Category: This Ukrainian Life

About the Snow

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Welp, I officially feel like we moved to Siberia. Β Sure, our address is in Ukraine, but I’m still pretty sure we’re actually in Siberia. Β …Or maybe it just seems so for the girl who comes from a town that gets maybe 2 snow days a year. Β Where I come from, school is canceled if there is even a chance of a snowflake hovering. Β If the ground is white, forget about it. Β Life is canceled and snowmen are attempted out of the inch of snow that barely reaches the tips of the grass.

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Not so in Ukraine. Β Life goes on and it is quite the adventure! Β It snowed quite a bit here last week, and now it’s been snowing for about 3 days straight. Β It’s beautiful! Β I’ve never had to live in snow before so I have a lot to learn. Β Add not having a car to the mix and you learn pretty darn fast. Β πŸ™‚

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After one of the children (who shall remain nameless) laid down in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of town to make a snow angel we realized that we probably needed to teach the kids about “snow play time” and “snow errand time” Β The two snow times are not created equal. Β When we are on “snow errand time” we don’t make snow angels in the middle of the sidewalk and we don’t throw snowballs at each other as we walk down the street. Β There are at least two reasons for this: we don’t want to get chewed out by babushkas for getting cold and wet, and we don’t want to enter stores and shops cold and wet. Β Oy.

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“Do you see anyone else making a snow angel in the middle of town???? Β Get up right now!!!!”

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When it’s below freezing it’s imperative to pay close attention while on the bus. Β The windows of the buses are covered in ice and the inside of the bus isn’t cold enough to thaw them, so it’s pretty much impossible to see out the windows at all. Β Riding the bus at this point is like crowding into an icy cave full of fur-clad strangers. Β You must remain on close lookout for neon light landmarks along the route that help you see when you should get out. Β Another method would be to count how many stops it is from one place to another, but I haven’t mastered that yet.

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I’ve learned to properly bundle my children and it feels like a strange form of child abuse. Β I basically render the little ones incapable of independent movement by the amount of clothing they’re wearing, but it can’t be helped! Β I’m becoming a Ukrainian. Β There’s no such thing as too much bundle.

First undies, then thick Ukrainian tights, then regular pants, then wool socks, then long-sleeve shirt, then short-sleeve shirt, then snowsuit, then Ukrainian wool vest, then coat (with attached shell), then mittens, then scarf, then hat. Β It may seem like overkill, but when you’re in waaaaaay below freezing weather, and you have to wait for the bus you don’t really care about the mobility of your arms, you mostly care that your arms don’t freeze off. Β Bundling in Ukraine is like an art form. Β Everywhere you go you see mom’s breathless as they stuff and pull and wrap and tug. Β Who needs a gym membership when you have 4 kidlets to bundle?

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Β Though it FREEEEEEEEEZING outside,Β our house is warm and cozy. Β We have plenty of yummy food (and warm coffee) to fill our tummies, and we are happy. Β Though things are in upheaval in this place we love, our hearts are full of peace. Β We’re finding joy in experiencing a snowy Ukraine for the first time. Β Snowy Ukraine is beautiful πŸ™‚Β 

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The BIG Grocery Shopping Post

My friend Crystal and her husband moved to England just a couple weeks before we moved to Ukraine and she wrote a blog post about what grocery shopping is like in the UK. It was so fascinating that I was inspired to tell you all about my grocery shopping experience in Ukraine! Are you ready for this? Let’s do it.

One thing you need to know is that there are several different types of grocery shopping experiences available here in Ukraine. It all depends on how how much you want to dive in to the culture and how much you want to try out your language skills. πŸ™‚ First there are the old Soviet type stores that are on just about every corner. They are always close by and often times are even in the first floor of apartment buildings! The majority of Ukrainians don’t have a car, so it’s extremely important to have grocery stores close by. The Soviet stores sell milk, bread, eggs, water, candy, mayo, salami, and cheese…you know, the basics. People refer to them as the old “Soviet” style because back in the day of the USSR these were the only types of supermarket stores around. When you walk in there is generally one big counter, or two counters with an aisle in the middle. The employees stand behind the counter and get you whatever you ask for. You can’t just browse and fill your cart. Each section of the counter has an employee responsible for that section and that certain employee is the only one who can help you with those products. You pay each employee separately, even if you are buying several things from different sections. Stores were set up in this way during the USSR to control how much of each product was allotted to each family.

These stores get an A+ for accessibility, but a D- for American ease of use. I mean, I have to know what something’s called to be able to ask for it…right? Luckily our corner store ladies are getting to know us and they know the things we like. Also, we are getting better at asking for what we want. These stores are good for us, but also a bit intimidating. πŸ™‚ I didn’t take pics of these stores because they are tiny and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to be that discreet. You’ll just have to use your imagination! These are the stores we go to pretty much daily for the basics that go bad quickly.

The second type of grocery shopping available we affectionately call “You know those Babushkas on the side of the road”. Ha! On our main street there are several grandmas who bring in produce and homemade canned items and they sell them on the sidewalk. I’ve bought pumpkin from them a few times. That one’s a little difficult because you need to pretty much have exact change for what you want. But, the food is fresh and good!

Babushkas get an A+++ for accessibility, but a C for ease of use. (Bonus points for extreme cuteness)

The third type of grocery shopping is shopping at the big open market. That shopping deserves a post all it’s own. I’ll get right on that!

