The Weekend

I can hardly believe the girls started their second week of school today. I know they felt the weekend flew by as they were busy with their first soccer match, meeting more relatives for the first time and their first full morning at church with Olena and Julia in children's church and Aimee sitting with us during the service.
Saturday morning was Olena and Aimee's first soccer game. They lost but had a lot of fun playing in their team jerseys. Following the game we had lunch at Stan's parents where the girls met Stan's Uncle Hank and Aunt Sally. A highlight of the visit was touring the RV that Hank and Sally came in. I can't remember how many times the girls simply said, "Wow!" (Aimee also said "Oh, my head!" a couple of times, an example of some more colloquial English that they are picking up.)
Sunday morning the girls met my parents for the first time as they had just arrived from India. They bounded right into Grandma and Grandpa's house and started exploring right away. When I first pointed to my mom and asked Olena who this was, she immediately came up with "Grandpa!" She had learned to say "Grandmother" and "Grandfather" in English class in Ukraine so these abbreviated names were a bit confusing at first. When we came back later for lunch, they cleaned out the play house and tried out the bikes they found in the garage with much enthusiasm. Olena has already ordered her birthday cake from Grandpa with "Aslan, Peter, Edmund, Lucy, and Susan."
She has become quite a fan the Chronicles of Narnia films. Another big hit in our home are the Anne of Green Gables movies. They love to recite with much giggling the scene where Anne is rescued by Gilbert (whom they call Yogurt for lack of better pronunciation)from under a bridge after her rowboat sinks.

First day of school

Yesterday spring break ended for most kids and school started for ours. There was a little whining the night before, but they seemed ready to go in the morning. I think a lot had to do with the fact that they had been there 3 times already. They went once to meet their teachers. We all went on the day before Spring Break to watch a fun-filled limbo party (and Julia actually sat with her classmates on the floor near the action, three of which came up to us in the bleachers to get her -- you can see her on the right with sunglasses and a pink flower). Afterwards, we stopped at McDonald's for an ice cream and a quick visit to

the playland. Julie and the kids also went once during spring break for Aimee to explore her classroom.

(Maria had been introducing herself to new people as Aimee since her second week here, so we eventually had a talk and it seems pretty clear that she wants to be called that; we are actually pretty happy about that.)

So yesterday we all got in the car early enough to arrive about 15 minutes before the other kids and drop all 3 off in their classrooms before anyone but the teachers was there. They all seemed just

fine with letting us go.

In the afternoon, Julie got there early enough to pick them up in the foyer, get a quick report from each teacher, and help the kids to the right bus. Then she drove home alone so they could experience the whole bus ride as it normally would be. When they got home, there were lots of animated smiles and stories. In Aimee's words, school was "super, just like High School Musical". When I asked Olena how many friends she had, the count was 9. And Julia's first words were, "I ate ice cream today!" When she happily showed us how big it was, she sized it about a foot tall, although Aimee, who has lunch hour at the same time, assured us that this was not true.

This morning was rough though, probably because there had been some

talking and even switching beds until too late last night in the younger girls' room. Aimee was ready early and even reviewed words for a spelling test scheduled for

tomorrow, but the other two were pretty recalcitrant. Julie

had to dress Julia, and Olena spent enough time whining

instead of getting

ready that she had to

settle for flipflops when the bus arrived. A stressful morning for Mom (and Dad), but probably it will be a useful lesson and reference point. And... it turned into an awesome

day for the kids! There was nothing but positive comments today, and even more excited stories. All three of them have obviously better English than they did at

the beginning of the week; probably the immersion is bringing out a lot that they had already absorbed earlier. Olena asked me after supper to help her with a project: on her first try, she was able to read the names of about half of the 21 kids in her classroom, and we quickly narrowed the rest down to 4 and worked on those for a while.

This week the girls all survived their physicals. In all there were 13 needle sticks for their blood work and immunizations. Unfortunately they weren't evenly distributed. Olena got away with only two needle sticks. The other two, of course had a few more.

After Olena's and Julia's physicals we did some fun stuff to sweeten the deal. On Thursday afternoon we visited some friends who live near the pediatrician's office. The girls got to play on the playground of the nearby school with them. Swings were the favorite, but playing soccer and basketball also provided lots of smiles and laughter.

