Week 4: The End of Our Trip

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow we go back to the United States, and I have to admit I'm really going to miss Ukraine. We had such an amazing experience here, and I am absolutely thankful that I had this opportunity.

For the past couple of days, we spent some time with the Iarosh family and did some sightseeing. Saturday was our last day at their home, and it was sad to say goodbye to the children. They're simply amazing, and they gave us several drawings to show their appreciation. Their parents also gave us some souvenirs and a lot of thanks. I am sad that I won't get to see them again. However, at the same time, I am excited to tell everyone about them, and I am looking forward to guiding next year's volunteers and see how these children will have grown by next summer!

Definitely, this trip should focus on working with My Family more next year. The Way Home is a good place, but it has grown so much in the past couple of years (and has obtained so many sponsors) that it doesn't necessarily need our help. In addition, the kids there are older and prefer to mind their own business, which is understandable. At the Iarosh household, the children were very excited to have students from the United States play with them and help them with their English. In addition, Nataliia and Yuriy were able to accomplish several tasks for their organization while we spent time with the children. Most importantly, we got to know these children on a personal level, and it felt as if I was part of their family.

For the rest of the weekend, we went sightseeing in Lviv and Kiev, although the rain for the past two days interfered a little bit. However, I am very glad that Chelsea got to see her friend Jenny (whom she met in high school, since Jenny was a foreign exchange student). Both of them had tried to set up a meeting time throughout the entire month, but these last two days were the best time for them to meet up. Even though they only got to see each other for a couple of hours, it was a great time. We went to a gallery which exhibits modern art, and that was absolutely my favorite part of the day. It was incredibly different and right up my alley. I love modern stuff, and every piece of art was so intriguing and awesome! My favorite part was a room with orange lighting, which forces visitors to view everything in a monochrome scheme. It was very cool to see how my bright teal shirt turned dark grey as I entered the room. It's unfortunate that I couldn't sneak in my camera to take pictures, but I did get an issue with several pictures of the exhibit.

Overall, our trip to Ukraine has been amazing! Iryna has been a great host to us and we have been taken care of very well. I am excited to go back to the United States to see my family!! Also, over the next couple of days, I will finalize FCEE's publicity tasks. So far, I have created a logo for the organization, created some flyer templates, updated our website, and linked our blog to the website. Now, we just have to spread the word about our organization! Anyways, I have to go! Thank you so much for following our blog for the past month! It has been great, and we hope you liked it!

Until later,

Alex

I Want to Give You Everything

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

It feels so strange that this is my last blog post. On Wednesday, Alex and I head back to the United States. Although I miss everyone at home very much, I do not want to leave this beautiful place full of wonderful people. Nevertheless, I know that I was very blessed to be able to spend a month of my life here.

Right now, there is a steady sheet of rain outside. We arrived in Kiev this morning, ready and excited to go sightseeing, only to be greeted by a week-long forecast of rain. Unfortunately, I have a slight sore throat and cough, so Irene doesn’t want me to go out in this weather. So, we’re relaxing and watching the only English channel on TV (which is currently a fashion show) and hoping for it to clear up soon. This afternoon, I’m going to see Jenny, a former foreign exchange student of my high school, and I am so excited!! I really hope that the rain doesn’t ruin our plans!

I don’t really have too much to say. The last few days have passed in a whirlwind of playing with children and basically being a babysitter, mentor, and teacher. I have loved every second of it, from jump roping, crazy hair-dos, races, volleyball, and being pulled in every direction by ten different children. On Saturday, our last day, the children kept saying, “Niet, Chelsea, niet!” as they hugged me goodbye. They complimented me with the English words that they knew, like “kind,” “smart,” and “pretty.” Before we left, the family honored us by giving both Alex and I traditional Ukrainian shirts, L’viv magnets, drawings from the children, and the most beautiful thank you letter. They also fed us the most delicious meal of homemade dumplings, borscht, cookies, and tea. It was so hard for me to leave, especially after I saw the grandmother crying and realized that I would probably never be greeted by her hugs and kisses again. They really are such a wonderful family, and I hope God blesses them with the best life possible. <3

