Day 2 and Morning of Day 3

Oh my. I just realized that I am getting really confused with what day of the week it is. I totally forgot to mention the highlight of Day 1 of 'The Wait' which was Tuesday. Tuesday night I was bored. There really isn't a strong enough word to describe how stir crazy I was feeling. So, I decided to venture out for a walk. I started by walking up to the mall, a place I am familiar with (and not because I have been there a bunch to shop, but it also houses the grocery store). I tried walking there using a different route and was so pleased that I didn't get lost that I decided to just keep walking. I walked and I walked and I walked. A couple from back home happened to have been in Zap the week before we got here (of course, no overlapping for us. We get to do this all on our own.) and they had described to me where they had stayed. I thought I knew where they were talking about, so I sort of headed out to find where they had stayed. After about a half hour it became evident to me that I was not going to find where they had stayed (correct me if I'm way off Kassings... but are you between the intourist hotel and mcdonalds, or way past mcdonalds??), but things started to look vaguely familiar to me. Now, you have to remember that I always sat in the very back of the van any time we went anywhere. I was always attending to the boys needs and trying to follow any Russian conversation that was taking place. Didn't look out the window much. Anyhow, things started to look vaguely familiar, so I kept walking for about another 20 minutes and guess what?! I found the McDonalds! I know it was the McDonalds we had taken the boys to because there is only one McDonalds in the entire city. Sweeeeeet. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of McDonalds and they don't have milkshakes like we know them there, so I could either turn around and head back home, or I don't know what. I tried to take a different street that looked like a fairly main street but after about ten minutes, it narrowed and started to look like not a great part of Zap, which says a lot, because most of Zap doesn't look so great anyway, so when I thought it started to look not so good, I turned right around and went back to the main street and then headed home. It was a lovely walk. I really wish I knew how far I had gone. It felt pretty far.

I also failed to mention that it is, apparently, perfectly acceptable for grown men to pee ANYWHERE! The first morning when I went out for my walk, there were two men peeing on the apartment complex. Hello!? I have also seen men just walking along, suddenly step off the 'side walk' and into the 'grass' and pee. And there are lots of people around. Granted one of the men I saw do this was absolutely, positively drunk, but the others, if they were drunk, did not appear to be. I think it is just common practce!!

I also want to add that not only was our court day emotionally trying for me, but also for the rest of our team. Our facilitator apologized to us for not talking much. She said she just couldn't talk so as to control her emotions. I asked our translator if she was going to hang out with her boyfriend that night and she said no, that she was too emotional and needed to recover. Even our driver said he needed a break. All from this 13 year old little kid. Good night!!

I also forgot to mention that when we were at the airport back home going through security, they took my peanut butter. Were you aware that peanut butter is considered a liquid or gel?! It's a good thing that was at the beginning of the trip because I'm pretty sure that if it were to happen now, I'm feeling feisty enough that either the peanut butter would still be with me, or I wouldn't be here...

Okay. So, yesterday, day 2 of the wait, Wednesday, I had Yana come over to help me with the computer. I was having a few issues and she was kind enough to try to help me out. She messed with it for an hour and couldn't get the webcam to work, but was able to help me with a few other problems I hadn't been able to figure out. (Thanks Yana!!)

After she left, Kim called my Ukraine cell phone. I felt like a five year old answering the phone for the first time. Pretty excited that somebody was calling me!!!!! Kim stayed on the phone with me for a very long time and she and her son, Tyler, helped walk me through a bunch of computer stuff. In the end we were able to get the microphone on the webcam working, but still not the camera. Holy cow, I don't even care about the camera!!! I am so happy that my kids will be able to hear me and that I can have a conversation with someone that doesn't involve typing!! Happy day!! Thanks Kim and Tyler!!!

I was seriously on the computer for I think 6 hours yesterday. That is a really long time. Especially considering I don't even spend an hour a week on the computer when I'm at home!

Yesterday evening I went for another walk. I looked out the window and saw that it was beginning to get dark so I knew I needed to hurry or else I wouldn't be able to leave again until morning. I am just assuming that it's probably not the smartest thing to be out on the streets by myself after dark... My walk was lovely. I found out that I'm pretty close to the river (also known as the beach here) and decided that would be my walk tomorrow.

So, yeah. Yesterday was pretty boring. Oh, and I had take out from Celantanos. I was kind of excited to have it because now that Huz is gone, I can have on it all the vegetables I want:)

Late last night I had a great surprise! Huz was in the Chicago airport waiting for his next flight and we were able to skype. Sort of. We couldn't use the microphone, we just had to type. So is that called chatting? Instant messaging? I don't know, but whatever it is it was great to have a conversation with him. I'm so glad to know that he is home. Glad that he is safe and super glad that he can be there with the girls. It's so hard to leave your kids when you don't know for sure when you will be back or who will be taking care of them. I know you understand.

And now for the beginning of today. I had such a great morning that I don't want to wait until tonight to blog it. That and I'm pretty sure nothing else is going to happen so I might as well:)

Last night I went to bed at about 12:30. This morning I woke up at 6:30. Not sure what the deal is. Usually I am not at all a morning person. The only thing I can think of is that I am sleeping through the night which hasn't happened since One was born almost eleven years ago. Every. single. night. I am woken up at least twice by someone who has barfed, peed, had a bad dream, has a leg ache, needs to be tucked in again, needs to be let out, needs to be let in and then let out again, etc. And honestly if it is only twice during the night, that's a good night. It's amazing what a full six hours can do for me!

When I woke up I tried to get the webcam to work again. I spent about two hours trying to download stuff and following a bunch of online tutorials. All of that didn't yield any results and just confirmed, once again, that computers and I don't speak the same language. Oh well!