After the last physical today, we dropped in on Stan's mom for lunch. The girls thoroughly enjoyed eating fish sticks, pickles, noodles, tomatoes, and green beans with their Baba. The highlight of the afternoon was a shopping trip to Kohl's with her. This is the first time they've actually been able to pick out clothing for themselves as I had to pick it out in Ukraine and since we've been in the States we've had lots of wonderful clothing items given to us. It was nice to finally see what they were interested in. The vast amount of choices were, of course, overwhelming but they did pretty well for the first time. After shopping we cashed in certificates for free ice cream cones at McDonald's provided by the lab from the pediatrician's office. All those needle sticks did have an upside.

Visit to the Doctor

Today we hurried through our morning lessons so we could eat lunch early then rush off to the pediatrician's office for a physical. The doctor only does one new patient physical per day, so today was Maria's turn. In the past month the girls have had a physical with the orphanage doctor, the U.S. Embassy approved doctor and now an American doctor. One of the main purposes of this physical was to review their immunization records and administer vaccinations needed before starting school. Maria needed four immunizations and a few blood tests. Although Maria was not very happy about all the needles, she did a good job sitting still. Ironically, the other girls were begging to get shots, too. I guess they don't want to miss out on anything. Their turn is coming later this week.

At dinner time Stan asked me what immunizations Maria had to get. I had started to reply, "Well, I think Hep A, Hep B. . ." when Julia interrupt in song, "C, D, E, F, G. . . H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P!" I'm sure Maria felt like she got the whole alphabet of immunizations today.

Julia, on the other hand is getting much better at singing the alphabet song. The first time I heard her sing it by herself at the orphanage she sang, "H, I, J, K, Olena, P."

Busy Weekend

This weekend was full for all of us. It started early with Friday lunch with Aunt Beth and cousin Jeremy at McDonald's. The two older girls had been to a McDonald's before, but this was the first time for Julia. They timidly ate their happy meals and watched the other kids play. After the meal, however, cousin Jeremy helped coax them out and up the highest platforms on the playplace. It didn't take long for them to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

After checking out the Disney movie 'High School Musical' from the library last week, the girls have watched it every day, sometimes more than once. When we found out that their cousin Alisa was trying out for her high school musical on Friday, we went over and crashed the audition with what is becoming known as Alisa's fan club. All three girls adore Alisa.

On Saturday while I was at the shower, Stan and the girls went to Uncle Pete's house and spent the afternoon with their boys, Will, Nathan, and Jeremy, and Amy's girls, Lily and Ellie. Although a little hesitant at first, each of them took at least one turn riding the horse. They met the cows, the rabbits, the dog, and cat. They enjoyed the warm weather while roasting hot dogs and

marshmallows.The girls love playing with cousin Lily. On Saturday they invented a game called 'Smush' which in

volves two girls sitting on a recliner and then the third one comes along and squishes her way in on

the same chair. This apparently entertained them for an extended period of time with many minutes of nonstop giggling.

After finding out that Mom, Aunt Beth, and Alisa had all been at church on Saturday afternoon, the girls began insisting on going to church on

Sunday morning. We weren't sure if they were ready to be in classrooms yet, but since they were enthusiastic about going, we decided to attend for the Sunday School hour. I went with Maria to her class where she decided to introduce herself as Aimee instead of Maria.

This may be the name she decides to go with in church and school contexts. We'll wait to see if this sticks.

Olena went to her class with cousin Alisa. They both seemed to enjoy the Sunday School hour. Olena come home with two packs of chewing gum, most of which was shared and enjoyed with her sisters on the ride home from church. Julia ended up with an enormous wad of gum in her cheek by the time we got home.

Stan went with Julia to her class. Julia had already been struggling some this morning as we were getting ready for church. She wasn't up to participating much during the class, but she was able to see what was happening in class from a safe distance with Papa.

Overall, they seemed to hold up well through all the social activities of the weekend.

Shower & Church Visit

Our adoption shower will be this Saturday, March 19th from 2-4 p.m. at Pleasant View Bible Church in the fellowship room. Things that would be useful to us are posted on the Ukrainian Princesses blog. The girls won't be there as this type of event is one thing that usually proves to be overwhelming for newly adopted kids.

Last night we visited church with the girls so they could meet the families of our small group and see what their Wednesday night classrooms look like. We came late so we could make an abbreviated first visit. They were excited that their cousin, Alisa could show them around.

When we first drove up to church, they were a little freaked out by the cemetery that is located beside the old church building. It took some time to answer questions and calm them down. After we went inside the new building I had motioned for them to be quiet as we went downstairs towards where our small group meets. Maria's eyes got big as she asked, "What's down there?" I don't know if she was expecting a crypt.

