The Voices of Ukrainians

Anya was checked into the hospital a few weeks ago on Monday to have her cast removed and start physical therapy.  The first time we saw her after that was Friday. We had tried to see her on Wednesday but it was a holiday and the visiting hours were earlier, so an angry nurse chased us out the door. Who knew? As soon as we saw her, I wanted to know how much progress she had made in working the stiffness out of her leg. So, I asked her to show me how far she could bend her knee. She wouldn’t show me.  It’s not like I asked once and let it go.  I was a broken record,  I demonstrated with my own knee.  I elaborated.  I started the whole process over again. We were there for and hour and a half;  I bet I asked 30 times minimum.  She just shrugged and said, “Potom.”  Which means, later. We did convince her to hop off the bed and we helped her walk into the hall where we played Uno, but the whole night she didn’t try to bend her knee.  ...

What is Smile House again? Let me refresh your memory! Smile House is a transition home in the making. It has 3 floors, plus a full size basement. The top floor is divided into two separate apartments. Our director Doug lives in one of those apartments with his wife and two kids and two cats. One of his cats likes to eat olives. I think that is strange for a cat. The 2nd apartment on the 3rd floor is just a small, one room studio where Daniel and I are temporarily living while we finish the rest of Smile House. We have no cats. I like to eat olives, though. The 2nd floor will be the transition home part. We are working hard to finish it by fall. Our goal is to invite kids from Komrivka, the orphanage we have a relationship with, to come live at Smile House this fall. We have lots to do before then! Here are some pictures of the 2nd floor and the progress we have made. The is the view coming in from the stairwell. We kind of need a door, and a doorknocker.  Look at the...

Once upon a time, after church one fine day, everyone from Safe Haven came out to Smile House for pizza and a tour. Several had been there before when it was just concrete and some walls and so it was interesting and exciting for them to see the progress we've made! Quick note: this event was a long time in coming...like 5 months. I can definitely say that the wait was worth it. We walked to the lake, ate homemade cookies, and then Bogdan asked to see our photo albums. Oh, forgot to mention, we took pictures!  This is Roma. He's one of those mega cool soccer players and Daniel thinks he's really perty.   Beautiful Luba. She knows English and has been coming to Komarivka with us as a translator. She always has a smile on her face and we love her!   On the left is Oksana. She loves to dance and has also been coming to Komarivka to help translate. On the right is Anya, the house mom at Safe Haven. She's an inspiration to us!   Daniel, Anya and Bogdan's ...

Every Monday and Friday we have language from 1:30 to 4:30. We go to our tutor's apartment (her name is Tatiana), and we sit at a table and have tea and learn Russian. She begins by giving us the days's lesson  (a 1-3 page handout),  which is followed by questions such as: What's today's date? What day of week is it? What's the last month of the year? What was the previous month? What's the weather like today? What was it like yesterday? What news do you have? What did you do on Sunday...Saturday...Thursday....etc.? What are you going to do tomorrow? These are some typical questions, and we know the answers to most of them (if we don't know the answer, we can make up one)! That's exciting news, right? A mug at our lesson...don't you love it? After opening questions, our tutor will usually teach us a new concept. This can include a new topic such as adjectives, a new verb, or just something as simple as learning the words "because," ...

“ Well its a good thing that Ukraine is full of crazy drivers.” Yep, that thought passed through my brain.  And there wasn’t an ounce of sarcasm.  We were in Kulykovka,  waiting on Petro to get some papers signed at the hospital, and then we had to rush him to Kiev so that he could sign some papers at his work there.  We had arrived in Kulykovka at 10 in the morning, and his work was on the other side of Kiev, and I figured we needed to get him there by at least 5.  No sweat, it should be about a 4 hour drive easy, even if traffic wasn’t great.  So, here was the initial plan. Pick Petro up in Kulykovka at 10:00 Drive him to work on the other side of Kiev Get him there by 5:00 But as always in Ukraine, it wasn’t quite that easy.  Petro showed up an hour late with his friend Losha, and told us about a few more stops on the way.  Oh, and his boss had said that he would only wait till 3.    So, Plan B.  Pick Petro up in K...

Wednesday we were up at Komrivka hanging out with the kids and the mosquitoes were on the prowl.  As I walked around with Oksana trying to get kids to say "HI" to Anya on a video I am putting together for her, I kept swatting the mosquitoes and saying "Stupid mosquitoes."  And Oksana kept swatting the mosquitoes and saying "Stupid Komari."  Well, me being the genius I am, put two and two together.  Mosquitoes are called Komari.  "Wait ... Komari, like as in, Komarivka?" Yep, that's right.  The town is named after mosquitoes.  Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Mosquitoville.  (This is my first short post in a while.  It feels weird.  But don't worry I'm working on a nice three pager right now that include fast cars... err, vans, and a monster.)