Passed through Kansas city yesterday after leaving our Family Reunion in Kansas. Didn't plan on stopping but wanted to drive through the town just to see what it was like. Part way down Broadway - windows up, vent open, the car is filled with the most amazing aroma of coffee. Finally found a place to park and began walking up and down streets to find the source.
Finally discovered a huge white building - the roasting house for Folgers (did you know that they make Dunkin Donuts coffee?)
Unfortunately, since it was memorial day - nothing was open (in the whole city it seemed - but this was esp. tragic) we peered longingly through the windows and basked in the amazing smell of fresh roasted coffee. Coffee aside, Kansas City seemed a neat place.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Getting Old
Finally finished packing for the trip at 12:30 am and cleaning house for the housesitter.
Woke up to get dressed and catch a taxi to the airport at 3:40 am. A good thing Alister's Alarm worked because mine (set for 3:30am- and yes the taxi had been waiting 5 minutes before we got down so we could have used the 10 minutes) - ended up being set for pm instead of AM. How accurate can you be at that time of morning with only 5 hours of sleep the night before and an action packed day full of preparations before departure?
Flight was great - we booked with KLM who coded the flight to Air France who apparently did a seat share with Ukrainian international. Amazing that the cheapest ticket was available with a company who we didn't even see the entire flight.
We flew to Paris. The flight was not full so Alister and I had a seat between us. Somehow - I can curl onto 1 or 2 seats like I used to. The short haul of luggage (50 lb, 48lb, 18lb, 12 lb, and whatever alister's weighed)- was exhausting - and I didn't even have to carry half of it! Nothing like the trip as a single woman from Osijek to Budapest - by train with 175 lbs of luggage that I lugged about the city by myself. (not recommended - Budapest has no elevators and lots of stairs). But somehow - this packing trip was much more exhausting then all of that. I don't know if it is having to worry about packing for another person - or just getting old.
Had a 4 hour layover in France. Terminal B isn't much to speak of, and wouldn't be a comfortable place to crash in - but Terminal E was luxurious - in fact a but TOO luxurious - The food court had 4 gourmet styled restaurants serving from a cafeteria style layout - a bottle of water cost 2.10 euro and the cheapest thing you could find to eat that was 150g. (a sandwich) cost 5.20 euro. One of the places sold Lebanese food and it was ridiculous what they wanted for a small potion of hummus (3.75) bread (1.75) and a roll of something the size of your pinky was being sold for 2 euro something. A Chinese portion of meat/veggie combo was 5.8 and then another 1.75 was asked for a portion of rice. Portions were not generous but adequate for 1. With no alternative - we got a sandwich and spent the rest of our meal watching the shocked reaction of the other patrons who wandered in - circling the place in disbelief over the prices. You could spot the Business people - they shook their heads at the prices and then filled up their plates with a decent meal anyway. We decided it must be the expense accounts.
Fell asleep in the lounge even after a coffee - woke up unable to feel my right side and with fuzziness engulfing me we stumbled to the gate - only to discover that Alister had not reset his clock so we were an hour early - better than an hour late.
Ever since personal entertainment centers have been installed on Aircraft - flying has become way more comfortable - but even without that i highly recommend AIR FRANCE - they give you a face mask, ear plugs, head phones, a yummy and generous meal - three passes through for beverages and then a "self-serve" invite for the back of the plane - and just excellent service. Fly Air France.
And while complementing France - Alister and I watched a comedy Envoyés très spéciaux on the plane. It was absolutely hilarious. LOL. Its about these journalists who are supposed to report on Iraq but get stuck in Paris - so they pretend they are in Iraq but are broadcasting from Paris. The plot thickens in the relationship between the two journalists - one who unknowingly slept with the other man's wife who then left him the day that he got sent to "Iraq" Clever, original, and just plain great - of especial note is the celebrity fundraising satire.
