Snowing in June

Summer has arrived but the ground looks like it is snowing. All the white here is the fluff from the trees. Some areas are more dense than others but by UBI it is very dense. Last week when it was windy and it looked like it was snowing but really it was sunny and over 20 degrees.

Earlier this week we had a quick trip to Dnipropetrovsk with some friends of ours and Laurie's parents. It was a fun time with exploring a new city and practicing our Russian with them. One of our friends speaks an intermediate level of English and of course Laurie and I know some Russian so the language barrier was not too much of an issue.

It was nice to be a guest. It helped us to see how some of the students live outside of UBI. They were good hosts and treated us very well. We had very good weather there as well. It was very hot in the sun. Here is Laurie and Lena taking it easy in the shade.

In Dnipropetrovsk we spent some time walking around town and shopping. I told Vova I was hoping to buy some new jeans. My one pair was starting to get holes in it so I figured a replacement was due.
We first went to the downtown mall that was huge and expensive. The cheapest jeans we could find there were around $400 Hryvnia , about $60 dollars Canadian. I thought this was ridiculous so I told Vova I wanted cheap jeans. So then he took me across the street to a smaller clothing store and there we found decent jeans for $75 Hryvnia. Yes, thats more like my price range. Now I just need to find those stores here in Donetsk.

As soon as we returned to Donetsk we had to get Laurie's parents ready to leave. They were taking a overnight train to Kiev and then flying out from there the next day. We were sure glad to spend some time with them here in the Ukraine. It was encouraging for us to see them.

This past Saturday we went to a small town just forty minutes outside of Donetsk. I believe its called Garlorkov. There, the Church of Christ held a youth conference. They did a very good job with giving a relevant message that was rooted in Scripture. They also provided a meal, played games and had discussions. I was encouraged to see many youth there and was hoping they were soaking in the good messages. Laurie wasn't feeling well though so we had to leave early. This challenged my navigation skills a bit. Because on the way to there we just followed Bogdon and trusted he knew where he was going. But we left on our own so luckily I paid attention to which buses we took and figured the buses must return to where they come from, so we took the same ones home. Thankfully my theory worked and we got home without incident.

Today, Laurie and I took the morning off to rest. We have both been fighting colds that have been draining us. Nevertheless we did have a Russian lesson this afternoon. It is interesting, the more Russian we learn the more we realize we have sooooo much more to learn. It was funny when we got to the university and Laurie realized she forgot her tissues at home and she needed to use the washroom. This was a problem because the university washrooms don't have toilet paper in them. We had some time before our lesson so we went up the street and found a pharmacy. The lady there asks me what I'm looking for, so I said, “ do you have ... umm, ahhh.” I realized that I don't know the word for tissue, or paper or blow or sneeze or anything that would help me describe tissue paper so I did the only thing I could ... I performed a little charades for her. She laughed at me but it worked. Laure laughed at me as well saying that I probably made her day. How many other pharmacies have foreigners come in and act out sneezing and blowing their nose for them. We have some more free time this summer so we'll focus more time on the language.

After our lesson we stopped for a treat. I got a milkshake and Laurie an iced tea. Our straws came with frills on them ... Laurie thought this was funny so she took a picture of me. I am amazed at how manly I make this milkshake look!

Now we need to work on preparing for our English classes and working on school assignments. We are giving group lessons and private lessons. The private lessons are giving us an opportunity to build stronger relationships so this is good. We're thankful for this opportunity and the opportunity to open our house to others.