Pysanka!

I made my first Ukrainian Pysanka! It was pretty fun. We used a traditional looking tool for applying wax that we melted into it's little cup with a candle. Our teacher was a famous Ukrainian Pysanka artist who has made 1000s of eggs and her eggs are in the Pysanka museum! Really very fun. We even learned a little bit about the history and some of the symbolism used on the eggs. Enough for me to at least know that the wikipedia page is fairly decent! Really interesting read... Strangely, my dad had made eggs similar to this (I think) but as Christmas decorations. And I don't think he knew at the time that he was making Ukrainian art!
~L

Flat Stanley in Kyiv!

Flat Stanley at St Sofia's

Flat Stanley at St. Andrew's

Flat Stanley shopping at the Spusk for Ukrainian souvenirs

Flat Stanley at the weird park

My niece Malaina mailed me a Flat Stanley. He travelled all the way from Indiana to Kyiv and got to see some of the sights! I'm going to mail him back, but here's a sneak preview of his travels! He was lucky that Belka did not eat him, but he did accidentally fall between the cracks of a bench / sculpture. Luckily we were able to fish him out with a stick! Now he's going to head back to Indiana, although it might take a while!
~L

How cold is that in Fahrenheit?

Wow. So it's definitely cold here now. Tomorrow's forecast is for minus 30 C!!! One of our favorite jokes is to ask "How cold is that in Fahrenheit". The answer is always "frikkin' cold!" We're still doing work, although the workers do get to take coffee and tea breaks to try and warm up a little bit. Belka still does not seem to mind the cold, but it's now even harder to go for long walks because the sidewalks are still icy and snowy and now it's also freezing. Even my house is a little cold but that's what blankets and sweaters are for. It really makes me nostalgic for those too hot summer days! I'm going to make some hot chocolate.
~L
p.s. the -30 includes windchill at least. and the equivalent is -16 F

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

This weekend my bro arrived in Kyiv! He got to see some of the sites (like the grocery store, and the mall...), but most importantly, we bought and decorated our (fake) Christmas tree!! Belka was a big help too (not). Actually, she seems disinterested in the tree thankfully and has not even tried to really sniff it yet!
Tomorrow it might even snow!
~L

Belka on the town

Today it didn't rain! Very exciting. Belka and I walked to the "weird" park and had a nice day. She is finally feeling mainly better which helps. Everyone thinks she's cute and they call her "собачка" (sobachka) which means little dog. I can't quite understand the rest of what they say, but I get that the gist is that she's cute! She even met some other dogs, although she didn't really seem to enjoy that much. But it was a great day to be a dog. Sadly, our morning and evening walks are always in the dark, and it's getting a little cold, but she doesn't seem to mind, and I have a warm coat and a hat! The funniest part is that I already feel like she's always been here. Although maybe that's just because I've been so sleep deprived that my sense of time is off... But I have high hopes for getting a full night's sleep tonight! well, from 11 to 5 at least! Maybe even 6 if i'm lucky...
~L

Raining cats and dogs! plus, a dog!

Winter in Kyiv is officially here, and it's honestly a little gloomy! Although not as dark as I feared, although we still have another month until the shortest day of the year. We had a little snow already, but I missed it because I was in DC celebrating "Thanks-o-ween" with the family! (well, and working). But I'm hoping we'll have some more soon. It rains almost everyday, which is both gloomy and bad for our construction. But despite my hesitations about the impending bad weather, I finally got a dog!!! One of our local employees helped me find Belka on a website for pets who needed new homes. I went to meet her and she was so sweet that I decided that she would be my first dog. She really is a sweety! I've been taking more pictures and videos that i'll post soon, but here's a first glimpse!
~L

All Work and No Play Makes Lisa a Dull Blog

Yikes! I haven't posted anything since July! I was hoping that I would become less busy as more of our project staff arrived (including my boss) but somehow the work just seems to keep increasing. I have had some small amounts of fun over the past few months, like discovering a big mall above my grocery store. And discovering more restaurants to eat in - although I still haven't made it to the Mexican restaurant. And just today we discovered a pretty good cappucino place! And I got to go to the beach in Italy! It was great, although very very hot. It made me miss my little room air conditioning units! But now that September is here in Kyiv, it's actually already starting to feel chilly. The nights are getting down to the 50s, but the daytime is still in the high 60s or 70s. So it's nice crisp weather. Well, more like October weather back in DC, but it's still nice. We'll see what I think of the weather here in a few months! And when it gets cold, I'll just have to try and remember how I also don't like the heat... Actually, the weather right now is perfect, so I'll do my best to enjoy it while it lasts.



