Friday and Saturday

I am doing two days at once sometimes because not a lot happens some days.  Friday we spent quite a bit of time with Katya and Igor.  We have to stay in one area of the camp so the gate keeper can see us all the time, but we had fun anyway.  We had a different gate keeper today.  He was not nearly as nice as the other one.  He almost didn't let us in, then it was most reluctantly.  So, WE ate the chocolate I brought. 

We are really getting to know Katya and Igor, and are feeling very relaxed in their company.  I feel like Igor is mine too.  I really like that guy!   It's fun communicating with charades.  It's easier than I though at first.  Katya interprets some, but she needs to study more English to be comfortable with the language.

I am so ready to not travel by bus.  It can take from 45 minutes on a good day, to 1.5 hours.  Taxis are faster, but they cost too much.  It's kinda neat though, to go all over the city  and not have to drive it.  There are so many buses and change overs here.  I am learning many routes.

That's really all that happened Friday.  Saturday we did not go to the camp.  Hannah has had a headache and the bus rides are hard, so we relaxed today.  We walked around and saw about six wedding couples near the opera house.  That's by the office where they get marriage licenses, or whatever they call them here.  There were brides and limosines everywhere.  Much revelry was going on!  We had plans this evening to the ballet, Swan Lake, but when we arrived, only a few $20 tickets were available.  We weren't going to pay that.  We were a bit confused as to why the opera house was filled when it apparently never is.  Then we saw about eight tour buses pull up with cruise ship passengers.  They must have bought out the whole place!  Oh well.  We'll have another chance on the 21st.  It shows again then.  We decided to have a cup of tea at a street cafe in the tourist area.  It was most pleasant.

I forgot to take the camera with me today so I have no new pictures to show.  I will try to get more tomorrow.  It should be a normal day.  We'll go see Katya at camp at 4:00 p.m. and ride on the infernal buses.  We still long for home.  We met more new friends and will meet more in the next few days.  I will tell you about them in the future.

Good night friends!

Sarah

Thursday, June 9

Hello friends!  We were supposed to go to the beach with Katya today, but we had to cancel to do paper work at the court house.  Next week we'll try again.  It was a wonderfully cool day today.  The bus rides were not so bad because of the cool breeze.  After we went to the court house, we just took a nap until time to go to the camp.  We spent a long time with Katya and Igor (pronounced "eager") today.  We had a very good talk with the help of a translator.  Katya was in a much better mood and she's looking forward to studying medicine.  She understands, though, that we don't begin that kind of education until college.  We talked much about education in America. 

The gate keeper at the camp, (a very serious fellow.  Very dedicated to doing his duty to keep foreigners from going too deep into the camp,) was even in a good mood.  He let us right in, even though Hannah and I were alone.  I think he is beginning to trust us.  A very good step for us!  I think I'll take him a chocolate treat tomorrow!  Then we'll be friends!

I've been here long enough now to have received several differing views of the people.  I am beginning to think they are not as nice as I originally thought.  Perhaps I'm just tired of being away from home.  I am feeling comfortable enough to argue with cashiers when they are fussy about the money.  They can be so tacky about giving your change back correctly, then if you insist, they roll their eyes and sigh heavily like you're a stupid American.  And the babushkas at the courthouse!  They are very large and padded.  They press against you if you're in their way and they use their weight to try to move you!  It's like being in a movie about soviet times.  They still act much like that.  They behave like "herds."  At least the older ones do.  The younger people are becoming more westernized like much of the world.  They are SO much like us and SO very different at the same time.

Doug, thank you for the flour tortilla recipe.  You can bet I'm going to make tacos now!  We are surviving well with cooking in the apartment.  I bought a roast chicken that made four meals for us.  Breakfast comes with the apartment and it's not just a continental style either.  ( Have I already told you about this?  It seems familiar!)

I took a few more pictures today I'd like to include in the blog.  I hope you enjoy!


The City Gardens are beautiful.  They have salvia and marigolds planted around the fountain shown here.  The children love this fountain.  Most of them end up wet, like this one.

They have massive rose gardens all over the parks.

An occasional cat will let us pet it.

This is an entrance to a neighborhood like I mentioned the other day.  You can't really see the buildings on either side, but they have the shops below and apartments above.

Here's another one.  This one is really pretty.

This is what I found inside the wall of a building!  I wonder if all the walls are this well made?!  Those look like sticks someone just lined up and stuck in their to give the wall some bulk, or something.)

The next two pictures or of a ???  Anybody want to venture a guess?  When I guessed, I made two Ukrainians roll on the ground laughing!  I'm still not sure what it is!

