Undeniably Gypsy

I'm in love.

2011-05-09T10:49:00.006-07:00

With my Nook.

I know, I know... I'm a total nerd. But I can't help it. I love to read. And since I have about four inches of space in my little house, I just don't have room for the mass of books I keep purchasing from Amazon.com (one of my top ten all time favorite things ever). And since I had some gift cards for Barnes & Noble (thank you, Mom!), I decided to bite the bullet and get me a Nook. I'd only been coveting it for a year.

Need I mention the $130 Kate Spade Nook cover that I had drooled over when it first hit the shelves? Well, fate was on my side the day I bought my Nook - Kate Spade was marked down 75%. Snatched that right up. Oh, that thing we call justification.... tricky little thing!

Moral of the story is that I highly recommend a Nook for any of my fellow book nerds/escapists out there. I'd even recommend justifying the purchase of a fabulous little cover.

The only thing I'll miss is that smell that only the inside of a book can have... mmmmm.

Speaking of revamping...

2011-05-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

... my blog is in serious need.

I'm not sure if it's because I just re-did my room or because Spring is in the air (well, has been for several months now) or if I'm just antsy for change (again) (it's about that time). But all I can think about is how I want to get up and shake off the dust and get going with so many things. I feel like I have these spurts where I get all motivated and dreamy and start thinking of all the million ways I'm going to change my life or shake things up. This is definitely one of those times. And revamping my blog is just one of those many (many) things.

I have spent a large (and kind of embarrassing) amount of time this morning blog-stalking. And yes, I'm at work. I am probably going to get canned since our computer use is totally monitored. Ah well. It's not like it's that hard to find a job these days.... Anyway, what I was saying was that I have stalked a lot of blogs today and over the last several weeks. I may be a little obsessed with a few. Some because they are good reads, others because I'm jealous of the witty/intellectual/clever content. But most because of the design and all around awesomeness of the blog. So I've got a new layout and design for my own blog rolling around in my head. It's gonna be fabulous. All I need is to get everything off my dead laptop so I have access to all my pictures and such. This is an important step in revamping my blog. So I'm not sure when this will all take place. All I know is that if I don't do it soon, I will go nutssss looking at the same boring blog over and over again. Since I'm a re-born blogger and everything...

Um, and let's talk about how I just noticed the Micky Mouse silhouettes on my blogger background... Go ahead and hunt them out, I know you want to. I only ever see the skinny view of my blog so I'm not surprised I didn't notice them before. But wow, feeling kind of like a 12 year-old all over again. Just like I did with my circus stripes room. Must. Revamp. Soon. Hold tight, a change is a comin'!

Don't hold your breath though - you know how I am with blogging and promises. It's baby steps for me, people. Baby steps.

Way overdue.

2011-04-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, this post. But also the not-so-extreme makeover (but makeover nonetheless) that I did on my bedroom. I finally graduated from my college-girl days and revamped my little portion of personal space. There's something about re-doing and color scheming and deep cleaning that makes one feel like a new woman. I finally let go of my twenties. It's one of the only ways in my life right now where it's nice to finally be a grown-up. It only took me until I am nearly 30 to do it. And it only took me three months to post about it. No big deal.

If I could explain my room, as it was, in one run-on sentence it would go something like this:

My room was an embarrassing mixture between a nursery and a circus and was never a place I wanted to take guests because it looked like a 12 year-old lived there and I was afraid circus music would spontaneously start playing every time I opened the door because of all the stripes and colors and orange-ish red light coming from the almost-ten-year-old lamp that gave some of the only light to my room (but that I was grateful for since there is no overhead light) and all my little nick-nacks and picture frames and college-girl stuff that had me endlessly pining for the day when I could afford a room that resembled that of a mature, independent, design savvy woman. Phew...

My computer died and I have been pictureless for quite some time now, so thank goodness for Averi's blog where I was able to steal a couple pictures of my room when we first moved in so that you could see what it looked like before. So without further ado, here are the before and afters of my I'm a Big Girl Now Makeover:

BEFORE. This was taken the first couple weeks after we moved in. The stripes came with the room.

BEFORE. This was on my birthday, about a month before I left for Ukraine. SUUUPER circus-y with the balloons and streamers! Oh, and there's the orange light!!

IN BETWEEN. First things first - got rid of the stripes. I painted the walls Tumbleweed Tan, which turned out to be a lot darker than I was expecting but I love it... Then I cleared out and donated everything from my old room. And got this fabulous rug.

IN BETWEEN. Setting up the bed, shelf, and night stand...

AFTER. Ta Da!! The finished product. New EVERYTHING...

Did I mention that I did all of this with this year's tax refund? Oh how I love you, tax money!

Anyway, I'm sure no one is even reading my blog anymore since it's been so long since I last posted so I may be talking to myself here. But I just wanted to document one of the minor changes that has happened in my life recently. If anything, I had a good time shopping and re-doing, and using a tiny tiny bit of my design skills. And hey, I sleep much better at night on that dream of a mattress I bought. That along with the fact that I finally feel like a big girl...

I decided to blog about fall afterall....

2010-11-09T23:07:00.005-07:00

So, it's November. And Thanksgiving is only a couple weeks away. Which means Christmas is just right around the corner. Literally - the Wal-Mart up the street is already decked, along with every other store I've been in recently. And it gets dark so early these days, it just feels like holiday time. And then you step outside and it's still 80 degrees after the sun has gone down. It's kind of a trip.

But I love it. L-O-V-E IT. It's why I chose to live here. For the warmth. For the lack of snow and bitter coldness. For the sunshine... If there are other things lacking in my life, the sunshine almost makes up for them. It just feels so good outside, especially at night. So much so that we have been taking walks around the neighborhood after dark. It's funny - we take leisurely strolls in capris and t-shirts when I'm pretty sure it's snowing at home and in Utah. What's even funnier is that I got a little chilly the other night when we were standing around outside chatting with some friends. I found myself rubbing my arms and even saying "brrrr" a couple times. When we got in the car, the temperature read 74 degrees. You know you are completely acclimated when you are cold in weather that matches the temperature my parents heat the house to in the winter. And when you break out the winter clothes after the highs start dropping below 80, you know there's no turning back - you're a gonner.

I just have to laugh to myself when I think about it - a girl that was raised in Colorado, went to school in Idaho, lived in Utah for three years, and just spent seven months (majority of which were winter months) in Eastern-freezing-cold Europe. It's just still a little weird to me that I live in Arizona. I have to admit that I really really miss the trees of Colorado and Utah. They are so beautiful in the fall. I find myself getting nostalgic and homesick the most at this time of year. September to November are my favorite months because of of the changing colors and the crispness of fall in the mountains. And I'm not even afraid to admit that I miss snow. But just a little bit. A tiny tiny bit. Not even enough for it to count towards anything, really. It's just the idea of it... snow at the holidays. And then I remember how it really is and I'm right back in the sunshine and palm trees, being happy that I'm not scraping an inch of ice off my car every morning.

Ahhh, the sunshine. I love you, Arizona.

I'm Ba-aack!

2010-10-24T23:41:00.001-07:00

I know, I know... it's been far too long since I have blogged. But to be quite honest, I haven't really had anything blog-worthy to blog about since I left Ukraine. Life is just not very adventurous for me these days. Especially when I'm not living in some far-away European city and traveling all over the place while I'm at it. And when the whole point of my blog was to document my travels and life as a "gypsy," it feels funny to keep using it. I apologize to all the many (ha ha ha... ha ha) followers I have for being such a stranger to my own blog.

Today though, I have a reason to blog. I mean, yeah, I could blog about how fall in Arizona is flipping amazing (the days are still warm - Averi and I laid by the pool yesterday [yes, it's ok to be jealous] - but the nights are cool enough to wear a jacket and it smells like fall... could it get any better??) or how I have a (sexy) new(ish) car that doesn't give me stomach ulcers at the thought of it. But nay, today I am going to blog about a little healthy competition that I am participating in that is giving me a reason to eat a little healthier and develop better habits. One of which encourages daily journal writing or blogging. So we can thank what we call "The Challenge" for my reappearance to the bloggersphere.

Let me preface this for all of you who are about to give me a hard time and freak out that I am on a "diet" by saying - this IS NOT a diet. It is a challenge where healthy/better habits are encouraged. So there.

Anyway, it goes as follows: There are 10 "habits" per day that you can do for a point each for a total of 30 days. However, if you don't do something you aren't penalized, you just don't get the point for that habit for that day. The goal is to have 70 points at the end of each week when you log in your points to the group. There are about 35 other people participating and we are held somewhat accountable to each other so it makes it fun and a little competitive (maybe more than a little competitive for some of us...). Anyway, the ten habits include things like drinking at least 48 ounces of water per day (a lot harder than I thought it would be... clearly I'm not drinking enough!), eating two servings of fruits and two servings of vegetables per day, not eating sweets (sob sob sob...), writing in your journal (or blogging), reading 15 minutes of uplifting material, and achieving a personal goal, among a few others. You are allowed one "cheat" per habit per week for a free point, which can I just say was a genius rule to include in the challenge.

I'd like to take this time to admit that I thought I was going to die the first couple of days. Ok, who am I kidding? I still think I might die and we are on day five. I love love love my sweets and I could hardly wait until Friday (my strategically placed "cheat" day for my sweets) so that I could tear into my chocolate stash in my drawer at work. You know you have a problem when....

However, I think this is the perfect challenge for me. Like I mentioned before, I'm kind of competitive when it comes to things like this and it goes without saying that I could use having a few more healthy habits in my life. If anything (even if I lose, heaven forbid), it has shown me what I am doing too much and what I'm not doing enough in my life. It has become very clear to me that in most areas of my diet/life, I'm not as up to par as I thought I was. So, come death from lack of chocolate or drowning in my own bloated water overdose, this should be an interesting (to say the least) 30 days. I'll do my best to keep you all posted on my progress. If anything to let you know if I won the money or not. Oh, did I not mention that? Yeah, that's kind of a big incentive for me to keep strong while shunning candy bars and oatmeal cream pies.

Anyway, no promises on the keeping you posted part though. I'm pretty sure I mentioned four or more months ago that I still had posts I wanted to post about Ukraine. I'm still totally going to do it.

Heck yes.

2010-07-15T15:17:00.012-07:00

There's nothing that sounds better than the cha-chinging of dollar signs after a loooooooong and vicious financial drought.

Unemployment sucks.

That's why every time I've thought about my new job this week, I've just wanted to take off running - pausing only to do a heel click in the air. I mean, I GOT A JOB! Like a real one that actually pays me better wages than my high school jobs did. A major cause for celebration for me.

I'm actually back at Waterstone Mortgage - the company I was working for before I left for Ukraine. I was the receptionist then. And I have been doing temporary paper work for them since I've been back. But now my boss has asked me to stay on as a loan processor, with a significant pay raise and about a five-rung move up the ladder. Talk about a promotion! Woo hoo. I even get my own cubicle. That's right, be jealous.

And yes, the three years' worth of interior design knowledge I aquired in school IS totally helping me in this job. Not.

But I could really care less about that at this point... I HAVE A JOB!!

Now let's all cross our fingers that the boss also hires a single, handsome (need I mention tall?), 30-something loan officer whose loans I can process. Among other things...

Ok, scratch that. I'm totally pushing my luck with that one.

Ditto.

2010-06-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know what my problem is these days, but I am on a serious blogging hiatus. I can't even use the excuse that I am "so busy" because let's get real here - I'm so not. I guess I just have a bad case of the blogging "blahs"... They're terrible. Anyone else ever get them?

Anyway, I still have about four posts that I must post about Ukraine and at least two about more recent happs. I am so behind... BUT, while we all (ha ha ha) anxiously await my other posts, here is a tidbit that Averi and I found particularly amusing slash perfect for us today. (Sorry for any mutual readers that we have). But um, yeah, couldn't have said it better myself.

I couldn't stay put for too long...

2010-06-03T00:36:00.005-07:00

So I gave myself two solid weeks to unpack my bags and get situated before I re-packed and boarded yet another plane. It was a short flight this time though. Thank goodness.

My little brother Evan graduated from high school the weekend before last and I was so happy to get to be there for it. And it was so good to see my family - it had been a year since I had been home.

It's never a small event when my family gets together either, so as you can imagine there was a LOT of food and a lot of people. All weekend long. All in celebration of Evan. He's such a smart kid and I'm really proud of him. He's going to Metro State in Denver this fall to start his pre-reqs for the architectural engineering program. Way to go, Ev!

Anyway, it was a short little trip to Colorado, but it was a good one. Family, friends, food... I mean, what more could you ask for? Good times had by all.

The sibs, minus one. Don't worry Traci, we'll be taking a lot more pictures like this in September.

Mom and Dad, me and my Gram, and the whole gang. Most of us anyway...

"These are the moments..."

I love you, family.

After my weekend in Colorado, I spent a couple days in Utah visiting some old friends, going back to some of my favorite Utah places, and feeling like I had never left Salt Lake - everything was still so familiar to me even though so much had changed and even though it had been almost a year and half since I'd been there. It was really good to see everyone and I wish I could have stayed longer. I guess after you spend seven months somewhere, three to five days feels like the blink of an eye. Thanks for the good times friends, quick as they may have been...

It's so hard to say goodbye...

2010-05-17T04:30:00.013-07:00

...to your favorite pair of jeans.

I know I said I had things to post about Ukraine, but when crap happens, you just have to be flexible. If there's one thing I've learned in life...

I knew this day was approaching, but I never imagined being so.... bummed. 'Cause what do I do now? I mean really, what does one do after their favorite pair of jeans rips down the seam of the crotch, reminiscent of a fat guy in a little coat? Have a visual? Need I say more?

Don't be alarmed by the graphic images you are about to see. I just had to show you the poor things, embarrassing as it may be.

(Notice the large tear on the left side? Yeah, that happened almost a year ago but I couldn't bear to say goodbye yet, so I patched them up. Twice. In the same place. I think that's why they finally gave up and ripped on the other side. There's no salvaging that. You'd think I'd learn my lesson, lose some weight or just give up and buy some new jeans. But nope, uh uh, not me.)

Let's rewind three years to when I first bought said pair of jeans. I received a gift card for my birthday and it didn't take much thought to decide that I would spend the money on some new pants. I mean, what better way to spend birthday money, right?

