Myth Busters and Other Useful Info For PreAdoptive Parents

I know when I was preparing our family to come here I gleamed all of the information I could get my hands on. I read blogs, FRUA and the Yahoo! boards. So here is a list I have put together so far of things we have found we can't live without and things we found not to be true so far....

Necessities:
-Baggies in all sizes! I have found some here but they only came in a box of about 5 in only one size. I use them for everything. Get the jumbo sized ones too. You can pack your clothes in them to keep them dry and use them for dirty laundry. Every day we bring snacks to Tetyana and I need baggies. I am reusing them right now because I am afraid I will run out.
-Make a shopping list for when you get off the plane and your facilitator takes you shopping. We were exhausted and everything is in a different language. We didn't even know what time it was let alone remember we needed butter to cook eggs.
-We have our 8 year old son with us. I was not worried in the least that he would have trouble with the food here but he has. It is just different. They put a sauce that tastes like BBQ sauce on their pizza. I brought spaghetti sauce packets, mac and cheese packets and some soup/noodle packets. I wish I would have brought more! We are out already. We also brought a lot of American snacks to eat on the run. I wanted to introduce our child to American food while we were here. She loves it all so far, except peanut butter... which I have not seen here at all.
-Bring a USB stick. You may not be able to use your own laptop here. If you bring a USB stick you can type at home and upload on the internet cafe computers.
-If you uses wash clothes on a regular basis bring some!
-Don't try to learn Russian or Ukrainian.....it is a crap shoot where you are going and what they speak when you get there. If you feel you have to learn something, learn the alphabet.
-Try the juices! I am sure you have read this before but I will say it again....they are GREAT! I hope I can find them at home. Our favorites are blood orange, banana and cherry.

Myths:
-Don't wear or bring jeans here. DO bring jeans if you like to wear them at home. They usually show less dirt and wrinkles. You can wear them for 3 days. If the radiators are on, even if they are handwashed they dry over night. I wish I would have brought all jeans!
-Ukrainian DVD's won't play on American DVD players or computers. We found a bunch of Ukrainian DVD's that have about 10-20 American movies on each DVD. We have even seen movies that are currently in American theaters on DVD.
-The water in Ukraine is dirty. Our water here in Cherkasy is clean not orange. I cook with it and wash our vegetables with it and none of us has been sick. I have a weak stomach too.
-Only eat fruits and vegetables you can peel. We have eaten everything we would eat at home. We have eaten grapes, tomatoes, carrots along with fruits and vegetables you can peel and have not had a problem yet. 
-You can't buy a converter for power in Ukraine. Ours blew up. It was a Samsonite (our brand new Samsonite duffel bags broke too!). We bought one that is really heavy duty here and it is working perfectly.

So that is my list so far....also, if you like to wear track suits or yoga pants bring them. We are seeing a lot of them in the stores. You will  not fit in here with the Ukrainian women unless you wear high healed boots up to your knees with shorts or very mini skirts. Plus, your face just looks different....when 
you open your mouth, they will instantly know you are different. We get stared at all the time. But we have had people speak to us in English because they want to practice their English with us.