Woke up to get dressed and catch a taxi to the airport at 3:40 am. A good thing Alister's Alarm worked because mine (set for 3:30am- and yes the taxi had been waiting 5 minutes before we got down so we could have used the 10 minutes) - ended up being set for pm instead of AM. How accurate can you be at that time of morning with only 5 hours of sleep the night before and an action packed day full of preparations before departure?
Flight was great - we booked with KLM who coded the flight to Air France who apparently did a seat share with Ukrainian international. Amazing that the cheapest ticket was available with a company who we didn't even see the entire flight.
We flew to Paris. The flight was not full so Alister and I had a seat between us. Somehow - I can curl onto 1 or 2 seats like I used to. The short haul of luggage (50 lb, 48lb, 18lb, 12 lb, and whatever alister's weighed)- was exhausting - and I didn't even have to carry half of it! Nothing like the trip as a single woman from Osijek to Budapest - by train with 175 lbs of luggage that I lugged about the city by myself. (not recommended - Budapest has no elevators and lots of stairs). But somehow - this packing trip was much more exhausting then all of that. I don't know if it is having to worry about packing for another person - or just getting old.
Had a 4 hour layover in France. Terminal B isn't much to speak of, and wouldn't be a comfortable place to crash in - but Terminal E was luxurious - in fact a but TOO luxurious - The food court had 4 gourmet styled restaurants serving from a cafeteria style layout - a bottle of water cost 2.10 euro and the cheapest thing you could find to eat that was 150g. (a sandwich) cost 5.20 euro. One of the places sold Lebanese food and it was ridiculous what they wanted for a small potion of hummus (3.75) bread (1.75) and a roll of something the size of your pinky was being sold for 2 euro something. A Chinese portion of meat/veggie combo was 5.8 and then another 1.75 was asked for a portion of rice. Portions were not generous but adequate for 1. With no alternative - we got a sandwich and spent the rest of our meal watching the shocked reaction of the other patrons who wandered in - circling the place in disbelief over the prices. You could spot the Business people - they shook their heads at the prices and then filled up their plates with a decent meal anyway. We decided it must be the expense accounts.
Fell asleep in the lounge even after a coffee - woke up unable to feel my right side and with fuzziness engulfing me we stumbled to the gate - only to discover that Alister had not reset his clock so we were an hour early - better than an hour late.
Ever since personal entertainment centers have been installed on Aircraft - flying has become way more comfortable - but even without that i highly recommend AIR FRANCE - they give you a face mask, ear plugs, head phones, a yummy and generous meal - three passes through for beverages and then a "self-serve" invite for the back of the plane - and just excellent service. Fly Air France.
And while complementing France - Alister and I watched a comedy Envoyés très spéciaux on the plane. It was absolutely hilarious. LOL. Its about these journalists who are supposed to report on Iraq but get stuck in Paris - so they pretend they are in Iraq but are broadcasting from Paris. The plot thickens in the relationship between the two journalists - one who unknowingly slept with the other man's wife who then left him the day that he got sent to "Iraq" Clever, original, and just plain great - of especial note is the celebrity fundraising satire.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Busy
It has been pretty crazy the last few weeks trying to take care of everything before leaving for the states (BTW - We're here! - more on that later)
As if things weren't hectic enough, we decided to follow up an invitation from a reformed church in Ivano Frankovsk (western Ukraine) and go visit and share about our church with them as well. The town was lovely and it was great to hear about their church and learn about the social activities the church and Pastor are involved in (HIV/ AIDS education and anti-prejudice campaigns.
No pictures at the moment but we got to go through the countryside as well - stopping at the Pysanky Museum (where I saw some of my teacher's eggs), trying local cheese, and going through the tourist markets where Yushenko (president Ukraine) shops (at least there was a picture of him at the restaurant). No wonder though - as all the souvenirs really come from western Ukraine and they are WAY cheaper (10-15 uah before bargaining) than in Kiev. Also - here - national costumes were not only in supply - but in abundance and there many differnt styles and patterns that in kiev you just don't see (in kieve its like a standard shirt - one pattern suites all) Not that we bought national costumes - but it was great to see the variety and innovation. We also learned that all these crafts were mostly instigated by the Hutsul people.
