December 20: Pisa

Yes, it really leans! I'm not sure that the pictures really do it justice.

One month and traveling--not expecting a white Christmas

December 19th: Fifteen hours, three changes of baby clothes, and a rental car later—we weren't quite dreaming of a white Christmas, but it looks like that is what we'll have. Three weeks ago Florence was a warm 60 degrees; last week when we checked the projected weather it was supposed to be in the fifties. Excited to get out of the cold temperatures in Kyiv, we all packed accordingly...

Rawly had been doing very well, first there was the 3:30am airport pick up, then we we stopped at Customs because they wanted a copy of his Birth Certificate in addition to his Passport, and finally our three hour flight to Treviso—just outside of Venice. From there we were to drive two more hours to our villa outside of Florence. Such was not the case. The weather had turned and the Treviso airport had closed due to snow. Milan was the next closest airport, but even after we had landed we had to wait on the plane another hour. Our car rental in Treviso had been canceled and couldn't be transferred and was going to end up costing an arm and a leg to have a different drop off location. Budget Rental, however, came to our rescue and gave us a better deal than we originally had. Ready to get out of the snow, we were all hoping that Florence would not be experiencing the same bone chilling temperatures. So far our time in Tuscany was looking to be much bleaker than we were wishing.

Finding Florence had been easy enough—finding our villa proved harder than the directions had boasted. Round and round in circles we drove trying to match the directions to landmarks, straining to see the limited road signs in the dark, and being pointed this way and that. At last we asked to use someone's phone and the owner of the villa met us at a gas station and led us along (to our credit, the directions didn't match.) It was an uncanny -13 C and almost that cold in our stonewalled apartment. Even with the heat turned up to 28 C and layers of clothing, we never warmed up that night. Mom's clock thermometer read 56 F. (Ken and I have been spoiled in Kyiv with the hot radiators in our apartment.)

The next day the sun was out, so although it was cold, at least we had real sunshine--something we haven't seen in Kyiv for quite some time!

Gigi is coming to town! (Grandma Pat's arrival in Kyiv)

December 17th, Rawly's four week birthday! What a great present to see his Gigi.

As much as we love how efficient public transportation is here—it's by no means quick. We have been very fortunate to use the Skousens' car during our time here in Kyiv. Wednesday night Ken went to put gas in the “Lada” so that we could leave quickly after Ken got out of school to go pick up my mom from the airport the next day. It wouldn't turn over. The battery was dead. Luckily we have a great maintenance staff who took care of the whole car issue so that as soon as Ken's last class was over, I met him down in the parking lot and we were off. Mom's flight arrived at 4:08pm, we made it to the airport around 4:30 searching for any sign of her. It was quite possible that she had missed her connecting flight in Munich. But we had no way to tell. Just when we were considering leaving, Ken got a call from mom—her luggage is what hadn't made the flight, so she had been filling out paper work and the likes to get it delivered the next day.

With bundled baby and grandma in tow, we trucked across the snowy parking lot and were at last on our way home. Or so we thought. Apparently men waving glow sticks at night means that you should pull over. Exiting the airport we were waved down by two guys, the final one standing in front of our car. He started yelling at us and eventually went to get someone who spoke more English than he. We considered just driving off, but they had blocked us in—the police force is often corrupt and just want to be bribed. The second guy also yelled at us also in Russian because we hadn't stopped the first time for him. Then he asked for our paperwork and made Ken get out to look at it. We think that he stopped us because our tags weren't up to date (which they were.) Realizing his error, we were freed! Or so we thought...as it turns out, snow mellows out the Kyivian drivers. Drivers who are usually aggressive and erratic became meek and hesitant; except for a few rouge vehicles, who actually cut across the median and drove down the opposite side against traffic—only to get to the bottleneck bridge and be denied access by most drivers. It took us almost three hours to get home (without traffic it takes ½ hour.) Our friend and apartment neighbor, Elysa, was wonderful and had made us spaghetti to take home so that we didn't have to bother with anything. After we were fed and Mom had settled in a bit, we headed back over to the Skousens' to celebrate Diego's birthday.

