October 28, 2006

The children spent the day with us took them to the waterfront, as the sea is a big tourist attraction in the summer. It is the first time we have ventured there. It is the upscale section of the city (you wouldn’t know you were in Berdyansk) with shops, restaurants and monuments. As we walked past the Vital Statistic Office, we saw several wedding couples coming and going. Olas informed us that in the Ukraine you have to go to Vital Statistic and do a legal wedding ceremony first, then if you choose you can have a church ceremony afterwards. The first wedding ceremony is not optional.

We got our pictures taken in the "wishing chair." The idea is to sit in the chair and touch a place (that is marked) that is about where your shoulders would be. I was just wishing I could get my hand back there!

We tried a couple of restaurants at the waterfront but couldn’t get in because of preparing for big parties, probably the weddings we saw earlier so we went back to our safe haven – the hotel restaurant!! It was the first time we had ate a meal with Elliott and were interested to see what he liked and how much he ate. Remember he is a very active teenage boy! He ordered 4 courses and we watched as he enjoyed it all! Nicky is not quite as big of eater but really enjoys his food. They ate until they were stuffed! Olas translated to us that he told them that they ate like horses and they laughed. I had them tell them that Mama was worried, and that really made them laugh! They really thought that was funny. We went back to our tiny abode that we now know as home and hung out together. We looked at pictures, played music, watched soccer and worked with beginner flashcards in English. It was really fun just relaxing together.

We walked the boys back to the orphanage around 5. Elliott showed us a few more short cuts – they both seem pretty familiar with the area. We all four held hands all the way back, the boys between us and and they sang the whole way! I raced Nicky up to the top of the bluff – I’m not fast but I have more brute force in the short haul – I even beat him (not by much though). There are acting like true siblings…teasing each other. They were calling each other Blondeska and Brunetteski (I’ll let you figure out which was which). As we got close to the orphanage, we came upon two of their friends. They wanted to show us their talents! It was dusk out but that did not keep these boys from performing all kinds of acrobats on the roofs of some very old & rusty metal garages! The finale was when one of them dismounted with a back flip from the roof! It scared us to death!

A little more about Berdyansk:
There are stores everywhere. They all consist of small shops that deal in one type of commodity except there are some small stores that sell a variety of items – like a 7-11 only much, much smaller. Even the mall consists of small shops. The marketplace opens at 7 so they set up starting at 5 or 6 and then they close shop at 2. Since the marketplace is huge and each booth has to set up, it is pandemonium while that is going on – all the proprietors are pushing these carts to their cars/houses/storage areas. You can get really good deals on clothes – a coat for the boys cost about $20 US and a leather woman’s coat cost about $80. The women’s coats are absolutely gorgeous and a huge variety to choose from. They have vendors on the street that sell these gorgeous flowers – roses and several others that I cannot name. They sell parakeets and other pets along the roads also. Old women sell baked goods (mostly large cakes that look like carrot cakes) and they sit at the same place every day and probably have for years. I wonder what would happen if someone new would try to move into their territory!