They were in a stack of about six other pairs that I took into the dressing room and the last ones that I tried on. They were a size smaller than I usually wore, but I pulled them on, turned side to side in the mirror about ten times and decided they looked and felt fabulous. They were a little tighter than any other jeans I'd ever owned (and a lot more expensive) but the reflection in the mirror and my friends' reactions solidified the decision to purchase them. It was a done deal. An instant love. My first pair of Guess jeans.

Of course, I have gained some weight since then. Not a ton (ahem), but enough to stretch them. To their limit, apparently.

But they were like a true friend to me - they went with me everywhere, made me feel like a million bucks, and never let me down. They were everything - birthday jeans, night out jeans, dress up jeans, dress down jeans, make-out jeans, travel jeans, designing jeans, school jeans, feel good jeans... everything jeans. And they are the most well-traveled pants I have ever owned. They went to Seattle, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Las Vegas, California, London, Ukraine, Germany and Portugal. Gypsy jeans through and through. Time goes by so swiftly when you have pants like that. It was a good three years. Sniff, sniff. (Yep, you heard me... THREE years. Now that is a solid pair of jeans.)

However, now that they're gone I am running low on the jean count and will need to replace them as soon as possible. I'm sorry, jeans. Know that I loved you and will miss you dearly. You will be in my memory forever.

May you rest in peace. Goodbye, favorites. (Sniff, sniff, sniff).

Shopping anyone?

♪ It's a party in the USA! ♫

2010-05-12T13:56:00.004-07:00

So, I'm back in the good ol' US of A and it feels good to be home - there were a lot of things and people that I missed while I was over there on the other side of the world. Food more than people, if I'm being totally honest.

Kidding, friends.

But it seems like there is always a down-side to everything good. I will miss Europe a lot and it was really hard to say goodbye. I miss my sister like crazy already and it's only been seven days (well closer to eight I guess - it is already tomorrow there). And I kind of don't know what to do about it. I guess what they say is true though - that all good things must come to an end. Right?

Oh gosh, I hope that really isn't totally true...

Anyway, my first couple days at home were fab-u-lous. A little bit of shopping, sunbathing, movie watching, and some serious American grub with my peeps made for a fabulous welcome-back. It was a party in the USA if I ever saw one.

We have a sad lack of pictures from the weekend (I'm sure missing my sister's Nikon right about now), but here's at least one that kind of sums things up. We're awesome dot com.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome home! It's good to see you all again.

PS - I have a bit of a back-log of posts to post about my last week or so in Ukraine but I have to get my pictures organized and my thoughts in order, so stay tuned. Good things to come.

It's here, it's here! It's finally here!

2010-04-29T03:42:00.012-07:00

In July of 1998, President Hinckley announced that a temple would be built in Kiev, Ukraine. It would be the first in all of Eastern Europe and would serve the some 31,ooo members of the church from 13 different countries. They broke ground for the temple in June of 2007 and now, three years later, it will finally be open for use.

They announced a couple weeks ago the official opening of the temple, and I wish I was going to be here for it. There will be an open house for the public throughout most of August and then the dedication will take place on Sunday the 29th. Monday morning it will be open for sessions.

One of the first things Traci and David took me to see when I first got here in October was the temple sight. The temple was up, but there was scaffolding all the way around it, with machinery and equipment everywhere and not much else besides an open piece of dry land on which it stood. I felt so excited about it though. Since being here, I have really come to understand how blessed I am to have access to so many temples near me. When I lived in Utah, I could have traveled 30 minutes in any direction and found a temple. The Salt Lake Temple was literally right down the street from me in each of the three different apartments I lived in. My house in Arizona is a five minute drive from the Mesa temple. But here, if members want to take part in the blessings of the temple, they have to travel for some 30 hours (usually by bus) to get to the temple in Germany. That's the closest one. But they do it. Happily. It makes me feel a little ashamed for the way I take the temple for granted and don't take advantage of it the way I should.

Annie and I went so see it again last night. It was one of the things I wanted to do before I left the country and I was excited to see the progress that has been made in the six months since I last saw it. There is still a lot of machinery scattered here and there, and a big green fence surrounds the sight, but we were still able to see it from a pretty good spot and took a few pictures while we were there. Little else but the landscaping needs to be done before they open the doors.

The thing that struck me the most was how much the temple stood out from it's surroundings. I think that's the case with a lot of temples, but I think it's especially true with this one. I was also surprised at how excited I was to see it, considering the fact that I have seen, been in, and been surrounded by so many different temples in my life time. We rode on the Metro for about 40 minutes and then squeezed onto a tiny crowded marshrutka bus for about 20 minutes and when the temple came into view, it was so refreshing. A sight for overly-sore eyes. Everything around the temple is ordinary Ukraine - buildings, a busy highway, garbage littering the street, billboards - and then there was the temple. It's so beautiful.

As we walked around the perimeter, I kept imagining the members here and how excited they are to have a temple so close and how there will be people traveling far and wide to come to it. It's effects will be far-reaching and the good it will do for a country that was once stripped of all things religious is unimaginable.

When we left the temple and started walking to the bus stop, Annie talked about how she couldn't wait for the day when her parents would accept the Gospel, her brother would come back, and they could all go to that temple together. As we stood waiting for the bus, we could see the temple in the distance, right in the break between some trees and a big sign and just on the other side of the highway. I was imagining that first week of the temple's opening. I was picturing people coming from all 13 of those countries, lined up outside the doors, just waiting to get inside. In my mind, there are so many people they just can't fit everyone in.

October

April

Portugal!!

2010-04-26T04:58:00.013-07:00

I put exclamation points after Portugal so that maybe you would get excited to read the travelogue and scroll through the 5 million pictures I'm about to post...

I never thought I'd visit Portugal - I'm not sure that I wanted to or even knew much about it to be honest. It's not like it was at the top of my list with Greece and Barcelona and New Zealand. But I must say now that it was one of the loveliest places I have ever visited. There was a bit of a wet mildewy smell that seemed to permeate the entire country, but besides that, it was seriously amazing. I L-O-V-E'd it. Like a lot.

We did a bazillion things and saw so many incredible sights, but I won't bore you with all of the details. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Lisbon - We stayed in Alfama, the oldest part of the city and one of the only parts that wasn't destroyed by the earthquake in 1755. So the "flat" we stayed in was in a several hundred year-old building that's been refurbished and made all lovely looking. We had the most spectacular view of the port and we had to climb/go down approximately 100 stairs every time we left the house to go out and explore (that was just to and from our house, that's not including any other stairs we may have encountered during the day). We rode the tram, usually the famous #28, everywhere we went. There was fabulous shopping downtown (I discovered a new favorite European store) and there were winding cobblestone streets in every part of the city that made you feel the need to squeeze in your shoulders every time the tram passed another car. And of course the hand-painted tiles - Azulejos - everywhere. So beautiful. But best of all were the pastry shops that covered the city and had the famous custard-filled pastries (something I didn't know about Portugal) that had us going back for more nearly every day. Delish.
The Algarve - That's what the stretch of southern coast is called. We stayed in a little town called Albufeira in a "villa" up on the hill. It had a beautiful view and I can never have too much sand and sun. The water was amazingly blue and the rocks and cliffs made the beach that much more fun. We also visited some of the other coast towns and had fun exploring the mountain top of Monchique. Altogether good times. Oh, we also found Portugal's equivalent to Target called Continente, which you must know made us nearly drool. There is no Ukrainian version of Target. Or Wal-Mart. Or even K-Mart. So it was, to say the least, fab-u-lous. Joy, in every sense of the word.
Cape St. Vincent - "The end of the world" as early Europeans knew it. It's the most south western tip of Europe before you reach America; a place most early sea travelers were afraid to venture past until Prince Henry the Navigator came along and taught people how to sail and start new routes to other parts of the world. Today there is a darling little lighthouse that sits right on the edge of the cliff that has the most amazing views. There were also great souvenir stands where I picked up some keepers and a food cart that sold "the last Nuremberg sausages before America." Those sausages were a favorite of ours from our Christmas trip to Germany, so we were pretty excited to have some at the "end of the world."
Sintra - I have very few words to describe this place adequately. It was, in a nutshell, spectacular. It's a little quaint town north-east(ish) of Lisbon where we spent (what was supposed to be) our last two days in Portugal. It is built up the side of a mountian and everything was so beautiful. And lush. And just.... darling. I wish we could have stayed longer. We visited the Palacio Nacional, found yummy new pastries, a pretty blue-eyed guy told Calvin that his aunt was beautiful (me...), and we explored the most amazing fortress that sat at the very tip-top of the mountain that had the most spectacular view of the valley below. Loved. It.
The zoo - So we had some flight delays because of this volcano eruption and really had no original plan to go to the Portugal Zoo. But alas, we had an extra day and a half to waste in Lisbon (no, we didn't have to sit endlessly at the airport... David was really on top of things, thankfully) so we decided to spend the day with some animals. And it was really fun. Besides the baby baboons that were small enough to squeeze through the bars and come "interact" with the crowd of people (aka, steal their belongings and beg for food), there were some fabulous adventures at the sea life show. The first act was a performing sea lion that followed his trainer into the audience and gave kisses to anyone who would let him. It was the cutest thing I've seen in ages. David was standing by with the camera waiting to take pictures as he kissed Calvin, Henry, Charlie (who was on Traci's lap and totally freaked out), and me (who was holding a sleeping baby Jane) but unfortunately, the camera was out of batteries so none of the pictures took. Arg. But don't worry, the professional camera guy that works for the zoo was following the duo with his camera and selling shots for 5 euros apiece. Mine was horrendous so I passed that opportunity up in a hurry. It would have been great though to post a picture of me getting kissed by a sea lion (a first for me, believe it or not) with my face all unsure and pinched up. Another highlight of the show was when a handsome dolphin trainer came and asked me if I spoke English and when I blushed and said yes (I thought he was there to flirt), he asked me if Calvin could ride in the boat and kiss a dolphin as part of the show. I'm not his mother, so of course I said yes. It was a pretty fabulous sight - he did the parade wave and everything. So all in all, our last days being "stranded" in Portugal were pretty good. I could seriously watch animals all day. They are just so amusing.

The view from our place in Lisbon

The church above where we stayed

Stairs, stairs, stairs...

Alfama

St. George's Castle

The big clock...

One of the famous pastelarias

Excellent advice.

Me & Jane on the famous #28

The Santa Justa Elevator

Monastery of Saint Jerome - burial place for Vasco De Gama

The Tower of Belem

The Oceanarium

King Edward's Park

Calvin kissing a dolphin!

The warning sign by the baboon cage...

Ahh, Sintra

The Palacio Nacional

Queijadas - Sintra's own deliciously cinnamony, flaky-good pastries

The Moorish Castle

From the top of Monchique

Cape St. Vincent

Sagres

See that guy at the top of the cliff? He's fishing.

The Algarve... mmmmmm.

It's high time I posted something.

2010-04-25T04:58:00.002-07:00

I feel like a stranger to my own blog.

My excuse is that I have been on a 16 day vacation and have had an obvious lack of time for blogging and such like that. But in all honesty I've just been sort of lazy, a bit scatter-brained, and totally unmotivated. Which turns out to be a terrible combination.

So it's high time I posted something. I have plenty of things to post about (my vacay to Portugal being one of them) but today I just wanted to post links to two things about Kiev, both of which are thanks to my dear friend Alena.

The first is a link to one of her blog posts about Kiev. It's a list of everything a wandering American might notice during their first couple weeks in Ukraine and she nailed it on the head. I couldn't have said it better. Obviously, because I'm sending you to her blog to read about it.

The second is an article by a former editor of the Washington Post (that I stole from Alena's FB status) about his year in Kiev. It's good stuff.

And just for the record, this post is more for my benefit than for anyone else's enjoyment (because it's serving as a journal for me), but even still, I hope you learn something about the place I've called home for the last six months (and will only be calling home for the next week and a half... sniff, sniff).

Oh and thanks, Alena, for doing all the leg-work for my blog post. You are so utterly cool!

Easter thoughts

2010-04-04T10:35:00.001-07:00

I have always really loved Easter - it just seems so warm and colorful, doesn't it? I especially loved it as a kid. My memories of Easter from childhood include chocolate and jelly beans, church services, family get-togethers (food!), egg hunts, blooming flowers, and everything pastel and sunshiny. It was always such a fun holiday to look forward to.

As I got older and the magic of the Easter Bunny had long faded and Easter dinner consisted of a not-nearly-as-good imitation of my grandma's potato salad and a few slices of ham (sans the family), I started to look forward to Easter in a different way. I was working at a cute little boutique where the window displays and gift items throughout the store clearly portrayed the upcoming holiday or season. I loved the decorations and unique little gifts we carried, especially for spring and Easter (second only to Christmas, of course). Everything was glittery or brightly painted in stripes, plaids, and polka dots and I cooed like a baby every time we opened a new shipment. It made the lull of post-Christmas seem bearable, knowing that once the first of March rolled around, we'd be pouring Spring throughout the store like a much needed cleansing after a dark and dreary winter. Everything felt new and bright and cheery. It made me feel happy amidst my stressful, unsure, and ever-changing life.

And although I was happily a part of the retail commercialism of the holidays, I have always thought how strange it is that religious holidays in America have become washed out and faded through time. Christmas and Easter are both Christian holidays that are meant to celebrate the Savior's birth and resurrection respectively. But somehow they have become more about the gifts and the glitter and the icons and less about Jesus. It really is sad.

This year as I'm not only far away from most of my family and traditions, but far away from the excitement and sparkliness of my little boutique, I have thought a lot about what Easter is really all about. Not that I've never known or never thought about it or cared, but I think the hype of decorations and candy and the coming of spring has washed out the realness and depth of the holiday for me. This year I have been grateful for a different perspective. Ukrainians really celebrate Easter. They decorate beautiful eggs (the quintessence of Ukrainian culture - the symbol of life, growth, prosperity, etc.), they take their bread and bunches of pussy willow to the church to get blessed, they attend church, and they spend time with their families in religious observance. That doesn't sound much different from the way most Americans do it, but here, that's all they do. They leave out the Easter bunny and the candy and the commercialism and keep it sweet and simple and strictly religious.

