Interests

I enjoy biking, scuba diving, travelling, and quite a few other things. In summer 2003, my husband and I participated in RAGBRAI (The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). We spent seven days biking–a total distance of 475 miles. I didn't think I could survive biking this distance, but I was in a better spirit after the trip than before. Even though it was quite exhausting, it was a great experience. I am glad I did it! Click here to look at some pictures and to read the story.

I know Iowa doesn't offer a lot of scuba diving opportunities, but nevertheless, Jean and I enjoy scuba diving. Before last November, I only dove in Florida. Here you can see the pictures from one of our trips. In November 2003, we got a chance to dive on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Pictures are coming soon...

Travelling... I love to travel. I have been to Poland, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Australia. Since I am from Ukraine, of course I have been in Ukraine, as well as in Russia and Belarus. I live in the United States now, so I visited quite a few states there.

We travelled a lot during year 2003. In summer, we visited France, Belgium, Germany, and San Francisco. From September through December we were living in Australia. Jean was doing some research there at the Australian National University. We lived in Canberra, the capital of Australia. In our spare time, we explored the surrounding area. One of the places we visited was the Namadgi National Park, where they have a "valley of 1,000 kangaroos." We also visited Sydney twice. We stayed at the small hotel on Coogee Beach. Most of the time it was raining there, but it didn't prevent me from seeing how beautiful that city is.