In Ukraine now

[Jagfarms]

My wife and I are in Ukraine now. Sure some black soil here. Seen some collective farms in Western Ukraine. We have a blog about our trip here if anyone is interested.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/gizenadoption/1/tpod.html

[parsley]

Glad to hear from you Jag. Big old world out there. Stay safe. A cousin adopted a baby girl in the Ukraine some dozen years ago. Pars

[bucket]

Maybe you could find out if they still have a state run marketer in the Ukraine or have they made a switch to a more profitable life?

[charliep]

You have me jealous. It is a beautiful country - much like Canada geographically
- when you see the country, you know why Ukrainian communities located where
they did in Canada. Have been to Rivne but never Lviv. Will see how far you
travel in the east side of the Ukraine.

To put into perspective, I worked on a project developing extension services in 4
oblasts - Rivne, Volyne, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk. Really enjoyed my time there.

[FarmRanger]

That area is where some of my ancestors emigrated from, east of L'viv, (formerly Lemburg) and south of Rivne. Our family lost touch with the branch of the family that remained there, after Stalin came to power. Sad history after that.

May you have a rewarding trip and a safe return.

[hedgehog]

western ukraine, that used to be poland didnt it?
i was in lvov in 95, 5mph was max speed on roads, looked like ww2 just ended.

[FarmRanger]

That whole area was part of Poland a century ago. Large German population there, hence the name Lemburg, which was later changed to L'viv.

[Jagfarms]

It would be nicer if we could be here in the summer months as there is some snow now and I would like to see the crops grown here.

[rook]

Thanks for the blog - it is very interesting.

Also makes me grateful that my ancestors left/fled/escaped when they did and embraced this new country, which has been very good to us, all things considered.