One of my favorite things that I have learned this year about their Easter traditions has been the way they greet each other. Instead of saying "Happy Easter," they greet each other with "He is risen!" and in reply, the other person says, "Truly, He is risen!" How great is that? And they mean it - they are genuinely excited about it. It's so tender.

I thought a lot about that today. I want to be like that - I want to greet my friends with exclamations of excitement that Christ is alive. That's what Easter is all about. It's about His sacrifice and His life and most importantly, the miracle of His resurrection. It's about hope.

So, in the Ukrainian spirit, He is risen... truly, He is risen! Happy Easter!

I flippin' LOVE Sephora

2010-03-31T12:35:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty sure I've always (really really) loved Sephora, but I think I love them an extra lot today since it feels like somewhat of a miracle that they could send my favorite makeup all the way to Ukraine. And not only did they send my makeup, they sent me 3 free samples - two perfumes and some eyebrow powder... I mean, hello. I love that place.

I'd go as far as to say that there's nothing like new makeup to make a girl feel really excited about life. Ok, maybe some new shoes, but I'd have to sell my first born in order to buy a pair here.

It's SPRING, hooray!!

2010-03-30T08:47:00.018-07:00

The weather has been so beautiful recently. And I cannot begin to explain how much I appreciate it. After months of gray dreariness, it feels like heaven. I live for sunshine.

Traci and I went for a five hour gander the other day with the two littles and took lots of pictures of the cathedrals we see regularly. I adore the churches here - they are so ornate and beautiful. Then Annie and I went out all day yesterday through what felt like every part of the city. And we took enough pictures to prove it. It feels so good to get out and walk. And it's good to finally see the city in a different light.

Can I just say again that I LOVE springtime? It's just so.... hopeful.

our cathedral up close

the Pakrovski convent

St. Andrew's cathedral

a view of the gold domes of the Lavra

WWII monument
I just love views like this
the kissing bridge - people come here to kiss, attach a lock, and paint their initials on... how cute is that? I mean, when you have someone to kiss of course

a cleaning crew comes once a year and cuts all the locks off and repaints the bridge but before the year is up it's full again

the cleaning crew was there yesterday, so I'm glad I got some pictures... (I LOVE my sister's camera, btw)

Kiev from the top

the Arch of Friendship

what can I say? springtime in Kiev makes me feel this way...

Annie in the wind. I love catching candid moments....

this is my Ukraine.... the Maidan (city square), Kiev

I had to.... because I'm a cheese puff.

this says "stop drinking," which is hilarious considering we are in the land of excessive vodka consumption and public drunkenness

Gifts of the Sea

2010-03-27T00:05:00.012-07:00

One of the many things I have noticed since being here is that Ukrainians love seafood.

I mentioned in my truly Ukrainian adventure post that I ate a lot of fish when I went home with my friend Annie. And by a lot, I mean it was part of a meal (or more than one meal) everyday. I also posted pictures of the frozen seafood bins at Mega Market in my Notes on Ukraine post. One of my favorite things is the individual street vendors that sell fish laid out on plastic bags outside the Metro stops. And the vast array of "fresh" fish arranged artfully on beds of lettuce (with dead staring eyes) behind the glass in the meat section at the grocery never ceases to amaze us.

So yesterday when we were out walking, Traci suggested that we go to дари моря (Dari Morya or "Gifts of the Sea"). It's a grocery store where you can get little else but fish and other sorts of sea life. You could smell it a block away - that oceany seafood smell, sort of how Pike's Place Market smells in warm weather. Along every wall in the square-shaped market was glass casing where fish of every kind was arranged and on display for everyone to see. We walked along and looked at all the sizes, shapes, and kinds of seafood that they had available. I have never seen so many different kinds of fish in one place. (Except maybe at Pike's Place Market...)

Anyway, we were just walking along, minding our business and having a good look at all the fish when we came to a long line of people that were standing next to these huge tanks of fish. So we stood behind the last lady in line to see what everyone was waiting for and as I glanced over her shoulder, I witnessed one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen...

There was a man with a net that was catching fish from this giant tank (that, by the way, was so packed that the fish could hardly swim around) and tossing them into a pair of crates that were up on the counter. Then there was a woman that was taking the fish out of the crates and bagging them (still very much alive and flailing around) as people picked the ones they wanted. After she bagged them, she handed them to the men who were working in the small room behind her. What were they doing in that room, you wonder? Oh, I'll tell you what they were doing in there... They were slamming the fish against the counter top to kill them! And if they didn't die after one or two hard slams, they would lay them on the counter and take a big rubber mallet and beat them dead. Yep, you heard me.

But that's not even the worst part... After they beat the fish to death, they held them by the tail and de-scaled them. They had these metal grater things that they were running up the fish's body, against the grain of their scales, and rubbing all their scales off. Not only did it sound like staples flying around in a blender, but there were scales flying everywhere.

I'm usually pretty good at the dead-pan face when there are things that shock me. I mean, I've walked past the street vendors selling rolls of pig fat, skinned rabbits, fish, blood sausage, and various kinds of panties and I've been able to keep my jaw from dropping. But yesterday as we stood in that line of eager fish-buyers, I could not hide my shock. Apparently Traci turned around to say something to me at one point, and my eyes were like saucers and my mouth was hanging wide open. I'm pretty sure that was when people realized were were from "out of town" because then everyone started looking at us. The seemingly inconspicuous shots I was trying to take with the not-so-inconspicuous Nikon could have been the giveaway too, but I don't know.

Anyway, it was quite the experience. One that I will probably never forget, no matter how much I'd like to... I left thinking two things: 1.) How do people eat the fish that they just watched get bludgeoned to death before their eyes? and 2.) I can think of a lot of other "gifts of the sea" that I'd enjoy much more.

The over-crowded tank of fish

Spring Reading Thing 2010

2010-03-25T04:11:00.008-07:00

Since I love to read so much (and since I'm on the topic of reading - sorry for my endless blog posts on the matter), I've decided to join an online reading challenge.

The reading challenges are hosted by a lady named Katrina who has a cute blog called Callapidder Days. She blogs about her life, her family, her faith... and books. Twice a year she hosts a reading challenge - once in the fall and once in the spring - so you can join and make goals for the books you want to read over a three month period. It really is a pretty fun idea - you should do it too!

Traci has joined the challenge a couple times and she is the one that turned me on to it. She has always been my example when it comes to reading - she used to read to me at night when she was a teenager and I was clueless kid, and although I didn't understand half of what she was reading to me most of the time (or why on earth is she crying about this book?...), I always thought it was so cool that she read so much because I knew that smart people read a lot. She has always inspired me to love books. (And just for the record, I have since read Charlie's Monument, the book that I remember her crying in and I cry every time I read it. And I've read it quite a few times.)

Her list is always so diverse and has books from well-known and classic authors (hello... C.S. Lewis and Leo Tolstoy?), so I feel a bit silly about some of the books I read on a regular basis. I'm all cheesy love story and random and she's all classic literature and deep. It's clear that literature is her forte. However, most of the books that I have read recently are ones that she has read as well since I am reading from her library. And I feel pretty good about that. For those that I don't finish here, I will (thankfully) be able to rent from the library back in Arizona...

I'm still working on my "reading while roaming" goal - the 12 books I wanted to read while I was abroad (that I'm keeping track of on my goodreads) - but since it is only a quantity goal and not a specific book title goal, I thought I could overlap the two and just continue reading forever... I love the idea of it.

Anyway, enough of all that. Let's get to my list for the Spring Reading Thing 2010:

Wait, a quick preface to my list: I decided on 8 books... I will be back in the States and job searching (and hopefully working a secure 40 hours a week) before this reading challenge is over, so I'm trying to be realistic. Otherwise, I probably would have gone for ten or more... :)

1.) Austenland, Shannon Hale - I just started this one. Traci just finished it and since I am an Austen lover, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

2.) Shadow of The Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon - All murder mystery and intrigue... not my usual pick for a good read, but I'm trying to be diverse. Plus I heard it was good, so I think this will be my I-must-have -a-book-on-the-beach for Portugal.

3.) The Venetian Mask, Rosalind Laker - I liked her book To Dance With Kings so I think I will really enjoy this one. Plus it's set in Venice... need I say more?

4.) A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini - I missed the band wagon when this and The Kite Runner were being read by the masses, but I think it's high time that I read at least one of them. The Kite Runner will be on my next list...

5.) Wicked, Gregory Maguire - I loved the Broadway (if it still counts to call it that when I actually saw it in London...) and I loved another book of his called Confessions of a Wicked Stepsister so I thought it would be fun to read it. Also, Traci really liked it - what more convincing do I need?

6.) Emma, Jane Austen - This is my favorite movie of all time (Gwyneth Paltrow is my idol), but I am embarrassed to admit that I have never read the book. Even more embarrassed since in the first book on my list I claimed to be "an Austen lover"...

7.) Persuasion, Jane Austen - Digging myself in even deeper..... I haven't read this one either. It's time.

8.) Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen - Perhaps my only redeeming quality when it comes to being such an Austen lover - I read half of this book in college. I know half doesn't really qualify me for much, but at least it's something, right?

Anyway, I'm excited to have another goal to add to my list of goals... It's nice to have things to work towards!

HAPPY SPRING!! And happy reading!

So, as it turns out, I really like to read.

2010-03-23T06:06:00.005-07:00

I know I've posted about this before, but I just had to mention that I have almost reached my I-hope-to-read-12-books-while-I'm-abroad goal...

I just finished reading number nine; a book called A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg, the author of a recipe-filled and fabulously witty blog called Orangette, which I like to wander to once in a while.

Traci told me about Orangette a while back and then ordered Molly's book from Amazon (our FAVORITE place) a couple weeks ago. She read it and then passed it on to me. And I L-O-V-E'd it. Her stories are fabulous and her writing is so vivid and witty, I couldn't hardly put it down. For any of you who like to cook (or like me, like to think they like to cook...), it should be your next read. Seriously. I laughed out loud several times, I BAWLED at one part, and I adored her stories and recipes. It was a seriously satisfying read.

Anyway, I'm on to Austenland next, which I hope will not be a let down... After that, I hope to start in on the real Jane Austens (since the only one I've read - or partially read - is the first half of Pride and Prejudice in college). So Emma, Pride & Prejudice, Persuasion, and Sense & Sensibility are on their way from Amazon as we speak... Yay!

Really, what I should be doing is, I don't know, exercising...

Houston, we have a problem.

2010-03-18T12:29:00.005-07:00

I think I have an eating disorder. How do I know? Well, let me just tell you - I cannot. Stop. Eating.

This isn't really a new development, but I do a lot more sitting around than I usually do so I guess it's just a lot more noticeable. In fact, I do so much sitting around that my butt has really started to hurt and my left hip has become unusually sore from leaning over the arm of the couch to be on my computer which sits on the end table. But not only is my butt feeling sore, I'm pretty sure it's getting bigger.

It really is a problem. A big one. (No pun intended.)

So after much contemplation, here's my top eleven (ten just didn't cover it) on how you (aka, me) know you have an eating disorder:

11.) When you're not sitting on your bum on the couch, you're in the kitchen scrounging around for something to eat. With not a lot of anything else in between.

10.) You eat three bowls of cereal for breakfast and then sit there contemplating having another.

9.) You have a Twix and a glass of Sprite mixed with peach juice (yum) twenty minutes after your fourth-bowl-contemplation.

8.) 10:30 rolls around and you wonder if it's lunch time yet.

7.) When it finally is time for lunch, it consists of half a peanut butter and honey sandwich, half a bag (full size) of potato chips, two glasses of really thick strawberry-banana juice, a chicken tamale with sour cream and salsa (because the sandwich, chips, and juice just wasn't enough), a fruit roll-up, and three Twizzlers (because you need something sweet to wash down the savory).

6.) You justify everything you eat.

5.) You eat so much rice and stir-fry for dinner that you feel like you are going to blow up (which could partly be blamed on the pre-dinner Sun Chip snacking you did) and then you empty the rest of the rice into a cereal bowl, pour some cinnamon, sugar, and milk on it and help yourself to a second little dinner.

4.) You have a secret stash of Jolly Rancher lollipops, Dolci chocolate, and Haribo coca-cola gummies (not to be specific or anything) in the drawer next to your bed that you eat when no one is looking.

3.) You tell everyone how exciting it will be to have American food again when in reality you can get all the American food you want at the Embassy Commissary. In fact, you consume more sugary American goodness than you ever do living in the states.

2.) You eat a handful of chocolate chips and then take a bite of a Nutter-Butter and enjoy way too much the taste of them together and chew extra slow as to not miss a single moment of the sweet union you've just created in your mouth...

and

1.) The Wii takes it upon itself to add visual weight to your Mii character by adding a few inches to the waistline and making the tiny little t-shirt bulge a little, exposing a bit of pudgy tummy skin.

Hopefully I'm recognizable when Averi comes to get me at the airport in a couple months- what with my increased BMI and brunette hair, it might be kind of difficult.

Schizophrenic weather is not my favorite.

2010-03-16T03:25:00.005-07:00

I share a room with my nearly 3 year old nephew Charlie who wakes up every morning around 7 or 7:30 and whispers across the room to me, "Aunt Jo, I want out..." So I roll out of bed, get him out of his crib, send him out the door to find his dad, and then crawl back in bed and go back to sleep.

But this morning Charlie woke up extra early - before anyone else was up. I could hear him rustling around in his crib so I looked at my clock and saw that it was only 6:30. So I whispered, "Charlie... it's really early.... nobody's awake yet." And he said, "But it's morning - look," and pointed at the ceiling where streaks of sunshine were coming through the small cracks in the window and illuminating the room. And I knew there was no way to prolong getting him out.

So I stumbled out of bed, put a blanket around my shoulders and came out to the living room with him to watch cartoons until someone else woke up. And strangely enough, I wasn't grumpy about the fact that it was really early and I was not in bed. Why? Because the sun was shining. There are few things that can make me as happy as sunshine can. I walked into the kitchen and it was so bright and beautiful outside that it hurt my eyes and I had to squint. The cathedral's domes were glowing bright gold from the rising sun and it was hard to look straight at it. And it made me happy. Yep, today is going to be a good day, I thought to myself with a satisfied smile.

So I went back to my bed after Traci came into the living room to be with Charlie and I went back to sleep for a few hours feeling very warm and happy about the sunshiny day that lay ahead.

