More than just a baby blog.

A & M in Jerusalem, following the path that Jesus took with the cross.
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It has been noted that my husband and son do not make any significant appearances in this blog. Now for those of you with small, helpless children, this should come as no surprise. Why? The camera is always pointed down at the cute smiling face, not usually at the rather-bored-looking teenage face, and not at the husband, who is most often behind the lens. And mommies don't like having photos of themselves taken for a variety of reasons involving the negative image of women perpetuated by the media, etc. Anyway, here are some photos of A and M from Israel. Here, M enjoys a giant Turkey leg.

I like this photo, as M is appropriately serious as he touches the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

And finally, the boys at the Dead Sea, covered in special healthy (?) mud!

Israel Turkeys!

We spent Thanksgiving in Israel, as one does, you know. It's no Beirut - garden spot of the Mediterranean - but it'll do in a pinch. I was amazed by the following: a) it was in the low 80s, delightfully warm; b) it seemed as though everyone spoke Russian, and the food in the grocery stores was all in Russian; c) Tel Aviv is an oasis, but the rest of the country really does look like the scenery in the Charleton Heston movie; d) people really shouldn't mistreat the camels the way that they do; e) the Palestinian settlements are really RIGHT there near Jerusalem. Yet i never felt scared....

And now, photos of how S spent the trip:Who doesn't love their first slide experience? What a great face! She wanted to do this again and again and again...

Baby Starfish

Here in Ukraine, where the high is often 28 degrees, and where wild babies roam the streets, it is important to prevent your child from running off in the cold with these packs of rogue babies. One easy system that nannies have devised is the "Starfish" method, whereby a child is dressed in about 6 layers of clothing. This slows them down considerably - as noted in the photo attached, where Miss S is wearing tights, pants, a onesie, a purple knit sweater, purple knit pants, snow boots, a "combintsion" or snowsuit, a hat, mittens and the scarf that Grandora knit years ago. I think this is the only photo where I've seen her smiling while wearing this, and not with her eyes rolled back in her head from heat exhaustion.

But in Lyuda's defense, it is cold outside, and this lets Miss S play outside for 2-4 hours a day, and may also be the reason that she takes 3 hour naps every day....

Halloween Costumes!

Unfortunately, Kodak Gallery is having some issues with our new version of (evil) Windows Vista, and I can't upload photos! So until we can overcome this technical glitch, I will be providing selected photos this way. Sarah had a lot of costumes over the holiday, including GranDora-provided tutus...

Trip to the Pechersk Lavra

We took the tour to the Pechersk Lavra two weekends ago. A Lavra is the name given to a Monastery of the highest order in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was a very holy place, with beautiful churches and fantastic frescoes. Many of them were renovated after independence - the church shown here has walls dating back to the 14th Century, but the facade was redone in the 1990s. You will notice my stylish scarf - women have to cover their heads when entering the church. Sarah was exempted, but she enjoyed playing with the dead leaves more than the art anyway!

A Word picture of life here

It's hard for me to describe what it's like to live here. So many people have perceptions about this part of the world - thanks to the Cold War - more than if we lived in, say El Salvador or Mongolia. The number of people who asked if I was going back to Russia (after I explained I was going to Kyiv) was somewhat astounding. I hold no blame here - when I joined the Foreign Service, I felt equally confused by geography. In fact, since they list the possible postings by capital cities, I was often sent running to the atlas. (Anyone know what Ouagadougou is actually the capital of? How about Belmopan? Bandar Seri Begawaan?) Yeah, me neither, and it behooves me to know since if I put it on my Bid list I could end up living there for 2-4 years!
Anyway, I was going to try to give you an idea of what life is like, one story at a time. This weekend we borrowed a car and headed around town. Driving is a bit crazy - the city was designed both for times before cars and then it was expanded at a time when very few people had cars. So folks have to park on the sidewalk. As the mother of a toddler this scares the living crap out of me. How do you warn a small child not only to look both ways when they cross the street and to look behind them when standing quietly on the sidewalk? Yikes! But I digress. A did a fantastic job of maneuvering around and through the impatient drivers, and we were able to drop M off a birthday party that was darn hard to find. The last part of the directions involved a dirt road, turning at a lake and asking a guard to unlock a gate in the middle of the woods. But he had a great time at the restaurant, and seemed to be a hit with the ladies ;-) A, S and I headed off to our friends' house for dinner, and got hopelessly lost. Not because I haven't been navigating based on maps since I was 8, but because they don't do street signs here. We got so lost we actually left Kyiv - the only sign at that point was "Odessa" - which is a bit like when you're on I-95 north of DC and the sign says "New York - 250" Oops! The reason it's hard to find addresses is because the actual signs are on the sides of buildings, about 12-15 feet above the ground, and the number is giant, but the street name is about 2 inches high. I dont' know about you, but I find that damn hard to read when driving at speed. And the big glamorous street signs at the intersection are paid for my companies, so they might have the name of an upcoming street, or just as likely, the name of an upcoming street that intersects an upcoming street but that you sure ain't never gonna find, but they definitely have an arrow pointing you to the big Fish Store or local Sport Hall. Needless to say, after driving the wrong way down one way streets and being lost for half an hour, poor Miss S heards some choice adult language as I "bemoaned" the inability of Ukraine to get their act together.
This is a common side effect of living overseas, for those who haven't. One day it's the most magical place with wonders and novelty, and the next it could be stricken from the planet for all you care. Ah, the 4 phases of foreign adjustment! But really, overall, we love it here....

