Living life in Ukraine...

What to say about the last few days…

On Christmas day (our Christmas not Ukraine’s) we were invited to Uncle Peti and Aunt Vala’s.  Lena was so excited for us to meet them and of course Sultan too.  In the back of my mind I thought there was a good possibility that food might be involved, but I wasn’t going to assume anything.  Some of you know I suffer from IBS, I’ll spare you the details, but I must be extremely careful about what I eat or my whole world can become absolutely miserable in a matter of minutes.  For those that care, I’ve been managing ok, thankful that I stocked up on Imodium AD... 

So we met Lena at the internat around 9:30am (we've been given permission by the director to spend ours days with Lena outside of school due to the holiday break, although she must be back by 7pm) where the taxi would pick us up.  Uncle Peti stopped by for a moment to make sure we got on our way, once we got in the taxi (they all seem to be 1980 era Fiat’s) Uncle Peti took off on his bicycle (walking and bicycles are the standard mode of transportation) to the market, he would meet us at home.

Our experience to date, winter in "region" means cold, wet, and MUD!  Lena even complains about the mud.  Most streets and sidewalks are dirt, which translates to "mush" as Lena puts it.  Also must share that since arriving in Ukraine we’ve only seen the sun once, it appeared for a few hours one day when we were in Kiev, otherwise it’s been damp and foggy, from daylight to dark it all looks the same.  We miss our AZ sun!

So on arrival to Uncle Peti’s we found a very small, very old adobe type home.  When we entered the yard, we were greeted by several dogs, to the left was a large garden area, which I’m sure is beautiful in season.  As we looked beyond the house, chickens and turkeys wandered.  Lena toured us around the outside first, we passed a small building to the right and found Aunt Vala doing some cooking of some kind (I began to worry), she greeted us with enthusiasm, but from a distance due to the food prep on her hands.  We felt welcomed, Lena beamed.  We then entered the house, this time greeted by a couple cute kittens.  Boots were taken off, but as Lena pointed out it doesn’t help much, the “mush” continues into the small home. I took a quick moment to be thankful we have Arizona dust and not Arizona mud.  We sat for a while on a small bed just inside the home, we then met Aunt Vala’s mother who lives with them.  Throughout the day Lena did a great job of translating, she had brought her Ukrainian to English/ English to Ukrainian Dictionary, it was a great help!   Uncle Peti and Aunt Vala kept busy with food preparations, there was going to be a lot of it!  Yep, you got it, a bit more worry on my part… I was able to tell Lena by using that wonderful dictionary that I had many many “food allergies”, so if I didn’t eat something it was due to that, she understood.   Dinner was ready, so into the next room we went, what a spread, had no idea what any of it was, but it looked dangerous!  First dish, some kind of cold jellied chicken??  What to do??  Felt bad but after one bite I played the allergy card, had to, but Charlie, my goodness he was such a trooper.  He took on the meal for me, we had extremely persistent hosts!  I finally succumbed to the pressure to partake in their homemade cognac because the only thing I was allowing myself to eat was the bread, I really didn’t want to offend such a incredible effort on their part, they don’t have much, yet they were giving it so freely.  It was later in the day and into the next that I discovered what a huge mistake that would be, it packed a huge punch!!!! 

Over the course of 6 hours we experienced some wonderful Ukrainian company.  Lena did a great job of translating, but there was also a lot of guess work on both sides, it worked.  Lots of da, da, da, which means yes, yes, yes, as well as laughter.   They shared many pictures of their family and we did the same.  It was obvious they think the world of Lena and she of them.  It is a hard life most people live in the rural regions of Ukraine, during our time together Aunt Vala asked our ages, Uncle Peti is 62, she is 52, only one year older than me, yet I would have guessed much older…  Probably should add something about our bathroom experience, but for now I'll just say they sure do things a number of different ways over here! 

About 4 (dark already) we headed back to the hotel, when we arrived Lena called her friend Alyona, and cousin Llona to ask it they might want to come spend the rest of the evening with us, about 10 minutes later a knock on the door and more fun ensued!  Giggling, pictures, movie (Flicka of course), a Christmas phone call from Jennifer (Lena’s soon to be oldest sister) and snacks, these girls are wonderful.  They absolutely love to be loved on.

Quick taxi ride back to the internat to return the girls at 7pm.   

Yesterday morning Charlie and I woke up feeling a little rough around the edges.  Absolutely no doubt it was due to homemade cognac and some strange cuisine…  but we rallied.  Charlie took a quick stroll to pick up Lena, he returned not only with Lena but Alyona and Llona once again.  Besides a trip to the market the girls hung out with us all day.  More giggling, nail painting session, puzzle, lunch, internet!, and hot showers for all three!!  It was a delightful day, Charlie did great!  He really seemed to enjoy all the estrogen in the room… :]

Today was very much the same, although we spent some time at the internat this morning with Lena and friends, then off to the market again to re-supply, these girls can eat!  Just to give you an idea, Alyona ate a whole bunch of bananas by herself within about an hour!!  We thought we’d supplied ourselves with a couple days worth.  Back to the market tomorrow… :]  Actually we plan on heading to the open market sometime tomorrow morning, looking forward to that.

I apologize for the length of this post, I’m finding that so much is happening; we are experiencing an overwhelming amount culture and emotion.  For those who know me well, you know it takes me time to process… think this will take years!  I will tell you that I don’t believe that Ukraine would ever be my choice for a vacation destination.  I will also share that International Adoption is a stressful ride for so many reasons, some of which are culture, language, time, but the thing that plays biggest on our mind at the moment is the emotion… from what little we have seen, we believe the internat director and staff are doing the best they can with the resources they have, but it is NOT an environment that you would want any child growing up in.  In a very short time we have become attached to quite a few, it’s going to be hard to leave them behind… for the time we do have here, it is our plan to love on as many, and as much as we possibly can.  As much as we miss home, we are thanking God for this incredible journey He has us on.  Can’t even imagine what the future might hold, but He has adjusted our focus in ways that we’d couldn’t have dared imagine even a year ago…  we pray for His glory!

Paperwork continues, our facilitator and team are doing a great job!  If all goes as planned our hope would be to head for home around the 20^th or 21^st of January.

Stay tuned… also would love to share photos of Lena, but due to our adoption agency contract will have to wait until paperwork is completed and Lena is officially our daughter.  Then the flood gates will open!  :]

me and Alyona  :]

me and Llona (Lena's cousin)

a reindeer???