Happy Birthday Dad!

The old man turns 65 today. He’s throwing himself a heck of a party – now if only the rain would stop so the fun can really start!

Wish Mom was here to celebrate with us.

Having fun

We’re having a great time being here. Niagara Falls was truly spectacular. On Tuesday we rode the Maid of the Mist and did the Caves of the Wind walk under the falls. It was so fun to see the look on Igor’s face – so thrilled to be there, so in awe.

Wednesday we took my nieces to Ohio State and walked around campus, visiting friends in different buildings. Thursday we drove to Ft. Wayne to visit Tanya, and we came back to Columbus on Friday in time for an evening at Club Diversity with chocolate martinis. Saturday was another Eddie Bauer Warehouse excursion, followed by a fabulous cook-out at Scott and Carina’s house. Even a thunderstorm couldn’t stop us from having a great time!

Food fantasies indulged:
Igor – steak, steak and more steak. He bought the biggest hunks of meat I have ever seen. One guy at the cook-out stopped dead in his tracks by the grill and said “What is that? Is that meat?”
Ann – chocolate martinis (Igor loved them too), Mike’s Hard Pomegranate Lemonade, more chips and salsa and various yummy dips.

We had brought a bottle of balsam from Crimea to share at the cookout. It’s a kind of liquor, made from something like 27 different herbs, and is supposed to be good for your health. You can put it in tea, or mix it with vodka. Igor was a hit at the cookout making cocktails for everyone to try the balsam and vodka. After one small drink, my 6’6″ brother stood up and said “Holy cow, I’ve got a buzz! What the heck is in that?” Somehow in our explanations of how great it is for you, we must have forgotten to point out it’s 80 proof, so mixed with vodka it’s a damn strong drink! Lots of people asked where they could buy it, but I doubt it’s sold here.

Igor’s playing Wii with the twins now. So funny.

US adventures continue

We had a FANTASTIC time at Niagara Falls. We rode the Maid of the Mist, did the Cave of the Winds tour, and filled the camera memory card in less than 4 hours. I’ll post more photos later. We also drove up to Lake Ontario to Fort Niagara, which was really cool.

More food fantasies were indulged.
Igor: steak, yam (first one in his life), more Guinness beer, bacon.
Ann: Ceasar salads (2), pomegranate martini, tiny little burrito-like things that were fried (brilliant!), salt water taffy (bought it, haven’t eaten it yet), Morningstar soy-sausage breakfast patties, English muffins (about 8), more chips and salsa.

After looking at me in my cute new Eddie Bauer clothes for 3 days, Igor admitted he’s ready to go back to the warehouse store and actually look for himself now. I’ve converted him!

Cook-out photos

Some photos from the weekend cook-outs.

Igor admiring Dad’s grilling technique.

Scott and Igor

Tyler – what a cutie!

Igor the Master Chef

The shaskliki were a big hit

Birdnest in Dad’s backyard

Nothing like being the only boy at a party full of girls

Niagara Falls

As we were nearing the Niagara Falls area, Igor pointed to a place ahead of us and asked “What is all the smoke from?”
“It’s not smoke,” I told him, “it’s mist from the Falls.” Awe and wonder began to set in.

Food fantasies

In addition to getting my Eddie Bauer fix, I have also been indulging in all my favorite and sorely-missed foods. I was in Columbus barely 12 hours before I asked Dad to take us to Graeter’s for THE best ice cream in the world – and not a prune or raisin anywhere near! (I’ll never understand why Ukrainians think prunes go well with ice cream.) I had a giant scoop of delicious cookies ‘n cream – now there’s a great combination that desperately needs to be introduced to Ukrainian ice cream makers!

I’ve also had lots of chips and salsa, baba ganoush, hummus (multiple varieties), Starbucks mocha frappuccino, and blueberry pancakes.

We had a great cook-out on Sunday at my Dad’s house. Several friends who came to Ukraine in December for our wedding joined us, and it was nice for Igor to have some familiar friends to talk to. He was busy most of the time, though, cooking shashliki – pork, beef and vegetable varieties on an open wood fire. Everybody raved about how great they were, but I think he won’t do that again during this trip. He was way too occupied with the slow and tedious process, and didn’t get to socialize with folks much.

