Colors of Fall + tip of the fur iceberg

Fall Colors: It really is pretty around here with the fall colors peeking out all around.....This is the view from our living room - even the crane is a nice fall yellow!  The Motherland statue is on the right side.  I like to call her the "Iron Maiden".......

This was a random wedding party at the Botanical Garden!  Every weekend you see brides getting photographed everywhere......seems it is customary to be photographed in front of all of Kiev's major attractions on your wedding day

And it's nice to see the fall colors extend to fashion too.......

(Ok, one could argue these are not exactly a fall color, but I had to slip them in!)


But I didn't expect it to extend to hair....Kid's PE teacher in the back...

(Note: Zoe in the front of the line sporting her own 'Eastern European flair')

Fur: It is starting to pop up all around...

From what I have gathered, this is just a tiny preview of the fur-a-palooza to come!  While many complain winters here are long and grey, I for one am looking forward to seeing just how far they go with fur around here.  Stay tuned!


Go out and express yourself with a little color &/or fur today!

Cultural Enrichment

Another benefit of living overseas is the cultural enrichment, right?

Random Factory tour: So today a group of about 40 women from IWCK (International Womens Club Kiev) went on a tour to a Christmas Ornament Factory.  It was about an hour outside of the city & while I generally hate being in the car, enjoyed the beautiful fall day...

It was a cool & very manual process - starting with 'medical glass', heating & blowing it...
(....of course, no safety goggles!)

And painting them by hand.....

(Given her love of markers & glitter, I may have just found Zoe's calling!)

Children's performances: Xavier's class performed at an assembly demonstrating what they learned in their first 'unit of inquiry' around kids rights.  They sang about responsibility, acted out a skit about cooperation.......

...meanwhile, Xavier hid behind his peers (3rd from the left)

...and generally refused eye contact with anyone in the crowd (I am not sure how I caught his eyes in this one!)

So for now, acting & public speaking do not appear to be Xavier's calling....(he reports he wants to be a Lego creator when he grows up - so at least we have a plan!)

Moving on to other cultural enrichment.......

Brittney Spears: She came to town last week! 

A Swedish friend of mine asked, "Aren't you a little old to go to a Brittney Spears concert?!".  To that I replied, "As a fellow American, it is my patriotic duty to attend her musical performance!"  And while part of that is true - I want other American artists to come here - the bigger driver was the appeal of seeing who else was there and just what people wore to a concert here!.........

(typical scene here, woman on the left in total hot outfit, guy in semi-sloppy jeans type get up)

The show was pretty good - we had 'semi-obstructed' side stage seats which turned out to be fabulous as we could see the props / Brittney getting on stage

And as it turns out, we didn't stand out as 'old'.  Ticket prices are similar to US prices - which is a ton here.....

So here's to getting some culture and not 'acting your age' this weekend!

Forced Discovery

A big driver in coming overseas, for Logan & I, was the adventure & discovery it would enable....The kids don't seem so sure about this discovery thing.

Gravitate to the familiar: The kids all demonstrate some serious English favoritism...we've tried a few different babysitters so far.  And there is a direct correlation between how much English they speak and how much the kids like them.  No other factors seem to come into consideration.

Forced to branch out: Our kids are kind of picky eaters.....but Quincy tends to lead in his pickiness.  Three weeks ago he REFUSED to eat a grilled cheese made with white cheese.  Yesterday production could barely keep up with demand for said grilled cheese WITH WHITE CHEESE.  His explanation is that taste buds change every two weeks.  Whatever the reason, the kid is eating new things!  My lesson - deprive them of all things familiar and they just might try something new.

Am I really serving this?!  In my quest to find new things that might be accepted by the kids, I can across a pack of these.......

....Ramen noodles!  I was shopping with another mom who explained she could not buy them because without being able to read the label she could not be certain there was no MSG etc in the pack.  Nostalgic for college dorm days eating thousands of these with Mary Beth, AND certain my kids would love this 'new discovery', I quickly dropped 2 bundles in my cart.

And the verdict....?

They are just as fun to play with as I remember (and I didn't even show them the trick how you can hold one end, swallow them and pull them back out!), the seasoning packs - packed full of God-knows-what-  "taste like potato chips" (reports Quincy) & with our hot water dispenser, the kids can make them themselves!!!!!  So, while the nutritional value may be slightly questionable & these are not something I'd be rushing out to buy at home, they get a green light in Kiev.  I guess we will just have to serve a Flintstone vitamin along side.

