Today was a nice sunny day so we decided to walk to stairs to the Russian monument for the fallen soldiers of a battle. The site that this monument was put on is the ancient ruins of a Greek city and there has been excavation so you can seen most of the foundation and some walls. This city dates 5,000 years before Christ. This is the place we have been wanting to visit but the weather and the number of stairs has kept us waiting. Today is a great picture day and the view has to be awesome so we had no choice but to try it. The rise on the steps are not very high so you can take a million baby steps or take two at a time (our choice). We walked up 3 flights at a time and would rest at the platforms and take pictures. We forgot to time the actual walk up but with all of our stopping to rest and taking pictures it took about 30 mins. It was definitely worth the view. We got a nice view of the black sea and two ports. In the distance we could see Russia but the sky was hazy in the distance so the picture is not clear. The monument was surrounded by a patio with walls of black marble. On different sections of the wall there were stars placed with what I believe to be the names of towns the soldiers were from. The only one I could read and knew the town was Odessa. I could be wrong, it is just a guess. We stood at the top of the hill and took pictures all the way around to capture all that we saw. Our favorite part was the ruins. It was amazing to think that something has stood that length of time. We walked around as much as we could to see what was left. We could see an old pillar, part of an entrance way, but mostly the foundation. There were others walking up to see the monument and take pictures. They were not even winded when they got to the top. We are so out of shape! The walk down was much easier.
We ate at the café’, posted, and read our emails. We wanted to stop and look at things to do with the children so we needed to find a place to exchange money. We had tried twice at the place we usually go but they were not working. After the third try we went looking for a place George showed us earlier in our stay. Everything worked out but it just adds to our walk and we are always a little worried about getting lost. We were running out of time to make it to the market and home in time to meet Andre’ (our driver) to go and visit the children so we decided to shop for the children tomorrow.
The visit today brought up many questions of what we are going to do when we get home. They like to fight and wrestle which is fine, but both have tempers and want to win so they can get a little rough. We try to get them to understand we want them to be easy but still can play but they seem to think we want them to stop. When we look up words Maxim is the only one who can read but at times he does not seem to understand what he is reading. Maybe it just doesn’t make sense to him. I do not know what the definitions say in Russian so I am at a loss. The other issue is Sasha’s pouting. She wanted a piece of gum and knows where I usually keep it. She was looking for it and of course it was gone. When I told her “nyet” she wanted me to look and I did. Of course we were still out. She climbed up in my lap and curled up like a baby and refused to move. OK, that is her choice. We continued the day as normal. So then our camera’s memory card was full and we needed to delete some pictures that we had already downloaded. She recognized the noise and ran over to see what Papa was doing and started saying “nyet” over and over. Shawn stopped but again she went to my lap and continued to stay and not interact. We just continued the day as normal. Maxim finally tried to talk to her and that was no good, so he tried to show her a toy he had. She just reached out and grabbed it, and went back into her pout. Maxim finally got her to let him show her, and then she was mad because she could not do it. She took it into the other room with the other family that is adopting and you could hear her giving them grief in there so I went to get her and bring her back to our room. She was this way most of the night. We are in so much trouble. Normally I would just let the child sit where they are until they are ready to be an active part of the family but we do not have the language to tell Sasha or Maxim what we want and his nature is to help her so she does not cry or pout. This is going to be fun when we get home!
2 comments:
Beautiful pictures! You are probably in better shape now than most of us sitting at home! Perhaps your translator can assist with explaining to Maxium and Sasha what you want to say. You still have a few more days to learn Russian! ha!!
miss ya!
You guys are on the Ukrainian fitness plan! Wow, beautiful pictures. There is something awesome about being in the presence of history. I wonder if Alexander the Great stood on the ground where you stood, stopped and admired the view.
It will be a challenge to communicate. It has some of the same issues as trying to communicate with a deaf person. Signs sometimes help children with their frustration when they are at the age of understanding more language than they can express.
Sasha sounds like she is used to the power and control and Maxim is a little pleaser and pacifier. Both will be more secure and happy when you all finally work it all out. We will pray for your wisdom in working with them. We love you, In Christ.
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