Hi
Let me start off by saying I am sick and tired of wearing the same clothes over and over......and over. I have three pairs of pants and 3 turtlenecks and a cardigan and a coat. One time I got creative and chose my black turtlneck plus my black pants. Underground revolution, Paris coffee house here I come. Of course, Nick has no problems with this because he wears the same clothes everyday anyways.
Yesterday we visited the boys and they traded places. Ruslan acted up while Valik tried to behave. Unfortunately the boys have a case of sibling rivalry as we shower them with attention. Well, I picked Valik to hold the cards while we played Candyland and that pushed Ruslan over the top. He gathered his things and left. Oh, and according to our translator, Gabby Macdonald, he refered to us as "turds" when he left. Today when we visit, we plan on seeing Ruslan first and before Valik arrives, Nick plans on giving him a stern talking to about his behavior. But right now that is about as much discipline we can muster. Language barriers and restricted visitation doesn't help the situation.
On a lighter note, Bruce Macdonald called Gabby and Valik picked up the phone and starting talking to him. He spent the whole time tattling about Ruslans behavior to Bruce. Evidently he said "you must come over here and give him consequences. Everyone here loves him, Momma, Poppa, Colin and Claire" Then Gabby said something and Valik said "shhh I'm talking on the phone." Valik's socks didn't fit him yesterday, but he didn't notice. He ran around with them flopping with each step. Very funny.
It's snowing again, only this time it is the tiny flakes, not the big fluffy ones I love.
Nancy
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Dear Mr.Eppley
Dear Mr.Eppley,
Please stop trying to protest Global Warming. In fact encourage it. It's cold.
Sincerely,
Claire
Please stop trying to protest Global Warming. In fact encourage it. It's cold.
Sincerely,
Claire
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
It's cold here. Right now it's -9 C with a wind chill of -19 C. That's right. Its cold.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
HI!!!
Today was fun. We played all our usual games with the boys except this time we also played like Tag but we put a blindfold on the person who was it and that probably wasn't the greatest idea we ever had. It got kind of violent...as usual. But they're still really cute and they're going to come stay with us hopefully on Monday and I'm really excited about that and we are probably going back to Kiev around Thursday. We also have to buy all of their clothes because they can't bring anything when they leave the orphanage they literally give us naked children and its really hard to shop for them cause they are absolutely the tiniest little boys so we are buying clothes for like a five and six year olds instead of seven and ten year olds. Well, I'll see you guys soon.
Waiting
The title just about sums it up. We go to the orphanage just about every day. Valik and Rouslan provide some entertainment. Unfortunately we are just playing the same games over and over. We can't think of anyplace else to hide for Hide & Go Seek. They cheat. We play Red Light Green Light, but they haven't gotten the concept that you can only send someone back to the begining if they move. Oh, and they cheat. We got them a remote control car. They always let us see the cars, and the batteries are always dead. It's good to see that they enjoy it but we just have nothing to do. And we play London Bridge is Falling Down. They cheat.
The Ukrainian Christmas was yesterday. That's the Orthodox day We got a firework at one of the stores. One good thing about this place is no firework restrictions. We still need to launch it.
We're pretty bored...
The Ukrainian Christmas was yesterday. That's the Orthodox day We got a firework at one of the stores. One good thing about this place is no firework restrictions. We still need to launch it.
We're pretty bored...
Catching up (12/31 - 1/1)
Sorry, I did it again. Slow internet bad for a few days, but better now. Beyond that, my time has been spent visiting the boys, visiting our friends in Lutugino, and watching a couple of movies (which ties up the computer until I am too tired to write).
For the past few nights, we have been watching season 4 of "24". I also have season 5 on the computer (iTunes) so we'll start that soon. We also have watched a few episodes of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and "John Adams". Honestly, there is not a lot to do in Lugansk, especially when it is so cold as it is now.
But I am home sick today. Just a little bit, but wanted to take the day off to be sure I can recuperate properly and not pass anything around. So I'm sitting here listening to The Blenders' (an a capella group from North Dakota) and Brian Setzer's (the lead guitar and singer from the Stray Cats) Christmas albums. Meanwhile, Nancy, Colin, and Claire are in Lutugino with the boys.
Before I forget, I had a special request on how to pronounce their names.
Ruslan (Руслан) is pronounced (Roose' - lahn)
Valentin (Валентин) is pronounced (Vahl' - en - teen)
The diminutuve Valik (short for Valentin) is pronounced (Vahl' - ik).
So I guess we start with New Year's Eve. I posted one on the 3rd, but it really only went through New Year's Eve since I had internet problems.
Of course, you know we had our court hearing. Here is a shot (a bit overexposed) of the kids right after the hearing. We gave them each a box of candy that seems to be traditional around here. They were all over the place. Valik was very good about sharing his candy with all who were around. That was great to see.
