Ukraine and Bulgaria

I celebrated my 55th birthday on June 5th by inviting a couple of our friends over for cake and ice cream. As in the past 3 years, Alvin made my cake and we had some of the 14 quarts of homemade ice cream from our freezer. Alvin even decorated the cake with a fake barbie doll!!

In preparation for our 2 week trip to Ukraine and Bulgaria, we needed to pick some of the cherries before we left even though they weren't at the peak of their ripeness. A little afraid that neighbors would pick the tree clean while we were gone, we decided to pick a bunch for the freezer and then hoped there would be some on the top of the tree when we returned that were totally ripe. (Glenn picked about 8 quarts of really deep purple (very ripe) cherries when we got back into town so now we have more than we can possibly eat!)

I think we have enough cherries to last for a while!!!!

We left for our Black Sea Orthodox cluster meeting in Kiev, Ukraine on June 9th where we provided member care appointments. We were there for a week and the weather was quite nice. The two previous times we've been to Kiev, it was sticky and hot!!!

I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is a picture of Sponge Bob on the sign and believe it or not, the name of the car wash is Sponge Bob!!! Sponge Bob made it all the way to Ukraine.

Glenn and I enjoyed a good chuckle when we saw the billboard with the announcement of the upcoming Miss Blonde Ukraine competition! Evidently, true Ukrainian women have blonde hair!

After a week in Kiev and just before we left for the second week in Sofia, Bulgaria, Glenn had to do a load of laundry. He remembered to bring a clothesline. He's so smart and handy! (I just take enough to last the two weeks!)

On our way to the airport to catch our flight to Bulgaria, we talked the van driver into stopping for lunch at Domino's Pizza!!! Yes, Domino Pizza is in Ukraine and it was soooo good!

Janet, my walking partner in BP, was at the conference with us in Kiev to do testing for the children of our personnel. She was headed back to BP when we were going to Bulgaria and in the van with us...She enjoyed the pizza with us, as did Alex, the guy who drove us to the airport. Actually, his Ukrainian name is Sasha but it is Alex in English.

The rest of these photos are from Bulgaria.

Our hotel was just a few minutes from ancient Roman ruins. I enjoyed walking among them each afternoon during our break time.

Our last day in town we had a free afternoon so a dozen or so of us made a trip to a nearby village to do a little pottery shopping. We stopped by this site to check out the amphitheatre. I don't know anything about it since I wasn't around when our "guide" gave a little bit of the history. I didn't buy any pottery because I am saving my money for Polish pottery, even though the Bulgarian pottery is quite interesting.

I took a couple of pictures of some crazy signs we saw in Bulgaria. Does it really mean all you need at the hotel is clothes, underwear, accessories, bathing (???) and souvenirs?

Notice the top left? What is dental tourism?

#5 says, "Using of the swimming pool is against payment". What on earth does that mean???

And I loved this spice packet found in a little corner grocery store! "Seasoning for Tasty Food"? If the food is already tasty, why does it need seasoning? If it isn't tasty, why would you want to eat it?

Well, our time in Ukraine and Bulgaria is over and we are back in Budapest. We'll be here for 5 days before we head to Turkey for another cluster meeting. I'll update before we catch the next flight!

Before I close, I'd like to wish my father a Happy Father's Day! I have a wonderful Dad and I love him very much. Wish I could be there to tell him in person how much he means to me!

Happy Birthday to me!

The beginning of this past week found us still in Marietta, Georgia. While I was in the U.S., I recognized a strange phenomenon. When we are overseas, we always enjoy looking for American products such as Oreos, cake mixes or Crisco in the various countries we visit. It's almost a game as we go from grocery store to grocery store just looking (and occasionally, but not often, buying) to see which American products can be found.

Well, when our daughter lived in France, I used to buy these wonderful spiced cookies each time we visited her and Jonathan. Then one day Kari introduced me to this delicious spread (looks like peanut butter, but a little creamier) with the same spiced taste. Lo, can you imagine how excited I got when I found the same thing available at Kroger in America???? I got almost as excited as I would when I would meet an African from the Ivory Coast!!! Far more excited than when I found Oreos in Greece!

