Part 18 Drivers, Bathing Suits and Trash

Well Good news and Bad News. We found out our court date, Yeah!!!! August 11th, What#$@! Boooo!!!! Yes How long does it take to get a court date in Ukraine? Apparently 1 Month! And I thought our Government was slow.
I will be flying home after the 11th to Dallas. There is a chance I will have to come back for a second court date but I will fly back for that if necessary.

Tomorrow we move into the church apartment, something Heidi has been looking forward to since July 12th. More space, Clean, working AC, running water and a Full size fridge! Wow my expectations have certainly dropped in three weeks. Before you know it I will be wearing the same clothes everyday and only showering once a week. Opps to late. just kidding about the Shower. As far as the clothes go I should have only brought two change of clothes it seems to be all I wear.

That segue ways nicely into...

Bathing Suits Every day we go to the beach most days we go twice(I will explain in a little bit why that might not be as nice as it seems). So the majority of everyday we wear our bathing suits. No I have not opted for the European speedo. Yet?!? Everyday we wear the same swim suits. I don't mind wearing the same suit everyday, the lack of decisions is refreshing(like a uniform). Heidi and Jackie on the other hand go through this hilarious ritual every morning where they ponder over which bathing suit they will wear. The one piece or the two piece. Print or no Print, oh and colors, they have hundreds. Each day they put on their swim suits and ask how everyone likes their new outfit. Most days we say we liked the one from the day before better. Of curse all of this is a figment of their imagination because all we have is ONE SUIT! It's like the movie Groundhogs Day, we wear the same thing and do the same thing everyday!

Trash For those who say "Wow the beach is a great way to pass the time". To you I say sure for the first few days "Maybe". At 10 am we get picked up and driven to the beach. We then walk with the 100lbs of beach gear snacks and water for the baseball team of children we have been collecting. We have to then walk down a steep cliff to get to the beach. As you go down the cliff you walk through what seems to be a garbage dump. (Most of the public areas in Ukraine are filled with Litter). Most days you smell old wet cigarette butts, Beer Bottles fermenting in the hot sun, Rotting Corn husks and Decomposing fish carcases but today i got an extra little bonus Three Dirty Diapers Mmmmmmm Yummy! What is wrong with these people!
After you wade through the Bog of Eternal Stench you arrive on what seems at first glance to be soft white sand, but then as you look closer you realize that there are cigarette butts everywhere, the entire beach is one big ashtray. If Only I smoked:-0 So you are just about to set your stuff down in the ashtray when you realize you are surrounded by another kind of butt, the humankind. Big butts, Little butts, Tan butts, White butts, Old butts, baby buts, Butts with Birthmarks, Butts with moles buts with stretch marks. There's something for everyone!
After you get done dry heaving you march down the beach to the Orphan beach ask the teacher in the best Russian you can muster if your son can come an spend time with you. You play for about 45 min and then back through the Bog of eternal stench and back up mount Everest.
One other tid bit. I don't like the beach I am one of those people that does not tan easily. My body prefers to burn. The only way I tan is if I slightly burn myself everyday. not too much or else I'll blister up and have to start all over. Of Course I am in a country where everyone tans easily. So if the flashing sign on my head wasn't enough the pale white, slightly over weight Baluga whale look is a dead give away. After mountain climbing we get driven home.

That leads me to the

Drivers I have described the roads in earlier blogs, and i have compared the driving experience to an old wooden roller coaster. With that said there are no speed limits here, very few working street lights and no marked lanes. the drivers speed up when they see a pedestrian and swerve in an out of traffic, barley missing other cars, trees and small children. It is a death trap every time you get in a car. Does anyone remember a ride called the mouse trap. It was one of my favorites. Remember that you would go along the track and it would seem as if you would fall off and then at the last sec you would turn. the roads are so bad that the drivers are all over the place even up on the sidewalk to avoid the craters in the roads. Between that and the constant brake, gas, brake, gas Heidi and I have been car sick for weeks.

By the way thank you for the comments we really look forward to reading them. It gives us a little piece of home. also if there are spelling and grammer mistakes I apologize. I usually write this before bed and I am too exhausted to proof read.

I have a special blog for tomorrow.