As Nancy mentioned earlier, we gave each boy his big gift for New Year's Eve (their traditional gift-giving day). Once we were out of court, the boys immediately asked about their "machina" (Russian for "car"). Ruslan had asked for a specific car he saw in the toy store. However, when we went back to check it out, we thought the dancing truck was way cooler. It has music, flashing lights, pops wheelies, and has better control over movement. We decided he would like that one better, and gave it with our fingers crossed he didn't have his heart set on the other one.
No worries. He totally forgot about the one he asked for and was all over the truck, as was Valik.
You can see the kids ignoring us completely as they played with the cars non-stop. It was the one day it was not difficult to take pictures. Finally something more interesting than the camera.
They even managed to break several pieces before the afternoon was up. But those pieces are just cosmetic, so no problem. All the other kids around watched as well, and got to play a little bit. A fun day.
My reward was to have Ruslan jump up on my shoulders and totally mess my hair up (just like Colin and Claire used to do).
Natasha left on New Year's Eve to take an overnight back to Kyiv to visit her family for the holidays and her mother's 60th birthday. Being the exciting people we are, and having been warned of high incidence of drunks on New Year's Eve, we stayed home and watched several episodes of "24". We did get to see lots of fireworks as nancy mentioned.
The next day (New Year's) we layed low during the day. We were also told it was best not to get on the road on New Year's Day as many are still continuing their evening celebration throughout the next day. There are lots of American movies on local TV, but of course they are dubbed in Russian. Mainly we put on a marathon of the Ukrainian version of "So You Think You Can Dance" (I think it's called "Dance, Everyone").
In the afternoon, we had a bit too much cabin fever and so wandered downtown to the main square where there was a huge Christmas tree, recorded music, and of course Spongebob Squarepants. I wanted to explore that part of town more, but as the sun went down (about 3:45pm), the temperature dropped to about 5 degrees (F).
We ducked in to a pizza place (Mario's) for European pizza and all the second-hand smoke we could eat. Really the smoke was extremely thick. The no-smoking law here is in place, but not quite yet enforced. Since they had no English menu, we struggled through in Russian and came reasonably close to what we wanted, ham and mushroom. The one word we didn't catch was raw egg dumped in the middle. Still, it was pretty good, and that + 3 cokes and 1 black tea came to about $8, so you can't complain.
The trip back (about 1.5 mile) was challenging in the cold. Fortunately, there were a handful of stores open, so we could duck in every 1/3 mile or so and ward off the frostbite. A few more episodes of "24"wrapped up the day.
For the past few nights, we have been watching season 4 of "24". I also have season 5 on the computer (iTunes) so we'll start that soon. We also have watched a few episodes of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and "John Adams". Honestly, there is not a lot to do in Lugansk, especially when it is so cold as it is now.
But I am home sick today. Just a little bit, but wanted to take the day off to be sure I can recuperate properly and not pass anything around. So I'm sitting here listening to The Blenders' (an a capella group from North Dakota) and Brian Setzer's (the lead guitar and singer from the Stray Cats) Christmas albums. Meanwhile, Nancy, Colin, and Claire are in Lutugino with the boys.
Before I forget, I had a special request on how to pronounce their names.
Ruslan (Руслан) is pronounced (Roose' - lahn)
Valentin (Валентин) is pronounced (Vahl' - en - teen)
The diminutuve Valik (short for Valentin) is pronounced (Vahl' - ik).
So I guess we start with New Year's Eve. I posted one on the 3rd, but it really only went through New Year's Eve since I had internet problems.
Of course, you know we had our court hearing. Here is a shot (a bit overexposed) of the kids right after the hearing. We gave them each a box of candy that seems to be traditional around here. They were all over the place. Valik was very good about sharing his candy with all who were around. That was great to see.
As Nancy mentioned earlier, we gave each boy his big gift for New Year's Eve (their traditional gift-giving day). Once we were out of court, the boys immediately asked about their "machina" (Russian for "car"). Ruslan had asked for a specific car he saw in the toy store. However, when we went back to check it out, we thought the dancing truck was way cooler. It has music, flashing lights, pops wheelies, and has better control over movement. We decided he would like that one better, and gave it with our fingers crossed he didn't have his heart set on the other one.
No worries. He totally forgot about the one he asked for and was all over the truck, as was Valik.
You can see the kids ignoring us completely as they played with the cars non-stop. It was the one day it was not difficult to take pictures. Finally something more interesting than the camera.
They even managed to break several pieces before the afternoon was up. But those pieces are just cosmetic, so no problem. All the other kids around watched as well, and got to play a little bit. A fun day.
My reward was to have Ruslan jump up on my shoulders and totally mess my hair up (just like Colin and Claire used to do).
