U.S.A...

I now live in a country that consists of abbreviations.
Even its name can be abbreviated.

Just think...

I.O.U. (I owe you)
D.U.I (Driving under influence)
P.B.&J. (Peanut Butter and Jelly [sandwich](yes Marina!!))
A.K.A. (Also known as)
R.S.V.P. (Repondez S'il vous plait) (ok not really american but they use it!!)
C.E.O (Chief Executive Officer)
O.D. (overdose)


Not even mentioning the trivial CD, PC, LOL, ASAP and SOS.

(Ok I stole the pic from sb else's site. U can do ur search on abbr-s urself =)

Routine

I have been working this past week, and meanwhile realizing more and more why America is hard to live in spiritually (now, I'm alright Vika, I'm just looking at facts =)).
The problem is - business.
People tend to have more stuff to do here as compared to Ukraine.
Probably due to the fact that there are so many places to go, so many stores, the beach, sales, farmers markets... Cute and fun things to do... things that take up your time with the Lord.
And I'm not saying it's bad to enjoy oneself. The point is balance of those things, and that's what's hard, especially if you have to plan your day yourself (that's when that self-discipline comes in).
I'm glad that in that sense Ukraine is not like that. There are not so many things over there that are tempting (although, one could always find some). Here I see a lot of people working two jobs and putting all their money to pay off a mortgage on a huge house they didn't NEED in the first place. (The problem is that those houses exist, and people have eyes too big to see they can't afford it.) And then they go off complaining that they don't have time to go to church - or just simply hang out with their kids or spouses! Ukraine has its own problems, but people are more likely just forced to have a hard life due to the unstable economy at all times (but they still can make decisions to spend time with God or in front of the TV).
Maybe I'm too judgemental, and my Ukrainian eye hasn't adapted to the sharp contrast of american reality...

Слава труду!!

Although I don't agree with this communist slogan ("Glory to labor"), I did gain appreciation for my job as today was my first work day. I realized that people are looked down upon when they say they work at a "hamburger joint" - and unjustly so! "Flippin burgers" is a pretty hard job, whatever they might say. Today my main job was to make french fries and onion rings, as I can't really do much of anything else yet. "Little Jocko's" has the highest hygiene standards of all other places that I know - and I'm quite relieved, as I thought I might encounter some unpleasant moments (I'm a clean freak when it comes to handling food). That's probably why today was pretty hard, as you don't only cook but you also clean the utensils, make sure that the diner is in order, the fries are hot and trays are clean....
So anyway, although I'm pretty tired today, I'm still glad God gave me this job (makes you feel like a normal person =). I'm working tomorrow, so right now I have a couple hours to relax before my hubby comes home ...

Some ways in which God works...

Today was one of those days when you wake up and don't want to be yourself. I was dreading this afternoon.... It was going to be my first job interview.
OK so some of you know that I've been looking for a job lately. Yesterday I submitted 5 applications to different stores and restaurants in the neighbourhood. There was an Italian restaurant that wasn't open yet, but the owners let me fill out an application while nobody was there. They are a senior couple, running a small restaurant. They have a nice weener dog. They were polite, but.... Something within me just was saying NO!!! Will agreed that he had the same spooky feeling.... I was praying they wouldn't call me.
They did. The same day. And told me to come at noon today.

Yesterday, when we were about to be done with all the applications, on the way home Will saw another restaurant. It's more of a hamburger joint I would say, and is called "Little Jocko's". He said "Well, let's try the last one". And I was about to open my mouth to say "Nah, I'm too tired, let's go home", when I saw an anchor on a worker's T-shirt. That made me shut my mouth. (Some might not know, but for Will and me anchors are special.. and God uses them as signs for us =)
We came inside. Yep, a typical hamburger joint. The application was very simple, but it said to submit it before 11 am. And we were late. "Well, I said, I will submit it tomorrow myself." So we agreed.
In the evening that guy from the Italian restaurant called....
So today I woke up and was just laying in bed thinking about whether I should go or not. On one hand, it is a job, which is very hard to find right now, especially if you have NO experience whatsoever. On the other hand, I would rather trade a more prestigious job for a group of co-workers I am comfortable with.
So I was pretty nervous. The application for Little Jocko's still lay on the kitchen table together with the last copy of my resume... So I decided to submit it today before the interview. I walked to the restaurant and saw the sign "Sorry we are closed." I walked past it and went to the Starbucks nearby, got a latte, sat down and thought "WHY?? God, if you were telling me to go here, why is it closed today??" And God just said "Just try knocking on the door, silly =)". So I picked up my coffee and went back. Some guy was arranging chairs in the hall, I showed him my application, he walked behind the counter, then came back and opened the door. "Danny will be with you in a moment". And a moment later I was standing in front of a middle aged pleasant man, who was studying my papers. In the middle of conversation he suddenly said "Hey my cousin lives in Ukraine." I asked about the city or the church he was with, but he couldn't remember. Then I asked "What's his name?", realizing that there are so many american missionaries, and so many churches that it was almost silly to ask... Until I heard "Jake... Jake Knotts..."
Well, at that point I realized that it was another sign God was sending me. And if I was in SLO, I probably wouldn't be as surprised, but we are good 20 min away from SLO, and that was the very restaurant that God directed me to.
SO there you go Jake, even though you are not in the States, God is using you!

