Well, we made it back to Michigan this afternoon. Bittersweet as we had to say goodbye to my parents who left Nashville for Seattle this morning. Dad was doing a little better, had a little better appetite but still sooooo tired. Leaving friends from all over the country behind too as the celebration of Sukkot came to a close last night. But sweet sweet sweet to be back home now and able to really focus on preparations for Kiev.
I love knowing that Maxim is finding out now that somebody is coming for him. What a mixed bundle of feelings he must have right now.
We would treasure hearing more from those of you who have already been to Ukraine to adopt and can share what you took with you that was invaluable, what you wish you had taken, who it's appropriate to give gifts to as far as those helping us, etc.
For those of you who traveled in the colder months, how was your eating experience. We always pictures being able to go to farmers market type places to get fresh produce and such but it's sinking in that this is not realistic for this time of year. Any suggestions?
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Hi,
We were in Ukraine during December/January of this past year. If I told you everything, it would take up a whole lot of room, but I'll tell you a couple of things.
Bungie cords were indispensable. We used them to hang our hand washed clothes on. We took one of those Lewis and Clark lines other talk about too, but they just weren't strong enough. We just happened to have the bungie cords and they worked great. There have been a couple of friends who found them indispensable too.
We found produce in the winter. It was little limited compared to springtime, but you can still find bananas. They weren't too much more at first, then closer to Christmas, they went up to around $2USD a pound. That's pretty steep for us since we're used to 39 to 49 cents a pound. You can find canned fruits and vegetables also.
You can buy American brand shampoo and soap there. We bought shampoo, soap, hand washing soap, and dish liquid. We didn't buy toothpaste, but they have it. I'm not sure about the fluoride content. They have some really good Ukrainian brand shampoo and we bought the Ukrainian brand hand washing liquid soap for our hands and clothes washing. I couldn't figure out what was conditioner, though. Also, I brought my own hairspray. My hair was so staticky there in the winter. I used so much hairspray it was crystallizing on my hair. lol
Feel free to email me.
June
adopting2@gmail.com
We, too, were there during December/January of this past year.
I would highly suggest taking a comfort item with you. Something that you enjoy here in the states that will give you a taste of home. For me it was 2 lbs. of M&Ms. I found the candy there, but it didn't quite taste the same.
Other than your comfort food though, I wouldn't worry too much about bringing food with you. You can find just about everything there. Even ketchup in the fancier grocery stores. I did bring some Peanut Butter, Mac & Cheese and dry soup mixes...and they were nice to have. Hot chocolate, popcorn and potato chips are available everywhere (can you tell I was totally into the comfort food thing?! ;)
We, too, were able to buy fruits and vegetables readily at the grocery stores. I'm sure it wasn't as fresh as the spring, but it was fine.
Books, books and more books (if you're a reader). Our laptop was a lifesaver. We used it not only to keep in touch via the internet, we used it to Skype the kids we left at home and to watch DVDs when we didn't have a DVD player in our apartment. Speaking of DVDs...we brought A LOT OF THEM. We knew it would be cold in Ukraine and there may be days when we either couldn't or wouldn't want to get out of the apartment other than to see our child, so we brought just about every DVD we own in a carrying case.
I brought shampoo and soap from home, but didn't need to. They had all the brands we used. We didn't need the clothesline. There were drying racks in all of the apartments we stayed in...and this time of year its just as easy to drape your clothes over the radiators - it dries the clothes in half the time.
My husband is a veterinarian and was worried about the quality of medicine we would be able to get in Ukraine, so he insisted we bring our medicine cabinet with us - Benedryl, NyQuil, Advil, Neosporin, Immodium and a prescription antibiotic. I'm glad we did. We used just about all of it at one point or another.
There's more, I'm sure. Feel free to email me too.
Oops...forgot to add the email address. six sunflower seeds at gmail dot com
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