mopwuchaka.

So I have this water bottle... named Mopwuchaka. (MOP-whu-Chi-ka) why? Because.. thats just what it's called. Not. 

 I also guessed that these were pretzels.. they're not. I dont know what they are.. I also bought some crackers that looked like there was some sort of dip on the front with leaves in the dip. These "crackers" taste like whipped cream. No lies. 

Bottom line.. ILP teachers really need to stop trying to sound out Russian words that don't exist in either language, and Russian is hard. I don't see/hear/experience any connections. And then my host family explained to me that almost everything "official" is written in Ukrainian, and rarely spoken by anyone but elderly people which doesn't add any help to anything. On a better note today when I was trying to communicate with someone they didn't walk away.. they got very visual and there was lots of nodding. Good things. :)