The Market gets a C for accessibility (we have to take the bus to get there), and a C for ease of use (much Russian required), but an A for freshness and quality of food. It’s worth the hassle at least once a week. πŸ™‚

The fourth type of grocery shopping is the one I’ll describe in detail for you today. This is your basic supermarket shopping. This is most like American shopping, and the type of shopping we do at least twice a week. Food goes bad more quickly here, and like I told you before, we have to carry all we buy, so we shop a lot more frequently here than we did in the US.

This is the supermarket we shop at the most. It’s like a 5 minute walk from our house. Jed’s dentist is on the second floor. BONUS!

This is the biggest grocery store in town. It’s located in the mall. Look at all those checkouts! Sweeeeet.

Every store, wether it be an electronics store, a pharmacy, or a grocery store has lockers at the entrance where you MUST lock up any bags or backpacks. They also have security men who stand at the entrance/exit to check receipts and make sure you lock up your bags.
Let’s tour the store, shall we? (prepare for picture overload)
Ukrainian stores have LOADS of bulk type items. In some stores you find an employee to weigh your items for you, and at some stores you weigh them and put in the code yourself.

Apples, all sold by the kilo

MASSIVE cabbage! Ha! They’re on sale too. πŸ™‚

Most carrots, beets, and potatoes are sold SUPER dirty. But, you can pay a bit more for clean carrots. I don’t understand if there’s any other difference other than one type is clean and one is dirty. I usually buy the dirty, unless I’m in a hurry and know I won’t have much time to scrub.

You put the plastic gloves on your hands when you’re picking through produce.

At the big mall grocery store you weigh your item yourself, push the little button for that particular item and a sticker pops out that you put on the bag. I like it!

They have lots of cookies sold in bulk

Just right out there in the open without a cover. Ha! This is like the worst temptation for Seth. He doesn’t understand why he can’t just grab one!

All stores have bulk pelmeni and vereniki (dumplings) that are sold frozen in bulk

You can even buy eggs in bulk! You can put as many as you want on a flat, or you can put several in a bag to take home. The eggs sold this way instead of in the carton are sold individually by egg.

All kinds of yummy bread for sale. Just beware…sometimes you randomly find a hot dog in your roll. :/

How in the world do you choose your cheese?? So many options!!!

Pieces of cheese are sold by the kilo.

Every store has a massive sausage/kielbasa/salami/hot dog aisle. Friends have told us what brands are good and we’ve been a bit nervous to venture out from those brands. We’re learning that you definitely get what you pay for. So it’s important to make sure you don’t buy the cheapest cheese and meat. πŸ™‚

It’s funny how much you can learn about a culture just by browsing around in the grocery store. A couple obvious things you should know about Ukraine: Ukrainians have a love affair with mayonnaise and all things dairy. The mayonnaise aisle (yes, aisle) and dairy product aisle is quite an impressive affair.

Behold, Mayonnaise, the King of Ukrainian condiments!

Check out all the spreadable cheese options! And these are just the squares, the rest of the aisle is full of varying sizes of tubs of spreadable cheese. Maybe I need to dedicate 2014 to trying out all the spreads. Hmmmm

…More spready cheese…

Here lies some milk choices. Ukraine, the land flowing with milk and mayo…

Kefir is a big thing here too. Nice! Good for the ol’ tummy.

Lots and lots of products here are sold in bags, rather than in bottles or jugs. Like milk, mostly all condiments, spices, yogurt…It’s super helpful when you have to carry all your groceries home. It also helps cut down on waste since most homes don’t have the ability to recycle, and like at our house, many people have to walk at least a block to take out the trash. Bagged goods make a lot of sense! I like it!

Ketchup, ketchup, and more ketchup.

Crystal, here’s our Mexican food aisle! πŸ˜‰

Ketchup, mustard, and mayo

Some spices at our house: Rosemary, basil, thyme and parsley, paprika, cloves, and baking powder. This is the only way I can find baking powder. Why so tiny??? WHY???? Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh πŸ™

Even ice cream is sold in a bag! (This brand rocks, BTW. It’s a Zhitomir brand and it’s so tasty it makes me proud to live in Zhitomir) πŸ™‚

We have this handy-dandy little pitcher to hold our bag of milk once we’ve snipped the corner open.

Here’s just some other random things I thought you might find interesting. All my Ukrainian friends are laughing their heads off at me at this point. Sorry guys, we Americans are really easily amused.

Soy sauce is easy to find. There is also a surprising amount of pad thai rice noodles. Strange, because I don’t know anyone who buys these things…except us.

Canned corn and peas are sold like they’re goin’ out of style. Super popular!

Right near the jerky you can find tons of dried fish. No thanks.

The amount of liquor found in the stores is pretty astounding. At the big store in the mall there are 4 full aisles (both sides) dedicated to alcohol, that doesn’t include wine or beer. One full aisle (both sides) is dedicated solely to vodka. Think of all the homemade vanilla I can make! πŸ˜‰ There is almost just as much dedication to chocolate. Now THAT’s more like it.

