My Adventures Where in the world is ….

On Sunday, October 15th, we traveled via a big bus to Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine.  It is three hours north and east of Dnepropetrovsk and most of they way it is just driving through the country.  It could have been anywhere in the US until you saw a sign in Russian (and often in English as well – it was so interesting to see somewhere we had not been before.  We have heard that going south is even different from this – perhaps sometime we will get to see that as well.  Please asked what we thought of Kharkiv – well, what we saw from the bus is just fine.  Also the Church building they have is very nice and much bigger than the one in Dnipro.

The missionaries were very well behaved – they had better have been as they had Sister Sullivan telling them how to behave and me reminding them before we got to Kharkiv and in fact when we got on the bus in Dnipro.

Here are some pictures I took on the drive up from the bus.  The passengers sit very high above the driver so we could clearly see out the front window.  Sorry they are a little blurry – it was raining and the bus ride was quite bumpy – bad roads abound.

Before the meeting began we were told there would be a receiving line so we could all meet Elder Kearon, Elder Golden and Sister Golden.  We were to tell them our names and where we were from.

After the meeting and a quick goodbye to all we reboarded the bus and headed back to Dnipro.  We left at about 11:30 am and returned about 10:30 pm.  It was a long day and by the time we took the tram and walked home it was after eleven pm – we were tired and glad the day was behind us.  The memories are very special and the Spirit was so very strong.

We started our Saturday a little late.  Elder Morgenegg needed a haircut and although we did not bring our hair cutting supplies our mission president’s wife supplied us with a set they had but did not use as President has a very chic haircut and his wife is just too busy to do it for him.  So I am back to cutting Elder Morgenegg’s hair – but it is not too bad and it is better than trying to find a barber that we could communicate with that would not butcher his hair – many of the missionaries sport butchered hair.

Then after showering we were off to the store.  We have a plan.  The carts are different sizes but the size we like to use allows Elder Morgenegg to mount our cart on the rail of the cart and then hold it on as he pushes the cart.  I just move along and put things in.  He is very patient as I pick and choose produce, meat, cheese and other things.  His main job is to remind me when we get close to capacity as our cart to carry home groceries does have a limit.  Mostly he just follows me around as I shop for what is on my list (and other things I think look good).  Sometimes he offers suggestions as well.

Today, I thought I would share what our cart looks like.  Here it is after we got home – it is full.

When we come home we unload all the groceries and put them away.  Today I put them all on the counter so you could see what we bought today.

After we put them all away we folded up our cart for storage in our coat closet near the door ready for next week.  I actually keep one of the grocery bags in my bag that I carry to work.  It is what I use to carry mail in when I have a lot to carry like the last two weeks when I have filled it up and then some.  Here is our folded cart.

Now I had cooking and baking to do.  First I used the tomatoes I found in the clearance basket to make a large pot of sauce for the lasagna I would make for the couple who are coming to dinner tomorrow night.  I used onion, garlic (the cloves of the garlic here are huge – in one large bulb there are usually only four or maybe five cloves), red pepper, carrot, and spices to make a good beginning sauteing them in olive oil.  Then I chopped up about twelve tomatoes and put them in with some water and a little tomato paste.  I let it simmer while I made oatmeal cake for our dessert and then the dough for cinnamon rolls for breakfast (tomorrow is our general conference Sunday), wheat rolls for dinner and wheat bread.  After all the dough was ready I began to make the lasagna and got it into the frig.  By then the oatmeal cake was done and Elder Morgenegg was cooking his peanuts (we can buy them raw here very cheaply and then he roasts them in our oven – they are really a great snack) while I worked on the dough.

In between somewhere we stopped for dinner and now as I write this (it is now 6:10pm) Elder Morgenegg is almost done vacuuming our apartment and all our little rugs.  I still need to clean the bathroom and mop the kitchen floor and, of course, we need to do all the dirty dishes I have piled up.

Here is a picture of the rolls raising in my new silicon baking cups.

And here is the end result of my day so far.

So now I am off to put it all away, clean the bathroom, mop the floors, and crash – oh, we also did two loads of wash which are hanging to dry in our hall so Elder Morgenegg will probably be ironing later as mostly he irons his own shirts and other clothes here – most of my things just hang and don’t need to be ironed – yeah for that!

As soon as we finish out cleaning we plan to watch another session of General Conference.  Probably the Priesthood session and then tomorrow we will watch the last Sunday session.  We have seen the others but love that we can watch via the internet or downloads.  What a wonderful blessing to live at this time.

The couple we are having over tomorrow are very young.  His name is Pavel (there are lots of Pavels in our branch – and lots of Sergeys and lots of Igors – very common names here).  Her name is Sondra and she is so gorgeous – she is a model but right now she is on “vacation” as they just had their first child – a darling little boy – in June.  Sometimes she leaves him with her mother – I hope tomorrow she brings him.  They both speak enough English we hope it works out but we will love having them here no matter what.  He sent me a text this morning saying they look forward to tasting our delicious meal – I hope they like it.

Love you all!  Hope you enjoyed seeing my homemaker day.

In Ukraine where everyone loves a reason to party every city has a special day.  I don’t know if these days are related to a specific event or just a day that was chosen.  I cannot find anything that says the day itself is special so probably just a day they picked to celebrate.  For your information Dnepropetrovsk was first established as Ekaterinoslav in 1776.  It was named Dnepropetrovsk in 1926, Dnipropetrovsk in 1992 when Ukraine declared independence from Russia and in May of 2016 was renamed Dnipro.

So Saturday morning we got up a little later than usual but as usual we started our day with our weekly shopping.  When we were coming home there were lots of people out and about and we noticed that our road (Poliya) was once again blocked off from the main road and there were police cars to make sure no one passed the blockades.

Later I was cleaning and cooking and I heard a lot of commotion outside.  At the window I saw that the street was filled with people and it seemed to be a parade of some sort.  We watched for a while and then I decided I had to go down and take some pictures.  So I left Elder Morgenegg in charge of the plum tart in the oven and went down.   The streets and sidewalks were packed with people for as far as you could see both directions and the costumes were amazing.  People were happy – waving and smiling and singing and dancing.  The music was loud and crazy and it was very festive.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

Bringing up the end of the parade was this cute yellow mini van.  Semki is a Sunflower brand here.  Elder Morgenegg had some and he says they are small but taste pretty good.  In the states the seeds are much bigger.

So that was the parade.  The road was blocked off until late that night and there were lots of activities.  One thing we worried about is the huge stage right across the street from us.

Turns out this was not as loud as the other end of the road where the loud raucous music comes from, in fact some of the music from here was very nice.  You could see groups lined up outside the stage to come on.  The karate group was lined up at one time.  Later I think there was ballet as we heard swan lake and parts of the nutcracker and other classical music – that was a nice change.

One last picture – these two girls were dressed head to toe in traditional vyshyvanka and they were so cute.

Even late that night there were lots of people on the street and on the sidewalks going both directions.  Families with young children, strollers and children on shoulders as well as teens and older people.  It was a huge celebration and the next day it was sooooo quiet – almost eerie quiet going to Church.  However, by the time we were coming home the city was awake again.

Next year we may have to plan to be out and about.  I heard there was an artist festival and a food festival and a flower festival.  The missionaries said it was crowded all over the city but we should try it once I think.

Hope you enjoyed a taste of Dnipro City Day.