Here's to fun in college & discovering new, old things

Xavier's Birthday & the continuing pizza saga

Where does the time go?  Our sweet, hilarious, full of zest boy is 6 today!!!  Crazy....

Parties gone Ukrainian: Same as at home, we had several celebrations - party with friends, family party & in-class celebration.  Key difference was with the party with friends.  While the Western kids generally showed up with their parents, the local kids were a different story.  Most were dropped off by the family's driver....came bearing HUGE gifts (seriously - Santa Claus level).   A set of triplet girls came bearing their own nanny.  I'll take 3 more girls over here with a nanny any day!  


The kids had a great time swimming - but I overestimated the amount of their attention it would hold.  Once the kids got bored things eventually deteriorated into WWF like.  Can you spot the Marine dad below?  He became the bottom of a serious dog pile.....

Lego Love: Xavier was in heaven with the plethora of gifts - especially anything Lego.  Quincy was pretty happy too as anything Xavier got he negotiated the chance to 'help' build parts of it.

For our family dinner, Xavier selected noodles.......

Who screws up pizza?!:  For his actual birthday meal, he selected pepperoni pizza.  Given my challenges with delivery pizza to date, I decided to put matters into more reliable hands.  Asked the guy we hired to help pay bills (highly complicated around here) and do errands to order my pizza for me.  As a native speaker, I thought this was my 'shoe in' way to get a pepperoni pizza without any other random ingredients Eastern Europeans deem acceptable, but Western kids clearly do NOT (corn, peppers, stinky cheese).  


...BUT, just to make sure there was no miscommunication, I printed the menu, circled the items I wanted and gave it to him.  Phew!  Proud of my ingenuity, I kicked back, enjoyed my glass of wine while the kids played with the new Lego's and we all anticipated our pizza...


90 minutes later, errand guy returns...with aforementioned delivery pizza.....????

......oh no, with a bag of random groceries - including frozen pizza (yes - corn & peppers and all!)


Given it was already 6:20, we went with reheated leftover pizza and then I attempted to overcompensate for the lame birthday dinner with a 'dessert trifecta'....

.....hot fudge sundaes, chocolate chip cookies (consumed, not pictured) & cupcakes... this one decorated by Quincy for his brother....

The kids seemed totally happy - making me believe that sugar really can solve most all problems.

I plan to dedicate my entire next Russian lesson to ordering delivery.

Here's to Xavier & sweetness!

Quincy's Take

The kids and I have been talking a lot about what they like about Kiev, how it compares to Chicago etc.  Quincy provided observations from an 8 year old's point of view....


Location, location, location: "If our house here were in Chicago, it would be perfect..."  


While Logan and I LOVE our Chicago house, we knew this one had some kid-appeal features that would help sell this whole move thing to the kids........  Quincy has reported on why our house in Kiev is superior in his view:


A yard (albeit not that big) WITH GRASS!!!

A swing (on our patio).....

...AND one in the basement 

(leave it to the American family to turn their gym room into a family room :)  not pictured is the giant TV and couch we moved into this space)


A pool 

(we figured the pool would buy their affection for at least a little while.  It has been ~6 weeks and we just now are hearing that the location needs to move.....so, I estimate a pool buys you about a month with an 8 year old)


The play room

(This picture doesn't show the whole story....it's a lofted area above the main kitchen / living room area full of toys.  Currently looks like it threw up Lego's all over itself.  But the beauty of it being a loft is you can't see a thing from the main floor, so....Presto!  Instant clean house!  Just don't go up the stairs!)




....BUT....




With all that going for it, I had to probe more to understand what about Kiev was not up to Chicago standards......


"It's just not as fancy": Quincy observed (not flatteringly) "They still have a lot of work to do"
When pushed for specifics (OK, I admit I was playing dumb...), he identified


'The buildings just don't look as nice'.  He selected this one as a good example..

The streets 'need some work'...(self portrait on a stairway that illustrates the point)

And we agreed that people just don't seem as worried about picking up litter...

(Quincy with an intentionally disapproving face - for the story and all.  Couldn't convince Zoe not to smile!) 




"There isn't as much American food as I expected": While I prepared for any and all physical ailments (shipped enough OTG drugs & toiletries to open my own Walgreens), I underestimated the need to prepare for emotional ailments (homesickness & food cravings).  


Quincy, being fairly picky in the US, has been the most affected by the food.  Without Trader Joe chicken nuggets, Costco pizza, Kraft Mac n Cheese and Chipotle he is a lost soul.  In attempt to combat this, we've eaten at McDonald's and TGIF more than should be allowed, tried a new pizza place a week and secured as many imported foods as possible (the hot fudge ingredients sent from Chicago should buy me at least another week of happiness!  Thanks Mom!)




