Our First Visitor!

We were lucky enough to get a visit from one of my blog's biggest fans- my father-in-law!

It was definitely a much-too-short weekend filled with food, food, and more food. Arun made sure he showed off all his favorite restaurants: Hong Kong (his favorite Chinese place), Devarana (his favorite Thai restaurant) and a great Ukrainian restaurant in downtown (you can't leave here without trying some borsch!)

Unfortunately, this is definitely a VERY cold time of year and so our 'sight-seeing' primarily consisted of walking around for a few minutes before ducking into cafes for some cocoa or lattes! Arun and I have become more acclimated to the climate, but my father-in-law had just arrived from India and Dubai and so by the second day, he had a cold! Of course, this might have a lot to do with the fact that Arun insisted on taking the bus at least once.... and would bargain with taxis rather than hop in the first warm vehicle that passed by!

Arun was extra-happy to get all kinds of great Bengali sweets, fresh from India! And we were also able to stock-up on spices and other items that we have difficulty getting in Odessa.

One of the funniest stories occured on the first night. I asked Arun to pull-out the sofa-bed. Of course, with one quick swoop, he managed to derail the whole thing. His immediate reaction was panic. He thought he had broken it! Then the two engineers proceeded to try to figure out how to fix it.... to no avail. Finally, I stepped in to examine the mechanism. Within a few minutes, I had the bed back in the railing! That's what happens when you have too many engineering-minds! You need a healthcare brain to fix a mechanical problem! At least we know the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree!