Ukraine

We are leaving tomorrow for our trip, and I've come down with a cold. But we still did a country yesterday and today, which means I have some blogs on my to-do list. I'm going to go through them super fast, because my motivation to do them just isn't there. 

For our next country we are headed to Ukraine- the second biggest country in Europe, after Russia. It's known as the 'breadbasket of Europe' because of all the wheat it grows. 

Ukraine has it's issues, and as you might expect, there is a U.S. Travel Warning, specifically for Crimea. We talked about Russia's interest in the area (see: oil and gas, despite Putin touting the historic links between Russia and the peninsula), and how Russia annexed the area. Most members of the UN see Crimea as part of Ukraine, not Russia with the exception of a few places: Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Syria, Nicaragua, Sudan, Belarus, Armenia, North Korea and Bolivia. 

Besides the fight over Crimea, we also talked about the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear disaster in history. The explosion at the nuclear power plant forced the whole town to evacuate, dropped radioactive rain as far away as Ireland, and killed two people on impact, and dozens more over the next few weeks, with countless more suffering the effects of radiation. Though parts of the area have become tourist attractions, the area around the nuclear power plant will not be able to be inhabited for over 20,000 years. 

Some quick fun facts for you: 

Ukraine is home to the deepest cave found anywhere on earth, at 7,208 feet deep. 

Their favorite alcoholic drink is called 'horilka' which means 'burning water' and is basically vodka with chili pepper. 

They are a fan of McDonald's in Ukraine. The one at the train station in Kiev is said to the busiest in the world. 

Some American's like to call it 'The Ukraine'. But, we shouldn't. They find it insulting. 

Lviv in Ukraine claims to have the most cafe's in the world. 

The boys made their Ukrainian post cards. 

Calib did a decent job on his 10 foot long musical instrument called a Trembita,  and his ballet dancers. 

White Peyton focused on Chernobyl. There is an interesting National Geographic article about the wildlife living there now that he found interesting, and you might as well. 

Hayden's included the 'Tunnel of Love' which is an often-instagramed tunnel of leaves. They say if you come to the tunnel with your true love and make a wish, it will be granted. 

Allison suggest pierogies for dinner. Now I did have a recipe for Stuffed Ukrainian pasta (Varenyky), but I also bought frozen to make Asa's life easier. In the last couple of days, I've come down with a cold- which happened the last time I went to Hawaii too- so Allison and Asa covered this dinner. They opted for the frozen, but Allison really fried them up nicely with some onions, and they were delicious. 

I also had some Challah bread in the freezer I had been hanging onto since we were last in that part of the world, 

So we had the pierogies with the onions, the challah bread, OlivyeSalad (minus the peas and ham), corn and pears. 

Dinner earned six spoons up. 

I realize that it doesn't look too colorful, but we worked with what we had in the veggie and fruit department. (The pears were actually jarred pears from Spain that I was holding onto, but it worked- so I went with it). 

Most everyone cleared their plates, although Peyton did skip the potato salad since there is mayo in it, and I didn't eat that much, what with the cold and all- but the pierogies were really good. 

 Peyton colored Ukraine in a brown color. 

That's 105 countries down, 88 to go! 

Next Up: Kiribati, the closest country to Hawaii, in honor of our last day at home before we're off!