Our long walk

Yesterday Katya wanted to take us for a walk to show us the church that she goes to. She made it sound like it wasn't very far so we agreed, with her leading the way. We started walking - down past the park, past the Potato House, down past the drug store. We walked past a store that Katya said was a shoe store, past many small beer stands (as there is one on every corner), we walked past a little hut that had pictures of hamburgers on it (that I am sure that whatever comes out of this stand is not really a hamburger - as there is no way they could make decent hamburgers in this little hut), past a park with a sandbox that had a very large beer bottle in it (lovely!) and where Katya stepped on some glass because she had taken her shoes off, past a place that was either a strip club or a casino based on the pictures on the window. All the while, we are following this little girl that claims she knows where the church is but we are getting very worried that she really does not know where the church since we have been walking for about 45 minutes! Katya had us cross the street once and cross back over to the side of the street we were originally on and was going to have us cross the street again until a frustrated Alex motioned with his hand that we do not walk in a zig-zag pattern but instead we walk in a straight path!

Just when we had Elena on the phone to ask Katya if she really did know where the church was, we spotted the steeple and were very relieved as it had started to get a little bit hot and we were out of drinking water. The church was actually very pretty. It was red and white brick on the outside and inside the ceilings were very high and there were intricate murals painted on the ceiling and walls. There were no benches in the church - just open space - and there were pictures of Saints (I believe they were Saints - I am not very familiar with the Catholic religion) with candles stands next to them so that you could light a candle and put it by whatever Saint you were asking for help from. Originally when we got there, I didn't think they would let us in, as we were all wearing shorts and the ladies going into the church had skirts and shawls over their heads. But Katya went in and got me and my mom a shawl for our heads and they let us in (I don't really think they were supposed to let us in with shorts, but there was a very nice older lady that said it was OK). We purchase a candle stick for .50 grivnas and lit a candle. Then Katya wanted us to all have cross necklaces so we purchased these for 15 grivnas, which is the equivalent of about $2.

Then we started the long walk back. Katya wanted to ride the bus back but we would have no idea what bus to even get on and most of the buses I have seen are packed so full of people that there is no way we would fit on it with a baby stroller. So we walked, stopping at the drug store on our way where I forgot about the "no gas" thing and bought the disgusting carbonated water. Yuck! We had lunch at the Potato House, which was very good and pretty cheap. We walked back to the apartment, stopping to buy some sunflower seeds on the way, and we did not forget that we were not supposed to let Katya in but we were so tired from that very long walk and there was only 2 hours before Katya had to be back at the orphanage that we let her in the apartment. I sat her down at the computer and typed into bablefish that she could stay in for a little bit as long as she promised that she would not tell anybody. We made cookies, except that I didn't turn the oven on correctly and so they took forever to cook and ended up getting a little bit crispy. Katya seemed to like them, as she formed a circle with her hands and then gave them a "thumbs up". When it was time to take her back to the orphanage, I kept reminding her that there was "no doma" (no house) and that there were "no cookies", as questions about cookies may lead to questions about where the cookies were made :).

All in all, although it was a very long walk, we did get to see pretty much the whole town and now know that there is really no reason why we need to walk that far down the main street again!