So, there you have it! That’s grocery shopping, Ukrainian style, in a nutshell. We are slowly learning more and more about what products are good, how pricing works, and how shopping happens best for our family. I’m working on evaluating prices in grivnas instead of trying to convert every price to dollars in my head. My brain can’t handle all that division. I just need to get used to what things cost here and get over it. πŸ™‚ In the long run that will be much easier. We’re doing more shopping from the outdoor market these days, so I can’t wait to share that experience with you. It’s a whole other level of Ukrainian culture of which I have MUCH to learn.
I would be remiss if I didn’t show you the most important tools of the shopping trade. Every good Ukrainian has an arsenal of these babies ready at a moment’s notice. I give you, the shopping bags:

Big green plaid is my personal fave. πŸ˜‰

When you go up to pay the cashier will always ask you if you want a bag. You have to answer if you want a big bag, medium bag, or small bag, and then tell them how many bags you want. You pay for each bag, so it’s a good idea to bring your own. I like that method. Yay for less waste!
Okay, that’s all I got. I hope you found this at least mildly interesting because I did risk life and limb to get these undercover photos. You better appreciate it! πŸ™‚
Yay for Ukrainian shopping!

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The First Month: The Hard and the Awesome

One month ago from almost this exact moment we touched down in Ukraine. One month ago all 6 of us + 12 suitcases + 8 carry-ons + 1 guitar touched down in our new home. Has it only been one month??? It feels more like one year! Not in a bad way, but in a really strange way it feels like we’ve been here a whole heckofalot longer. I guess kids do that to you; they make you settle in real quick like. πŸ™‚ Our new reality set in fairly fast and we’ve been on a ginormous learning curve ever since.

This is my take on the past month. Jed doesn’t do much blogging here (ahem…) so these are my thoughts. He’d give you a different perspective, and it would probably be more profound, but I’ll share mine just for the fun of it.

The Hard Things:

Language.

Duh. Yeah, at this exact moment Russian is my enemy, my worst nightmare, my insurmountable mountain. Russian is stinkin’ hard y’all.

But, we actually have picked up quite a bit, and when we remind ourselves we’ve only been here for one month we start to feel a little better about our progress.

Everything’s labeled…

Still, Russian hates me. Holy moly. My brain hurts just thinking about it.

Shopping.

Shopping is an interesting beast. The hard part isn’t finding delicious foods. Ukraine has loads of deliciousness available! The hard parts are prices (WAY TOO EXPENSIVE) and lack of car. These things aren’t impossible, just a little harder than in the US. I’m learning to cook like a Ukrainian in order to be able to afford groceries. Cooking like an American just doesn’t cut it here. The foods that would be frugal back in Oregon aren’t really frugal here, for the most part. Lucky for us we all love Ukrainian food! I just need to find out how to cook more of it so we can have a bit of variety in our lives.

The store we walk to most often

We use public transportation all the time since we don’t have a car. It’s pretty sweet that we live super close to a really busy bus stop. We can easily catch a bus whenever we want one. So, that’s no biggie, except when we want to do “big shopping”. “Big shopping” doesn’t mean Costco Big, it just means we need to buy for more than just today. Like last night for instance, we needed to buy diapers, pull-ups, and some stuff for the house, along with our normal purchases (cabbage, potatoes, beets, carrots, sour cream, milk, coffee, butter, and flour). That’s all fine and dandy…but how are we gonna get it all home??? Oh, that’s right…we’re gonna carry it! Ha! So, basically, we can only buy what we can carry, and when you factor in slippery sidewalks, kids bundled to the nines, dark at 4:30pm, a bus ride, and little hands that need to be held, you realize you really can’t buy all that much. Jed and I are shopping and debating what’s too heavy and what we can handle. “Sure, we can buy those mandarins, they aren’t too heavy. Oooooh no, we can’t get eggs…there’s no way we’re making it home with those babies still intact!”

On the bus with my sweetie after shopping last night

It’s an often hilarious, and an unexpectedly hard thing. Big time learning curve there. (And I didn’t even mention label-reading. Forget about it!)

Time Management.

Up to this point, we’ve pretty much been in survival mode. Not in a bad way, it’s just reality. Schedules and time management have been a work in progress.

Starting a non-profit from scratch is a lot like starting a new business. We have to account for expenditures, thank our givers, get the word out, stay accountable to our Board, and seek God for direction and vision, all while living in a world where every.single.thing is new.

It’s easy to get focused on just living every day and get backlogged on Wide Awake “stuff”. That’s been a hard one that we are far from mastering, but we’re plugging away at it. Again, let’s remind ourselves that we’ve only been here one month, mmmmk?? πŸ™‚

The Awesome Things:

Walking.

I know, earlier I said not having a car is hard, but it’s really only hard when we go “Big Shopping”. Otherwise, I can honestly say that I enjoy walking everywhere. It’s so beautiful!!! We have to shop a bit almost every day (that’s the way it works here with a fam of 6), and I love our daily jaunts to the store.

On the way to the store

Usually, just Jed or I will head out in the afternoon with a kid or two and pick up the few things we need for that evening’s dinner and the next day’s breakfast. I love walking down the street in the fresh air, holding on to Addy’s hand just enjoying being with her. No radio blaring, no traffic to navigate, just me and my girl or sometimes my boy, walking down the street to our corner market. It’s precious. We’re learning labels together, learning what stores we like for what items, stretching our legs, breathing in fresh air, and feeling the sun (wishful thinking) on our faces. I like it a lot.

New Friends.

