A big day for the male Oldenburgs

Jan. 25 will go down in the record books in our household. Three big events:

1) Professor Eric finished his first week of his Apologetics class. His class of 18 seniors seems interested in the subject matter; one student even stopped him today to comment on how necessary a class it is. Eric was able to do his first full lecture in Russian, but has needed a translator during the other lectures. Though his translator is doing a great job, the pause he’s forced to take between sentences makes him long for the day when he can speak entirely bez perevocheeka – without a translator. He does understand what the students are joking about more than half the time. Hopefully they aren't joking about him the rest of the time!

One big surprise thus far: Figuring that in this not-so-time-oriented society, no one would be getting a jump on class work, he handed out the syllabus, which includes an extra-credit assignment for those so inclined, without actually coming up with the full list of extra-credit options. The next day, four students approached him, eager to get started!


Dietrich sports his KTS onesie (handmade by mommy's friend's husband) in honor of his daddy.

2) Dietrich learned how to make wet razz sounds with his lips. Yesterday I hadn’t even seen him try. This morning, he started trying, but it made such an odd noise that I was afraid he was hurt. By evening, he was blowing like a pro!

3) Dietrich rolled over for the first time! He was on the couch (supervised of course), contorting his body as far as possible. He’s been doing that for about a month now, so I thought, “No big deal.” Until I saw him lift his right leg. That leg’s been the sticking point. Everything else would turn, but he’d keep that leg straight, and it would hold him back. Today he kicked it on over. I’m so proud! Now to go set up on-the-ground play stations, since the beds and couch are no longer safe resting spots.


I didn't get the actual first roll on film, but here's an early attempt.

All washed up

But mom, I don't wanna help with the laundry.

How much is that chicken in the window?

I’m sure many people in the U.S. know exactly how much they pay for a gallon of milk or a box of cereal, so they notice even small price fluctuations. I never was one of those people. But prices in Ukraine are jumping so quickly that it would be nearly impossible not to notice. Take butter, for instance. A year ago, one brand cost 80 cents for a cup (200 grams). Now that same amount costs $1.20. We used to purchase a whole rotisserie chicken for just under $5. I paid $6.40 last week.

These are small amounts compared with the cost of housing in Kyiv. Our apartment, for instance, was considered expensive at $350 when we arrived. Now it’s a steal of a deal at $500 – so we expect a rent increase any day now. (A cultural aside: Leases here are rather meaningless – rent can go up mid-lease, and tenants can be asked to leave at any time for any reason, regardless of how much time is left on their lease.) Of course, $500 a month is nothing compared with California, but folks here aren’t earning California wages, either.

Even the BBC has taken notice of this trend. A recent report said, “Kiev is now believed to be the most expensive city in Eastern Europe in which to buy a home. Prices increased by 10-25% in just the final two months of 2006.” You can read the whole report here.

And you might have heard that Moscow replaced Tokyo as the most expensive city in the world in last year’s Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. But it was number 21 that mattered to us: In just one year, Kyiv moved from 54th to 21st place. That’s higher than Los Angeles (29th) and San Francisco (34th). Must be tough for those living in New York, which landed in 10th place.

In an economy like ours, you’d think people would be holding on tightly to their change. Yet, the ground is littered with kopeeks — at a fifth of a cent, they’re considered of so little value that it’s not worth the effort to bend and pick one up.

Praise for pack rats

Generally, I don’t like to collect a lot of clutter. Perhaps this is a holdover from Christmases past when my parents used to make us get rid of some of our toys to make room for the new stuff Santa would bring. Maybe it’s because our apartment doesn’t have much storage space. Or it could be work-related – my former job as a copy editor often required that I “tighten” stories to make them shorter. Now I enjoy sorting, organizing, tossing – “tightening” our possessions.

But I’m thankful that Dietrich’s grandmas – neither of whom live terribly cluttered lives – had the foresight to save a few precious things from our childhoods. Dietrich proudly wore his Daddy’s old shoes and his Uncle Sammy’s sweater and hat. And he naps in the same snuggly sack in which baby Mommy used to snooze.

It's harder and harder these days to pull that Uncle Sammy sweater over D's head. So, now that our little bug is starting to grow out of his smaller clothes, I’ll fight the instinct to "tighten," and instead enjoy saving a few favorite things that we can pass along years from now when he starts a family.

Keeping Dietrich dry

Before we left America, many people asked whether disposable diapers were available in Ukraine. Thankfully, the answer is yes. The three main brands sold here are Huggies, Libero and Pampers. Libero diapers are Italian; the others you’re already familiar with. Pampers evidently win the brand-name recognition contest: all diapers are popularly called Pampers in Russian – just as Americans call all facial tissues Kleenex and all plastic foam Styrofoam.

Pampers also win my loyalty by offering a jumbo pack of 88 for 83 hryvna – a little less than 20 cents per diaper. Other brands come in at just over 20 cents per diaper – not a big difference, but I’d say we save about $2 a month by using Pampers.

The Pampers sold in Ukraine do not depict American cartoon characters. Instead, we get a big picture of an animal (elephant, bear, donkey, dog, cat or koala) at the waistline while leaves and butterflies decorate all the other bits. Surrounding the animal is a drawing meant to represent its food of choice. For the elephant, peanuts. For the bear, honey. For the donkey, apples. For the cat, birds. But, oddly enough, for the koala, the sun and for the dog, flowers.

Today, buried in the jumbo pack we’re currently cruising through, I found a little piece of Pampers promotional material. It reads, “You fall on your bum at least 300 times before you learn how to stand and walk.”

“Ah-ha,” I thought, “Our diapers are British.” Until I turned said piece of promotional material over and found a version of that phrase translated into no less than 22 languages. Among them: Czech, Polish, Georgian, Kazakh, Lithuanian, Latvian, Bulgarian, Slovakian and Hebrew. Fifteen use some version of the Roman alphabet, while four use Cyrillic letters. And Georgia’s alphabet is the loveliest – if you’re not familiar with it, you can check it out here.

And the biggest lesson I learned from today’s pack of Pampers: the Russian word for “bum” is popka.


The elephant is my favorite. Which one do you dig?

Sloancheeks taste good

Hey, Dietrich, what would you like for dinner?

My cool new elephant.



This little elephant -- or sloancheek in Russian -- is one of the many thoughtful and fun gifts that Dietrich received at his baby shower here. Because so many generous people in the States provided him with a warm wardrobe, we opted to make this event a toy shower. And showered he was! He now has quite the collection of transportation-themed toys (cars, trucks, planes and boats were all represented), plus some friendly stuffed buddies, several yummy rattles, and a beautiful, hand-knit sweater.