Hasan called this morning to say that he purchased our tickets for the bus and would be over soon. Luckily, he ran into someone from the bus station that was on his way to Mariupol as well and learned that the morning bus didn’t go but that 10:30 bus was scheduled to leave. So, he went ahead and purchased our tickets before they ran out. He is such a sweet man. We are lucky to have him help us out so much. We left early to make sure that we were able to get a spot on the bus since it would probably be crowded and also so that we could go by the ATM to get more money to pay for the bus tickets. It seems all we do it go to the ATM for more money. It must be close to payday, because Lance had to try several machines before he could get money to pay Hasan.
We made it to the bus station and got seats together close to the front. There wasn’t much room. In fact, with our coats on, there was hardly enough room to read a magazine. No worries, though, because our coats didn’t stay on long. We knew it would get hot on the bus, because when it is really cold outside, the temperature on the buses and in the stores is always blazing. However, we didn’t realize just exactly how hot it would get. I sat by the window, which in some ways was good, because I could lean on the cold window to cool off, but the heater is also on the floor by the window. So, I stuffed our backpacks, our coats and anything else I could find on the floor and sat cross-legged on top of it all to block out some of the heat. This worked a little, but it was still so hot. At one stop, while most people were off the bus, we got off for a little bit without our coats. You should have seen the looks we got. I could tell people thought we were going to die in our t-shirts and no coats. It felt so good to be out of the steaming hot bus, that the cold air actually felt good. I did put my sweatshirt on so that people would quit staring at me. When we got back on the bus, I immediately took my sweatshirt off again so that I would not suffocate.
At the next stop, I managed to pull my cuddle dud (long john type shirt) out from under my t-shirt without sharing my belly or anything else with those around me. Luckily, Lance was able to get us some cokes at this stop which was nice because they were really cold, so when I got hot, I just sat it on my neck to cool me off.
If we didn’t stop so much, the trip could have two hours less. In a car, we could have made the trip in 4 hours. On the bus, it took us almost 6 hours. We made one more longer stop and I decided to try and go to the restroom this time. Uh, not so good an idea on so many levels. As I managed to pull my boots out from under all the stuff we had blocking the heat, I noticed they were very hot. In fact, one of them was slightly melted. I could still get them on, but it just didn't feel quite right. I asked a lady outside the bus where the restroom was and she pointed to an outhouse type of bathroom we would normally see at lake parks in America. There was a sign painted on the back of it that said it didn’t work. Well, there was no plumbing in there that had to work, so not sure why that sign was there. As you know, it is really cold here and there is a ton of snow on the ground. Well, this restroom was a squatty potty…basically two holes cut in the metal bottom of the building that was rotting under all the loveliness that is an outdoor toilet!! When I first walked in, there was a young woman in the first “spot”, so I walked back out to wait for her to finish. I don’t really like to share that experience with strangers, if you know what I mean. I waited outside until she left and then went in. Oh my! I have been to Africa and Haiti and have seen my share of squatty potties, but let me tell you. The restrooms in Haiti were even better than this. This is probably the second worse bathroom I’ve seen in my life and the first one was at the river my first trip to Ukraine. It was as if people didn’t even try to hit the hole. There was poo and trash all over the place. The only good thing about it was that everything was frozen so there was no smell. But the sight of it all was horrible! If I didn’t have to go so badly, I would not have been able to endure it! I hurried and finished my business and got out as quickly as I could. It was very hard to walk on all the ice and I was very careful not to step in or slide into frozen poo. When I got back to the bus and shared my experience with Lance he laughed so hard that he snorted! We found a new slogan for the trip…”It’s all fun and games until someone falls in frozen poo!”
Finally, we managed to make our way to Mariupol. It was so crazy. We would stop all along the way to let people off and pick up new people who would pay the driver personally. We would let people off in the middle of nowhere! Seriously, you could not see buildings, roads or anything in some of the places we dropped people off. Lance wanted to tell everyone this was a bus, not a taxi! I guess the driver wanted a little extra personal money.
Once we got back to the bus stop, Tanya (our previous co-worker and friend), Julia Sherbakova (a past student of the TLC that many of you know) and Yura (our friendly taxi driver that used to take us to Donetsk) were there waiting for us. It was so fun to be greeted by their hugs and smiles. We went to the TLC where we used to work and put our things away. They have created an apartment out of one of the rooms downstairs and that is where we stayed. I had stayed in this room many times before on campaigns, so it was like being at home again. In fact, it was as if we were home. The TLC was so comfortable in that we knew it, we knew the people (most of them), the routines, the building. It was just like coming home! What a great feeling. In fact, in the computer lab, it was almost as if we never left. Our old newsletters were still on the wall along with the computer rules, schedules, notes, etc. that I had placed there for computer class, along with several pictures that had decorated the door. It was such a strange feeling being in there. It was as if we had never left.
It was good to see the kids that we knew there. There were only two kids from when we were parents that were still in the house, and several that we knew from the our trip last May, and some new ones as well. Borya, one of our boys was there visiting Julia, his girlfriend and he and Lance had a great conversation. He also asked me to help him in the computer lab with his and his brother’s mp3 player and we decided to that tomorrow. We had dinner with the TLC kids and then visited a little before going to bed early. The bus ride had us pretty worn out.
It was so nice to have a real bed to sleep in. Not a couch folded out. I think it was the bed that Gayle and Robert (some friends of ours from church) purchased when they lived here one summer. We didn’t care if the mattress was a little hard, it felt like Heaven to be in a real bed!
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