Duh. This one is HUGE. We have some wonderful friends here in Zhitomir. Thank you Jesus!!! Our friends Oleg and Tanya have been so good to us. They’ve ordered water for us for home delivery, helped me buy boots for my frozen Oregonian feet, taken us for coffee, celebrated a birthday and Thanksgiving with us, calmed my nerves when I heard unexpected fireworks and Jed was gone for the weekend (I was a wee bit nervous…), told us which brands of food are better, translated for us with our landlady, translated for us with our neighbors when we got the unfortunate “don’t flush the toilet paper” news hehe, helped us figure out our address, called taxis…and on and on and on. They’ve pretty much saved our bacon way too many times already. They probably feel like it’s been a heckofalot longer than one month too!! πŸ˜‰

(Insert cute pic of friends…apparently we’re too busy drinking coffee and such for pics. Will remedy soon!!)

Mission to Ukraine friends have been AMAZING too. From the moment we walked in their doors on November 14th we’ve felt so incredibly welcome. They are excited to have us and we are so excited to have them!!! The MTU staff puts up with our blundering Russian with such grace. Bless their hearts!! They invite us to church, find lawyers to help us with our visas, feed our kids cake, hug us and kiss our cheeks, and on and on. One special family from MTU (mom and daughter both work there) has especially taken us under their wing. I feel like they are God’s special precious gift to us. Sigh, God is just too good. And that’s just the Zhitomir friends! Don’t even get me started on the treasures He’s given us in Kiev…

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Romaniv.

Oh, my precious Romaniv! I was there again today and I am in love. Last week Jed and Nina, the AMAZING volunteer from Zhitomir that comes each week to the isolation room, discussed implementing more structure for the time we spend in the isolation room. Today Nina and I followed the plan the best we could and the boys responded immediately. Our time was so much more peaceful than the last time I was there! At one point we were feeding the boys bananas and Nina and I looked at each other in disbelief. It was SILENT in the room. The boys, for that moment, were content and quiet. It was such a moment of hope. God gave us all a bit of wisdom and then He blessed it. The boys responded fabulously and I can’t wait to see how they do after the structure is implemented week after week. Yay!!!!

On the road to Romaniv

Those boys have our hearts, big time.

Nina helping wash hands πŸ™‚

Today I got to hold Andrei, one of the most active boys, on my lap for a bit. I figured out if I tied a long piece of cloth to a plastic slinky it would catch his attention and he would sit still for a moment. He let me hold him, rub his head, and hum into his ear for almost 10 minutes while he bounced the slinky up and down, up and down. Wow. That may not seem like much, but for a boy who never ever stops- always stimming, always shrieking, always running- this was big. For a moment he was at peace. For a moment his brain was developing a little further up the brainstem. For a moment prayers were whispered in his ear. Magical.

There’s so much more I could share. So many memories made, so many funny and embarrassing stories…it’s rather humiliating to live here, FYI. We make fools of ourselves all the time, everywhere. πŸ™‚

Off to go make some embarrassing Russian blunders!

Just know that life is good, very good. It’s not all sunshine and roses and some days we struggle, but we have not one speck of doubt that we are exactly where God wants us to be. Things are quite crazy in Ukraine right now. We have no idea how it will all play out with the current government and the wishes of the people. Ukraine is at a very critical point in its history and we are here for such a time as this. It’s no surprise to God that we arrived right at the birth of a revolution. Who knows why…only God. But we do know that there is purpose in it and we don’t plan on missing out on that purpose.

Would you pray with us for Ukraine? This place and these people have grabbed our hearts. We’ve only made Ukraine our home for a short month, but we are all in. These are our people. Please pray that God has His way in Ukraine and that His Kingdom will come here and now. Pray that many, many hearts are turned toward Him during this unstable time.

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Thank you, friends! Thank you for your love and encouragement this first month. It has been awesome to journey with you!

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What We’re Up To

So, here we are in Ukraine, livin’ it up, doing our thing, and you might be wondering,

“What are they actually doing there?”

That’s a valid question with an answer that changes every day. :

When we first arrived, Ira, the Director at Mission to Ukraine (MTU) told us “We have an additional beatitude in Ukraine, ‘Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be broken.'” Ha! Bring it on, we’re ready.

Making new baby friends to squeeze

We just want to bless MTU and their vision as much as possible, so we have given them ourselves. They are welcome to use us however they want. We just desire to be a blessing and not a burden. Ira wisely decided it would be best to focus on tasks month by month, reevaluating often where there is the most need and where they can use us most effectively.

Discovering new playgrounds

For the month of December, we are mostly helping in different classrooms around MTU. Jed and I take turns going to MTU, while the other stays home and teaches our kids. We’re only a couple of weeks into it, but so far so good! One thing I do know is that I’ve got to get more organized with our homeschooling. Yikes. I’m not used to this “team-teaching” thing! I’m just used to teaching the kids while Jed’s off at work and he doesn’t really have a hand in it. I love the idea of him teaching the kids! I just am realizing it’s going to take a lot more organization to be able to pull it off well. All my Homeschool Mama friends are laughing at me right now. Stop it! I see you and that smirk on your face! πŸ™‚ Let’s just say I’ve not been known to be the most organized Type A homeschooler out there. I’m more of the “let’s just do the next thing” type, with a good bit of “We don’t need to do that” thrown in there (like worksheets and such). I’m not neglectful, I’m just relaxed. Yeah, that doesn’t really work with more than one teacher. I realized that I’m going to have to write out lesson plans or else Jed will have no clue what to do and all the schooling will fall on me…which won’t work because I’m not always going to be home. Whew. Pray for me and my relaxed, unorganized, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants self!