First Glimpses

We sure think that he's great! Some of these are from when Daddy gets to come home at lunch. We love life with Rawly and realize how blessed we are for these moments with our little guy... It's still all a little overwhelming. We can't wait until you all are able to meet him!

birth certificates and passport

In Ukraine all marriages and births have to be registered at a place called Zurgs (but the "g" sounds more like a "k" to me.) Before we could do anything with the US Embassy, we had to work out all of the Ukraianian details first. The hospital issued us a Notification of Birth which Ken took to Zurgs with a translator from school. If there's one thing that we've observed here is that customer service is more of whatever is convenient for the worker--the customer is not always right, so to speak. In this instance, there is no phone number that you can call to find out which paperwork you need to bring to the Zurgs' office, you have to go wait in line for your turn, then they'll let you know what you need. So taking the morning off from work (oh they're only open Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9am-1pm) with our Marriage License (luckily someone in the States had told us that we would need that) and our translated and notarized Passports Ken and Sasha went to the office. After waiting in a packed tiny entryway, Ken found out that we both needed to be there (so that we could have Kenneth as Rawly's middle name-George is Ken's given name and Ukrainians always use the father's name as the middle name) and our Marriage Certificate needed to be translated and notarized. It was Thursday. The translation wouldn't be ready until Friday afternoon. The next Tuesday, Ken, Katie, Elysa, Rawly and I piled in a mini school bus for Rawly's first trip. Elysa stayed with Rawls so we could wait in line. We had to wait awhile because there's only one guy who does these "specialized" documents. The process--once it started--went pretty smoothly.

Next stop: Quadrat--the mall for Passport photos. So much for keeping him away from people while he's building up his immune system. Unfortunately for us, he was zonked out and would not wake up for us--eyes have to be open for the photos. After 15 minutes of failure, I finally said we'd have to take him outside with his coat open and hat off. Sure enough, that did it! It was a bit tricky to get a shot, but it finally turned out.

As for the Consulate Services, they are also only open from 9-1 and you have to have an appointment. The soonest appointment was for 9 am on December 8--we needed to get his passport quickly because we are planning on leaving on the 19th of December for a week in Italy. Luckily we were able to get his Birth Abroad Certificate and Passport on the sixteenth and are ready for Christmas with Grandma Pat in Florence!

Home again, home again

Ohhh-o-o the sweetest thing

What a snuggler

Seeing Daddy the next day--Ken had to be snuck up the back coorridor to come into our room.

So tiny

Rawly's ready to go home

The road to the hospital

The road that got us to the delivery room was a little bumpy...

Also due to swine flu, we had a four day battle with the hospital just to allow Ken to be in the delivery room. We spent hours trying to figure out if there were other good possibilities within the country (and Kyiv) or if we would have to up and fly to another country. Thankfully the director and a doctor at the American Medical Clinic made our desires a priority, made numerous calls over the weekend, and talked the hospital into allow Ken to be there. What an answer to prayer! Ken just needed to get a normal flu vaccine (there are no s.f.v. here) and a good bill of health from the general physcian and we were good to go. So here's the happy soon-to-be papa! And mama, well let's say she was a little less exhubrant.

Thursday, November 19th, 2009 12:23 pm

Our first family photo
Weighing in at 4.32 Kilos (about 9.3 pounds)
Measuring 55 cm. (21 5/8 inches)

Swine Flu = No School

Well rested from our break and ready for the distraction and busyness of school, we were informed over the last weekend of break that we wouldn't be returning to work as we knew it. The Ukrainian Prime Minister announced that due to the H1N1 epidemic, all schools and public meetings would be canceled for three weeks. The staff reported back to school on Monday and the administration outlined what the next three weeks would look like. From four year olds to advanced physics—we would all be creating on-line units. It's working out alright so far. Not to be pessimistic, but I'm not sure of the integrity of the whole endeavor—after all, kids will be kids. Still—we have no complaints and have been very grateful for this time!
Overall, it's been a blessing. I've been able to kick my feet up, literally, and do all my work from home. We've really been hoping that Rawly would come soon so that Ken could spend more time home with him. Every day we tell him that it's time to come out and play. He's not listening. We're hoping that this isn't too much of a forewarning of how stubborn he will always be!

