Round Here We Stay Up Very Very Very Very Late

Yes, Yesterday was our Annual New Year's Eve BASH or actually it was today. All I have to say is that any party that officially starts at 1:30 am draws a special crowd. The Festivities included a talent show that was packed full of talent and then some, two gift exchanges, lots of eating, and hard core charades that really left me feeling like an American as we don't normally give such words as "Subject" and "Cell Biology" to act out. I prefer "puppy" and "Michael Jackson" but like I said, any party that starts at 1:30am draws a special crowd. Fortunately I don't think any video has trickled onto the internet yet, so I'll leave you with still pictures. We were the early crowd to leave at 6am and the faithful continued on till 8am. Happy New Year!!!

Here We Come-a Wassling!!!

For those of you who are really wishing you'd get some carolers coming to your door... here you go. There's been a lot of singing this past week in Chernihiv and I thought an e-carol might be enjoyable for some of you. The first is a clip of our Kids Club, "Krepast" practicing, "Silent Night" for our Christmas program coming up in two weeks. The latter video is kind of a "guided freestyle" of Rudolf, sung by Chenihiv's own, Gavin and Emma. Enjoy!!! I still need more signatures for my Santa Awareness Bill too so don't forget. Also I attached a photo of the Chernihiv Christmas tree in all it's glory. I'm told it used to be prettier and that the ornaments used to be made of real glass but now they have ornaments that kids in the schools make. I think that's cool and also less dangerous, lest a strong gale wind send one of the ornaments a sailing.

(If you're on Google Reader sorry for the double entry - one of the videos i wanted to show wouldn't load so I had to redo things a bit)

Hear Comes Santa Claus - Hear Comes Santa Claus - Yikes!!!!

Alright - Maybe it's me but, as an aunt, receiving Santa photos is way fun. Who would not agree? I do have the cutest niece and nephew in the world. But wait, these photos are a little....hmmmm....hmmmm...hmmmm....(kids cute - Santa.....) creepy? What's up with that? Who are these Santas? Alright, Prop 2049 Santa Awareness Bill. All I need is 20,000 signatures. Come on people.

Photo tag - and I'm it

So I've been photo tagged. Most of you have probably been tagged before as facebook addicts and all but me - I just have my little blog and I don't post fancy pictures but....I was just informed that I was "photo tagged" by the very respectable Marianna Peipon and if it was anyone but her I'd probably ignore it. Here were the instructions that were given -

The instructions for this tag are to:
pick the 4th picture folder on my computer; choose and post the 4th picture; explain the picture; and tag 4 other people to participate.

So it took me a while to figure out what the 4th picture folder on my computer was seeing that I don't organize my photos so what came up was the year 2006. So here is the 4th picture of what I was doing in January of 2006. This is a picture of my friends Marina and Tanya acting as Mary and Joseph at our 2006 Christmas program that my dear friend and old language teacher, Lena, wrote. We performed this at the internat in Priluki and the kids loved it. My role was pretty limited as a sheep. Pretty fun to remember as it's been 3 years and we're planning yet another Christmas program for kids in our church in Chernihiv and the orphans in the internat. Time flies.



Personally, I'm not a tagger so if you want me to tag you just let me know and I can add your name to the end of this post. I would suggest though that Jenny Schlenker thinks about it as I can only imagine what kind of photo would pop up as the 4th photo in the 4th folder of her picture folder.

Signs Signs everywhere Signs

Wanted to share with you all my two favorite signs of late. Maybe it's just me or maybe it's because I live in a foreign country but I'm always reading the signs around me to know which stores are nearby and what they're selling. Well one of my favorite signs is viewed above. It's a cute little pet store called "Cat and Dog" but when I walk by and read it I read, "Kit-ee-pess" - That's for the few out there that read this blog and read Cyrillic.

Next up... This past Monday Reenie and I were able to venture out and check out the new grocery store in town. We're pretty pumped about this one. As we were walking in myself and the babushka walking out simultaneously commented, "Wow - check out these doors that automatically slide open when you walk in or out." Anyways the store is called, "The great/big pocket" and the aisles are nice and wide and the prices pretty good.

Besides that I wanted to post a picture of this seasons "First Snow" as that's always kind of fun

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, and a bat, and a giraffe - Oh My

There is a fountain that flows

So excited to introduce you to the newest attraction in Chernihiv. Yes, we have a state of the art fountain that pretty much brings joy to anyone regardless of age, culture, gender, or political stance. I took this video a few nights ago just to give you a "peek" into the performance that lasts a half an hour and includes various genres of music. Word on the street is that Chernihiv is the first city to have such a fountain as Moscow unveiled theirs a week after ours. Ah yeah! So enjoy this clip and just take this minute to unwind and enjoy the show.