It hasn't been half our time here yet!  Has someone stopped the clock?  I want to go home!

See ya'll next blog!

Sarah

Cats

Today was a very boring day so I will attempt to make it more intresting by including pictures of the street cats.

Other than be bored, we went back up to the orphanage and took Katya back to the camp after some medical stuff.

Hope that your day was more fun than ours!

-Hannah-

Monday and Tuesday

I had to skip another blog day.  Usually on the way home in the evenings, Hannah and I get some sort of invitation..  Who knew we'd come over here to a community and be out late every night.  Monday we visited Katya about 4:00 in the afternoon so were on the bus home pretty late.  Some new friends invited us to eat with them but I had dinner already made, so we accepted for Tuesday instead.  Then we got a call from another friend we made here, Laura, and she offered to meet us at the grocery store.  She helped me figure out labels, like the difference between ketchup and tomato sauce,  and she told me how to make tacos.  I am excited about that!  I have all the spices, I just needed a taco shell substitute.  (They don't even have masa harina so I could make them myself!)  Anyway, taking me to the store was an offer I couldn't refuse.  So we got in late. Then ate.

Today Hannah worked on her school.  She got a bit behind getting ready for our trip here.  She was glad for something to do, since our days usually aren't busy.  We have to visit Katya later in the days because of the camp activities and rules.  We are getting closer to our goal though.  We got our court date today!  We will be in court on Wednesday, June 15.  Not as early as I wanted, but it's great to finally have it scheduled.  Katya is beginning her medical exams for her health report, then we will have to get her two passports because of her age and her original birth certificate.  And we have to wait.  Of course.  People have ten days to object to the adoption, so we wait for that, and for all the paperwork they do on the Ukranian side of things.  Then, I get my daughter!  Going through all this is like labor!

In the meantime, we have great company.  Our new friends are Paul and Tanya.  He is a dentist who gave up his practice in the U.S. to come over here and serve in the orphanage.  His wife is Ukranian and translates for him.  They have worked with Katya's class since the kids were in the second grade.  They have done wonderful things here.  We ate in their beautiful home Tuesday evening.  Like most homes, it is tucked in behind the buildings that line the streets.  Usually, shops occupy the lower floors, and inconspicuous passageways or doors lie between the shops.  They either lead you up stairs to flats or behind the buildings like my friends home. 

I have some pictures of Katya and her class at camp.  I was told I could take pictures there, so I will post some.

One of Katya's friends who likes hanging around with us.

Dr. Paul and Tanya - we ate at their house.

Some of Katya's classmates (Katya in the pink.)

More of Katya's classmates.

A cool looking, old building on the way to Dr. Paul and Tanya's home.  This shows some of the construction I mentioned earlier.

Good night for now.  May the Lord reunite us soon!

Sarah

Sunday, June 5

I really miss home today.  Some days are better than others and today is not one of those.  We did get to see Katya, but only for a few minutes.  She is at summer camp (i.e. - another locked in behind gates kind of place.)  To get there we take two buses, changing over at the train station.   It is a long, hot ride, about an hour or hour and a half.  Usually sweat is dripping down our foreheads by the time we get there.   About half of the people on the buses are smelly, but it's no wonder since there's no air conditioning and they are crowded.  Just a way of life.  Anyway, when we got to the camp, we were told we couldn't visit - today only.  They had camera crews, or something, out there.  I don't know the story yet but I'd like to find out what was going on.  So we traveled back.  The thought of doing this every day for the next two and half or three weeks is a bit disheartening.  Oh well.  I guess it's what we're here for.

I didn't get any pictures today.  We took Katya and Igor some food.  They kids really hate camp and they all complain about the food.  Sometimes they just don't eat it.  I don't know why, but I know they appreciate it when we take stuff with us.  Today I took some meat, bread and bananas.  At least I got to give it to Katya before we had to leave.  We will go back tomorrow in the afternoon.  She has to come to the front of the camp to visit with us.  We are not supposed to see any of the other kids while we visit.  I want to learn more about this too.  Something must have happened to cause them to create these strict rules.

Whenn we're not visiting with Katya, there's usually nothing to do, so that's when we discover the city.  It's easy to stay on a budget here though for things are so cheap.  It's really sickening to think of paying $15 (or something like that) at the zoo back home and pay for parking too!  I think it costs a dollar to get in here. 

