One Year!

It has been one year since I arrived in Slavutich and a touch more than six weeks shy for the girls; I can tell you a lot has changed.  It’s amazing how familiar something can become after being so difficult and well, foreign.  From getting in trouble for carrying my backpack into the store, to not understanding a single word of Russian (written or spoken); initially life here was quite painful.  Now I can navigate the stores and know what it is I’m looking for (note the word “looking”) to even understanding enough Russian to hold a simple conversation or being able to ask for help finding something.  We have all adapted to our new surroundings to the point that we are comfortable walking around town, walking into stores and living life as if we were in the States.  Our discussions changed from dealing with our basic needs (buying milk and eggs…how and where do we get them) to walking through town discussing our current and future life plans, while enjoying a delicious M-Joy (the best almond milk chocolate bar ever) or a fresh baked treat from the bakery, life has hit a new level of “normal” and we are very comfortable with it.  Don’t get me wrong, we are still faced with a huge language barrier that makes anything “out of the ordinary” very difficult to deal with, but we know with our new found friends that help is just a phone call away.  And that our day to day living is difficult dealing with the constant walk-and-shop routine.  However, this adventure has enriched our lives more than we thought possible.  Our eyes have been opened to a different world, although the world is big, it has become much smaller and has been a privilege to see and experience it in this way.  Living in a new culture has taught us how amazing and adaptable life can be and how people are people, all of us with times of sorrow and laughter in our lives.  We realized how truly blessed we are to live in United States; it has revealed to us all that we had taken for granted and has taught us many great life lessons.  Our new friends have made our life here so much easier and if it wasn’t for those who were willing to embrace us and become intimately involved in our lives, I know our experience would not be as wonderful as it has been.  Of course the loving support of our family sending care packages and skyping with us weekly has brought much needed moments of love for us to know that we have not been forgotten.  We are so blessed to have all of you in our lives and we thank God for this amazing journey that has opened our eyes to an amazing world and an amazing people. 

Enjoy a year in pictures (it's not long): the music is compliment of our Neighbor's daughter Tania Filimonov

New Bikes!

Congratulations and job well done little Ry!  She’s graduated into a whole new era of freedom….Bicycle riding!  I had the privilege to teach her how to ride a bicycle this week on her new big girl bike.  The whole purchasing of the bikes was certainly an adventure of its own, but having Rylie riding on her own is certainly the highlight.  With Mom’s help we were able to get her starting, riding and stopping her bike with no problems using the backyard as the “safe” place (not minding the projecting steel from the house, the eye level tree limbs and rusted fence and cut off jagged wooded plants protruding from the ground as well as the thorny bushes to hit….the street and cars would probably have been safer, but hey, the grass was soft).  She had her first “outing” this weekend to the stadium (there is a running track there) where she practiced all her skills….by the end of our time, she rode home flawlessly and was quiet excited to be able to do it “Dad, I did it all by myself” she said!

It’s nice to have Ellie already going full speed as she’s already tackling some of the paths and is able to run errands as well as give encouragement to her sister.  After our outing to the stadium, Nichole and I went separate ways to divide and conquer tasks….more shopping for Nichole (her favorite…not!) and for me getting the girls lunch and started on piano practice.  Well, at the halfway point home I realized Nichole had the keys to the house, so I was able to send Ellie lickedy-split to catch up with her and get them.