Also - I gleaned the most amazing recipe for pickled tomatoes. I know, you are wondering how pickled tomatoes can be amazing - well you have to trust me - once we get back to Ukraine (in tomato season) I will mix up a batch and see if I can duplicate the results and share it with you. (really I just didn't bring the recipe with me)
As if things weren't hectic enough, we decided to follow up an invitation from a reformed church in Ivano Frankovsk (western Ukraine) and go visit and share about our church with them as well. The town was lovely and it was great to hear about their church and learn about the social activities the church and Pastor are involved in (HIV/ AIDS education and anti-prejudice campaigns.
No pictures at the moment but we got to go through the countryside as well - stopping at the Pysanky Museum (where I saw some of my teacher's eggs), trying local cheese, and going through the tourist markets where Yushenko (president Ukraine) shops (at least there was a picture of him at the restaurant). No wonder though - as all the souvenirs really come from western Ukraine and they are WAY cheaper (10-15 uah before bargaining) than in Kiev. Also - here - national costumes were not only in supply - but in abundance and there many differnt styles and patterns that in kiev you just don't see (in kieve its like a standard shirt - one pattern suites all) Not that we bought national costumes - but it was great to see the variety and innovation. We also learned that all these crafts were mostly instigated by the Hutsul people.
Also - I gleaned the most amazing recipe for pickled tomatoes. I know, you are wondering how pickled tomatoes can be amazing - well you have to trust me - once we get back to Ukraine (in tomato season) I will mix up a batch and see if I can duplicate the results and share it with you. (really I just didn't bring the recipe with me)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Easter^2
Easter we planned to invite lots of people over - but it ended up that this year there weren't really many people who needed a place to go so it was Alister and I and our friend Jura.
Western Easter was Our Palm Sunday and I made Hot Cross Buns. Easter dinner cresendoed with my first ever Black Forest cake. I made only half the cake - but I think I could have gotten by with only making a quarter - the thing is so rich that a "normal" sized piece is a meal in and of itself.
Another Haggai walk
A few weeks ago we tried to Haggai on a walk again. The poor thing was scared spitless.
Wouldn't even come out of his bag. I think he enjoyes all the smells and the fresh air - just all the sounds were a bit too much. At one point he did try to venture out - but at that very moment a group of people went by on motor bikes and that was the end of that.
Wouldn't even come out of his bag. I think he enjoyes all the smells and the fresh air - just all the sounds were a bit too much. At one point he did try to venture out - but at that very moment a group of people went by on motor bikes and that was the end of that.Saturday, April 11, 2009
Ballet
We went and saw a ballet the other day.
La Bayadere - or Bayaderka in Russian.
It was fabulous - I liked the servant - one of fakirs - the best. You can see his performance towards the middle end of this youtube clip- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNEKBf1qsE
The ballet is about a young warrior who falls in love with an Indian temple dancer. Meanwhile the Temple priest is also in love with her - And at the same time one of the Lords is planning that the Young Warrior should marry his daughter. The father and daughter decide that the bayadere must die and the Bayadere chooses to die rather than betray her love to the young warrior and marry the priest. So you have plenty of intrigue. The clip below is of the daughter Gamzatti as she dances at her wedding.
The most interesting thing - reading up on it on Wikipedia is that this is considered one of Russia's most important ballet but because of Soviet times - it didn't "get out" of Russia until the 1960's and even then not all of it got out and parts of the music were lost and other parts modified because western dancers couldn't achieve the poses that the Russian dances could or the western stages weren't as large or spacious as the stage that the Ballet was originally written for. So this ballet has probably more interpretations than your average ballet.
