Things I wish that I had taken to Ukraine

Here is a list of things we really missed while in Ukraine.




Rubbing Alcohol
I can't find this anywhere, I use it for a lot of things at home and really miss it here. Also not seen ever is hydrogen peroxide.

Alcohol wipes
for the cuts and scrapes and disinfecting without getting wet. I brought hand sanitizer but then you just have wet hands and then sticky hands full of dead germs.

Kitchen utensils
the kitchens have the neccesary utensils for making borsch and frying potatoes. If you need more than a potato masher, ladle, pancake turner and a grater, to cook you had better pack it.

Summer clothes
I planned to be home before now and so I brought spring clothes. I need summer clothes . I was also told that they only wear black here and so I brought a lot of black stuff. They wear all colors and you would be smart to pack something for next season too.

WASH CLOTHS
I still have not seen any for sale in Ukraine.. I bought some in Russia but they are very thin. If you like thick fuffy ones bring a few so they can dry between washings.

Light weight clothes that dry fast.
I have one shirt that dries in a day and the rest take longer because it is so humid. I am tempted to wear it everyday and pack or give the rest of the gothic looking clothes that I will probably never wear again at home, away.

Unisom
For the night trains and time changes. It may have helped to regulate us better. There is nothing more annoying than wishing for sleep that won''t come.

More American Money
We thought that we could get money in ATMs but we can only get gryvnia. We can exchange it at the bank but it takes time to find one that has US bills. They want US money for the bribes (I mean exp fees) and they are really picky if the bills are old, faded, torn or stained) Take plenty of new crisp US money.....the more conterfeight looking the better. ( Someone should make a movie about a couple who takes countefeighted money to Ukraine for the bribes. What are they going to do really?)

Shoes with good tread
There are a lot places with no drainage on the roads or sidewalks. We are here in rainy weather and I have almost slipped several times because all of my shoes are too slick. Maybe this is why the high heels are a hit because it lifts at least the the heel away from the water below. But It also is farther to fall.

More to do in spare time.
I brought things to crochet, read, write, play, stitch, etc but it was not enough. I wish we had movies in English, more to read , more games to play anything....

More for the kids to do
What I would't do for an UNO game or something that we could play together that wouldn't require language skills. We have spent hours looking for things to entertain the kids while we WAIT. There is a really slim assortment of any kinds of products for kids here especially games or cards or anything of good quality.

Instant foods that can be made with boiling water.
On the trains there is hot water available that you can make instant oatmeal or ramen or other things with. I used the 2 packets of instant oatmeal that I brought from home today and gave it to the boys for breakfast but they didn't eat it. I didn't know how to tell them how precious that stuff is.