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Needless to say, after 9 months without good ethnic food, we were super excited about the opportunity to spice up our meals.  On our first night in Budapest, after finally arriving late in the midst of a snowstorm, we made it to a Middle Eastern restaurant not far from our hostel for some kind of delicious schwarma/gyro wrap.  (Not sure exactly what it was, since the menu was in Hungarian.)  It just got better from there, and we have the photos to prove it.  Although these meals may not look special to you, step into our shoes and imagine the enjoyment our taste buds got from a little change of scene.

Let it be said, however, that living for so long with Ukrainian food does leave an impact.  When we finally had some famous wiener schnitzel (veal/pork/chicken pounded flat and breaded, similar to a Ukrainian “cutleta”) at a Vienna pub, Alex’s first remark was, “I hate to say it, but I think this needs some mayonnaise.”

 

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Now, as a New Year’s gift, I give you this wonderful multfilm (cartoon) classic called Yozhik v Tumanne (Ёжик в тумане) or Hedgehog in the Fog.  Ukrainians and Russians seem to love hedgehogs.  Make sure you click the second button from the bottom right and watch it fullscreen to immerse yourself in the fog with the yozhik.  Happy New Year!

Drinking hot berry punch and hot chocolate to stay warm at the Christmas market.

We’re definitely having a nice time here in Vienna.  We’ve walked around lots of Christmas markets, drunk hot mulled wine, eaten roasted chestnuts, thrown snowballs at statues of random Hofburgs, and gorged ourselves on good food and beer.  Tonight and tomorrow we plan on going to all the Christmas masses we can take, including Christmas morning mass at the Imperial Palace Chapel with the Vienna Boys Choir.  We’re hoping to overdose on the real Christmas spirit, along with some great music.

But, really, we are just trying to distract ourselves from how much we miss our family and friends back home.  We hope you have a warm and Merry Christmas!  We love you!

-Alex and Emma

PS. Click on the blue “emmaandalex” banner above for a Christmas surprise!

Alex eating his first-ever freshly roasted chestnuts.

Emma taunts the crazy tufted-eared squirrels in the Schonbrunn Palace gardens.

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Well, today was my first experience at an arm-wrestling meet, and despite some logistical hiccups I have to say it was a success:

• Goal #1:  Do not get an arm torn off your shoulder. My arms don’t even hurt.  I guess all the training payed off.
• Goal #2:  “Show up” for at least one fight. I was hoping to at least make it hard on one person to beat me – maybe last 2 or 3 seconds.  But I actually won a round!  It was double-elimination left and right arm, so I expected to lose 4 rounds pretty straightforwardly. My right arm came through, though, on the first round.
• Goal #3: Do not die in a twisted heap of rusting metal. (Goal added post-hoc)  Our chartered marshrutka broke down last minute, so we threw a couple gym benches in the back of what I swear was a medic van stolen off the set of M*A*S*H, and piled 14 people in.  This is not a country for those OCD about seat belts.

Tomorrow, back to school and then to the gym!

UPDATE (2 hours later): I’ve definitely come down with something so tomorrow’s plans are out.

Two tables of fully officiated armfighting action! The backdrop was so awesome it made you flex your biceps involuntarily.

I actually won this one.

That's my trainer, Victor Alekseyavich, with the guys from our group who placed.

Well, we made it.

Valentina, Tanya, Vika, Olya, and Luda joined us for their first Thanksgiving dinner!

Anyway, we were fortunate to celebrate two Thanksgivings last week, although neither fell on Thanksgiving Day.  On Wednesday, we had a very nice dinner with most of our English teachers.  They really wanted us to feel welcome and at home here in Ukraine during our “national holiday.”  In lieu of turkey, Alex cooked a chicken, and instead of pumpkin pie, we made pumpkin bread with a pumpkin Luda brought us.  Olya’s son made stewed potatoes for her to bring.  Luda brought a salad-type dish called шуба (“shooba”) that involves layers of fish and shredded cabbage, carrots, and beats, all held together with mayonnaise (colored purple from the beats).  It’s actually delicious, which means a lot coming from me.  Tanya brought a potato/pea/carrot salad (again – more mayo), and Vika provided some juice.  Valentina made some delicious homemade grape juice along with a jar of preserved, possibly pickled tomatoes.  It was quite a feast!

Friday, we headed over to Frank and Carol’s apartment in the nearest city for another celebration.  About 15 PCVs showed up for a weekend of relaxing, football-watching, football-playing, bargain hunting in the thrift stores, sweating in the sauna, game-playing, and eating, of course!!  Again, chicken was our main dish, along with stuffing, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce straight from the can, pumpkin casserole topped with mini marshmallows (substituted for the lacking sweet potatoes), pasta salad, and more!  We definitely had plenty to eat and a really nice weekend with the other volunteers.

Alex, Carl, Ben, and David dig into the Thanksgiving feast!

Caitlin and I fill up our American-sized plates!

Many thanks to Anna and my fabulous folks for sending some great Thanksgiving staples!

Alexis and Carol show off delicious apple and pumpkin pies!

So, while we really missed being in the US and spending time with our immediate families, we feel blessed to have people here in Ukraine to share our holidays with.  Now, if only I can make it through December without an Ashe County Fraser fir tree lighting up our living room…

It’s a great little story based on a Ukrainian folk tale.  Beyond being a fun little tale, I think it shows the “take care of your friends” ethic that Ukrainians have.  The human characters in the Russian-made cartoon also poke fun at Ukrainian peasants.

Here’s a nice English-subtitled version.