Shuttle

Any parent, especially a stay home parent has spent an entire day feeling like nothing more than the taxi driver, or shuttle service!  Certainly back in the States I had spent a fare share of my time as “James the driver” for my kids.  Well, sadly the only difference here in Ukraine is that I get to be the shuttle on my own two feet!  Our Friday began with a busy morning of school while I tried to finish the dishes and be prepared for the rest of our day out and about.  At 10:50 we walked on over to the girls’ Russian lessons and I ran over to the store (I think I have mentioned that if I say I have run somewhere in Slavutich that it is literal), for a few things for pizza night.  It’s hard to stock up on drinks for the whole week so I end up at the store several times in a week; groceries are heavy when you have to carry them for ¼ mile or more, especially things like, milk, juice, yogurt and soda.  Have I mentioned that on this fine spring day it has decided to bestow on us so much needed rain, fabulous.  Now, bringing an umbrella seems like a good idea, but until someone figures out how to carry three bags of groceries with an umbrella and of course the least bit of wind then I would be glad to use the umbrella.  So here I am with my rain jacket with 3 bags of groceries and hustling home to get back and pick up the girls (on foot) and head off to Perspective (the school where some American and French kids are taught).  We participate in a Mother’s Day craft and just as our damp pants have nearly dried we have to head over to duet piano lessons for the girls.  Once piano is over we get to hustle on over to the girls’ first soccer session!  Boy they were excited for that; they did pretty well, the coach and other kids seemed glad to have them despite Rylie pulling out a cartwheel every two minutes during the scrimmage.  Ellie was pleased and eager to beat the boys in every race; she managed to place 3^rd or 4^th every time, no competitive nature there, ha.  Since it was a cold wet spring day outside it was also chilly in the gym, so by now I am shivering, it is after 5 pm and we still have to walk home in the blowing rain so I can make dinner and maybe sit down by 7:00.  I conversed with the Russian speaking coach (Vladimir), other than finding out what time soccer was the next week I have no idea what he said.  Off we go and I’m pretty sure we walked head into the wet wind the whole way home.  This time, in one hand I had the umbrella trying to shield the wet wind from the 3 of us and in the other, had a little worn out six year old that I was practically dragging along the uneven sidewalks.  17 minutes later, yes I timed it, we were home, tired, cold and hungry; no, a microwave meal or ordering out was not an option.  Thankfully Tony beat us home and was already grating the cheese, I rolled out the dough and we were all eating pizza and warming up in front of a family night movie within 30 minutes.  That is what the Shuttle Service looks like these days, sigh, maybe driving everyone everywhere isn’t so bad after all.  Although, all the walking was cheaper and healthier! 

“Squirrel!”

O.K., so it wasn’t a squirrel but I sure wish the film would have been rolling for this.  We were tearfully watching the movie “UP” with the girls (Tony and I are just a couple of saps) and into the room flew a bug.  Tony and I looked at one another with sort of big eyes that said, “what was that?”  I suggested it was just one of the giant beetle bugs that we have seen around town either flying or dead on the ground (about double the size of a stink bug).  Tony for sure thought it was his eternal nemesis and immediately gets up to have a look, it turns out to be some sort of bee!  I said, “a bee!?”  “Dude, it’s huge, like the size of a small mouse!”  Maybe I was exaggerating a little, but I can tell you, you wouldn’t want this sucker stinging you.  Tony went looking for the RAID with no avail (it was probably confiscated at the airport when we first came).  I got up to ask our neighbor for some bug spray and I got a second look at the “bee” behind the curtain and that is when my eyes grew twice their size and I rushed the girls out of the living room and closed the door.  Did I mention that it was HUGE!  As the girls and I watch from the window into the living room and fight off the ebee geebeez Tony comes with the bug spray.  We began to prepare for the attack, and I’m telling you, the Grizwalds had nothing on us!  Tony was going in and I nearly shut the door behind him.  He didn’t let me thank goodness, I stood guard to close it as he would come running out.  Tony carefully looked for the “bee” and all of a sudden I spotted it, I could do nothing more than scream and point and wave him away, he eventually got the idea with a jump and nearly fleeing the room.  He sprayed the bug and came running out as I squealed and jumped in place and said “run, run, run”!  As this continues 2 more times the girls kept returning to asses the situation and running screaming and closing themselves in the bathroom for safety.  It was something like this, “ahhhhh, ahhhhh, ahhhhhh, ahhhhh!”  Finally the “bee” fell to the ground, with our neighbor watching the excitement now in amazement Tony whacked the bug with a magazine and we snapped a few pictures of the beast before sending it down the toilet and listening to the girls shrill screaming and running around the house one last time!  We laughed at how silly we were and could imagine this seen in a good Grizwald movie.  But let me tell you, the hair on the back of my neck is still standing up!