New things to share...

Frozen River

New things to share...

• We've heard that 160 people have died in Ukraine because of the record cold - 90% alcohol related.
• We are lucky to have warm coats and a warm, cozy apartment.
• When we tell people we have 22 grandchildren, they are astounded.  One lady said, "All in one house?"  Here several generations of family often live together in one apartment.
• Not sure what's in the air, but there seems to always be black dust particals around.
• We think a baby lives upstairs from us - haven't seen it yet though.
• The shower water sometimes smells faintly of fish.
• The Christmas lights are still up across the main street - and lit at night.
• We live in the center of town and during the day there is always music playing from speakers around the main streets.  Sometimes it's Ukrainian music, sometimes it's American 80's music, and sometimes it's Christmas music in English.  We can hear it from our apartment.
• We needed new hats for the cold - see attached picture.
•   People here don't mind the cold.  When it warmed up to about 20 degrees F, people began setting up outdoor markets in the snow.  We can see them from our window in the square behind our apartment.
• We visited a lady in her apartment.  Our homes in the US are gigantic!
• We have a fairly roomy apartment, but our closet measures 25 inches in the back, 36 on one side, and 22 on the other side.  The forth side, of course, is the door.  There are about five very small triangular shelves in it also.  It seems there are no built-in closets, only free-standing ones.  I'm sure they are small because most people don't have a lot of clothes or other possessions, so no need for large closets, many drawers or other storage.  They would be very surprised to know that many people in the US have possessions that overflow the capacity of their large homes and they have to rent extra storage units to keep all of their belongings.
• We have been advised via an apartment memo that rather than let food waste and grow stuff in our fridge, if it's still good we should put it in a bag and hang it on the side of the large outdoor trash bin by our apartment, and it will soon disappear.   
• It's snowing - beautiful!
• We're loving our experiences here.

Park near our apartment

New hats for the cold

By the river

Outdoor market in the snow.  Selling oil paintings, socks, fruit, etc.

Newly scrubbed and cloroxed veggies and eggs

Scene from our window.

Countryside - miles of snow

One of many colorful bus stops in the country.  Seems miles from nowhere.

Winter wonderland!

Typical pack of stray dogs.  The good thing is they all look healthy and frisky and they don't bother people at all.  Some people pet them and feed them.