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After a 5-hour snow delay, Olga and her daughter Katya arrived at JFK airport Friday night at 7:00 pm, although it took another hour and a half to get through customs and immigration. Surprisingly, neither Russian customs or American customs questioned her about the 7 bottles of Vodka and other Russian liquor she brought with her.

Olga is having a little trouble adjusting to the time difference, but other than that, she is very happy and warm as ever! She can't believe all of the food choices we have here. Saturday we went to the Bronx Zoo, and had a great time. We are loving NYC, and my parents love Olga and Katya very much. On Thursday, we will leave for Florida.

That's all for now!!!

... in response to Live from New York!!!, posted by JohnG on Nov 19, 2001

I remember your trip reports after you got back, and the website with the trip pictures.

It is inspiring to follow your story, from the trip, to successful reunion together at last.

Please come by and post how things are going when you can!

Congratulations :)

-Deckard

... in response to Live from New York!!!, posted by JohnG on Nov 19, 2001

Congratulations to you, and Welcome to the Land of Freedom for your loved ones!

John, besides all the well-known places to see in NYC, don’t forget to take them to the old harbor with old tall ships (something rather rare in US, with the exception of Mystic Seaport in Conn. and others) in downtown, at South Street Seaport, some three blocks down from the Brooklyn Bridge, and if you climb up on the top terrace of the building housing the many restaurants you’ll get a most beautiful view of the harbor itself, the bridge, and basically all around.
From that you can walk west on Wall Street all the way to the World Trade Center. It’s cordoned off but you can go as close as one block around and still see much. There are incredibly many (foreign) tourists there now, it’s really one hot visiting spot in NY.
I took some visitors from Moldavia two weeks ago and they could not get enough of it (and pictures), it was very hard to pry them away from it! Everybody thinks (and rightly so) that it’s about seeing real history, lived in the present.
And the Statue of Liberty would be impressive for them at this stage.
If you really want to impress Olga, as Russians are almost always arts lovers, the Metropolitan is a must, the place de rigueur to see, at least the Impressionist section.
Then of course, they will be introduced to the beautiful American tradition of the Thanksgiving, a very nice introduction to the American life altogether in such a short time!!!

... in response to Live from New York!!!, posted by JohnG on Nov 19, 2001

Hey now,

Wish you all (both John & Co. and Peter & Co.) the very best.  There will be some trying times ahead, but at the end, I hope for you the type of happiness that I have found.

Steve M.

... in response to Live from New York!!!, posted by JohnG on Nov 19, 2001

Congrats!

... in response to Live from New York!!!, posted by JohnG on Nov 19, 2001

This will be a very special Thanksgiving, I suspect.  Please drop in occasionally, if you can, and let us know "all is well".

Good Luck
Michael

... in response to Live from New York!!!, posted by JohnG on Nov 19, 2001

nt

... in response to Live from New York!!!, posted by JohnG on Nov 19, 2001

I drove up to JFK to pick up my fiancee on Friday night. The flight aslo was delayed 3 hours and arrived at 10:20. She was out of there in 45 minutes! On the way up I drove the I95 and on the way back the I81 John whatever you do DO NOT GO through DC. On the way up I spent a fortune in tolls, had to fight a million cars with crazy drivers in narrow lanes and had to make a zillion turns on sometimes local streets filled with security cops up the yazoo!
Have decided that game boy is on par with sliced bread as far as the greatest invention of all time. Her kid loves it and kept him entertained for 21 hours.
Cost of plane ticket for two - $800
Cost of rental car - $112
Cost of fast food - $10
Expression on boy's face when I showed him his new bike  - priceless.
There are some things that money cannot buy.

ps anyone know what happened to scott's fiancee?

... in response to Live from Atlanta!!!, posted by Peter Ryan on Nov 19, 2001

Or has McDonalds reduced that barrier, to nil ?

... in response to Re: How are they reacting to american fo..., posted by wsbill on Nov 19, 2001

Pretty good so far. We are trying to heat healthy and the cuisine has been hot chocolate, apple juice, coffee, hash browns, cheetos, cokes, chocolate bar, mello-yello, tylenol, subways with meatballs, bread, pancakes and we are doing pasta tonight.

... in response to Re: Re: How are they reacting to america..., posted by Peter Ryan on Nov 19, 2001

My girl devoured my bag in Kiev.  She thought the Cheetos were ho-hum... but that cheesey imation flavered Doretos really had her chowing them down!!!

Recently for Halloween I sent via mail (Box) of goodies, which I might add never got to her.  But I sent some Double Bubble chewing gum and Life Savers Mints.

One night in Kiev in June Oatmeal offered my girl and his friend a Life Savers Mint.  His girl didn't like and took it out of her mouth... But my lady, in a kind of defiant way kept it in her mouth.(she didn't say if it was good or bad, but..  Kinda made me thing she was trying to prove a point.  Like she's was willing to try something new.

I don't know.  But if I don't like something I'll spit it out.  I thought that was rather interesting.

Anyway, if you spot someone working at the post office chewing Double Bubble gum and have Life Savers, you'll know where  they came from !!!

... in response to Re: .... Give her some Natcho Flavored D..., posted by wsbill on Nov 19, 2001

get them to like and thus eat garbage such as cheetos and doretos. Chemicals cause reactions that trigger weight gain in many women IMHO. This is why some fat AW loose weight when they quit all diet products and just eat healthy (all the chemicals in these products)

Synthetic foods can be very addicting. Do not get them started and point to fat AW and tell them if they want to increase their odds of being like that go ahead and eat that crap. Of course some people have the type of genes  that allow them to eat anything and stay thin.