Autumn Break and baked apples

The last week of October was fall break here at Kyiv International School. Ken and I had hoped to travel to visit our good friends in Vienna. Unfortunately, we were getting mixed reviews from the various ultrasounds about Rawly's growth—some suggesting that he might come October 31 or November 4. As much as I love squatting over toilets, after our last train ride, there was no way that I wanted to be using the rocky facilities nine months pregnant over a 20+ hour ride. That settled, while most of friends headed to places like Italy, Norway, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, or Germany, Ken and I prepared ourselves for a week in Kyiv.
We slept in, lounged around, caught up on American TV episodes, explored new places, and simply enjoyed our time together—knowing that it would be some of the last for just the two of us.
Tuesday we joined a friend and her visiting mother for an Ukrainian folk concert. To our surprise the opening speaker was the President himself. We couldn't understand a word he said, but he spoke for sometime without use of notes or a teleprompter—the crowd seemed to eat up his words. After the marvelous show we too saw him as he waited for his children who had been in the performance and left with his family. Ken thought it peculiar that he waited 27 years of his life to see our own President-almost-Elect and now we've been in the Ukraine for three months and the President was close enough to touch!
Wednesday I went in for “routine” blood work at the birthing hospital and then we spent the day doing as much walking as my body could handle. Later that day we were back at the hospital to get the results—of which they informed us that my bilirubin count and ALS levels were higher than they ought to be. We talked with the doctor, then with a specialist—neither of whom could explain what it meant except that the liver wasn't functioning properly—then to off to do an ultrasound on my internal organs. The organs all appeared to be normal, no irregularities. They wanted me to stop taking my prenatal vitamins, start taking some type of medication (in Russian of course), and going on a diet basically consisting of porridge, boiled meat, cooked veggies, and baked apples. Needless to say, we were a little nervous about all of those things—were the meds safe to take during pregnancy? Would I be getting enough nutrients on a restricted diet without the help of vitamins? Were the levels high enough to hurt the baby? We spent the next couple of days calling back to the States, trying to figure out what was happening. After a lot of research and advice, we contended to take the meds and follow the diet With no other source of sugar besides baked apples, I was craving EVERYTHING—chocolate pumpkin brownies, ice cream, fresh fruit, and the list went on. A week on the diet and four days after beginning the medication I felt lethargic and melancholy. The blood tests showed no change, so we informed another specialist that I wouldn't be taking the medication or restricting myself on that (silly) diet any longer, I'm not sure if they quite understood what we were saying. To make the long story short(er): a week later my levels were lower! The doctor told me to keep taking the medication and remain on the diet, we fibbed a little and agreed for ease.

Kyiv in photos

*Also, check out "Odessa by train" in September's posts--I just added it; sorry it's so late.

THE COUNTDOWN:

We're looking forward to little Rawly's arrival... SOON! They say that he's BIG and ready whenever he decides to join our little world.

FRIDAY NIGHTS IN KYIV

Right: Out with co-workers and enjoying some tasty nachos at a restaurant called Arizona BBQ

Left: Out late one night with our friends (clockwise) Ken, Adam R.(secondary counselor), Alyssa, Ira S.(Ukrainian teacher), Johnny S.(History and PE), Kris R.(PE)

A few of the CHURCHES from our early tours of the city in August

Spanish-mi querida idioma

In my previous travels to Latin America, I'll admit that I was self-righteous enough to imagine that where ever I traveled, I would at least know the basics of communication so that I didn't sound like some snobby, monolingual American. My apologies to all of you non-snobby, monolingual Americans--I might as well be in with the thick of you here in Ukraine, because Spanish is not a hot commodity around these parts. We've now lived here for just over two months and I can count to three in Russian, say good morning in Russian, say good day in Ukrainian, see you later in Russian, next stop in Russian, oh and good/okay, yes, no, please and thank you. That's the extent of my language immersion. Wahoo, let me just pat myself on the back, ridiculous is what that is! Needless to say, I often feel lost, incompetent, and embarrassed by not knowing what's going on in the world around me. The feeling is a little less pressing now that I've awaken to the cold hard fact that I'm clueless and not in control.
As for Spanish, I've been lucky, a small handful of our teachers speak Spanish and the manager of our food services is Cuban! Pedro has helped us find two great things--black beans and Spanish mass. That's right, at the same metro stop you can encounter both of those great things. Three weeks ago we tried to find the church, but I forgot our translation and we ended up stumbling it right after mass ended. Last week we sought out the "Reinok" or the produce bazaar where we found black beans and tasty pomegranates. This week we finally made it to mass. Although a little confused by the liturgy, it was great to be in a room of Spanish speakers, to sing songs, and to pass the "paz" of Christ with others.