The highlight of the Italy trip (besides seeing I.M. and finally going back to the Baths of Caracalla) was our trip to the "Grotte di Pastena". The signs promised us "emozione in piu" - emotions and more! But the sign also made it look as if the Grotto was a local attraction, perhaps in the next town if not the one we started in. Two hours later.... still no grotto!!! But there were still signs, just when each time we thought we were lost and would never find it. Luckily, we made it in time before it closed and got to go see it. It was pretty cool, but I don't know about "emozione in piu". We think the emotions referenced on the sign referred to the hopelessness and mild distress about driving through the middle of Italy in search for a grotto that may or may not actually exist... But it was neat. There were pipistrelli! (bats) And a few parts made me a little claustrophobic. Especially when they mentioned that we were 50 m underground! :( But we survived. And also realized where we were so that we could make it back to our campsite in just 1 hour instead of the 2 it took to get there. But I will say that the drive there was beautiful. So maybe that was the "emozione in piu". Isn't that saying that life is about the journey not the destination? That should be the Grotto di Pastena's motto also! Hee hee. The website sortof makes it look very dramatic!
~L

(outside the grotto - actually above it technically)

TGI - П

I got a chance to walk around downtown today again, and decided to go to the TGI Fridays! Well, if it were in Ukrainian, the word for Friday starts with "P" instead of F, but I don't think they really understand the saying because they just translated it phoenetically so it still is TGI Fridays. But what's kindof neat is that it is pretty much like the ones at home! The waitresses have to wear "flair" although not too much. And they all seemed to speak English, which makes sense seeing as the only people that go there are probably British and Americans. I had a Barbeque Burger, but I should have had the quesadilla. Next time! Interestingly, across the street was a "Papa John's" pizza, although something tells me it's a different Papa John that started this one... Also across the street was another market or "Rynok". I also went shopping at some book stores, and I found Harry Potter books (Гарри Поттер), but I think they were in Ukrainian instead of Russian. Then I'll really never understand them! So I guess I'll wait a little bit until I know how to ask "Do you have this in Russian?" Actually, I think I do know how to say that, but I had to think about it for a while...

Tomorrow is Ukrainian Constitution day, so I don't have to work! (Although I will have to work July 4th! Our jobsite closes for Ukrainian holidays but not generally American ones.) I'm going to work on studying Russian!
~L

Success!

Well, that worked out superbly, I was about to give up on my video, and to appease the readers (i.e. because my dad asked) I was going to post some pictures of my place.  But now the video worked too!  The pictures are a little better because I have actually sortof unpacked.  Although, for the record the clothes are on the dresser because they're supposed to be hung up and I keep telling myself I'll go buy hangers one of these days...

~L

Андреевский спуск - St. Andrew's Descent - The Spusk!

The "spusk" is a street that snakes down from the top of "Kyiv Hill" (which I live on) down to the commercial "old town" of Podil.  Спуск or "Spusk" literally means descent in Russian.  (It's "uzviz" in Ukrainian but for it's mainly called the spusk.)  But what makes it cool is that artists and crafts people, and some people who look like they're having a garage sale, all set up stands and sell their goods.  It's closed off to cars so you can walk down the hill and shop!  Last weekend was Kyiv Days so there were extra artists in town.  It was really cool.  There are lots of paintings, ceramics, embroidery, wood carvings, and everything else!  I bought a glass vase so that I could buy flowers from one of the flower stands that are everywhere.  Ukrainians (and Russians I'm told) really love flowers!  Then, once you get to the bottom of the hill, you have to get back up.  I rode the funicular!  It's interesting, but a good way to get back up the hill!  At the top of the hill where the funicular takes you there is a nice park and you can walk either down to the Maidan or back home.  Pretty nice way to spend a Sunday!  

~L

Let's go build something!

So since I am actually here for work, I thought I'd share one work event as well.  We held our groundbreaking ceremony!  There were press and everything.  I didn't officially participate, but I got a chance to take a photo with one of the "golden" shovels.  We had a "guard dog" on site for a while, and she got a "golden" chain for the event!  Sadly, rules being rules, we had to evict the guard dog.  But at least she had her moment of fame!

~L

Welcome to Kyiv!

After the drama with my poor buns, my trip to Kyiv went pretty well.  I had waaaaay too much stuff, although now that I made it I'm glad I dragged it all with me.  Especially because the rest of my stuff won't get here until the end of July!  But man, talk about Christmas in July!  That will be a wonderful day!  Maybe this is where that expression came from!

I lived in a "temporary" apartment for a week or so before I moved into my "permanent" apartment.  Well, permanent for the next three years!  Both are located very near the down town areas of Kyiv (there are sortof 2) so I can easily walk around and explore on foot.  (Which is good because I don't have my car yet either!).  But this is a great time of year for walking!  We've had a few rainy days, but even then it's seemed to be the kind of rain that tires itself out after a while so you can sneak about in between showers.  Or I can ride the bus for 1.50 Gryvna's.  (Which is not very expensive at all!)

I was taken to a big grocery store and pleased to discover that everything is here!  Although, for some reason the toilet paper is scented.  And of course the labels are all in Ukrainian or Russian.  But they have lots of fruit, veggies, meat, and fish.  And juice!  Juice is my new favorite staple.

The first weekend I walked about I took some pictures and videos with my new camera (thanks Mike and Traci!)  :)  Enjoy this little glimpse!  More to come!

~L