It's a little expensive, but you really ought to try the cookies and the spread! This is the Lotus brand, the exact brand that Kari would buy for me in France! Let me know what you think about them!

Toward the end of our time in America, we celebrated Queenie and Pa's anniversary, even though Pa was no longer with us. Glenn's mother told us that Pa had already decided how he wanted to celebrate their 65th anniversary, and it was for the whole Borders clan to go with them to Outback Steak House. Pa had been saving for the event, which Glenn found in his bedside table, so "he" took the whole crew out for dinner just before Glenn and I returned to Budapest. To us, it was kind of odd that he wanted to go to Outback because Pa himself was a seafood lover...but we didn't argue! (How could we?)

Jackson, Beth and Stephen's son, dressed for the occasion with his smile and his cute little fedora.

We spent a lot of time with Glenn's family during the days, but I got to see my father a lot too. (More than usual because his "special friend", Emogene, was out in Texas with one of her sons.) Fortunately, Emogene flew back into town early on the day we were flying out, so we went to the airport to pick her up, and then ate together on the way home, and then she came over for dinner before we flew out late that night. She and my dad make a cute couple, don't you think?

We carried back with us 4 bags stuffed with clothes, food and books, and some items for 5 other people. Good friends from our church, Bobby and Kerry, picked us up from my father's house at 7 pm and took us to the Atlanta airport to catch our 11 pm flight out. They were both feeling kinda sickly with a bug their family had been passing around, but so far, we haven't had any of their symptoms. If they are reading this, we thank them very much!!! It was a huge favor they did for us and we appreciated it very much.

Now, every time we come home for a visit, folks are all the time telling us they'd like to come visit us in Budapest or we invite them to come visit us and no one ever comes. (Well, I shouldn't say EVER but I'm using literary license to make a point...) Lot's of folks have said, "I would have to get a passport" so we are going to make it easy for them. Go to the Powder Springs post office and get an application. We'd love to show you our beautiful city! And, to get your money's worth, stay long enough to run over to Vienna, Austria 2 hours away or up to Prague, Czech Republic that is 6 hours away!

We would love to have you come!

Anyway, the trip home was just the way I like them. UNeventful!

Our strawberry plants had started producing. We picked about 3 pounds of strawberries, cut them up and froze them for eating later over ice cream or in other desserts. Aren't they pretty? Glenn picked another 2-3 pounds yesterday so I now have 8 containers of strawberries in my freezer and there are tons more strawberries coming!

While in the U.S. I found this Hi and Lois comic strip that made me laugh and laugh and laugh! It fits me perfectly! And for those who can't read the small print, I've made a larger copy below in the next two photos!!! Hmmmm, I guess I'm not the ONLY one who likes a little bit of coffee with their whipped cream and white chocolate syrup!

Sounds just like me, doesn't it Karin and Kari?

Friday night we were invited to Melissa and Scott's for dinner. They are a young couple living here while Scott goes to the Central European University to study Ottoman Turk history. They live in downtown BP. When we left their apartment, we decided to walk part the way home. I loved this sign that indicates the direction to various countries, such as Poland, Croatia, and France! (The bottom sign says: Francia orszag, which is Country of France). Cool, eh?

This is the famous Astoria Hotel. At night, it is gorgeous. During the day, it is beautiful. I don't know which one is more impressive, day or night!

Today is my birthday and we have a few folks coming over for cake and homemade ice cream. (Remember the 14 quarts of ice cream I made just before going to the U.S. for the funeral? Well, I need help eating it or I will gain 10 kilos!) Alvin always makes me a birthday cake, so he is bringing it over when he comes. I love a party!

We head out this week for Ukraine for a meeting, then on to Bulgaria for another meeting. We will provide member care to our personnel. My role of TCK Education Consultant has officially been transferred to someone else as of June 1, so except for the emails coming in wishing me happy birthday, the daily onslaught of emails has slowed down. Now I can concentrate on helping Glenn with member care.

Take care! Because of our travels, I'm not sure when I will be able to update but I'll be back as soon as possible.

Funeral and Fun

We got to Marietta on Tuesday late afternoon and settled in at my Dad's house where we are staying for the two weeks that we are in the U.S.

