(Click on a picture if you want to enlarge it)
Bedroom
The Apartment Complex
Kitchen and sitting room
Monday, August 15, 2005
Appointment on Tuesday?
Howdy everyone. We got a call last night from Luba saying that we should have our appointment on Tuesday. We'll find out what time it will be later on today. If anyone's willing to hit their knees for a little prayer on this appointment, we'd appreciate it. We'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes when it is over. Hopefully we'll be on our way to find some rowdy youngster shortly after that.
Today we are on a long walk around the neighborhood trying to find the "supermarket". We didn't go the right way, but we are trying to circle back on it. I won't go into who wasn't allowed to ask for directions to it.
We stopped at the universal restuarant, McDonalds for lunch today. The best part of the meal was the air conditioning. We've not had a building with air conditioning since London that I can recall. If anyone recalls the conversation from "Pulp Fiction" about there being no Quarter Pounders with Cheese in the McDonald's in France because of the metric system, the same goes here. In fact, the name is similar to the Royale with Cheese they mention in the movie. It's something like a McRoyal, but with cyrillic letters. Pam went for a McFish herself. The fries were just called potatoes in Russian.
We decided to split a pie and I went to up to ask for a "McPerok" basically McPie and they in bad English told me I could choose between cherry and something else. I offered, "Apple?", they said no. Finally someone said it was Woodberry Pie. Well, I just had to try that. Turned out to be some kind of mixed berry with blueberry and raspberry together. It was really tasty. I can't say the same for my burger. It was pretty lousy.
We are currently in an internet cafe that I really like. It's called The Vault and is a huge warehouse type of room just packed with rows of computers. Most of them are set up for gaming, which would be a blast, except for the language barrier. I watched a kid playing Grand Theft Auto next to me for a while. I'm also sipping a beer while I type. How cool is that? If it weren't a half hour walk from the apartment, I'd be here every day.
These computers are also Windows XP, so we have the ability to finally load up some pictures, which Pam has been doing. They show our apartment and \I think she is loading one of her and Luba that I took in front of St. Sophia's Cathedral.
Today we are on a long walk around the neighborhood trying to find the "supermarket". We didn't go the right way, but we are trying to circle back on it. I won't go into who wasn't allowed to ask for directions to it.
We stopped at the universal restuarant, McDonalds for lunch today. The best part of the meal was the air conditioning. We've not had a building with air conditioning since London that I can recall. If anyone recalls the conversation from "Pulp Fiction" about there being no Quarter Pounders with Cheese in the McDonald's in France because of the metric system, the same goes here. In fact, the name is similar to the Royale with Cheese they mention in the movie. It's something like a McRoyal, but with cyrillic letters. Pam went for a McFish herself. The fries were just called potatoes in Russian.
We decided to split a pie and I went to up to ask for a "McPerok" basically McPie and they in bad English told me I could choose between cherry and something else. I offered, "Apple?", they said no. Finally someone said it was Woodberry Pie. Well, I just had to try that. Turned out to be some kind of mixed berry with blueberry and raspberry together. It was really tasty. I can't say the same for my burger. It was pretty lousy.
We are currently in an internet cafe that I really like. It's called The Vault and is a huge warehouse type of room just packed with rows of computers. Most of them are set up for gaming, which would be a blast, except for the language barrier. I watched a kid playing Grand Theft Auto next to me for a while. I'm also sipping a beer while I type. How cool is that? If it weren't a half hour walk from the apartment, I'd be here every day.
These computers are also Windows XP, so we have the ability to finally load up some pictures, which Pam has been doing. They show our apartment and \I think she is loading one of her and Luba that I took in front of St. Sophia's Cathedral.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Pizza for Dinner
As Ray posted, I went running through the big supermarket grabbing Pringles, Cheetos, Cadbury chocolate bars, and the best thing of all, a frozen pizza with identifiable meat! It was ham and pineapple. Low and behold, the stove in the apartment worked just fine and we had pizza for dinner. At last, a meal I didn't have to cook from scratch. Believe me, I won't take a washer and dryer and pre-packaged foods for granted. Now if I can only find some nacho chips and cheese sauce! Hello to Everyone! Pam
Sunday Afternoon
Hello everyone. We appreciate all the e-mails, please keep them coming.
Yesterday's trip to the Open Air Museum was actually pretty interesting, despite the educational aspect of it. Actually, I like history a lot and this was a lot of history.
The Open Air Museum is a huge place, according to our translator Luba it is 180 Hectares, which works out to about 444 acres. They have buildings that are representative of all the regions of Ukraine here. It was a nice day for walking around, but it was a lot of walking around and it ended with us walking uphill for at least a mile. Yep, it was another of the patented Ray and Pam "Death Marches". Luckily Alexei was waiting with the car to take us home.
