Day 49- Outing Downtown -Saturday, Nov. 5

Yarik's teacher's daughter had sent me a FB message that she would like to meet us again today. Our last planned meeting was cancelled because she had gotten sick. So today's plan was to meet at 2pm at McDonald's and then go for Pizza. We had a pretty lazy morning and everyone enjoyed sleeping in. We used the internet a bit and then got ready to go.
We met the girls at McDonald's. It ended up being Natalia and two of her friends. This time, her mother was sick. One of her friends was studying English and had been to America twice on exchange programs, so she acted as translator for us. We walked to the Underground Pizza Restaurant and ordered 2 pizzas. I thought we would need more, but the girls insisted that they were large pizzas. So far I have not really seen a true American size Large pizza, but they placed the order. When they came, the three boys had theirs gone in a few minutes and I sent Yarik to order another one for them. I don't think the girls realized how much boys eat.
After eating, we went to the art museum which was closing in less than 30 minutes, but we walked through the main exhibit and saw some lovely artwork. Most from the 1700's and 1800's. It was mostly Renaissance style with a few impressionist type works. The girls talked about Ukrainian history and politics. They were frustrated by their current president and his lack of knowledge of the Ukrainian language. It is sad that their president does not even know his own country's native language. While most Ukrainians know Russian, there is still a pride in their own language and the people want to see their language respected and used. And just like in America, their president's bloopers are on YouTube for everyone to check out.
Near the art museum was the theater. The girls were excited for the premier of Swan Lake by the St. Petersburg ballet company. They asked if I would want to go. Unfortunately, it does not open until the 11th, by which time I am hoping I will no longer be in Sumy. It would have been an amazing opportunity to go to see the ballet. One that I am sure Darren would not have minded me going to on my own. But Lord willing, we will be either in America or on our way.
While we were checking out the theater, Sergei spied a guy on his skateboard riding on the front of the theater steps. He went back out to watch him while waiting for us. After checking out the theater, the girls were ready to part company. They had mentioned trying to go to see a film together on Monday, but I was not sure what Monday would hold. It would be fun for the boys to go to a movie in their own language before we leave, but not sure what will happen.

All three about to crash

Sergei making the turn

On our walk back, the boys wanted to go through the park, where they had some amusement rides and other interesting things to see. We walked through and saw the entrance to the soccer stadium. Then a little farther and  we came to the bumper cars. There was a father and daughter driving around and the boys wanted to give it a try also. When the others finished, the three boys, Yarik, Sergei and Vitalli payed their grivna and each chose a car. It took them some time to figure out how to maneuver the cars, but once they got the hang of it, they had fun circling and crashing. I got some photos, but I should have tried to take a video. It was so funny watching them. I am glad they had fun. It was getting dark, but they wanted to see if the Ferris Wheel was running, so we walked the rest of the way to the back of the park. It was closed, so we turned around and headed back out. There was a lady there, with some grilled shush-kabobs.  We got one and shared it. It was really good. Darren would have loved it. After that we walked the rest of the way out of the park and back to the apartment.

Vitalli rounding the corner

Yarik stuck in the corner

Back home we took advantage of the Saturday with friends being at home and got to make some calls and chat online. I talked to Bekka a little and IM'ed with Darren as he was camping with the scouts. Yarik stayed up a while talking to friends, but Sergei and I went to sleep fairly early so we could get up for church the next day.