я не понимаю!

Brrr... the weather sure has quickly become brisk and now that Daylight Savings Time has ended (a week earlier than the States this year), the sun is setting by 5 p.m.! Just two days ago, we had our last picnic of the year with our host family at their dacha and enjoyed a cool but sunny day outside -- the high was probably in the mid-60s. Yesterday morning, we woke up and turned on our heat because it was so cold and then shivered through church, which doesn't have any heat at all right now! Sunday night, the temperature dipped below freezing for the first time this year and today, it did not get above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, so Indian summer must officially be over. So sad.

Our weekend picnic was a good one. Michael had been wondering if he was going to get another chance at shashliki this year or not and thanks to our former host father Andrei's 40th birthday, we had the perfect occasion for one. Our host family had spent the summer redoing the yard around their dacha and now they have some of the greenest grass and blackest dirt you've ever seen. And all without chemicals -- that's just how they grow it here in Ukraine!

As usual, there was way too much to eat and drink (one bottle of cognac, one bottle of wine, and two bottle of vodka -- so grateful to INH for the excuse not to drink) and this time, only six people to share it all! Since we sat around the dinner table for at least four hours, -- and who doesn't have a table and chairs at a picnic? -- we made a respectable dent in the delectables. We made sure to bring our own bottle of water to stay hydrated for the party, since we now know better than to expect anything other than alcohol (or sometimes juice) with a meal or hot tea afterwards. We've decided that we Americans have way too efficient of parties -- arrive, mingle, eat, and leave. Ukrainians have courses, party games, and lots and lots of toasts!

To start with, we arrived at the party at least an hour before we ate anything. In the meantime, the ladies prepared the table food while the men chopped the wood. Well, Michael chopped the wood; Kostya and Andrei broke it over their legs or banged it against a cement block:

Next, the men started a fire for shashliki; here's Andrei, fanning the kindling:

Once the fire was going good, we sat down and decided that the wind was blowing the smoke right at the table, so the men carried the fully set table to another part of the yard. We made it through about four toasts before we decided the sun was glaringly bright and again, the men took the table back to its original spot. Fun party game!

After the second move, we got down to eating. Our former host parents were really impressed by a green salad we had made when they came over last Wednesday (though Ira commented that while we may not eat much mayonnaise because of the fat content, vinegar is much more harmful because it kills red blood cells. Really?) and decided to recreate the same for their party. The funny thing about it was that they wanted an actual recipe and so we tried to explain that a green salad has some basic do's and don'ts, but it's really up to the chef to include whatever ingredients suits them. Somehow, that ended up meaning that they substituted soy sauce for dressing and added diced lemon (with the peel on) to the salad. Strange, but pretty tasty! As you can see, there was also a traditional Ukrainian salad, full of mayonnaise and meat, but no lettuce in sight. Truth be told, it's one of Lauren's favorites and after you remove all the meat, it kind of tastes like potato salad!

After the first course, we took a break to play volleyball -- without a net. When the ball turned out to be too heavy, we found a beach ball and just hit it around in a circle for a while. Ukrainians find the simplest things to be fun! Then, they decided to play Ukrainian dodgeball -- only we didn't understand that's what it was until after they started explaining the rules. As soon as Lauren figured it out, she quickly excused herself. Still too scarred from elementary school! But Michael hung in there while the women threw the ball back and forth to each other, trying to hit the three men in the process. Here's Ira, gearing up to Michael or another guest. Michael won!

After dodgeball, it was time for the second course of shashliki; grilled fish for Lauren. There's nothing quite like the taste of meat grilled over a wood-burning fire!

If you thought that was enough food, you'd be wrong because next came soup. A little backwards, even for Ukrainians, but they swear soup is necessary for digestion and clarified that the corn chowder we served them last Wednesday does not even count as soup because it hardly has any liquid. No sir, it's just hot cereal to them! Ok then.

In keeping with our last post on Halloween, we just had to post a picture of this witches' brew... er, vegetable soup: