Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Having fun in Kyiv


A special day deserves a special treat! Soft serve ice-cream...... yum!

We again walked the river strip ---this time in the opposite direction we did yesterday.

Along the way we saw lots of Ukrainian carnival fun. The kids sure looked like they were enjoying themselves.

The beach was full of people today. We are disappointed that we didn't bring our swimsuits.

Many moms were out with their babies. And all of them were oh so cute! It makes us wish that
we had him all the sooner.


Even Dedushkas were out with their grandchildren.

I could imagine this being me and a couple of my friends in 40 or so years. Never too old to chit chat with girl friends.

John and I thought we would save money and eat in. We kind of craved cold milk and cereal and so that is what we bought or so we thought.........

Instead, it was the thickest milk we have ever seen in our lives.

Still, John was game to try------ the brave guy.

But as you can see in this picture--- he regrets it. The sour residue is still in his mouth even as I type this.


Since we were still hungry, we hit the streets again and this time found an awesome grocery store called WestLine. It was very Americanized and even had rotisserie chicken and 10 check out stands that took credit.

We bought: Napoleon (a delicious dessert), piroshki, chicken rice pilaf, cotlieti, kapusta salad, and Coke to wash it down.


It was delicious! Score!

We had one of these for a snack and we loved its funny name. Ice Burger: two words Americans can crave overseas.

36 comments:

Are You Serious! said...

♡ THat is some thick milk man alive!!! I don't think I could have tired it! :)

Laurel said...

John and I laughed hard when we saw the Keifer picture. We did the exact same thing our first trip!!!!! You won't make that mistake again, will you?! I forgot to warn you about that. All part of the fun and adventure. Glad John's a good sport! LOVE the pics.
Laurel

Anonymous said...

LOL!!! That pic of john with the thick milk reminds me of the time when you guys were dating and I gave him that expired milk haha! I cant stop laughing! The rest of the food looks bomb though. No more milk!

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, it seems that you bought kefir by accident :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir
It says so on the bottle, just in cyrillic (my russian 101 class finally came in handy!)

Anyway, yeah it's very sour. The first time I tried it I didn't like it, but the taste grew on me :-P

Diana said...

Oh, that Ukrainian ice cream is SOOOO good!! And cheap, too! We'd a loved to bring some of that home!! One of the most fun things we did in Ukraine was buy out all the ice cream treats in the town market and take it to all the kids at my older son's internat. Many of the kids had never even tasted it before. Good times!

DyaDya said...

Kefir (КЕФИР)is not milk as you experienced! LOLOL MY wife longs to get some again. It's been over 3 years since the last time she had some back home. :) What you want is something that looks like МОЛОКО (malako). Take care! =8-)
Serge

Melissa said...

I remember in Russia buying milk was a challenge. If you got too high of a percentage, you were drinking cream. Hope you have better luck next time.

Amy said...

So glad that you are enjoying the food! Love the pictures! Keep um coming!

Hugs!
Amy

Mom Elaine said...

John you are a real trooper to have tried that "sour milk". I am so happy to see that things are going well for you. I'm amazed that you have internet access to keep us all current. May God see you through the rest of the trip with success to bring Dennis home.
Love, Mom

Zack, Jenn and William said...

Yummy stuff... well, except for the "milk"! We only bought milk when we had a facilitator with us, and weird thing was, it wasn't refrigerated. We used it for cereal a couple of times (and put it in the fridge) but finally decided to wait until we got home to have any more!

Little Patch of Heaven said...

Great updates. Oh, the memories. Take care and I hope all goes well for you.

kim said...

They do have regular milk, I just don't remember what we bought. We had been warned ahead of time, so we wrote down what we were looking for. That is hilarious. The rest of the food looked good and the town looks fairly modern?

Glad you made it safely.

Anonymous said...

hi mom and dad , dad how is your thick milk? did you like it? in the picture it look like you love it. mom it was nice try . it was nice thing that you try it . i love you gys have a good time.

crispy said...

Looks like things are going well. I am thrilled that you are happy and safe. Praying for you.

Shea said...

Yucky milk! What do you think it was? I can not wait to see little Dennis in your arms!

Kathy and Matt said...

I haven't been able to check other blogs for a few days so it was great to catch up on all you've been doing.

First, I'm so glad to hear the SDA appointment went so well. How nice that you can get Dennis' baby picture!

