More Stories From Ukraine.....

Let me tell you about my shower troubles a couple days ago.....It all starts with the electricity here. It goes out quite often. No rhyme or reason...just goes out, usually at the worst time. The hot water we get in our shower is not from a hot water tank..it is heated with an electric heater. So no power means no hot water. The other morning I was enjoying my hot shower (actually lukewarm-but I'll take that) when the power went out. Of course, I had a full sudsy head of shampoo and freezing cold water. I debated whether or not to ride it out to see if the power would come back on, but decided to continue in the freezing cold. Good thing, because the power was out for an hour.

Later that day, our toilet started having trouble flushing. By that evening, we had sewage coming up the shower drain and filling the shower. Talk about disgusting! We had to leave it like that overnight until somebody came to fix it. Yuck!! :(

Today was an interesting day. We are getting quite popular in this little town. Everywhere we go, we stick out like a sore thumb and people are getting used to seeing us. Most are quite friendly and will wave and say hi. Today we ran into a gentleman we met a little while ago. He insisted we come to his coffeeshop and have a free coffee. Even though we were in a hurry to get to the market and get home for Emma's nap, we just couldn't say no. He was so nice. Then he took us to the market and tried to get us a deal on our purchases. Not that it's necessary. All we needed was cucumbers. We got three big cucumbers for 1 hryvna (about 20 cents!) and then we were on our way.

The gentleman walked with us back towards our hotel, which happened to pass by his apartment. He insisted we come in and meet his family. So we did. He has been married for 10 years, like us. He and his wife have 2 daughters, 8 and 3. They were beautiful. His 8 year old daughter sings competitively all over Ukraine, so she sang us a song with a little dance routine. It was so precious! She was so good, she almost had me in tears. We also used his laptop to look up our house on google earth because he wanted to see where we lived. We had a very nice visit with them and they told us we are welcome anytime. I just couldn't believe the kindness of these strangers. It totally made our day!!

Emma is doing well. Everyday gets a little better. I'm quite surprised at the progress we're making already. I'm definitely not as scared as I used to be. I think I'm starting to enjoy mommyhood. In fact, I'm slowly climbing up my way up the totem pole with Emma. I'm still no papa, but I think I could be a close second! :)

This morning we played some music on our laptop. Emma LOVES music. She loved to dance and she always tries to sing along with the songs. We have one song that has the lyrics "hallelujah" over and over, so she learned that one right away! She wanted us to play it over and over because she knows the words. Only thing is, it sounds like she's saying Hallelu-yum! Too cute! :):)

Many of you have been dying to see a picture of Emma, so I have posted one below along with some other shots taken in town.

Enjoy....until next time!