Lance got up early to work today since we would be on the bus almost all day. I got up early to help Alexandra finish her quilt. She needed to run home to take care of a broken door, so I finished the quilt for her and listened for the doorbell. All the kids were at school, so it was really quiet.
Vanya, one of the kids that lived in the center when we did, is on vacation from UBI (Ukrainian Bible Institute) and staying at the center and helping out at the church. He was sleeping in the room where the sewing machine was, but Alexandra said it was ok for me to go in there because he needed to get up and have some breakfast. So, we went in and she turned on the lights. Vanya just turned over and covered up his head. I was so worried about waking him with the sewing machine, but he didn’t seem to bother by the loudness of it. In fact, his alarm went off on his phone about 4-5 times and he didn’t hear that either.
We couldn’t get the bus station to answer the phone, but Tanya knew where the bus schedule was online. So, she checked to see when the buses were leaving and it turned out our bus didn’t leave until around 11:30. So we had a few hours that we could visit with Tanya. We do miss working with her. She has a heart of gold for the orphans of Ukraine.
We called a taxi and went to the bus stop early enough to purchase a ticket. When we got in the taxi, “The Eye of the Tiger” was blaring in our ears, followed by Dire Straights. At least I could understand the songs. And “They Eye of the Tiger” always takes me back to high school! At the bus stop there was a lady that was having her kids beg for money. And another elderly lady sitting in the door begging as well. It was so hard to see, especially the little kids begging for their mother.
I needed to use the restroom before we left Mariupol, so I went outside and tried to follow the sign, but it wasn’t very good. A guy asked me if I knew where the toilet was. I thought he was asking me if I was looking for the toilet. I said “Yes”, and he said, “where is it?” I said, “I don’t know, I’m trying to find it.” Apparently, he needed to find it faster than I did, because he asked someone at the kiosk. Then he started running toward the back of the bus area and I asked him, “Where?” and he pointed behind the buses. So, I followed him, but not at the fast pace he was going.
I got there only to find that I needed to pay 1.5 grivan. Not a big deal, that was about 18 cents or so, but I didn’t have any money. So, I had to go back into the bus station to get some money from Lance. Then I traipsed through the slush back to the restroom. The lady in the booth took my money and let me in. It was a nice clean bathroom, but it still had scotty potties! Then back through the bus fumes and through the slush, to wait for the bus I go.
Turns out, the bus that was spitting out so many fumes, was our bus. It was a much older bus. We had asked for a bus that was not as hot as the last one. Well, you should always be careful of what you ask for. This bus was nowhere near as hot. In fact, it was freezing cold! We kept our coats, gloves and hats on the whole time. So much for laughing at all the people that kept their hats on during the last bus ride. We were so tired from our time in Mariupol, that we both fell asleep. I curled up next to Lance to try and keep warm. I kept my ear muffs on and even covered my head with the hood of my coat.
Warning to those with weak stomachs, you might want to skip the next paragraph or so. There are just so many toilet stories when you are in a foreign country.
When we stopped, I woke up and needed to find the restroom again. I thought that our second stop on the way back was the good stop. Well, as I fumbled out of the bus, I realized that the stop we were at was the “poo stop” from our trip to Mariupol. Oh well, when you gotta, you gotta. So, with travel toilet paper in hand, I sledged through the slush. Well, if I thought it was bad the first time, I just didn’t know how bad it really could get. Frozen poo, is not so nice when it unfreezes. There was even more “mess” added all around the toilet building. The frozenness before had taken the smell away. Well, now that it was all melting, the smell had returned. And what was frozen before, was now a slushy mush. UGH! I held my nose, well in theory, because after all, I had to hold my clothes and coat out of the way and make sure not to drop my travel toilet tissue. I proceeded to take care of business, but it was so stinkin’ cold and the wind was freezing my tush off that I could not tinkle. :-) So, all of that, and I still needed to go to the bathroom when I got on the bus. When I shared this experience with Lance, he snorted so hard and loudly again that I thought he was going to not be able to catch his breath. Oh, I forgot, but Lance reminded me that as I was leaving the toilet, some of that lovely slushy poo landed on top of my boots. So, I made sure to walk through snow up to my ankles on the way back to the bus to get it off. I didn’t want to be the one of the bus that wreaked of poo! Plus, I already had a silly suspicion that everyone inside the bus stop was watching and laughing at the crazy American going to use the toilet in all the slush. At that point, it didn’t matter if my boots got any wetter or colder...they were going to be free of the poo! ;-)
Finally, we made it to the next stop and it was the nicer stop. I saw a sign, but didn’t really feel like trying to figure it out, so I asked a young girl if she knew where the toilet was. Always a good phrase to learn when in a foreign country. She told me where it was and what door to go through. She told me that if I wanted a free toilet, that I could go around back. Uh, no thanks been there done that already today. So, I went inside and at a table outside the toilet doors, was a lady ready to take my grivna. No prob. Twelve cents to use a clean toilet. Great. She even provided me with two whole square of the brown paper streamer type of toilet tissue.
We then managed to get back on the road again. It seemed like it was taking us forever to get to Zaporozhye. About 30 minutes before we got there, the bus driver either finally decided to turn on the heat, or it finally decided to start working. Eventually, I did have to take my coat off about 15 minutes before we got there.
Hasan picked us up and offered to take us somewhere to get something to eat. We decided that we were just too tired to go grocery shopping and opted just to go home. Afterall, Lance still had to work some tonight. I ate rice for dinner and Lance ate macaroni with some chicken flavoring. Great meal, huh? We were tired, what can I say.
We are ready to see the boys tomorrow as we have missed them so much. It was a great trip to Mariupol though and one we won’t soon forget.
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