Looking Back Part 7: The Beach

This is Part 7 of the Looking Back series, previous parts are Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.

As I mentioned in the post about Sergey, we took some residents from the institution to the beach (err... a slimy, muddy river) on several different days. Two years ago yesterday, was a Monday and our last day going to the beach. I've combined pictures from several days, to do this post, so these pictures are not just from two years ago yesterday (hence why there are soo many). There is another post about the beach still coming.

We got to drive by these gorgeous sunflower fields everyday

See the Ukainian flag is blue at the top and yellow at the bottom? Ok, I've been corrected, the yellow is for the wheat, not the sunflowers. :P

Being "sick" definitely had its benefits some days... it's such a smoother ride in the front seat!

We had to walk over this long rickety bridge to get from the bus to the beach and back. Once you have 20 people on it, it was swaying pretty good!!

Why yes, this would be the river we they swam in.

It looks much prettier here, but trust me, it wasn't!

Ducks (or whatever they are) were EVERYWHERE! They are all the little fuzz balls you see in the grass. :)

Natasha - she wasn't so sure about going in the watter.

But we talked her into at least getting a suit on. :)
(Speaking of which, PLEASE keep an eye out at your local thift stores for CHEAP swimsuits! Max is always in need of more for these types of outings to the beach.)

Playing in the water - Sergey is the one a couple inches into the water bending over.

Sasha :)

Olivia

Many, many of the residents had NEVER been in the water. EVER. Esp the bedridden ones, but we were able to take quite a few in. :)

Vala

Some fishermen or someone caught this HUGE ugly fish! It was easily 4 or 5 feet long, and it was the most ugliest fish I had ever seen. It was almost like an eel with hardly any fins, but it was still fish. And yes, they were swimming in the same water this came from. Yuck!

Turkish Toilet! One of the Yulias (who is Ukrainian) told me I was a true Ukrainian girl for using it instead of going behind the bushes like she did! LOL

Volleyball

Crafts

Ice cream! A special treat for everyone!

Showing their muscles! They loved it when we showed them the pictures of themselves!

Ok, so maybe I missed one of the guys with Down syndrome in this post. That is Sergey on the left though behind them in the yellow hat.

Vala - I loved this sweet babushka! :) I was talking to her one day through one of the translators, and it just happened to be me she told that she needed a new pair of slippers for winter. Ok, then, I'll make you one tonight and bring you them tomorrow! :) So that's what I did having brought yarn along to crochet slippers.
My dream is to someday teach a couple of the residents (maybe in the cage) to crochet since they have nothing to do all day long, and then with supplies they'll be able to make slippers for everyone at the institution for winter.

Me and Sasha ♥

J Brian and a resident

Olivia, Renae, and Sasha, with Victor standing in front of them

And of course, everyone's favorite person is Max! :)

Before we left, Dad had asked our dentist if he would be willing to donate some toothbrushes for us to bring.  He went above and beyond what ask

Group pictures!

This day we had residents from a different institution and a Dutch team there with us. I purposely left out alot of pictures from this day as there were a lot more women at the the other institution (in swimsuits that didn't fit well), and the Dutchies swimwear wasn't exactly modest. ;)

My favorite picture of Olivia

Sorry it's sideways, but this was the door to our apartment. We were on the 7th story.

Like I said, there will probably be one more post with beach pictures, but that's the end of of this very picture heavy post. :) Thanks for reading!!

Looking Back Part 5: Hanging Out and Food

This is Part 5 of the Looking Back series, previous parts are Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

I know I should have had this post up the other day, but I've been busy, and I wanted to leave Sergey's post at the top for awhile.

Two years ago last Friday, was Tuesday the 6th, and two years ago today was Friday the 9th. I was never "healthy" while I was in Ukraine, starting with the trip over, and a day didn't go by without an upset stomach at some point. I'm sure the conditions of the institution and the very oily food didn't help. On these two days, I stayed home from the institution and hung out at the apartment with a couple others including 9 yo (at the time) Josiah, and one of the days his little sister Olivia. Here a few pictures from those days.

Walking back to the apartment after breakfast...
This view was really cool for me to see. Before our trip I had looked on several sites including Max's for pictures of what the city would be like. I found one of this exact view that I believe we used before our trip to show during a presentation at church. There were several other pictures, esp of people that it was fun to actually meet and see the people in the those pictures!

Feeding stray ducks!

Veggie Market

Milk anyone?? This guy and his wife(??) were here with their milk in the morning, and usually when we came back from supper after a long hot day. Which means the milk sat out all day in the 90 degree weather. Needless to say I stayed away from drinking any milk during the trip!

Josiah

Back in the apartment with Olivia

She was just about walking!

Olivia was (is?) only a little bit older than our little Rachel at home. They were both about the same place developmentally, and I think spending time with her is really what chased away any homesickness I had.
Josiah and Olivia are the two kids of J Brian and Renae who led the trip.

At the end of the day waiting for supper - Brooke, Megan, and I

Alice tried to move the table out, and after her adventure with the blinds, we all accused her of breaking the table too. :) Turns out that the board on top slides out, and flips open to make a big table if that makes sense. 

Oh the food! It was sooo sooo good! (But did I mention oily??) Not only was it delicious, it was beautifully presented. We had 3 cooks who got up at the crack of dawn to start cooking, and were there until usually 9 at night cleaning up. We ate in a shelter/veranda thing to the back of Pastor Gregory's courtyard, and they cooked in a kitchen that was back there too. Here are a few of the many pictures I took of the food!

Sorry, it's too late for me to bother to fix this one.. :P

Our 3 UH-mazing cooks - Katya, Zheyna, and Natasha
Oh, and J Brian, the amazing eater behind them! ;)

That's it for this post... Thanks for reading!