Thanksgiving

Ahhh, the glorious, glorious time of year for the gluttonous, tongue-tantalizing excitement of Thanksgiving in a foreign country (going on four years now!)! Seriously, I think ex-pats really make some amazing efforts to not only carry out tradition when it's not always easy to do so food-wise, but also to welcome new foreign flavors, foods, and friends in as well! It's a beautiful (and tasty) thing indeed!

Although I sorely missed stuffing my face alongside my husband (and usually with his delicious creations), I was really excited to celebrate in Kiev this year with some of the diplomats I've had the pleasure of meeting through the English Language Fellows program here in Ukraine.

We had a crackling fire...

...local beer and comforting munchies...

...homemade stuffing for our beautiful turkey (ordered through the U.S. commissary...thanks, diplomats!)...

...lots of yummy sides and creations...

...and, of course, good people and conversation to share it all with:

To my non-oven-owning delight, we even had our fair share of amazing pies (sadly, canned pumpkin was nowhere to be found, so was not the star of this year's feast):

And it wouldn't be dessert in Ukraine without ice cream from a bag!

The day after Thanksgiving, I even got to channel a little Black Friday shopping spirit (without, thankfully, everything else that goes along with Black Friday) by doing some Christmas shopping in downtown Kiev! Besides hitting up the usual shopping spot of Andriyivskyy Uzviz (St. Andrew's decent...a winding, cobbled lane lined with artist and folk craft stalls), I was also lucky enough to be in town during a Ukrainian Folk Crafts Expedition, which had some unique items and exhibits as well:

All in all, it was a great little getaway to the capital and a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I'm truly thankful to have such opportunities to live, work, and have so many wonderful experiences abroad, and am especially grateful for all the people who come along within these journeys! On top of that, with a fabulous husband, good family, and lovely friends waiting for me at home, what more could a gal possibly ask for for Thanksgiving?

Oh yeah, besides a set of Beatles matryoshka dolls, that is.

Black Friday Ukrainian Style

I had a fantastic Thanksgiving in Kiev (post to come) and even got to do quite a bit of Christmas shopping at the markets and craft fairs on Black Friday! Of course, I didn't come out of it without a few things for myself:

For my first matryoshka doll purchases, I'd say these are right up my alley!

Taste of...Home?

America really needs to step up their game. I mean, both crab and bacon Lays available in the snack isle here? Seriously, people!

Kolomiya

From my fantastic base in Lviv on my western Ukraine trip a few weeks ago, I decided to take my chances with the fickle fall weather and head down to the beautiful Carpathian mountains; the small sliver of them which run through a tiny part of Ukraine are definitely treasured here.

I decided that my first stop would be the town of Kolomiya, which serves as kind of a gateway to the mountains, and which has built its fame on painted eggs (more on that to come). Once off of the 5-hour train from Lviv, I hopped on the first bus I saw, figuring that one way or another, it would get me downtown to the city center (isn't that the point of buses parked at a train station, anyhow?). After you've been on a bus for awhile, however, and signs of city life gradually get replaced with fields, cows, and the occasional tractor in the road, then that's a pretty good indication that you're NOT going to a city center. Anywhere. Half an hour later I was in the middle of nowhere next to a one-roomed country library that was apparently the end of the line. Thinking fast and whipping out the doe-eyes and Ukrainian phrase book, I managed to convince the driver that, yes, I was completely out of my element and, no, I didn't understand the language OR where the heck I needed to get off. He let me stay on for the long ride back into town, but made it known that he sure as heck wasn't going to help me any more than that.

And that's when I met Sveta. The saving soul who spoke English AND eventually got me off of that danged bus! She was excited to meet a foreigner out in her neck of the woods and told me she would get me to my guest house and show me the layout of the city, but first she just needed to run an errand at a shop and had me come along with her. Since I figured she was the only English-speaker in the whole area, I decided to stick close and accompany her to the post office or market, or whatever she needed to do.

The errand was trying on and buying a new pair of boots.

Yes, I actually had to follow her into a shoe store in a small town with my huge back pack on and stand there like a mute idiot while she tried on various pairs of boots in various shades of the most favorite color here: black. I could feel myself floating out of my body and looking down to laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation.

(Sveta and her damn boots)

In the end, it was all worth it as Sveta and I enjoyed both good conversation and a hearty Ukrainian meal:

And, almost three hours after my train rolled into town, she even helped me get to the On the Corner Guesthouse, my home while in Kolomiya:

This place comes with a myriad of 5-star guest ratings and "best place I've ever stayed" love notes written in the guestbook. It was definitely fantastic thanks to the owner, Viatily, and the great home-cooking of his mom:

The guest house led me to meeting a lot of interesting people, including famed German photographer Uwe Ommer (who has done some fantastic projects and exhibitions for the United Nations)...

...and my fun new German travel partner, Gunther (self-proclaimed German Mark Twain):

Gunther and I took in the "sights" of Kolomiya together, including the incredible Museum of Hutsel Ethnography and Folk Crafts:

...and the Pysanky Museum. Pysanky are decorated eggs which are especially popular in Ukraine during Easter. We're not talking Easter eggs of the PAAS dye-kits with the funny wire dippers and bunny packaging variety. These are some serious eggs. And they are made even more famous by one seriously huge egg:

Inside, my stealth photography work captured that which is photographically forbidden (mainly, displays on the history and artwork of pysanka in Ukraine):

I totally can't wait for Easter here. It's going to be epic!

Afterwards, we met up again with Sveta and she took us to one of those funny Ukrainian theme-restaurants that seem to be so popular in the former U.S.S.R.

Health regulations are a bit different than back home:

But what glorious helpings of varenyky,

...borscht and rye bread,

...and deruny (potato pancakes) with mushroom gravy:

Afterwards, I tried out some of my toy-camera settings on my camera as we went on Sveta's Grand Tour of Kolomiya:

(Sveta standing (in the damn boots) in front of a billboard for the tractor company that she works for.)

What a crew! Yes, this is what happens when you travel:

Unfortunately, after all of the excitement of Kolomiya, the weather turned ugly and decided for me that I wasn't going to go romp in the Carpathians after-all. Gunther and I made a plan to head back to Lviv instead and had a failed attempt at getting Sveta to come with us.

Buses to nowhere, larger-than-life easter eggs, home-cooked hospitality, Germans, exquisite footwear...yes, folks, its really all right there in Kolomiya.