Reveling in rickety merry-go-rounds

While at MTU we act as extra hands in the various classes they teach. There is a special needs preschool class that we help at, as well as some life skills classes for all ages and abilities. It is so fun! I already have a few favorites (if I’m allowed favorites). πŸ˜‰ I hope to share their pictures with you soon, I just need permission first. The staff at MTU is stretched very thin, so they really need extra hands in every area.

Posing for Mommy

Jed is working with Natasha, one of the staff members who is in charge of the development of MTU’s volunteer base. His experience at Family Building Blocks is just what Natasha needs and wants. So, that’s cool. He’s also helping out Tatiana in the communications department with social media stuff. And of course, there are Fridays. Woohoo! On Fridays Jed and I take turns volunteering at Romaniv Orphanage with the MTU team. To say it’s a highlight of our week would be an understatement. Just tonight we had our friend Olya over for dinner, she’s an occupational therapist at MTU, and were brainstorming with her about Romaniv and what we can do for the boys there. The need is overwhelming, but God doesn’t call us to fix all the problems. He just calls us to take one step at a time and daily listen to His voice and obey. Whew!

Eating lots of Borscht!

Last Saturday we took the kids to visit Awanas! Ha! Funny right? One of the churches here in town hosts Awanas on Saturday afternoons and the kids had a blast. It’s all in Ukrainian, and the teacher said they did just fine! It felt super strange to leave them there, but when we were in the room they were looking to us too much, so we thought they’d do better if we left. I’ve gotta say, our kids are pretty stinkin’ brave. They want to go back too!

Helping Mommy shop

We’re trying our best to study the heck outta Russian. We have a wonderful teacher named Sveta who comes to our house three days a week for our lessons. We’re also tackling Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur. If one language program is good, 2 plus a tutor must be great, right? Let’s hope so.

Making cookies for the staff at Romaniv

Other than all that, we’re just spending our days learning how to live in Ukraine. It’s a new culture, new language, new pace of life, new everything. We seriously feel like babies. I want to scream to people “I’m really not as stupid as I sound! I really am a smart person…I just don’t know how to ask for the right kind of cheese at the deli counter.” Haha! Oh dear. We are babies, learning a whole new world, taking baby steps, talking baby talk. It’s humbling and invigorating, and humiliating, and frustrating, and wonderful.

I simply would not have it any other way. God is so good it’s almost laughable. πŸ™‚

Yes, yes, I know, it’s a scarf. What can I do?- either choke to death or freeze to death. I choose to not freeze. πŸ˜‰

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On Cousin-Fetching and Toddler Bribery

This weekend was full.

Full of fun, full of laughs, full of food, and full of lessons learned the hard way. Hence all the laughter.

My cousin Hannah came to stay for the weekend! She arrived on Friday afternoon and we were so excited it was like Christmas Eve on Thursday night. Our first real visitor from afar! Hannah has been in Western Ukraine doing an internship through her University back in Oregon. She arrived in Ukraine in September and will leave in December, so this weekend was our chance to experience Ukraine together. We had a BLAST.

Jed was at Romaniv orphanage with MTU on Friday, so it was up to me to fetch Hannah from the bus and get her back to our house…with all the kids in tow. It might have been a tad intimidating, but I was feelin’ good, feelin’ confident. I could do this!

When our family travels from Kiev to Zhitomir we take a certain bus that randomly picks up at a metro stop in Kiev and stops really close to our house in Zhitomir. Well, Hannah wasn’t taking that bus. She arrived in Kiev via train, so she was going to catch a bus leaving from the official bus station in Kiev. I asked a friend where that bus would drop her and he was pretty sure it would take her straight to the big bus station in Zhitomir.

The kids and I left early so that we could easily navigate the local buses to get to the big bus station. I knew that I knew where I was going, so it was all good. I prepped the kids (listen to Mommy, stay close to Mommy, pay attention to what’s happening around you…blah blah blah) and they were doing great! We arrived at the bus station plenty early; we even had time to get a little bread treat at a bakery next door (which was surprisingly filled with meat…not a bad thing, unless you’re hoping for sweet. Hehe) All was well…or so I thought. πŸ™‚

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After about 45 minutes I got a phone call from Hannah:

“I’m here! Where are you guys?”

“Oh, we’re inside. We’ll come right out! Hmmmm I don’t see you…where are you? Maybe stand underneath one of the bus stall numbers so we can find each other that way.”

“Okay, I’m standing under number 7.”

“Ummmm…me too. Oh geeeeeeeez.”

Oops. Hahahaha! We were at the wrong bus station! Apparently, the Kiev bus station sometimes delivers to the OTHER bus station in Zhitomir. Wa waaaaah. No big deal, except I totally didn’t know how to get from one station to the other. So, I told Hannah to stay put, and in good faith, told her we would find her. πŸ˜‰

I called Jed, who happened to be with locals who also spoke English and everyone was trying to give me directions…it wasn’t happening. So, I got all brave and started asking directions in broken Russian. And, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, we made it! We found Hannah!!!