Other than that, we have just been sightseeing around L’viv. We went to a traditional Ukrainian opera on Saturday night and it was so interesting to see the festive clothing and dances. One of my favorite places so far has been an underground restaurant. It is unmarked and you have to know the password (translated: Glory to Ukraine!) to go behind a secret bookcase where pictures of WWII and old weapons and other artifacts were found. It was so interesting and was styled exactly like other underground places of WWII, especially in the Carpathian Mountains. Besides that, the history of L’viv is so vast. It was founded during the medieval times, and so many of the churches and buildings look so ancient. We also saw many beautiful monuments. I didn’t realize that there was so much history here!

This has been such an incredible experience. My whole life, I didn’t realize how big the world was or how many people there truly were. In this small corner of the world, a country that I have barely even heard about before, I have learned so much about the kindness of others and found that it takes so little to make someone smile. I have also learned a little bit more about independence through learning to take care of myself and my belongings in another country where I don’t speak the language. Of course I had help, but I am still proud of myself for learning to get around the city alone and being able to make good decisions, especially in the open marketplace. There were times when I was so completely and utterly lost about what was going on, but in the end there was always a way to communicate. I really feel like it was the children who were teaching me this whole time. I learned new songs, new words, and new games due to their patience and excitement that they had someone new to play with. They also taught me a lot through their strong faith and their complete confidence that God brought us to them. I have never been welcomed more warmly by anyone, especially by someone who had never met me before. I’m going to miss the Iarosch family so much, but I can’t wait for next year’s USVP recipient to come here and make an even bigger difference.

Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support as I’ve been out of the country. I could never do this without you there to keep me strong. <3

Love always,

Alex & Chels :)

Alex Quotes (which I'm going to miss):

*Talking about the little boy I babysit during the summer* Alex: "This whole time I've been wondering how he would understand what you were telling him to do. I forgot that children in the US speak English."


*Entering tree filled park* Alex: "Chelsea, this place is kind of shady . . ."


*Filling out form* Alex: "Chelsea, you carry that pen around with you everywhere! Is it your pen pal?"


Me: "I loved Ghost Ranch!"
Alex: "Did you like Specter Farm as well?"

Week 3: Carpathian Mountains!

I say good day!

This past weekend, we went to the Carpathian Mountains with the Iarosh family! Nataliia is the president of My Family, the organization that links all the families in Ukraine who have adopted many orphans, and Chelsea and I went there with the family as student volunteers. The resort was absolutely beautiful, and I am very glad that we had this opportunity. I knew that we were going to be playing with about 40 children all weekend, considering that this was a fun retreat for various families in the organization, and I was a little skeptical at first. We weren't sure exactly what we were going to do, although we had been told beforehand to think of a couple of fun activities to play with the children. However, it didn't seem like it would be that bad (and as it turns out) it really wasn't! I liked most of the people, and the children were simply amazing!!

On Friday, it was very straightforward, playing with the kids and whatnot. Also, we had introductions and dramatized stories of how the families adopted their children. It all went very well, although we were exhausted by the time night rolled around. Gregory had decided to hold a meeting at 9 PM to plan the activities for the next day. Sadly, he decided to conduct most of this meeting in Ukrainian, so Chelsea and I sat there for an hour and a half without a clue of what was going on. Moreover, it was until this point that he told us that we would be going to teach English to 3 different groups for 3 hours straight, and we would have to come up with activities. We had not been told of this until this meeting, so Chelsea (understandably) was freaking out, considering that we had no plan of action. Also, Gregory seemed somewhat annoyed that we didn't know about this, even though we had no way of knowing ahead of time. In fact, we had purposely thought of activities that didn't involve speaking, since it would have been difficult to explain to the kids. For the rest of the weekend, no one knew what we were doing until the night before, which led to more meetings. The planning was not executed well, but what matters is that we got to interact with a great number of amazing people.

