Trip to Zhytomyr

Just wanted to make sure the blog would post so I went ahead and published the one before.

Ok, so we walked outside the apartment, took a taxi to the bus stop for Zhytomyr. Vitaliy wanted to go get some Red Bull (energy drink) so I held our place in line. It was not very long and Vitaliy and Big D (He is the guy that came and stayed with us in 2006) came back. I was so surprised to see Big D but it was nice to see him. He still looked the same. He said that he was going to work so he would spend the day with me on Monday. He left then we loaded the bus to Zhytomyr. Before I left the apartment, I had on shorts but Vitaliy said it would be raining soon so I should change to something warmer. I put on jeans (big mistake). It came a horrible cloud but we left on the bus before the rain. On the bus the sun was shining in and it was HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was not much air circulating but I made it. Very hot and sweaty by the time we arrived in Zhytomyr 2 hours later. It was a pretty drive and was able to see lots of countryside. A lady was walking her cows while she was on a bicycle with a stick to keep them moving along. I saw lots of ladies selling berries on the side of the rode. We arrived in Zhytomyr and walked through the city center. We saw some beautiful orthodox churches and then we saw one of Vitaliy's teachers. He was so friendly and was an English teacher. He took a picture of Vitaliy and I in front of Vitaliy's high school (although it is not really called this). We walked and he told of what a good student Vitaliy was and we had a nice talk. We arrived and our spliting off point and said good bye. Then Vitaliy and I went to a coffee shop and had some ice cream while he was charging his cell phone. It was a neat place and very American. It reminded me of a Starbucks. The ice cream was good!! We walked to another bus and went to Vitaliy's mom's apartment. She met us on the elevator. It was so great to see her. ~For those of you who don't know, Maria and I have been writing letters (translated by Vitaliy) since I met Vitaliy in 2005 at our camp in Dzherzhinsk.~ She is a wonderful person. She speaks very little English and I speak very little Russian and even less Ukrainian (which is her native language). She was so excited and gave me a tour of the apartment. It is so nice and decorated with pictures she has cross stitched and pillows she has made. She has lots of plants, too. A beautiful cactus with a HUGE pink flower on it. We ate dinner of soup (kind like chicken noodle but not with chicken). She poured me a huge bowl, then we had a cucumber, tomato salad with something like sour cream on it. This was just the beginning then we had verenicki (a pasta with potatoes inside). It was yummy but I was so stuffed by then. We talked with Vitaliy translating between us (although I tried to understand as much as I could by myself). It is easier to understand than speak. After dinner she showed me pictures of her family and Vitaliy growing up. It was nice to see all the pictures and put a face with a name. Her husband traveled to America after her oldest son died in a car accident when Vitaliy was about 11 or 12 years old. He is still there and they talk to him often. He has not been back to Ukraine since then. Later I showed her pictures from my family. She loved the one of all the girl cousins on the beach at Thanksgiving trying to show cleavage. We laughed so hard, we were almost crying because Vitaliy had gone to the other room and I was explaining the pictures. It was so funny!!!! We talked then got on the computer with Skype with mom, Summer and Caroline. Vitaliy, Maria and I had a nice chat with them even though we couldn't get my microphone to work. Later we had a short visit on Skype with the boys, the Jacksons, Ryan and Sydney Katya. It was nice to see everyone and hopefully in Kiev the microphone will work and I will talk to you all (later today). I had a restful night last night. It is about 11 am now here. I slept until about 9:30 this morning. Vitaliy is still sleeping and Maria had to go on an errand so I decided to update my blog. She is making a lot of food (chicken and some other things not sure what they are yet). I am going to try to get my pictures online after I publish this post. Love you all!!