З Днем Народження

 Playing with balloons before everyone comes over.

 This is Arden, she's six months younger than Rawly (she's the next eldest of the staff's "pack-o-youngins" which consists of four other baby girls, another baby boy, and two more on the way.)

 Thanks to Uncle Nick's artistic genius, we had a pin the stache on the Kozac (our school mascot.)

 This is the covered Kozac.  The two winners received a kiss from Rawly after he discovered the frosting!

"Hmm, that wasn't half bad!"

Indian Summer

It's now four am (I've been up since two), not sure if it's the jitters thinking about all I need to do before Rawly's party on Friday: how am I going to make a train cake, what else do I need from the store so that we only make one trip, how can we exchange money to give some to our nanny to pick up somethings from the store?  Too many thoughts--what was I just telling a friend earlier this week about not worrying...hum. I wish I could tell my muscles the same thing!  Outside the wind is fighting to get in through our rattling wooden double windows and a draft in the hall that keeps knocking on the door.  Regretfully, fall is here, and with that, winter is coming.
What sweet relief this Indian summer has been.  Can you imagine shorts in November?  I'm not even sure if you can call it Indian summer since it's so late in the year.  Someone pointed out how crazy it was wearing a wool sweater vest on September first.  The cool weather was followed by the leaves changing yellow or brown (not a whole lotta color here, is that reminiscent of Soviet times?)  We escaped to Greece, so glad for warmer weather and returned to a great gift of two weeks of nice weather.
Generally on Sundays we go out to eat after church.  This week we hit up the new Dominoes Pizza.  And, surprise, surprise, Ken was wearing shorts.  Rawls was barefoot and hatless in overalls, but the two of them were the cause of many a "Babooshka" (what older, grandmotherly women are called) shaking a finger and surely ranting about how he'd get sick!  I've learned to smile:) Rawly was so funny, he sat on my lap while I was feeding him bits of pizza.  What I didn't realize was that he wasn't chewing the pepperoni or "Canadian" pizza (our Canadian friends always laugh when we call it that.)  So as we were preparing to leave Rawly kept playing with bits of pepperoni and ham in his mouth, I caught a few with a napkin and thought that we were good to go.  Little did I know, that he has the Mary Poppins bag of a mouth and that little turkey must have had at least three pieces of each mulling around in there because when we got outside even more made an appearance.  His cheeks are so chubby that none of us had even noticed!  We're always kept on our toes around him and loving every minute of it.

Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children make a home. Irish Proverb

This is a snapshot, or mental video frame of our evening today.  Hope you enjoy.

I arrive home to this:

Rawly in his makeshift highchair/swing with his eating smock on and dinner ready on the stove!

As the evening continued I couldn't help but sit back and watch in sheer bliss; Ken had Rawly squealing for hours as they played hide and seek, peek-a-boo, kaboom, pretend sneeze attacks, and wrestled.  When I looked at my watch, I couldn't believe that it was already time for PJs and a bedtime story.  A little later we sat down to read Good Night Moon. Rawly reached out and touched the kittens when he saw them (in Greece, he fell in love with all the stray cats!), then later when the book was saying good night to the "gatitos" (as we call them), he leaned down and gave them a kiss.

Thus far, this has been the best night of my life!

Here we are

It's hard to believe that it's already November. Time has absolutely flown by since we've returned to Ukraine. Odd as it my be, coming back has felt comfortable so far! We were/are so grateful to all of you who opened your homes to us, but almost three months of traveling is a lot. Year two, thus far, has been immensely easier than the first--almost comically so. We know the routines, the ebb and flow of life happens, and everything else we chalk up to life "only in Ukraine." Since it's been so long since I've last updated the blog, I felt it best to show you via videos what we've been up to lately. (I will warn you though that I have the uncanny knack of turning off the video three seconds prior to Rawly being the absolute cutest boy in the entire Ukraine.)

Kaboom! September 2010



Rawly meets Aegean Sea October 2010

3:09 pm

I think that we're actually headed in the right direction! It's July 15, our anniversary; a little after 11 this morning we left our “Bee Lazee” campsite just outside of Prince George. Real Canadian Superstore was the final destination on our simple quest for a tarp and Mountain House dehydrated meals. Here are a few observations we made along the way:

Canadian Tire sells camping gear.

Brick sells mattresses.

So what does Home Depot sell? Maybe lingerie?

As we were having a delirious laughing meltdown in the frozen foods section, I wanted to assure each passerby, “Don't worry we have lived overseas—in Ukraine—I promise. Yes, everything is printed in Ukrainian or Russian and we manage to get by.” Here (Canada) we could at least figure out what the French meant from its Latin roots, or simply flip the can around and read the English label!

Where's the camera now? Evidently standing in a little red cooler on top of frozen meat is pretty much the limelight for a 8 month old. Ken and I were stressing out about what we were going to eat...Low sodium, good nutrition, where we would put the cooler if we bought one. Ken asked me, “Does anyone else have this much trouble packing food for a camping trip?” When we looked down at Rawly, he was chillin', quite literally, just bouncing up and down happy as a clam. I was laughing so hard I thought that I was going to pee my pants. And finally the icing on the cake was the song playing on the radio when we got back in the car, “SOS, somebody please help me!”

