At least one person (mom) has requested to hear about our daily life here, so this is what I came up with. 

Darryl usually goes to work about 8 or 8:30.  The workday doesn’t start until 9am here.  Darryl says literally no one is in the office before that.  Of course they work later into the evening as well.  In fact at KPMG they apparently work quite late.  Luckily Darryl hasn’t had to do that yet, but he inevitably will.  As a manger, Darryl is also a performance manager for several associates, which means he is like an assigned mentor.  He had lunch with one of them today and discovered that he lives in the same building as us!  We thought that was a hoot.  I believe I already wrote that we estimate 1600 people living in it.  That’s more than some small towns.

On Monday mornings from 10-11 and Wednesday afternoons from 1-3 Katya comes to teach me some Russian.  She is 18 years old and a member of one of the wards here.  She and her mother were baptized 6 years ago.  On Wednesday we do Russian for an hour and then she watches Kathryn and Amelia for an hour while I do some shopping.  I feel free as a bird walking around without a stroller or a baby bjorn!  We do pay her for this.

Buying bread is a daily ritual for some.  This I assume because the afternoons and evenings have long bread lines.  And because the bread doesn’t stay fresh very long.  We only need it every couple of days.  The bread is so yummy and if I let Kathryn hold the bread she will eat it on the way home.  Sometimes this is a good way to distract her while I do other shopping!

Shopping is a part of daily life here.  At least it seems like it from the way you shop and the amount of things people buy.  I would prefer otherwise, and I am trying to get into some kind of schedule so that I don’t have to buy things everyday.  But if I am walking by myself, or with the girls in the stroller, I can’t carry that much food back home.  A backpack is helpful.  So my plan (that I just started last week) is to go to the grocery store on Wednesdays when Katya is babysitting, and also early Saturday morning when Darryl is home to watch the girls.  The grocery store is very close, about a 10 minute walk. 

I like the grocery store because I can look at things pick them up, and choose them myself.  At the market you can’t do that.  You tell the person what you want and they get it for you.  That requires actually talking to someone and communication can be quite difficult sometimes.  Pointing and saying “eto” (this/that) is good, but sometimes it gets a little more complicated.  Anyway, back to the grocery store – what I don’t like about it is that I just don’t know what some things are, and that is frustrating.  When I figure out what something is and it is something that I want, it is very exciting, though.  This happened with yeast, vinegar, powdered sugar, and peanut butter.  Yes!  Peanut butter!  I saw it at this store a couple of weeks ago (it had not previously been there) so I got a few little jars.  Since then I have gotten a couple more each time I went.  You never know when it will be there again.  Things come and go I have discovered.  Except I think I am the only one buying this peanut butter.  When it is all gone, I don’t think there will be more for awhile, which is why I am buying it all for the future!

Meat is interesting.  You see all sorts of things at the market, but I am not ready to buy any of them but ham.  Live fish, whole chickens, etc.  The grocery store has lots of meat, too, but I haven’t found ground beef.  That is such a staple back home.  We even had canned ground beef from the cannery that was great to use in a pinch.  I did get some ground pork once, and Darryl says that ground beef existed in Russia on his mission but we haven’t seen it.

We buy produce, cheese, ham, and bread at the market.  You can find everything at the market, but it is just easier to me to get it at the grocery store.  And the prices actually are about the same.  The market also has household goods, clothes, all sorts of things.  It is fun to walk through (which I do almost daily with the girls in the stroller) because it is always changing.  There is also a second hand clothing place, which is great and I bought Kathryn a turtleneck, jumper, and sweatshirt there. 

A word about shopping and food storage.  We are trying to build up some sort of food storage – to be obedient to the prophet and also for our own well being.  It seems very hard here, as people seem to just by things day to day.  But at the same time it seems even more important to have food storage.  Earlier this month the market near our house was closed for 3 days.  We had no idea why, no notice, etc.  When it opened again we could not find water at all.  Luckily there was water at the grocery store, but the point for us is that we don’t know when and if we will be able to find things.  Another example of this is diapers – a pretty important commodity for us right now with 2 little ones using them.  So I have been trying to buy enough to have a few weeks storage at least.  One place in the market sells them, but on a given day they may not have the size I want.  The grocery store lately has lots of size 3, but no size 4.  There is a children’s store nearby as well, and I asked to buy 2 packs of size 3 and 2 packs of size 4, but they would only give me one of each.  I don’t think they had more than that.  So they are not quite to just in time inventory.  At least not in time for me.  That was a little accounting joke.

