Another Day at the Office

Hi Canada,

I guess there’s not that much to report today so I’ll keep it brief. The weekend was nice we seem to have had a bonding breakthrough with Lisa who seems to have become daddy’s girl. I have never worked so hard in my life giving her plane rides, lifting her over my head as high as possible so she can pick cherries off the trees (they’re ripe), playing some sort of game where I chase her with my hands up like a bear, and she runs to Corrine for protection (If I don’t do it enough she comes after me with her hands up to catch me. (It’s too cute to describe!) She also loves to climb the play structures they have and jump off the top into my arms. I finish it jump off by turning her upside down and tickling her. While all this is going on Corrine seems to be getting some quiet time with Bart (damn momma’s boy) she talks to him, tries to teach him the alphabet, or some other kids songs, or whatever they get up to. Both kids seem to be understanding us a little better, and us them. So the frustration caused by communication is starting to lighten up a little. (We have a long way to go.)

We had a nice afternoon today. We had to take them downtown to get photos taken for the passports so there will be less scrambling when we need to get them made. A short bus ride got us there. The pictures taken without incident, and then we were off for some desserts a well deserved treat! After that Vitaly had to run to the inspector’s office leaving us to survive on our own. It wasn’t a big deal there were electric kiddy cars that the kids drove around on the street for 5 greevna. (The street is permanently closed to traffic and is very busy with café/bars, restaurants, shops, and other things.) After the expected whining when the ride was over we bought them a couple of small toys from a street vendor and waited for Vitaly to return. When he got back it was a bit of a scramble to get them back home before curfew (6:00 PM, we were lucky to get them out at all.) One of the things we discovered today was how little the kids have seen, or remember outside the orphanage. Bart was asking Vitaly all kinds of questions about things he was seeing. (He had never seen a satellite dish. We’ll be busy when he learns English) Anyway it was a good day!

As I expected the letter didn’t arrive from the district, but is "promised" (again) for tomorrow. It is holding things up but Vitaly made a tentative court date for July 19th. I remind you that it means nothing in this country. Anytime we experience something unusual Vitaly says "It’s Ukraine" so we are still in limbo. Fortunately there has been no request for paperwork. Vitaly doesn’t think there will be any required which is a suprise. When I joked about liking it here so much we might stay, well that seems to be becoming a reality. I’ll be right back............

I’m back I just got called away for supper. Vitaly whipped up a fresh garden salad along with a smoked meat sandwich on fresh baked bread, and Swiss cheeze. For all you garden fresh vegetable lovers out there Ukraine has a longer growing season than we have so we are forced to eat garden fresh tomatoes, cukes, dill, peppers, potatoes, garlic, onions, when should I stop? LOL The bread here is made with no perservatives, and no bleached grains (no white bread) so you have to eat it fast, but you can buy a half loaf so it doesn’t go bad. Many vegetables and baking are bought from Bubbas selling from the side of the road. Vitaly tells us that in most cases the produce is from their own gardens and is their only sourse of income. (Kinda sad, but tasty.) With all the fresh food and walking I’ve had a hard time maintaining my usual 180 lbs. STOP LAUGHING! We are also discovering many discrepancies from what we think is Ukrainian and what it really is. Such as Bubbas they are actually called Bubushka’s, and the thing on their heads are just light scarves. Perogies are dumplings, but an actual Ukrainian perogy is the size of a pie made with a dough (sorta like a pita, but different taste and heavy bread texture) on both sides with a filling, the dough is kinda dry. The perogies we have at home are Polish. Gold is very popular for crowns on teeth. It is not unusual to see a golden smile!

I promised to keep this short so I will.

I think I fixed the problem with the comments, it somehow got changed to registered users only. Either google is up to no good, or having more than half the language on the lap top in Ukrainian has caused the trouble. Anyway it should work now.

TTFN
R&C