Monday, January 28, 2008

Still Waiting

We gave our facilitator a letter this morning requesting an appointment for another referral. He has to get it translated and submitted to the appropriate people. It could take 2-3 days. It snowed alot today. We went to the bank to exchange money. Went to the market to get a few items. We spent a couple hours at the internet cafe so Tim could get some work done. The landlord of the apartment we are renting is a husband and wife. They are very nice. When we arrived on Saturday night Tim asked them if we could get some American tv channels on the tv. They came by this afternoon with a cable box and we now have a few American tv channels. We have CNN, Animal Planet, 3 Discovery channels, VH-1, and Hallmark channel. It's amazing what a few American tv channels will do for you.

From Tim
Ukrainian cooking lesson: Take a baked potatoe and add ham salad, garlic and mayonaise. Mix together and eat. That's what I had for dinner. Actually, it was pretty good. I had another bottled water with gas in it today. Anybody that knows me knows that I don't need anymore gas. What's the deal with putting carbonation in water? I just don't get it. The real problem is that I can't read Russian and they can't understand "no gas" in English. Ok, here is your assignment for the week. Go out and buy a bottle of water with gas in it. Choke it down and tell me how it turns out.

10 comments:

Becky Maxwell said...

Snow? Oh my gosh! Did you take appropriate clothing? I hope you get another appointment quickly.
Tim is so funny! How do you get water with gas in it? Doesn't it "release" when the lid is taken off? Keep all of us checking on you posted! Much love, Becky and Mike

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Love hearing from you two. Hope the referall goes quickly. Will keep praying for all to work out. I bet it does feel good to have some American channels. Who couldn't love the Hallmark channel. I could watch it for days. Tim, you crack me up, can't wait to hear all the Tim stories when you two get back. Love to you both. Kathi

Oh, by the way, I'm the one that deleted the comment above. It sounded really corny so I changed it. Should have previewed it first.

Natalie said...

Okay, Tim. "No Gas" looks like "He Gac," with the 'G' looking like a Greek letter Gamma. Hope this helps, Natalie

momanddad said...

Glad to see your updated blog today. I always wonder where you are and want the latest news. Is the American Embassy in Kiev? Maybe you can go there and get some reading material. Tim you made me laugh today!! Only you can do that!! Please send me a word every day so I know you are ok. Love Mom

Marilyn K said...

I'm thinking that the water with gas is something like Perrier or oher carbonated beerages. Is it possible you could open a couple bottles of water and not drink them until the next day? Would they not go flat just like a Coke or is this not a comparable situation? The baked potato with garlic & ham salad mixed in doesn't sound all that appetizing to me but maybe a person had to be there to appreciate it. You haven't found the Chicken Kiev yet? Best of luck on your next appointment.

Marilyn K said...

Oops... beverages, not beerages although maybe that's yet another option.

Ladybug said...

Guess you all should just tell them you want flat or tap water. Hope you all will get your referral soon. God sure tests us, right? Keep updating the blog. We all seem to be living vicariously through it. Keep your chin up. We are all rooting for you. Ladybug.

adopting2fromUkraine said...

Like Natalie said, look for the word that starts with 'He' then it will have that 'r' looking letter with 'a' and an s/z combination letter. Sometimes they don't have that word on the bottle, but if there is a word that doesn't start with 'He' then it is gas water.

We found that the blue bottles were often 'no gas' and green usually were gas, but that isn't always the case either. We did find a 6.5 liter green bottle that was no gas. Look at the bottle and maybe shake it a little to see if there are bubbles.

If it says 'Mineral' water, it will have gas. That little store may not carry small bottles of 'no gas' water. The bakery has no gas water. The Bonaqua brand in the blue bottle is usually no gas.

Have ya'll tried the Ukrainian food at Budmo's? They have good Borscht. Ask for their English menu. Go to the corner by O'Brien's to that cross street that goes to the Square. Look across the street and to the left. Several of those restaurants have what they call a business lunch which are specials served from around 1-3pm. They won't volunteer the information, you have to ask them. We didn't think we could ask since we weren't on a business lunch, but we heard a couple ask about it.

adopting2fromUkraine said...

PS -- Tap water is not advised unless you want to become sick! If you have to, you can always buy the big liter bottles and fill small bottles with it:) We drank and brushed our teeth with only bottled water and were not sick once.