Ukraine: The Never Ending Journey: Spice Girls, Rain, and Generally Just Learning to go with the Flow

When we got to the orphanage on Thursday, I spent my day playing with the children while the family prepared to leave. We were supposed to leave at around 5 PM, but the family wasn't actually ready until about 8 PM. After that, it was a three hour drive to the resort, but it was definitely worth it. The view of the mountains is amazing, and this resort has everything: a game room, playground, pool, and restaurant! The only thing it doesn't have is internet. The first night there was a mix-up and Alex and I had to share a bed, but I didn't really mind. We fixed it in the morning, and now have a nice room with two separate beds.

On Friday, the chaos began. We spent the morning playing Red Rover, Ping-Pong, and any other games we could think of with the children until our first meeting. There are about 15 families here and over 3,000 families in the organization my family. I was told that there are 100,000 orphans in state run orphanages and for each orphan they receive $15, 000 kryvna/year. However, if a family decides to take them in, the family only receives $2,400 kryvna/year. It seems so unfair! Olena, a twenty year old who just spent eight months in Ohio studying English, has been translating for us. Unfortunately, she did not like America, especially the food! We learned names of children, played outside, and had a big meeting where the families reenacted children’s stories to show how they have come together as a family. We also met Gregory, who is vice archon of a church that is part of “World Grace Ministries.” He speaks a little English and has been taking pictures and videos for the trip. The day was great, but the night did not end well. At 9 p.m., they called a volunteer meeting and it was only at this time that they decided to tell Alex and I that we would have to teach three hours of English classes to 6-14 year olds. Needless to say, I was extremely upset. It’s so difficult for me to think of things on the spot because I am such a planner! I did my best though and tried to prepare as much as possible that night.

On Saturday after breakfast, Olena, Alex, and I started our day with 11-12 year olds. I tried to teach them ‘Father Abraham’ because I had seen them sing it in Russian, but in the end the pronunciation was too difficult. They seemed to enjoy it anyway, and sang it back to me in Russian. Afterwards, Alex did our America presentation. When a picture of Ryan Cramer came up, Ivan (12) pointed at it and said, “Funny boy!” J After that, we played a game with a ball. I had taped numbers and colors on it and when a child caught it they were supposed to say the numbers and colors in English. This was too easy for Ivan, Svitlana, and Ira who are already pretty good at English but too difficult for the other part of the class because they had only learned Polish. In the end, we lost their interest in every game because I could not make it fit everyone’s needs and I was disappointed in myself because the class did not go well. The next class, 13-14 year olds, lifted my spirits a little bit. We were outside, so I had put together a scavenger hunt the night before and labeled all of the items in English. They seemed to enjoy that. Afterwards, we played the ball game and then charades (the cards had both Ukrainian and English on them). Our final group was the ages 6-10, and we just played with them outside because it was too difficult to get their attention with the playground right there. At lunch, they gave me “vegetarian” soup—with a fish head! At first I thought it was a piece of cabbage or something until I started poking at it and saw the eyes. I was absolutely disgusted. However, we met someone who speaks very good English and is so sweet! Her name is Ludma and she was a foreign exchange student and then lived in Pennsylvania working for an American company. She still works for the American company, but now in Ukraine. She has the kind of personality that you immediately love and trust. :) After lunch, we had a rest period so I went to the nearby village. I was amazed by the lack of equipment on the farms and the large haystacks. Their lifestyle reminded me of the Amish. Afterwards, the children got their faces painted but Alex and I headed into the mountains with a group of volunteers to decide what to do there. We got caught in the rain, but it was worth it for the view and the wild strawberries, which are much smaller and sweeter. J At night, we went to the children’s talent show, where we were called up to the front. Alex wouldn’t come with me, but I went and thanked everyone for welcoming us so warmly and making our experience a good one. Ludma translated. I wish I would have called Marichka and Pavlo to come up and count in Ukrainian with me because they are so proud of everything they’ve taught us, but I didn’t think of it until afterwards!

