The culture shock of last week is gone, and we are slowly adjusting to our life in Odessa. Most of the time we remember to say “izvinite” instead of “excuse me”, or not to say “okay” after each sentence. Though it still feels unreal being back in Odessa. Just this morning we were walking the City Garden (Gorsad) and the young couple was walking toward us speaking Russian. We looked at each other and said almost simultaneously: “Did you hear, they are speaking Russian!” And then it downed on us: of course they are speaking Russian, it’s the language spoken in Odessa :)
We have a bit of a good news: our paperwork was accepted at SDA. However, they won’t issue an approval letter until Friday, so we can’t have a court date until next week. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers – we are really hoping for the court session on Monday or Tuesday. We miss our kids terribly and can’t wait to go home.
Though the bureaucracy is taking its toll on us, we are having so much fun seeing old friends. Many of you know that Oleg and I met in the first grade classroom and were classmates for 10 years. And yesterday we saw our 2 classmates who also were in the same class! We are hoping to see more classmates later this week – it will be our version of High School reunion.
We also had a chance to see several sights - our favorite beach "Dolphin" on the Black Sea, and the famous market "Privoz". I'm embarrased to say that I totally forgot about the pick pocketers on Privoz. Though I had most of the money in the inside pocket, I put 8 grivna in the outside pocket, just to make it easier to get it later when paying for the bus. I was very naive :) My 8 grivna were gone immediately!
We don’t really have time to watch TV, but recently we were pleasantly surprised to see “Dancing with the stars” Ukrainian style. The show format and even the music is the same as our American version, I guess they have to follow BBC format. But there are several differences. There are 4 international judges – from Netherlands, Italy, Russia and Ukraine, whose comments are translated live by several interpreters. It’s so cool! I also like the fact that the male host speaks Ukrainian, and female host speaks Russian, it allows people who speak both languages to enjoy the show.
Here are some more pictures from the last couple of days:
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15 comments:
You will definitely be in my prayers as you wait for your court date.
It is so neat that you and Oleg have the opportunity to make some of those connections again. Your story is so incredible!
Hang in there!
Hello from Mariupol, Donetsk Region! Glad to hear things are going well for you. I hope you get your court date soon! I understand about the culture shock...we are still adjusting! It is quite an experience!
hi natalyia, miss you, but so great to have updates and photos, gloomy, cold and windy here.
Thanks for sharing your journey and wonderful pictures with us. This seems quite the journey, not only to get Raisa, but down memory lane as well.
I see you finally got to wear the boots. I was also wondering what kind of meals do they make from the pig's head?
Enjoy your time there and our prayers will be for a relaxing, yet speedy trip home.
I'm sorry you're having to wait so long for court, but I'm glad you're getting to meet up with old friends. Hang in there! ((hugs))
I was hoping you might be in Kyiv when we come through, but it doesn't look like it. We'll be meeting up for dinner on Monday night, I think at O'Panas. You are of course welcome to join us if you make it to Kyiv! :) :)
Glad to see your there safe. Wish the adoption process was going smoother. It must be fun to visit all your old haunts and see friends. Keeping up with you.
Winnie
I just love to see pictures on blogs. The beach looks nice. Is it named that because there are lots of dolphins there? We have a beach within 75 miles of us (Gulf of Mexico), and we have seen several dolphins. One was a baby swimming exactly synchronized with it's mother! It was very hard to translate that into Russian to put in a letter. It ended up being all mixed up and the 'child' dolphin was floating. Floating didn't sound very good, if you know what I mean. Finally, we just put bathing I think. LOL I wish we were going to be close to a beach.
I noticed where feet are shown, they are wearing slippers. We heard to bring some for inside. We don't wear our shoes in the house either, we go barefoot. But, I don't think other people will want us to do that over there.
Anyway, I didn't mean for this to be a letter. Love the signs, the landmarks, market pictures, and your reunions.
Oh, and, about the couple speaking Russian, you can count yourself totally Americanized now. That's what you would have done had you been home! ;)
Again, what a beautiful city Odessa is. Even though you wanted a quick court date, it is a rare and golden opportunity to visit your childhood memories and reconnect with school friends.
From your blog, I assume that you are not allowed to have Raisa all the time.
What a love story to have met in first grade at age 6 or 7, to attend college together, marry, move to America and return years later to bring Oleg's niece back to be part of your family. It could be made into a movie.
I hope you get your court date the beginning of next week so that you three bid the Ukraine adieu and return back home.
I am thoroughly enjoying reading your blogs and seeing the pictures. You'll need to make a scrapbook to look back on.
So many memories for us as we share in your pictures and writings...I had to laugh about the Russian speaking comment in the park...sometimes when we were over there it felt like we could have been in NY. I must admit though, when we heard people speaking English is when we got excited ;)!
Hi Natasha!
I've been reading your blog - fascinating. I talked to your mom, everything is OK at home, Victoria is fine:) Hope all goes well next week so Oleg can come home soon.
Good Luck, Polina
Nataliya, it is so good to hear that you've been able to see your friends and visit where you used to live and go to school, etc. I had to laugh about the "speaking Russian" comment, too! :-) I'll continue praying for your journey to be smooth. Hoping for a court date soon!
Good news about the SDA. Hope you get a courtdate soon!
Glad you are enjoying catching up with old friends - but I know you are anxious to be home so will be praying for court on MONDAY so that you can begin the steps (hopefully with less red tape!) to get home!
Hi everyone. I liked your pictures so much, and I miss Odessa.
Raisa so cute. I hope you get your court date soon! You're in our prayers.
God with you.
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