*sigh*
Olga leaves in four days. We have been stuck at home the last two days due to ice/snow. She is going stir crazy not understanding how six inches of snow could possibly leave us home bound. She is from Ukraine, after all. We've tried to explain that this amount of snow is a *big* deal for us southerners. I'm pretty sure she just thinks we are wimps. :) Hopefully tomorrow I can get us out of here, especially because we have a lot to do before she heads back to Ukraine. I can't believe how quickly this last month has come and gone. The only good thing about Olga heading back is that the sooner she leaves, the sooner we leave!
NHFC threw a "farewell party" for all the hosted kids from Ukraine, Russia & Latvia over the weekend. It was at one of those bounce house places with the huge inflatable slides and obstacle courses. That was a first for Olga. When I described where we were going to her beforehand she thought it would be stupid and quickly declared that she wouldn't be jumping. It took about 30 seconds after we arrived for her to change her mind. All three kids had a blast.
Before the NHFC farewell party, my mom had a little get together at her house for Olga. She got to see a few people one more time before returning to Ukraine as well as meet several more family members that she didn't get to meet when she was here this summer. She had a great time and really enjoyed her entire day.
Jeff and I leave in 17 days. At some point I really will need to do some prep work, huh? I don't know why, but every suggested packing list I see emphasizes packing light, but then says to pack things like toilet tissue. Really? How in the world do you pack light when bringing a months worth of TP? I think tonight I need to break down and start a "to do" list. I know that there is so much to do before we leave and I think I am procrastinating because I am a little intimidated by it all. I'm pretty sure that isn't going to help me in the long run. :)
Okay, off I go to do something productive. Not sure what, but I'm sure it will be good. :)
S~
You don't need to pack TP. If you can't live with what's around here you can buy it in the market here. You need to bring a couple travel packs of wet wipes that you would use to wash your hands ... those will work for the TP issue in a pinch. Honestly I only had to do that in 1 place and that was at the other orphanage, not Lutugino. Did you read the tips I posted in the adoption friends group? I tell you how to deal with the TP issues there. I also have a packing list and I am 100% serious ... you don't need to pack more than 3 changes of clothes! You can do laundry at every location and takes 1-2 days to dry. I wish I had packed lighter ... I sent a bunch of stuff home with Brian the first trip and I still have luggage issues with just me and D, mostly cause he can't carry a suitcase and also needs to hold my hand to walk, so that leaves me with 1 less hand to carry luggage.
ReplyDeleteI was mostly kidding about the toilet tissue. (But only because I plan to bring the wet-wipes in case of emergency) I did read your tip sheet and I loved it! I think once I get everything together and see it, it won't seem so bad. I only plan to bring 3 outfits, so that part doesn't worry me. It's all the "little" stuff that seems like a lot. I go back and forth between being worried a/b my main luggage being too large and my carry on being too large. Oh well. What fits, fits. What doesn't, well, doesn't.
ReplyDeleteAre you in Kiev for the weekend?
We packed "Kiev clothes' and then vacuum sealed everything else and unzipped the pack when we got to our girl's region. That kept our bags smaller. On the way home, we had used up a lot of items (toiletries, food items etc.) so everything fit without the vacuum bags. We actually had a lot of clothes, mostly shirts, because Im nuts like that. We used the heated towel rack (our hotel in Kyiv and our apartment in region both had one) for drying and things only took a few hours, jeans included.
ReplyDeleteMy best tip of "silly things to pack": Travel sized All detergent (concentrated). Each bottle says 2 loads, but in UA its 3 because the washers are so small. That was my favorite piece of home that I thought I was silly for packing.
I plan to purchase some of those vacuum bags. When O was here this summer I wanted to send a coat back with her, but didn't have a vacuum bag. I ended up putting the coat in one of those 2.5 gallon Ziplocks, squeezing out all the air by sitting on it then duct taping it like that so it didn't expand. How I didn't duct tape it to my butt I'll never know!
ReplyDelete