School has resumed!

We went back to school on August 27. Laura is in Grade 5 (across the hall from my office) and Ben is in Grade 4 (far away). Both have wonderful teacher this year, so we are hoping for a wonderful school year. Ben will begin soccer training on Monday. He is beside himself with joy. He doesn't like having to wear his new glasses while playing because they "make me hot." Interesting reason.

Today is September 1--the traditional first day of school for Ukrainian children. Even though today is Saturday, all Ukrainian get dressed in their school uniforms and take flowers to their new teacher. It is a neat tradition especially if you like flowers-and you are a teacher! The girls HAVE to wear huge white frilly things in their hair when they meet their teacher. Here is a picture of what I am referring to. The girl was at another picnic table, but i think you get the idea from the picture.


For a year now a friend of ours from our first time in Kiev and I have been trying to get the staffs of our two schools together. I finally convinced our director to make the first move and organize something. He did! Today we went to the Architectural Museum and had a picnic. There was also a craft fair going on at the museum. It started out as a chilly and rainy day, but ended up being a nice sunny afternoon--perfect for a picnic. Here are a couple of pictures from the day.

Cossack man playing music for us

Laura and Anastasia wanted to dance with the Ukrainian folk singers, so they got up on stage and danced!

Ukrainian Easter eggs

Dan, Natasha, Anastasia (9) and Paul (6)

The Taylor family

Our next family adventure will be September 15. We will go with our housekeeper, Olga, to her summer home 1oo kilometers from Kyiv. She is worried about me because there is no toilet in her house! I have to go outside! Oh man, I am worried about me too! The following week we will go to Dan and Natasha's summer house and Dan, knowing my issues, has promised to make it smell nice and clean the seat! What a great friend!


Keep in touch!

Christina

Summer Vacation Part 2

We went whale watching and

moose hunting in Maine. Guess which one we saw?

We have returned to Ukraine which means our vacation is officially over. We returned on August 10 after one of the most uneventful flights ever! We got on the plane, we got off, we hung around Munich for 5 hours, we got on another plane, we got off, we got our luggage, and we were driven home! WOW! What are the chances of that happening?

Before we returned home, we drove from mom's house in Maine back to Virginia. When we left Mom's the plan was to drive to Portsmouth, NH and spend a couple of days. We were going to go to Kennebunkport and gawk at the Bush's compound, but after a long day of driving, we decided to do something fun instead! We did! As we were driving into Portsmouth, we got a little lost. We ended up on coast near the Atlantic Ocean. There was a public beach that looked very inviting. The next day instead of gawking, we went to the beach and the kids swam in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time! Laura and I spend several hours in the water-diving into and riding waves. Landon and Ben preferred to stay on the beach and play in the sand. After returning to the hotel, we met a friend of ours from Kiev for dinner. Katja was in Portsmouth helping out the Passport center. She had been there for nearly four weeks and needed to see a familiar face.

Where is Ben?


Birds on a rock

After a relaxing day at the beach, we got back in the car and started on the long drive from Portsmouth to Brandywine, Pennsylvania. It was a long and fairly quiet ride. We hit traffic near some of the big cities. When we arrived in Brandywine all we wanted to do was eat dinner and get to bed! On Saturday morning we had breakfast and headed for Longwood Gardens. As a child, I went to Longwood Gardens on school field trips and never enjoyed or appreciated the beauty of it. Today, as an adult I feel differently! What we saw was so beautiful. Here are a couple of pictures of the gardens.

There are many more pictures of the flowers and trees, but I don't want to overwhelm you!

We spent Sunday at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Landon has been teaching the kids American history and we seized every opportunity we could to visit historic sites. Valley Forge was nice, but it sure was hot! Here are a couple pictures.

Washington's Headquarters

Monument to those who were at Valley Forge

The return to Virginia was welcome. We had spent nearly a month on the road traveling and visiting. We were all tired, but no one was quite ready to return to Ukraine. Being in the states and visiting places, meeting people, and being with family and friends is awesome. We are only able to do it once a year and even then, our time is rushed!

School begins August 27. Laura will be in grade 5 and Ben in grade 4. I am amazed at how grown up the kids are! Sometimes I miss their toddler years!