They met the adults in our small group, then saw their classrooms and finally met the kids from our small group. By the end of the evening, they were clinging to me and asking to go home. Although they were a bit overwhelmed by the end of the visit, they had the trip home to calm down. When we got home we pulled out the church directory and to our surprise, they were able to pick out nearly everyone they saw, even if they didn't remember many names.

So far today, no major meltdowns (although Maria asked to take a nap at 11:00 am this morning - strange!) so it seems like our first visit was a success.

Craft and Games

Today we made a little more progress in the English language. Have you ever tried to sound out the word "one?" English doesn't make much sense at all.

This afternoon we did a craft with newspaper. We folded strips and wove them around a paper towel roll to make baskets.

Another first today was playing Sorry. We don't have the whole game mastered yet, but we have the basics down.

Today has been a great day and I'm hoping that this is an indication of what family life will be now that we are all over our jet lag and our colds. Home school went so well this morning that I dared to venture out with the all three of the girls. Our first trip in the car together was to the library. They all three received library cards and had a chance to use their new skill of writing their names in English. We've been practicing that in school.

They each picked out a movie and a Disney book that matched their princess. Their movies were Beauty and the Beast (Olena's doll), Home Alone 2 (they all knew the first movie), and High School Musical (Maria is crazy about it - I think she saw it in Ukraine). Stan is watching Home Alone 2 with the girls now and there is a lot of laughter floating up from downstairs.

We learned while we were in Ukraine that the children's library in Perechyn charges for borrowing books. I asked them what they thought of our library in America and got a big "thumbs up" for a response.

Last night Stan got out a can of Pringles to have with our dinner. When he brought it to the table, the girls asked what it was. He said it was chips. Maria shook her head and indicated that chips come in rectangular bags. Stan insisted they were chips. He opened up the can and started passing them out and much to Maria's surprise, they were chips! Stan's comment: They're so organized in this country, they even stack their chips!

Meeting the Family

This week we have slowly been introducing the girls to the family members in Indiana. The Grosses stopped in for a visit midweek. The younger girls are painting their cousin Alisa's nails in this picture.

Stan's parents came over for dinner on Friday evening. The girls dressed for the event with frilly dresses.

Cousin Lily and her mom, Amy came to visit us on Saturday. They brought princess Barbies - a new treasured possession. They also loaned us some DVDs that that have the story of these Disney princesses.

The busy weekend is over and Papa is reading a bedtime story.

Things That Amaze and Excite Us

Scented moist towelettes - Since we first brought them to the orphanage, Julia in particular is very passionate about moist towelettes
The airplane as it accelerated down the runway (Julia with big eyes)
The airplane landing (Julia - 'Wooooow!')
Coca Cola
Pizza
Stuffed animals that talk
The air vent and the hot air that comes out (they've only known radiator heaters)
The garage door opener
Anything electronic, computers to calculators
PBSkids.org games
Melted cheese on toast
The swing in the backyard
Water out of the refrigerator door
Fresh fruits and vegetables - the current most exciting being tomatoes, green beans and pineapple
Baby Praise DVD
Snuggling into the couch with a blanket to watch a DVD
The washing machine
Anything remotely to do with princesses
Disney cartoons and Hallmark movies
How popcorn goes from a handful of kernels to a bowl full of popped corn
Frilly dresses
Lip gloss

Not much to say about past

This is just a quick post to say, since some have asked, that we are not planning to talk to anyone about what we know of our daughters' past lives, except to say that they are hurt kids, which is of course true of all orphans, and that they have been in the orphanage for about 2 years. Their own story really belongs to them, and we are giving them a chance to start a new life as themselves and to talk about the past when they are ready and on their terms. No one wants to be defined by the things that have hurt them, and our children will have plenty of work adjusting to American life anyway, with no unnecessary drama.

Pre-Dawn Sewing Party

One of the latest things the girls have been enthusiastically engaging in is embroidery. As you saw in the pictures of the museum at the orphanage, embroidery is a significant part of the culture. The girls were exposed to the art while they were at the orphanage and they went crazy over some supplies that Stan's mom and some dear friends had already passed along to us. We had everyone set up with their own embroidery hoop, cloth, needle and embroidery floss when they asked if they could keep their embroidery stuff in their room. They had been sewing so diligently and quietly all afternoon, how could I say no?

