Everyone knows the story of hansel and Gretel. Two kids get lost in the woods. They find a house made of sweets and they start eating the roof of the house. They kids are starving so they ate and ate until the witch who lives in the house notices that there is someone eating her roof. She goes outside to find her roof being chomped on by hansel and gretel. She captures the two kids, forces Gretel to become her slave and throws Hansel in a cage to fatten him up for later. Later the witch tries to get Grettle to see if the fire in the oven is hot enough to cook in. Gretel tricks the witch telling her that she doesn’t know what she means. The witch peers into the oven to check for herself when Gretel pushes the witch into the oven and closes it behind her. Gretel and her brother escape and they all live happily ever after.
The story of Hansel and Gretel originates from Germany, but I have a theory that this is really a Ukrainian story. Allow me to explain…
Yesterday was not by any means a special occasion, but it certainly felt like it. We had to go to our host Tanias apartment to meet up with some of the people that we would be working with during our english lessons next week. We arrived at her apartment and were told to sit down and relax.
We were first supposed to talk about the english lessons that are happening next week and then we would, eat dinner. The meeting went fantastic we go to see who each of us was partnering with next week and I felt a bit more relaxed about the school altogether. After we had finished the business aspect of the meeting we moved onto the most important part of the evening… the food. First we started with borsh and salo.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am about the pickiest eater you will ever meet. Vegetables and I go together like oil and water. I would be lying though if I didn’t tell you that borscht is absolutely delicious. I devour my bowl. I topped it with Ukrainian sour cream and dipped freshly made bread into every savery drop of the delicious broth. After finishing my meal I was told to slow down and that they had more coming. I felt filled, but not full so I anxiously awaited our next dish. Next they brought us pierogi…
Our first round of Pierogi was filled with potatoes and mushrooms. Served along with it was more pierogi that was filled with cabbage and mushrooms. After adding a bit more of the magical Ukrainian sour cream, both we’re absolutely fabulous. At this point I was starting to feel more full. I had had a lot of bread and a lot of dough. Then they brought out a bunch of sweets. Just little candies and cookies. They were deffenanty a good way to finish off the meal… or so I thought. I was assured by Tania that they definitely had more for us. I was slightly scared at this point because I was very full and I had very little self governance with this food.
Next they brought us more pierogi. This time filled with cherry and another filled with cream cheese. They also put on the table some sweet poppy bread and zucchini bread. I ate way too much zucchini bread and even more cheese and cherry filled Pierogies.
When it was all over I looked around the table at the faces of my teammates and saw the looks of utter defeat. Joel looked as if he had gone through hell and back again. Me and Lexi had sprawled ourselves out across the couch trying to find a position that might aid in our digestion, but to no avail. I felt like Hansel. Being fattened more and more to the point where escaping (or in this case walking home) on my own may have been impossible.
We sat there laughing and lounging with our new Ukrainian friends and had a great time. It was right about then when I thought about the story of Hansel and Gretel. The thought made me laugh and prompted Tania to ask me what was so funny. I laughed again and told her my thought of my team and I being Hansel. She shrugged her shoulders and said “we’ve been trying to get someone to stay…”
This month in Ukraine has been interesting to say the least. While driving to Ukraine some of you might have hear that I got very sick. Fortunately I wasn’t sick for long and was ready to go for my first week of ministry. Weird enough we never had to leave our apartment during our first week of ministry. It was all prep work for this week and next. This week we are teaching to kids in the public school and next week we will be teaching adults english. I’m loving Ukraine more and more and I can’t wait till the end of this month when we get to do some extra traveling before our ministry here is over.
Thanks for reading and expect more soon.
God bless.
