Stahlke Adoption

Bits of Ukrainian

When we attended Easter services at the Ukrainian church, I heard many familiar words for which I no longer remember the meaning. We hear so little Ukrainian at home now--only a few sentences on Saturday after Ukrainian school. But I'm hoping that a lot of vocabulary will come back to me when we travel to Ukraine to adopt Kola.

As I was doing dishes a few days ago, a glass started to fall off the counter. Involuntarily, I reached to catch it, yelling "Ne, ne, ne!" That's a bit of Ukrainian still in my unconscious! I wish that "Tak, tak, tak" came as easily.

Using positive language while disciplining the children is one of my goals:
"Walk!" vs. "Don't run"
"Use your inside voice" vs. "Be quiet"
"Say something nice to each other or don't talk at all" vs. "Stop fighting!"

It doesn't help that in the first few months here, I heard the kids using a beautiful-sounding Ukrainian word: "ro'-seh-kree." After hearing it for a while, I had to find out what it means. To my dismay, they answered "SHUT YOUR TRAP!"

posted by Stahlkes @ 10:06 AM