor and I both have business trips in August, Dad’s here until early September… She has this nasty habit of telling me what I should do, what I can do, and wanting to debate with me our decisions. During our last conversation, when I told her we couldn’t afford what she wants for the apartment, she said “Oh come on, I know you get $X for housing from UN.” I curtly told her she was misinformed, that in fact my housing allowance is half of what she quoted. She then told me that I should tell “them” to pay me more. If only it were so simple! But either way, it’s none of her business how much my living allowance is and how much I chose to spend on an apartment, but I didn’t manage to express that to her last time.

Well, this time I was better prepared to not get sucked into a discussion of my personal matters. I did say that with Dad visiting us until early September, it would be really helpful if we could stay until the end of September, and deal with moving after he is gone. She started in with her questions, and I promptly cut her off with “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to discuss our various reasons with you. It’s our personal business. Our question to you is whether or not we can stay until the end of September.” She was a bit surprised, but fortunately didn’t seem offended by my rebuke. She said her idea had been to get two students to rent the apartment starting in September, so she’s not sure. Then she asked if we had made a final decision to move out, don’t we want to stay there? It’s expensive to move, etc etc etc. I told her we would happily stay there but the bottom line is we cannot afford the price we wants. Much to my surprise, she said she could take it down $100, just for us because she’s used to us, we’ve never caused any problems, etc. But she couldn’t resist going into her usual pity party about how it’s hard for them as pensioners, they don’t have any other income, her husband had to go back to work, etc. I would feel sorry for her, if I hadn’t been to her apartment myself a few months ago and seen the brand new wide-screen digital TV, and if she hadn’t herself told me about how they got a new computer and wireless internet. I don’t think they are as hard-off as she likes to pretend.

In the end, we agreed to discuss it at the end of this month when she comes to collect for the utilities. It’s tempting to not move, we love the apartment and the neighborhood. Another two hundred dollars a month in rent will be tough, though.

————–

In other events, we had a nice weekend in Korosten with Igor’s family. Everybody loved the presents Dad brought them – overalls for Grandpa; shirts, jackets and jeans for Nina, Ivan, Oksana and Denis; and 3 bottles of barbecue sauce for Vova. He was practically drinking it straight from the bottle! And he nearly finished an entire bottle just at one meal. Good thing Dad brought a BBQ sauce recipe too!

Dad, Igor and I spent the night in the village house with Ivan on Saturday night. He’s done so much work there in the last couple of years, it’s really amazing. And in preparation for Dad’s visit, he had promised to make a summer shower. Usually a summer shower (at last in my experience) means the water is heated by the sun. Well, Ivan being the handy-man that he is, managed to hook up an electric water heater, so year-round hot water! You might not want to use it in the winter, though, since it’s more-or-less an outdoor shower (a little shed next to the house). We saw all the animals – 4 sheep, 2 pigs, 1 goat, a bunch of rabbits, and about 7 or 8 turkeys. He’s becoming quite the farmer! Sunday I picked fresh vegetables from the garden while Igor and Dad grilled a rabbit and Nina made ukha, a traditional fish soup that fisherman usually make after a successful catch. the guys only managed to catch 3 dinky little fish that morning in the nearby river, so Nina supplemented with a quick run to the fish market.

We had a leisurely lunch sitting in the yard, enjoying the lovely weather and good company. The drive that evening back to Kyiv was perfect – hardly any traffic at all. Dad opted to come back with us instead of staying in the village with Ivan. I’m not surprised, 2 days is usually my limit, too, and I can understand what everyone is saying! We’ll be back there several times in the coming weeks, so plenty of time to get more village-life experience.

Oh, and the muffler on the car finally crapped out. It’s been coming on for a while, we could tell, and last week’s trip to Andrei and Natasha’s dacha for the wedding party was the last straw, I think. The roads to get there were just awful, and the undercarriage of the car got banged hard a couple of times (it’s really low to the ground – not a good car for Ukrainian village roads!). We tried to find a working mechanic in Korosten on the weekend, but no such luck. A friend of Igor’s looked at it, though, and the good news is that it’s nothing dangerous or horrible. The bad news is it’s damn loud and a bit embarrassing driving down the street. We got back to Kyiv a bit deaf but otherwise in good shape. One more project for this week…

The old man arrived in Kyiv a couple hours ago – with two beautiful bottles of Jameson’s for me! He’s with us for the next six weeks. Well, partly with us in Kyiv and partly with Igor’s parents in the village and probably with us on some trips if we can get them organized.