And then I woke up to this:

What would be really great is if it would just make up it's mind. No more of this oh-yay-it's-getting-warm-maybe-spring-is-on-its-way...-no-wait-it's-definitely-not-spring-cause-it's-still-snowing-like-crazy-outside business. I mean, it's the middle of March - let's just get on with the sunshine and butterflies already. I'm ready for a little more brightness and a lot less dreary. And definitely less snow.

All I have to say is thank goodness for bright yellow daffodils and the prospect of Portugal...

a truly Ukrainian adventure

2010-03-11T05:33:00.010-07:00

So, I have a new friend. Her name is Anya, Annie for "short." I met her at church when I first got here five months ago but we have just recently started hanging out and getting to know each other. She is a doll and her life is full of fascinating stories. She took me home with her last weekend and I had a true Ukrainian experience - outside of the city.

She lives in a little town called Romny which is about four hours (on the bus) north of Kiev. The two biggest attractions there are the train station (where both her parents work) and the bread factory that makes bread all day long, seven days a week. Whatever part of the town you are in, you can smell fresh baked bread in the air. Ukrainians love their bread.

My first experience in Romny was getting stuck in the ice on one of the back roads that led to Annie's house. A family friend of hers, Vanya, picked us up from the bus station in his tiny little car and got stuck, nose down in an 8 inch deep tire track. So we got out of the car, tied a rope to the back bumper and pulled with all our might. No dice. So we pushed. And we dug at the ice, and we pushed again and pulled again. And it still didn't budge. So we looked at the stars for a while (which were amazingly visible outside of the city) and then Annie and I walked the rest of the way home. Another car eventually came and helped pull Vanya out of the ice and he was able to bring our suitcases home. Normally getting stuck and having to exert physical effort like that would have been irritating, but strangely all I could do was smile.

I don't even really know how to explain the time I spent there. Everything was just so adorable. Her parents have lived in the same little house for some thirty years and have just recently done some work on it to make it more modern and put in indoor plumbing. Her grandma lives in the house next door, and happens to be the cutest babushka I have ever seen. They make all their food from scratch and they don't waste anything. And they are always eating yet stay in good shape from all the walking they do. They walk everywhere. Even the oldest, frailest people.

Annie and I rode the bus for two hours (one way) on Sunday to get to church. The closest church is in Sumi and in order to get to church on time we had to wake up at 6, be ready to leave by 6:45, walk twenty minutes to the bus stop, buy tickets, and be ready to board the 7:20 bus. When it dropped us off two hours later in Sumi, we had to catch a local city bus that dropped us at the corner by the church and made it in time for our 10 o'clock meeting. It was a Russian-speaking branch so Annie translated for three hours for me, the doll. All I could think about the whole time was how amazing Annie is that she would go to so much trouble to get to church every time she is home visiting her family. And how grateful I am for the church building that is literally up the street from my house in Arizona. It really put things into perspective for me.

Above all the other experiences I had over the weekend, the experience of eating the food was the best. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a seafood lover. And we had fish every day for the four days we were there. But surprisingly enough, the fish was one of the easier things for me to swallow. I wouldn't say that I am a picky eater, because I like a wide variety of food, but I guess you could say that I'm pretty particular about what I eat. There are some things I have eaten all my life that sometimes gross me out because it doesn't matter what it is, if I think about it too much, I just can't do it. And it's not fair to say that things are "gross" because it's not really true. Food is is just one of those things - it's all relative. Having said that, I'm going to list the things I ate because, well, I'm pretty proud of myself for trying them. (And just for the record, there were a lot of things that I really really enjoyed.)

Salo - thick, white pig fat.... nuff said.
Borscht - traditional Ukrainian stew, that I usually l-o-v-e, but this one had SARDINES in it. Gulp...
Fish with tomato and onion sauce. I don't know what kind of fish it was (neither did they...) but it was good. Besides the fact that it still had bones and skin! Eek.
Blinchiki - little miniature pancakes made with flour, eggs, sugar, raisins, and kefir (a fermented milk). We dipped these in jam and they were pretty tasty. As long as I wasn't thinking about the fermented milk.... :)
Plov - rice in oil with chopped carrots... one of my favorite Ukrainian dishes. This one had chicken in it (I couldn't think about what parts of the chicken were in there, but it was good....)
Blini - Ukrainian pancakes, similar to crepes. We had some with a cottage cheese/egg mixture and some with sauteed meat and onions. De-licious. The best part about these though is that I learned how to make them!
Pashdet - liver, carrots, and salo fed through a meat grinder and made into a paste and covered with butter to spread over bread. Um, again, too much thinking.
Fried, battered fish. Good, even though it was the WHOLE fish - tail, bones, and all.
Smoked fish. Uh, no le gusta - this one's head was still attached.
Vyinigret - quintessential Ukrainian salad made with chopped beets, potatoes, pickles, carrots, peas, and whatever else you want to add... Love it.
Olevye - salad made with boiled eggs, mayonnaise, peas, white beans... It was pretty good.
Stuffed peppers - red bell peppers stuffed with meat, rice, and onions. My mom made something similar when we were growing up and I love them.
Kolbasa domashna - homemade sausage made with different kinds of meat and big chunks of salo... not my fave.
Cabbage salad - salad made with cabbage. And apples, carrots, walnuts, cucumbers, and raisins. Super tasty!
Piroshki - bread balls stuffed with cabbage or potatoes or peas and deep fried. Mmmmmm.... so good!
Zapikanka - cottage cheese, sour cream, eggs, rice, raisins all baked in a casserole dish and served warm with sugar sprinkled on it. It was.... interesting...
Napoleon cake - layers of baked dough with a bavarian creme type of filling. Delicious.
Compote - one of the only non-alcoholic Ukrainian drinks (kidding...). It's cherries and apricots and whatever other fruit soaked in water with a little bit of sugar. They drink it all the time - at room temperature. It's interestingly good.

* I don't know how to spell most of these things in English so I just went ahead and made up the spelling... just fyi.

Yeah, that was a long list of food. But seriously, the majority of my time with Annie was spent eating. Monday was Women's Day - a huge holiday in all former Soviet countries where they celebrate (and drink to) all women - and we celebrated all day. And by celebrate, I mean eat. And eat. Lots. Of. Food. I literally felt like I was going to explode. More so than I ever have on Thanksgiving.... and that's saying something.

Living in the city you don't get a lot of that "true" Ukrainian experience because it's all apartment complexes and bad driving and lots of people. I mean, don't get me wrong - it's still a great cultural experience. But going home with Annie gave me some good insight to how most people grow up here. I learned a lot about her and her family and I had a great time watching them interact with each other. And I did so many things I never thought I'd do. I had my first "hole in the ground" bathroom experience at a bus stop on the way. I sat on the kitchen floor with Annie and learned how to crack and empty walnuts and I learned how to make blini. I squatted in the bottom of the bathtub and sprayed myself to get clean. I watched a movie in Russian while Annie told me what was going on and I ate sardines and liver. I ate lots of fish.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was something I will never forget. I loved every minute.

Romny

I liked this little gazebo

For the love of salo!

We got flowers for Women's Day at church... aww

Sumi... Brrrr

Me & Annie and a pretty church - city square in Sumi

To keep the street dogs out?

All the vendors on the street selling flowers for Women's Day

Having ice cream... What?

Annie's adorable grandma - making piroshki

Annie's family friends, Vanya & Eira - love loved them!

The Women's Day feast!

Annie's mom Tanya, dad Tolya, Vanya, Eira, and me - they were the best.

Feast #2 at grandma's house... Annie's grandma, aunt, cousin, cousin's husband, and kids

How I felt about the fish...

Leaving Romny and meeting the taxi at the end of the road because he refused to drive on the "back roads" - yep, that's Annie's mom pulling a sled with the suitcase on it.... classic

Good times.

Lent

2010-02-24T02:08:00.007-07:00

If I were an Orthodox Ukrainian, I'd be practicing Lent right now. I'd be preparing for Easter by refraining from all things dairy.

But as it turns out, I'm not Orthodox. So I haven't given up any cheese or milk. (Although I probably should since I'm almost positive that I'm lactose intolerant).

And although I don't practice Lent, I think it is an amazing observance and give serious kudos to those that can go 40 days without something they love. And I admire those that practice their religion so faithfully.

As I've thought about Lent and the idea of giving something up, I've started to think about the things I'd be willing to sacrifice or things that maybe I have already sacrificed. And it's hard to think of things I'd be willing to give up, whether it be for a week or for 40 days or for forever.

I've sacrificed a few things living in a foreign country. Sadly enough, the thing that came to mind first was going to the movies. And that's not even something I've willingly sacrificed, it's just something that has been sacrificed since being here because there are few if any movies that play in English. And I'll tell you, it's been really hard. I am a movie-going fanatic, a total movie buff, and I admit that I have wasted a fair amount of money on stupid movies. But nonetheless, it has been a real challenge to know about all the movies that have come out that I can't go see. It's been four months since I have seen a movie in the movie theater and it's been a huge sacrifice.

And TV... I watch way too many shows normally. But besides the occasional iTunes purchase and American Idol on one of the few American channels we get, I haven't watched much TV since I got here. That's a major accomplishment for any of you who know me well.

However, I think there's a huge difference between willingly giving something up versus giving it up out of necessity. I've come to the conclusion that there's not much that I am willing to give up, but plenty that I have given up because I have no other choice. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I guess. But I want to be able to sacrifice things because I choose to and because I know it will make my life better. There are some major eating habits that I will be changing in the upcoming months, so I guess I'm ok, right? That my friends, will be a monumental sacrifice for me.

In a nutshell, I guess what I'm trying to say is this:

I think those that observe Lent are amazingly self-controlled; I wish I could sacrifice more willingly; I really miss going to the movies and can't wait to step foot in the AMC 24 again; I will need some help beyond my own to give up some of my fave foods in a couple months; and I am really excited for American Idol tonight.

She captured Ukraine in writing.

2010-02-18T07:04:00.010-07:00

I am a people-watcher. Not by profession obviously, but if it could be a profession, I'd be really, really good at my job. I don't know if it's appropriate to list as a "hobby" on a get-to-know-you questionnaire or a job application, but nonetheless, it is one of my favorite things to do. So it's not hard to guess why airports are some of my favorite places or understand why going to different places around the world thrills me.

I've especially loved people-watching since being in Ukraine. I often find myself thinking about people, "They live here. They sleep on a bed in some house or apartment somewhere. They cry, they smile, they get sick, they love, they get broken-hearted." And since being here, I find myself wondering the most often about how the Soviet Union effected these people - what it did to their families, how it has effected them individually. There are so many facets to a "cultural experience" but I think the people are at the heart of it.

The immensity of the world baffles me and I am constantly amazed that life exists beyond my own little sphere. As cliche as that may sound, I am often (or more than often) so caught up in the goings-on of my own life and the lives of my family and friends that I forget that life exists in other parts of the world. Call it naivete or lack of experience or self-centeredness, but sometimes it is beyond my comprehension that somewhere, in some part of the world, there is a young woman gathering apples off the ground in the forest and selling them on the street in order to save enough money to go do missionary work.

I've not quite grasped how to put into words the things I have seen and experienced. Sure, I blog and feel somewhat articulate in what I write, but I think I have yet to achieve eloquence. So when I came across this piece that was featured in the Deseret News recently, I was grateful for someone else's ability to be so eloquent and expressive.

It was written by a darling girl who I've recently had the pleasure of becoming acquainted and who I hope continues to write things as beautiful as this. If she were to write a book, I'd be the first to buy it (ok, maybe the second - behind her mother of course). But it puts into words things I have become very familiar with but have yet been able to properly capture in words. I think it will paint you the perfect picture of the place I currently call home.

Thank you, Danielle for your amazingly written essay. To me, it is the essence of Ukraine.

Oh, V-Day...

2010-02-13T13:39:00.005-07:00

I know you all might be wondering what one does on Valentine's Day in Ukraine - more specifically a single, vivacious, 28 year old female.

Well, I hate to disappoint you. No dates, no secret Valentines, no chocolate-covered candy hearts to give away...

Instead, I watched the littles while David took Traci on a date, watched Princess Bride with the boys, put the boys to bed, rocked Jane, fed Jane, rocked Jane, put Jane to bed, rocked Jane... made Valentines for my three little boy Valentines,

and then watched Bridget Jones' Diary*. Which in turn made me reminisce about last year's Valentine's Day... Not that it was any more eventful, just 60 degrees warmer and featured some Cheetos Puffs, a Dr. Pepper, my side-kick Averi (all of which I really miss), some self-pitying, and a little Bridget Jones to soothe my soul.

But I shouldn't be complaining. I mean, who gets to say they celebrated six of the year's biggest holidays in Ukraine, including Heart Day? That's something right? See, that makes yet another romantic-less Valentine's Day totally worth it!

Lucky for me, Valentine's is on Sunday this year so I have a little bit of an excuse to be totally LAME for like the umpteenth year in a row now.

*I wanted to post the youtube to my favorite Bridget Jones moment, but it wouldn't let me because I'm outside of the U.S. (boo, youtube!), so I hope that link works cause it's the best.

Kids say the darndest things. No, really, they do.

2010-02-11T14:28:00.007-07:00

A conversation from earlier today:

Me: (in the entry way, putting on my coat and scarf and boots and gloves and hat and...) Ug, I do not want to go out there in that snow.

Calvin: (in the kitchen, to his mom) Where's Aunt Joeli going?

Traci: On a date.
Calvin: On a date? She's 28 years old! She should be married by now!

See, even the 7 year-old gets it.

Speaking of Ukraine...

2010-02-08T12:07:00.009-07:00

These are just a few randoms that I never blogged about and don't want to forget. It's mostly for my benefit since my memory is terrible, my blogging skills are obviously lacking, and I am a horrible journal keeper. And since we all know that I do not lack when it comes to the use of words, it's probably going to be long. So if you're not in the mood for long-windedness, I won't be offended if you stop here. ☺

The day I flew into Ukraine, my brother-in-law David came and picked me up from the airport. It was about a 45 minute drive home and I was looking around at everything and asking questions and David was telling me all about the city and the sights as we passed them. When we got a few blocks away from home, he pointed out the street where the US Embassy was and all I noticed was a big building on the corner with pretty bright pink writing and flashy lights. "Ooh, is that a movie theater?" I asked David. "Um, no," he said, "That's the Mint Rhino. It's a strip club."

