Ukraine – our first days…

August 10-18 – Ukraine

We flew out of Germany at 2:00 pm and got into Ukraine at 6:00 pm.  Thus, the adventure begins.  Andy and I were brave enough to find our own way to Vinnysta, where our friend Ruslan was going to meet us:  this city is 3 hours away from Kiev where we flew in.  It took about 45 minutes to get through passport control and customs and then our task was to find a bus right outside of the airport that was to go to the train station where we had more instructions.  Not knowing any of the language, you can see how challenging this was.  We found the bus and were able to communicate that we needed to go to the train station and we were able to pay our money.  We loaded up our luggage on the driver’s side of the bus.  We made it, we thought, and were proud of ourselves at this point.  Our next instructions were to look for a McDonalds where the bus stops and there would be Sprinter Vans parked out front that would take us to Vinnysta.  So, the bus stopped and we saw a McDonalds…so what do we do?  We get off.  We realize that we are 2 of only 5 people that are getting off, but we see the McDonalds; this has to be it.  Andy rushes around to get our bags and he is confronted by oncoming traffic – there is no way he can get our bags – he thinks, this can’t be right!  The bus driver is yelling something to him in Ukrainian and finally just waves us back onto the bus.  Oops!  Wrong stop!  So we get back on and travel the rest of the way to the train station.

We find our van (Marshutka in Ukrainian) and walk up to the driver to request a ride.  He speaks no English and we speak no Ukrainian.  Andy gave him the number of our friend Ruslan, and the man called it to see what in the world we were saying.  Finally, we reserved 2 spots on the van and went to eat.  We get on the bus at 9:00 pm and take off down the bumpy road.  About an hour into our trip, we pull off at a gas station, that we found out was a MANDATORY bathroom stop.  Since we had gone an hour ago, we did not have to go.  The bus drive kept saying “Tyalet, Tyalet…”  We would say, “no we are okay, we don’t have to go.”  He did not understand, so he called one of his friends that spoke English and asked how to say “Tyalet” in English… Toilet!!  So again, we said, no we are okay.  At this point, he took us by the arm and led us into the gas station, found our bathrooms and pointed to me and the girl’s room and then Andy and the boy’s room…so we went!  Ha!  At 12:30 am we made it to Ruslan who was on the side of the road and honked at us to stop and let us off.  We then drove 2 hours to our village, Nemia, stopping once to take a 15 minute power nap.

On Wednesday, we met the family and rested up and settled in.  That evening, we went to a meeting for a summer camp at Archie and Ruslan’s (our new housemates) church.  The summer camp was to start the following day.

Thursday through Saturday were spent helping out with this camp…we jumped in with both feet!  Andy and I helped out with the teen group, especially a young man named Dima who has Cerebral Palsy.  Andy and Dima were instant friends as you will see in some of the pictures.  These days gave us a range of emotions from joy to frustration to feeling uplifted and then torn down.  Not being able to communicate will wear you out!  Thank goodness we have Archie and Ruslan to come home to and talk through our feelings.  They are awesome!  Our other new housemates/family includes Sasha, Katya, Bogdon, Bogdonchik, Ilona, Sneezanna, Diana, Ula, Vika, and Isabella.  We are a full house!

One of the goals we have here is to work with children with special needs.  We made a contact in Dima, and also with our neighbor named Bogdon.  He is 3 years old and has Cerebral Palsy.  He came over and swam in the pool with us.  We will be meeting regularly with both and hope to start working with others eventually.  I will let the pictures tell the rest.

Us with our new friend Dima at the lake on the first day of the summer camp

Andy in his awesome shorts he had to borrow from the pastor, Igor - hilarious!

Andy had the awesome trunks, I just swam in my clothes...you really just have to roll with the punches here.

Our bible study at the lake.

Andy on the trampoline at the house

This is the second day of summer camp at the river. We played a game with all of the kids that was so much fun.

Ukrainians love their watermelon. This is Katya, one of our new family members

Ula, Isabella, Ilona, Sneezanna (from left to right) doing their skit during summer camp.

These were some of the counselors and the pastor

Us with some of the kids in the park across from the church where we were having camp

Our mode of transportation everywhere we go. This is our new family!

The whole summer camp

Dima loved the parachute!

New best friends

Our eating spot at our house.

Andy is working to get a pipe buried to carry our waste from our apartment

Andy and Sasha working to bury the pipe in the vineyard

Andy and Bogdon - our neighbor we will be working with

Fun with Bogdon

Working to make him kick his feet

Linda (the big one) and Crasunchik - these dogs bark all the time!

Digging our septic tank - hardest work ever!

Burying the pipe. We had a special ceremony for the burial

Andy cleaning out the apartment of debris

Advertisement