High expectations

[MarkInTx]

... in response to Re: It's like this, posted by ChrisNJ on Jan 2, 2003

Alas, no.

But she has some friends. We will see if we can talk them into the "great search"

[Horoshij]

... in response to Re: warmer society, posted by MarkInTx on Jan 1, 2003

We have those hot tubes here also, though in this time of scarce energy I'm not sure I should invest in one.

Elena also like shopping. To walk around and look, but most of all she likes to go to the gardener and walk in his green houses, and she cannot leave without buying something. When her family visited us, that was the first thing she was showing them. However, what she prefer most and like best is to walk in nature. We can go skiing, climb up on one of the mountains, go fishing on the fjord and she is an expert in picking mushrooms.

Haroshij

[Pordzhik]

... in response to Re: warmer society, posted by MarkInTx on Jan 1, 2003

My wife has also taken to the way we shop, she dissapears every saturday morning hunting out the bargains (clothes and stuff for the home) in the town while I have a lay-in.

We always go food shopping every tuesday, and get much the same things every week, except she waits with curiosity while I select the strange ingredients for the surprise recipe which is kept secret until saturday when I cook. Maybe something African, Arab or Eastern. After three years it's becoming difficult to surprise her.

She also appreciates the variety of foodstuffs and has been surprised at our prices often commenting that somethings are cheaper here than in Kiev. She said that in Kiev she would often be limited by what they could grow at the dacha. So it's a whole new culinary world for them. I have to remind my wife sometimes that the three for the price of two chocolate cherry cake is the reason we see so many fat women here.

She thinks the automatic washing machine is the biz! and when she first arrived she thought the tumble dryer was a waste of space until she discovered that a few minutes would often dispense with any need for ironing.

Thanks for explaining what a "hot-tub" is, we don't have them here, I'd read some others posts and often wondered what the attraction of sitting in the bath without washing was! Okay so it's an outside bath and you don't use soap?

www.thefoody.com A nice site for the missus to try if shes ever stuck for ideas.

[Michael B]

... in response to Re: Re: warmer society, posted by Pordzhik on Jan 1, 2003

The water is kept about the same temperature as a very warm bath. They are usually big enough for four or six, sometimes eight people, so you can invite some friends over. They have benches built into them so you can sit. You can sit high enough to hold a drink or smoke or rest a book on the edge and read, etc. Most of them have jets below the surface that shoot out water for a massage (you can control the force of the jets or turn them off altogether). Besides private residences, most middle and upper class apartments have them, as well as many health clubs (or if you don't use the term 'health club' over there, gymnasiums which sell memberships to the public). Of course it is required to wear a swim suit in the public tubs, at a private home, particulary when it's just you and the Mrs....well....NOW you should know what the attraction is (wink wink, nudge nudge).

[MarkInTx]

... in response to Re: Re: warmer society, posted by Pordzhik on Jan 1, 2003

Yes... outside bath tub... except usually much larger and deeper. Also called portable spas and jacuzzis.

Brina D, (used to be a regular contributor, but who is now in Siberia with his lady), had a business that sold them.

Mine is six foot by six foot, and about 3 feet deep. It has moulded seats in it for you to lounge in, and teh best part is the jets which blow the water in small and directed jet streams on your back.

Very relaxing.

Some people find them sensual in other ways, but I find that the high temperature of the water inhibits this for me.

Although I will admit that watching my wife climb out of the tub, soft light from the tub illuminating her and the water running off of her in streaks... the cold combining with the hot water to send mist rising up around her, making her look like something rising from the lake in a Celtic tale... was quite a sight.

Well worth the price of the tub (and all of the hard work to build the deck around it) :-)

[Pordzhik]

... in response to Right, posted by MarkInTx on Jan 1, 2003

We put ours undercover as it's a bit crowded around this tiny isle, don't know what the neighbours would think if we went splashing about naked in a bath in the garden. We have them in health spas and health clubs mostly as our houses are usualy a bit small here.

You got a net to go fishing them drowned hedgehogs out?

[MarkInTx]

... in response to Jacuzzi, why didn't you say! LOL!, posted by Pordzhik on Jan 2, 2003

We find that if you keep a cover on the saps when not in use, it keeps the varmits out of them.

And dogs.

Although if my dog doesn't stop running across my spa cover, I might have to shoot him!