I've mentioned before the excessive use of fireworks on New Years here. But I don't remember if I mentioned that they are the kind that only professionals can use in the states. They are the huge stadium type, ones that you see maybe two or three times a year on New Year's Eve, The 4th of July, and the Super Bowl. But Ukrainians don't let any celebration go unnoticed and they don't go easy on the fireworks, especially since they can just buy them off the street somewhat inexpensively. We'll hear the booming of fireworks on a random evening during the week, sometimes on the streets close to our house. And we live in the middle of the city. I heard some just the other night. Someone must have got a pay raise.

I went to the Marine Corps Ball - my first ever black tie affair - a couple weeks after I got here. It's the ball that they have annually to celebrate the birthday of the Marine Corps. Traci and I had to do some speedy shopping to find me an appropriate dress which we eventually found with less than expected effort but the whole thing was very interesting. Shopping here is never a dull experience. My dress was cute - not necessarily black tie (it was knee length instead of floor length) - and I had to wear a pair of shoes that I had brought with me that kind of made my outfit a little too casual, but it was a real treat to get dressed up and feel glam for a night. It was also my first ever "little black dress" and that makes any girl feel pretty hot, right? The ball was at the Intercontinental Hotel which was glitzy and beautiful and we had everything fancy like a pre-dinner cocktail hour (Shirley Temple style for us) and pretty plates of artsy-looking food. We also enjoyed some pretty bumpin' music that made me proud to be an American (ha ha, it was a bunch of 20-something Marines that picked the music list so I'm sure you can imagine what it was like...). My favorite part was the ceremonial cutting of the birthday cake with a sword. Oh, and taking a picture with all the marines with a million eyes watching.

I brought my exercise ball with me in hopes of shaping up my abs and trimming my hips and thighs whilst watching TV or during my dreamed-up exercise hour.... But it turns out that I have yet to use it for exercise. I found out within the first couple days of being here that it was the magic in getting Jane to sleep. I mean, who needs a rocking chair when you can just use an $8 exercise ball from Wal-Mart? I would wrap her up and sit on the ball and lightly bounce up and down and it would only take about 30 seconds for her to nod off. It was the only way I could get her to sleep. And amazingly, it still works. She totally knows what's going on now when I sit on the ball and she starts to fuss a bit, but the minute I start bouncing, she lays her head down on my neck and starts doing this little sleepy talk like she's telling some long detailed story. So I talk back to her and just say, "Yeah," and "Mm hmm, I know..." until she finally dozes off. It's pretty cute. I've been deemed the sleep whisperer.

I've mentioned before the plethora of street dogs here but I wanted to post a picture that I finally got the other day. They are really loud and annoying and there are TONS of them around the city, and I'd like to say that I feel bad for them but wow... they are really annoying. I took the picture around the corner from our building, and there are usually several more dogs than this, but I had to get a picture while I could. A better picture would be down at the bottom of the souvenir street where "the dog lady" has befriended about twenty street dogs and they sleep on this mat that she has put out for them. It is quite a sight.

Apparently October is the month o' weddings here in Ukraine and Traci told me about it the first couple weeks I was here. She talked about how fun it is to go "bride stalking" on Saturdays because there are 10-15 couples all decked out in their wedding garb walking through the parks and downtown getting their pictures taken. Apparently brides wear really gaudy dresses and carry silk flower bouquets and just walk around all day. Well we never ended up going bride stalking unfortunately, but I did happen accross a couple brides while out doing some sightseeing. One such sighting happened when Camille and I were out souvenir shopping at the beginnig of December on a particularly windy and chilly day. We saw a bride wearing a leopard print fur coat over her dress and being escorted into the square in front of St. Andrew's to get her pictures taken. What I could see of her dress was mostly normal until she took off the coat for pictures and I saw that her dress was STRAPLESS with the exception of a row of white silk flowers that went across the top of the bodice and draped over the opposite shoulder in a sort of one shouldered strap (which I hate that I didn't get a picture of!). But, um, hello?! BRRRR!! Absolutely no concept of seasonal wedding dresses apparently.

Our upstairs neighbors are doing an ongoing "remont" (as they call it here) on their apartment and are really far in debt which doesn't seem to stop them from constantly drilling and fixing and re-doing and adding on. Consequently, they have not been paying their bills - mortgage, electricity, water, internet, etc. and since there is no consequence for delinquency (like eviction), the landlord just comes and has the water pipes re-routed and the internet cables fixed so they bi-pass the 6th floor and other things like that. So in response to the landlord's "outrageous" actions, the owner of the upstairs apartment has started using various tools to destroy public parts of the building. A couple months ago, we noticed that our internet wasn't working and so David checked the router and the connection and everything seemed ok. It wasn't until he checked the cable box outside our door that he realized the cables had been cut in the night with some wire cutters. The neighbor was angry that the landlord had re-routed the internet, so he cut the cables that supplied the entire building with wireless connection instead of, I don't know, paying his bill. Then, last week, he took a sledge hammer to the buttons in the elevator along with the buzzer system at the entry door. He then proceeded to assault the guy that keeps watch in the garage and used his hammer on the poor guy's security TV. So they called in the militsya, or police. You'd think this whole thing would make me feel uneasy and unsafe knowing that our upstairs neighbor has somewhat of a dangerous temper. But in all reality, it's never been safer and better protected. I mean, there's not too many apartment complexes that have their own armed militia member keeping watch all hours of the day...

Stupid. Really, really stupid.

2010-01-31T15:06:00.006-07:00

... Not just the producers of Prison Break but the fact that I'm blogging about it. I apologize in advance.

I know I'm a little behind because the show is already over, but I just found out that the main character of Prison Break, a show I have recently become re-obsessed (ok, maybe re-re-obsessed) with, dies. Yep, dies. That's how they end the series. Really?? I mean, there are a million ways to end a TV show and they chose to kill off the main (and very sexy, I might add) character? Stoopid.

And it's such a good show. Totally implausible and a bit gruesome at parts, but really clever and suspenseful. My favorite kind of show.

I was all excited to watch the rest of the seasons (Traci and I just watched the first - don't judge me and all my TV watching... if it was this cold where you are, the couch and TV on DVD would be your best friends too...), but now I think I just want to cry. Boo. (Ok, I'll probably still watch them, but still... STUPID.)

I avoid Nicholas Sparks movies for this very reason.

For reals.

2010-01-28T13:49:00.008-07:00

Ok, I know I talk about the Wii a lot. Probably in copious doses of annoying, I'm sure. And I apologize. But here's the thing: it works miracles. For reals.

I say miracles (plural) because to be more specific, it has worked three miracles on me. Yep, you heard me, three. Let me just tell you about them...

Since using the Wii (about 4 weeks now) I have:

1.) learned breathing skills that have taught me to breathe in and out of my nose while exercising. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a hard thing for me to do in general, let alone through the duration of a work out. Yay, lungs! As Bob would say, "you're doing great!"

2.) gained some awesome flexibility to the point of being able to touch my toes while standing straight-legged or sitting with my legs out in front of me. With legs the length of mine, it has been a real challenge for me in my life and I haven't been able to do it since I was a kid well, ever, so let's just say I'm feeling pretty proud.

3.) not had to crack my back in over three weeks. Yes, I am one of those people that will contort my body and twist in a chair into what looks like a very painful position, just to "crack" my back and which usually causes the major grossing-out of all those that might be within earshot. But the yoga poses I am learning have really helped me stretch my spine and focus on my posture. Give me a Wii balance board and my trainer Bob and voila!, my back doesn't crave that vertebrae popping sensation any longer...

Now, if the Wii could just help me with brevity...

I ventured out today and I just HAD to blog about it.

2010-01-21T14:52:00.006-07:00

I'll be the first to admit that I am a huge pansy when it comes to cold weather. So not my favorite. In fact, being cold makes me downright angry.

What's so funny (or not so funny) about that is that I was born in Colorado, chose to go to school in Idaho (Rexburg happens to be one of the 3 coldest places in the nation...), and then moved to Utah to live and continue my education. Twenty seven years later (that's not sarcasm or an exaggeration - that's for real) I got the clue that me and cold weather are not friends and moved my frozen bones to Arizona. And then, just as I was feeling thawed out and pleasantly sun-baked, I moved to Ukraine. UKRAINE...

Ha ha ha. I laugh at my own idiocy.

SO, it's a good thing I came here for my family and not for the weather. Or the scenery or pleasant people. Ok, I take back the scenery bit - the little churches and cathedrals are amazing and there is some beautiful landscape here. But this should go to show just how much I love my fam...

Anyway, being as cold as it is and knowing that cold and I broke up long ago, I don't go out much. And when I do, we're in the car, safely bundled up with warm vents in our faces and out of the bitterness. So today was something new. I was feeling like I needed a little "fresh air" and had an errand to run so I put my layers (upon layers) on and ventured out. And this is what I experienced/witnessed/felt:

My crazy good balance skills that I'm learning from Wii Fit (ha ha, I just had to throw that in there) came in very handy on the sidewalks that are covered in 6 inches of pure ice.
My nose started running (that happens to everyone in the cold, right?...) and so I sniffed to keep it all contained. Yeah... bad idea. Both of my nostrils stuck to the inside of my nose for a couple seconds and I kind of panicked and had to take a deep breath through my mouth (BRRRR! Wake up lungs!!). I now have first hand experience with what it feels like to have icicles hanging from your nose hairs. I didn't think it was really true. But oh, believe me, it is.
A lady was out with what looked like a two or three-year-old. But they weren't in a stroller or holding her hand, walking. Nope, they were sitting on a sled. She was pulling her kid down the sidewalk on a sled. In these treacherous conditions - genius.
I ran into my brother-in-law on the sidewalk on his way back from a meeting. He had just been waiting at the bus stop where this crazy old babushka asked him where his hat was (he wasn't expecting to be out in the cold) and he told her he had left it at the office. She proceeded to yell at him and ask him if he was crazy. You'd be surprised at how many strangers will yell at you for being improperly clad. And don't think I'm kidding when I say yell.
I almost fell/slipped about five times. But thanks to my cat-like reflexes (and my crazy good balance skills...), neither my wrists nor my butt will be feeling any repercussions from the unkempt and much neglected Ukrainian sidewalks.
What should have taken about 30-40 minutes roundtrip ended up being a very slow-paced hour where I found myself feeling very silly and old-ladyish. But what it also turned out to be was an hour of truly eventful and totally blog-worthy experiences.

I hope this doesn't sound like one huge complaint about the cold (even though I still loathe it), because that was not my intent at all. My venturing out today was quite eventful (here's where you can say "Wow, she doesn't get out much," and it wouldn't even be sarcastic or untrue) and I was smiling the whole way there and back.

Who would have thought - me, of all people, smiling in 12 degree weather?

We ♥ Wii!

2010-01-18T09:33:00.006-07:00

So it turns out that I've never been the dieting type. I feel like diets - no matter how big or small they are - just aren't realistic for me. I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm pro-healthy and feeling good and keeping your body in tip-top shape. I really wish I was better at being a health fanatic but the truth is, I'm not. And I think that's the way it will always be.

I go in spurts where all the groceries I buy are things to make salads and eat fruits for snacks. I'll go through a spurt here and there where I want to exercise every day (I'm having one of those spurts right now). But it's really hard for me to keep at it. Maybe because I have a hard time sticking to something long term (not relationships, for any of you single available men that might be reading this), hence the gypsy-ness of my life. But I hope that's not because I'm lazy or lacking some important part of my brain that helps a person stick to something longer than three weeks or a couple months. I'd like to think I'm just realistic, not lazy. But then again, realistic varies quite a bit depending on the person.

Realistic for some people ( some being the operative word here) is eating only organically certified fruits and vegetables, abhorring all things sugar, and going to the gym eight times a week so that they can fit nicely into their size zeros.

But realistic for me is a little different. It's trying not to sit on the couch all day and maybe doing an hour of exercise here and there. It's trying not consume an entire bag of chips or box of oatmeal cream pies in one sitting and stopping at half instead. It's trying not to eat at In N' Out or Chick-fil-A more than four times a month (which is working out nicely since Ukraine has yet to catch on to any American franchise except McDonalds... which if I'm being honest, I have eaten at more since being here than I ever do in the states. Grrr, dang it for being honest!). And it's trying (with some serious exerted effort) to have a balanced lifestyle between the food I consume and the activities I perform. Its exhausting really. I can't even imagine how it must be for those who are on a perma-diet and in perpetual motion with all the exercising they do when life's not happening.

But enough of that. Let me get to the point of this post...

I'd like to thank my brother-in-law for the gift he got for his wife for Christmas. He got Traci a Wii and the Wii Fit program and can I just say that I am LOVING it?!

Not only have I learned some really fab yoga poses that are stretching and strengthening things that I didn't know I had, but it is motivating me to be more exercise prone. I have faithfully done a body test (weighing in and calculating my BMI) and some sort of exercise (sometimes only 30 minutes of yoga and a few other activities, but still...) every night for the past 13 or so days. And it is motivating me to do more than that even. I know, can you imagine?! But I was on the elyptical a lot last week - I "ran" a total of about 33 miles - on top of my nightly yoga and strength training on the Wii. And tonight starts a brand new week of elyptical and yoga lovin'. Bring it!

There are a lot of Wii critics out there that argue that it doesn't really do much for you, exercise-wise. They say that the yoga isn't realistic and that you need to be in an actual yoga class with all its proper serene-ness for it to have its full effect. And they say that the strength training doesn't really strengthen anything at all. Which may be true for some people. Maybe for those people that can afford to work out at the gym every day or those whose bodies are naturally strong because all they eat are whole grains and carrots.

But let's get real here - there are some of us that are just not good eaters, despite how hard we try, and have a hard time sacrificing our daily intake of chocolate. There are some of us that haven't been to the gym for ages for various reasons. And there are a lot of people that just don't feel comfortable prancing their spandex-clad bootie into a yoga class for the first time (or even the hundredth time). Like I said before, it's just not realistic for some of us.

