Weather

Looks like a beach week!

Boat Excursion

Yesterday afternoon we went on a boat excursion past Khortitza Island and then through the lock in the dam. We started our journey at a port about 30 minutes from our apartment near a park called Oak Grove. 

 We brought drinks and food (some people brought too much vodka) and had a little snack along the way. Dez was really excited to be on a boat. 

August couldn't have cared less and could have really used a nap!

It was a beautiful, sunny, +25 degree day and it was lovely on the water. 

View of the shore:

 This tour guide lady was sooooo excited to be sharing all the historical facts and landmarks along the way. We of course, ignored her as best as possible (it was all in Russian) but we couldn't ignore her enthusiasm!

Apartment buildings:

 The Sheraton hotel is at the bottom of this huge, new and massive complex. 

 The "new" bridge from the left bank (main area of the city) to Khortitza Island that has been in the building process for oh, 15 or so years and will be old and need replacing by the time it's finished. The story goes that some contractors got paid a huge chunk of money to do some work and instead they just took off. 

The old bridge across to Khortitza - the top is where trains go and underneath is where cars drive. 

 The Cossack replica town on Khortitza:

 Coming up to the dam/lock:

 Entering:

 The lock itself was the part I was looking forward to the most and it was actually super impressive. 

 There is no way to describe just how huge it was and just how far away the top was!!

 Waiting for another boat to enter before we go up:

 Steve and Dez anticipating the action:

The other boat is in and the doors are closing!

 The boys doing a fine job of pretending they know what's happening:

 We're getting higher!

 It was actually quite fast - just thinking about how much water it would take to fill that huge area and still being able to see the water level rise drastically along the wall was pretty cool 

 View of the Lenin statue as we rise to the top of the lock:

 Out of the lock and around the corner to the port near our apartment (7-10 minute walk home), the view towards the factories and these things:

 If you're in Zap, the boat excursion is definitely something we want to be doing with you! It's impressive enough that I would go again and again so plan your trip here during the boating season!! 

Steve: "Hey Dez, what was your favourite part of the boat trip?"

Dez: "Ummmm.....the CHIPS!" 

I don't think he got it. 

Activities

Yesterday we went to our friend Steph's place for supper in a different area of the city. After supper we went for a walk to a park and on top of the four or five play structures she had promised us would be there, there were also a bunch of other things going on.

There was a pool with peddle boats in it, horse/wagon rides, popcorn, cotton candy and a whole bunch of games (like you'd find at a fair) and bouncy castles/houses/slides for kids. 

 We of course got some cotton candy:

 And Dez went on this bouncy slide:

Dez was having a hard time getting up the stairs to the top of the slide so the four older boys that were in there at the same time were helping to push/pull/drag him to the top! 

We can't figure out if this is something that is happening there all the time or if this was some kind of special occasion. 

Playground

A tree blooming out the kitchen window. 

 Today we started painting the play structure near our apartment building. 

We had invited some of the youth we've been getting to know to come and help and only one girl - Katya, showed up (and it's more than likely only because I told her that I'd cut her hair afterwards!) BUT nevertheless - she came, she painted, she got a haircut and then she stayed for supper and the evening which was a nice bonus to get to know her a little better! She is one of the ones that we've spent the most time with between Young Life, School 25 and the drop in night at New Hope Center. She is graduating in a month and plans to go to university to study sign language. I must say - hanging out with someone for 5 hours having to decipher as much Russian as possible makes me really tired! And poor Bobi - she was busy translating as much as possible from Russian (her THIRD language) to English (her second language) - I can't imagine how fried her brain felt! Languages use a part of your brain that you don't even know exists! 

We are battling some sickness here for over a week now. The only one who has been healthy is Steve (he is strong, like ox) - the rest of us have gone between recurring colds and a 24-hour stomach bug (that wasn't horrific in the usual ways). Right now Bobi is sick and August is quite sick with a fever and cough so please pray for healing and that the rest of us don't get sick again. 

Snippets

Spring is upon us! 

I took these on Saturday and it's already greener. Tulips are blooming and the fresh produce at the markets is amazing!!

GREENERY to one side out our kitchen window

View of the tower to the other side out of our kitchen window

There are some +30 degree days in the forecast but they're a few weeks away and bound to change before then but we do expect them by the end of May for sure. 

 Saturday was warm - bordering on HOT. Instead of going to Menyezh with the youth we went out to Rainbow park (we don't know the real name but it has a huge rainbow in it!) and played baseball for over 3 hours. Most of them had never played before so there was an overview first and then batting lessons as the game went on. 