As for news, I may find out tomorrow when our court date is.  It could be Thursday or Friday, but probably a week from tomorrow (Monday.)  I may have told you this already.  The facilitators say every thing is going extremely well.  I really hope to be home by late June, but we're still looking at early July.  I do know that everything that has happened has been timed perfectly.  God SO knows what He's doing.  I'm glad He's the one in charge!

All praise to God!  Yeah Abba!

Sarah

Aloha!
We went to the shopping place today. (I can't remember it's name)  It was Ok but I'm not much of a shopper so I wasn't whooping with joy.  But other than that, we went to the catacombs under odessa.  They weren't like the ones in Keiv, with the dead people and the candles and such.  The catacombs we saw today were used as an underground hideout for Ukrainians when they were attacked during WWII.  The place we went was more of a replica of them with the artifacts brought in since the real ones are crumbling. (And people akways hit their heads on the ceiling.)

Walking in.

A gate to the real catacombs.

The Kitchen.

A tunnel showing how far underground we are.

Where people slept.  Ouch.

The entrance to the ladies dormitory.  The mirror was where people put on make up to disguise themselves when they had to go out of the catacombs.

The dining room.

The workshop.

The one-handled saws that were used to cut the limestone.(the catacombs were made of limestone.)

A surprise attack thing.

Where people took showers, (or baths if they were sick) and washed and iorned their cloths.

The iorning board and the iorn.

A face that was carved into the wall.

Rock carved into the form of some hands.  The lantern repersents a single life and how we sould care for something that is easly put out.  (touching huh?)

A drawing of a man showing how much he loved that girl that he's dumping water on.  Back in the day, a man would propose to the girl he loved, by pouring some water on her head.  (This guy did a whole bucket)  The girl would accept by giving him a gift on easter.  In the picture she is reaching for a painted easter egg.

.......How romantic.

When we came out, we went into a museum that gradually restore the light of outside.

Thanks 4 reading!

-Hannah-

Thursday, June 2

We've had a couple of really late nights so I fell behind in my blogging.  Wednesday we didn't see Katya because her class was going bowling.  I thought a day off from us might help her too.  Hannah and I walked and just observed some of the sights most of the day.  There is almost always an activity going on in the gardens and squares.  We saw what seemed to be a childern's dance recital.  They were dressed in traditional costumes, I think.  I tried to get pictures but the parents were all in the way!  Imagine!  I will post the pictures even if they aren't so good.  We found a pet shop (requirement of Hannah's anywhere we go,)  and had to make a purchase because I don't know how to say "I am just looking."  Well, Sophie got a little mousie toy out of the deal. 

This is a recently refinished Orthodox church near the City Gardens.  We couldn't go in because we were wearing jeans and had no head covering.  It has a bell tower and we heard the bells ring.  They don't use recordings.  It was awesome to hear!
 

Little old ladies sell flowers on most streets.  The Ukranians love flowers.

Children in their costumes.

This girl posed for me.

Another angle of the Orthodox church showing the bell tower.

LOOK WHAT WE FOUND!

From this sign, you can figure out lots of the Russian alphabet. 

When we returned, our friends were having a bible get together with their church friends, so we went along.  We met two beuatiful young Russian ladies who are trying to mentor here and grow a church.  We prayed for each other and for the city of Odessa.  We prayed for their church and for Holy Cross and our friends from South Carolina's ministry.  These people really have a heart for Ukraine and the people here.  The Christians here are mostly Orthodox and are often "twice-yearly" Christians.  They rank as 17% of the population I've heard.

Stairs on the way up to the apartment where we had our bible study.  Most buildings look like this on the inside.

The men in the group.  (Our Australian friend is second from the right.  He looks like Patrick Stewart - a lot! And Caleb is in the middle.  He's from California.  We met at his apartment.)

The ladies.  Our Russian sisters are first and third from the left.

Thursday, Hannah and I exercised and visited the orphanage.  I didn't take any pictures.  I am really getting lots of confidence that Katya will do well in America.  She seems to be easy going and takes instruction well.  I guess she has survived so much that she isn't surprised by much.  It could be that when we take her out of her culture, she will be totally different.  I am most anxious for that day to come.  I miss home more and more.  I feel like we're living in a void.  Our facilitator is doing everything now and we have nothing to do except wait for her to call us.  Then we'll probably hurry and wait some more!  

Drew, I miss you!  I miss all of you!  My family, my dance friends, my church friends, my friend friends.  Patricia, you fall in family! 

Please keep praying for us that things will proceed smoothly.  Please pray for the orphans here.  Many things I can't share until I return, but please pray knowing the God knows the need.  It is huge!

Until next time!

Sarah