Boston in its variety

Yeah this was my first meal in the States =)) We went to Ihop.... yeah... never again =D




Ok here begins the Boston part. The city has lots of parks, just like in Ukraine, except here they are much cleaner, you can walk on the grass and the animals are very tame. I personally fell in love with these cute furry ones =))




We went to The Cheesecake Factory. To convey this to an average Ukrainian, imagine that you came to a huge restaurant, where someone is already having a wedding banquet... and they want you to join. =) The food is delicious, but the quantities....

























My dear husband being a goof in the patio of Boston State Library.


















While some food selections clearly conquered my imagination.....


.....other foods just kept me away.....
(those are lobsters, or омар)

USA..... Not so much UA...

Yep, we finally arrived in America couple of weeks ago. We spent 5 days in Boston (... Boston in the fall is gorgeous!) visiting Will's one of the best friends Kyle who blessed us so much during that time. Then we came down to San Francisco, where we stayed at Jordan's house and they played video games all night and ate TacoBell... =) (Will really missed that one. McDonald's in Ukraine just didn't cut it for him =))) Next day ,to add to our perpetual travelling, we came down to Nipomo, Southern Cali, the town where Will's sister lives. So that's where we are staying right now, with a pitbull and a bulldog in a big nice house. The thing I can't get used to though is that you go to a grocery store once a week... because it's in a different TOWN! It's huge though, all the food choice you want, but if you forget to get meat, you'll have to go vegetarian for the next week...
On sunday we went to Calvary in Arroyo Grande (that's where Cara Denney is from), we met a lot of really awesome people, particularly the family through which Will got saved, the Shephards.
Right now I don't have much to do at home except to embroider and bake (which doesn't sound very exciting...). Will is going to start working on Monday (yeah, the whole Diablo Canyon thing didn't work... they never responded). I am waiting for my Green Card... Yeah, so there's not much going on right now, you could say =)

Bad girl

Nothing can be more boring than a post that is more than a month old. Shame on me....
Well I blame the exams. =)
I'm almost done, the last and THE FINAL exam is coming up in almost a week. Can't wait to finally be free! As Marina Koslow once said, Nizhyn University is a prison for one's mind. (I seem to quote you a lot Marina... Feel special =) Well I absolutely agree. The teachers are getting every opportunity to revenge on the students for all things they haven't got in life - family, friends, children, a nice job.... (70% of the staff are not married and are older than 40) I think it's simply sad...

But this post is not about that. We are still alive, Will is working on the new church with Paul and the guys (the floor is about to be done, the walls are coming up), we are waiting for July 1st to start the immigrant visa process (God only knows how long it's going to take). We are not going to Moscow or Germany again because of the visa complications...

Life is good =)

Lost in LOST - Part 2

I personally don't like to read books or watch movies that are sure to bring me a zero profit in a sense that they won't teach me anything (one of the reasons why I like the Bible). The same with Lost... or, well, used to be... =) I watched the 1st episode, and as I don't do very well with the sight of disfigured bodies and stuff, I swore I would not watch it anymore. But as our church is showing this serial at the English club, my husband has watched more than one episode, and he told me that gross things don't seem to come up later on. I was hesitant, but yesterday I sat down and watched.... 6 episodes in a row!!! And even if it sounds like much, we were actually surprised to find out it was already 10 30 pm!!! (yeah I need to get saved)

The movie is actually not only gripping, but rather deep, too. I thought it was a really good quote, " A leader can't lead anyone, if he doesn't know where he is going".

So, as Marina Koslow said,
HELP!!!!
=)

Coffee is so good....

I'm thinking about renaming our blog to "Random Stuff" altogether, as there are more of those random queer facts or thoughts than any info about us =)
I found this joke on the web and thought of all the people I know that could very well fit under that category =) No pointing fingers, they know I meant them !! =)

YOU ARE ADDICTED TO COFFEE IF...

