Studying English

On Tuesday we received permission to allow the girls to have a night away and to stay with us at the hotel. (We would recommend bringing PJ’s as they are difficult to find for the children. - You can purchase shoes, coats, jeans, warm-up suits, and sweaters here.)
They made up the sofa sleeper in our suite (Erin showed us how it worked) and we watched a purchased movie in Russian with English subtitles. We munched on sunflower-seeds (very available here as you are surrounded by fields on your drive in.) The girl’s favorite things here at the hotel are eating in the café (they love the ice-cream) and taking bubble baths in our over-sized bathtub.

After breakfast on Wednesday, we ventured to a local bookstore to find English books for the girls. Erin was able to work with the store clerk to determine which books would be helpful for her. She is able to read from her school English 8 book to us but we aren’t sure how much comprehension follows the reading. She does very well at ordering and communicating for her parents whenever we need her help. She is one smart cookie! She and Victoria found several books to help them and we also purchased a couple of posters for her. One of the posters has the National Anthem of Ukraine and the other is a detailed map of the country with facts included. We spent much of the afternoon working on the new workbooks. The one problem they have to work on is the addition of articles- they aren’t used in speaking Russian so when and where to add them is confusing. We were impressed on how long and how hard they chose to work on the new books. We hope this determination will help Erin as she adjust to her new life.

For those who will follow us here is a list of items to include in your packing that have been helpful to us:
• Bring a candle. The air quality is very difficult to get used to here with smoking common and strange odors coming from the vent in the bathroom.
• Toilet paper is available of varying degrees of quality but bringing some Charmin to go has been helpful. The typical paper is the quality of crate paper. (There is a 24-hour grocery on the first floor of the mall here) Women’s supplies and other necessities are available there. We commonly pick up a couple 5-7 liter bottles of water which last the two of us about 5 days- (even the locals don’t drink the water here). Snacks- fruit and sweets are very available. Juice is also plentiful with many great choices. Cheese and sausage and yogurt make great snacks as well.
• Books to read, a DVD-or computer that plays them, easy to teach games for the children. (UNO, cards, BINGO…)
• Jeans are good to wear but all dark colors. Men especially wear dark colors. Wearing layers if it’s cold- sweaters, (men and women) with T-shirts under them.
• Tennis shoes are ok- but comfortable black slip-ons for men and boots for women are very common. Hats are available and commonly worn. (not ball caps)
• Bring hand sanitizer; it isn’t available here.

Hope these suggestions help.

Thank you again for your encouragement and prayers as we continue towards the final steps of our journey.