Back from Ukraine. Had a wonderful time.

[bif]

[HappyMe]

1. Cool.

Glad you had a good time.
Any adventures you care to share?

[bif]

6. Visited several interesting museums.

The Chernobyl and WWII museums were pretty powerful. And we spent a few days in Lviv which is a beautiful city. The people were very friendly.

[Kali]

2. pix? stories? gripes?

[Swede]

3. The food must've been fantastic.

Many of my friends growing up were ethnic Ukrainians,so I ate a lot of it. It would be interesting to taste the original.

[OriginalGeek]

4. That looks great

Imma hafta make some Ukrainian friends.


My mom visited the Ukraine years ago and the thing she liked the most (or what she wouldn;t shut up about, anyway..lol) was the borscht. She said it it was way different there than what she had here...which isn't surprising considering how mediocre a cook she was. (lol, her words, not mine - she made the stuff I liked just fine!)

I'm not a beet fan but I'd try it.

[laundry_queen]

5. From what I've heard

they haven't kept their customs over there the same way they have here in Canada.

I have a Canadian Ukrainian background. My Baba's house was full of borscht, perogies, nalysnyky, boiled wheat and was decorated with pysanky. She went back to visit relatives - people she had only known through letters as she was born here. They were quite surprised at the customs that were kept here in Canada, as a good deal of Ukrainians were not allowed to keep their customs when they were part of the USSR. I've even seen a documentary about when the Shumka dancers (or was it Cheremosh?) travelled to the Ukraine, how stunned everyone was at the dancing and the costumes, as most of them had lost it over the course of the century.

But anyway, that picture brings back good memories. I'm pretty sure my Baba has that exact table cloth, LOL. However, she'd NEVER have let anything tomato-y touch her cabbage rolls

[Joe Shlabotnik]

7. I miss my Baba too.

She was actually Russian, but met and married a Ukrainian during WW2, so she became essentially a Ukrainian cook. When they came to Canada around 1950 they lived in a tight knit Ukrainian community that lasted for decades. Between church, food, brandy, music, folk arts and deep reverence to hard work and helping others; it was quite vibrant. I was naturally a shoo-in to my (ex)wife's Ukrainian family too. I lucked out with great food and fun weddings on all sides of the family! However time has marched on and the grandkids, and great grandkids don't really have that connection anymore and the neighborhood that we grew up in is only recognizable by the domes of largely vacant churches.

[trof]

8. My grandson calls me 'Baba". I'm his grandfather.

We have no idea where that came from.
When he was about 3 he started calling me that.

He (and our family) are about as white-bread Anglo Saxon WASP as you can be.
Except for the 'P' part for me.
I'm a non-theist.

[laundry_queen]

10. That sounds like where

my dad grew up. A lot of empty farmhouses, run down barns and church domes remain. My great-grandparents settled there in the late 1890's but my dad's (born in the 50's) first language was Ukrainian. They even taught Ukrainian at the local school (which is amazing since my mother was French Canadian and they wouldn't teach them french in her school). I was pretty small when we still lived nearby and went to all the weddings - Ukrainian weddings were something to remember! I loved to polka when I was a kid.

I have lost a lot of the culture. We used to celebrate Christmas on Jan 7th (well, the 6th was the big feast) but we've kind of discontinued that tradition. It's sad my kids aren't really into it, and they don't even like the food so it's not fun for them. They are, however, only 1/4 Ukrainian, so I suppose it was bound to happen, lol.

[UTUSN]

9. Wow. Just unbelievably Wow. Although I'm going to a wedding

where the honeymood is in Cuba. Whatever this means.