The "Simple Life"

Just when I think all is going normal, I’m reminded that life here does not exactly meet my “normal” standards!

The girls went to art class and I headed off to my Russian lesson. The weather had finally gotten comfortable; still humid, a little overcast and the temperature was in the low 70’s, nice. Well, to my surprise and even some of the local people when I stepped out of class an hour and a half later the sky was very grey and thick with clouds; around here, these clouds definitely mean rain and soon. I only had a 7-8 minute walk to get the girls and I started walking quickly. Within 2 minutes the raindrops started coming down; not too much though, it actually seemed like it might let up for a few minutes even; no such luck, the sky took a breath and then let it all out!!! Raindrops the size of malt balls were pouring down. I found shelter under a tree but art class was nearly over and for some reason I had no reception on my cell phone to let someone know I was going to be late. I ran a little further, hoping my bag was keeping my books dry enough and sought shelter under another tree; I was sharing this particular tree with an equally surprised Ukrainian woman. I tried my cell phone again, no good. The wind came and shoved buckets of water on us, at this point I was nearly drenched to the bone so I decided to just set off for art class, after all, I was only 2 minutes away and couldn’t get any wetter.

I reached art class; dodging the big puddles and prayed the glass chards everywhere would not be a problem since I was in flip flops and the puddles were eventually unavoidable. Although I arrived in one piece, I looked like a drowned cat and began to shiver, also I found a single ant taking a bite out of my shoulder (ouch, hmm, odd). The other American teens had umbrella issues (the wind broke theirs) and they arrived to pick up the other kids just as soaked as I was. We opted to get a taxi, which meant my planned detour to the grocery store for dinner was not going to happen (as if I was going to go freezing and looking like a drowned cat anyway)! As we waited for our ride, the sky cleared the birds began to sing and the sunshine began to dry the pavement; as quickly as it comes, it goes away.

After a short taxi ride and a short walk I was home; I was going to head back out to the store as soon as I rung out my clothes. All of a sudden an ant fell from my hair, so I shook and it seemed to be all. Next thing I know another ant falls in front of my face! Ahhh!!! I had enough, now I had to shower before going to the store! All said and done, we sat down for dinner at 8:00 but the meal was still good; needless to say that afternoon was anything but “normal”.

Lessons learned: 1. Weather can change on a dime, always be prepared (of course we won’t be). 2. Do not, I repeat, do not, take cover under trees in a big rainstorm, you will be covered in ants! 3. The simple life can actually mean a lot more work!

Kiev continued

Kiev, Khreshchatyck st.

A night of rest was welcome after a long day of playing! We woke fresh and ready to go; although, we weren’t exactly sure why we bothered taking a shower because we knew that sweating would be the first activity of the day. We started the day by walking right past McDonald’s and not eating there! We were on the hunt for a little блинчики (bleencheekee) stand (it is their pancake which is more like a crepe, quite tasty). To cross the main streets in Ukraine you go under the streets, which is not entirely strange, the strange part was while under the street it opened up to an entire city underneath the city! We found ourselves walking through a mall 3 stories deep! Wow! So the trick is being able to pop out on the correct side of the street, there are so many turns that it is easy to get spun around. Tony did very well at this, only a couple times the whole weekend did we pop up and realize we needed to go back down and get to the other side of an intersection. With a little map studying and a small hike uphill we found the bleencheekee stand, breakfast at last.

Playing in the fountain, everyone does it!

We enjoyed our little breakfast, let the kids play at the park and began our trek back to the flat with the intention of finding the “western” grocery store along the way. Kiev was bustling at 10:00 in the morning; people walking, shopping, visiting and who knows what else. We found the store and it was nice to cool off a little (remember, they only cool buildings 3-5 degrees below ambient temperature). Sometimes it’s just a cruel tease, you think it’s cool in the building but soon realize that it was simply a matter of perspective. We picked up blueberry jam at the store to take to Slavutich and a few yogurts and fruits and water for the flat. They did have small jars of peanut butter and tobasco sauce with a very high price tag. Other than that, the store seemed to have all the same stuff as the other magazines (i.e. grocery stores in Ukraine).
After dropping things off at the flat we took off on foot again to tour some of the churches in the area. We walked through fountains to cool off, took pictures of beautiful statues and architecture and looked at beautiful local art. We headed past yet another McDonald’s and ignored all the little vendors with magnets, magnets and more magnets to sell (must be a desirable souvenir). I certainly don’t need a magnet with fake caviar on it. I’ll be looking for some items that are a little more authentic. We managed to find St Sophia’s and we looked around at the beautiful buildings and read a little about the history. We climbed to the top of the bell tower and looked at the city. The girls did a great job and made it easily to the top (only about 4 stories up). One of the best parts about climbing a bell tower is the natural air conditioning, ahhh such a nice breeze!

