Family Dinner in Chernivtsi

Today I read my book, and then got ready to meet Anna at 4/16:00 at the university. She and her aunt had invited me over to dinner. We met and took marshurtka 9 to their apartment. The elevator was broken so we walked up to the 9th floor, and I enjoyed it bc I’ve been kooped up bc of not feeling well.

In addition to seeing her aunt again, I met her cousin, cousin’s wife and their 5 year old son, and Anna’s sister Yulia. They live together. They were all very welcoming. They had the table set when I arrived and Anna and I visited until dinner was ready. They cooked an absolute feast, and all of it was delicious. They served New Year’s Day salad, beetroot salad, and chopped cucumbers, radishes, and tomatoes to start. Anna told me the salad is called New Years Day salad bc back during the days of the USSR, there weren’t much food to buy in the markets. Throughout the USSR, though, this salad was loved by all, and so in preparation for every New Years Day, the markets would stock all the ingredients (eggs, corn, chicken, peas, potato) for the people to make NYD Salad.

We had mineral water, white wine from the Crimea (which prompted many toasts…whenever anyone’s glass is refilled, everyone toasts), and birch tree juice, which tasted a lot like lemonade. Birch tree juice is very popular here.

Then we had 3 kinds of varynky (cheese, potato, and carrot/cabbage), holubsee, and pizza. All of it was homemade…nothing frozen here.

Before dessert, they had a surprise for me. They taught me how to make holubsee. In passing, I had expressed interest to Anna last week and she remembered and told her aunt, who had it all set up for me to learn. So, so thoughtful. I just love people who pick up on things and implement.

Then we had coffee and dessert. We watched Anna’s cousin’s wedding video, and a video from her aunt’s travels in the US.

I felt so honored to be invited into their home. It was nice to spend time with a family so warm and generous. I gave them some gifts (Anna loves magazines from the US) and they sent me home with the holubsee I had made and some other treats.

There is a Romian Orthodox church near their apartment.

Anna accompanied me back to town on the marshrutka, where this guy

met me.

In the US, we so often meet at restaurants or at other places in public. There really is something special about being invited to someone’s home for dinner. I think of women I admire who have invited me to their homes for dinner in recent years…Diane Vecchio, Ann Batson, and Judy Church immediately come to mind. Many friends my age fall into this category as well, and it really is appreciated.

The experience of being invited into a family’s home will rank near the very, very top of my experiences here. Their kindness and warmth and generosity are inspiring. Anna and her aunt clearly enjoy doing for others, and I love people who create and enhance their own happiness by making others happy.

Anna tells me she is learning a great deal from our class, but I feel certain I have benefitted more. She has helped me a great deal, and I have learned much from her.

It is getting dark now.

Good Night!