Sue and Jeff - Day 10 – Tour of Mariupol

Sue – Sunday, October 25, 2009

Day 10 – Tour of Mariupol

Today we got up around 8:00 am and headed out around 10:00 to go to a local museum – not far form our apartment. It has the history of Ukraine, form the Mesozoic era until after WWII. There is first a map of Ukraine, with the various regions, then the various mining regions. Ukraine is a big mining country, everywhere. There were maps and samples of stone showing where each type of stone is quarried. Then there wer many fossils form Ukraine, and maps showing where it was form and how many million years ago it was from. Then the Mammoth (NOT Wooly Mammoth – just a mammoth) fossils and pictures; another room had all the wildlife of Ukraine – stuffed mammals, birds, and reptiles; another room had the civilization and migration paths, plus artifacts of early primitive man in Ukraine; another room had the civilization coming through the ages until you get to WWII (The Great Patriotic War).

A great turning point in Ukrainian history was the Great Revolution, 1917. It was when the people revolted against the Czar (the King), and decided NOT to have royalty rule the people, but let all things be for the people – COMMUNISM. It was not until 1991 that they split from Soviet Union, so there is still political discourse on these subjects. You see a lot of tributes to the Great Revolution of 1917, and you see monuments to the Great patriotic War (WWII). So seeing a totally different country’s take on WWII, the Great Depression (in which many, many Ukrainian people died from starvation – Soviet Union would take their food and starve entire villages), and the “Great Revolution” (where people took over their country – the Communist revolution), was very enlightening. It’s a good museum – I truly enjoyed it. Also, in the same building, but for additional entry fee, is a one room wax museum; we took pictures of us with Arnold Schwarzenager, Brad Pitt, Chuck Norris, Beethoven…. Just one room, I could skip this part, but DO go to the museum if you get a chance!

We drove up to the Great Patriotic War memorial and statue honoring all those who died in WWII. The statue had wings, was holding an Olive branch in his right ourstretched hand, and had a machine gun strapped to his left leg… HUH?? But you know war memorials… then off to the top of the “mountain” to overlook the Azov Sea – great views, sunny day… ahhh…. Beautiful!!!

The little village we drove through at the top is called ”Sailor’s Village”; cute little single-family homes. The architecture here is different – they would be more like “cottages”, with those metal corrugated roofs (with ridges) we use at home on sheds. I think it helps to prevent water damage and makes the snow melt off instead of caving in your roof. Makes sense – they are kind of like Tahoe roofs, the very deep snow that they get here will slid eoff before caving in your house. Of course, the large office and apartment buildings in town are built a little differently and look much the same as at home.

We then drove down to the beach. It was a terrific beach; I can only imagine all the people from Mariupol and surrounding areas coming to the beach in the summer, and how crowded it must get. There was a very stylish elegant restaurant right there on the beach, so we went in and had “American Coffee”, which is NOT espresso, but rather a small cup of coffee that is like instant coffee mixed with cream/or milk – quite tasty, but very small cups! I would love to rent one of the many cottages by the sea here.

The only odd thing is that the whole Mariupol area is very, very industrial. My throat is now bothering me… allergies, or the industrial air, I don’t know. The entire sea coast is 90% industrial… seaports, industry, shipyards, docks, factories, and so forth. The :beach area” for people is right next tot the industrial area. People are off in small boats on a Sunday, fishing, and running with their dogs, or just BBQing with their children. The end of autumn, the final throes of summer desires, played out on this little beach. I could feel it, too, this desire to be on the beach, to pick up shells, to grill my last piece of chicken until next spring/summer. Winter is very, very near. But for now, we are on the beach, looking at the small waves, picking up tiny seashells, wishing it were summer again.

We arrived at the orphanage, and Anastasia was ready for us – she was waiting all day!! A little peeved; she was worried! We had spent the entire day with her the day before, but that was a special treat; younger children will not be let out like that, and I don’t think everyone even her age gets to go out like that. So we played with the Snow White puzzle, and we really gave it our best shot, but were unable to finish it! I read somewhere that children doing puzzles stimulates a part of their brain that helps them with… math?.... language skills?... I can’t remember….okay, maybe I didn’t do enough puzzles when I was younger!

Each day, we bring her a little gift or two. Always some sort of treat… these little round cracker things, cookies, candy, a small gift, like a puzzle, or a bouncy ball, or a small jewelry trinket… so each day, she always had something to take back up to her “group” to share. The BIGGEST hit so far (besides the radio, which we now get to hear EVERY SINGLE VISIT – note to parents; give the radio on your LAST day!), is the little “glow in the dark” bracelets. They come 12 to a tube, and I brought four tubes. She shares them with her group, and she told us that everyone loves them at night. You can connect them into a necklace, or keep them as bracelets, but the second day, when I pulled out another tube of 12 bracelets, she jumped up and down and was very, very excited. She is rather blasé about the candy, but quickly puts it into the bag she is taking “upstairs” so she can share it. I like that about her. Even if you give her something she really, really likes, she will break off a piece and offer it to you. For a kid that hasn’t had much in life, it is a good trait to have, and we want to foster that even more with her.

Jeff took lots of pictures. We want to make a photo book of Mariupol, since this is the town in which she was born.

Jeff:

Not much too add – Susie did a really nice job. The visit to the orphanage was funny because of Nastiya’s attitude. When we got there, she was very reserved, even though we came bearing gifts – and ice cream! But when she started talking to the interpreter, it became clear that she was miffed because we had arrived so late in the day, and she had been worried – either that we had been hurt or just that we weren’t coming to spend time with her, I didn’t catch, but either way it really touched me. She’s so committed to this, and I think she got a little spooked. I am so looking forward to talking to her once she speaks English!

Dinner was a real pleasure. Our interpreter offered to make a Ukrainian dinner for us. We stopped at the supermarket, and she got all the fixings. The meat was a chicken dish: she chopped the chicken into chunks and rubbed it with a Ukrainian spice. She sautéed this in safflower oil with onions and cheese. She also made salad (tomatoes, onion, and parsley in an olive oil – we didn’t have vinegar), and “porridge”. The porridge was whole grain buckwheat simmered like rice. For dinner we had it with butter, salt and pepper. We had it for breakfast on Monday with milk and sugar, as instructed. I was really surprised – it was very good. The crowning touch was a treat that our interpreter had bought when we weren’t with her: caviar! We had fresh bread, thinly sliced and lathered with butter, topped with caviar. It was very tasty. We learned that this was a standard food for a celebration – birthdays especially.