On Sunday, Alex and I hoped to defy the cloudy weather with our walk into the mountains. Ludma was going to be at my station (there were 6 stations families had to pass through on their way to the top) to teach “Jesus Loves Me.” As soon as we started out, it began to rain. We stood in the rain for about 15 minutes, but luckily I had my waterproof Alma College jacket with me, and I kept Alex’s camera and hoodie safe under that. After that, we stayed in and played with the youngest children (ages 1-6) and they were pretty crazy. We did our best, though, and tried to entertain them with all the toys in the game room. Then we switched to 6-9 year olds. We were going to play Red Rover, but then it started to rain so hard that we had to come inside. Luckily, there was an older lady who helped us by directing games. After lunch, resting, and tea time, Alex spent the afternoon relaxing in our room and I helped with the children as much as I could, but they were pretty wound up. After that, the children were split into groups. I ran upstairs to grab something and when I came back they threw me with the 1-6 year olds and asked me to take them outside. It was slightly terrifying because they immediately starting running around and I don’t know Ukrainian well enough to direct them so I thought I might lose some of the children. In the end, it was okay and all of the children were returned to the conference room safely. Some of the older children helped me bring them all together. Afterwards, we played a marathon type game where the families formed teams and earned points by jump roping, ping-pong, bowling, etc. I helped keep track of points. At dinner, Ludma told us she had to leave that night because of work. :( I spent the night at “the disco,” dancing with the children. I also decided that I have long hair not because I like it, but so small girls can play with it. Marichka did some crazy braids first, and then decided she wanted two ponytails in the front to match her hair. Alex told me that I looked like a spice girl. :P

On Monday, the weather was a little nicer so we headed into the mountains again. Wacil helped me translate my station, but we decided ‘Jesus Loves Me’ was too difficult. Instead, we did part of a song that I had learned while working in Mrs. Ebnit’s kindergarten class:

Love grows one by one, two by two, and four by four.

The children seemed to enjoy it and it was fun seeing the other challenges set up in the mountains: building as long of a rope as possible out of the family’s clothes, crossing a bridge, answering a riddle from two witches, making a bouquet of wild flowers, and creating a collage. The view is absolutely breathtaking as well. I don’t think there’s anything in this world quite as beautiful as mountains. I told one man that I liked his Odessa sailor’s hat, and he was kind enough to give it to me! Last night, there was a campfire. I love campfires and the children had so much fun running around on the playground. My main job was to push children on the swings. I received two bouquets of flowers and a keychain with the name of the resort on it, and I took lots of pictures! The generosity of the people here blows me away. I was also invited to tea with the mothers of the children, and I stayed for a little while and had a glass of water.

Today, we had a long wait in the morning at the hotel which was really difficult for me. I finished all four books that I brought with me during the first week in Odessa, so now it’s hard for me to find things to do in my free time. Alex and I settled on watching the only station that has English: the music station. About half of the songs are in English and half are in Russian, so we critiqued the English songs and tried to guess what was going on in the Russian songs. We finally got to take the 3 hr. van ride back to Irene, who was waiting to hug us at the top of the stairs and had bought all of our favorites. This meant porridge, fresh salad, strawberries, cherries, and ice cream for me and eggs and coffee for Alex! The only vegetarian option at the resort was chirnikey, cottage cheese filled rolls, so I was extremely happy for a change. We spent our night exploring the city of L’viv and starting on our souvenir shopping.

Overall, I had a great trip to the Carpathians! The people were so welcoming and it was great to see that they could all bond together over one cause. Everyone keeps telling me that we should come back next year and I really wish that we could! Anyway, as always, thank you for reading my blog. I love you! <3

Also, Happy Father’s Day to Roger Duff! Sorry that I couldn’t be home to celebrate it with you, but you are an incredible hard-working person and wonderful father. :)

Love always,

Alex and Chels :)

Some good quotes:

Me: "You look like a Spice Girl!"

Chelsea Duff: "I look slightly high in that picture."

Me: "Chelsea, stop singing that crap."
Chelsea: "Well, it's better than the Spice Girls. Oh yeah, I just went there."

Chelsea: "It's been a long time since people have told me I'm being sassy. Being around you brings out the worst in me."

Chelsea: "Do you know the bear?"

Alex: "Be careful with your baby!" (referring to the bundle of things hidden under my jacket)

Me: "It's your baby too!"

Alex: "Thanks for making that even more awkward."

Me: "You started it." :)

Teaching poem in the mountains with Wacil, the second oldest son of the family orphanage. He is Natalia and Uri's natural son, and is pretty fluent in English. :)