Here's the link to the museum: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museumstudies/websites04/martin/Ukraine.htm
On the way home Pam said something about the supermarket after Alexei had dropped Luba off. She meant the market across from our apartment, but I was unsuccessful in explaining "magazine nedelacor v'kvarteera" (the store not far from apartment) and he took us to a place actually called a supermarket. I had noticed the signs saying supermarket before. Pam loved the place. You could use a cart and pick up things from the aisles and ring up everything at a cashier before leaving. Heck, I loved that part of it myself.
On the way back, I told Alexei, "Maya jenna, oichin loobeesh supermarket" to which he replied, "Da, maya jenna toja". Translation, "My wife very much loves the supermarket" and his reply, "Yes, my wife too."
This morning we went to Luba's church for the 11:00 service. Her church offers a translator that speaks over an FM transmitter to radios with headphones that Pam and I wore. It was a good service, but like so many places here in Ukraine, the church was up 4 flights of stairs and was extremely warm.
After service, Alexei and his wife Oxana drove us home. It sounds like we may be going to the NAC again tomorrow, but we've not heard that officially from Tatiana. We are doing some serious internet and relaxing today and hopefully we'll get on to the real business Monday or Tuesday and find a child to go visit.
Yesterday's trip to the Open Air Museum was actually pretty interesting, despite the educational aspect of it. Actually, I like history a lot and this was a lot of history.
The Open Air Museum is a huge place, according to our translator Luba it is 180 Hectares, which works out to about 444 acres. They have buildings that are representative of all the regions of Ukraine here. It was a nice day for walking around, but it was a lot of walking around and it ended with us walking uphill for at least a mile. Yep, it was another of the patented Ray and Pam "Death Marches". Luckily Alexei was waiting with the car to take us home.
Here's the link to the museum: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museumstudies/websites04/martin/Ukraine.htm
On the way home Pam said something about the supermarket after Alexei had dropped Luba off. She meant the market across from our apartment, but I was unsuccessful in explaining "magazine nedelacor v'kvarteera" (the store not far from apartment) and he took us to a place actually called a supermarket. I had noticed the signs saying supermarket before. Pam loved the place. You could use a cart and pick up things from the aisles and ring up everything at a cashier before leaving. Heck, I loved that part of it myself.
On the way back, I told Alexei, "Maya jenna, oichin loobeesh supermarket" to which he replied, "Da, maya jenna toja". Translation, "My wife very much loves the supermarket" and his reply, "Yes, my wife too."
This morning we went to Luba's church for the 11:00 service. Her church offers a translator that speaks over an FM transmitter to radios with headphones that Pam and I wore. It was a good service, but like so many places here in Ukraine, the church was up 4 flights of stairs and was extremely warm.
After service, Alexei and his wife Oxana drove us home. It sounds like we may be going to the NAC again tomorrow, but we've not heard that officially from Tatiana. We are doing some serious internet and relaxing today and hopefully we'll get on to the real business Monday or Tuesday and find a child to go visit.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Cell Phone is Working!
Okay, we finally got to the root of the cell phone problem by trial and error. Our phone isn't working right for the card. Luckily, the phone prices here aren't too bad and we ended up getting another cell that our sim card works in.
Our number is 38 097 382 9814 which includes the country, city, etc... that will work throughout the country, so we are set for moving on to whichever region it may be. That was the important part of getting this working.
We are doing just a quick visit to the internet today before going to visit an area that is basically a miniature Ukraine. It has samples of architecture, culture, etc from all the regions within the country. I figure it's educational and good exercise both, so obviously, I'm not so interested at this point. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Our number is 38 097 382 9814 which includes the country, city, etc... that will work throughout the country, so we are set for moving on to whichever region it may be. That was the important part of getting this working.
We are doing just a quick visit to the internet today before going to visit an area that is basically a miniature Ukraine. It has samples of architecture, culture, etc from all the regions within the country. I figure it's educational and good exercise both, so obviously, I'm not so interested at this point. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Ironing Ray's Handkerchiefs!
Hi all,
Gosh, I know that I am going stir crazy when I ironed all of our clothes today including Ray's hankies! I got up this morning and found a vacuum and cleaned the whole apartment and did laundry and dishes. We have a washer in the apartment and then I hang the clothes on a line in the balcony/porch of the apartment. I do feel lucky that we have a washer and and iron at this place. I washed out clothes by hand in London and it was no fun! It actually felt good to have some tasks to work on today. I am not one to sit around and it's driving me crazy.
Cooking is interesting and doing dishes takes a long time. I heat the water for washing and rinsing since I don't want to take any chances with getting something from the water. The market has lots of fresh produce from the country people and we have been enjoying fresh peaches and tomatoes. But I would sell my soul for a plate of nachos right now!
