Saturday May 12th
I’ve noticed that the sun comes up earlier here. We must be right on the time zone line, because I am awake at 5 am every morning, and it is a pretty full sunlight, like you would get at 7 or even 8 am. I love it. I wish it was like this all the time.
We picked up the girls at 2:30 again and took them to the zoo. It is a small zoo between the hotel and the orphanage. It was small like a petting zoo, but had some bigger animals. The first animal was a lion cub. It really liked Janet. She started talking to it, and it would follow her and it would get up on it’s hind legs and stretch out on the cage in front of her.
The girls really liked the raccoons, monkeys and camels, because you could feed them pretzels by hand. The girls liked teasing them a bit, by letting them grab the pretzel and then pulling them back. Some other animals were a Russian bear, tiger, full grown lions, emus, peacocks, swans, camels, black panther, cheetah.
After the zoo, we went to the market for some dried fish!!! We have been told that this is considered a real treat to Ukranians, and it is quite the spectacle to watch. People go down to the sea every day for bullhead. They soak ‘em in a brine and then hang them outside on a string to dry. Well, we got to the market and I saw these nasty little dried up fish on a st
ring and I couldn’t imagine MY girls wanting those. But, they grinned and were somewhat thrilled that we got some. So, off to our hotel room we went, and they didn’t even flinch. It was like a dried fish eating contest. First thing…they ripped the heads off!!! Then they started ripping the fish skin off with their teeth to get to the meat. They ate the meat, and then they tore open the fish to remove the guts and then eat the caviar (eggs). It was quite the sight! I will not look at my girls the same way ever again. As you can see, they convinced Janet to give it a try, too. Eeesh!
Oh, and by the way, we survived the water outage. It turned out to not be that big of a deal. The water was down for like a half an hour. The hot water came back on fine, and then the cold water, although the cold water was brown all day. We can at least take showers now, and flush the toilet okay. Will have to wait until Monday before we can use the cold water for anything like washing clothes or veggies/fruit.
Sunday May 13th
Since it’s Sunday, we got the kids for a longer period of time today. But first, I had to pick up a couple of jogging suits for wearing around. All the men wear them, and I stick out like sore thumb. Usually they are black (of course), but I thought the girls would get a kick out of me being in this Ukranian sweat suit (has the Ukranian colors, and says Ukraine on the back). I was a big hit today with the locals. Even the front desk woman of the hotel, who has been sort of gruff with us since we got here, perked up when she saw me and said, “Nice suit!“
I’ve noticed that the sun comes up earlier here. We must be right on the time zone line, because I am awake at 5 am every morning, and it is a pretty full sunlight, like you would get at 7 or even 8 am. I love it. I wish it was like this all the time.
We picked up the girls at 2:30 again and took them to the zoo. It is a small zoo between the hotel and the orphanage. It was small like a petting zoo, but had some bigger animals. The first animal was a lion cub. It really liked Janet. She started talking to it, and it would follow her and it would get up on it’s hind legs and stretch out on the cage in front of her.
The girls really liked the raccoons, monkeys and camels, because you could feed them pretzels by hand. The girls liked teasing them a bit, by letting them grab the pretzel and then pulling them back. Some other animals were a Russian bear, tiger, full grown lions, emus, peacocks, swans, camels, black panther, cheetah.
After the zoo, we went to the market for some dried fish!!! We have been told that this is considered a real treat to Ukranians, and it is quite the spectacle to watch. People go down to the sea every day for bullhead. They soak ‘em in a brine and then hang them outside on a string to dry. Well, we got to the market and I saw these nasty little dried up fish on a st
ring and I couldn’t imagine MY girls wanting those. But, they grinned and were somewhat thrilled that we got some. So, off to our hotel room we went, and they didn’t even flinch. It was like a dried fish eating contest. First thing…they ripped the heads off!!! Then they started ripping the fish skin off with their teeth to get to the meat. They ate the meat, and then they tore open the fish to remove the guts and then eat the caviar (eggs). It was quite the sight! I will not look at my girls the same way ever again. As you can see, they convinced Janet to give it a try, too. Eeesh!Oh, and by the way, we survived the water outage. It turned out to not be that big of a deal. The water was down for like a half an hour. The hot water came back on fine, and then the cold water, although the cold water was brown all day. We can at least take showers now, and flush the toilet okay. Will have to wait until Monday before we can use the cold water for anything like washing clothes or veggies/fruit.