So to those critics out there I say mind your own naturally strong, super motivated, whole grain, carroty business. If the Wii can motivate a person like me to get the couch off my butt for a little while and do a little physical exercise, then it's doing a dang good job if you ask me. And if it can help me set goals and stick to something for longer than a week, no matter how small it may be, then it deserves a freakin' award! And if nothing else it can motivate me to eat better, then for crying out loud, it is well worth the purchase (not that I spent any money on the Wii that I'm using, but you get the point).

Besides, they're probably just jealous of those of us that learned yoga and crazy good balance skills on the Wii - we get a personal animated trainer who talks to us and encourages us all along the way. I call mine Bob.

Maybe he can help me do this one day...

Time is a funny thing.

2010-01-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking about how weird time is. Ok, I wasn't just thinking about it - I think about it all the time, but days like today make me think about it a little more than usual.

Today is my Dad's birthday (happy birthday Dad!) and birthdays are always a reminder of how time sneaks by, sometimes without notice. I always think of my Dad as a 40-year-old, maybe because that's how I remember him from my younger days. But to think that he's a (few) years older than that now makes me realize just how swiftly years can go by. Today also marks five years since I got home from my mission and that's WEIRD. In a lot of ways, it feels like I have been home for a decade, but in other ways, I feel like I was just turning 21 and heading to Florida a couple months ago. The things I have done and the places I have been since then really puts time into perspective.

It's also strange to me that I have been in Ukraine now for three months. It feels like I just got here, but at the same time, Arizona feels like it was years ago. Like I have been away from there forever. Time is so strange the way it plays tricks with your head.

This week my cousin Camille would have been turning 29. What?? Now that's strange. But instead, she is forever 21. To think that it was almost eight years ago that she died is one of the strangest time phenomenons of my life. I can't believe it's been that long since I have seen her or talked to her when the fact that she's not here still feels so fresh. I remember a conversation my sister Lesli and I had as we were assembling little orange hearts for people to wear at the funeral. We were saying that it was so hard to grasp the fact that she was gone and how we wish we could just snap our fingers and it would be five or six years down the road. Because by then it would be a lot easier to cope with. And here we are now - in what feels like a finger snap away from that slow motion, life-altering day. Yet it feels like a whole different life time that I spent my time connected to her hip. There haven't been very many days since her death that I haven't thought or even dreamt about her. That's about 2,900 days - some of which have felt like an eternity. Time is a funny thing.

I've always said that time goes by slowly the smaller the increment of time. When you are thinking about it in the moment, a minute can tick by so slowly, an hour can drag on and on, and a day can feel like eternity sometimes. But it's always in retrospect that time feels like it has literally flown by. I can look back on a week sometimes and think, "What on earth? It was seriously just Friday a couple days ago." And a month - it's crazy to think about it. It's already the middle of January and it was only a month ago that we were gearing up for the holidays and getting ready to head to Germany. And every time my birthday rolls around, I am abruptly reminded just how quickly a year can go by. Too quickly for my taste, if you wanna know the truth.

Anyway, I don't really know what the point of this post is - I guess I just wanted to get my thoughts out of my head and into visibility. I don't have a poignant moral for my yet again long-winded story. I suppose there can be though. Perhaps I have come to realize (maybe a little too late) that time is valuable and what I fill that time with is what molds and shapes my life and creates memories. I think (no, I know) that I have spent WAY too much time recently sulking and complaining and being generally annoyed with my life and what I am doing with it. And then a year goes by and I have to stop and think, "Great, there went another year. And what do I have to show for it?"

So in a really round about way, perhaps this is a resolution-esque moment for me (although I do NOT believe in new year's resolutions - they are a recipe for failure and total loss of self-esteem for me so all I can do is avoid them). However, I have done a lot of thinking and "soul searching" the last couple of weeks and I think I have come to a not-so-new but rather a resurrected conclusion - that life is gonna go by no matter what I do with it so I may as well do it good. I need to be content with where I am and what I'm doing. Chances are, whatever it is that I am doing is a one time deal and I need to take every advantage of it. Live in the moment, dance, frolic through a field of daisies, sing in the rain - all that good cliche stuff.

So come, let us dance like children of the night!

No more blonde jokes, people....

2010-01-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

So I've always had the belief that if you can't get it done professionally, don't do it at all.

But since my hair stylist currently lives on the opposite side of the world from me, I had to take matters (and my hair) into my own hands (well, my sister's really - thanks T!).

I've never done color this drastic before. I've always been pretty blondie-blonde and totally chicken at that, but I was craving a little change. More than anything, I guess I just wanted to see if brunettes can have as much fun as blondes...

Also, my belief that you "shouldn't do it at all" has proven very wrong since clearly not doing anything about this mop has not been the best choice for me recently.

So here it is... BROWN(ish)!

(I thought making several different faces would give you a better idea of how I look in motion. Ok, that's a total lie - I just like taking pictures of myself.)

What do you think? Be honest. I can always try to fix it. I mean, hair dye is easy to come by in Ukraine - especially if I wanted to go Ariel-red or platinum blonde...

My effort at ethnic cooking...

2010-01-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

So I tried the Kutya recipe from my last post tonight (a day late for traditional Kutya consumption, but oh well). I'm a true lover of everything oatmealy, ricey, breakfasty-chewy, so I decided it would be fun to try it out.

And then I realized why they only have it once a year on Christmas.

The wheat berries had to soak for 24 hours. The dried apricots had to be chopped. The poppy seeds had to be scalded (first time I've ever scalded something on purpose). And then drained (how exactly does one drain poppy seeds?). And then soaked. And then pureed in a food processor. Seriously? They're microscopic. And then the wheat berries had to boil. And then be left to simmer for three hours. And then, after all that, everything had to be combined into a casserole dish to bake in the oven for an additional 20 minutes. Good grief, quite the process!

But it turns out that everyone liked it (even though it looked a bit like the crawling mush from Better Off Dead...) Even the little boys wanted seconds and thirds. Which I was grateful for - it was a lot of work for no one to like it! And even though Ukrainians traditionally serve it as the first dish of their Christmas meal, it seemed more like a dessert so we had it after dinner. We also discovered it tastes really good with a tiny bit of sweetened condensed milk or a sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar on it.

So, all in all, I think it's definitely something I would make again - maybe as a fun tradition to incorporate at Christmas time.

Except next time I'm leaving out the poppy seeds...

A Happy New Year & Merry Christmas! In that order.

2010-01-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

Today is Christmas Eve for Orthodox Ukrainians. Yep, Christmas comes after New Years here. But it's definitely not the commercialized Christmas that we Americans are used to. In fact their big gift-giving, tree-decorating, party-throwing celebration for the year happens on New Year's Eve. At first it all seemed a bit backwards to me but now I have really come to appreciate the way they do it here.

On New Year's Eve, Ukrainians decorate their "New Year's Tree", prepare gifts for friends and family, and have big (BIG) parties. And when the clock hits midnight, most parties have just begun. Since we live right in the heart of the city, we got to hear fireworks (like the big football stadium kind - anyone is allowed to buy them off the street here) going off from about 11 p.m. until 2 in the morning.... from every part of the city....

However, sometime before the clock strikes twelve families are traditionally gathered together giving gifts and discussing how the gifts are symbolic to the gifts that the new year will bring. Ukrainians believe that at night on New Year's Eve the old year with all its troubles and worries leaves them forever while the New Year with all its hopes and expectations comes knocking at their door. I really like that.

Also, while Santa Claus is our traditional symbol of gift giving, Snegurochka is the Slavic symbol of everything gifty and wintery. She is the daughter of Spring and Father Frost (who is also called Ded Moroz - the Slavic version of Santa Claus). I like the tale of Snegurochka so can I tell you about her real quick? Ok...

Snegurochka is a snow maiden who yearns for the companionship of mortal humans. She begins to like a shepherd named Lel but is unable to feel love for him since her heart is made of snow. Her mother, Spring, takes pity on her and grants her with the ability to love. But as soon as she has the ability, she falls in love with Lel and her heart warms up and she melts. Wow, now that I typed that out, it sounds even more depressing than when I heard it for the first time. But it's totally deep at the same time... the choice between life with no love or love and and loss of life. Hmmm....

(These are little matryoshka dolls depicting the scenes from Snegoruchka's life. Cute huh?)

Anyway, on the morning of the new year, children will find that Ded Moroz and Snegurochka have come to visit and have left gifts under the tree. Great way to bring in the new year, right?

Then, one week later, after all the partying and gift-giving is done, Christmas comes - a more religious observance and celebration of Christ's birth. Traditionally on Christmas Eve people gather together as families, sing carols, cook the traditional Christmas dish "Kutya", eat together, and then go to church to listen to the Christmas sermon. By this time, the New Year's tree has been taken down and Christmas becomes a less glitzy and glittery celebration and more of a serene and spiritual observance. I really like that too.

So maybe I secretly wish that we celebrated the holidays like Ukrainians. As I've mentioned before I am a huge fan of Christmas. I love everything associated with it. But I think sometimes I get it all mixed up - the gift-giving, the decorating, the stress, the hustle and bustle of it all - tossed in with what should be the most simple and reverent of celebrations dedicated to the birth of the Savior. But I know it can't be that way, so instead I'll learn to prioritize and balance out the Christmas celebrations in the future. A new year's resolution perhaps?

This sounds (and feels) a bit more like an anthropology research paper or something and not so much a blog post. Why do my posts always end up being eternally long? Good grief, I am so wordy! But look at me - doing research and being all brushed up on Ukrainian culture! Not too bad, I suppose. I guess I just wanted to talk about how cool the holidays are here... That's all.

Anyway, Merry Christmas! ;)

Christmas in Munich...

2009-12-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

It was lovely.

Not only was the city beautiful and clean, but there was just something old-fashioned and wonderful about it. I loved it.

I'll not bore you with every detail of the trip but I will bore you with my hundreds of pictures (most of which I stole from my sister because her camera rocks). We went to so many places and saw so many things, so here are just a few of my favorite things..... from Munich:

Marienplatz - the town square where they had a fabulous Christmas market with so many beautiful (mostly hand-crafted) things and so many wonderful smells. If it didn't smell like grilled sausages, it smelled like candied apples and spiced nuts. Yum. Also, there was the most beautiful building - the Town Hall - that had a working glockenspiel in it. Super fabulous.

The Alps - They are beautiful and yep, I rode a toboggan down them. David, Traci, Calvin, and Henry rode a chair lift up to the top and rode their toboggans down a 3 mile run (an hour round trip) but I opted out (I'm a wimp) and Charlie and I stuck to the bunny hill. But we had a fabulous time walking the toboggan up the hill and riding down several times. I couldn't have had more fun with any other person than Charlie - he giggled uncontrollably the whole way down the hill every time we went. It was so cute. We talked Henry into coming with us once and he reluctantly accepted (he wasn't a big fan of the fast 3 mile long ride), and we ended up in a heap at the bottom of the hill. But they were so cute and we had a good time. The next best thing to that was having schnitzel and a warm cup of "kinder punch" (wassail) in the little restaurant when we were done.

The Residenz - It served as the seat of government and residence for the Bavarian dukes from the early 1500's to the early 1900's. It was really really beautiful. One of those places that I wish I could have seen while I was in interior design school....

The Deutsches Museum - The world's largest science and technology museum. There's something like 13 miles of hallway and about 28,000 exhibited objects and we probably saw a fifth of it. But it was really fascinating and educational.

Neuschwanstein - the castle that looks like the Walt Disney Castle. It is said that it was Disney's inspiration for the main theme castle and also for the castle in Sleeping Beauty. We took a horse drawn carriage up the hill (the castle is at the top of the Alps) and then walked the rest of they way up. The poor guy that owned it, Ludwig II, only lived there for nine months before he was diagnosed as crazy, committed to a hospital, and then mysteriously died shortly after. The castle was never finished, but it was very lavish and fun to see nonetheless.

Nuremberg - A fabulous little town outside of Munich. It still has the fortress walls up around the original city. We were there on Christmas Eve and I must say that this was my top favorite. The town was charming and the Christmas markets were fabulous. I got the most precious hand-carved nativity there. And I saw a flower seller that was selling flowers that made me want to cry. For reals. But the best part was when the huge (beautiful) cathedral bells started peeling (really loudly and longly - is that a word?) at 3 pm and everyone starting closing up shop and heading home to be with their families. It was adorable and felt everything good and Christmasy.

Frauenkirche (The Church of Our Lady) - a big beautiful cathedral at Marienplatz where Traci and I went to midnight mass. Yep, two Mormon girls at a Catholic mass - how much more random could it get? It was all in German and Latin and we didn't know what we were doing, but it was very interesting. And we sang Silent Night in Latin. I mean, how much more Christmasy can you get?

Ok, I know I said I wouldn't bore you with the details.... but I think I just did.

Anyway, here are some pictures. You may want to take a quick break - there really are a lot of them....

Charlie on the plane and Cal waiting for baggage

Me & my back-buddy, Charlie at Marienplatz

Cute little toy booth at the Christmas market

Marienplatz

The goodies at the Christmas market - true candied apples with hard candy shells (yep, had one! Yum!), candied and chocolate dipped fruits, and hot chocolate and real chestnuts roasted on an open fire (yep, had some! The hot chocolate was good, the chestnuts - not so much. But at least I can say I tried some!)

Another booth at the Christmas market... they were just so cute!

The Residenz - gor-ge-ous!

Nuremberg

The Cathedral whose bells rang loudly on Christmas Eve...

On the way up...

On the way down...

Turns out I can't steer a toboggan very well...

How cute are they?!

I have no words for how cute this boy is...

Calvin and his bog, me and the Janie, and all of us (minus David, the photographer) at the slopes

Jane while walking... Jane enjoying her own reflection... Isn't she the cutest?

I liked the taxis outside our hotel - they were Mecedes. Nice, right? Germans do make some nice cars...

Ludwig II's version of Versaille's Petit Trianon. Just one of his "little" escapes at the top of the Alps. Everyone needs one of these...

Neuschwanstein - the "Disney Castle." We didn't get the best shots of it...

but this is how it looks from afar... (not my picture - I stole it off the internet)

The precious hand-carved nativity that I got in Nuremberg. I love how baby Jesus can either go in the manger or in the crook of Mary's arm...

