Дякую, моя сім’я, за віру в мене.
За моето семейство, благодаря, че вярвахте в мен.

My whole childhood, I was mainly with my grandpa, Slava. He would always speak Ukrainian to me, so I wanted to learn it. My Grandma tried to teach me to say Grandma, which is pronounced Babushka, but instead, I would say Babochka which means butterfly.

Since day one, my Grandpa Slava and I would do everything together. I remember playing shop with him every day. We’d learn the alphabet together. Because he didn’t know it too well either, we did it together. It kind of became a habit after a while. After Kindy or School, we’d go to Cheap As Chips, we went so often that the lady that worked there knew my name.

When I was five, I went to Bulgaria with my family, which was very different from Australia. We lived in a little village called Strahilovo. I remember the house being huge as a kid, there was a big double door in the floor that went to the basement, we used it as a slide for our toys. I remember there being a rumpus room off the side of the house, it was a big space but pretty empty. I remember there being a stench of smoke in the room with a slight odour of meat.

We had lots of vegetables and fruits growing in the front yard, from everything in the yard I remember the corn, we didn’t have many but I remember harvesting and cooking it. It was a big front yard since we were on the corner house, the only type of play equipment was an old slide that was being overgrown by the corn and fruit trees. Every morning the goats would walk down the road to a little paddock behind our house. Baba Mimi was our neighbour, I’d stay at her home quite a lot. She had a goat that I got to milk, it was an interesting experience, to say the least!

I met my second cousin Loanna Draganska, we call her Yoana for short. We’d hang out a lot even though I didn’t understand what she was saying we became close fast. We’d have little competitions, one of my favourites was where we’d have to collect as many Brumbar’s, little beetles that vary in colour, as we can in five minutes without getting two of the same colour!

My family comes from all over the world, some from Bulgaria others from Ukraine. All the different heritages in my family make me who I am, and I’m proud of it.

Дякую, моя сім’я, за віру в мене.
За моето семейство, благодаря, че вярвахте в мен.

To my family, thank you for believing in me.