I have been reading the Lemony Snicket books on my Palm Pilot. My niece Jenny took me to see the movie with Jim Carrey as Count Olaf and I was interested in the books. I really enjoyed the books and want to go back and watch the movie again.
Tommorrow our translator, Luba, is coming to take us out again. We are going to some place that has houses and replicas of how the people live in the villages of Ukraine. Not quite sure what we are seeing but she said it's very interesting and a lot of walking.
I am so proud of Ray and his Russian. I don't know what we would do if he didn't know how to ask for things and talk to people. We would have to rely on a translator all the time.
Thank you all for your prayers and hopefully our next appointment will go better at the adoption Center. Miss you all! Pam
Gosh, I know that I am going stir crazy when I ironed all of our clothes today including Ray's hankies! I got up this morning and found a vacuum and cleaned the whole apartment and did laundry and dishes. We have a washer in the apartment and then I hang the clothes on a line in the balcony/porch of the apartment. I do feel lucky that we have a washer and and iron at this place. I washed out clothes by hand in London and it was no fun! It actually felt good to have some tasks to work on today. I am not one to sit around and it's driving me crazy.
Cooking is interesting and doing dishes takes a long time. I heat the water for washing and rinsing since I don't want to take any chances with getting something from the water. The market has lots of fresh produce from the country people and we have been enjoying fresh peaches and tomatoes. But I would sell my soul for a plate of nachos right now!
I have been reading the Lemony Snicket books on my Palm Pilot. My niece Jenny took me to see the movie with Jim Carrey as Count Olaf and I was interested in the books. I really enjoyed the books and want to go back and watch the movie again.
Tommorrow our translator, Luba, is coming to take us out again. We are going to some place that has houses and replicas of how the people live in the villages of Ukraine. Not quite sure what we are seeing but she said it's very interesting and a lot of walking.
I am so proud of Ray and his Russian. I don't know what we would do if he didn't know how to ask for things and talk to people. We would have to rely on a translator all the time.
Thank you all for your prayers and hopefully our next appointment will go better at the adoption Center. Miss you all! Pam
Daily Update
Hi guys,
Not much happening here today. Pam did some cleaning this morning while I worked on my Russian for a while. (Yes, I am avoiding housework even here.)
The phone rang about 8 times so far today, but most of those calls were people wanting to look at the apartment, I believe. They used the word "kvarteera", which is apartment. I didn't understand the first guy who called and he just hung up on me. In fact most people hang up on me when I ask them if they know English. A few I've directed to the owner's mother's number. I hope the apartment isn't going to get rented out from under us.
We've got a big shopping list today as we are out of about everything except some frozen vyriniky. The meat in that batch is a bit funky even for me, but I guess I'll survive a second serving.
In my Russian studies today, I found a useful phrase, "Ja hachoo pateet..." That's basically, "I want to buy..." It's my first time using a verb plus an infinitive and I can't wait to add that to my point and grunt repetoir. Honestly, it's not too different from the ".... pajaloosta" that I've been using, but it's probably going to be more polite.
The life in the apartment is kind of getting old. Both of us are bored and just waiting to get back to the NAC and get down to some serious business. We are enjoying the e-mails and replies to the blog, so please keep them coming. If anyone by chance is just checking the blog and doesn't have our e-mail addresses here's what we are using. Pam is pjstephens@verizon.net, while I am using raymond.stephens@gmail.com for mine. I find the web based e-mails esaier for traveling. Send us some notes, we are looking forward to hearing from everyone.
Not much happening here today. Pam did some cleaning this morning while I worked on my Russian for a while. (Yes, I am avoiding housework even here.)
The phone rang about 8 times so far today, but most of those calls were people wanting to look at the apartment, I believe. They used the word "kvarteera", which is apartment. I didn't understand the first guy who called and he just hung up on me. In fact most people hang up on me when I ask them if they know English. A few I've directed to the owner's mother's number. I hope the apartment isn't going to get rented out from under us.
We've got a big shopping list today as we are out of about everything except some frozen vyriniky. The meat in that batch is a bit funky even for me, but I guess I'll survive a second serving.
In my Russian studies today, I found a useful phrase, "Ja hachoo pateet..." That's basically, "I want to buy..." It's my first time using a verb plus an infinitive and I can't wait to add that to my point and grunt repetoir. Honestly, it's not too different from the ".... pajaloosta" that I've been using, but it's probably going to be more polite.
The life in the apartment is kind of getting old. Both of us are bored and just waiting to get back to the NAC and get down to some serious business. We are enjoying the e-mails and replies to the blog, so please keep them coming. If anyone by chance is just checking the blog and doesn't have our e-mail addresses here's what we are using. Pam is pjstephens@verizon.net, while I am using raymond.stephens@gmail.com for mine. I find the web based e-mails esaier for traveling. Send us some notes, we are looking forward to hearing from everyone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