This is not German, it's Ukrainian. But Traci & David got this for me for Christmas and I LOVE IT. It is so detailed and intricate and precious. I have started a nativity collection and I have a particular interest in the simple ones with just the Holy Family. Isn't it beautiful? The top even comes off so you can put treasures inside... sigh.

Anyway....

Of all the eternally long posts that I have posted, I think this one takes the cake.

it's BEGINNING to look a BIT like Christmas.

2009-12-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

Despite my recent efforts at being an optimist, I've come to realize that Christmas will probably never be as magical as it was when I was a child - with the waiting and anticipating, the overall naiveté, and the stress-free-ness of it all. But still, there are things that I just need at Christmas time.

A few of those things include lights and decorations everywhere, apple-cinnamon/spice scented everything, and at least one radio station that plays continuous Christmas songs all day long (in English). I don't think that's too much to ask.

But Ukraine doesn't have any of that stuff. Not yet, anyway.

Along with several other Orthodox countries, Ukraine doesn't celebrate Christmas until January 7th. So their decorating has barely begun. It's just strange when you're used to seeing Christmas popping up everywhere as soon as Halloween is over. At the very least after Thanksgiving. But the whole month of December has been pretty drab here without the normal green and red and glittery-ness that most of us Americans have become accustomed to.

But then a couple weeks ago we went to Mega Market to do some shopping and to my utter joy and excitement, they had decorated for Christmas! Mind you, it was Ukrainian style, but it was a sight for sore eyes nonetheless.

Since then, I have seen little bits and pieces of Christmas popping up around town. It's amazing what some simple decorations can do for a Christmas-loving soul like mine.

Despite the fact that the magic of Christmas has all but died for me, I still want to feel that tingly happiness that can only be associated with Christmas time. I mean, let's get real here - I get giddy just thinking about sparkly ornaments and Frank Sinatra's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" makes me cry every time I hear it.

So I've been hoarding Christmas-ness - taking pictures of any decorations I see, listening to all the best Christmas tunes, baking my favorite holiday cookies (which also satisfies my need for cinnamon/spice scented things) and storing them up so that I can feel Christmas close by whenever it starts to feel a bit drab and un-Christmas like. Enough of these simple little things and perhaps it will start to feel a bit more like the holiday I have always loved...

And perhaps going to Germany tomorrow will help me get more into the Christmas spirit - they really know how to put it on over there.

So, until the 28th - Auf Wiedersehen! And hey, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I made some friends....

2009-12-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

.... and then they left me.

I mean, I can't really understand why you guys didn't want to stay in киев forever. Let me reiterate some of the perks of this beautiful city for you:

1.) It has very lively traffic.

2.) You never have to feel bad about pushing people.

3.) You can stare relentlessly and never feel awkward about it.

4.) You can sit so close to someone on the metro that you know them really well by the time you get off.

5.) The sidewalks keep you alert.

6.) You are always young and sexy here - "Why not you wear shorter skirt?"

7.) I'm here! Hello? Need I list more??

8.) Beer is the equivalent of a soft drink. Not that that matters, but come on... cool right?

9.) Everyone is concerned about the well-being of your ovaries.

10.) It is full of smiling, friendly faces. No wait, I must be thinking of a different place. Scratch that.

So there you go, 10 9 good reasons why you should, I don't know, come back. That's not to mention all the little chillins (including my nephews) who think you guys are pretty awesome.

And I just can't imagine the next group being as cool as you guys are....

Ok, I know you're not going to come back. So really all I want to say is thank you for being my friends, showing me around town, teaching me the metro, and hanging out with me even though I'm old enough to be your mom! I'll sure miss you ladies!

Just because you keep asking...

2009-12-07T02:16:00.000-07:00

So quit nagging me already!

1.) There are exactly two single men that I have met so far: one Ukrainian, one American. Both Mormon. I'm not interested in either of them.

*Ukrainian men are not the finest specimen in the world so the chances of anything happening here are, well, slim to none.

2.) I'm not totally aware of the social scene here (no surprise there). And I'm not really sure that I want to be aware. It seems like the only socially acceptable things here are short skirts, stilhetto boots, and lots (and lots and lots and lots) of alcohol. And we all know where that combination would get me - wait, where would that get me? Just kidding, don't answer that.

I have been to a couple church activities with the young single crowd here, but it's hard when you don't speak eachother's languages. But let's be honest - regardless of the language barriers, I've never been one to enjoy singles activities. Let's leave it at that. I could go on and on about it... :)

The one redeeming aspect of my social life has been my beloved ILP girls that force me out of my hermity I-don't-want-to-be-aware-of-the-social-scene zone. Thank heaven for them! (more on them another time)

3.) Still no job. There aren't very many options for me since I don't have a working visa. I really only have a couple options, one of which is no longer an option so I just need to get on the ball with the other one. In the mean time I will probably be advertising myself in the kids' school newsletter as a "homework helper" where I'd mostly help non-native English speaking kids with their English. Calling myself a tutor would probably require some real brain usage (and probably some math), and that could be detrimental.

4.) I don't really know how long I will be here. Six months to indefinitely. It all depends on the job thing. And what I want to do with the rest of my life. Except wait, if it depends on me deciding what to do next with my life, I could be here forever...

Suggestions welcome any time.

5.) That all sounds really drab and pessimistic.

6.) On a more cheery and optimistic note, we are headed to Munich in two weeks! They go nuts there at Christmas time (unlike here where they don't celebrate Christmas until January - more on that another time as well) so it will be a snowy, wintery, Christmas wonderland in Germany. And I'm pretty darn excited about it!

7.) I am LOVING the time I get to spend with my niece and nephews. They are little darlings. And they do some seriously funny things. And my sister - I have only seen her once in the last four years or more, so it's been fab getting to spend some quality time with her. How many people can say they got to live with their ultra-cool sister and her family in a foreign country? Not many.

8.) Oh, and no, I'm not on a cabbage-only diet. I'm not losing weight and I'm definitely not down to a size smaller than what I was when I left. In fact, I have gained weight since being here. I have eaten more in the last two months than I have in the last three years of my life combined. So thank you for bringing that one up. I appreciate it.

Ok, that's all I can think of... Does that answer all your questions? :)

the need to blog + lack of inspiration = really lame post (fair warning)

2009-12-03T05:20:00.000-07:00

I think I've hit a blogging wall. I had so many things up my sleeve to talk about when I started up my blog, and now all of a sudden, I'm drawing a total blank. Maybe it's because my posts are eternally long (and probably boring - sorry to my 3 readers) and I cram WAY too much into each one. Nevertheless, I need some good blogging material to come my way... soon. Something totally noteworthy and memorable.

On a random note, we ran out of regular laundry soap yesterday and I really needed to do laundry this morning so I used Dreft (baby laundry soap) instead. I put my comforter in first, put a capful of soap in, and started the cycle. It wasn't until the cycle was mostly finished that Traci informed me that Dreft is "extra sudsy" so I don't need to use a whole capful when I use it. Oops...

When I went back in to check on my laundry, I noticed that even though the cycle had completed, there were mounds of soap around the comforter, in the comforter, and all over inside the washer. I opened the door and a glob of suds nearly plopped out onto the floor. Yep, it appears that Dreft is in fact, EXTRA SUDSY. I think they need to put a warning label on the bottle.

It turns out that I had to do two extra rinse & spin cycles to get the soap out, which thankfully did nothing more than set me back a bit in my laundry-doing this morning. It's probably a good thing we have the upright kind of washer that locks. I had a daydream of the cliche movie scene where obscene amounts of bubbles are spewing out of the washer onto the floor in every direction until the floor is totally covered with suds. I don't think it would have been an exaggeration. I probably would have slipped, flown three feet into the air and landed on my back in a fit of laughter while bubbles spilled down onto my head as well. And the dog would have run in, jumping around and barking at all the floating bubbles. Except we don't have a dog, so nevermind that part...

Whoa, wait, I just blogged about overly-susdsy baby soap and my movie-esque daydream. I told you I've hit a wall.

a quick shout out

2009-11-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

So I have this friend that makes not only hand-made but custom-made jewelry that is pretty awesome... I don't own any yet, but I hope to be a proud owner soon (wink)!! She's a pretty cool chick (we knew each other waaaay back when...) and she's doing a GIVEAWAY. Check it out:

Baby-sitting. Aunt Joe style...

2009-11-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

So I'm a terrible aunt. It's true.

I noticed a week or so ago that Jane really likes the TV. Especially when there are cartoons on that have lots of colors and sound and movement. It's the insta-calm for her.

So the other night when I was baby-sitting the kids, I decided to see if she wanted to watch Wallace & Gromit with the boys. Sure enough, she was up on her elbows and folding her tiny hands in front of her with her eyes wide and glued to the computer for about five minutes. It was so stinking cute.

I must say that's a pretty amazing attention span for a three month old baby! And those neck and back muscles? Uncanny, really.

A Ukrainian Masquerade... or should I say Mask-o-raid?

2009-11-23T11:46:00.001-07:00

Here's the thing... I realize that the swine flu is no laughing matter. It is a serious illness and a lot of people have died from it. And I DEFINITELY wouldn't be laughing if it was me that was sick in bed with H1N1.

But here's the other thing...

It just happens to be election time in Ukraine, and sadly enough, I'm sure you can imagine the way political figures have used things like the swine flu to get ahead in the game.

One such political figure declared a nationwide quarantine and ordered all public schools and mass-gathering places (movie theaters, public rallies, churches, concert halls, etc.) to be shut down for three weeks. Which just happened to be three days before one of her opponent's biggest political rallies was supposed to take place. Coincidence? Ha.

Maybe she really did have a pure concern for the safety, health, and well-being of the people. But maybe not.

Regardless of her motive, it was a move that not only caused severe paranoia amongst the people but undoubtedly secured her some extra votes. Perfect. For her... She looked like a hero. Nevermind the mass hysteria that took place after she did whatever she was trying to do.

And even though swine flu, political corruptness, and the lack of medical help is no laughing matter, what we saw the day after the quarantine announcement was funny. Truly funny.

Everyone was wearing surgical masks.

Seriously. All these beautiful women, dressed in fur coats and stillhetto boots, wearing surgical masks. People at the bus stops. People in the grocery stores. Men with their expensive jeans and Italian leather shoes. Wearing surgical masks. All in hopes that they wouldn't get the swine flu.

The saddest/funniest part about it is that wearing a surgical mask will not prevent you from getting the swine flu. Or any other flu for that matter. It only prevents you from giving it to other people. The simple fact that you should wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer is one that is little known around here apparently.

So I turned mask watching into a game. Just to pass the time. And I brought my camera with me.

I started by snapping pictures of any random mask I saw. Soon, I had compiled a mental list of pictures that I for sure wanted to get. Like a police officer with one on and a woman with a fur coat and mask on. And I wasn't going to blog about it until I got all the pictures I wanted. But the paranoia died down after a couple weeks and the surgical masks started disappearing. Quite unfortunate really. I didn't get all the ones I wanted. But here is a sampling of the Ukrainian population during the swine flu scare.

Just so you know, the game involved some serious amounts of stealth on my part. I got quite good at it, as you can tell.

The grocery store...

Retail places...

On the street...

Imagine the disappointment I feel that I didn't get a picture of the couple kissing with their masks pulled down around their necks. And even more so, the girl outside the grocery store with her mask around her chin, smoking a cigarette. Yep, it's swine flu that's gonna kill you...

Books... I seriously love them.

2009-11-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

I am an escapist. There, I said it.

And I don't think it's necessarily a good thing to be. But what can I say? I am a huge movie buff. And I LOVE a good TV show (as I've mentioned before). But as much as I like to do those things, there's nothing that I like to do more than get engulfed in a good book. It's by far my favorite way to "escape"...

And since I'm not being "formally" educated right now, I figured reading books is a great way to educate myself - to keep my brain alive and alert.

So I've decided that I am going to try to read two books per month while I am abroad - that gives me two weeks to really get into and digest a book. With the lack of TV channels and movies (that play in English), I have lots of time to read, which is great. I could do four books per month really, but I'm shooting low, just to stay on the realistic side. And if I read more than that in a month, then good for me, right?

I have been in Ukraine for four weeks now and I have already met my goal and read my two books. The first one was Their Eyes Were Watching God - one of those classics that a lot of high schoolers are required to read. It was not one of my graduation requirements so I decided to read it on my own. And I really enjoyed it. It was sweet and sad and made me cry a little. Three and a half stars.

I have a thing for books that make me cry.

The other book, that I just finished the other night, is a book called The Book Thief. I highly recommend it, for more reasons than I can even begin to list. It is written so cleverly. It was one of the best books I have read in a long time and I can honestly say that I have never cried so hard in a book in all my life. And I have cried in a few.... It was seriously so tender. Four and a half to five stars. That's all I'm going to say about it. I don't want to be one of those book/movie ruiners because I've talked it up so much and it just ends up being a disappointment for you. Just go read it and see for yourself...

Now, on to number three.

Good Day Sunshine!

2009-11-17T05:49:00.000-07:00

The widgets on my computer dashboard show that Tuesday's forecast in Kiev is looking pretty good compared to the rest of the week. But I really took this picture because it is probably one of the only times that the temperature in Gilbert Arizona will be the same as it is in Kiev Ukraine (even though it's a difference between the wee hours of the morning in Gilbert and the middle of the day here)...

It's funny to think that I just moved from a place that is perpetually sunny (hence its nickname) - to a place that to my four weeks of knowledge, is perpetually NOT sunny. Somewhat dreary, really. Opposite ends of the spectrum for sure. Which is probably just the way winter is here, but still. My bones need sunshine and warmth.

So, needless to say, days like today are welcomed with pure delight. It is the second time in a month that I have seen sunshine (three if you count the hour that it broke through the clouds yesterday), and it's just another one of those little things that I may have taken for granted. It was so nice to not only wake up to the sun coming through the blinds this morning, but to see evidence of it all over the house throughout the day. Thank you clouds for not coming to Kiev today (for at least a little while)...

I need to laugh, and when the sun is out

I've got something I can laugh about

I feel good, in a special way

~~I'm in love and~~ it's a sunny day

Good day sunshine

- The Beatles

Betty really isn't that Ugly after all...

2009-11-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not even going to lie about the fact that I watch a lot of TV. I love a good TV show, even some reality ones.

But there are some that I would just never get sucked into because they look, well, stupid. Like Ugly Betty for example.

