Things I missed while in Ukraine

(Laura looked through my rough drafts and was disappointed I never published this blog post. I don't know why it never was "published." So, to please Laura, and even though this is very outdated, I will post something I wrote in June 2013 just after we adopted.)

We had a great time in Ukraine. We really did. But we wanted to be home... And so, to keep a positive attitude, I tried to find things to be thankful for. It was pretty easy really.

Things we were thankful for (in no particular order) :
Good health! (I was walking around with a kidney stone, and it only reminded me it was there a couple of days out of a whole month!)
A shower with good water pressure (especially when it got hot)
Wonderful weather (vacation type weather!)
A store right near the church that sold COLD Pepsi
80 cent hamburgers and 40 cent ice cream cones at MacDonald's
Two concierges that made us feel welcome
Friends that took good care of us
Wireless internet (we really didn't expect to have this)
God's hand in the details, and in the big things!

Things I am thankful to have at home (and I hope to never take them for granted again) :
A washing machine
A clean towel whenever I want
A frig, a stove, a kitchen sink, well ok, the whole kitchen!!!
Drinkable tap water
Peace and quiet (the only thing that wakes us up is birds singing)
A double bed
A yard
A houseful of activities to keep kids busy
Camembert (I added this one for Philip. I didn't really miss it)

Learning Ukrainian

One of the unexpected bonuses of adopting is free language lessons. I tried to learn some Ukrainian with a computer program before we traveled, but nothing seemed to stick... Six months later, with 8 weeks in country, and 3 months with our new kiddos, I know alot more. How useful these words are is another story.
And are these words really Ukrainian? Our children actually speak more Russian than Ukrainian. We think. So who knows what they are really teaching us! They often don't agree as to which word is Russian and which is Ukrainian, although they know them both. Sometimes we end up on Google Translate to get things straight.
[Philip had a huge head start. He grew up hearing Polish. Never spoke a word of it (except of course, a few of his favorite dishes) but could follow a sermon pretty well. While we were in Ukraine, he started communicating in a language that I didn't understand. When I asked him what he was using, he said he guessed it was Polish! Turns out Polish and Ukrainian have many, many words in common. Seventy percent according to Wikipedia.]

I know my colors. (Or at least the ones needed to play Uno. And black and white. And pink of course. We adopted a girl.)
I can count to ten.
I know quite a few food words: meat, potatoes, parsley, onions, carrots, ice cream, milk, butter, rice, fish, sausage, cheese, kasha (I don't know what the word is in English for that one!)

And then there are all the words that don't fit in a category:
Hands
Water
I don't know
I don't understand
Later
Maybe (very important answer to many questions)
Today
Tomorrow
Day after tomorrow
Friday and Saturday (for some reason the other days of the week will not remain in my brain)
Underpants
Car and Motorcycle (these two words need a whole blog post devoted to them!)
Bus
Bicycle
Zoo (that one is easy, I admit)
Come on
Hello
Good bye
Glory to God
Bible
Church
Helper
Diaper (I probably don't know the real word for this, since the word I know is Pampers with an accent)
Washing machine (this is a hard one to pronounce but I have it down!!!)
Peepee
Poopoo (I thought these words were international, but they aren't! And when I ask the kids if they need to go "potty", they have a good laugh at that word so I try to use the Ukrainian)

And then there are the words I learned, that I don't want to know the meaning of... They probably mean something like "stupid" or worse.