Natasha left on New Year's Eve to take an overnight back to Kyiv to visit her family for the holidays and her mother's 60th birthday. Being the exciting people we are, and having been warned of high incidence of drunks on New Year's Eve, we stayed home and watched several episodes of "24". We did get to see lots of fireworks as nancy mentioned.
The next day (New Year's) we layed low during the day. We were also told it was best not to get on the road on New Year's Day as many are still continuing their evening celebration throughout the next day. There are lots of American movies on local TV, but of course they are dubbed in Russian. Mainly we put on a marathon of the Ukrainian version of "So You Think You Can Dance" (I think it's called "Dance, Everyone").
In the afternoon, we had a bit too much cabin fever and so wandered downtown to the main square where there was a huge Christmas tree, recorded music, and of course Spongebob Squarepants. I wanted to explore that part of town more, but as the sun went down (about 3:45pm), the temperature dropped to about 5 degrees (F).
We ducked in to a pizza place (Mario's) for European pizza and all the second-hand smoke we could eat. Really the smoke was extremely thick. The no-smoking law here is in place, but not quite yet enforced. Since they had no English menu, we struggled through in Russian and came reasonably close to what we wanted, ham and mushroom. The one word we didn't catch was raw egg dumped in the middle. Still, it was pretty good, and that + 3 cokes and 1 black tea came to about $8, so you can't complain.
The trip back (about 1.5 mile) was challenging in the cold. Fortunately, there were a handful of stores open, so we could duck in every 1/3 mile or so and ward off the frostbite. A few more episodes of "24"wrapped up the day.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
hey there
Hey guys well i guess y'all are super excited to be at school again!!!! Well if your just reading my blogs than sorry i know i've only posted like five since we got here but since Christmas, which was the last time I blogged, we have officially got the boys and they're adorable, of course, and we named them Robert ( no not after Robert Pattinson, after my granfdfather) and tom, my other grandfather. Valik is so cute and he's totally adorable but i was so sad yesterday cause, well he's extremely active and i had to chase him around like the entire orphanage yesterday and on our third trip down the stairs he fell and slid down like half of them face first and there were all these people standing around stairing at me and I don't know how to say "He fell i swear i didn't push him down the stairs" in russian so I'm just standing there and he's rolled up in the fetal position in tehe corner of the room and i'm like "He fell..." yaaaa but he was okay. And if Alex is still reading these umm sorry my parents never told me that you emailed me and they're the ones that check the email so it just found it today. Thanks for emailing me though and telling me that Jamie has my stuff I was kinda worried about that and if she's not reading these could someone please tell her that and that i hope she's having fun in Bible and math without me HAHA. Anyways I miss all of you so much and can't wait to come home becuase Ukraine is cold and I don't like it. BYEEEEE
Monday, January 5, 2009
A Funeral
We witnessed a funeral on our apartment front door step. In Ukraine, they don't gather at a church or funeral parlor, they gather at the deceased resident. Then they bring out the body in an open casket and carry it to the cemetery while everyone files in behind. In the summer they walk to the cemetery but since this is winter they went by bus.
The Macdonalds told us it is a very sad affair and people stand by the grave site and often drink vodka until they are drunk. They also go to eat at a home or a restaurant for a lavish meal, but again very solemn. After the burial they drape black curtains over all their mirrors (on cars too if they have them) for 40 days because they don't want to see the spirits floating around.
Being a 2nd world country, many people in Ukraine have to prepare the bodies of their deceased loved ones themselves.
love to all,
Nancy
The Macdonalds told us it is a very sad affair and people stand by the grave site and often drink vodka until they are drunk. They also go to eat at a home or a restaurant for a lavish meal, but again very solemn. After the burial they drape black curtains over all their mirrors (on cars too if they have them) for 40 days because they don't want to see the spirits floating around.
Being a 2nd world country, many people in Ukraine have to prepare the bodies of their deceased loved ones themselves.
love to all,
Nancy
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Off to church with new friends!
Through another Ukrainian adoption couple, we were told about a missionary family living in Lutugino. We called them and they invited us over to their house. For Ukrainian living, they have a big house! Of course they need it since because they have 12 kids! 7 of them are currently living with them and the others are grown and serving in the army. their names are the MacDonalds and God called them long ago to serve him in Ukraine. They are your typical happy Christian homeschooling family and we really enjoyed spending time with them. This morning they are taking us to their church. They drive a big van (surprise, surprise) and are giving us a lift.
I asked their daughter, Gabby, 16, to help us translate when we visit the boys while are facilitator, Natasha, is visiting her mom. She seems happy to have a job. Upon graduation, she is thinking about becoming a Russian linguist with the Army. More later, Nancy
I asked their daughter, Gabby, 16, to help us translate when we visit the boys while are facilitator, Natasha, is visiting her mom. She seems happy to have a job. Upon graduation, she is thinking about becoming a Russian linguist with the Army. More later, Nancy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