1. The only time you are standing still is during an earthquake!
2. You walk twenty miles on your treadmill before you realize it's not plugged in.
3. You short out motion detectors.
4. You've built a miniature city out of little plastic stirrers.
5. You can jump start your car without cables.
6. You answer the door before people knock.
7. You get a speeding ticket even when you are parked.
8. You've worn out your third pair of shoes this week.
9. Your eyes stay open even when you sneeze.
10. You grind coffee beans in your mouth.
11. You can type sixty words per minute -- with your feet.
12. You soak your dentures in coffee overnight.
13. You sleep with your eyes open.
14. You have a picture of your coffee mug on your coffee mug.
15. Instant coffee takes too long to make.
16. You channel surf faster without the remote.
17. You don't sweat... you percolate.

From the morning till night...

Exactly 22 years ago on a snowy day in Syberia a girl was born... Yeah, yeah, I'm getting older =) Well, my birthday seems to be lasting for 2 days now, since yesterday my husband made a special meal for me consisting mainly from barbecued chicken in 4 different marinades (yes, we live in an apartment, and , yes, he barbequed on our tiny porch - or balcony =) which was absolutely delicious! And today I went to school and celebrated there, since we have a sweet tradition to celebrate each other's birthday every year. Usually in Ukraine the person who has a birthday has to run around half-dead buying cakes and so for the party - yes, it's not arranged for you, like it should be... =) Today I wanted to do something different and made fruit salad instead. Needless to say, the girls loved it.





This is my husband's hand brushing the chicken with marinade












And this is the fruity goodness... Especially delicious in this season

School and jokes

This is a picture of two of my school friends, Ania (on the left) and Katia. They are both very fun to be around, and they've helped me a lot during my long school years... =)





And these are some of the typical school jokes that I came across on the web :

Is there another word for synonym?
Shouldn’t there be a shorter word for monosyllabic?
Why isn’t phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
Why is the word abbreviation so long?
If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of congress?
Why is it called a building when it is already built?
Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why do the signs that say “Slow Children” have a picture of a running child?
If vegetable oil comes from vegetables, where does baby oil come from?
What do they call a coffee break at the Lipton Tea Company?
Why is it called a TV set when you only get one?
Why is it that when you transport something by car, it’s called a shipment , but when you transport something by ship, it’s called cargo?

PS. My favourite is about congress... No offense, just sounds really funny =)

For jello lovers

This is specially for all fans of this delicious and easy dessert. My husband loves it, that's why I wanted to improvise and try the layers.





Yeah Zhenia, I know, not very spiritual... Do you still love your heathen sister? =))

The same... and not the same

This is a picture of a random Nezhin street that I was happy to capture in its sunset beauty.









And this is the same street the next day!!!
















Isn't God awesome? Doesn't He deserve glory?!

Just making sure... =)

When I saw those two, we were in a terrible rush doing errands around Brovary, but I still took a couple minutes to take a picture of them. Looks like they don't trust the people who work there and are just making sure that everything is going fine ...

Big Birthday for Little Vika

About a week ago Little Vika had a birthday.... (shhh! Don't tell anyone!! =)
So we threw a little party for her at church, and had some fun.
The cake was supposed to have a writing " Cake for an angel", but as it usually happens the candles melted the whipped cream... though anyone didn't seem to have a problem with that =)

McIntosh insight

As I guess most of those who read this blog know that Will is all into coffee and everything related to it. Paul calls him a coffee snob, because he likes brown sugar in his coffee. =)
Anyway, probably fewer of you know that Will is also a great cook. My first chicken cordon bleu and the chicken ceasar salad and all mexican food that can be made in Ukraine came from him.
But, as there is no perfection within men, my husband is not an exception: he is only good with cooking. BAKING, on the other hand, is left for me. Somehow anything that has to do with batter and baking comes out... well, wrong. (I love you honey!)
This picture shows the incredible amount of struggle with the dough hidden under the humble countenance of my dear husband =)The product was meant to be homemade pizza dough.

The Secret...

So as I was reading through, to my mind, totally genius stack of posts "Things we don't have in Ukraine" I remembered something that even to me seemed weird =)

There is a new supermarket in Nizhyn that we love since it's so close to our place. Well, there's a small bank "office" that gives loans for cars and other things. As a way to attract attention there's a car right next to the secretary table. And that's alright with me, except that Will once wondered: " How did they even get this car in here??"
And really, there are no doors or windows wide enough for a car to go through. Now our only explanation is that they built the supermarket around the car =))

PS I know that the secret is probably very simple, but this way it's more mysterious and triggers imagination =) I will try to get a picture of it later.

Finally!

First I'm sorry for everyone who probably looked up our blog before and found bare prairie of brown nothingness... We created this blog long ago but then unfortunately found out that our internet is not fast enough to upload many pictures. And a blog without pics is not fun!

But then today I was checking out some other people's blogs and caught myself on a thought that I encounter a lot of things that are worth sharing about, or just 'cultural observations' as Jake and Anya call it. Probably it will be a better use of a blog space =)