Holidays in Berdyansk

Today (Sunday 5/30) is our 23rd wedding anniversary!!!

Cody's school had the "Last Bell" ceremony Saturday. Nicky and Tyler spent Friday night there again. We were told that it was at 9 AM, then we got a call at 8:15 and said it starts at 8:30! We were about 15 minutes late but we got there. The Rahn's attended the ceremony last year when they were here. We saw Natasha (The Rahn's new daughter) at the ceremony and talked to her. She and Cody will be in the same grade and school in Williamsburg! It is a small world!

After the ceremony, I gave Nick and Cody some money and they were told to be home by 8 PM. Cody ended up staying with us at the apartment on Saturday night. See them? They are crashed!!! We walked to the grocery to get them breakfast this morning and they ate it all!!

Last Monday was definitely a holiday. I am not sure which one it was though. We thought it was Children's Day but we now know that Children's day is Tuesday, June 1. We know that because we were interviewed by Berdyansk TV yesterday in conjunction with Children's Day. Oles had called and said that the Inspector had called him asking if we would allow an interview for Children's Day. He thought that Elliott could translate for us - they wanted to interview us on Monday with Elliott and Nicky but we told them the boys were headed to Kyiv on Monday. So we rescheduled for Friday afternoon at 2 PM. Elliott just missed the interview - he was on his way back from Militopal and arrived at the apartment as we were headed out. Bill's wife Oksana was kind enough to be our translator. They interviewed us in the park outside the Inspector's office - they only asked each of us three questions - naturally, Kathie got the tough one, "What does Children's Day mean to you? " (Never heard of Children's Day before this!!)

So what holiday was last Monday? I asked Oksana what holiday was last Monday and she said it was Penticost - since it falls on a Sunday they celebrate on Monday.

Also the anxiety is over as of Saturday night - Oles called and said he will pick up the papers in Zap so I am off the hook to go there. We already got the boy's ticket's for the Zap train so now we are trying to change them to the Militopal train (don't have to ride the bus as far). The kids will be leaving Berdyansk at around noon on Monday - they will get to Kyiv on Tuesday morning and our friend Doug Stoddard will meet them there and they will stay with the Stoddard's on Tuesday night. Doug also said he will get them to the airport on Wednesday to catch their flight. This is such a big help!!!

Found out that Kath and I will not be leaving Berdyansk until Saturday because court is in the afternoon and could last as long as two hours - leaving later Friday is out of the question so Kath is now looking for a Monday flight to the states. Kinda keeps you on your toes!!!

Today 4:45 PM Oles called and said he was sending a cab to pick me up and take me to the bus station to send a document to Yulia on the Kyiv bus. The bus leaves at 5 PM! The cab drove 70 down the hill to the bus station and we ran and caught the bus just before they closed the doors. Then Oles called me and said that I had to do the same thing for the 9 PM bus to Odessa!!! Thank God the bus station is just five blocks from the restaurant!!