Those damn covers cost $250, and I've already had to replace it once!

[yoe]

... in response to Re: Re: warmer society, posted by Pordzhik on Jan 1, 2003

my wife finds our stores poor at best. She claims the food is bad, the clothes are poor taste, and for the most part it is all junk. She had few clothes back home but it was all very good. For us to get the style she wants we have to look to versace or Armani. We are going back to her tailor this summer and have her make us a new wardrobe. Many of my wife's clothes were hand maid. We had to have all of our curtains and bedclothes shipped over because we could find nothing that really fit our liking. Now do not get me wrong, before she came I was much less picky. So the only think my wife likes here is....well actually not much. We will only live in the US maximum 2 more years then it is off to do the Euro thingy!
So newbies do not be offended when your girls are not impressed with the American Dream...
joe
ps there is one thing she likes here.......new cars and chicken wings (I have here hooked on hooters) WHO DA MAN???

[ChrisNJ]

... in response to all perseptions..., posted by yoe on Jan 1, 2003

Where are you shopping.  At the Megalomart in Gas City?

I find it very hard to believe that you can get better stuff in Ukraine than you can get at Macys, Fortunoff, Bed and bath, etc.  Very Hard!

[yoe]

... in response to Re: all perseptions..., posted by ChrisNJ on Jan 2, 2003

my wife had all of her stuff made by a tailor in old country. All of our stuff now is mostly Italian. Everything you buy in USofA is Chinese! go figure...
If you live in Gas City---you better go to Kasikstan for a gal. Stay away from Moscow-you wil be very sorry!
Joe

[BURKE89]

... in response to you must be a hoosier..., posted by yoe on Jan 2, 2003

Why must you insult "Kasikstan" or their fashion sensibilities?

Peiper/Armani -AKA (Vaughn)

[yoe]

... in response to Yoe-Yoe... the modicum of fashion consul..., posted by BURKE89 on Jan 2, 2003

I actaully have a couple of good friends from there. But a small town guy may be more appropriately suited with girls there. Moscow girls can make them sing and shout but Georgia should be on their mind. I have nothing against any peoples in general. I just have contempt for issues
Joe

[ChrisNJ]

... in response to you must be a hoosier..., posted by yoe on Jan 2, 2003

I don't live in Gas City.  Just passed through a few times on my to Chrysler in Kokomo.

[Pordzhik]

... in response to all perseptions..., posted by yoe on Jan 1, 2003

Maybe you've been taking her to the wrong stores?

I've noticed my diet has changed by something like 50%, out has gone all that tinned and processed rubbish, the microwave now only gets used for de-frosting mostly and the freezer for ice cream. I eat a lot more fresh produce than ever before.

My wife loves the English fashions and was surprised by the quality and prices here, infact they make her old Ukrainian clothes look gaudy and she hardly wears them anymore. She always takes presents of clothes back for her goddaughter and her friends are always putting in orders for leather trousers which are half the price and better made here compared to the markets of Kiev.

Her mother packed her off with some bedding when she first came, well to be honest, it barely survived two washes and began falling to bits and fading.

[MarkInTx]

... in response to You take the best from both worlds, posted by Pordzhik on Jan 1, 2003

I don't know what I would think if my wife suddenly wanted all designer clothes.

Most of her wardrobe she has made herself. When I bought her a dinner dress (Really elegant black dress -- floor length, and completely backless -- complete with black satin gloves) she was so thrilled she started to cry. She told me it was the most beautiful thing she has ever worn. I think it cost me $125... NOT designer by any means.

And food... oh my! She loves the food here. The only thing she has seen me eat that she wouldn't even try was one morning when I made oatmeal. But she loves my chili, Chips and Salsa, Chicken-Pot pie, Kielbosa and Saurkraut, she made tortilla soup the other night it was amazing (that cookbook has been an adventure for both of us!)... on and on and on. We've had a little of everything. She has said many times that she can't believe how good the food is here.

She had been told by some people who had visited America that the food here was terrible. She thinks they are all crazy. Of course, we haven't eaten at McDonald's, either. And the food we have at home has all been home made. No cans of anything.

Maybe that makes a difference? I don't know.

But I sure haven't seen any signs of hating our food or our fashions.

Maybe Yoe's wife came from an upper income family or something?