Snow, snow, snow!

7 hrs of snow

We were starting to wonder if all the stories we heard about the weather here were fabricated to keep people away…..it hasn’t been below freezing since the first of October and the days have been warm enough for a light jacket, it’s actually been nicer here than back home. Well….the snow has started flying and by the predictions we could have 30 inches by the end of the week (after 8hrs we have a foot).  Joan of Artic has made her maiden voyage (my winter boots are called Joan of Arctic and they are AWESOME)!   The temperatures have fallen to 15F and are expected to fall to -5F in the next few days (Thank you Grandma for all the warm clothing). Wow! What happened?! We’ve been told all along to mentally prepare for winter, I can see why; life doesn’t stop or get easier it just gets colder and longer and the paths now become narrow troughs and we’ve been told that we won’t see the ground again until March. Of course the girls are excited as can be and they were actually disappointed that the clouds took a breath before the next snow fall. I have to admit, I am also excited, so hopefully that will carry us through for a few months until we get tired of it. Oh yeah, don’t forget we don’t have a dryer, so all these wet clothes that we use everyday has presented a whole new challenge.

our cottage at first break in the weather....its -20C!!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

 

The house is decorated, the snow has fallen and the Christmas music is playing……need more?

We have always had the biggest fresh Christmas tree we could physically put into our home without scratching the ceiling and decorate it with over a thousand little lights and hundreds of ornaments! The whole day is devoted to this event; from picking it, strapping it to the roof and getting it into the house it has always been an adventure in itself. Even Rylie was looking for the James Family Christmas tree this year; she spotted a 25’ spruce that she decided would be the perfect tree. We told her that it was too big and couldn’t fit in our house (then I heard a voice in my head that said “it’s not going in our yard, Russ, its going in our living room” and then I took a quick moment to consider the possibility). In the rush and craziness of packing, Christmas was a second thought but we managed to pack a tree that we purchased for the girls’ room during the holiday time (after they kept stealing and decorating the trimmings from the tree); this certainly was a change for our family to have the main tree be an artificial 3’ tree. Coming out of the box it really did look like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree; the tree is prelit and very scrawny with only a few limbs to unfold and “plump up”. However, once we decorated it with beads, ornaments and plugged it in, it took on the James Family look and feel and I think it started to look a bit more proud and grew at least another six inches. It’s a cute tree and it adds to the delight and realization we are in the middle of a new and amazing adventure, where things will not be “normal” for awhile. We watched White Christmas, drank cocoa and ate our traditional treats of fudge, Anna longs and Russian tea cakes (funny huh). By the end of the evening, we had completely forgotten that we were in a foreign land and even going to bed it seemed as if we were “home”. The Christmas magic had done its work and had come to rest in our home.

Thanksgiving in Slavutich

We love Thanksgiving, it’s good to have a special day to remember our blessings and be thankful for what we have; this was particularly true for us this year. We took time and thanked the Lord for this amazing opportunity, all the grace, love and protection He has shown us throughout these last several months. We are very thankful for our wonderful new friends, the old friends that continue to be a part of our lives and the family that continues to make us feel loved and missed.

Perfectly cooked!!



The Pelts and Boar



It was a different feeling here. The day at home typically starts with a light breakfast and then heading to host family’s home for a full day of eating, visiting, playing games, watching football and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. This year it was much more laidback, we decided to kick off the Christmas season a little early (for us) and watched a couple of Christmas films (in the absence of football and Macy’s it made the most sense).

We headed to Dima’s for our late afternoon feast not knowing what really to expect, but we found a very warm and country home feeling of a roaring fire place, pelts from fox and wolf on the wall. Not to mention the room was filled with the smells of perfectly roasted turkeys and traditional food from “home” (mashed potatoes, pies, dressing, and sweet potatoes). There was also, some not so traditional food…..but very tasty, sushi, smelly French cheeses, mushroom crepes and it certainly wouldn’t be Ukraine if each table didn’t have bottles of vodka and cognac (even the “childrens” table). At home we typically played games after dinner (cards, charades….); here we had a belly dancing show, which was nice and fun.

Although our Turkey Day was very different from normal and our family was greatly missed, we had a great deal to be thankful for and our night was filled with laughter, friendship and good will. In retrospect; it was much like home!

Chernobyl Tour

cutout of reactor #4. 



abandoned hotel of Pripyat



I'm not sure what to say. It is quite sobering and fascinating at the same time. I went into control room 1 and saw what control room 4 should still look like. It is funny how antiquated the controls look. I am still amazed that we sent men to the moon and back to earth again when we did! On the tour we learned the whole scenario of events that occurred on April 26, 1986. The incredible thing is that they guys in control room 1 did not necessarily know what was happening at reactor 4 right away. Our interpreter was 10 years old and lived in Chernigov at the time and he only learned about the disaster a couple days later over the world radio. We visited the once affluent town of Pripyat, now it is a total ghost town. This town was a completely modern town with all the amenities. The children had beautiful parks to play in, a May Day carnival was being set up, and they could buy ice cream and oranges! People from other towns would visit Pripyat for a special weekend! Now it is empty, vandalized, and overgrown. The most important thing to remember while touring Pripyat was to watch out for broken glass and avoid stepping on the moss (high concentration of cesium). We stopped at Chernobyl city (outside the 10 mile perimeter exclusion zone, where people live and work at the reactor for 15 days a month). It was pretty quiet; we took pictures of monuments to the heroes and even toured the zoo (thanks to Laurin Dodd). I still can't believe I was standing only a few 100 yards away from the number 4 reactor and looking at all the structures created to protect us from that mess and the amazing structure that is currently being built to help decommission it!

door to reactor #1

dont step on the moss

Remembering the tradgedy

Tony’s tour was a bit more in-depth, he had the chance to actually visit Control Room #4 and he roamed the halls of reactor #4. He said while you are standing on the site just in front of the reactor it was more massive than he imagined and he became more excited and amazed that he could be a part of this historical structure, even if it is to a small degree.









The reactor core configuration at the time of the accident