Most days we go outside at least once.  Partly for my own sanity, partly to get Amelia to sleep in the stroller (much easier than any other way I’ve tried), and partly so Kathryn can have some fun.  There are 2 playgrounds right outside our building, and Kathryn loves the swings, climbing up and down (but not sliding down) the slides, and playing in the sand.  We go there almost everyday, sometimes twice a day. 

Part of Kathryn’s daily life right now is jumping.  She loves to jump and recently learned to jump off of something.  This of course scares me, but I also think its cool and Kathryn loves it. 

Our oven is convection and celsius degrees.  And we did finally find a measuring cup of sorts that is mililiters and miligrams.  So much for any recipes I brought with cups and bake at 350.  I just estimate and so far it has been okay, but I can’t deny that it gets a little frustrating. 

Kathryn is good at going to bed at 8, at which time Darryl turns on the TV to Discovery channel to watch “Mythbusters”.  This is a show he discovered once while at a training for work.  I remember him calling me that night to tell me about the great show he discovered in his hotel with cable TV.  We’ve now watched it every night for the past month.  I even enjoy it sometimes.  If you don’t know, it is a show about science.  This means that Darryl likes and understands it, and I don’t.  They take myths and test them scientifically to see if they are actually true or just a myth.  (For example, if you swallow gum does it really stay in your stomach for 7 years?  I always believed it, but that myth was busted.  The gum is gone within 48 hours.)

We’ve been using our weekends mostly to explore new shopping areas and looking for household things we need – crib, water filter, alarm clock, etc.  I’m hoping that will end soon so that we can start seeing some touristy things. 

Family, Kyiv Adventures | 6 Comments »

We have discovered a very interesting way of life since we have been here in Ukraine.  It is the life of “embassy people”, as I call them.  Our first encounter was at church, when everyone asked if we (meaning Darryl) worked at the embassy.  I thought that was a silly question until I learned that everyone in the branch works at the embassy except the girls teaching English and the Ukrainian members.

“Embassy people” don’t just go to a foreign country and then go home.  They go from country to country.  Depending on your job at the embassy, you may go to the US for a year in between assignments (which are 2-3 years) to learn the language of your next place.  One family in our branch has been in Bulgaria for 2 years, Moldova for 3 years, and now they are in Ukraine for 2 years.  They have only gone back to the States for visits.  Another family was in the Philippines for 2 years, then back to US for a year, now in Ukraine for 2 years, then straight to Sweden next year for 2 more years.  Well, those are the only 2 families in our ward besides us.  But I have met some other “embassy people” through them and it is the same type of thing.

My first thoughts are how interesting and exciting that would be.  Part of me is in awe.  Then as I learned more about the embassy way, and I even grew a little envious.  There is a whole embassy community.  Embassy play groups, embassy book clubs, embassy Halloween parties.  Embassy people can get American products.  Peanut butter, rootbeer, canned pumpkin, even candy corns and Christmas turkeys.  There is a medical clinic at the embassy, no need to figure out where or how to do medical stuff.  Embassy people get cars (okay, even though it can be a pain to walk everywhere with 2 kids, I’m not sure I would want to drive here).  Embassy people have an address in the States that ships to the embassy, so they can order things online.  Embassy people have movers that pack up their stuff, so they can actually take holiday decorations, wash cloths, violas, pack’n'plays, all the things that I would use if we had them but we just couldn’t fit them in our suitcases.  I’m pretty sure embassy people also have dryers in their apartments.  Perhaps even dishwashers.

I hope I am not sounding too envious, because while those sound like conveniences (and they are), remember that embassy people are always moving to a completely different country.  After being here for almost 2 months, I have an enormous respect for that!  Without a few helps like the ones mentioned above I’m sure I couldn’t do it.  This is their life, not just a 2 year adventure.

For me, part of the “fun” (ie, learning experience) is to deal with differences and trying to learn the language and experience the culture.  So although sometimes I wish we had a dryer or more holiday decorations, I think I’m ultimately glad to try to live without them.  Of course, only for 2 years, not for a lifetime!

Kyiv Adventures | 1 Comment »

Our internet was not functioning for over 2 weeks and we just got it fixed.  Darryl has been to Moscow and back for a manager training, and I’ve been to the market and back many, many times.  We’ve had stake conference,  Russian lessons, and all sorts of normal daily happenings which I will be documenting in the future.  For now, here are some pictures of what has been going on.  First off, our new water filter!!!  Buying water was getting really, really old. 

Kathryn and I have been working out in the morning.  Basically, Kathryn has tried to do everything that I do.  Her baby is even named Amelia sometimes.  The rest of the time her baby is called “big baby”.  The picture above is Kathryn with her baby in a baby bjorn I made out of a scarf.  That day she wanted to wear that t-shirt, but I thought she needed long sleeves, so she wore both.  She also likes to dress her baby now.  After many months of being naked, the baby now gets to be dressed a few times a day. 

