Home Sweet Home (HSH). Part 2. Family

Time spent at home was incredible! Won't describe my feelings as they are the same all the time I'm back to Ternopil'. All the space between my short cool meetings with friends was filled with my parents, nephew and relatives.

Saturday late evening and Sunday morning I spent with Yuliya's parents talking, eating delicious home-made food and talking about different things.

On Sunday morning after 3h travel from Frankivs'k to Ternopil' my family took me for a picnic to Ivachiv, a village 20kms from Ternopil with a huge lake and several areas for barbequing. Lots of food, "shashlyky", frilled fish, playing football with Sashko, searching for the dragonflies, talking with brother and parents...

On Monday Dad, Mom and I took Sashko and went for a walk in the Topilche park and around the city. Sashko and I had a tourist train ride next to the lake and later we had an ice-cream.
All the week when I was in Ternopil' the weather was very nice and city looked very green and very beautiful. It was the time of the chess-nuts blooming and thousands of trees made Ternopil' look the way I remembered and will remember its best moments.

On Tuesday my Dad took me for a fishing trip to Ivachiv lake. We woke up before 3a.m. and were at "his (my Dad's)" spot before 4a.m. to ensure nobody would take it. We started to fish only after 6 when it got a bit lighter outside and we could see at least something.
I must say that all of our effort was not in vain as the fish were biting really well and before 10a.m. we had almost full fishing cage filled mostly with rudds (aka "krasnoperka") and 3 or 4 crucian carps (aka "karas").

On Thursday we all went to the railway station to pick up Mom's sister (and my aunt) Ira who lived in Moscow region. It'd been quite some time since I saw her and, I think, more than 10 year since the last time she had come to Ternopil'.

On Friday Mom had her 55th birthday and we had a small celebration at home. Yuliya came to Ternopil', aunt Ira was there and some of Mom's closest friends. In the evening she went for another celebration with her other friends and I saw Yuliya off to Ivano-Frankivs'k.

Saturday was the last full day of my stay in Ternopil' and with our extended family which included relatives from Berezhany we went (again) to Ivachiv where later I joined AIESECers for AIESEC in Ternopil' 16th Birthday celebration.

In general things were going fine at home. Dad got a bit used to "not working" and pensioner status after he had left his job. After having worked for 35 years it was a bit hard for him at the beginning but it got better and he has a loving family who takes care of him (smile).

Mom's the same - kind and caring, easy-going and with a really great attitude towards life, always happy when I come home and always saying my visits were too short (which , unfortunately, is always very true).

Brother is doing fine as well, working really hard, earning not really much but in general the money are ok for Ternopil'. With the help of our and Ira's (his wife) parents they changed their flat for the bigger one, still at the same area, in the next building where Grandma used to live...

Grandma... it's been almost a year since she's gone. Somehow it's really hard to believe... I've visited her grave and tried to tell her about my life, how great it was, how happy I was and how I missed her. Was really "unusual" and a bit hard, but I will do it every time I'm in Ternopil'. Hope she can hear...

Sashko is just a lovely little boy - smart, very active and very loving. Adores his Grandpa and a little bit less Grandma (smile). Answering my question: "What do you want me to buy you?", he shrugged his shoulders and answered sincerely: "I don't know. I have everything".
Love him a lot!

The next trip home is planned for September or October and then, definitely, for Christmas time in January 2011. And only in between those travels other countries and places will come!