"I miss my friends": This one is tough.....it's easy to brush off the 'dire need' for a specific kind of cheddar cheese, but missing people is tough.  (If you are reading this, WE MISS YOU!  Come visit!!  How many times in your life will you get invited to Kiev?!?!)   


The good news is that Quincy has made several good friends already.  The other day when I brought him to school 2-3 boys swarmed him shouting "Quincy!" ala "Norm!" from Cheers.  When I mentioned it to him, he reported "Yeah, I am kind of popular".  :)




Here's to considering a trip to Eastern Europe and feeling 'kind of popular' today!  

Hair & getting rid of it

Long Locks, short skirts: Seems to be an inverse relationship between hem lengths (short) and hair length (long).  I would guesstimate that on average women's hair here is a good 8 inches longer than the average back home.... 

(yes, I was a creepy person who sneaks photos in the gym locker room - had phone on silent - but avoided capturing nudity - mostly)

Even the priest who lives around the corner from us believe in the powers of long locks......(but I guess he did not get the memo about the hem length thing)

(..looks kind of like someone from the Harry Potter book Xavier and I are reading)


Serious commitment to beauty: In the presence of all these long manes, I was increasingly aware of how out of control mine had become.  I'll blame all the chlorine...it was time for a service:

....a mere FOUR HOURS later, I emerge with a cut, new straightening treatment....

OK so there was a manicure and some waxing involved too.  The manicure was fine, but not quick.  The waxing was almost too X rated to mention (let's just leave it at they don't believe in any pesky underwear getting in the way for a bikini wax)


As someone who selects hair salons based on speed and efficiency, I'll have to get used to this investment in beauty!


Have a beautiful day!

Ich Liebe Munchen

Part of the appeal of living in Kiev for us, was the appeal of the relatively easy travel.  Our first stop - Munchen for Oktoberfest!  While I could sing Oktoberfest's praise for days, the broader truth is I LOVE MUNCHEN!  What's not to love?!?

Insanely bike friendly: The bike lanes are everywhere - and basically are their own, smoothly paved, part of the sidewalk - separated from the cars and avoided by the pedestrians.  I held back from laying down on the ground to give the bike lanes a big hug - but I wanted to.

Contagious Festivity: Before experiencing Oktoberfest, I had assumed only the 'die hards' or 'old people' got dressed up in traditional Bavarian costume....but was pleasantly surprised to find festivity everywhere. 

Now I know it doesn't take much to convince us to dress up, (and you probably could make a reasonable case for us being both old and die hard) but honestly, we did NOT stand out.  The festivity of the place is totally contagious!

Multi-generational fun: One of the things that struck me the first time I visited Germany (while in college - OMG ~20 years ago), was how there were commonly 3+ generations hanging out at the same events / parties - all having fun together.  I still saw that this weekend.  Groups of people that look like a family reunion meets crazy fun party.....I don't have the best pictures - was too distracted trying to teach the kids how to flip a coaster and catch it with one hand.... 

Our all time favorite place in Munich - Augustiner Keller (a beer garden).  Their stock went up even higher when we discovered the beautiful, sprawling beer garden right in the heart of the city also has a good sized play area for the kids.  Why don't we have places like this in Chicago?!

Note: Zoe is pictured wearing the Durndle my mom made for me in the 70s.  I think I was about 2 when I wore it!  Zoe, being a good, solid size 4, had no idea it was a bit small (note the comparative hem length of the other girl pictured) and said it was her 'Durndle shirt'!  

Delicious (but not diet friendly) fare: while I rarely eat sausage, and try to eat more vegetables than carbs, put me in Munich and Weight Watchers points be damned!

Respect Basic Culinary Rights: Things I once took for granted as 'staples' have now become coveted / on my long list of things to bring back with me next time I go to the States.....Little, but important, things like Baking Soda (HOW can one make a decent chocolate chip cookie?!), canned frosting (I consider the boxed cake the homemade part), cinnamon and mac 'n cheese.  Take these items out of my pantry and you've cut my menu in half!  Germany on the other hand, understands that these items are not whimsical nice-to-haves.

I think I made a friend for life by bringing a fellow American her own box of Arm & Hammer.  And at the rate my mom has been sending me care packages of such staples (thanks Mom!), I'll have to take her to Germany next time!  

So go hug a German, kiss your grandmother, indulge in something delicious and nutritiously dubious, fondle a pantry staple and let me know if you ever want to meet in Munich.  Prost!