We met Konstantine during our first year here in Kherson. In fact, he was one of the first members of the church. We'd only seen him once in the last year or 18 months, though. We knew he'd been working and taking some classes, and as is very common here, he could not get free very often on Sunday. He came to the English class three or four months ago for the first time in a couple of years. Melinda commented afterward that when she talked to him, he seemed really 'strange' and like he was not 'all there' somehow. We found out about 3 weeks ago that he had died from what was officially called a problem in his brain. We are not sure what that means. The person who told us the news had known him fairly well, but this person, "V", is not what I would call a 'nice' person. He is sneaky and likes to lie and bait people to see what their response will be. So, when he told us that Konstantine had actually committed suicide - well, we are not sure what to think at this point. However he died, it is very sad. Immeasurably more so if it was indeed suicide. We've heard since then that he had symptoms of being bipolar - very high ups and very low downs. My heart aches for his elderly mother.
The second guy in my thoughts tonight is a young British man we met just tonight. We met him at a local cafe. Mel and I were waiting for some friends to show up and this guy came and sat down one table over and behind me. We heard him order Coke with ice and knew immediately that he was either British or Australian - it was hard to tell from what little we heard, but it was definitely in English with a non-American accent. Our friends showed up and they were talking rather loudly. This young man heard, of course - everyone around us did - and immediately came over and introduced himself to us.
He told us he and a friend had driven here to Ukraine from the UK. Wow! That is quite a drive! Apparently the friend was coming to meet a girl in a different city while this young man wanted to come down to Kherson to meet up with a young woman he'd been corresponding with on the internet. Somehow we had kind of figured that out already... it happens so often here. He's been, he told us, in Kherson for just 3 days and we are the first native English speakers he's heard. He was kind of desperate for someone who could understand him and speak 'his' language. This is not the first time we've met men like this - in the middle of culture shock and not knowing anyone else here from home (or an English speaking country at least). On impulse I gave him our phone number, in case of emergency only. No address, just the number.
He told us his name, but I only remember the last name - Gibson. Sigh - my bad memory!! Anyway, he was waiting for this young woman to show up. And she did. What can I say? Very typical - extremely short, short skirt, make-up plastered on with a trowel, bleached blonde, 3 or 4 inch heels, and a huge scowl on her face. Whatever do these guys see in these girls??? And why do they look like they've been sucking on sour pickles for the last three days? Another sigh.
They sat and talked for awhile - we couldn't hear anything. Finally they got up to leave and as they walked by he stopped and said thank you for talking to him. We wished him well. As he turned and walked off I felt a huge impulse to say it - and I did - BE CAREFUL.
About half an hour later we saw the young woman come walking back without him. Instead she was walking with another much older Ukrainian man. She was still scowling like someone was poking her with pins. But what was rather alarming to us was that this man had come in and sat down at the table next to us just a couple minutes after she first arrived. And he sat there until just after they left - then he got up and left, too.
So, I prayed for this young man tonight and he is very much on my mind. Two scenarios are in my mind. The first one is that she was for real and this guy was there to make sure the English guy was for real, too. And maybe they realized that they didn't like each other in person, or they had made plans to meet again later. The second is that this young man was set up for robbery or something. I pray it is the first (without the planned second meeting - he seemed to deserve more than sour pickles). I just pray he is ok and will be making his way back to London soon, safe and sound, no poorer but a lot wiser.
It is amazing how many of these situations we see. It is pathetic.
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