It was quite the triumphant moment. Hannah and I were squealing with joy, everyone around was laughing at us, the kids were jumping up and down…it was a sight to behold, I’m sure. πŸ™‚
At that point, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Look at me, all travel-savvy! Errrrr…not quite.
So, I thought I knew the way home from the second bus station, but once we started walking, the street I thought I needed was a one-way. Looking back, we probably should have just returned the way we came, but I think I was too overcome with joy at seeing Hannah to think rationally.
We started walking, and walking, and walking, looking for a familiar landmark. Oy. Struggle. Soon we were quite lost. Ha! The kids were being quite the little troopers until Seth decided he was done walking. He started doing that limp-noodle thing until I was basically dragging him down the sidewalk. If any of you know Seth in real life you know he’s a big boy. He’s no lightweight. Hannah and I had already taken turns carrying him and Hava quite a bit, and at that point, he just really needed to walk. But he wouldn’t. He sat down on the sidewalk and started screaming his lungs out. I didn’t know what to do, so I did the “Okay, Mommy’s leaving..bye bye…” thing (which rarely works with Hava and NEVER works with Seth. He calls my bluff every time) and Seth continued to park it and scream, much to the amusement of everyone passing by. Again, quite the sight to behold, I’m sure.
Enter the Babushkas.
Two little old ladies walked up to Seth and started rattling off in Russian. I’m not sure what they were saying, but they were apparently trying to convince him to stand up. They were tugging at him, pulling at him, talking and talking and talking to him as I stood back laughing way too hard to be considered a good parent. Seth was not havin’ it. He only started screaming louder and louder. “Who are these people?? What are they saying? What have I gotten myself into???” Then one of the Babushkas started digging around in her bag and pulled out a piece of candy. She offered it to Seth- in exchange for him standing up…which worked. OF COURSE! Seth grabbed that candy, stood right on up, wiped his tears, and marched over to Mommy, “I eat my candy now???” OMG.
Hannah and I were dying. We were laughing so hard. Only NOT in the US would a total stranger walk up to your screaming toddler on the street and bribe him with candy. It was amazing. In that moment I was so stinkin’ thankful for that Babushka! She saved my life. πŸ˜‰ I told Seth he couldn’t eat his candy till he walked all the way to the bus. Oh yeah, I got some mileage out of that bribe. You better believe it! Oh, I love Ukraine.
Eventually, we found a bus number I recognized, made it home, and settled into a cozy weekend of fun with our Hannah.
Stay tuned for the rest of our weekend adventures!

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About Stuff

So, before we made the big move to Ukraine I searched the Interwebs (as Jed likes to call it) like a mad woman for any and every blog I could find about life for Americans who had moved to Ukraine. I found some that I really enjoyed, mostly because the writers were working with orphans and I dig that. Obviously. But, what I was really looking for was details about the little things that make up life in Ukraine. I wanted to see daily life so I could *try* to be prepared. I didn’t find a whole lot of that, probably because when it’s your everyday life you have a hard time believing anyone would find it interesting. I mean, do people really care what your washer machine looks like or how small your rolls of toilet paper are? Well, I cared! πŸ™‚ I wanted to see any and everything. So…I hope to give you glimpses to our everyday life…maybe some of you will find it interesting?? If anything I know my mom will be happy to see it all. Hehe

For what it’s worth, here are the things of note that I’ve been thinking I should tell you about. I have to take notes right when the thought comes, like this:

Dogs and Motion Detectors:
You all saw the outside of our house, right? Not so perty. You can’t always judge a book by it’s cover, and our house is proof of that.
Anyway, on that corner there is a motion-detecting light. We didn’t realize it was there till the first night we moved in. I kept waking up all night to the light going off and on because it’s literally right outside our bedroom window. The light was off and on, off and on, off and on ALL NIGHT. The entrance to our house isn’t exactly on a busy street so I started getting all concerned when night after night it was like a strobe light in my room. Welp, not to worry, I figured out the culprit. Stray dogs.
Ukraine has lots of stray dogs. They are running and sleeping all over town- and especially through our yard at night. I woke up one night and bravely looked out the window, afraid of what I’d see, only to see a group of dogs running back and forth under our light. Ha! I feel better now. πŸ™‚
No Top Sheet:
I love Ukraine. I love Ukraine because people don’t use top sheets. If you have little kids you understand. It’s like you know your kids should use top sheets, but they are forever crumpled at the bottom of little beds. I’ll confess, that after a while, I just gave up and stopped trying. I felt a bit guilty like my kids were sleeping in filth until we moved here! In our house there are bottom sheets (only fitted on one side), and then big blankets in a top sheet material duvet cover. Genius! All the cleanliness of a top sheet, minus the crumple. My guilty mother’s heart is now at peace.

Also, the sheet sets never match. Just when I thought it couldn’t get easier, it did.

Translate to Russian, then Ukrainian:
There are two languages mostly spoken in Ukraine: Russian and Ukrainian. Even though Ukrainian is the official language and most of the signage and stuff is in Ukrainian, we’ve decided to focus on learning Russian. The reason for that is that the dreams God has given us are bigger than only Ukraine. The dream He’s given us extends to the whole former Soviet Union region. So, it seems more wise to focus on learning Russian since it’s more widely spoken worldwide.
Anywaysssss when we go to the store it gets a bit tricky. Some of the labels for the food are in Russian and some are in Ukrainian. When I see a label I don’t understand (let’s be honest, that would be 97% of them) I first google translate into Russian, and if that comes up with nothing or a totally irrelevant word I then translate it into Ukrainian. As you can imagine, grocery shopping takes a million years. I think I need to start trying to translate to Ukrainian first, it might save me some time. πŸ™‚ Google Translate is my new BFF.

