Welcome to my next day in Novograd-Volynski. I wake up still feeling a bit tired and jet-lagged (yet once again, I find myself waking up fairly early with absolutely no alarm to help me out) yet also bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to see what adventures this day holds for me. I shuffled around my room for a bit wasting some time while waiting for Vitalik to arrive. I sat out on the bench outside the hotel again, just taking it all in. The sights, the smells…everything still so foreign and new. I couldn’t help but have a cheek-to-cheek smile on my face as I looked around. I must have been a sight to see for all the residents as they scurried by on their way to work.

Vitalik arrived a few minutes later and told me he’d rather take the bus than walk on over to grandma’s house. On one hand I was bummed because I enjoyed walking around and having my head on a swivel as I took in every sight I could at a walking pace but on the other hand I was looking forward to seeing how the local bus was. To be honest, this bus ride wasn’t anything too spectacular…it was just a bus ride early in the morning. Oh well…at least I could save my energy for whatever the day had in store for me!

Once at Grandma’s house (I don’t know why I call her “Grandma” when she was really Larisa’s mom…it seems so fitting though!) I quickly got out of the way as everyone in the house was shuffling around preparing a big birthday meal for Grandma. One thing that caught my attention was the fact EVERYTHING was being prepared by hand. I could see every single ingredient that went into every dish that we would be eating later that day. Obviously it was a bit labor-intensive and took longer, but wow it all looked so good! I was definitely looking forward to trying all this hand-made food.

At some point, I guess having two guys (myself and Vit) not being the most helpful people in a tiny kitchen led the women of the house to come to the decision to send us out to explore together and get to know each other. Vitalik took me down to the local river and forest to show me around. A few broken words of English here and there, some “who is this guy?” glances now and then, and some fun attempts on both our sides to communicate with each other. Damn…I wish I would have learned more Russian! I will say though, he did a good job teaching me a few words. I distinctly remember “cat” and “apple”…mostly because he kept getting pissy with me when I wasn’t pronouncing them correctly. It certainly helped me get those words into my vocabulary! It was fun…I smile as I look back and think about that walk…

It’s such a beautiful area around there. Every now and then I would ask myself “am I finding this so beautiful because it’s in a different country or would I be gushing over it all even if it was somewhere in Colorado?” I came to the conclusion it was both…but I really never have seen anything like this. It certainly had a calming effect on my previous stressed life.

We got back to the house and I sat at the small table off to the side in the kitchen, drinking some tea (yes, I learned the word for that too!) and trying to stay awake (damn jet lag) while watching the family continue with their food prep. At one point, they let me know that they were quite surprised that I walked so much. Their impression of Americans is that we drive everywhere. Sadly their impression is fairly on point but I was honored that they were surprised and glad I walked so much. I was ridiculously honored when they were surprised that I could read Russian. By “read” I mean “I can read the printed word, sometimes understand what it means, and ask what the other words mean”. They didn’t expect an American to be able to do that…they have a view that Americans expect everyone to know English even while in another country. Sadly…I believe this view is true also. I’m glad I could offer a different view of those expectations! Still though, I was a bit upset with myself that I didn’t know enough to do basic things around town on my own because of my severely limited knowledge of the language. Guess I’d better get back to the books!

Finally…it was time for dinner! We sat around in silence and I listened to a Ukrainian prayer before dinner and then it was time to taste it all. Now…if only I could remember everything we ate. Some stuff was basic (sausages, potatoes, etc) while others were, um, yeah…I forgot. Sorry! I’ll take better notes next time! I will say however that everything lived up to my culinary expectations. Of course being the gracious hosts they were, they kept piling more food on my plate. I had mixed feelings about that because A) I didn’t want to eat all their food, B) I was getting stuff, but C) damn it was tasty!

Now it was time for me to let the multiple plates of food digest. I offered to help clean but I know how it is when someone that doesn’t know your kitchen offers help. A polite “no, we got this” was relayed to me and I sat there, watching the ruckus of everyone cleaning up. Yup, there I was, the lone American dude with six Ukrainian women shuffling around and only one of them able to speak English. I wonder what they were saying about me…aye!

After cleanup it was time to chill and have more family time. Larisa showed me the yard a bit…where basically the entire yard was a garden so they wouldn’t have to buy as much food. She showed me the drying hops that Grandma had out there. I guess she makes shampoo from it. At least it was confirmed that one of my favorite beer ingredients really was growing along the sides of streets and paths there. We all gathered outside to let some Chinese lanterns fly…and I will admit I had no idea what they were talking about. Maybe I’m a bit sheltered (I never thought I was but I certainly won’t claim to know everything that goes on in this world) and they were surprised I didn’t know what they were. After getting them all ready (and they gave one to me to let loose too…awwww yeah!) we let them fly. Now…the act itself of letting Chinese lanterns go wasn’t the “wow, that was an awesome experience” part, but rather it was the fact the family was all outside together, laughing, talking, being a family unit all getting these things ready to go. Yet another thing that makes me smile as I look back on it and thinking how nice it is to see family units still out in the wild.

Alas, darkness has been upon us since long ago and it’s getting late. I’m crazy tired and it looks like everyone else is getting to that point too. I don’t blame them, they’ve been busy all day with not much down time. It’s time for the taxi again and the plan is to drop Larisa and Vitalik off at their place and then the taxi will take me to my hotel. Larisa reminds me not to speak while in the taxi. I say “I can walk…it’s not a problem!” but she says I probably shouldn’t because I’m clearly not Ukrainian. I’m not sure if that’s a “you’ll get the crap beat out of you if you walk” thing or not, but I heed her advice.

As tired as was, I couldn’t really get to sleep. I lay in my tiny little bed staring at the ceiling thinking about the day. I’m not sure if I was really trying to fall asleep or not but either way, that’s what I did. Stared, thought, smiled…dozed.

Some parting thoughts:

• I only checked my email once while at Grandma’s house to let everyone know I was alive. Ya know, it’s been a few days without email and I have to say I was enjoying it!
• All the women I got to hang out with today were such tough, independent women. They reminded me of my mom (anyone that knows me knows the admiration and love I have for her) and that in itself made me smile. My kind of women!
• Despite it being such a long day, I felt very at home all day while at Grandma’s house. That really says something there about the kindness and open arms of everyone I met.
• Another day without the camera and I’m realizing I need to start carrying it around. I mean come on, who travels overseas and then doesn’t take pictures of everything they see? Argh!
• Crazy spoiled brats in the US (and other countries for sure, I’m just speaking from experience) need to stop complaining about how rough they have it. I won’t get into that rant, but my Ukrainian friends have learned to embrace and love life with much less. Kudos to you!