... in response to If you want to increase odds of having a..., posted by thesearch on Nov 20, 2001

I've got about 100 Hybrid Hydroponic Tomato germinating in the Kitchen and as I put the finishing touches on my greenhouse.

I will make sure my lady doesn't turn into a 'large Marge'!

When I asked if she wanted something to eat in Kiev, all she would do is order a Salad!!!  A Turkish salad at that.

Once I get the Tomato plants online in full production, I'll start on the cucumbers!  Then the Lettuce.  It's really simple...

In fact, whatever we have remaining I'll set up a stand in front of the house and sell them to passer by..

Where can you get 'Hydroponic Tomatos for $1.45 a pound, Wal-Mart has them for $1.97/lbs. ($1.50 wholesale) in Febuary - June... I'll have them! :)

If this takes off I'm prepare to build a huge greenhouse and put that girl to work in it!  (she likes to gardern), she sez she loves greenhouses with their 70-78*f temp year round.  I like that idea since she can keep an eye on her son and he can grow up in the business.

Really guys, you should check into this business if you live in a rural setting.  I like the fact it's a cash type of business!

E-mail me and I'll post you some directions to go in the check it out.  Heck if you don't want to get in the biz you can atleast have a greenhouse for her to work/play in during the winters....she beats sitting in front of the TV eating chips!!

... in response to Re: .... Give her some Natcho Flavored D..., posted by wsbill on Nov 19, 2001

That was a kind of funny story.

I was dating this really REALLY nice girl from Kiev. I remember that she had a problem with bad breath and I was trying to find a way to solve this problem without hurting her feelings.

Personally, I love those wintergreen flavored breath mints (I can eat those darned things one after another).  Anyway, I was out with her and wsbill and his girl one evening and we were walking on Khershatik and I pulled out my roll of breath mints and put a couple in my mouth and offered my girl one too.  She put one in her mouth and I slowly saw her face start to distort and twist and she started to whine a little and spit it out.  

I was surprised, and a little disappointed, because I really like those things and thought she might like those as well.  I know she liked the ORBIT gum that is popular in Ukraine but you know that I don't really like that ORBIT gum.  

So, wsbill's girl put one of my breath mints in her mouth to try it.  I thought I remembered that she said she liked it but maybe wsbill is right about her just tolerating it to make a point.  

However, I know that Rostik in Kiev liked my wintergreen mints and wanted to keep my extras when I came back to the USA, so maybe it was just the ladies who did not like my mints.  But you know that Rostik tends to like anything foreign and different from traditional Ukrainian things so who knows.

... in response to Re: I remember,  Don't assume just becua..., posted by Oatmeal on Nov 20, 2001

Maybe try a different flavor of mint.  Both my wife and my son think wintergreen tastes like root beer, and that both taste horrible.

Steve M.

... in response to Re: I remember,  Don't assume just becua..., posted by Oatmeal on Nov 20, 2001

Nothing wrong with that.  I was going to give my girls father a "Whites Metal Detector", just a very simple model.  But when I saw him having trouble walking well that idea went out the window really fast.  Looks like he will be getting a shortwave radio instead.

Anyway, Rostick got that metal detector......so if you loose your keys at the beach.  Call Rostick and he'll find them for you. ha.

... in response to Re: I remember,  Don't assume just becua..., posted by Oatmeal on Nov 20, 2001

Funny coincidence: anything in wintergreen flavor is nauseating to me. And I heard the same reaction from a lot of my former USSR girlfriends. On the other hand all of them like peppermint flavor.

Still probably it doesn't mean that all FSU people dislike wintergreen.

Just FYI.

... in response to Wintergreen..., posted by GeorgiaGal on Nov 20, 2001

Yeah, I can't figure out if it was just an individual taste or if most women didn't like it or what.

Wsbill says that it tastes like Pepto bismol and I agree but then I don't mind pepto bismol anyway.  Actually I kind of like that flavor.  

But if I had to do it again I would invest in another flavor of breath mint instead of wintergreen because the girls over there just did not like it.

... in response to Wintergreen..., posted by GeorgiaGal on Nov 20, 2001

I can't stand that flavor either. yelch.

... in response to Live from New York!!!, posted by JohnG on Nov 19, 2001

Keep us informed & enjoy!!

... in response to Re: You know they'll love that FL weathe..., posted by wsbill on Nov 19, 2001

Actually, Olga prefers the cold weather. One of the things she wasn't looking forward to was the Florida heat. But we'll see...

... in response to Re: FL weather..., posted by JohnG on Nov 20, 2001

I can appreciate Olga's apprehension of the summer heat here in Florida:  I practically melted in the heat during my first summer here in Florida.  It took me quite a while to become acoustomed to living in South Florida.

... in response to Re: You know they'll love that FL weathe..., posted by wsbill on Nov 19, 2001

between the pool & the beach, Katya could stay in the water all day. And Marina has already said that she doesn't miss the cold at all...aloha

... in response to we'll take the beach, posted by Stan B on Nov 20, 2001

I walked into my greenhouse around lunch time outside temp was in the 50's and it was a balmy 80 degees inside, and darn near 100% humidity!!   You can actually feel that warm blast as you enter through the door.

At night, it does cool down and I have to get a heater in there to shore up the temperatures as they do drop quite fast as does the densitity of air, too.

Gotta get a heater in their as it's 30'x30', kind big.  But during the day time it's toasty!!

... in response to Re: You know they'll love that FL weathe..., posted by wsbill on Nov 19, 2001

Stevo