Merry Christmas

Day 13 – Friday, 25 December

In our dreams, Christmas dawns still and clear, sunshine glinting off freshly fallen snow, reindeer tracks on the roofs of every small child. In Ukraine…not so much.

We have figured out how Santa manages…he distributes his workload in Europe across the month of December, visiting Ukraine (and probably many other places) over New Year’s; he’s not due here for another week. He did a fly-by for us, though, and dropped off some warmer temperatures.

As our translator left the apartment around 9:30, she winked and instructed me to look at the window—she thought she heard ??? ?????? (Santa) during the night. In my morning haze, however, my brain processed her command as “Look OUT the window.” I spent the next 20-30 minutes intently staring out the window while I tried to get my laptop online. I have no idea at all what I was supposed to see, but I was sure I was supposed to be looking out the window.

When our translator called again to let us know when our driver would arrive, she asked if we had found it.

Mark: Found what??
Translator: Look on the windowsill behind the blind.

“Santa” had been there, and had brought us a couple of small souvenirs from the town we are staying in! Our translator is so thoughtful!! It’s so wonderful when you meet someone halfway around the world, and things just click so quickly that you can move beyond the professional arrangement and into a real friendship, and we really look forward to staying in touch with her after we get back home.

Lena had asked us to wear warm clothes today so that we could go outside and walk around, maybe slide down the small hill on the orphanage grounds a few times, and get some fresh air. Looking outside, I was skeptical, but we bundled up with thermals and extra layers anyway.

On the way to the orphanage, we stopped at a bookstore to pick up a Christmas gift for Lena. The plan had been to give her the first Twilight book. We needed to get a new copy….the ones we bought in Kyiv were in Ukrainian, and she told us a few days ago that she doesn’t read Ukrainian all that well; she prefers Russian. Ooops. We walked into the bookstore, and the first thing we saw was a beautiful boxed set of all four books in Russian. It was a little bit more than we had planned to spend, but it was less than I spent on my English set. We paid, and then Mark remembered that we needed a gift bag. We returned, and selected a cute pink gift bag with butterflies. After a short but intense discussion regarding the need (or not) for tissue paper (I didn’t see any and have no clue how to ask for it, so my position was that we didn’t need it…), we purchased the gift bag and left.

We arrived at the orphanage during dance rehearsal, so we waited patiently. Soon enough, Lena appeared. She presented each of us with a gift; mine was a pretty folded-paper vase with six flowers, and Mark’s was a small swan. She told us that she had learned about half of the English words that I wrote down for her yesterday, but she’s still pretty self-conscious and she refused to tell us which ones. We all decided that the weather was too grim to walk outside, so we just hung out for a while, Lena taunting the fish in the aquarium with a plastic shark at regular intervals.

Near the end of our visit, our translator finished with the family she was helping, and we presented her Christmas gifts…the book set, a Russian copy of the Twilight DVD, and a new wristwatch. Lena was overjoyed; she decided that we should take the books back in our luggage on this trip, and then she could read them when she arrived in the US.

Our translator asked her to make a list of any other Russian books, DVDs, or music that she wanted, and after we left the orphanage, she took us shopping. Shopping in Ukraine is an interesting prospect…the economy here is growing, and you can find modern malls with specialty shops as well as open air markets and street vendors. Mall shops tend to be pretty expensive and carry somewhat higher quality merchandise—the street vendors are where the deals are.

Our translator and driver shuttled us through the foggy streets to find the best prices. Each vendor was happy to show us his selection of CDs and DVDs, and we quickly discovered that some of them might not be of entirely legitimate origin, considering that we found DVDs for movies like Avatar, 2012, and New Moon…still in theaters! We returned from our shopping expedition with several books and a few movies and DVDs for Lena to watch as she settles in, and also to help keep both girls exposed to the Russian language over time.

Shopping works up an appetite, so we popped into a pizza restaurant for a final meal with our translator before she returned on tonight’s train to Kyiv. As we returned to our apartment, we passed through the center of town and noticed a big holiday celebration getting underway. As we live only a couple blocks away, we quickly returned to the apartment, organized our purchases, and then set off into the early evening.

As we walked toward the city center, we browsed through a few shops, enjoying the walk through the balmy 40-degree evening. We visited a pet shop and saw Chinchillas, miniature guinea pigs, and even piranhas! We also stopped into a couple of watch shops, and browsed through one of the local malls. The highlight of the evening, though, was the outdoor program to kick off the holiday season. A crowd of people gathered in front of the town’s auditorium; families with small children, small groups of high school friends, and older people. A huge Christmas tree was set up next to a small stage, where the town was treated to skits with St. Nicholas and the Snow Princess and performances from what appeared to be local high school kids.

All in all, a unique and memorable Christmas day!