Another interesting thing is that the last scene is sometimes left off. Instead of ending with the underworld revenge and temple collapse, it ends with a dream where The young man sees his dead beloved in the underworld and dances with her a last time. at 2.5 hours - (with pauses) it was a long ballet and so I imagine the original ending would make it very long and difficult for the dancers - they had quite a few jumps that they had to undertake in the score.
La Bayadere - or Bayaderka in Russian.
It was fabulous - I liked the servant - one of fakirs - the best. You can see his performance towards the middle end of this youtube clip- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNEKBf1qsE
The ballet is about a young warrior who falls in love with an Indian temple dancer. Meanwhile the Temple priest is also in love with her - And at the same time one of the Lords is planning that the Young Warrior should marry his daughter. The father and daughter decide that the bayadere must die and the Bayadere chooses to die rather than betray her love to the young warrior and marry the priest. So you have plenty of intrigue. The clip below is of the daughter Gamzatti as she dances at her wedding.
The most interesting thing - reading up on it on Wikipedia is that this is considered one of Russia's most important ballet but because of Soviet times - it didn't "get out" of Russia until the 1960's and even then not all of it got out and parts of the music were lost and other parts modified because western dancers couldn't achieve the poses that the Russian dances could or the western stages weren't as large or spacious as the stage that the Ballet was originally written for. So this ballet has probably more interpretations than your average ballet.
Another interesting thing is that the last scene is sometimes left off. Instead of ending with the underworld revenge and temple collapse, it ends with a dream where The young man sees his dead beloved in the underworld and dances with her a last time. at 2.5 hours - (with pauses) it was a long ballet and so I imagine the original ending would make it very long and difficult for the dancers - they had quite a few jumps that they had to undertake in the score.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Easter is in the air
Easter is coming. I realized it last week. Not because of big
pink bunny rabbits decorating store windows (there aren't any), not because of pastel colored peeps lining the checkout isle (there aren't any) Not even because of a plethora of Easter baskets and Easter candy assulting the buyer entering a store (there aren't any). No, rather I know that Easter is coming because on the street people are selling green onions, a weird leafy vegetable I last wrote about here and radishes. Soon after I noticed the radishes, I also realized that more cake ladies had sprouted on street corners and the other day I saw a man running around with his hands full of woven baskets (but not with Easter bunnies- women will load them with ingredients for easter dinner and take t
hem to the priest to bless on Easter Saturday or Sunday morning).
I decided that now would be the time to begin my quest to find and collect the plastic egg sleeves for decorating eggs. Because Pisanki is very difficult (and you can't eat the eggs) Easter eggs - in the form we know them are still all over the place here - but aside from using colors (very very bright strongs colors) they also have a very wide variety of interesting egg sleeves with traditional designs, paintings from fairy tales, as well as icons. I didn't buy the icons. Last year they sold out really quickly and buy the time I figured out that they might make fun and orignial gifts, they were all gone. So I am congratulating myself for being ahead of the game this year.
pink bunny rabbits decorating store windows (there aren't any), not because of pastel colored peeps lining the checkout isle (there aren't any) Not even because of a plethora of Easter baskets and Easter candy assulting the buyer entering a store (there aren't any). No, rather I know that Easter is coming because on the street people are selling green onions, a weird leafy vegetable I last wrote about here and radishes. Soon after I noticed the radishes, I also realized that more cake ladies had sprouted on street corners and the other day I saw a man running around with his hands full of woven baskets (but not with Easter bunnies- women will load them with ingredients for easter dinner and take t
hem to the priest to bless on Easter Saturday or Sunday morning).I decided that now would be the time to begin my quest to find and collect the plastic egg sleeves for decorating eggs. Because Pisanki is very difficult (and you can't eat the eggs) Easter eggs - in the form we know them are still all over the place here - but aside from using colors (very very bright strongs colors) they also have a very wide variety of interesting egg sleeves with traditional designs, paintings from fairy tales, as well as icons. I didn't buy the icons. Last year they sold out really quickly and buy the time I figured out that they might make fun and orignial gifts, they were all gone. So I am congratulating myself for being ahead of the game this year.
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