Travel Plans

Everything continues to inch along. Except our trip, of course. It is approaching at high speed.

We finally got our plane tickets. The kids decided to stay with us the entire time. I think they were excited at the prospect of missing a month of school. But we will keep them busy. Bwa-ha-ha!

We will be leaving for Kyiv on 12/14. With a dinner-time departure, we will make it to Ukraine at about 4:30pm the next day. So we'll probably get to our room (flat?) around 7pm. Definitely a long day. But we are flying Lufthansa, which is definitely my favorite trans-atlantic carrier. No dice on an upgrade though :-(

So over the next 12 days, we will work on getting packed, getting gifts, etc.

And of course, we have to fit in Christmas concerts, Christmas cards, school, etc.

But that's the fun of it. And, in Ukraine, we get to celebrate Christmas twice! Gotta love that.

By the way, for anyone learning Russian, I recommend Pimsleur. It's expensive, but very good. I just started doing the reading lessons. I have been listening to the audio. But the reading lessons add a new dimension. It definitely is helping my pronunciation and understanding.

The other thing is that the cyrillic alphabet is so different. After all, you might recognize a word on hearing, but completely miss it in print.

For instance, would you know that PECTOPAH means "restaurant"? When you pronounce it ("ristorahn"), it is obvious. But not so much in print. Should help with shopping and restaurants as well.

Gotta go decorate for Christmas here. Can't have the place bare before we leave.