Anyways, we were saved by Chelsea's incredible planning skills and creativity, so the events turned out very well! Even the most difficult group (13 and 14 year olds) enjoyed the activities we did with them, and they had a very good grasp of the English language! Over the rest of the weekend, we hiked the mountains and watched over various fun events for the kids (which included a talent show and a dance party). It was very heartwarming to see all these children having fun! They were so happy to see us, and they learned our names very quickly (not to mention they were incredibly adorable!). Often at the playground, a couple of children would shout my name to get my attention and show me a trick, and they would often pose for pictures. Also, they would often say "hello" and wave to us whenever we saw them. At one point, there was a little girl holding a ball who wanted to play catch with me, but no one else. Whenever she saw me, she would throw the ball nonstop. It was very cute. Also, a lot of people wanted to take pictures with us, the American tourists, which I found to be hilarious.

Overall, this was a very successful weekend, and I hope that next year's volunteers get the opportunity to go there as well! I am very glad that these kids have found loving homes. These children are taken care of very well, and they come from very loving homes. Most of the families there consisted of at least 4 adopted children per household, which is amazing. I would rather not think about how they lived beforehand. What matters is that the retreat went very well and that they had a ton of fun!!!

Well, it is time for me to go, but I'll post again soon!

Until later,

Alex

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. :)

My "Spice Girls" look. Marichka did my hair. :)

The Carpathian Mountains!

Alex and I with the Carpathian Mountains!

Natalia, Svitlana, Gregory, Alex, and I.

Faith, Hope, and Love

Days will come when you don’t have the strength;

When all you hear is you’re not worth anything.

Wondering if you ever could be loved;

&& if they truly saw your heart they’d see too much.

You’re beautiful.

You’re beautiful.

You were made for so much more than all of this.

You’re beautiful.

You’re beautiful.

You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His.

You’re beautiful.

--MercyMe

Well, a lot has happened since the last time that we wrote, but it is hard to find time to sit down and devote our attention to reflecting on what has happened. I’ll try my best to say everything that I want to say. Anyway, we left you on Friday before we went to the opera! It was absolutely incredible. Everything about the opera house was beautiful, from the chandelier over our head that weighed 2.5 tons and was surrounded by paintings from Shakespeare plays to the beautiful statues of Greek mythology to the baroque style surroundings, red velvet covered chairs, and gold painted white walls. On Friday night, we watched Rigoletto, a tragedy by Verde. The music was amazing and I even recognized some of the songs. Unfortunately, the opera was done in the original Italian and the subtitles they had overhead were in Ukrainian so I didn’t really understand anything, but Irene bought us an English booklet with a synopsis of Rigoletto. On Saturday, we were kept in by the rain but managed to make a trip to the market and go to see the ballet The Swan Lake, which I loved even more than Rigoletto. To be able to see what these dancers can do put me in absolute awe. Everyone who performed, whether it was in the orchestra or on stage, was amazingly talented. Also, there were no words to the ballet, so I didn’t feel left out of anything.

On Sunday, we cleaned up our apartment and prepared to board the overnight train to L’viv.  While on the train, Irene was nice enough to teach me the Cryllic letters and a few Ukrainian words. Ukrainian and Russian are such guttural languages that it’s hard for me to pronounce them and I often don’t even hear the different sounds that Irene produces—just the English sounds that I know. She had much patience, however, and was willing to repeat a word many times until I got it right or give me all the time I needed to write things in Cryllic.