Glenn couldn't remember how to tie his tie! NO joke!

Visitation was on Wednesday from 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm at Mayes Ward Funeral Home, just across the street from Marietta First Baptist Church where the funeral was held the next day. We both had left some clothes here just in case but as it turned out, I had lost some weight since we left in December and the suit that I had planned to wear was too big! So, early on Wednesday morning shortly after the stores opened, I had to run find something to wear for the funeral!!!

The Borders had set up lots of pictures of Bill around the room and Beth did this great display of the 7 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

It was a nice walk down Memory Lane for the Borders.

I loved the picture of the 4 girls on the right hand side of the photo. This is of Sarah, Kate, Kari and Mallory, all 4 of them sporting their pierced noses! Mallory told me that once she saw Kari had her nose pierced, she wanted hers pierced too!

The Borders had placed candy dishes full of Starlight peppermints on every table in the visitation room in memory of Bill's sugar habit. Peppermints were his all-time favorite candy. I think he went from cigarettes to candy...

I loved this picture of Bill and Marguerites' 3 children: Darden, Carolyn and Glenn (left to right)

And here they are today, again left to right, Darden, Carolyn and Glenn.

The flowers were beautiful and Glenn and I were extremely touched by those that were sent for us. This one was sent by Mary and Alvin, our co-workers there in Budapest, and their son and his wife, also with our company. I couldn't bring any of the flowers back with me as a memento but I am bringing back the ceramic angel that adorned the basket of mixed plants.

This basket was sent by other member care co-workers who work with the NAME Affinity, Jerry and Kathy, Dave and Yvonne, and Dave and Sara. I would have loved to be able to keep the baskets that were given by our friends, especially the fern out of this one, but alas...I can't take live plants out of the country.

This one was sent by the company for which we work! We sure were surprised to see the card from the IMB. We also got sympathy cards from Dr. Eliff and Dr. Fort, which we certainly didn't expect!

And after the funeral, we've been doing a lot of this! Well, Marguerite and I have. Glenn has gone over most days and helped his mother go through tons of paperwork, Bill's clothes, her "office" and just run errands either with her or for her.

After Bill's funeral was over, we went over to Ed's house, our next door neighbor on Big Oaks Drive. If you recall, his lovely wife and our good friend, Jo, passed away in April. Glenn and I went with Ed to where she was buried and laid flowers on her gravesite. She is buried next to her first husband to whom she was married 40 years (I think that is correct). She was married to Ed for 20! She was an amazing lady and I will miss her dearly.

While Glenn has been over at his mother's house most days, I have been spending some time with my own family. My dad and I have gone to Wal-mart a few times. With the price of gas these days, we can't afford to go too many places!!!!

My sister, Karin, came into town and did some major shopping together (she went with me on the most dreaded shopping trips of all...to look for a bathing suit and summer shoes! BUT, we were successful!!!) One day my Dad took us to Sam's (because he has a Sam's card, and I don't) because I have a few things I wanted to buy from there to take back to BP. I sprung for lunch at Sam's! They have the best pizza!

On Thursday evening, we drove 2 hours north to meet Kate and Chris for a quick dinner. They are traveling through Tennessee visiting their old friends and then going on to North Carolina for a couple of days before coming to Marietta for a baby shower hosted jointly by my other sister, Elizabeth, and our nephews' wife, Beth. Unfortunately, we will already be back in BP before they come to Marietta for the baby shower...so we decided to drive half-way to meet them for 2 hours.

There are only 2 places to eat in Benton, Tennessee. Sonic and a diner and since Chris's favorite fast food place is Sonic, we ate there. Wow! Aren't Glenn and I big spenders!?!

Glenn's mom went with us and Kate took the picture of our 3 generations.

The next evening we met one of Glenn's old-time friends from his childhood, Brant, and his wife Peggy for dinner at Pasta Bella. We split a meal so we could order dessert. Pasta Bella has the most incredible desserts and, believe it or not, the desserts were so huge we brought half of it home for another day.