A little before 6 a.m. this morning, I noticed there was a little more light in the hall than normal, so I went to investigate. All three girls were in Olena and Julia's room having a little sewing party. They were bitterly disappointed when I broke it up to have them get back in bed for a little longer. My estimate of just how long this party had been going on when I arrived got longer as the day went on, especially when the meltdown count sky-rocketed. It was a really good day to have a husband who works out of the home. I definitely benefited from some tag-team parenting today.

The challenges of the day seem pretty small when I think about how many sweet moments we had as well. Here are some pictures to document some of them.Stan and Olena went out for a haircut early this morning. They both came back looking sharp.

The girls had their first chance to try out a new soccer ball.












And as the most enthusiastic new Hoosiers, they did a great job shooting hoops.










After the early start to the day, Olena didn't make it to 8 p.m.

Moving Past Jetlag

This morning was the first morning since we've been back that the girls all slept past 4:30 a.m. Starting my day closer to 7 a.m. leaves a little more energy in the tank at the end of the day to do things like post on the blog. So far, apart from half of us being sick, the adjustment is going amazingly well. We know there are so many of you praying for our family and we are deeply grateful.
The girls are working hard to learn about their new home (how do you turn on the faucet in the bathroom?), new foods (what does banana flavored instant oatmeal taste like?), new rules (What buttons can I touch? Let's see what happens if I press this one), and of course, new words (What does 'giggling' mean? Mama is always looking at us and shaking her head and saying something about it). As kids who spent some of our formative years in different cultures, Stan and I are fascinated by the kids' process of discovery in their new environment. I've started a list of things that they find amazing and exciting.
On Monday morning I started home schooling them in English. I was able to pick up three workbook in Ukraine for the beginning English student with instructions in Ukrainian. The first step for them is learning a new alphabet with new sounds. There is some overlap, but then there are also letters that have a very different sound in the Cyrillic alphabet then they do in the Latin alphabet. There are tons of free online sites for children who are learning English and I have a few DVD's that we are using as well. We've been practicing writing their full new names. This was fairly easy task for Maria to master, but when Julia saw 'Danielle' fully spelled out in her exercise notebook, she looked a little overwhelmed. They are latching on to their new names, though. When our friend came over to drop of some meals this afternoon, all three of them introduced themselves by their middle names.
Well that's about all the energy I have for this evening, so I'll wrap it up with pictures.

Our first meal together at home.















The girls LOVE fresh fruit for snacks










They finally got to try out the swing in the back yard that they saw in the pictures we showed them while they were still living at the orphanage.

Home at last!

After 4 straight crazy days (Wed leaving the orphanage and taking a 17-hour train ride, a stressful Thursday morning at the embassy then figuring out family life in an apartment, Friday doing a 10-hour marathon between the hospital and the embassy, and a 24-hour travel day on Saturday) we are finally home. Thanks so much to the friends and family that set up our house and provided food so we could just slide right into life here; we feel very supported even though we have seen only 4 people so far. It is too bad we haven't been able to video all the kids' reactions to various things, but it is obvious that all 3 are really loving life here after just half a day. And for us it is pretty surreal to be back here. More than ever, I am appreciating stable internet, a comfortable bed, a proper shower, and a bunch of other things about our house.

Julia is the most expressive, but Olena is smiling nonstop here and often giving Julie impulsive hugs (she is very affectionate and easy to please and was an absolute joy for the last few weeks and on the trip), and Maria was pretty overwhelmed by having her own beautiful bedroom and is obviously happy though still quite quiet. Just after Pete and Beth and my parents left us alone, Julia was sitting at the counter and I asked her if she wanted an orange, an apple, or a banana, and she said, "Orange, apple, AND banana." I was just starting to get that when she caught a glimpse of what was in the drainer and started yelling, "Pomidorchka, pomidorchka, pomidorchka!" (a diminutive word probably best translated "cute little tomato"), setting all 4 of us laughing. A similar thing happened at lunchtime today when I pulled some Polish kielbasa off the grill and she just about came through the glass shouting "Kovbaska (little sausage)". Another classic: taking a sip of Coke in Frankfurt, exclaiming "Cacacochka!" (not a real word, I think, but close enough), and giving the bottle a delighted and passionate kiss. They did get a peaceful start to the day, all three snuggled together under blankets on the loveseat in front of Sunday morning cartoons. Maria and I had a good time together later in the backyard filling up the birdseed and getting the deck cleared off; she insisted on doing all the shoveling while I got the grill going.

