Time in the Countryside
During the summer, we went to a neighboring region to visit some relatives in a mountain village. The town is about 2000 people (the size of my high school) and the name of the town is the same as most people�s surname. We stayed with the family for 4 days (during which my host grandma talked non-stop). They have lovely 3 kids and live in a beautiful spot. They have a refrigerator but no indoor plumbing (ie. out house, bathing in a bucket, dinner dishes in a pot). They still cook on a wood stove but yet they had electricity; no light bulb in the outhouse though, only around the corner, must be interesting on winter evenings. Oh, and they have a DVD player
The pecking order, that I discussed during training in reference to changing TV channels, definitely applies to fetching the cows. We had fresh milk 3 times a day.
Meals are structured a bit differently. For instance one day in the mountains, this was the menu:
Breakfast
fried cheese patties with sour cream on top and kefir (a cross between yogurt and milk, that I had not known before)
Lunch
milk soup with potatoes and pasta in it (that was not a mistake, it was new to me too);followed by something very similar to ricotta cheese filled crepes with more sour cream and to drink, milk
Dinner
something like cheese filled raviolis with potatoes and sour cream, more milk, and ice cream for dessert. There was cut tomatoes and cucumbers on a community dish at lunch and dinner.
I am not making this up; this is definitely the land of milk and starches. It really was all delicious, though; and the homemade cheese was so fresh tasting, but I was disgusted at how much I ate and what exactly it all meant together.
The salo (something like bacon with very little meat; it is a national dish) was so pure (of fat) that I ate 3 pieces before I realized that it wasn�t white cheese.
We played a lot of cards and Frisbee with my village cousins. I couldn�t remember how to play Old Maid though; can anyone help me with that? The cows feed on any scrap of grass which means there are lots of nice trimmed meadows to play in, but they are also covered in poop piles which didn�t seem to bother anyone but me. Often here, I have wished I could turn off all the things I know about food and general sanitation. I loved playing with my cousins, but sometimes their climbing on me really kind of grossed me out. That probably isn�t a very cultural sensitive thing to say.
We sat around one afternoon playing dominoes and listening to a new CD another cousin had brought. Aaron Lewis� Outside, and a Limp Bizkit remake of Guns n Roses was on it. I have looked for that song with so little success in the States, and here we were, three generation of Ukrainians and me, sitting around high in the mountains and all appreciating it.
posted by jjs @ 10:30 AM
8 Comments:
John Joseph --
Haven't checked in for a while.
Keep blogging.
Uncle Don
John,
Here are the instructions for Old Maid.
This game can be played by two or more players. From a standard 52 card pack remove one queen leaving 51 cards. Deal and play are clockwise.
The dealer deals out all the cards to the players. The players all look at their cards and discard any pairs they have (a pair is two cards of equal rank, such as two sevens or two kings).
The dealer begins. At your turn you must offer your cards spread face down to the player to your left. That player selects a card from your hand without seeing it, and adds it to her hand. If it makes a pair in her hand she discards the pair. The player who just took a card then offers her hand to the next player to her left, and so on.
If you get rid of all your cards you are safe - the turn passes to the next player and you take no further part. Eventually all the cards will have been discarded except one queen (the old maid) and the holder of this queen loses.
I hope this helps the next time you are in the mood for a little bit of cards.
Take care!
Rachel
I LOVE kefir!
I love all the comments, Rachel thanks for the rules (I can't believe how easy it is), and the one about Kefir got me laughing out loud, but mostly because I have NO idea who wrote it?!
John
You should put an rss feed on your blog so we can all subscribe... You can get one easy and free at www.feedburner.com. Then your posts get sent directly to my email!
ps I just had some kefir for breakfast and I gotta say, it tastes better when strawberry flavored.
Sawubona John John! Your entry made me laugh so hard about the kids climbing all over you & the cow dung all over - yep, same here, i feel ya. hope you are doing well. sent you a letter today. take care! -xoxo-blia
John- I found you!!! Thanks to Kim, that is. Happy to see that you have a blog- now I can blogstalk you. I have returned to the world of email, and message checking- I even have a blog, too! (I guess we all have to grow up sometime.) STAY WARM- even Gainesville is freezing right now. Merry Christmas!
:) Meaghan (and Craig)
Dear Meaghan,
So good to hear from you. What is your current address (real or email). I have wanted to contact you, but I don't where.
And still no idea on the Kefir personality. Who are you, Anonymous? But I agree with the fruit flavoring.
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