Top of the Bell Tower

We continued on to more sites and stopped for juice and snacks as needed to help the kids press on. On this particular day it was hot but not too hot since there was a little overcast, so we were all managing pretty well. We enjoyed listening to local artists sing and play instruments as we strolled around town. As we were trying to find the metro we came to St. Andrew’s cathedral and a very old part of town. The cobblestone street was more like round stones scattered all over the street. Very very bumpy. We finally found all the cool vendors with the “good” souvenirs, but they were all closing up shop because it was 6pm. At this point we had a critical decision to make; Tony wanted the girls to ride the metro but we were not sure where it was exactly or how much farther we had to walk to get there (which was downhill, and if we never found it would be a long hard walk back uphill – Seattle type hill). We actually had not eaten a real meal all day, we stayed the kids off, but mom was beginning to fade. I had made note of the TGI Fridays near our flat and Tony knew that dinner at that restaurant was a priority tonight. So, option “A”, choose to possibly get more lost and have 3 cranky girls or Option “B”, walk the 3-4 miles to the restaurant and only have 2 tired, hungry, exhausted, slightly cranky girls. We chose option “B”. The girls did absolutely wonderful, they are really impressing Tony and I!

We arrived at TGI Fridays, slumped into our “non-smoking” seats (right next to the bar) and attempted to cool off with the “air conditioning” and bottled water. Our waiter knew enough English to help us out and we managed to order our meal before Tony and I fell asleep, but we weren’t sure we would get to eat it before we fell asleep. Once we stopped we realized how exhausted we were; we praised the girls for what a remarkable job they did on our day of touring! I enjoyed every morsel of my cilantro that was included with my quesadilla and once Tony’s steak finally came it was very, very good. We ordered two chocolate desserts to share and Tony was hoping that would make up for the McDonald’s disaster from the night before. Although the meal was good and more like home I informed him that the incident was still going in the blog! Good thing Tony and I didn’t eat for most of the day because dinner was surprisingly expensive. I still plan on eating there almost every time we go to Kiev, I can get cilantro they serve real burgers and steaks, yum.  We strolled down Khreshchatyk street, watched the city really come to life and got to bed sometime after 10:30pm. What a day!

On our last day we skipped a real breakfast again (one of us is getting tired of that), toured around a little and met Tanya and Sasha for lunch. They took us to a very quaint Ukrainian restaurant; the only problem was that we had to bring all our luggage with us. This is the day that we learned to pack much lighter (at least if we have to tour with our luggage)! We tried potato & mushroom filled dumplings and cherry filled ones for dessert. Ry had bleencheekee with blackberries (which I always forget is actually our blueberries), she enjoyed it anyway. Sasha had the salt shaker lid come off and dump in her soup (YUCK), but our waiter said there was nothing he could do for her, wow! We had a very nice time and some good laughs.
After lunch Tanya got us a “cheap” taxi (the girls argued about that politely for a while) and Sasha accompanied us to see the Arc of Friendship. On our way we saw other interesting sites and a beautiful park. This is where the wonderful blueberry jam we bought to have at home turned into a disaster. As Tony was adjusting our load to make it easier to carry, we forgot about the jam; suddenly Sasha and I saw black blobs of goo dropping behind Tony! We soon remembered the jam, but it was too late, some of Tony’s clean socks and underwear were the first casualties. It made a curious mess on the pavement and I held my breath as 2 brides walked by in their beautiful pure white gowns and came centimeters from touching the jam!!! Whew!! After Tony’s heroic effort in cleaning up the mess, not getting stung by the bees, and hoping the rest of our clothes were untouched, we continued on our weary walk to the Arc. With ice-cream for the girls we caught a taxi to the bus station. With this taxi ride we narrowly missed a fender bender (an inch, maybe)! When paying for our bus tickets the lady grumbled and threw the money back at us, Sasha did not even understand except that maybe the money was not in a good order. How can we understand if a local Ukrainian does not understand?! Sasha told us not to worry about it, it is just many workers disposition, grumpy! Uuugh!