The trip went better than I was expecting. We were in the air for about 12 hours (almost 3 to Frankfurt and at least 9 to Chicago). Julia had a little trouble during the layover and around hour 8 over the Atlantic. Lufthansa gave fantastic food service and nicer kiddie toys on both flights than I have ever seen, even when airlines were more full-service when I was little: nice stencils in a classy cloth bag, chocolates, playing cards, and a painted wooden baby bird on a steel carabiner. Maria hurt her hand trying to get out of the plane bathroom, which dampened the last part of her trip, but she was a trooper and she is fine now. All three slept the whole 3 hours of the van ride home from Chicago. Everyone slept through the important hours of the night, too, although Julie needed to help Julia a little at the beginning and around 4:30. I made sure I didn't sleep after Frankfurt, and I was able to sleep until 8, and then Julie got some extra sleep while I kept the girls busy.

We know there is going to be a lot of adjustment and work for all 5 of us in this next chapter, but it feels incredible for all the craziness, dangers, and uncertainties in the adoption process and orphanage to be over. There were so many ways that God's hand was obvious on this trip and, in retrospect, over the last 3 years to bring these particular 3 precious girls into our family that we are pretty overwhelmed with thankfulness. All the waiting, effort, and pain were definitely worth it.

Olena's teacher had a hard time saying goodbye.

Taking visa pictures on Thursday

Wiped out after the first embassy visit

Visas

Medical exam this morning, visas this afternoon, dinner with Benzels, then packing. Some seats opened up so we are getting 2 hours of sleep then getting up to catch a 5:30 am Saturday flight!

Trip to Kiev, First full day together

It is hard to blog for two days that were so full, especially on my smartphone, but I'll give the highlights at least before we crash.

We are all 5 in Kiev after our first appointment at the embassy, Val is on the train with girls' passports in hand, and the embassy expects to give us visas tomorrow at our 2 pm appointment. Tomorrow the only other thing needed is medical exam; we need to be on the street at 7:30 am to meet Val and go to the hospital. Rebooking for Saturday would have cost $8000 so we have reserved airplane tickets for Sunday, which has the benefit of giving us a day to rest after a 3-day flurry. We are back in civilized Kiev, which allowed us to have excellent Italian-style pizza for our first family meal (not counting bread, cheese and snacks on the train). This is the first time we have overlapped in Kiev with our friends the Benzels, and it is the time their assistance is most appreciated. It is no surprise that watching Julia is a fulltime job; she has arms an inch longer than you think and a mystical fascination with buttons (she locked herself in the bathroom, rang the neighbor's doorbell, and came a quarter inch from wiping out some embassy info I walked 30 minutes to get). She is also one of the happiest and most affectionate kids you can imagine, and says thank you (in Dutch) for every little thing you do for her; she also has surprised me by doing a better job than her sisters at the "Point to the ___" game we play to teach them English words without their having to say them. Other than that, things gave gone very smoothly, although some of our plans in the last couple of days are being made on the spur of the moment by Val, which has caused unnecessary stress and easily avoidable problems.

The biggest adventure today is that we had no money to pay for visas since we had given it to Val earlier, and our credit card bank had mysteriously blocked our account (both our banks did that last summer even though we had specifically authorized them before our trip); I spent 90 min trying to get that taken care of with some very unusual challenges. Just as I was finally able and ready to get the money, Julie and the kids met me in the street; the office had decided they could accept it tomorrow.

On Our Way

We are expecting to be on our way to pick up the girls in the next few minutes. We just found out it would be possible to have our facilitator stay behind to pick up the passports and fax them to the Embassy while we are in the train with the girls. This will move up our plans by a day with the potential of leaving Saturday. As you can tell, plans are always in flux.
We expect to be in transit for the next 24 hours or more and won't be able to post updates during that time. We'll let you all know how the day unfolds soon after we are settled in Kiev.
Thanks for your prayers.

Full final day in Perechyn

It's 1:26 am so I don't think I'll have time to do justice to all the things that happened today. I'll skip a lot of little errands and a lot of planning and replanning with the facilitator as things unfolded. The highlights: we got things rolling at the vital records office as soon as it opened at 9, and got birth certificates around 3, so we are now in fact their parents. We notarized and submitted passport requests, and the person in charge said she would get our app ready even if she had to stay up at night to do it. Unfortunately it was not done before the end of the day so we can't leave for Uzhgorod first thing, so it will not ready until 10 at least tomorrow since it needs legalizing. We still hope to get passports tomorrow and take the night train, but flying on Saturday is not realistic.