Your photos of Kiev are great. So different then when we were there in January. LOL!

I can't wait to read your posts about meeting Dennis! Safe travels as you drive to Donetsk.

Lucky Mom said...

Christine, so excited that you are finally there and that your appointment went well. While in Russia I think I bought that same milk! I tried to feed it to my daughter! - no wonder she didn't want to try milk for about a week later.
Suzanne

Carolynn and Steve said...

So glad to see that you made it safely and that you're having a great time---I'm holding you in my prayers as you get closer to your son!
Carolynn

debi9kids said...

Ewww! That "milk" looked so gross! What a sport to try it anyway.
(it ought to make your kids laugh)
I just lovethat you are able to really get out there and see things!
This is all so exciting!!!!
ps Just thought I would tell you that you have inspred my husband & I to consider adopting again! :)

ArtworkByRuth said...

Did no one warn you of Kefir? You want "Moloko" the other is good to keep your bowels regular should that become an issue. LOL!

Connie said...

John - there's a t-shirt with an 'unofficial logo' for Stella, the Egyptian National Beer, that reads "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." Consider yourself stronger for the kefir experience ;D

Have a wonderful time today guys. Love ya!

Suzette said...

Would love to know what part of the beach you are on. We are in Kyiv adopting and have been discouraged about things we have heard about the beach but where you were sounds nice!

Mama Seoul said...

When I went to St. Petersburg in 2000, we could not find breakfast food. Most places were not open and the ones that were had things like Schnitzel and more lunch-type things. Even the McDonalds was serving Big Macs instead of breakfast sandwiches.

Glad you are enjoying yourselves during the wait!

Christie M said...

I think that was plain Kefir.

Ya'll are taking advantage of the moment like Mike and I did. :)
A little honeymoonin' on the side. :)

Deanna said...

Great pictures!!!!

That milk does look a lil' thick I'm not so sure I could have tried it. Glad you were able to find something good to eat!!!

Can't wait for the next update :)

Debora Hoffmann said...

The kefir is really good with fruit and honey. We make it at home and make smoothies in the summer. I don't like it straight--John was brave. :-)

The RockStar said...

Ice Burger. That is one of the best names I have ever heard. Does it contain any meat? Meat and ice cream are like Simon and Garfunkel to me... I don't even know what that means but I am going with it.

Good job on John trying to drink heavy cream, when we were in Siberia, I tried everything once, usually not twice, but at least once.

Very happy for you both, thanks for sharing the adventure!

Svetlana said...

HI,
It is funny "kefir" when i saw a picture ... it is really funny... When you been in Russia before you didn't had it then?
My kids love to drink Kefir for snack with some crackers :-)
Sveta

Marlo said...

My whole office is excitied about Dennis and has been following your journey for about the last two weeks! We get together every lunch break and afternoon break to see if there is an update. Looking forward to seeing more pictures and hearing about your travels. We love you guys!

p.s. That 'milk' definately doesnt look so tasty...

Ken and Joy said...

So glad that everything is going well!! Looks like you are having fun. Can't wait to see pics of the little one!!

Jeri said...

Don't forget to try the Ukrainian candy bar...chocolate covered fat! I know salty and sweet are good but even I have my limits.

adopting2fromUkraine said...

It says Kefir right on the bottle. Ke(sign for f)ip You want to look for 'Moloko' which is milk in Russian. It will have percentages. What they mean, I don't know.

June

adopting2fromUkraine said...

I just saw the picture of Ice Burger. We went to Double Coffee and my husband ordered a cheeseburger. Well, he got a 'cheese' burger. A breaded round of cheese with horseradish sauce on a bun. No meat. Be careful what you think you are ordering. lol

Annie said...

Fun, fun, fun! This is more pictures of you, Christine, than I've seen in your blog so far! You are so pretty and look so happy! Like a honeymoon.

MoscowMom said...

Can't wait to hear more! Yes, kefir is sour, drinkable yogurt--an acquired taste, but we LOVE it!!! Sorry you tried it on cereal!!! (Makes great pancakes instead of buttermilk, though...)

I was w/o email for a bit, but yes, I got your email, and I'll mail the mug to Erin within the week :-)

Tami said...

Yep...like everyone else said. You got kefir. Yucky stuff. The milk usually comes in white plastic bags and has a picture of a cow on it. I wish I could remember the cyrillic letters to help you out.