Canada, Oh Canada!

Unfortunately after we had booked our tickets home for the summer, we learned that we needed to be out of the country for 330 days to qualify for the overseas tax exemption clause (I'm not sure of the actual technical jargon.) Needless to say, that meant that the good ol' US of A didn't want to spend our monies here and our options were either Baja California or British Colombia. Interestingly enough, having a baby has somewhat changed our sense of adventure, so we opted out of our amazing tour of the California baseball stadiums and a stint in Mexico for a tour of beautiful British Columbia. The plan was to make the 15 hour trip from Vancouver (BC) to Terrace where some of our teaching coworkers live. First we took it slow, Eugene to Seattle with an overnight pit stop in Canby/Mollalla to visit old friends. Our next stop was a two night layover in Puyallup where our cousins live. Isaac and Saraya kept Rawly (and us) entertained and introduced him to the Point Defiance Zoo.

Hiking with the bro

Jesse and Nikki joined us on a beautiful hike up the McKenzie to Blue Pool. It almost looks too blue to be true. Rawly enjoyed peeking out the side of the pack and his extra high vantage point atop Uncle Jesse's shoulders. Ken also introduced him to some Oregonian wildlife up close and personal—forest tigers (as we call them).

Independence Day

Looking back, we spent this fourth as all-American as possible: church on Sunday morning, family BBQ back at the ranch (aka my parents), baseball at the Em's new field (PK Park—not too shabby Phil Knight), and the most spectacular display of fireworks following the game. Rawly was pretty stoked. Although, the works + 10 hour jet lag=interrupted slumber and Mr. Sad Face. He and I ended up hanging out in the bathroom to muffle the noise. All in all, a great birthday!

May the road ahead of you be smooth...

...but paved with crunchy peanut butter (a line I heard recently, it seemed pretty fitting for this leg of our adventure.)

I'm not ashamed to admit that this blog is completely about food. You may have seen my previous blog about grocery shopping in Ukraine, so here's the flip side of that entry—the ease and luxury of comida buena (good food)! Ken and I have come to the realization that we in the US take food from all around the world and make it better. Really, I'm not trying to be boastful or arrogant; it's just better here. There's more quality of flavor—and of course more quantity! Seeing the excess of obesity has been one of the biggest “return to culture” shocks for me, I've forgotten about the “Super size” attitude of Americans. Food in Ukraine is heavy, fried in lots of oil, high calories—what you would expect to survive a cold winter. But, the difference is that Ukrainians WALK A LOT! It's not uncommon to walk 20 minutes to get to the local grocery store. This happens a couple times a week because there's not a car to load all the month's groceries, you pick up what you can carry and go back for more when you run low on supplies. People walk to whatever form of transportation they use (be it bus or subway), and in winter, this means trekking through deep sandlike snow (the roads and sidewalks don't get plowed.

With that said, I think I just might regain all the baby weight that I lost due to the abundance of simply amazing food. Now, I'm not talking junk food here—just good ol' goodness, here's my list of yummies (since we've been back) that many of you may take for granted:

Tacos, burritos, salsa, homemade guacamole—even Taco Bell,

Salmon, on the fillets on the BBQ, smoked, burgers,

Sandwiches and wraps (hearty, soft, wholegrain breads and tortillas) with meat and veggies or a tasty peanut butter and jelly classic,

MILK (that doesn't go bad after two days) and granola

The most amazing seafood dish I have ever eaten in my entire life was at the Waterfront Depot in little old downtown Florence, Oregon!Super tasty, all natural ice cream sandwiches,

Nancy's yogurt,

Berries (blues and raspberries, frozen in cereal, or in a cobbler—I love you and your antioxidants!)

Papa Murphy's—ahh convenience,

Awesome Thai food in Mount Vernon, Washington (the type of avocado-curry goodness where you want the taste to linger forever!)

Scurmdidilydumptious lemon and coconut bars (my favorite being in our current WiFi location, The Sweet Life Bakery in Chilliwack, BC!)--we've become quite the connoisseurs of such delicacies north of the border.

(and according to Ken--drinks of the barley flavor are much better in the PacNor than elsewhere in the world.)

MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS, THANK YOU, GRATZI, MERCI, DANKE, SPACIBA BOLSHOI to all of you who have helped satisfy our taste buds or will join us in our celebration of food in the next few weeks.

Here's what else we're looking forward to:

Tacos adobadas (thanks Ed Lee and Tacos Michoacan!)

White cheese sauce (McGrews and Jalepenos—good times and great memories)

Avalanche burgers (the Hallow will be one of our first stops in Boise)

and last but not least, Joyce, we're counting on you for some Pears Helena, s'il vous plai>t!

Burritos please!

Here's Rawly on his seventh ride (Kyiv to Amsterdam) and then surfing on the handrail with Dad. Flight number eight (green outfit), Amsterdam to Portland, OR--by far his longest yet--was a bit difficult, nobody likes 12 hours in the air, but Rawls did remarkably well and got quite a few compliments from on board passengers. As you can see, he had a blast playing with the on flight entertainment!

