Monday morning, Darin had an appointment to go with our facilitator to apply for Irina's new Ukrainian passport. Before they left, Irina was eager to DO something. The boys were playing cooperatively in one of their pretend worlds, so I pulled out some schoolwork for her. She was eager! She got as close to Darin as she could and worked on math, handwriting and some letter sounds. There are definitely some gaps in her skills, which is to be expected. She's also a perfectionist and likes to move at lightening speed. Sounds a little bit like someone else I teach. ;) We'll take baby steps.
Once Darin and Irina left, it was a great opportunity for the boys to get started on their schoolwork.
There was some weeping and gnashing of teeth, but we made a little progress. Hooray!
Once they returned, we had time for an outing before our ride to the train that evening.
The boys wanted to see the soccer stadium that Darin and I had visited last trip.
You'll see that they are getting tired of all the photos and making some silly faces.
There are playgrounds everywhere here. A little rusty and rickety, but entertaining. They all love the seesaw (remember that from when you were a kid?) and I'm thankful for the way they are getting along. It's a little bit of a competition for who Irina "likes" best and always a rush to hold her hand, but I'm thinking that will fade as time goes on.
She eats up their attention. It's fun to hear her call out their names.
These kids are putting some serious miles on their little legs. I love all the walking everywhere.
Most days we've spent at least 2 hours walking, if not more.
At 6:21pm we arrived at the Donetsk train station. There are colorful lights all around the city.
And yes, it is very cold. The kids have been wearing long underwear every day.
Once the sun goes down around 4, it is freezing! (and not much warmer before)
I didn't get a great picture of the outside of our train. My camera was rebelling from all the cold.
We had two first class compartments. Each had four "beds." When I laid flat, I was touching from end to end. Darin obviously could not straighten out. We were provided bedding and a towel. And yes, Irina is being silly and crossing her eyes in this picture.
Are you getting tired of their track suits yet? I figured this would be cozy traveling attire.
I didn't account for the fact that it would feel like 85 degrees in the closed compartment. We were roasting!
Aaron, Irina and I shared one compartment.
Darin, Luke and Ethan shared the other compartment. The bathroom was pretty nasty and I tried to avoid it as much as possible. I was concerned I would be visiting the bathroom multiple times in the night with the kids, but we made it until 5:45am. Hooray!
I'm a little rusty, but I had SO much fun braiding Irina's hair while we were waiting to depart.
Oh how they loved climbing up and down from the bunks. Drove Darin crazy! :) Thankfully, they slept until 5:45am and there was no need for a nighttime visit to the stinky latrine. So, we made it. We arrived in Kiev 14 hours later, sweaty and alive. Praise the Lord. It was fun for the boys to experience it, but both Darin and I agree that we never want to experience it again. Being locked in our tiny compartment with no air flow was making me claustrophobic. I was just waiting for some man to come banging on my door shouting at me in Russian like a scene from Mission Impossible.
No comments:
Post a Comment