Today we drove to Niagara Falls. It’s a pity we didn’t plan better and apply for a Canadian visa for Igor so we could enjoy the amazing view from the other side. But the American side is pretty damn impressive too. We arrived too late today to do the boat or cave excursions, but we’ll do them tomorrow morning. We got lots of fantastic photos, plus a couple cool videos.

We hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast at Bob Evan’s, so by 7:30 pm we were damn ready for some dinner. We had wanted to eat at the Top of the Falls restaurant, but we were quite disappointed to find out it closed at 6. We ended up at Hard Rock Cafe, which was great. If I’ve been talking for months about clothes shopping, Igor has been talking for months about getting “real American steak.” Poor guy, it took three days to finally get one! He had the same look on his face after inhaling his New York Prime Steak as I think I had after my shopping spree at Eddie Bauer warehouse – a much needed and totally satisfying fix.

I’m too tired now to wait for all the photos to upload. I’ll write more later, and will post some photos here too.

O-hio-O

We are in Ohio! After nearly 24 hours of travel time, numerous delays, and some tense moments in JFK airport, we made it to Columbus late Friday evening, with everything except one suitcase. Fortunately the bag with most of our clothes made it to Columbus, but the bag with most of the presents spent the night in New York and was delivered to us on Saturday afternoon.

Igor was really impressed with Dad’s backyard – it really is a beautiful place full of blooming flowers, shady trees, a little fish pond, and lots and lots of birds. By Saturday afternoon, Igor had announced that he will move to America if he can live in Dad’s backyard. 🙂

Shopping was first on the To Do list, as we had brought very little with us (on purpose!). A quick trip to Target for some toiletries ended up being an hour, but Igor got a bathing suit and looked through jeans. He told us how in Soviet times there were three brands of jeans that everyone knew and wanted – Lee, Levi’s and Wrangler. When he saw Wrangler’s on sale for $15, he was thrilled. I suspect we’ll be taking several pairs back to Ukraine with us.

We then went to a local market and got some pork and other cook-out essentials. Igor is going to cook shashliki for our cookout on Sunday, kind of like ke-bobs. Our last shopping adventure for the day was the best shop on earth, the Eddie Bauer Warehouse. I was not disappointed! We spent about an hour there, which was pushing Igor to his limits for shopping for one day. The men’s clothes weren’t on such a great sale, but the women’s summer shirts, skirts and dresses were fantastic. When we finally dragged our haul out to the car and were ready to head back home, Igor asked me if I was satisfied. I look at him with a huge smile and said it felt like I’d just shot up with the best dope around – man, did I ever need an Eddie Bauer fix!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at my brother’s birthday cook-out. He and his family moved into our grandma’s house last summer, and it was the first time I’d seen the place since Grandma died. They’ve done a fantastic job sprucing the place up, and yet have kept a lot of Grandma’s things and it all looks great together. The yard is also beautiful, and Scott told us his plans for the backyard that sound really awesome.

Most of the people at the cookout were Scott and Carina’s friends, of course, but Clintonville is small and our lives and friends overlap in many ways here. My classmate Bob lives a couple houses down from Scott, and I was really happy to see him, his wife Jane and their 5 kids when they mosey over. Bob and I went to school together from 1st to 12th grades, and he grew up across the street from Grandma’s house. We don’t know if we knew each other before 1st grade, but it’s very likely we did.

By 7:30 Igor and I were both ready to fall asleep in our beers, so we decided to walk home. We laid in bed for a bit, listening to the birds sing and really enjoying the peace and quiet. Igor said he’d never imagined it could be so lovely in a city. I’m so glad we came in the summer. I’m so glad we are here. I’m so glad Igor is here with me and that he likes it!

The start of the journey

We’re sitting in Kyiv airport waiting for our flight to the US! The plane arrived late this morning, so our departure is delayed by 4 hours. I knew I booked a long layover in JFK for a good reason! The airline folks assure us 2 hours will be enough to get through customs and make our flight to Columbus. Let’s hope so!

The other reason I booked a long layover was to have a quick visit with my Peace Corps/Moldova friend Joanna. She lives in New York City now, and was going to come hang out with us at the airport for a few hours. I’m really, really sad I won’t be able to see her today.