We went out one Saturday to find a shopping center we heard about.  This is on the way.  We think the huge apartment buildings like the one in back are so interesting to see.   We live behind and around the corner from that one.  We estimated 1600 people live in our building!  800 apartments with average of 2 people each.

Before Darryl left for Moscow, Amelia, Kathryn, and I met him for dinner downtown (he took an overnight train).  On our way back to the metro Kathryn really liked listening to these people play music.  The song would end and I would start to leave, but when she heard another song she wanted to go back.

Amelia has gotten really wiggly.  She rolls over so fast it is hard to change her diaper or get her dressed sometimes.  And she is good at getting from sitting to laying on her tummy.  Yesterday she rolled from her front to her back, even.

Family, Kyiv Adventures | 1 Comment »

Grocery shopping is always an adventure.  For many things, it is obvious what the product is even if we can’t read the label.  For other things, I look at the picture for help.  We’ve, well, Darryl actually, has had some back luck with ice cream, though.

Once he bought some ice cream that turned out to have coffee and alcohol in it.  Darryl served us each up a big bowl and when he took a bite I could tell something was wrong.  He quickly went and tried to read the label, and then took another look at the picture of the ice cream.  Stike One.

Then last week I was having a bad day and Darryl brought home some ice cream from work.  After we got Kathryn to bed I went to serve the ice cream.  It looked like chocolate chip!  And it said “sherbet” on the outside.  But I thought I saw a picture of some fruit on the container.  I looked at the ice cream closely and it obviously had chocolate chips, but there were a hole lot of something else, too. 

Turns out the ice cream had dried apricots and raisins (the light colored kind).  So much for bringing me a special treat.  I couldn’t eat it!  Darryl enjoyed the whole container over the next few days.  He claims he didn’t buy raisin ice cream on purpose.  Strike Two!

Luckily there hasn’t been Strike Three yet.  Even if he gets three strikes, I think we’ll keep trying ice cream.  Its too yummy (in the proper flavors).

Amanda, Kyiv Adventures | 6 Comments »

We have heard or seen fireworks several times (seriously at least 12 times) during the almost 6 weeks that we have been in Kyiv.  They had elections here the last weekend in September and we thought or heard that it had something to do with that.  But now we’ve seen them twice since then, so we’re not sure. 

Our first apartment was in the city center and one night we heard some booms and then Darryl saw fireworks out the window.  We heard things booming about every other night.  When we moved to our permanent place, quite far from the city center, we were surprised to see/hear fireworks again.  I had assumed they were only happening in the city center.

I love fireworks, but when they go off so frequently, the novelty begins to wear off.  Why would you look forward to the 4th of July if fireworks were going off every other day already?  The thing that cracks us up is that the fireworks (and these are not little “flower” fireworks) are going off right in the middle of the city, right next to buildings, etc.  The other night we heard them and ran to the window.  They were going off next to our building!  It was really fun to watch, but I was thinking – isn’t this dangerous?!  Apparently no fireworks laws here!  This is taken from our window.  The building on the left is ours – it curves around. 

Kyiv Adventures | 2 Comments »

Happy Birthday to my brother John!  Today he turns 25 years old – one year older and wiser, too (as the primary song goes).   I see that one of my sisters and my mom also posted about John’s birthday.  You’d think since I am 10 hours ahead of them that I would have gotten to it first.  Oh, well.  I love those number things, so I’m going to write 25 things about John.

1. He is the youngest in my family.
2. He is the tallest in my family.
3. We used to call him Johnny Jumper (okay, a long, long time ago).
4. I shared a room with him once upon a time.
5. He loves ultimate frisbee.
6. He is very smart.
7. He is studying physics, therefore see #6.
8. He served his mission in Korea.
9. He came to visit me in Seattle twice.
10. I particularly remember one of my friends thinking he was very handsome.
11. We were at BYU together for a short time.
12. John introduced us to the game “Bang” and is a great player of the game.
13. He likes to cook.
14. He is spiritual.
15. He is a great uncle.
16. He has an uncle strategy of getting “in” with the oldest child and so far it works like a charm.
17. I helped him with spelling sentences once upon a time when my other brother Jeff had a bloody face and had to go to the ER with my mom.
18. He is kind.  Guys may not want to be known as that, but John really is.  And anyone would want a husband, brother, son, or father who is kind.
19. He eats kim chee. (not sure if that is spelled correctly, but see #8)
20. He worked at a pool store before college.
21. “Me gonna play horseshoe later!” – a quote from a family video at Sea Ranch.
22. He likes to camp.
23. He shares his birthday with 3 cousins and an uncle (I hope I got that right).
24. He likes to cook in a dutch oven.
25. He’s the bomb! (voice inflection like a bell curve.)