Summer Vacation--Part 1

We are nearly half way through our vacation and man, are we having a good time! My mom flew in the day after we did and drove up to Maine with us. My brother and his family came to DC our first weekend in the US so my mom could have all of her grandchildren together. She has seen them separately, but wanted her to have a chance to love on them all at the same time. It was a great time. Laura loved being a big sister to Erik's little boys.

We drove from DC through Gettysburg up into New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. We then drove across the state of Maine to Calais. The drive was so beautiful. There are some charming towns in the northeast. We have over 1000 pictures and I can't share them all, so I have chosen a few. I will post more later.

Ben, Laura and me in front of the Native American museum in Washington, DC

Nana and her brood!

A canon in Gettysburg

The beautiful blueberry fields of Maine

The Green Mountains in Vermont

Lake George, New York (This view is from Ft. Ticonderoga)

School's Out For Summer!

YIPEE!!! We are free for the summer! It was a long and interesting year, but it is now history! Laura and Ben survived the year and are much better students! Both kids made tremendous improvements in their academics. We are proud of both of them. Laura will be in grade 5 next year and Ben will be in grade 4.

I will still be Special Needs Coordinator and on top of that Primary Years (PYP) Coordinator! I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to be PYP Coordinator! I have two great examples to follow. Stan, the coordinator from my previous school, ISL and Tasha, the outgoing coordinator from my current school! I leave Saturday for Bucharest, Romania. There I will sit in a sweltering school and learn how to be a good coordinator!

Three days after I return from that trip, we will head to the US for a month! We have decided to drive to Maine so we can explore more of the land we love. We will go to Gettysburg, NY (Albany), and through Vermont and New Hampshire before driving across the state of Maine. We will return to Virginia, our starting point, via I-95 making stops in Chadds Ford, PA and Annapolis! I will try to keep you posted as we travel!

I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing summer. Stay cool and drink lots of water!

Until later,

Christina

More Spring pictures!

Ben saw the ants!

I don't know what they are, but they sure are pretty!

Aahh!

This is one of two churches on the Botanical garden grounds.

A view of the left bank from the lilac grove! Is there such a thing as a lilac grove? Perhaps it should be called lilac heaven!

There were a couple of trees that had lilac blooms. We sniffed all of them!

The "Iron Lady," or Mother as she is known locally, is the fourth largest statue in the world.
A wonderful shot of a magnolia bloom. Many of them were gone and those that were left were not in the greatest condition. However, Landon did a great job on this picture!

Three quarters of a family photo!

We all took time to stop and smell the lilacs!

Bee-u-ti-ful Spring Day!

Laura and Ben on a bench! You don't see Ben trying to pinch Laura's leg! True brother and sister!


Yesterday we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and went to the big botanical garden. When we were in Kyiv before we spent a lot of time at the garden walking anonymously among the trees. Some things have changed for the better and some things will never change. We were there with at least a quarter of the Ukrainian population (or so it seemed)! Our main goal was to see the lilacs, but they were not in full bloom yet. Next weekend we will go back for Mother's Day and hopefully all the lilac trees will be in bloom! Here are a couple of pictures. I will post more later.

This is the entrance view.

The Botanical Garden has some forest land too.

I was trying to hide in the lilacs!

This is my favorite view of Kyiv. There is a monastery in the background.

Happy Birthday, Laura Rose

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA ROSE!

March 23, 2007

It is hard to believe our little girl is already 10 years old! She is such a big and lovely girl. She is smart and beautiful! Laura invited six of her closest friends to a birthday luncheon at our favorite Chinese restaurant. All the girls we well behaved and so polite. Here are a few pictures.

Natalya, Courtney, Trishi, Kata and Gabi joined Laura for her birthday luncheon.

I told the ladies we were taking a "serious" photo and this is what I got!

One girl gave Laura a whole tub of lollipops! What was she thinking???

International Women's Day

March 8th was International Women's Day. Traditionally men, and women, give women flowers, candy, and (in my case) champagne. My boss, John, gave each woman on staff a beautiful pink rose. In years past, bosses have given out carnations and chocolates. I have one Ukrainian male colleague whom I really like. He presented me with a bottle of tasty champagne. His words of advice were to not drink it at school!

Landon, on the other hand, does not believe in celebrating communist holidays! He was pressured into sending me virtual flowers, virtual chocolates and a e-card! Nothing says, Happy International Women's Day like virtual goodies. I have enjoyed giving him a hard time about his lack of celebratory spirit. To be fair to him he did buy me a plane ticket to Bucharest the day before the holiday. In his mind, that counts!