On another note, Boryspil airport has radically changed in just the past 3 weeks since I flew to Georgia. The security and passport control have been totally rearranged, and now you can’t bring a bottle of water in the waiting lounge with you anymore. Of course, as soon as I don’t have a bottle of water handy, I instantly am parched and can think of nothing else except a drink of water.

After almost 3 hours waiting in various lines, we are finally sitting by the gate. Only 2 more hours to go until take-off!

World Blood Donor Day

I gave blood today! In honor of World Blood Donor Day (June 14), the United Nations in Ukraine organized a blood drive at a Kyiv hospital.

I love giving blood. It’s such a simple thing to do, and yet is so important and valuable. In the U.S., I gave blood fairly regularly, 2-3 times a year. I have an America Red Cross Volunteer Blood Donor Card, which documents my donations in 2003 and 2004. I still carry the card with me, mostly because it lists my blood type on it, and I was excited to get to add another date today. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the last time I gave blood in Columbus was June 5, 2004 – so it’s been exactly 4 years since my last donation! The nurses were really impressed with my “fancy” blood donor card, which I guess they don’t have here in Ukraine. They proudly told me about the special recognition given to people who donate 40 times, though.

The whole experience was pretty much like in the US, although a lot faster. Some questionnaires and numerous forms to be signed, as in the US. I was surprised only by the question of how much blood I wanted to donate – 250 milliliters, 350 ml, or 450 ml. I don’t remember what the standard donation is in the US, but I opted for 350 ml today. The nurse pricked my finger and did a blood type test (they had to confirm it themselves). Then I had a cup of juice and a roll before giving blood – in the US we always got our snack only after giving blood.

Finally I was ready to start bleeding. I was led into a small room with two tables arranged end to end along a glass wall with small open windows mid-way up. I laid down on one table and stuck my arm through the window, and the nurse on the other side of the wall began to prep my arm. Kind of a strange arrangement, it seemed to me. I always liked to watch the progress of the bag filling up with blood, but with this set-up I couldn’t see the bag at all so had no sense of my progress. I was quite surprised when the nurse announced I was done after about 5 or 7 minutes. My blood had always flowed slowly when I gave in the US and it always seemed to take me a long time to fill my bag. Maybe they took a larger amount in the US? Or maybe my blood was just being speedy today.

A nurse tied a hell of a tourniquet/bandage on my arm, and held on to me as I sat up and then stood up to make sure I wasn’t faint. I felt fine, and she led me back out to the reception area, where another nurse gave me a bag of “souvenirs”, as she called it. A box of juice and a chocolate bar!

My Ukrainian colleagues were very interested to know how this experience compared to giving blood in the US. Several of them were first time blood donors, and we talked about how it’s not so common to do in Ukraine as in the US. I was impressed to learn that Ukrainian legislation allows for a person to take 2 days off from work after giving blood, as a measure to encourage more blood donation. 2 days seems a bit excessive to me, but it’s a great idea to give someone a half- for full day off as an incentive. I was skeptical whether bosses and companies would really follow the policy, though, but my colleagues said they know companies that really do give the 2 days off. Pretty cool.

It’s so easy to give blood. I encourage everyone to check with their local Red Cross or hospital to find out where they can donate.

Here’s me and my colleague Anna, 350 ml of blood lighter.

Check out the UN photo gallery and photos, and more photos here.

Off to Korosten

We are going to Korosten for the weekend to visit Igor’s family – last chance before we head to the States next Friday.

I always enjoy visiting them, and I’ve missed them since the last time we were there. But man am I tired. I was trying to remember last night when was the last weekend I was just plain at home, and I don’t know. Igor couldn’t remember either. And I don’t know when will be the next weekend when we will just lounge around and be couch potatoes together. I know I do it to myself – I can’t sit still for long!

In other news, Igor shaved the cat again. Not as bad as the first time we did, but still lightyears away from the beautiful sleek creature that the salon would return to us. She seems happy enough with either style – elegant “booties” on her feet and a poof on her tail or bits and patches of fur here and there. He did a good job around her face, I give him credit for that, so if you can manage to just look at her adorable face and ignore the rather pathetic body, she’s lovely. Otherwise, you can’t help but laugh. And now that she’s not roasting in her fur coat, she’s all lovey-dovey again, sleeping under the covers with us, constantly on my lap snuggling. She’s purring up a storm at the moment. Oh how I love it.