April 19th/Day 33 Orthdox Easter

This post is on my crashed lap top-complete with pictures-check back later! (Posted 6/18/09)

The day started early with us leaving for the church around 5:45 am to have the Easter Cake and food blessed. It was quite chilly and drizzling as opposed to our beautiful yesterday.

We drove to the church and stood in line with many other people there while music was blasted from the church. I think it was in Latin and sounded like a choir of monks, with lots of bells and chain sounds.

Everyone has baskets of food all with traditional Easter Cakes (which are more like a yeast bread baked in a coffee can with frosting and sprinkles on one end) and Easter feast food. Many have also brought their wine and vodka for a blessing.

A young teen brought his motorcycle into the yard and I joked with Snezhana that he was having his bike blessed? Little did I know that he was!

After standing in the gray damp morning for about 45 minutes a man appeared carrying a large ornate cross with a traditional Ukraine cloth tied to it and the priest followed he was dressed in velvet purple robes and he carried with him a bucket of water and a paintbrush/small mop head brush and he not only blessed the food by baptizing it with water, he blessed the people, spraying water at everyone. Yep, yours truly has now been baptized by an Orthodox priest. He really dosed me too, he must have know I was a gentile? My bangs were dripping wet and I thought perhaps mascara was running down my face. It was something I have never experienced.

We went back to the house were we had breakfast and Ivan & Snezhana were finally able to eat meat and dairy products. They had been fasting for 40 days from these items.

Snezhana’s cute mom showed up and then Andri Ivanovich (Ivan’s dad) and his girlfriend Tatiana and her son Igor came and after filling up the trunks with all kinds of food, we were off to the village.

Andri Ivanovich has the most friendly face and I love to watch him talk to me. He just lights up and I almost think I can understand what he’s saying. It’s apparent that he is very kind and hardworking.

It was about a two hour drive through other small villages and then we were there! There ended up being quite a crowd, in addition to those at the house we had Andri Ivanovich’s brother, uncle and aunt and the aunt’s grandson. Trying to figure out family tree’s with these people is like a soap opera, so many people have children with first husbands and or boyfriends and then live with or marry again that it becomes very confusing.

I was told there was not a house on the property, just a “shelter” and that was pretty much the truth but because it was so cold, that humble shelter soon became much more comfortable then being out in the elements. The women got busy making salads and the men started a fire-which Alex loved! What’s with boys and fire? He and Igor spent hours lighting sticks on fire, stirring the fire and then eventually starting their own. I had visions of Alex in boy scouts. He’s going to love it!

We sat down to eat salads and have wine, except for Igor, Alex and I we had delicious strawberry juice. I wanted to be brave and try new things but I had already told Snezhana that I just couldn’t do liver. So she kindly informed me that the rolls were stuffed with liver. Snezhana’s mom made a yummy salad of chicken, mushrooms, cheese, green onions and mayo. It was so good I thought I’d be brave and try the one with peas, mushrooms and some sort of meat. I asked Snezhana what kind of meat this was, she said, try it then I’ll tell you. I thought it might be squid, it kind of looked like chopped up octopus but then as I’m taking my second bite she tells me its tongue. TONGUE! Upon hearing that word, my tongue spewed it out of my mouth and back on my plate. It was at that point I realized Snezhana was truly treating me as family! We laughed and laughed.

At one point Andri Ivanovich brought me out a wonderful warm coat of lambs wool. It was obvious I was freezing. It is no coincidence that Alex’s new English word for the day was “freezing”.

We then roasted the meat over the white coals of the fire. I knew this was pork as I watched Ivan prepare it the night before and it was delicious (and safe!).

I have to say that maybe Ukraine’s are unfriendly in the street but once you are invited into their circle they’re the most fun loving, laughing, talkative, nice bunch of people. (I’m sure the two bottles of vodka and homemade wine helped some but truly I felt welcomed and included despite the fact I couldn’t understand them at all!)

Poor Snezhana, she had to interpret for me the whole time. Ivan’s English is getting better and better, it makes me feel selfish as my Russian is not improving much at all and they’re trying so hard to communicate with me in my language.

We then piled into the cars and drove to the forest-which was much warmer than the village as we were protected from the wind. Ivan’s great aunt showed and picked for me wild flowers in the forest and kept talking and talking like I could understand her. I just kept nodding and nodding like I could.

Then we went back to the property and hung out some more, and ate and drank some more. All this eating and cold was making me tired. Not to mention that Alex tossed and turned all night the night before and kept taking the covers, then we got up so early, I’m sure they think American’s are tired lazy people as I kept yawning and drifting off to sleep in the warm shelter.

I finally got brave/desperate and used the out house, it was so windy that I was afraid the tar paper would blow off and I’d be left sitting there in all my glory but it didn’t and all in all, the bathroom was better than the one in my apartment!

We went home around six and stopped and bought fresh milk in one of the villages.

On the way home we stopped to see Ivan & Snezhana’s home they are building. It’s so large and on such a nice piece of property. It amazes me how much Ukraine’s love to garden and grow their own produce. The village property (probably a couple of acres) had a huge garden with fruit trees, black berries, raspberries, strawberries, potatoes, and the summer garden is not even in yet. At the current house they too have a garden and at the new house is yet another garden! Their new house is going to be so nice.

We were all tired when we got back to the house. We packed in the food (Well I carried in one bag and Ivan wouldn’t allow me to carry anymore, “Wendy-it my job!”) and had tea, Easter Cake & Alex and I had cold potato dumplings (yum can’t get enough potato dumplings!) before bed.

I knew this was Alex’s last night with Ivan so I made it a point not to tell him it was time for bed, I just went in to read and he hung out with his brother for awhile but then came to bed on his own. He’s always very snuggly and silly at night but he managed to settle down pretty quickly and fall asleep.

I had my own blanket tonight and that made sleeping with Alex so much better! He doesn’t snore but he wiggles (a lot) and sometimes makes little crying out sounds in the night. Not like fear or bad dream cries just little sad sounds that are hard to describe.

Earlier Snezhana was telling me about something Andri Ivanovich built and Alex piped in saying something. I of course can’t understand him and asked Snezhana what he was saying. She said, when ever we talk about building anything Alex has to remind us that his Dad (James) builds houses too. She’s very proud of him Snezhana says.