Tuesday November 6, 2007

This morning I went running and took my camera with me. I was able to snap some pictures and take some video of the beautiful river-walk along the Psel River. I was also able to take pictures of the surrounding buildings, (some abandoned and some very modern). However, I’ll have to say that on the whole, many parts of the city have huge amounts of ‘deferred maintenance’. It’s interesting to note that at the orphanage, they have been able to replace some of the old solid wood slab doors (probably pre or just post WWII vintage) with new doors. New windows are also replacing the old windows in parts of the orphanage.



Outside our Apartment Before My Morning Run




The Psel River on my Morning Run




The 'Green Belt' - Morning Run




The 'Green Belt' - Morning Run



Unfinished Buildings Along the 'Green Belt' - Morning Run




Calvin After his Morning Run - Outside Our Apartment Main Front Entry




Outside View From the Back of our Apartment




Calvin on the Bridge at Roman's Orphanage



Cheryl and Roman at his Classroom Building



Today we went to the open-air market and froze our butts off. Before we left our derrieres’ at the market, we were able to buy Roman a coat for $30. It is a very good quality parka. Whenever we asked him if he was cold, he said “no” or “just leettle” (just a little). After we purchased his coat, he asked the lady to take the tag off so he could wear it. It was evident (at least I feel) that he was very cold and that the light coat he was wearing (more like a jacket), along with his sweater underneath, was not keeping him warm enough. We were also able to get him some under ware and Nadia a sweater.

Tonight Roman, Natalie and I went to the movies. We saw the movie “Bee” – the Disney computer animated cartoon. It cost Natalie and me 20 Ugr each ($4.00) and Roman 10 Ugr ($2) for out tickets. We ordered popcorn, soda and chocolate bars for another $6ish. Roman ordered his popcorn as “sweet”. Prior to putting butter on the popcorn, they put a couple layers of powdered sugar on the popcorn. It was actually quite tasty. A particular thing about attending the cinema over here is when you purchase your ticket; you have a reserved seat – much like purchasing tickets to a concert. The theater only had about 50 patrons so we were able to sit pretty much where we wanted. The theater was very old, but serviceable. Only one screen with the capacity to seat probably 1,000 individuals – much like the old Center or Villa theaters of Salt Lake that I remember as a child/young adult.
The movie Bee was fascinating. I only understood two words – “spa-siba” (thank-you) and “dobre” (good). The movie was in Russian, which Ukrainians understand. The movie was not a dubbed over American movie, but had original Russian voices. It had obviously been translated into Russian. Natalie told me after the movie that the word choices were very clever and deliberate so that you were able to get a play on the words – much like these movies do in the US. They cater to the adults with word antidotes, etc. I was able to follow the general gist of the movie. Nadia and Cheryl stayed at home as they had no interest in going to the show. After the Bee movie, we took Roman home and dropped him off at the orphanage.



Roman at 'The Bee Movie'