We arrived in L’viv Monday morning at around 7 a.m. We’re staying at Irene’s mother’s house near the city center. Her mother was an English teacher and she’s been to Egypt 11 times! Their apartment is so big and there are separate rooms for Alex and I. He has the bed this time and I’m sleeping on a cot-like bed. After breakfast, we headed into Dubliany, a village about a half hour away from the city, for our first visit to the family orphanage. The whole situation was surprising. There was a sign pointing towards the “family orphanage,” but it was pointing in the wrong direction just so the asphalt will go that way and go towards the mayor’s house! The mayor is very corrupt and has been stealing the orphanage’s money for the “city,” but really for his own personal use. He made them put the money that they had saved after selling their business in the city fund and has done basically whatever he wants with it since then. Natalia, the mother of this family, visited an orphanage when she was ten years old and decided that she wanted to save as many children as she could after that awakening experience. This family was started by Ivan, who is now 12. Natalia and Uri were friends of his family, and after his mother left he was cared for by his grandparents. When his grandfather passed away, his grandmother asked Natalia and Uri if they would care for him. Since then, they have accepted nine other children into their home as well as their own two sons who are now in their twenties. Each child has horrible stories. Nastya, especially, has a horrible story:  her parents were alcoholics who fed her cigarette butts and alcohol and beat her. When she was brought into this family, she could not speak. Since then, she has started to speak and seems to be adjusting very well. Ivan smaller (10) stutters, probably due to beatings from the state orphanages. Marishka (9) and Pavlo (9) have cerebral palsy. When Marishka was adopted, there were worms living on her back. Zorihanna (9) is hyperactive, which was caused by experiments that the doctors did on her in the orphanage. This requires expensive medicine! However, in the midst of all of this, there are also great talents! Ivan (12) plays the clarinet and piano, and Svitlana (12) sings extremely well and even sang for the opera! Yulia (15) takes art classes. The older children all speak a little English and were excited to be able to practice with us.

I want to clear up a story from before that I misunderstood. It was not the music school who turned students away, but the actual school of Dubliany. Seven of the children could not take being taunted and called an orphan everyday, so they are driven to a special school in L’viv. The other three stayed, proudly saying that they were not orphans but that they had a family.

On Monday, we were greeted by all of the children who seemed genuinely happy to meet us. Since then, it has been a whirlwind of outdoor games, board games (which Alex has a tendency to cheat at by telling me there’s a cat in the kitchen and cleverly stealing my money while I look away :P), building puzzles (the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building), videos about the organization ‘My Family’ which Natalia is the president of, and generally just hanging out with the children. They love teaching us Ukrainian words and learning English words. We brought them candy on the first day and got a tour of their nice three story house, which they built to accommodate everyone. Their bedrooms reminded me of dorm rooms, with four beds and four nice new desks. It’s really nice though, and there is plenty of space and toys for everyone. On Tuesday, the family was overjoyed to receive our donation of $1,000 which will be used to pay for Zorihanna’s medicine and aerobics equipment for Marishka and Pavlo. The children were also very excited and broke into two teams to create thank-you cards for us to bring back! The father was so excited that he went out and bought a barrel of extremely delicious strawberries. On Wednesday, we did a presentation about America and the children seemed really interested. The mother also showed us pictures of the children growing up, as well as pictures of state institutions here. In a few of the pictures, the children were literally tied to the side of cribs like prisoners. It was awful.

I feel so blessed and grateful to have had the chance to meet this family. They are full of so much warmth and kindness. Although they don’t have much, they always try to give us the best of what they have and feed us at least three times a day. The children are so thoughtful and are always giving us the best seats, bringing us water, or putting on the English movies that they have in their game rooms. We are always greeted with a hug and a kiss at the door by the mother and grandmother, and the children who pick us up at the bus station (they take turns) are eager to show us around. It’s incredible to be here and realize that two people have given up their career and a large portion of their life to make sure that ten other people have a good life. J We are also blessed by the fact that one of the older sons of the family, Wasil (23), has studied in America before and knows very good English!

On Monday night, we met with a group of five people in their twenties who provide a summer camp to a state run institution. It is called “Children on Earth” and was started by a Methodist Church. These young people continued it, and go to a state run institution once a month. They’ve also been providing a summer camp at the end of June for three years with their own money and friends’ money. Their goal is to be friends with the children and ensure that the children know there are people who care. They were interesting to eat pizza with and talk to. I don’t know how we can help them in the future, but I hope that we find a way.