I misspelled the first ingredient on the second line…it should translate flakes. πŸ™‚

Bagged Food:
Tons of the refrigerated food comes in bags. Who’d a thunk it? The kids think it’s great. It’s all fun and games till someone pokes a hole in the milk (ahem, Seth).

Mayonnaise, ketchup, milk, and sour cream

Mr. Clean:
I just thought this was funny.
Cake for Bfast:
This morning we started at MTU and all the staff got to meet the kids! It was super surreal to have our kids there. Sigh…happy. To welcome us they brought out cake. Way to win over my kids! Anyone who serves cake at 8:30am gains guaranteed hero status at our house.
Boxes Arrived:
Our boxes came today!!! Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to us! We shipped 6 boxes on September 10th and they arrived today. We were hoping and praying they would all make it and that we would beat them here so we could receive them and MTU wouldn’t have to store them for us. God is too, too good to us!!! Would you believe the boxes are almost completely filled with just books? Yep. We figured just about everything else we could need we could find here, but all our books in English? Irreplaceable. We got a super amazing shipping deal, and I’m so happy we did it. Books and some school supplies are really all we shipped. Addy, my little book lover, is going to be so happy to be reunited with her friends. πŸ™‚
Ez Pez Bday:
Our little Ezra turns 8 years old on Saturday! My cousin Hannah has been in Western Ukraine since September doing an internship through her university and will be in Ukraine till the middle of December. We are SO EXCITED that she is taking the train to come and visit us this weekend! Ez is convinced Hannah is coming all this way just for his birthday. We won’t correct him. Turning 8 is kind of a big deal.
Welp, I think that just about covers it. My brain is officially mush. We started Russian lessons today and I’m surprised our heads didn’t explode. Jed went to bed long ago and now I better go too before I turn into a pumpkin. πŸ™‚
Happy Wednesday Everyone!

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A Sunday in Kiev

Happy Monday everyone!

We had a great first weekend. Jet lag remained a beast, but I think we have just about defeated it. All the kids slept through the night last night and didn’t wake up till 5:00am! Thank you, Jesus because I haven’t yet found a good coffee to brew at home, and {no sleep + disappointing coffee = the pit of despair}. BUT- we all got to sleep last night, and today we bought new coffee that was recommended by a friend and fellow Northwesterner, so things are looking up! PTL!

I think our trip to Kiev yesterday had a thing or two to do with our kids’ exhausted state, so add that to the list of reasons why I love Kiev. πŸ˜‰

A trip to Kiev is no small task for a family of 6. Let me lay it out for you.

We started out from our house at 9:00am and walked about 15 minutes to the city center where we caught the bus to Kiev. Buses go back and forth between Kiev and Zhitomir all day, so it’s pretty easy to get a seat.

The bus ride is about 2 hours long and it takes us right to the edge of town. Normally at this point Jed and I would hop on the metro and then walk quite a ways to church, but we figured with all the littles it might be easier to take a taxi. Our friend Olya (THE BEST) ordered us a taxi and we were off!

We arrived at church around 11:45, just in time to visit with friends we love before church started at noon. The kids were big fans of Kiev Vineyard right away as our friends bribed smiles out of them with candy and cookies and tea with milk. Ukrainians are buying the hearts of our children right and left and the kids don’t mind it a bit. πŸ˜‰

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Oh man, arriving at the Vineyard in Kiev was like comfort food of the best kind. I think Jed and I both let out all the breath we’d been subconsciously holding since we touched down on Wednesday. We are family there. And the crazy thing is, we didn’t even feel like guests this time. It was grand. Ezra got to play soccer and wrestle with our friends, Addy made a little friend named Ruslana, Seth got his fill of cookies and juice, and Hava got carried to her heart’s content. Kiev Vineyard speaks our love language very well. At Salem Vineyard (our home) the kids have a few guys that they love to harass and wrestle every week at church. It’s one of the highlights of their week. Their favorite wrestle/tickle/tease church friend is Jesse. As we left Kiev Vineyard I heard the kids discussing “Hey, let’s make Elvin, Max, and Sasha our Jesse for now, okay?” πŸ™‚ We love you Jesse!

Learning Russian from a new friend

After church, we headed by bus and then by foot to our favorite Sunday lunch spot: Puzata Hata! Woot! While at Puzata we got to meet up with an adoptive family we’ve been in touch with for several months now. God actually worked it out that they arrived in Kiev the same day as us last week and they’ll be there for several weeks adopting a sweet baby. They are dreamers like us and we were SO HAPPY to meet! We’re hoping to spend more time together in a couple weeks. Thank you friends for coming to meet us! All our mutual stalking paid off! Hehe

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We lingered at lunch/dinner for several hours and finally decided we better start our long trek home. We went back to the bus stop by the metro and the kids were SOOOOO excited to finally use their escalator skills. Oh yeah, all our practicing paid off and the kids handled the escalators like champs.

Ready to get on the metro!

