My Last Easter in Ukraine

This past weekend was Easter Weekend and it was one of the nicer set of days i have had the pleasure to spend in Ukraine. My friend Paul came down to visit as I believe I said before. We went on Saturday night and got the food blessed, decorated eggs, bread etc. And we got a free shower from the priest as he is a guy who likes to "over-bless" with holy water so he has to stop and refill often. There were hundreds of people lined up outside the churc and it was very windy so after getting blessed we were all freezing. We at the blessed food the next day. Paul and I always racing to say "Chirst is Risen" to people first as the response "Truly He is Risen" is in old slavonic and very difficult to say.
Later in the day Paul, the host fam, some friends and I took a three hour hike through the forest. Spring is springing here in western Ukraine and the friut trees are flowering, the forest floor is a wash in yellow and white. The long dead trees are starting bud and the sky is full of picturesque puffy clouds. My host family always amazes me becasue when we go to the forest they don't just see a sea of vibrant green on the forest floor they know every plant. They showed me a lettuce type plant that we ate, it tastes like it is infused with garlic and onion (great in salad), I also learned about a plant that is poisonous to animals but is used to treat TB, and a plant called "horseshoe" that is boiled in soup to induce vomiting for neasua, often after a night of drinking. The wonders never cease.
And I did by the way have all the food I needed for the weekend. Paul and I also watched "An Inconvenient Truth" which was fascinating and depressing but we didn't feel so bad as we inUkraine lead very low impact lives.
We also went to the now famous house of culture disco with my host brothers and some friends. It was a great time but now that I think about it this will be my last Easter in Urkaine. So strange to think how my time here is dwindling.