Because the holiday fell on a Thursday, the Ukrainian government gave employers the opportunity to work last Saturday instead of today (Friday) so they could make a nice four day weekend. I was able to drive to school this morning in record time. Traffic was so light I HAD to run a red light! There was no on coming traffic, so it was a safe running! I felt so naughty!

Spring is trying to spring in Kyiv. The weather has been very mild. We are to the point of wearing short sleeves and a lighter coat. Laura wants to shed the coat all together, but I have cautioned her against that. It can still be kind of chilly! When the sun shines and the skies are blue, life is good! I can deal with just about anything when the sun shines and there are blue skies.

That is all for now. It is time to watch American Idol! It is so great having Armed Forces Network (AFN). We get many of our favorite shows with in days of their airing in the US. I don't know how we survived our first 10 years in the service without AFN!

We are off to Prague, Czech Republic next week. I am presenting a workshop at a teacher's conference. I love opportunities to teach others what I have learned!

Keep in touch!

Love from Kyiv, Christina

Happy New Year from Kyiv, Ukraine

Over the weekend the Ukrainians celebrated Old New Year. This is the date when Ukrainians used to celebrate new year. Peter I wanted Ukraine (Russian Empire) to be more like the rest of the world, so he changed the date to January 1. Ukrainians never pass up an opportunity to have a party. So, I have yet another chance to say Happy New Year to you all!

Returning to Kyiv (official spelling) after being away for six years has been interesting. There are many changes to the city--some good and some not so good. In all fairness though, the majority of them are positive.

I would have to say that the one obvious negative change is traffic. I have never seen traffic and as many crazy drivers like I have seen here. People will block intersections in order to prevent someone else from getting ahead of them. They drive on the wrong side of the road and on the sidewalk if there is a traffic jam. Landon and I sat one evening (while waiting for the hostess of a dinner we had been invited to arrive) and watched a crossroads jam up all because one car had to go down a one way street. That one car blocked four lanes of traffic and thought nothing of it. Eventually he got tired of waiting for the traffic to clear and parked the car on the side of the road (in the intersection) and walked to his destination. We were gobsmacked at the pure selfishness of the drivers. Ukrainians are typically very patient people. When they get behind the wheel of a car, they lose patience and had to be at their destination last week sometime.

It takes me about seven minutes to get to school in the morning. I don't have to share the road with many and those who are on the road are still half asleep--or worse. In the afternoon it takes me anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half to get home. I get not quite 100 miles on a tank of gas! On a positive note, I have learned a lot of new hand signals and words in Russian!

If I had to choose one positive change I see it would probably be the availability of western goods. We used to go to at least three small dark stores to get our groceries, plus the outdoor market. Now there are western style grocery stores with 20 check out lanes! Many of their products are from Western Europe or Scandinavia. Customer Service is still poor, but I am hopeful that it will improve too. Many stores/shops in the city cater to the new rich people. The old shopping centers, Ukrainia and Tsum are still here, but a little more upscale. There are many boutiques and shoe stores around. The Ukrainian ladies like their nice clothes and shoes.

Maine woods

We spent Christmas in Maine with my mom and brother. We had a wonderful and relaxing time. There was no snow and the kids (and I) were disappointed. Maine is such a beautiful state. Snow would have made it a winter wonderland! Many of you know my dad died on September 16, 2006. He had lung cancer. It was exactly 10 months from the day he was diagnosed. Cancer is a viscous disease. No one deserves to have this horrible disease.

I will close for now. We wish you the best of 2007! Keep in touch!

Christina

Benjamin's surgery-Update

Benjamin's surgery was a great success. He is out of the hospital and feeling well. He has some pain in his hip, but that seems to be lessening. He does not like the sight of blood, so he is bothered by the blood in his mouth and nose. He is taking it in stride. We are so proud of him.

Here he is as he was being discharged from the hospital.


We would like to thank all of you for your prayers for Ben. We appreciate your support.

Check out his CarePage from the hospital. http://www.cnmc.org/dcchildrens/forparents/carepages.aspx (BenjaminPTaylor)

Keep praying for dad. His cancer has returned--to his brain.

Keep serving.

Love, Christina