Dear diary,

I really wish that I were more reflective and wrote in some sort of journal, but such is life, and I don't. But, I do want to share what I would have written yesterday...
My students have become more and more inquizative the more pronounced my belly becomes. It would be the six year olds that have the most to say about the matter. There are seven of them in my class--I call them "mis patitos" (my little ducklings) as they follow me from the pick up place to my room or outside to play a game. And they are just at that height where when they give me a hug their heads rest on my belly--it really is adorable! So far they've let me know that I need to bring the baby in for show-and-tell the day after he's born and one boy even told me to make sure that he wasn't an ugly baby because he doesn't like ugly babies! All of which leads us to yesterday. There's one girl who keeps asking if he's kicking because she wants to feel him move. So as we were waiting for all the students to arrive, her determination set in and she decided that she would keep her hand on my belly until she felt him. Which, to my surprise he did quite quickly, and equally as quick all of my little patitos gathered around until they too could shout, "I felt him!" When all siete little ducks had had their turn we marched up the stairs and began our daily routine. We sing a "Buenas Tardes" (good afternoon) song, I ask what day it is, what the weather is like, and how they are doing. If they aren't "Muy bien" (very well) I ask "por que" (why) and it's usually something like, "We didn't have PE today." And all of the students are working on asking "Y usted?" which is the polite way to ask adult how they are. I answered them all with "Muy bien, gracias!" until it was the last student's turn when I said "Muy mal" (as exagerated as possible.) They thought that it was extremely hilarious because I changed my answer and one kid said, "You're always muy bien because you're a Spanish teacher." I agreed; another student said, "And you're muy bien because you're going to have a baby. To which I also agreed. And then came the random reason, "You're muy bien too because you have long legs." Yep, that must be it. Oh how they make me smile some days!

Public transportation

It’s hard to imagine that we’ve already been living in Kyiv for well over a month now. We’re learning how to do things in a style somewhat similar to what many Ukrainians do as second nature…ride public transportation, go grocery shopping every couple of days, hold our breath as we go through congested areas (either because of smoke or body odor!) Life is definitely different; we find it really weird not to be able to just “jump in the car” and head somewhere; now we have to plan on 30-60 minutes of travel time to where ever we want to go. Besides the handy dandy metro, there’s a trolley bus and the medium sized buses are called marshukas. It only costs about 15 cents (1.5 hgrivnas) a ride, so if we do have to take a taxi we’re often reluctant to pay 50 hgrivnas (roughly $6). I, Alyssa, am starting to look like I’m carrying a huge watermelon around my waist and am always grateful when people let me have their seat on the "public".
And now for one of my favorite afternoons... Speaking of pregnancy, we’ve been to the doctor a couple of times. There’s an American Medical Center here that is taking care of all the prenatal care. They’ve been great! Last week we had another check up and the Skousens offered to take us (they bought a car.) Ken and I thought for sure that we knew how to get to the AMC because you only have to take two major streets. Tricky thing is that there aren’t really any street signs, anywhere. All of the landmarks looked familiar, so that wasn't helpful. My favorite landmark was when Elysa remembered an inflatable meat grinder right before a bend in the road--sure enough, we came across that on our first attempt to find the AMC. Notice that I said the first time, so needless to say we had to turn around and go back to the major Avenue.--All the while I've failed to mention one of the reasons that people use the public is because the driving is so CRAZY here...ever thought that Mexico was rough? Chump change in comparison, so Jacob's sweating bullets trying to whiz in and out and Ken's yelling "GO GO GO" when it's clear--We backtracked and tried the big street before the one that we had previously taken, went past some fake palm trees, recognized a WWII memorial from one of our first tours of the city, asked a guy for "Quadrot" (which we were told by the AMC to find) he pointed and let us cut in front of him, we drove and drove, tried asking more people for help but they just started speaking a lot of Russian or scowled, and finally tried calling the AMC again. As I was on the phone trying to describe what I saw around me, Ken shouted, "There's the McDonald's!" Thank goodness for the guiding golden arches. It just so happens that there is a metro stop, a huge bus stop, and a Mickey D's right next to the AMC--ah what relief! This outing proved one thing yet again--I REALLY NEED TO LEARN THE RUSSIAN ALPHABET! (I know that there was a huge run-on sentence in there...but that's exactly how we felt!)

Odessa by Train--a true adventure!

Off work at 4:00; pack and walk to the metro by 5:00, oops 5:30; catch the metro three stops to the train station; we still haven't eaten dinner; 10 minutes until the train leaves...Ken runs to McDonald's; Adam, Kris, and Alyssa run to the train platform and somehow stumble across the correct car; where's Ken? the train leaves in five minutes; there he is--all aboard! That was the beginning of our quick weekend trip to Odessa. After the second week of school, we boarded an overnight train to Odessa on the Black Sea. With the help of a Ukrainian speaking friend the boys bought tickets. We didn't know quite what we were going to do when we got there, but that was okay.