Peggy put her hand beside the cake slice so you could get a good perspective on the size of the pieces! Honestly, one slice is plenty for 4 people to share, especially after eating the huge dinner portions they serve!

Well, starting tomorrow, I will be cutting back on what I eat!

We return to BP on Tuesday evening so my next update might be a mix of U.S. and BP pictures. Have a great Memorial Day holiday!

Headed Home!

Glenn has been in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan for the past 8 days. While he was gone, I had a list of "projects" that I wanted to complete, such as get caught up on emails, do a little sewing, do an inventory on the school books in my basement, and the list goes on and on. Additionally, I wanted to do lots of cooking and baking because the day Glenn was to return, 4 couples would also start arriving in Budapest for the Member Care Team meeting that Glenn and I were hosting. They were going to stay at the Eden House up the street, but eat most of their meals here at our house where the meetings were going to be held.

Of my projects, I was able to get pretty much caught up with my work emails (but not my personal ones) but that was about it. I did spend 3 days in the kitchen preparing tons of food! I made 14 quarts of homemade ice cream using my new ice cream maker from Anne Quillen. I'm not sure which is my favorite: vanilla, mint chocolate chip, Snickers, or the fruit sherbet!

I also cut up red, green and yellow peppers to put in the freezer to have on hand for meals I'd planned. One quart-size baggie was full of pepper strips and another baggie was full of diced peppers. A third baggie was full of peppers, onions and mushrooms that I sauteed and froze for later in the week for omelettes. I baked (yes, in the oven) 4 packages of bacon to have in the fridge for several breakfast meals and BLT'. I baked a cake, grated 3 lbs. of cheese, made a crock pot of chili for the freezer to serve late in the week, and boiled, deboned and chopped 12 pieces of chicken for a casserole and chicken salad sandwiches. All of this, I made in advance and stuck in my deep freezer. It was full to the brim!

I also ran to Judit's house to pick up the duvet cover she made for me (she's a seamstress) to go with the bed skirt and pillows she'd made earlier this month. I am redoing the guest room and am having so much fun with all the gorgeous fabric I bought while we were in the U.S. from September through January! I wanted the room to be finished in case one of the couples ended up staying with us instead of at the Eden House.

I went grocery shopping for all the staples I needed to have on hand for meals (breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack) for that many people. You know, sugar, coffee, fresh fruit, milk, soft drinks, and don't forget the uber necessary toilet paper. I couldn't decide which brand to buy! This Ooops! brand is new here, and though I don't think the person who came up with the brand name is a native English speaker with a true understanding of what Ooops! means, I did go on and buy it just for the fun of it!

While I was pouring over the various brands of toilet paper, I was trying to decide, "Do I buy the 3-, 4-, or 5 ply paper? Do I buy it in orange, pink, blue or white? Do I need a 4 pack, 8 pack or 16 pack?" Decisions, decisions, decisions. In the end, I chose NOT to buy this brand called Selfness because what does Selfness mean, anyway? Obviously, another NON-native English speaker who is responsible for naming things!

While Glenn was gone and I was trying to do everything to get ready for all the folks, I also had to keep the yard cut, watered, dead flower heads pulled off and weeds dug up. I was sooooo hoping these flowers would wait to bloom a week later, just in time for our meeting, but they decided not to listen to my pleas! Aren't they gorgeous?

I had so much fun doing all this prep work but alas, the meeting was cancelled. We got word on Sunday morning that Glenn's father, Bill Borders, had passed away peacefully in his sleep earlier that day.

We called him Pa. He was a wonderful man and a terrific father. A quiet servant who never sought the spotlight. Glenn rescheduled his flight to come back to Budapest a day earlier (he arrived on Monday instead of Tuesday), and we are headed out on a 6:15 am flight tomorrow (Tuesday) for the U.S. We will be there for two weeks, staying with my father but spending much of the time over at the Borders' house. The funeral is Thursday. Pray for Glenn's mom. Not only is she emotionally sick, grieving the loss of her longest and dearest friend, she is also not feeling well physically.

So...all that food that I prepared is just going to sit in the freezer while we're gone and then Glenn and I will be able to enjoy all that ice cream when we get back!

Catch you next week, from America.