Odessa! (Фдессф)

Hello friends!

I am writing you from Odessa, the city on the Black Sea. We left Malaya Alexandrovka on Friday, saying goodbye to the village and Kiev and headed out on a night train. Maria and her daughters Sophia and Angela accompanied us. Allie and I shared a room on the train with the girls while Maria slept with strangers next door. I have been on one night train before, in Thailand, and this was a very different experience. In Thailand, you walked down the aisle of the train and the beds were on either side of walking down…there was a giant silverfish in my bed…and the light was on the whole time. On this Ukrainian train, we were in our own cabin, we could control all lights and windows, it was air conditioned and no bugs (that I know of). However, there is always ups and downs…our train was supposed to arrive in Odessa at 6am, so Maria told us to get up at 5am and get dressed and ready for when we got off the train. So she came to our cabin around 5:30am and looked out the window and said she didn’t think we were in Odessa…so she called her brother Volodya. He was waiting for us at the train station. He informed Maria that our train had been delayed. There was an oil spill or something on the tracks and all trains had to take a detour. He said our train would not arrive until 3pm….let me remind you it was supposed to arrive at 6am. So we slept more and read and talked…and ended up arriving around 11am. Not as bad as 3pm, but not 6am either.

When we arrived, Volodya took us to our apartment. Allie and I have rented a two bedroom apartment with a living room area and kitchen for two weeks. It’s really nice actually…especially for the price. It’s in a safe building and has air conditioning and two comfy beds. We’ve bought groceries since so we can exist on our own sometimes and it is nice to have a bit more of our own space after living at the house with the family for so long. Don’t get me wrong, it was great staying with the family, but it is really nice to have our own space and not have to worry about the kids peeping in the window or knocking for another game of cards.

Then we went to Volodya’s apartment, conveniently located in the building adjacent to ours. We met his wife, Natasha and his kids, Victor (10) and Amina (8). Oh, and the adorable 3 month old kitten, Lola. They are a lovely, welcoming family and Natasha and Volodya speak a bit of English, so we were able to converse with them easier than in Kiev because Maria didn’t need to do all the translating. That afternoon, we went for a swim in the Black Sea. The water was cloudier than I imagined, and there were no waves, and it was cold (the wind and the water)….but apart from that…it was really humbling sort of to be swimming in it and thinking about the history it has. Istanbul is on the other side of the Sea…directly across from Odessa they say…and it’s crazy to think of all the people who have swum or sailed on the Sea.

On Sunday, we had church at night. The church building is a little apartment in downtown Odessa. We sat our chairs in a circle and had mainly discussion, and music. It was different than Kiev in that instead of the children performing the music, the people sang together…and everyone knew the songs (except Allie and I). I think I liked it better in that aspect here. There were probably 16 people (including the kids) at church by the end. We shared stories of faith and of people who wanted to join the church. They asked Allie and me questions about our beginnings in the church and why we did world service corps and asked us to share a testimony. I felt more involved in the church here because they were asking us to share ourselves…that hadn’t been done in the same way in Kiev. I don’t want to be comparing Kiev and Odessa here, because each has it’s own elements to share and both have talented people, but there were some differences in the way people share in Odessa…that could just come down to numbers…but it was nice all the same.

So church was good and done…and Allie and I came back to our place and talked and slept etc… So in the mornings, Allie has decided to run up and down the stairs for exercise while I sleep in, then she comes back and we do ab workouts together. So when she wanted to go out on Sunday, she couldn’t open the door. When I got up she told me and I unlocked it easy. So when she couldn’t open the door again today, she came and woke me up (don’t worry, I gave her permission to). So I went to unlock it like yesterday…thinking no problem, then I can go back to bed. But it wouldn’t budge. We have like a peg lock…like in a bathroom stall but a lot thicker where you pick up the bolt and move it across…that unlocks no problem. Then there’s a three bolt lock where you turn a vertical bit of metal to lock them. That vertical bit of metal will not open…it will not turn. So I went back to bed and we turned the air conditioner on hoping some temperature shift might be the answer. That was three hours ago….and both of us have tried with all our might. Pushing and pulling the door….both of us at the same time…and nothing but sore hands. It seems sort of crazy…but we’re locked inside our apartment. If I post this, then have no fear because it means I got out as we must use the internet at Volodya’s….but right now…we’re trapped.

Ok. So now you had a moment of suspense…we got out. But not for a while. At 2:30pm, Volodya came to our apartment and Allie threw our keys out tied up in a plastic bag. They almost fell on the roof of another building, but luckily just missed. So Volodya and his son came upstairs and tried to open it from the outside for like 20 minutes. And no luck. So they called the owner and were trying to arrange other ways for us to escape…and I tried the door one more time, just as the owner had said she would come over…and it opened. At 4:30pm. So we’ve been here from 10pm Sunday night until 4:30pm Monday afternoon. Trapped. But it’s a good story. Hope you enjoyed it…and celebrate with us and our freedom. Don’t worry though, we plan to never lock te bottom part while we’re here again.

Til next time,

Zoe