We met Sasha’s husband Sasha (yes, Sasha one and Sasha two). He seemed very nice and we look forward to getting to know him better. We waited inside the nearby…you guessed it…McDonald’s to escape the heat. Sometimes I think it is worse going into a building, my body realizes how hot it was and then really sweats and wants to shut down. I went to buy four bottled waters, which should have been easy; I knew how to ask in Russian but the employee could hear my accent, rolled his eyes, retrieved the English menu and asked me what I wanted. I repeated my request, also in English and I had to choose gas or no gas (they like bubbles in their bottled water, most Americans do not). Everyone told me it’s so nice and easy to order at McDonald’s, its familiar food and most employees speak English. Well, I have been to 3 different McDonald’s every experience has been miscommunications, annoyed employees, different names for the burgers, non-English speaking employees (for me), or service that takes a decade; sorry, I really do not want to go back into a McDonald’s, I’ll take the Russian speaking restaurants with Russian menus!

View from our window on Khreshchatyck St. in Kiev

On the hot sticky bus ride home, stuff kept falling out of the air vents onto us (looked liked dried up dead bugs), gross! Did I mention that it was very hot and sticky?! We enjoyed the sunflower fields and storks when we weren’t nodding off. Lastly, I learned that even the cows are supposed to move out of the way of the bus, that was nearly the last time this cow crossed the road! After a big weekend, Salvutich and our little cottage was a welcome site!

15th Wedding Anniversary!

Gee, why don’t we go to Kiev, Ukraine on our 15th wedding anniversary?! Pretty darn cool, the funny thing is we planned it and talked about it as if we were just going to Spokane for the weekend. Of course it was a bit more complicated and very new and interesting to us. For starters, I was unaware of the fact that I needed to wear my sports bra just to ride in the van to Kiev! Between driving fairly fast and all the pot holes in the road, it’s quite a crazy ride. Since there were children in the car the driver was not as crazy apparently; could have fooled me! On our first day we planned to spend the day at an Aquapark/mall. This place has, bowling, laser tag, go-karts, ice skating, shopping and of course swimming. We snooped around a bit, bowled for an hour and had lunch. We are learning that we are better off trying English first because some locals get frustrated with our poor Russian and English accent (more on that later). Last we hit the water park.

We started out planning on playing for 3 hours and that easily turned into a 6 hour day! The wave pool knocked the girls down over and over and they kept getting back up and laughing, no matter how much water they swallowed. Ellie went down the first slide with Dad (so brave) and she loved it! It was a steep drop on an inner tube over and over again to the end. Ry leaned forward into the sheer drop and squealed with delight, each time shouting on the drop, “this is so great, we HAVE to do this again!” She is so totally her dad (thanks a lot Grandma James). Although both girls did not meet the age requirement for the slides the Lifeguards got used to seeing them and they rode the slides like pros! Ellie did not care for the “Toilet Bowl”, because it sends you fast and then you drop out on your head the first time. We played until complete exhaustion.

As we left the pool a Ukranian gentlemen walked up to Tony to chat. We grinned and said we do not understand him (in Russian of course) and the guy was shocked! He did a double take and expressed to Tony that he looks so Russian or Ukranian, that he was stunned. The joke is always on them once we open our mouth! That’s O.K. Tony is still Super Guy/Super Tony!

We got to our flat around 8:30/9:00pm. It was fascinating driving through Kiev and hearing about just a tiny bit of the history. The girls were wiped out, so they slept for the 20 minute drive. As we were waiting to go up to our flat we saw gold and silver “people statues”. You know, the people who paint their skin and wear an outfit so they look like gold or silver statues; it was neat to watch them. Nearby there was a group of guys who were taking turns break dancing for the crowd, also very neat. The city comes to life in the evening and we were right in the middle of it. After entering the very, very questionable elevator (lights dim, elevator groans, and eventually it begins to rise, but hey there is a mirror to make the 3 person elevator feel bigger or is that it feels more crowded) we dropped our stuff off in the very beautiful flat and turned the one little air-conditioner on. We figured we had better get the girls some food, so McDonald’s it was (it happened to be right outside our flat).