We’re looking forward to checking out some different sites in Kyiv – it’s always good motivation to do some sight seeing when we have company. Dad’s seen pretty much all the highlights, so we’ll dig deeper into some of the less known places, I hope.

Isn’t it funny how something wonderful comes along right when you need it? Like the great news I got last night after my depressing funk about maniac drivers.

Petya and Marina got married!!!

Dad picked them up on Sunday and brought them back to Columbus, where they will live for the rest of their summer Work and Travel program. He took them to the courthouse Monday morning to find if they could get married in the US, and if so how. Turned out the answer was Yes and they could do it right away! I am so so happy for them.

We will also be sharing in another wonderful happy moment this weekend – Igor’s cousin Andrei is finally marrying his girlfriend of many years, Natasha. Andrei was best man at our wedding. They will have the civil ceremony on Saturday (just them and the witnesses), with the church wedding and small party on Sunday. We are honored to be included among the few people who get to share this important day in their lives with them.

Nothing like a wedding to make you feel positive again.

The past week is a blur. I remember the major outline, but the details are lost. We landed in Kyiv Monday morning and I was in the office by lunchtime. I finally stumbled home about 9pm, after several meetings to confirm plans for the regional workshop we were hosting in Kyiv, with about 40 people attending from all over Eastern Europe and the CIS, 1-3 July. I changed our vacation plans to be in Kyiv for this workshop, and although I really hate that we missed 4th of July in Columbus, it was important to be here for this event, even if I wasn’t anywhere near my best for most of it.

Tuesday morning Igor and I were both wide awake at 4:00 am, and finally decided to get up and go to the grocery store around 4:30. First time we’ve never had to wait in line there! I was at the workshop early, and had a long spacey day. Despite being exhausted all day, I suddenly was wide awake once I got home and couldn’t sleep hardly all night. Wednesday was similar, but I really wanted to visit with my UNV colleagues so I pushed through a long evening and had some friends over for dinner. The workshop wrapped up on Thursday, and we had a nice reception in the evening for everyone. I regretted leaving early, but I was near dead from exhaustion.

Friday we had an important meeting with the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sport about a project I’ve been developing for most of the past year. The project was approved! Just need to finalize the financing, which should happen next week. So, I could finally relax Friday afternoon. I met up with a couple UNV colleagues for a quick beer.

For the first time in 3 years, I was invited to the big Independence Day party at the American Ambassador’s residence. Although I was still really pooped, and was hosting a colleague overnight in Kyiv, I felt I just couldn’t pass up the invitation. It was a fun event, and I enjoyed spending a couple hours with American friends and making some new acquaintances. After that party, I met up with some UNV colleagues for a late night. We stumbled home around 1 am (I think) and collapsed.

Igor went to Korosten on Tuesday, planning to be there a day or two, but that turned into the whole week. After seeing my UNV colleagues off to the airport, I drove to Korosten to finally visit with his family and friends. I had really been looking forward to listening to Igor tell everyone about our trip to the US. I love to listen to him tell stories, for one thing, but also I learn a lot more about his impressions and perceptions when he tells other people about what we’ve done and where we’ve been. Unfortunately, I missed most of his stories this time since he’d been there a week and seen most everybody by the time I got to Korosten. I did hear a couple stories, though – like how awesome Niagara Falls are, and that Ohio is a great place for retirement ’cause everything is set up for comfort (drive-thru banking, drive-up drop off for the library, etc). Igor was also immensely impressed with the vast array of gardening tools my Dad has – a tool for every task, he said.

We had dinner with Igor’s family, then rushed off to meet up with some friends who were waiting for us at their dacha outside Korosten. I was driving, which meant I didn’t have quite as much fun as everyone else, but I honestly didn’t mind the excuse to not have to drink vodka. Time to dry out for a bit.