Travel Outside of Middle Earth

I returned from a three day trip to Izmail, a city on the southern border with Romania. Overall it was useful from a work standpoint, but also showed a little more of the "real" Ukraine, versus the very different lifestyle lived in downtown Kyiv. For one thing, everything is much less expensive outside of the capital. No shock there. But what surprised me was how big Ukraine is, and really how relatively uninteresting the scenery is. We drove 12 hours each way, and it was lots of fields and sheep and carts and highway. Oh, and of course, "Turkish toilets." Shudder. Thank heavens for hand sanitizer. Anyway, the scenery became more interesting down near the limans (apparently the name for a unique water feature of a small lake-like spit that connects a river and an ocean - it's like brackish water in the US? We couldn't find an exact comparison.

The photo if from our stop at the Belgorod-Dnistrovski fortress. The sign says "Danger!" but as you can see that was really the only tribute to my protection. The fortress is very well-preserved, and was a welcome break from the drive.

Take that - Babushki!

Since we've arrived, A has been chastised in Russian and Ukrainian by "well-meaning" babushki (grandmothers) for the state of poor S's dress. Even when the temperature is 20 C/68 F outside, they holler that she is freezing. Conveniently, he can't understand what they're saying, so he just says "Spasibo!" (Thanks!)
So finally, he caved the other day and bought a hat that ties in a market kiosk located in a street underpass - well, that's where all the good shopping is anyway. We had to buy a hat that ties as the whole problem all along has been a confinement issue - she just pulls the darn hats off.
We bought gloves today as well, and she managed to lose one within two hours. Such a smart girl...

I'm back - A bit like neon legwarmers, though, it could be a fad

I finally remembered my password! Hooray! And today we received the exciting news that A has successfully hooked up our internet at home and it is quick and easy. So you all (anyone who is left) will now be receiving fairly regular updates on our life here in Kyiv. Well, in the limited way in which I share information, that is. I think my employer frowns on sharing too much about work, but since we're planning on traveling and expanding our cultural awareness (and since I have interesting kids) there should be plenty to keep this blog hopping!

So the big news first. One, we have decided to add a third year to our time here. That means we'll finish up conveniently close to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Second, after ten straight days of torrential downpour and freezing weather, I am looking out my window at sun for the first time in forever. Praise be!

Third, my darling little sister has confirmed that her wedding will be on September 19, 2009. This means a confirmed trip to the States, for those interested in actually seeing my face ever again.

Fourth, my talented sister-in-law has begun her own blog, which is the impetus for me re-energizing here. Hers has music - I know, I'm behind the times. But next time I'll include photos, and perhaps even a video or two. We've got a great "bikembikem" photo of S with some of her first "words."

Fifth, Happy, Happy Birthday to my two fantastic kids, last Tuesday and next Monday. Every year I am more in awe of both of them....

Where have I BEEN??

December? I haven't posted since December? What have I been doing? oh, that's right. Slacking off. Shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Despite my facade of serious, studious behavior, I'm really a goof. Actually, I don't think that I'm fooling anyone. My facade is that of someone whose sense of humor got the best of her. I am improving at my ability to appear serious when called upon, but sometimes I just can't resist. In a training course I did once, they told me to only say one out of every three things that come to mind, if you are an interrupter by nature. I actually do that - and I still find that I interrupt all of the time.
Anyway, as they say in Russian, let's return to our sheep. (I don't know why they say that - perhaps they're secretly Kiwi?) I have been raising the baby, minding the teenager and caring for the husband. I've been in Russian since the end of February, perfecting my Russian. For the first time in the 16 years I've been studying, it's really coming together. I can pretty freely say anything I'd like to, and all of the sleeping vocabulary has been reawakened. Now if only i understood the damn grammar.....
The bub is sleeping through the night now, which is totally huge. 9 PM to 5 AM. Those without kids can scoff at the fact that that's "all night" but for 3 months she was waking up every hour and a half and refused to be comforted by anything other than nursing. I don't know how I survived. SHe's got teeth and character and can pull herself up, and is close to walking (I'm convinced she's a genius, but I could be a bit close to the issue.)
Headed overseas in August, but hopefully I'll post more on that less than 6 months from now.
That's enough of a wine-fueled stream of consciousness for now.