At 4 we called the travel agent from a cafe to work on changing tomorrow morning's flight. Late tonight w talked more and he got Lufthansa's permission to cancel our flights but not rebook till Thursday when our departure date is more certain.

At 4:30 wegot to orphanage and started our 3 parties. 2 of the teachers cried, they really are a lot more than teachers, and the kids loved the food and favors, and we got lots of pictures of kids with classmates that will be special. Big success there thanks mostly to Julie's prep. We were called away to sign a bunch of papers in the director's office basically requesting the girls' release.

At 6:45 we left and spent a delightful 4 hours at Sheila and Max's home over a home-cooked dinner, the best way to get to know them better. Then walked home in the cold, finalized plans with travel agent, and packed. At 1:50, it's time to get some sleep before another big day and short night.

Shower

People have started asking about gifts and a mom's shower. Instead of doing a store registry, we have made a list on a parallel site, ukrprincesses.blogspot.com. There is a shower being planned at Pleasant View Bible Church for sometime in March.

We don't mind getting multiples of items on the first two lists. If you get us something on the third, "one of each" list, please email my parents, Herman and Maryann Hartzler, at hermhart7@gmail.com so they can cross it off. They can also provide a mailing address. Thanks!

Back on the paperwork path, Uzhgorod sights

We started the day off by giving an interview to the Center for Civic Initiatives for us to include an article about our family in their monthly newspaper. Our preseence is a useful opportunity to talk positively about adoption and build some community pride in their good orphanage and encourage people to get involved. Everyone in the office had suggested this one by one when I first met them a week ago. Then the writer hurried off to another interview for a companion article about a local woman who heard that a recent graduate of the orphanage who is a single mom was going to be on the street and offered an empty room in her house; unfortunately, this room is not heated and there is no money for firewood for the mom and the baby, but it is inspiring that the lady accepted this stranger into her house.

After that we went on the bus with Sheila and her husband Maxim, who is a professional dancer and theatrical actor, to Uzhgorod. They will be accompanying a Transcarpathian cultural performance team to eastern U.S. in May. Max had to work, but Sheila took us to the Uzhgorod Castle and to the architectural museum (a Transcarpathian version of the Pirohovo museum we saw last summer, with a lot of wooden buildings transported here to demonstrate what towns used to look like) and an cheap but delightful restaurant that reminded us that Perechyn is not the best this region has to offer in style and service. We also shopped at a grocery store as big as a full-size American supermarket for the three class parties tomorrow, as well as some essentials like shampoo and toothbrushes for the kids.

We got back to Perechyn pretty exhausted, although Julie had time to go say hi to our daughters and tell them that we were leaving town on Wednesday. They all got very excited about that and were running around telling their friends. I was planning to go to the office for an hour or so but found it was going to close early, so just ended up working on some email in the room until Julie got back.

Then we met Val for the first time in almost two weeks and went out for supper in our new favorite restaurant in town: Pidkova (the Horseshoe). It has a nonsmoking room (which has been closed 2 out of 4 times for parties), solid Wi-fi, and an excellent banosh. (In fact, when Julie first tasted it, she said "Now we don't have to go back to the chan," which has given me lots of chance to tease her that the only reason she wanted another visit to the chan, 45 minutes each way, 90 minutes in the pot, and 4 dips in the icy creek, was to eat its banosh afterwards.) He had good news: not only did the court release the final copy of the decree to him, but the local passport office accepted our papers early so they can get started as soon as possible. This is leaving a little more room for hoping that we can catch the 4 pm Kiev train on Wednesday and maybe even get the flight on Saturday instead of sometime next week. Getting our paperwork done at the Perechyn passport office tomorrow is going to be critical if we want a chance to dodge what Val fears may be a 4-day weekend.

New vocabulary:
banosh (BAHN-osh) - heat and stir cream until it clots, then slowly stir in corn meal and let congeal into a heavy pudding, then cover with homestyle curds, crackling (roasted bacon pieces), and dollops of sour cream.
chan (CHAHN)- Transcarpathian mountain hot tub, a metal pot heated over a wood fire, with stones in the bottom to keep you from getting burned and scented with large bunches of herbs