It's most likely that one would not call these overnight trains "Bullet Trains" by any stretch of the imagination. They meander along at a pace all of their own showing off the beautiful Ukrainian countryside--a welcome relief from the concrete and noise of the city. And the clickity-clackity of the rails almost lulls you to sleep, that is unless you're pregnant and have to get up every hour or so to use the restroom. Unfortunately one of us falls under the latter category. Needless to say, our arrival at 5:45 am was well-welcomed by Alyssa. Can you guess what the only restaurant open at that time of morning was? Ding, ding, ding--Micky D's again. So with the help of the overhead picture menus we were able to order Egg McMuffins and OJ with only minor problems. Once our bellies were full we were ready to find the Black Sea. We set out to find a marshuka (bus) that would drop us off at the correct place (near downtown) or how to walk the 15 minutes from the train station. But without a map or dictionary, our hand motions weren't really cutting it. It is SO difficult when you can't even read the signs because they're in Cyrillic. Finally a younger guy thought that he knew what we wanted so he led us to a marshuka and explained our situation to the guy driving. As luck would have it, once we got on, there was a woman who spoke a little English on the bus. We ended up driving some 60 Kilometers to a little beach town and decided to discover what we could. We ate brunch and found some lounge chairs. Alyssa ended up napping for a couple hours and Ken and our friends relaxed and enjoyed the sun, sand, and a little water action.

After several hours at our mystery beach we decided to see what Odessa had to offer. We had heard tale that there was the second largest outdoor market in Europe, the longest balcony in Europe, and perhaps the longest flight of stairs in Europe. We walked a lot, found a good spot for dinner (with an English speaking waitress) and tried to find the market. Although we never found the market, we eventually found the Opera House--which by the way is magnificent. The architecture never ceases to amaze me. Swan Lake was the ballet on the docket for that night and we were able to get some last minute tickets for around $3 a piece. Just like in the States, bottled water had an exorbitant mark up and was twice that price. Being the frugal spirits we are, Ken and I declined on the water. It was just after ten when the ballet finished and our train didn't leave until two o'clock (in the am). What else did we have to do except go visit the stair step entrance to Odessa and all of its 192 steps. Ken and Adam raced up while Kris and Lyss decided their tuckered out bodies would be content with a stroll. Once that was accomplished, we stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant; the likes of which we hadn't seen in what seemed like months to four Mexican food loving friends. But surprise, surprise, it was smoky and none of us were hungry. Bummer! To wait out the end of our journey, we ended up choosing a coffee shop/sushi joint/hookah bar (we stayed in the first part of the odd establishment). When we tried pulling out cards, a waitress came and told us that playing cards in public was against the law because it resembled gambling. So any ol' person can walk down the street, take the subway, or be a minor with beer in hand, but you can't play an innocent game of cards--go figure! The train ride back was a little less eventful... Ken DID upgrade our tickets from third class to second which was a welcome to relief to all of us weary travelers. Alyssa included, we all slept soundly on the way home. Arriving around noon, we still had most of Sunday to do what we needed before the work week began.

First Day Down!

We had a great week with many trips downtown to see the Independence day weekend events and getting to know more people. Unfortunately we didn't buy train tickets in time to get to the black sea but in a couple of weeks we should be able to get somewhere.

The first day of school was yesterday and both Alyssa and I had a pretty good day overall. It is a little different teaching to a class of 5-6 students, the class just seems empty. Overall things went well though and it should be an entertaining year. We did discover that Kiev International School is not like other QSI schools in that there are a lot more local Ukrainian students attending. There is still a diverse group of students though.

After work we were off to meet our OBG at the American Medical center. We discovered that the 417 bus is slow to come and doesn't move much faster once you are on it. Good thing we don't have to take it on the big day! Our doctor's name is Ludmila and she is this wonderful бабушка (grandmother said like babushka) of a lady. She kept saying how Alyssa was God's little gift and that she would be like our mother. She was very caring and told us she had been waiting and waiting for us to come, actually the whole clinic has been wondering who these two Americans are that will be having a baby. The ultrasound looked good and all is well with Rawly. During the ultrasound we saw little Rawls sucking on his toes! What a silly little boy! So we feel very welcome and blessed to have this doctor, she is a wonderful and caring lady.

