Random Ukraine Thoughts....

(Back side of "Mama Russia" when leaving Kiev!)

We are driving and driving and still driving so I thought I’d pull out the laptop and record some of our thoughts and experiences about this adventure. (Note: later that night I added more to this post!) Typing is difficult with all these pot holes and swerving but I will persist!

Mormons:

Right off Hannah brought up religion as she is very religious person and I told her we are members of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. Later James said something about Mormon’s and she asked with wide eyes, “Are you Mormons?” “Yes” “But you don’t dress like Mormons with long dresses and braids?” Ha! She thought all Mormon’s were polygamists! Half way around the world and that’s what comes to mind when people hear about Mormons? We did some explaining…

This morning at breakfast, (we ate at this really cool place that reminded me of Gaston's house from Beauty and The Beast) on our way to Dniproderzhinsk. Alec, our driver and an attorney explained that when the director of our orphanage (Naydia) set up her children to be hosted someone asked her what State they were going to, when she told them Utah this person became very alarmed and told her, "Only Mormon’s live there and they are strange and awful people!" The facilitators had to calm the director down and talked her into just coming and seeing and making a judgment for herself as Mormons are just like any other people. She did and she came back with “two thumbs up” for Mormons. (Thank goodness!)
No church in Dniproderzhinsk. I guess it’s about a 30 minute drive? That’s okay, we’ll probably try to make it next week but tomorrow we’re just going to spend time at the orphanage with our little boy!
Cars:
As mentioned prior, James pointed out the tire low on air when we were picked up at the airport and Hanna dryly said “Welcome to Ukraine.”
There are many small cars here and some are very old but some are very nice and ALL are compact. In fact James continues to point out (with some contempt mind you) car models that are not even offered in the states. (I don’t really pay attention to makes and models.) We actually saw a car pulling a boat on our long drive here.
The driving here is CRAZY! No lines on the streets on double or triple lanes, no stop lights, parking on the sidewalks, going both ways on alleys that only accommodate one car width, the potholes are tremendous and today we were driving 160 kilometers an hour which is roughly 100 miles per hour! We were fortunate to have seat belts on our 5+ hour drive today but later when we were being chauffeured around Dniproderzhinsk James went to put on his seat belt and the director of the orphanage scoffed and told him he didn’t need to worry about it, like it was an offense to the driver to wear a seat belt. My seat belt in the back was tucked in so it was inoperable. Note to self: Pray for safety while driving….especially when not wearing our seat belts in order not to offend.
More about Bathrooms:
It seems I’m always writing about bathrooms but today we stopped for gas and to use the restroom and I’m happy to say there was a toilet with a seat AND toilet paper but the toilet paper would best be described as crepe paper. There is no perforation and it’s the same stretchy texture. Very interesting.
Language:
It’s a little disturbing that people talk for 10-15 sentences and you only get five in the translated version. AND Ukraine’s can talk for 5+ hours and never stop! Or meet people they’ve never met before and talk non-stop. Laughing and talking and you just sitting there, not understanding a thing. Tomorrow we’re meeting with Ivan & Snezhana and I asked my translator to please translate everything it drives me crazy to not know what is going on!
The Orphanage:
Is very clean and cheerful. (But does have a funny smell and Alex told me there’s mice!) Overall it is MUCH nicer than I had envisioned in my mind. We've only been in the main building but the grounds are relatively nice (compared to the surrounding neighborhood) and there are four other buildings where the children live, eat and attend school.
And last but not least:
I finally found a curling iron! There was only one option and I paid around $50 for it but I’m on day four without one and I really don’t care what it cost. It was funny as I did find one with separate attachments that looked sort of like a curling iron but sort of plastic like and I was informed it would only work for a few weeks. Well, I only need it for a few weeks! But I adopted for the better one, I’ll be happy to pass it on with the cell phone and hair dryer to those coming later.