Crazy.

In complete and utter Ukrainian tradition, I am throwing myself a party for my birthday on Friday. The tradition here is for the birthday person to plan, invite, prepare and provide all things necessary to throw their friends a party in honour of their own birthday. What?! Really? Serious. That is just how we roll in Ukraine.

On the schedule of events for the evening is some good old pumpkin carving. For some reason (could it be a little homesickness?!) I was feeling extra nostalgic this week and thought that it would be super fun to carve pumpkins. I have not carved pumpkins in forever and I know that most of my friends have never done such a thing. I get so much entertainment out of watching people do things for the first time ... I knew it had to go on the list.

Gathering things to carve pumpkins normally would not be to big of a deal. A quick trip here and a quick trip there and I would be done. Since I do not live in normal land, the pumpkin carving idea has taken on a life of its own. After several days of keeping my eyes open for whole pumpkins (they are available mostly already peeled, seeded and cubed) I have finally amassed the most important part of pumpkin carving!Four days, about 150 hryvnia, three marshutka rides, a dozen crazy looks, one ripped bag and 65.8 pounds of pumpkin later I now have seven perfect pumpkins sitting in the window just waiting to be turned into brilliant works of art! This is going to be fun!