What I miss about America by Wendy Hickman

1) ICE CUBES. I have converted an egg tray into an ice cube tray, but I am still struggling with how to transport the cubes to restaurants.
2) Garbage disposals.
3) A washer with English instructions.(A cold wash turned into a hot wash and my pink shirt turned into a purple shirt)
4) A dishwasher (although I do have Joe). Elizabeth feels that Ukrainians do not wash their dishes, they just rinse and put away after use. How else to explain the amount of fingerprints on the glasses in the cupboard in our apartments?
5) A maid. Wait, I don’t have that a home either. Oh well, I can dream!
6) My sleep number bed - Although I will admit I have it better than Graham who is sleeping on a pull-out chair on the enclosed porch under the clothesline. It seems everything in these apartments pull out. In a pinch, the toilet will even pull out into a single bed.
7) Clothes dryers. Especially from Graham’s standpoint since we have to stand on his “bed” to hang the clothes. He really doesn’t like this early in the morning.
8) Gluten-free foods at Vitamin Cottage – Graham is missing that so much he is actually starting to eat some real food like cheese. I just want one gluten-free bagel please. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?
9) A stand-up shower. While we have a hand-held shower head, there is no door, or curtain around the bath, so we have to sit in the shower and pretend we are a 2 year old being given a bath by our Mom. Sorry about the visual of Joe sitting in the tub.
10) Our cats. Wait, there are whole colonies of cats here, including a Momma-to-be cat, so maybe we don’t miss our cats so much. I have purchased cat food and feed the cats as we pass them. The orphanage cat, who the kids have named The Dread Pirate Precious because it has one eye, gets most of our food and our lovin’.
11) Ziplock bags
12) Plastic wrap in a box with a serrated edge that cuts the wrap for you and aluminum foil that does not rip when you touch it.
13) Water you can drink out of the tap. Although we do not know for sure that the Mariupol tap water is unsafe, we have not yet convinced Joe to be our guinea pig and try it. Even the locals do not drink the water.
14) Restaurants where we get exactly what we think we are ordering.
15) The words “Excuse me.”
16) No butts, no cuts, no coconuts. (translation: the concept of how to stand in a line and wait your turn. These people would flunk kindergarten).
17) Golf
18) Cards with Kathi and John. We have tried knocking on the doors of our neighbors here in the apartment building with cards, chips, and chocolate martinis, but they just look at us like we are crazy.
19) One front door, not two doors with 5 locks.
20) And last, but definitely not least, people who speak English. That is a given I suppose.

THE END (most probably to be continued)

The above report was done in the apartment. I have just finished reading all of your comments and I thank-you for all of them! We miss home alot! Elizabeth just chants "I want to go home" regularly. She needs your ruby slippers Aunt Mischelle. Too bad we can't find duct tape in the supermarkets. Love the news about Kyles 2 new teeth! Sorry about the rain in K.C. Say good-bye to Sean and I hope his accomadations over there are better than the best here! It appears I will be able to get permanent custody of Kolya on Aug 14th or 15th, then we run around like mad trying to exit the country. The weather is is hot and all of us are sneezing like crazy. It must be the "clean air" tickling our noses. One interesting observation about the people here, they like their air conditioning but are convinced it makes them sick. Could it be the factory pollution or the filth everywhere? No, it must be that cool blessed air.