Family | 2 Comments »

I thought I’d take a minute to write how amazing Amanda has been this past month.  Some of you may have sensed some of her accomplishments through her blogs, but I thought I’d just outline a few of the little things I have admired about her this month:

• Language guru–Amanda is very determined to learn the language.  She immediately found someone at church who was willing to teach her lessons and she is now taking 3 lessons a week!  This week was vocabulary and she’s learned how to count to 1000, all the major colors, family members, common fruits and vegetables, possessives such as my, his her, our, etc and other household words.  She has not been afraid to go out to market and experiment with her new vocabulary and does this almost every day–and does it with two little girls.  I’m amazed at how quickly she learns and her innate ability to repeat words without hardly any accent.

• Metro traveller–Amanda has been so brave when it comes to trying new things here.  As you’ve guessed, she’s already been on the metro a couple times alone with two girls.  This may not seem like such a big deal, but it’s very intimidating, even for me at times.  The signs are often confusing and there are many tunnels that lead to carious entrances and exits that are not marked.  It’s very easy to get lost and yet she is still no afraid to try.

• Dinner planner–Amanda puts a lot of effort into preparing dinner every night.  And she has quite a repertoire, even here in Ukraine where products are so different and can be difficult or even impossible to find.  For example, the last few weeks we’ve had enchiladas, curry chicken, biscuits and gravy, and spaghetti with meat sauce.  This might not sound like a big deal, but remember, until this week, she’s been working on only 1-day of food storage, no pots and pans and using Kathryn’s spoons and forks as mixing utensils.

And this has all been accomplished while dealing with the girl’s horrible jet lag, herself getting sick once, the girls getting sick at least twice each already, me being away on business trips the first 2 weeks and now at work every day, living in 2 temporary apartments out of suitcases, unpacking and organizing a new home, dealing with people knocking on our door or calling our phone and not being able to understand what they’re saying, and somehow having the time to blog about it all. 

 I’m truly amazed at how well she is coping.  I may even put together a nice spreadsheet showing how much I appreciate all she does..

 3 cheers for Amanda.  Hip Hip Hooray!  Hip Hip Hooray!  Hip Hip Hooray!

Amanda | 4 Comments »

We took a walk last Saturday.  Here are some pictures of what we saw.  This church is viewable from our apartment.  We were told that behind it is the Dnieper River, which runs through Kyiv, and it was true!

Earlier on Saturday we went shopping.  I take Amelia in the baby bjorn, and Kathryn gets daddy’s shoulders.  By the end of the trip she is tired and resting on daddy.  Once she actuaully fell asleep and almost fell off!  (Darryl is very careful about that now.)

Family, Kyiv Adventures | 3 Comments »

We took a little video on Kathryn’s birthday, so for anyone interested please click here.  Or to read about her birthday again, click here.

Kathryn | 1 Comment »

Moloko is the word for milk.  Milk comes in a box.  I believe you can also get it in a bag.  They had bag milk in Romania as well, but it stayed good only a couple of days.  I’m assuming it is the same case here.  And you can imagine the trouble trying to not only to store milk in a bag, but to pour milk from a bag!  The box milk, on the other hand, is good for months.  I don’t understand it.  Darryl thinks it is the smartest thing ever.  The box has some kind of special seal so that you can store it non-refrigerated for quite awhile.  Then once you open it, you put it in the fridge.  That does frighten me just a little.  At home I am always very aware of the date on the milk and I don’t drink it past that date, and even before the date sometimes I make Darryl smell or taste the milk to make sure.  So storing milk in the cupboard for awhile makes me nervous.  On the other hand, it’s great!  You can store milk!  The brand we buy (which seems to be the best one) doesn’t have skim.  I’m not sure if skim exists here.  We buy .5%.  I’ve known some people to mix skim with 1%, so this would be perfect!  They have .5%, 1.5%, 2.5% and so on.  I even saw 6.5%! 

We have also been trying lots of cheeses and yogurts.  We do love cheese.  I can’t believe I lived so many years eating mostly cheddar and “grandma’s” (American) cheese.  After my mission I could hardly buy cheddar cheese.  Anyway, we’ve been getting some yummy yogurts, too.  Some would be yummier if it weren’t for the little bits of fruit.  That’s just a personal preference.  Darryl put something in our basket last week.  I didn’t really look at it.  Turns out it was strawberry yogurt (no fruit chunks) and chocolate!  There was chocolate on the top and yogurt underneath.  Wow!  Was that ever delicious!  We each took a bite to sample and before we knew it, the whole container was gone.

Kyiv Adventures | 1 Comment »