The Price of Adventure

While living half way around the world in a developing country gives us plenty of adventure, it does also come at a cost.......

Efficiency
After returning from holiday in Denmark, my friend Kelly lamented how nice it was to be somewhere where "everything just works".  In Kiev, I've learned to not expect things to work straight away in order to be excited when they do (instead of mad when they don't)......

Take our garbage.....

(It's been piling up for a month.  Lucky we were gone for 2 weeks of that)

I asked our friend & neighbor, Inna, what was going on and she reported the company told her they "do not want to come to our district anymore".  Of course, they did not disclose this when I recently paid for 6 months of service. 

That said, looking at the 'excited when it does work side', we were pretty happy to see this....

(HUGE chunks of ice someone scraped off of our road while we were gone!)

Jet Lag
We had a fab time over break visiting both coasts in the US, AND the 10 hour time zone trip came with a price too.....

Day 2 back - Zoe at 5pm 

(passed out before dinner)

Zoe at 4am

(a bit groggy, but ready for that dinner she missed)

Zoe at 4:30 am

(Lego Friend party time!)

The next day, Zoe at 5pm again

(I swear - we did NOT tell her she could only lay down in the bathroom)

Zoe AND Xavier at 2am - AGH!

Keep in mind, the kids had school these days too.  One of Xavier's friend's reported to his mom that "Xavier changed over break - he is a lot more angry".  Jet lag does not make friends.


BUT, what fun is it to spend all of our time focusing on the challenges?!  


We try to keep too busy looking for the cheap thrills.....

(Yes, my favorite grocery store always keeps these little guys in stock.  Personally, I prefer my pork sliced & in cellophane - maybe we'll get more open minded next year)

AND, focus on the fab people here.  Just today, a friend dropped off a care package

(yes, chocolate chip cookies DO make everyplace a better place)

So here's to adventure & the quest to see the silver lining more than the clouds