After that, I ate my yummy yogurt with chocolate shavings (awesome breakfast!!) and decided to take my walk. I love being outside. Love it. I walked to the beach. Oh yeah!! It's actually the beach of a river (which I have never seen sand beaches on rivers before. Can someone explain this to me?!). Loved it. Loved it!! And now for the day in bullet points:

*men wearing capris is really growing on me. Not the denim type ones, but the athletic capris that they wear here. I like it. Huz, I may just bring you home a pair.

*I am loving that men in Eastern Europe, in general, carry their own bags. I get tired of carrying my purse with my few things in it and then having everyone else in the family pile their crap in it too. Huz, I may also bring you a man bag. It really is a fabulous trend.

*I saw my first black lab here today. There are TONS of dogs everywhere. The dog problem is as big of a problem as the orphan problem here. Lots of people actually own dogs, too. Usually the loose ones are pretty mangy looking and the ones with owners are small. I was pretty happy to see someone out for a walk with a lab. A little bit of home:)

*I saw people exercising today. I almost passed out. This is the first time. Everyone here is pretty thin, but most people lack any sort of muscle tone. I saw a group of bikers and runners. Just like you'd see in the states. All decked out in their little spandexy outfits with helmets (bikers, not runners) and everything!

*I found a track to run at in the morning. I know about 90% of you just had to reread that sentence 45 times, but I have A LOT of energy stored up right now and would reeeeeeaaaallllly like to get it out. I have been trying to decide where would be safe to run and I am happy to report that I found somewhere. There were actually a few other casual runners running there as well.

*I saw someone mowing a lawn. I'm being very generous when I use the word mow, as the machine being used only slightly resembled a mower from 50 years ago. Lawn is also a generous term. However, I am so pleased to have witnessed this! When Huz left I half joking told him I was going to try to find out how much a mower here cost and if it wasn't too expensive, I was going to buy one and just go around and mow all day every day. I love yard work and it kills me to see everything overgrown and not pruned. This place is so beautiful!

*I bought myself a popsicle. I decided I deserved a little treat after my big long walk, plus it was pretty hot. At the store I bought two popsicles that, from the picture on the package, looked like they would be good. I've only tried one so far and it was dang good! I've got to find something like it in the states!!

*When I returned my little babushkas were out on their usual bench chatting and it was great to have someone recognize me and call out a greeting to me.

*At the apartment I found a vacuum. I really, really love to vacuum. A lot. I was so happy to have found a vacuum that I vacuumed the floors and the couch. This apartment is pretty small, but so was the vacuum, which worked out well. If I had my pink Oreck from home, I'd have been done in about 35 seconds. This vacuum mouth or whatever you call it) was about four inches long and two inches wide. It took me about half an hour. I was greatful to have something productive to do for that long. Tomorrow I will clean the blinds.

Anyhow, here are the pictures. I threw some in of my kids because it makes me happy to see their darling little faces. Captions below!

This is the popsicle that I ate. I know we have square ones similar to this back home, there is ice cream in the middle. The ones back home have too much flavoring on them though. And they taste kind of waxy. This one was awesome.

This was a hotel restaurant that you can tell is fairly new, yet abandoned. Yes must have turned to no pretty quickly...

My friends, this is the river and the beach. Isn't it beautiful?!

Another shot. I also saw several young kids (under the age of 2 probably) just hanging out nude. I guess here, when you are that young, swim suits are optional! What a great way to save money:) In case you aren't familiar with Ukrainian culture, most of the men wear speedo type swim suits. The younger generation (some boys, most teenage boys, and some young adult boys) wear swim trunks. I haven't seen a one piece bathing suit on a girl yet, it doesn't matter what age.

This is the track I found. It has a full size soccer field in the center of it. I had to wait for the few runners to pass me and then quick take the picture so that they didn't think that I was some creepy American woman taking pictures of them running!

I also found a really pretty park. Not sure what the meaning of the rainbow thing at the top is, but those step looking things are actually a water fountain. See what I mean about wanting to do some yard work? Parks and rec could be huge here!!! There is so much natural beauty here, along with things that were made years ago that are just a little run down now. It was beautiful.

I'm going to have to ask Yana about this tree. I see it a lot. The little red clusters are actually a big bunch of really small little flowers. These trees don't seem too tall. At least I haven't seen any that are very tall.

This is a statue in the park. There were plaques explaining the statue, in Russian of course, but I couldn't even read it because it was so worn. I do know that this is an ancient Cossock warrior. Pretty sure I slaughtered the spelling, but these guys were the ultimate fighters. Even the Russians were leary of them. A seasoned, trained fighter had a single pony tail growing out of his shaved head. The ones in training had haircuts similar to the 'bowl' style from the 80s.

A fountain in a pond at the same park and a gazebo. Isn't it pretty?

And now for random family pictures that I just happened to have on the camera. Three is the one not getting into the whole prop thing. One is waaaaaaaay into the prop thing! Huz's brother got married the night before we left for Ukraine. Our girls were all a part of the wedding. It was an awesome wedding. Outdoor, I love outdoor weddings! They had the coolest thing I'd ever seen, too. A photo booth. They had a stand set up with some fun props. When people came for the reception, they could pick out props (if they wanted) and then have their pictures taken in the photo booth. You know the kind? Where there are four photos stacked on each other? The photo booth would then print two copies of the pictures. One was for the guest book, the other was for the guest to keep. I totally want to have a neighborhood party and have this. Wouldn't it be so much fun?! Speaking of neighborhood parties, it's been awhile since I threw one...

Huz. Love the hat!

Four. She was a flower girl. This is her 'posed' smile. hahaha. She and Three were the flower girls. Unfortunately they weren't much into the throwing of petals... until they were sitting down and the ceremony was going on. Then they got really into it. Better late than never?

Three

Two was a ring bearer. Love that smile!