A Taste of Home (from Ukraine)

We have been in Phoenix, Arizona visiting Edna's mother and brother since Friday. We have been eagerly sharing about our life in Ukraine and needless to say, we have been getting a little home sick for Ukraine. On Saturday, we ran into some people from Serbia who live in the same apartment complex we are staying in. We were amazed at how much Serbian/Croatian we could understand (Edna's mom is Croatian) and how much Ukrainian they could understand. They also spoke English fluently and shared with us where we might find some Ukrainian food.

On Sunday, we went to church at Calvary Chapel North Phoenix and were blessed to hear a great message by Pastor Bob Claycamp (who's son Micah is serving in Kaharlyk, Ukraine with his wife Christy and their family).

After church we decided to check out one of the stores our Serbian friends told us about. We were excited when we drove up and saw a sign in Russian that said "Russian Store".

We found several Russian and Ukrainian products inside. The owner was from Uzbekistan and chatted with us in Russian. He also hooked us up with a copy of the Arizona Russian Yellow Pages.

Today, we went on an Eastern European market tour. We discovered a lot more Ukrainian products and some more really friendly people from the former Soviet Union, one who even spoke some Ukrainian. We even picked up some Croatian spices along the way.

Tonight we cooked up some shashlyk and enjoyed real Ukrainian kvas. We even got a jar of the famous Nizhyn pickles. Just a little taste of home.

And yes, that's Verka Serduchka on that middle bottle of kvas