Sunday May 13th
Since it’s Sunday, we got the kids for a longer period of time today. But first, I had to pick up a couple of jogging suits for wearing around. All the men wear them, and I stick out like sore thumb. Usually they are black (of course), but I thought the girls would get a kick out of me being in this Ukranian sweat suit (has the Ukranian colors, and says Ukraine on the back). I was a big hit today with the locals. Even the front desk woman of the hotel, who has been sort of gruff with us since we got here, perked up when she saw me and said, “Nice suit!“
We picked the girls up at 11am (instead of 2:30 like usual) and decided to go to the movies since we had more time today. The movie wasn’t until 3:30pm so we went down to the boardwalk, by the sea. First we just sat down by the water and chatted and watched people fish. Then we hit an arcade. (Watch out Celine! Olya was jammin’ on the Dance Revolution!) Then we rented a 6 man bicycle and went up and down the boardwalk for about 20 minutes before we got tired and grabbed a bite to eat. Then it was off to the 
movies. We had a couple of choices but I picked Shooter, with Mark Wahlberg. It was going to be in Russian with no subtitles, so I figured it would be easier to follow if it was just a bunch of action. The theater was nice, very comparable to what we have in the US.
It was another fun day, but tomorrow we get busy. We will be up and at’em to do paperwork at 8am and will go all day. Some more of the same on Tuesday. Basically, we are putting together another portfolio to get an approval for our court hearing. If all goes well, we’ll get that done this week, and maybe get a court date the
following week. Sounds like we will not get to see the girls for a couple of days. If we do, it’ll be just a quick ‘hi and bye’.
movies. We had a couple of choices but I picked Shooter, with Mark Wahlberg. It was going to be in Russian with no subtitles, so I figured it would be easier to follow if it was just a bunch of action. The theater was nice, very comparable to what we have in the US.It was another fun day, but tomorrow we get busy. We will be up and at’em to do paperwork at 8am and will go all day. Some more of the same on Tuesday. Basically, we are putting together another portfolio to get an approval for our court hearing. If all goes well, we’ll get that done this week, and maybe get a court date the
following week. Sounds like we will not get to see the girls for a couple of days. If we do, it’ll be just a quick ‘hi and bye’.
6 comments:
You know that you're going to have to wear that to the office right? :)
The Thiede's
Doc & Janet,
I am glad that everything is going well for you. I had asked Susan if they had heard from you, and she gave me your blog address. Jessica and I have been checking it everyday and following your progress. We can't wait to meet the girls.
Take Care and God Bless,
Marsha Nachtigal
Bensons
We are so happy to be able to follow your journey! We wish we could be there with you enjoying it all ... well maybe not the fish and the "suit"! Hope everything continues to go smoothly. We can't to see all of you! Give everyone our love.
The Burris'
You ate the fish? I can't believe it! You are way cooler parents then we are. We only looked at the fish and wondered who would eat that? Now we know! We liked eating at Sova (the Owl) near the resort area in Berdyansk. Please tell the girls hello for us and give them a hug from Lera.
Donna
OK. You ate the fish... you are official. Now the trick is to eat the fish while wearing the blue suit! :) Thanks for the great pictures and the wonderful journaling. We feel like we are there. Every day we check to see what news you have. Enjoy these days together. We are looking forward to being able to call you in WI. Love to all of you. God bless--
The Friedrich's
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