Yep, burritos were our request when we landed in our blessed homeland! Grandma Pat and Grandpa Marc met us with hugs and kisses at PDX and Rawly went straight for Grandpa Marc's arms. He seems to like it there. (Could this be in part because Grandpa won't change his diapers and lately Rawly's taken to throwing a fuss at changing time? Who knows.)
Yeah for family! All the Chasses surprised us when we stopped for burritos at Chipotle's Portland and picnicked at Waterfront Park. It's good to be back in the USA!

I like to move it, move it!

As of today, Rawly's up and scooting! The crawl hasn't quite been mastered, but he sure is determined. Here are some various shots of him lately...

Say ahhhh!

Bath time fun

All wrapped up

I can hold a bottle all by myself!

Big boy shower with Dad

If I move really slowly...Hey! It stays!

Grrr...Don't even think about taking this from me!

Rawly's world: little boy big worldSnoozing away

So, that's what happens when I fall asleep on my hand.

Damelo, pues!

Daddy can copy me!

This is how I roll!

Teddy thinks it's too warm for clothes too.

Gotta love half birthdays!!!

Having a summer birthday myself, I've grown quite accustomed to and fond of a biyearly celebration. So now, every day-after Grandma Pat's (Gigi's) birthday we'll have a second reason to celebrate:) Here's what Rawly was up to on his first (of many) half birthday!

Daddy and Mommy were able to come home for lunch
because it was a parent/teacher conference day.

Spending time with neighbor Sam and wearing a Red Sox cap for the first time.Ira decorating the cake Mommy made and Daddy frosted.


Doing what little tikes love to with pretty cakes. Should Mommy really be that surprised?


Just chillin' on a long board.


With our Wednesday night Bible study group, minus Kirsten:(

La comida de la vida

It was a couple weeks after we arrived here that we first had a taste of spice. The night is still so vivid in my memory simply for the fact that we had tacos. Tacos? you may say. But to me they weren't just any old tacos--they were home! Needless to say, since then we've luckily had countless tasty meals of the Mexican persuasion. Food here is typically pretty bland: potatoes, oil, sour cream, and lots-o-dill (Greek salad and pizza are on the not-so-blah menu). Our friend Kris was as equally excited as I that we started a weekly Mexican food night--one of our best ideas ever. The night has kind of morphed into a dinner and Bible study night, and luckily for us, we've had some DELICIOUS Ukrainian meals prepared by our friend Ira, providing evidence that not all Ukrainian food is a flop.

For two reasons, this year, Cinco de Mayo was probably my best ever! First off, I've started a huge food unit with my Elementary and Spanish 1 students. My nine and ten year olds gave me a group hug when I introduced the idea! Cinco de Mayo kicked off the tasting festivities with Tres Leches and Mexican Wedding cookies. Since then, they've now tried tacos, Spanish/Mexican rice, and refried beans (may I add, most for the first time--how crazy is that?!) When I served up tacos, one seven year old boy just looked at it and asked, "How am I supposed to eat that?" Tortilla soup got dished up this week, along with invitations to multiple 10 year old birthday parties, naturally provided that I make the soup for everyone:)
The second reason for mere awesomeness of Cinco de Mayo is that we hosted a fiesta in our tiny apartment for the staff at school. Our apartment never looked so good! I still have many of the decorations hanging In addition to our fellow over-seas colleagues looking for the good food and festivities, we were joined by many Ukrainian staff members. I put them straight to work making guacamole (of which they'd never tasted it, or salsa, before!!!) Our nanny also said that she never thought that she liked Mexican food until she tried the goodness we had here. I just love spreading good eats around the world! We also whipped up a big batch of horchata (yummy cinnamon, rice milk.) If you've never had it before, you should go to your local "ethnic food" section and pick up a package of horchata mix to have with your next Mexican meal--the process was a little time consuming and labor intensive for our taste.

Can you guess the food?

Here's a little taste of what it's like to search for things in the stores, some things are obvious, some take a little getting used to!
Hint: these are all in the refrigerated section...





























And now for the spices and other baking supplies...

This is curry. Can you sound out the Cyrillic?









Everything comes in packets! Here's the basil.






And now which one is cinnamon and which one is hot chili pepper???







Maybe this picture will help you tell the difference...one of the difficulties with Russian is that there are many "cases" so a word might change in ten different ways, makes it kind of tricky.
I'm frustrated trying to arrange all these photos and text--pretty sure the programs I used ten years ago in high school were designed to be more user friendly...ridiculous.

Oh, but here's the list of refrigerated items:
45% is mozzarella cheese which is our favorite so far
26% is whipping cream (as the picture shows)
72% is butter
2.5% are milk which is the lowest fat content you can find, most people buy tetrapack milk because the bottled kind goes bad in a couple days. Beware, the orange cap is buttermilk!
Keifer is the white and green bottle and Rawls is gnawing on a bottle of yogurt--both words are the same as English if you read them in Russian