Tonight, we leave for a resort in the Carpathian Mountains with “My Family,” so we’ll be able to hang out with the children that we know as well as meet other family orphanages. The resort looks so nice and I’m so excited! Anyway, thanks for reading this very long blog post and keeping up with our adventures. I love you and wish that you were here. <3

For more information about the family orphanage:  http://www.moya-rodyna.org.ua/

Love always,

Alex and Chels :)

I also want to give a shout-out to my mom, whose 51^st birthday was this Tuesday! Happy birthday Mom! I love you. :)

Week 2: The Iarosh Family

Good day, everyone!

Last week, we were in Odessa working with The Way Home, an orphanage for various street kids. Over the weekend, we did some sightseeing and prepared for our next destination: Lviv. Now, we're here, and it has been an absolutely amazing experience!

Since we came here, we knew we would be working with a family who has adopted several orphans throughout the years. Now, they have 10 children, in addition to two adult sons. Th entire family is absolutely incredible!! From the beginning, the children were incredibly happy to see Chelsea and I, and they love playing with us. In addition, they have taught us some Ukrainian words and games during our stay. They live with their parents and grandmother, and they go out of their way to make sure that we're well-fed and doing well!

The purpose of our visit to their home is to show the kids that people care a lot about them. It has been tough to hear some of the stories of the children before they were adopted by these loving parents. It has been tougher to see some of the pictures of the children when they lived in state orphanages or on the streets. It baffles me how people can abandon kids in such deplorable conditions. What spoke to me the most was the story of little Nastya, who was fed alcohol and cigarette ashes by her real parents before she was brought into her current home. Also, Nataliia, their mother, showed us pictures of some state orphanages yesterday, where children are tied to their beds and left unatended. It was tough to watch for Chelsea and I.

Pavlo and Soryanna, two of the children adopted by the Iarosh family.

This is Nastya, who is always smiling.

Although there is a lot of sadness in their pasts, I am absolutely glad that these children have found a loving home. Nataliia and Yuriy have gone out of their way to provide for these children, and one can see that they're doing absolutely better. Irene said that it's best that they forget their past, and I completely agree. There is no need to remember what is hurtful. Now that they have a loving home, I believe that is all that matters. FCEE gave them a donation, and the parents are very happy to use that money to buy medicine and rehabilitation equipment for Soryanna and Pavlo. All the children get along very well and they're always happy. I am also glad to see little Nastya's smiling face everyday. My favorite is little Ivan, who has grown fond of me, and he always has a lot of energy and a fun personality to complement it!

As a sign of thanks, the children made two pictures for us.

Today, we are leaving for the Carpathian Mountains, where this family gathers with other families who have adopted and they have a lot of fun events! We'll try to keep in contact from there! Meanwhile, here are some pictures of the children from the past couple of days!

The children wanted to put together a model of the Eiffel Tower with us. It was a success!

Until later,

Alex

Feels Like Today

I'm switching it up today, and want to share some words of wisdom from Irene:

"It's good to be spoiled. The more you are spoiled, the more you want to give away."

"You cannot live without trust."

"It does not matter if you know the language as long as there is warmness between people."

Well, I'm going to try to build off of Alex's blog post and not bore you too much. I would just like to say that even though Alex is more quiet, he does a lot of wonderful things behind the scenes! He has done some wonderful photography work as well as create this blog and an FCEE logo. He also has some big plans for the book that we hope to create with children's stories. I always feel like I am talking too much because I am constantly talking to anyone we meet who speaks even a little English and asking lots of questions, but I think that's what makes us such a strong team--I get to do what I love through interaction with people and Alex gets to do what he loves with all of the work he does through his technology. Everything he creates looks wonderful, and I could never do that. :)

I just wanted to share some tidbits about Wednesday and the man that we met from Moscow named Alex. He is an anchorman on the show "Culture" from the second most famous TV channel in Russia. He is doing a talk show about street children on the side in an effort to earn a little extra money. The station that he works for is run by the federal government, and it was amazing to hear about the oppression there. He can only say what the government wants him to say, and his pronunciation of words must be clear and precise. If he even just says the president's name wrong, his salary is cut in half! He also told us about the poverty in Russia. They cannot afford alcohol, so they drink lighter fluid and windshield wiper fluid instead. One time, he was forced to drink it or risk being beaten by the villagers. He learned English from watching American TV/films. It was so interesting to talk to him and learn a little about Russian culture, and it made me truly grateful to be from America where we have the freedom of speech. While on social patrol, we ran into a small boy who looked 12 or 13 years old but well kept. He lives with his grandmother and mother; both drink heavily. This drove him to the streets, where he sells journals and begs to support his family. He defends his family and says that he does not need to come to The Way Home because he has a mother. The Way Home gave him lunch, clothes, and two sack lunches and sent him on his way.

