Photos of us in Kiev

Cindie at St. Michael's in Kiev


Mel

February 22, 2006
Coming Back to Ukraine

Mel and I had a great trip across the Atlantic last Wednesday night. It is always long from Denver to London, but this trip was smooth and uneventful. They gave us bulkhead seats – I think the British Airways representative felt sorry for Mel – he has such long legs and 9 hours sitting scrunched up is very painful. The hotel room at Heathrow was adequate, although not very fancy. I was afraid the bed was going to be like a rock, it was so firm, but the mattress must have been some kind of new foam stuff because I woke with no pain in my hips, knees or back for the first time in months. We watched some of the Olympics real-time before bed.

The flight from London to Kiev was also uneventful. I am always nervous going through passport control in Kiev. I don’t know why – I have nothing to hide. I think it’s just that those young people look so official and serious in their uniforms as they carefully study my passport and visa each time. I can’t help but remember the first time we flew into Ukraine ten years ago. Everything has changed a great deal, but back then it was very “Soviet.” Now the process is more like going through passport control in London or even the States. Maybe part of my discomfort is that everything in Kiev is done in Ukrainian (or if the official has pity on me, Russian). At least in London and the States we all are speaking the same language. 

We were met at the passport/customs exit by two of our team mates and a Ukrainian driver. Melinda had a stalk of white mums for me. They have actually survived the trip from the airport to the flat we stayed at, a move to a second flat and the trip from Kiev to Kherson – and they still look great! Dima, our driver, loaded our suitcases into his little teeny Lada stationwagon, but two of the 4 suitcases had to go on the roof. Ladas really are not very big! They survived the trip into Kiev, through heavy snow, slush and fog with no problems to them or the contents. Melinda and I sat in the back while Mel scrunched himself into the passenger’s seat (he does a lot of scrunching – the price you pay for being a wonderful 6’5” tall!). Dima talked non-stop from the airport to Predslava, the hotel where we stayed. At one point Melinda looked at me and said she hoped Mel was doing ok! All of that Russian, with some Ukrainian thrown in here and there, plus some English now and again – well, it can be exhausting after a few minutes, to say nothing of 25 miles or more of travel time.

We stayed at Predslava again for 3 nights. The little apartments there are great, not too expensive, and you have a stove, fridge and at least two rooms (bedroom and kitchen) plus the bathroom. The fourth night we had to move to another “hotel” just down the road a couple blocks. Very similar, but $10 more expensive. We were about a 17 minute walk from a big supermarket where you can buy just about anything you might ever want. And one of the metro (subway) stations is only a block away. So Predslava is very convenient in several ways.

The first day we tried to catch up on sleep, but also walked up to the supermarket. The next day we walked to the supermarket, bought a few items for breakfast the next day, then headed on up the road to the next metro station. It was a little farther than we had anticipated, although it is quite possible that we missed a station inbetween.  We bought our metro tokens and then headed down into the bowels of the hills of Kiev.

Our goal was to go to our team leaders home for dinner. They actually live at the top of the hill from Predslava, but to get there you have to take two metro lines – the blue first and then the green – and make a transfer in the middle. It doesn’t feel like you are so far underground until you start back up on the escalators. Oh my! Some of them are several stories long and the distance you travel covers two or three city blocks, only underground. It was good to meet up with our team mates again and catch up a little on what is going on in their lives.

The next day was Sunday and we attended church at one of the new church plants in a new-to-us part of Kiev. After worship we had lunch with another team family and his parents who were also visiting from the States. The following day we had dinner with them all at their home. All of these trips meant trips on the metro all over the western side of Kiev (west of the Dnipro River). We spent a lot of time on the metro, as well as walking to and from metro stations.

My legs and feet were killing me – I’m not used to walking that much right now. It is amazing to me how quickly I get out of shape when we go back to the States. Everything is so far apart in the States and a car is a must – but it is terrible for the body! Walking is so good for your health and we do so little there. Here – we walk miles and miles every week. But right now – my feet and legs have to get used to it again! I also have to get used to all the people again. Crowds everywhere. And the rudeness of people … but that is a whole ‘nother subject for another time.

Sasha picked us up almost 3 hours late on Tuesday morning. We were wondering why it was taking so long since he is almost always half an hour early or right on time. Sergei K. had come with him to attend a tutorial for seminary and he was late for that as well. It seems they had spent part of the night at Sasha’s mother’s home in Pervimaisk and had left again at 5am, but the fog was so thick they had to travel quite slowly. And on the way back the fog was thick for about half of the journey.

We stopped again at Pervimiask to see Sasha’s mother and step-father. I just love his mother to pieces. She is in her 80’s and her health is very bad, heart problems as well as others. His step-father is a joy as well – always very jolly. They speak slowly for us and we understand quite a bit, although as usual a lot of Ukrainian gets mixed into the conversation and that throws us for awhile. This time Sergei was there to translate and that helps so much. Sasha is a Baptist preacher as well as professional driver. Both of his parents are Believers as well. The love of the Lord is so pronounced in their lives. I know they all have suffered a great deal over the years but their faith has stood firm. Each suffered persecution under the Soviet system, including interrogation more than once by police about their faith, other Believers that they knew and so forth. With so much freedom now (at least on the surface) it is easy to forget that they have truly been persecuted for their faith, and even now it is not always easy for them. Sasha’s mother was upset that he did not call to tell her we were on our way but he did not want her to get up and cook a big meal for us. I think she was embarrassed that all she had to give us was home baked bread, homemade jams, tea and some soy sausage that Sasha brought. But it was a feast. Actually, at the last moment Sasha’s step-father pulled out a huge jar of pickled tomatoes and opened them. I like them and both Mel and I had one. Very unusual taste, but good.

I slept a good deal of the rest of the way home. The road is very rough – lots of potholes and heavy truck traffic. Fortunately Sasha has a good van, even though it has a very stiff suspension. I did wake up as we went past the nuclear reactor north of Nikolaev, and once or twice farther down the road. It felt really good to finally wake up and find that we were only about 6 kilometers out of Kherson! The fog was very thick as we came into town, but here in Kherson there was no snow. Up in the Kiev area and even as we came south, there is still a lot of snow. This has been an unusually cold and snowy winter.

Coming into our flat was interesting this time. A year ago when we came back from three months in the States, everything seemed unreal. This time, I felt like we had only been gone a couple of days, not almost 10 months. Cheyenne, my cat, was glad to see us – or should I say, she was glad to see me. She tolerates Mel. We hooked up the computer immediately and I started downloading email. Finally went to bed around 1:30 am and we slept till 10:30 this morning.

So, it is good to be back in Kherson. Home. But I miss Colorado terribly already. And I can barely stand to look at photos of my little grandson …. I miss my family already and it’s only been a week. But this is where God has called us for now, and I rest in that.