But when I arrived here at my sister's house, she was watching the first season of Ugly Betty on DVD, and I found myself sitting in on a few episodes. And before long, it totally happened. I got sucked in. It's true.

Because let's be honest, Betty's boss is pretty sexy,

these two are hilarious,

and Betty is so quirky and cute. And totally a fish out of water, which I think some of us can relate to...

And now we are just anxiously awaiting the arrival of the 2nd season from my sister's best friend back in the states... Get here soon Betty!

I don't know if it's because we only have 3 American TV channels or if I would have liked UB if I gave it the chance from the beginning, but nonetheless, I have yet another show to add to my list of addictions...

Arg. I was really trying to quit!

Notes on Ukraine

2009-11-09T03:40:00.000-07:00

So, I have this strange fetish with lists - it's how my brain functions really. If you could see a visual image of of how my brain thought things through, it would be this organized and concise list of lists. Things to do, souveniers I must have before I leave the country, things I miss about the states, people I cherish, what I do to get ready for the day, things I wish I knew, books I'd like to read.... That may not be that strange to some people, but what is strange is that I love to write lists down. I even have a little book that I made that is full of lists. I love love love writing things down. It literally clears my head. Gives my brain a rest.

One of the lists I have written down since being here is a list of "interesting things about Ukraine." Everything is interesting in a foreign country, but the things I have written down are things I've seen and experienced first hand. I wish I had pictures to demonstrate each thing on the list, but I don't. Which is totally unfortunate.

And this is just the beginnings of a list that I'm sure will be miles long before I leave here. So here it is:

People stare. Relentlessly. But they will NOT make eye contact with you.
Sidewalks are not really for walking. In fact you may get run over by a CAR that is driving down the sidewalk because they are tired of waiting in the line of traffic or you may have to walk around cars that are parked there.
Parking is a joke. There is very little parking, and even where there is parking, people don't know how to do it properly. They also park on the sidewalk, as previously mentioned.
Traffic is hilarious! Generally, the same rules apply here as they do in the states - they drive on the same side we do, they yield to oncoming traffic, they have turn signals, they have red, yellow, and green lights. But that's generally speaking. Normally, however, there is little to no yielding, lots of honking, tons of line-cutting (cars that are tired of waiting in the left turn lane so they cut to the front, get next to you, and then zoom in front of you and the oncoming traffic), and of course, the everyday sidewalk driving. It is a sight to behold.
Majority of the cars on the road are really nice cars - ones you see in wealthy areas in the states. I even saw a Bently the other day. Not at all what I expected to see here.
There are street dogs all over the city. Like hordes of them. They loiter by the restaurants and meat markets, hoping for some spare scraps of food. And they just keep breeding so there is this perpetual life-line of mean, mangy dogs that will never go away.
It's a rare day that your trash has not been dug through for bottles, cans and any other money-making item. It's very sad.
The women are beautiful. And they are always dressed up so nice (I want more clothes from here than I do in the states!). I have never felt like such a frump in all my life. They put Hollywood to shame. The men dress really nice as well, but they are, well, not as pretty as the women, to put it nicely (bleh!).
Eating disorders are not considered diseases -they are a way of life. Most women under the age of 30 look like little walking sticks. Again, they put Hollywood to shame.
Everything is pickled - carrots, cabbage, broccoli, fish, eggs, pig feet...
We shop at a place called Mega Market. It's about the size of a Super Wal-Mart, maybe a bit bigger. And there are two things that take up one half of the entire store - sweets (chocolates, candies, cookies, pastries, etc.) and alcohol, and half of the alcohol section is vodka.
People start drinking at about age 8. There is this new energy drink that looks a bit like Red Bull but is mostly alcohol and very little energy drink. You see the middle-school aged kids drinking it at their breaks.
The trolley bus has a perpetual stale alcohol-breath smell. New York's subway smells like pee - Ukraine's smells like old vodka.
The apartment buildings here look like some eclectic Lego structure or someone's rendition of funky modern art. Everyone paints their balconies different colors and assembles their own add-ons. It's very interesting. And there are tons of them...
Fish is sold "as is" whether they be frozen or fresh (they actually have tanks of fresh fish that you can point out the one you want and they catch it for you) and you take it home and do all the beheading and skinning yourself. Even the frozen shrimp still have eyes (gag, gag, gag). If I didn't like seafood before I came here...

Frozen shrimp (with eyes), squid, muscles, baby octopus, every sea creature you can imagine...

The awesome parking jobs on our street

An apartment building across the way from us, which is really mildly eclectic compared to most

What's a Girl to Do??

2009-11-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm obsessed with the Twilight series, and no, I don't speak Ukrainian. November suddenly looks very grim...

Getting Out

2009-11-06T02:19:00.000-07:00

Toting four kids around everywhere is no easy task, regardless of how well behaved they are. I have really come to appreciate mothers of small children a lot more since I have been living with my sister. I've learned how hard it is to get out and do things - even running a quick errand. And what makes it even better is how foreign it is to the people here to have more than one or two kids. There are always stares as we're walking down the street or walking into a restaurant with two little kids, a toddler, and a new born. The looks on people's faces are priceless. And people ARE NOT afraid to stare here. For long, awkward amounts of time.

But it's usually not a big deal since Calvin and Henry have school all day. So Traci and I just have baby and toddler. Easy-peasy. But with the outbreak of PARANOIA here (aka Swine Flu), school has been cancelled for

THREE

WEEKS....

on top of the week they already had off for Fall break.

So it turns out that it's not so easy-peasy after all. Four weeks, four kids, and a lot of pent-up energy. We may not have swine flu in the house, but we might have little bitty cases of cabin fever...

But as fortune would have it, there is a group of college-aged girls from the states that are here teaching English in the schools that happen to be VERY bored since school has been cancelled and that are looking for things to do like, um, baby-sitting for example.... And the best part is that Traci didn't have to do anything to arrange it - they called her and volunteered themselves! Hello!

So, needless to say, we have totally taken advantage and gone out a couple times - once the other night when Traci and I went shopping for a dress for the Marine Core Ball on Saturday (I'm sure I'll post about that later - my first black tie affair!) and then another time last night when Traci and David took me out to dinner. It was quite the treat.

We took the trolly bus to an authentic Ukrainian restaurant and then walked home afterward, which was really nice. I had a cabbage salad, vareniki (boiled dough pockets with mashed potatoes and onions - tastes divine with sour cream and a pinch of S&P), cherry compote (a drink that looks and smells a bit like red wine but tastes like mashed cherries, which it is - and totally alcohol free... maybe.... we are in the land of Vodka, afterall), and cherry vareniki for dessert. I've had a lot of vareniki (not sure how to spell it out in English) in my life, but I had my first authentic Ukrainian vareniki at the restaurant last night, and it was delicious. And to add to it all, there was a little quartet that played instruments and serenaded everyone while we ate. It was fab, to say the least. Thank heaven for those volunteer baby-sitters, and thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for taking me on such a nice outing!

It's funny how you start to really appreciate the little things - things like walking at a normal pace and having uninterrupted adult conversation. And to think I'm not even a mom yet... ☺

Long name for a restaurant! Very funny.

Vareniki... mmmm...

The little quartet that played music and sang to us. (I apologize for the crap video -you'll have to tilt your head to the left to watch it... Anyone know how to rotate videos so they are going the right way?? I'm such a blogging rookie!)

I just had to post these... These were the bathrooms. The view from the outside - separate "His" and "Hers" entrances (I found the peep holes especially interesting)

that lead to the same communal bathroom on the inside... They could have saved space and materials by just making one entrance. We thought that was pretty funny.

Halloween... or something like it...

2009-11-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

It's funny how you move halfway across the world and start realizing how much you take for granted when you grow up in the US of A and live there your whole life. I mean, there are the obvious things that you KNOW you sometimes take for granted like shopping malls, modern building codes and regulations, and the Taco Bell you see on nearly every corner of town. And you don't necessarily have to move out of the country to know that those are some of the things you might take for granted on a daily basis. But then there are the things that never really cross your mind because they only come around once a year - things like Halloween and Thanksgiving - VERY American holidays that are completely over-done and over-commercialized but that you love to see come around once a year nonetheless. It didn't really dawn on me that there wouldn't be any lame parties to go to or a candy and costume isle that smells like chocolate and plastic (you totally know what I'm talking about!) in every grocery store. And for me, that's really all I appreciate about Halloween anymore - it's like you know Fall is here when you see the Halloween stuff start to go up at the stores. It just SMELLS like Fall. And I love it.

But this year was a bit different. Since there aren't any of those things here (although I did get to enjoy them for a couple weeks before I left the states since most stores start putting out Halloween stuff at the end of August!), people have to get creative. Especially us Americans who are used to celebrating on October 31st in one way or another. So every year, the planning committee at the Embassy puts together a little party for the kids (there are about 100 of them between all the embassy workers here) where they get to go around to all the offices and trick-or-treat which gives them, and the parents alike, something to look forward to. And I must say that my 3 nephews and my baby niece were the highlight of my Halloween this year.... Dressing them up for that party was the best part about my un-Ukrainian holiday for sure. I'll admit too that it was a bit of a relief not having to agonize over the perfect costume or think of ways to socialize (bleh!)...

Ok, so I had to steal this pic from my sister because the two older boys took their costumes off about ten minutes into the party because they were "too itchy" so I didn't get any pics of them on my camera... (Traci and I painted that back drop for the party...)

Calvin and Henry as ghosts and little Charlie as a bug... :)

Charlie watching the kids fish for prizes

And here's baby Jane Jane (as Charlie calls her) in her Halloween outfit that her Aunt Lesli gave her

And again, at the party in her pumpkin get up, doing what we'd all like to be doing at that point... :)

So there you have it - Halloween in Ukraine! Can you believe it's November already? Where is time going??!

I'm in Ukraine and I'm blogging about it!

2009-10-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, I finally did it... I created a blog. I swore I'd never have a blog until I had some seriously blog-worthy things to blog about. Things like a new husband that I travel the world with (ok, I'd TOTALLY settle for just the husband...) or children running around and doing adorable things. But alas, here I am, blogging even though I have no new husband or adorable children to blog about.

However, as it turns out, I am now living in a very foreign country where I don't speak the language and where I hope (cross your fingers) to be finding a job soon. So, since I have lost connection with my most prized worldly possession (my cell phone), I thought blogging would be a great way to keep everyone informed about my crazy gypsy-like life and also a way to be in the know with all you other bloggers. Also, I am a terrible journal writer and I hope that blogging will be a way to keep track of the things that happen over the next few months. We'll see how it goes!

One other side note - I also swore that I'd never become one of those over-obsessed blog maniacs that stalks everyones' blogs and spends WAY too much time making their blog just-so... So we won't even talk about how long I spent setting up my blog, sorting through backgrounds, changing the colors, debating over fonts and trying to make it perfect. And we also won't talk about how I hope to become a professional blog-stalker ASAP.

So, I really don't have a ton to talk about, and I definitely don't have a ton of pictures to post unfortunately, but I wanted to put up a few, just to get my blog rolling. The problem is that my camera is, well, ghetto, and has a hard time functioning on a consistent basis, so my pictures are few and far between. But the pictures that it has taken have been fab, so I won't complain too much... :)

My little adventure started two weeks ago when I went on a quick little vacay with two of my favorite gals - my bestest friend Averi and a dear friend from school, Rachel. We had a ball and it went by too quickly, that's for sure! But here are a few pictures (I won't bore you with a ton since most of you probably read Averi's blog anyway and she posted some already).

The London Eye, Big Ben, some scaffolding...

Me and Buckingham Palace

Me and Ave and Buckingham Palace. I really just included this one because I enjoy the breezy-haired man on the bike...

Rachel, Averi, and I at Stonehenge

I like taking pictures like this...

Bath is such a lovely place...

I ♥ Jane Austen so this picture was a must!

Ave and I on the Christmas Floor at Harrods.... I LOVE THAT PLACE!

I'm a Harrods mannequin, can't you tell??

So, after a fun week in London with the girls, I flew off into the Ukrainian sunset. I'm living with my sister and her family and have lots of time to spend with my new baby niece and 3 nephews (I'll post pics of them another time after I get some good ones...) I also get to spend some quality time with one of my favorite sisters!! :)

This is a picture I took the second day I was here - it's the view from the kitchen balcony... Pretty amazing, I must say!

Although, this is what it looks like on an average day - usually hidden behind all the fog! I have to say though that even though I am TOTALLY missing the beautiful and warm Arizona weather, I am loving the feeling of Fall and the way the trees look. The colors have been amazing!

The last thing I want to talk about is the temple... When you live in the US, you can find an LDS temple just about everywhere. Most people don't have to drive more than an hour or two to get to a temple (although the closest temple to my home growing up in Colorado was about a five hour drive). But here in Europe, temples are fewer and much farther between. In 1998 they announced that a temple would be built here in Kiev, which was amazing news to the members of the Church here. Members have been traveling about 30 hours roundtrip to get to the nearest temple (in Freiberg Germany, I believe), and some of them never get to go in their life time. We drove to the temple site on Sunday to see its progress, and this is how it looks so far, and what it will look like after completion. They hope to have it completed by September of next year. It really is amazing to think that a temple is being built in a former-Soviet Union country - what a huge achievement for the Church! And what a huge blessing to the people here! I'll post progress as we see it.

Ok, that was a really really really long post, I do apologize. Hopefully I'll blog frequently enough so that my posts don't bore everyone to death! :) So, until next time...

Me, Gypsy Girl

2009-10-25T06:12:00.006-07:00

In the first 19 years of my life, I only had two addresses - both of which were in the same little town, and both for nearly equal amounts of time. In the 9 short years since then, I have resided at 16 different addresses, the latest of which is in Kiev, Ukraine.
People have been referring to me as a gypsy recently, perhaps because my bags are never fully unpacked when I finally "settle" somewhere. I was once told that I need to "put my anchor down" - that I'm too much like a bird, flying off in every different direction.
I've thought about that a lot and I don't know if there is something inside me that craves the constant change or if I just don't have anything significant to let my anchor down for right now, but either way, I tend to go where the wind blows. And apparently it's very windy where I stand!
What can I say? I'm a wanderer at heart...
So thus begins a new journey, and hopefully some experiences that I can look back on and be grateful for the way they changed my life.