Oleg and Steve discussing calls

Waiting to bat (to clarify - the pregnant lady in pink is Oleg's wife and she was merely observing!)

Batting tutorial

Showing them how it's done

I played once just to bat and run around the bases and I had a good chuckle when I got to first base - a Ukrainian girl who had never played baseball before yelled to me from across the field about the next hitter: "Okay now when she hits the ball, you run to the next base!" Um, thanks - I would have never known because I've never played baseball before either! 

Bobi and I enjoying the sun. 

 Justin and Bobi both play guitar so we borrowed one for them to use. 

 Both boys get a kick out of watching Justin play.

 One of the classes we teach at school 25 is a very musical class and they requested that we play them some songs on Friday at our next class. We do realize that this will escalate us to "band" status and everywhere we go we will be asked to perform for more and more people....that's the experience we had the first time here with our Trek team - singing in every church service and every school class and everywhere else possible to sing. We're just thankful that we are all somewhat musical and that it won't be a complete and utter train wreck every time....although I can let you know after Friday's class. 

Random:

On the back of Dezmond's craft from Sunday School at New Hope:

 HOMEMADE peanut butter. Desperate times call for desperate cooking measures. 

P.S. It's amazing. 

Schedule: We have a ridiculously busy end of the week starting tomorrow - depending on the weather we are going to be painting the playground right beside our apartment building. We've invited some of the youth who we see at school 25/Young Life/Monday drop-in night at New Hope/sports afternoons (there are several who we see at all events) to come and help out so we hope they do. Thursday we have numerous Russian lessons, Friday there is an all-day soccer tournament happening at Menyezh that Steve is helping with, school for English class, our Russian speaking class and Young Life. Saturday - Steve has some Young Life leader training class, baseball in the afternoon with the youth and then we're doing a boat cruise around Khortitza island (and going through the dam)!! We have a one week break from being super busy (although I'm sure that will change) and then Steve and Justin are going away for 4 days on a hike with Young Life to Simferopol, which is in Crimea (southern Ukraine). The busy season is upon us so pray for energy for all of us. 

Team Stuff: Justin has decided to stay with us and help with our ministry for 6-9 months and Bobi will stay until June, go home and then possibly return mid-summer. We've already inquired about applying for visas for him while within the country and while we've discovered that it's impossible, we have learned that we can travel to any country around Ukraine and apply for and receive a visa in one day at the Ukrainian consulate! That is great news to know for us reapplying for visas in the future and we're glad it seems like an easy enough process....hopefully it turns out to be so simple when we actually go and do it! 

That's all for now! Thank-you so much for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! 

Lately

 Last Monday for supper club we went to another area of the city for a bonfire with the kids. There was a team here from America here that wanted to get together with the kids so we roasted wieners, made potatoes in the fire (with salo - a Ukrainian specialty which is rendered pig fat) and had marshmallows that were provided by the American team - they don't exist here and most Ukrainians have never had or seen them. 

A favourite youth activity - playing volleyball in a circle

As you can tell from my face the fire was reeeally hot and the sticks for roasting were reeeally short!! 

 Last Tuesday Steve took the overnight train to Kiev where our friends Bobi and Justin arrived on Wednesday. They took the Wednesday overnight train back to Zaporozhye and arrived early Thursday morning. We had a few beautiful days for them to have an easy transition from Spain to Ukraine weather (+20 and sunny!) but since the weekend it has been colder and cloudy. We've taken them to the market, the usual places we go (New Hope church, Young Life, supper club on Monday, Melrose for lunch) and on Tuesday we did an excursion to Khortitza island. We brought Marina along and she has a really good camera so she took some pictures for us. We had a picnic and went to the museum. 

Us with the Cossack fortress in the background. 

I was excited that the museum now has descriptions in English! I find the museum itself to be really well done and really interesting as far as museums go - I'd say one of the better ones I've been to in my lifetime. 

Explaining anchors and cannonballs to Dez. 

It turns out that Bobi is quite fluent in Russian (she's from the Czech Republic and learned Russian in school) and she's quite an asset when we're out and about even though we still try our hardest to speak as much as possible. Both Bobi and Justin have been a breath of fresh air for us - we've come up with a bunch of outdoor projects we want to tackle once the weather warms back up again and we're excited to get them as involved as possible with the things we already have on the go. We took them to school 25 last Friday and we started with a new class who is quite musical and were told by the teacher that we were to prepare a song to sing for the next week! Fortunately...or maybe unfortunately??? we think that class has been canceled for us tomorrow but maybe by next week we can get our hands on a guitar for both Bobi and Justin to play.