The House Guest

Saturday brings us much needed sleep, although I am still having some issues adjusting… I can’t seem to get past about 4 am without getting up… and staying up.

The “combat shower” concept is not sitting well with either of us… Mari has more hair on her head than I do and it takes just a bit longer to get the shampoo out. I’m content with a washcloth. It’s just turning off the water every 30 - 45 seconds since the water heater doesn’t always keep up…

Later in the morning Michelle calls, and says we’re going to get a visitor… Oh really?? And just who might that be? Vera pops her head in around 1:30 in the afternoon… Her English is passable and we can at least communicate with simple words and phrases and hand gestures… I must admit, I am still no good at “Charades”, and talking louder to someone who does not understand, still does not work… We have on loan from the Pushes, a Russian to English dictionary with supposedly some 42000 words that can be translated, and about a dozen or so (that we really need) that can’t. Go figure…

Oh, what to do, what to do… Young lady without much to her name save for the clothes on her back… maybe a little more… We gave her the gift from the Haugs (mp3 player) and plugged it in to charge the battery. In the meantime, We’ll take her to lunch (McDonald’s) then go to the mall and hopefully find her some jeans that fit as well as a shirt or two…

McDonalds poses yet the same communication problem we had in the past, compounded by another layer, although we did get the chicken sandwich we actually wanted this time… After lunch, a trip to the mall… the rather expensive mall… to see what was in there. Many small shops, and we had to literally go through each one to look, to try on something, and for us to be watched suspiciously as Vera tried on clothes. The store clerks were quite anxious to take my money, though. We actually got off light that day. We returned to the room. After three hours with her, she had places to go and was off… Until Sunday.

Michelle makes her way over to our studio with Allen & Nancy Pretre, who, by the way, have some documents for us from the SDA. Alyona, our translator is looking for these particular documents, as well as some others we weren’t quite sure about. We tell her we should be back around 7:30, she can get them then. We have also been invited to an informal church service in the home of… well, names escape me right now and if I at some point don’t interact directly with them, I forget. Quite an interesting setup with good people, and interesting conversations.

Vera shows up a second time with a guest… “This is my friend… No, my sister Lena” . Lena is about 2 years or so older than Vera, and speaks English quite well… Bonus!!! A built in translator.. Sisters at that… Cheap entertainment for the evening!!! Back to McDonald’s…

Brad - “Vera, are you hungry??”
Vera - “No, I’m fine”
Mari - “Have you eaten anything today?”
Vera - “I’m fine”
Brad - “Really, you should eat something”
Vera - “I’m fine”
Lena - “She’s always hungry” followed by some Ukrainian dialog with Vera… from what we gather, it was a scolding for not eating...
Brad - “You eat… something”
Vera - “Okay - I want a Big Mac, fries, a cola… and ice cream”
Brad - “Lena would you help us order?”

We get our food. Do you remember Jethro from “The Beverly Hillbillies”? A very efficient eating machine. Basically the point is to stay out of arm’s reach, and you will be safe. We’ll just say that life imitates art.

The entertainment came from watching their exchange as only siblings do.. We can’t understand a word they are saying, but it is rather comical, to say the least. It's one of those things you just had to be there to really appreciate. The night comes to a close, and Lena & Vera go on their way. Our time here is just beginning, so we will see Lena many more times, and we are glad about that.