Our hope, that next Monday (10th) we will receive our final court documents, that Lena Nickala Sanner will be officially declared our daughter, that we will pick up her things, and she will not return to the Internat again. The 9 days that follow we will be traveling to a near by city to begin the process of getting her passport, then on to Kiev
As we wait we experience and observe…
Rural Ukraine is a very different place then the big City of Kiev
I like very much that people walk here, the major mode of transportation. I enjoy seeing the men and women going about their business bundled up in their winter coats and Shopka’s (Russian style fur hats). This is not urban living; this is a small village where people walk a good distance to their local markets. The homes are small, but many have brightly colored trim and fences. There is an amazing amount of trees, trees that line the streets and medians. Charlie and I keep saying that it must be beautiful in the spring, summer and fall. Right now there are frozen trails (sidewalks and streets are not plowed) throughout the village to follow. Since gracefully, ok maybe not so gracefully, falling on my bum in the middle of a slippery street a few days ago (large attractive bruise), I have taken to shuffling while gripping onto Charlie, Lena or friend. Another adoptive parent mentioned that’s why she believes that so many of the young women wear spiked heels, to keep themselves upright…
In that vein, we’ve come to see that this world is both backward and forward at the same time. When it comes to TV, music, music videos, and movies it is a very sexually suggestive culture. Actually it even seems the news anchors feel it’s important to introduce their cleavage to viewers. We will be thankful to remove Lena and ourselves from all the “exposure”.
We have also found that hellos and smiles do not come easily. It takes awhile to break the ice, but once broken the smiles and laughter are robust. We have made fast friends with a couple of the ladies at the meat market, actually Charlie has made quite an impression on them, he and Lena took them each a cake as a New Year's gift, which gained him hugs and kisses. Wish I could have been there to catch it on camera!
Lena told me today, after I bumped into her accidentally in the market, that saying sorry was not necessary, that there are no words for “I’m sorry” in Ukrainian, which I believe. I have come to believe that the phase, “excuse me”, doesn’t exist either, people just seem to know or expect others to stay out of their personal space.
Several days ago Charlie and I headed to the Internat to hand out some gifts that we brought from home, and some purchased here from donations we had received from others (which we appreciate and were appreciated soo much) to share with the kids, the Marti Family also left some behind to be distributed as well.
It was a best day!!!!
We have become very much aware that there is a pecking order that exists amongst many of the children. It certainly doesn’t bring about warm fuzzy feelings. When you think about these kids living this way 24/7, 365 days it’s heartbreaking. I’m sure some is typical behavior in any group setting, but these kids lack a place to retreat, a safe haven, the love of parents to “fix” what’s been broken… how I wish we could do that for each and everyone… our prayer life will never be the same.
Charlie and I have a running joke these days; we’re likening our experience at the moment to the Bill Murray movie, "Ground Hog Day".
The days seem to keep repeating themselves.
Up at 6:30, cup of coffee for him, cup of tea for me, get ready for the day, head off to the Internat to pick up Lena and a friend (Alyona, Dasha, Larrissa, Angelina,or Llona), head to the market to re-supply, then the meat market to buy some type of sausage and entertain the ladies, back to the hotel, computer, food, movie, food, puzzle, food, cards, food, hot shower for the girls, food, again these girls can eat! Then back to the orphanage at 7pm.
Today we attempted to change it up a bit.
To internat to pick up Lena and Dasha, off to the internet café for a bit of high speed internet, longer walk home which proved to be extremely cold, the girls thought we were crazy, and which also resulted in another invitation to Uncle Peti’s and Aunt Vala’s!
Ran into them on the street, they invited us for Christmas Eve Dinner on the 6th. They are such dear people, just don’t want to share that our stomachs do a flip every time we meet… I don’t know that we’ll be able to skirt this invitation (which was the result of our New Year’s Eve invitation, we ended up sleeping through it), not even sure I want to, they are dear people, think we’ll just have to make a point of bringing a gift of some food we can eat, and absolutely refuse any offers of cognac!! On to the bookstore, market, then hotel, computer, food, movie, food, checkers, food, hot showers for the girls, food, Ilona shows up, food, music, food, and back to the orphanage.
Goodnight and sweet dreams, Lena , Dasha and Llona.
We really are looking forward to tomorrow, we wonder what the day will bring… :]
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| Brightly painted trim and fence... |
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| Sanner Claus!! |
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| my heart is melting, can you tell? |
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| he comes Sultan with Uncle Peti, Aunt Vala, and our Christmas Eve Dinner invitation! |
That's great... you'll be kicking off the paper chase the same day as the Rowell's and the day before us. We will be praying for you!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you and me are in the same place! We get our court decree on the 11th and start the paper chase. Did I miss it - what region are you in? I'm at the hotel Lugansk.
ReplyDeleteThere actually is a word for "excuse me." It's EEZ-VEN-EATS-EEYA, with the emphasis on the EATS. However, they typically use it more for trying to get someone's attention. For instance, passing a stranger and saying, "Excuse me, do you have the time?" I had a hard time with that one, too, on our first trip! Praying you can get all your docs in perfect timing!
ReplyDeleteHi Brian and Melissa, we are in the Kirovograd Region. Charlie and I had to laugh, cuz we have no idea what the name of the hotel is that we're staying in. We've only heard it referred to as "the hotel", no name on building or anything else we've come across. We'll have to ask... Melissa tried to find you on facebook the other day, thought it would be a great way to connect too. look me up! read a bit of your blog, will do some more as time permits! how many children are you adopting, 1 or 2? will be keeping you in prayer as well!
ReplyDeleteand thanks McEachern's for clearing up the excuse me question. :] have to admit I do miss being able to smile at someone along the way and get a smile back... we American's are friendly folks I've come to realize and appreciate...
I enjoy reading your observations; this is our second tour in Ukraine, and I had 2 prior missions trips here, so we've spent some time in the villages. One of the prettiest things to see are the poppy fields in the summer.
ReplyDeleteRe: language- you can use the Russian "excuse me" as aforementioned or the Ukrainian "vwee' batch tay" interchangeably for excuse me/sorry. Perhaps it's a cultural anomaly to that area, or maybe it's simply not heard in an orphanage, but the terms are used quite commonly for inadvertent bumping or other offenses, both big and small.
There is a fantastic Italian restaurant called Oliva here in town. When you get back to Kyiv, shoot me an e-mail and I can tell you exactly where it's located. Lena will be able to help you navigate the metro! Seriously, it's as close to Italy as I've had outside that country!
mrsyellowhat at yahoo dot com
What orphanage is Lena in? How old her is friend Dasha? I am trying to adopt a girl from that area named Dasha.
ReplyDelete