Yesterday, we gave our presentation about America, which Alex created. Dasha, the volunteer coordinator, translated for us and has helped us set up everything. She has been wonderful in making sure that our stay here has gone well. Only about 6 or 7 children showed up, but I think it went really well. Afterwards, we gave them some chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to make some homemade cookies, but Irene worried that it was too hot, so we just bought them. We also met another volunteer from Dallas, TX named Gary. I thought that he was American from the second that he walked in the door. It was probably his Tommy Hilfiger shirt or his khakis. Somehow, he reminds me of George W. Bush. Anyway, he works in real estate but since it has been so slow he volunteers during the summer. He actually came last summer and only planned on staying a couple of weeks, but he liked it so much that he stayed a couple of months. He is really nice! Yesterday, he bought the children ice cream and right now he's out with Alex at the market. We also got to meet Svitlana, the founder of FCEE, briefly over skype! Right now, she's finishing up her doctorate at Cambridge and has a new baby so we couldn't talk long, but she was excited to see us and know that we're doing well. We finished up our night by taking a walk by the sea port. It was beautiful, but my favorite part was the monument to the sailor's wife. She didn't even look sad, just resigned. There was a deepness to it, a poetic beauty, that I may never understand. I spent my night skyping with my family, which made my whole day brighter! :)

This morning, Irene woke me up at 7 a.m. to go to the beach. Unfortunately, it was overcast, but that just made it even more beautiful. The beach was pretty much abandoned, but the waves were fast and deep. I didn't go swimming, but just watched it and listened to the thunder. At around 1 p.m., we came to The Way Home for our last day of volunteer work. We spent our time at the day center, which is open to all homeless children. It provides entertainment, technology lessons, medical attention, food, and psychological services to all who enter. When we arrived, there were no children. They don't need the help very much in the summer, but it is much busier in the winter. The facilities where they are at have only been open for 2 weeks because the rent ran out at the other building. We were able to talk to a social worker there who is in her third year of college to become a math teacher. She spoke English pretty well and gave us a large tour. It was good to know that the services were available. Now, I'm sitting at The Way Home waiting for Alex and the opportunity to go sightseeing this weekend. I'm really excited for Rigoletto tonight and The Swan Lake tomorrow night at the theater!

This has been a truly amazing experience so far. Everyday, I am amazed by something new in Ukrainian culture. Everyone here is so easygoing; plans are loosely made if made at all. Neighbors and their children gather in courtyards to play, and people pass their money forward on buses and it never gets stolen. People always want to feed us! There is a friendliness here that is not found in big cities in the US, and also a quietness that is difficult to explain. Usually, I need tylenol the first few days that I'm in a big city because there is too much pollution and too much noise. Here, however, the air is clean and the traffic isn't even that bad. It can be frustrating at times because there are no English subtitles and Cryllic writing and the Russian language is hard to understand, but somehow we always find a way. I guess the only thing that disappoints me here is the fact that we haven't actually been with the children. They have their own lives so they are usually not here during the day, and it is this time that allows us to go on social patrol and learn more about the situation and center. In a way, however, the fact that the children are older is a blessing--I have been able to see so much of the problem here. It makes me feel so blessed to have what I have. I'm so excited to go to L'viv and be with younger children and have a steady schedule of things to do, though!

Well, wherever you are, I am thinking of you and hoping you have a great day. I love you, and wish you could be here!

Love always,

Alex & Chels

Some children live in pipes like these to keep them warm in the winter.

Alex, Rosie, and I with some children of The Way Home.

Needles found in one of the bunkers near a market on social patrol.