A picture of Polina from out trip to Zhytomir on Saturday. We went there in part for the day of the parents, the weekend when you are supposed to go to the graveyards and decorate/clean up the graves of relatives. So we visited the grave of grandparents and great grandparents. We didn't do much cleaning since this had already been done by Lena's mom. Our main job was to put candy and cookies on their graves. I'm not sure exactly what this tradition is about but we did it. Apparently, other people can come along and eat the cookies and candy. I looked around for some but didn't see anything I was interested in. We have some pictures of all that but they didn't make it to Kyiv. After that, we went to the forest near a monastery and a dam. We had shashlik (shishkabob), which was quite good. It had been marinated in kefir and vinegar. Lena's mom and Polina didn't come since Polina was not feeling well. We made it back to Kyiv by about 10. The ride there and back was miserable as always and is about the only time I wish we had a car. The trip there, the guy didn't have any brake pads and was compelled to drive about 80 miles an hour. Ukrainian roads are generally made to handle speeds of about 50 mph. I was positive we were going to die. There was such a long line at the bus that we basically hitchhiked though it's not as bad as it sounds. It's quite common here and used to be the way we always went to Zhytomir, before the taxi-vans emerged. On the way back, slower and better brakes but no leg room. Imagine coach seating in an airplane and take that down by about half.

Spring is finally really here. It's still a bit cool at night but I think the threat of snow is gone.