The bus ride home to Zhitomir was a bit of a doozy. It was pretty warm (I’m a hot person. If you didn’t know. It’s my cross to bear.), but there was a Ukrainian variety show on which kept Addy and Ez occupied for quite a bit of the drive. Seth and Hava fell asleep almost instantly, but they were on our laps, and at some point, Jed had the nerve to shift his position, and all hell broke loose. Seth was half awake, half asleep, and started screaming for some unknown reason. We couldn’t fully wake him up and he continued to scream for a looooong time. It was super painful…I’m sure the rest of the bus really loved us at that point. Oy.

By the time we arrived back in Zhitomir all the kids were asleep and we didn’t have the heart to make them walk the 15 minute walk back home, so we hired a taxi and somehow managed to tell him where we lived. Success!

All in all the day was fantastic. We had lots of laughs, lots of hugs, and lots of adventure. Thank you Jesus for family in Ukraine.

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Our House!

So, I’m just sitting here in my little Ukrainian house, the kids are asleep, and Jed is off to watch soccer at a friend’s house (He doesn’t waste time with the man dates! Hehe) Life is good. We are blessed and happy.

Wanna see our house? YES! I’m pretty proud of us because we actually accomplished quite a bit today, despite the fact that the kids woke up at 4am. Oh, you say that just gave us more hours to work, so of course we should have gotten a lot done? Well, I say it was evil and instead caused us all to take a three-hour nap at noon. We couldn’t help ourselves! Jet lag is a beast.

So, the house is still a work in progress, but I’ll let you have a peek at our new digs. We feel quite comfy here and are so super thankful. Here goes nothin!

This is our street, headed toward our house- the white building on the right.

Here’s the front of our building. I think there are like 4 houses (flats) that are all a part of this building…not quite sure though. We enter around the back.

This is the path to walk around to our pad. πŸ™‚

These steps lead to us! That balcony right above is our balcony. Everyone come on over!

Welcome! Here’s what you see when you walk on in. (Minus the huge grins on our faces, so happy to have you! Also beware of tiny, leg-grabbing people ready to jump out and grab you…they’re vicious I tell ya)

Oh, you like the purple kitchen, do you? Well, we girls like it too. The boys aren’t so sure.

Too bad we don’t have a microwave manual…not that we could read that either…hmmm

Here’s the place where all the goodness happens. When you come over we’ll eat loads of deliciousness at this big ‘ol table! That’s assuming I figure out grocery shopping and can buy the right ingredients for the deliciousness. Seth wants me to tell you he has his eyes closed. FYI πŸ™‚

Here’s the view from the dining room table of Jed leaving me to go on a man date. πŸ˜‰

So, to the right of the front door is the kitchen, and this is what’s to the left. There’s the bathroom, and the living room.

Here’s our AWESOME bathroom! This is the biggest bathroom we’ve ever had. For some reason I find it very cute and bright. Is that weird that I love my bathroom so much?

Our little washing machine is in the bathroom. When Addy saw it she said It’s just my size! Yep, that’s about right. Ha! We don’t have a dryer so this girl’s gonna have to learn the art of hanging clothes to dry. Sweeeeet.

Here’s another time when a manual would be helpful…

This is the room that we’ll use as a living room. I think we’ll move out one of the beds to make more space, throw some cushions on the others, and call ’em couches.

The view from the other side of the room, complete with Jed looking creepy. He makes me laugh. I just love him!

Still with me? Now let’s head upstairs so you can see the guest room. Hint hint…

This is the biggest room, so it will be for the kids. We can’t fit 4 beds in it, so we need to buy some bunk beds. Until then, just the girls will sleep in here.

That white door leads to a shower.

THIS, now THIS is the guest room! Isn’t it fantastic? πŸ˜‰ The boys will sleep in here until we get the bunk beds.

Here’s our cute little upstairs bathroom. So itty bitty!

Here’s our enclosed balcony. Pretty sweet eh? Right now we’re storing empty suitcases here. Yeah, when we brought 12 SUITCASES we didn’t really think through what we would do with them after we were done traveling here. Anyone need a spare suitcase? Emma- notice my sweet hanging skills???

Our view during the day…

And now for the armpit of the house…

Our bedroom!!! Yep, we’ve still got some work to do…

Isn’t the house SO GREAT??? It’s a miracle. It’s so clean, plenty big, under our budget, a three-minute walk to MTU, and furnished. We are so happy!
When we knew we were going to live in this house we were excited, but I had one worry. I was worried for my kids. There are no parks nearby, and I was so concerned about how we would find friends. Do we just walk around until we hear kids and then head in that direction? It was a worry for me, but we really felt like this house was God’s gift to us, so we knew He had/has our kids covered.
So, yesterday morning we woke up, looked out our balcony window to check out our view, and you’ll never guess what we saw.

A PLAYGROUND!!!

Would you believe they installed a playground right behind our house on our first morning here?? INCREDIBLE. We were laughing, and I’m pretty sure I cried. Now THAT is God’s gift to my kids, but also a gift to this mommy’s heart. Where there is a playground, there will be children. It just goes to show us that God has gone before us and taken care of every single detail.
One of our friends felt like God showed her that this move to Ukraine would be like Christmas Day for our kids. Like they don’t know what they are getting, but that God has great gifts here for them. Well, gift #1 was delivered on our first morning and I am in awe.
It just keeps getting better and better. Saying yes to God is so much fun!!!!!

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