Eastern Europe

Greetings--Privyet.  I am writing from Vasylkov, Ukraine, a city of about 40,000 in the Kiev region of Ukraine.  I live in a nicely furnished apartment with my host mother, Olga Ivanovna.  It's almost 9PM here and we are enjoying a figure-skating competition show in Russian.
The last few days have been a blur--incredibly interesting, enlightening, and occasionally frustrating, since Olga and most of her family know about 20 words of English, 2 of which are "Santa" and "Claus."  I spent today riding around in a 1960s-era Soviet army jeep in the forest with Olga, her son Olier (in his 30s, a major in the Ukrainian Air Force), his girlfriend (a widow about the same age, her name is either Natasha or Olga, I'm not sure), and her father Nikolai.
After about 4 hours and filling some large sacks with mushrooms, we went back to Nikolai's house in a village near Vasylkov for a meal (it was around 3PM, so I'm not sure what to call it).  Nikolai kept topping my shot glass off with vodka.  The food here has been very good--nothing terribly exciting but very hearty--and today was no exception.  Natasha(?)'s 2 kids, Angelina and Taras, were there, which was great--Angelina speaks some English (she's 11), so we were actually able to understand each other for once.
Upon return to Vasylkov, I tried to do some reading but was completely exhausted, and fell asleep.  When I woke, Natasha, Olier, and Taras were over (Olier had dropped Olga and me off with Angelina) and watching a figure skating competition show in Russian.  They offered me food, beer, and tea/coffee about 20 times when I came out, but I was still full from "meal."  They just left a second ago, so now I'm here again.  I have Russian language class for about 5 hours tomorrow at 8:30.  That may sound like a lot, but all I have to say is THANK GOD.  The last 3 days have seen a lot of pantomiming, drawing, and referring to a Russian-English dictionary.
Vasylkov itself is a decent town.  It has a multitude of stores, bazaars, and internet cafes.  As you can see, I have high-speed internet at home.  And TV, and hot running water, etc.  I feel spoiled.  The apartment buildings around me look like you'd expect Eastern European high-rises to look--dilapidated and full of surly men leaning out their windows, smoking--but my flat is very nice on the inside.  I'd put it up against any 2-bedroom apartment in NYC or Western European city.  Small compared to American suburbs, but cozy enough.
The jeep today reminded me of riding around in Dan's 1948 US Army jeep this summer in Colorado.  This summer was fun as hell, to be sure, but if the last few days are any indication of how the next few years are going to go, it will be a great time.
I'm still a little tired, so I'm going to sign off and go to bed soon.  One more note--the weather is cool but not really cold yet.  And overcast.  Since I got to Kiev on Thursday, I think I've seen 2 hours of sunshine.  Again, pretty much what you'd expect in Eastern Europe.  It will get cold soon, but again--this isn't Russia.  It's about the same weather as the upper midwest--Chicago, Michigan, etc.  Cold and snowy, but not as bad as Canada or whatever.
Miss you all.  Hope things are going better in Georgia then the sports teams' records indicate.