We slept like the dead Saturday night, and for the first time in weeks I felt like I had a full night’s sleep. We woke up at 9:30 – jumped up is more like it, since we had an appointment at 10. Neither of us could believe we’d slept for over 10 hours! After running some errands, we spent an hour or so picking raspberries and blueberries in the yard – yum! There are still some cherries on the trees, but we decided to pass this time. Igor’s mom made a fabulous spread for lunch (as usual), with the highlight being vareniki (dumplings) with cherries, blueberries and mullberries. We stopped by Igor’s college roommate’s house on the way to Kyiv to visit them and Igor’s godson, and of course a “quick stop” turned into an hour and a half and another bursting table of goodies. We finally made it home around 7:30. The first time in nearly a month when we are home alone, and what do we do? I start the laundry and he starts scrapping the ice out of our crappy freezer – the things that desperately need to get done but we haven’t had time to do for ages. Finally we settle down, open a bottle of wine, and he’s watching boxing while I catch up on my blog.

It hardly seems like we were in Columbus just a week ago.

two weeks have flown by.

We spent 2 days last week with my Moldovan friend Petya and his girlfriend Marina. Petya lived in Tvarditsa, and was my good friend and walking buddy in the village. He’s studying at a university not far from Moscow now, and met there the love of his life, Marina, who ironically grew up in a village not far from Tvarditsa. They had to go to university in Russia to meet each other! They are spending the summer on a Work and Travel program, and managed to get jobs in Ohio working concessions on the fair circuit. Not glamorous work, but they are getting quite the tour of small town America. We picked them up last Sunday and brought them to Columbus for the night. How strange and wonderful to meet my Tvarditsa friend in my hometown! We had a really good time with them.

Tuesday we took a long walk through the neighborhood, bought Igor an album for his growing collection of state quarters, and bought him a couple of buffalo steaks. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed admiring the lovely yards everywhere. We sat in a little park for a break, and to look through Igor’s growing collection of state quarters. Man, those things were getting heavy to be carrying around! Later in the week we found an album for him, and I thought it was going to be permanently attached to him. We were down to five missing quarters as of Saturday afternoon – which included 3 quarters that haven’t been minted yet, or at least that’s what I thought. That little genius Tyler showed at Dad’s birthday party with THREE of the missing quarters – including Arizona, which we didn’t know was available! So Igor brought back a near-complete set of state quarters, and next year we’ll have a good time finishing it up with Alaska and Hawaii.

Later in the day, Igor and Dad did a lot of yard work, while Tyler and I worked inside the house. She got an urge to bake, or more preciously she got an urge to eat sugar cookies so we baked a big batch of them, plus a pan of brownies. Yum!

In the early evening we went to the pool and we could finally make use of our new bathing suits. In Ukraine, all the women – no matter what age, no matter how big – all wear two-piece bathing suits. And the men all wear little Speedo-like things. I was very uncomfortable the first few times I went to beaches here, not being used to seeing so much skin and sometimes “too much information.” But after a bit I started to feel uncomfortable because I felt like I stuck out being the only person in a one-piece bathing suit. After one of my trips home I brought back with me the two-piece I bought at the peak of my Weight Watchers success, when I was feeling really great about my body. I had worn it maybe once or twice in the US but always felt self-conscious. Here in Ukraine, even with 15 pounds of weight regained, I feel really comfortable in my two-piece. And it’s so nice to be around people who don’t have so many body-image hang-ups, at least not on the beach. But as we planned for this trip to the US, I told Igor that I needed to get a new, one-piece bathing suit. He was really confused, and none of my attempts to explain why I just cannot wear a two-piece in the US seemed to help him. The matter was made even worse when I told him that he would have to get a new bathing suit, too, because he would not be able to wear his Speedo-like suit, at least not in Columbus. I think he thought I was kidding until I told him that I heard on an NPR podcast that a man was fined in Florida for wearing a Speedo (granted, I heard it on “Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me!”, which happens to be my main source of news these days). So our first day in Columbus he bought an “American” bathing suit, which he proceeded to wear as shorts for the next two weeks. When we finally went swimming Tuesday evening, he hated it – hated the feel of the shorts in the water, the way the poofed up, and he kept feeling like they were going to fall off.

