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Dinner Plans?

We arrived home today around 8:00 p.m. and immediatly started cooking rice to make chicken fried rice for dinner. At 8:30 our hostess and her two daughters arrived just as I was giving our meal that "final stir." The older daughter Christina burst into the kitchen and said "we're making you pizza because its maybe your last day here!" I eyed Daniel, he eyed me, and then we said "okay" together, thinking "are they crazy?" At that point we didn't really have a choice, though, it would have been super rude to refuse! It's a different way of thinking here. In America, we generally wouldn't start making pizza dough at 8:30, and I think we would give our guests at least a day's notice ("hey, we would like to make you dinner tomorrow night; we'll eat at around 7!"). But here apparently its okay to spring pizza on Americans an hour before their bed time, even though they already have dinner made! When we signed up for the homestay we opted out of the meals provided option to save money and prevent offers of scary food. I also happen to know that Ukrainians love to cook for guests, and if our hostess was given that chance, she would make us tubby. Tonight, however, I let them go all out. So, to clarify, it was 8:30 when they started making the pizza. Daniel and I had some of the fried rice we had made because we were hungry and probably wouldn't last until (2nd) dinner was ready. Then we sat down for pizza around 9:30. The first pizza was thin crust, because that's what kind of crust I like (I should have known when they asked that little innocent question, Ukrainians love to please). I was already full from the rice, but our hostess strongly convinced me to have two pieces, and prior to that had urged Daniel to partake in bread with fish spread. As we ate the first pizza, Christina was busy making the second pizza for Daniel, because it was going to have thick crust, which is his favorite. I was really full at this point, but Tatianna our hostess pointed to the giant platter of grapes and said "EAT!" while cutting up pears for everyone. She then proceeded to make tea. Then came the gifts! She got us salt and pepper shakers and stuff for Avory (our niece) and subtly hinted (again!) that Avory needed cousins. We conversed and laughed and had a great evening. Tatianna, throughout the course of the meal, lectured us again about drinking cold milk and said that my cheeks were too thin. The meal ended (finally!) and we dragged ourselves out of the kitchen by 11:00. I am so tired, but I enjoyed dinner; it was one hundred percent The Ukrainian Way!
Sorry this picture is fuzzy! Our camera broke last week, so this was taken with our video camera! It doesn't take great pictures as you can see.
Left to right is: Daniel, Christina, Oksana, Vova (Christina's son), Tatianna (mom to Christina and Oksana), and Janna
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