This is a picture from our boss's apartment on the top floor of a building. On the left side of the picture is our apartment building and the school is just behind the two big buildings. The school sits in a "green zone" so there is a lot of forest nearby. To the right, off the picture, is a big stretch of forest. Just to be clear "green zone" doesn't mean "clean zone" there is a lot of trash since littering is a huge problem in Ukraine. I guess it is better than the concrete jungle of the city. In the distance you can see the Left bank of the city which is divided by the Dinpre River, hopefully I spelled that right.

This is the market by St. Andrews cathedral (the cathedral behind us in the first picture). This was Independence day weekend so there were a lot of Artists from other countries and around Europe. There were also people selling all kinds of goods from textiles to salvaged pawn shop type stuff.
We really enjoyed walking and talking to the vendors. Every normal day the market exists just not down the middle of the street. Even still on this weekend you had to watch out for cars and the occasional bus!

This has been by far the favorite sign of Alyssa. Since everyone smokes it seems, she really enjoyed the smoke free zone.

New Discovery of the week: It's kind of a weird cultural thing but aparently there are other countries that have the same tradition. Here the men also shave their arm pits! I guess it helps because they also don't wear any deodorant.

Until next time America,

Ken and Alyssa

Pizza! Pizza!

Enough about our sleep depravity, what you really want to know is: What's the food like? Right? As the title suggests the cuisine here is simple: Ukrainian or pizza. So far we've liked both, but we definitely ate pizza more in the first four days than we have in the past six months. It's been a constant adventure going to the supermarket to find food. The first milk we bought was buttermilk, the second went bad the day after it was opened (apparently not pasteurized), and now we use boxed milk that tastes alright on cereal, but not plain. We found "Danone" (Dannon) brand mini drinkable yogurts that are probably loaded with corn syrup (sorry dad, you taught me better) but they're hopefully giving us the good enzymes we need. Some Canadians from northern BC are looking for yogurt culture so that we can make our own. As for the produce, it's plentiful for now and we buy it from the market because they do radiation checks on everything that they sell (I'm not joking!) Spaghetti sauce is similar to ketchup, but luckily someone gave us the heads up and we found a decent brand. We just bought some spices and garlic yesterday which helped a lot (I'm not sure if our co-workers will agree). Back to the dairy products, cheese is still a far cry from anything that we're accustomed to and we're a little nervous about what's pasteurized and what's not (for the pregnancy) but our friends the Skousens (also from Caldwell) discovered a great tasting cheese that we tried yesterday and are looking forward to purchasing the next time we go shopping. And as you'll see from the corny picture--I've finally tried cabbage rolls and love them, I think that we can find them frozen in the bulk section...

No towel, need sleepy

We've arrived—tired and unadjusted still, but we're here! Most days feel like we've been hit by a tornado (at least for me). Our days have been full of taking the entire group of 25 new teachers and their families shopping at the MegaMart (Fred Meyerlike) and the Metro (similar to Costco without the samples). With all this commotion, it has left little time for me (Alyssa) to get in the naps I've grown accustomed to over the summer. This marks our fifth day here, Ken's slept through the entire night twice and looks like he may again this morning, I, on the other hand, have this uncanny knack of waking up at 3:30am and not being able to sleep again until seven for an hour or so nap. It's currently 5:30 and I've already tried doing seven things, but it proves difficult when the rest of the world is still sleeping.

breaking in spring and planning for summer

The countdown begins...four months, fourteen days until our Ukrainian departure. We've spent Spring Break visiting friends and family in Grangeville, Idaho and finishing the kitchen remodel. We're hoping that we will be able to rent the house out to some "trustworthy" college kids (I have faith that phrase isn't an oxymoron!) So the cabinets are hung and painted, the bamboo floors are secure, and the counter tops should be finished by next weekend! Tomorrow it's back to the grind of school and finishing up all the little projects. We're both enjoying teaching this semester, but look forward to some little trips we have planned. We'll be heading to San Francisco in May with Barry and Hana (for baseball among other things.) Ken's sister graduates with her RN degree in June and she will be accompanying us back East. We'll be in NYC for a few days, catch up with some friends (go to a Mets' game), take the Chinatown bus to Boston and visit where Ken and Em grew up (Ashburnham, MA), from there we'll rent a car and head north to visit Alyssa's relatives in Maine. And don't worry we'll get to Fenway Park at least once or twice--after all, Ken needs a new hat for the Ukraine. In July we're being sent to New Mexico to attend an IB (International Bacclaurette) conference for our Ukrainian school. We'll get some Eagle Caps camping in July with Alyssa's family and head back to Oregon to say our goodbyes. That's it for now.