Holidays and Such

In most parts of the world May 1st is Labor Day.  As nice as it is in September, I really appreciate it much more in May.  We've made it through winter--wahoo!  What better way to celebrate that basque in the beautiful sun and enjoy the sights and sounds of Spring?  The first of May fell on a Tuesday this year, here in Ukraine, Saturday was an official work day so that they could take Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off.  Don't really get that.  We (at KIS), however did NOT work on Saturday and therefore went back to work/school. 
For what seems to be the first time since we arrived, I had a bad wave of home sickness.  I'm not sure what really brought it on, it's silly really, I made it through the dead of winter--but I think it might just be that: instead of being trapped inside, I feel trapped in the city.  A friend asked what I missed the most, among the list was friendly strangers.  The very next day, a lady on the metro shocked my socks off!  An older woman kept smiling at Zoya and started to ask me about her.  I did my best to communicate in the minimal phrases that I know.  Realizing that I wasn't Ukrainian, she asked if I was American and proceeded to tell me (in Russian) that she was getting her green card in 2-3 (weeks I think).  Later another babushka sat down next to us with her granddaughter and they too started to ask about Zoya, then the first lady explained what she knew about us--all the while she smiled and laughed.  It's really hard to express how amazing of a feat that is--(former) Soviet strangers hardly smile, let alone laugh--in public, on the metro.
Our original intent was to rent a van and go to this awesome castle city southwest(?) of here--but plans fell through, so we hope to do it at some point.  We tried our best to make up for being indoors all winter, Sunday by walking all over downtown with some friends and Tuesday by going to see the Tulip festival.  (It's so weird to see tulips, lilacs, peonies, and irises all in bloom at the same time.)  Ken is back in school (online) working toward an Ed Specialist degree, so he spent large chunks of time on Saturday and Monday working on his final paper.
The following week we had another holiday (Victory Day), this time falling on a Wednesday.  We went to the other side of the river to visit some of our friends who recently had a sweet baby boy (fittingly on Labor Day:).  They live in a datcha which is a little like a cottage outside the city.  It was so nice to play in the grass (though Rawly did chew on some sidewalk chalk, probably not the nontoxic kind--he seems to be alright.)  Walking home from the metro, I really wished that we could have had a picture--both kids had fallen asleep and we were carrying them the same way--oh how I love these moments when they are still out "little" ones!