Wednesday I saw “Sex and the City” with Cheria. Awesome movie! Thursday we drove down to Athens to visit Jenny and her family. I always forget how beautiful southern Ohio is, and Igor enjoyed the scenery as much as I did. Friday morning we got up early and drove west to Serpent Mound. It wasn’t as big as we had expected, but then again, after Niagara Falls nothing seems particularly big. Some of the Ohio Indian mounds are to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list, and since they are really special and unique, I thought it would be cool to visit them with Igor. We then took a leisurely drive along country roads back up to Columbus, stopping at a couple other state parks along the way. We also stopped at an Amish store, and Igor was thrilled to see some Amish people – “The only Americans who live like Ukrainians,” he said.

Friday night was a fabulous dinner at Madeleine and Dick’s with family and friends. Saturday morning we packed, which wasn’t nearly as bad as we’d expected. I should have brought another person along with me ages ago! The extra two bags made such a huge difference.

And then Saturday evening was Dad’s really nice birthday party. Lots of his friends and neighbors. And at the end of the evening he decided to crack open a 17-year old bottle of Armenia cognac he’s been saving for years. Wow, was it every awesome!

Sunday morning came much too quickly. Dad made his famous pancakes, and Scott, Carina, Tayler and Tyle r came over to visit a few more minutes with us. Cheria and Jahi met us at the airport for final goodbyes.

We are both so full of impressions, both of us still sorting them out. I was so happy when Igor said he’d really enjoyed the trip, everything we did and everyone we met. I enjoyed the washer and dryer, and having clothes cleaned and dried in under 90 minutes. We both enjoyed the convenience and ease of everything. We took Petya to the bank to open an account, and as we left he told me he couldn’t believe how nice the banker was – “They would never be nice to you in Russian,” he said. Yes, customer service is pretty darn good in the U.S. I like being able to pay everywhere with my debit card, but it’s also nice to use cash and never had problems getting change- never once did anyone yell at me to dig in my purse for coins because there wasn’t enough change in the till or the cashier didn’t want to be bothered counting out change. I love the ease and ability to recycle (it’s so painful to put paper in the trash can in Ukraine!).

There were some not-so-great things too. The fruits and vegetables taste like crap, there’s just no other word for it. Fresh Ukrainian produce beats the US hands-down. I missed having a beer during a leisurely walk on a hot day. Heck, I missed walking! Too much driving in the US. I was embarrassed by the number of just down right huge people that Igor noticed and pointed out to me. He was especially shocked to see obese people on their motorized chairs in the grocery store. He was also floored when I told him we couldn’t just go to the pharmacy and buy some antibiotics for his sinus infection, that instead it would involve a doctor’s appointment and a prescription.

Overall though, it was a wonderful two weeks. Lots of good times, lots of good food; great friends, great family. That’s what it’s all really about.

We’re having a great time being here. Niagara Falls was truly spectacular. On Tuesday we rode the Maid of the Mist and did the Caves of the Wind walk under the falls. It was so fun to see the look on Igor’s face – so thrilled to be there, so in awe.

Wednesday we took my nieces to Ohio State and walked around campus, visiting friends in different buildings. Thursday we drove to Ft. Wayne to visit Tanya, and we came back to Columbus on Friday in time for an evening at Club Diversity with chocolate martinis. Saturday was another Eddie Bauer Warehouse excursion, followed by a fabulous cook-out at Scott and Carina’s house. Even a thunderstorm couldn’t stop us from having a great time!

Food fantasies indulged:
Igor – steak, steak and more steak. He bought the biggest hunks of meat I have ever seen. One guy at the cook-out stopped dead in his tracks by the grill and said “What is that? Is that meat?”
Ann – chocolate martinis (Igor loved them too), Mike’s Hard Pomegranate Lemonade, more chips and salsa and various yummy dips.

We had brought a bottle of balsam from Crimea to share at the cookout. It’s a kind of liquor, made from something like 27 different herbs, and is supposed to be good for your health. You can put it in tea, or mix it with vodka. Igor was a hit at the cookout making cocktails for everyone to try the balsam and vodka. After one small drink, my 6′6″ brother stood up and said “Holy cow, I’ve got a buzz! What the heck is in that?” Somehow in our explanations of how great it is for you, we must have forgotten to point out it’s 80 proof, so mixed with vodka it’s a damn strong drink! Lots of people asked where they could buy it, but I doubt it’s sold here.

Igor’s playing Wii with the twins now. So funny.