Gold Live Statue in Kiev

Tony ordered the girls food, which always seems to take a while; you wait at the counter as they fill your tray (and they always set things on your tray just so, presentation with food is important here). We sat down with our Cola light and as we smell the food, realize how late it is and how hungry we are with no idea where else we might be able to get food, and quickly for that matter (sitting down for a meal in Ukraine is always a 2 hour event, give or take 30 minutes) we decide we should also eat at McDonalds! To our disdain we agreed to get a Quarter Pounder, and of course Tony had to mention the possibility of ketchup and cheese only on his burger; being the loving wife that I am I go up to the counter with the intention of pleasing my husband’s request. Turns out they call that burger the Royale, and with my little Russian and their little bit of English I was ordering just fine; I asked for chocolate muffins (I needed a chocolate dessert for my anniversary at least, which Tony refused to order earlier, stinker). Then my mistake came…I requested our burgers to be special. The employee did not understand my request and I said that it was O.K., but there was a lady behind me who knew English and Russian well and she so kindly offered to help me. After going back and forth it sounded like she was getting me the two burgers with ketchup and cheese only on the burger (that was after clarifing that “yes” we still want the meat). I mentioned to the lady who helped me that McDonald’s in America allows you to order it “any way you want it”, soon I learned that it is not the case in Ukraine! I waited and waited and waited, finally with food in hand and 15 minutes later (so much for fast food) I sit down to eat with Tony. Tony took a bite into a tasty cheese and ketchup sandwich! Tony was going to eat it but we were famished so I took it back up, explained the problem and for some reason the McD’s employee thought I wanted the sandwich that way (crazy)! A manager tossed the bad ones and ordered the correct thing, even a cook came and doubled checked. Eight to ten minutes later I have the correct hamburgers in hand. The second lesson learned here (which Tony informed me at the end of this fiasco) is that the Ukranian people will do anything to try and accommodate your requests; so don’t ask for the unusual, no matter what they will try and make it happen for you! Keep in mind, this is our first burger at McDonald’s in over 15 years…and…it was yucky, didn’t even taste like ground beef! Sadly I only ate half my burger and of course there was no chocolate muffin to make up for all this. I will only be ordering Cola light or ice cream from now on at McDonald’s; for Tony and I it’s not a piece of home. That’s a slam bang finish to our 15th wedding anniversary.

Our Flat on the 6th floor & McD's on the right

We went back to our flat, put the exhausted children to bed and sat on the ledge of the window looking six floors down at the hustle and bustle of Kiev. We looked at the old buildings and listened to the city sounds, it all still seems so surreal to me. After determining it was way too hot to even sleep in the bedroom we dragged the very firm mattress in to the living room where the air conditioner was and crashed. It really was an awesome and unique anniversary for us, unforgettable!

Day Trip

St. Catherine's

This last weekend we went to Chernigov to do some shopping for practical household items and to show the girls around a bit. We took the train and rode a bus to the store once we got to town. As usual, it was too hot. I’m sure in the middle of winter I will be saying the opposite, but for now, this is my reality. The girls were little troopers, they were interested in seeing St. Catherine’s church (Rylie thought it looked like Jasmine’s castle) and we went to Rampart park which is where all the cannons are. Since it was Saturday there were many wedding parties visiting the monuments getting pictures taken and toasting with Vodka to the event. We must have passed at least 4 or 5 beautiful brides. I can only imagine how hot they must have been. There is a point that you just get used to constantly glistening; the bad part is when is step inside a stifling building, what was glistening before turns into an all out sweat fest inside. I know it sounds lovely, but I’m sure we lose several pounds of water weight in just an hour!  In fact, Tony probably lost more that day since he had to carry nearly 60lbs of stuff from the store in his backpack all day (don't worry, I have been rubbing his shoulders and back for his hard work)! I did discover that at the end of a sweaty day all I need to do is rub my hands over my arms and face and I have my own natural salt rub! Fantastic (ha)! Who needs an expensive spa day when I can have it for free just walking around town?

We took the children to McDonald’s, which was great for them, but Tony and I are still not big fans. We didn’t eat at McDonald’s in the States so it’s just not a piece of home for us. We’ll stick with the ice-cream cones. The food was the same as home, but the menu options were a little less. We couldn’t get a diet cola and the girls could not get apples and milk like they normally would. Oh well. The most fun we had that day was watching the girls enjoy some activities at the park on main street. They had a trampoline with the bungie cords that attach to you and you jump 20ft in the air, both girls did that but neither were willing to flip. The giant blow up slide was a lot of fun! The best was the huge exercise ball on the water; it blows up and is 7 feet in diameter, one kid climbs in they fill it with air and seal it, then they try and run in the ball on top of the water. It’s hilarious and the girls had a blast!

We rode the bus home and I made some pretty darn good pizzas for dinner. So far I can make two meals from home (sigh). The next night we discovered that some of the spiders here are big enough to eat my toe for lunch! Ellie noticed something big and black scamper across the floor; now lets just think about that for a minute; mice, gerbils, they scamper across a floor, a spider is not supposed to be large enough to scamper! We asked Ellie, “how big?” Her eyes were big and round and she said¸ “I don’t know…, really big!” Sure enough, we crept around the corner and discovered a man eating spider! I mean a spider at least the size of a silver dollar! I’m telling you, it was abnormally big, maybe there is something to the radiation around here?! (tee hee) The big guy scampered fast but Tony got him with the shoe, and it was quite a mess to clean up afterwards, yuck!

We’ve been told that they do not have any poisonous spiders here, but I’ll be looking for spider spray for all doors and windows ASAP!