Limbo Land

It's another day in limbo land in the great country of Ukraine! We are counting down the days until the girls are legally ours. Six more days! Six more days! Six more days!

In the meantime, every day is much like the day before. We get up, we dress, we go upstairs and eat our breakfast of tea and bread and cheese or sometimes cereal. We do whatever chores we need to do at the TLC, and then we try to think of something to do with our time until we can go to the orphanage in the afternoon. Today we stayed and read, and then walked through the marketplace on the way to the orphanage. We arrived just as the children were going to eat their lunch. (It was about 2:00, but remember in Ukraine, the meals are all scheduled differently than they are in the U.S.).

When the girls got back from lunch, they wanted us to play a game on the computer with them. There is one computer in their living quarters. It is not hooked up to the internet, but the kids play games on it. We played a game called "Chuzzle." It didn't take much skill, so it was fun for Mark and me to play with the girls while they helped us. It was just the 4 of us for awhile, and we enjoyed that. Then we hung out in their room, and looked at pictures. They told us they have both already packed their suitcase with everything they are taking to America! Mark asked if they are taking stuffed animals. Zhanna opened the suitcase and pulled out about 10 small stuffed animals they are bringing. We had fun playing with them for awhile. Then the four of us joined the other children who were watching a movie. Again, it's interesting for us to watch movies we've seen in English with voice-overs in Russian. We can hear the English being spoken quietly underneath, then we hear the Russian voice speaking. I wonder how Zhanna and Ella will feel watching movies where the lips match the voice? It may be a new experience for them!

Zhanna and Ella continue to be very affectionate and loving with me and it is getting to be very relaxed and easy for all of us to be together. We are learning the nuances of their personalities and of their facial expressions. Ella has the cutest little raised eyebrow when she's teasing, and Zhanna furrows her brow and purses her lips when she's frustrated at Ella or is doing something to aggravate her sister. They are both smiling more and more and Mark and I love those smiles.

This evening Mark and I had another interesting experience in the contrast between old and new in modern Ukraine. Tanya and her husband, Valari, took us to a new modern store that has only opened on the far side of Mariupol last December. It is called Metro, and it is a bulk membership store like Costco or Sam's Club. We really enjoyed walking through the big aisles and seeing all the selections, much like back home. They have more American products here, but still mostly Ukrainian products. You still have to have your fruit and vegetables weighed for you, however!

On our drive home, we passed the huge steel mills that offer the most industry and employment opportunities here in Mariupol. They are old, ugly monstrosities, located right in the middle of town, because the town has grown all around them. There are three steel mills located here, and the oldest was built over 100 years ago, before the Bolshevik (or Russian) Revolution of 1917. These mills have smoke stacks that are blackened and rusted with age, and they send plumes of grey smoke into the air. No wonder the sea smells bad. Tanya said that the people in Mariupol must be very strong, because they have grown up breathing that air, so they must be able to withstand anything!

Ukraine is both a very old country, and a very new country. The people here are tough, alright. The old ones, especially, have lived through so much history, just in their lifetimes. But the history of Ukraine is a fascinating one that has centered on a struggle for independence for several hundred years. Tomorrow I will try to give a brief history of Ukraine, for all who are interested. Unless, of course, we have exciting and wonderful breaking news! But, chances are, we'll just be counting down on our halfway mark toward day 10 of this waiting period. So, until tomorrow, it's another day in limbo land.

Good-bye, and "Dasveedanyia"
Love,
Dawna and Marka